Season 10 of The Great British Bake Off has begun, and I’d like to try and bake something inspired by each episode, if possible. I’m not much of a decorator, so I’m never going to decorate them quite like the bakers on GBBO do, but we’ll see how we go.

If you’ve never watched Bake Off (go and watch it now!), each week the contestants have to carry out 3 challenges over the course of 2 days. The first challenge is a “Signature Bake”, usually a recipe of a particular type of bake (e.g. fruit cake, biscuit, bread) that they consider a family recipe, or something they make a lot.

The second challenge is a technical challenge. They usually have to bake something they have never even heard of, and are given very limited instructions (e.g. make a cake batter, bake). They aren’t always given amounts of ingredients that they are meant to use or how long to bake things for. The judges taste these blind and rank them from worst to best.

The final challenge is a Show Stopper Challenge. To make something over-the-top, dramatic and show-stopping. All of the challenges are timed, and each week has a theme. The Signature Bake and the Show Stopper can be practiced at home, but not the technical.

For the first week’s technical, the contestants were asked to bake Angel Cake Slices. Theirs were much smaller and had three different flavours, as well as a different type of icing. However, this is meant to be a bake inspired by GBBO, not identical to the one they do. So if nothing else, enjoy this light and airy cake while watching the next episode of The Great British Bake off.

Ingredients

150 grams unsalted butter
150 grams caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon extract
220 grams self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
pink food colouring
yellow food colouring
lemon simple syrup
50 grams butter
110 grams icing sugar
1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line three loaf tins, or separate a large baking tray into three equal (or as close to equal as you can get) parts.
2. Beat together 150 grams of unsalted butter and caster sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until full incorporated. Add the lemon extract and mix well.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and beat until mixed through. Add 2 tbsp of milk and mix well. Divide the batter into three equal parts (I used a kitchen scale).
4. Add one part of batter to your lined tin (or into one loaf tin). Add 1 – 2 drops of yellow food colouring to the second batch of batter. Stir well, until the colour is evenly distributed. Pour into an empty section of your lined tin (or into a second loaf tin). Mix the third lot of batter with 1 – 2 drops of pink food colouring and stir through. Add the batter to the cake tin.
5. Bake in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes, or until golden on top and the cake springs back when touched lightly on top. Drizzle simple syrup over the cakes while still warm to the touch. Allow to cool completely.
6. Combine the 50 grams of butter, all of the icing sugar, and 1 tbsp milk and beat until a smooth icing forms.
7. Start with the yellow cake layer on the bottom. Add icing to the top of the yellow layer, spreading evenly. Carefully place the pink cake on top, and ice the top of the pink cake. Then gently place the uncoloured cake on the top. Trim around the edges to make the cake as even as possible.