Bake to Impress Baking Made Easy

I'm Lorraine Pascale. I'm a chef and baking is my passion.

When I quit modelling, I tried all sorts of things like being a car mechanic, an interior designer,

and then I found cooking and that was it.

Since then, I've worked in restaurants, I run my own business

and I'm going to share some chef secrets with you.

For me, baking is anything that cooks in the oven.

Sweet and savoury, classic dishes, delicious new ideas and baking

you really thought you'd never be able to do, but you can.

Baking is not always fast, but it's always easy.

OK, so you're out to impress.

With baking, you can do it with small things or big things,

but with me, either way, it's going to be easy.

So how about this? A savoury twist on a French classic,

a stunning tomato and basil tarte tatin made with, believe it or not,

home-made puff pastry.

And then we're off to France

for inspiration for a chorizo and thyme fougasse.

It looks great. Tastes fabulous. It's got it all.

And then I'm conjuring up honeycomb.

It's my kitchen magic and fantastic for zhuzhing up all manner of baked goodies.

And voila. Last but not least,

a three-tier red velvet celebration cake.

And that's big!

I'm going to make a tarte tatin, which is a French upside down tart

and you can make them sweet or savoury, but I'm going to make mine savoury.

And it's going to be absolutely divine.

Can I have a pound of tomatoes, please?

I'll get a bunch of mint as well.

So I'm going to do a tomato version.

Just wait and see how good it turns out.

Lovely.

See you then, thanks.

Right, the hob on really high heat.

Put the tomatoes in there.

And then really good extra virgin olive oil.

About two tablespoons.

A good pinch of sea salt.

A few twists of black pepper.

And a good squidge of honey to make it nice and sweet.

And breadcrumbs.

So this only needs about two minutes in the pan

and you don't need to turn them over,

because I'm going to put some pastry over the top

and put the whole thing in the oven.

Most of the time, I just buy ready made pastry.

But now and again, I make it myself, and I actually find it really rather rewarding.

So, puff. Let me give you the scoop on how I made it.

First, you make a dough with 245 grams of plain flour.

Add half a teaspoon of salt and 40 grams of chilled butter cut into cubes.

The secret with most pastry is to keep everything very cold.

Rub the butter into the flour, and when the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs,

make a well in the centre and pour in 130 mil of cold water.

Mix it all together with a knife.

Bring the dough together with your hands and squidge it into a ball

and then wrap it in cling film and chill it in the fridge for 25 minutes.

Now, step two is all about adding the puff.

Get your chilled dough and roll it out a little

and then score a large cross in the middle,

cutting no more than halfway through the bottom.

Lift all four corners from the middle of the cross and then pull them up and out.

Put 210 grams of butter, softened this time, in the centre of the cross

and then fold all four corners back into the centre

so they're overlapping and so the butter is all nicely enclosed.

I know, I know. This recipe is very long winded, but the end is near!

Step three, rolling and folding.

Roll the pastry out away from you on a well-floured surface

to a rectangle roughly three times as long as it is wide.

Take the short edge nearest to you and fold it up a third,

then take the top edge and fold it down a third.

Turn the dough 90 degrees and then repeat the rolling and folding.

Then give it one more roll and fold.

Chill it down one more time.

Then roll it into the shape of a tarte tatin tin and chill it down again.

So, that's puff pastry.

Now for the topping. I'll just turn my tomatoes off and I've got my puff circle here.

I'll just put it on top of the tomatoes

and ease it gently down the sides

so that it's covering the tomatoes completely, and they're all encased.

I'll use my brush actually to push it down.

The pan is still a bit hot.

There, perfect.

And then egg wash.

One egg whisked up. Nothing fancy.

It just gives it a really good shine.

Perfect.

So this is going to go into the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, and then it will be done.

Oh, look at that.

See how much that has puffed and you can see the little layers there.

That's just how it's supposed to look.

Now watch this!

It's got to be turned upside down so I put a plate over the top,

and I always do it over the sink just in case there's lots of tomato juice.

Flip it upside down.

Oh, look at that.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Right, now the garnish.

I always feel this needs nothing more than some fresh basil and mint.

Right. I'm taking this straight to the table.

The moment that that tarte tatin is turned out is just incredible.

Do you know there are so many great moments in baking that are French inspired?

To Paris.

When I come to Paris and I think of French bread, I immediately think baguettes,

but of course, there are so many other wonderful French breads,

and luckily a boulangerie on every corner.

Wow.

All these beautiful breads you've got.

Baguettes here, little ones there.

This beautiful seeded plait.

There's a big round loaf there, a traditional one from Lyon called a pain couronne.

There's bread with nuts and raisins. Bread with olives.

Lovely pain viennois, which is a milk bread,

and the fougasse, and I love the rye bread with the cross on.

And I think I'm going to have... the fougasse.

Beautiful. Really delicious.

The fougasse is a traditional rustic French loaf, and I'm going to make mine with chorizo and thyme.

500 grams of strong white bread flour.

And then one packet of yeast, fast action dried as usual, and two teaspoons of salt.

