The **Now Eating** Thread

Merlin5 said:
Hmm, that's a pity. Did you sift the flour? Also, I separated the egg whites, whisked them to firm peaks and folded them in last. I took that tip from Joy of Baking as it apparently makes the sponge lighter. Not sure how much actual difference it made but it might be worth trying next time and something I could have mentioned earlier.

When you say the pineapples and caramel sunk into the cake, do you mean it physically looked more sunken than in my pics? As far as the general texture, mine was very moist and soft, but I would also liken it to a syrup sponge pudding. I don't know if yours was like that? I don't think it's meant to be light in the same way as say a Victoria sponge type cake, it's definitely wetter and a bit more dense, but so yummy.

You could try reducing the amount of pineapple juice and caramel glaze, that might help keep it drier and lighter.
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Yes sifted the dry ingredients Merlin and when I say my pineapples sunk into the cake, they literally where not on top of the cake when I turned it out and like yours in the pic. My whole cake was flat. And yes, I’d describe it definitely as a sponge syrup pudding, it was very heavy and thick. Your sponge actually looked quite light where mine was particularly dense and wet.
 
TonyTurbo78 said:
Yes sifted the dry ingredients Merlin and when I say my pineapples sunk into the cake, they literally where not on top of the cake when I turned it out and like yours in the pic. My whole cake was flat. And yes, I’d describe it definitely as a sponge syrup pudding, it was very heavy and thick. Your sponge actually looked quite light where mine was particularly dense and wet.
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I can't think what went wrong. How is your oven temperature, have you tested it for accuracy? It's possible that your 160c might actually be lower and giving you an under baked cake. Also, is your baking powder fresh and active?
 
jpaul said:
I must be dense - how did the pineapple sink ? it is on the base when you cook it .. it's upside down.
the pineapple was at room temp when you assembled it
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He means that when the baking pan was flipped and the cake was turned out onto a plate i.e, inverted where the caramel glaze and pineapple would now be at the top, that the pineapple then sunk down into the batter since the batter was too soft and wet and presumably hadn't firmed up enough.
 
TonyTurbo78 said:
@Merlin5 those are things I could definitely check. I will have another go next week, it's right up my street this one. :D thanks for the advice.
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Definitely give it another shot. You obviously followed everything correctly, just needs a few things checking. I've had a few disasters, baking is like that! :D

Checklist to try :


Check baking powder is ok.
Allow caramel glaze to cool for about 20 minutes before arranging pineapple slices on it.
Make sure the butter and sugar for the cake batter is really really really well creamed for a few minutes before adding eggs.
Try combining only egg yolks one at a time with the butter and sugar.
Whip egg whites separately to firm peaks and very gently fold those in by hand at the end.
Check your oven is working efficiently, that's extremely important.
I bought this oven thermometer and it's very accurate, it shows if my oven is reaching the temperature I set it to and it always matches my dial setting. It takes a few minutes for mine to reach full temperature.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0021AEAIK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good luck, I want to see pics when it turns out beautiful :)
 
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Hmmm I only gave the caramel glaze around 4 or 5 minutes to cool before putting in the pineapple chunks. Maybe it was still a bit liquid like, so when I poured in the cake mix it wasn't set enough and everything mixed together. I'll take a pic of my bake of shame lol

https://flic.kr/p/2gfHGbd

I'm a pretty decent cook, but baking is something I can never get right. My cakes never rise and are always heavy and overdone around the edges. I'm determined to become better though, maybe I need some evening baking lessons or something.

And thanks for explaining to jpaul Merlin, I'm not good with words/writing.
 
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Tony, that looks way better than you'd described. Sponge looks fine to me. Nothing really too wrong with it at all. Only thing noticeable is as you mentioned, slightly sunken pineapple. Depth wise it's fine, doesn't look too flat to me. If you look at the video, hers is also quite low profile and flatter than mine. In fact I was aiming for flatter.

Regarding the cooling of the caramel, I'm not really sure if letting it cool for longer than 5 minutes is necessarily the answer, but it might well be. It can't do any harm leaving it to cool longer because it'll all melt during baking. But yes, there's a good possibility that the batter and the caramel had mixed together a bit and then the batter had risen around the pineapple making it look sunk.

After I poured my caramel in, I just put it aside while I made the batter which took me about 20 minutes by which time the caramel had cooled quite a lot.

