I haven’t always been interested in baking. My very accomplished mother and grandmother tried on many occasions to teach me and I would use the excuse, ‘I’m academic, not domesticated’! One day, whilst watching me make pastry, my Grandma pronounced, ‘You’d be good at making bread.’ A backhanded comment if ever there was one! My school Domestic Science lessons often involved me dropping a bowl or producing unfinished or burnt offerings. Fortunately, my teacher was also my aunt.

Years later, I realised that learning to cook and bake at school would have been much more useful to me than the Latin and Greek I was forced to study. With my own children to provide for, I practised and improved, creating a great variety of cakes, in all shapes and sizes. Some of them actually looked as they were supposed to, but (though I say it myself) all were tasty and every crumb eaten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

My prowess as a domestic goddess peaked in March 2011 (and again in October 2013) when I made the wedding cakes for my son and daughter.

 

The Great British Bake-Off Obsession: I was a latecomer to this party!

My husband started watching the Bake Off during Series 4 and I was soon hooked. After a glass of wine I would convince myself I could do that, but in the cold light of day woud remind myself that as a busy mother and teacher, there was no chance.

During Series 6 however, I semi-retired and set myself this task: I would make every GBBO technical challenge, week by week.

Week 1: Frosted Walnut Cake

I followed the recipe to the letter, even sifting the four, which I wouldn’t usually bother to do. Ordinarily, I buy the walnuts already chopped, but again, wanting to be authentic, I bought whole ones and chopped each one. This took a long time!

Having made coffee and walnut cakes before, the actual sponge was a success. I wish I could say the same about the frosting and of my attempt to caramelise the walnuts for the top. My walnuts came out of the pan covered in a rather dull batter, instead of the shiny toffee appearance of Mary Berry’s original! The pan was a mess and took ages to clean (so said my obliging hubby!) Although the frosting was easy to apply (a bit like plastering), it was far too sickly for my pallette and because the sugar hadn’t properly dissolved, its texture was grainy. Oh dear, what would Paul have said?

 

VERDICT: time consuming, and a little disappointing, but it’s only week 1, so I’ll persevere

 

 

Week 2: Arlette Biscuits

To produce these, you need time, patience and arthritis-free hands. To begin with, I had the first of those elements. (Again, how on earth would I manage in the tent, especially with people talking to me or trying to film me?) The lamination process (sandwiching the dough and butter, then chilling, then repeating) did become a touch tedious, for someone who has been described as a ‘want-it-now-girl’. However, I was pleased with the end result, although they looked and tasted more like Cinnamon Swirls than biscuits. Oh, and I did let the edges burn a little! Oops!

 

 

 

VERDICT: oh my goodness, what a faff; I’d never be able to do these in the time allowed in the tent

 

Week 3: Baguettes

My Grandma was right: I am good at making bread. I can do the heavy-handed kneading that’s required to knock the dough about and allow in plenty of air. However, Paul recommends using a mixer with a dough hook, which I don’t yet possess (Dear Santa…hint, hint) so I used the traditional method of manual mixing and kneading, but remembered to end up with a wetish dough, as stipulated. I managed to fashion a couche (French for bed) out of a tea towel and hoped that I could create the recognisable baguette shape. Not bad eh? Although not quite the correct shape, my baguettes were crisp on top and made that mouth-watering crunch when broken in two. Bon appetit! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. So impressed with myself was I, that I bought a proper couche to use next time. Thanks, Lakeland!

 

 

 

 

 

 

VERDICT: success, and in the time allowed; maybe I will apply for Series 7

 

Week 4: Spanische Windtorte

Pardon?!  Never heard of it, but it looks easy: meringue, cream, fruit? What’s not to like, as Joey from ‘Friends’ would say!

The first thing I had to do though, was go out and buy a sugar thermometer. (Thank you again, Lakeland.)

Not being the patient sort, I did find the whole recipe tricky, from waiting a whole fifteen minutes for the sugar and egg whites to reach 70C, to making smooth, equal-sized meringue circles. I decided to save money by not buying violet coloured fondant icing for the flowers and ended up with pink and blue fingers for the best part of a week. At the end of the bake, I had used twelve egg whites and all the yolks were huddled together in a bowl. Can anyone suggest a recipe for egg yolks please? For want of a better idea, I turned them into a rather rich omelette. As for the Windtorte: very sweet and sickly, so only for the serious sugar lover. (And those who relish the challenge of pouring runny meringue into a wobbly piping bag!)

