Original reddit post

Welcome to week 14!

This week's challenge is inspired by the International Edible Book Festival, a delightful celebration where literature and baking collide in the most delicious way possible.

Edible Book Day, celebrated on April 1st each year, encourages book lovers and bakers alike to combine their passions for literature and culinary arts, so let your favorite literary titles, characters, or authors inspire your baking creations.

Although the festival is mostly looking for book-shaped treats, feel free to use the books as inspiration in whichever way you’d like, book-shaped or not.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

How to make a book cake

Zucchini Brownie Spell Book

Decorated Book Cookies

Fruit leather books

Misc decoration ideas

Happy baking, and may your creations be as delicious as they are inspired!

Yeah they look more like mice or bears. I cobbled together 3 different recipes to make them with heavy vanilla flavor and tangzhong. Didn't occur to me that would affect their ability to hold a shape. Oh well, they taste good.

Original reddit post

Welcome to week 13, bakers! This week's challenge is all about animals. Whether you're making something animal-shaped, drawing inspiration from the animal kingdom, or whipping up treats for your furry friends, it's time to get creative.

Looking for some inspiration? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Animal decorated anything (here are a few ideas jammed together)

Dog Shaped Cookies (I almost died of cuteness overload when looking for ideas when I saw this)

Bear Claw Pastry

Zebra Cheesecake

The possibilities are endless, so whether you are going for decoration, flavor or name (think elephant ear cookies or pigs in a blanket), let us know what you come up with!

Happy baking!

I have never used any LLM's, and didn't fee like starting, so i went with a random recipe from my go to baking site. Unfortunately the batter ended up WAY too stiff and nothing i did allowed me to pipe these suckers out, so they just sorta ended up as regualr cookies, but delicious none the less.

I do think piping would have made them better though. The center of the cookies wasn't nearly as good as the crispy outsides, and piping them would have really increased the surface area.

Recipe. Was a big hit for my grandpa's birthday.

Original reddit post

Sponge Cake : Make a Genoise or Victoria or Angel Food or another type of sponge cake

Welcome bakers to week 12! This week, we're diving into the world of... Sponge Cakes!

Many cakes— Genoise, angel, chiffon, joconde —fall into the realm of sponge cake, which is basically a cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar that classically relies on air for leavening. The most basic version doesn’t contain fat, but variations will add it for moisture. Favored for its versatility, sponge cake is tender and bouncy and will soak up the flavors of anything it’s paired with.

Not sure where to start? No worries! Here are some ideas:

Angel Food Cake

Victoria Sponge Cake

Boston Cream Pie

Mamón

From Swiss Rolls, to cupcakes, Trifles, Batterberg, Pandan Cake, Cotton Cake, Tres Leches and foods from all over the world, there are endless alternatives for what to make.

Happy baking!

I had a strawberry cake that I needed to figure out frosting for. I asked for a lemon cream cheese buttercream and got a serviceable recipe. It didn't include salt, but I can't fault the AI for that, considering too many humans leave out the salt.

Cake has two different destinations, so I cut it in half and frosted the cut sides.

Original reddit post

Welcome bakers to week 11! This week we leave our bakes up to chance, as you either cook up a recipe generated by your favorite AI app, letting algorithms and data lead the way, or take a leap of faith by selecting a recipe at random from your cherished cookbook collection or preferred cooking website.

What does it mean to get an AI recipe? You could ask for directions and follow whatever the AI says, you could just ask for a random baked good and then look for a recipe elsewhere, or you could use an image AI generator and try to recreate the decorations of something.

(As a quick warning, if you do decide to make a recipe generated by AI, if you are following it’s directions, do check with similar recipes to see if everything will be baked correctly or if any key ingredients are missing)

If you want to go with a random recipe, you could roll a die to figure which cookbook, which page you are going for. Or look for a random date on your favorite website and see what was published that day. You could even try to do a random search of this subreddit’s history and do the first one that comes up.

Will your AI sous chef concoct a culinary masterpiece that surprises and delights? Or will the luck of the draw from your cookbook yield an unexpected gem that becomes a new favorite in your household?

Whatever you choose, hopefully it ends up being a recipe you enjoy.

Happy baking!

Sorry i am way late on this one. I asked my uncle in Japan (he's American, just a 65 weeb currently backpacking through Japan with my aunt for their retirement) for advice on something to make. He was currently in Hiroshima and told me to try making this local street food. Unfortunately i didn't realize how hard it would be to get some of these ingredients in rural Ohio, but i finally got everything for this recipe. luckily there is an amazing little Asian grocery store in Findlay that hooked me up with everything i needed and i am incredibly happy with how they turned out!

