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Week 10 – The Final

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This blog contains spoiler of who won the Great British Bake Off 2019. 

So this is it, the final of the Great British Bake Off. The odds on favourite must be Steph (won Star Baker four times), followed by Alice (won Star Baker twice) and lastly David (not a recipient of the Star Baker award).

Signature Dish

The final Signature Dish was the “Ultimate Chocolate Cake,” something that my husband was invested in as he loves chocolate cake, me, I don’t like it at all. I do like chocolate mousse and chocolate bars, but not chocolate cake nor chocolate ice cream, I know, weird, right?

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Steph’s Black Forest Gateau

David’s cake has a lovely mirror shine, but it’s too boozy, the Armagnac flavour overpowers it.

Alice’s cake looks wobbly and clumsy and Paul says that the cake lacks the full chocolate flavour.

Steph’s Black Forest Gateau has a 70’s feel, according to Prue, but it is “a very nice cake,” although slightly overbaked.

Technical Challenge

This final challenge was set by Paul and it was six twice baked Stilton souffles with a biscuit on the side. This is where “the baking fairies” seemed to desert Steph as she makes an error with her baine-marie, using cold water instead of boiling resulting in souffles which collapsed as they hit the baking tray.  Alice doesn’t know how to make a roux, much to Sandi’s surprise and David carries on in his normal calm manner.

Technical Positions

3rd – Steph (Egg whites beaten to death, biscuits too thick).

2nd – Alice (Bit raw, uneven, pale biscuits)

1st – David (Not a bad effort, thin biscuits).

Showstopper

It’s all down to the Showstopper and this week it’s illusion baking, you know, when a cake looks like a pie, but tastes like a cake! Mind blowing!

To start off with, Alice has received some bad news, her mum and dad might not be able to make it as their flight from Ireland has been cancelled, so she starts her showstopper a little teary eyed.

Once again, Steph has problems, each of her elements for the illusion picnic basket isn’t going well, even the electric whisk decides to attack her. “I’ve saved the worst ’til last, maybe it was a week too many,” she says despondantly.  Perhaps she should have taken a time out and had a go on the helter skelter!

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Baker’s Illusion Picnics

Alice’s End-of-the-School Year Celebration picnic was “A good effort,” and the scotch eggs were a highlight.

David’s picnic illusion was a hit, with Paul calling it “Exceptional,” and Prue giving him a “Bravo.”

From Steph’s picnic basket made out of nougat to her lemon cake, everything had an issue, so much so that Paul went over and gave her a hug saying, “Never mind, Steph.”

My final tweet of the week is from Richard Osman:

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And the Winner of The Great British Bake Off is….

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So we come to the result, all the past contestants and families have congregated to hear the verdict and we learn that this year’s winner is ……  DAVID!

davidI think David thoroughly deserved this, he was always consistent, being second in the Technicals for an number of times and he is no longer the bridesmaid…

Well done David! And I will point out that he was one of my picks as the winner from the start!

(And by the way, Alice’s parents made it!)

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing these reviews and am amazed at how many views they have received.  Don’t forget I am still doing reviews for Strictly, but if you have any suggestions for new programmes that I could review, please let me know by commenting.

See you next year – Keep Baking!

 

Great British Bake Off

Week 9 – Patisserie Week – SEMI FINAL

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This blog contains spoilers of who has left, who won Star Baker, who received a Hollywood Handshake and what necklace Prue was wearing…

gbbo-tieFirstly can I pay tribute to the bakers and Sandi wearing ties in memory of Henry who left last week…. but the bakers didn’t wear them for very long as it was too hot in the tent.

Joke Alert: Two silk worms got in a fight, it ended in a tie.

Signature Dish

As this week is the semi-final, you can be sure that Paul and Prue haven’t set easy baking challenges this week, and you’d be right, the Signature Dish this week is eight domed tartlettes.

David makes an Italian Spritz tart which Prue thinks is lovely. Paul suggests that the nuts that are around the bottom should be smaller.

