GTBBO Week 2: Biscuits

The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off - Season 2

Hello friends and welcome back to The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off!

It’s Biscuit Week and boy, they’re not pulling their punches with the challenges this year are they! Before I dive into how things went, here’s a quick entry in the Baker’s Log - recapping Cake Week and sharing my plans/ideas for tackling the next couple of bakes.

Side note: I had hoped to capture some footage of making the biscuits, but honestly I was far too busy trying to figure out how the bloody hell you design cookie dough in a cylindrical 3D design space!

You can also read all about Week 1 here »

Right, let’s crack on with this week’s challenges then!

---

Signature Challenge - Slice & Bake Biscuits

For the first challenge, I have to make 12x Slice & Bake Biscuits, showcasing a picture or special design when cut into.

There was no question in my mind that I wanted to try and recreate Hiro’s face in biscuit form! I now know that perhaps there should have been a question, at least to have questioned whether attempting such an intricate design for my first try was the smartest choice. (I don’t make things easy for myself, do I?)

Let me remind you (and take any opportunity to show off) the inspiration for this bake:

For the design elements I wanted to keep things as cartoon/graphic as possible - my thinking was I could try and build the dough out using geometric shapes.

The white dough was flavored with vanilla bean, the orange with cinnamon and the brown was cocoa powder (which also helped with the colour)

I started by rolling out each of the core elements separately, then gradually wrapping and sculpting them together to form Hiro’s face. For the eyes and brows, I cut horizontal cross sections to the exact height I needed, carved out their spaces and then slotted them in so everything stacked neatly in the right order.

For the ears I again started with cylinders and then ran my fingers over as if they’re in a pinching motion to create a triangle, turning the dough to flatten each side to create a prism before adding to the core structure. I then coated with orange dough and used a fondant sculpting tool to smooth over the edges.

As you can see from this HILARIOUS face-on shot of the finished design, I opted to drop adding in the mouth. The plan was to roll out two small cylinders and then coat the bottom half in a thin coat of brown dough, but it was just too fiddly.

To be totally honest, once I saw how clean the cross sections were - I was pretty damn pleased with myself! So much so I wasn’t too fussed about how wonky the details were. I also realised that the nose started to look like an open mouth… and I can’t bloody unsee it! Perhaps you can’t unsee it now too - you’re welcome!

The biscuits baked well and luckily, as the lower part of the face was uncolored, I was able to see it turning golden. Some of them have caught ever so slightly, but they still look great nevertheless.

This challenge was every bit as hard as I thought it was going to be, moreso as I’ve only made biscuits a few times before. But it was great fun, too - and I’ll definitely be trying slice & bake biscuits again in the future.

So there we have it, an army of Hiro Slice & Bake biscuits. Nowhere near as handsome as the real Hiro, of course - but I don’t think they’ve turned out half bad! What do you think?

---

If you’d like to support my Substack, there are a few ways to do so! You can subscribe for free, or via a paid monthly/yearly subscription:

Or, you can leave a small donation by ‘buying me a coffee’ on Ko-fi!

All funds go straight back into the bakes - covering ingredients, equipment and even contributing towards monthly giveaways!

---

Signature Challenge - Chocolate Caramel Hobnobs

The second challenge was to make chocolate Hobnobs, topped with a thin layer of caramel and finished with a feathered chocolate design.

Now, I knew caramel was coming for me at some point in this competition - I just didn’t expect it to show up this early! Caramel and I have… history. Last year, I burned (more like incinerated) a batch so badly that I had to throw the pan straight into the bin. The smell haunts me to this day.

Placing the thought of tackling caramel aside, I enjoyed making the biscuits themselves. I love making hobnobs - the smell from the oats, butter and golden syrup as they combine is chef’s kiss.

And to my total surprise (and relief), the caramel actually behaved this time! No smoking sugar, no bitter sludge - just smooth, glossy caramel. I’m totally claiming this as my redemption arc!

I couldn’t find a 7cm silicone mould for love nor money, so I spooned the caramel onto the biscuits and smoothed it with the back of a teaspoon before chilling to set.

And despite hitting 4 shops, I had no luck securing golden caramel chocolate. Dark chocolate with white feathering it was, and honestly I think they still look great.

I’m also starting to feel much more comfortable with piping, too. I think I’ve found a way to tie and hold the bag in a way that doesn’t feel so awkward anymore - so I can focus on keeping flow steady.

And there we have it - my chocolate caramel Hobnobs! Again, I’m pretty proud with how these turned out. They look fairly neat and taste delish, which is the main thing.

---

2 weeks down, 8 to go!

Next up is Bread Week. It’s funny, last year it was the challenge I dreaded most - and this year it’s the one I’m most excited about! I think baking my way through Buns for Cook the Books has given me a lot more confidence with dough, so I’m looking forward to tackling it this time around.

Thanks for reading, friends. See you next time,
Mark

---