The entries have been judged, and the breads all eaten. I’m honestly blown away by every single entry, and couldn’t have imagined such an amazing turnout for the first ever bake off. It’s been so much fun seeing the entries come in, and I hope everyone had just as much fun baking them.
I also never imagined people would take the “backstory” part of the entry in such different, but equally incredible, directions. It looks like people had a lot of fun with that, and I am beyond happy.
Before we get to the winners, I want to give a big shoutout to @Spynosaur_Nicole who kicked off the contest with a beautifully presented pound bread. Their excitement and enthusiasm was a huge encouragement.
The winners!
Grand Prize: Nidrian
I baked cupcakes - Er, I mean, “mini sweet breads.” XD. They are fun to make, I do everything from scratch and I like to decorate them all fancy! I did two batches:
“Buzzing Sweet Breads” (Vanilla cupcake, honey buttercream frosting garnished with honeycomb toffee)
“John’s Secret Recipe Sweet Breads” (Chocolate cupcake, chocolate buttercream frosting garnished with bittersweet chocolate tentacles & lettering!)
2nd Place: GoldenLeaf
I’d like to hand in my ‘Bread of Wisdom’ for the bake off. For some reason plenty of lore has gathered on this cake…I mean bread and the only way to collect these lore pieces is to eat each slice individually.
Will you be brave enough to face the challenge of eating the entire cake to collect all 12 pieces of lore?!
The cake is made of a sponge cake base with a layer of peach cream as well as a layer of whipped cream, another sponge cake layer and some reduced nectarine and peach juice topped with some lore pieces(made of fondant)
3rd Place: Trichelieu
The Tale of the Breads, as told by John “Trichelieu” Constantine :
"There was once, in distant India, a tribe of naan breads. They were happy, but felt there should be more to life than just keep company to currys and tandooris and vindaloos.
Then, one day, they heard of the great muster called by the Bumble, the best of the Breads. They knew at once they had to be there! It would be the adventure of a lifetime! And so they set off on the long long road to Wales, the land of the Bumble…
The road was long, and filled with perils, but the brave naans kept hope and moved ever forward, towards the land of the best of them!
One day, as they arrived in the land of Greece, they encountered a salty cake, lazing around in the sun.
'- Where are you going, little naans? asked the salty cake.
-We are going to Wales, to take part in the great bread muster called by the Bumble, best of the breads. answered the naans.
-But it is a long way from here, and the lands in between are so very dangerous for little breads such as you! exclaimed the salty cake.
-We know, but we will get to that muster! answer the naan tribe, willfully.’
Touched by the bravery of the naans, the salty cake decided to come with them and help them on their journey.
And so the group arrived in the land of France. As they arrived, they bore witness to a mighty clash between two glorious people: the croissants and the financiers! The group carefully approached the fighters to inquire about the cause of this clash of titans.
'-Well met, o warriors! What is the reason of this fight? inquired the salty cake.
-We are fighting to decide which of our people is the best pastry! answered the croissants and the financiers in unison.
-But surely you can see that you all are equally delicious? answered the naans, puzzled.
-It is a matter of pride! once again answered both groups at the same time.
-Why don’t you come with us to the great bread muster? The Bumble, being the best of the breads, will surely be able to decide on the matter. offered the naans.’
The two warring people eyed one another warily, before silently coming to an agreement.
‘Very well, we will come with you to Wales and hear the judgement of the Bumble! they all cried in the same voice’
And so the group came to grow once more.
Their final stop on the way to Wales was Belgium. There, the group started to look for a way to cross the Channel, for everyone knows that bread and water don’t mix well. That is how they came to meet the waffles swarm, for they were the only ones willing to take anyone aboard their waffle iron. Despite the misgivings of the financiers and the croissants, the group boarded the raft, finally came to the land of the Bumble!
However, one last obstacle stood in their way: the great bread muster was only accessible to breads!
'-What o what shall we do? I may be salty, but I am still a cake! lamented the salty cake.
-And we may come from the land of bread, we are no breads ourselves! lamented the croissants and the financiers.
-What can we even say? We have no claim to being bread either! lamented the waffles.
-We will vouch for you! You helped us in our time of need, and have become friends. It is the least we can do for you! offered the naans.’
And so they finally came to the gates of the great bread muster of the Bumble. And there they were stopped by the guards.
'-Halt! Who goes there? inquired the gatekeepers.
-The naan tribe and their friends! answered the group as one.
-Only the breads can enter the great muster of the Bumble! roared the gatekeepers.
-We are all breads! Either we all enter, or none of us do! answered the brave little naans.
-Then none of you shall pass! roared the gatekeepers.’
The group was preparing to leave, filled with sadness, when the Bumble himself came to the gates to see what this commotion was about in this event intended to be joyful. As he saw the naan tribe and their friends, his loving heart filled with compassion. He thus declared them all honorary bread and bid them enter the great muster!
