One of the contestants in this year’s season of The Great British Baking Show is a left below-knee amputee named Marc Elliott. We’re tracking his progress through the season, while sharing favorite recipes from limb-different bakers in the Amplitude community.
Marc breezed through Episode 4 (Chocolate) without incident—and that’s saying something, because it was an eventful week, and not in a good way. Multiple bakers suffered significant fails, and the judges weren’t in a merciful frame of mind. The Guardian‘s live bloggers described the proceedings as “incredibly stressful,” “a nightmare,” and “brutal,” while Twitter commenters trotted out the hashtag #veryveryharsh. Not the sort of vibe we usually get from chocolate. Although Marc didn’t particularly distinguish himself, he kept himself clear of the carnage and passed safely through to next week’s pastry competition.
This Week’s Recipe: Chocolate Eclair Cake
Episode 4’s high anxiety was especially jarring to us because we’ve always considered chocolate the ultimate comfort food. Our recipe this week is in that vein. It comes from our excellent friend and contributor Angie Heuser, who has shared her experiences this year of learning to surf, running her first post-amputation 10K, finding balance in her life, and hitting the hiking trail. She blogs regularly at Stepping Out in Faith.
“This recipe was handed down to me from my mother-in-law,” Heuser says, “as it has always been a favorite of my husband’s. She would make it for us to take back to college with us, but it never made the whole trip—probably because she always gave us forks to eat it on the drive back. Now I make it for him at every birthday and when I feel he needs a special treat.”
The version presented here has been tweaked to make it a lower-calorie, lower-fat dessert. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 box low-fat graham crackers
2 boxes low-fat, sugar-free vanilla pudding
8 oz. low-fat or light Cool Whip
3 1/4 cup skim or low-fat milk
Hershey’s chocolate syrup
Instructions
1) Using a whisk or electric mixer, mix pudding with milk until thickened.
2) Add Cool Whip to pudding and gently fold in until mixed.
3) In a 9×13 dish, lay down a layer of graham crackers to cover bottom and add half the pudding mixture on top of crackers.
4) Add a second layer of graham crackers and add the rest of the pudding mixture of top.
5) Finish with adding a top layer of graham crackers. Be careful with the crackers as you will use the whole box and it’s easier to make a layer with full crackers.
6) Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. The longer it sits in the fridge the softer the graham crackers become, which is what you want.
7) Just before serving, add a drizzling of Hershey’s chocolate syrup, cut, and enjoy!
Previous Amputee Bake Off recipes:
Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Syrup by Broken Breadhaus
Very Carroty Carrot Cake by @cy_eats
Lemon-meringue Pie by Stump Kitchen