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#EstimationNation Baking Challenge with Smart Energy GB

amomentwithfranca · 8 June 2016 · 48 Comments

What is it with me lately and wanting to attend events that involve cooking or baking? Am I being crazy? Everybody who knows me or you guys that follow my blog know that I’m useless in the kitchen. I don’t cook at home – Nick is the chef in our house. Not long ago I was invited to attend an event to learn how to cook a Portuguese meal. It wasn’t easy but I enjoyed it a lot. This time I was invited to attend a baking challenge! Even more difficult as everybody knows that baking needs more accuracy than cooking savoury things.  This event was the biggest challenge ever for me as a blogger because I had to bake without measurements! Yes guys, you read that correctly! How tricky is that? Let me tell you that it was incredibly difficult!

Smart Energy FI

This event was organised by Smart Energy Gb and it was held at the Open Kitchen in Hoxton.  Me and a group of bloggers were invited to attend and take part in the #EstimationNation Bake Off challenge. This was like being at Bake Off. 😉

IHD 1, 2 and 3

Fist of all, I’m sure you might be asking yourself what this event was all about in the first place. Well, Smart Energy GB is the national campaign for Great Britain’s Smart Meter rollout. It’s their task to help everyone in Great Britain to understand smart meters, the national rollout and how to use their new meters to get their gas and electricity under control. The national campaign has already begun and will reach all households and micro businesses in England, Scotland and Wales.

ES collage 1

Smart meters mean an end to estimated bills and allow you to see in near real time how much you are spending on gas and electricity in your own home. This event is to support Smart Energy GB’s recent #EstimationNation campaign. How amazing is that? We should all support this campaign as it is just fantastic! They are keen to show people how we don’t accept estimation in other parts of our lives but do so for one of the largest household bills, which is wrong. They really want to change this habit.

ARRIVAL

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

ES collage 2

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

As soon as I arrived I saw all the bloggers gathered in a room. The people from Smart Energy were explaining about what the event was all about and introduced us to our fantastic host, who just happened to be, the runner-up from the 2015 series of the Great British Bake Off, Ian Cumming. We were so lucky to meet him! 🙂

COOKING

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

We were all invited to go upstairs were they had a great cooking area. We were given instructions of what to do. As this was a Baking Challenge with a twist, we were given all the ingredients for a recipe to follow but the measurements of each ingredient were not included and there was no measuring equipment, oven temperatures or baking times either! We had to prepare everything based on our best estimates. This for me was extremely difficult to do.

We were then paired up into teams so we were able to work together. Ian was on hand to help us with a few hints and tips! We had to do 2 challenges: 1) A NICE BIT OF CAKE and 2) SWEET & SAVOURY

Challenge One – A NICE BIT OF CAKE

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

I was paired with Taislainy, a lovely girl originally from Brasil. She also didn’t know anything about baking either so when we realised that we were paired together we thought that this was going to be a disaster. They told us that they were going to award a prize for the worst team and straight away we thought we would be winning that prize, LOL!

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

ES collage 3

We were given Go Pro cameras to film the challenge which we had to wear on our head. On top of that we got to wear chef hats and lovely aprons. We were all set to start but we didn’t have a clue what to do, we were completely lost! Just having to estimate the amounts was incredibly difficult! We really just had to guess for everything. We were worried for the first 20 minutes of the challenge trying to check other people’s progress and trying to find answers but after this, we realised it was taking all the fun away. So we decided that we just have fun and try our best, so that’s what we did! 😉

ES collage 4

IMG_8281

We made lots of mistakes along the way but with the help of the Saver Energy team and Ian, we managed to complete the challenge. I was worried that our efforts were going to be terrible but the raspberry cupcakes actually ended up really good. I was surprised! You can see the recipe below:

ES collage 6

Challenge two – SWEET & SAVOURY

ES collage 5

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

For this challenge we had to cook scones. As you can imagine, I had never cooked these before and neither had Taislany. However, she was more familiar with savoury cooking. We were much better this time, as the first challenge had given us a feel for things so this one felt much easier.

