The Great Australian Bake Off - General Discussion

[tenativelyyours]

Geez, where the heck did I get the 'Benton' from? 

 

In pretty much 99% unrelated matter, I never realized the previous judge was Biddy White Lennon.  Now that is an awesome name.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Maggie's mushroom, leek, and thyme pithivier recipe from this week's technical challenge

[Kromm]

Just caught up.
 

I have to say I'm very happy with this final 3. 
 

Suzy seems to be one of the loveliest people I've ever seen on TV. You can tell what the others think of her too, so it's not just for the camera. Her "with sparkles" attitude seemed a little contrived at the beginning of the season, but at this point we've seen a humble, soulful person who's got exactly the right attitude towards the contest, and the talent to back it all up. A win for Suzy would be a win for decency, kindness and hard work as much as a win for her baking.
 

Sian seemed a little too lauded in the early weeks but I think has earned the respect in spades now. She's very talented and if she ever wanted to pursue baking as a career I bet she'd get hired easily now, post-series.
 

Jasmin is the one easiest to identify with in many ways--I suppose for Aussies not in terms of her background (since she's the token non-Oz there) but I think in terms of how she's the slightly haphazard/stressed one who you wind up pulling for--maybe even more emphasized by how many times she was near the top and it went to someone else, as well as the times when she's slipped in challenges and came back strong in followups.  She's both a trier and a doer.

 

I'd be happy with any of them winning.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Kromm

[tenativelyyours]

Sad that Angela had to go.  I would have been sad for any though at this point.  The casting of this show has probably been one of the best ever.  i cannot think of a final six,five,four and now three that I have been so invested in and want to see succeed.  Again I would have no problem with just watching a weekly show with these people baking and just having fun with each other.

 

I do think Matt is a bit biased for Sian.  I find her really engaging and think she is fun and extremely talented.  But I am not sure her show stopper was enough to lift her past Suzy since Suzy seemed to deliver a show stopper (as they all did in my opinion) that was just a hair less than Sian.  And I thought her blueberry and earl grey tea sounded wonderful and the pastry seemed spot on, but it was not looking as great as I think it should have.  Don't get me wrong.  It looked fantastic.  But it was not the best we have seen her do in that type of detail and presentation.  Just look at her other two.  I would have given star baker to Suzy because she had the donuts, her tart was second and her show stopper was only slightly less than Sian's. 

 

And by the bias for Sian that Matt has.  I simply think she bakes and presents in the way that he likes.  The fact that when she succeeds, she puts it a bit over the top for him.  I think Angela would have had a hard time making it to the finale, as long as the others came through because I do think Matt wants refined baking and not 'country' baking.  I get it.  I just don't always agree with it. 

 

Granted my knowledge of tea is more British but I was surprised they kept saying 'high' and no one did anything savory.  To me what they presented was more of a lofty elevenses.  Of course growing up our American high tea was little meat tarts, quiches and tons of pastry (bless you grandmama).  And my British cousins would clutch pearls if they heard me utter the word "high" in front of tea.   

 

I'm of two minds of the hosts (same with Mel And Sue).  But they have grown on me and I loved their humor.  Their impressions of Maggie and Matt were hilarious.  And Mel and Sue, originals as they might be need to take a book of notes on how to work around the contestants and their benches.  Instead of breaking things, knocking them over and just getting in the way, these two interact and actually seem to help out beyond even the stirring and doily making.  They seem to calm the contestants down and help them focus.

 

I want all of them to come and live down the street from me.  Nadiya and Tamal from the last season of the British show can come along as well.  Tea would be epic.  So would my current exercise regimen.

 

Thankfully since I had no idea it would be donuts, tarts and pastry, I had stopped at Whole Foods on the way home to get in holiday staples and picked up a few indulgences as well.  This was a trifecta of my favorite things to eat in the baking area.   And all three are things I have noticed have declined in quality and availability in my locale (truly good donuts are impossible to find three shops closed in the last five years); you can get okay but to get really good you have to make it yourself.

 

And Maggie and the licor-is.  Hilarious. 

[Writing Wrongs]

I was laughing at the "licorice" debate. And when the one host started dancing and you could hear the crew laughing.

 

I'd be happy for any of the remaining to win. It's so refreshing not having anyone to hate on a reality show.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Over nine weeks, twelve of Australia's finest home bakers undertook a series of baking challenges and now just three remain. This epic conclusion will test the finalists to new limits. Who will be crowned Bake Off champion?

[SirOsisOfLiver]

If you watched Season 1, you may recall contestant Monique, the basketball player with the quirky sense of humour. She's been writing reviews of this season for an Aussie site. She's got a real fun writing style if anyone wants to check it out:

 

http://www.mamamia.com.au/author/moniquebowley/

[tenativelyyours]

I loved the laughter from the crew. 

 

Funny that Matt and Maggie thought Jasmin using the powdered sugar on her tart was so left field.  I get that they did not want it.  But most curd tarts I have bought and consumed in Paris at the local shops I have been lucky enough to find do that.

 

Also a third (though in my mind second) season is coming!  Yay!

 

ETA.  I checked out Monique's blog on this episode.  Didn't go back to see what she had written on earlier ones.  Boy does she have it in for Jasmin.  Going by the three rounds I'm not sure Jasmin would be the one going home if Angela did not.  And Monique acts like Jasmin's performances were much worse than Angela's.  Yes her tart was off, but so was Sian's.  Her donuts were in the top along with Suzy's.  Sian and Angela both had taste and bake issues there.  And Jasmin seemed to be in a tied second very close to first in the show stopper; delivering great unique takes as well as slightly twisted classics that were spot on.  I'm sad to see Angela go.  But the biased against Jasmin seems really specious to me.   We get it.  She is from Britain.  You had what looked like a couple of escapees from Big Brother on your season, Monique and no one got in a tizzy on you there.  If Jasmin meets the criteria to be on the show then suck it up.  After all if Jasmin is somehow suspect then the system that put her through with all the others is just as suspect.  And the whole thing is flooey.  Sorry SirOsisOfLiver, I appreciate the link but overall I don't think Monique is quite having fun with this.  She needs to take the narrow from her mind. 

Edited December 17, 2015 by tenativelyyours

[Kromm]

I checked out Monique's blog on this episode.  Didn't go back to see what she had written on earlier ones.  Boy does she have it in for Jasmin.  Going by the three rounds I'm not sure Jasmin would be the one going home if Angela did not.  And Monique acts like Jasmin's performances were much worse than Angela's.  Yes her tart was off, but so was Sian's.  Her donuts were in the top along with Suzy's.  Sian and Angela both had taste and bake issues there.  And Jasmin seemed to be in a tied second very close to first in the show stopper; delivering great unique takes as well as slightly twisted classics that were spot on.  I'm sad to see Angela go.  But the biased against Jasmin seems really specious to me.   We get it.  She is from Britain.  You had what looked like a couple of escapees from Big Brother on your season, Monique and no one got in a tizzy on you there.  If Jasmin meets the criteria to be on the show then suck it up.  After all if Jasmin is somehow suspect then the system that put her through with all the others is just as suspect.  And the whole thing is flooey.  Sorry SirOsisOfLiver, I appreciate the link but overall I don't think Monique is quite having fun with this.  She needs to take the narrow from her mind.

Sigh. Oz has a lot of nice people, but it also has crazy bogans (Americans: think "Aussie redneck" or "white trash"--although they're actually often urban. Brits: think "chav").  Without even having seen Season 1 of this and just going by your description here that's what this lady sounds like.

I'm of two minds of the hosts (same with Mel And Sue).  But they have grown on me and I loved their humor.  Their impressions of Maggie and Matt were hilarious.  And Mel and Sue, originals as they might be need to take a book of notes on how to work around the contestants and their benches.  Instead of breaking things, knocking them over and just getting in the way, these two interact and actually seem to help out beyond even the stirring and doily making.  They seem to calm the contestants down and help them focus.

It doesn't change your point at all, but I do think it's worth pointing out that Mel and Sue almost seem to do it on purpose. As with most British "double acts", a lot of their shtick is mugging, and I've always seen their shenanigans around the bakers as exactly that. Acting buffoonish as a least common denominator aspect of their comedy.  They can be witty too, but it's just built into that particular slot of Brit comedy (a side most Americans don't see--because the US with a few rare exceptions mostly doesn't do comedy double acts)--double act buffoonery and mugging I mean. Edited December 17, 2015 by Kromm

[tenativelyyours]

So sad this is over. 

 

As they did the little overview of the season at the start, it amazed me how there was such a divide in quality of the contestant.  The final six where head and shoulders over the rest really and the final four had a big incline in ability and talent over Nathan and even James.   Still I don't know if even the doctor couldn't have held his own on the US Holiday show.

 

Sorry Sian but that was not a vanilla slice.  Yes I know it is a variation of a mille-feuille but it is not quite the same.  Just like there are slight differences with Napoleons and Neapolitans and mille-feuille.  I think Matt was really annoyed and Maggie was kind of bewildered since the brief given was definitely defining as a vanilla slice which has the icing layer. 

