The Lyle’s Bake Along: A Series of Tasty Takes on Great British Recipes
It’s that time of year again, when we all watch 12 fresh-faced bakers enter the famous white marquee and battle it out over 10 weeks to impress the judges and be crowned the country’s best amateur baker.
From cakes and biscuits to pies and bread, the bakers will face a series of challenges to test their cooking competence – and we’ve tuned in to see all the show-stopping creations and baking blunders!
To top it all off, we’ll be sharing our own Lyle’s ‘Bake Along-Side’ recipes to match each week’s theme, so you can join our ‘Bake Along’ and try your hand at becoming a star of your own baking world, while also enjoying some delicious treats made with our famous Lyle’s Golden Syrup.
*If you’re not up-to-date with the show, please be mindful of spoilers ahead!*
‘The Great British Bake Off’ kicked off with cake week which brought us viewers loads of interesting flavours and breath-taking designs, leading to Janusz being crowned star baker and Will being sent home.
The signature challenge asked the bakers to make 12 flavoured mini-cakes – perfectly uniform of course. The dreaded technical challenge was to create a stunning red velvet cake and each baker re-created a cake version of a house close to their hearts in the showstopper challenge.
From overcooked cakes to forgetting to turn the oven on, it’s fair to say this week had its fair share of baking faux pas. We also discovered there is such a thing as too much booze in a cake for Prue, something we never thought we’d hear her say!
Want to give baking a try? Have a look at these simple Lyle’s ‘Bake Along-side’ cake recipes.
Recreate the signature challenge at home with these delicious mini vegan carrot cakes and make your own showstopping cake with our stunning coffee and walnut cake recipe.
We may not have a red velvet cake recipe, but we do have a red velvet beet pancakes recipe with a luscious Lyle’s Golden Syrup topping – a fun twist on the technical challenge. Why not give this a go instead?
In the second episode, the 11 remaining bakers faced biscuit week. In the signature challenge, each baker was asked to bake and decorate (identically) 18 macarons that must look like anything except macarons. This request saw some interestingly shaped and decorated biscuits, including ‘burgers’, a cat, ‘peanuts’ and dual daisies.
For the technical challenge, Prue gave the bakers the task of creating some classic Garibaldo biscuits. This resulted in some mixed outcomes and varying levels of confidence, as some of the bakers weren’t entirely sure what the biscuits were.
The showstopper challenge called for a 3D biscuit mask that had to stand (and stay) upright by the end of the challenge. There were some incredible efforts here, and perhaps some less incredible ones too! Poor Carole and Rebs’ masks suffered some cracking and breakage.
The youngest baker, Maisam, was the second to leave the series, while Maxy nabbed the weekly Star Baker award.
Next week is Bread Week – join us then for even more Lyle’s ‘Bake Along’ cake recipes.
This week, get into the biscuit spirit and try your hand at our biscuity brandy snaps recipe. Or, with gingerbread being a popular choice among the bakers this week, why not try our gallant gingerbread men recipe or our lemon and ginger flapjacks?
With Prue mutilating pandas and Paul gaining the new nickname ‘the Priest of yeast’ – this was another action-packed week in the tent.
The signature challenge asked the bakers to create two identical pizzas. We saw a mix of different recipes and flavours, from James revamping the classic ham and pineapple pizza to Janusz creating a full English breakfast pizza featuring baked beans and black pudding. Sandro was certainly the star of the signature though with his sweet and spicy pizza including a camembert and honey stuffed crust – Paul even said he would order it in a restaurant if he saw it on the menu!
In true Paul Hollywood style, the pain aux raisin technical challenge had very basic instructions that were left open to interpretation – forcing the bakers to trust their intuition. This tough task saw Janusz come out on top and Carole falling behind.
The final challenge bread week threw at the bakers was to create a Smörgåstårta; a Swedish celebration cake with layers of bread, a savoury filling and intricate decoration. From James’ Chinese panda-inspired Smörgåstårta to Syabira’s incredible Malaysian twist on the Swedish classic; it was Janusz’s fish, chips and mushy peas Smörgåstårta that stole the show and led him to become the winner of bread week, winning the highly sought after accolade for the second time.
