The Great Irish Bake Off - General Discussion

[David T. Cole]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run.

[David T. Cole]

Recipesy!

[David T. Cole]

A day late but let's RISE to the occasion.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yahoooooo, so glad this show is back! It is so soothing to watch a show like this after a season of watching Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef and Top Chef. A show that's all about the baking instead of screaming and drama!

 

Alex's chocolate, coffee, and bacon cake looked very clean and polished. Like Alex, I like savory and sweet so I would have loved that flavor combination. I liked that he coated the cake in chocolate too. Treasa's citrus burst cake looked a little homemade and boring. Khade's salted caramel, chocolate, and peanut nougat cake looked pretty. Normally I hate when chefs or bakers refer to things as deconstructed or "my take on" so when he said it was a deconstructed Snickers bar, I thought okay I like the flavors in theory but did he have to say it was deconstructed? Elaine's nuts about chocolate  cake looked a bit messy, but the layers looked very even when they cut it. Tracy's chocolate orange caked looked really nice with all that piping. Ali's chocolate and sour cherry cake looked so messy. If she had at least covered the sides so you couldn't see the droopy layers, she might have done better. Poppy's chocolate chiffon cake with raspberry and hazelnut looked nice, and I love chocolate and raspberry together. Shane's pistachio and cherry cake with kirsch buttercream looked a little bit off because the frosting wasn't smoth and the spun sugar looked like a haystack. Jenny's cassette cake was such a simple but effective design. It's too bad the frosting on the sides were so messy. Why was there orange dust only on three sides? I was really rooting for Dave's raspberry and strawberry cake because those are two of my favorite fruits but I was worried they would blend together into a generic berry flavor instead of remaining distinct. It's too bad his sponge cake sank because of his baking soda mistake. He was the only one to use fondant, so A for effort. I liked the different shades of blue and the bear and the ribbon. Interesting that the judges didn't rank the cakes from the first round.

 

Ali needs to learn to listen to the judges. If Paul says to take the cherry pits out, she should take them out! I wouldn't want to bite into a garnish and break a tooth either.

 

I love the technical challenges! One thing I like about the Irish version of this show is that the bakers are given the full instructions for the technical. I hate that the American and British version leave out information for the contestants to figure out. Even if you're a great baker, you shouldn't have to guess at the oven temperature or how long to bake something. But on the other hand, I didn't mind that they weren't told how much rosewater or lemon to add to the batter because, as Paul said, they are testing their palates. I kind of loved that so many of the bakers said they don't like Battenberg cake. I loved the girl (I think it was the girl who is from the Czech Republic) who said it's because it has no chocolate or fruit and she doesn't like marzipan or rosewater. I'm right there with you, girl. As for Dave's pink being too bright, I prefer fuchsia to baby pink so the judges would hate my cake. Loved the girl who drew a diagram on parchment paper to make sure her cake would be the right size.

 

LOVED that Paul got out his ruler to measure each of the cakes to make sure the squares were exactly 3cm x 3cm and that the cake was only 12 cm. Dave's pink was red on my screen and his squares were off. No surprise that Alex's looked very precise. The squares didn't line up in the center but the judges didn't say anything about it. Poppy's looked like the top squares were much bigger than the bottom ones. Elaine's looked so messy and the marzipan was lumpy. Khade's looked great but Paul said it was a fraction off from being square and the pink looked a little too light. Jenny's looked pretty close (funny that she's a "professional crafter" who likes her ruler but was freaking out about measuring her cake). Shane's looked nice and they said it was the perfect size. Treasa's was a complete mess. When I saw her pinching the edges with her fingers, I thought girl, you are making it worse! The top pink didn't even look like a square. Tracy's looked okay but they said the flavors weren't strong enough. Ali's looked really good but I knew they would ding her for the candied lemon peel decoration.

 

One thing I prefer about the other versions of this show is that the British, American, and Australian versions have a photo of each contestant in front of the entries in the technical challenge. And one thing I love about the American version is that they do all three challenges (signature, technical, and showstopper) in every episode. The Irish version is actually a few minutes longer than the American version (45 minutes vs 42 minutes) so I don't know why they can't do all three challenges.

 

I noticed that even though this episode had 12 bakers, they only showed 10 in each challenge. They couldn't have cut some of the shots of the (admittedly) lovely flowers in the surrounding area so that we could see everyone's entries in both challenges? Hazel and Tala barely had any screen time this week. All we know so far is that Tala brought a secret ingredient from Israel for her showstopper, but we were never told what cake she baked or shown her finished cake. Hazel was only shown for a few seconds saying that she wouldn't be much of a baker if she couldn't get her cake down in 3 hours. Then she was never seen or heard from again for the rest of the episode.

 

I know I'm supposed to go awwwww that Alex's grandmother turned her utility area into a baking room for him, but all I could think was, "Why don't I have a utility room that big?" Sweet that he brought her first cookbook with him though.

 

I loved when Khade said that he loves being around the other bakers because he can talk about cake all day. I know that's how it is for me when I'm around people who are into my hobby. Normal people get bored hearing about your hobby after the 100th time but fellow enthusiasts can talk about it day after day!

 

So Jenny is a professional crafter. What the hell does that mean? I liked the little Monchichi at her work station.

 

Hee, I loved that Ali's husband told her not to be herself during the competition and she'll be fine.

 

Treasa is lucky that Elaine had an even worse week because her Batternberg cake was really horrible. I love that the host bonded with her about their common pasts as ex-nuns. Before that revelation, the camera zoomed in on a prayer card she had at her station, so it's nice to see that even though she didn't become a nun, she didn't completely abandon her faith.

 

Hopefully next week we will get to know the rest of the bakers (and Hazel and Tala get more than 5 seconds of screen time!).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Despite all the beautiful things I've seen the bakers make on this show, the recipe I really want to try is the Women's Weekly pool cake that someone made in S1. Apparently it's very popular in Australia because the recipe was published in the Women's Weekly cookbook. When I asked Mr. EB what he thought of a cake with jello, he said, "I'd definitely eat that." Ha!

Edited May 24, 2014 by ElectricBoogaloo

[OnceSane]

Yeah, I need to see the bakers more before I get them sorted in my head.  I really liked the kid with his grandmother's cookbook, I thought that was very sweet.  & it doesn't hurt that he's a good baker. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I found this adorable picture of Biddy, Paul, and Anna from the S1 finale:

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The top eleven bakers compete. In the technical challenge, the bakers have two hours to make dingle pies. For the bakers' first showstopper, the bakers make one savoury and one sweet item.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The 12 year old me was giggling when they announced that the technical challenge was dingle pies.

