S14.E04: Chocolate Week

[Athena]

Quote

It's Chocolate Week, and the bakers take on a tricky torte and a showstopping chocolate box. Who can smoothly make it through to the next week, and who'll have a meltdown?

UK Original Air Date: October 17, 2023.

US Netflix Date: October 20, 2023.

[Danny Franks]

Poor Tasha. She was clearly struggling. I can't imagine a migraine plus stress plus one of the hottest days of the year combine well. But I do think Allison looking after you when you're poorly would make you feel a bit better.

Of course, there are sadly some lunatics who take this show too seriously and are accusing her of faking an illness. This show has some elements of the fandom who are honestly just the absolute worst. And of course it's the Daily Mail that amplifies their voice.

Let's be honest though, it was obvious no one would be eliminated as soon as they said she'd had to withdraw from the week. 

About it being so hot, there's no way they don't look at the weather forecast and know it's likely to be incredibly hot two or three weeks from now. They could easily reschedule chocolate week, but don't because they want the drama of things melting.

More relatively normal things, this week. The "chocolate box" was basically just a collar. Those cheesecakes sounded amazing, and some of them looked it too.

Deserved star baker for Matty, who had been pretty quiet prior to this week.

It's definitely clear this season that the judges have been told to be less critical and more encouraging. There are some unkind word choices like "monstrous" and "hideous" but there's none of the meanness that sometimes came across in previous seasons.

 

[SnapHappy]

Noel: Give me one of those little Life Nuggets....

Alison: Get your own life, you little shrimpy...

*ROFL*

These 2 just kill me.  BEST replacement decision ever.  

However, I hate Chocolate week.  It NEVER happens in temperate weather, everything ends up a melting disaster and it sucks the joy out of all the contestants.  Chocolate is so boring.  Just how many ways can you combine chocolate with Raspberry?

They all struggle in so many ways.   And this episode is no different.  Tasha wiping out was sad, but I'm glad they let everybody stay.

This is literally the first season in my memory where I actually truly LIKE and support every contestant.  None of them annoy me, and that's unbelievable.  

Usually there's somebody I want to slap the happy crap out of.

Edited October 20, 2023 by SnapHappy

[libgirl2]

Matty has really surprised me. 

[peeayebee]

On 10/19/2023 at 1:39 PM, Danny Franks said:

Of course, there are sadly some lunatics who take this show too seriously and are accusing her of faking an illness.

Are you kidding me?!? I swear.

In the previews I thought Tasha was on the floor upset because of a baking disaster. I hope she bounces back splendidly.

Quote

Deserved star baker for Matty, who had been pretty quiet prior to this week.

Watching this ep, I realized he reminds me of Daniel Radcliffe.

Quote

It's definitely clear this season that the judges have been told to be less critical and more encouraging. 

I was thinking the same thing. 

Loved the shot of Saku popping raspberry after raspberry into her mouth. She's adorable.

I was really surprised when Dana managed to get her chocolate out of the metal domes. When we first see her putting the melted chocolate in them, I was positive she'd never get them out.

[Rinaldo]

On 10/19/2023 at 3:39 PM, Danny Franks said:

Let's be honest though, it was obvious no one would be eliminated as soon as they said she'd had to withdraw from the week. 

Absolutely. Every time something like this has happened, they always pretend that someone might still be eliminated -- I guess they feel they have to keep up suspense and tension -- but in the end they eliminate nobody. Because it just wouldn't be fair otherwise.

I like everything about the format of Technical challenges, this week and other weeks, but I have my own complaint about a basic element of the series: I don't see any good reason why it has to be in a tent, subject to vicissitudes of weather and temperature. I know that the very first season was done that way in order to attract attention, but it seems like just a twee British affectation now. I'm sure that the producers could track down a properly outfitted studio if they chose to, one in which expertise with chocolate (and other processes dependent on temperature or humidity) could be equitably demonstrated. (And possibly someone subject to migraines might not suffer so much, but I'm no expert on that.) But they're not about to change that at this point.

