So I’m officially a published author! The first copy of my book, B.I.Y. Bake It Yourself, arrived this week and it looks fantastic.

As of this week I’m going to have the choice when buying insurance or filling in surveys to put “Occupation: Author” if I want to! It feels really surreal. Never, not for one second during the Great British Bake Off experience, did I think this would ever be something that might happen. But I am so proud of the end result. On Tuesday this week, the first copy of my book, B.I.Y. Bake It Yourself, arrived – couriered hot off the press. It’s not released until 27 August (but is available to pre-order already, for example from Amazon here) so getting a copy this early was a brilliant surprise. I now have all my favourite recipes in one place, rather than on scraps of paper all over the kitchen. It’s turned out really well. I can’t wait until people are able to get their own copies to see what recipes appeal to people the most.

On Tuesday this week I went off to film another set of video recipes for the Scoff channel. These have mainly been original recipes but I’ve also filmed a few to accompany my book. One of these was released in time for American Independence Day on Saturday – my perfect pecan pie. Whenever I make this it gets hoovered up before I can blink. If you give it a go, send me a picture before the gannets descend!

This has been a busy, cakey weekend. Yesterday was the summer fair at our elder daughter’s school, where I’ve recently been elected as a parent governor. I was (unsurprisingly!) responsible for the cake stall at the fair and made the rainbow piñata cake in the picture above for the “Guess The Weight Of The Cake” competition. My priority for the cake was something that wouldn’t melt on such a hot day so I avoided chocolate, fresh cream, fruit, etc., and went for rainbow sponges, buttercream and Skittles. It was won by one of the teachers at the school so it’s been saved in the staff room for Monday. Hope they enjoy eating it as much as I enjoyed making it! (It weighed 2.713kg, in case you were wondering!)

Today was another perfect summer day out for the Great Bushey Bake Off. My mother-in-law used to be a head teacher in Bushey and a few of her friends are on the Bushey Festival committee so we all went along to the beautiful Bushey Rose Garden for an afternoon of cake tasting. The younger bakers were up first and I was really chuffed to see one entrant arrive carrying his cake and wearing a pencil behind his ear! In the junior competition, there were two boys and a girl in the final three – a bit like my own Bake Off final. My fellow judges (Joanna and Anne in the picture above – being ably helped by my own two ‘cake tasting experts’) and I got to taste dozens and dozens of different cakes – it’s tough at the coalface!

In the picture above were the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winning cakes from the adult competition later in the afternoon. Absolutely delicious! I look forward to coming back again next year but for now I’m off to lie down with a well-earned cake hangover. See you next week.