No bakers left the tent this week, which means the pressure is on for the rest of the competition.
We’ve found some delicious recipes to put a ‘Lyle’s Bake Along’ spin on bread week. Check out our decadent dessert pizza recipe to recreate the signature challenge at home, or channel the technical challenge and make an enriched dough with our cinnamon and pecan babka recipe. If you want a showstopping recipe, why not give our classic bread and butter pudding recipe a go?
A first for the famous baking show, Mexican week saw the bakers try their hand at delicious Mexican treats. The challenges brought an array of bright colours, exquisite decoration and interesting flavours.
The signature challenge asked the bakers to create Pan Dulce; a Mexican bread with a sweet topping often eaten at breakfast. The bakers let their imaginations run wild with the decoration – Syabira made her Pan Dulche’s look like corn on the cobs, and James created some impressive caramel oysters.
The technical challenge saw the bakers making the Mexican classic – tacos. The challenge was tough, but the bakers pulled through with Maxy winning the challenge, and Carole falling behind.
The bakers had to create Tres Leches for their showstopper challenge, which is a sponge cake that’s soaked in three different types of milk – traditionally condensed milk, evaporated milk and double cream.
Syabira kept with her theme of sweetcorn and decided to take a risk and make a sweetcorn Tres Leches, unfortunately, this risk did not pay off as the judges were not a fan of the flavour. Dawn’s heavenly coffee and chocolate Tres Leches blew the judges away – but Maxy was the shining star this week and was awarded the highly sought-after title.
As nobody left the tent in bread week, unfortunately, two bakers left this week – James and Rebs, who both had a very difficult week.
Chocolate and cinnamon are popular flavours for most Mexican desserts. We’ve pulled together some of our favourite recipes so you can enjoy Mexican flavours, and the gorgeous taste of Lyle’s Golden Syrup, at home:
With 8 bakers left in the tent, the competition is certainly ramping up. Dessert week saw some difficult challenges and interesting flavours – some eagle-eyed viewers may have spotted Maxy using some high-quality Lyle’s Golden Syrup!
The signature challenge asked the bakers to make eight individual steamed puddings – a true British classic. We saw some interesting flavours in the tent with Sandro’s apple and cherry crumble steamed puddings (with a boozy drizzle for Prue), Syabira’s watermelon puddings and Januzs’ mini Piña Coladas. Unfortunately, Carole had a complete disaster – her flavours may have been good, but her undercooked puddings collapsed as they came out of the moulds.
The bakers were asked to make another classic recipe for the technical challenge – a lemon meringue pie. You may be sat there thinking this wasn’t a challenge at all, but they were mortified to look down at the recipe and only see the words “make a lemon meringue pie”. They had to trust their baking instincts and work it out for themselves – Januzs came out victorious and Syabira was falling behind.
The showstopper challenge was no small feat, the bakers were tasked with creating a mousse-based dessert, with three different baked elements and a hidden surprise inside. From the galaxy and outer space to Kevin’s dog digging in his garden, the bakers’ imaginations ran wild with this brief. Abdul created a galaxy-themed cake with planets hidden inside. The decoration was out of this world, but he soon came crashing down to earth when the judges revealed that his textures were all wrong.
Sandro wanted to give himself even more of a challenge and created a spherical earth dessert, with the inside resembling the different layers of our planet. This incredible dessert blew the judges away and sealed his fate of being crowned the winner of dessert week, and unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Carole.
Enjoy our take on dessert week’s recipes and recreate the feeling of the tent in the comfort of your own home.
Our steamed syrup sponge pudding with Lyle’s Golden Syrup is the ultimate comfort food, and you can enjoy the lemony flavours of the technical challenge with our lemon and ginger flapjacks and tangy lemon cheesecake. Recreate the showstopper challenge with our golden syrup Halloween loaf cake and blow your guests away with the hidden bat inside!
Darkness fell upon the white marquee as it was filled with freaky decorations and spooky flavours for Halloween week. Embracing the spirit of the season, all the bakers donned their best Halloween apparel, from Abdul’s rogue astronaut costume to Janusz dressing up as Noel Fielding.