[iMonrey]

This was a bit of a mixed bag. I agree with @Rinaldo - they need to find some way to air condition the tent if they're going to require things that are affected by the intense heat. It seems like Chocolate Week always falls on the hottest day of the season. I hate to think that's deliberate. Contrary to what they might think, we do not enjoy watching disasters. This isn't Survivor.

I don't think I've ever seen them using microwave ovens before. I didn't even know they had them.

Bright side, I don't think the Showstopper was too complex, unlike some of the past construction asks. A chocolate box with a cake inside. That's a challenge I can get behind. 

I think they deal with bakers who have to bow out, as Tasha did this week, as fairly as they possibly can. It does take some of the suspense out of the episode when you know in advance nobody is going home, and I can understand why some people might think it's unfair a baker can skip a week then come back. But there's no perfect way to deal with that which would satisfy everyone. 

9 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

Loved the shot of Saku popping raspberry after raspberry into her mouth. She's adorable.

I appreciate her attitude. Instead of crying over coming in last in the technical she laughed about it. 

This is a hard season to predict. Bakers like Dan and Tasha started out strong then had a fall. Bakers who started out weak like Nicky can rise to the top. It really feels like it's anyone's game at this point.

[HelloooKitty]

Rowans box looked like it got sat on. 
 

poor Tasha! I hope she’s better next week. 
 

as soon as Dana said she was going to leave some fruit in I yelled at the tv. That’s JAM! If it still has bits in it it is jam. I knew she’d get dinged for that. 
 

I was impressed with Dan! Quite a comeback from last week!

I knew as soon as they said that the white chocolate had to be caramelized that was going to be a problem. There is SUCH  a fine line between it being ready and being burned. I think my attitude would have been like Dana’s. That’s close enough. I’m done. I’ve burned too much chocolate. 
 

 

[Eliza422]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

 

Loved the shot of Saku popping raspberry after raspberry into her mouth. She's adorable.

 

That cracked me up! When the season started I thought she’d be boring, but she is quite entertaining, and has a lot of fun with Noel. Her just bam! Bam! Bam! Raspberries into her mouth - hilarious!

[hendersonrocks]

Saku is a joy. Christy’s heart box was a work of art, but she otherwise had a tough week. Rowan, OMG get it together but also happy graduation and hopefully this means you have more time to practice!

Matty is helpfully reminding me to check my biases because I initially assumed he would be a lot like Jamie (I think his name was? The young blond guy from a few years ago), and he is not!

I’m glad Tasha got to go home and rest up. Add me to the list thinking it’s inexcusable to not have an air conditioning solution by now.

[Mittengirl]

My house has central air and to my ear the noise is from the compressor, not from the air exiting the vents.  It doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to make a/c work quietly enough to not be an issue.   But I have never tried to cool a tent, so what the hell do I know.

[Salacious Kitty]

The tent doesn't have standing walls, so nowhere to put ductwork. They've explained how difficult it would be to air condition the space. I think giant fans were mentioned. Even small fans make a lot of noise. Source: my fan that is needed during rare heatwaves in an old building without a/c.

[peeayebee]

10 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I don't see any good reason why it has to be in a tent, subject to vicissitudes of weather and temperature. I know that the very first season was done that way in order to attract attention, but it seems like just a twee British affectation now. I'm sure that the producers could track down a properly outfitted studio if they chose to, one in which expertise with chocolate (and other processes dependent on temperature or humidity) could be equitably demonstrated.

Get out of my head! Yes, the grounds are always lovely, but if they can't cool down the tent, then put them in a studio like other cooking shows. But I don't really expect that to happen. I'd like to see Paul and Prue work with chocolate in that heat.

One thing I'll say for the judges, they seem to allow for issues out of the bakers' control. If the bakers have their flavors and textures right, things they have control over, then that makes up for a lot of other errors.

 

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

if they can't cool down the tent, then put them in a studio like other cooking shows.

Then it would be like all the other cooking shows, and not GBBO.

[blueray]

13 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Matty has really surprised me. 

Me too. As I have to admit I had to rewind to see what his name was. As I didn't remember it.

I called nobody was going home as soon as Tasha had to withdraw from this week. As Paul said she struggled with the signature, which meant it is impossible to know what would have happened if she was there.

