Gifts and Pressies: Class Treats
Hello again!! The summer has finally arrived and I'm starting this while looking out at the beautiful clear blue sky at 7.43am. What better to write about on this happy, sunny morning then the bakes I make as gifts and pressies for family, friends and students.
Lets start with my students.
The month of May is always a busy one in work when all our students hard work throughout the year culminates in their Grade and Vocational examinations in Ballet and Modern Dance. For some of my senior modern students, it has become a bit of a tradition for me to bring a treat as congratulations on completing their exams. The best and easiest thing to make for this, I find, is a traybake. Traybake's tend to be pretty straightforward and go a long way when you slice them up into pieces. I got 24 slices out of this traybake, enough for all my senior students with some left over for Sunday Dinner desert!
This year I chose a Chocolate and Praline Traybake from The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers. This is made of a beautiful chocolate sponge filled with blanched, toasted hazelnuts topped with melted dark chocolate and chunks of hazelnut praline. The outcome is an incredibly moist cake with that wonderful Nutella-y taste from the pieces of hazelnut. I really really want one now...why did I have to give them all away!! They also lasted really well. I made them on a Thursday evening for the Friday classes and the left overs kept in a cake tin until Sunday evening. When they were all devoured with some vanilla ice cream.
The sponge:
First things first, I started by toasting all the hazelnuts for the sponge and topping (300g) by spreading them out on a baking tray and putting them in the oven for about 10-15 mins until they were lightly browned. I left them aside to cool before shelling 200g of them by placing them in a napkin and rubbed them until the shells fell off. The shelled hazelnuts then went into a food processor (I borrowed my mam's fancy one after I broke our cheap blender tying to use it as a food processor...my bad) and ground them into fairly small chunks but not too fine.
The light and fluffy sponge is made by whisking egg whites to soft peaks and sifting in plain flour, pinch of salt, cocoa powder, icing sugar, light brown Muscovado sugar. Adding some melted butter and the ground hazelnuts and folding together gently until fully combined. Pour it into a greased and lined baking dish and pop in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 18-20 mins until just firm to the touch.
The result looked like this.
The Praline:
Next up I made the praline by putting 100g caster sugar and the remaining 100g hazelnuts (shells still on) into a medium sized saucepan and heating on low until the sugar melts and then turning up to medium high until it turns a rich golden brown. Usually I would melt sugar first, making the caramel before adding the hazelnuts which makes it a little easier to keep an eye on the colour of the caramel (if, like me, you don't have a sugar thermometer...next years Christmas present I think!). By putting it all in together, I found it took ages for the sugar to melt and by the time it had, it had already turned quite dark brown. Not wanting to burn it, I only left it on another minute, swirling the pan to cover the hazelnuts completely, before quickly pouring it onto an oiled (sunflower oil) baking sheet and letting it set for about 30 mins.
When the praline had cooled and set completely, I chopped it into small chunks and set aside for the topping at the end.
The Decoration:
Last but not least, it was time to decorate. I melted some dark chocolate with some butter and then let cool, stirring every few minutes until it became thick (I left it too long and had to heat it up again to make it spread properly) and then spread it on top of the cooled nutty sponge. Working quickly, before the chocolate set, I covered the top with the chopped up praline and then chopped it up into 24 squares.
After that, all that was left was to pack them up. I had bought some cellophane wrap in the Art and Hobby shop and tied it up like little sweet wrappers with some brown string from my gift wrap supplies box (yes, I have a box filled with strings and ribbons ready to decorate anything at the drop of a hat!!! I'm that person).
There you go. They were a hit with my students and we had a little pre-class picnic before dancing it all off again.
Last years treat came in the form of Rocky Road Brownies from Lilly Higgins Make Bake Love. A deliciously gooey and messy brownie that's super easy to make and went down a storm with all my students. You make the brownie base first by melting dark chocolate over a pan of simmering water (as usual). While that's happening beat together icing sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Beat in plain flour until just combined and then gradually pour in the melted butter and mix to combine. Don't over mix. Pour into a baking tin and bake for 30 mins at 170 degrees celsius.
For the topping, in a big bowl mix together chopped up dark or milk chocolate (I think I used a mix of both), toasted nuts, broken up digestive biscuits and mini marshmallows. Scatter over the baked brownie and return to the oven for a few mins until the chocolate and marshmallow has started to melt a little and glue everything together.
Once cooled, chop into squares using an oiled knife and serve. Yum!
Happy students, happy teacher.
Success!