We just tried to follow our instincts and when we made any mistakes, we tried to fix them pretty quickly. We were definitely much more confident this time. I guess this showed in the cooking because we were the first to finish ahead of everybody else this time.  They look pretty amazing and tasted delicious too! I was really impressed with what we were able to achieve.

You can see the recipe below:

ES collage 7

RESULTS, PRIZE & TEA PARTY

ES collage 8

Once both challenges were completed we waited downstairs for the results. Ian was the judge and was in charge of awarding the prizes to the team with the best bakes. He was also going to be giving baking lessons to the loser of each challenge. While waiting we were offered some delicious hot canapes and drinks.

We were then asked to gather together to hear from Ian who the winners and the losers were. Taislany and I were very sure that Ian was going to call our names out as the worst bakers. He announced first the losers of the cupcakes and guess what? He didn’t call our names. Then he announced the winners of the cupcakes and as expected he didn’t call our names. Then he announced the losers of the scones which we were really expecting our names to be called. But guess what? He didn’t call our names. So then we thought that is great at least we were not the worst! Just after that, Ian announced the winners of the scones. And guess what? HE CALLED OUR NAMES! Wow, we were the winners!! OMG we couldn’t believe it. We won £150 worth of vouchers in our choice of either Amazon or John Lewis. How amazing is that? It was just the highlight of our night! You can see below a couple of photos that captured that moment.

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

SMART ENERGY ESTIMATION NATION BAKING CHALLENGE @ Open Kitchen London N1 6LR 19th May 2016 with Ian Flemming Finalist on 2015 British Bake Off

This event was just fantastic. Not only did I get the chance to learn more about cooking and baking, but also about what smart meter savers are too which I really recommend you to use. Overall, I actually had so much fun. Who would’ve thought that I would enjoy being part of a cooking event so much? As a result I’m now liking cooking more and more and obviously I’m now ready for the next event! 😉

ES collage 9

We were also given some AMAZING goody bags! We got a proper Jamie Oliver weighing scale which I love, we also got the baking equipment we used to bake the cupcakes and scones and last but not least a super practical Journal which I’m already using! I was so happy with my goody bag! I really want to say THANK YOU so much to Smart Energy GB for inviting me to this event. It was one of the best events I have ever been to. It was all very professional and very well organised! You can find out more about the #EstimationNation campaign here or by following their twitter.

Smart Energy GB have made a fantastic video capturing all these wonderful moments. You can watch the video below:

#EstimationNation Baking Challenge

 

What do you think of this event? What did you think of these challenges? Would you be able to cook or bake without measurements and weighing scales? What do you think about Smart Meters? Will you be getting one? Leave me a comment below as I would love to hear what you think. 

Disclosure: I was invited to attend this event in exchange for a blog post but all the thoughts and opinions are my own. Some of the photos were provided by Smart Energy GB. 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

Linking up with:

Related

Filed Under: Events, List Tagged With: #EstimationNation, Meter Savers, No measurements, No scales, Raspberry Cupcake Recipe, Scones Recipe, Smart Energy GB

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. The Speed Bump says

    12 June 2016 at

    What a great event! Sounds like you did really well! Thanks as always for hosting #KCACOLS. always love linking up!

    Reply
  2. Laura @ DOt Makes 4 says

    12 June 2016 at

    What a brilliant event! You did really well 🙂 I don’t know how I would’ve fared without scales!

    Laura xx
    #KCACOLS

    Reply
  3. Jane Taylor says

    12 June 2016 at

    Wow! Well done! That sounds like such a fun event and great goodies too! #fortheloveofblog

    Reply
  4. Mother Hermit says

    12 June 2016 at

    Oh wow, what a fantastic event! Looks like you had a great time and well done on the win with the scones- they look lovely! I’m not the worst baker in the world but oh my goodness, I wouldn’t have a clue where to start working on estimates. xx #KCACOLS

    Reply
  5. Jane Taylor says

    12 June 2016 at

    Where is my head this evening! I have my linkies in a twist! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  6. Geraldine says

    12 June 2016 at

    Great run down of this event. Sounds like it was absolutely fantastic. Love the pics …especially the cakes yum
    #kcacols

    Reply
  7. The Tale of Mummyhood says

    13 June 2016 at

    This looks like a great event, and it sounds like you had a brilliant time! I’m hungry now after reading it!

