"The Great British Bake Off Perfect Cakes & Bakes to Make At Home" - Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake for my husband's birthday

Date I made this recipe:  March 4, 2017 for my husband's 60^th birthday

The Great British Bake Off Perfect Cakes & Bakes to Make at Home by Linda Collister, with recipes by Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood and the Bakers of 2016

Published by Love Productions/Hodder & Stoughton

ISBN: 978-1-473-61544-1; © 2016

Purchased at Bibelot, St. Paul

Recipe:  Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake – p. 40-42

Well folks, my darling husband just commenced firing on his 6^th decade which gave me the perfect excuse to make a recipe from this book.  And not just any recipe, reader, but a recipe involving chocolate and chocolate stout (beer) which he considers to be food of the gods.  I cannot argue with that!

Now even though Andy has a mean hand when it comes to making cakes, pastries and pies, particularly pies, I did not buy this book for him because he wouldn't have used it.  Instead, I do what I often do for Christmas and that is to buy a bunch of cookbooks for myself that I label as being from him; he does the same with bicycle parts that he wants and it works like a charm! In this case, although I would have purchased this book anyway, (from "me" to "me"), as soon as I saw the Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake recipe, I knew I would earmark it for his upcoming 60^th birthday because that's the kind of spouse I am!

I've mentioned in previous blogs how much I love The Great British Bake Off, the TV show responsible for cookbooks like these of the same name, and I won't go into a lot of detail here except to say I have updates and folks and fans, they are not necessarily good updates so brace yourselves: the show is leaving the BBC for another network that is not the BBC.  There, I said it.

You may be thinking "Well, so what?" but apparently this decision might just derail the show all together because judge Mary Berry, and hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc decided not to make the move and so are- gasp- out!  Double gasp!  How can this be?  The only one left standing who decided to try out the new network is judge Paul Hollywood. 

I am trying, unsuccessfully, to imagine a show with only Paul as the host.  I loved those three other ladies.  Loved them.  Now what?

Well not only did all of Britain have a collective meltdown but here in the U.S. we are left wondering "what next" as well because the show aired for us here on PBS which often rebroadcasts BBC shows.  So no BBC in Britain likely means no PBS rebroadcast here.

I shall stay as on top of this situ for you as I can.

Meanwhile folks, back to the cookbook and here is where I must take a few moments to critique the cookbook which I now call The Great British Bitch-off.  Why?  Because of the countless challenges I encountered while trying to pull together a simple birthday cake.  A simple chocolate + stout birthday cake.

First, and in case you didn't know, England uses mostly the metric system for measuring things which means that instead of ounces, we're talking grams, instead of fluid ounces, we're talking liters and so on.  And while conversion charts abound (including one in the back of the book but not the front of the book which would have been more helpful), almost none of the measures I needed was on that inconvenient chart which meant I had to weigh them out anyway.  Besides, all the chart did was convert grams to ounces and I do not keep a runny tally of ounces needed in my head:  it's "cups" or bust!

But then to really yank this Yank's chain, some of the ingredients were in teaspoons and tablespoons.  Well fine, then, be that way.  In my opinion, not enough of the ingredients were in teaspoons but I take my wins where I could find them.

Still in all, measuring grams or ounces required a kitchen scale and let me say right now and we shall consider this a new and mandatory rule:  if you don't have a kitchen scale, get one. If you don't want one, this is not the recipe or cookbook for you.  Even then, by the time I finished measuring out the ingredients (both on a scale or by hand), I'd say a good hour had passed and I hadn't even started baking yet.  Major point deductions for that, folks.  Major.

Then there was the "guess what this ingredient is called in the U.S." game that I had to play with a couple of the ingredients listed in this recipe such as "light muscovado sugar" (light brown sugar), or "icing sugar," which is confectioners' sugar.

In fact, small story here about confectioner's sugar.  I Googled "icing sugar" and finally found a video of a British baker mixing regular sugar and cornstarch together in a Cuisinart.  So then I Googled "sugar and cornstarch" and up poppef "confectioners' sugar."  Ah ha!  So I doubled checked C&H's (sugar producer) website but couldn't find confirmation that icing sugar and confectioners' sugar were one in the same.  And the customer service person was no help.  When I asked her if "icing sugar" was the same as "confectioners' sugar" she said "I have no idea."

Really?  I mean, you work for a sugar company, surely you'd know this.  So I put on my best attorney voice and then said "Well, can you at least confirm (or deny – your choice) that confectioners' sugar is a mixture of regular sugar and cornstarch?"  "Yes, I can confirm that."

