Original subtitles

Baking really is one of the best things in life.

Who can resist the joy of a warm cookie...

And I can tell you it is absolutely delicious.

..the pleasure of a creamy sponge...

That looks gorgeous.

..or the comfort of a roast dinner?

Sometimes it's the simple things that we love the most,

so in this series, I'll be celebrating the everyday,

elevating ordinary bakes into extraordinary treats.

This bake is so easy anyone can do it.

When I cook things that are really fast, I feel really accomplished.

From family meals that let the oven take the strain...

If you are looking for an epic bake, you came to the right place.

..to fun-packed weekend brunches...

All that delicious flavour - just look at it!

..and the simplest of celebratory sweets.

That is the magic of baking.

Plus go-to favourites from some of the best bakers in Britain.

I love what I'm doing. It's bringing me joy.

This is baking for you, for me,

and the people you love for every day of the year.

This week, my top recipes for afternoon tea.

A fun twist on an old school classic...

Easy, and you get something as glorious as this.

..cheesecake like you've never seen it before...

It is to die for.

..and the ultimate cream tea.

It's that simple. I love it,

and I know you're going to love it too.

But first, a decadent cake that's so fuss-free

you could knock it up every day of the week.

# Wonderful world

# Beautiful people

# You and your girl... #

When I think about afternoon tea,

I think kind of really fancy cakes and biscuits,

and special and beautiful. You know what?

It can be all of those things, but also simple and easy.

And for that, you can't beat my effortless coffee cake

with an intensely rich sponge smothered in a scrumptious

cheaty-cream topping. It's a perfectly nifty teatime treat.

Everyday baking can be just the most delicious simple cake

at the middle of a table with a cup of tea,

and it's as simple and as delicious as that.

You can just bake a coffee cake,

and all good coffee cake starts with...

..coffee.

Two teaspoons of instant coffee,

and add one tablespoon of boiling water.

Just give it a little swirl around.

It's like rocket fuel,

but that is the intense coffee flavour that I want.

Set aside to cool.

I remember growing up, when we all got back from school,

that Mum would sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit or a cake,

and that was her time.

And I have become my mother. That is now my time.

Afternoon tea doesn't have to be complicated.

It's about what you make it.

Onto the easiest cake batter ever.

It starts with 175g of unsalted butter and soft brown sugar.

There are so few ingredients,

and we want to make the best of that coffee flavour.

And soft brown sugar has a...

..really gentle caramel flavour

that is going to work really, really well with the coffee.

It's in with three eggs,

175g of self-raising flour,

one teaspoon of baking powder,

and finally, the cooled coffee.

If you're baking cake, which I am almost every single day,

what I like to do is take out my butter, my sugar, my eggs,

everything measured, weighed,

and I just pop it in one corner of the kitchen,

and I walk away, and I go to bed.

It brings everything to the same temperature,

so everything just combines really well.

Now whizz it up.

BEATERS WHIR

Smooth coffee cake batter.

How easy was that?

Spoon the batter into a lined eight-inch cake tin.

I mean, there is no faff.

There is no fuss here. Look at this.

Couple of sharp taps...

LOW THUD

..and this will just pop any air bubbles.

It really is a piece of cake.

That looks gorgeous.

Leave to cool,

then onto my hack for a transformative topping.

This is the bit that takes this coffee cake

to a whole other level.

I am making a Dalgona coffee cream

to top my gorgeous coffee cake,

and it is the simplest, most magical coffee cream.

But here's the thing - this cream doesn't actually contain any cream.

So, two tablespoons of instant coffee.

For me, powdered is best.

Five tablespoons of caster sugar

and five tablespoons of boiling water.

Dalgona coffee cream was a whole thing during the first lockdown.

Everybody was making this - topping it on iced milk,

and it was this delicious, sweet coffee.

So I made my husband Abdal a Dalgona coffee,

and as I walked away, he said one sentence.

He said, "Actually, that would taste quite good on cake."

And turns out it does.

This is my David Blaine moment, guys.

So cool.

You know it's ready when you've got little peaks.

It looks so luxurious and creamy,

and there is no cream in sight.

As I whisk the coffee, that starts to foam up,

and it's the sugar that helps it to hold its shape,

giving us a knockout cake topping we can whip up whatever the day.

Beautiful, rich,

velvety coffee cream.

Letting it just drip all down the side.

Just give it a little dusting of cocoa powder.

This is one of the greatest examples of everyday baking.

I've taken simple ingredients, not very much time,

a little bit of magic, and have made something delicious.

My luxurious take on an everyday cake.

Perfect for just you, me, and a cup of tea.

