I doubt that my attempt at a joke in the title of this post will make much impact. Maybe it is more of a northern thing. Don’t worry!!
But it really has just flown by!!! I still need to do some catching up myself on all of the wonderful comments from the truly great bloggers of WordPress who have been supporting our bakers this year. We are thrilled with the baking photographs and so pleased that so many of you are enjoying the BAKE OFF as much as we are!
I hope you have all recovered from the dubious poem Gary and I penned together! I know I know! We should stick to baking. However, that cannot be said of our next baker! For our wonderful multi0talented Kristian, the creator of (Tales from the mind of Kristian), who was one of fabulous special guest poet‘s this weekend, has been baking!!!
These are his delightful heart shaped cheesy potato scones. Kristian tells us the ingredients he used and relates how he made these perfect savoury tea time treats:
There’s a lovely rise on those scones Kristian!! Or you could say a lift perhaps….which would of course be a very dubious connection with the first song choice I am tagging to your bake!!
We now have a world exclusive for you, not even our special BAKE OFF judge Jeanne has seen this yet! I am a little scared myself! But in the spirit of fun – which is what this weekend is all about – here is something we hope will make you smile!
We have already featured three amazing WordPress poets this weekend:
At very short notice, we found ourselves with a slight scheduling issue this weekend, and not knowing who we could ask at the very last minute to think up a poem for the BAKE OFF. Yet, wanting to keep to the plan of having a least two poems each day, with the clock ticking, a rather dubious duo teamed up to try to produce a poem – of sorts – to commemorate their baking adventures in the name of the WordPress community!
Yes…if you have not guessed already, Gary and Mel have ventured into the world of verse and between them have actually written a poem.! Please don’t look so scared! It’s not as terrible as I was expecting it to be when we set out. It even rhymes!
Gary and Hawklad were coming all the way down from Yorkshire for afternoon tea
But when Mel looked in the fridge there was nothing but cabbage and an old piece of brie
After rustling up some up some loose change and running down to the shops she was all sweaty
Her panic passed when she found all the ingredients for a caramel betty
But Mel would soon need to panic as they arrived with homemade weaponised baking
Cream scones resembling hand grenades just handling would a dangerous undertaking
An angry Nettle spongecake so full of attitude that it had tattoos and a pair of bovver boots
And don’t mention the Soufflé with a half life of thousand years as it continues to pollute
Red-faced Mel carved her congealed custard, and then offered her guests one lump or two
Over burnt apple filling, a soggy bottom, and caramel like superglue
While sampling each others cakes, they laughed and reminisced of baking memories in youth
Until Mel turned to Gary and cried, "Your concrete cream scones have broken my front tooth!"
So Gary’s fine baking went in the bin, Mel’s shattered tooth was the final straw
Time for Mel’s signature sponge cake, good job we had a pick axe and chainsaw
So an afternoon of undercooked and burnt offerings, the only edible food, the cherries
Which just goes to show, we all should have just stuck with Cookie Dough from Ben and Jerry’s
Please don't take this personally Gary, I truly would not want this to sound mean
But the next time we have an afternoon tea party, we really should invite Jeanne
I think we both need to practice our kitchen skills, if we hope to improve our bakes
And learn from other great bloggers to avoid injuring each other with our cakes
Yes….Gary and Mel have traversed from the world of baking into the world of poetry – scary isn’t it!!!!
Yesterday we featured the Kiwi Lime Pie created by Lady Lewis, including the flavours she and her husband Robert agree on. But today we have something very special from Annette.
I remember hearing a lesson about love many years ago – if you love someone and you decide to bake them a cake – what do you put into it? Do you put your own favourite flavours? Or do you use the favourite flavours of the person you love?
I know that Lady Lewis is not particularly a chocolate lover, nor a cherry lover, but she knows what her guests enjoy! So she has been making a Black Forrest Cheesecake (oh thank you for putting Germany on the map Lady Lewis!) that everyone loves, especially her nephew Wills.
This is the post Lady Lewis created to feature her bake:
I know Lady Lewis has been making some changes to her site to concentrate on food, drink and music, and a lot of her personal posts have disappeared. But I noticed she has left one of my favourites – her lovely account of how she met her husband Robert!
I also know which songs are very personal to these two special friends of ours. In fact, I even included a real life event from their life in Annabelle’s story (in The LEARNERS AT LOVE Series) – do you remember the serious traffic accident that Annabelle is in when she comes to England? Well…it is inspired by something that happened years ago and perhaps cemented these two as the kind of couple who were never going to take each other for granted. Aaaaw – you know how much we love you two!!!
We are super excited about our next blogger, the sensational Eleanor Lorene Lowe, the creator of the spectacular website You Lil Dickens.
Eleanor has produced something that captures so much of what has influenced this year’s GREAT BLOGGERS BAKE OFF being chosen as a FESTIVAL OF LOVE!
This is her appetizing fresh fruit pizza, constructed with a sugar cookie crust, cream cheese Icing and topped with fresh summer fruit
Made in a circle ️ representing the unbreakable bond of love and unity! Two things the world needs more of!
Amen to that!!! And that really is exactly why we picked this year’s theme. It means so much that we have a lovely warm hearted international community on WordPress.
Like never ever before, we know that mankind needs love on every level, in every corner of the earth, starting with under own own rooves, and then expressed to our neighbours. Why would we ever limit such a powerful force that can heal the deepest scars and revive the tiredest of souls?
Eleanor picked a love song by an absolute legend – Sam Cooke – that is as smooth as that cream cheese filling and just as delicious!!
There is one baker who always always is sure to bake from the heart – and that is of course, our very own Gary! Every year, we hold our breath, waiting to see the unique marvels he will come up with.
