The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
I’m really excited to see Das große Backen is back! This is GBBO’s German cousin and to my palette it’s a better combination of baking and entertainment than the British version. For the last couple of years it has been my top choice for Bake Off fans. Not only is the programme better balanced with good bakers (diverse but without going overboard!), helpful hosts and a more subtle comedy element but it also has a 10,000 euro prize, a book deal and a trophy for the winner. You get more cake on Das große Backen!
Series 10 kicks off with the usual intros and a tearful message from Betty who has Covid and is unable to join them in the tent. The moderator, Enie, joins Christian for judging duties and we’re promised a guest appearance by Paul Hollywood.
Aufgabe 1: Lieblingsrezept (2 hours)
What would you bake for your favourite recipe? It’s a bit like choosing your favourite child … except I’m allergic to children!
The bakers introduce their favourite recipes and for me Rahim’s choice stands-out. He is straight in there making ricotta and “angel hair”. Dorte’s Marzipan cake also looks interesting. I really want to try these recipes! Caterina opts for a Rhubarb crumble cake and Christa makes Black forest gateau both of which I love. They’re always popular.
Christian.S, who is making a strawberry vertical cake ruins a spoon so he can press down the wholemeal biscuit base. Then shows off his linguistic abilities as he burns a sponge. It turns out he can swear perfectly in both German and English. His trials continue as he builds the layers of the vertical cake in free-form. It looks “informal”. Isn’t it easier to do this in the cake tin and start from the outside? He’ll need some magic in the presentation.
Nina needs some advice on how to cool her chocolate more quickly and Christian suggests putting it in the fridge. I told you the hosts were helpful !
Raheem continues doing stuff I have never seen before and my to-do list is getting longer by the minute. Stefanie’s sugar-coated blueberries look great. I never thought of doing that. The decoration of Dorte’s isomalt bowl is beautiful. I’ll definitely try that.
In the final presentation of the Lieblingsrezept my favourite was Stefanie’s Cranberry-Apple Christmas Dream for the optics, narrowly edging out Dorte’s Marzipan cake. Anja’s Peach & Raspberry loveheart looks light and fruity – a pure piece of summer heaven. But I would choose Rahim’s as the most interesting and the one I would most like to try myself.
Christian.S fooled me with the optics by covering his cake with strawberries and tuiles but I dont think he convinced Christian.H. Although the stalks look great for contrast I’d be a bit annoyed to have to remove so many while I’m stuffing my face with cake.
Aufgabe 2: Technische Prufung – Arlettes (3 hours)
The holy Paul makes his divine presence felt via a pre-recorded video which includes a rather random clip from GBBO series 3 with the Blessed Mary standing next to him. We’re teased into thinking a Hollywood handshake might be coming up but then the big reveal is that he’s not there at all. I’m a bit disappointed. The video continues and Paul congratulates DGB on its 10 year anniversary and tells the bakers to take their time making Arlettes.
Arlettes need to be very thin, gold-brown and crispy from the caramelisation.
It becomes clear pretty quickly that most of the bakers have never made puff pastry. I only started making it a few years ago and there are a few tricks to learn. I’ll say straight away that it’s far easier if you make it in a big batch and our hobby-bakers have to triumph with only 170g flour in total. Caterina’s dough is too wet, Anja’s butter is too firm and Dorte’s & Raiko’s is too soft. The dimensions are wrong and the butter doesn’t fit over the dough. Anje rolls too heavily. This is a tough challenge! I want to make Arlettes right now! But first the bakers roll out their dough into implausibly thin 16cm circles and there’s a lovely piece of cooperation here where they share the secret of the scales. They have to make six identical Arlettes. The results are …erm… variable.
The voting goes on for weeks but in the end 8 points at the bottom and 17 to the top fairly reflects the difference. No, of course I’m not going to say who got top points but a theme is starting to emerge.
Aufgabe 3: Meine gebackene Visitenkarte – My Signature Bake (4 hours)
The “showstopper” can be the make or break for a baker and because they had the chance to plan in advance it is extra-interesting to see what comes out.
Christian’s boat is a bit unprofessional in the presentation but the layers look good and apparently the flavours are spot on.
Caterina’s Multi-national peanut crunch cake looks good from a distance but up close the cracks are showing. The judges comment that the flavour contrasts might not be to everyone’s liking but who doesn’t like salty-sweet?
Stephanie’s box looks great! It has her signature flower on top with crafted vegetables and there’s an enormous snail hunting nearby.
Dorte has made a miniature coffin out of sponge, lemon frosting, lemon curd and strawberry jelly. It looks to die for!
Raiko builds a swimming pool filled with blue curacao. The effect works well and there are some nice details. I’ll drink to that! … actually I’ll drink to anything!
Nina presents a “Go Girl” cake decorated with a flamingo and a shoe on top. It’s a great idea but this girl has big feet and the weight has bowed the cake in the middle! Still it looks delicious.
Anja created a carousel with Madeira sponge and lebkuchen Swiss buttercream and decorated with gilded horses. It looks great and I love the flavour idea! The judges find fault with the construction and only try the bottom layer. Apparently the flavours aren’t all there.
The knives will be out for Raheem! His chef’s jacket looks very smart but it’s not overly adventurous, but wait … is that a real knife? Really? He MADE that? Wow!
Also worth trumpeting is Christa’s musical themed gateau. If you like cream you’ll love this cake. Enie says its perfect and Christian says it is a dream.
Anje goes for a sea theme. On the outside it is a little underwhelming but on the inside the layers look perfect and enticing. The verdict on the flavours is very positive.
Round up
I’m loving it! I think it’s going to be another fantastic season for DGB. Our hobby bakers have plenty of scope for improvement and that’s where the story lies but they are all clearly very talented.
My picks for the top would be Stefanie and Raheem but it’s early days. Dorte and Anje look safe for a few weeks. There’s always a dark horse and it could be any of these great bakers.
I can’t wait for the next episode!
You can find some of the recipes here: Alle Rezepte
And this is how my Arlettes turned out…
Spoilers below:
Maybe something got lost in translation but I didn’t think the result was really justified. Certainly the star baker was Stefanie with the others some way behind. At the other end of the scale I thought Christian and Caterina were in real trouble so it was a surprise to see Anja pushed out of the tent. She did ok in “favourite recipe” and the technical challenge and her show-stopper looked the picture and showed off a lot of skills.
