Bake Off Bake Along - Week One

Let's start with the bakes from last week's show - cake week - shall we?
I knew as soon as I watched last week's show that I wanted to make a Black Forest Gateau. A quick search on the BBC Good Food website found this recipe, which looked pretty straightforward and only needed a few of things that I didn't have in my usual baking supplies - cherry jam, tinned cherries and buttermilk. 
It did also ask for Kirsch but I wasn't going to buy a bottle of it only to use a little of it for this cake and then to have it lying around the back of the cupboard for months years! The recipe said that you could use juice from the cherries instead of the kirsch anyway.
The chocolate cakes looked delightful when they came out of their tins, and I think I might use this recipe sometimes as just a chocolate cake when I don't need it to be free from.

Since a Black Forest Gateau is a 70s classic I decided to go for the full 70s kitsch when decorating it!

The hardest thing about this cake was actually leaving it after decorating it on Saturday night until we had it for pudding at Sunday lunchtime!

But it was worth the wait...

I was glad that my mum and dad are around just now (stopping off to spend some time with us after returning from dropping my wee brother off in the US), so that there were more to share it with. Not because I didn't like it, but rather so that I wasn't tempted to eat too much of it myself, although it is quite rich and so a little goes a long way!

I highly recommend trying out this recipe and it would be perfect for a special occasion. 

Also joining in with the Bake Along this week was Calum (12) who made this gluten free and dairy free lemon Madeira Cake.

Didn't he do a great job?
I'm pretty sure that I should share the recipe for that one soon.
And sticking with Madeira Cakes, here is another lovely looking one by my brother's wife. She did tell me if it was lemon or orange but I just can't remember which one she said it was right now! Whichever one it was, it looks delicious but I don't imagine my brother has left any of it for me to sample.

Calum commented that he likes the way the icing is dribbled on rather than spread all over, and says he might try that the next time he makes Madeira Cake.
Now, quickly onto this week's episode, and without giving away any spoilers!
This week was biscuit week and it was hard to decide what I should try and make. First of all they had to make Biscotti. While we were watching the show, James (15), who was watching the whole show despite last week only claiming to enjoy the final round, said that since I have never made Biscotti I should try making them. I agreed with him, Not only have I never made Biscotti but I've never even tasted them, mainly because they almost always contain nuts. Although I am one of the few in the house without a nut allergy, I've never liked the taste of nuts.
So, I've set myself the challenge of making some Biscotti this week, roughly based on this recipe, but without the nuts.
In the second round of this week's show the bakers had to make some Arlette biscuits. These cinnamon biscuits looked lovely and again James suggested I make these. The recipe for them is on the Bake Off site here but I'm not sure if I am at a stage in my life right now where I can dedicate so much time on rolling out butter and dough, then chilling, then repeat! 
The final round saw the bakers having to make a box out of biscuit and then fill the edible box with a different type of biscuits. James said, you've guessed it, that I should try making something from this round too. Maybe it's not such a good idea having him watch it with us after all!
I was inspired to try something from this round though, and might enlist the help of the boys to try something out.
Who else is ready to try out some biscuits for next week?