Episode 6 Rachel Allen: Bake!

I am passionate about baking,

whether I'm making fairy cakes for children's parties

or indulgent treats for an afternoon tea.

It's always such a pleasure to bake them myself,

and nothing compares with that divine homemade taste.

Today, on Bake!, I show you how to make

a wonderfully rich baked cheesecake with blueberries.

I visit virtuoso pastry chef Gerhard Jenne,

who shows me the spellbinding secrets behind his magic cakes.

And my cookery school students get to grips with choux pastry

to make eclairs, the ultimate teatime treat.

I'm going make a baked cheesecake with blueberries.

And a baked cheesecake is a wonderfully indulgent dessert.

And I love the way the blueberries cut through the rich creaminess

of the cream cheese filling and the buttery, biscuity base.

So to make the biscuity base, I need 175 grams of digestive biscuits

which have been crushed up, quite finely.

With 75 grams of melted butter.

So, bring that together.

And then pop it into the base

of a 24cm or 25cm round, cake tin.

I've buttered the sides of the cake tin and lined the base with

a round of greaseproof or parchment paper.

There. OK, so flatten it out.

Just to cover the surface of the tin.

Make sure it is covered in all areas.

So, once it's nice and even all over the base,

then pop in the blueberries. These could be raspberries instead.

Sometimes I even leave out the fruit

and just use chocolate digestives instead.

So make sure the blueberries are covering

pretty much in a single layer at the base.

Put the tin, with the biscuity base and the fruit, in the fridge.

While that's chilling in the fridge, I can make the cream cheese filling.

For this I need 450 grams of cream cheese.

This is going to feed a lot of people,

don't worry about the amount of cream cheese.

Just one little slice is enough.

And a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Like that.

150 grams of golden caster sugar or plain caster sugar.

And four eggs.

One...

..two...

..three...

..and four.

And all I need to do now is whisk it all up until it's light and creamy.

OK.

That's it. So take the biscuit base out of the fridge.

And pour the cream cheese filling

over the blueberries sitting on the biscuit base.

Some of the blueberries sometimes

kind of pop up to the top while it's cooking.

Most of them stay at the bottom.

So pop it into the oven at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes

until it's lovely and pale golden on top and just set in the centre.

Once the baked cheesecake with blueberries has completely cooled -

and for this it does need to cool to room temperature,

otherwise it's just a little bit too delicate,

take the sides off the tin.

And I'm going to actually flip it out because I want to remove

the cake tin base and also the base of greaseproof paper.

If you're too nervous for this,

if you just want to put it straight onto a cake stand to serve it,

then I recommend not putting a greaseproof paper base.

But, if you're feeling a bit brave, you want to flip it.

Dust it with some icing sugar to prevent it sticking to the plate.

That you do not want.

Take a plate.

And just quite bravely flip it out.

Take off the tin.

Great.

And the paper.

Take your cake stand or your pretty plate to serve it on,

and just flip it out.

Go. Yay!

Dust it with a little bit more icing sugar if you like.

Just to pretty it up a bit.

Cut a slice.

Mmm.

Look at that gorgeous, creamy consistency.

Yum.

The lovely juicy blueberries.

This could even be made 24 hours in advance.

Why not add a few extra blueberries?

And there we are. Baked cheesecake with blueberries.

Today, I show the cookery school students

how to make gorgeously sweet and chocolaty eclairs.

Who's made choux pastry here before? Never. Have any of you...?

Never heard of choux pastry.

Fantastic, you've never heard of it, that's great.

That's just what we need. You're a choux virgin.

Yes. So, we've got butter, three ounces of butter, 75 grams.

We've got 150 mils, quarter pint of water.

Cold water, not warm.

100 grams or 3 and a half ounces of strong flour.

Which is like a baker's flour.

And three eggs. And this is for the base.

Light your hobs under the butter.

Pour your water into your butter in your saucepan.

The butter is cut up into little bits purposely,

cos if you have just a big, big block of butter,

the water will boil before the butter's melted.

Some of the water will evaporate. But we need all the water in here.

