The Great ROASTing Bake Off
In avid anticipation of the seventh series of The Great British Bake Off taking place this autumn, ROAST brought its very own bake-off competition to the office. In the five houses; Gravy, Horseradish, Stuffing, Mash and Cauliflower Cheese, our staff battled it out to be crowned ROAST’s best baking squad.
Each team was required to pull together a minimum of two sweet goods and one savoury item to be tried and tasted by 50 Eastbourne Terraces’ very own Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry; Georgiana and Frank, from reception. Whilst all pieces were to be judged based on their taste, teams were advised that a little sprucing might help them along the way to winning the Great ROASTing Bake Off.
Haribo cupcakes (U2 were wrong, THIS is the sweetest thing), a traditional Victoria sponge (safe ground, very fluffy) and a glutinous cake heavily decorated with Oreos (as American as Mark Zuckerberg but twice as rich) were produced for the occasion. Whilst some of the cakes were a flurry of brilliant colours and eye-catching décor, others had judges pulling faces that might seem familiar to anyone who watched Nadia in the sixth series of the show.
But as everyone had been warned, presentation is not everything and Matt’s sausage rolls won the vote of the public earning Horseradish an extra point and sliding them into the running.
With many Roasties peering through the window, Georgiana and Frank made their way through the pastries. Beginning with a slice of Mash’s impeccably neatly baked quiche (Sainsbury’s box just out of shot), they then turned to reach for one of Stuffing’s homemade… well Stuffing balls, next taking a spoonful of Horseradish’s strawberry and cream version of Tiramisu before trying Cauliflower Cheese’s actual Tiramisu and finally engulfing one of Gravy’s orange tinted flap jacks.
The result of our bake off was a little bit like Great British Bake Off’s decision to move to Channel 4 from BBC. It was tough to swallow for some. Team Gravy came out on top, victorious with 10 points. However, not only was it a great Friday treat to have so many cakes in the office but the ROAST team did their bit to raise money for the Grenfell Tower victums.
Congratulations Gravy for winning the ROAST Bake Off title and bring on next year!