Bake Off winner’s angel cake
Specially commissioned by the Mail, a spectacular cake from this year’s winner Gadget Granny (and her very ingenious husband)
sHE stormed to victory in this year’s The Great British Bake Off with her spectacular edible creations. Now Nancy Birtwhistle has designed a Christmas showstopper bake — and shares the recipe exclusively with the Mail so you can make it at home.
This stunning Angel Cake comes complete with a caramel halo and wings, a piped-icing skirt, hands clasped in prayer and long blonde hair.
On Bake Off, the 60-year-old was dubbed Gadget Gran because she used a series of homemade implements to construct her bakes, each one lovingly crafted by her husband Tim.
And true to form, he has devised an ingenious wooden tool to help affix the angel’s caramel wings.
For those who fear that assembling the ingenious cake may be beyond them, Mrs Birtwhistle has friendly words of advice.
She said: ‘ I hope people will improvise and use their own creativity. It doesn’t matter if you cheat a bit, or do things a different way. You might come up with a better solution than me. The main thing is to have fun while you are making it.
‘I don’t like the Heston Blumenthal school of cookery, where everything i s complicated and t akes ages. Food s hould be enjoyable to make and eat.’
The grandmother- of- eight, from Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire, said her Angel Cake has been designed to appeal to all the family.
The head is made from a ball of Rice Krispies, chocolate and marshmallows, which will keep sweet-toothed children happy on Christmas Day.
THE body is a traditional Christmas cake baked in a 4 in tin. And the skirt is a homemade panettone stuffed with Christmas spices and fruit, which can be toasted and eaten long after New Year. Mrs Birtwhistle said: ‘All the components of the cake will keep for ages, and they are easy to make.
‘But if people want to use a readymade panettone instead of making their own, that’s fine by me. They are cheap and readily available.’
If bought from scratch, all of the ingredients for the Angel Cake should cost about £60, although many people will already have most of the staple ingredients in their cupboards. Home bakers should start making the cake the day before so the panettone can rise overnight. The Christmas cake can also be made at this stage as it takes between five and six hours to bake.
The following day, the skirt, body and head should be decorated with runny icing, shop-bought coloured fondant icing, ready- to-roll marzipan and edible lace.
The parts are then stacked one on top of the other using wooden rods on the inside to hold them together — although knitting needles would do equally well. The wings and halo are made from caramel mixed with edible gold glitter to catch the light.
Mr Birtwhistle, 63, devised an ingenious method for attaching the wings to the angel’s back with two wooden dowels. The rods should be fixed into the caramel while it is still molten, using a wooden frame to hold them at a 30 degree angle until it cools. Meanwhile, a corresponding pair of holes must be made in the angel’s back, also at 30 degrees.
Then, with a bit of luck and a steady hand, the wings can be slotted in place to give the cake a special lift.
MRS Birtwhistle said her creation is meant to be a ‘fallen angel’, adding: ‘Her halo has slipped over one eye, and although she is doing her best to pray you can tell she is the naughty child in angel school.’
She and her husband have five children and eight grandchildren between them and will host the entire family on Christmas Day.
She said: ‘I enjoy all the traditions, so we will have roast turkey that we have reared in our back garden, pigs in blankets, sprouts, stuffing and all the rest.
‘We go to midnight mass the night before, then have a big lunch on Christmas Day before opening our presents by the tree.
‘I always prepare most of it well in advance so there is a minimum of fuss, and I don’t get stuck in the kitchen while everyone else is having a drink.’
In the Bake Off final in October, Mrs Birtwhistle made a spectacular windmill cake designed to look like the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris. To mould the caramel roof, she used a gadget made by her husband — a retired GP — from an old drainpipe.
But he refused to take any credit for her victory, saying: ‘I don’t get involved in the kitchen, but I like making things in my workshop. So if I can invent something that helps her construct her showstopper cakes, I will. She is the brains of the operation.’