Buttery, crumbly cake with that hint of coffee,

but then you get that hit of that Dalgona coffee cream,

which is souffle-like and light.

Afternoon tea can be simple and easy

and delicious and coffee-flavoured.

Next, a delightful everyday bake that's sure to spark joy

whatever your age.

There's something a bit special about a meringue.

It's two ingredients whisked together and baked.

# My boy Lollipop

# You make my heart go giddy-up... #

My pretty striped meringue lollipops with a soft mallowy centre

and crisp sugary shells sandwiched with gooey white chocolate.

The perfect way to bring fun to afternoon tea.

# And never, ever leave me... #

Meringues are not complicated.

You just have to follow a few key rules,

and I kid you not, you will be making meringues all the time.

They're so, so easy.

Behold my secrets to a flawless meringue.

Vinegar is the perfect ingredient

to get rid of any grease that you might have in the bowl.

So the cleaner the bowl, the fluffier your meringue.

Welcome to Nadiya's Cleaning Show.

Now, onto our meringues.

All you need are two ingredients -

egg whites and sugar.

Carefully separate three egg whites.

We don't want any of the grease from the fat.

Once you start making meringues,

you're going to be eating a lot of custard too,

because you're going to have a lot of egg yolks knocking around.

Gently mix the whites until frothy,

then add 250g of caster sugar gradually

to dissolve all the granules.

Have you ever eaten a meringue

where they've got these little wet pockets?

Well, those little wet pockets are sugar crystals

that didn't dissolve,

and that's when you get meringues that don't last very long.

What you're looking for is stiff peaks,

like an Elvis Presley flick,

which means it is perfect to pipe with.

Meringue mix done - it's that easy. Now for the fun bit.

I'm going to colour my piping bag with gel food colouring.

As my meringue passes through the colour,

it will mix with the meringue,

and you get these gorgeous swirls.

Have fun with this, use whatever colours you want,

and get that meringue.

Can you see how bright it looks when the meringue hits the piping bag?

How cool is that?

Pop that down.

So I'm going to lay my lollipop sticks evenly.

OK. Get a pipe in the middle

OK, and this is going to hold that stick down.

A star-shaped nozzle will give you a beautiful swirl.

Commit. Remember, don't be scared.

One...

..two...

..three.

Pipe five with sticks and five without.

Are we done? Of course we're not done.

Jazz them up with colourful cake sprinkles.

Then in they go.

# Everyone's a winner, baby, that's the truth... #

After an hour, turn the oven off.

Open the door,

cue my secret weapon,

and leave to cool completely.

# You never fail to satisfy... #

As if those meringue pops were not fabulous enough,

we're about to sandwich them.

Melt 150g of white chocolate over hot water,

then in with 9g of tart freeze-dried raspberries,

which is going to colour it, flavour it,

and add a little bit more glitter to our meringue.

Just look at this.

Dry, sweet, crisp meringues.

Aren't they just a picture?

Now place a spoonful of cooled melted chocolate

into the centre of your swirl.

Sandwich our meringue pops together.

So what's better than one meringue?

Two meringues.

On a stick.

My deliciously crumbly, colourful meringues,

sandwiched with a raspberry-infused white chocolate.

A simple way to put the party into your afternoon tea.

That is a thing of beauty.

Easy, and you get something as glorious as this.

Mm.

Crisp, sweet meringue, chocolate.

This is my kind of afternoon tea.

In this series, I'll be showcasing some of Britain's best bakers

and their favourite everyday bakes.

In Leeds, award-winning cafe owner Mina Said-Allsopp

has devoted her career to creating deliciously simple

allergy-conscious bakes.

Afternoon tea is not afternoon tea without bread,

but as a gluten-free person,

oh, it's so hard.

So Mina has created her very own gluten-free flour.

Today, I'm going to be baking chocolate sourdough loaf,

and it's going to be infused with a syrup

made from foraged cherry blossom.

You can have afternoon tea just with normal bread,

but it's not as good as chocolate sourdough.

Gluten-free flour you buy in the supermarket -

great for cakes, terrible for bread,

so I invented my own.

I'm going to tell you what's in it.

I won't tell you the weights because it's top secret.

We use four different flour sources.

Rice, potatoes, corn, and cassava.

And then we add binders that help to replicate the scaffold

that gluten brings to baking.

This is Andrew.

It's kind of good luck to name your sourdough starter in a bakery.

We feed it with millet flour.

It's got a beautiful nutty flavour.

I wanted to make gluten-free bread like bread.

I wanted to knead it. I wanted to roll it.

I wanted to cut it. I wanted to braid it.

All of these magical things.