Essential for the flavour.

And then 300 mils of water.

Give it a really good stir.

You want to make sure that all the water and flour is combined.

Put your hand in. Really get all those dry bits from underneath.

So that's on to the mixer for five minutes.

If you want to do it by hand, it'll probably take about ten minutes.

To see that it's kneaded properly, just fold it back on itself.

Take a floured finger and prod it and it will go back pretty much all the way.

So that's ready.

I need lots of flour down

and, as I said, I'm going to put lovely thyme in this.

You can use some chopped rosemary.

So you get it all incorporated.

You do that a few times and then we've got this chorizo.

It's a Spanish sausage and it's cured so it's quite firm.

It has an amazing smell of paprika and garlic.

So I'll put 25 grams of the chorizo inside the dough

and I'll leave the other 25 to sprinkle over the top before it goes in the oven.

Fold it over again on itself so it's all incorporated

and turn it over.

Shape it into a ball.

Fougasse is a fern-shaped bread so I'm going to get it into that shape.

I like to use a rolling pin. It makes things a bit easier

and if it's getting really, really stretchy, just keep going.

Just be firm with it.

Just think of those big leaves, those big tropical leaves.

It's going to look like that. Cut it down the centre

and then three slashes on each side.

So really stretch out the slits because when you leave it to rise, it will double in size,

and the slits might close up a bit and you may lose that lovely shape.

So, onto the baking tray.

Just slide it straight on.

So I always prefer to use cling film to cover my bread when I leave it to rise

and loads of oil on it so the cling doesn't stick.

Perfect. Over the top.

OK, that's it.

I'm going to leave it to rise.

OK, cool.

Wow. Look at that.

I left it for 30 minutes and it's practically doubled in size, that's exactly what you want.

I always leave mine to rise by a warmed oven.

I need to brush this with milk and this will give it a lovely soft crust when it comes out of the oven.

And then the extra chorizo.

I love doing this because you get those extra crunchy bits when it comes out of the oven.

OK. Right, ice cubes. I always put ice cubes

at the bottom of the oven, it will create a lovely steamy environment.

This will make sure the bread rises before the crust sets so you get a lovely big puffy rise,

and I'm going to bake it for 30 to 35 minutes at 200 degrees.

So once it's baked, I hang it up to cool.

Just like they do in France.

I love that.

Mmm.

So my friend has requested my honeycomb recipe.

I'm just going to send it to her now.

I know that honeycomb isn't strictly baking,

but it does add a lot of oomph to lots of baked goods.

Anyway, more of that in a minute.

Let me show you how I make it.

Honeycomb is really easy. Just put 80 grams of butter in a pan.

Stir in 160 grams of caster sugar with 80 grams of golden syrup and then heat it gently.

And then once the sugar has nicely dissolved, turn up the heat and boil it rapidly,

but don't stir it or it will go into clumps,

and keep it boiling for a good five minutes until the mixture goes wonderful golden honeycomb colour.

Now the exciting bit!

Add two teaspoons of bicarb of soda and before your very eyes,

it will just foam up into this wonderful spongy honeycomb.

And then pour it out of the pan and it will set.

And then once it's cool, just break it up into shards. And that's it.

So how does honeycomb play its part in baking?

Well, I use it in so many recipes to vamp them up.

I scatter it over brownies before they go into the oven

and it kind of melts into these golden pools on top.

Or I put shards of it into softly whipped cream or mascarpone

before piling it into a tart case and topping it with fruit.

And it is totally delicious blitzed to a dust and sprinkled

over the butter cream in a cake, in the middle and, of course, on top.

And that's honeycomb.

Very versatile and very, very tasty.

So when people find out that I'm a baker, they often want to discuss their cake issues with me.

My cake is too dry. My cake won't rise.

My cake sinks in the middle.

So, baking cakes can go wrong, but it's quite easy to get it right.

These are my baking rules.

This is chefy, but I can't advise enough, but it's best that you get

everything ready before you start to cook.

Weigh and measure everything accurately.

Small mistakes can make a huge difference.

And don't under or over mix.

The recipe should guide you.

It's vital to use the correct sized tin

and fill the cake pan no more than half full to allow it to rise.

Don't forget to preheat the oven,

because when your batter is made, it needs to go into the oven pronto

and bake it in the middle of the oven

because the top is too hot and the bottom is too cold.

Then resist, if you can,

opening the oven during the first two-thirds of the cooking process.

Check it's done by inserting a skewer.

If it comes out clean, it's cooked.

So those are my cake rules.

Now for the big one - a celebration cake.

A chef friend of mine jokes that the three scariest words in the baking dictionary are three-tiered cake.

But I've made cakes for weddings, christenings and birthdays, and really it's not that difficult.

So soon I'll be revealing all by baking a beautiful red velvet cake, but first a quick shopping trip.

I just need a few things.

For an incredible short cut to totally professional results, ready made icing in white and red.

Sturdy boards to build the towering cake on, and dowelling rods for a bit of culinary DIY.

Right, must dash.

I've got cakes to bake!