As far as dense and heavy, I don't know. If it's not your oven temperature or baking powder, and assuming you tested the batter was fully cooked by a cocktail stick coming out clean, then maybe it's one of those cakes you'll always find a bit heavy. To be honest, I regard it more as a dessert than a cake.

Regarding overdone edges, I've a great tip for that. Baking belts! If you soak kitchen towels in water and encase in foil and wrap around the cake tins, you'll get perfectly fine edges. Check out this video.

 
Bought some Gregg's sausage and bean melts from Iceland, only £1 per box, really nice.

Also got some steak bakes and 4 sausage rolls for tomorrow.
 
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Realised I hadn't actually been out for a proper dinner since before my revision for end of year exams started so decided to finally try Gusto last night with the other half. And for once I actually remembered to take photos!

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The other halfs starter was the calamari, actually nice to see calamari with actual chunks as apposed to the rings which are more batter than squid!

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My starter, which turns out was a very large starter of pasta, Rigatoni Arriabiata with roast chicken. Was good its just arribiata so nothing special.

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Other halfs main, Chicken and fondant potato with pancetta, peas and lettuce. I've got to say this was quite the dish. The potato was amazing and I did envy her choice a little.

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My main, Griffino (Chicken, pepperoni, red chili, roasted red onion) Pizza I don't tend to get pizza when eating out as they always seem to butcher it and never get the ratio of sauce, cheese and toppings right so you can only ever taste one of the three things. This however was pretty damn good and from my memory one of if not the best pizza I have ever eaten out but then again it doesn't have a great deal going up against it.

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Other half's dessert, Bombolini. Sweet dough balls with Chantilly cream and biscoff dip. She loved them, the dip and cream had good flavours but they dough balls tasted and had the texture of what I imagine refried day old pier doughnuts would be like.

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My dessert, Chocolate and coconut delice, I had no idea what a delice was until last night but I saw cococunt and a sorbet and went for it as I love both. It was a chocolatey mouse coated in sponge and coconut served with creme anglaise (just seemed like a fancy custard) and raspberry sorbet. Was quite the dessert, I am not that big on sweet things but I would for sure have this again.

I didn't take photos of the restaurant because I am not one for taking photos with strangers in but I loved the decor in there and for a Tuesday night it was very busy despite also being a pretty big restaurant. I have discovered west bridgford is a gem for good places to eat instead of having to drive into notts city center for food every time.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Soul Food? The Jamaican place.
I tried going there after that episode aired, no chance. It was absolutely packed.
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Craig1981 said:
Her place ended up going out of business too. Shame really cause she could at least cook. I think she has her own YouTube channel now.
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That's Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack!
My girlfriend at the time thought it would be a good idea to book me a surprise birthday dinner there after it appeared on Kitchen Nightmares. I did not enjoy it! I'd steer clear of any restaurant that appeared on Kitchen Nightmares even post Gordon Ramsey! :D

Momma Cherri's was very busy after the programme due to the publicity, and it was only a small restaurant, so she moved in to a much bigger building close by. Then the popularity died down and I assume with higher costs due to the new building she then went out of business.
 
divergent said:
That's Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack!
My girlfriend at the time thought it would be a good idea to book me a surprise birthday dinner there after it appeared on Kitchen Nightmares. I did not enjoy it! I'd steer clear of any restaurant that appeared on Kitchen Nightmares even post Gordon Ramsey! :D

Momma Cherri's was very busy after the programme due to the publicity, and it was only a small restaurant, so she moved in to a much bigger building close by. Then the popularity died down and I assume with higher costs due to the new building she then went out of business.
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I was a student in Brighton at the time, £50 would last me a week for food so it was probably best i didn't get a seat.
 
Yup. (well the broth is bought but i made everything else, the pork, egg, well i guess i didn't make the noodles from flour either...that's a whole other level)

I would say that I think I could cook the pork in sous vid for longer, 8 hours wasn't enough, may be 16 would make it more tender and softer, but without blowing my own trumpet, that is the only thing i could do better. It was so good, my brother in law gave it a 10/10. I wouldn't go that far, it's not perfect, I'd say it is decent but certainly better than Wagamama.
 
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It looks 10 times better than Wagamama's efforts. Honestly, if you had told us that was from a restaurant I would have believed it. The presentation of the dish is excellent :)
 
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