Toffee apples are a popular Halloween treat, so the judges challenged the bakers to create an apple cake in the signature challenge. Everyone tried including a variety of different flavours to elevate their apple cakes – Syabira included notes of sour plumb and chilli. She even went one step further and decorated her cake to look like a witch apple, earning her a handshake from Paul. Maxy went down the more traditional route and made an apple and walnut cake, her intricate presentation and amazing flavours meant she was also awarded the famous handshake.
The bakers made s’mores for the technical challenge. This classic American dessert features a gooey toasted marshmallow with chocolate ganache sandwiched between two digestive biscuits, and the bakers had to make all the elements from scratch. This challenge got the better of Abdul and he was placed last, as Syabira shone above her competition and won the challenge.
The showstopper challenge saw an array of fang-tastic bakes and decorations, as the bakers were asked to make a spooky hanging lantern that could be smashed open like a piñata to reveal an array of spine-chilling baked goods. From eery lanterns and skulls to scary spiders and a black cat, there were loads of different designs appearing in the tent. Most of the bakers decided to make their lanterns out of biscuits, but Sandro decided to challenge himself further and make his lantern a chocolate sphere with chocolate skulls – he’s a brave man, we’ll give him that!
In true Halloween fashion, the bakers were encouraged to include tricks as well as treats in their spooktacular creations. Sandro included chilli in his cookies, which ended up being too strong for the judges, and Janusz went one step further and made cricket chocolate truffles (yes, real-life crickets) – ironically, the judges said they needed more crickets!? We don’t get it either…
It was no surprise that Syabira was the star of Halloween week – she had a phenomenal week – but unfortunately, Dawn ended up leaving the tent.
Get stuck in and make these delicious recipes – you’ll feel like you’re in the tent! Recreate the signature challenge with these easy apple and cinnamon muffins, and you can make some delicious Halloween s’mores with these pumpkin marshmallows! You can also replicate the showstopper challenge with these stunning recipes:
Who knew you could make so much with custard? Week seven was another tough week in the tent that brought the bakers a series of successes and failures.
The first task challenged the bakers to create Île Flottante, also known as floating islands (poached meringues floating in custard). As is the case when making meringues, we saw the bakers tipping their bowls of meringue mixture over their heads to check it was ready, luckily for the bakers – there were no new meringue hairstyles! The meringue must be the right consistency, otherwise they’ll collapse when they’re poached – like Kevin’s did, but at least the judges enjoyed his flavour combination!
From cocktails like Syabira’s Mojito floating islands and Maxy’s take on a Blue Lagoon, to Januzs’ vanilla latte floating islands – the bakers were trialling loads of different flavour combinations and textures. Sandro and Paul said that Syabira’s floating islands looked like fried chicken on top of bechamel sauce, but the judges loved them!
Prue set the technical challenge of making six pistachio and praline ice cream cones, challenging the bakers to make their own ice cream and waffle cones. This challenge had staggered start and finish times to make it fair for everyone, starting with Sandro. He was very nervous going first, but he smashed it and won the challenge – claiming his first technical challenge win. Syabira’s ice cream melted and was more like soup, so she ended up at the back of the pack.
This week was very varied in terms of successes, there wasn’t a clear front-runner – so it was all to play for in the showstopper challenge. This final challenge asked the bakers to create a set custard gateau, this had to include baked elements and perfectly set custard, but the custard must be the star of the show.
Most of the bakers opted for cake as their baked element, but Abdul decided to use puff pastry and make a version of a mille-feuille. Apart from a slightly underdone pastry, this was a hit with the judges. Syabira based her gateau on another classic cocktail – piña colada. The judges were very impressed with the amount of custard she managed to include in her gateau, so she was crowned star of custard week.
Kevin was ambitious and tried to make a three-tiered gateau which included three litres of thyme and bay flavoured custard! Unfortunately, the layers collapsed which sealed his fate of leaving the tent. However, not all was lost as Prue was so impressed with his flavour combination, that she said she was going to go home and make it herself – that’s a big achievement!
Our super-easy custard recipe means you can effortlessly make custard at home – it goes great with our apple and blackberry crumble!
If you want to recreate the technical challenge and make your own ice cream, try out our peanut butter ice cream and butterscotch, chocolate and vanilla ice cream recipes – you don’t need to splash out on any fancy equipment to make them!
