Jane's Chubby the Caterpillar Cake, GBBO Week 8

Join the brilliant Jane Beedle (GBBO finalist from series 7) live from Kent, UK who will guide you through baking the eighth of our GBBO Mystery classes from 2023's Bake Off, where we will teach you the technical challenge from week 8 of this year's show: a chocolate cake in the shape of Chubby the Caterpillar.

The class is on Sunday 19th November at the following times:

9am PT / 11am CT / 12pm ET / 5pm UK GMT

An iconic staple of kids' parties in the 90s and 00s, the caterpillar cake is a soft chocolate Swiss roll, with a smooth sweet chocolate filling, covered in a silky chocolate ganache and decorated with a white chocolate face and feet. Perfect for chocoholics, families and a nostaglic throwback for people who have lived through a Millenial kids' party!

We’ll start off the class with an introductory welcome and some background from Jane's time on TV, before we ask you to put on your aprons and bake along as you watch Jane demonstrate all the skills required to make your delicious recipe.

Our class will take around two hours as we bake our masterpieces, before you can tuck into the fruits of your labour all whilst hearing fantastic memories and stories from Jane, Tickets are priced at £35 for individuals and £50 for groups of two or more that will join from the same household. Places are non-refundable and cannot be cancelled or altered after purchase. All guests will be emailed a link to the class following their booking.

EQUIPMENT:

Swiss roll tin 32 x 23cm (12 ½” x 9”) greased and base lined

Electric hand whisk 

Bowls  

Small piping bag

Non-stick baking paper  

Small palette knife  

Spatula

Sharp knife   

Sieve   

Saucepan

Heatproof bowl  

Caterpillar face template (see end of recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

For the sponge:

4 large eggs (XL in the US) Separated 

4 tbsp Vegetable Oil

150g (¾ cup) Caster/Superfine sugar (Divided 100g/50g or ½ cup/¼ cup)

2 tsp Vanilla extract 

¼ tsp Salt

60g (½ cup*) Plain/All Purpose flour 

½ tsp Baking powder

25g (2tbsp + 2tsp) Cocoa powder 

Icing sugar for dusting

For the filling:

120g (8 ½ tbsp) Salted butter 

2 tsp Vanilla extract

240g (2 cups) Icing sugar 

4 tbsp Double/Heavy Cream

1 tbsp Cocoa powder

For the ganache:

200g (~1 ⅓ cups) Dark/Bitter sweet chocolate (as good quality as you can with at least 50% cocoa

200g (~¾ cup + 2 tbsp) Double/Heavy cream**

For the decoration:

200g (~1 ⅓ cup) Good quality white chocolate 

M&M’s or other edible decorations

*sifted then measured

**US heavy cream is usually lower fat than UK double cream (20-30% vs 40-50%) so you may want to add a little less than the 200g cream at first when making the ganache, to prevent it being too runny. You can always add in more cream if it needs it.

Alternatively we do offer private events, please contact us for more information or click on the ‘Online Classes’ page for more detail. Upon booking, all guests will be emailed a link to the class with a full breakdown of ingredients and equipment as well as the method on the Monday proceeding their class. Please do check junk email just in case you don't spot it arrive!

It is your responsiblity to check the ingredients do not impact any allergies  or intolerances which you may have. Bake With A Legend and our bakers take no responsibility in this regard.

If you're in any doubt about you then you should contact us before booking in terms of discussing alternative ingredients to suit your requirements. We will, wherever possible provide alternatives to include gluten & dairy free options.