I Like Cake

There was so much excitement in our house last night. It was the start of the Great British Bake Off and already we have our favourites. We sat, rehearsing names and giving the contestants our own subtitles.  "That's Ruby.  No, Ruby is the young one.  Who's the annoying one who quotes philosophy then?  That's Ruby."  "What about satellite guy?  He's Gelnn.  No not Glenn, Mark or Toby?  Not Toby, Toby is my favourite, he's so cute.  What about Howard, is he Howard?  No, he's the other one with glasses. Oh, it's Rob.  He doesn't look like a Rob, we'll just have to call him satellite guy."

What a great way to start - with a Victoria Sandwich Sponge. It got people talking, after all ANYONE can make a Victoria sandwich. Twitter was full of, "what a disaster," "who are these amateurs?" kind of comments. It can be very difficult to make a good sandwich sponge. Both layers have to be straight and the same size with the same consistency and rise. I've not seen (or made) many that are perfect. The thing is, in real life, you forgive how it looks when you taste it because even if it doesn't taste amazing its still got sugar and butter in it and it's CAKE! If only we could taste the cakes then we could give a much more accurate opinion. Like Paul Hollywood I didn't like the idea of a grapefruit cake but he said it tasted good so maybe I will have to make one to find out along with the cardamom sponge with rhubarb filling, which I've been meaning to try for ages.

Then came the technical challenge, an Angel Food Cake. This is not my favourite kind of cake. It's too tricky. Why make life difficult when sponge tastes better?  I shouted, "Don't grease the tin!" at the telly but they didn't all hear me. The passion fruit coulis drizzled over the top looked good though.

My favourite part of the show is the food history bit. I often wonder if it's too late for me to become a Food Historian. The Courting Cake looked good. So good I'm just going to have to make one.

I could never be a contestant on the Bake Off because of the Showstopper. I can't be bothered to make cakes look pretty. The best chocolate cake I make is Nigella Lawson's coca cola cake and that looks like road kill. What's wrong with a spread of Ganache and a box of Maltesers thrown on the top? I love watching other people do it though. The stripy chocolate straws and the balloon bowls were an amazing feat if engineering from my son's favourite, Satellite Guy. I was very impressed with the secret squirrel cake with whole nuts, which seems very appropriate for the Bake Off.

What I really liked though was the Rudolf graveyard cake, with extra thumb.  Toby, the baker was my daughter's favourite and we were very sad to see him go.

There are some dark horses in this competition and I've noticed that they rarely show much of the winner at the beginning, so Beca, Deborah, Kimberley and Howard are all in with a good chance.  I don't think Christine has a hope of winning as she looks too much like Mary Berry and some of the looks that she got from Queen Mary say it all.

I already want Lucy to win.  I bet Lucy could make a cake with a glut of courgettes, beetroot and rhubarb but I'm sure I'll change my mind as the show goes on.

We all love this programme because everyone loves cake, or biscuits or bread.  There was a woman on the radio yesterday talking about her new found hobby of tree climbing.  She was wonderfully passionate about it and Ken Bruce said, "It sounds wonderful," and she replied in a fantastic Northumbrian accent, "It's not very elegant though, I'm 43 and I like cake!"