The Great Australian Bake Off - General Discussion

[tenativelyyours]

I was not feeling the burger bun challenge at all.  Felt very weak.

I did think James' chicken looked amazing.  But I would have seasoned it with maybe some teriyaki in the batter or something.e

Antonio finding bacon not a good mix with a burger is insane.  I hope it is just his youth talking.  His bagels and his basket were amazing though.

Leisel's take on a burger was the most appealing to me.   Love schnitzels in veal, chicken or pork and all would work.  Will definitely try to make it myself.  Loved pickled red cabbage and often use it to dress my tail-gating brauts.  Might not go with two types of cabbage though.  My friends make their own fresh uncooked kraut that I love so I can switch it up.  Might slip a thin potato pancake in is  to make it extra special.

Did they ever actually taste the baskets?  Edible was part of the brief and yet I never saw any judging on the baskets.  I was a bit peeved that once again the judges find Monica's efforts to be so 'wow'  I like Monica but the show is making her annoying for me as she does stuff I think is neither impressive or stems from a high level of actual skill.   Its is fussy and more facade oriented than functional.  Last season Sian did lots of stuff as well in her bakes but they were aimed at showing off baking skills and not just trying to just look fancy.  When Sian succeeded her bakes were fancy.

Sorry to see Jeremy go.  When Claire teared up it just firmed my belief that he is a fun sweet guy and while I do like them all, he was not one I would have chosen to go just based on personality.

I'm hoping Antonio can get a little more ambitious in flavor combinations because he has some incredible skill and I would love to see him go to the finals, if not win it.  Plus I love that he can put out bagels like that and still have a work bench so neat and tidy.  But he needs to get over that bacon thing unless its roots are faith based. 

[PepperMonkey]

I'm really enjoying this show. It's helped alleviate my overwhelming sadness from both the loss of GBBO and the US election.

I like it in a different WAY from GBBO: for example, I like Maggie and Matt a lot, but I don't really like the hosts that much. Sometimes they're funny but sometimes not.

I hate to see any one of them leave, I like them all so much. Even the ones other people don't seem to like are fine with me. I'm really rooting for Antonio and usually I root for the old guys because they never get enough love. I love Noel, but I think he'll be gone soon.

I'll miss Jeremy's "lights up the room smile."

Co-signing the whole burger challenge being lame also.

Edited November 12, 2016 by PepperMonkey
The burger challenge WAS lame. (Although I really wanted a burger after viewing.)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I have mixed feelings about the burger challenge. On the one hand, it was an interesting departure from just straight bread and it gave the contestants some leeway to add a twist to a classic without getting super weird. I ended up liking the recipes that departed the most from the usual (Liesel's chicken schnitzel and Jason's fried chicken - but maybe I just really like fried chicken - as well as Fiona's salmon). On the other hand, I felt like a lot of focus was taken away from the actual bread. The burgers and different condiments/garnishes seemed to be the focus of the judging and the bread was kind of an afterthought with a few comments when the bread was too dense or not proofed properly. I'm guessing the show was trying not to give us three challenges with loaves of bread and they thought burgers would be visually very different.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's recipes:

Fiona's salmon burgers
Olivia's Aussie burgers
Jeremy's fancy burgers
Monica's burgers and shakes
Liesel's German burgers
James's Japanese burgers
Noel's burgers
Antonio's classic burgers
 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Maggie's fig, walnut, and fennel seed baguettes (technical challenge)

Monica's strawberry bagels and French onion bagels
Fiona's nori bagels and matcha bagels
Liesel's beetroot bagels and spiced orange bagels
Jeremy's craisin bagels and spinach feta bagels
Noel's onion bagels and cinnamon bagels
Antonio's beetroot bagels and rum raisin bagels
Olivia's garlic bagels and French toast bagels
James's onion bagels and blueberry bagels

[tenativelyyours]

5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I have mixed feelings about the burger challenge. On the one hand, it was an interesting departure from just straight bread and it gave the contestants some leeway to add a twist to a classic without getting super weird. I ended up liking the recipes that departed the most from the usual (Liesel's chicken schnitzel and Jason's fried chicken - but maybe I just really like fried chicken - as well as Fiona's salmon). On the other hand, I felt like a lot of focus was taken away from the actual bread. The burgers and different condiments/garnishes seemed to be the focus of the judging and the bread was kind of an afterthought with a few comments when the bread was too dense or not proofed properly. I'm guessing the show was trying not to give us three challenges with loaves of bread and they thought burgers would be visually very different.

