I can safely say, I'm glad that's over. How they did that showstopper challenge in just 5 hours, I'll never know. But what I do know is that it took me longer than that.
The winner of this years Bake Off was actually a genuine surprise for me, because I was convinced Kim-Joy was going to win. I am genuinely happy for Rahul, because he has been both hilarious and great this Bake Off.
Although I feel like Kim-Joy was actually the strongest going into the final.
The challenges this week felt a little to be desired for... Not to say I don't like doughnuts, pittas and cake, because I love all three of them. But it was the pitta challenge that confused me the most, especially because it was over a fire and didn't really have a 'baking' feel, more like they were just trying to torture them in that heat for fun.
The showstopper was just so extreme... and I felt it. This week, I thought why not attempt the showstopper, it being the final and all. Somewhere between cooking two sheet cakes and cutting out a ton of trees, I regretted that decision. (most of the trees didn't even fit on the cake...)
However, now... with it finished, I'm proud I did it. Not within the 5 hours time limit, but I did it and that's an accomplishment enough in itself.
For my landscape, I chose one of my favourite places; Central Park. Although I've only been there twice, I just fell in love with it instantly, From the rock formations and trees throughout the park, to all the lakes and the huge reservoir that surrounded by skyscrapers, to the boathouse which has the best muffins and hot chocolates, to Belvedere castle, which I tried to recreate, but my piping isn't quite up to scratch yet... so please forgive it as the castle kind of just looks like a tikki statue.
There isn't anything that I don't love about Central Park, which is why I chose to recreate it for the final showstopper and challenge for this years #BakeOffBakeAlong. Would I attempt something like this again? I'm not quite sure, but it definitely was satisfying seeing it all come together.
The base of it is made up of chocolate orange cake, topped with green grass buttercream, with craquelin choux buns filled with orange cream, and gingerbread buildings and trees.
Halfway through cutting out the buildings and trees, I did forget which building bits belonged to each. I managed to fit most of them together.
I'm honestly not that sure if I'll attempt baking along next year. But I do know that I seriously miss weekly Bake Offs and all the hilarious moments. As for the challenges, I feel like some were quite tricky, but in some places the challenges weren't as interesting as last years. Regardless, I've had felt a smidgen of the stress they felt (blame the perfectionist in me) and I'm now looking forward to weekend off baking for now.
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