Now really, was that hard?

Okay then, so once I resolved those two issues, I was almost ready to go.  Still to be resolved:  how to make "self-rising" flour at home because I sure as heck wasn't going out to buy a large bag that I would never use.  This one was easy:  mix 1 cup of flour with 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder with ¼ teaspoon salt. Piece of cake, 'scuse the pun.  Except folks, it wasn't exactly a piece of cake because I needed more than 1 cup self-rising flour.  In fact, I needed 250g or 9 ounces.  Well, I was all out of patience with today's math problems so what my husband suggested and what I did, was to make up another cup of the mixture then measure out the 9 ounces I needed on my kitchen scale and then toss the rest.  I hate wasting ingredients but at this point, I just needed to get this cake done already.

The last thing I needed to do was to convert the measurements for the British baking pans and that was somewhat easy:  two 20.5cm pans are equal to two 8" round cake pans.  I know this because I have a tape measure in my kitchen with inches on one side and those ghastly centimeters on the other.  Not that I keep it around for projects like this but since I did and it was handy, it saved me yet another trip to my computer.

Please note that between tax, license, Google searches and measurements, the total elapsed time was now about two hours.  Good thing I decided to give this recipe a dry run the night before I served it.  Also?  This was one of the easier recipes in this book!

Speaking of which, please do make a note that the subtitle of this cook is "Perfect Cakes & Bakes To Make At Home," and no offense to the show, but are they kidding me? Let's take a look at our chapters and then we can talk:

• Cakes ("Greek Lemon-Yoghurt Loaf Cake;" "Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake")
• Biscuits & Teatime Treats ("Mexican Wedding Cookies;" "Posh Granola Bars")
• Breads ("Sprouted Wheat Bread;" "Cobbled Chocolate Loaf")
• Desserts & Puddings ("Chocolate-Hazelnut Rochers;" "Grand Strawberry Mouse" with homemade ladyfingers, no less.)
• Sweet Pastry & Patisserie ("Bitter Chocolate and Pear Tartlets;" "Gateau St-Honore," and even though "gateau" is the French word for "cake," you should run away from recipes like this because they are involved.  Very involved.)
• Savoury Bakes ("Roast Vegetable and Cashew Pie;" "Duck and Pistachio Pate En Croute."  Let that last recipe just sink in, okay?)

Some translation is required and so please make a note that:

• Biscuits = cookies
• Puddings = other desserts and not necessarily [Jell-O]pudding as we know it.
• Savoury, or as we say in America "savory," are things like crackers or canapés.

Far be it from the Brits to call a spade a "spade!"

Anyway, in my opinion, the degree of difficulty rises as we move from chapter to chapter.  The first one – "Cakes" – is relatively harmless except for the time spent measuring and "translating" ingredients.  But by the time we hit "Desserts & Puddings," my baking poker hand was getting weaker, by "Sweet Pastry & Patisserie," I was  bluffing badly, and by "Savoury Bakes," many of which require the use of phyllo dough, I folded!  Now then, will the person who makes "Duck and Pistachio Pate En Croute" at home on a regular basis please contact me ASAP?  Thank you.

And so now back to our recipe, already in progress!  Once I got everything measured, putting it all together didn't take long but cleaning up afterwards did.  I don't know about you, but I find working with melted chocolate to be a challenge because the cocoa "butter" in the chocolate itself makes it greasy and greasy items take some real elbow grease to get clean.  And since I had to melt chocolate a few times over for this endeavor, I was constantly wiping down melted chocolate from pans and bowls and spatulas and walls since it splattered here and there. 

So I tell you what, if it wasn't for my husband's birthday and his love of the two primary ingredients, I might have been tempted to chuck this book into the nearest dust bin (British-speak for "waste basket") but a birthday comes but once a year and a 60^th birthday is special.  Plus, and this is the big thing, the cake was delicious.  The cake itself was a little dry but only a very little, probably because I baked it the full 25 minutes but that's because it was still soupy at 22 minutes (baking time was 20-25 minutes).  Fair warning then: somewhere between 23 and 24, but not 25 minutes, is where you want to land.  Had judge Paul Hollywood sampled it, he would have likely said "It's good, but the sponge – which he pronounced "spooonge" is a little dry," so thank goodness for the frosting which was the real star of the show.

