The Bake Off Bake Along: Highlights
The Great British Bake Off now feels as though it is long gone, and I’m missing its presence halfway through my week – does anyone else feel like there’s nothing worth watching at the moment?
Though sometimes frustrating and difficult, I absolutely LOVED doing the bake along this year, and in particular have Amanda and Ala to thank for it. I feel as though each week every single person steadily improved and their repertoires increased dramatically. Some weeks I could have happily make all three bakes, others I struggled to choose for the opposite reason, yet somehow I managed ten different bakes, encompassing a huge number of hours, buckets of ingredients and a casual 3 lb weight gain (oops!). Yet, when I look back over every week, I still feel pretty proud that I accomplished it and I’m so looking forward to next year!
So here goes, the full shebang, my Bake Off Bake Along Highlights:
Week One || Lemon and Ginger Madeira Cake
Off to a pleasing start, I had a play around with some spun sugar and made a pretty moist and delicious sponge!
Week Two || Choc Orange Biscuit Box with Cranberry and Almond Fridge Cake Biscuits
I spent ALL afternoon making this one, probably my longest bake of the lot, but I had the time and really enjoyed it. Even if it didn’t come out quite as neat as I’d planned, it tasted amazing and was something I’d never have considered making otherwise. Plus I won star baker this week so it’s got to be a good one!
Week Three || Goats Cheese, Caramelised Onion and Rosemary Quick Bread
This was such a surprise that it a) raised whilst it was cooking b) tasted even slightly good, let alone bloody great and c) was actually pretty quick and easy to make. One to be repeated!
Week Four || Raspberry and White Chocolate Creme Brulee
Considering I’m someone who absolutely loves dessert, dessert week was an absolute disaster for me. It went pretty wrong, I got a major Bru-lake situation going on and we shall never speak of this week again.
Week Five || Cappuccino Dairy Free Ice Cream Roll with Salted Caramel and Chocolate
This was probably my favourite bake of all! I’ve never made dairy-free ice cream, and have always used an ice cream maker before, so this brought in loads of new skills and I was especially pleased with how it came out and how it tasted!
Week Six || Peach and Raspberry Frangipane Tart
I’ve always prided myself on my pastry, so this tart was a fun one. I’ve also never made frangipane, which is a surprise seeing as I love anything with almonds! A classic bake, definitely to be done again!
Victorian week as an odd one, and this pie was definitely different, having never made hot water crust pastry nor cooked with pheasant before, but it came out surprisingly well! I loved the decorating, and my Dad and Adam certainly appreciated another savoury treat!
These were fun, fiddly and fancy, but I really enjoyed the whole bake, and they came out looking like they should do, so an all round success I think. Not sure I’d attempt them the same way again – three different coffee icings was not worth the finished product!
Week Nine || Peanut Butter, Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart
Oh my, if there was every a tart with my name on it, this was it! A slice of chocolatey heaven and once you’d mastered all the stages it could be conquered quite easily. This bake was so indulgent, but yet light, and went down very well with everyone who had a slice!
Week Ten || Autumnal Victoria Sponge
The showstopper final did have to be done in a slight rush, but I’m so pleased I took the time to decorate it properly as even without being a particularly hard bake (especially as I’ve made Victoria sponges as my personal signature bake for as long as I can remember!) it still turned out beautifully and was a pleasing final piece de resistance to round off the last ten weeks baking!
Thank you to EVERYONE who followed my efforts with the Bake Off Bake Along 2015, it’s been an absolute blast and I have loved every single bake (well, other than the bake that shall not be named). Never did I expect to spend every waking hour each weekend getting covered in flour, gilding figs, plaiting the top of a pheasant pie, churning ice cream or somehow molding a fridge out of biscuit! Huge congratulations goes to Hannah, who won the competition this year, if you haven’t yet checked out her bakes you really should, she’s incredible and has now begun her journey learning to become a professional chef at Leiths!
It’s time to spruce up my blog with some different posts for a change and hang up my apron for a bit. As sad as I am that this series is over, I’ll just have to wait and get excited for next year! Let me know in the comments below which week was your favourite and if you are going to give any of the recipes a go!