Okay, I know that there is a difference in the UK. But when Paul said "it looks more like a dessert than cake". My American ears went "what?" lol as they are the same thing here, but then I remembered that in the UK Dessert is pudding...

Edited October 21, 2023 by blueray

[iMonrey]

12 hours ago, HelloooKitty said:

I knew as soon as they said that the white chocolate had to be caramelized that was going to be a problem.

I didn't quite understand what it meant to "carmelize" the chocolate. And I still don't quite get the difference between cake and torte.

[SnapHappy]

14 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Loved the shot of Saku popping raspberry after raspberry into her mouth. She's adorable.

That was hilarious.  She has such a goofy, low-key sense of humor that's a delight to see.  She's becoming one of my faves. 

But I adore Nicky and her Scots accent.  It's just naturally so charming & kind.  I'm glad she's doing a bit better than she was.  I'm still a bit worried about her. 

And is anybody else kind of amazed somebody there had never made a cheesecake before?  I think it was one of the boys.  I was actually Gobsmacked.  In that kind of competition, that would be so elementary & basic to me. 

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Then it would be like all the other cooking shows, and not GBBO.

Yes, that's the dilemma. Have a lovely locale that can also be uncomfortably hot, or an uninteresting locale that is comfortable and conducive to good bakes.

 

12 minutes ago, SnapHappy said:

But I adore Nicky and her Scots accent.  It's just naturally so charming & kind.  I'm glad she's doing a bit better than she was.  I'm still a bit worried about her. 

I've loved her since day 1. Her accent is beautiful. ("Hor-ins.") And I love her sense of humor. I hope she lasts a long time.

Quote

And is anybody else kind of amazed somebody there had never made a cheesecake before?  I think it was one of the boys.  I was actually Gobsmacked.  In that kind of competition, that would be so elementary & basic to me. 

Yes, I too was gobsmacked. If you don't have experience baking something pretty common, practice before the show starts. Was it Rowan who said he'd never made a cheesecake?

[TVbitch]

Next week will be rough, losing two. I wonder what they would do if another baker fell ill for a week. They should get the same consideration to come back the following week, but they would not be able to keep that up. I wonder if there is some sort of official policy. 

[caitmcg]

4 hours ago, blueray said:

Okay, I know that there is a difference in the UK. But when Paul said "it looks more like a dessert than cake". My American ears went "what?" lol as they are the same thing here, but then I remembered that in the UK Dessert is pudding...

I think his point was that there wasn't much cake involved. Those comments have been made when there's a challenge that's meant to be cake-centric but there ends up being more mousse, whipped cream, filling, etc. than cake. So it's less like biting into cake and more like eating a non-cake dessert.

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I didn't quite understand what it meant to "caramelize" the chocolate.

Since white chocolate is basically cocoa butter, sugar, and milk solids, you can cook it so that the sugar and milk solids caramelize. It transforms the flavor and makes it more butterscotch-y and complex. I don't care for plain white chocolate, which is too sweet and bland to me, but I do like caramelized white chocolate.

1 hour ago, SnapHappy said:

And is anybody else kind of amazed somebody there had never made a cheesecake before?  I think it was one of the boys.  I was actually Gobsmacked.  In that kind of competition, that would be so elementary & basic to me. 

Seems as if there's someone every season who announces that they've never made something basic before, more basic than cheesecake, even, like meringue, when it shows up in the technical, and I always wonder how they've never tried it when they're all conversant in Swiss meringue buttercream, pastry cream, etc.

Anyone else watch this episode and flash back to Cake Week, when Prue said it would be challenging to taste twelve chocolate cakes in a row during the technical?

[Rinaldo]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And I still don't quite get the difference between cake and torte.

The term "torte" is sometimes used more loosely to denote a rich fancy cake, so it can get confusing. But when used restrictively (as in this challenge), it means a cake in which something other than flour is used to provide the body of the layers -- most typically ground nuts (almonds, chestnuts, hazelnuts, I think one baker used pecans which is unusual), but there are other possibilities.

[meep.meep]

Loved Allison rolling over the workstation to get to the baker in need.