 

VERDICT: I wouldn’t be surprised if the Eton Mess was created as a result of someone attempting this windtorte, failing, and smashing it up instead!

 

Weeks 5 and 6? I have a confession: the ingredients for these two challenges were very difficult to acquire in small amounts, so I took a two-week break

 

Week 7: Victorian Tennis Cake

I love tennis, I love fruit cake and above all else, I love the Victorian era. So I expected to make a pretty good fist of this week’s challenge. Then, I remembered that the Victorians would not have our mod-cons or our pre-packaged ingredients. Chopping and slicing all that fruit (approx. 1300g) and then the nuts (approx. 100g) proved to be a little too much for my arthritic fingers and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the real-life Mrs Patmores and Daisys. The smells which emanted for the kitchen during the two-hour bake were divine. However, as with many of my culinary efforts, the finished cake tasted far nicer than it looked. I didn’t have a fine enough nozzle and thought I could improvise but the result was a sloppily arranged flower border and not the dainty one in Mary’s version. Well, at least my net stayed up and I knew better than to put the royal icing in the oven!

VERDICT: a very expensive, but delicious cake – all who tasted it agreed that the addition of pineapple was a winner 

 

 

Week 8: Mokatines

Having never made Genoise sponge before, I approached this bake with trepidation. Again, plenty of time and patience were required. I found each individual component (sponge, coffee icing, crème beurre) straightforward enough, but the tricky part was the assembly. The Genoise sponge is fragile so it tends to tear or break when icing is applied. Also, I couldn’t risk handling the individual Mokatines when adding the chopped hazelnuts, so it was difficult getting them to stick to the sides. The weirdest part of the process was turning fondant icing into a glaze! Who’d have thought? Nevertheless, they did taste lovely.

 

  mine

VERDICT: I will definitely make Genoise sponge again as it’s so light and fluffy; just the thing when you want a taste of a pudding, but nothing stodgy.

Week 9: Chocolate Soufflé

This was my best week of all. I had made soufflés before, so didn’t find this a serious challenge. However, I only had small, individual soufflé dishes, so I went out to buy a large one. (Thanks, Sainsbury’s.)

I always find whisking to be most therapeutic. I love to watch the egg whites slowly becoming snowy white, thick and shiny. However, when it came to whisking the crème pâtissière whilst still in the pan, I managed to coat myself, the recipe and indeed most of the kitchen in brown, chocolately splodges.

Strangely enough, one of the suggestions on page 94 of ‘Things to do now that you’re 50’, is: Teach yourself to cook the perfect soufflé. Well, job done. I can tick that one off!

VERDICT: I was so thrilled with myself; mine turned out better than the soufflés of any of the Bake Off contestants! I gave myself a star and then downloaded the application form for Series 7.

 

Week 10: Raspberry Millefeuille

When I saw the Bake Off finalists making these, I knew they would be the hardest challenge yet and I wasn’t wrong. The picture of mine below shows my second attempt; the first just wasn’t worth photographing becuse I had burnt the thin layers of flaky pastry. (They still got eaten!)

Fond memories returned to me from childhood of my mum’s vanilla slices, which she sometimes made with flaky pastry but more often with the more voluptuous puff pastry.

I made a lovely batch of raspberry jam for the filling, but my husband did not appreciate having to scrape the residue from the bottom after it stuck rock hard. I think it took him as long to do that as it took me to make the flaky pastry!

You should have seen the mess! I could never have made these in the tent. Frozen butter, grated! Folding and chilling; folding and chilling! It took me an entire evening.

It was a deliberate choice not to add the strips of icing on top. I thought it would be too sickly altogether and also, where’s the challenge in cutting up strips of ready-made fondant icing?

 

 

VERDICT: Now I know why my mum used puff pastry; I will never attempt to make flaky pastry again!

 

My conclusion: I enjoyed putting myself to the test but I don’t think I will apply for Series 7 after all. The application form is binned. I’ll just watch, admire and enjoy! (With a glass in hand, of course.)