Bake Off

Exhausting day today! Yesterday and most of today I have been baking five different sorts of cake. Of course I bake cake often, but not in these quantities. It makes you realise the gulf between home baking and professionals. For example the first batch of these biscuits I baked, the ones in the middle of the tray were underdone. So I baked the next batch for two minutes longer and they were perfect. Third batch: same tray, same temperature, same amount of time, and they were burnt on the bottom.

I had various other minor catastrophes including unset caramel that I had to scrape off the shortbread and reboil, and Bakewell slices that burned round the edges so I had to trim them. Even something apparently simple,  namely cutting even-sized pieces, seemed impossible for me, despite the ruler. Bake Off bakers really are in another league.

I finally crossed the finish line at about 5:30, with thanks to S for doing endless sinkfuls of washing up, and keeled over on the sofa for the rest of the evening. Early start tomorrow.