So as soon as this comes to the boil,

and it needs to be at a proper rolling boil,

we're going to fire in the flour that we have, with a pinch of salt.

OK? Take it off the heat for one second while you're stirring it in.

And then once the flour has been added in,

cook it on the heat until it just gets a tiny bit furry.

OK, mine has actually furred to the bottom of the saucepan.

I'm now kind of scraping it.

I'm going to take mine off the heat.

OK? And just allow it to sit and cool ever so slightly

before I add in the eggs.

So, at this stage now, all that we need to do

before finishing the choux pastry is to add in eggs.

But this is the hard bit, because we're going to beat them in by hand.

You can do this in a machine.

But I want you to do it the proper way.

I'm being, I'm being a choux purist today.

So I'm going to add in the first two eggs one by one.

And then the third egg, I'm actually going to whisk.

Because I'm going to add the third egg, that's the last egg, gradually,

just in case I don't need it all. That's the third egg. That's fine.

The saucepan is still warm, but it doesn't feel burning hot

if you put your finger on the inside, OK?

Because if it does, the egg is going to scramble.

So, crack the first egg in and just beat it.

It's quite hard work because the pomade, which is the butter,

the water and the flour, is quite stiff, and the egg is runny,

so it's quite hard to actually get them to merge, you know, quite well,

but if you just keep, keep kind of stirring and beating,

and it will come together.

So the first egg's in. Just look at this,

it's kind of just richer in colour cos of the egg yolk,

but it's still quite lumpy, quite rough-looking.

Take the spoon out every so often and just kind of...

And then beat it up, yeah, that's nearly there.

Just give it another good beat and then you're there.

You can go ahead and add the second egg.

The lovely thing about this pastry

is that a little bit goes really, really far.

This is gonna make about 20 or 30 eclairs. Really? Wow!

Yeah, because they - more, actually, - than double in size

when you pipe them out.

OK, so once you've got the second egg in and the dough or the pomade

is kind of quite even, what I would do is, I would take the third egg,

start to add just a little bit of the egg. I might need it all.

Sometimes you even need more than the third egg.

Can you see the way it's dropping off the spoon?

But it's still quite lumpy.

I want it to drop off a little bit more smoothly than that

until it's almost more velvety.

OK. Can you feel now how it almost feels more like a thick custard?

It feels easier.

Hold it up on the spoon.

And let it drop off. Can you see how it comes off in almost a curtain

and it's quite velvety and smooth and shiny? Yes.

Yes, and you see that really glossy,

it just looks like velvet, beautiful.

Not quite there. I think it is.

I'm reluctant to add too much egg because if we add too much egg,

they'll rise beautifully in the oven,

but as soon as you take them out of the oven, they fall, they collapse.

OK. Fantastic. So all the choux pastry is great at this stage.

You have all got in front of you a piping bag and a nozzle.

So, take...

your choux pastry. And...

empty it in to the piping bag.

And I'm using my hand, can you see?

I'm using my hand to scrape it off the spoon.

OK, so get every single bit of choux pastry into the piping bag.

OK. Do you want to start?

Just pipe a few eclairs, and this is really easy.

A wet knife makes it a bit easier. That's good, Lucy.

You should be pushing down the choux pastry all the time as you use it.

And then twist the piping bag a little bit.

Katie!

Is this gonna be a swan? Yes, I'm gonna try. Oh, beautiful!

If you do, you could actually make this into quite an oval shape.

Like the body? Like the body. OK.

Do you want to brush them gently with a little bit of beaten egg?

So these are going into an oven

at 220 degrees Centigrade for ten minutes.

Then we turn the oven down to 200.

Cook them for about 20 to 25 minutes until they're golden brown

and they should feel firm all over.

But five minutes before the end of cooking,

we need to just make a little hole,

and that little hole is then going to allow the steam to escape,

which means they won't be too soggy, they won't collapse.

Cook them for the last five minutes and then we take them out and allow

them to cool. That hole will be quite handy,

cos that's where we're going to pipe in the sweetened cream.

Later on, the students learn my technique for filling their eclairs

with creme chantilly and top them with a gorgeous chocolate icing.

