It’s Friday at last and I am totally undecided about what I want to bake today. My mind has been on my recipe book since Wednesday so I am totally unprepared about what to do next. I really want this book finished then I can concentrate on other things. I have so much to sort out on my website and blog but I feel like I am being unorganised in finishing anything which I start to do.
Baking wise today I was going to make a Bakewell Cake as I have company coming over at the weekend. However, time has got away with me so I am going to make it tomorrow instead. For dinner tonight, I am going to make Spaghetti Bolognese (I think) which is one of my favourite comfort foods. The family love it just as much so it will be a winner all round. We haven’t had spaghetti bolognese for quite a long time so I am looking forward to this. The spaghetti bolognese may not happen as two of my children have won awards today at school so the husband may decide to treat them to a McDonalds. 🙂 We will just have to wait and see.
For pudding, I am thinking of using up some nectarines and strawberries to make a Tarte Tatin with them. I will serve it with fresh cream or icecream as a treat for tea. Quite a continental menu don’t you think?
The spaghetti bolognese I make using [amazon_textlink asin=’B00HRXS0UK’ text=’quorn mince’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’f49f4afe-4d03-11e7-b008-573ea6deaff7′] with lots of mushrooms, onions and ketchup added to it. I use quorn mince as I am vegetarian and I find the children will eat the quorn mince if it is flavoured with lots of other ingredients. Even though they know it is quorn mince they never seem to complain about it not being real mince. When I have made this meal using real beef mince for the family they have not enjoyed it as much as with the quorn. I am going to serve the spaghetti bolognese with homemade Garlic Bread which I will let my daughter make later.
For the Bakewell Cake, I am planning on making an almond flavour génoise sponge cake filled with a layer of marzipan and lashings of [amazon_textlink asin=’B00AOLFM6M’ text=’cherry jam’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’1798b10b-4d04-11e7-aba6-8f19095aad00′] decorated with white glacé icing, flaked almonds and glacé cherries. This will be a real treat for the weekend and something different using the bakewell traditional flavours. The layer of [amazon_textlink asin=’B00JJJ2U38′ text=’marzipan’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’2c74f667-4d04-11e7-9941-2da6aa48fd00′] will give an almond kick to the cake as well as something slightly different for the family to enjoy.
For the Tarte Tatin, the fruit will be placed in a baking tin with some syrup, butter and water to help to caramelise and soften the fruit whilst it is in the oven. The pastry for the top will be my sweet pastry using flour, icing sugar and butter. The pastry will be rolled out and placed over the top of the uncooked fruit. The complete dish will be baked for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden. Once baked the Tarte Tatin will be turned out onto a serving plate so that the syrup and fruit are on top of the pastry. This is such an easy dish to make and can easily be made gluten free. It contains very few ingredients so the risk of allergic reactions is minimal. Now I am really hungry but I am going to go and prepare the bolognese sauce and if it isn’t eaten tonight it will be used up tomorrow.
Once this is cooking, I will make the Tarte Tatin and  then get back to finishing this new recipe book. Tonight is going to be a late night as I want to have it finished this weekend. Fingers crossed. I will add some photos later when everything I bake today and tomorrow is finished.