The Great British Baking Show's Michelle Evans-Fecci Shares 3 Dessert Recipes You Can Make at Home
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It was only a little over a year ago that Michelle Evans-Fecci joined 12 other bakers in the famous marquee for collection seven of The Great British Baking Show. At the end of the first weekend, she came out on top as Star Baker during Cake Week. Although she was one of two bakers to be sent home in week five, she was definitely a season favorite! Since the show, she has continued to bake and still considers cakes to be one of her strengths. "I love cakes. Here in the house, we always –– obviously not now –– but we always have people calling in, popping by, so I've always got a tin in the cupboard with a cake in it just in case," she recently told POPSUGAR. (While we were talking, she said she had her eye on what was left of a fruitcake she'd made earlier in the week.)
To celebrate the new season of The Great British Baking Show, which has episodes hitting Netflix every Friday so you can watch concurrently with the UK, Michelle shared three "achievable" retro bakes fans can make at home. She created the recipes in partnership with Macmillan's Coffee Morning, which raises money to help millions of people living with cancer in the UK, to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Despite no longer being under the immense pressure in the tent, Michelle told POPSUGAR that she still loves to bake along with the show's contestants so she can enjoy a similar experience as she watches the show. And despite the newest season being slightly differently than past ones (the bakers, hosts, and crew had to live away from their families for health and safety concerns amid COVID-19), Michelle (like us) is so excited it was able to come back because of the immense joy and comfort it brings people. "It is just so lighthearted, so when I heard that they were struggling to film it, I was actually really gutted because I think, you know, with everything that's going on, I think having something like Bake Off on TV is just such a light," she said. "[It's] something to enjoy, and people can look forward to it."
Michelle said that even though she's a former contestant and an avid baker, she still can't tell how a baker's treats are going to turn out if they make a mistake because of the way the show is edited, so it's just as much of a surprise to her as is it to everyone else. But one thing she's definitely able to relate to? The stress! "I remember panicking [while watching this season] when they're filling the Battenberg trays. You could see that they were filling too high and then they overspill, and you just know what happens when you gasp and when the cake bust went to tip on one side," she said.
When it comes to successful bakes, Michelle shared her delicious recipes for Cherry Bakewell Battenberg Cake, Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes, and Strawberry Arctic Roll. Two of these bakes ironically were featured in the first two episodes of the new season for the signature and technical challenges, but thankfully, you can take your time on these at home! Plus, Paul Hollywood isn't looking over your shoulder and waiting for something to go wrong.
With Michelle's recipes and instructions ahead, we have no doubt your bakes will achieve sheer perfection! Just note that the ingredients and instructions are UK-based, so please adjust accordingly if you're in the US.
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Cherry Bakewell Battenberg Cake
Ingredients:
180 g. softened butter
180 g. caster sugar
150 g. plain flour
55 g. ground almonds
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tbsp. amaretto liquor (optional)
Pink food coloring
Cherry jam
Marzipan
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Cherry Bakewell Battenberg Cake
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160 fan.
- Grease and line the bottom and sides of a 20"x20" tin. Fold a piece of foil and baking paper the same size of the tin then place in the centre of the tin to create a divide.
- Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add ground almonds, eggs, and flour then mix well. Add vanilla.
- Divide the mixture into two separate bowls, add the almond extract and amaretto to one bowl and pink food coloring to the other.
- Place mixture in tin, pink on one side, and plain on the other. Level the top and bake for 25-30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
- Once cooled, level sponges, trim edges, and cut into two equal pieces so you have two plain and two pink sponges exactly the same size.
- Roll out marzipan.
- Heat jam slightly and using a spatula, smooth the jam on top and sides of one plain piece of sponge and stick one pink sponge to the side of it. Top with pink sponge in the same way then the final plain almond sponge so you have a checkered effect.
- Smooth a thin layer of jam all over the long sides, then wrap the sponge in the marzipan, leaving the seam at the bottom.
- Neaten edges by trimming and pinch the top edges to decorate.
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Cherry Bakewell Battenberg Cake
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Cherry Bakewell Battenberg Cake
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Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients:
200 g. butter/margarine
200 g. caster sugar
200 g. self-raising flour
1/2 tsp. bicarb
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2-3 tbsp. milk
12 pineapple rings
2 tbsp. Demerara sugar
Buttercream Ingredients:
150 g. softened butter
340 g. icing sugar
1/4 tsp. coconut extract
1-2 tbsp. milk
To Decorate:
Toasted desiccated coconut
12 maraschino cherries
Glitter (optional)
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Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
Method:
- Preheat oven to 170 fan and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases.
- Cut a piece out of each pineapple ring so they fit into paper cases.
- Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add eggs, flour, bicarb, and vanilla and mix well. Add enough milk to loosen mixture a little.
- Fill each paper case 3/4 full, then top with pineapple ring. Scatter a little Demerara sugar onto each cupcake and bake for 20-25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
- Place jam into piping bag and snip the end. Once cupcakes are cooled, poke a little hole into each cupcake with a skewer and pipe in the cherry jam.
- To make the buttercream, beat butter then add icing sugar until smooth and light. Add coconut extract and enough milk to loosen.
- Place buttercream into piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe a swirl on top. Roll cupcake into toasted coconut, then add a swirl to the top of each one.
- Place cherries into glitter pot and shake to remove the excess. Top each cupcake with a cherry!
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Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
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Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
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Strawberry Arctic Roll
Sponge Ingredients:
4 large eggs
120 g. caster sugar
120 g. self-raising flour
Ice Cream Ingredients:
397 g. tin of condensed milk
550 g. double cream
1 tsp. vanilla
150 g. strawberries
To Decorate:
100 g. strawberry jam
Extra strawberries to decorate
Little icing sugar
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Strawberry Arctic Roll
Ice Cream Method:
- Whisk condensed milk, cream, and vanilla to soft peaks.
- Whizz strawberries in a food processor and fold into ice cream mixture.
- Roll out two pieces of cling film onto worktop then dollop ice cream mixture in a line a little longer than the width of the tin.
- Fold cling film around ice cream, and wind the ends to look like a Christmas cracker. Roll back and forth on the worktop for the wrap to tighten.
- Place in freezer overnight to set.
Sponge Method:
- Grease and line a 22x33cm tin. Remove ice cream from freezer and place to one side.
- Preheat oven to 180 fan.
- Whisk eggs and sugar until thick and light. Sift flour into mixture and gently fold to keep the air in.
- Pour mixture gently into tin and level by tilting tin from side to side making sure it reaches into the corners. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
- Leave to cool slightly, then turn out onto a large piece of grease-proof paper. Unwrap ice cream from cling film and place on the shortest end of sponge. Use the paper to help tease the sponge around the ice cream.
- With the seam facing downwards, wrap in the paper and then some cling film and pop in the freezer for a couple of hours to harden.
- When ready to serve, place arctic roll on a serving board. Sift a little icing sugar all over.
- Heat the jam a little to loosen then add to top of sponge encouraging it to drip in places.
- Add strawberries to top then slice and enjoy!
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Strawberry Arctic Roll
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Strawberry Arctic Roll
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