'The Great British Bake Off': week one review

The tent’s been pitched and sweet scent of cake is a wafting, but how did the bakers fare in their very first week?

by Natalie Hammond

It began with an awful pun from the BBC voiceover about ‘having our cake and eating it’ now #GBBO is back, which was (we admit grudgingly) rather fitting as last night was all about the sponge.

 

The bakers’ first signature challenge was to execute a perfect Swiss roll. For those who don’t know, this cake’s crucial feature is a very tight roll – a flaccid tube of sponge is a definite no no – so that you’ll have a symmetrical spiral when it’s sliced.

 

While Chetna earned serious flavour points for her roll’s combination of cardamom, pistachio and coffee, Martha, the competition’s youngest ever baker at 17, got a glowing report from a twinkly-eyed Paul Hollywood for her tiramisu roll topped with macadamia nut brittles. A* for flavour and decoration.

 

Iain, a construction worker, locked horns with Mary Berry over his rolling technique. While she looked on sceptically, he insisted that scoring the length of his sponge would guarantee a smoother roll. A tip for the bakers: take Mary’s word for gospel. Iain ended up with a square slice that sadly had no structural integrity. Kate didn’t have problems with shape, but her red velvet roll was fatally over-baked. A rooky error for a woman who made a whopping 15 Christmas cakes last year.

 

Norman’s already emerging as a favourite with Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. The jolly Scot said he could hardly wait for Mary to ‘taste his wares’ (steady on mate) and when Mel remarked that his Black Forest roll was ‘fat and big’ he replied that it was for men. We’re guessing he changed his mind once he saw Mel chasing Sue round the tent for a lick of chocolate mousse.  

 

The technical challenge tends to be the tensest of the three as the bakers get ranked from one to 12. This week was a classic from Mary’s oeuvre – a cherry cake with glacé fruit suspended throughout and tastefully drizzled with icing, more cherries and almonds – and was surprisingly disaster-free.  

 

Jordan chucked all his cherries in the sponge, which left his finished cake rather bald and landed him in last place, closely followed by Norman, who quipped that he’d have one less pint that evening in preparation for the showstopper. Such a lad. Nancy (pictured) took gold for her precision piping and superb cherry spacing.

 

Onto the showstopper challenge, which this week was to bake 36 cakes in miniature. Nancy brought along a little guillotine to ensure her cakes were uniform to the millimetre. The judges looked impressed by her ruthless pursuit of perfection.

 

Each of Luis’ raspberry cakes came with its own pipette so the judges could drizzle on their own lemon syrup. Mary seemed appalled by this idea, but Paul disagreed and called it ‘novel’. Martha’s lemon and thyme drizzle cakes were relatively simple – she didn't have a stethoscope on each one – but Mary’s fork cut through them like butter. This one may be the cub of the pack, but she’s not afraid to show her teeth.

 

Claire’s cakes looked like a dog’s dinner when they came out of the oven. None had beautifully puffed tops and looked like bricks of brownie as opposed to neat sponge cylinders. She salvaged what she could from the chocolate rubble, but sadly couldn't sneak them past the judges and she became the first baker to hang up her oven mitts. Nancy was the obvious choice for star baker, thanks to her ingenious contraption. She's our one to watch.

 

If you’ve caught the baking bug and fancy getting all floury this weekend, here are some cake recipes we think you’ll love…

 

Easy damson jam sponge
Summer plum sponge pudding
Vanilla cake with lemon curd
Nutty comice pear cake
Black Forest cake
Chocolate chip loaf cake

 

And don't forget to check out our cheat's guide to this week's recipes.

 

Images: BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon

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Carla  Griscti

Carla Griscti

Editorial assistant on allaboutyou; Music lover, travel bee and food fanatic.

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Food consultant of All About You, loves creating something out of nothing and decluttering.

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Editor of All About You; an online journalist with a fetish for glossy magazines.

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Adrienne Wyper

Deputy editor of All About You. I love cycling, cooking and creating

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Carol Muskoron

Associate editor of All About You, loves life (mostly) and one-pan recipes (always).

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