Sun, Nov 13, 2022
In this the semi-finals, the four remaining bakers have to deal with fancy desserts which means that decoration will be even more paramount than usual. For the signature, they will each have to make ten mochi donuts - all making two different varieties - the texture which is key, namely crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. For the technical, each baker will make a sans rival, the Filipino version of the French Dacquiose, the nut used being the cashews instead of hazelnuts. They will have to contend with the fact that it is extremely hot in the tent which can compromise many elements of the dessert. And for the showstopper, each baker will make a jelly art cake, the top layer which will traditionally be a decorative jelly which has to be firm enough to withstand gravity but not too firm to be rubbery to the bite. These three challenges precede the announcement of which three will go into next week's final and which one will receive the heartbreaking news of being eliminated at this last hurdle.
Sun, Apr 4, 2021
The finale has arrived with the last three bakers standing being Tanner Davies, Mahathi Mundluru and Raufikat Oyawoye. They have two and a half hours for their third to last bake, an ice cream bomb which must contain at least a layer of cake and two different layers of homemade ice cream. On this hot day, the set of the ice creams may be the biggest challenge. Their penultimate bake, for which they have two and three-quarter hours, may be the most stressful in not having any preconceived notion of what they would be asked to do. That ask is to make a St. Honoré cake, a French classic with puff pastry, choux, custard, and cream layers topped with a ring of filled choux buns, these ones with craquelin to provide additional texture. And the final bake of the season, for which they have four and a half hours, is a traditional treat trolley that must contain one picturesque pie, six mini cakes, six Viennoiserie pastries, and eight elegantly decorated cookies. After the three bakes, Bruno and Kyla will make their decision of this year's Great Canadian Baking Show winner, the announcement made in front of this season's eliminated bakers, and for the first time without family and friends due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Sun, Dec 5, 2021
The finale has arrived, and the final three standing are Vincent Chan, Aimee DeCruyenaere, and Steve Levitt. They realize that as the finale, the judges could throw anything at them, but whatever they produce has to be spectacular in every way. They are each asked to make a mousse tart for the signature, the multi-component bake which should also include a gelée. The tart's layers should be distinctive with the flavors combining into a cohesive whole. The technical is another multi-component bake in they each being asked to make ten delizia al limone apiece, the domed desserts which include a sponge, a lemon flavored pastry cream filling, a lemon syrup, and a lemon glaze, all topped with an icing and candied lemon. The twenty-fourth and final bake of the season, the finale showstopper, will be a culmination of their baking lives in they each being asked to make what the judges are calling a journey cake: a representation of how they arrived to this point of their baking, from childhood memories, to what may have got them started to bake to begin with, to who they are as a baker today. The story behind their cake may be as important as the product itself. Following Bruno and Kyla's deliberation, Alan and Ann announce this season's winner in front of the three finalists and some other familiar faces to the tent.
Sun, Mar 21, 2021
It's the quarter-finals, the remaining bakers dealing with pastry this week, one of the generally more feared aspects of baking. For the signature for which they have two and half hours, they each have to make a strudel, sweet or savory, at least twelve inches in length. They have to be concerned about the lamination in the paper thin pastry and that the filling is not too moist to make the pastry soggy and that will set properly within the time restrictions. The next challenge, the technical, has the bakers each making a British classic, the bakewell tart, in two and a half hours. The bakers will have to work on instinct as Kyla, who set this challenge, has provided scant details in the instructions. They have an additional two and half hours for the their final bake of the weekend, the showstopper, for which they will have to make a vegetable tart. They are provided great leeway in the only stipulation being that it must include at least three different vegetables. And with all three challenges, the bakers have to be concerned with the dreaded soggy bottom.
Wed, Nov 13, 2019
Four former contestants - James Hoyland and Vandana Jain from season 1, and Timothy Fu and Megan Stasiewich from season 2 - return to the tent for an all-holiday baking competition. For the signature challenge, the bakers will have to make twelve cookie Christmas tree ornaments in two and a half hours. Beyond the taste and the look, they will have to be cognizant of choosing a cookie that is sturdy enough to withstand hanging, while still being edible. For the technical challenge, the bakers will have three hours to make challah, a traditional Jewish egg bread. The braided loaf must have six strands, and the bakers must make their own butter and their own apple butter as accompaniments. And for the final bake of the weekend - the showstopper challenge - the bakers have to construct a holiday village in four hours. They have to use cookies, nougat and at least one confectionery of their choice. Some old friends from the baking tent are on hand for the announcement of the star baker for this holiday challenge.
