Battle for baking glory

Anyone who fancies themselves as a bit of a star baker - and even those who don't - will enjoy rolling up their sleeves at Bristol's Bake It!, finds Angus McIntyre

- Angus McIntyre

The finished items

BRISTOLIANS now have the chance to place themselves at the heart of their very own version of the Great British Bake Off. Since it opened in July, Bake It! Bristol on East Street has proved enormously popular, regularly selling out and offering a treat to cakemakers of all skill levels.

The concept is simple: you are given some core ingredients and instructions. From there, you have an hour and a half to make your masterpiece, competing with your fellow bakers to take home the coveted Golden Spatula award at the end of the night.

I went down to have a try. My own culinary capabilities max out at around the beans on toast mark and I was interested to see if even someone of my negligible ability would enjoy themselves.

I attended with my wife, who it’s fair to say was more excited about the experience than I was. We received a very warm welcome from Aleena Patel, who runs Bake It! along with her sister Kalisha.

We were given fifteen minutes to familiarise ourselves with the instructions for the evening, which was Hallowe'en themed. This valuable snippet of time also allowed us to grab a couple of drinks from the bar.