The Bake Off Bake Along 2016 – Highlights

As the bake off bake along reached its finale for 2016, I thought in the traditional way (can you make a tradition after doing something twice in a row?!) I would run through this year’s full portfolio of glorious bakes and highlights from the challenge.

Once again, I managed to consistently produce at least one of the bakes from the show every week and put many hours, ingredients and skills to the test. I’m proud of all that was achieved, and also rather relieved that I’ve now finished for another year – all that baking is very time consuming, expensive and my jeans are definitely feeling a little tighter as a result!

I really enjoyed watching the bake off again this year, it provided some great TV entertainment (which is something coming from someone who doesn’t actually watch that much TV at all) and my favourites were consistently Selasi and Benjamina. Saying that, I did think that Candice deserved to win in the end, she was the best baker of the three finalists, but I actually really quite liked them all.

To take you back down the last 10 weeks memory lane, here are my 2016 highlights:

WEEK 1 – CAKE – MIRROR GLAZE

This was quite possibly my favourite bake of the whole thing! I’ve never made a mirror glaze before, nor had any idea how to, so it was a huge challenge and I actually really enjoyed it! Even more so with the fact that it came out beautifully, tasted amazing and actually worked! I was also nominated as star baker for this week too, so there’s also that!

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WEEK 2 – BISCUITS – VIENNESE WHIRLS

I enjoyed how simple these were and yet also how pretty. However = SO. MUCH. BUTTER. Overall a really enjoyable bake with a great result too!

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WEEK 3 – BREAD – TREE OF THREE

Bread week disappointed me a bit. It tasted really good, and I enjoyed kneading and bringing together each flavour combination. We made up a huge vat of soup and hungrily dipped our bread into it, welcoming autumn as September got chillier.

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WEEK 4 – BATTER – STEAK AND HORSERADISH YORKSHIRE PUDS & CHURROS

I loved the addition of batter week this year! I could have so happily made all three bakes, and so instead went for 2/3. The yorkshire puds were incredible, another favourite bake from this series (but probably mostly down to the steak itself!) and I enjoyed doing a gluten vs gluten free experiment! Churros are always a hit, and I was excited to find they’re actually quite simple. Rolled in cinnamon sugar, they fully reminded me of childhood fairgrounds.

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WEEK 5 – PASTRY – BAKLAVA

This was a completely different week, and i’m so pleased it came up as I’d only recently been discussing making my own! Though I actually only tried one piece of each flavour, because there were so many made,  Mum Dad and Adam all managed to take a box in for their colleagues!

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WEEK 6 – BOTANICALS – ST CLEMENTS MERINGUE PIE

And so began the start of the great meringue obsession from GBBO 2016! The pie was in fact one of my highlights this year because I’d never made one before, I LOVE curd (and really enjoyed cooking my own too) and it tasted so good. Plus I was lucky enough to have a fun photo shoot on the grass outside my work and they came out very botanically!

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WEEK 7 – DESSERT – MARJOLAINE

Dessert week scuppered me last year, so I was determined that it wouldn’t this time around. I enjoyed my marjolaine bake, as did my colleagues as it swiftly disappeared the next day! Hazelnut meringue is delicious, as is praline buttercream and ganache. Combined = even better! Not sure I’d whip one up for a dinner party any time soon, but it was a challenge and an experience!

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WEEK 8 – TUDOR – RED WINE AND LAMB, AND CHICKEN AND PUMPKIN PIE

There we have it, the week that as aforementioned, scuppered me. Not that the pies were delicious, nor should they have been difficult. The fact of the matter is, I started them too late, was tired, and by the time I ended up decorating I’d lost the will to live. Hanger doesn’t produce my best results, so though the fillings were appreciated, not a lot else from this bake was!

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WEEK 9 – PATISSERIE – LEMON CURD & MOCHA FRENCH FANCIES

I have wonderful childhood memories of birthday parties that always featured my favourites – one of which was ALWAYS French Fancies! Making them myself didn’t seem like a hard concept. I totally con myself like this with every single bake! “An hour, max” I naively thought. They tasted really good, and I would have been top notch impressed if A) I’d given myself enough time to set the fondant, B) The buttercream crumb layer hadn’t been so god damn hard and C) If I’d got my hands on more than one of each! Ha 🙂 Sign of a good bake though I suppose!

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WEEK 10 – FINAL – A PICNIC FOR THE QUEEN

With one huge sigh of relief and over excitement, I finished off this year’s bake along with a bang! A full picnic featuring triple chocolate layers sponge, salmon and asparagus quiche, maple mustard sausage rolls, berries and cherry creme pat tartlets, mini chocolate meringues and cheddar, tomato and chorizo scones. I spent literally all day baking. I got dressed out of my *now very floury* dressing gown at approximately 4.30pm. But unlike the weeks I struggled for time, I LOVED the final. I felt on top of things, nothing went wrong and sitting on the benchsurrounded by my lovely bakes knowing I’d finished made me grin like a proud parent.

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So there you have it, all of my Bake Off Bake Along 2016 Highlights! I would like to very much thank Amanda and Ala for once again organising such a spectacular and fun 10 week epic competition (even if they chose not to announce a winner….boooo!) and as for the future, well, I guess we’ll see… The number of times I’ve been told to enter GBBO this year is incredible and I can’t quite see how anyone could think I’d be capable. Looking through the highlights, I do feel as though I’ve improved, I also hope my photography has improved too since last years. I might give baking a little break to focus on some other things for a few weeks, but I’m almost certain the lure of Christmas will get me rolling, mixing, kneading, shaping, icing, squeezing, chilling and whisking up some festive treats before you know it!

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