 

While I don't disagree with the possible motive, production still made an entire week's set of challenge way too same same.  Doing bagels as a show stopper was silly.  It should have been a signature.  The show stopper should let there be a little more variance.  Maybe it should have been an edible bread basket with three different types of bread product in it.  By different types, it could have meant types of rise.  Like flat, quickbread and proofed bread.  Or maybe have a bread basket that serves as a picnic basket with at least three types of bread focused items. 

But instead they all had to make buns.  They all had to make baguettes and they all had to make bagels.  That is pretty bland creative direction there for a show like this. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Matt and Maggie are taking the bakers back in time for retro week. In the signature challenge, the bakers must bake a Swiss roll in two hours. The technical challenge is a neenish tart. 

[tenativelyyours]

Compared to Tudor week on the Brit version I thought this was a better and more interesting period approach. 

However it still locked the contestants into more rigid bakes than the last season seemed to.  Three challenges that basically had them baking the same exact thing in a general way.  I wish they would pull out some show stoppers that allowed a greater level of variance.

It was amusing and irritating at the same time watching Matt fumble and stumble his way around giving Monica a pass on her so not Swiss Roll in the signature.  She did not make a Swiss Roll.  It might be rolled but it was rolled the wrong way and it was a convenient cheat even if Monica didn't mean it as such since it allowed much greater chance of hiding any cracks.  And it definitely did crack from the way it sagged.  It was not a Swiss Roll and that should have been said right from the start.  No way it had the same divide of filling to sponge from what could be seen. 

Leisel really surprised me on standing around futzing and then having her sponge go in too late to get it to cool on time.   She seemed so organized in the earlier stages of the competition. 

Compare to Antonio who again amazed me.  I'm trying not to get too attached but I really want him to go the finals and I'm leaning right now to him winning the whole thing.  Simply because I love what he does when he does it well.   And it is not just in his baking that he seems so skilled and mature for the most part.  He simply has a great confidence for being 16 and yet it still comes off as appropriately 16 at the same time if that makes sense.  I think another reason why I want him to at least go to the finals is that I want to get to see his family beyond just a glimpse.  I'd like to get a sense of who they are as best can be managed in the final picnic moments. 

I was curious to what the real objection was to the chocolate in his Swiss Roll.  Compared to Noel's it seemed like they wanted more banana, but I would have been fine with chocolate being at the forefront and staying there.  I loved the look of it too.  I also loved him ribbing Noel on the cake listening.  I wonder if he knew about the tea towel thing or picked it up from overhearing or even being told by Noel?  I have to remember that in the future since I do like to make a Swiss Roll during the holidays and like to do a caramel layer that of course has to wait until I roll it the final time and this might help avoid any cracking or sagging. 

Both Fiona and Leisel had rolls that intrigued me taste wise. 

I was glad to see Leisel win the technical.  And loved that Antonio came in second and not only got a kick out of the two of them being in the top but just being happy for her. 

James' dropped ice cream cone was so much fun and well thought out as a presentation.  He did a great job.  But it does crack me up how confident he is so often and in a way that I don't see his bakes backing that up.  I don't mean to be mean in any way.  He just seems to be locked on getting star baker every time he goes into the final round of the week.  I think though that also shows just how much the judging falls on the show stopper no matter what went on prior that week. 

I loved Antonio's and that gelato looked amazing.   I love tiramisu when done a certain way.  I kind of like the upper scale Venetian Hotel approach that makes it more of a layered dessert in a torte fashion.  But I like the classic as well but with a light hand on the alcohol. 

Noel surprised me.  Not going this week but simply his slide in quality over the last couple of episodes.  I thought for sure he would at least be one to make the final four. 

I'm not sure why they did not have the bakers put their Bombes in the fridge and then take them out and up to the judges one at a time instead of letting them sit and ooze on their benches.  That made no sense.  Especially since we know that Maggie and Matt are often present during the last portion of that particular challenge.  They could easily have called time and made sure everyone complied and then kept them cooler than they had to be sitting there and oozing.   Also I was disappointed that only Olivia had any flame for her presentation.  I was hoping for more pyrotechnics.

I hate Mel so much for getting to stand there and chow down on Antonio's ice cream.  I do think that production twiddled that scene a little.  That Antonio had already divided out the amount he needed because I cannot believe that the scene was completely organic since she had to be double dipping as well as it looked like eating a hell of a lot . 