And so our tale comes to an end. The power of friendship overcame many obstacles, and spread the word of bread across the world!"
Seriously now. As you may know, naan is a type of bread found in many parts of Asia and most notably in India. I never made some before and have been meaning to for quite some time now, so the contest litteraly served as an excuse to get up off my ■■■■ and give it a try!
For the financiers, I’m currently in the process of finding a recipe I’m satisfied with, so I just added it to the pile.
Since I need only the white of eggs for the financiers, I thought I’d do stuff that needs only the yoke. Stuff like croissants.
And since I had milk for the naans, I decided to make a salty cake, because it uses milk that otherwise would be wasted (I don’t drink milk).
For the waffles… I blame DigitalWraith. They made me want some, and I had some milk still…
Bonus Song: The history of the bread tribe
(Actual song “Tenacious D - The history of Tenacious D” to listen along while reading)
"This is a song called
The History of the Bread Tribe
And it’s not just a list of ingredients
That were put in our paste
It’s a chronicle of our rise - to breadness!
We baked hot in mighty ovens
Inside the bakery
We cooled with croissants and waffles
They did not burn in vain! No!
We kneaded with cakes, we soaked milk,
We were made into toast
We’ve been cut into slices, my friends
To hold all of the cheese - cheese!
We baked and we baked and we are not cake
We’ll bake till you are sick of your steak
And if you say that we do not bake,
We’ll give you bellyache - bake!
Cake’s filling be tomato - naan’s is yogurt
But lest you think we’re plain
We know you’re all plastic and we don’t care!
The Bread Tribe! We’re bread!
We’re bread
The cheese
Oh God
All the cheese
We hold all the cheese
Yes we hold all the cheese
The cheese, yeah,
Go now cake, 1-2-3
The cheese
Go now cake, 1-2-3
The cheese
We hold all the cheese
Yes we hold all the cheese
The cheese!"
Bonus Song2: Bakerboss
(actual song “Tenacious D - Beelzeboss”)
"Fine! Let the bake off begin! Hahahaha!
I’m the Bumble, I love baking!
Check this pastry it’s f****g tasty!
I’m the Bumble I can do what I want
Whatever I got I’m gonna flaunt
There’s never been a bake-off that I’ve ever lost.
I can’t wait to bring cake to the fridge!
I’m gonna fill him with my hot pepper sauce,
Then I’ll let him turn into moss!
Nooooo!
C’mon cake, bring the thunder!
There’s just no way that we can win,
This was a masterpiece.
Listen to me…
He bakes to well because he’s not a mortal bread!
Goddamnit cake!
He’ll turn you into a sammich,
You’re gonna gargle mayonnaise,
Unless we bust a massive strawberry jam!
Bread, we’ve been through so much topping…
Deactivated an oven with my tip!
Now it’s time to overcook that bread!
C’mon cake, now it’s time to blow doors down!
I hear you naan now it’s time to blow doors down!
Light up the stage cuz its time for a showdown
We’ll crack you open then we’ll cover you in cheese!
Now we’ve got to overcook that bread!
He’s gonna fill me if we do not blow doors down…
C’mon cake cuz it’s time to blow doors down!
OOOOOOh, We’ll pile drive ya, It’s time for the black out
Hey bumbling baker, Bumblebread,
we know your weakness our rocket-sauce
we rock the casbah, and blow your mind
we will defeat you, for all breadkind
you hold the scepter,
we hold the key
you are the Bumble,
we are the Bread!"
Runner up: DigitalWraith
More delicious breads!
Gorokizu
My entry is a Dark Chocolate Jewish Babka, it uses 70% Dark Chocolate and Extra Dark Bitter Cocoa for maximum contrast between the sweet dough and the slightly bitter, but very dense and delicious filling.
While i’ve never baked this bread before, i’ve baked plenty of Italian Brioches before, and the specific reason i picked this one is because it included braiding which i’ve never attempted before.
Leogrim
I made my bread…a banana-caramel bread with almonds. Sry for the crappy quality…handycam.
Recipe included
160g sugar
250g whipped cream
3 Bananas
a little salt
1 package of backing powder
100g almonds
350-400g flour
3 eggs
150g butter
Make the sugar and the whiped cream into caramel first, mix it with the butter, than the eggs, than the bananas, than flour/salt/baking powder and the almonds and than into the oven for 1 hour at 180 degree celsius.
It’S fluffy, sweet and delicious
Poisoness
What I made is barm bread, or honey barm bread.
