Week two of the Great British Bake off was Biscuit week! I love biscuits, so was really looking forward to seeing what the bakers were going to rustle up for the three challenges!
For the signature; they made chocolate covered biscuit bars. This was very challenging for some of the bakers, especially when there were mousses and fillings that needed time to set! Jamie had the most trouble with his not releasing from the moulds in one piece, but we saw the bakers rally round and help where they could. This is one of the reasons why I love the bake off so much..though it’s a competition, they always help each other when they can.
For the Technical, they made fig rolls. I’ve never been a fan of these..there’s something about them I don’t like…give me a digestive or any other biscuit over these any day!
For the Showstopper round, they made 3D biscuit sculptures and were urged to use the dough more like a clay rather than stacking into shapes.
After watching this episode, I opted to go for the Signature bake again this week. I LOVED the sound of Michelle’s Bakewell Bars and they looked amazing using the midi Buche mould! I picked up one of these moulds from Amazon with the intention of making my own Twinkies, but it’s really great for using with chocolate (I have a few ideas how I could use this mould for other sweet treats!)
I did, however, lack the ingredients to make Michelle’s bars and didn’t have time to buy the ingredients from the shops due to having a cake order to complete as well as other jobs that needed doing. So I had a look through my pantry and fridge to see what I could come up with and opted to going for a banoffee pie style bar.
I wanted to achieve a bar that used a digestive biscuit base and crumb, a layer of caramel and a banana flavour cream all encased in white chocolate with yellow chocolate painted decoration and finished with pretty sprinkles!
I used a midi buche mould that has 9 holes to make these, so the following recipe makes 9 of these yummy little bars.
To make these you will need:
Ingredients:
For the chocolate coating and decoration:
450g white chocolate
Black and yellow edible art paint by Sweet Sticks or gel food colouring mixed with a little clear alcohol such as vodka.
Yellow gel food colouring to add to the remaining white chocolate to make a contrasting paint to decorate the tops.
A teaspoon of Trex
Sprinkles (I used yellow super sours from Cake Angels and the Wizard mix sprinkletti from Scrumptious Sprinkles)
1 Crushed plain Digestive biscuit
For the filling:
1 small can of Carnation Caramel
300ml Double Cream
4 Tablespoons Sugar and Crumbs Banana Split icing sugar
1 crushed plain Digestive biscuit
For the biscuit base I used 9 plain Disgestive biscuits cut into rectangles.
Method:
1. Melt the white chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave in 20 second intervals or over a pan of simmering water.
2. Use a silicone pastry brush to coat the midi buche moulds in white chocolate (I poured the chocolate in and spread up the sides to cover)
3. Place the mould in the freezer to set. Meanwhile, crush a Digestive biscuit and set aside. Then make the cream filling by whipping the double cream and Banana Split icing sugar until stiff peaks form and just past softly whipped (you want to be able to pipe it.)
4. Take the mould with the set chocolate out of the freezer and sprinkle the crushed Digestive biscuit crumbs into each chocolate case.
5. Place the banana cream into a piping bag and pipe on top of the biscuit crumbs (You want to leave space for the rest of the layers).
6. Use a knife to flatten the cream down and spread into the corners.
7. Use a small pallet knife to spread the caramel over the cream to cover.
8. Place a rectangle of digestive biscuit on top of the layer of caramel.
9. Pour white chocolate over the top of each biscuit and use a small pallet knife to spread over the tops to fill. You should have a nice smooth layer on top of each.
10. Place in the freezer to set for about half an hour to a 1 hour. Once set, gently bend the mould to loosen up the edges then peel and push each bar individually to release from the mould.
11. Pop the edible art paint or food colouring into a paint pallet and add a little clear alcohol. Then dip a toothbrush (One you use for food only! Lol) and spray the colouring onto the surface of the chocolate bars to achieve a speckled effect.
12. To make the yellow chocolate paint, pop the remaining white chocolate back in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water to melt. Add a little yellow food colouring until you reach the desired shade then add the Trex to thin it out again (It will start to thicken when you add the colouring so the Trex vegetable shortening thins the chocolate to a nice silky smooth consistency again).
13. Use a small, flat paintbrush to pick up the yellow chocolate and paint along the length of each bar.
14. Scatter crushed Digestive biscuits over the chocolate paint, followed by the sprinkles.
I love the contrast of the purple and black sprinkles against the yellow!
Here is a sliced one showing the layers inside (I do love a good cross section of a chocolate bar!)
I love the contemporary, artistic style of these bars. It’s almost like something Katherine Sabbath would create in terms of decoration!
Have you baked anything inspired by the Bake Off? Have you got a favourite baker in the tent that you want to win? Let me know in the comments below!
Happy Baking!
Thirzah xoxo
