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This blog is written by me, Mary-Anne Boermans – one of the 12 bakers that succeeded in getting through to the filming of The Great British Bake Off 2011.
See my upcoming book out this autumn HERE!
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Hi Mary-Anne,
Please can you let me know the recipe and technique for your gorgeous stripey swirl melts? I cannot find it anywhere online! They were so beautiful – like little roses.
Really loving this series of GBBO. Your creations are so interesting.
Very best,
Jennifer
Thank you Jennifer – Melting Moments recipe now up on the blog! M-A
Mary-Anne you are such a dreamboat! Please bring out a book!
Lauren.
Hi M-A
I thought you were great on the show. The show was so inspirational to me. I have started a blog myself cookindad.blogspot.com I would love to share recipes with you and ideas….i have 2 children that I cook for and will definately be using some of your recipes.
Good luck with your blog. I am know a devoted follower….
Ashley
Hello Mary – Anne.
Fantastic job you did on the television.
It is time that you give the people what they want,
- the Mary – Anne cook book, and your own tv show.
You were my favorite from the show and with your
own style of ‘ deft of touch ‘ you show your own unique
charisma which can only interest and entertain an audience.
All the very best best for the future, and please don’t keep us
waiting too long for more.
Your biggest fan,
David
Hi Mary-Anne, seen at the end of the bakeoff you had a blog, will be following this from now on, loved you on the bakeoff, gonna be making a croquembouche next week, u have any tips? lol Ian
I love all of your recipes, I never thought of putting the colour swirl in pastry, I have been using it for my cupcake rose frostings for ages, but this was a different twist, and can’t wait to use your Depression Era Buttercream, it might be a new recipe for my cupcakes!!!
Sounds like a plan! The biscuit dough has to be really soft, though – otherwise it’s a nightmare trying to squeeze it through!
Hi Mary-Anne :waves:
Just stumbled across your blog – what a treasure trove! Really enjoying the Great British Bake Off and seeing your creations every week. For me, you’re the most innovative and creative baker full stop; I can only wish I could bake like that.
Anyhoos, this is just a wee hello and an appreciation of your work
Debs
Hello
I just wanted to say how much I love your blog, and I also think you are the most creative baker. Off to go and try some of your recipes
Katie xx
Hi from the Netherlands Mary-Anne! Love you recipes on the Great British Bake Off. I wish there was something like taste-tv!
Keeping my fingers crossed you win the final! Bye!
Love your approach and attitude to the Great British bake off and baking in general. Good luck on Tuesday will be glued to the box!
Hi. Just to let know how much my husband and I enjoy watching you on G B B O. Good luck even if you don’t win you are a star. Regards Monica
what make of cake tin do you use in the series- have bought the book accompanying the series and can’t for the life of me find a traybake with the dimensions stated.(ps good luck for tuesday)
Wotchers Christine! I bought my half-sheet pans at my local The Range shop – dimensions 30cmx45cm – I think they were £8 each.
I’m loving watching the show, have to make sure I have food to watch it with though! I would love to see your recipie for butterscotch brulee tarts in pecan pastry, sounds extremely yummy!
Thanks Julianne – they’re on my list of things to do – honest! M-A
I’ve loved watching you on the Great British Bake Off. I admire your originality and creativity. Throughout the series, you have consistently come up with interesting ideas and taken a unique approach to the task in hand. I will be cheering you to win tonight – good luck. Aoife x
Good Luck for tonight Mary-Anne, willing you onwards! xxx
Wotchers! Good luck tonight.
[...] Blogs need to pull out all the stops but the last in the series of my current favourite TV show! Mary-Anne or Holly to win – I cannae decide which I like more! So y’all have to wait until [...]
Sorry you did not win but boy did you shine and now I found your blog you have a new fan. Your a star.
You are sooo amazing. I loved the idea of using that scraper from B&Q to make those fantastic stripes.. I hope to see more originality coming from you soon
Well done in GBB!
Congratulations on making the final Mary-Anne, you were my favourite baker! Love your designs
Phil
Well done Mary-Anne. You may not have won but you certainly didn’t disappoint with your creativity. I’ve been supporting you all series and really enjoyed your creations. Wishing you well with your future baking projects
Sophie Ibbs
Thought you did brilliant to night really wanted you to win, enjoyed watching all your lovely creations
Just like to say how much we enjoyed you in G B B O. You’re a brilliant baker. Good luck with evrything you do.
Mary Anne you where my winner tonight and all series. I have loved watching all of your bakes.. I’d love to come for high tea that you had baked, sure to have me in cake heaven.
You was robbed! Don’t worry, Mary-Anne, you’ll always be our favourite.