So, ten years ago, with no business plan,

no money,

and equipment that I salvaged,

cobbled it all together and opened a bakery.

I didn't have enough money to send my daughter to nursery,

so I turned the storeroom into a playroom.

I just wanted everyone to be able to bake gluten-free bread

like real bread.

We have two doughs because it is a swirled chocolate sourdough.

Gently roll it out.

Swirl it around.

Cherry blossom tastes like almonds.

They're of the same family.

If we infuse them in hot, simple syrup while our bread is baking,

that flavour of the almonds and the blossom

will just douse our bread when it comes out of the oven.

This loaf is half bread product,

half art.

Every single slice is different to the slice before.

It's been an incredible, amazing journey,

and I'm not 100% sure how I got here.

It's really awesome.

I was told I shouldn't talk with my mouth full, but...

MINA LAUGHS

..it's too good not to. That's amazing.

I'm in awe of Mina's determination to create delicious bakes

that everyone can enjoy.

Next, a cheeky take on one of my favourite afternoon treats.

What I love about this recipe is that I get to combine a little bit

of everything that I love, all in one gorgeous bar.

It is absolutely delicious.

My funky chunky cheesecake in a bar.

It's not only delicious, but brimming with yummy hacks.

This is like mille-feuille but without the fuss.

I promise you, this is not hard.

Lots of cheats,

and you're going to get your gorgeous cheesecake bars.

First layer we're going to do is the biscuit-y coconut mixture.

We're going to start off with these gorgeous

caramelised speculoos biscuits.

They've got those warming spices of cinnamon and nutmeg

and they are so, so, so crunchy.

Smash up 200g with a rolling pin.

These take you right back to being 11.

My dad would serve these at his restaurant, individually wrapped,

with the coffees and the teas.

Anything that is individually wrapped

is always going to be special when you're a kid.

And I used to think, "Gosh, these biscuits are so fancy."

What you want is a fine biscuit crumb.

Now for another hit of flavour and texture.

50g of toasted, desiccated coconut.

You've got to toast your coconut.

When you toast it, that's when it comes to life.

Add 75g of melted salted butter and mix well.

Adding a tiny bit of salt in between the layers

means that it just kind of balances the sweetness.

That's that - that's one of our layers done.

On to our middle layer, a super simple cheesecake.

Add 50g of caster sugar to 600g of full-fat cream cheese.

One whole egg.

Now our vanilla.

If you want to, use extract, but this is kind of special.

It's for afternoon tea.

So just give it a little squeeze,

and then all those little seeds will start moving around,

and they'll just be easier to scrape out.

Just look at this.

That is flavour, that.

Then in with two tablespoons of plain flour.

Right, give that a good mix.

Now a whopper of a cheat

to turn this everyday cheesecake into something sensational.

I want that creamy, sweet butterscotch flavour.

We're not going to make butterscotch.

Buy soft toffees.

Someone, or a machine, has gone to a lot of trouble to make this,

you know, and it deserves to go into a cheesecake.

When they bake, they melt and burst,

and you get these streaks of these delicious pockets of butterscotch.

I love doing this.

I shouldn't condone cheating,

but this is the best kind of cheating, I think.

It really is.

That's our two layers done.

Now to create cheesecake like you've never seen it before.

We need two layers of buttery puff pastry.

I've got 500g of ready-made puff pastry.

Divide in two.

One for the top, one for the bottom,

and we are going to squash them.

We want that buttery pastry,

but we don't want a huge puff.

Roll out each piece of pastry to fit a 20 centimetre square lined tin,

and you're done. Now for the best bit.

Let's build.

Got our first layer.

Take half of your biscuit mixture

and drop that straight in there.

Press that crumbly mixture into the pastry.

Now, can you see what's happening to the butterscotch?

It's already going oozy and gooey.

Whack all of that in there.

Now let's just do it all over again,

because why have one layer when you can have five?

Brush your final layer of pastry with 30g

of melted unsalted butter.

And I want to add a bit of flavour to this layer of puff pastry.

Add half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to 30g of caster sugar,

then half a teaspoon of nutmeg.

I like to use whole nutmeg.

It's much more intense.

As a finishing touch, coat your buttery pastry

with that crunchy spiced sugar.

There is something a little bit special about individual treats.

And that's kind of what I love about afternoon tea,

is that you get your own and don't have to share with anyone.

I love that. I am not a tapas kind of girl.

Pop it in the oven.

# Hold on, I'm comin'

# Hold on

# I'm comin'... #

Easy-peasy, right?

But you must let it chill.

Patience is the key here.

It needs time to chill,

like any good cheesecake, but this is the best cheesecake.