I have previously mentioned in this blog that I am all about the frosting as the cake doesn't interest me much at all, and this frosting was delicious.  That "icing sugar" (!) was just the ticket and I could have eaten the entire bowl and skipped putting it on the cake all together except Andy had some guy friends over and we needed to be able to serve a frosted cake to our 15 or so guests. Said guests then inhaled every single crumb of this cake, every single piece and so my plan for leftover frosting (and oh sure, the cake, too) went out the window.  Damn and blast!

Now then, I have one last piece of unfinished business to discuss and it's the alcohol in this cake.  For those of you with concerns, let me just talk out loud about a couple of things:  You might (emphasis on "might") be able to substitute a chocolate syrup mix for the chocolate stout if you wish; consider the "Hot Bitter Chocolate Sauce" recipe on p. 20 of the book.  You might also consider using a slurry (I just love that word) of chocolate syrup, malt powder (used in the recipe) and milk instead of the alcohol.  Or, you can think of it this way:  the recipe calls for 150ml of chocolate stout (or porter) which is the equivalent of just over 5 ounces (8 ounces is a cup).  Andy cut this cake into 15 slices and so it you divide out that 5 ounces into 15 slices, you basically have about an eye dropper full of chocolate stout per piece which is to say not much of anything.  That said, I am not here to encourage you to cook with alcohol if you're uncomfortable, but I think it was there to just enhance the flavor and add to the volume without intending to give anyone a hangover.

All in all, my husband had a great 60^th birthday and this cake helped a lot.  He was a little nervous about inviting "the guys" over since sometimes men can be reticent about going to a birthday party, but a good number of them came over and enjoyed the cake and other savoury/savory items, and it was a lot of fun.  I'm still on the fence about the level of fun I experienced making the cake but that is to be expected as the bakers in this cookbook were all (2016) contestants on the show and they could out-bake me with their hands tied behind their backs.  In the end, I'll take the fact that I didn't go nuts, didn't scream at anybody and didn't burn down the house as my own version of a "win" on The Great British Bake Off – "At Home with Ann and Andy!" 

Bitter Chocolate Stout Cake – serves 10-12 – Ann's Note:  it helps to have a kitchen scale

For the sponge

40 g cocoa powder

1 tablespoon malted-milk drink powder (use "original," not diet or flavoured versions)

150 ml chocolate milk stout OR porter

150g unsalted butter, softened

120g caster sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a superfine sugar)

120g light muscovado sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a light brown sugar)

2 medium eggs, at room temperature, beaten to mix

4 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature

250g self-raising flour (Ann's Note:  *see below for how to make this at home)

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (Ann's Note:  a/k/a Baking Soda)

Good pinch of fine sea salt

*The standard "recipe" for making self-rising flour is to add 1 ½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt to 1 cup All Purpose Flour.  Since you will need more than that for the recipe, make a double batch of the recipe then weigh it and subtract out what you don't need. 

For the chocolate filling and frosting

85g dark chocolate (about 70% chocolate solids)

1 ½ tablespoons malted-milk drink powder ("original")

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons boiling water

115g unsalted butter, softened (Ann's Note:  one stick of butter is 113g so you will need a little more from another stick)

25g light muscovado sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a light brown sugar)

75g icing sugar (Ann's Note:  a/k/a Confectioner's sugar)

Good pinch of sea salt flakes, or to taste

To finish

15g dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa), grated

Pans

Ann's Note: You'll need two 20.5cm round, deep sandwich tins, greased with butter and base-lined.  Translation:  two 8" round cake pans, greased then lined with parchment paper. I have no idea why round cake pans are called "sandwich tins," but mine is not to question why, mine is to Google search to figure it out!

Heat the coven to 350F.  Measure the cocoa and malted milk powders into a small pan, add the milk stout and set over low heat.  Whisk constantly with a small hand wire whisk until the mixture is smooth and comes to the boil – take care it doesn't catch on the base of the pan.  Remove from the heat and leave until cooled to room temperature.

Meanwhile, put the softened butter into a mixing bowl, or the bowl of  free-standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, until creamy and mayonnaise-like.  Scrape down the side of the bowl, then beta in the caster sugar.  As soon as it is thoroughly amalgamated, beat in the muscovado (light brown sugar) sugar (press out any lumps first).  Once combined, scrape down the side of the bowl again, then beta for 2 minutes to make a soft, light creamed mixture.

Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition and scraping down the side of the bowl from time to time.  Beat in the buttermilk a tablespoon at a time, adding a tablespoon of the weighed flour with the last 2 additions.  Sift the remaining flour with the bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and salt into the bowl.  Add the cooled cocoa mixture.  Mix in using the whisk on its lowest speed, stopping as soon as the mixture is very smooth.

