Bake Off Box #5 | June 2021 | Review

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This is the fifth month of the Bake Off Box and this month’s recipe was for a technically demanding Bakewell Tart!

For those of you who haven´t heard, the Great British Bake Off has released the concept of the Bake Off Box, which is available for monthly subscription and contains the dry ingredients for a special recipe, as well as a bespoke piece of baking equipment!

I thought a lot of you might be interested in finding out more about the Bake Off Box content, the recipe and the equipment that comes with it, so I thought I would film the “experience” and write up a review each month for you!

*Just a quick disclaimer before we start: This post isn´t sponsored (I wish!) and I am not getting paid for anything I have said. It´s just my own personal opinion and experience.*

Watch this Month’s Unboxing and Baking Video here:

This Month´s Bake Off Box Content

In the June Bake Off Box, I received the ingredients to make a Bakewell Tart with Feathered Icing!

The Bake Off Box Baking Equipment

June’s Bake Off Box actually contained two pieces of “bespoke baking equipment”: A silicone spatula and a medium-sized offset palette knife! While the spatula is nothing particularly special, a baker can never have too many silicone spatulas and the palette knife really is this month’s star of the show! I already love my Small Offset Palette Knife from Tala (I think I recommend it in every single recipe/video I do) and this one from the Bake Off Box is slightly larger than that making it the perfect addition to my collection!

Many baking beginners may have been upset not to receive the 23cm round fluted tart tin in this box, and I can definitely understand why that would be the case! Ceramic baking beans is another thing that many baking newbies may not have, but you can always use uncooked rice instead. However, for someone like myself who already owns a lot of baking equipment, I was quite happy with this month’s equipment. I suppose it is difficult to find the balance between providing equipment that will be enjoyed by both experienced and new bakers, as well as balancing it with the cost of products. However, a loose-based tart tin should definitely be something every baker ones, so maybe consider investing in one perhaps like this.

The Bakewell Tart Ingredients

This Bake Off Box came with 4 sachets of dry ingredients for the recipe, one with caster sugar, one with flour, one with jam sugar and one with icing sugar. In addition, the box contained a bag of ground almonds which can be quite expensive, so it was nice to have that included. In addition, there was also a tube of red gel food colouring (which is superior to liquid food colouring) and a small piping bag.

The fresh ingredients you had to supply yourself this month were eggs, butter, the almond extract (optional) and some raspberries.

The Recipe

I really enjoyed this months recipe as once again it was a bit more technically challenging! The final result was a success – all of my friends and “taste testers” enjoyed it! I thought the quantities for the shortcrust pastry were absolutely spot on and meant making the pastry was a success, so I will definitely fall back on it if I am ever looking for a basic recipe.

Pros and Cons of June´s Bake Off Box

Cons

There was once again quite a delay in the delivery of this month’s Bake Off Box which was a shame. It meant that it was almost the end of June before I could even make it. Also, the usual recipe postcard was missing in my box, however, the Bake Off Box has recently been in touch to apologise about the delay and said that they will provide everyone who had items missing with them in due course. So we’ll have to wait and see if that happens!

Pros

Besides the general things I have mentioned in previous months, for example that you are given the exact quantities of the ingredients you are given so that you can make the recipe again, I really enjoyed the contents of this month’s Bake Off Box. As an experienced baker who already owns A LOT of baking equipment, I really enjoyed this month’s “Bespoke Piece of Equipment”, in particular the offset palette knife. I’d say that an offset palette knife is probably one of the best and most important pieces of equipment for any baker and I use my small Tala Palette Knife all the time! The Bake Off Box one is slightly bigger, hence the perfect addition to my collection!

This month’s recipe was a little more challenging and time-consuming to do, which is exactly the kind of bake I enjoy! It was great for practicing many different baking skills, in particular shortcrust pastry which is always a tricky thing to do! If you are new to making shortcrust pastry and want to get a few tips before you try, make sure you check out my baking basics post here.

Cost of the Bake Off Box and Where to Get It

The Bake Off Box is available from their website here and costs about 20£/month. That covers the ingredients, equipment and packaging/postage. You will also have to bear in mind that you might have to buy some additional ingredients. This month, the additional ingredients you needed were butter, eggs, fresh raspberries and some optional almond extract! So in total, I’d say the cost for the extra ingredients this month was around £5.

I hope you enjoyed this post about the content of the third Bake Off Box! Make sure to check out my previous Bake Off Box posts, and stay tuned for these posts at the start of the next few months! If you have any other questions in the meantime, just leave a comment under this post!

Check out the previous Bake Off Boxes and Recipes

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