    #KCACOLS

    Reply
  8. laughing mum says

    13 June 2016 at

    how much fun does this sound?! I might copy your instructions and then give them to the teen and preteen to have some fun one weekend, i think they would love that! Although they won’t be getting the vouchers lol – well done on your win! they actually didn’t look too bad haha #kcacols

    Reply
  9. Jen @Practical, By Default says

    13 June 2016 at

    This seems like so much fun, congrats on winning. I always cook with general measurements but the no temperature thing would be CRAZY! Love Jamie Oliver’s stuff, we got a knife set though our local grocery store, its amazing! #kcacols

    Reply
  10. krissi says

    13 June 2016 at

    ok this post made me really hungry! you guys did so good! looks like you had so much fun. what a great event to be a part of!

    Reply
    • krissi says

      13 June 2016 at

      aaaah #KCACOLS i keep forgetting the hashtag lol

      Reply
  11. Amanda says

    14 June 2016 at

    Hi Again Franca, well like most of the events you’ve been too, this one looks brilliant too. I do love to bake, but I always have to measure out my ingredients. That is so cool, you won the best scones, with no measurements and you are a self admitted non-baker! Well done. Your cupcakes look good to.
    Amanda. #kcacols

    Reply
  12. Bread says

    14 June 2016 at

    This looks like so much fun. I can’t bake but I do love the results. I’m not sure the gopro camera went with the chefs hat!

    Reply
  13. The Pramshed says

    14 June 2016 at

    This looks like a really fun day and event to attend Franca, and those cakes looks scrummy! That is such a good idea to be able to see how much energy you are actually using in your home. I love the goodie bag too, some great purple products there. Claire x #KCACOLS

    Reply
  14. Sarah@teammomlife says

    15 June 2016 at

    This sounds like so much fun! I would love to do something like this just to see what would happen. I am much better at cooking than baking because I’m not a big fan of measuring. I probably would have some terrible baked goods. Congratulations on making the winning scones that is so awesome. And the goody bag sounds pretty great too. Thanks for sharing! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  15. mainy - myrealfairy says

    15 June 2016 at

    Wow, look great and you won!! well done. You did so much better than I would of done, with or without all the good equipment there. I normally use a packet mix and hope for the best!

    Mainy

    #KCACOLS

    Reply
  16. Carol Cameleon says

    15 June 2016 at

    You really sound like you had so much Franca. And who knew you would win?! Wow, well done! Thanks for hosting #kcacols

    Reply
  17. Sarah Ella (Mumx3x) says

    17 June 2016 at

    I need a lesson on those smart meters, haha. I haven’t got one yet but I am looking forward to getting one because I think I’ll save loads on my energy bill! Also, the event looks great! The food… Oh yum! xx #KCACOL

    Reply
  18. Silly Mummy says

    17 June 2016 at

    Well done on your scone win! They both looked really good! We have a smart meter. I rarely bake though. I don’t enjoy cooking, though I do it. I used to like to bake cakes when younger, but can’t really be bothered these days! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  19. My Petit canard says

    17 June 2016 at

    What a great event and campaign to get involved in! It looks like it was so much fun. You guys did a great job 🙂 We have a Smart Meter at home but dont really properly use it and should so I think after reading your post I will spend some time getting to understand it better. Especially as I am finally on mat leave and have much more time to do this kind of stuff now! Emily #KCACOLS

    Reply
  20. Single Mum Speaks says

    17 June 2016 at

    At this rate we’ll be seeing you on Bake Off! Well done on the scones. Looks like a fab event. #KCACOLS

    Reply
  21. Clare says

    17 June 2016 at

    What a fun event! It sounds like you had a fab time! And YAY on your win, what a great prize too. Well don’t you! The goody bag looks pretty awesome too #KCACOLS xx

    Reply
  22. Jessica Powell (Babi a Fi) says

    18 June 2016 at

    This looks like such a cool event – I bet everyone had an awesome time! x #KCACOLS

    Reply
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HI THERE, I’M FRANCA!

Hi, I'm Franca, a lawyer mum of 2 gorgeous girls married to my best friend, living in London. Award nominated parenting & lifestyle blogger. Read More…

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