Divide the mixture equally between the 2 sandwich tins and spread evenly.  Bake in the heated oven for 20-25 minutes until the sponges are well risen and springy when gently pressed in the center. (Ann's Note:  20 minutes is too short.  Twenty two minutes was also too short. Twenty five minutes was too long.  Try for 23-24 and then stop.  Immediately.)  Remove from the oven and run a round-bladed knife around the inside of each tin to loosen the sponge, then turn it out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.

When sponges have cooled to room temperature, make the chocolate mixture for the filing and frosting.  Gently melt the chocolate then leave to cool until needed.  Put the malted-milk powder and cocoa powder into a small heatproof bowl, add the boiling water and stir to make a smooth paste.  Leave to cool.  (Ann's Note:  this didn't really make a paste as it was more like a thick syrup.  No matter, it worked.)

Beat the butter in a mixing bowl until very creamy using a wooden spoon or hand-held electric whisk, then beat in the muscovado sugar (press out any lumps first).  Add the cooled melted chocolate and beat well, then beat in the cooled cocoa liquid.  Sift the icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) into the bowl and beat, slowly at first, until the mixture is very smooth and light in texture.  Sprinkle over the salt and stir in.

Now set one sponge, crust-side down, on a serving plate.  Spread over half the chocolate mixture.  Set the other sponge on top, crust-side up.  Spread and swirl the rest of the chocolate over the surface.  Grate the dark chocolate on top – or decorate with chocolate curls shaved off with a vegetable peeler.  Leave the frosting to firm up for at least 2 hours before cutting the cake.  Store in an airtight container and eat within 4 days.

Ann's Final Note:  I didn't have time to let the frosting firm up but it was just fine and met my strict frosting requirements, thank you very much.  Also, intriguing as it is to know that this cake lasts 4 days, I don't think it lasted for four minutes once Andy started cutting it. Of course, it helps to have 15 people helping to eat it but still, this was one tasty cake.  It looked like hell but I was not trying for bakery-competition worthy so there you go. 

"Country Cuisine;" "The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains;" "The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking" - for Queen Elizabeth II's 90th Birthday!

Dates I made these recipes:  April 21 – April 27, 2016 – Queen Elizabeth's 90^th Birthday

Country Cuisine by Elizabeth Kent

Published by:  Sidgwick & Jackson – London

© 1980

Recipe:  Carrot Vichyssoise – p. 117 – from Sharrow Bay (hotel) in Ullswater, Cumbria:  Chef:  Francis Coulson; Proprietors:  Francis Coulson and Brian Sack.

The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains – Edited by Michael Smith

Published by:  Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc. New York

© 1977

Purchased at an estate sale

Recipe:  Louisa Trotter's Cheese Straws – p. 69-70

The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking by Linda Collister.   Includes recipes by Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood

Published by:  BBC Books

ISBN: 978-1-849-90483-4

Purchased at Barnes and Noble

Recipe:  Paul's Chocolate Volcanoes – p. 310

Right then.  Let me start off by saying that I hope "HM" (Her Majesty) appreciates the efforts I went through to produce some delicious delights befitting HM and her 90^th birthday because folks, finding and making these recipes was a downright horrible exercise, what what!

Let's begin with a few points of culinary interest:  1) In 1994, my husband, Andy, and I went to England and considered ourselves most fortunate to have eaten fairly decent food while there.  This was at a time when the Brits were just getting the hang of edible cuisine.  But that said 2) most of their food is, I'm sorry to say, rubbish and I spent more time for this blog post eliminating food I wouldn't eat on a bet (like ""Smoked Mackerel Hot Pots"—oh me no think so!) than what I would eat.

Then 3) I eliminated recipes that called for hard-to-find ingredients (i.e. native to Great Britain but not here) or recipes that just took too damned long to make.  So there went half of the three book's contents right there.

And then there was this problem:  4) Some books like Country Cuisine had so many usable recipes that I wanted to "cheat" and make a bunch of stuff from that book and that book alone but that would break my own rules of one per cookbooks so I couldn't go down that rabbit hole.  Then other books like The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains was just bereft of anything usable or – dare I say – edible, and I had to work hard to find a recipe – any recipe – that would work.  Best I could do was Cheese Straws and I thought they would pair well with the soup so there you go.  And finally there was dessert which seemed like it would be easy except I had to eliminate anything made with yeast (due to previous efforts at making a doorstop), phyllo dough (I hate working with it) or anything requiring 2,000 or so steps before I could shove the thing in the oven.