 

I knew the minute Sian said she was doing a croquembouche, she would likely win.  I think her style and her use of certain techniques raised the bar no matter what flaws she might have had.  And she had some.  Jasmin's was definitely more my style.   All show stoppers were impressive in terms of skill and work and technique.  I know part of me simply is never and has never been wowed by croquembouche.  my great grandmother had three fabulous towers of them delivered early Christmas Eve morning and New Year's eve morning.  Delicious.  But I have never seen them as a 'wow' factor by appearance.  As an adult realizing what work and skill it takes to create a great one I do appreciate them.  I like eating them. But looks wise they always seem a bit rough no matter how perfectly done. 

 

Her cake though looked amazing.  I wish they had talked a bit more about it in terms of how much that played in contrast to Jasmin's mud cake. 

 

Excellent ending to an excellent series.  I'm not sure how they will be able to recapture that with the next season but they did such a spot on job in casting and execution of the show itself. 

 

Oh and I hope Monique walks back her little barista jab in her outrage Jasmin stayed over Angela.  First because I am not sure why it is a position that invites scorn let alone should preclude her from staying to the final.  Sian works in a clothing store doesn't she?  Suzy manages the family construction firm.  anyway.  I loved seeing Jasmin works with rescuing dogs.  I so want to be friends with her.  I want to be friends with all of them.  Well the top six.  The rest seemed nice enough I just didn't get a sense of them due to the length they were on the show and having to compete just for air time with more people on an episode to cover.  I think given the chance I could cure Nathan of his up-speak in no time. 

[Kromm]

I think traditionalists, like they always have judge these shows, either don't know, or hate, trends like "naked cake" and kick back against that. And Jasmin maybe lost because she did it (well that and that they probably didn't want to give it to a Brit). It was just two weeks ago I think that we saw Mary Berry, on ABC's Great Holiday Baking Competition, pretty much say she had no idea what a naked cake was. These judges clearly knew what Naked Cakes were, but... that doesn't mean they really wanted to reward it. Actually it was more the male judge, Matt, who seemed on Jasmin's case. Maggie, the female one, seemed to love it.

 

I actually was very puzzled by all three finalist's final showstoppers. Not that croquembouche or gingerbread houses are easy by any means--they're both quite difficult--but they're certainly not very original. 

 

I said last week I'd be okay with any of these three winning. I meant it. But it DOES seem like Sian won more on intangibles and total record rather than what she did specifically in the last episode.

I think given the chance I could cure Nathan of his up-speak in no time. 

Heh. How?  Every single Australian out there is an up-talker. The amount varies but it's pretty defining in their speech.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

As I was watching this episode, I realized that I wanted all four of these bakers to go to the final! I think that Suzy and Jasmin were my definite picks for the finale. Sian and Angela seem to be opposites. Angela has really great baking skills, a lot of experience, and tons of technical knowledge but her show stoppers aren't always as flashy. Sian's presentation skills are really good but she has not always done well with her actual baking. I wasn't sure how the judges would go between the two of them, but once Sian was crowned star baker for the week, I was sure Angela would be eliminated. I really loved seeing everyone help Sian after she injured her fingers. That is the kind of thing that happens on these Bake Off shows and why I love them. Of course everyone wants to win, but they still want a level playing field. No one wants to win solely because someone else had one hand tied behind their back.

 

I love donuts so I loved this week's signature challenge. I hate licorice so I wasn't very excited about Sian's chocolate and licorice donuts, but I give her credit for her licorice glaze. And of course I loved Maggie admitting that she had pronounced it as "licoriss" her entire life. It was also cute when Matt suggested that the rest of us have all been pronouncing it incorrectly.

 

I really appreciated that Angela listened to Matt's suggestion and made lemon cream donuts in addition to her lemon curd donuts. Even though the judges both said the original lemon curd donut was better, I like that Angela is willing to take the judges' suggestion and adapt her original plan. I also liked that Angela asked Sian's opinion (and Sian was right!). It's nice to watch the bakers bounce ideas off each other and get advice.

 

Jasmin's donuts all looked delicious! I loved when Matt cut the first donut in half so we could see how fluffy it was inside while still crunchy on the outside. I see nothing wrong with going with classic flavors for something like a donut challenge. Raspberry jam donuts and custard filled donutes are my two favorite donuts so I was happy that they tasted as good as they looked. Jasmin clearly knew what she was doing since she explained how and why she was adding the yeast to keep her dough fluffy.

 

Suzy's trio looked great too. The host described her donuts as cinnamon, chocolate icing, and pink icing. I wanted to know if the pink icing had a particular flavor or if it was just icing with pink food coloring. Ha, loved that Matt and Maggie tried to guilt trip her into making another donut that wasn't so simple and reflected her heritage so she added the honey and walnut donut that they loved.

 

Putting aside the actual flavors, Suzy and Jasmin had the best donut dough. Both were praised for their fluffy dough. But the judges also loved the flavors they used for their donuts so they seemed to be in the top for the signature bake.

 

I don't like passionfruit so I was SOL on the technical challenge. Interesting that Matt chose something simple but precise (as opposed to something with a million steps/ingredients). When Sian burned her fingers and kept on going, I was yelling at my tv. You ar supposed to run your burned fingers under cold water for at least two minutes! It was nice to see Sian kept it all in perspective when she said, "Who cries over a tart?" It always drives me crazy when reality contestants moan about something on the show being the worst thing that's ever happened to them. Not only did I love seeing the other bakers help Sian during the technical but I also really enjoyed everyone asking each other about their tarts and checking each other's out.

 

Jasmin reminds me of Cathy on the Great Irish Bake Off (and I swear it's not just the red hair!). I have been rooting for both of them! I love Suzy too. She is so positive and I agree that the sparkly stuff definitely reflects her personality. I like Sian and she has done some really beautiful work this season so I'm excited to see what she does in the finale.

 

I have been pretty neutral about the new hosts all season. I have not particularly liked or disliked them. I accept their presence but don't pay much attention to them. This week, though, they won me over with their impressions of Maggie and Matt. To be honest, when they said they were going to imitate them, I thought that Maggie and Matt weren't really unique enough to imitate but they both did a pretty good job. I also cracked up when the brunette host started dancing and you could hear everyone laughing. It was fun to see both hosts actually helping the bakers instead of making me afraid they were going to break or drop something (Mel & Sue!).

 

Who cares if Jasmin is originally from somewhere else? Maybe it's because I live in America, but immigrants are just a part of life here. Yes, I know people whose relatives came over on the Mayflower, but I also know people who were born elsewhere and then moved here (some as children, some as adults) and it's not a big deal at all, particularly here in California. I know tons of people who were born in Mexico, Asia, and Europe.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I was so excited to watch the finale but I was also so sad knowing that the season would be over. I have been watching the Australian, Irish, and South African Bake Off shows and this is the last one of the three. It's going to be so hard to go from watching three Bake Off shows per week to NONE!

 

On a shallow note, I love all the gorgeous food porn footage in the opening credits so much more than the British version of the opening credits. I am so used to seeing Sian with her hair in a high ponytail that when she was shown with her hair down during the talking heads, i did a double take.

 

I'm not familiar with what a vanilla slice is. so I was glad that the hosts specified it had to have laminated dough and custard. Yum!

 

Jasmin's vanilla slice with raspberry custard and caramelized white chocolate custard sounded delicious! I don't know about the fondant icing though. I can't lie - seeing Jasmin lick her pan made me love her even more because that is something I would do. I have no shame when it comes to delicious food!

 

I liked the idea of Suzy's cheesecake vanilla slice but I wasn't crazy about the passionfruit jam cream. I guess I'll take her royal icing over Jasmin's fondant icing. I have often thought that the hosts must be really distracting (on all the Bake Off shows, not the Australian one in particular) so I loved that when the hosts asked Suzy if they could help when she was trying to slice precisely, she told them it would help if they stopped talking. HA! I also loved that Suzy was using baking pans to help make even slices. Nice to see Sian helping Suzy with her vanilla slices after seeing Suzy help Sian last week when she burned her fingers.

 

I know Matt loves Sian's flavor combinations but salted caramel and white chocolate mouse with mandarin jelly and curd? No thanks! I like citrus but not with chocolate or salted caramel.

 

Ha, I loved that the bakers' reaction to the cornucopia cake for the technical challenge was, "Omigawd, there are three pages of instructions!" Salted honeycomb, honey cream, raspberry jelly, chocolate mousse, crystallized hazelnuts, chocolate cake, hazelnut mousse, and chocolate ganache glaze? HELL YEAH! Poor Suzy got behind. They all seemed to be going at about the same rate so I'm not sure how she got so far behind that she hadn't put her glaze on when Jasmin and Sian both had their cakes glazed and in the freezer to set.

 

I didn't like Sian's pyramid of strawberries on top because that's just asking for a bunch of raspberries to fall and scatter when you have to cut into the middle part of the cake. I preferred Suzy's simple square of raspberries. It reminded me of the opening credits when I saw them putting the raspberries on top. I really liked that we got to hear Matt and Maggie discussing the merits of each cake while they decided the rankings.

 

Part of me likes that the final show stopper was just "do whatever you want." Giving the bakers total freedom means no excuses! Loved that after the showstopper was over, all three of the finalists had a big group hug.

 

Love that Jasmin works with rescue dogs! Her cake sounded yummy. Red velvet beetroot cake, chocolate mudcake, salted caramel popcorn, and white chocolate shards - awesome. I love that Matt told her there was no question that she deserved to be in the final.