Was there any cheese in the cheesecakes?  Looked like oat-butter base, carmelized white chocolate, black current jam, and something plopped on top.  I like cheese in my cheesecake.

Since there seemed to be such wide variance in the types of "cake" presented in the show stopper (Nicky did mousse!), I would have gone with my flourless avocado brownies.

They can stop with all the sniggling over the word "nuts" right now.

[xfuse]

5 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Yes, I too was gobsmacked. If you don't have experience baking something pretty common, practice before the show starts. Was it Rowan who said he'd never made a cheesecake?

This is not unusual especially in the earlier seasons. Also some of the bakers don't do all of the components at the same time. That is the reason why some run out of time. They are living their daily lives and don't have time to take big chunks of time to practice the signature and the showstoppers. Usually it's the ones in school. There was one some seasons back that never seen to practice at all. It might have been Ruby but it's been awhile since I watch the older eps.

9 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Yes, the grounds are always lovely, but if they can't cool down the tent, then put them in a studio like other cooking shows.

But most of UK homes don't have air conditioning. It's not something they are not used too. If they practiced their chocolate at all then they were used to working with it in the heat. It seemed like a few of them had cans of liquid nitrogen to help them along.

They mainly had problems in the technical. 

I think there was maybe one season when they sent someone home even when someone was sick but I watch so many of these shows it could have been another Bakeoff.

[caitmcg]

54 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

Was there any cheese in the cheesecakes?  Looked like oat-butter base, caramelized white chocolate, black current jam, and something plopped on top.  I like cheese in my cheesecake.

We weren't shown every step; we saw them working on the base, the blackcurrant jelly, the caramelized white chocolate, and then put the cheesecake batter in, so we didn't see them mixing up the batter, which I'm sure had eggs and cheeae.

54 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

Since there seemed to be such wide variance in the types of "cake" presented in the show stopper (Nicky did mousse!)

Nicky also had a chocolate cake of some kind that was sitting on top of her mousse.

[Rinaldo]

I recall a mention of cream cheese as part of the filling, though I haven't gone back to check. In any case, this page has Prue's recipe for those cheesecakes (we know that the post-show recipes sometimes have small differences from what was done on the show, but this one seems identical). The filling contains cream cheese, eggs, cornflour, and cream.

[gryphon]

When they are about to announce who is going home (when someone goes home) it seems like it’s always the second to last person that is shown on camera.  Has anyone else noticed this? 
 

I hope Tasha gets well and comes back.  I like her sense of humor. 

[Suzn]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

Loved Allison rolling over the workstation to get to the baker in need.

Was there any cheese in the cheesecakes?  Looked like oat-butter base, carmelized white chocolate, black current jam, and something plopped on top.  I like cheese in my cheesecake.

They can stop with all the sniggling over the word "nuts" right now.

I was going to ask about it seeming that the cheesecake had no cheese in it.  There was all the emphasis about caramelizing the white chocolate, which I've never heard of before.  Usually I can understand the difference between British and American things, but they lost me here.

[MerBearHou]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

They can stop with all the sniggling over the word "nuts" right now.

Yeah, it’s not cute or funny any more.  Seems forced and lame.  Move on — joke is super tired.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, caitmcg said:

so we didn't see them mixing up the batter, which I'm sure had eggs and cheeae.

I did see one of them cracking eggs. 

54 minutes ago, Suzn said:

Usually I can understand the difference between British and American things, but they lost me here.

It's not exclusively a British thing.  Heck, even Ree Drummond looks to have a recipe on her website. 

I kind of what to try it because I do not like white chocolate but carmelizing it sounds like it gives it more depth of flavor.

[SnapHappy]

Caramelizing the white chocolate reminds me of how you can caramelize a can of sweetened condensed milk.  You cook it in the can in the oven or over boiling water.  Crazy technique, but I remember my grandmother doing it back in the 70's.  

Now it's just called Dulce de Leche. 

[Suzn]

34 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

Yeah, it’s not cute or funny any more.  Seems forced and lame.  Move on — joke is super tired.

The double entendre stuff is tiresome and childish.  They lose it over beavers, balls and nuts and it seems forced and not genuine.