Right now it feels like Olivia and Antonio for the final three.  I'm not sure if Matt's devotion to Monica's continuing flash over substance will save her if she keeps focusing on that and not getting the basic execution correct.  James seems to be getting stronger but still has moments, like his Swiss Roll that his skill might not cover a big enough scope in the weeks to come.  Fiona seems to have execution problems as often as she doesn't but seems to have a deft hand at producing some different but impressive things taste wise.  Leisel also has execution problems but seems strong on taste.    And all have had some real moments that based on that singular bake had them at risk or even in contention of being sent home by now. 

What do we have left (potentially that is)?  Patisserie is a given isn't it? But offhand I'm trying to think what themes are left for three more weeks. One or more might be something new but again I think patisserie is given.

[PepperMonkey]

Still adore this show, but that Noel left this week instead of Monica was ridiculous.

Monica's Swiss roll wasn't. Okay, it tasted good, but that was not the total challenge. Also, it was ugly. And they should have turned it sideways to see if she actually had a spiral.

I forgot where she placed in the technical bake.

Was disgusted by the scene with Mel and Antonio's gelato. I'm hoping there were two bowls of it also, because it was making me ill as she was practically swallowing the spoon and going back in for more. Eww.

Finally, back to Monica vs Noel: Okay, Noel had some ice crystals in one of his ice creams. Monica's wasn't even a Bombe Alaska.  When she couldn't get it to work, she actually made a patchwork layer cake. Her idea for decoration was cute, but that collapsed also.

Just by her showing in Swiss roll AND showstopper, her performance was much worse than Noel's. I hope she goes home next, but Matt seems to have some kind of hard on for her so I'm doubtful.

Team Antonio!!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Swiss rolls always make me think of the Little Debbie version (a mini cake rolled with some sort of cream filling and then the whole thing is covered in chocolate). When the bakers were throwing out guesses about the origin of the swiss roll and then we had a voiceover of one of the hosts saying it was created in Austria, I was expecting that to be the segueway to the usual GBBO history lesson.  Then I remembered this is the Australian show so we don't get those segments (though I wish we would!).

Olivia's sticky date with butterscotch looked nice. I liked the cream and sugar circles on top. I thought the orange wallpaper decoration was a great idea to go with the retro theme. It's too bad that the sponge cracked.

Oh, Liesel. At first I wasn't worried that she was behind, but when she was still piping the design and Noel was already taking his sponge out of the oven, I thought uh oh. When she finally got hers out of the oven and started rolling it, I could see how squishy it was so I was pretty sure that she was doomed. Her green and yellow lemon thyme swiss roll with lemon tumeric curd looked more like an omelette. Thank goodness the judges liked all the flavors so it wasn't a complete disaster.

I had to agree with Matt's assessment of Monica's upside down swiss roll with chai sponge, apple jam, and ginger cream: "That's the strangest looking swiss roll I've ever seen."

Antonio's banana and chocolate ganache swiss roll with passionfruit jam was beautiful. It was rolled very tightly and the yellow top was so bright but sophisticated.

James's apricot jam and white chocolate cream swiss roll was pretty. I liked the red stripes. I had to agree with Maggie when she said it would have been nice if the stripes had been raspberry jam. Yum!

Fiona's ginger cream and yuzu jam swiss roll looked so lovely in its simplicity. Bonus points for giving the judges yuzu sake!

Ha, I agree with Maggie's description of Noel's lemon sponge swiss roll with raspberry jam and cream - it's like a swiss yule log. But I can't hate on a swiss roll cake covered in chocolate.

I've never had a neenish tart but what's not to like? Jam, cream, and icing! So glad that Liesel won the technical, especially after falling behind in the signature challenge. And yay for a girl finally winning the technical challenge this season! Poor Olivia. Even with James helping her, she still came in last.

I'm only familiar with baked Alaska so I went to the internet to look up bombe Alaska to see if there was any difference. According to wikipedia, the bombe Alaska is a baked Alaska splashed with dark rum and then flambeed (there is also a dessert in Hong Kong called flame on the iceberg which is an ice cream ball surrounded by sponge cake and covered with cream which is set on fire with whisky and syrup) so I was really looking forward to everyone setting their cakes on fire. I was disappointed that they were just making regular old baked Alaska. But all that ICE CREAM! So exciting! I was getting so anxious about the various states of everyone's ice cream (all the soft smushy ice cream and Liesel's rock hard ice cream with the plastic wrap frozen inside.

James's cherry bomb (hee, points for that!) with cherry sponge, dark chocolate ice cream, and sour cherry ice cream sounded delicious. His giant ice cream cone was fun too. I love that even though he didn't do well in the first two challenges, he said he still had his eye on star baker. His optimism every week is nice to see.