Hi Mary-Anne, commiserations- loved your petit fours, definitely going to attempt to whip up some alcoholic meringues! Would love to see the recipe if you get a moment. (intensely jealous of your library btw!) R.
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed watching you and being inspired by you! What a creative and imaginative baker you are!!! And everything looked so yummy! Well done Mary ann, I had you as my winner! Thank you for making me want to bake again, and helping me to share my passion with my boys x
Was rooting for you Mary-Anne but though it was so difficult for the judges to choose pity it couldn’t have been a tie! Have really enjoyed this series and thought you would be in the final from the word go. I loved the last challenge and your fruit tartswere absolutely beautiful. Well done!
Also in Amsterdam we enjoyed watching The Great British Bake Off. Exiting untill the very end. Congratulations with getting it to the final and keep on baking and blogging !
Karin at http://www.beshuitmetaardbeien.blogspot.com
sorry, http://www.beschuitmetaardbeien.blogspot.com that is !
I was hoping you would win the GBBO. I loved the way you combined knowledge and a daring new challenge every week.
Dutch fan. But you have a Dutch name too !?
Really enjoyed watching you on GBBO, you are so creative and have inspired me to experiment with my own baking.
Hi i just saw the final of the G B B O you did brilliantly! I loved your rhubarb cakes where they? such and unique and creative idea to put the stripes in lke that. well done!
Congratulations, always thought you’d make the final 3. Great final. Think on the day the best person won though! x
Im gutted you didnt win. You rock!!
Loved watching you on GBB, with all your unique ideas. Your creations looked amazing and I’m sure taste just as great. Now that I’ve found your blog I can’t wait to try them, particularly your Apple Rose Tarts
I enjoyed the program. It is one of my favorites
I always waited with high expectations to see what you were going to create
I found your work very very creative.
You were one of my favorites bakers. Thank you very much
Good luck in the future. I’m sure you are going to do fantastic
You are our celebrity
you were an absolute star and your baking was brilliant. so very well done and keep doing what you do best sam xx
It was a really tricky one for the judges, I don’t know if I could have called it, the three of you were so close. One thing I will say is that even if you didn’t win – it’s your recipies that I remember and have searched for online. You got me with the flower pots and the rose posies. I think that says a lot about your creativity and how much you have inspired other people. I’ve been thinking how we could get you a video blog going called ‘Mary Anne’s Kitchen’ or something so you can show people the techniques you’ve come up with – or come across. Things that might have been long lost until you dug them up from your archives and had a crack at. I’ve got a friend who is married to an amazing mexican chef and apparently he’s getting a big following with his online video blog. A cookery book with a DVD included showing techniques, that’s never been done I don’t think, it would be great! I’ll bet there’s plenty of publishers interested in you and the potential goldmine in your head. There’s so much I think you could do now that you’ve got everyone’s attention (and yes we’re all looking at you)
Well done Mary Anne!
You were BRILLIANT Mary-Anne and I loved watching your creations from the very beginning. You’ve inspired me to get back in the kitchen again and rediscover some of those heirloom recipes!
Planning to try some of your recipes from on here, if any of them are successful I’ll post photos and details of where the recipes came from to my blog pixiemidori.blogspot.com.
You may not have won, but you’ve been an inspiration to hundreds of people like me, who like to try different things but maybe don’t manage to pull it off first time and keep laughing and trying regardless.
You clearly love your food and your flavours and baking and you really have inspired me to follow in your footsteps – look out for me on the telly in a couple of years, I might just make it!
I too was rooting for you – so sorry you did not win – you have been such an inspiration both creatively and technically for these 7 weeks. The blog is wonderful and so informative. Well done and thank you. Annie
Wahoo, finally found your blog!
Well done on your cracking baking on GBBO, sorry you didn’t win, but boy you were good & deserved to. It was a great final to watch & you all did brilliantly under the pressure. Like others above have said, I had you as winner & I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all your bakes as your ideas are so different. Good luck in whatever you do next.
Now, to go read through & pick up some recipes.
Huge congratulations! What a wonderful programme – I was rooting for you.
Everyone on the show made it look so easy though … I took on a genoise sponge in an attempt to do a layered mousse cake over the weekend…and it was a LOT harder than it seemed!
I hope you’re enjoying a bit of time out after the show, and look forward to reading more on the blog.
Love the blog and will really miss watching you on the Bake Off. Fantastic achievement and some great-looking bakes.
I too have no formal training and many, many cookery books, which I am using to teach myself. Watching your baking made me hopeful for my own endeavours, thanks x
Hi Mary-Anne,
Congratulations on making the final of the bake off and sorry you did not win.
