Huzzah the Great British Bake Off is back on our screens! I have to admit that I watch very little telly these days – probably because I spend far too much time than I should in front of my computer – but last year I (like most of of the country) I became completely hooked on GBBO (as we in the know call it!!
The men folk of the house are not so keen on the series but my 14-year-old daughter is also a great fan. She’s also a pretty good cook and baker and usually spends some time in the kitchen over the weekend rustling something delicious up for us all to eat. Yesterday she decided to have a go a making the popular Marry Berry cherry cake which featured in the first episode of GBBO as the technical challenge for the new batch of contestants.
She followed the recipe to the letter chopping and washing her cherries, coating them in flour and making sure she had saved enough for the top decoration (which alas one of the contestants in the first episode forgot to do). Making the cake also gave her a chance to try out the savarin mould that has been kicking around our pantry for years without issuing forth a single cake. Everything went perfectly. The cake emerged from the oven cooked to perfection. However when we tried to ease the cake from the mould our problems started. It would not budge. After a frustrating 10 minutes we were left with a cake in several pieces – although this gave us the opportunity to sample one or two small pieces which were absolutely delicious. Not to be beaten my daughter pieced everything together and carried on with the icing and decorating. And yes before you ask the mould was well greased with butter before the cake mixture as put into the tin.
This morning we sampled the cake for elevenses and despite its rough appearance it was lovely! Light, sweet lemony with a very good distribution of cherries – yes that flour coating had worked. We have resolved to buy a new mould and try making the cake again very soon. You can find the Mary Berry recipe for the cake HERE
