Cupcake Tray Giveaway

The Great British Bake Off folks are trying something new for tonight's episode: it's Botanical Week, meaning three green-fingered challenges that use herbs, fruits, flowers, and other plant-based ingredients.

Yesterday, we teamed up with food blogger Jamie to bring you a sweet spin on the botanical theme: Vanilla Flower Cupcakes with Marzipan Bees. Today, to celebrate the arrival of another mouthwatering new Bake Off episode, we're giving away a 12 cup cupcake tray so that you can try the recipe at home.

If you'd like to win this handy cupcake tray for yourself, here's what to do...

How to Enter:

Note: You will need a Twitter account!

  1. Follow @BakewareUK on Twitter.
  2. Retweet the competition tweet at the top of our feed.
  3. Come back at 12 noon on Tuesday the 4th of October to find out if you've won!

Good luck, and remember to catch Bake Off tonight at 8pm on BBC One!

Vanilla Cupcakes & Marzipan Bees

It's a special week on Bake Off this week, because for the very first time, it's Botanical Week! The bakers must complete three challenges inspired by nature and are allowed to use any ingredients that grows to use in their bakes. Keeping with this theme, we thought we'd share a flowery based recipe that you can bake at home.

This week, why not have a go at making these spectacular Vanilla Cupcakes? Created by the extremely talented Jamie from Jamie's Cookery, each of these fantastic cupcakes has been topped with a beautiful buttercream rose and features a marzipan bee. They're a great way to celebrate the last few days of summer. 

Not only do these cupcakes look great but they're also extremely easy to make! For more tasty recipes that are really easy to follow, we highly recommend that you head over to Jamie's blog; it's brimming with spectacular recipes!

Ingredients:

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes

  • 175g of Butter
  • 175g of Caster Sugar
  • 175g of Self-Raising Flour 
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Buttercream

  • 180g Butter
  • 450g Icing Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 2 tbsp Milk, if needed

For the Marzipan Bees

  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 1 tsp Honey
  • 1tsp Fresh Orange Juice (or apple juice)
  • 100g Ground Almonds
  • 50g Chocolate, melted
  • Some Flaked Almonds

Method:

Step 1 - Pre-heat the oven to 175°C and place 12 cupcake cases into a cupcake or muffin tray, and set aside.

Step 2 - Then, add the butter and caster sugar in to a bowl and mix well until they have all combined.

Step 3 - Add the vanilla extract and the eggs - one at a time - mixing well after each egg.

Step 4 - Finally, add the flour to the mixture and mix well - ensuring that you get all the flour off the edges of the bowl! This should provide you with a nice smooth batter.

Step 5 - Spoon an equal amount of batter in to each case and pop them into the oven for around 12 - 15 minutes or until they are firm and golden brown. Once baked, put aside to cool.

To make the Buttercream

Step 1 - Put icing sugar, butter and vanilla into a mixing bowl and beat until a smooth thick buttecream is formed. If the buttercream is too stiff, then add a little milk to loosen it. If you want to do different coloured icing, divide your buttercream and use food colouring to reach your desired colour for each batch.

To make the Marzipan Bees

Step 1 - Put all of the marzipan ingredients into a bowl and mix them until a firm ball is made.

Step 2 - Then, roll twelve individual balls from this mixture - this will be your bees.

Step 3 - Stick two flaked almonds into each bee to make the wings.

Step 5 - Put your melted chocolate into a piping bag, snip off the end and use it to create stripes and eyes to complete your bees.

To decorate

Step 1 - Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 2D nozzle, then use it to pipe buttercream roses. To do this, start from of the cupcake and make a couple of outward circles, stopping when you reach the edge of the cupcake.

Step 2 - Place a marzipan bee on to each cupcake.

Step 3 -Enjoy!

Products You May Find Helpful

Cupcake Tray
£7.76 inc V.A.T.
12 Cup Muffin Tray
£13.86 inc V.A.T.
Individual Muffin Cups
£6.26 inc V.A.T.
 

Bakewell tart

As Bake Off continues, things are really starting to get serious on the show, with Pastry Week bringing a whole host of challenges to trip up the bakers, with timing and technique proving to be a real issue. Luckily, we can bake from the comfort of our home, without anyone shouting continuous time reductions at us, or worrying about being judged for our soggy bottoms... 

This week, why not give this delicious twist on the classic Bakewell tart a go? Created by Sarah Cook over at BBC Good Food, this recipe uses apricot compote instead of jam, and providing a handy shortcut for the filling, this bake is sure to give people a sweet surprise, while also being substantially less stressful to make!

If you're looking for a spectacular, sweet shortcrust pastry this recipe from Ellie's kitchen is perfect. Ellie is a talented baker and her shortcrust pastry makes a great foundation for sweet pies and tarts. To take a look at some of her other recipes click here.