 

I am not a huge fan of croquembouche towers because they tend to look messy, but I loved Sian's chocolate mascarpone cake base. The chocolate and Frangelico profiteroles sounded good, but I thought the limoncello profiteroles and the blood orange and campari profiteroles wouldn't go as well with the chocolate. I guess Sian really likes citrus.

 

I liked that Suzy's church was in honor of her wedding anniversary - having that personal connection makes it interesting! I kind of didn't like how the hazelnut paste and cream buns were just plopped next to the gingerbread church. But I loved that the diamond ring reflected her trademark sparkle! It seemed like hers was really simple and not as much work compared to the other two.

 

I always love seeing the eliminated bakers at the finale, but I also found it hilarious that the producers let everyone just lookyloo right outside the shed while the bakers were finishing their show stoppers. I loved that after the bakers hugged their families, they all ran to hug the eliminated bakers. I have to admit that I teared up when Jasmin's dad and sister surprised her. That is a long flight so it was really sweet that they kept it a secret.

[RealityCheck]

Good news!  According to this article, a new season of The Great Australian Bake Off is being filmed.

Quote

Claire Hooper and Mel Buttle are back as hosts with Maggie Beer and Matt Moran returning as judges.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Wooooo! I'm so excited that we're getting a third season!

[tenativelyyours]

Push through and then find the second season.  So so much better that the first season seems like an outright insult.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

What better way to kick off the series than with a Bake Off cake off? The bakers have two hours to bake one family sized signature cake. The bakers have to cook in an unfamiliar kitchen to a tight deadline under the watchful eyes of judges Maggie Beer and Matt Moran.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The bakers must bake a whopping 36 individual but identical savoury biscuits within two hours. Maggie challenges the bakers with her Florentine biscuit in the technical bake.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yay, I'm so excited that this show is back!

Love Fiona the lawyer's bulldog Franklin. He looked so solemn while watching Fiona and her fiance eat their dessert. Her white chocolate and pandan lamingtons. She was very cheerful when Matt said her pandan leaves smelled like fish sauce. I like that Maggie's response was to say that the way things smell and the way they taste aren't always the same. Interesting that the host was the one who asked if Fiona's was a lamington or a slice of cake and Matt was the one to defend it because it had coconut so it was a non-traditional lamington (especially in light of his complaint about cream and frosting on top). Fiona was having so much trouble getting her cake out of the pan that I was afraid that the cake would not be perfect. So glad that the judges loved the flavor.

So cute that Bojan's tow truck coworkers said that they don't start work until they eat his treats. His lime curd and vanilla lamingtons were so bright and colorful. They were also very uniform.

Olivia has a cute dog too! The cake shown at her house looked pretty good so I have high expectations for her showstoppers. I love pink desserts so I was excited about her lamingtons, but I had to laugh at the cultural differences. When she said she was putting redskins in her mix, I was like whoa, what are you talking about? I also had to look up exactly what raspberry jelly crystals are (translation: jello mix). Her lamingtons were very pretty. The white decoration on top (it looked like a lily?) was so elegant.

Jeremy the welding inspector seemed to have low expectations since his goal was to finish making the signature bake in time. His cherry jam and chocolate lamingtons were a mess and he only managed to turn in eight instead of twelve.

Liesel the conservation and biology student is lucky to have fresh stuff from her parents' home - I was so envious of that huge lemon tree! Her lemon and honey lamingtons sounded good. She was so calm when that bee flew near her honey jar. I would have been shrieking like a crazy person.

Diana the Swedish model has an adorable white kitten! Her heart shaped maple, cherry, and coffee chocolate lamingtons were pretty but they seemed smaller than some of the others.

I liked that James the IT guy decided to combine Japanese tea with Australian tea. His chocolate and green tea lamingtons looked uniform. It's too bad that he let Matt get in his head about not having enough flavors. If he hadn't decided to add that green tea cream, the judges would have liked his lamingtons better.

Antonio the high school student had a pretty impressive burger cake at home. His chocolate cherry lamingtons with pistachio looked pretty. I especially liked the little purple violet petal on each. The color contrasted beautifully with the pistachios. I was cracking up that Matt said the cherry liqueur in the sponge was too strong because I bet Mary Berry would have loved it. I liked Mary's suggestion to grind the pistachios into a powder and mix it with the coconut.

Monica tiramisu lamingtons sounded great. I liked the yellow flower on top of each.

Noel the retired teacher has a dog who looks lime my friend's dog. His round citrus curd and chocolate lamingtons looked nice. He gets bonus points for teaching Matt his trick about freezing to keep the curd from seeping into the cake.

Cheryl the racehorse trainer's brown butter and marmalade lamingtons were huge. I'm not Australian so I'm not sure what's considered a traditional lamington, which is why I didn't get why Matt complained about having cream or frosting on top. It's not the technical so the bakers are allowed (and encouraged) to make their bakes personal to try to stand out. If they don't then they're criticized for being boring and unoriginal.

Janette the math challenged granny's raspberry and chocolate lamingtons were huge. She mentioned her decorating skills earlier so I thought she would have great presentation but these looked messy.

The pear and amaretto upside down cake technical was interesting. Great to see Jeremy do so well after his disappointing signature bake. Conversely, sad to see Fiona finish tenth after she did so well in the signature.

I love ombre cakes so I was excited to see everyone's showstoppers.

Fiona's lemon and raspberry was gorgeous inside and out. Loved how she matched the color gradation of the frosting roses on the outside with each cake on the inside. She was smart to use lemon to balance the sweetness of the berry flavors.

James's lemon cake was beautiful. I loved his idea to go light to dark on the inside and dark to light on the outside.

Cheryl's rhubarb, plum, and cherry was so messy looking on the outside. It looked like she applied the frosting with a trowel. Did she say she used wine in the cream on the inside layers of the cake? She knew that her cakes came out rubbery so she couldn't have been surprised by the judges' comments about the denseness.

Noel's shades of autumn with mocha, chocolate, and hazelnut was really nice. I like that he used several different flavors. You'd think a brown ombre cake would be boring but he did a good job with the color gradation.

Janette's rose flavored cake was not appealing to me because as much as I like roses, I don't like rose flavored food. I liked all the flowers she used to decorate but the frosting was too lumpy for my taste. I thought the colors of her cake were too dull.

Olivia's lemon and sour cream was so bright and cheery. her sugar flowers were pretty and I liked the color gradation of the cakes.

Diana's grapefruit, orange, and lemon was small, but pretty. The cake colors were really vivid. I liked the butterfly decorations.

Jeremy's pina colada was a mess. I liked his original idea to make the cake look like a pineapple but between the orangish frosting color and the way he applied it (I suspect he intended it to be one of those half naked cakes but it ended up looking like he only got the crumb layer on), it didn't look great. I can't get mad about the actual pineapple greens since his fondant greens ended up not working out. His flavors really saved him.

Monica's strawberry and raspberry was pretty. She had a lot of layers in there! My complaint was about the aesthetics. I wasn't a fan of the wafer paper. It seemed like a cop out to decorate the whole cake with it. And although I am impressed that she made seven layers of cake, the ombre was a little off. The first and third layers were very bright but the second layer was much lighter. I think she should have switched the second and third layers. The layer that was second from the top was also less pink and more greyish.

Liesel's coconut and raspberry fairy cake with marshmallow was nice, but I totally cracked up when she asked if her decoration looked like a toadstool or a turd.

Bojan's blue vanilla cream cheese cake was a little disappointing. I really liked that he chose blue which was a nice contrast from all the pink and yellow cakes we saw, but the piping on top of the cake (were they supposed to be flowers?) looked like blue turds. I think he should have used one other cake flavor inside. Four layers of vanilla cake is kind of boring. Loved that he used cream cheese frosting though!

Antonio's purple vanilla cake looked crooked. Hee, I liked that when he said he was making eight cake layers, the host told him to say six just in case something went wrong. I agree with Matt that the cake colors weren't really ombre. The bottom layer was just straight yellow cake. The top layer was purple. The middle layer looked kind of grey.

I would have chosen Fiona as star baker, but the judges were really enamored with Monica's show stopper. Farewell, Janette!

[OnceSane]

I would have chosen Fiona as Star Baker too, but I think her poor showing  technical kept her from the win this week.

So much sloppiness on those signature bakes!  I was surprised that so many failed to present something, well, presentable.  I chalked it up to getting used to baking in the tent and learning how to manage their time/dealing with the cameras.  But the ombre cakes mostly looked good.  I think Janette was the right choice to go.

[tenativelyyours]

Yeah I was a bit confused because Monica's show stopper was not ombre.  It broke twice that I could tell in the color graduations.   Also I thought her decorations looked too much and yet not enough actual skill to produce.  I would have gone with Fiona as well since Monica's standings weren't that high in the other two.  Had she seemed to be the leader going into the show stopper yes.  But I'm also reminded how much Matt loves show stoppers to be almost gaudy and over-detailed and sometimes I think Maggie isn't that far behind.  I'm more of the school that I still want it to look like a dessert and not a centerpiece or a diorama of some sorts.

Its too bad about the decorating because Bojan's cake itself was gorgeous in meeting the ombre brief.  There is something about him I just like so I hope his other areas of baking are a little sharper.  That or his nerves just settle.