 

I get where Khade is coming from - when you bake sweets, you can lick your fingers. When you are working with raw meat, you can't really do that. I mean, you CAN but you shouldn't. Heh, and I admit I laughed when Khade said he was glad he didn't have to taste his own pie and that he wouldn't be the one getting sick if it was done incorrectly. I also laughed when Jenny told Anna that she didn't know how to make a rope edge for her pie then Anna asked what she thought it should look like and Jenny said, "A rope." Poor Tracy had the added pressure of knowing dingle pie was from her county.

 

I loved that Biddy specifically told Paul that you don't sear the lamb for this recipe and then we cut to several of the bakers asking who was going to sear this meat and saying it was weird that the recipe didn't say to sear the meat. My instinct would be to sear the meat first. Interesting that Poppy realized that this recipe required her to go against the usual baking rules and fight her instincts. I've never made a hot water crust so I would have been confused and flustered too. Poor Ali - she gave in to her instincts and seared the lamb.

 

I saw a couple of pans where the carrots were chopped into uneven pieces or sliced into coins instead of diced as the recipe specified so I was worried that their carrots wouldn't cook evenly. One of the things I love about the Bake Off series is that everyone is so willing to share information and talk to each other. Loved seeing all the bakers ask whether to strain the vegetables for their broth.

 

Yay, Tala wasn't invisible this week! She could have been an ax murderer for all we saw of her last week. I liked that she said her mandatory service in the Israeli army put things like the bake off into perspective. I don't recall anyone making the bake off act like the bake off was life or death, but still. It's nice to see that she knows winning this isn't the be-all end-all. And Hazel speaks! I will have to check out her blog Cupcakerys (thanks for letting us see the name of it clearly, show!).

 

I have no idea why the show waited until the second episode to put photographs in front of each pie when Paul and Biddy judged the technical challenge. Did they just totally forget to put the pictures out last week? Did the props department forget to buy flowered frames? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

Glad that Paul's pie was seasoned so well. Tala crimped her trim with a fork instead of making it into a rope and didn't have enough egg wash. Did she sear her meat too? Poppy's broth was so good that Paul would eat it on his own! How did Treasa's pie have so much meat and herbs but not flavor? Did she not season it at all? Or was Paul talking about her broth? Poor Ali - Paul thought one of her leaves looked like a Christmas tree or a fish. I thought it was dickish of him to say that she should stick to the recipes in the technical challenge. I'm pretty sure she didn't make her leaf look like a fish on purpose so it's not like she was trying to deviate or be fancy.

 

I didn't understand what Biddy said about going up a hill to get something from Alex's - the bouquet garni maybe? Tracy looked so relieved that her pie was well received. She didn't let her county down! Khade's didn't look identical. One seemed taller, one seemed flatter. His strategy of "don't be the worst" didn't work out for him this time. Aim higher, dude! And then he followed that up by saying he was just going to wing it with his showstopper.

 

I see the show is still limiting itself to only showing us ten bakers per segment. When the judges said Shane's name in the technical bake rankings, that was the first time we saw him the entire episode. I know some people complained about the host last year, but when she talked to Shane about how the bakers have comes friends, they're all nice people, etc. I laughed when she said, "Most of them are horrible." Hee! He was adorable trying to open Treasa's stuck food processor. Jenny's station was a disaster area! I think she used every bowl in the world. I love duck confit too, Ali! Come over and cook for me!

 

Alex's full Irish breakfast pie sounded delicious. And he goes shooting with his mom every Sunday! He didn't what they shoot so now I'm picturing them wandering aimlessly and shooting at random trees. Loved the way Poppy braided hers. Awwww, Dave, don't feel insecure about your showstoppers being too plain. As Biddy said, as long as the flavors are there, you don't have anything to worry about. Jenny's anchor and pirate ship were a great idea but she just ran out of time. When they initially showed her making the anchor, I thought it was in the shape of a person.

 

I'm glad that Treasa recognized she had a problem with time management and decided that she was going to finish half an hour early this time. See, Khade? It's good to set lofty goals! I loved when someone asked Anna to find out if anyone had apricot jam and Anna just yelled, "DOES ANYONE HAVE APRICOT JAM?" It reminded me when my mom used to tell one of us to call the others downstairs and we would just turn and yell at the top of our lungs, which was the exact opposite of what she wanted us to do.

 

I can never decide if I like the obligatory shots of each baker sitting behind their showstopper, but this time around they decided to use the Moonlighting soft focus lens. What is up with that?

 

OMG, Ali added pork AND pancetta to her duck confit pie? I need to have dinner at her house. Her pear tarte looked good too. I thought Paul was going to have a foodgasm right then and there. I was hoping Khade's strawberry mango cream cheese tart would be good because I love all of those things. It's too bad they said the pastry was undercooked but at least Paul liked the flavor. David's mocha tart looked like any chocolate pie with whipped cream, but on the other hand, who doesn't like chocolate pie? Bummer that the crust cracked. Similarly, Poppy's tomato, spinach, goat cheese, caramelised onion tart sounded like a dated flavor combination, but it's also a yummy flavor combination. She gets bonus points from me for the simple but effective braided/lattice top.

 

Treasa's lemon raspberry tart looked pretty but I was worried when Biddy cut it and said it was like cake (I think because the filling set up so firmly). But Paul said the flavor was good! I still want to know if she finished half an hour early and sat on her stool until time was called. Hazel's spinach, ricotta, and pinenut tart didn't have an exciting new flavor profile, but it looked like a delicious pizza. I understand what Paul and Biddy said about wanting more wow factor. Poppy's tart could have been made the same way but she dressed up a pretty typical flavor combination with that lattice top, so I see their point about Hazel's being too simple looking. Part of me was glad she said that she likes rustic but part of me agrees with the judges that a showstopper should not necessarily be rustic.

 

Tracy's ham and chicken picnic pie was so tall! When Paul cut it open and showed all the layers, I thought ooh. Simple concept to layer the food inside but so effective visually. Shane's rhubarb, custard, and elderflower meringues were very pretty. Loved that he made them look like ice cream cones. It also helps that I love elderflower and custard. I wish I could have tried one! I also wanted to eat Alex's full Irish pie. Ha, it did look like a smiley face when sliced. I wanted to see the yellow and green tomato ketchup though! Jenny's apple pear pirate ship with lavender custard was such a good idea. If only she'd had time to let the anchor finish baking (although she did say that it turned into a mess that she didn't think she could get off the baking sheet anyway). And once again Tala is relegated to invisible status.

 

I wish they had showed both dishes that each baker made, but if they can't even show all eleven of the contestants, then there's no hope of seeing all 22 pies..I was totally surprised by the double elimination. Does this mean we will get to see all nine of the contestants in both segments next week?