Photo by Brynn (click here for original version)

Ingredients:

For the Pastry

  • 450g Plain Flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 130g Icing Sugar
  • 260g Unsalted Butter, cubed
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • Splash of Milk

For the Filling

  • 140g of self raising flour (plus extra)
  • 200g of softened butter
  • 140g ground almonds 
  • 140g of golden caster sugar
  • 3 eggs, beaten 
  • x1 600ml jar of apricot compote 
  • 1 tbsp flaked almonds
  • 140g Madeira cake
  • Icing sugar (for dusting)
  • Greek yogurt and honey to serve (optional)

Method:

For the Pastry

Step 1 -Start by sifting the flour into a bowl and sift the icing sugar over the top.

Step 2 - Then using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar. Do this by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until the mixture is fine and crumbly. If you wish, at this stage you can add any flavours to it.

Step 3 - Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together until it forms a ball of dough. Then flour it lightly.

Step 4 - Flour your surface and place the dough on top. Pat the dough into a flat round shape, then wrap it cling film and put it into the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.

For the Filling 

Step 1 - Begin by rolling out the pastry with some flour, until it's big enough to line a deep (20-23cm) tart tin.

Step 2 - Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Line the pastry with baking paper, fill with baking beans, and blind bake for 20 mins.

Step 3 - Once the time is up, remove the pastry from the oven and take away the beans and paper. Bake for a further 5 mins, until the pastry is a pale biscuit colour.

Step 4 - In the meantime, make the filling for your tart. Begin by whizzing the madeira cake in a food processor, then tip it into a large bowl with the flour, butter, ground almonds, caster sugar and eggs. Beat the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth.

Step 5 - Reduce the oven to 160C/140 fan/gas mark 3.

Step 6 - Spoon the compote into the pastry case and spread over the base, then follow with the almond mixture, until it covers the compote evenly.

Step 7 - Scatter the tart with flaked almond, then place it into the oven to bake for 1 hour, until the mixture is firm and golden brown.

Step 8 - Remove from the oven, and once somewhat cooled, transfer the tart to a serving plate. Dust it with icing sugar, and serve while the tart is still slightly warm.

Step 9 -  If desired, serve with Greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey.

 

Products You May Find Helpful

Fluted Tart Tin
£4.99 inc V.A.T.
26cm Tart Tin
£6.95 inc V.A.T.
10cm Flan Tin
£6.95 inc V.A.T.
 

Win 2 Tart Tins

It's Wednesday again, which can only mean one thing: a new episode of The Great British Bake Off! This week is Pastry Week, which is always a big challenge for the contestants - pastries can be fiddly customers, and if you want to impress Mary Berry then everything needs to be spot on!

Our sources tell us that tonight's technical challenge will see the remaining bakers making classic British tarts for Mary and Paul to inspect. This week's bakeware giveaway is inspired by that task: we've got a pair of non-stick tart tins up for grabs, but only one lucky winner will get their hands on 'em!

Non-Stick Tart Tin

If you fancy winning these tins and cooking up some tarts of your own, here's what you need to do (please note: you will need a Twitter account to enter):

  1. Follow @BakewareUK on Twitter.
  2. Retweet the competition tweet (pinned to the top of our page).

Once you've completed those two steps, all that's left to do is sit back and wait - we'll draw a winner and notify them via Twitter at noon on Tuesday the 27th of September. Good luck, and don't forget to tune in for tonight's episode of Bake Off!

It's been an emotional few days for fans of The Great British Bake Off. First came the news that the programme would be leaving the BBC - its home for the last six years - and airing on Channel 4 as of next year; then, yesterday, we learned that presenters Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc would not be staying on for the next series. Even as we come to terms with these two bombshells, there's still plenty up in the air: who will replace Mel and Sue as the show's presenting duo? Will judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood follow the show to Channel 4, or will they leave as well? Will Channel 4's Bake Off actually bear any resemblance whatsoever to the one we know and love? Is there any reason the BBC can't just commission a new baking programme - Bake Off in all but name - and invite Mel and Sue back to host that?

These are stressful times indeed for us baking fanatics, but at least we've still got a new episode of Bake Off to enjoy tonight...not to mention another great bakeware giveaway to tell you about!

Yorkshire pudding tray giveaway

For the first (and possibly last - sniff!) time, it's Batter Week on Bake Off, and so we're giving away not one but TWO fab Yorkshire pudding trays! If you like cooking roast dinners, then these trays are a godsend; after all, what's a Sunday lunch without a few Yorkshires to nosh on?

If you fancy winning these two tins for yourself, here's what you need to do...

How to enter (you'll need a Twitter account)

  1. Follow @BakewareUK on Twitter.

  2. Retweet the competition tweet - you'll find it at the very top of our page.

  3. Cross your fingers and keep your eyes peeled, because we'll be announcing the winner at 12 noon on Tuesday the 20th of September!

Good luck, and enjoy tonight's episode of Bake Off - remember, this could be the last series of the show as we know it, so make the most of it while it's still on our screens!