The Great British Bake Off returned to our screens last week and was straight into testing the twelve contestants basic baking skills with cake week. The first challenge of the week was the easiest – drizzle cakes.
The twelve bakers were allowed to make any drizzle cake of their choosing, although most created variants on the classic lemon drizzle. Benjamina did just that, creating a pistachio, cardamom and lemon drizzle cake. Unfortunately, not all the recipes from each episode are published online but Benjamina’s and four other drizzle cakes from the show are available right here!
Over half the dry ingredients are ground nuts as opposed to flour. I think this had an effect on the rise as the cake wasn’t very high. Despite its shortcomings in height, it was not dense or dry. If you buy nut flours in the supermarket, they’re usually made with the remainder of the nut after it has been pressed for oils. In Benjamina’s recipe, you’re asked to ground the pistachios yourself hence retaining the oils and adding
moisture to your cake.
Benjamina you genius.
I’m starting to be more open and inclined to baking with spices and non-traditional flavours and am pleased with the results every time I do. Another unusual lemon drizzle combination (by previous GBBO contestant Ruby Tandoh actually) was this lemon rosemary drizzle cake.
A very pleasant start to my Great British Bake Off bake-along. I’m hoping that my bakes for the rest of series go as well.
Next week… biscuits!