It’s the quarter-finals! The pressure is building up in the tent and the judge’s comments are becoming even more brutal.
The signature challenge was to make 12 vol-au-vents with a sweet filling, which is a lot harder than it sounds! Syabira’s vol-au-vents had a citrus kick with a filling of orange and mandarin cream cheese and the judges were impressed with her flavours. Everyone else didn’t do as well, Januzs’ pastry was undercooked, Maxy’s pastry was raw, and Abdul’s pastry was overcooked and described as “bone dry”.
Sandro created key lime pie flavoured vol-au-vents with ginger biscuits. He used this flavour combination with the hope of getting a handshake from Paul, as it’s his favourite dessert. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way he had hoped…
He forgot to turn his oven on and things just went from bad to worse! The butter leaked out of the vol-au-vent cases, they were wonky because they didn’t rise evenly, and his pastry was overcooked. The judges did however enjoy his flavours, so that’s a positive!
Prue set the technical challenge this week and tasked the bakers to make 8 spring rolls – a rare savoury bake in the tent! There were 29 different ingredients and the bakers had to trust their food knowledge and instincts to work out the proportions themselves. Sandro put in a stellar performance to make up for the signature challenge, which landed him first place – Maxy struggled which left her last.
The showstopper was probably very nostalgic for everyone watching at home as the bakers were tasked to create a 3D pie scene based on their favourite nursery rhyme or children’s book. The scene must include at least 8 pies with the pastry being the star of the show and the judges also wanted it to be instantly recognisable.
So many different shapes, colours and flavours graced the tent as the bakers recreated the classic stories of Jack and the Beanstalk, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Treasure Island – Maxy decided to make a tribute to the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sorry if we have caused some earworms, blame Paul and Prue).
Overall the judges were disappointed, all the pies were dry inside (some were worse than others)! Sandro was overambitious and decided to make 16 pies altogether AND ice cream in his tribute to The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It looked great and the judges enjoyed the ice cream, but the pastry was terrible and Paul described it as “tough as old boots” – not something you want to hear at this stage of the competition. Maxy also struggled as her filo pastry globe was undercooked.
However, even though her pie fillings were a little dry, Syabira’s flavours and pastry in her elaborate two-tiered Jack in the Beanstalk tribute really impressed the judges – which landed her the star of the week for the third week in a row! Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Maxy, which proved to be very emotional for all the bakers.
Looking for an easy pastry dessert to whip up for your loved ones? Try out our plum tart or chocolate and pecan tart recipes or impress your guests with our sticky and delicious baklava recipe. If you want to try something a bit different, have a look at our apple pie flapjacks recipe.
The semi-finals was another pressure-filled week in the tent, challenging the final four bakers to create a series of stunning cakes and pastries. Patisserie is all about precision, and the judges will be ruthless.
The signature challenge was to create six identical mini charlottes, which is a classic French patisserie dish consisting of a ring of delicate cake or lady fingers and filled with either a mousse or bavarois (made from custard, whipped cream and gelatin). The sponge cake should be strong enough to contain fillings, but it must be a light and delicate cake.
Syabira’s fruity mini charlottes had a peanut butter, blackberry, and strawberry filling. The combination of peanut and fruit concerned the judges, they weren’t sure how the flavours would work together – but luckily the flavours turned out to be a hit! In true Sandro fashion, he decided to make two different sponges for his mini charlottes – a jaconde sponge and a banana cake. This creation was inspired by his mum’s banana cake and Prue said his banana sponge was one of the best she’s ever eaten – high praise indeed! Abdul decided to go for a simple tiramisu-flavoured charlotte with a pistachio and coffee moose. As it was a simple recipe, he really needed to impress the judges – although they were messy, the textures and flavours were spot on.
Unfortunately, Janusz didn’t have as much success as the other bakers. He made plumb and dark chocolate moose mini charlottes based on his favourite childhood sweet – they looked great but neither of his mousses were set and the sponge was tough. But at least the judges enjoyed his flavours!