Just wanted to tell you that you are my favorite, i love your baking and i have learned so much watching you. I love your sense of humor and your little jokes, you made me laugh a lot too
Thank you for sharing all your recipes, i will try as many as i can
well done,
Take care
Mary Ann
I have really enjoyed watching you on the Great British Bake Off. I am not a cake/ pastry/ dessert person, and can’t cook/bake to save my life….., but I wanted to devour everything you made – everything always looked so tasty and delicious. Well done on getting so far and best of luck.
Jean
We hebben weer genoten! We zijn trots op je! You did it all by yourself!
Hi Mary -Anne,
Greetings from Waterford Ireland.
Really enjoyed watching you each week with your very interesting baking.
You were calm under pressure!
I will try your receipes.
such a great shame to see you not win your personality was sore refreshing.
Your genuine warmth and niceness and praise of your fellow competitors
above all your expertise and inventiveness and, skill-fullness way outshone your competitors.
I shall look forward to reading and trying your recipes.
YOU DARED TO SHOW OFF SKILLS AND DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT other than follow or over practice a recipes.
you reminded me of many a time in the kitchen when i was young with my gran…….. ..
Hopefully someone will ask you to write books and give you a series you have so much knowledge and passion and each week you had us hooked as to what skill or technique you would use.
Mary Anne, I thought you were wonderful on GBBO, always so experimental, even the judges learnt new techniques from you. Amazing creations, good luck with everything
Mary-Anne!
I know that since the final was aired tonight you’ll be inundated with messages so this may seem like a drop in the ocean amongst all the well-wishers but congrats for doing so well in the final! I was rooting for you all along- it seemed as though you had the creativity and the research to be better than Holly/Jo, you just perhaps lacked the execution at times to push yourself ahead of them skill-wise. Nonetheless you were still fantastic and your stripy cakes (the orange-chocolate one and the rose-sponge) looked utterly fantastic so well done!!
I also have a keen interest in food history- I’ve just finished a masters degree in history at Cambridge, specialising in the history of chocolate in 17th century England. I also wrote my undergrad dissertation on (probably Yorkshire) manuscript recipe books in seventeenth century England.
If you’d like to have a read of these I’d be more than happy to e-mail them over to you- the chocolate dissertation in particular details some really interesting flavour combinations and reminds us (as history always does) that what we think is new is actually very very old. Chocolate and chilli? We mastered that yeaaaaaaaars ago. Please do get in touch with me- I’ve handed my e-mail over to the gods of your blog so you’ll hopefully find it there.
Congratulations again- you still are my favourite.
Best wishes,
Amy x
Amy, those sound very interesting – are you planning to publish them in the near future?
@wotchers – unflappable and inspirational are the words that I most associate with you. I look forward to the book that I hope you’re writing.
Commiserations Mary Ann but you must feel proud of yourself because your recipes were so inspiring and deffinately the most technically challenging of ALL the GBB contestants. You were so entertaining that I felt compelled to watch each episode and so looked forward to Tuesday evenings to see what delicasy you would be creating. What on earth am I to do on Tuesday evenings now ??? Try some of your delicious recipes for myself, THANKYOU
Dear Mary Ann,
I was very angry about the comment from Hollywood yesterday “revolting” well you don’t arrive at the finalist if you are revolting and in fact every single thing you and Janet made during the program was absolutely delicious, I wander is the house next door to yours for sale???
Love you and your magic hands in the kitchen….
Muriel
Unlucky Mary-Anne.
Onwards and upwards though. I know you will do great things.
Jane
Well done Mary-Anne
You were the reason i tuned in every week. I loved how you thought outside the box and put your twist on old recipies. Now i know about your blog i will be logging in regularly. I’ve already made my list of your recipes i’m going to try.
Thank you
Anne
Syllabub is supposed to be alcoholic. Idiot!
Very sorry you came second, but am glad to see all the supporters you’ve garnered for yourself. Well done!
Mary Ann I have to say my partner and I were rooting for you all the way, you are so origiinal, creative, and very funny, love your sense of humour and approach to the whole thing. You should have a TV show or at the very least, a BOOK, so get busy young lady, your public awaits you!! Alan Dublin Ireland
I was rooting for you Mary-Anne. Hollywood’s comment made us shout at the telly!! Loved your daring designs. Hoping you do a book!
What are we going to do on Tuesday nights now?
All our family loved watching the baking, and I seem now to be doing more than I used to.
I had you down as the winner as you were inventive and interesting. I’ve now found your blog and am going to try some of the things you put on it.