So there was that.  And then, and it has to be said, I had to deal with measurements and converting measurements and that was no fun at all.  Not at all.  England uses grams for measures which is why you absolutely need a scale to do some of this stuff.  In fact, the very same day that I made this recipe, my friend, Star Tribune columnist, cookbook author and master baker, Kim Ode, wrote a column for the paper outlining essential kitchen equipment for amateur bakers as well as one for advanced and I am chuffed to say that although I don't bake a lot, I had all but one item from both lists.  As I commented on her Facebook page, I love my kitchen scale and marvel that I ever went without one.

And as a reminder, all of this was to honor "HM" whom I adore and who gets mad props for making it to age 90 (and 63 years on the throne) while looking fabulous to boot.  And all the dishes I made her paid homage to her in some way, shape or form.  "HM" is fluent in French, thus the vichyssoise, Brits love their crackers ("biscuits") and toasts at tea times (cheese straws) and "HM" loves chocolate so hooray!  And with the exception of the cheese straws, all of these turned out to be pretty darned smashing! (Details to follow.)

And now a word about the books:

Country Cuisine is a compilation of recipes from country hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts and it is "delightful" as the Brits would say.  I thought it especially appropriate that the author's name is Elizabeth Kent as Elizabeth II is related to the Duke of Kent; they are first cousins.  Most of the recipes in this book were sounded good and were pretty easy to make while others, as noted, sounded horrible.

The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains is based on a TV show – The Duchess of Duke Street – that aired on the BBC from 1975 to 1976.  The show spotlights Louisa Leyton Trotter a/k/a "The Duchess" who worked her way up from being a servant to a cook to being a Duke Street hotel proprietress.  I didn't watch the series but heard about it (it was Emmy-winning) and so there you have it.  This cookbook gave me the most trouble as most of the recipes just weren't "all that."  Again, I reference dishes like "Creamed Veal Kidneys" and "Kippers with Marmalade."  Ghastly.  The "biscuits" I made were okay but that was mostly my fault – I think.  The recipe said to add the egg mixture to the flour mixture to form a paste but the paste didn't form like it should.  I suspect more liquid was necessary but didn't know how much so left it alone.  I also think the dough sat too long in the fridge but that was my fault.

The last cookbook, The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking, got me back on track and thank goodness for that.  Say what we will about British cooking, baked goods – both savory [savoury if you are British) and sweet saved the day.  Baking doesn't usually involve icky ingredients although savory bakes can be dicey. 

Now if you're not familiar with the BBC/PBS show, The Great British Bake Off, acquaint yourself with it ASAP by watching it on PBS or YouTube. I'll wait.  In Britain, this show is several seasons ahead of where we are in America but I don't care because the show is fantastic!

The premise of this show is that several bakers, most of them baking at master or near-master levels, compete to win the show's grand prize.  Each episode has three baking challenges:  the signature challenges i.e. recipes they are known for; the technical challenge where they are given basic instructions for the challenge of the day and the showstopper where they have to make spectacular items like 7-tiered cakes that look good and taste good too.  Each challenge has winners and losers and then at the end of each episode, someone is cut and sent home.

Each challenge is judged by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (yes, that's his name), who are master bakers and whose recipes are included in this cookbook.  And each show is hosted by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc.  Mel is an absolute stitch to watch and you will likely "luff" her.

The thing I "luff" about this show besides Mel is that the contestants are so absolutely polite with each other it's ridiculous.  And so British.  Even though they're in a competition they rally around each other each and every episode and it's touching.  Compare this to some of their American "counterpart" shows where every single day in that kitchen is a thrown down of some sort, sometimes involving knives, sometimes not.  "Uncivilized" is likely what the Brits would say with a good "sniff, sniff" in that way they have.

And I also love the judges and marvel at their own skill of being able to ascertain when someone's "bake" is just not quite on point.  Plus they're funny although Mary is much more quiet compared to Paul.

And with a last name of "Hollywood," it should be no surprise that Paul is the more outgoing.  And out of all the incredible edibles out of this cookbook, supplied by the bakers and the judges, I decided on his Volcano Cakes.  They were easy to make and seeing as how HM loves chocolate, this is as close as I could get to a birthday cake in her honor.

And with that, let's have a "Hip, Hip, Hooray" for HM and then off we go to the kitchen!