 

Dave and Jenny both took their eliminations well. Dave's 10th runner up comment made me really like him. Jenny had a good attitude too.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

From Hazel's Cupcakerys blog:

pictures of the launch for this season

blog entry about episode 1 (includes links to all the bakers' Twitter accounts/blogs

blog entry about episode 2 (she said that the sweet tart she made for the showstopper was praised by the judges)

[OnceSane]

I was surprised that Khade made it through this week, happy, but surprised.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The nine remaining bakers make 24 retro biscuits in the signature challenge. For the technical challenge, they make checkboard cookies.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Haha, whenever I hear people from the UK refer to biscuits, my first thought is always dinner biscuits and then I think oh, you mean COOKIES? Or crackers? It's interesting that the word encompasses more outside the UK.

 

I love that Ali said she was making something that is made by ladies who don't know how to make anything else. Poor Poppy - it's hard to know what to do when one judge says yes, hang those cookies and the other judge says no, don't do it! It's nice to see that Hazel has such a good attitude about getting criticism. Interesting to hear him talk about being exposed to so much cheese when he moved to Ireland.

 

One of the things I really took away from this week's signature bake is that these people REALLY need to practice at home. They are told ahead of time what the signature bake or showstopper challenge will be (but they are never told what the technical bake will be in advance), so there is no excuse to be unprepared. Khade should not be experimenting during the actual challenge. He has all week at home to experiment and perfect whatever he is going to do during the episode. If he were winning challenges with his fly by the seat of his pants attitude, I might cut him some more slack but wasn't he at the bottom last week? And possibly the week before? But he is just now realizing that this isn't the time to experiment?

 

Treasa's time management skills just suck every week. She needs to practice how long the preparation is going to take, how long the decorating/presentation is going to take, and create a schedule for herself. How does she run out of time on every damn challenge every week? I know that sometimes shit happens and you just have to roll with it (likewhen Ali put her filling in the freezer to set and then completely forgot about it), but it seems like Treasa consistently has terrble time management skills challenge after challenge.

 

Many of the bakers cracked me up this week. I can relate to Alex being OCD about most things but making a mess in the kitchen. I cut him a lot of slack on that during the show since your priority needs to be making sure you finish the challenge, not making sure that you wash each bowl as you use it. But when he later said he was going to clean up and then threw one sheet of parchment in the trash, I totally laughed. I also loved when Ali needed help opening a beer and the host said she had some experience doing that and then Ali's excuse for not being able to do it herself is that she is a champagne kind of girl. Hee! In her defense, if you haven't opened a beer bottle with a can opener before and you only have one minute left on the clock, you might be better off letting someone else do it.

 

I liked Alex's Andy Warhol display. Even though he was lamenting the one basil leaf that fell off at the last minute, the cookies on the board looked good and I thought the Campbell's soup can was a fun touch. Hazel's savory biscuit seemed doomed to fail as soon as Paul said that the texture was like a Muesli bar before he even ate it. She was right about it being to peppery. I don't like pimento so I wouldn't have liked Khade's cheddar biscuits. He was the first one to be shown getting critiques for both the sweet and savory biscuits, but only because his sweet ones were not good either. I did like that the plate for the chocolate hobnobs (heh, I have no idea what the hell a hobnob is) matched the striped straw. Cute! Interesting that Biddy said that they were too soft and she wanted them to crack. I like soft cookies!

 

Ali's cheeky attitude can be amusing. When Paul asked if the filling went all the way through and she said, "I can't see inside," I laughed. I wonder if she told them the reason the filling didn't go all the way through is that it was still partially frozen when she piped it. Tracey's caffreys teacakes looked good, but I'm biased towards chocolate covered anything. I thought Paul's critique of her chocolate bomb kind of contradicted what Biddy said earlier about wanting very crispy biscuits. To me, crispy means hard. But he was complaining that the knife didn't go through her chocolate like butter. A knife wouldn't go through a hard crunchy biscuit either! I agree that it looked like a big dessert rather than something you would dip in tea (is that the Irish definition of a biscuit? Something you dip in your tea?).

 

Treasa's orange and caradamom fig rolls looked nice. Her parmesan, basil, and onion shortbread shaped like stars sounded yummy but Paul said there wasn't enough flavor and Biddy said there was too much parmesan. Earlier, Treasa was convinced that one of her dishes was a disaster so I guess it was the savory ones? I liked Paul's suggestion to line up the fig rolls in a more organized way. Tala's petit beurre maison was adorable, as was Poppy's tree. I love that she found a way to hang the leaves without having to punch holes in all the biscuits. Smart girl to tie a bundle of them together and then run twine through there instead. Definitely not the same effect as hanging the leaves individually but still A+ for effort and making it work.

 

Shane's gruyere, pistachio, and rosemary sticks looked really nice (although I don't think I would have liked those flavors together). He got them so thin and delicate looking, so I can see why they kept breaking. I couldn't tell if Paul was complaining about not getting much pistachio and rosemary flavor. Isn't it okay to have other flavors mixed in without having them be obvious?

 

The checkboard cookie challenge was interesting. I've never made them before but I thought it would be similar to the Battenberg cake they made before. I loved when Ali said, "This is the moment all men - a woman with a ruler in her hand." Ha!

 

It seemed like most of the bakers had a difficult time with this. Treasa's looked particularly terrible. Instead of dipping the back in chocolate, it looked like the chocolate equivalent of smearing peanut butter on a slice of toast. The chocolate was lumpy and uneven instead of a smooth coating. It did seem a bit silly that Paul refused to even try eating it because of the presentation. Between choosing not to eat Treasa's and not tasting any of the ones that were stuck together (which, again seemed silly - just get a knife and cut or pry a piece off!), I was wondering how they would judge them all against one another. Do you disregard anyone whose biscuits weren't tasted at all? I loved when they showed the squirrel eating one of the cookies though.

 

Wow, Tracy won the technical challenge two weeks in a row! I think Alex was just relieved not to be in the bottom. He seemed to think his weren't good enough before the judging but compared to some of the messy ones we saw, his were pretty good.

 

Not surprising that Treasa was eliminated. She took it well though. I'm glad she was talking about how joyful baking is for her. You don't need to win on this show to enjoy baking. Good for Poppy for being named star baker! I'm glad they recognized that even though she didn't win the technical challenge, she has been plugging away each week.

[OnceSane]

 

If he were winning challenges with his fly by the seat of his pants attitude, I might cut him some more slack but wasn't he at the bottom last week? And possibly the week before? But he is just now realizing that this isn't the time to experiment?

Khade is a mess.  I love his attitude, but his preparedness leaves much to be desired.  I think the only reason he's still around is that others (particularly Tressa) keep messing up worse than he did.

 

Speaking of Tressa, I loved the enthusiastic hug between her & Biddy.  So adorable!