Antonio's tiramisu bombe with biscuit sponge, hazelnut gelato, espresso gelato, and marsala gelato in coffee meringue sounded delicious (but I love tiramisu so I'm biased). Love that he let the host eat as much of his ice cream as she wanted and then he walked around and let anyone else try it. I don't know why Matt and Maggie were so intrigued by Antonio using dry ice to make his ice cream. It's not exactly unknown. There are lots of recipes for that online. His reason for using dry ice was right though - because it cools the ice cream faster, there is less time for ice crystals to form  which results in a smoother texture. There is an ice cream shop in San Francisco that makes every batch of ice cream with nitrogen after it's ordered for the same reason and it's sooooooo smooth and creamy.

Olivia's volcano bombe was a fun idea. Her coconut cake, coconut lime ice cream, and raspberry ice cream was a great way to keep the tropical theme.

Monica's pumpkin bombe sounded so terrible to me, but I hate pumpkin (so the annual pumpkin spice frenzy that we're currently having is no fun for me). Pumpkin butter cake with pumpkin pie ice cream and hazelnut ice cream has no appeal for me. It looked like a total disaster. The orange meringue was sloppy and uneven and made it look like the pumpkin was melting. It didn't look like she torched any of the meringue either, which I think is one of the required elements of a baked Alaska.

Liesel's Bombe-bay (ha, again extra points for that) with lime cake and mango, cardamon, and pistachio kulfi was so pretty on the top.

Noel's bombe with chocolate hazelnut cake, rum raisin ice cream, and dark chocolate coffee ice cream was what he called traditional but Matt called it boring looking. I think almost every season of GBBO, there's an older contestant who insists that they are being traditional but ends up not taking enough risks with their flavors. This time around, it's Noel.

Fiona's watermelon bombe with yuzu sponge, raspberry sorbet, and apple gelato was a fun idea. As someone who can't stand anything watermelon flavored, I love that the red flavors inside weren't watermelon. It was so sad to see it melting.

Not at all surprised that Noel was eliminated this week. I feel like he's been hanging on by the skin of his teeth for the last few weeks. You'd think he would have mounted a great comeback this week since it was retro week but he didn't do very well this week. But I agree that Monica did terribly this week as well. Her swiss roll wasn't a swiss roll and her showstopper wasn't a baked Alaska (she added extra cake to make up for one of her ice creams not setting and she didn't torch/bake her meringue, plus the whole thing looked hideous despite the extra decorations she made. @PepperMonkey - I'm 99% sure she finished fifth in the technical so as far as I'm concerned she didn't do well at anything this week.

[tenativelyyours]

I've had time to stew a bit over the matter and I have to say that at this point, if Monica makes it to the finals over Fiona Or James, let alone Olivia or Antonio, or even wins the whole thing, no matter how brilliant she is from now on I'm going to be pissed.  Two times in this week she has not done the brief at all.  Even had she come first in the technical, a combo of not doing the signature and the showstopper should have earned her a toss.  But she also has fudged the briefs before.  She did not make a biscuit structure as required but simply made a basic stand that was not a mark of skill in any way and then doodled her landmarks.  That should have earned her a toss as well in my opinion.  Instead Matt and Maggie rewarded her.  And that only followed huge over praise for paper doodling her cake in the first week.  They acted like it was the height of baking expertise.  It was not.  It was decently done arts and crafts or even secondary school art project. 

Again, as I stated about last week.  I do not blame Monica.  She had a style from the start and they have only encouraged her.  Had they reined her in with some needed criticism about elements only being edible and serving the actual bake, she might have been able to adjust and address her tendencies to simply throw fuss and bother at her stuff and think that elevates it.  Antonio, James and Fiona have all had criticism on previous efforts that I think they have taken into consideration and tried to adapt with varying degrees of success (I think the criticism of the single flavors in his layered showstopper previously might have played a part in Antonio's conceptualization and execution of this week's triumph). 

And re-watching, I think Antonio had actually already taken out the chocolate gelato he needed and it was in the fridge and they edited it carefully to make it look like Mel was digging in to the stuff before he had taken what he needed.  The levels changed slightly from the closeup to when she finally walks away.  I think she came up and talked to him, he pulled out what he needed after her first taste and then she dug in and we get her close up as Antonio takes more than one thing to the fridge.  It looks like he only took the one thing, but it looks like two if you want to peruse his bench like trying to find Waldo. In fact I think he went around to let the others taste before Mel actually dig in looking at the state of the various benches around him.  They did the same thing when Mel hit James up for samples two weeks ago and when Claire raised both Olivia's and Fiona's benches a few weeks ago.  I think production steps in when it looks like a baker has reached a comfortable finish point to let the hosts do their thing.  Especially after last season when Mel and Claire both had close calls with damaging or even ruining a bake.  After that I think they are much more careful in how they go about the contestants' benches. 

