by Regina Kenney
Love those British baking shows? Why watch it when you can do it.
The Big London Bake is an all-ingredients-and-tools-provided baking competition at The Castle in Tooting.
The kitchens are set up in a beautiful tent at the back of a beer garden and all stations are equipped with mixers, ovens, and all the cooking utensils you need.
The tent looks almost like an exact replica of The Great British Bakeoff tent (I was half expecting to see Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood!)
For 90 minutes, your team will be given a baking task. Ours was to create a jam/custard tart. The instructions are very easy to follow and best of all – there is a lot of room for creativity to customize your tart (you could even make a chocolate one).
*The challenge is just like the ‘Technical Challenge’ from The Great British Bakeoff because you are given a set of instructions and ingredients.
Two expert helpers monitor your progress and will give guidance if asked.
One of the most fun aspects was the decorating. The tent includes three shelf choc-full of candy, fruit, nuts, sprinkles, and spices to beautify your creation.
We had 6 different groups of two, and as you can see from below there was a lot of different takes on the baking task.
At the end of the bake-off, one of the experts takes taste samples of each dish and judges place 1, 2, and 3.
Love Pop Ups London documented our visit:
And even though I know NOTHING about baking, my team managed to snag second place!
Best of all… you get to keep your tart…
Huge thanks to LovePopUpsLondon.com and The Big London Bake for the opportunity!