Not to be outdone by all the media excitement over the latest Great British Bake Off and all the hype about Nadiya the 30-year-old-mum-from-Leeds, The Parwich Memorial Hall committee has decided in its wisdom to run our own village bake-off, in aid of the Parwich Memorial Hall Fund and TearFund’s No Child Taken Campaign. You can read all about it on the village blog, to save me explaining the rules and regs.
Fortunately it is all somewhat lower key than the series on the telly – no cameras, for a start, and in fact everyone will bring their entries to the hall tomorrow, having ‘made one earlier’ so to speak in the peace and quiet of their own familiar kitchen.
Everyone attending the event will judge the entries, presumably also the contestants themselves, going round like Mary Berry and Paul Holywood, tasting our efforts blind. One hopes everyone will be as kind as Mary Berry, who always has something positive to say, however disastrous the result. You can’t have us all running out of the hall in tears.
I love cooking and wanted to support this fun-sounding village event so have spent this evening cooking, after a last minute rush to Janet Gosling in the shop-in-the-pub to stock up on bananas and cream, and round the corner to beg a swiss roll tin off lovely neighbour Sue.
John took lots of photos every so often, when there was a quietish spell in between the excitement of the New Zealand v Wales rugby match but I cannot show any pics yet that will give away the maker.
Keen as I am to join in the fun, I have no aspirations, no hopes or plans to be crowned the Parwich Baking Star. I am only entering two of the four sections – a presentation cake is not my line at all, and I didn’t fancy my chances of making four identical cupcakes. All I hope it not to be made to look an idiot, which is rather likely if presentation is important, as no doubt it is.
I have never been great on presentation, although the taste is usually okay. I must admit, my Banoffee Roulade looks very cumbersome (that is putting it politely, I really should have used a piping bag for the drizzle, rather than a plastic spatula…).
The Roulade is a Mary Berry recipe, to be followed religiously. The other category I am entering is simply for a gluten free cake or pudding of one’s choice. I have a very faithful totally gluten free recipe cut out some years ago from the Australian Woman’s Weekly magazine. Again, it looks good, but not as obviously delicious as it is, or should be, anyway. I will put the recipe up on the blog after the competition.
We’ve been in London the last few days and I haven’t conferred with anyone so have no idea who else or how many others may be entering and how stiff the competition will be.
All will be revealed tomorrow…
