The Great British Bake off 2019: The Final
I cannot believe this is the end. Every year I can’t wait for the bake off season, it makes me sad that this one has come to close. I learn a lot baking along side the show. I realise that I just love to bake, I don’t feel the need to be the best and create beautiful works of bake. I think I become a better baker during this season, I take on challenges and I bake a lot more than normal. So, if you have followed through this, thank you and this ones for you. Take a seat…
The Final
Signature: The ultimate Chocolate cake
Technical: 6 twice baked stilton soufflés served with a thin lavash cracker
Showstopper: Deliciously deceptive feast in the form a picnic basket and its contents - Have to involved cake, enriched dough and biscuit.
SHOWSTOPPER: Childhood illusions bakes
*Pre-baking information: You can make one or all all. Most of the recipes I have found on The Great British Bake Off website, if things are confusion please go to there!
Pancake fondant ingredients
520g icing sugar (more to get it stiffer)
30ml water
250g white marshmallows
100g of cocoa powder or dark chocolate
For a different “pancake look” - desired food colouring
Method
Sift the icing sugar in a large mixing bowl. (make a well in the centre)
Add the marshmallows to a separate microwaveable bowl. Pour in the water - stir and heat in the microwave for 40 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 20 seconds. Repeat until all the marshmallows have melted.
Add in the chocolate to the melted marshmallows and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
Pour the mixture in the icing sugar well, blend the sugar and mixture together with an electric dough mixer, a wooden spoon or a spatula.
You will have a sticky paste. Make sure this is the colour you want. If you need it darker or a different colour add the colour or more of cocoa powder.
Knead on a clean sugar dusted surface. Make sure it is hard yet maleable (not sticky).
Spray the mixture and cling film and wrap. Leave rest until you have made your cake.
200g dark chocolate
110g plain flour
110g self-raising flour
25g cocoa powder
1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g light brown sugar
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
100ml buttermilk (I used whole milk and 1tbsp of apple cider vinegar - couldn’t find buttermilk)
Chantilly ingredients
450ml double cream
2tbsp icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 150ºc/300ºf/ gas mark 2
In a pan pour in 100ml of water, add the butter and chocolate. Place the pan over a low heat. Leave until the butter and chocolate have mixed and combined. (stir to make sure the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom). Once combine removed from the heat.
In a small bowl, sift in the flours, bicarb of soda and sugars.
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and pour in the butter milk (If you are making on your own add the whole milk and apple cider at the beginning of the recipe and leave for 10 mins so it is throughly combined)
Add the flour mix in to the eggs and butter milk, and combine. Then add in the chocolate mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon and stir until you have a smooth mixture. (I used 2 large cake tins but I would suggest using slightly smaller cake tins and 3 of them to get a desired pancake tower.)
Bake the cakes for 30-40 mins (a little longer if you less than 3 tins), spray your tins before pouring the batter in. Make sure they aren’t browning on top and stick a knife or cocktail stick - when it comes out clear its done). remove from own and leave to cool before taking them out of the tins.
Once the cakes are out of the oven, make the chantilly cream.
Using a hand held mixer, whisk the cream with the icing sugar in a bowl. mix until it forms stiff peaks.
Allow the bakes to have completely cooled and spread the 1/3 of the chantilly on one of the cake tops- coat all of it. Place the other cake on top of the cream. Put another 1/3 of the cream and spread around the whole cake even the sides. Once completely put in the fridge.
Now you use the fondant.
Take out of the cling film. Knead until it is usable.
Break off a piece for the top of the pancake - mould it on top of the bake base to get the right size.
Break off smaller pieces and roll out make a “snake” shape- long enough to go around the cake. Repeat until you reach the top and then place the flat pancake top of the snakes.
Put a chocolate sauce or honey on the top of the pancake and long the sides. Dollop the last 1/3 of chanitlly on the top and coat in toppings you want or fruit.
250g strong white flour
25g caster sugar
7g fast action dried yeast
1 grated zest of an orange
1 egg
75ml whole milk
1tsp salt
50ml hand-hot water (temperature out wash your hands to)
100g full-fat cream cheese
100g unsalted butter
200g icin sugar
sprinkles
Method
Add the flour, sugar, and butter in a mixing bowl and electrically mix the the dough on low speed. The butter should be evenly rubbed.
Add in the yeast, zest, egg and salt.
In a separate bowl, pour in the milk and water, combine and add to the dry ingredients. Stir with a dough mixer or a wooden spoon until sticky and soft.
Cover the bowl with cling film (or reusable cover) and leave to rise for 40 minutes (should have doubled in size)
Add the dough to a clean, flour dusted surface and knead. Separate the dough into 8 balls and place one in a greased dariole or I used cupcake moulds.
Add moulds to a tray and wrap the tray in a plastic bag (don’t let the dough touch the bag) - leave to rest for 30 minutes (will double in size)
Preheat the oven to 200ºc/425ºf/gas mark 7
When the dough has proved place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top (they will be well risen)
Leave to cool whilst you make the cream cheese ice cream
In a mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese and butter together. Add in the icing sugar and mix well.
Once the dough is full cool, remove from moulds and spread the cream cheese ice cream.
Add sprinkles, flakes, cookie crumbs any topping you like.
115g unsalted butter
110g brown sugar
50g caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/2tsp vanilla essence
1/2tsp bicarb soda
1/4tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
190g plain flour
Strawberry Jam
Icing sugar
Black grapes
Method
Preheat oven 160ºc/350ºf/gas mark 4
Melt the butter in a small microwaveable bowl (20-30 sec) the butter needs to Just melted some cold clumps.
Add that to a mixing bowl with the sugars and combine with a spatula.
Add in the egg and vanilla and mix again.
Then add the soda, powder and salt - mix.
Pour the flour and mix until there is a dough formed.
Knead it on a clean and floured work top. Separate in half - Each half make a circular pizza shape. (They need to be even in size)
Add the pizzas on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake until golden brown.
Let the cookies cool.
Once cool, cut out a crust in one of the pizzas.
Add some icing sugar to a bowl with a little water and make a sticky paste- put that on the crust outline and add to the whole pizza shape.
Add jam to the pizza base, and on top drizzle the icing paste to make “cheese”
Add the black grapes like olives.
PB & J sandwich (left over cookie with sunflower seed butter and jam) ingredients
The remainder of the pizza (the inner circle) cut into a sandwich shape (square) then cut diagonally.
Add sun butter on one crust and jam on the other
Stack the “bread”
There you have it, the final, the showstopper, the end of the season. It’s been amazing, I have really enjoyed the bakes this year! I hope you have enjoyed it too. Please comment below on what was your favourite.
Next is the Junior bake off where I see what my kids are made of #nannylife
Judge D: “The pizza is amazing 10/10. The sponge in the cake is too thick 9/10 but the illusion is an 11/10!” Very happy we left on such a high!
