All hail, The Berry. The innuendo has returned; it’s time to ganche your buns.
The long wait between last year’s winner being crowned and this year’s series starting is finally over and we can all bask in the full-frontal cake porn glory that is the Great British Bake Off.
Naturally the tv was set to BBC One HD for all this baked goodness. The move from Two to One not having much impact on the show, save for this hilarious Twitter exchange between the two channels (thank you as always, Buzzfeed).
Goodbye, Great British Bake Off. Have a great time on @BBCOne. Never forget where you came from.
— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) August 5, 2014
Having watched all four previous series of this mouthwatering show - yes, I am that sad/wannabe hipster enough to have been watching before it became cool - I knew fine well that it makes me hungry beyond belief. In a rare bout of organisation I decided the way to remedy this for the five of us that would be watching (#bakeoffparty) was to get home from work sharp and bake a cake.
For some reason grapefruit has come up in discussions repeatedly lately and so despite neither grapefruits or oranges are in season I decided they would make a delicious cake. So without further ado, let me introduce you to The Pamplemousse, which coincidentally is my favourite French word.
The Pamplemousse - a Grapefruit & Orange Cake
The Pamplamousse is an original recipe to The Usual Saucepans, having been borne of a conversation about French words and the return of the Bake Off. This recipe makes one 20cm cake with a glaze. You can butter cream the top or split it in the middle and make a grapefruit marmalade to sandwich it together, but here it was kept simple for time.
Ingredients
210g self raising flour
110g golden caster sugar
100g caster sugar
210g butter
3 large eggs
1 grapefruit
1 orange
2 tbsp icing sugar
Directions
In a large bowl blend together the sugars and butter (it’s much easier if your butter’s been out for a while and has softened) until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the flour in on top and gently fold into the butter mix.
Make a well in the centre of the bowl and crack in your eggs. Whisk the eggs together in this well and then blend in until a batter is formed. Using a microplane grater (or zester) zest both the grapefruit and orange into the bowl. After they are zested (totally a word) juice both, and pour the juices together into a glass.
Pour about 2-3 tablespoons of the juice into the batter and beat with a wooden spoon to get lots of air into it. Pour into a lined loose-bottomed cake tin and bake in a 180 degree C oven for 24-30 minutes, until it is golden and a skewer comes out cleanly.
Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire cooling tray.
Mix the icing sugar into a thin paste using some of the remaining juice and then drizzle liberally over the top.
Serve in doorstop sized wedges with something to drink.
I love GBBO too, always have! I’m not a big fan of Grapefruit on its own, but something about it hot and drizzled on a cake is much more appealing! Who will go this week?!
Who doesn’t? One episode in and we already have favourites! Nor am I, that’s why the orange is there to make sure it doesn’t over power. Definitely to be served in massive slices! Hmm, the programmer guy didn’t have a great week last week, so possibly him?