All that's left to do is slice it into bars.

Wait till you see the inside of this.

Just close your eyes for a second, OK?

Layers and layers of deliciousness.

Isn't it wonderful?

Using everyday ingredients,

we've taken something very simple to a whole other place.

My epic butterscotch cheesecake bars.

An everyday fast-track to the funkiest of afternoon tea treats.

This is everything that I love.

Buttery pastry, crumbly, coconutty biscuit.

Cheesecake, my favourite thing in the whole world.

It is to die for.

My next recipe takes the daddy of afternoon teas to the next level.

This is one of the coolest and easiest bakes I have ever done.

It's a cream tea, but in pudding form.

I mean, come on! Who wouldn't want that?

# Sunshine came softly through my window today... #

My rhubarb, rose and strawberry bake,

crowned with crumbly cardamom scones, creamy pistachios, and,

of course, clotted cream.

A simply unforgettable pud.

One might say that a cream tea is not to be messed with.

But one doesn't listen to anyone,

and I quite like messing with stuff.

First thing I want to start off with is our jam from our cream tea,

but not quite a jam.

I always have rhubarb frozen,

and then I can have it whenever I want.

In with 250g of beautiful pink rhubarb

and 400g of strawberries.

Rhubarb is tart, strawberries are sweet, so balance.

You can really, really smell the strawberries.

To add to that fragrance, rose extract.

And just a little bit. It is intense.

So I'm literally only going to put one, two.

That's it. Close it quickly.

Now to inject our jam with a layer of sweet fragrance,

I'm pulling out another vanilla pod.

I'm going to add the pod, too. Like, we want maximum flavour.

After a quick mix, pop it in the oven at 170 degrees C.

Get that fruit lovely and soft.

Just 20 minutes will let those fruity, fragrant flavours

really infuse.

It smells so good.

I'm going to add rose petals

And if they're organic, they're edible.

I learnt somewhere that the key to getting the most fragrant roses

is to pick them before the sun comes up.

I am that person who wakes up before sunrise, picking rose petals

And there are runners on our street who do look at me

like I'm completely mad.

But, I mean, I'm looking at them at 4.00 in the morning,

thinking "You're the one out running, not me."

This smells amazing.

Remove your vanilla pod, its work is complete.

Of the cream tea, this is the jammy bit done.

Is it a cream tea without a scone? Of course it's not.

One of the first things we ever baked in school were scones,

and they were overworked and tough,

and our teacher did not muck around, and she was like,

"They're disgusting, get them in the bin."

So, yeah, I've learnt since then, and I can make quite a nice scone.

In with 225g of self-raising flour, a pinch of salt,

25g of caster sugar, and 55g of cold butter.

Then crumb.

Literally just use your fingertips.

Give the bowl a little shake,

and all the big lumps should come to the top.

Squeeze them, and then you're ready.

Afternoon tea, quintessentially British.

I can't not put my own Bengali twist on it.

For me, rose and cardamom work really, really well

Four pods, and that's enough. These are like a flavour explosion.

So you just smash them up, remove this green husk,

and inside, you've got these beautiful, beautiful black seeds.

Get all of that in there.

Give it a good mix. You really want to combine it.

Add 125ml of milk, and bring together with a knife.

It's a dough, so the temptation is, let's knead it.

But no, no, no, no.

Scones do not like to be handled. Just bring it together.

And this, I promise you, will make you the best, best scones.

Simply roll out the dough to around the size of your dish.

This is quite literally cream tea reinvented.

We are going to cut our scones, and bake them right on top of our fruit.

Cut six equal triangles.

Place them on top of your jam.

Glaze with a beaten egg,

and sprinkle with crunchy demerara sugar.

I don't know why my hand does that.

Like, one hand sprinkles the other one does that.

I don't know why it does that!

It's like the other one wants to sprinkle too.

Now into the oven.

Goodness. Look at it.

Oh, my goodness, the smell.

This is like Britain and Bangladesh thrown together.

I want it to be adorned.

Pistachios adds a little crunch.

A final flourish of rose petals.

My fruity, fragrant scone bake, laced with warm spice -

The perfect way to take your cream tea from the everyday

to the extraordinary.

Sweet strawberry, that scent of the rose, just there.

Perfectly baked soft scone.

All the best bits of a cream tea in a pudding.

It's simple. It's that easy.

I love it, and I know you're going to love it too.

Next time, the speediest of bakes, you'll rustle up in no time at all.

You know it's simple, I know it's simple.

That is exquisite.

And my oh-so-easy chocolate cookies with their secret surprise.

Surrender yourself to the power of the snickerdoodle.