Hello all,

I'm pretty late, but wanted to share my baking experience. On Sunday I made this giant Kasutera Cake. I tried the recipe by emojoie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840D3AcTmcM), which I found through Ruby Bhogal's Instagram Post.

As I don't have a square cake pan I just estimated the baking time. turned out 1 hour was not enough, the cake was still veeery soft in the middle. Well, I cut the middle and ate it all by myself, liked the batter really much. The guests got to eat the rest and enjoyed. This cake is just as cloudy, soft, melt in your mouth as advertised. I really liked it. Will bake again, maybe for 1:15 hrs then.

Not a tower, but technically vertical.

I made this pretzel/potato chip moon pie recipe for Christmas a few years ago and it was a big hit. I decided to experiment with making some of them smaller and turning them into cookie pops. It sort of worked. I remember them coming out so much better looking last time, even my larger ones. This is why I hate making the same recipe twice. Still taste great, though.

Original reddit post

Welcome bakers to week 10! This time, we're embarking on a towering adventure with our aptly named challenge: Tower Bake!

Let your imagination soar as high as your baked creations! Tower Bake is all about pushing the boundaries of traditional baking by constructing impressive, towering treats that defy gravity and dazzle the taste buds.

So, what could you whip up for this week's challenge? The possibilities are as endless as the layers of a towering cake! Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

Tall Cake: here are some instructions if you are aiming for a cake with lots of layers

Croquembouche

You may try to achieve a tall Stack of pancakes

Kransekake

Happy baking!

These rich truffles have a little bit of brandy as well as sour cream to create a luxurious and rich chocolate treat!

Recipe

I swear to dog, I've been making sourdough for four + years and I still can't get it right.

Original reddit post

Hi bakers! Welcome to week 9. This week, your challenge is to make something using at least one fermented ingredient. This includes a wide variety of ingredients, like...

Yogurt

Pickles

Vnegar

Sourdough

Cottage cheese

Wine

Miso

Buttermilk

Sourdough

...and much more! As always, here are a few sample recipes.

Chocolate Sourdough Cake

Brown Butter Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vinegar Pie

While i was born and raised in the American Midwest, my mom is from North Shields so i grew up eating loads of English foods, amd Yorkshire pudding was always my favorite.

My bagels turned out not so great for cream cheese, as you really need to make the hole in the middle massive, but they were excellent for homemade pizza bagels! Made a great lunch for my and my neighbors's kids!

Recipe.

I had the weirdest experience with the ginger. My scale just would not record the weight when I grated it, so I had to guess. It came out very gingery but was still good.

Original reddit post

Hi bakers! This week your challenge is to showcase a custard or pudding. And yes, both British and American/Canadian style puddings count. Things like bread pudding and rice pudding are absolutely fair game too.

As always, here are some example recipes:

Banana pudding

Salted Caramel Bread Pudding

Yorkshire Pudding

Happy baking!

Recipe for whole grain bagels. I used a mix of spelt and whole wheat. They were easy to make and came out great.

According to King Arthur's site, 1988 was the year the everything bagel was first described in print:

"Arkady Goshchinsky came here from the Soviet Union 11 years ago. Thanks to friends in the bakery-supply business, three years ago [he] wound up with a bagel store in Forest Hills Queens... Now, the Bagel Baron, as his company is called, has a Manhattan location... The 'everything bagel' is dusted with salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic and onion." – foodtimeline.org

Original reddit post

Hi bakers! Welcome to week 7. This challenge - My Decade - is a fun one. Showcase a bake that was popular in the decade that you were born. Definitely include some details about the bake and why it was popular if you can!

For example:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake - This cake, originally created in the 1920s, had a resurgence in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s

Tiramisu - The classic Italian dessert that was very popular at restaurants in the 1980s

Unicorn Cake - Unicorn everything was popular in the 2010s, and this pretty unicorn cake is no exception!

These came as a special request from a friend. I even topped them off eith caramalized bananas. I have no clue how they taste because i hate banana, but i have gotten positive reviews so far!

Recipe.

I left the levain out in my 63 degree kitchen overnight and of course it didn't rise. I kept it in a 95 degree oven the following day and it took 10 hours to double (was supposed to triple). Apart from that, my only deviation from the recipe was to not add the optional vital wheat gluten.

Accidentally overproofed on the final day, which I think resulted in a flatter top. It's been a few years since the one time I made regular milk bread, so I can't compare to what the texture and flavor should be. But this turned out to be great sandwich bread. Not worth all the time and effort though.

Original Reddit post

Since we only have like 3 active users right now, we'll continue following along with Reddit. If we have more regular posters by the end of next year, we can look at coming up with our own list.

