STAFF REVIEW: BAKE CLUB BAKING KIT

Throughout my time in lockdown, I have spent a lot more time in the kitchen trying to create new things. Baking has quickly become one of my favourite activities to do and I am always looking for fun and exciting ways to challenge myself and develop my skills! 

So, to expand my baking knowledge, I thought I would challenge myself to try out one of the Bake Club’s at home baking experiences! 

They have a range of different bakes for you to pick from, all with different difficulty levels. If you are a beginner or more advanced, there is definitely something for everyone! I picked out the ‘Fraisier cake’ which was one of the more difficult bakes (this became apparent when I started baking). 

My Bake Club box arrived soon after it was ordered and contained all the pre-measured fresh and dry ingredients needed to complete my bake! The fresh ingredients were kept in a mini cooler box to stay fresh in transit. All the ingredients were clearly labelled with either Kit 1, Kit 2 or Kit 3. This made it very easy to ensure I was using the correct ingredients with the corresponding step. 

The instructions for my bake were provided to me on the Bake Club app. I found these instructions very easy to follow, as each step is accompanied with a helpful photo or video demonstration.  

First, I made the base of my sponge using all the ingredients from kit 1, and whisked together for 10 minutes as instructed. I have never made a génoise sponge before so was not entirely sure what I was doing but continued to follow the instructions. After taking it out of the oven to let it cool, it was very clear that something had not gone to plan. 

My sponge appeared to be very thin in comparison to what it was meant to be, and it became apparent that my baking skills were not as strong as I thought… but this was a learning curve for me and has definitely encouraged me to try to improve my génoise sponge making. 

Next, I used the ingredients from Kit 2 to make the vanilla Mousseline. To do this I had to combine the dry ingredients with some eggs, heat up milk and whisk in the egg mixture until a thick consistency was achieved. Next, it needed to be left to cool down in the fridge. My vanilla Mousseline turned out a lot better than my sponge did so I was pleased with this.

While the Mousseline is cooling, I began to make the strawberry syrup using the final ingredients in Kit 3. Once I had melted together the sugar, water and strawberry coulis, I cut my sponge in half as best as I could; this was tricky as my sponge was already quite small. Next, I soaked my sponge with the delicious strawberry syrup before beginning to assemble all the components.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a mousse ring at home to create the perfect presentation, so I just adapted this to my own interpretation. I began piping the vanilla Mousseline onto one half of the cake, and sprinkled freshly chopped strawberry on top.

 

I then placed the other half of the cake on top and piped on some more vanilla Mousseline. I placed some halved strawberries around the edge of the cake and topped with the pink sugar paste layer. 

As my cake was a bit smaller than expected, the sugar paste layer did not fit perfectly but I could have easily trimmed this to the correct size if I wanted to! To add the finishing touch, I placed some berries on the top, and that was my cake complete! 

Last but certainly not least, it was time for a taste test. Even though my presentation was not the best, this didn’t stop the cake from tasting delicious! It tasted just like strawberries and cream which is one of my favourite things. I’m sure if you are a baking expert, you could make this cake look as good as it tastes. If, like me, you are not a strong baker, there are plenty of alternative easier bakes to pick from. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the Bake Club box, and I have learnt lots of new skills that I will be able to use along my baking journey. I will definitely be trying out some more of their slightly easier baking recipes in the future!