Bake it like Berry - Week 2

First of all, thanks for all the great suggestions for a title for my baking challenge. I put them all to the boys to choose a winner, since I'm hopeless at deciding these things for myself! As you can see from the title, Bake it like Berry was their favourite.

I've also added a new page tab at the top to keep track of my progress. 

I only managed to try two recipes from the book this week, as there was also Pancake Making and Valentine Cake making to fit in as well.

This week's bakes were:

~ Chocolate Swiss Roll.

I made this with gluten free flour, which makes it a bit trickier to roll as gluten free cakes are always a bit more crumbly. Still, I rather like the rugged, slightly cracked look.

The recipe is very similar to my jam roly poly recipe I posted here before Christmas.

I filled it with raspberry jam and some dairy free chocolate butter-cream.

I think the empty plate answers the question as to whether or not it was a hit with the boys!

~ Scones.

I didn't make these gluten free as I haven't had much luck in the past with gluten free scones! 

We had these with jam and creme fraiche for supper one night.

I would have liked them to rise a little more, but they tasted delicious. Next time I'll just leave the dough thicker when I'm rolling them out!

I am so loving this new challenge, as are the boys' tummies!

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Mary Berry's Baking Bible Challenge

This week I bought a book I have been after for quite a while. 

It's a cookbook, of course, written by perhaps the nation's most loved of cookery writers/presenters/judges - Mary Berry.

It's not just me that's a fan in this house, the older 3 boys all love watching the Great British Bakeoff. I am not allowed to watch an episode without them here, and this last couple of weeks they have really enjoyed watching the documentary The Mary Berry Story.

So, I decided to set myself a wee challenge.

Since, you know, looking after a household of four boys and a hard-working husband just isn't enough to do really.

Seriously though, this isn't a tricky challenge, and one that everyone will benefit from.

I decided that since Mary Berry is the Queen of home baking, I would try and bake my way through her Baking Bible. 

That's a fun challenge, right?

Some of the recipes I will adapt to be allergy free, others I will do as written. I have only come across one recipe on my quick flick through that is quite nutty, and I may just give that one a miss. Given the number of nut allergies in the house I don't really like to cook with them any more!

We have already made a start, and the boys have been willing helpers. Calum (10) made the flapjacks entirely on his own. We used dairy free margarine and added dairy-free chocolate chips (the chocolate chips were one of Mary's alternatives to the basic recipe) and they were a hit!

James (13) helped me make some profiteroles for pudding another day.

We served these with our own chocolate sauce recipe (equal quantities of chocolate and cream, melted in a pan). They didn't last long!

I'm hoping to get a recipe or two from the book baked every week, and then I will share the photos of the results (which, judging by the first two we have tried look to be super yummy) on here.

I need a little help from my lovely readers though.

Can anyone think of a catchy name for my challenge?

I'm thinking that the Mary Berry Baking Bible Challenge doesn't exactly roll off the tongue!

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