Thank you for 7 weeks of pleasure.
hi mary-anne
Just wondering about the tin that you used in the show stopper challenge where you made the pin strip sponge. You then made the sponge and cut it and put it into a tin to line with the sponge. What was the tin becasue I have been looking for those small tins with the false tin and could not find them. Can you point me in the right direction
thank you
Samuel Sellick
Aged 15
Hi Sam – it’s called a mini cheesecake pan and Lakeland currently have one for £19.99 – bit pricey! You could do something similar (and a lot cheaper) by using ‘improvised baking rings’ (see blog post on muffins) Happy baking!
Thank you very much
Mary Ann your baking was inspiring! So inventive! You should open a bakery, my boyfriend and I would be in there every day!!! Well done you did amazingly!
You made me giggle when you laugh at your own mistakes (sacher will forever be sacha) and
your flavour combinations and different techniques were inspiring. Pse bring out a book.
Hello Mary-Anne
I loved your final entry. It all looked so beautiful and made my mouth water … wish I could have bitten into some of it. I was really interested in all your recipes throughout the series GBBO and will definitely try some out.
Good luck with everything. I think you are a wonderful cook. Oh, and well done.
absolutely amazing Mary Ann !!!
you are an inspiration , loved you [and janet, and jo ] on the show
and am very envious of your cook book collection
although i’m sure there’s room on the shelf for 1 more written by you !
thank goodness for your blog i have G.B.B.O withdraw symptoms already
Hi Mary-Anne,
I thought you were the star of the bake-off show and you’re certainly the main reason I watched. I’m sure you’re not too disappointed about not winning the final – although I thought you would be a ‘choux’ in! You were also very gracious and kind.
Hope we haven’t seen the last of you – I’d buy your book if one comes out and watch your programme.
XXX
John Martin Fulton
Carol
Hi Mary -Anne
just to thank you for your amazing food made my mouth water!!
Best of luck with everything you do – a book or video would be great, a TV series would be even better
hello mary anne
i loved the way you go out of the box and the peti fours where wunderfull i wish i could bake like that and i like you humor in all the episode
Good luck with your baking
Congratulations on getting to the final, I have just watched it and I am more inspired than ever! It will be stripy sponge from now on, Its my daughters 5th birthday in november and i’d like to try something a bit different however if I skimp on chocolate she will have my head on a plate…any ideas?
What a great blog, i’m on maternity leave at the moment with my third child and since watching GBBO I have started the ‘maternity leave baking project’ I will be on here daily from now on. I love the tip about using pea tins as baking rings. What about a section on improvised stuff?
Anyway well done again you’re a star
E x
Wotcha! Thought you were the most original and fun contestant. A few little hiccups on the way lost you the final crown but that’s what happens when you push those boundaries.
You made the programme for me this year.
Good luck in future ventures.
HI Maryann
Thought you had really inventive ideas, things I never thought to try in baking and you were a worthy finalist.
best of luck in the future
Please can I come and take root in your kitchen, it must be a fabulously warm and exciting place to be. Ooh that lucky little girl of your I’m so jealous!
You may not have won the trophy, Mary-anne but you won our hearts. You were just brilliant.
Wendy
Dear Mary Anne,
Just wanted to let you know that I am a HUGE fan !!!!
The things you create are truly amazing and I shall hope to see much more of you in the future !!!
I came across you blog and seen your last name : Boermans ! Surely thats a Dutch name.
I moved over from Holland to England 4 months ago… So I was pleasantly surprised when i saw your last name…
Anyway..
I wish you the best of luck.. and whatever happens.. Youll always have that special something others dont have !!!
Thirsa
Hi Mary-Anne,
so sorry you did’nt win GBBO. From the start i could see that you were the most instinstive of the bakers and so you proved to be with each successive programme.Your flavour combinations nothing short of sensational!
I hope you had some fun along with the very hard work.
At the end of the programme they said that you wrote a food blog,so i immediately looked you up. WHAT A FIND!!
Thanks so much and many,many congratulations.
Kindest regards Patricia
Hi! Well done with the show
just wondering what the mixture is that you freeze on baking trays for the sponge designs … I don’t have rewind on my tele and want to try a zebra and tiger print designs for a cave girl themed party!
Thanks! V x
Wotchers Vicky! It’s called a decor paste – and it’s on the blog page for the Chocolate & Orange Mousse Cake – good luck with the party food! Send pics!
Hi Mary-Ann, You should have won. We loved your ideas!
Like the others, we were very disappointed you didn’t win.Your originality and knowledge made the show even more interesting.Thank you for taking part and imparting some of your secrets to us mere mortals.We salute you and your witty asides.The silver fox judge made himself look foolish and petty.I think Mary Berry was shocked at his brutal comment.I hope you remember all the positives and don’t let that unsporting negative remain in your very creative mind.
Sacha is a lucky little girl to have you as her mummy and cookery mentor.
You have been a very watchable inspiration.Good luck to you for the future.
