The Bake Off Bake Along 2015

When Amanda at Rhyme and Ribbons posted this the other day, I knew it would be something I couldn’t turn down. Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the last five summers, the Great British Bake Off (GBBO) is a competition show where 12 ammeter bakers fight it out week by week to be crowned the winner at the end of the series. Judged by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood and hosted by the hilarious Mel and Sue, the baking innuendos are rife and rivalry and dirty tactics from the contestants in the past has caused uproar.

(source 1, 2, 3)

Each episode follows roughly the same format with three challenges along a baking theme (think cake, bread, desserts, patisserie, dough and pies…etc) where each contestant has to face:

Signature Challenge: This challenge is for the  bakers to show off their tried-and-tested recipes for bakes they might make for their friends and family.

Technical Challenge: This challenge shows who has enough technical knowledge and experience to produce the finished product when given only limited – or even minimal – instructions. The bakers are all given the same recipe and are not told beforehand what the challenge will be. The finished products are judged blind and ranked from worst to best.

Showstopper Challenge: This challenge is for the bakers to show off their skills and talent. The judges are looking for a bake that is both of a professional appearance but is also outstanding in taste.

To compete in the Bake Off Bake Along each week I will be watching the episode on a Wednesday night, completing one of the bakes from a challenge in that episode over the weekend and then posting my attempts, alongside the other lovely bloggers taking part in this challenge each Tuesday, ready for the next episode the day after.

Some weeks may be quite a challenge time wise (especially as lots of summer weekends are booked up with hen parties and holidays) but I will try my absolute best to keep it up for all ten weeks that the show runs and will hopefully come out a star baker!

To keep up to date each week, keep checking back on the blog to see how we’re getting along, or follow the hashtag #bakeoffbakealong as well as regular twitter updates from @alicebayfield.

I’ll be linking up with Rhyme and Ribbons and This Particular each week, but so far loads of other bloggers have shown interest in joining in too! If you fancy being part of the challenge, let me know (there are rumours of prizes at the end!) or have a look at this post by Ala.

Bring on the cake!