I also tend to gravitate towards the kids each season mostly and Antonio is no exception.  I love that he gravitates towards booze so much.  Its funny how authentic the youngster in this and the Brit tent come off and yet in so many American shows of the type they either come off as brats or insincere.

I did notice that this bunch is much more gregarious than the last season seemed to be.  A bit more "ready for the cameras".  But I think I'm getting just a more brash (in a good way) feel from it being Australians while wrapping up the Brit season.  When Selasi would be the more reserved one in this tent, I do hope some tone it down just a touch with the giddy.  Jeremy, Leisel, Monica and Fiona are really bubbly and smiley and it just throws me off a tad.  Not in a bad way at all.  In fact it is rather interesting seeing the cultural differences that still exist.  But I also noticed that this group settled right in with each other as well.  I'm not sure if that is an editing issue, or whether it is a nice intrinsic Australian element coming through (Mel and Claire gained my fondness when they refused to abide by the "rules" last season and often stepped in to do actual help to finish if they could squeeze past the rest who were already helping). 

As cynical as I am, there is something so affirmative how certain bakers jump right in to help others.  Selasi was already a favorite in the Brit show but he sealed the deal the first episode with his immediate aid to Candice.  Here is the same thing.  I keep my eye on the bakers that are eager to help and just see the others do well and are genuinely happy with others' good bakes.  I grew up with all my siblings and myself doing sports and having an American competitive mindset that seemed normal and I know realize I just find wearisome even before the Winningest Candidate and his winningest promises.  It so nice to be able to strive to do your best, hope it is the best and yet be so sincerely happy to see your competitors do well.  There is something about the mindset of wanting to win only because your best was the best, not because your competition wasn't the best. 

It really drained away a lot of the general stress of the week to sit back and just soak this show in.  It manages the perfect balance of homage to the original and a slightly different approach that makes it its own.

I do think I like the shed set up a bit better in some ways than the tent.  This actually has less of a set feel to it in some ways and I like the produce fridges with the milk and eggs etc.   The space is also a bit more generous thanks to the more natural lighting.  Last, I like the atmosphere as they end the episode as well with closing after the sun goes down.  The glow in the shed really conveys an odd day's work is done vibe which seems odd and yet plays to the coziness that I want from a Great Bake Off show. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I love that in the shed, we get to see how light or dark it is outside due to all the doors and windows (which is something I loved about the Great Allotment Challenge too). It's nice to really see how much time has passed over the course of the episode.

I love reality shows where people want to be kind rather than cutthroat. It's fine to want to win but I hate watching people act like dicks and then try to justify it with the reality show staples "I'm just being real," I'm not here to make friends," etc. I am American so I understand the competitive mindset, but the schools I attended always encouraged good sportsmanship and being supportive teammates. During sporting events, we were not allowed to yell "YOU SUCK!" or derogatory things about the opposing teams. I was on the high school dance team but many of us were involved in other activities. Our coach made sure to know who was doing what and then she would do things like announce during class that since one of our dance team members was on the basketball team that was going to the finals, we should all go to cheer her on and be supportive. That's the kind of camaraderie that I feel among the bake off casts, even from the beginning of each season, which is one of the reasons I love watching these shows. You can want to win without being a total dick to your fellow competitors.

I agree that if Fiona had done better in the technical, she might have won star baker. But I also think that Matt and Maggie were REALLY impressed with Monica's showstopper. I thought it was pretty but that most of it was not due to her decorating skills. She took paper and wrapped it around each cake layer. How is that impressive? At least when the bakers create their own wraps by decorating on acetate, that takes skill. But the only skill Monica showed in decorating her cake was the skill of choosing which paper to use. To me, that's similar to those little plastic cartoon characters that used to come on Baskin Robbins birthday cakes. Sure, it's decorated but it didn't require any skill to do it. Anyone can do that. Her cake also looked too busy. It reminded me of that saying about accessories - when you think you're all glammed up, give yourself once last look and remove one thing. I'm okay with the showstoppers being over the top but to me, Monica's wasn't over the top. Rather it needed some editing (TM Project Runway).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes from this episode

Antonio's choc-cherry lamingtons
Janette's chocolate lamingtons
Cheryl's marmalade lamingtons
Monica's tiramisu lamingtons
Fiona's pandan lamington cake
Bojan's lime lamingtons
James's green tea lamingtons
Liesel's ginger and honey lamingtons
Jeremy's choc-cherry lamingtons
 

Edited October 18, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Sorry, I was having problems getting this to post. I think the system limits you to ten links per post so I had to break the recipes up into multiple posts!

Noel's lamingtons
Olivia's pretty in pink lamingtons
Diana's mocha cherry lamingtons

Matt Moran's pear and amaretto upside down cake (technical challenge)

Noel's shades of autumn ombre cake
Leisel's fairy ombre cake
Bojan's forever blue ombre cake
Diana's citrus ombre cake
Olivia's lemon delight ombre cake
Antonio's vanilla ombre cake
 

Edited October 18, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

James's haut et bas gateaux
Fiona's bel air ombre cake
Jeremy's pina colada ombre cake
Monica's berry ombre cake
Janette's rose ombre cake
Cheryl's nectar of the gods ombre cake
 

[tenativelyyours]

I wanna know how far Matt had to stand to think Cheryl's shop stopper was spectacular?  From the greatest distance I saw it it was still a hot mess.  She was definitely the right choice.

 

Monica is annoying the heck out of me.  Probably the most of any Bake Off contestant (I'm ignoring the US and the initial Aussie versions because I simply refuse to consider them in the same field).  She seems nice.  But she continues to ignore briefs and skirts them considerably in my opinion.  And gets rewarded for them.  The paper comes out again -- a huge cheat in this case since she did not build a structure but a display piece that was incredibly simple -- even James' in its apocalyptic phase had more structure to it and a bunch of relief cookies.  I call foul.   Not enough to send her home but still.  The praise she got for her show stopper was really pissing me off.  Matt loves busy.  And ignores the short cuts that busy can often be done with in terms of the overall baking aspect.

I would have given Antonio the star baker award this time.  Liesel's was nice but it was kind of messy to me compared to some of the others. 

I was glad to see Jeremy and Bojan come back in the show stopper.   Especially Bojan because I could sort of him deflate last week and this week a couple of times when he could tell things were not going well and he seems like the type of guy that might not recover from that if it keeps piling up.

Diana surprised me.  She seemed so the next to go during the signature bake.  A bit too ditzy at times and lacking focus but she came through with her Eiffel Tower.  It really is one of the better ones I have seen in baking contests.

I love a poor man's Florentine.  A real one not so much.  Mostly because I do not like candied fruit at all.  Not really dried fruit in bake goods either.  I grew up with the German version of a Florentine which was the lace cookie but with finely chopped hazelnut instead of almonds mixed into the cookie batter itself and just a touch of orange zest and cinnamon and then drizzled heavily but not coated with dark chocolate. 

Other than Matt's overrated awe for Monica's busy facade bakes, I'm not sure who is standing out yet.  Some of the obvious choices last week by experience and approach fumbled a bit in a surprising way this week.

I did find the creaming method used with fingers fascinating.  I'm single and have baked and cooked for myself so while I am strong on personal hygiene before cooking, I also don't have fingers in the food issues.  Plus growing up, two of my uncles lived with us while they were in med school and one went on to become a surgeon.  Short fingernails and surgical handwashing is the norm for my entire family.  To the point that I love when I go to a busy public restroom and see the reactions I get when I wash my hands.  Its not OCD but it is thorough (plus it makes people really get boggled when I always use a clean papertowel to open the door when I exit -- I never understood people washing their hands and then having to grab the same pull handle that the guy who just crapped and didn't wash used.  And in theaters?!?  That hand rooting into a popcorn bucket!!!

James lucked out and I did think he might be the one to go with his pronouncements of expertise followed by how humiliating it would be to go out biscuit week.  But when Cheryl unrolled that chocolate...thing, I was sure she was going. 

I did like Mel's "Or as we say 'Perth'." response because I've been three times and while it is lovely there is also something a bit end of the world to it.   You get away from the harbor area and it just feels like the rest of the world could be collapsing and you wouldn't know until it is too late. 

Oh and Monica's signature was disgusting looking.  It wasn't even just inappropriately "pretty".  And I think making the macarons pink because that is some kind of signature bake should have been smacked down a bit harder.  I compare Matt's reaction to Jeremy's cold pizza biscuit and thought it was blunt and could have been a bit discouraging.  Monica needed to be discouraged.  I loathe cold pizza but I know lots of people who love it and being an American that grew up with plenty of away football games spent in front of the tv set with bowls of various snacks (most of which I hate-- give me a simple chip or a good pretzel and some mustard to dip it in), pizza flavor has a strong avid audience in all the many forms it can come in. 

Just in case you lost the general theme here, Monica's bakes have annoyed me.

[OnceSane]

Monica was last week's Star Baker, right?  She could have gone home this week & I'd have been fine.  She did terribly in the Signature and Technical.

Fiona continues to be one of my faves.  Her "Florentines suck!" had me rolling.  And I think if she'd performed better in the technical (& had made a bigger Giza scene), she would have won SB.

