Aulty

I enjoyed seeing Tony again. As akward as the setup was for him to be adopted by Sandra and Jerry, in their way Sandra and Jerry have a lot of love to give and I am looking forward to them facing all the challenges of going from zero to parents of a teenager. Garrett & Dina - I am here for it. Dina was too much this week though. Overall is was a good episode and I didn't miss Amy at all. The scene with the customer smelling the candle through a mask was funny. Personally, I find Yankee candles (which based on the shape of the jar was the brand of the candle they used) so strong that I would have no problem smelling them through my facemask. Overall I think they have established a good mix of scenes where everyone wears a mask and those where they don't or take them off.

Yes, next week!

Yes, but you can also just spoon out the inside if you don't like the rind. The lemon represents the frog in the pond in this pudding.

You know what I miss most since Mel and Sue left? Mel and Sue used to taste and nibble on everything. No bowl was safe. Dan Levy did the same on the Canadian version, taking shots with contestants out of measuring cups and bowls whenever they used booze. Even Claire and Mel from Australian Bake off like a sneaky nibble. Not only was that the most relatable thing about the show, their reaction gave us an additional and more layman's opinion about the bakes. Never trust a skinny cook, or a presenter that can keep their fingers off an unattended cream bowl.

They did full size cheesecakes as a signature in dessert week of series 2. Alas, back then the signature challenge wasn't the decoration Olympics.

Marc

A few episodes ago I thought Matt and Noel were actually ok, but I spoke too soon. With every childish bit they come up with - like that stupid spoon - I like them less. The showstopper was alright. I wouldn't want to eat all those artificially flavoured jellies, but it is on trend and something that people will try at home. Why did Marc put two heavy gelative blocks on top of mousse? Peter's looked like a pastel tie-die. The rest looked alright. I call BS on Laura being 'in line for star baker' after the first two challenges. From here it looked like they were all on the bottom and in danger of going home after yet another set of messed up and overthought signatures and a catastrophic technical (people on Twitter were in agreement that Prue should have given them more time to steam those puddings and I saw someone who had made this before saying that it takes a very long time for the lemon to soften). Well done Hermine for clinching it with a stunning show stopper. If Laura had put a white chocolate collar or something like that around her cakes, SB would have been hers.

Original Air Date: 11/19/20

Original Air Date: 11/12/20

They are not colder, but they contain the cold air better. The cold air inside a freezer is like a liquid. When you open a cupboard freezer the cold air pours out. If you open and close it a lot or keep it open for minutes, especially if you keep the door open to work in a cake in an otherwise empty freezer, the temperature inside rises and it becomes really inefficient. If you open a chestfreezer the cold air is contained like water in a bucket and while there is some dissipation on the surface, they are much more efficient (many supermarkets still have those huge chest freezers without lids in their frozen section). I think it would also be easier for bakers to continue working on their cakes because they are a bit roomier than those tiny units they have atm. They went out of fashion as household appliances though because cupboard feezers, especially the big ones with drawers, are easier to organise.

Happy 100th episode. What a bummer. Well acted, though. I am trying to imagine how I would have felt, had those episodes aired back in March. The relocation would have been more spontaneous and maybe Jonah's proposal ideas had felt rushed. And while the pandemic ended up being the backdrop for that segment, it didn't feel like Covid had much to do with how it played out. Personally, I somewhat understand Amy's pov and even though I liked Amy/Jonah, I feel its better to break them up for good. But I love myself a good love story, so bring on Dinah and Garrett. Get Jonah on a career path.

They laid the groundwork for Louise not being in every episode and it tied in well with the overall story. She fits in really well - I am so glad that Katey Sagal is so commited to the part.

Iced buns are baked, finger doughnuts are deep fried. Even though one had chantilly and the other creme mousseline, the flavours are very similar - as, I think, is the dough base.

Its almost amusing that this is the season where week in, week out, the bakers are the architects of their own doom by overcomplicating stuff. You can't save yourself to often with a complicated but rubbish bake. Seems as if planning bakes should include a SWOT analysis. Hermine did so well this week by doing straight forward things well. Paul probably would have given her a handshake if her pastry wasn't slightly underbaked - you can see he really wanted to 😉 Again, very little between Lottie and Laura. It was a bit annoying that Noel pointed out that Lottie has been in the bottom a few times already before judging. The judges were spot on about using brownies and fruit cake in an ice cream cake - they are going to be hard as rocks. The Tiramisu cake looked tasty. Again: CHEST FREEZERS!! (I don't think a show about home bakers need blast freezers - but working chest freezers would be a big help for challenges like those) Finger Doughnuts FTW!