 

& I loved that Poppy won Star Baker, definitely deserved IMO.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The top eight bakers make Paul Kelly's apple and ginger strudel recipe in the technical challenge. The showstopper challenge requires the bakers to use choux pastry.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

That technical challenge looked like a huge pain in the ass. Getting the pastry thin enough to read through it but not rip when transferring the strudel to the baking sheet looked difficult enough, but they also had to make gingerbread, cook the apples, and make the honey topping. I'm surprised that Hazel was the only one who fell behind. That was a lot of work! Poppy and Tracy are kicking ass again!

 

I like that we are finally getting some more information about the bakers. Their profiles seem unbalanced. We are told every week that Alex is a 17 year old student but we are just now finding out in the fourth week that Tala works at Google, Ali works in IT, and Khade works as an account manager

 

The showstoppers are always interesting to compare between the drawings that the show gives us and the finished product. This week, most of them were disappointing.

 

Shane's beehive seemed a little too simple. So squeeze out some circles and stack them on top of each other? It ended up not looking like a beehive at all though. It was a big lump with some bees and leaves. I would guess it's harder to decorate choux since the surface is lumpy, not smooth, but it looked really amateur like a kid had done it.

 

Poppy's afternoon tea was just too small for a showstopper in my opinion. I liked that the entire thing was made out of pastry including the display, and I liked that she made so many different elements.

 

Tracy's fruit basket itself was pretty. When I saw her put it in the oven, I thought she had made a spiderweb cake. I loved the handle vs no handle debate between Paul and Biddy. I'm glad Biddy told Tracy to stick with her plan and ignore Paul's handle obsession. Ha, and I loved Alex saying that maybe Paul has fancy fruit bowls since normal fruit bowls don't have handles. Smart idea to have different flavored fruit pastries. Apple, pear, and banana aren't necessarily the fruits I would have chosen but Paul and Biddy seemed to like the flavors.

 

Oh, Hazel. She started her strudel over again and then she started her choux again. I don't know if she was just having a bad day or her nerves got the best of her or what. Her basket looked more traditional but I agree that the basket looked a little empty.

 

Ali's peacock sounded so promising (and her matching peacock feather earrings were cute) but it turned out really badly. That was the flattest saddest peacock I've ever seen. Ha, I loved the side eye Tracy gave when she was helping Ali assemble her showstopper. At least Ali seemed to have a sense of humor about it when she compared her peacock to a car crash that you can't look away from. The idea for the peacock tail was really interesting and much more detailed than, say, the beehive.

 

I liked Tala's tip about poking a knife through so they don't come out too doughy. Her Jenga was a cute idea but it ended up looking a bit messy.

 

Alex's Viking boat, in comparison, ended up looking really complicated and well constructed. I was a little skeptical when he initially described it, but it turned out really well. Loved the chocolate sail. He said it would be a Viking boat and that's what it looked like, unlike some of the other showstoppers this week.

 

Khade's Samuel Beckett bridge looked really simple compared to Alex's. Even knowing what it was supposed to be, I was puzzling over it. That looked nothing like a bridge. It looked like a bunch of eclairs plunked down together. The chocolate topping was just slopped on and it looked so messy. I did laugh when he declared it was a showstopper. I love that he wasn't delusional or whiny about how it turned out.

 

I thought Poppy might be named star baker since the judges loved her showstopper and she won the technical bake, but I'm not surprised that Alex ended up star baker. His ship was really the best showstopper of the week.

 

How in the hell did Khade scrape buy again? His showstopper was really terrible. Even though Tala's looked messy, at least it looked like something. Khade's didn't even look like abstract art. It looked like someone put out a plate of sloppy eclairs and it got ranscaked by a bunch of hungry kids and that mess was what was left.

[OnceSane]

I think Khade made it through because the technical bake went so poorly for so many others.  So even though his showstopper wasn't up to par, he did well enough to get through.  Loved that Viking ship, it looked absolutely fantastic.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

For the signature bake, the seven remaining bakers must each produce one sweet and one savoury loaf. Biddie and Paul ask the bakers to make six caramelized onion bagels and six poppyseed bagels for the technical bake.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It's disappointing that the show is waiting so long to give us more background on the bakers. Hazel is a derby girl! Shane is a furniture designer and an interior designer and a trained florist!

I laughed at Poppy's hippie attitude about only putting good vibes into her bread instead of imagining someone she hates while kneading her bread. I also loved when Alex said he was holding onto Biddie's bacon comment from week one while kneading his bread.

I loved that Biddie said that she doesn't trust a baker who doesn't make bread and then they cut to Alex saying he usually just buys bread. His suggestions for baking sports were funny too (pizza discus, javelin breadsticks).

I love how supportive the bakers are of each other. Hazel telling Alex not to panic and, "You got this," was so sweet. And after seeing Ali smash open a coconut with a rolling pin for Shane, I officially love her. When Tracy, Alex, Ali, and Khade started making bagel dough for Hazel, I thought awwwwww! This is the difference between the Bake Off series and, say, Master Chef or Top Chef. I know Shane was being practical when he said that if Hazel didn't come back, there was no point in them making dough for her but it was the thought that counts. As Alex said, "It's nice to be nice."

Tracy's Indian street roll with curry sauce sounded like perfect bread when Paul was cutting into it. She was smart to tone down the spiciness for Biddie. It's too bad the fancy plaiting on her beer and banana bread (with chocolate!) weren't as defined as Paul wanted. She did all that work so I wish it looked less like a big loaf of mush. Ali's Czech kolace was very pretty with the flowers on top. Her paneer looked nicely toasted but I'll have to take the judges' word for it about it being undercooked. Shane's parsnip and parmesan bread looked perfectly golden. I don't remember if I've ever seen Paul go back for seconds! Shane's ginger, lime, and coconut bread seems like a flavor combination I wouldn't like to eat but I loved the twisted loaf. It looked like it had fancy pleating. I love that Biddie was so delighted with it that she started giggling.

Alex's toffee apple bread with caramel sauce looked so yummy! I agree that it didn't look at neat as it could have if he had baked it inside a baking dish to keep the structure more rectangular. Poppy's orange, white chocolate, and apricot bread looked like a giant croissant. I agree with Paul that it wasn't clear that it was a bouquet (notice he didn't come out and say that last week about Khade's alleged bridge). Hazel's cinnamon breakfast bread was an interesting shape and I love cinnamon bread. Khade's chorizo, spinach, and feta bread had some nice braiding.

Why did we only see one loaf for half of the bakers? We're down to only seven of them now so I think we have time to see all of their bread. I'd be willing to forego some of the shots of scenery if it meant seeing all of their bakes when they have to make two each.

The judges' criticism of Khade's flavor combinations sounded like the Project Runway criticism of "I question his taste level." I'm actually surprised he has lasted this long.

I love caramelized onion bagels (and with balsamic vinegar - yum!) but poppyseed bagels remind me of that Seinfeld episode where Elaine tests positive for opium.