[tenativelyyours]

Yes Monica was Star Baker last week and going by the edit Matt seems to think was at least in the top of the field after her show stopper this week.  I do remember how he would gush over Sian last season as she had a tendency to accessorize her show stoppers as well.  But she did so using baking techniques and Monica just seems to art project her work and Matt is simply bowled over by the "glory" of it all. 

If I can't eat it, it should not be on the plate.  Even if that means Olivia's little cars go back in the box.  But the paper routine is two weeks in and was too much the first time let alone the coloring this week.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Biscuit week always confuses me because I expect cookies and then we end up with...not cookies. I was also confused because the signature challenge was supposed to be savo(u)ry biscuits and we had shortbread, crackers, biscotti, oatcakes, etc.

I was cracking up at Matt's super low V neck t-shirt with a blazer.

James's parmesan and chive biscuits with smoked salmon looked like fancy hors d'oeuvres. Ha, finally I got some kind of criteria from the judges about what constitutes a biscuit - it has to be crispy! He's lucky the judges loved his flavors so much since the biscuits weren't crispy enough for them.

Olivia's oatmeal, poppyseed, and black salt biscuits looked nice. I liked the way she arranged them in a circular pattern to make her presentation a little fancier, as opposed to the way some of the other bakers just dumped all 36 on a plate. I love salty stuff too, Matt!

Monica's gorgonzola, prosciutto, and fig jam macarons looked like mini hot dogs in mini buns. I knew she was in trouble when both Matt and Maggie expressed concern about using sweetness in a savo(u)ry challenge. I don't mind mixing sweet with savo(u)ry, but I didn't like the elongated shape of the macarons, partly because they weren't all perfectly even. I think the flavor combination sounded fine (it's pretty traditional) but I think the judges intended to hate it and they did.

Cheryl's blue cheese, garlic, and chive checkerboard biscuits with activated charcoal were interesting. I am all for anyone who measures with a ruler, so there's that. Activated charcoal absorbs whatever is in your stomach (which is why it's used for drug overdoses in emergency rooms) so hopefully Maggie and Matt hadn't taken any medication within a few hours of eating her biscuits!

Noel's rosemary, parmesan, and pepper shortbread sounded good but I was worried that the judges would think it was too simple. I was glad that they liked his shortbread so much.

Bojan's sundried tomato and parmesan shortbread suffered from the same "not crispy enough" criticism as James did. More cake than biscuit does help me understand a bit more what they're looking for.

Fiona's chili, thyme, and fennel cheesy biscuits looked so pretty (as opposed to Noel's more rustic looking shortbread). I was worried that the judges wouldn't like them since they said they aren't fans of chili or spicy things. I love Fiona, so I'm really glad that the chili wasn't too much for them.

Jeremy's smoked ham, gruyere, and cheddar pizza biscuits. He won extra points with me when he said that he's a cake person. And Matt doesn't like cold pizza? More for me! I thought that Jeremy had a fun idea that satisfied the brief but was different from what everyone else made. Loved the little biscuit boxes that he put his mini pizzas in too. I don't know why Maggie said she would have preferred to eat it hot. Several of the other bakers used cheese or meat in their biscuits but they were fine at room temperature.

Antonio's sundried tomato, fennel, and garlic biscotti looked nice, but I wasn't sure why Maggie complimented him on the presentation. He just stacked them into rows which doesn't have any particular wow factor to me.

This is the second week in a row that Diana has worn a twee flowered headband. I was okay with it last week, but is this going to be a thing every week? And then she talked about wanting to make her biscuits girlie looking. I'm all for pink and glitter, but not everything needs to be girlie. Let the biscuits just be biscuits. Don't force them to be girlie! Her bacon and fennel crackers were simple, but I didn't see anything wrong with that. How many flavors do you need in a biscuit, Matt?

Liesel's pumpkin seed oatcakes with goat cheese and pomegranate were pretty. The pomegranate on top of each added great color. She got bonus points from me for helping Jeremy with his dough and suggesting he had some lemon juice to add moisture and acidity. Then she told James to split one of his bigger biscuits since he was short one.

I'm not big on Florentines (I'd rather have a lacey cookie which is similar but without the candied fruit). I had to laugh at James's reaction to trying the angelica/parsley: "ehhhh." I also had to laugh at the host who said, "Who doesn't want celery in their Florentines?" There's always someone who thinks they should change the recipe for the technical challenge and they're ALWAYS wrong. This time it was Cheryl. Didn't she change part of the technical recipe last week too? I also hated that she said she's not a pedantic, neat decorator but she's a flavor girl. Look, you can make your stuff look nice AND taste good. Part of me really wanted James to win the technical just so he would get a tattoo of a Florentine. When Monica said that she had tried to temper chocolate many times but never succeeded, I thought whaaaaat? It's not rocket science. You just need a thermometer and to pay attention. Yay for Antonio! Not at all surprised that Cheryl came in tenth. Always follow the recipe!

Cheryl's orange and chocolate biscuit St. Basil's cathedral was a colorful mess. It looked like a kid's art project. It also didn't look like a showstopper to me. It was small, uncomplicated, and unimpressive.

I liked that James's sugar biscuit and chocolate covered gingerbread Perth bell tower was to represent where he's from. (I had to look up what isomalt is). James was nicer than I would have been when Matt said he had been to Perth many many times and had no idea what the Perth bell tower was. Poor James. He just got (understandably) frustrated when the top broke. But I loved that he went all HULK SMASH after judging. Notice that everyone ran over to taste it!

Diana really gave herself a challenge when she chose to make a chocolate biscuit Eiffel Tower. Although some of her linework was a little shaky, overall I was impressed that she managed to make it structurally sound and so tall!

Antonio's gingerbread and caramel Big Ben was simple in terms of the structure (a rectangle) but it was done so cleanly that I liked it.

Noel's gingerbread Arc di Triomphe with shortbread, chocolate creams, and ginger creams wasn't horrible, but it was definitely very simple in shape and in the decoration.

Olivia's gingerbread Arc di Triomphe looked smaller but she definitely had more creative decorative icing, especially on the top.

Liesel's chai tea and Earl Grey tea butter biscuit Taj Mahal sounded great when she described it, but the finished product didn't quite live up to what I expected. I loved the cream she poured from the teapot into the pool. I thought she was very creative in her concept and I liked that she used tea flavors. A few weeks on GBBO, Paul Hollywoood said how difficult it was to get tea flavors to come through in baking but neither Matt nor Maggie mentioned that. Liesel got even more bonus points for trying to calm James down after his initial meltdown and then going to comfort him when he was really upset. She has been helpful and supportive to multiple bakers, which I love.

Jeremy's saffron and cardamom Taj Mahal was much more complicated and impressive looking.

I had mixed feelings about Fiona's orange and cardamom pyramids. On the one hand, she knows she's terrible at making gingerbread houses so she was smart to design something more doable. On the other hand, it was very small in stature. I think she tried to make up for it be creating multiple elements (pyramid, sphinx, sand, camel). I wasn't crazy about the idea of a rosewater sphinx but I'm biased against rose flavored food. Love that she made praline sand!

Bojan's gingerbread sphinx looked more like a showstopper, but ultimately it had a similar issue as Fiona's - it was just layers of biscuits on top of each other which isn't quite the same as creating a freestanding structure.

Monica's orange, lemon, and gingerbread tower of landmarks seemed like a copout disguised as overachieving. She was really making one big tower and then making very small landmark cookies (as opposed to making one large landmark).

Not at all surprised that Cheryl was sent home. I feel like she hadn't really done well at any of the six challenges so far.

Yay for Liesel winning star baker! She seems like such a lovely person. I don't think she had the best showstopper this week, but she did really well in the signature and pretty well in the technical. Plus it's nice when star baker doesn't automatically go to the best showstopper. I feel like a lot of times on GBBO, the signature and technical end up being superfluous because they just want to reward the best showstopper. One of the things I liked about the Big Allotment Challenge is that there was a winner for each challenge. To me that seems like a better format.

11 hours ago, tenativelyyours said:

I love when I go to a busy public restroom and see the reactions I get when I wash my hands.  Its not OCD but it is thorough (plus it makes people really get boggled when I always use a clean papertowel to open the door when I exit -- I never understood people washing their hands and then having to grab the same pull handle that the guy who just crapped and didn't wash used.  And in theaters?!?  That hand rooting into a popcorn bucket!!!

For me, what's even worse is seeing women put their handbags on the floor. Like it makes me gag just thinking about it. You're going to put your bag on the floor where people have walked with their dirty shoes and then you're going to go home and put that same handbag on the kitchen counter, the sofa, and your bed? UGH. You might as well just rub the bottom of your shoe on your plates and your clothes and your naked body. But yeah, I always used a paper towel to open the bathroom door. What's the point of washing your hands if you're just going to put germs right back on them? I'm ElectricBoogaloo and I'm a germaphobe.

[Mellowyellow]

I love this show! Almost as much at Gbbo! If we can't have the original this is a good imitation!

Mmmmm craving lammies now!

Have you guys tried lammies?

