HAS your tart got a soggy bottom? Are your cookies burnt to a crisp? Is your sauce too salty?
It happens to the best of us, and that includes competitors on The Great British Bake Off, which is on at 8pm tonight on Channel 4.
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Earlier in this series, teacher Rowan Williams got his marching orders after judge Paul Hollywood described his bread as so gritty it was like “eating lemon drizzle cake in a sandstorm”.
But could some of these disasters have been avoided?
Bread blogger Jon White of @workingwithflouer on Instagram says Rowan’s bread was likely to have been doomed from the start, possibly as it was not mixed well enough to aerate it or there was not enough yeast.
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While there is not much Rowan could have done to save his bread once it was in the oven, Jon says the results do not have to go to waste: “If the bread is flat after it’s baked, it’ll make respectable croutons if you cut it into squares and bake it in oil with some garlic.”
Here Tanith Carey asks experts how cooks could have rescued kitchen co*ck-ups we have seen over the years.
Flat yorkies
YORKSHIRE puddings proved to be a challenge for James Blunt, and Joe Sugg on The Great Celebrity British Bake Off in March.
Though these traditional British delicacies are made of little more than eggs, flour and milk, it is not always easy to get them to rise.
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If your creations are looking as flat as a pancake, one way to correct this problem is to heat up a tiny bit of oil in each of the baking cups first, advises food writer Emily Leary, author of Get Your Kids to Eat Anything.
Once the oil is hot, take the pan out and this time pour in the batter.
Emily says: “You should hear a hissing and bubbling. This is the reaction you want, so your batter puffs up quickly and you get a tall structure.”
Dry sponge
ONE of the put-downs favoured by The British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood is telling a contestant he is not meant to hear a crunch when he bites into their sponge cake.
But if your cake has come out too dry and hard, it can be saved, advises Gemma Simmonite, founder of gastrono-me.co.uk.
She says: “Make a syrup from mixing 200g of granulated sugar and 24ml of water in a saucepan and bringing it to the boil until it’s dissolved.
"Take a toothpick, prick the cooled cake all over, and liberally soak it with syrup using a basting brush. You can do this a few times over to ensure a full moisture hit.”
Cracked cake
OVER the years, cakes developing large slits on top have been the subjects of endless innuendo from The Great British Bake Off contestants, who have quipped about not wanting their “cracks to show”. But this can be avoided.
Pastry chef Susan Morrison, of @gourmetglow on Instagram, says: “The main reason cakes crack is because the oven temperature is too high.”
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But it is not the end of the world, says Emily Leary, who recommends cutting the top off to level it off, using icing to plaster over the fissure.
If you are baking meringues, allow them to cool more gently.
Sticky dough
WHENEVER Bread Week comes around on the The Great British Bake Off, we are used to seeing contestants getting unstuck as they struggle to get bread dough under control.
But tempting as it might be to just add in some extra flour in an attempt to make it less gooey, this move is likely to ruin your loaf.
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Emily Leary advises: “Don’t do it, because adding more flour to make the dough firmer reduces the percentage of moisture, which will make your end product dry and dense.
“Instead, if your dough’s a little gluey, scrape it off your hands and leave it for five minutes.
“That will give time for the gluten – the protein in the flour which binds the bread together – to develop and give the bread shape.
“You’ll be amazed how pliable dough becomes just by leaving it alone.”
Cake stuck in tin
WHEN Dame Edna Everage made a giant cookie on The Great Celebrity British Bake Off for Comic Relief in 2015, she joked she needed clippers to cut the tin off when it refused to come out.
Family cooking expert Emily Leary reckons the trick is patience.
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She says: “Wait until it’s absolutely stone-cold. Then run a knife with a round edge around it, so you don’t wreck your baking tin.”
If it is still not coming out, Emily suggests warming the bottom of the tin again.
“Put it over the heat of the hob or a pan of hot water and then re-melt the bottom, which has become glued to the tin.
“Then if you swipe a knife underneath, often your cake will give up clinging.”
Lumpy custard
THE perfect custard is so sought after on The Great British Bake Off that one of the show’s biggest scandals was “Custardgate” in 2013.
This was when contestant Howard Middleton’s hopes of serving up the perfect trifle were ruined when a rival took his custard out of the fridge, leaving him with the disappointingly “slack” version she had made.
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If custard or white sauce go lumpy, it often means they are being cooked at too high a temperature and the flour, butter and egg they often contain have started to separate.
To save the day, Emily Lery says bring the temperature back down as quickly as you can, either by dropping in an ice cube or dipping the bottom of your cooking pan into a sink or bowl of iced water.
Soggy bottoms
HAVING a soggy bottom is not just a naughty innuendo that has become a catchphrase on The Great British Bake Off.
It is also a cook’s nightmare when moisture collects at the base of tarts and pies, which have a combination of wet filling and thick pastry.
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This moisture then sinks to the bottom, causing an unsightly wet patch. But there are ways to rescue the situation, suggests Susan Morrison.
First, make sure your crust goes into the oven on its own first for long enough for the fat to evaporate and leave the base crisp before you add your filling.
Susan adds: “Once baked, the pastry can also be brushed with egg white to create a seal that’s watertight.
“Or if it’s a sweet tart, you could line the bottom with chocolate, to act as a moisture barrier.”
Rather too much salt
FORMER Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite gave judge Paul Hollywood a shock when he confused salt with sugar in his Rum Babas in 2012.
To avoid this, only add salt a tiny bit at time to see how the flavour is developing, says cooking expert Ruth Chubb, founder of the threebearscookeryclub.com.
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“Or add some pasta or potatoes,” she says, “as the starch will soak up the salt and remove them before serving.”
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If you have put too much sugar into savoury recipes, like a bolognese sauce or a curry, counter-balance it with other flavours like chilli powder or paprika.
To save a gravy that is too salty, add in a splash of cream or a little squeeze of lemon juice.
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