The Great British Bake Off is finally back on-screens with a brand new addition as Alison Hammond joins the line-up.
But as a new wave of contestants appear on the show in a bid to win the competition, I headed down to Big London Bake to take part in my own little contest – and lost…
While the Big London Bake isn’t affiliated with Bake Off, it follows a similar concept, but – thankfully – you’re in pairs instead of flying solo. Before I arrived at the sweet-treat tent, I exuded confidence and excitement, as someone who has baked her fair share of nice treats, I thought it would be a breeze.
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Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Can I blame it on the glass of Pimms I had in their cake-bar beforehand? I’m not that much of a lightweight, so unfortunately, I think not. Things soon went down the pan, but it started off on a high…
(Image: Carly Duffy)
I’m no Mary Berry, but baking isn’t an art lost on me. I enjoy it, the food tastes good, I’ve got no issue, so when it was go-time, I was ready. My husband and I marched our way into the tent and found our baking station among many other pairs of all ages.
Safety briefed and ready at our stations, it was time to ready, set, bake! – with a target of having our cakes in the oven within 15 minutes.
Baking? A breeze for me. I love it, I had thought of putting myself forward for Bake Off’s next season (something I will absolutely no longer be doing, by the way), so the first part of the challenge was fine.
I grabbed some vanilla extract and separated my cake into four tins and got them in the oven in an orderly fashion, while my husband worked on our raspberry buttercream. Just like the TV show, the room was vibrant and the head baker was wandering around and giving helpful tips and tricks to the eager contestants.
Some people were hit with a slight burning of their buttercream, but for the most part, all was well.
Do you know when I prefer to eat my baked treats? When they come out of the oven. I’ve done a handful of decoration on some cakes, but they’ve always been cupcakes… so when multi-coloured fondant was slapped in front of me, it was a whole new ballgame.
We had instructions, all throughout the process they told us exactly what we needed to do, but the fondant was where we could go with our gut, and I seemed to have lost mine…
The theme of the bake was comic cakes, bright colours, black outlines, really making them ‘POP!’ so, I tried to stick with that theme. Tried, being the key word here.
(Image: Carly Duffy)
I think it started going downhill when I realised we had a certain amount of time left and I hadn’t a clue how I wanted to decorate my cake. It was chaos. All I knew that I wanted to do was a nice scallop black buttercream decoration… but I forgot fondant. Forgot. The. Fondant.
It looked awful. AWFUL. If I was on Bake Off, I’d have gone, no second chances, Alison Hammond would’ve burst out laughing and kicked me out. We were reminded there were mere minutes left before the final judgement, so I carried my cake over to the table – tail between my legs – and explained what the concept was.
I had no concept. It looked kind of cute on top, but it was pure chaos on the bottom, so that’s what I went with – it’s safe to say, I didn’t get any placement…
(Image: Carly Duffy)
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But what I did walk away with was the understanding of exactly how I would improve if I did it again. So you win some, you lose some, right?! One thing I can’t ignore though is just how much fun I had while I was there! The music was blaring, both Spice Girls and High School Musical songs were on the playlist, it was perfect.
I had such a great time, and I’m absolutely in a rush to go back – but with a vengeance – I am determined to find my way onto that leader board! The Big Bakes is available in East London, South London and Birmingham.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
