Great British Bake Off – Wine with Cakes and Desserts

The new series of the Great British Bake Off started last night. If you have read any of my blogs before then you will be aware that I love to bake. Therefore, I am hugely excited at the prospect of Series 5. I’m looking forward to following episode to see who will be crowned the Great British Bake Off Winner this year.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Great British Bake Off let me explain the format. In each episode, the amateur bakers are given three challenges: a signature bake, a technical challenge, and a show-stopper. The three challenges take place over two days, and the contestants are assessed by the judges after each challenge. The judges are: Mary Berry – who is lovely and always finds something positive to say; and Paul Hollywood – who is more difficult to please and a little intimidating. Once all three challenges have been completed, they then choose a “Star Baker” for the week. Also a contestant is eliminated. In the final, three bakers are left and a winner is chosen from the three.

I own a couple of the Great British Bake Off books, so have tried a few of the recipes for myself. I’ve picked my favourites below, and because this is Enjoy Discovering Wine and not Enjoy Discovering Baking, Erica has paired them each with a suitable dessert wine below.

Great British Bake Off – Wine Pairing with Signature Bake

The Signature Bake is a bake using a tried and tested recipe that the amateur bakers make for their family and friends.

One of my family’s favourite desserts that I make is a chocolate orange cheesecake. This recipe uses a whole melted Terry’s Chocolate Orange (I’m sure other brands are available) in the filling, along with soft cheese and double cream. You then use extra chocolate orange segments for decoration. It also uses crushed hobnob biscuits for the base and the cheesecake has never failed to impress when I make it to take to friends’ houses.

Wine Pairing with Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

It will take an extremely powerfully flavoured wine to stand up to flavours in the chocolate orange cheesecake, and it also needs to be lusciously sweet. Campbell’s Rutherglen Muscat should meet the requirements and is available from Waitrose for £12.49.

Great British Bake Off – Wine Pairing with Technical Challenge

The Technical Challenge is a bake using the same ingredients and recipe provided by the judges. The recipe however has missing instructions and is designed to test the knowledge and skill of the bakers. The bakers are not told beforehand what the challenge might be.  And the judges do not observe the baker at work and judge the result blind.

As far as the Technical Challenges go, I tend to avoid trying these out as they always look far too complicated for my liking. However, as my family love lemon cakes of any description I did try out Mary’s Tarte Au Citron. Pastry is not my strongpoint, but upon rediscovering the joy of owning a food processor and unearthing it from the back of a cupboard. I then found I was able to make a delicious sweet pastry case with ease. And no soggy bottom! Once filled with the lemon filling (including five eggs, double cream and zest and juice of four lemons) the tart was delectable.

Wine Pairing with Tarte Au Citron

To go with those lovely sharp lemony, citrusy flavours the Chenin Blanc grape in a Côteaux du Layon will give you lovely citrus flavours plus high enough acidity to match. At the time of writing the Domaine des Forges Coteaux du Layon is available from Waitrose Cellar for £8.99.

Great British Bake Off – Wine Pairing with a Showstopper

The Showstopper Challenge is a bake designed to impress the judges on a given theme.

My favourite Showtopper that I have made is the Strawberry Roulade (taken from the book ‘The Great British Bake Off: how to turn everyday bakes into Showstoppers’). I am always surprised by how easy meringues and pavlovas are to make and a roulade is just one step further. The strawberries with a rich mascarpone cream filling are delicious.  Then the flaked almonds on the outside of the roulade give added texture and flavour. Rolling the roulade is easy, just take your time and remember, it’s supposed to crack!

Wine Pairing with Strawberry Roulade

A sparkling Moscato d’Asti from North West Italy which is sweet and slightly sparkling. It will also have lovely floral flavours to complement the strawberries and meringue. Fareham Wine Cellar have La Spinetta Moscato d’Asti for £13.99.

Julie Strutt DipM, and Erica Dent DipWSET