Lez Get Baking!

It's time for season two, and it's cake week again! I am so overwhelmed by the immense support I have received over over the past week, and I am so excited to say that today's bake was actually commissioned! This week I received not one, but two  requests for commissioned bakes, and it just so happens that they both fit within the criteria of my challenge: cupcakes today, and a cake at the end of the week. If someone wants to buy my technical bake as well (Battenberg Cake), let me know! 

And here it is! Bake number 17, and the last bake of season one! I am so excited that I've made it this far. I have learned so much and my obsession has done nothing but grow! 

I made it to the final! The showstopper for the first season finale is so extreme that there is no technical challenge this week. 

It's the end of pastry week already! This week has been all about pies so far, and now it's time to switch it up for tarts and canapés! 

Welcome to my last technical challenge of season one; only three challenges left!

Goodbye puddings, hello pastry! I am very excited for this week because it means that we get PIE.

I have a feeling that when the judges were thinking up the showstopper challenge for pudding week, their primary aim was to feed five hundred people. They challenged the bakers to make three puddings each, one suet pudding, one bread pudding and one crumble. I was almost tempted to cut this challenge down into three sessions so that we wouldn't be stuck with a lifetime supply of pudding, but no, the challenge is to make all of these puddings within the time limit. 

Today's technical challenge is Lemon soufflés!

We have now crossed the half-way point for this season with only eight challenges remaining! 

Week three is coming to an end, and I'm ...tired.  I'm writing this post directly after completing the first bread week showstopper challenge, during which I had to bake a minimum of 24 bread rolls, three sweet flavours, three savoury flavours, in six hours. 

The technical challenge for the first bread week is a classic Cob. Paul allotted two and a half hours for this challenge which made me nervous because, in my experience, bread usually requires about two hours just for rising and proving, and needs at least half an hour to bake all the way through. I had a feeling that I would be cutting it pretty close on this one. As we did last week, Evie prepared this recipe for me, giving me a list of ingredients and nothing else. Fortunately, I learned to make bread with Paul Hollywood's Bloomer from his Bread recipe book, and I decided that my best bet was probably to employ as many techniques from that recipe as I could.