Great British Bake Off’s north-east star Norman Calder presents his latest video with the Press and Journal in association with Laing’s of Inverurie.
The retired Merchant Navy radio officer from Buckie, won the hearts of millions of viewers with his unassuming manner and rustic cooking style when he appeared on the BBC phenomenon.
The 67-year-old, who has been dubbed “Stormin’ Norman”, said he nearly backed out of the show after applying. But his excited family left him with no choice but to go through with it.
Now, in an exclusive video series filmed for the Press and Journal website, Norman is using the luxury cooking equipment and kitchens of Laing’s of Inverurie, leader in the design, supply and installation of luxury kitchens for over 20 years, to teach burgeoning bakers new tricks.
This week, it’s almond and raspberry mini cakes.
Ingredients
Cakes
300g soft butter
300g caster sugar
12 eggs
150g self raising flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
390g ground almonds
3 teaspoon almond extract
Decoration & Filling
300ml double cream
165g fresh raspberries
Icing sugar for dusting
Raspberry jam or jelly
Method
First make the jam; put the raspberries in a liquidiser then pass the pulp through a sieve to eliminate the seeds. Weigh the resulting liquid and transfer to a saucepan with an equal quantity of sugar, bring to a rolling boil for approximately 10 minutes then transfer to a shallow bowl and allow to cool before use.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat the eggs and add slowly.
Add the remaining ingredients; 150g SR flour, 3 teaspoon baking powde, 390g ground almonds, teaspoon almond extract and gently fold in.
Set oven to 190C and bake for 22 minutes.
Remove from oven and when cooled slightly transfer to cooling rack.
When cool cut each cake in half horizontally, spread a layer of raspberry jam on the bottom half then pipe enough beaten cream to enable the two halves to stick together. Pipe 3 small stars on the top of each cake, dust with icing sugar then finish of with 3 raspberries on the top of the cream. Dust with icing sugar.