Mary Ann, you are a star – your creativity and knowledge are a winning combination. I hope you do a book! Thank you for making The Great British Bake off essential viewing.
Best wished
Neil
I have just seen the final (had it taped as was unable to watch it on the night). Loved your humour and thought you did fantastically well! I’m so pleased you’re doing a blog, I will be an avid follower. Keep up the good work!
Michelle x
Just found your blog. Loved what you did in the competition -some fantastic and inventive recipes. Best bit? When you wrote Sacha on the Sacher torte- Love it!!! Well done for getting to the final- have to say thought you should have won.
Sorry to see you didn’t win, I definitely thought you should have won if it’s any consolation.
Hello Mary-Anne, just wanted to say well-done for making it thru to the final and a huge thank you for your consistently innovative & entertaining baking and your refreshingly relaxed attitude to the competition: I thought your comment about Jo not realising how talented she actually was, was a very gracious and utterly self-less thing to say in contrast to every other contemporary TV competition which is all about winning and stuff-all to do with skill or talent.
Many of your creations have inspired this little baking hovel, and we will be trying (and no doubt collapsing on the floor in stitches at how badly things have gone wrong again!) many of them out very soon, which will be a challenge as we are both gluten-free but have found ways to adapt a lot of recipes quite well, though we love a challenge where messing with the gluten in a recipe is a key factor in the success of the bake.
Lastly, thank you for some of the best moments of telly – the swirl-the-wrong-way-round cake was a highlight, but loved that you saw the funny side. But the sofa watched from behind hands when the piping nozzle fell off in the MilleFeuille – what a rollercoaster.
Good luck with your future ventures and look forward to the blog posts
Hi Mary-Anne!
Been an addict on Great British Bake Off since last year, I love to bake and have loved watching you and your amazing ideas on the show!
I have been making the ‘depression era butter cream’ for a while now and was great to see you using it in one of your recipes
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes, the décor paste in cake sponge is such an amazing idea and looks stunning so will definitely be trying that out!
Sorry you didn’t win the show and that it is over, but you were fantastic
xx
congratulations-you are fab x
I just finished watching the show and think your amazing
I’m looking forward to seeing any new inventions or even old classics that you make so well!
I thought you were fantasic on the bake off really superb…..I agree with the others you should bring out a book.
Best of luck
Pat
Hi Mary-Anne
I was compelled to leave a comment on your blog because you need to know the positive influence and inspiration you have contributed to people! I have a baking fanatic 4 year-old daughter who was most indignant when you did not win but will continue to play ‘bake offs’ in the kitchen with me for a while yet!!
Keep on experimenting!
hi mary-anne
can i just say watching you over the last few weeks you have been a massive inspiration. im a 21 year old student nurse and have such a passion for baking. i would like to say that your bread you made looked yummy. and i would love for you to bring out a book or share recipes. good luck with all the future
jodie mary-anne
Hi Mary Ann!
You were amazing on GBBO, I always watch the repeats on sunday
I was wondering if you were going to post the recipe for the meringues you made in the final?They looked amazing and I’d love to make them!
Keep up the good work
WHY, OH WHY, COULD THEY NOT BOTH HAVE WON?
Jo, you never knowed (or knew)
How Mary-Anne Boermans felt about you
Your secret cheerleader had such warm admiration
For your fours so petite, fit for any occasion
Mary Anne was mercurial, Jo so precise
They belong together as surely as sugar with spice
Just imagine the scene: an afternoon tea
By the Batman and Robin of patisserie
Mary-Anne without Jo is like yin without yang
Like a roll, type swiss, that’s all roll and no jam
Together their whole dwarfs the sum of each part
When last was home baking so akin to high art?
Stage left enter Hollywood, with his snarling jazz beard
Mary-Anne like a rock, no man has she ever feared
Of the syllabub not much did the heartless rogue think
Had he taken leave of his senses, or could he not take his drink?
But what’s this, a wedge driven between Hollywood and Berry?
A lady of 90% class and 10% sherry
The judge and contestant became comrades in arms
Fitting testament, perhaps, to Mary-Anne’s charms
Good luck Mary-Anne, you were brill on GBBO. Come back to our screens or onto our book shelves soon.
When are you going to write a cookery book. All the research you have done and the 700 cookery and the experimentation with new tastes and flavours needs documenting!
Mary-Anne – I agree with Phil and all the others – you should bring out a book. I got the GBBO book and gave it to a friend for her birthday! Was very disappointed with it as the recipes were all about Mary and Paul and Masterclasses and not about the bakers. Finally found your blog and there was the cakes with the apple roses on top. Love your innovative ideas and your blog will now be a daily read! Congratulations on reaching the final – really loved your work (and sense of humour!) Anne
Hi, Mary-Ann, I was watching the Great British Bake Off from the beginning to the end, and I have to say, you are the best!!! Just love every little bold but unique idea you have brought to the programme and your baking!!! read 700 baking books! certainly not every one can do this! even love your positive attitude when you cope with unexpected troubles. really looking forward to your book.–S.J.