I bake barm bread so that the leftover barm, or trub, at the bottom of my mead doesn’t go to waste. Mead is a honey wine (fitting for the Bees in Secret World Legends) that I brew at home, and barm is the leftover sleepy yeast. My first step was waking up the yeast. I added water and honey to wake up the yeast (and scream at it, as was tradition in some Viking cultures). From there I added a bit of flour and allowed it to sit for a couple of hours. After that, I combined 4 cups of flour and salt in one bowl, and in another bowl I combined and warmed milk, butter, and honey. I then combined all the ingredients and let it rise for a couple of hours, 6 minimum, then folded it and dusted the top with cinnamon-sugar and drizzled honey.
I like to bake it because it connects me to the old way of doing things, my ancestry from parts of Northern Europe, and because it’s nutritious. The first recorded instance of someone using yeast to leaven bread was in the Bronze Age, recorded by a Roman soldier seeing a barbarian take yeast from his beer to make his bread. So not only does this have a lot of B(ee) vitamins and natural source of dietary copper, but this is an old recipe that they used before dried yeast became common place.
In the picture I have included a pint of the mead that this barm came from, as well as my homemade knife that I made in honor of the Secret World. The knife’s handle is made from osage wood that takes a dark honey color with age and the lanyard hole is a honeycomb shape.
KiryaOkami
Hi Bumble ! KiryaOkami here !
It’s a piece of french toast with apples softened in butter with homemade five spices mix (cinnamon, fennel seeds, cloves, szechuan peppercorn and badiane). Jaegermeister has been put in the egg mixture of the toast and consumed during the cooking process ( very important).
As for the backstory of the thing… Here you go =3
Art Raffle: congratulations to @Trichelieu and @Leogrim your names were selected! You can DM me on here or on discord for details.
I will try and get all prizes out as soon as possible. If you see me in-game let me know and I will come find you
And to close out this post, I just want to give my reactions and thoughts on everyones superb entries
Bumble thoughts
Nidrian:
I absolutely love the concept for these. The two sides of in-game lore presented as cak- breads, is just fantastic. At first glance I didn’t quite notice the lettering (the tentacles caught my attention first), but when I finally did I was amazed, and couldn’t contain my excitement when telling Gin about it (I think I said “OMG” at least 20 times). Both breads look delicious, and I want to that honeycomb toffee so bad.
GoldenLeaf:
The moment I spotted the lore on this one I was like omg. I couldn’t contain my excitement again, because not only is it an amazing little touch, it looks truly delectable. The list of ingredients makes it sound delightful, and the presentation gives me that feeling of summer nights in the garden. I would gladly take the challenge of collecting all 12 pieces!
Trichelieu:
I still can’t believe how much he actually baked for this. The actual entry being the naan, looks mouthwateringly good, and I’m glad the contest served as a chance for him to try something that he had been meaning to do for a while. The whole bread tribe is fantastic though, and I love that he used the left over ingredients to bake even more delicious breads instead of letting it go to waste. And now on to the story. This was beyond what I expected, but is amazing, and gave me a good laugh and brought a smile to my face. Even after all that, Trich outdid himself, and added two rewritten songs as bonus pieces!
DigitalWraith:
The backstory is what immediately stands out here. Presenting it as a transmission from the buzzing is very fitting, and I love the details of the honeycomb background/frame on all the images. The waffles themselves have a nice minimalist presentation, and look very very appetising! Again, the little touches with the bees drawn on to the waffles, and the extra gif showing the stack forming, are wonderful.
Gorokizu:
When I saw this on twitter my first thought was “It has stripes!” It’s a very Bumble-esque bread, which gave me a big smile. The whole thing looks delicious, and it makes me hungry just imagining that contrast between the chocolate and dough! An excellent result for a first attempt at this type of bread!
Leogrim:
In his own words “Fluffy, sweet, and delicious” and it definitely looks it! I imagine the combination of banana, caramel, and almonds made for a wonderful bread, and I am super happy that a recipe and instructions were included; I will definitely be trying this one at home, and I encourage everyone else to do the same! Banana bread for all 
Poisoness:
One of my favourite parts of this entry was the extra information/history about the bread. I think it’s wonderful that they enjoy making something like this that can connect them to their ancestry like that. Looking at the bread itself I can just taste the sweet honey, and delicious soft bread. The inclusion of the homemade knife is awesome (so many talented people in this community!) and adds nicely to the presentation.
KiryaOkami:
A simple choice of bread, but still a very delicious entry, and there is something very comforting in the presentation set against the table and wooden furniture. And of course, some delicious jagermeister while cooking is a must! We also have an adorable little comic serving as backstory, which just makes the presentation and choice of bread even more charming. The little touches like the “Kill list”, and a certain squirrels name added, gave me a good chuckle.
Thank you so much to everyone who took part, and special thanks to the wonderful Gin who helped with the impossible challenge of judging the entries and putting the whole thing together!
I look forward to seeing you all next year for round 2.