Ali's were by far the best bagels, so great job making sure that every bagel hole was exactly the same size!

I have mixed feelings about no elimination this week due to Hazel having to leave the tent, which leaves a double elimination next week.

Edited June 20, 2014 by ElectricBoogaloo

[OnceSane]

I was surprised at the no elimination & I agree there will be a double elimination next week. 

 

 

The judges' criticism of Khade's flavor combinations sounded like the Project Runway criticism of "I question his taste level." I'm actually surprised he has lasted this long.

 

I think the only reason he's still around is that others were just so much worse.

 

 

And after seeing Ali smash open a coconut with a rolling pin for Shane, I officially love her

 

I loved her when she said "What every man fears: a woman with a ruler".  Hee!  But I double loved her for her work with the coconut.  She's so much fun, even when her bake isn't going well.

 

I also loved people pitching in to help Hazel, that was a genuine moment we don't usually see in competition reality shows.  & I have to say, I'm loving this season even more than the first one.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

After a non-elimination last week due to Hazel's illness, two bakers will be eliminated this week. First the contestants must each make a puff pastry pear tarte tatin technical challenge. For the showstopper, the bakers must each make a cake with a surprise inside.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, I loved Ali telling the story about the time she ruined her parents' oven making a tarte tatin. I was also cracking up when she told the host she knew she would win the technical challenge last week I was hoping that since this tarte had hazelnuts that Hazel would do well. I thought it was cute to hear Biddy say that she loves eating pear tarte tatin.

 

I like that the host explained that to make this tarte tatin more Irish, they were having the bakers use hazelnuts instead of almonds. I also really liked Alex explaining the difference between regular puff pastry and rough puff pastry.

 

As much as I love how helpful all the bakers are on this show (as opposed ot the "I WILL CUT A BITCH!" antics of MasterChef), I have to agree with Alex about Khade asking a million questions. To wit:

Poppy, do you give it a lot of a knead or just a little bit?

Tracy, if you dunk your pears in water, will that keep them from going brown?

Poppy, do you wrap it really tight when you put it in for the turn?

But you do cover it?

Shane, do you infuse your milk and double cream together or do you infuse just the milk and then the double cream?

Poppy, crème anglaise, that's like a warm liquid custard?

You serve it warm, don't you?

 

Hee, I am glad that the host pointed out that Khade is asking everyone questions (even though she euphemistically referred to it as "mingling" with the others). I'm with Shane - it's fine to ask one or two questions but damn, dude.

 

Again I wish they would let us get to know the contestants earlier in the season. It's now week seven and until now all we've been told about Alex is that he is a college student and his grandmother converted her storage room into a baking room for Alex. Why did we have to wait seven weeks to find out that he has seven national medals in long rifle shooting? Tracy has a GORGEOUS kitchen at home!

 

The 13 year old in me giggled when Paul said, "The nuts might be a problem," and mentioned that they were a little too chunky. Alex has chunky nuts, ha! Ali's juicy tarte looked delicious! Too bad she overcooked her crème anglaise. Good on her for knowing to push down the pastry!  Khade looks so offended when the judges said his tarte looked empty and didn't have enough pears. I understand why Poppy cut her pears smaller but man, Paul and Biddy were really sticking to the pears only being quartered. You'd think since she cut smaller pieces that her tarte would haven't the gaps that they mentioned.

 

Shane's looked beautiful but he got dinged for the smaller pear pieces and the almost scrambled egg sauce. He is not used to hearing his technical bakes weren't great. Hazel's was very rustic looking aka it looked like a mess. Tracy is used to doing well too so she wasn't happy about her critique. I think it was interesting that for the ones that didn't look as nice, they didn't bother showing the judges' comments about the taste. I get that they wanted a spiral and it's important for a tarte tatin to look nice, but I would have liked to hear more about how each of them tasted.

 

Everyone looked shocked that there would be an elimination after the technical challenge. I actually thought that eliminating based on a blind judging was totally fine (and eliminated any bias) but Poppy brought up the possibility that she could be eliminated because the judges wouldn't take her past bakes into account and that she's been very consistent.

 

I'm not surprised that Ali placed first in the technical, but Khade was second? That was a shock to me actually. Heh, Shane was skimpy with the nuts but he still got third place. I know, I'm so immature but all the nut comments were cracking me up. I wasn't surprised that Alex was fourth and Tracy was fifth. They seemed in the middle of the pack during judging. Man, Poppy made it by the skin of her teeth. I'm sad that Hazel was eliminated but I wasn't not too surprised because the judges were really clear that they hated the presentation of her tarte. She had such a good attitude about her elimination and very sweet to say that even though she's sad but that she doesn't have the skill set of the other bakers.

 

I really love whenever the bake off shows have the contestants make these cakes with the surprises inside. I know they're a lot of work but I LOVE seeing when the judges cut into these cakes. I liked that they showed the bakers actually constructing their surprise cakes because on other bake off shows, they kind of skipped over that and I was left wondering how they did it. I liked seeing them cut out the shapes, put them together to form logs, cutting the cakes apart (and seeing Shane's template as he was carving up his turquoise cake). It's amazing to see how much the bakers can do in the last five minutes. The most important thing I have learned whenever the bakers have to make these surprise cakes on various versions of this show is that the shape needs to be distinct. You can't have a fussy intricate shape inside because it doesn't come through. It's best to go with strong simple shapes in colors that contrast with the main cake.

 

Awwww, poor Alex! Paul was so mean when he said he still had time to change his mind about his cake. You shut your face! I'm glad Alex said he was ignoring Paul's suggestion in a nice way.

 

I can't believe Khade's cake had 51 eggs. When they showed the 10 pounds of butter sitting at his work station, I just thought DUDE! I am glad Paul pointed out that Khade has ideas but can't produce what he intends. I have lots of great ideas too but I can't actually produce them either, so I don't think Khade's ideas should be enough for him to get by. I still can't get over that horrible river/bridge presentation he did a few weeks ago. Even if he hadn't baked two new cakes, I don't think he would have been able to present what he described to the judges. FINALLY, Khade admitted that he had planned too much for the time he had. The outside looked really plain and messy compared to what he told them it was supposed to be. It was just a green rectangle with a few white squiggles. The Arsenal jersey on the inside was more complicated than I thought it would be, but I don't think you should have to explain what the shape inside is in order for people to get it. Without his explanation, it just looked like a red and white blob. And STILL Paul made excuses for him about how he probably had all these other things in the refrigerator or the garbage. Who cares if it didn't actually make it to the final cake?

 

The outside of Shane's cake was a study in contrasts. The chocolate lattice on top of all those strawberries was intriciate and gorgeous but the sides looked like stucco slapped on the side of a house. I wasn't crazy about his bunting shapes when he described them but at least the design came out very clearly and it looked good with that bright turquoise cake. Basil in a cake? Yuck! As they were talking, I saw a slice of the top layer of his cake. It had three different colors of cake plus a layer of raspberries. I'm sure the judges tasted it but we didn't hear a word about that part of the cake at all.