Week 1 12/31/2023 New Year, New Recipe

Week 2 1/7/2024 Quick Bread

Week 3 1/14/2024 South Africa

Week 4 1/21/2024 Seasonal Ingredients 1 : Use an ingredient that's in season where you live

Week 5 1/28/2024 Bite Sized : Bake a mini-treat

Week 6 2/4/2024 Japan

Week 7 2/11/2024 My Decade : Bake something that was trendy the decade you were born

Week 8 2/18/2024 Custard or Pudding

Week 9 2/25/2024 Fermented Ingredients

Week 10 3/3/2024 Tower Bake : Bake something vertical

Week 11 3/10/2024 AI Generated : Cook a recipe generated by your favorite AI app

Week 12 3/17/2024 Sponge Cake : Make a Genoise or Victoria or Angel Food or another type of sponge cake

Week 13 3/24/2024 Animals : Make something animal shaped, or inspired by animals or treats for your pet.

Week 14 3/31/2024 Edible Book Challenge : Bake something inspired by literary titles, characters or authors

Week 15 4/7/2024 Turkey : Bake a treat from Turkey

Week 16 4/14/2024 Ancient Grains : Incorporate one or more ancient grains in your bake

Week 17 4/21/2024 Caramel or Sugar work : Make something incorporating homemade caramel or spun sugar or another decorative sugar creation

Week 18 4/28/2024 Tropical Flavors : Incorporate tropical flavor(s) into your bake

Week 19 5/5/2024 Mexico

Week 20 5/12/2024 Show Stopper : Bake something show stoppingly gorgeous. Look to past GBBF show stopper challenges for inspo.

Week 21 5/19/2024 Inspired by Nature

Week 22 5/26/2024 Flatbread

Week 23 6/2/2024 Celebration of Life : Bake something beloved by someone you love (who may or may not have passed)

Week 24 6/9/2024 Seasonal Ingredient 2 : Use an ingredient that's in season where you live

Week 25 6/16/2024 Monochrome : Bake something black & white or shades of a single color.

Week 26 6/23/2024 Inspired by STEM : Show off your engineering skills, or a baking science tip you've learned. Or switch it up and bake something inspired by science.

Week 27 6/30/2024 Chocolate Work : Channel your inner chocolatier and conjure up a homemade chocolate confection. Or make a dessert incorporating chocolate

Week 28 7/7/2024 Meringue

Week 29 7/14/2024 Superfoods : Incorporate a superfood ingredient into your bake (anything from wheatgrass to acai berries)

Week 30 7/21/2024 Olympic Themed : Take inspiration from the Olympics for your bake. Bake something olympic themed, or pick a treat from the country you’re rooting for.

Week 31 7/28/2024 Rolled : Bake something that is rolled

Week 32 8/4/2024 Frosting & Icing : Learn a new technique Try out a frosting or icing technique you haven't mastered yet

Week 33 8/11/2024 Brazil

Week 34 8/18/2024 Coffee / Tea Flavor : Bake something incorporating coffee or tea, or something that pairs with them.

Week 35 8/25/2024 Laminated

Week 36 9/1/2024 Plating : Show off your plating skills

Week 37 9/8/2024 Regional : Favorite Bake a specialty of your region

Week 38 9/15/2024 Choux Pastry

Week 39 9/22/2024 Unfamiliar Ingredient : Use an ingredient you haven't tried before or haven't had success using

Week 40 9/29/2024 3D Shape : Bake something in a 3D shape : spherical or square or another

Week 41 10/6/2024 Buns

Week 42 10/13/2024 Enriched Dough

Week 43 10/20/2024 Gelling Agent : Use gelatin or a vegetarian equivalent

Week 44 10/27/2024 Samhain : Celebrate the Celtic festival of Samhain by making something traditional to the regions it's celebrated.

Week 45 11/3/2024 Crepes & Pancakes

Week 46 11/10/2024 Pantry : Bake something using only the ingredients already available in the house

Week 47 11/17/2024 Pies & Tarts

Week 48 11/24/2024 Same Latitude : Bake a specialty from a region on the same latitude as you

Week 49 12/1/2024 Savory : Bake something savory

Week 50 12/8/2024 Cookie Swap : Post your favorite cookie recipe and try out someone else's

Week 51 12/15/2024 Yeast Leavened

Week 52 12/22/2024 Nemesis :   : Bake something that defeated you this year

This sub is for people who want to challenge themselves and try new things. Viewers should be celebrating that, not judging the results. You don't have to up vote everything, but please do not down vote people's submissions. Thank you.