Oops up, side your cake!

So – was John the worthy winner of the Great British Bake Off? In my mind – absolutely;
he’s young, talented and keen to pursue a baking career. Plus, he was just so sweet and the
complete underdog so huge congrats from this watcher. However, I know from other forums
I look at that many feel Brendan was robbed (most, including me, wrote off James after his soggy bottom!) I can kind of see where they’re coming from but I personally was put off by his naked
ambition and his rather smug attitude – especially in the final sound bites (I know they were
edited but you’d give yourself 10 out of 10 would you – really!!) He also rarely seemed to
have flair and whilst his bakes looked good if a bit retro, they just didn’t excite me. Plus –
and this is the big Plus – we didn’t get to taste any of their cooking and so we must trust
in the gravitas of Mr Hollywood and the experience of the lovely Mary to have chosen the
best!

So onto my baking of last weekend… ah, the cobbler! It all started out so well and was
amazingly easy to put it all together (doctored buttermilk and all!)… As you can see from
the photo on the left – it looked glorious when it came out. What you can’t see is that just under the
surface, it is raw – not just slightly underdone, but completely, ‘straight from the mixing
bowl’ raw! I am blaming my oven, as all good cooks should, but was a bit devastated as had
it all nicely timed around Sunday lunch!

However, I threw caution to the wind – salvaged a couple of portions so the children could be fed and then put it back in for an extended bake! Amazingly, this worked a treat and, as can be seen by the picture just below, it was rapidly demolished by me, my husband and my Mother in Law – super!

So we move onto this weekend and I think I will return to slightly safer territory (who’d have thought a Cobbler could be so tricky!) and so am aiming to produce a delectable Rhubarb & Ginger Upside Down Cake… What could go wrong with that…?

There is a really surreal use of Pineapple Upside Down Cake in the first episode of The Jetsons (I loved this cartoon for some reason). Mr Spacely, as you all know is George’s boss, gets the cake in his face when Rosie, the wonderful robotic housekeeper, takes offence at a rude remark. Of course, Mr Spacely wants to fire George but is so overcome by how good the cake tastes, that he reconsiders.

It’s nice to think such a simple cake will last so far into the future (although I am hoping
robotic housekeepers get invented pretty sharpish as our house is looking a little cluttered!)
but I am not planning on throwing mine anywhere other than down my throat!

“Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake,
a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.”

Ambrose Bierce