We all know that Bake Off viewers have mixed feelings about the show - it’s still a comfortable entertaining watch, and the bakes look absolutely delicious, but it just continues to get more and more complicated and drift further from what made it special in the first place. I wrote about this in October 2022, and everything said then still stands. However, one positive change to the show is the addition of Alison Hammond, who took over from Matt Lucas last year. She’s a breath of fresh air, hilarious with that brilliant laugh, and she works well with Noel Fielding whilst retaining her own sunny personality. She occasionally falls off the benches and generally brings a little bit of adorable chaos with her.

There’s been a growing feeling of dissent amongst Great British Bake Off viewers for a few years now - the challenges are getting too hard, we want to go back to basics, there’s nothing wrong with 12 different takes on a basic sponge cake. This year it seems to have hit harder than ever, wherever I look I see complaints about how hard the show is this year. So I thought I’d add my thoughts to them too.

Like many people, I love Nadiya of Bake Off and now her own TV show fame. I’ve been watching her British Food Adventure with a sort of vague interest - experimenting in the kitchen is not high on my agenda at the moment. But, then I saw the third episode and realised I should pay more attention to this lady - she talks sense. Me too, Nadiya, me too.

When the last series of the Great British Bake Off aired, I was inspired to start baking. I’ve made the occasional cake here and there, but I wouldn’t have called myself an enthusiast beforehand. However, with each episode of the series, I baked something out of my comfort zone to varying degrees of success. This year, I’m less inclined to get the oven on. Part of that is because I have less time, but a big part of it is just how complex the series has got now.

For each and every episode of this year’s Great British Bake Off competition, I attempted to bake my own version of something seen in the show - either a direct recipe from the show, or a recipe that was inspired by what I’d just watched. My previous baking experience includes a loaf of bread here and there, the occasional Victoria sponge, mince pies and simple bits, plus one iced cake extravaganza.

The final of the Bake Off was so good! The balance of baking power kept swinging between the contestants, so that it really was a complete unknown when the winner was announced. Well done John! Brilliant job. Meanwhile, I was left with a decision to make. I decided, as this is the last “Inspired by…” post, I’d go for it and try my hand at the technical challenge. Signature dish - Pithivier Technical challenge - Fondant fancies Showstopper - Chiffon sponge Mary Berry’s fondant fancies - the recipe had a lot of steps, but I understood pretty much all of it and felt it was something I could get away with.

The Bake Off is getting pretty difficult now, with the semi-final last week and the final coming up. I was pretty confident that I wouldn’t be able to make anything they did in the show itself, but I was keen to be inspired. They baked the following: Signature dish - Petit-Fours Technical challenge - Fraisier cake Showstopper - Choux pastry gateaux I figured that chocolate eclairs would be a good compromise, although the recipe confused me a bit as it seemed to have chocolate on the inside and white icing on the outside. All the eclairs I’ve ever had have cream on the inside and chocolate on the outside.

I was looking forward to this biscuit episode of the Bake Off, but actually when we got to it, it wasn’t all that biscuity after all. The options this week were as follows: Signature dish - Crackers Technical challenge - Chocolate teacakes Showstopper - Gingerbread construction I’m not really a massive fan of gingerbread - I don’t mind the occasional biscuit or nibble but an entire house was a bit too much for me! The crackers were interesting and I’ve stored some ideas for the future, but there’s a sweet tooth in the house that likes things a bit less savoury. So, it was the chocolate teacakes or nothing. Even Paul Hollywood said they were difficult to make, so I lowered my expectations about as far as they could go. I told Mr C I was baking chocolate marshmallow mess, just to make sure we were all on the same page.

I’ve tried to stick to recipes from the actual Bake Off for the last couple of weeks, but this time I moved slightly away from it. There were a few variations on the Chelsea bun, and I very quickly realised that I wanted to do the bun, but in it’s rather more normal form. It’s worth noting what the other challenges were for this week: Signature dish - Regional buns Technical challenge - Jam doughnuts Showstopper - Celebration loaf The recipe I went for came from the BBC food site, and seemed reasonably simple - compared to some of the ones I have tried so far!

An admission before we begin - this week I was forced to pick the recipe before I’d actually seen the Bake Off show. My viewing was delayed until Thursday, and I had to order my online shopping before that, so I viewed the episode recipe options on the BBC’s site and decided on the one that looked the best. The options this time: Signature dish - Sponge puddings Technical challenge - Queen of Puddings Showstopper - Strudel I opted for the Queen of Puddings, because it didn’t seem too crazy challenging but still had something new in it (meringue).

After last week, wherein I wasn’t sure I liked anything I’d seen on screen, I knew this would be a much easier week. Mr C is a fan of pastry, and there was bound to be something we liked. The options this time: Signature dish - Wellington Technical challenge - Hand-raised pie Showstopper - American sweet pie I was convinced it was going to be a Wellington on my to-do list, but I’d forgotten about Mr C’s sweet tooth. The blueberry and raspberry pie made my Brendan was one of the early ones we saw, and he was entranced… until the key lime pie appeared. On the official recipes list, though, they only had the berry pie - or Chiffon Pie as it is so-called. I decided to go for that one, fully aware that it is crazy complicated and I was likely to screw it up. The thing with this is, even if it ended up as a pastry case full of raspberry and cream… no one would mind!

As I tweeted earlier in the week, something I had not considered when I dreamt up this idea of trying my hand at things that the Bake Off featured, was the concept of not liking anything within a given week. Each episode is on a theme, but there are three options within each and a multitude of recipes in each option. How is it possible not to like any of it?

Mr C and I had something of a discussion/disagreement after the last baking adventure. The flatbreads were nice enough, but he was disappointed they didn’t match anything that he’d seen on his TV screen. I hadn’t realised it up until this point but the BBC do actually put selected recipes from the Great British Bake Off on the site, so for this week’s challenge, I promised to do something that he could relate to the TV viewing experience.

I was ever so slightly disappointed that this week’s topic was breads, as I had such fun with the cake last week, I was hoping for more sweet treats this time round. Nevertheless, the theme was bread based, and the options were as follows: Signature dish - Flatbreads Technical challenge - Plaited loaf Showstopper - Sweet and savoury bagels I was very, very tempted by the bagels because as we watched the show, we craved what we were seeing. However, I hadn’t realised they were poached which is a) a bit beyond me at the moment and b) a word that puts me off food for some reason (eggs!).

The fantastic Great British Bake Off has returned to our screens this past week, with a brand new batch of bakers trying to impress the lovely Mary Berry and feisty Paul Hollywood. For the last two series, I’ve been a passive viewer - sometimes drooling, sometime awe-inspired by what the amateur bakers are managing to achieve. The showstopper challenge still impresses me every time, particular as they draw near the end of the series.