Well, that's it, Bake Off is officially finished as we know it. What it's going to be like once it moves over to channel 4 & loses Mary, Mel & Sue is anyone's guess.
I haven't managed to join in with the bakes as much as previous years for a number of reasons. I was on holiday for the first week so managed to get out of making jaffa cakes, although I may still try them at some point. Week 2 was biscuit week and I made Rhubarb & Custard Viennese Whirls. Week 3 was bread and I made a Cherry, Chocolate & Almond Bread Ring. Week 4 was batter, and I made these delicious Maple & Cajun Spiced Filled Yorkshire Puddings, inspired by an afternoon tea at Ma Pluckers in Soho. Week 5 was all about pastry and I made breakfast pastries in the form of Maple, Apple & Cinnamon Pinwheel Pastries . It all went to pot in October and I never baked anything for weeks 6-9, but I was determined that I would make something for the grand finale, whatever it may be.
Thankfully the final episode was kind to us, and I was spoilt for choice as to what to bake. In the end I decided to make a meringue crown, as I do love a pavlova.
My Great British pavlova was made up of 3 tiers of red white and blue meringue, filled with strawberries and cream and a touch of Pimms, all topped off with a gold replica (cough, cough) of Queen Victoria's crown.
I used 6 egg whites in total for the meringue (same recipe that I used here, but with increased quantities), and for the coloured layers I brushed some food colouring paste into the icing bags before filling them - I might have gone a bit overboard with the blue! I was inspired by Candice's meringue crown and piped my own over a silicone mould before spraying with edible gold spray.
I folded freeze dried strawberries into the cream for the bottom layer, orange zest in the middle layer, Pimms, mint and fresh strawberries in the top layer, more strawberries around the sides and popped the crown on top.
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