How to Bake Paul Hollywood's Christmas Cake

What do you think about when you think of Paul Hollywood?  Oh stop it, you naughty readers.  If you were behaving yourselves, you might think of baking but more specifically, baking bread.  Certainly, I associate Paul Hollywood with bread baking rather than cake baking.  So I was surprised and delighted when I received a copy of his book 'How to Bake' to review, to see that there were indeed lots of bread recipes but also lots of other bakes too.

How to Bake by Paul Hollywood

Getting started with Bread is a great way to start, it’s a comprehensive guide to baking bread covering everything from different types of flour, through techniques and tools.  I liked the use of step by step pictures as well as written instructions.

Basic Breads covers white and wholemeal loaves in different shapes and variations, soda bread, flat breads, Italian breads  and even crumpets.

Flavoured Breads moves us on to introducing savoury and sweet ingredients into the dough, some lovely recipes for bread sticks, Coriander, olive and onion bread, Bacon and Cheddar loaves, Pecan loaf and Hot Cross Buns.

Sourdough Bread is a real challenge for any baker but Paul takes us through all the steps and makes it sound achievable.  As well as basic sourdough breads, he offers recipes such as Sour olive bread, Muesli and banana sourdough and Lavender honey and toasted almond sourdough.  So many tempting flavours, it makes me really want to give this a go!

Croissants, Danish & Brioche takes us into the realm of sweetened yeasted dough, there is a lot of technique involved in making these sweet breads and they can be time consuming. If you are worried about  technique there is a double page spread of photographs showing how to make the croissant dough, they are clear and easy to follow.

Biscuits, Puddings and Cakes and now we come to the chapter which surprised me, however it’s clear that these recipes are just as important to Paul as the bread.  Sweet and savoury biscuits, strudels, Baklava, crumble,  soufflé, cheesecake, chocolate cake, muffins, brownies, Buche de Noel and Christmas cake.

Tarts and Pies

If you’ve seen the Great British Bake off, you will know that pies are something Paul is passionate about.  In this chapter Paul demystifies pastry making  with recipes and techniques for different types of pastry and recipes for everything from Lemon meringue pie to hot water crust pork pies.

Who is it for?

How to Bake is a book for anyone who wants to bake, whether you want to learn how to make bread for the first time,  to extend your repertoire or challenge yourself to try something new.

Pros and Cons

 

Pros

I loved the step by step photographs and there is also a photo of every recipe.  I like to know what I’m aiming for.   The introductions to each chapter make you feel that you are really getting the benefit of Paul Hollywood’s years of experience

Cons

It’s a big book and quite heavy, but that is a very little ‘con’ and only relevant if you are trying to read it in bed!

Ease of use

The instructions are easy to follow, there is quite a lot to read at the start of each chapter and it’s worth reading this through before diving into the recipes.

 Worth buying?

I would recommend this book, it is well thought out with techniques explained clearly in words and pictures, definitely worth buying.

 As I hadn't yet made my Christmas cake, I decided to try Paul's recipe, the photograph above is from the book.

Christmas Cake

Makes at least 16 slices / prep 1 hour, plus pre-soaking fruit / bake 3–3½ hours
This is a classic, richly fruited Christmas cake – deliciously moist and
substantial. It tastes wonderful just as it is, but of course the addition of
marzipan and snowy white icing make it much more festive and spectacular.
You can either make your own marzipan, or use a good-quality bought
one. The same goes for the icing.
450g sultanas
225g raisins
225g dried apricots, chopped
115g prunes, chopped
55g glacé pineapple
225g glacé cherries, chopped
225g chopped candied peel
115g blanched almonds, toasted and very roughly chopped
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
70ml brandy
225g unsalted butter, softened
200g light muscovado sugar
5 large eggs
280g plain flour

To finish
2 tbsp apricot jam
1 quantity marzipan (see page 255), or a 500g packet ready made marzipan
Icing sugar for dusting
1 quantity royal icing (see page 255), or a 500g packet ready-to-
roll royal icing

1. Combine all the dried and glacé fruit, candied peel and almonds in
a large bowl. Add the orange zest and juice, and the brandy. Mix well,
cover and leave for several hours or overnight.
2. Heat your oven to 150˚C. Line the base and sides of a 20cm round deep
cake tin with a double thickness of baking parchment, cutting it so that
it stands a good 5cm proud of the top of the tin.
3. In a very large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together for
several minutes until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time,
adding a little of the flour with each to prevent the mixture splitting.
Stir in the fruit mixture. Sift the remaining flour over the mixture and
fold in, using a large metal spoon. Spoon the mixture into the prepared
cake tin and level the surface.
4. Bake in the middle of the oven for 3 hours, then check by inserting
a skewer into the centre – if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.
If not, give it a further 15–30 minutes. Leave the cake to cool before
removing it from the tin.
5. When your cake is completely cooled – and ideally after a couple of days
– you can marzipan and ice it. Warm the apricot jam gently in a saucepan
with a splash of water to thin it down, sieve, then brush all over the cake.
6. Roll out 300g of the marzipan to a large circle, about 4mm thick. Using
the cake tin as a guide, cut a round of marzipan to fit the top of the cake
and position it. Roll out the other 200g marzipan with the trimmings
and cut 2 long strips to fit around the side of the cake. Position these,
then smooth the marzipan and mould the edges together.
7. If you are using ready-to-roll icing, roll it out on a surface lightly
dusted with icing sugar to a thickness of about 5mm. Lift it over the
marzipan, smooth down and trim off the excess at the base.
8. If you are using homemade royal icing, smooth it over the cake with
a palette knife. You can leave it smooth or swirl it into peaks with the
back of a spoon or your palette knife, as you choose. Leave to set.
9. Wrap a ribbon around the side of your Christmas cake and finish as you
wish with festive decorations.

Here is my cake, it is much lighter than the one I usually make but it is packed full of fruit.  There seemed to be a lot of mixture, too much for my 20cm tin, so I baked the remaining mixture in a small loaf tin.

The advantage of this was that I was able to taste the cake without cutting into my Christmas cake!  In fact the cake cuts very well as the texture of the cake is quite dense but moist and not over sweet. As an apricot and prune fan, I particularly enjoyed the dried fruits.  I'll be interested to see how the cake matures.

How to Bake by Paul Hollywood is published by Bloomsbury  RRP £20,  Popular On line Retailer £8.86

Thanks to Bloomsbury for the opportunity to review this book