What do you think of them?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

This Signature Challenge is to bake one family sized savoury quiche with a filling of their choice. The Technical Bake is a pistachio frangipane tart with roasted rhubarb and raspberries.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

With nine bakers left, it's time to step up the sweet tooth for chocolate week. Matt Moran has chosen a testing French chocolate dacquoise for the Technical Bake.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

As much as I miss the matching rainbow aprons (I think that was S1 of the Great Irish Bake Off), I loved seeing everyone's different aprons this week. I don't know why they weren't noticeable to me during the first two weeks of this season.  Fiona's turquoise one and Diana's black and white polka dots on top/red on the bottom were my favorites. I also liked Monica's black and gingham apron. I always admire people like Liesel who wear half aprons because the message I get from them is "I'm not going to make a mess."

I loooooove savo(u)ry quiche so I was excited to see what everyone made. I like that Matt and Maggie cut every single one right down the middle so we could see both the pastry and the texture of the quiche.

Loved Diana and Monica shooing Claire away from the oven when she looked like she was going to open it. As much as I love Mel and Sue on GBBO, I'm always afraid that their meddling will result in some sort of disaster for one of the bakers, so it was good to see the Australian bakers cutting Claire off before she could interfere. I also loved seeing so many of the bakers helping each other move their finished quiches (I definitely saw Liesel helping Jeremy and I think I saw Monica and James helping each other in the background of another shot).

Olivia's bacon, feta, and asparagus quiche looked nice. I liked how she arranged the asparagus on top to create perfect portions. I think adding the bacon helped with the saltiness level since she was one of the few who didn't get dinged for needing more salt/seasoning.

Monica's wild, porcini, and button mushroom quiche with thyme wasn't my cup of tea (hee, did I just sound really British?). I tolerate mushrooms but the only ones I really love are shiitakes. I didn't like the three pastry mushrooms that she just stuck on top of her quiche. They looked extraneous and unnecessary.

Noel's smoked salmon quiche with asparagus and leeks sounded delicious. Loved that the judges made sure to point out how golden and evenly baked the bottom of the pastry was. Yum!

Antonio's asparagus and pea quiche with parmesan sounded yummy but I agree with Maggie about his presentation. By draping the asparagus over the edge of the pastry, he overcooked the best part of the asparagus! And I guess Antonio proved that you don't have to chill your pastry since his turned out fine.

Liesel's asparagus, red bell pepper, and broccolini quiche was very pretty on the top with the way she arranged the vegetables, but I was disappointed that not only did she have a soggy bottom but that Matt said her quiche needed more seasoning.

Diana's beef taco quiche. I love that Mexican food is so popular in Sweden! When my friend moved to London in 2000 and traveled through western Europe, he said there was no Mexican food to be found. He was begging us to Fed Ex a burrito to him. But even before then, everyone I knew made those faux Taco Bell tacos at home with the hard shells and the grocery store seasoning packet so I didn't think that Diana's idea was "too out there" as Matt said.

Fiona's zucchini and feta quiche with mint and garlic was so beautiful with the lines of zucchini and the red cherry tomatoes gonig down the middle, but I agree that there definitely wasn't enough custard. But she was smart to listen to the judges' concerns about the zucchini having too much water. I know she tried to remedy that by roasting the zucchini a little bit beforehand, but I think she just had so much zucchini in there that even roasting some of the moisture out beforehand wasn't enough.

James's zucchini, tomato, and pumpkin quiche looked almost like a pizza. Hee, loved Mel asking him about the state of his chopped onions and then giving him a lesson on knife skills. I wasn't sure about the pumpkin (but I'm one of the rare people who loathes pumpkin which makes this time of year really fun when everyone is going nuts over pumpkin spice everything and I'm wishing it was still summer so I could be eating fresh strawberries).

I wasn't clear on Jeremy's curried egg quiche with potato and eggplant. I was trying to figure out if he just added curry powder to the custard mixture so I was glad that Maggie asked him about it. I'm not as familiar with the rules on the Australian version of the show and what they are allowed to bring from home versus what they tell the production staff to purchase for their recipes. I'm okay with Jeremy not making his own curry powder if it was something that had to be done in the tent because that can take a while.

Bojan's chorizo, sundried tomato, and caramelized Spanish onion quiche sounded great. I'm with Maggie though - needs more custard!

I wasn't super excited about the technical challenge this week because pistachio frangipane and rhubarb are not my favorite things. The part of this dish I was most interested in were the raspberries. It was nice to see Monica showing Noel how to use the mini food processor and then later after she got her tarts in the oven, she walked over to Noel's station and offered to help him. Rhubarbgate! Love that Jeremy was able to joke about Olivia accidentally taking his rhubarb out of the refrigerator. Yay for Bojan and Liesel doing so well!

Ooh, the showstopper was like wedding cake but with pies!

Jeremy's apple tree pies with caramel, rhubarb, and pear looked great. I laughed when Maggie and Matt gasped at Jeremy saying his pastry crust would be thin. Paul Hollywood would have just shaken his head and raised an eyebrow and left Jeremy to his own devices, so I love that Matt flat out told Jeremy that if the pastry was too thin, he wouldn't be able to stack his three pies on top of each other. It's a good thing he listened!

Olivia's pork pies with apple, quince, and fig sounded delicious (but I love pork so I'm biased). Loved Maggie waxing poetic about Olivia's lard crust. She got so excited! It was like when Mary Berry learns that someone is putting booze in their bake. It cracked me up when Olivia said that since Antonio is such a speedster that he was finished before everyone else, she put him to work helping her. I was also amused by Olivia using a syringe to suck the pork fat out of her pies as they were baking.

Liesel's apple pies with cinnamon, quince and ginger, and fig and honey sounded good. Poor Liesel! It was nice to see Jeremy try to help her save her pies and then to see everyone come around to try to comfort her.

Bojan's caramelised onion pies with mushroom and prosciutto, hamburger, and beef stroganoff sounded meaty and delicious!

Jeremy's rubbing his nuts - haha! Yes, I'm a 13 year old boy.

Monica didn't seem to have one ingredient common in her three pies which I thought was a requirement for the showstopper. Her kale and cheese pie sounded good, as did her chicken and leek pie, but although I like apple pie I thought it didn't really go with the other two pies. I thought she had too much knick knack looking decorations.

Antonio's sweet cheese pies with lemon, vanilla and raspberry sounded good but it seemed risky to use the exact same thing in all three of his pies. Maggie looked so happy when she ate her piece.

Fiona's winter fruit pies with rhubarb and pistachio frangipane, pear and nugmeg, and apple and salted caramel. Poor Fiona! When she dropped her top pie, Everyone was so sweet to come comfort her. After her initial frustration, I was glad that she could joke about not having as much trouble stacking since she only had two pies left. I think that she should have put as much of the rhubarb pie as she could on a plate so the judges could at least taste it.

Noel's frangipane tarts with pistachio, dates, and apricots, berry, and a bakewell tart looked beautiful. He decorated it well without making it seem over the top. Loved that they cut through all three pies at once!

James's ploughman's lunch pies sounded so good. I really wanted to try that apple and custard pie on the top - loved the beautiful rose he made out of apples! Maggie seemed delighted by it. The look on her face after she tasted it was great. I was also interested in the cheese and potato pie with onion in the middle as well as the pork pie on the bottom. Yes, I just wanted to eat the whole thing.

I had to laugh when Diana set something on her table on fire! Her princess pies were a fun theme. I loved the elderflower and vanilla cream cheese snow pie for Frozen. The apple and saffron pie for Snow White and the spiced pumpkin pie for Cinderella were fun ideas too. All three of her pies were tiny.

I thought that Olivia and Bojan would be up for star baker this week. I was surprised that they put Noel up for consideration instead of Bojan since Noel finished ninth in the technical challenge. So excited for Olivia!

Since Fiona, Liesel, and Diana were in the bottom, I was relieved that Diana was the one sent home because I expected to see both Fiona and Liesel in the final (I know it's only week 3 so it's a bit soon to predict the finalists, but I like both of them a lot!).

[OnceSane]

Noel's smoked salmon quiche sounded amazing!  I want it in my tummy now!  I'm really impressed by a lot of his work.

I'm glad to see Fiona survive the week; I was afraid she'd be axed when she didn't have all three pies in the showstopper.

[tenativelyyours]

This group just needs to calm the fuck down though.   I know they are nervous and excited but they are all over the place and I think a bit part of it is emotions.

Fiona, Olivia, Jeremy, Antonio, Monica, Liesel and Diana all seem a bit too "woo hoo" at the wrong times.  I think that is one reason Bojan was coming through so strong this episode.  He puts his head down and got things done.  Noel seems the same way.  James goes back and forth.

Look, I love the friendships and camaraderie tremendously.  I love the jumping in to help.  But at some point they need to buckle down and focus.  There were way too many of them done and trying to help others in the first challenge.  Maggie and Matt and the producers are doing the same thing as the British show does.  They are creating challenges to push them.  Those times should be almost right to the end for most if not all and for me, their bakes are showing that they are not using all their time wisely.

Antonio's age is showing in him not doing three different flavors for his show stopper.  But I wonder who he bounced his idea off of in terms of this one that didn't advise just making the cheese filling and then breaking it down to the three pies and flavoring each even with s slight difference would have been so easy. 

Jeremy's crust still looked mighty thin but well done in his show stopper.  I was disappointed we did not get to see him address this after Maggie and Matt expressed doubts.  How much thicker did he make his crust?  Did he actually make it thicker -- I might have missed him saying he did.  It was kind of odd since not mentioning had me thinking it might come into play during the judging or his bake having issues before judging even occurred.

