Linda Collister - Great British Bake Off – Bake it Better (No.1): Classic Cakes (The Great British Bake Off)

Would you like to learn to be a better baker?

We know that so many people watch The Great British Bake Off for the tips and techniques you pick up not only from the judges, but from watching the bakers too. We wanted to distil that knowledge into a library of cookbooks that are specifically designed to take you from novice to expert baker. Individually, each book covers the skills you will want to perfect so that you can master a particular area of baking everything from cakes to bread, sweet pastries to pies.

We have chosen recipes that are classics of each type, and grouped them together so that they take you on a progression from Easy does it through Needs a little skill to Up for a challenge. Put together, the full series of books will give you a comprehensive collection of the best recipes, along with all the advice you need to become a better baker.

The triumphs and lessons of the bakers in the tent show us that not everything works every time. But I hope that with these books as your guide, we have given you a head start towards baking it better every time!

Linda Collister

Series Editor

www.hodder.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton

An Hachette UK company

Copyright Love Productions Limited 2015

Photography Copyright David Munns 2015

The right of Linda Collister to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

BBC and the BBC logo are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. BBC logo BBC 1996.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

Hardback ISBN 978 1 473 61525 0

Ebook ISBN 978 1 473 61526 7

Editorial Director: Nicky Ross

Editor: Sarah Hammond

Project Editor: Laura Herring

Series Editor: Linda Collister

Art Director: James Edgar

Layouts: Nicky Barneby

Photographer: David Munns

Food Stylist: Natalie Thomson, Lizzie Harris

Props Stylist: Victoria Allen

Hodder & Stoughton policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

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Contents

BAKE IT BETTER
Bakers Guide

BAKE IT BETTER
Recipes

When youre learning to bake, theres no better place to start than with a cake, and there are 40 absolute classics in this book.

As well as being great bakes, the recipes have been carefully chosen to introduce you to all the key techniques, such as creaming, whisking, rubbing in and folding that not only set you up to bake better cakes, but which you will find invaluable for all baking.

Start with the Easy does it section and master the basics with recipes like Quick Berry Muffins, Sticky Gingerbread or Apple and Maple Syrup Traybake. As you grow in confidence you will feel ready to move to the recipes that Need a little skill a Bitter Chocolate Roulade perhaps, a perfect Dundee Cake or a sumptuous Devils Food Cake. The more you bake, the sooner you will be Up for a challenge, testing your decorating skills with the Mile-high Chocolate Cake or whipping up a light-as-air sponge for the classic Fraisier.

The colour strip on the right-hand side of the page tells you at a glance the level of the recipe (from one spoon for easy to three spoons for a challenge), and gives you a helpful checklist of the skills and special equipment you will use.

Before you begin, have a look at the Bakers Guide at the beginning of the book. That will tell you what equipment you need to get started (just a bowl, a spoon and a cake tin will do!), introduce you to the most important ingredients, and explain some terms and techniques in more detail.

We have chosen Classic Cakes as the subject of our first book in the Bake It Better series because even the simplest of cake recipes gives impressive results. Its amazing what you can do with just flour, butter, sugar and eggs when you know how. So dive in, and get baking!

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

SECTION 1: BAKERS GUIDE

Read this section before you start baking.

The Bakers Guide contains key information on ingredients () relevant to the recipes in the book.

Refer back the Bakers Guide when youre baking if you want a refresher on a particular skill. In the recipes the first mention of each skill is highlighted in bold.

SECTION 2: RECIPES

Colour strips on the right-hand side and 1, 2 or 3 spoons show the level of the recipe.

Within the colour strips youll find helpful information to help you decide what to bake: Hands-on time; Baking time; Makes; Special equipment; Sponge used and Storage.

Refer back to the Bakers Guide when a skill is highlighted in bold in the recipe if you need a reminder.

Try Something Different options are given where the recipe lends itself to experimenting with ingredients or decorations.

Easy does it

Needs a little skill

Up for a challenge

The most important piece of advice we can give when youre checking the ingredients list of a recipe is dont be tempted to substitute. This is particularly true if youre new to baking, or its a new recipe for you.