Homage to GBBO....

Have you been watching the Great British BakeOff Masterclass and last year's competition revisited?  Here at Harrison's Fund we are all addicted, partly because we all hope the brilliance of their baking and the inventiveness of their decoration will rub off on us as the Cake Time Party and the Cake & Craft Sale draws near.

Mary Berry always gives the best simple tips, for example, the times when you completely forget to take the butter out of the fridge to come up to room temperature before beating. Now we know to fill a bowl with baby bath temperature water and pop in the butter cut into cubes for about 10 mins, and it works, we've tested it!

I wonder if anyone's been trying out some of the bakes, rum babas, treacle tarts, plaited loaf, hand raised pie or a fondant fancy?  Love to see some pics.

We enjoyed seeing what the 2011 contestants are up to now, probably most bakers that watched the GBBO last year have bought the Jo Wheatley's Passion for Baking Book but it was great to see so many of the others had found outlets to use their skills, from teaching in college, advising on historic recipes that could be brought up to date and used in a delightful tea shop, to teaching baking classes and becoming a radio presenter.  The common factor between all the bakers was how down to earth they were, how much they loved spending time baking even if it could be stressful, their cameraderie as a group and their ability to shed tears over their bakes including the macaroons!

So there is still time to have a Cake Time Party, small or large, wiz an email to info@harrisonsfund.com and we'll send you a Cake Time Party fundraisers pack to download by return.  And don't forget to take lots of pics so that we can add them to this blog.

make time...

Hot chocolate on a stick - divine decadence..

If you were thinking of having a cake sale party and wanted something else as well as cakes to sell then look no further.  The lovely Holly Bell @HollyBellMummy, one of the darlings and runner up of the Series 2 Great British Bake Off donated this lovely recipe to Harrison's Fund for their charity Cake Time Recipe Book. You can purchase your copy here. We are offering this recipe to you on our Recipe page as a fantastic, but simple way to add a little extra to your Cake Time Party offering.  I think the only drawback with these is the amount of will power you need to not pop them straight into hot milk!