I've done the six inch and I've done the 12 inch

and I'm going to start on the nine inch and let me show you how easy it is.

One of the first questions I always ask myself when making a celebration cake is what to put inside.

You know, I always use vanilla or chocolate, but this time I fancy

doing something a bit different, so I'm making a red velvet cake and it's shockingly red.

So I'm going to start off with 350 grams of butter and sugar.

And I'll give that a nice beat.

So now I need three eggs.

I'll give that a beat.

And half the flour.

People are so afraid of making cakes.

They're worried their cake won't rise or it will collapse in the middle,

but if you use my method of adding the eggs and flour in two lots,

you'll get a foolproof cake every time.

That's half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

A nice pinch of salt

and the rest of the flour.

15 grams of baking powder.

And you need 50 grams of cocoa powder.

And then give it a good mix.

OK. I'm happy with that.

So now to make it red.

I need 50 mil of this red food colouring.

And then on goes the mixer again.

Give it another good mix.

Look at that. It's such a beautiful colour.

Gorgeous, rich red.

OK. I'm happy with that.

Right. Into the tin.

I've lined a tin here with baking parchment.

Look at that colour.

And it's quite a liquid mixture, so don't worry about levelling it too much.

Just make sure you get all of it in the bowl.

And this needs to go into the oven for an hour and 15 minutes at 180 degrees.

I made a whole load of butter cream for all three cakes and this is what's left for the middle cake.

Now let me tell you how I made it.

Put 700 grams of softened butter and 1.8 kilos of icing sugar into the mixer

and cream them together until they're light and fluffy.

Then add in 200 grams of cream cheese, a few drops of vanilla extract, and that's it.

Once the cake is ready, leave it to cool for five minutes in the tin.

If you see, the bottom is much flatter than the top, so I'm going to use the bottom as the top.

A big dollop of butter cream to stick it down.

There we are, and first, I need to cut the cake in half.

So take a serrated knife.

Keep moving the cake around like that and it doesn't have to be absolutely perfect.

Take off that layer.

Look at that gorgeous colour.

I love it.

And now a big blob of butter cream again in the middle.

Make sure this butter cream is lovely and soft.

Don't keep it in the fridge.

Take it out maybe half an hour or so before you use it.

Now I'll put the top layer on.

There. Lovely.

And then I like to put a big dollop on top and just smooth it around.

OK. Another dollop for the side.

Hold the pallet knife vertical.

I do find this bizarrely relaxing.

OK, so this is going to go into the fridge to get nice and hard

and then I'll do that one more time, and it will be ready for the sugar paste.

So I've got this sugar paste.

Sugar paste is a kind of covering for cakes. You can get it in all the supermarkets

and I knead it for a bit to soften it up.

And then roll it out.

Just keep going. Try and make it as circular as possible.

Make it easier.

Yeah, that's what I want.

So this had has had two layers of butter cream

and it's given it a nice structure to put the sugar paste on top.

Fold it over

and then just lay the sugar paste over the top of the cake.

And then just use my hands to get it in.

I always use the top of my hand like a tool almost

to just go around the top and give a lovely smooth finish.

I'll just push it in there.

We've got to get it really fitted to the sides of the cake,

and then get my pallet knife and cut all the way around.

Just cut the excess off all the way around like that.

Get rid that of bit.

And then these little cake smoothers.

Just rub them in icing sugar...

..and then all the way round again to give a really professional finish.

There.

It's totally transformed the cake.

So, more sugar paste.

You can get it in different colours.

OK, so I'm rolling it out.

A little bit thinner than last time.

People spend hours and hours making these sugar flowers,

but you don't have to do that, you can use cutters.

You get them in different shapes, dolls and teddy bears and all sorts.

And then stick them on.

I use edible glue and you know, these simple dots

just totally transform the cake.

And when you're using sugar paste,

it does take a couple of goes to get it right,

but if you do make mistakes, you can just cover them up with the dots.

OK.

I am very happy with that.

Right. So I've got all the cakes in the back and I'm off to my friend Miles' house.

He's a brilliant photographer and I'm going to put it together there

and he's going to take a picture of the cake.

Now I know it sounds really obvious, but when you're making three-tier cakes,

it's really important to assemble the cake in situ.

I can't tell you how many stories I've heard of people trying to

transport these three-tiered cakes around and then just ending up with a mass of crumbs and icing.

-Hello.

-Good morning. How are you?

-Good. How are you doing?

-Good.

OK. Now I'm going to pile two more cakes on top, and to stop them from sinking,

I'm going to need these. They're dowelling rods.

So just find the centre and then push it all the way down.

You see it just stands proud by about two millimetres.

I'll just put one here

and I'll just pop them in like that.

And now I'll get the next layer.

And I'll pop this on top.

Lovely.

Here's the baby one.

And then on with the ribbon.

I like to fold it over so it's nice and pretty,

even at the back.

Now, it's ready for its close-up.

Just come up a little bit.

-It is really looking good.

-We're getting the edges of the cake.

The contrast is nice.

Nice. Are you happy?

-Very.

-Done deal!

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