Congratulations on doing so well in GBBO – loved your ways of using historical recipes and making them acceptable to the modern palate. I too have quite a few old books and reprints of others but have always used them for reading rather than cooking – you have inspired me to have a go and thank you for putting so many of your own recipes online. Even more please!
Hi Mary Ann,
Congrats on the Bake Off final. I loved your different style and independent attitude. Don’t go too dainty, the ‘rustic’ style was refreshing and I loved it – it’s the taste that matters after all. I’m looking forward to any cookbook, as of all the contestants I think you have something new to offer. Meantime, I’m enjoying your recipes here. Keep up the good baking!
Wendy
Dear Mary-Anne,
I was completely glued to you for the last few weeks. I kept telling people how amazing you were with your wonderful, delectable experiments and your truly beautiful attitude! You were so ingenious and always pushed yourself to go further and I loved the way you would actually create little back-ups too! I loved your inner confidence and humility, your nobleness and the way you were in every single episode. You took all the criticisms on the chin and dealt with them admirably.
After the show ended, I thought a lot about your attitude and how you were never overly gushy, falsely modest but always sincere and just tried new and fabulous things! You are a true innovator, always thinking, trying, experimenting and never giving up! (I would like to be like that!)
Please bring out your book. We loved your creations and everything looked so delicious and I desperately wanted to eat them! I am so glad that people agree how fabulous you are! You should have won but to me you always were the winner! Wishing you very well in your life : )
Asma
Would love the recipe for the butterscotch brule. It’s making my mouth water, just thinking of it as I’ve loads of apples to use at the moment and as for the Rose Apples, well I’ve just got to try that one.
Really enjoyed watching you on the great british bake-off
Greetings, Mary Ann from Long Beach, California. I just viewed the final, and I wanted to throttle Paul Hollywood. His words were rude, crude and unattractive. Seven hundred cookbooks? And I thought I had a houseful: not even close. I found the blog because I saw the comment at the end of the show. You have fans on multiple continents. Mary Lou Cook (I should have married a Baker).
What a true talent you are!So very inspirational.Have you any plans to run your own classes? I’m sure I speak for lots of us budding bakers, but I would defintely love to have you teach me.
Dear Mary-Ann – Well done on the most beautiful plate of petit-fours I’ve ever seen! I’m not a cook, or a once in a blue moon one, and your presentation in the Bake-Off final was celestial! The colours and textures were straight out of Keats’ description of the sumptuous table in the Eve of Saint Agnes and I am frantically downloading your recipes online on the bake-off site to ‘have a go’. I have so far found the Everlasting Syllabub and the Lemon and Ginger Millefeuilles, but I can’t remember the name of the third, and it is not there on the page it seems? Seriously, all power to your arm and again, sumptuous creativity!
Wotchers Bernadette – all the recipes are listed here: Link . The showstoppers were: Black fruit meringues (website says Forest, not Fruit), Strawberry & Rhubarb cheesecakes, and Mini fruit tarts. Happy Baking! M-A
Yessss! Maan the Mini Fruit Tarts with the Black, Red and White Currants. Gorgeous colours and glaze, and then the seaside rock stripe effect of the Strawb and Rhubarb cheesecakes! Thanks for that page link. I was finding it hard to navigate and clearly distracted by other, no doubt also fab recipes! Thrilled to have all three “showstoppers” now! I WILL have a go!
Hi loved seeing your baking.are you bringing out a book? Thankyou joe
Hi Joe, I’ve put a proposal together – just waiting to see if anyone is interested in publishing it!
I’m sure there’s a publisher already poised! Have the showstoppers on the cover or a calendar – I can look at them for a whole month then!
[...] Jason was voted off. In the final episode there was a little bio on the contestants including Mary-Ann who was filmed browsing through her collection of 700 cook books. My family turned and looked at [...]
Hi Mary Ann,
my daughter has just tried your depression era buttercream and added rosewater to it, tastes lovely! She will be using it for her GCSE food tech. project next week with cupcakes, she loved your different ideas and will be trying more! Thank you.
Denise and Maddy
Dear Mary-Anne,
Thank you for baking the apple cheesecake breakfast bars, the extra oats added to the base have made it more crunchy, the family came round and although there were only 8 of us, all 16 slices disappeared in seconds. Please bring out a book!
Jane
I loved watching you on the series and felt peeved that you didn’t win.
