It’s…Great British Bake Off season! Honestly, that’s the best thing about the fall – who cares about Pumpkin Spice Lattes? Although, the trees are pretty stunning; the yellow aspen against the dark evergreens is beautiful.
auricomus (adj): with golden or yellow colored foliage
Even though I won’t be watching GBBO in real-time (we’ll get another month of Netflix for Christmas like we did last year), I’m still going to try to put together a bake for each week. If anything, it’ll get me off the computer and back in the kitchen. Though I plan to bake each week, I probably won’t get the post up on time – I’m clearly already behind – but it’ll be nice to devote some blog space to baking again; it’s been far too long! I think the last time I really focused on my baking was in February while we were in Czechia.
So, online, it seems like I’ve “shed” my identity as a baker, but in real life, it’s as strong as ever; I’m baking something every one to two weeks, but it’s rarely a new recipe, or if it is, I haven’t had the motivation to document it – there have been so many other stories to write for the blog.
But GBBO means I’m back in full swing! Almost. I won’t be trying anything overwhelmingly complicated like entremets or meringues since I still don’t have all my kitchen kit at hand, but I’m aiming to make sure that I give a new recipe a go each week, make everything from scratch, and try new flavors. Going 100% new will be a challenge even if many of the recipes will be simple, but I’m excited to see what this year has in store! So… *drum roll*
Week 1: Cake Week
I couldn’t have asked for a better starting point – cake is easy when supplies are limited, both in terms of equipment and ingredients. You need a mixing bowl, whisk, measuring implements, and a baking pan. And then it’s a handful of basic ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, and butter. The hard part was abandoning the coffee or chocolate-flavored cakes and picking something a little more outside my comfort zone. After a bit of searching, this is what I found: Fresh Ginger and Pear Cake.
Though we haven’t tried any local foods while here in Utah, April has been making us a whole bunch of Filipino dishes for us to try (and we’ve liked every one!). All of them use garlic and onion, and many use ginger. Matthew and April also drink a cup of lemon and ginger tea before bed each night, so I figured I’d feature this ingredient this week. It’s one I rarely use, so I may have gone a bit overboard…
This ginger and pear cake used three tablespoons of fresh grated ginger – that’s a ton! I don’t think I’ve ever used so much in one go before. 😮 So I was a bit worried. It’s a flavor I enjoy in moderation and mostly in savory food. Tim, on the other hand, loves it – he enjoys ginger beer and has been adding extra ground ginger to his lemon and ginger tea. 🙄
BUT it worked out very well. The cake was icing-free, which is how we both prefer our cakes. And because it wasn’t overly sweet, it was more like a coffee cake than a dessert cake, so it was perfect for breakfast. The spice from the ginger and cinnamon (I didn’t have cardamom as the recipe recommended) made it a lovely fall treat.
My biggest complaint, though: too much ginger. When you got a bite with both the pear (I used Bartlett) and the ginger, the flavors balanced wonderfully. The pear, though it had a wonderfully strong flavor, was only pressed into the top of the cake just before baking; this meant that the flavor didn’t carry through every bite, failing to balance the ginger overall. I think this would be an easy fix, though. Dice the pear and stir it into the batter, creating a more even distribution of the fruit and the flavor. I’d still add the slices to the top, though, because I think it looks cool. 😀
And because I was on a ginger kick apparently, I also made a chicken curry (this called for 2 tbsp of fresh grated ginger) with coconut milk and butternut squash. I’ve been looking forward to squash season since March, so when Tim suggested that I take a night for dinner, picking this recipe was a no-brainer! It was soooo good, and the recipe was immediately moved to my “Favorites” folder on Pinterest. I also made a batch of naan to accompany this creamy spicy goodness, and I think that’s the first time I’ve made naan for curry. Funny how things work out. 😅
Happy eating & happy GBBO season!
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