Rosie’s tartlettes are gin, lemon and raspberry which the judges remark are a lovely colour and the perfect size but the creme pat is too soft, it should have been cooked longer.

boobsSteph chooses lemon, raspberry and white chocolate, Paul says that the tartlettes aren’t up to her usual standards as they’re not very neat. She is a bit despondent saying that her’s look like boobs…

Alice’s ingredients are mocha, orange and hazelnut and Paul tells her that he loves hazelnuts and chocolate, has he never heard of Nutella? The only thing that lets Alice’s tartlettes down is her piping, but she’ll take that, as she says later.

Technical Challenge

This week set by Prue and it’s called, gateau St-Honore, who happens to be the French patron saint of bakers. So no pressure then.

Rosie has the nightmare of all nightmares, and it’s not even Halloween yet, she redoes three of the five elements and after muttering, “I’m going home,” yet again, she manages to pick herself up and somehow, even if she did place her choux buns on upside down, manages to win this challenge!

Technical Challenge Positions

4th – Alice (burnt caramel); 3rd – Steph (untidy, too much caramel); 2nd – David (not bad, chantilly cream is like scrambled eggs); 1st – Rosie (perfect, although choux buns upside down).

jamieDuring the advert break, we discover that there is soon going to be a Junior Bake Off competiton, would Jamie be eligible to enter for this I wonder?

Showstopper

This Showstopper seems like a monstrous task, make a sugar glass display case with an edible depiction of something they hold dear…

There was a lot of fuss on social media about Alice and her chocolate starfish, but I think i’ll just leave it there…

Steph’s Night At The Opera – The glass was pretty clear, the Opera Cake under the glass was neat and pretty, “Very Steph, a good job,” was Paul’s verdict.

David’s Greenhouse – Neat, clear glass, but the cake wasn’t very delicate and wasn’t level.

Rosie’s Time With The Family – Paul described it as a simplistic concept and the cakes were very dry and boring.

Alice’s Save Our Oceans – the glass wasn’t completely clear, but the cake had lovely flavours.

I am always amazed at how much the bakers get done when the last minute is called,  I think this Tweet from Meanwhile, Darren sums it up:

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So the nail biting results are here, but first Star Baker, which this weeks goes to Alice, perhaps she’s timing her run to the final to perfection? And the person who leaves is Rosie.

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I will miss the conversations between Rosie and Noel, but look forward to their new spin-off show called The Baking Vets….

So this is it, next week is THE FINAL, my choice David is still there, but who will win?

See you next week for the final time…

Great British Bake Off

WEEK 8 – Pastry Week

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This blog contains spoilers of who has left, who won Star Baker, who received a Hollywood Handshake and what necklace Prue was wearing…

Signature Dish

This week we have the Tarte Tatin (named after the hotel which first served it as its signature dish created in 1989) which is usually a fruit based dish, but our bakers have to make a savoury version.

soggy-bottom-no-oneSo for this dish, it’s “All about the lamination,” as David put it and we also have a soggy bottom alert!

Henry reinforces this saying that, “No-one wants a soggy tart.”

Henry does a crab tarte tatin, which Paul says needs more caramelization, but it did have a nice colour and good lamination.

Steph decides on the more traditional pairing of cheese and shallots. Paul didn’t like the fact that the cheese was just plonked on top of the tarte tatin, but it was agreed that it had a nice flavour.

Alice uses leeks with an apple, but Paul suggests that the leeks needed more caramelisation and it was too wet, but it tasted delicious.

David is using carrots for his tarte tatin, his layers were excellent but it was a bit dry and not very attractivet to look at.

Rosie’s tarte tatin was accused of having too much garlic and it looked burnt and unfortunately it had a soggy bottom…

Technical Challenge

The challenge was set by Paul and it was a Morrocan Pie using Walker or Brick pastry; Henry had never heard of it and rather rashly said, “If anyone has heard of it, I will get naked,” cut to David, “I’ve actually heard of this, I’ve seen it on a travel programme.”