I’d like to treat myself to a mixer – which one would you recommend please?
Wotchers Sandra! It depends on your budget, of course – but as a brand, I’d say Kenwood. They have some great all-in-one machines with food processors, juicers etc and at a range of prices too. Hope this helps! M-A
Hi Mary-Anne!
I love your cakes!!! My only problem is I tried to make some bread the other day…and it takes ages to prove….. In the series you guys used some Tefal prover….or some other cabinet to put your pastry in..Can you help me to find out what is that because no matter how much I am looking at the internet, I can’t seem to indetify it.
Many thanks
Adrienn
Wotchers Adrienn – it was called a ‘proving drawer’ – nice, but totally unnecessary to spend money on. A slow rise could be due to old yeast, too little water or drafts. Put your bread in the oven to rise – it’ll be free from drafts! Check the date of your yeast and add slightly more liquid to your dough and see if these help at all. Happy baking! M-A
Hi Mary-Anne. My brother-in-law is a massive fan of yours. Is there any chance I could have a signed copy of your recipe for iced buns? It would make his Christmas!
Love your recipes.
Michelle.
Wotchers Michelle! I don’t have a recipe for iced buns – do you mean the one from the Bake Off Semi-Final technical challenge? That one was Paul Hollywood’s. Or did you mean something else altogether? *confused* M-A
Oops, yes I think I got confused there! Would it be possible to have a signed copy of your chocolate and orange mousse cake?
Thanks for replying,
Michelle.
Hi Mary-Anne
Really excited to find your blog! I loved all your recipes on the show and hope to learn a lot more from you through your blog.
Can’t wait to see what comes next!
Carly-Ann
Greetings from San Francisco (watched recorded episodes just this week) –
Have to echo the others here: 1. Your moxie is what kept me watching to the finale, 2. I’d like to see a book with GBBO contestants’ recipes, especially yours!, 3. Thank you, sincerely, for sharing with us
Greetings from Paris – just finished watching the GBBO series 2, was impressed with your ideas, loved your red swirls on those last pastries! How do you make deco paste?
Mary-Anne,
My husband and I live in Canada and just discovered GBBO and I have to say, you were our favourite the whole time. We were rooting for you pretty much since the beginning. My husband is a huge fan of bread and he nearly fell out of his chair when he saw your Ploughman’s Loaf. We both want to stake a claim on copies of your cookbook as soon as it’s published! Keep up the astounding cooking. We’ll be watching your blog eagerly for new recipes.
Wotchers Kristall! Thank you for the lovely compliments – the Ploughman’s Loaf is on the blog if your husband fancies having a go at it! I’m keeping busy with baking and writing for the book, so stay tuned! Happy Baking! M-A
Hello Mary-Anne
What a great performance on GBB. I so enjoyed watching you bake and the down to earth comments to go with it! It is amazing you have an old Dutch recipe dating back so William the Silent timeframe. Being Dutch I love our pancakes. Have you ever made our poffertjes? You need a special pan to make those but they are mouthwatering good. I love reading cookbooks myself and have quite a collection too. You were the winner for me!
Hi Mary-Ann,
I am an Australian fan who just finished watching the tv show online.
You were my favourite baker from day one and I loved the experimentation and fun in all your cakes, pies and cookies. The stripey cheese cakes and melting moment cookies were my favourite! Well done on making it through to the finals and thanks for being such an inspiration! Now that I have found your blog I am going to try some of your recipes.
All the best,
Shan
(21, female, Sydney Aust)
Hi Shan – Thanks for stopping by and leaving a message. So glad you enjoyed the series – it was fun to make too! Let me know how you go with the recipes! Have fun! M-A
Hi Mary-Anne,
My wife and I enjoyed watching you on the GBBO. We were cheering for you! I’m an amateur baker from America who has a particular fascination with traditional British recipes. Can you recommend any cookbooks for someone who is interested in learning more about traditional British baking/cooking?
Thanks!
Joe
Hello Mary-Anne,
I have just stumbled across this great blog via the tv-series. I really enjoy watching TGBB and have watched the older episodes as well. I really enjoyed your different style and your ingenuity when it came to old recipes. You really gave the series a heart and a soul.
Being an Austrian I especially enjoyed the making of the “Sacher Torte” (!), it looks simple but I struggled producing a decent one too.
All the best!
Hullo Mary-Anne
You cannot imagine what a smile it put on my face finding this blog!
I loved your time on the bake-off … You were a real breath of bun-scenting fresh air
I would love to know what you think of the current bunch (that sounds too much like Current Bun!) … though i imagine you would be too polite to say
I look forward to thumbing (internetty-wise) through your blog pages … The Butterscotch Brulee tarts have already caught my eye … (If you’re tired of Brulee – You’re tired of life!)