And again, I loved how last season played out, but there are a lot of times last night I saw bakers helping each other when an extra set of hands was not actually needed.  And even Olivia co-opting Antonio was cute on one hand but this is a competition and why should she get two more hands to do her work?  Its one thing to rush in when something goes wrong or the clock is running down.  Its another thing to buddy up as it seems Monica and James were doing and Jeremy and Liesel were doing last week.  I'm horrified or even mad about it but it does make me wonder when just being in the shed is going to kick in for these people.   And I find Monica still annoying because she seems to want to get her fingers in other people's bakes even when they don't need it.  She also way over decorates her bakes again. 

I wish Olivia had been the one to speak up.  I think it was kind of unfair to make Jeremy either have to be the "tattler" or sit quietly and maybe go home if his show stopper had been low enough that combined with his technical to send him home.  And I'm really confused how she could forget that she placed her stuff all the way over from where she took Jeremy's?  Again, these people lack focus.

Fiona kind of, I don't know if I would say annoy, but I wasn't exactly excited to see her meltdown.  Maybe I would do the same.  And maybe that is what she needed to buckle down after venting that emotion.  But the throwing it in the sink was kind of silly.  I do get how annoying it might have been to have everyone so close and fluttering in some ways.  But I would have carefully taken what did not fall on the floor and at least put it on a plate alongside the rest so the judges could see I had a third layer. 

Matt did annoy me when he had to tell Liesel that she would have won the technical but for the sticking crust.  He could have just said it was close and her sticking crust was an issue.  I know he likely did not mean to, but for me is was kind of taking away from Bojan's win when he is sitting right there.  It made it sound like he won more by default than doing the best.  Which he did.  

Also for anyone looking to do this in season three or beyond, make sure you do a heavy on details show stopper and you will go far.  I know that even on the British show, there are times when it really makes the other two challenges seem nothing more than a thin production construct, but Matt and Maggie both really put a huge emphasis on the show stopper since I thought Noel's was considered impressive and he did better with his quiche (he did not do great on the technical and techinically neither did Olivia since she passed her undercooked rhubarb onto Jeremy which Matt himself said was an issue with the underbaked tart as a whole.  I do think that there should be a better way to address this types of screwups since they are right there on camera for all to see and not some he said she said. 

I also wonder if the nerves and lack of focus arise somewhat out of the fact that these people don't go home for the week and work in their own kitchens.  Does anyone know if they actually take a week between each contest?  And where do they stay?  I got the sense that Antonio was taking the whole time off from school to do this.  But if you don't have a chance to go somewhere and bake things out and simply soak in your personal support system of family and friends it might explain some of the differences in temperament between Tent and Shed.  It also might explain why so many here really seem to lack some critical thinking on their bakes.  I'm not sure how Diana thought either her signature or her show stopper were going to work.  And again why did not occur to Antonio that three flavors would be more impressive than doing all just one?  Maybe when the field gets smaller they will do the reverse of last season and focus more on their own work.  Thing is about last season though was it had an organic sense to the concern and help.  Here I think they over react because in at least a little part that was part of the magic of last season.  They are consciously or unconsciously trying to be as fun and friendly as the group last season instead of letting it actually happen. 

Plus I'm starting to think that last season's field, at least the final five, were heads above this group.  Which I actually don't mind overall.  I'd rather a bunch of good bakers going against each other one season and a season of scattered and uneven bakers in another because so far I have not had to sit through them pretending on baker isn't standing head and shoulders over the rest and is a foregone conclusion.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes from this week:

Bojan's Mediterranean shortbread
Antonio's savoury biscotti
James's parmesan and chive biscuits
Olivia's oaty biscuits
Jeremy's pizza biscuits
Cheryl's checkerboard biscuits
Liesel's pumpkin seed oatcakes
Diana's bacon and fennel crackers
Monica's savoury macarons
Fiona's cheesy good thyme biscuits

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Noel's savoury shortbread

Maggie's Florentines (technical challenge)

Bojan's spicy sphinx
Jeremy's Indian spiced Taj Mahal
Noel's mum's Christmas in Paris
James's Perth bell tower
Diana's Eiffel Tower
Liesel's Taj Mahal of Tea
Cheryl's St. Basil's cathedral
Olivia's gingerbread Arc de Triomphe
 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Fiona's pyramids of Giza
Monica's world landmarks
Antonio's Big Ben



 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Signature recipes:
Noel's smoked salmon quiche
Olivia's bacon and asparagus quiche
Jeremy's curried egg quiche
Liesel's broccolini and asparagus quiche
Antonio's pea and asparagus quiche
Diana's beef taco quiche
James's veg out quiche
Fiona's zucchini and feta quiche
Monica's mushroom quiche
Bojan's chorizo quiche

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Showstopper recipes:

James's ploughman's lunch pies
Fiona's winter fruit pies
Noel's three tiered frangipane pies
Monica's three course meal pies
Diana's princess pies
Antonio's sweet cheese pies
Olivia's pork pies
Jeremy's apple tree tiered pies
Liesel's apple pies
Bojan's caramelised onion pie
 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Technical challenge:
Maggie's pistachio frangipane tarts with roasted rhubarb and raspberries

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yay, chocolate! Noel lost a few points with me when he said that chocolate doesn't do anything for him. Blasphemy! But fine, that leaves more for me. I felt bad that it was so hot during chocolate week. I remember that happened in a previous season when it was over 100 degrees in the shed and everyone was having problems. I'm glad the judges cut the bakers some slack about the chocolate not setting.

Jeremy's brownie, honey cake, and fudge slice with peanut butter and dark chocolate were HUGE. But I'm not complaining. More chocolate!

I was worried that the ginger would dominate Noel's biscuit, hazelnut and ginger, and chocolate ganache slice so it was nice to hear the judges say that the ginger flavor was very delicate. Love that he used a ruler to cut his 12 slices. It would be stupid not to use a ruler!

Antonio's coconut biscuit, passionfruit caramel, and white chocolate slice with black sesame was NOT ENOUGH CHOCOLATE for me. And they were really flat which I found unappealing. I do love that his work station is always spotless though.

Olivia's chocolate and pecan brownie, cherry cheesecake, and dark chocolate ganache slice sounded so good! Her chocolate was tempered really well - so shiny!

I wasn't surprised when the judges said that all they could taste was the marshmallow in Monica's chocolate biscuit, caramel and marshmallow, and dark/white chocolate s'mores slice. When viewed from the side, it was obvious that the marshmallow layer was really thick. It was about three times bigger than the other two layers combined.

I'm with Fiona - it's not a s'more if the marshmallow isn't toasted! Her chocolate biscuit, caramel and toasted marshmallow, and dark chocolate s'mores slice sounded delicious.

Bojan's chocolate biscuit, orange custard, and dark chocolate ganache slices looked very uniform. I think the biscuit had to be thicker or the custard layer had to be smaller though.

I thought that James's coconut biscuit, orange curd, and white/dark chocolate ganache slice would do better because I assumed that the curd would be more concentrated and intense than Bojan's orange custard.

Liesel's pastry, chocolate/walnut/coffee, and dark chocolate ganache zserbo slice looked great. The layers on the side were so pretty.

I had to roll my eyes when Antonio pronounced dacquoise incorrectly. The hosts JUST said it multiple times! Yay for Jeremy winning the technical challenge! And very sweet to see Monica helping Bojan as he scrambled at the end.

I didn't think that this week's showstopper challenge lent itself to a very showstopping visual presentation, but I'm okay with that because duh, chocolate.

Bojan's chocolate squares with passionfruit curd and white chocolate looked good but I was afraid the top layer would come away once you bit into it. Bummer that the cake was dry.

James's chocolate squares with milk chocolate, white chocolate, and hazelnut with dark chocolate ganache sounded good but I think they ended up looking too similar to the signature challenge. I felt bad that he actually made everything but he only had enough time to slice half of them.

Jeremy's milk chocolate cakes with white chocolate and raspberry buttercream and dark chocolate lace sounded DELICIOUS. They looked very pretty too. He was so disappointed about the dark chocolate lace not setting in time, but I thought they looked great anyway. And hush, Maggie! His cakes weren't too big!

Noel's naked chocolate hazelnut cakes with salted caramel, white chocolate, and coffee buttercream and raspberry dark chocolate ganache sounded interesting but Matt was convinced that there were too many flavors. I obviously didn't taste them but it sounded fine to me.

Liesel's white chocolate genoise with dark chocolate and mandarin mousse and mandarin jelly. High five to James for suggesting that she crumble her jelly since it wasn't set. Disaster averted! I loved how bright and colorful hers were because of the orange jelly.

Olivia's chocolate cakes with caramelized white chocolate and hazelnut dacquoise were hard to see from the camera angle we got but I'm assuming they looked okay or the judges would have said otherwise.

Monica's espresso cake with milk, dark, and white chocolate mousses were a fun idea, but damn. She only finished 19 out of the required 36. They looked really sloppy too.

Antonio's dark chocolate and macademia brownie with raspberry and dark chocolate ganache, white chocolate mousse, and tempered milk chocolate looked beautiful. The freeze dried raspberry dust was a great addition for extra tartness.

Fiona's chocolate and passionfruit cakes with dark chocolate biscuit with pop rocks and white chocolate flowers were really fun. It's too bad she didn't have time to finish all the flowers, but pop rocks!

