Great British Bake Off

Do they tidy stuff up before the judging? I mean the cakes! And yes they must clean up the tent, you can see that. Often the cakes look better when judged than when they were being made.

The professionals version isn’t in a tent and still has the melty chocolate issue, has to be lights, number of people etc.

I am sure they can recreate it substituting some seitan for the meat

If I were to develop an alternative format, I would make it score-based (with separate scores for taste and for presentation) for the first part of the series

Week 1 - Cakes
Week 2 - Biscuits
Week 3 - Bread
Week 4 - Pastries
Week 5 - Meringues

And there would be no eliminations - everyone would be able to demonstrate their skills in the basics. The top people on the leaderboard would then progress to the second phase of the show. This would mean you got the best overall bakers progressing rather than seeing people eliminated on the basis of one weakness.

The second phase would then be themed weeks with weekly eliminations - again based on scoring for taste and presentation.

It might lack the artificial drama that Bake Off loves to engineer. But it would deliver a fairer and more transparent result.

Oh, and Paul Hollywood would not be allowed near the new format. Any man who puts a recipe for Cheese Straws in a collection of bread recipes can never have my respect!

Great British Menu is scored - and that has survived more than 10 series

I would go with three judges and each would give a score for each bake for taste and looks.  It would be more balanced than allowing Paul to play favourites.

Bit harsh, there. Since I had to give up dairy the only cakes I've been been able to eat have been vegan. It *is* possible to make them taste nice, with a bit of thought and effort! Some of the heavily-processed ones have been nasty, but cafes offering home-baked versions tend to do well. 

Had a nice pumpkin and cinnamon vegan muffin at the NT at the weekend, in fact. 

It's when people try to make things gluten-free as well that they really do run into problems....

You should sell your format to the bbc. 

I have a nice recipe for a vegan lemon drizzle cake if anyone would like it.

Vegan Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake

Bundt Tin 20 cm
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Baking time: 65 minutes
Serves: 10-12

Ingredients:
250ml almond milk (you could use rice milk - no idea about soya milk)
250ml olive oil (about 1 cup and 1 tbs)
3tbs ground flax seeds + 9tbs cold water
1/3tsp vanilla extract
grated zest of 2 un-waxed lemons

320g raw unrefined sugar
350g self raising flour ( I used Doves Farm Gluten free)
1/4 tsp salt

for the lemon glaze (optional)
1 cup icing sugar
2-3tbs lemon juice

for the lemon drizzle
freshly squeezed juice and zest of 1 lemon
50g sugar

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 170c (325F).
Prepare your bundt tin by greasing it (I used an oil spray) and covering the oil with a dusting of flour. Make sure to spread the oil well, you do not want the cake sticking to the tin! In fact this cake can be delicate so be mindful when you take it out of the mould.
Prepare the flax seed mixture by combining the ground flax seeds with the water in a medium bowl. Mix briefly. Next add the grated lemon zest, milk, vanilla extract and olive oil. Set aside.

In a separate, large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients - the sugar, flour, baking powder (if using) and salt. Mix well.
Next combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and gently fold with a wooden spoon until the mixture is nicely combined.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt cake mould and place in the oven.
Bake for 65 minutes or until golden brown. Do the stick test to ensure it is cooked throughout the centre.

While the cake bake prepare the drizzle combining the ingredients and set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cook for about 5-10 minutes before carefully removing it from the mould.
Allow it to cool for a further 15-20 minutes before pouring over the drizzle.

Whilst the cake is completely cooling, prepare the glaze by combining the sugar and the juice and set aside.( if you prepare the glaze too much in advance can harden too much to whisk it again to a perfect consistency).

It just tastes like a normal cake - you wouldn't know it was vegan.

You can, of course, up the amount of lemon zest if you want something even zingier

I suspect you could bake it in a regular tin - but timing would probably differ due to the lack of hole.

The flax seed thing does give a slight fleck to the finished cake - but that is all.

I used GF flour as well as I find it gives me a better sponge (and you can't over develop the gluten!!)

I liked him but feel they made the right decision. He had visible contempt for vegans which was reflected in his horrendous bakes. Don’t mess with the vegans.