How to Host Your Own Bake Off

One of our favourite times of the year is here – it’s Great British Bake Off season! As the nights draw in and the weather starts to cool, what better way to spend an evening than cosied up in front of the TV drooling over delicious bakes? However, if like us, you get the yearning to achieve star-baker status too, why not host your very own bake off? Follow our step-by-step guide below and recreate a slice of the action at home.

Hosting a bake off can come in many forms, depending on the space you have, the time you want to dedicate to it, and how many people are joining you. If you have the space, maybe your bake off is taking place at work, then participants could bake the cakes in real-time, making the experience even more competitive.

However, an alternative way is for entrants to bake their cakes beforehand and bring them along to your bake off party for judging. This allows more time for eating (and of course, judging). Whichever way you decide to host here are a few things you will need to make your bake-off a success:

A venue – whether that be at home or your workplace. Maybe you’re hosting a bake-off as a fundraiser? Check out your local community hall and invite your neighbours to take part too.

Invites – for your bake-off to be an official bake-off, you will need at least 2 bakers and 1 judge taking part. Spread the word around your friendship group or office and gather those star bakers to-be!

Crockery – you will need plenty of serveware to show off the bakes for judging. Think cake stands, cake plates, and plenty of pastry forks!

Decorations – it isn’t bake-off season without metres and metres of bunting. Drape it high and low.

So now you know what you need, follow these 5 simple steps to host a bake-off that is sure to make Paul and Prue proud:

Once you have a date set for your bake off event you will also need to set a theme for the type of bakes you want your budding bakers to make. If you’re running your bake off alongside the show then you could choose the same theme, for example, cake week or pastry week. From here you can either choose a specific recipe  for your bakers to follow, just like the technical challenge, or give them free rein to show off their skills. Don’t forget to let your participating bakers know the theme you have chosen in advance so they have time to prepare.

Wherever your bake off is taking place, whether it be at home, at work, or a community venue, it has to be decorated in bunting – just like the official Great British Bake Off tent. You will also need to set out any bakeware, aprons, and kitchen accessories at dedicated spaces if your bakers are baking on the day. And then not to forget the all-important cake stands, cake plates, and cutlery for serving out the bakes ready for judging.

If your bakers are baking during the event, you will need to allow plenty of time for this – for the baking and cleaning up! If there are a few people taking part in the baking you can get into groups to follow the recipe together. But if you’ve decided to bake the recipe beforehand, ensure you have informed the bakers of the recipe/theme in advance so they have time to bake a day or so before.

You can either present the bakes as ‘showstoppers’ and judge each one in turn, or to make it completely fair judge blind, asking your bakers to place their creations on a table behind name cards. When it comes to judging, ensure your judges know the criteria they are marking against e.g. taste, decoration, and accuracy.

All that’s left to do is to crown your bake off champion and let everyone taste all of the delicious bakes. If there are a few bakes left at the end, have cake boxes ready or have your guests bring Tuppaware so they can take treats home.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our tips on hosting a bake-off at home, and we have inspired you to get together with friends, family, and colleagues to create some delicious bakes. We’d love to see your bake-off challenges, tag us in your posts on Instagram.