The technical challenge was arguably the toughest yet, as the bakers were asked to make four identical, vertical chocolate, hazelnut and raspberry tarts. The judges wanted precise and elegant tarts that would look like bakes you’d see in a patisserie shop window. After a very stressful bake, they pulled through and made some good-looking vertical tarts! Sandro was last, Janusz was 3rd, Abdul was 2nd and Syabira claimed 1st place.
The bakers were asked to make Kraken for the showstopper challenge – this is a Swedish bake that’s traditionally made for weddings. It’s an extravagant almond biscuit structure that had to be a minimum height of 60cm. This was a very tough challenge for the bakers and consistency is crucial in this bake – Syabira even got her spirit level out!
Tonnes of different colours and themes graced the tent, from Janusz celebrating Brighton pride and Sandro’s kracken that represented where he came from and where he is now. But it’s safe to say that Syabira and Abdul stole the show! Abdul made a rocket ship design that celebrated his passion for outer space with orange-flavoured marzipan decorations and Syabira created a breathtaking double-helix for her DNA kracken.
Abdul was the star of the week for the first time (better late than never!) and unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Janusz. Next week, Sandro, Abdul and Syabira will battle it out for the overall title.
Has this week’s show got you in the mood for baking? Recreate patisserie week at home with these simple and tasty recipes:
Well, there we have it – 10 weeks of cakes, sweet treats and plenty of baking puns from Matt and Noel. Now it’s time for Sandro, Syabira and Abdul to battle it out for the coveted baking crown. This week’s theme was to celebrate our wonderful planet, which shone through in all the challenges.
The judges challenged the bakers to make a summer picnic including six mini-cakes, six savoury pies and six finger sandwiches made from a homemade white loaf. This was one of the most complicated signature challenges to date, leaving the bakers completely rushed off their feet!
The flavours in Syabira’s broad bean finger sandwiches with salsa verde impressed the judges, as well as her no porkie pies. However, the flavours of her rosemary cream overpowered her Swiss rolls – but the judges did say they were beautifully baked.
To reduce food miles, Abdul used feta cheese made in Yorkshire for his Greek pies and they were a hit with the judges, along with his beetroot, cream cheese and chive sandwiches – but the judges couldn’t taste the tarragon in his Swiss rolls.
Sandro’s lemon and elderflower cakes and classic egg and watercress sandwiches really hit the spot – unfortunately, the pastry in his cheesy cauliflower pies were undercooked, but at least the judges liked the flavours!
The technical challenge saw the bakers making a summer pudding bomb, with a mousse filling, jelly centre and encased in bread soaked in raspberry syrup. In the spirit of this week’s theme, the bakers used the leftover bread that they made in their signature challenge. To set their jelly and mousse, the bakers had to use vegetable gelatine. This isn’t the same as normal gelatine, because it needs to be boiled to activate it – the bakers had to rely on their cooking knowledge to know that. Unfortunately, Sandro was the only baker that didn’t know this, and this landed him last place. Abdul was the closest to the mark, so he was awarded first place – which was the first time he had won a technical challenge.
It was neck and neck going into the showstopper challenge, so the pressure was on for this last bake. For their final challenge, the bakers had to make a large edible sculpture based on this week’s theme – our beautiful planet. The judges wanted a large cake base and three more baked elements, as well as incredible flavours, colours and imagination.
This was an incredibly difficult challenge; the time constraints meant that there would be no time to re-make any imperfections – so they had to get it right the first time. Syabira’s sculpture was an orangutan holding up a rainforest, highlighting how much deforestation affects their habitat, and Abdul decided to celebrate bees in his sculpture. In true Sandro style, he decided to set himself a massive challenge by celebrating the whole world – from the sea to the stars and planets.
All of the sculptures were a little messy, but they all had some great elements. Sandro’s profiteroles were delicious, and Abdul’s biscuits were a triumph, but Syabira’s unusual flavour combinations blew the judges away.
After an action-packed final, Syabira was crowned the overall winner of the series. She truly is a one-of-a-kind baker, her unusual flavour combinations and skills consistently wowed the judges – she’s certainly a worthy winner!
From celebration bakes to picnic treats – take a look at these four delicious recipes to recreate the final at home:
* This is not sponsored, in partnership with or otherwise endorsed by Love Production’s The Great British Bake Off.