Sun, Oct 31, 2021
The bakers are moving away from a theme centered around a bakery item, to a more general theme as it is the first ever Celebration Week, meaning everything they produce must be in celebration of something. For the signature challenge, they are each to make a dozen éclairs in celebration of an event of their choosing using flavors of their choosing. The celebration is more defined in the technical, where they are each asked to make a Halloween spider web cake. The challenge with the technical is the multi-component nature of the product, which includes a cake sponge, a candy-like base, a mousse, a frosting, a fried tuile, and not only one but two mirror glazes, the second which is to produce the spider web effect. And for the signature, they or someone they know will be getting married in they each making a meringue centerpiece for a wedding. While they can use other edible items, the piece must consist primarily of meringue-based items, such as macarons, pavlovas, dacquoises and meringue kisses.
Sun, Nov 7, 2021
It's bread week, and for the signature, the bakers are going to have to impress especially Kyla who grew up eating what they are asked to make, namely babka. They can use whatever flavors they want for their babka, but should incorporate the braids and twists revealing the filling, this look for which babka is known. The bakers are figuratively traveling further east in each being asked to make twelve bolo baos - six sandwiched with a homemade butter - for the technical. In being told that the Chinese to English translation is pineapple buns, they may be perplexed if they have never seen or eaten one in that it contains no pineapple, but rather the top of the bun is to evoke the look of the exterior of a pineapple. And for the showstopper, they are each asked literally to make a bread basket - a vessel of some sort made of bread - the vessel which will be filled with at least two other different types of bread.
Sun, Feb 28, 2021
The signature bake for cookie week has the bakers making eighteen linzer cookies apiece in ninety minutes. Beyond the uniformity between the eighteen and the bake itself, the bakers have to ensure the rolling of the dough is even, the flavors of the cookie and its filling are complimentary - they able to go outside the traditional - the filling is distributed right to the edge of the cookie without overflowing, and that the filling reaches just to the top of the cookie in its distinctive "window". They have to make another sandwich cookie for the technical, the Dutch stroopwafel which is caramel-filled. They have to make twelve uniform cookies apiece, be sure to pay attention to the timing as it is a matter of seconds between it being underdone and overdone, that the cookies are cut into perfect rounds, and that the caramel itself has a nice stretch when the cookie is pulled apart. The bakers have one and three-quarter hours for the challenge. And for the showstopper, the bakers have three and a half hours to make a two or three dimensional "family portrait" out of cookie. The term family is up to each baker to define, they must include two different types of cookies, and royal icing must be used.
Sun, Mar 28, 2021
It's the semi-finals, and one of the four remaining bakers will face the heartache of arguably the worst position of being eliminated at the conclusion of these three bakes, and thus not make it into the finals. For their fancy dessert signature, each baker will have three hours to make twelve entremets, which are all about getting each layer right, putting them all together right, with the final product coated professionally and neatly. In Bruno's parting words of "passionate but gentle", the bakers discover their fancy dessert technical is for each to make a passion chocolate charlotte cake in two and a quarter hours, the passion referring to a passion fruit chocolate ganache layer, and a passion fruit gelée decoration. Much like the signature, the mousse may be the key in ensuring that it sets in time so that it holds together when the charlotte is sliced. And the final bake of the fancy dessert semi-final is a meringue crunch cake, its preparation which may the longest three and a half hours the bakers have faced in the tent thus far before the announcement of the three finalists.
Sun, Nov 14, 2021
For the signature in this, pie and tart week, the bakers are each asked to make a sweet pie representing some aspect of one of the Canadian provinces. The judges want to see the provincial representation not only in the flavors, but also the design and even the type of crust. The bakers, for the technical, are moving to the smaller tarts in being asked to make fourteen pastéis de nata, more commonly known in English as Portuguese egg tarts. The challenge as with any custard based tart or pie is that the already finicky crust, which in this case is a laminated dough, prefers a high temperature, whereas the custard itself prefers a lower temperature. Additionally, the judges will be looking for the signature swirled bottom of the pastry, and the charred filling top without the custard being turned to scrambled eggs in being overbaked. And for the showstopper, they are figuratively going to olde England in making classic hand raised pies using hot water crust pastry. They need to make two different pies, each with at least two distinct layers of filling, and baked in the traditional method without any external supports.