We race (electronically) and the loser has to bake a cake to feed the office.
Why? Because we like cake.
Who? Everyone in the office. No one gets out of it. When? 1st Monday of the month. The rules: you make the cake yourself, without any help. You can't 'repeat' a cake. Your cake will be judged on presentation, difficulty and taste, and marked out of 10 by each colleague. When you have baked 3 cakes, you are out of the competition for 1 year.
'Marble Cake' by Jamie H.
Jamie (finally) took on board people's advice to do something simple. He chose this recipe because he already had all the ingredients at home. The method involved weighing out ingredients, mixing them together, and then separating the mixture into two bowls. He then added cocoa to one of the bowls to transform it into chocolate flavour. He created a pattern in the baking tin with the batter by alternating a spoonful of each mixture into the tin until both bowls of batter had been added. To create the marble-effect swirl, he "whisked it around a few times".
The Verdict:
Perfect with a cup of tea, this cake was simple and not fussy. The cake tasted very nice (not something we've come to expect from Jamie) and was well executed. The lack of icing and limited complexity of the cake (who knew marbling was so easy?) restricted it from achieving high-end marks, but we really did like it. Simple. Solid. Most Improved Player.
Marble Cake Average Score: 7.1
Next time: Teresa. She was abroad when she heard the news. Her opinions were heard across the waters.