Carrot Vichyssoise – serves 8 – from County Cuisine

2 potatoes

4-5 carrots

2 onions

2 leeks

Ham bone or 2-3 rashers of bacon (Ann's Note:  thin slices of bacon)

2 bay leaves

2 ½ pints chicken stock

1 dessertspoon sugar

Salt and pepper

½ pint single cream (Ann's Note:  The Brits have "single cream" and "double cream" and best I can tell, half and half is probably the closest although I used regular cream without any problems."

Carrot cut in fine strips to garnish

Peel the potatoes, carrots and onions, then chop into small pieces.  Trim and shred the leeks.  Put all the vegetables into a large saucepan with the ham bone or chopped bacon, bay leaves and stock. Cover and simmer over low heat until the vegetables are tender.  Remove the bay leaves and ham bone and liquidize until smooth (or put through a sieve).  Add the sugar, then season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Blend in the cream, the slowly reheat (taking care not to let it boil) or chill thoroughly.  Just before serving (hot or cold), garnish with fine strips of carrot.

Louisa Trotter's Cheese Straws – serving size not given – from The Duchess of Duke Street Entertains

 5 ounces plain flour (Ann's Note:  plain flour is all-purpose flour)

4 ounces unsalted butter

2 egg yolks

2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Good pinch of salt (about ¼ teaspoon)

Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cold water

Mix yolks, lemon juice and water together.  Rub fat into flour until sand-like texture is arrived at.  Toss in grated Parmesan cheese.  Season lightly, tossing well in.  Make well, pour in the liquids, mix quickly and form deftly into a paste.  Leave for 1 hour in a cold place.  (Ann's Note:  My mixture did not form a paste and I suspect it was because there was not quite enough liquid in the mix but I followed the directions given so....)

Roll out dough ¼-inch thick and then cut into 2-inch wide strips.  Place these onto a buttered baking sheet, mark out the strips into ¼ to ½ inch sticks.

Dredge with more grated Parmesan cheese if the budget permits!  Bake at 400 for 7 to 8 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.

Remove with the aid of a palette knife to a cooling tray.  Divide when quite cool.  Store in airtight tin.

Ann's Notes:  Because the dough did not form into a paste, the rest of the instructions were difficult to follow.  I did my best to roll out the dough into a ¼-inch piece but failed and gave up trying to cut the dough into strips and sticks and just sort of threw the mess onto a baking sheet and hoped for the best.

The result was not half bad in the taste department but horribly awful in the looks department.  And I baked them for about 10 minutes as 7-8 didn't cut it.  If I had time I would make these again to see if I got different results but I didn't so there you have it.

Paul's Chocolate Volcanoes (Signature Bake) – makes 6 – from The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking

Unsalted butter and cocoa powder for the moulds

165g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces

165g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3 medium eggs

3 medium egg yolks

85g caster sugar (a/k/a "Baker's sugar," "Superfine," or "Fast-melting" sugar)

2 tablespoons plain flour

6 small pudding moulds

Grease the pudding moulds with butter and dust the inside with cocoa powder.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Gently melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  (Ann's Note:  or use a double boiler).  Remove the bowl from the pan and stir until the chocolate mixture is smooth.

Combine the eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar in a bowl.  Using an electric mixer, whisk together for several minutes until thick, pale, and mousse-like in consistency.  Carefully fold in the chocolate mixture, then fold in the flour, trying not to knock any air out of the mix.

Divide the chocolate mix equally among the 6 prepared moulds.  Place in the fridge and chill until firm. (You can make the puddings up to 24 hours in advance and leave them in the fridge until you are ready to cook them.)

Heat your oven to 400F.  Place the moulds on a baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes* until the puddings are risen but not cracked.  Ann's Note:  at 8 minutes*, the dough was raw so I added 5 more minutes to the timer and they were almost done.  Five more minutes got me closer but still not quite there so I added 5 more and after a total of 23 minutes, they were perfect.  I don't see how on earth they would be done in 8 minutes unless he used the tiniest "pudding" moulds on the planet.  I used small soufflé molds and still had to bake them for quite some time.

Also, I've had similar "volcano" cakes in Hawaii at Roy's and theirs differed from these because they need 45 minutes to bake and they flowed chocolate "lava" when cut open.  These do not and from the looks of the photo, they were not supposed to.  Instead, we got a lovely moist center and that was good enough for us.  Whether they were up to Paul Hollywood's or even "HM's" standards is another story for another day.