Welcome to the Great Westbourne Bake Off 2024! Pupils entered the Westbourne Bake Off kitchen ready to whizz up the week's mystery recipe against the one-hour clock timer! As Mrs Bonn would say: "The bakes, I mean the stakes, are high!"
Bakers put through to the Senior Bake Off Final will be announced soon. Watch this space!
Year 8 - Mini Treacle Tarts
The aim: four identical and artistically decorated mini treacle tarts. As well as the sweet smell of syrupy success, the Westbourne Bake Off kitchen was filled with fun, concentration and competitive spirit.
Mrs Bonn said: "Whilst striving for their best, the bakers never falter in helping others along the way, demonstrating real empathy and a love of sharing their own culinary knowledge, which is one of the sweetest treats in this competition."
The bakers’ tarts were judged on their overall appearance: creativity, uniformity, texture, filling to base ratio and, most importantly, flavour! There was not a single tart that Mrs Bonn did not devour willingly and which she did not enjoy immensely.
Mrs Bonn commented: "It was a fantastic start to this year's Bake Off! Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Year 8 heats."
Year 7 - Lemon Drizzle
A sensational day of cooking in the Westbourne Bake off kitchen, with our Year 7s adding a touch of zest, a pinch of zing and lashings of creative flare to the mystery recipe: lemon drizzle cake.
Mr Bonn, Food Technology teacher, said: “It wouldn’t be a bake off without a little drama – what with spilt eggs (not milk today), dropped bakes and a few gooey centres to test the bakers’ nerves. However, they did not falter and all presented cakes were worthy of consumption.”
So how do you choose a winner? “Well, the ultimate Lemon Drizzle Cake must have a lovely golden colour; be well risen, light and fluffy; sport an even drizzle topping; be evenly baked with an even crumb structure and be packed full of zesty lemony flavour. Simple really!” Mrs Bonn added.
Each attribute was scored out of 5, with a maximum score of 25. Two Bakers scored close to top marks, but who could they be?
Year 6 - Scottish Shortbread
The bakers were challenged with making eight identical shortbread fingers, using three simple ingredients: butter, flour and sugar. One young baker commented on the simplicity of the ingredients chosen, however soon realised there is a lot more to making shortbread than meets the eye! Our bakers required multiple skills to complete this culinary challenge, including; creaming, measuring (accurately), mixing, shaping, precision cutting, designing and sprinkling, to name a few! The rulers were out, quite literally, and the bakers’ mathematical skills were put to good use.
So, what constitutes spectacularly scrumptious shortbread then? Well, it must have a lovely light sugary coating, characteristic holes running down the length of the shortbread finger, be uniform in shape and size with its counterparts, have a firm yet crumbly bite, be buttery and have a nice even colour. Minus a couple of tuile shaped shortbreads, likely caused by an upset in ingredient ratios (although arguably still tasty when paired with some ice cream), there were no major hiccups in the kitchen, with all bakers left feeling proud and satisfied with their bakes. Mrs Bonn was extremely impressed yet again by how our young bakers composed themselves so well, demonstrated a high level of technical skill/initiative, whilst wearing the biggest smiles on their faces.
It has been a truly exciting competition so far, with our Junior Bakers now eagerly awaiting their turn in the Bake Off Kitchen. What will be the next Mystery Challenge be?