 

Tracy's chocolate box was definitely a show stopper. The outer box was beautiful and then she made a lid for the Tiffany box AND she had an insert with the jewels. Her cake required a lot of planning and work, but she managed her time well and had reasonable expectations for what she could achieve during the time she had. Unlike Khade, she is actually able to make her ambitious vision a reality.

 

I loved Alex's Mondrian cake. The colors were very pretty and HA, Paul liked the orange flavor so he didn't need to do each cake a different flavor.

 

The outside of Poppy's cake was pretty. The ombré blue was lovely, the wintery trees on the side were nice, and the four phases of the moon on top were a nice touch. The bottom layer of cake with the first star turned out well. It's too bad that the second star wandered a little too much and the crescent moon was a bit too high.

 

Ali's pink champagne cake. The rose on top was lovely but I agreed that the rough textured frosting was not as pretty. I get her explanation about not wanting it to be smooth, but I disagree with her. It would have been even more attractive with a smooth fondant (not that I like fondant but just for the sake of argument). I liked that the hearts inside were clear in their shapes but I agreet that maybe her cake was a little too monochromatic. I didn't understand the marshmallow hearts in the top layer when Paul peeled off the top of the cake.

 

No surprise that Tracy was star baker this week. Her show stopper was really impressive. I know it will sound mean, but it's about time that Khade was eliminated. He has been consistently disappointing and every week that he survived, I was surprised that he somehow managed to scrape by. If you look at all the show stoppers this week, his sticks out like a sore thumb. Honestly, it looked like something that might be on CakeWrecks. He seems like a really nice guy, so I feel bad complaining about his baking. I think he was just in over his head from the beginning.

 

I can't believe that next week is already the semi-finals! Everyone who is left has a shot at winning. Alex, Shane, Ali, Tracy, and Poppy have all done really well throughout the season so I will be sad no matter who is eliminated next week. I am certain I heard Biddy say that there will be three bakers going to the finals so I guess there will be another double elimination next week.

[OnceSane]

 

The Arsenal jersey on the inside was more complicated than I thought it would be, but I don't think you should have to explain what the shape inside is in order for people to get it.

That's how I felt about it.  If you have to explain it, you haven't met your goals for the shapes.  & simple is better.

 

I felt bad for Poppy this week.  Her technical bake was poor, & Paul complained about the color of her signature bake.  I thought it looked lovely with the blue. 

 

I wasn't surprised by Hazel or Khade's exits, the remaining bakers seem to be the cream of the crop.  I am rooting for Poppy, though I'll be happy if any of them win the whole thing.  & I'm glad there's another double elimination just because it will push the bakers next week.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The top five bakers must make a summer dinner party centerpiece for the signature bake. For the technical bake, the bakers must make strawberry charlotte russe.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The top five bakers have all been pretty consistent so I knew it was anyone's game at this point. This is the level that I was expecting to happen earlier in the season, but with Khade hanging on by the skin of his teeth week after week, I always felt like there was a divide between the skill levels.

Hahahaha, why am I not surprised that Alex's mom and grandmother wash all the dishes for him? I love that when Ali told the host, the host then made sure to announce it to all the other bakers.

 

When I saw that Poppy was making a mango, lime. and chili mousse gateau, I thought ugh. The only thing that sounded appealing to me was the popping candy. Her gateau was very bright and summery, and the layers were very distinct when Paul cut into it.

 

Tracy's summer candy crush bombe looked so fun to make. Who doesn't want to play with dry ice and Italian meringue? She got presentation points for the dry ice she poured into the tea cups. I wish Paul had explained more clearly why he was complaining about the difference in the texture between the ice cream and the berries. He did mention something being almost like ice so I don't know if he wanted the berries softer. I'm glad Biddy said that she liked the contrast.

 

Ali's giant raspberry macarons with lemon curd, raspberry mint sorbet, and white chocolate pistachio ganache sounded interesting but I noticed that the drawing they showed listed white chocolate lemon truffle instead of white chocolate pistachio ganache. I don't know if the graphics people made a mistake or Ali changed her recipe. Her presentation was really beautiful. The macarons were all gorgeous and the sorbet looked lovely. Like Paul, I was a bit concerned about the mint in the sorbet but if he says it kicked through in a good way, then I'll take his word for it. Whatever was in the litte containers going down the center of the plate looked like a nice contrast with all the pink but the judges didn't mention it at all.

 

Alex's raspberry and white chocolate opera cake with pistachio praline tuile and raspberry coulis sounded delicious. To be honest, I loved Paul nitpicking the messiness of the dusting on the side. As he said, it's the semi-finals so the judges expect a lot. When Paul initially came around and suggested putting something crispy inside the cake and Alex said he wanted to keep the traditional smooth soft texture, I KNEW that Paul would criticize him for not taking his advice and sure enough, that's exactly what happened.

 

Shane's trifle sounded terrible to me. I was okay with the apricot, peach, and red current prosecco jelly layer, but the mango, cucumber, and gin and tonic jelly sounded terrible. Maybe my palate is too pedestrian to appreciate his flavor combinations but ugh. It looked really nice though. Using those clear plastic boxes gave it a really clean look. but it also exposed the inconsistencies inside.

 

My only exposure to charlotte russe is the crappy store at the mall, so I didn't have much to go on until Paul and Biddy explained it. There were so many elements to this technical challenge: making ladyfingers, strawberry puree, custard, and cranberry jelly in three hours is a lot of work!

 

As soon as I saw Ali was piping her ladyfingers so close together, I was like giiiiiirl, have you lost your mind? I loved that Biddy said it worked and it looked better than the separate ladyfingers. It was very sweet to see the host helping Alex after his cake fell apart. But Paul was wrong - the issue wasn't time management. Alex did something wrong with the bavarois which caused the cranberry jelly to leak through. But they didn't mention how anything tasted. Shane's looked terrible too. Poppy's looked pretty decent but Paul was really upset about the acetate and plastic wrap. Tracy's looked great, which is amazing considering that she didn't know what a charlotte russe even looked like.

 

It was great to see Ali finally get star baker this week. It seems fitting that all five of the finalists have won star baker at least once. I'm not surprised that Alex was eliminated because his charlotte russe was a complete mess and the judges were critical about the layers in his opera cake not being perfectly even. I am surprised that Poppy went home though. She has been so great all season, so I really expected her to be in the final.

 

Based on how the three finalists have done all season, my money is on Tracy to win. But I think that Ali and Shane could also do it if they pull off a really amazing show stopper for the final challenge.

 

I'm excited that they're doing macarons next week!