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, gryphon said:

When they are about to announce who is going home (when someone goes home) it seems like it’s always the second to last person that is shown on camera.  Has anyone else noticed this? 

Yes, we've noticed that as well. 

[SnapHappy]

13 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Loved Allison rolling over the workstation to get to the baker in need.

That was so silly, and so unexpected. 

I'm really loving Alison. Matt was a very nice man, and did a nice job, but he just didn't have the vibe with Noel that Alison has.  I'd never heard of her beefore this, but I love her loud & bold attitude. 

As was pointed out, she & Noel can just sit & riff off each other for an intro without having some goofball skit to perform. 

And is it me, or has Pru's wardrobe just EXPLODED from the crayon box?  I always expect brights, big jewelry & matching glasses, but she seems to have gone extra-extra this season.  This last getup was positively eyeball-searing. 

[meep.meep]

Prue looked like she was wearing her Halloween costume.  Usually, I admire her bold style but this was just bad.

[MerBearHou]

I came here to see the comments on Prue’s last outfit and jewelry — what in the world??!!  She’s colorful but that was wacko.

Absolutely loved Allison rolling over the work station.  She’s great.  She doesn’t need to do stunts every time but that’s what made this one fun — it was so unexpected.  

[pasdetrois]

On 10/20/2023 at 10:24 PM, peeayebee said:

Loved the shot of Saku popping raspberry after raspberry into her mouth.

Healthy stress eating!

Quote

Contrary to what they might think, we do not enjoy watching disasters. This isn't Survivor.

As I watched them all struggle in the heat, I was frustrated that I was having to watch sabotaged baking. It's unpleasant to watch and a waste of my time.

Edited October 22, 2023 by pasdetrois

[meep.meep]

I hate when they struggle with the heat, but just last week (ironically for Bread Week), it was so cold that Paul and Prue were in their overcoats, mufflers, and hats in the little sequester tent.

[Straycat80]

Good for Matty! Did the heat get to Tasha or was she just sick? Anyway, it will be rough watching two people getting voted off next week. 
If it was so hot, why was Noel wearing what looked like a really heavy sweater. And Dana had a sweater looking thing on too. I don’t know what the solution would be for making the tent cooler. Maybe those little oscillating fans that don’t make much noise at everyone’s station. 

[Salacious Kitty]

I wonder if production intervened and chose not to send anyone home due to the difficult conditions that affected everyone. They could have easily sent someone home even with Tasha going home for the weekend. No rules against it. 

[dgpolo]

7 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Prue looked like she was wearing her Halloween costume.  Usually, I admire her bold style but this was just bad.

My daughter said the same to me, plus it looked like someone had a sugar skull on their bench so I was wondering if they had thought to make this a Halloween type episode but there is still one more to air before then. Trying to look closer at her outfit was hard since the camera didn't want to pause on her but I believe the design were the horoscope symbols, I saw a crab, a lions head and a scale at least.

[springbarb]

21 hours ago, Suzn said:

The double entendre stuff is tiresome and childish.  They lose it over beavers, balls and nuts and it seems forced and not genuine.

I think a fair amount of it is genuine, but this episode's nuts jokes definitely felt forced, in a way that they mostly haven't this season.

And they definitely said there was cream cheese in the cheesecake.

[Ancaster]

On 10/21/2023 at 7:39 AM, blueray said:

 

Okay, I know that there is a difference in the UK. But when Paul said "it looks more like a dessert than cake". My American ears went "what?" lol as they are the same thing here, but then I remembered that in the UK Dessert is pudding...

Well, not really. 

In America a cake may be dessert, but not every dessert is a cake.

And in the UK, pudding in The North means dessert, but not every dessert is a pudding.  It can be a pie, trifle, crumble, or any of a myriad other things, including maybe a pudding like jam sponge pudding.  Bread pudding can be savoury and eaten with meat.  And my Yorkshireman Grandpa used to have half of his Yorkshire pudding with gravy and half with treacle/golden syrup*.

And just as no desert is a dessert, no dessert is a desert, even though sablé  does mean sand.  For those who struggle with the spelling, remember the handy hint, stressed spelt backwards is desserts.  

