Last night, the new series of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ started. It is a hugely popular TV show in the UK and the highlight of my week!
It is on Channel 4 every Tuesday evening for 12 weeks and follows twelve amateur bakers as they try to bake their way to a place in the final. Each week they have three baking challenges: the signature, the technical and the showstopper.
The signature bake
In this challenge the bakers have to make their own version of a classic bake e.g. a chocolate cake. They are allowed to choose their own ingredients and can practice at home.
The technical bake
The bakers cannot practice for this challenge. They are given a recipe and the ingredients to create a special cake, pastry or bread and sometimes the recipe has instructions removed, such as the cooking time in the oven, to make it more difficult. At the end of the challenge, the judges taste the finished bakes and rank them from the best to the worst.
The showstopper bake
The final challenge each week is the most difficult, the bakers need to create something very impressive for the judges. Their bakes need to look and taste amazing. After this challenge, the judges decide who has been the best that week (the star baker) and who was not as good and needs to leave the competition.
EP's Victoria Sandwich Recipe!
If talking about cake has made you feel hungry, why not try this recipe for a classic Victoria sandwich? A Victoria sandwich is two large vanilla cakes, with raspberry jam and cream. The cakes are put together like a sandwich. As the name suggests, the cake was very popular with Queen Victoria.
| Ingredients: 4 eggs 225g caster sugar 225g self-raising flour (this is flour with baking powder) 2 teaspoons (small spoons) baking powder 225g butter Raspberry jam A pot of single cream What you will need: A bowl Two cake tins Greaseproof paper An electric mixer/ a wooden spoon |
Method (instructions): 1) Turn on the oven and set the temperature to 180C. 2) Take two cake tins and put a small amount of butter on them (this is to stop the cake sticking to the tins) and then cut a circle of greaseproof paper and stick it on the bottom of the tins. 3) Break the eggs into a bowl. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder and butter. 4) Mix everything together with the electric mixer or a wooden spoon. It is ready when you can lift the spoon and the mixture falls off easily. 5) Put ½ the mixture in one cake tin and then the other ½ in the second cake tin. Hit the tins gently on a table to make sure they are the same and smooth. 6) Put in the oven for 25 minutes. You should check after 20 minutes just in case. They are ready when you can put a knife inside and it isn’t wet when you pull it out. 7) Take them out of the oven and leave them to cool down for around 30 minutes. 8) While you are waiting, put your cream in a bowl and whisk it with the electric mixer until it is thick. 9) Turn your two cakes over, put jam on one and cream on the other then put them together like a sandwich. 10) Enjoy with a nice cup of tea! |
Glossary
To bake (v) = to cook a cake, bread or pastry
Amateur (adj) = not a professional and you don’t earn money from doing something
To rank (v) = to put something in order, usually from best to worst
Showstopper (n) = something you create which is special or unusual
Greaseproof paper (n) = brown paper you use when cooking to stop food sticking
A cake tin (n) = a metal container you cook a cake in
To whisk (v) = mix something very quickly, usually with a whisk
Recipe adapted from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mary_berrys_perfect_34317