Which makes me appreciate the shed over the tent in a way since it seems like there is simply more room between the benches and less chance for accidents on the part of the hosts. 

[OnceSane]

Pastry week!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

It's pastry week and with only six bakers left, the showstopper will bring out animal instincts. Matt and Maggie ask the bakers to make a 3D animal sculpture out of choux pastry.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Matt challenges the bakers to make twelve bee stings, a traditional German sweet made of yeasted cake with a baked on top of crunchy almonds and filled with honey pastry cream.

Edited November 23, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's recipes:

James's capiscum feta danishes and jam custard danishes
Antonio's blue cheese and fig pockets and lime palmiers
Fiona's fig and goat cheese danishes and pistachio rhubarb danishes
Liesel's sweet potato danishes and rhubarb custard danishes
Monica's asparagus pancetta danishes and cinnamon raisin snails
Olivia's persimmon pillows and goat cheese twists

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Matt's lamb wellington (technical challenge)

Monica's hoot hoot owl
James's koala bear
Olivia's underwater turtle
Liesel's Engelbert the echidna
Antonio's exotic fish
Fiona's Chinese zodiac animals

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's recipes:

Olivia's sticky date swiss roll
Noel's traditional swiss roll
Fiona's yuzu and ginger swiss roll
James's striped swiss roll
Monica's upside down swiss roll
Antonio's banana and dark chocolate swiss roll
Liesel's lemon thyme swiss roll
 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Maggie's neenish tarts (technical challenge)

Monica's pumpkin bombe Alaska
Fiona's watermelon bombe Alaska
Olivia's volcanic bombe Alaska
Noel's traditional bombe Alaska
Liesel's bombe-bay Alaska
Antonio's tiramisu bombe Alaska
James's giant cherry bombe Alaska






 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I looooooove pastry so I was looking forward to this episode, but I immediately worried that Liesel had jinxed herself when she said that she loves making pastry. Then she double jinxed herself when she said that she's made danishes before and they turned out really well. I love that no matter what happens, James is always confident without being obnoxious about it. He seems so optimistic. But I also cracked up when he yelled at one of the hosts to shut the refrigerator door. It reminded me of the episode of My So-Called Life when Angela asks Rayanne to close the refrigerator door because her mom could chemically sense when the temperature got above 47 degrees.

I had to laugh at the Billy Ocean shout out in one of the voiceovers. I noticed that goat cheese was referred to as goat's cheese throughout the episode. I guess that's an Australian thing?

I really love how enthusiastic the judges are about what the bakers are making. It's so much better than Paul Hollywood cynically asking, "Are you sure you want to do that?" and then staring cryptically at the bakers. I also love seeing the bakers walk around to see how everyone else's turned out and then complimenting them even when they're disappointed in their own creations.

I've been watching the Great Australian Bake Off since the first season but for some reason this week was the first time I noticed that there were numbers printed on the egg shell in the opening credits. Actually now that I think about it, S1 had totally different opening credits so I guess I was just not paying attention during S2 and half of S3!

Love that one of the hosts interrupted the judges' visit to Fiona's station to ask them to explain what rough puff pastry is.

Fiona's fig and goat cheese danishes looked huge (tall) when she was assembling them but they baked down nicely. Her pistachio and rhubarb danishes were so pretty with the woven rhubarb on top. Too bad her pastry was undercooked.

James's capiscum (that's red pepper to Americans) and feta danishes didn't look terrible to me so I didn't know why the judges said it tasted better than it looked. His jam and custard danishes sounded so good (of course, I wanted to know what kind of jam he used), so it was such a bummer that the pastry was totally undercooked.

Olivia's danishes were very pretty so I was disappointed that her pastry was undercooked. I felt much better for Olivia when Matt told her that if they had been cooked longer, they would have been the best. Maggie seemed so excited about the persimmon, orange, and tonka bean vanilla custard pillows while Olivia was making them and she gave her signature swoon when she tasted them. Her goat cheese and onion twists sounded yummy but I wanted to know what kind of cheese was in there!

Antonio's blue cheese and fig pockets were definitely flaky. I could see it when flakes of pastry were falling out of Maggie's mouth as she tried them. His lime palmiers showed up the layers of pastry beautifully.

