This week The Great British bake off went back in time to The Victorian Ages. The bakers were challenged with making some really vintage bakes. This sounded very interesting and Ian felt quite happy as he had been waiting to do some Victorian baking!
The first project was raised Game pie using hot crust pastry. I prefer vegetarian food and so even though I was looking forward to the bakers making their pies I kept thinking of what fillings I would have used. It reminded me of the 4 layered hot crust pie I made in last year’s pie week. You can find the recipe on BBC.
Flora, aka Bird Girl, had some experience of baking with game and seemed confident. Ian went for a dangerous sounding Road Kill Pie!
Tamal and Nadia went for more exciting flavours for their pies with Tamal making a Middle Eastern spicy fried meat pie, using an aromatic spice Ras el hanout. Paul found Nadiya’s 5 spices pie a bit too spicy though. Tamal got the famous Paul handshake for his efforts.
The bakers seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with their oven temperatures. The judges found Ian’s decorations a bit plain even though he used a real vintage mould from 1850. Flora’s pie got a bit burnt. Mat and Paul didn’t impress the judges either.
The technical challenge was Tennis Cake! It is a rich fruitcake with tennis court icing, straight from Queen Victoria’s wedding cake. Paul kindly pointed out that things can go wrong with this bake. Mat ended up baking his icing in the oven which caused a lot of anxiety amongst the bakers! He ended up coming last while Nadiya won the challenge.
The showstopper for the week was Charlotte Russe. After a lot of wobbles we got the end products from the bakers. Ian did well with his crowned Charlotte Russe and Paul’s fruit carvings looked amazing. Mat had some serious issues with the structure of his bake and it was great to see team work when other bakers helped him with his bake.
Judges loved Tamal and Nadiya’s creations and Tamal won this week’s Star Baker title while Mat ended up being the 7th baker to leave the tent. I can’t wait to see what the Bake Off Quarterfinalists will create next week!
Eden Project
I was in Cornwall last weekend visiting the Eden Project for the first time. It is an amazing educational charity and I would recommend everyone to go and see the great work being done there. I had a fantastic time doing a Food demo at the Festival of Food there in front of a great crowd.
Thanks to the brilliant @chetnamakan for her Swiss roll masterclass at our Festival of Food this afternoon #GBBO pic.twitter.com/eb7BVrc8sy
— Eden Project Media (@eden_media_team) September 13, 2015
Passionfruit and white chocolate mini cakes
If you are looking for some light and citrusy bakes then these delicious passionfruit and white chocolate mini cakes that I made for Lakeland are just the thing to try. Read my interview on Lakeland and try the recipe.
Food with Chetna
This is a delicious Orange cake with a lovely layer of Cinnamon and Hazelnut running through it. Its a simple All-in-one mix with a surprise crunchy layer in it. Enjoy!
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