prego* bake-off part deux [2007]
Not content with piling on the pounds over Christmas, the prego* family agreed that more chocolate and sweets were required to cheer up the cold Monday mornings – and so the prego* cook off was resurrected.
Week One [Steve vs Bex]
Similarly to the 2007 competition of Dancing on Ice, the standard was much improved from the off. Bex went for the ever popular chocolate winning combo in the Chocolate Roulade whilst Steve took more of a risk with the Teriffic treacle and date cake.
Unfortunately there was little roulade with Bex’s entry – more a chocolate log complete with loose chocolate filling. As would be expected with anything Steve produced it was immaculately presented - although he was very distressed as the icing sugar was not as evenly coated as he would have hoped.
Suprisingly Bex’s ever popular chocolate entry was beaten. But hey, Steve is the guy who pays our bonus.
Week Two [Sally vs Jared]
Sally Jellicoe amazed us all on the following Monday by displaying her Brownie Flaps on a super plate. Jared could hardly compete with his moist chocolate loaf (slightly burnt).
After a tense afternoon to complete the judging, Jared was dismissed for not being moist enough.
Week Three [Dirty Dave vs Christina]
A new entrant to the competition, Christina decided to go all out and use her WI skills to produce a sensational Lemon Madeira Cake while Dirty Dave kept us all in suspense by hiding his entry under a metal receptacle all morning.
Now it should be stated at this point that Dirty Dave has recently been injured by his magimix… a long story which involved the blade, some slippy hands, his ankle, three weeks in hospital and a pair of crutches…
It was not until the stuffing of faces was over that Dave decided to tell us all that the Raspberry and White Chocolate cake he had produced had been whipped up the one and only magimix and said blade. Mmmm we did wonder how he got the Raspberry coulis so blood red. It was very nice though and he still won.
Week Four [Becky vs Rowan]
As the rule maker and chief judge, Becky was always going to have an unfair advantage with her carrot cake with a lime mascarpone icing. Although Mrs Howe countered with some fabulous pecan double chocolate cookies.
The scores were extremely tight – Rowan was pipped to the post only by the beauty of Becky’s carrot cake.
(To any readers who are considering making the carrot cake – don’t use the Jamie Oliver recipe because it doesn’t work. Prego*s own Delia Smith has updated the recipe so that it is now foolproof.)
Week Five [Dave Green vs Mikey]
The prego* bake off rules clearly state that the product should be consumed with a cup of tea in mind. David Green decided to clearly flout the rules and made a mocha desert. Mikey however followed the rules and produced a beautiful tray of white chocolate and raspberry slices.
Dave got his just deserts and Mikey won.
Week Six [Berni vs Hannah]
Half way through the first round and the bar was raised further. The highest scores yet were awarded to both entrants. Berni stole a march by furnishing her chocolate crispy buns with mini eggs (a sure fire point scorer in prego* country) but it was just not enough though to beat the competition.
Hannah, in her own Duchess style, created a selection of winning light and fluffy fairy cakes – of course presented on her personally crested finest bone china.
