Tue, Jan 1, 2019
In the second seasonal reunion of the year, four former contestants reconvene at the tent for a bake-off to ring in the new year, one of those four who won the title the year of her competition and thus may be the one with the target on her back sighted by the other three. For the signature, the bakers are each required to make an iced stollen wreath, the only other stipulations being that the circle forming the wreath must be fully enclosed, and that the mandatory marzipan encased within the dough, typical of a stollen, is made by the bakers themselves. For the technical set by Prue, she'd like each to lay, oops, bake four snow eggs, each individually served in a martini glass floating in crème Anglaise and covered with a spun sugar cage. And for the showstopper, each baker is to make a three-dimensional new's years resolution cake, something that represents their own resolution for the start of 2019.
Tue, Sep 3, 2019
For the signature, the bakers are asked to make chocolate covered biscuits, basically a chocolate bar with some sort of biscuit as part of the filling. For the technical, they are asked to make twelve identical fig rolls, the dough which is almost cake-like but needs to be sturdy enough to hold in the fig filling. And for the showstopper, they have make a three dimensional biscuit sculpture, where the biscuits are used as structural pieces rather than just stacking biscuits one on top of another.
Tue, Oct 1, 2019
It's Dessert week. Three sweet challenges mean a bitter end for one of the six remaining bakers as they battle for a place in the quarterfinal. For starters, the bakers face a sweetly-filled signature challenge that has them rolling out their skills to impress Prue and Paul. And, if that weren't enough, the technical challenge is one of the toughest of the series so far, which layers on the sweet pressure the bakers are tested on a tricky French dessert. And finally, there's a multi-bake mini showstopper that's a bit of a mousse marathon.
Tue, Oct 8, 2019
This week is all about celebrating as it's festival week. For the signature, the bakers are required to make twenty-four festival buns apiece, they need to be yeast raised and meant to celebrate something, whether it be a holiday or something else. And in setting the technical this week, Paul wants a perfect texture both inside and out in the bakers making twelve Sicilian casatelle apiece, they a ricotta-filled, fried pastry. The bakers then move half way around the world to Malaysia via Indonesia for the showstopper in each making a kek lapis sarawak, a multi-colored and geometric patterned grilled cake. The bakers need to show precision in making the layers even, any errors which are only highlighted by the layers being different colors. Another challenge is the grilling of the cake, as any failure in later grilling will affect the layers already grilled.
Tue, Oct 15, 2019
It's technically the quarter-finals, and rather than be happy, most of the remaining bakers are apprehensive in knowing that pastry, this week's theme, is not their strong suit, especially in dealing with the finicky dough, which does not like heat when being prepared, this weekend in which a heatwave is passing through. For the showstopper, they are each required to make a tarte tatin with a rough or full puff pastry, but unlike the traditional which is sweet made with apples, their tarts must be savory. A major challenge is for the filling to have the correct balance of moisture in the filling to taste good without sogging the pastry. For the technical, Paul warns that he and Prue will be looking for consistency - in the pastry layers - in the bakers each making a Moroccan pie with twelve pastry layers. And for the showstopper, the bakers are asked to make a vertical pie, with a stack of at least three separate pies creating that vertical presentation. Beyond the pies themselves, the issue will be the vertical structure, which must be architecturally sound and interesting as a piece of art.
Tue, Oct 22, 2019
In this, the semi-finals, the remaining four know that it will be one of the most demanding weeks in the precision that is required for patisserie in all its French elegance. For the signature, they are asked to make eight domed tartlets apiece fit for a French patisserie's window display. For the technical, they are each required to make the multi-component Gâteau Saint Honoré, which is caramel covered cream filled profiteroles, all atop a puff pastry base. And for the showstopper, they are asked to make a sugar glass display case enclosing a figure that has some meaning to them, that or those item(s) which must include one baked element. These three challenges will lead to heartbreak for one who arguably reaches the most painful point in the competition in being eliminated just before the final.
Tue, Oct 29, 2019
It's the finals, and the last three of the original bakers' dozen standing are David Atherton, Steph Blackwell and Alice Fevronia, whose friends and family, as well as the season's eliminated bakers, will be on hand to see the crowning of this season's winner at the conclusion of the last three bakes. For the signature, the bakers are given the seemingly easy task of making a chocolate cake, the trick being to make theirs stand out from the regular. They are even more apprehensive than usual for the technical as there is no theme this week, meaning that the judges could throw anything at them. What is thrown are six twice baked unmolded Stilton soufflés apiece, served with wafer-thin, crispy lavash crackers. And for the final bake - the showstopper - they each have to make an illusion picnic, complete with illusion picnic basket made of nougatine. In other words, they have to make picnic type foods out of some baked good completely different than what it is, one example from each of the finalists being "cheese wedges" that are really lemon pound cake, "scotch eggs" that are really carrot cake, and "strawberries" that are really macarons. Beyond the nervous anticipation of the announcement of the winner, Alice has an additional worry in whether her parents will make it to the ceremony, they who were necessarily out of town the evening before and are flying back this day with their original flight canceled, hence there being no guarantee they will make it on time.