Liesel's danishes looked pretty. I liked that she did some fun shapes. Interesting that Matt said her pastry was TOO flaky. Maggie said it wasn't buttery enough so I guess it was too dry. When Maggie said that the sweet potato, walnut, and prosciutto danishes only tasted of prosciutto, I have to admit that I thought I would have preferred that (but I know the point is to have balanced flavors and to taste everything that's used). Her rhubarb and custard danishes sounded good.

I didn't understand how Matt's initial comment about Monica's danishes was that they were very bread-y (which seems like it wouldn't be good since they're supposed to be pastry/danishes) and then he said they were the best danishes of the day. Both of her flavor combinations seemed a bit pedestrian (pancetta/asparagus and cinnamon raisin).

I love beef wellington so I was pretty excited about the technical challenge. I loved that when Matt and Maggie were eating the sample one, they just picked it up with their fingers. No utensils necessary! I'm totally with both of them with leaving the fat cap on. Fat is flavor! It was cute to see everyone's sigh of relief once they got their wellingtons in the oven. Like Liesel, James jinxed himself by talking about how this was in his wheelhouse. So glad that Liesel got first and redeemed herself after the signature challenge. Poor Fiona.

To me, the choux animal assignment didn't lend itself to showstoppers. But I also think croquembouche looks messy, so I'm biased.

Olivia's turtle looked more like a coiled snake. I loved the colorful sugar she used for the underwater decorations though. From a visual point of view, her display had the most wow factor which used to be the point of the show stopper challenge.

Fiona's zodiac animals were so cute! What I really liked is that you could tell what each animal was supposed to be (as opposed to a pile of choux buns, which is what a lot of the other showstoppers looked like to me).

Speaking of which, Antonio's fish did not look like a fish in any way. It just looked like a very neatly piled bunch of different colored pastry balls.

James's koala was a cute idea but the execution of the actual koala was a bit messy. I've never heard of wattleseeds so I had to consult the internet (they come from acacia trees and taste like chocolate/coffee/hazelnut).

Liesel's echidna was a great way to incorporate the required sugar work.

I didn't think Monica's owl looked like an owl but I liked the baby owls. I KNEW the judges were going to give her star baker this week. I feel like the judges have a real blind spot for her.

I'm sad to see James go, but I'm glad that Fiona is still in it.

[tenativelyyours]

Matt seemed delighted that Monica did well, giving him the chance to say she did great.  Not just giving her star baker but I suspect validation for keeping her if she falters in the future and is at risk.  I think she is a lock for final three because of his adoration of her and her style.  Fuss and bother. 

All I can say is I still hope she does not win it since I think he and Maggie both are awarding smoke and mirrors over actual substance when it comes to her bakes.

And I hope that in the next season we get another Monica that Matt gets all giddy and protective over and say four episodes on we get a Sian 2.0 come out of the pack and actually bake, not just fancy looking but actually fancy quality. 

What I am really finding a detraction from the season is that not only does he give Monica higher levels of accord then her bakes seem to deserve but it also seems to me that he holds some of the others like Antonio (yeah I have a favorite, which I actually hate because it raises a tension for a show I like being relaxing due to rooting for them all), to a higher level of criticism.  Small missteps seems way more worrisome to him despite the fact that he loves the baker that just a week ago completely failed on two levels, including his boner-inducing showstopper round.

I do agree about how Matt comes off over Hollywood.  But when Nadiya did that eye rolls and said "Paul knows everything doesn't he?" it helped solidify my perceptions of Hollywood.  While incredibly skilled in his area, I actually think his area of baking is nowhere near as wide let alone deep at the show portrays.  But I think Hollywood likes that image of him as the know everything about baking and that is part of his determination to be the center of those stupid scenes of him trying to be cryptic wrapped in an enigma and just comes off as a egotistic soggy eggroll with no fortune. 

[CrinkleCutCat]

I love how the contestants help each other! I'm sure they all want to win, but they are all supportive of each other and seem to trust that the best will win, even if there is minor help from each other along the way. Great comraderie under competitive conditions!

[CrinkleCutCat]

Took me a while and lots of re-reading to understand what you were both referring to as 'Hollywood'! Still not sure I've got it! Maybe refer to the proper name of someone, explain their nickname, then continue with nickname?

[OnceSane]

3 hours ago, CrinkleCutCat said:

Took me a while and lots of re-reading to understand what you were both referring to as 'Hollywood'! Still not sure I've got it! Maybe refer to the proper name of someone, explain their nickname, then continue with nickname?

