We had Halloween Bake Off at work on Monday, I wasnt sure if I could enter because I was very busy with the PS3 cake on Sunday, I however always want to support the committee team who organised it, so I decided to make a strawberry fraisier which I saw from the Great British Bake Off, I was very glad the cake went well :-D
Halloween Bake Off at work last year was the reason I suddenly started baking. Before that, I only bake a few times a year, cooking is more of my strength, I do make nice dinner almost every other day. We have "Come Dine with Me" cooking competition every 4-6 months at work (yes our social committee always organize very fun events for us), I usually bring in roast dinner because they are easy to make and serve well for a lot of people. We started having Bake Off for Halloween last year, I had no plan to enter as I didnt even own a hand-held whisk back at that time, I was just anticipating tasting a lot of different cakes :-P
Guess what, a few weeks before the Bake Off we had a townhall meeting with our department head talking about all the achievements of the year, he also mentioned about the social committee and all the events we had, he added unexpectedly.. "Kelly you have been winning Come Dine With Me, we are looking forward to your cake in Halloween Bake Off" in front of 300 people!!...
How could I turn it down? I was then baking everyday for the rest of 2 whole weeks before the Bake Off, my record was making 9 whole cakes in 2 evenings! 50% failed 50% alright, I felt sorry for my friends who volunteered to be my genuine pigs :-P (they were so scared of cakes after tasting for 2 weeks lol very funny memories) I nailed down a few cakes for them to pick for the competition, they said Carrot Cake would be too boring, Tarte Tatin would like a breakfast, Green Tea Cheesecake would not be popular, Pear Charlotte would need the mousse filling to be improved...
I made Pear Charlotte again and took it work, finger crossed the mousse did come out perfectly fine on the day :-D competition went well too :) Baking has become an addictive hobby since then, skills and taste definitely improved a lot, no more sad faces eating my cakes, all are now happy faces ♫
I like Halloween (minus Hurricane Sandy this year), I like the atmosphere especially when everyone dresses up, clubs/pubs/streets/tube everywhere is full of ghosts ;)
