Ollie's baking for Duke of Edinburgh Award (bronze)

 27/09/23

Victoria sponge 

The cake, unfortunately suffered in transit as the top slipped and the filling oozed out. 

Texture of sponge; too dense. 

Filling; generous, but too sweet (sugar in the cream?)

Taste good but overly sweet. 

Summary 2 out of 5

8/11/23

Cookies/Biscuits 

Nice even colour, though two were slightly browned on the edges. (position in the oven?)

Not sure what the the flavour is, but they taste good. 

Summary; 3/5

15/11/23

Scones 

Excellent appearance. Nice even baking with a golden brown top. Scones are best when freshly baked, and I tried them the next day By then the texture was a little heavy .

Nonetheless well done 4/5

22/11/23

Shortbread 

Excellent taste, well presented with not having too much sugar on the top. Nice traditional fork decoration. 

My only slight criticism is they were in the oven a minute or two too long, 

4/5

29/11/23

Wholemeal Bread 

Traditionally delivered wrapped in a tea towel and in a large sealed plastic dish. 

Appearance; This bread looked (and smelled) really great. The outside was browned beautifully and looked suitably craggy.

The texture was a little heavy, as it will be with this flour. The taste was great.  We ate it over three days and its keeping quality was first class. 5/5

Rockie Road Thursday 14th December 

Ollie must have a sweet tooth, fortunately so do I.

The confection as can be seen stood well. The filling was evenly spaced with the usual variety of goodies. 

I really enjoyed eating them.

We would like to score this effort 5 out of 5.

Choc chip Cookies Thursday 4th January. 

Well presented, but perhaps a little anaemic. 

Cookies for me should have a basic mix with a bite and a sweet contrast in the additional ingredients, in this case chocolate chips. 

I found Ollie's cookies rather flaccid. In other words they lacked the expected bite.

I also found the cookies mix rather sweet. 

Score 3/5

White chocolate topped éclairs 10/01/24

Well done! These were delicious.  Nice presentation although the chocolate topping was a little brittle and broke off with the bite. 

Choux pastry (first time?) was light and airy. Dark chocolate filling not too sweet but contrasted with the sweeter topping. 

We would have more of these any day 5/5

Japanese Fluffy Cakes 17/01/24

I don't recall trying these when I was in Japan, but I wish that I had. 

These were really excellent. Similar to a cheesecake, but slightly risen like a soufflé. 

A very enjoyable snack. 5/5

Pistachio bread

Texture and taste more cake than bread, however a very good savoury result. The rosemary herb topping contributed a lot to this. 

In summary we score this 4/5

Wednesday 24/01/24

Madeira cake. 

This was truly delicious. Madeira cake has a heavier texture than Victoria sponge because of the additional flour in the mixture.  With the flavours of lemon and almond you managed to created a very moreish cake.      5/5

Banana and chocolate cup cake 7/2/24

These had a really nice taste. You could clearly detect both the chocolate and the banana. The sponge was however a little dense but this is, perhaps correct for the recipe. In summary, a very tasty accompaniment with our coffee. 

In summary, well done. 4/5

Redemption Cake 14/02/24

Ollie told me that this was Redemption cake. I  asked him if I needed redeeming, but he replied that it was to redeem his first effort, the Victoria sponge! Well you just need to compare the pictures to see how far Ollie's baking has come on.

The sponge was really good, light and moist with a filling that was the appropriately sized and not over sweet. 

We agreed a score of 5/5.

Well done Ollie, although this activity is not about pass or fail, more you showing commitment and progress. I am happy that you have done both of these. It was a pleasure to assess your work and enjoy your baking.