It isn't a nickname, Paul's last name is Hollywood.  Or at least his stage/work name is "Paul Hollywood".

[CrinkleCutCat]

12 hours ago, OnceSane said:

It isn't a nickname, Paul's last name is Hollywood.  Or at least his stage/work name is "Paul Hollywood".

Ahhhhh! Thankyou!!!

[RealityCheck]

His name is actually Paul Hollywood (Paul John Hollywood: source).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's recipes:

Antonio's vanilla and coffee finger buns
Olivia's blueberry finger buns
Liesel's buns of passion
Monica's citrulicious buns
Fiona's Vietnamese coffee finger buns
 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Matt's bee stings (technical challenge)

Olivia's spicy babka
Monica's babka-rama
Fiona's east meets west babka
Antonio's panettone babka
Liesel's free form babka
 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I can't believe there are only five bakers left!

Mmmm, iced buns with fillings! This is like my dream come true.

Olivia's blueberry and lemon buns with crème pâtissière sounded delightfully tart and sweet.

Fiona won my belly's love. Milk bread with condensed milk and Vietnamese coffee and chocolate? YUUUUUUUM. I was so disappointed that she didn't finish everything in time.

Antonio's vanilla and coffee buns with milk glaze and almond praline sounded less interesting than Fiona's, but I loooove condensed milk so I was more inclined to drool over Fiona's buns. I had to laugh when Antonio said he'd only made enough dough for 12 buns instead of 24 and Olivia said he wasn't good at math.

Monica's orange cream buns with mandarin glaze were not my favorite in theory because I have this thing about orange flavored things. I love eating fresh oranges and tangerines, but I usually don't like orange-flavored things. Same with banana. I wasn't sure if the judges would say that her flavors were too one note and that she should have added another flavor or if they would like the orange with orange.

Liesel's passionfruit and chantilly cream buns were smart since we all know how much Maggie loves passionfruit!

I'd never heard of bee sting pastries before so the technical challenge was interesting. I know some people dislike the camaraderie of the bakers when they ask each other how they're doing the technical, but I don't mind because even when people do the same things, the end result is not the same.

Babka always reminds me of that Seinfeld episode, so I was kind of hoping that someone's showstopper would include some sort of Seinfeld tribute (then I realized I had no idea how anyone would incorporate that into a babka).

Olivia's spicy fig babka

Antonio's panettone babka had all the good parts of panettone without the yukky dried fruit. Orange and lemon dough with citrus custard with marzipan fruit

Fiona's babka sounded interesting but I was afraid the judges would ding her for using matcha tea again. The matcha tea babka with white chocolate custard on the bottom sounded interesting. I wasn't as excited about the coconut custard in the top layer, but yay for all the chocolate squares.

Liesel's tree babka sounded like a risk. I wasn't sure how well it would work for her to twist the dough instead of using a pan. The chocolate and hazelnut babka sounded really good, but I wasn't as enthused about the cinnamon and pecan babka. Hee, I loved that Maggie wasn't shy about saying she'd rather have the hazelnut than pecan.

Monica's banana and caramel babka sounded good, as did her chocolate hazelnet babka. I was imagining Mary Berry's reaction to the rum soaked mini babkas. Her eyes always light up whenever anyone uses alcohol to bake.

I liked Fiona from the beginning so I was sad to see her go, but she didn't do well this week. And when Matt said that they had to decide who they wanted to see in the finale, I knew they would disregard the fact that Antonio's showstopper was not a babka.

[tenativelyyours]

I actually disagree a little on the Antonio not a babka approach.  And it is not rooted in an Antonio bias.  Rather it is rooted in the fact that last week, Matt professed a strong bias towards a sweet dough approach to danish in a pastry themed week that was followed by a sweet dough themed week on its own.  That is some messy production.  I really hope this is a sophomore slump for the show and not a sign of how things are going as a whole.  It was so pitch perfect the first season and with the end of the British original, the slight slide downward here for me is a little disheartening.  Not tragic. 

There seems to be a huge difference on what many see as making a babka.  Antonio's for me is not a babka per se but if you are going general routes and letting so many other things slide in other areas as they have done time and again with Monica, it does fit the overall general dough approach.  Hollywood has babka issues as well and is flat out wrong as pointed out by other bakers.  He and Matt both seem to take the approach that their idea is the sole idea.  A sort of approach that all pines are trees and therefore all trees are pines.  Instead of all pines are trees but not all trees are pines.  I'm pedantic in many areas of that type as well, so I do understand the behavior.  But I'm also not being on air constantly making sweeping excuses for other briefs that are not met either.