Sufficiently confused?  It's complicated.  Very, very complicated.  But one hopes always delicious.

 

*  Why do we not suffer lifelong trauma from growing up with a picture of a dead lion on our breakfast tables?  Or maybe we do?

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Ancaster

[SemiCharmedLife]

Rowan was doing well on this episode until the showstopper.  I had high hopes for his chocolate box.  The two tone grained wood idea was clever, but the tempering must have been tricky.  

I'm glad Saku survived chocolate week.  She is such a sweetheart.  I loved seeing her pop those raspberries in her mouth.  

I'm happy to see both Matty and Nicky doing better.  Congrats to Matty for being Star Baker!  

Wishing Tasha the best- it must have been heartbreaking to leave the tent, but health comes first.

[RoxiP]

Although I understand the issues with the temperature in the tent and its affect on the baking outcomes, to me the tent is as much a character of the show as are the judges, the hosts and the contestants.  

And it is fair because all the bakers deal with the same conditions...how they overcome them is part of the competition.

Sometimes I think the conditions are exaggerated - I seem to remember an article recently where Paul was quoted as saying he had been pretending to be dealing with the hot weather in the tent when in actuality it was quite chilly, so there may be some production shenanigans going on at times.

[peeayebee]

9 hours ago, Ancaster said:

And my Yorkshireman Grandpa used to have half of his Yorkshire pudding with gravy and half with treacle/golden syrup*.

I wonder if my Yorkshire grandpa ever ate it this way. 

 

Quote

 

*  Why do we not suffer lifelong trauma from growing up with a picture of a dead lion on our breakfast tables?  Or maybe we do?

 

 

I LOVE Golden Syrup, but, yes, as a child I was always disturbed and confused by that picture.

 

[Ancaster]

48 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I wonder if my Yorkshire grandpa ever ate it this way. 

 

I LOVE Golden Syrup, but, yes, as a child I was always disturbed and confused by that picture.

 

It's from a quote from the Old Testament: "Out of its strength came forth sweetness".  The following is from a history of the company and its famous golden syrup tin:

• Famously, on the front is a drawing of a dead lion peppered with swarming bees. Abram Lyle was a very pious man, and used the story of Samson in the book of Judges in Old Testament as the inspiration for the design. Quite a while before his fateful haircut, Samson got attacked by a lion which, through His power, Samson was able to rip open, killing it. Later he sees that bees have built a hive within its carcass and he takes some honey to his family and friends and they have a feast.*

No, not helping much with the trauma.

* https://britishfoodhistory.com/2012/02/01/golden_syrup/

[peeayebee]

I always thought they were flies, not bees. Thanks for the backstory.

[Ceindreadh]

22 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I wonder if production intervened and chose not to send anyone home due to the difficult conditions that affected everyone. They could have easily sent someone home even with Tasha going home for the weekend. No rules against it. 

No rules maybe, but there is precedent.  IIRC, there's been more than one occasion when a baker either had to leave part way through or wasn't able to attend at all, and in both cases there was nobody sent home. 

Edited because I found a link from 2018.

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-news/why-nobody-was-sent-home-on-great-british-bake-off-last-night/37332302.html

So at least three times before, this has happened.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Ceindreadh

[RoxiP]

During the Covid episodes where they all bunked in together (not literally) there was an episode where two of the bakers were unable to participate and I'm pretty sure nobody was sent home.

[chaifan]

I'm so enjoying this season.  I really like everyone.  I'm not rooting for anyone to leave or win at this point.  Saku is hilarious.  I loved her bit about never making anything chocolate again.  Never.  Ever.

For all the talk about the heat, did it really impact anyone?  I thought the main cause of the failure of the boxes was that they weren't tempered correctly.  That's a cooking thing, not a heat of the room thing, right?  I know in the past things were quite literally melting before our eyes on hot days in the tent, but that didn't seem to be the case here.

Which of the guys had the corner frames for his box?  I thought that was brilliant, and am surprised no one else has thought of that.  Those would come in handy if they do the standard gingerbread house challenge. 

I'm so glad Tasha is coming back next week.  I'm glad the show has a way to deal with this.  I wonder if her cochlear implant makes migraines worse in any way.