Join me as I bake through the Great British Bake Off.
Named after Queen Victoria herself, the Victoria sandwich was said to be Her Majesty's favorite. This light sponge sandwiched with jam and buttercream is often used as a standard of baking for the British home cook, so it's fitting that this was the final technical challenge in the 2016 season of The Great British Baking Show.
Pavlovas aren't just for summer anymore. This triple-layer meringue crown lets autumn fruits and holiday flavors shine, with layers of cinnamon-spiced apples, gingery cranberry sauce, spiced pecans and pomegranate, all enveloped in a maple-scented crème fraiche whipped cream. It would be the crowning glory of any holiday table!
A British classic, coffee and walnut cake has an irresistible flavor combination of dark, rich coffee and nutty, slightly bitter walnuts offset with sweet buttercream. This three-tiered wonder was made for the 2015 Great British Bake Off final showstopper as I continue Baking Through the Bake Off.
“A thousand leaves.” That’s the literal translation of mille-feuille. While its elements seem relatively simple, this delicate pastry is greater than the sum of its parts. The beauty of a mille-feuille is in the perfection of each layer, from the crispy, flaky pastry to the silky smooth cream. This technical challenge uses Paul Hollywood's recipe, which utilizes rough puff pastry, raspberry jam, Chantilly cream and fresh raspberries.
For my iced buns, I made a nutmeg-scented roll filled with raspberry jam and almond diplomat cream and frosted with amaretto icing, and a cardamom-scented bun filled with walnut frangipane and Chantilly cream and frosted with maple icing.
The pièce montée was the pièce de resistance for the 2014 season of the Great British Bake Off. I dubbed mine The Magic of Halloween. It features a dark chocolate cake with cherry filling topped with a pumpkin cake, which in turn is topped with a croquembouche. The profiteroles in the croquembouche are filled with orange pastry cream, drizzled with dark chocolate and spiraled with spun sugar. Spiced macarons and gingerbread black cats round out this tower of treats.
Scones, Victoria sandwiches and lemon tarts are all historically British bakes. While this "back to basics" challenge may seem simple enough, it takes a lot of time management skills to juggle all three at once. Mine didn't turn out perfect (bubbles in the custard, scones too pale?), but I was proud of the results. Judge for yourself how well I did!
Made with enriched yeast dough, viennoiserie are often eaten for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. I used puff pastry to create my Passion Fruit Curd and Cream Cheese Danish, and Spiced Plum and Frangipane Kites.
With changing leaves and sweater weather come fall treats like caramel apples, chai tea and spicy hot chocolate! My 3-tiered cake is an homage to my favorite flavors, ranging from praline and coffee buttercream to spice cake with a salted caramel drip!
This technical challenge uses Paul Hollywood’s recipe for six sweet and six savory pretzels. The savory pretzels are made with traditional pretzel dough sprinkled with coarse salt and sesame seeds before baking. The sweet variety has poppy seeds and orange zest mixed into the dough. After baking, it’s brushed with orange syrup and garnished with candied orange peel.
Here's the Dish 