I wasn't surprised that Bojan was eliminated. Matt really had it in for him this week. After his showstopper, Matt made a comment to Maggie about how it was too simple and then he made a comment about the next person's showstopper that their cake was better than Bojan's. I was like whoa, calm down there, Matt!

[OnceSane]

Antonio worked it this week!  Well deserved Star Baker.  And boy was it a toss-up on who would go home…not a great week for several contestants.  But I think the right choice was made.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Signature recipes:
Liesel's zserbo slice
Bojan's chocolate orange Jaffa slice
Jeremy's tower slice
Olivia's cheesecake brownie slice
Fiona's s'mores slice
Monica's s'moreish slice
James's chocolate orange slice
Antonio's passionfruit caramel slice
Noel's hazelnut and ginger slice

Technical challenge:
Matt's chocolate dacquoise

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Showstopper recipes:
Antonio's chocolate cakes
Olivia's chocolate and hazelnut layered cakes
Monica's espresso shots
Fiona's chocolate and passionfruit cakes
Jeremy's chocolate and raspberry cakes
James's triple chocolate ganache cakes
Bojan's chocolate passionfruit squares
Noel's naked chocolate cakes
Liesel's chocolate and mandarin cakes
 

Edited November 3, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[tenativelyyours]

Boy were those show stoppers a hot mess for the most part.  Antonio didn't just deliver the best show stopper.  He delivered the only one. 

I'm not sure about Bojan going.  Yes his cake was dry.  But he had other good flavors in there and he completed the brief and I thought it wasn't too simple compared to others.  Leisel, Olivia and Noel were the only others to deliver a finished 36 correct?  And yet all three had issues.  And Noel made something that wasn't right flavor wise.  So had he gone instead I would have been okay.  I think if Matt didn't have such a raging hard on for frills, fripperies, fuss and fancy that actually often are not integral to the bake, I might have been a bit less annoyed at his attitude.  But Monica has not delivered wonderful bakes with detail.  She has delivered good bakes with fussy elements that she tacks on that are not only not a part of the bake but twice were not even edible components. 

And even if she had done 36 those cups would have been 36 Play-Doh Kitchen creations courtesy of a five year old with patience issues.   Those cups at their best would have been all flash and not a lot of substance.  Again, Monica's forte -- something a bit mundane if done well and then she presents like David Copperfield.  I like Monica's personality a lot.  She is a generous if over involved baker in the shed.  But her baking itself has not wowed me just in concept and design as it has Matt by any means.

I was a bit surprised at James' confidence.  He has done well.  but he has also had some real misses in time management so I was surprised that he was thinking he had a shot at star baker.  I know that sounds mean, but Jeremy had such a strong technical and I do think if he had managed his chocolate a bit better he would have had a chance at second in the show stopper -- no one was toppling Antonio this time if he pulled off the flavors as it sounded he did.  But that was more Maggie's reaction since I don't think she is as susceptible to judging with her eyes too much before tasting as I feel Matt can be.  

Claire is corny as hell but somehow I still find myself laughing with her instead of at her. 

[OnceSane]

Bread Week!

[Rinaldo]

On 11/2/2016 at 7:06 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Jeremy's brownie, honey cake, and fudge slice with peanut butter and dark chocolate were HUGE.

They were, but I refuse to regard that as a bad thing! I'm reminded of my boy Glenn in an early GBBO asking the camera after getting such a moment: "A dessert that's too big... is that even possible?"

Quote

 

I had to roll my eyes when Antonio pronounced dacquoise incorrectly. The hosts JUST said it multiple times! 

 

I did likewise, but then I thought back to my teens, and how often I committed similar mispronunciations, no matter how often I heard someone say it right. There was a big time gap between a vague awareness that "you don't say a final S in French" and someone sitting me down and impressing on me, "Look, idiot, the S isn't final in this word, see that E after it??" In fact, the hosts mispronounced it themselves once or twice, though they usually got it right, so that must have clouded the issue for others too.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Mmmmm, bread! This has been a stressful week so it was really nice to sit down and watch this show. And bread week gave us lots of jokes about buns and holes so the 12 year old in me was giggling. Noel was also full of unintentionally hilarious quotes this week: "A hole's a hole," and "I couldn't get it up."

Burgers! One thing I really liked this week was that the bakers really listened to the judges' advice during the initial walk around. James was going to cut up his fried chicken but Maggie advised him not to. I also really liked that when they saw how flat Jeremy's bread was, they told him to put it in the sun so it would rise more. Later they warned him about how bitter pistachio paste is and Matt advised Liesel to use some vinegar and sugar when cooking her beets. Matt also suggested that Monica add gruyere to the top of her onion bagels. I'm totally fine with them giving advice. I prefer that to Paul Hollywood giving the bakers cryptic remarks, pointed stares, or questions like, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

Fiona's salmon burgers with lemon and dill brioche buns sounded delicious! It's too bad that her bread was underproofed.

Noel's burger with caramelized onions and avocado garlic aïoli on spelt buns sounded delicious. You probably wouldn't want to eat it on a first date, but I'm all for caramelized onions, garlic, and avocado!

Monica's burger with cranberrry chutney and cheese on a milk bun reminded me that Thanksgiving is coming up! She definitely gets points for her cute presentation. And she gets double bonus points for making fries and shakes too!

Jeremy's burger with avocado relish and jalapeño sauce on brioche bun had some issues. Matt mentioned the bread being too cakey and falling apart, which is a problem during bread week! I like that the jalapeño just added some warmth instead of too much heat.

Antonio's burger was the most classic - just meat, cheese, and ketchup on brioche. But what the hell, man? Why does Antonio think you shouldn't put bacon on a burger? It's delicious! Bacon cheeseburgers, man. Mmmmm. His buns definitely looked a bit flat (ha, just typing that sentence makes me feel bad since he's still in school).

Olivia's Aussie burger was intriguing. I'm not Australian so I don't know how Aussie it is to add a slice of tinned pineapple to a burger. I love grilled pineapple so I'm pretty sure I would have liked her burger.

Liesel's German burger was also interesting. Chicken schnitzel with sauerkraut, cole slaw, and mustard on a rye bun with caraway seeds seeds - those were definitely German! I really wanted to taste that chicken schnitzel.

To be honest, the only part of James's Japanese burger that I was really interested in was the fried chicken. It looked so crispy! The nori bun, pickled veg, and wasabi mayo definitely gave his burger a Japanese flair. I totally agree with Maggie's suggestion not to chop up the chicken. Slicing it would have made some of the crispy crust fall off and in my experience, eating something with pieces of chicken means it's more likely to have a piece of random chicken fall out. 

Maggie's fig, walnut, and fennel seed baguettes seemed like it was going to be simple compared to some of the past technical challenges but there seemed to be a lot of panic while everyone was baking. Stop touching other people's ovens, Noel! Olivia did so well, as did Antonio.

All of Fiona's bagels looked beautiful, as did her bread basket. Loved everyone leaning in to smell the nori bagels. Her matcha tea bagels with red bean filling were so pretty too. I like her so I was really worried about her for most of the episode. Thank goodness her showstopper was so good because I didn't want her to get sent home this week.

Jeremy's craisin and raspberry bagels sounded pretty good. His spinach and feta bagels (no pistachio paste thanks to Matt's suggestion) sounded better without the pistachio paste. I really liked his round woven bread basket. Hee, he should have told Maggie that it was learning on purpose!

Antonio's beetroot bagels didn't look very red on my screen but I'll take Maggie's word for it that the color was there. Matt really loved his rum and raisin bagels. His bread basket was beautiful. Thank goodness Olivia was able to talk him out of breaking it when it couldn't get it off the mold.

Liesel's beetroot and thyme bagels had really visible chunks of beetroot which I'm guess is what gave them their flavor (I'm glad she talked about how using beetroot puree didn't give her enough beetroot flavor). Ha, loved that Maggie described her spiced orange and raisin bagels as Christmas bagels. I liked her pretezel bread basket - the salt was a nice touch.

Monica's strawberry bagels looked pink when she was kneading the dough (thanks to the food coloring she added) but I was curious whether the bagels would actually taste like strawberries. I loooooove strawberries but I don't know that adding freeze dried strawberries would have cut it for me. Her french onion bagels (with Matt's gruyere cheese on top) sounded good. Loved the bread flowers she put on top of her bread basket. Very pretty!

Noel's cinnamon, orange, fig, and honey bagels sounded good but man, the look on his face when one of the hosts teased him about only getting Tasmanian honey. His onion thyme bagels sounded good but I agree with Matt that they looked too similar to his sweet bagels. His bread basket looked pretty tall which made it look grander.

James's onion, garlic, and fennel bagels sounded delicious. His blueberry, white chocolate, and vanilla bagels sounded great. His round bread basket was nice. I think he acquitted himself after his less than stellar performance in the technical challenge.

Olivia's garlic and beer bagels sounded good. I want to try her cinnamon and brown sugar French toast bagel! Love that she got star baker this week.

I'm surprised  that Jeremy was the one sent home this week. I thought that Noel was going to be eliminated this week.

[OnceSane]

I wasn't surprised that Jeremy was eliminated, but I thought the "burger" signature challenge was a stupid one for Bread Week.  They couldn't come up with anything better?