Although Gary is a rock fan – and this weekend he has given me a fantastic opportunity to feature some of the best rock love anthems, he perhaps forgot than anyone who makes banana bread is just asking for Bananarama!!! But as we are also trying to squeeze in as many of the songs suggested for this weekend….we have another big favourite for you!
We all know that when it comes to the baking world, France is the center of the universe. We also know that in a category all of it’s own is the love between sisters! I should know – I have five sisters!
My wonderful friend and colleague Marianne has shared with us a baking creation that cements France as top of the league when it comes to the international flavours we have been able to feature this weekend.
Marianne’s sister Monika created this beautiful Charlotte aux fraises, which was made with a recipe from her youngest sister Marina. This is so much like me and my sisters – we share recipes and clothes and lots of hugs!
The music choice for this beautiful bake is also notably French! I have never heard it before, but I loved it as soon as I heard it. This seems to be a favourite love song of Marianne’s mother. Marianne said it always makes it think of her mum happy and smiling!!
Oh my – I am loving how utterly heart-warming this weekend is!!!
We now have a yummy bake – and I can vouch for this personally – bake from a blogger who does not publish, but who does support other bloggers by reading their posts. When Dancing Queen, asked me if she could send a photo of a quiche in, I was very happy she wanted to take part in THE GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE OFF FESTIVAL OF LOVE.
However, I think this is a very posh quiche, in fact the recipe she sent me makes no mention of quiche, it’s an Asparagus And Goat’s Cheese Tart. I read through the recipe, and was so convinced I would like it that I bought asparagus and goats cheese and made it for Jack and me! We loved it!!
These are the photos and recipe I received from Dancing Queen::
250g fresh ready-made shortcrust pastry
250g asparagus
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
250g goat’s cheese
25g hazelnuts, chopped
2 eggs
4tbsp single cream
Line a loose-based quiche tin with the shortcrust pastry. Prick the base of the pastry and then line with baking parchment and baking beans. Bake in a pre-heated oven on 190°C/Gas Mark 7 for fifteen minutes. Then remove the baking parchment and baking beans and bake for another fifteen minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the asparagus in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then drain and cut into bite sized pieces. Fry the chopped red onion in the vegetable oil until soft and golden.
Beat the goat’s cheese, eggs, and cream together or whizz in a food processor and season generously with salt and pepper.
Then tip the asparagus, onion and chopped hazelnuts into the pastry case. Pour over the cheese and egg mixture over the other ingredients.
Then bake in the oven for around eighteen minutes until the cheese filling has set and is golden on top. This can be served warm or cold.
Thank you Dancing Queen for participating in THE 2021 GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE OFF FESTIVAL OF LOVE. There was never any doubt about which tune we would be tagging to your baking!!!
The photos we received from the creator of Tango’s Baking were a mix of deliciousness, fun and skill – everything baking should be!! We have been loving his baking photographs this weekend.
But here is one that will particularly please all chocolate lovers out there. This is so much more than your average chocolate log. It is a chocolate log cake is covered with a dark chocolate ganache with chocolate pieces, and also has an Oreo cookie and cream filling inside.
I love the charisma and character that goes into his celebration cakes. This cake is so much fun!! Take a look at the post on Tango’s Baking to see more of his brilliant baking!
Also…I see some snails on top of this gorgeous chocolate creation! You know what that means….yet another GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE OFF PET LOVE accolade!!
It was the mention in this post of storms, rain that made me think of a cheesy little pop nugget from Dua Lipa! This live performance is accompanied by Elton John tinkling the ivories. But I could not resist tagging a song I wanted to include so much in this weekend’s FESTIVAL OF LOVE – how long will we love chocolate ganache and Oreos for? The song says it all!
We have been thrilled with the baking photographs we received from Julie, the co-creator of One More Bite. She had definitely found the way to our hearts! We have been featuring some of the gorgeous bakes she has produced, but we hope so much that you have been able to visit Julie’s own posts to read her quality posts, detailing recipes, tips and techniques.
These are Julie’s delicious mini chocolate, rum and raisin bread puddings.
Julie sent us so many beautiful photographs, I have had to squeeze more than one bake into each post. But they so beautiful, so we wanted to make sure you were able to see some of the creations that she has photographed and will be sharing with us in future posts on their site.
Anyone who has attempted a chocolate mirror glaze will instantly recognize the skill in Julie’s chocolate hazelnut praline cake, as well as those very striking decorations. We also have a photograph of her honey baby cakes – I like the sound of those – and some of the ingredients hidden in these delectable puddings!
I can’t wait to see Julie’s future posts. I learn so much from every thing I read on the website she and her son run together.
Julie – we are so appreciative of your huge contribution to THE 2021 GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE OFF FFESTIVAL OF LOVE!
We are so proud that every year The GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE OFF becomes more and more international in flavour. I was delighted when the creator of My Peppermint Kitchen submitted these Polish treats, named Kolaczkis, that she made for Christmas, as a way to send love to all her friends in lands of Eastern Europe.
These beautiful crumbly cream cheese cookies are filled with a strawberry preserve and are a popular Christmas tradition in Poland. I can imagine that a plate of these would last about half a minute in our family home.
I absolutely loved the post on My Peppermint Kitchen providing the recipe and a heart warming message from our lovely blogger:
As travel restrictions are having an impact on you and I am sure that may be very challenging at times, I have chose a songs that anyone who is far away from their loved ones appreciates. Thank you for your delicious international heartwarming bakes!
️ representing the unbreakable bond of love and unity! Two things the world needs more of! 
Caramel 