Original Air Date: 11/05/2020 Promo:

It wasn't a great episode. I felt it either needed to be funnier or translate the angst and exhaustion better. There were a few good bits like the toilet paper ambush, Glenn's breakdown in the garden department or the shot of the littered parking lot. My sister works in a store and customers accused her and her team of hiding toilet paper for themselves. They didn't, but tbh I would not have begrudged them getting first dips on some essentials. They worked long shifts in chaotic conditions and were some of the most exposed people in the country. Her 'coorporate' was a lot better with the PPE though, quick to install shields at checkout and they got a bonus. I don't like how they are suggesting Jonah and Amy drifting apart - if thats where they are heading. They were talking about getting engaged only a few episodes ago.

I was thinking the same - that challenge was made for her! Kim-Joy does recipes for the Guardian, and her creativity is off the charts adorable.

As an average home baker and gbbo viewer, I thought this was an ok episode. A signature that I actually want to try A technical that asked for familiar techniques in an unfamiliar recipe A Pinterest showstopper if ever I saw on Disappointed about the last challenge though. The only Japanese bit in the showstopper was the cutesy decoration and the odd East Asian flavour - shame there were no more Japanese baking techniques. The Jiggly Cotton cake technique would have been a great showstopper, alas it does not usually lend itself to overdecorating. So so gutted for Mark. He was the good mood centre of the tent. Judging from what we saw it must have been really tight between him and Laura. Well done Lottie - visually her showstopper was underwhelming, but they seemed really into the jiggle cake and her burger buns and chips looked tasty.

Hillary Duff is pregnant again - congratulations. Anyone know if they started shooting the final season yet? I hope they are not forced to rush this and finish the show properly. Between Hillary's pregnancy and Sutton's Broadway schedule the production slot for Younger is probably pretty tight.

Most American chocolate, and Hershey's in particular, contains butyric acid to give chocolate a longer shelf life and so it can be safely transported over long distances. (They talked about that in the most recent series of QI) European chocolate > British chocolate > American chocolate

Everybody seemed in a much better mood this week, including the judges. I hope I'm gonna be as spritely as Prue in my 80s. I'm not into baking architecture, but the collection of challenges this week was ok. I want a pasty now, almost all of them sounded very tasty. Might plan some for the weekend. Dingle Pies? Good task for the technical, but all the eclairs looked a mess. I don't think we actually saw the judges taste the cages, which was odd. Pantomime girl's creation wasn't a tarte - more like a large mille feulle - and in any other series that amount of isomalt would have gotten at least one raised Hollywood eyebrow. Congratulations Laura (although I was routing for Hermine). No surprise on Linda leaving - the editing of this episode was very predictable. Matt and Noel's jokes are a bit of a hit and miss. I think they pair well, but some stuff falls noticably flat. Even though it was a lame bit, the thought of a Con Air era Nicolas Cage watching Homes under the hammer is quite amusing.

Bringing over this link from @AZChristian in the media thread, which describes how they filmed this series. They work on a 2 days on, 2 days off schedule. 2 Days of shooting (Day 1: Signature + Technical, Day 2: Showstopper) followed by 2 days off where each baker has access to a kitchen. I wouldn't be surprised if Love Production stuck to that format post-Covid if its cheaper for them.

In the first few series the signature was introduced as a tried and tested recipe the bakers would make for their families - the soda bread they bake every week, their go to recipe for brownies, their recipe for easter buns, their favourite madeira cake etc. So what we got was the odd candied peel, glazes (often including a tipple), decorative incissions in pastry, maybe some fancy piping. It became the decoration olympics a few years ago. Dunno whether thats down to how the challenges are worded, or just the way the bakers approach it.

Ignoring everything else thats weird about that whole interaction, how many lads are good lovers at 17? That takes some practice. He looked just past the stage wer he's able to find his way into a girl without signposts.

Oh Brownies. I made a batch of turtle brownies last week to an Ed Kimber (series 1 winner) recipe. They turned out great. Nadiya also did brownies on last week's episode of her baking show (recipe) - oh my cod, they looked fecking amazing. Maybe being locked up with all the others and the production crew finally took its toll on the bakers and explain the poor performances on the first day of chocolate week. I have to agree with Prue, brownies don't need a ton of overly sweet decoration. All that meringue shebang was too much. ewww freezer juice. Dear production crew: get fecking CHEST FREEZERS! Lovely technical. Babka is great. White chocolate is pointless. Its just sweet and has very little other flavours (one of the bakers remarked on that). I'll happily pass on white chocolate cakes. Lottie brought out another Pinterest favourite, the crystal effect cake. Maybe I missed it, but they didn't show a proper shot of that part of the cake, did they? Well done Mark! He managed to scrape that with very average results in an overall very weak week, but still, his chocolate cake looked the best. Sad to see Sura go. Damn you, white chocolate! And ruby chocolate too, for not playing ball on day 1.