[OnceSane]

 

I wish Paul had explained more clearly why he was complaining about the difference in the texture between the ice cream and the berries. He did mention something being almost like ice so I don't know if he wanted the berries softer.

 

I think he was complaining that the ice cream was too hard (like ice), but I could be wrong.

 

I'm so disappointed that Poppy is gone.  She was my favorite throughout the competition.  But Ali has moved into a close second, so I'll be rooting her on in the final.  I really think this final is Tracy's to lose, though.

 

& IA about Shane's trifle, did not sound tasty at all.

[Athena]

I finally was able to sit down and watch an episode of this. I've been missing most of this season due to other commitments. I didn't have time to catch up so I just watched this episode.

 

Since I have seen no other episodes, it seems Tracy is getting a bit of a winner's cut though Ali sand Shane look decent too.

 

In the short time I watched Alex, he was clearly a bit annoying. So he's young and a bit spoiled?

[AliBakerland]

Hi guys, just discovered this thread today and I was over the moon that someone actually got my sense of humour! Thanks a lot for watching and hoped you enjoyed the Season 2.

Tracy completely deserved to win as she put 100 times more effort than me into the whole competition. I have practiced about 3 of the bakes that I made on the show and it showed and I never expected that I will get so far considering I had a small baby few months ago.

Please follow me on Twitter @alibakerland 

[Athena]

@AliBakerland : Welcome to the PTV forums! You did really well and I can't wait to see the finale. I've had to spoiler tag your post because I don't everyone has seen the finale yet. I'll make a thread for it now.  

[Athena]

2014 Standoff in the tent.

[AliBakerland]

Oops! Would not be the first time my big mouth got me into trouble ;)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oops! Would not be the first time my big mouth got me into trouble ;)

Ha, that's part of the reason why I like you! You were so honest and funny on the show.

 

Can't wait to discuss the finale with you after I watch it later this week. Hope you have some fun behind the scenes info for us!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

D'oh! I was waiting for the finale to air on Wednesday - I didn't realize that it had already aiready aired last weekend!

 

Okay, the 13 year old in me giggled when the voiceover said that the top 3 bakers had beaten off their opponents.

 

As a result of this episode, I learned that the mnemonic for remembering the colors of the rainbow in the UK is Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (I was taught Roy G Biv).

 

I loved watching everyone make rainbow macaron towers! What a great choice for the last technical challenge - macarons require skill, the tower required planning, and they're visually interesting. Plus I love eating macarons. I thought Ali would run away with this challenge considering how well she did with her macarons in the previous episode but she just didn't use enough food coloring to make them bright. Tracy's were so vivid and they all looked exactly the same size. Shane's looked like the violet and indigo ones on the bottom were smaller than the ones in the top layers. Or maybe that was an illusion created by the extra space in the bottom layers?

[Athena]

I watched a few days ago when Ali posted on here, but I didn't want to double post. I also didn't realize they had shown the last two eps two days in a row. I'm not sure they did that last year.

 

I thought it was a great challenge too. Tracy deserved it. Her macaron tower looked great. I love to eat them, but I'm wary of making them. I wish I lived in France again.

 

It was a good finale. I thought they all did well, but Tracy seemed to have been really consistent the whole episode and the last episode I watched too. Congrats to all the finalists though.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Re: the final showstopper challenge - that was a lot to make in five hours! Three scones, three sandwiches with soda bread and brioche, three pastries including a fruit tart and a choux bun, and two cakes. I loved that Ali whipped out her schedule broken down into five minute increments. Treasa and Khade, take note!

 

It was so sweet to hear the judges speak so enthusiastically about the finalists, from Shane's flavors to Ali's growth to Tracy's storytelling. It was also fun to hear the other contestants talk about who they thought would win. Normally on other shows, i don't like that part of the finale because it ends up being thinly veiled insults or "Joe was my buddy so I hope he kicks their asses!" But due to the genial nature of the contestants on this show, there was more discussion of the finalists' strengths, which was nice.

 

Tracy had a really lovely presentation. It looked professional, organized, elegant but not stuffy, and eye catching. The roasted red pepper with cherry tomato soup and parmesan crisp was cute in the tiny tea cup. The crab brulee with pickled cucumber and parmesan crisp sounded fresh and light. Her plain scone with brown sugar crust sounded simple but yummy. The choux bun with Baileys and chocolate looked beautiful with the red sable pastry. The raspberries sounded like they would add a bright flavor.

 

Ali's presentation was the most casual of the three. I wasn't crazy about the A frame, mostly because I would not want to accidentally smear cake all over the inside of the wooden frame while removing the cake on the top level, but it had a very sweet rustic homey look. Haha, but once again she won me over before the judges even took a bite. "Big person finger sandwich" - hee! I wish they had told us what was on that finger sandwich because it looked yummy. The lobster on brioche looked DELICIOUS. The blackberry bakewell frangipane sounded like it was really good. I wish they had shown us what it looked like after they cut into it. Her blueberry streusel scone was an education for me. I am not a scone lover - I prefer muffins and blueberry muffins are made with fresh blueberries, not the dried fruit that Biddy said they use in scones. Yuck! Ali's flavors are always the most appealing to me.

 

Shane's presentation was very modern and clean looking. the vodka salmon with caviar and beetroat on dill bread honestly seeemed like a little too much. I agree with Paul that havng too much bread makes a sandwich seem dry. The choux with poached pears and honey walnut cream looked very sophisticated. The passionfruit cheesecake with hazelnut brownie base sounded really good. How can you go wrong with cheesecake AND brownies?

 

After seeing the final presentations, I would have been fine with any of the three bakers winning. They all did such a great job and in such a short amount of time. Congratulations to off of them for doing so well! I would have loved to stuff my face with all of their creations!

 

Watching this show always makes me so happy and calm, so I'm really sad that it's over until next year!

[OnceSane]

I read Ali's spoiler, so I knew Tracy won.  But, honestly, she deserved it.  She had great final bakes.  The macarons looked wonderful & her afternoon tea was enchanting.  Shane & Ali gave her a run for her money on the tea, though. 

 

 

Watching this show always makes me so happy and calm, so I'm really sad that it's over until next year!

 

Me too!  Maybe the British version will come back sooner than expected.

