And the verdict is...

....unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut for New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker competition.  I feel a mixture of things: a little disappointed, as it would no doubt have been fun to experience my 15 minutes of fame (and given I am still very much a baking novice, 15 minutes is probably all I would have had); a smidge embarrassed, since my pursuit of a place on the show has been so public (mild inner cringe); quite relieved, as I hadn’t really worked out how I was going to take time off work and who was going to look after the kids, and so on. There is also the very real possibility that I would have been way out of my depth and fallen at the first floury hurdle!

So, mixed feelings. But I can now reveal what I made for my audition! We had to make something sweet, something savoury and something ‘uniquely me’. My something sweet was a lemon, coconut and blueberry layer cake. My something savoury was brioche with sundried tomatoes, feta, pesto and spinach. My ‘uniquely me’ dish were little tarts with layers of lemon curd, blueberry coulis, frangipane and crème patissiere (all homemade!) topped with summer berries. I was very proud of this effort!

 

I’m still not sure if we were supposed to bring such large examples of our baking or not – they looked a little surprised at all the trips to the car to bring everything in, and when I left the audition laden with baking tins, baskets and platters, the guy who was auditioning after me had a little plate with a three little morsels on it. It was a funny moment in hindsight – you could see he was packing it, thinking ‘oh, no, I’ve misjudged it’ and I was thinking ‘oh no, I totally overdid it!’ My inner try-hard still lurks within.

So. Where to from here? I’ve come to a bit of an impasse with my baking, now that the show is no longer an option. Funnily enough, the few people I’ve told so far have all said, ‘Please don’t stop your blog’. And I haven’t had any desire to stop baking – if anything, I have more urge than ever to get better. I guess there’s always next year...

Meanwhile I'm still baking, still learning, still making works of art one minute, absolute disasters the next. Here are some of my latest accomplishments:

Passionfruit and coconut meringues

 

Tomato and feta tart with thyme pastsry

Herby focaccia bread

 

Blueberry, lime, coconut and passionfruit cake

 

Baking for the sake of baking is fine, but I feel I need another challenge or goal – so any ideas are welcome!

TTFN x