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Adam Hills

The process of making this pastry reduced Steff to tears and saying, “This was my worst fear, not being able to present anything in a challenge,” but with a few comforting words from Noel, she managed to finish.

And for some reason, Adam Hills, Australian comedian appears in a link with Noel, where he mistakes Adam for Sandi???

Henry’s collapses, Rosie’s collapses and Steph’s collapses – not a good Technical for Henry and Steph, coming 5th and last, but Rosie makes it to second place.

Technical Challenge Positions

5th – Henry; 4th – Steph; 3rd – Alice; 2nd – Rosie; and 1st – David!!  At last, David’s won a technical!!  Channel 4’s Tweet summed it up perfectly.

david-technical

Showstopper

As everybody has had mixed results this week, as Paul put it, “A lot rests on the Showstopper.” This week it is a Vertical Pie, three pies stacked on top of each other.

Alice makes a Pie Treehouse, David is doing a nautical open pie, which Paul struggles with the concept of, Steph is making a carousel, Rosie’s has a dragon and Henry is making an upside down chandelier.

Tweet of the Week goes to Sam Atkins:

sam-atkins

Rosie’s pie creation is described as bitty and dry; Alice’s doens’t have enough sweetness; David’s is a good design but Paul doesn’t like the exposed vegetables; Steph’s carousel is neat and organised and delicious; Henry’s upside down chandelier is dry and as Paul said, “Not executed to the best of  his ability.”

So Steph is crowned Star Baker for the fourth time and the person who leaves is Henry. With David losing out again as Star Baker, will he be only the second person to win GBBO without having won this accolade?

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So it is with a heavy heart that I cross out Henry from my contestant photo, I still have David in the running, but with the loss of Michael and Henry these past two weeks, the line-up seems quieter and more studious.

We head on to the semi-final, with next week being Patisserie Week, I wonder who’s going to make it to the final?

I will leave the last word with Henry…

shut-up

Great British Bake Off

Week 7 – Festival Week

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This blog contains spoilers of who has left, who won star baker, who received a Hollywood Handshake and what necklace Prue was wearing…

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Festival Week – they had the tent, perhaps they were going to Mary Glaston-Berry…. sorry! But no, it wasn’t that kind of festival at all.

Signature Dish

This week it was to bake 24 yeasted buns. Steph, Michael and Alice go for the hot cross buns, with Michael mixing Christmas with Easter. David is going Bulgrarian with a kozunak, Henry is doin a kardemummabullar, a word that Henry quite likes and Rosie is visiting Finland with a lakiaspullar.

shut-up
Picture courtesy of Scott Bryan from Twitter

Top of the class this week for their signature dishes was David, Steph and Henry, with Henry and Steph receiving the Hollywood Handshake.

Henry is in shock and tells Paul to, “Shut up,” with Prue replying, “I don’t think you should say, ‘Shut up’ to the judge.”

Rosie’s are described as ‘squat’, Alice’s as ‘irregular’ and Michael’s are uneven because of the volume of fruit he’s put in them.

Technical Challenge

12 Sicilian cassatelle is Paul’s request for the Technical. This involves using a deep fat frier, much to Michael’s dismay, he didn’t get on well with the frier last time.

Technical Challenge positions:

6th – Alice; 5th – Michael; 4th – Steph; 3rd – Henry; 2nd – David; 1st – Rosie.  David once again is second, that’s five times in seven weeks.

Sandi remarks that David has, “Very nice buns,” and Henry says he is, “Covering my cracks with leaves,” so the double endres are back with a vengence this episode.

Showstopper

This time it’s Kek Lapis, the Sarawak celebratory cake, basically a Battenburg but with a lot more layers. This cake is different because instead of baking the layers, they are grilled, both Rosie and David manage to burn their layers, resulting in David producing a very small cake.

My Tweet of the Week from Jamie90:

scourers

Steph does a good job, Rosie’s is described as messy, Michael’s is rubbery, Henry does a pretty good job, David’s is interesting and Alice’s is extremely neat and clever.

