And so to the final challenge.
On first glance it looks a little simple if I’m completely honest. It’s not as if scones and victoria sponges are the most difficult things to cook, I’ve been cooking them since I was a child. The real challenge of this final task is all about timings, and I’m going to do my best to keep to the 3 hour time allocated to the bakers, and be as organised as possible.

Sticky fingers.
The first task was the make the Jam, as this needed time to cool and set so that it would hold in the sponges. Keeping to a similar recipe I used of the Swedish princess raspberry jam, it was just a case of making sure there were some nice pieces of fruit, but also keeping it relatively smooth. To bigger lumps meant it wouldn’t cool down faster enough, so a potato masher was called for near the end. When it came to cooling the jam, obviously I couldn’t put it in the fridge so instead I poured it into a large pyrex bowl to give it more surface area, than being stuck in a small hot pan.

The next time sensitive item of the task was the pastry for the lemon tarts. This pastry used lots of butter and icing sugar making it a very smooth and delicate dough and one that is pretty soft when it is first made. Its a little simpler that your regular pate sucre but it was basically the same principle, and very similar to the method behind the scone dough too.

Rub the flour, butter and the sugar together until it resembles breadcrumbs, which I normally find soothing, but not on the time schedule I’m working to! Next step was to add the liquid, in this case the eggs and a bit of water, and bring it altogether until you have a smooth ball of dough, all the while trying not to handle it too much! Then put it in the fridge to harden up, while I proceed to make more mass in kitchen.

Multi-task baking.
Whilst all the above was in progress the oven was warming up for the sponges. I usually revert to the all in one method when making a sponge just for ease and general laziness, but this time I’m going to do it properly. However, I will stop short of using a traditional wooden spoon, and use the electric hand mix, I am after all on a deadline! Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then adding in the eggs one at a time, while keeping an eye on the jam that is boiling away! Sift in the flour (creating more mess) and fold in until it is well combined. Using an old fashioned ice cream scoop, divide the mix into the prepared cake tin. I then smoothed them over, so they are all even, as they are meant to be mini sponges not muffins. As you can see I don’t have the fancy push up tin, instead I’m using a deep muffin tin. Hopefully Mary Berry would understand, that my cupboard simply cannot fit another baking tin!

Its baking scone crazy.
As I said before scones are pretty easy, even a child can make them (which I did). It the same principle as the pastry only this time, after getting to the breadcrumb stage you want add the liquid and mix it in with a knife or a fork, but not touching it too much with your hands.

When a slightly sticky dough is formed you need to tip it out onto a floured surface and pat it down with your hands, not a rolling pin. Using a smaller cutter than I would usually use I proceeded to cut out 12 of these little pretties, placed the on the baking tray and waiting for the sponges to cook before being able to bake them. One important thing to mention when cutting the scones with a cutter, is not to twist the cutter. If you do, you risk the scones rising evenly. The same can be said for using an egg wash glaze, as we saw in a previous episode with the bread rolls.

Pastry panic, and no pics!
Now that almost half the challenge was done it was time to approach the rest of the lemon tarts. Again, this was pretty simple (whisk the eggs and add everything else), so I was wondering where the difficulty was in the challenge. When it came to the pastry it soon became clear. The rolling out was fine, although I would have preferred it to be more firmer. The amount of pastry that didn’t seem enough for 12 tarts so I had to make them pretty thin, which started to cause problems along with the delicacy of the dough. This all mean that there were some cases that need patching up even after going back in the fridge to harden, before blind baking. Note to self, never try to make pastry in a hot kitchen, it will only end in a hot and bothered mess!

Cooling chaos.
Once the sponges were out of the oven the scones went in, the pastry rolled, tins lined, and then the scones had to come out. It was then time for a little rearranging on my one cooling tray to fit everything on, while also having to put in the pastry cases to bake! While the cases where in the oven I had the chocolate melting in a bowl over hot water, and started to whisk the cream for the filling of the sponges. By this time I think I had about an hour left!

Pastry panic part 2.
With the timer beeping maniacally at me, which I have decided to call it Chetna, I quickly removed the baking beans from the cases. Some of the beans then promptly spilled over the kitchen floor, narrowly missing my already flour covered feet. Underneath the beans my already delicate pastry showed more imperfections. Some of them had cracked and others had melted where they were thinnest. Gritting my teeth, I turned down the temperature of the oven I put them back in for a few minutes more while I cut the sponges. When the minutes were up, I poured in the filling and observed how in some of them it simply ran out of ran out of the case and around the edge of the tin. Great, that’s going to be fun to get out!

Pipe and write.
The end end now in sight, although a lot more flustered than I would of liked, I started on the finishing touches. The Scones were simple just, plate up and arrange. The sponges, needed a generous helping of the jam, which was now at room temperature, ideally it would have been cooled more, but I only had about 30minutes left. On top of the jam needed to go the whipped cream, which, especially in the heat of the kitchen, I was careful not to over whip. Sandwich together with the top part of the sponge and then dust with sieved icing sugar (more mess) and present one another one of my cake stands.

Pastry panic part 3, this time with piping.
I would like to have said I saved the best to last, but that isn’t true. Unless you count the best disaster of the three bakes. As I didn’t have twelve of the same tins, I chose to bake 6 in fluted edge, lose bottomed tins, and the rest in the 6 round tins I had in the cupboard. Both of them caused issues, all because of the thin pastry! Some came out in one piece, the rest, well it looked like they’d been for a bumpy ride in a car, while sliding around a tray! Choosing to carry one, with the last 5minutes, I hastily piped over the chocolate, and wrote in my best french.

Simple tasks but a test of timing and work surface!
Well I have to admit I was glad when this one was over. It’s just a shame I didn’t feel as pleased with it as I have done the previous challenges, especially as it was the last one. Simple is one thing but don’t be fooled by timings. One can never have enough time with baking, also there is, and never will be enough work surface my kitchen!