Coming up, I visit the German pastry chef Gerhard Jenne,

famous for bright and cheeky cake designs.

And my cookery school students finish off their eclairs

with a wonderful creme chantilly filling and chocolate icing.

Baking is for many people including myself

a very homely and comforting thing to do.

But I'd like you to meet someone who has a very fun and cheeky take on baking.

Gerhard. Hello. Hi.

Konditor & Cook, where did the name come from?

Konditor means pastry chef, it's the German word for pastry chef.

And the cook is the savoury chef.

I trained in Germany as a pastry chef

and then I learned the savoury cooking in England.

So you are a Konditor and a cook. I am indeed, yes.

And here we have one of our sort of signature cakes.

It's amazing. Yes. Looks like you've just thrown a blanket over it.

So yeah, I mean, we like to have a bit of fun with the...

decorating of cakes. I can see that over here!

One of the first things I did sort of like when I first started

was the traditional gingerbread man, but we gave them a bit of character.

We gave them big cute smiles, put some of them like in underpants and things like that.

I love it! Very nice.

Sometimes they drop their underpants too, a few naughty ones.

Cos we have got some other cakes, which we call the magic cakes.

You're very famous for these. That's right.

When you get given one of those, that is the magic.

Shall we have a look at some of those?

Oh, great colours! Yes, they're very eye-catching

and this is the seven days of... how to get your way in the Konditor & Cook way.

You start with the sexy babe and the lucky cherries, the hot guy.

Or the other way round. "Hot guy". Oh, my goodness! "Kiss me".

SHE GIGGLES

Who are those modelled on?

My grandmother.

We'll have a bit of fun making some of these. Looking forward to it.

So, here we are on the bridge of the Star Ship Enterprise,

the cake decorating wonderland.

Glitters and all sorts of things.

We've got the royal icing. I mean, that's what we use to pipe.

We have the basic white and then we just...

We add like the colours to it.

Turquoise, amazing.

It's like a painter's palate. Incredible! Yeah.

We use like traditional marzipan as well,

which we shape sometimes into things.

Lips or hearts. Let's take the red one and make a heart.

And then if you want, you know, you can...

Oh. ..dip it in a bit of glitter and you've got a glittery heart.

How sweet is that?

For you, Rachel. Oh, thank you!

Such fun. These are really great to have, aren't they, for children's birthday parties?

Absolutely, yes. Oh, sweet. And like for Easter

we would use little eggs.

And edible glitter! Edible glitter, yes... It's incredible.

..which you can get on mail order. I've got a few gingerbread men. OK.

And I thought maybe, you know, shall I do a little sailor?

Oh, I see, you're a bit of expert at this. Sweet!

SHE LAUGHS

So here we are. That's great.

That easy.

Oh, this is quite thick, or am I just not squeezing it enough?

Erm, I actually use two hands when I pipe. Ah! OK.

Just to steady my, um... piping bag a little bit.

And maybe some little high heels?

And that's the main thing, just to sort of be creative.

What, to wear heels with your bikini?

That as well, but like just to be creative... Yeah.

And have a bit of fun.

Yeah, you can have such fun. Excellent. Well done.

You won't be hiring me any time soon.

I think it's a good start.

Shall I show you how to do the letters, for example? Yeah!

Well, shall we write your name? That's a good one, isn't it? Yeah.

This is how we do the larger letters.

Oh, my goodness, it's so even. And then you dip this into glitter?

Yeah, do you wanna have a go at dipping it in? Yeah. I'd love to dip it.

So while the icing is still a bit... Yes. ..wet, soft.

Yeah, not too deep or the whole cake will be covered.

OK. And that's it. And then you pipe inside it.

You can pipe and if you want, you know, to use different effects,

you can use colours. Right. Or do the outline.

We can do each letter different.

You can use things like the dragees... Yeah? ..to make things.

For example, a frog. Gorgeous sugared almonds.

Shall I show you a frog? Yeah.

This is getting out of hand, isn't it? It's great.

There we go, let's give the frog some eyes. Blue-eyed frog.