This week Henry is crowned Star Baker and the person who leaves is Michael. So my choices of Henry and David are still there, though I suspect Steph is the favourite to win this series.

InkedInkedInkedbakersdoen-michael

So six become five and next week is the quarter finals and it is Pastry Week – I’m pleased that it’s a classic episode, but who will be flaky and whose bake will be pie in the sky?

Keep baking!

 

 

Great British Bake Off

Week Six – Dessert Week

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This blog contains spoilers of who has left, who won star baker, who received a Hollywood Handshake and what necklace Prue was wearing…

Before each episode begins, Alexa is asked, “Alexa, tell me a baking joke,” and Alexa replies, “I just entered a baking competition – the final was a piece of cake.”

piece-cakeThis always makes me smile because I used to have a small cake business called A Piece Of Cake and I would make celebration cakes. I stopped about two years ago, very occasionally making cakes for friends. Last year I was asked to make a wedding cake for one of my daughter’s best friends and this is happening in the next couple of days. Look out for my blog of how I got on…

Anway, this week was Dessert Week – not Desert as Noel got confused with… I did notice that Henry was wearing a spiderweb brooch and Michael had a bat pin, a tribute to Helena I think!

The Signature Bake

This week our Magnificent Seven (be prepared for more of these analogies over the coming weeks, Fab Four, Famous Five…) had to bake a layered meringue cake. As Paul and Prue went round the contestants Paul mentioned timing to Priya, does she have a problem with that? I hadn’t noticed!

Priya’s signature bake is criticised by Prue for being a horrible colour and an overbaked meringue, Henry’s was described as messy, Michael’s had too much chocolate, (not sure that could ever be true!) and Rosie’s chocolate was too thick (as was her ganache last week). Steph’s was described as neat and professional, but maybe too many nuts and David’s looked like a painting but wasn’t as tasty as it looked and Alice’s was charming but no big flavour.  So all in all, not a triumphant signature bake for anyone.

The Technical Challenge

Prue sets the Technical Challenge which is six verrines and we are told these are a layered dessert in a glass.  Perhaps the Knickerbockerglory is our English alternative to that?

This week we find out that it is Michael’s birthday (26), how cruel would it be to send him home on his birthday? Henry has started swearing a lot and the Bake Off guys have, “The least laddy’s lad club where we discuss gelatine.”

When the bakers carry their verrines to the judging table, it’s either in slow motion or this is the slowest walk ever!

Technical Challenge positions:

7th – Priya; 6th – Michael; 5th – Rosie; 4th – Henry; 3rd – Steph; 2nd – David and 1st – Alice.  David has come second in four of the technical challenges so far, the phrase, “Always the bridesmaid,” comes to mind.

The Showstopper

A Celebratory Bombe Dessert is this week’s Showstopper, “I feel like we’re saying a lot of bombes,” Sandi remarked, “Bom-diddly-bom-bom-bom-bom.”

Timing is very much a factor in this challenge, they need to make sure that the bombe has set but also leave themselves enough time for decoration.  Alice has a nightmare trying to get her bombe out of the tin, she is panicking, but eventually it comes out and looks great.

choc-bombe
Steph’s Chocolate Bombe

Steph’s chocolate bombe is described by Paul as the best thing he has eaten for a long time. Rosie’s mousse is not smooth and it looks clumsy, David’s is pretty, elegant, Alice’s is beautiful with good layers, Priya’s is elegant and Henry’s is described as disappointing.

My favourite comparison was Paul’s when he judged Michael’s bombe, “It looks like it’s come from a 1970’s sweet trolley.” And it was also compared to the Queen Mother’s hat.

Which leads me nicely to the best Tweet from Amy Van Gar:

hat

Steph is crowned Star Baker for a third time, is this a record, I’m not sure? And Priya has finally succumed to the fate of going home.

InkedInkedbakersdoen-priya

Next week is Festival Week – another new week, so I’m not quite sure what to expect!

Keep baking!