[AliBakerland]

Insider info? Well no too much to say, some people are nice, some people not so much, some people like each other, some people hate each other, some people are honest about it and some people fake it! That pretty much sums it up :)

[AliBakerland]

Guys, I still keep thinking about the damn macarons and I don't think it was the lack of colouring. They batter looked exactly the same as Shane's and Tracy's. I think the temperature was off and hence the meringue somewhat overcooked. We had to work with these old fashioned sugar thermometers and the recipe said boil the syrup until it reaches 118C. Which was more kind of guesstimation because you could not see it properly on that thing. Anyhow the recipe I follow usually says take it off at 113.5C which with my lovely digital thermometer is a no brainer. So I think it was just overcooked... and the mixer was pretty shite as well. But it was same for everyone else! I was so tired that day and had massive headache from a strong cold I caught couple of days back that I really was not bothered that much. I was seriously thinking of quitting half way through so I was kinda happy I finished at least... miserably but finished nonetheless!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

@AliBakerland - would you be willing to do a Q&A thread here where people could ask questions about your experience on the show? I know that I personally would love more info like what you just shared about the thermometers and the mixers affecting what you made! If that sounds like something you would be interested in doing, let me know and I'll start a new thread!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Lilly Higgins to replace Biddy White Lennon as judge on S3 (Paul Kelly remains as the other judge and Anna Nolan returns as the host)

 

filming begins at Tinakilly House in Wicklow soon and S3 will air in the fall (some sources say as soon as October)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

According to Anna Nolan, S3 finished filming on September 30 - still no word on the premiere date though!

[Ceindreadh]

S3 is scheduled to start on Sunday the 25th October at 9pm.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The Great Irish Bake Off is back!

 

 

 

Anna Nolan presents the third series of the amateur baking competition. Paul Kelly and new judge Lilly Higgins cast their eyes over the bakers' attempts to produce cheesecake.

Edited November 1, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Meet the S3 bakers!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On a shallow note, this is a pretty attractive group of people. One of the things I like about the various Bake Off series is that the contestants look like normal people. I don't mean that they're usually unattractive, just that they don't look glammed up or like they just came out of central casting. This particular group seems very telegenic but I'm chalking that up to the fact that Irish people are gorgeous and fresh faced.

I was kind of amused that the signature challenge was just dessert, which is pretty open ended especially in a baking competition. I appreciate that they were giving the bakers the opportunity to make basically anything they wanted so that they could start off on the right foot and really impress the judges.

Emer's sand cake was a cute concept. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for desserts in ice cream cones because my mom made cupcakes in ice cream cones for me to bring to school for my birthday one year. I'm impressed that she managed to make eight layers for the cake!

I was not wild about Fionnadh's croquembouche because I am one of those rare people who hates the pumpkin spiced everything that happens in the fall. I can't decide how I feel about how she covered her tower with spun sugar. On the one hand, it made her creation look like a giant furball. On the other hand, those croquembouche towers tend to look kind of messy to me anyway, so the spun sugar just made it a different kind of messy.

I want Natasha to come to my house every morning and put my eyeliner on for me. That girl has perfect cateyes!The chocolate part of Natasha's cake looked beautiful but I could see how thick the pastry crust was. I don't think she was making excuses when she said it was hard to get it thin because of all the hazelnuts but why didn't she think of that beforehand and maybe crush them?

Darina's chocolate and berry pavlova tower looked delicious. I was cracking up when Paul tried to tell her that you can make something that's messy and also clean and tidy. Please show me how to make something look both messy and neat at the same time! But given that it was a pavlova tower with huge meringue discs, it would have been a mess as soon as they cut into it. I wish they had shown the comments she got on the actual flavor of her dessert.

Clare's raspberry, lemon, and coconut cake was also a bit messy but I loved all the pink she had inside the cake as well as the pink and white things she put on top.

While I understand that whole "you eat with your eyes first" concept, we didn't get any comments about Sandra's except for Paul saying that it was messy and looked like there were bananas on it.

James putting his dessert in a box was a nice additional bit of presentation, especially since those little choux buns aren't as impressive to look at on their own.

Neil's chocolate raspberry dessert looked shiny and delicious. I'll eat it, Paul! I would also like to point out that the tart used in the opening credits of the show looks exactly the same as Neil's creation. It's not too simple for the iconic opening credits!

Cathy's rose and peach tart looked horrific to me. I am not a fan of rose flavored desserts and she said she put rose into every part of this. I was also kind of horrified when I saw the orange color of her batter as she poured it into the pie tin. I actually like pink, but the pastel pink decorations she had around the outside really did not go well with the orange of the tart. I do love peach though.

I was kind of cracking up when Ailish said she was making a red velvet cake because she had one in New York. Although you can get red velvet in a lot of bakeries all over the country now, it's really a southern specialty. Hee, I'm with Paul - I'm not a huge fan of red velvet. To me the best thing about red velvet cake is the cream cheese frosting. I'd rather just have chocolate cake. I wasn't sure about the design when I saw her piping all those white swirls on her cake but the finished product was very pretty.

A few years ago, Mr. EB said he saw three guys in business suits walking downtown licking ice cream cones. Seeing Damien and his mates in their uniforms eating cupcakes was similarly adorable. I love strawberries so I was already sold on his dessert.

Oh poor Sandra. Her cake collapsed in the refrigerator and it ended up looking like something she fished out of the trash.

I loved seeing everyone try each other's desserts. I know they actually do this on all the Bake Off shows but we rarely get to see it.

I love cheesecake but I've never made one with gelatin. Hilarious that they had Anna euphemistically describe gelatin as a by product of the animal industry. This was a much more complicated and fussy cheescake than I'm used to though. I'm glad that so many of the bakers got good marks for taste (although since they didn't really make the passionfruit or mango jellies themselves, how responsible were they for the taste?) which I hope made up for how messy many of them looked. Poor Neil's didn't set at all, but I agreed with Paul that Neil got some points for making an effort to serve the remainder of his third cheesecake by dumping the contents into a bowl. There were so many different elements to these cheesecakes that I'm not surprised there were so many problems.

My least favorite thing about the GIBO is that they only do two challenges per week. How is it that the British, American, and Australian versions manage to do three challenges in the same amount of time but the Irish version can only squeeze in two challenges?

I like the new judge Lilly so far. So excited this show is back!

Edited October 27, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Writing Wrongs]

This is the third version I'm watching, including the Australian and South African shows. I hope I don't get confused!

 

I was sad that Sandra's dessert toppled.

 

I always see in British shows people eating ice cream cones with some kind of stick in them. What is that?

Edited October 26, 2015 by Writing Wrongs

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm watching the Australian and South African showd too so hopefully I can keep all the bakers straight in my head!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes from dessert week!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

For ‘Cake Week’ it’s all about accuracy and attention to detail as judge Lilly Higgins sets her first technical challenge -  'Adults Only' Coffee Cake with graduated sponge running down the cake and buttercream kisses on top.

 

Next up, the bakers must attempt their first ‘Showstopper Challenge’ and this week the judges are looking for a Halloween Cake. Whether a spooky sponge cake or a mysterious Madeira, the bakers must scare the judges with their spooktacular creations.

[Writing Wrongs]

I knew when Ailish left the competition that no one would be sent home.

 

I wonder why they only do 2 challenges instead of the usual 3?