A blue-eyed frog.

Sort of. That's fantastic, I love it.

I take quite a lot of inspiration from things underwater,

cos they're so wonderful and colourful.

So I could show you maybe how to make an octopus. Yes!

First, we see the tentacles of the octopus.

And then...

we'll use one of the dragees as the body.

Brilliant. And make it a bit human, give him some lips as well.

Lips!

And perhaps... Oh, oh, oh! Would you look at that?

..sprinkle just a tiny bit of... It's so cute. Glitter.

..glitter on it. I can imagine any little girl

would be so happy to have these at her birthday party.

They're very artistic. It helps if you are artistic.

Yeah. But you can just kind of go wild and just squeeze different shapes.

Even if we just do something simple like that, maybe just different lines on a cake.

Yeah, lovely. Actually I've got an idea.

Flags is a very good one. That's what I was just thinking.

Sorry, not very straight lines.

It's, er... kind of your technique, if I may say so.

You hold the writing like that or you're quite low down...

Yeah. ..whereas when I do it, it's more of a laying down.

Oh, yes. So when you shake... That's a very good tip.

You get a better shape. Yeah.

St Patrick's Day, here we come. Wow! Look at that.

Very good, excellent.

The Y-fronts there.

A G-string!

There we are.

They're such fun. I think they're great. I love them.

A completely different side to baking, rather than just a simple cake. This is really fun.

Sometimes it's better if you take inspiration from the card shop,

cos I think you can do something much more contemporary and fun.

That's a very good point, or I suppose go to your local... underwear shop. Absolutely, yes!

Now, it's back to cookery school, and it's time to make

the chocolate icing and the creme chantilly filling.

OK, while the eclairs are cooling,

I'm going to make the chocolate icing.

You all have 100 grams of icing sugar, one tablespoon

of cocoa powder and I need a little bit of boiling water as well.

So all the cocoa powder and the icing sugar...

Mix it all together first of all.

Pour the boiling water maybe just into the spoon first, just to

make sure you're not going to put too much in.

It's so easy to add too much.

So I'm just going to add it in really gradually.

Yay! That's it.

Great. This is what I'm looking for.

I've got a couple of piping bags

filled with what's called chantilly cream.

Chantilly cream is whipped cream which has then got some icing sugar

and some vanilla extract folded into it.

Take your eclair with the little gap in there

that you've made with the skewer.

And kind of push it in. You can be a little bit kind of

rough and determined like that.

And just squeeze.

So, to ice these,

you've got a warm, wet knife, this is important.

Spread the icing on top.

The warm, wet knife that's just been dipped into water is important,

it spreads a lot more nicely and easily.

So mix the cocoa and the icing sugar together.

Janene, this is dropping off the spoon just a tiny bit too easily.

Just put an extra tablespoon or two of icing sugar in.

Lovely. OK.

The neck is just about...

Wow! Check that out.

Give 'em a sprinkle.

A bit more swan-like. Yeah.

OK, everyone, let's bring our eclairs outside. Have a little taste.

Pick them up, let's bring them out.

Ah!

Oh, hello. You are not getting any eclairs, Missy.

OK...

Mmmm.

All nice, creamy inside, I see. I never thought I could make

a chocolate eclair, so that's brilliant. Now you can.

Mmm.

People are gonna expect it though now.

THEY LAUGH

I've really, really enjoyed the whole experience.

And it's sort of inspired me to keep going with baking. Janene and I

were talking earlier about it and we're gonna go out and buy some more

equipment and then send each other photos when we've baked new stuff.

Say, look at this!

You need all the cream inside, don't you, actually to lighten it?

So could you use something else instead of the cream?

Do you know what is amazing? Vanilla ice cream

or chocolate ice cream, slightly softened. Piped into the centre.

Put the eclairs or the profiteroles into the freezer

and when you're ready to serve them, you know, couple of days or hours later,

take them out, put them on a plate and drizzle them with a very hot chocolate sauce.

So well done everyone, that was absolutely brilliant. Thank you.

I'm very proud of my students!

THEY LAUGH

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