Like a lot of folks, I'm absolutely obsessed with The Great British Baking Show (Netflix).
There are two aspects of this show that draw in and keep my attention. The first being the food. Many of the recipes are dishes I've heard of but never made: all things British "pudding" as an example, but also classic pastry like puff pastry, choux pastry, etc., along with sponge cakes. What we Americans consider plain old cake actually falls under the category of butter cakes. The only sponge cake we routinely make are angel food cakes which I used to make with my Nannie. You remember real angel food cakes, right? A dozen egg whites, a tube pan, and a green glass Coke bottle to turn it upside down on to cool. The difference between sponge and butter cakes is method and leavening. Our butter cakes are heavier but more moist due to the fat content we cream in with the sugar and we use baking powder and/or baking soda and an acid to leaven. Sponge cakes, or foam cakes, derive their volume and leavening from egg whites and yolks either whipped together or separately but whipped, as in for minutes, to create volume and lift. Funny, so many of the terms are obviously second nature to the judges and contestants but make me hit the pause button and go running to either Google terms or grab one of the three or four very nice pastry and cake cookbooks I own, like "sponge cake".
TGBBS originated on BBC and then moved to Channel 4, which means little to me since I'm in the U.S. and view it on Netflix. Apparently, in the U.K., it's title is "Bake-Off" not "Show" but here the term "Bake-Off" has been copyrighted by Pillsbury. Each season has 10 weeks or episodes. Each Episode has a theme: cakes, pastry, bread, etc. Each show is set up in three challenges. The first is always the Signature Challenge where the contestants are given theme in the week's category and allowed to practice and choose their own recipe, flavors, and decorations. The second challenge is always The Technical and it is a recipe of one of the judges where they are given a list of ingredients and minimal instructions. The idea is to test the contestants overall baking knowledge. It can be the funniest of the challenges to watch people scratch their heads and look around to see what other bakers are doing. The third challenge is always called a Showstopper, where the bakers are challenged to create, duh, showstopping creations within the category of the week. Those can be the most heart-breaking to watch as bakers sweat it out working as fast as the can for usually about four and a half hours, which doesn't allow a lot of time for cooling of cakes and setting of creams and mousses, and the unlucky sometimes end up with a creation that more resembles a heap or a puddle. There are also accidents at times where baked goods end up on the floor or go flying across a counter. Gene laughs when he hears me gasp while watching something on my Kindle. When I gasp or groan, he always knows I'm watching TGBBS. Every baker watching, me! me!, feels their pain when something they've worked so hard on falls apart in their hands.
I've been aching to try my hand at some of the recipes and since Gene's birthday is next Sunday and we had dinner plans with friends Janell and Jerry this past Saturday, I decided that triumph or fail I was going to issue my own TGBBS challenge on myself. Since Gene's favorite cake is Boston Cream Pie, I thought it would translate into a lovely Swiss Roll (and it did!). Janell is also a huge fan of the show and we decided that even though the texture of the cake isn't what we're used to, it was lovely and the Boston Cream Pie parts worked well together. I used Paul Hollywood's Swiss Roll sponge recipe from The Daily Mail and was very pleased with it, easy to make and tasted great. Happy almost Birthday to my Geno!
Not to toot my own horn, but yeah, to toot my own horn--I was thrilled when we sliced it and found a perfect swirl! (For the uninitiated, that's the first thing the judges look for is a perfectly round and even swirl.)
I'll give the recipe and then do step by step photos and instructions--really, it's not hard at all but it does work better with a sponge type cake. All those eggs give it nice spring.
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