Kindest Regards
Janey … :^)
Hello Mary-Anne! I’ve just got off a flight from Shanghai and enjoyed passing the hours by watching repeats of 2011′s TGBBO. You really were fantastic! Have you ever thought of giving 1-1 or small group baking lessons? I’d definitely love to spend a day with you improving my skills!! Clare
Hi Mary-Anne,
I keep checking to see whether you’ve got a book out yet, in fact as lovely as Jo is I was really hoping you’d win the GBBO last year for the selfish reason that yours would be the baking book I’d rush out to buy! So is anything happening on the publishing front?
Loving the blog, thanks for all the brilliant recipes!
Steph x
Hi Steph, Thank you for the kind words. I’m very excited to tell you that yes, I do have a baking book that will be coming out next year with Square Peg!
ooh amazing! thanks for getting back to me, and what great news! rubbing my hands in anticipation…
What a amzing blog you have here! Delicious delicious delicious!
And so much dutch recipes, as a dutch girl myself it”s fun to find a beautiful “Tijgerbrood” recipe in english LOL
Groetjes! Ylona
I’ve been baking since I was little and have only just found out about the GBBO (I live abroad) so I’m watching them all now. You were my favourite to win in series 2, I just love how tasty and real you made everything again! I’m very much back at the oven these days thanks to you, I’ll watch out for that new book of yours. Please continue inspiring us all! Tx
Dear Mary-Anne.
I am so delighted to see someone who actually prefers the essentials (taste, texture, smell) in baking/cooking. There are way too many appearance-driven cooks/bakers. A tendency in society I fear; put on a fine glaze of sugar on s* and amazingly enough people buy it. It is like plastic fantastic, New Speak and a strange politically correctness combined with the Stepford wives in cooking and baking. Ugh.
Yes, I too like my food to look good – but what is the point of e.g. putting fondant on a cake to make it look beautiful if most people really don’t likes the taste of it and therefore removes it before eating the cake? Why not use marzipan? Not as pretty and dainty, but it taste better.
Thank you! Just for being you. I am looking forward to your book. I have confidence that it will suit me!
P.S. I love the fact that you consider and value the history – way too many cookbooks is not enough!
Hi Mary!
What is the recipe for the bread with cheese and beer you made on the show?
Thanks
Wotchers Oli! It’s the Ploughman’s Loaf
Thanks alot! Going to attempt this…looked delicious
Hello Mary-Anne
Whats the Sacher Torte recipe you used?
Joanne
Wotchers Joanne! I have no idea which one it was, but here’s a link to Mary Bery’s: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sachertorte_59630
I’m sat here watching the rerun of the 2011 series and amazed at your culinary skills and then it dawned on me that you looked familiar, Surely it’s not the same Mary-Anne who I shared flat with in Cardiff during our PGCE course at SGIHE??
Guilty as charged!
How have you been these last 25 years? 
I’m still amazed it’s you that i’m watching on the telly!! I never saw this series as I had a bit of a health scare at the time but doing fine now, Where did all this culinary wizardry come from? Me – i’m still teaching down here in darkest Devon (been teaching that long that i’m now teaching the kids of kids who i first taught when i started!!!). How are you and what are you up to now?
Hi Mary-Anne
I have just come across this blog after looking for recipes for meringue topped cup cakes. Having found the coconut and lime recipe I continued to peruse your blog, some fantastic recipes which have inspired me to be more experimental with my baking.
Thanks
Christine
Wotchers Christine, and Huzzah! So glad to hear you’re feeling inspired – when are you applying for the Bake Off?
M-A
Hi Mary-Anne,
I also saw the re run and just wondered if you could tell me the name of the technique to do the striped cakes with your B&Q bargain! I have been looking up allsorts of things trying to find your recipe or a similar one.
Thanks.
Wotchers Lauren! It’s the same technique as the sponge for the chocolate orange mousse cake, except instead of piping the paste, you spread it all over and then scrape it off in lines. hope this helps – have fun! M-A
Hi Mary-Anne,
I made your chocolate and raspberry opera cake (from GBBO) for my best friend’s 30th, and it went down as the best cake she had ever eaten! I am now making her wedding cake for wedding in July, and she has asked for a version of this. Could you offer some advice? Could I make this as a round cake? Thank you!
Wotchers Josie! And congrats for both a successful cake AND getting the wedding commission – no pressure!
You certainly can make this as a round cake – my advice is to cut the circles out of the sheets of joconde sponge, rather than baking them in circles. And for a tiered cake, you’ll need supports – there’s some lovely designs out there in perspex – almost invisible! Good luck and have fun! 
M-A