I did have an Antonio bias though in that I wanted to shake him for his once again rather bland approach to the show stopper round.  Matt Moran is a shallow easily distracted by shiny and flashy things in a bake and Antonio should know that by now.  He needs to go bigger and bolder just in his style of bakes.  Matt Moran wants to see the glow of Las Vegas at night no matter how it might end up tasting or no matter how many corners you need to cut.

I loved Fiona's flavor profiles but I do think sometimes she was a bit too hard on making certain Asian themes work over actually nailing the technical aspects of her bakes.  Since I do think Monica has baked well above the elimination level since the week she so should have gone, I can't quibble over her going.  She has skated a bit close to danger way too many times at this point and I do think the level of baking that I rank them at would have had her go this week. 

I suspect that Leisel is closest to going next week.  Her best bakes have been mostly in the technical bakes and from the placement of Monica during them in the weeks she has won star baker it seems that round really means nothing in the end (and might be blamed for raising poor James' expectations in the weeks and his eventual ouster as to his general standing with the judges).

I did notice that this week the atmosphere really changed since.  Last week the tension was more palpable, but this week there wasn't the level happiness I really have enjoyed this season and really enjoyed pretty much to the end of last season.  I think everyone left still really likes one another.  But I've noticed that the tie between Olivia and Leisel was rather strong this week and all three women seem to have a stronger tie with Antonio.  I'm not sure about Olivia and Monica simply because I think through most of the contest they have been apart in the shed a bit to keep them from interacting when there was a greater field of contestants.  It will be interesting to see how they interact after next week.  The ties between the final three last season were so strong going into the final round it as palpable.   I'm not sure if they are that strong this season.   They seem to, but right off the bat it seemed to me that the contestants were determined to make that same warm feeling in the shed happen as opposed to the fully natural sense you got from last season simply because it was the first in many ways despite being the "second season".

 

Also still not indulging in an Antonio bias, but I've had Bee Stings that have both an almost solid layer of Almonds like Monica seemed to do and the crumbled jumble that Antonio had so I'm not sure as which is actually the so-called correct method.  I kind of like the broken up method that Antonio at least seemed to aim for because it makes for a lighter topping to the bun.  Just a personal taste but I don't like the ones that almost seem like an overwarm to the point of being chewy brittle consistency.

[OnceSane]

How did Monica win Star Baker when she placed last in the technical?  Never mind, just remembered she's Matt's favorite.  I wasn't surprised to see Fiona go, she's been hanging by on a wish and a prayer for a couple weeks now.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

It's the semi-finals and just four bakers remain in the Bake Off Shed. The Showstopper will see the bakers making a creation with an 'Around The World' theme.

[PepperMonkey]

Calling it: Monica will win this.

Time of travesty: finale week.

Go, Antonio!

[tenativelyyours]

Okay maybe it is the editing trying to not show Moran's bias towards Monica.  But its not working.  That or he really does bend over and dig deep to pull something out of his ass to mitigate her less than best ever bakes*.  Her signature wasn't dressed up.  It was a hot mess with those cones jammed in the middle of her cheesecake.  And there were clearly bake timing issues as well which seemed to be glossed over but you could actually see one layer was more grainy than Antonio's.  Plus in what world is Neapolitan white chocolate?  It should have been vanilla.  I almost missed Hollywood because he is so ornery and loves to be that I know he would have issue.  Plus those cones did not detract from the fact that she did not have the ability to make a simple sheet of biscuit to bake and out in the freezer and then pulse crumble to make the crust while making the filling etc.  I do think she will have to screw up big time to not get the win.

The showstoppers were interesting.  Olivia did a good job of combining presentation appeal, appropriate skill and tasty baking.  I like that when she is able her bakes are not busy *coughMonicacough* but thorough.  Everything she bakes has a purpose to elevate not distract.  I still want Antonio to take it, but will be fine if Olivia wins.  And I hate to hate on Monica herself.  If she has a spectacular week next week, I feel almost bad for her that I find her winning to be a way of the show spoiling itself.  But it will, because she will have won having completely failed at least three briefs by my count.  If not more.  Two of which the judges fully admitted.   Same week too.

*I don't think most of her 'best ever' bakes are the best ever.  I would not prefer a cakey danish.  I might like one if given, but I would never describe my favorite danish as being cakey in any way.  That alone raised my eyebrows especially when Moran touts sweet dough as his favorite means of making a Danish.  In the non-Sweet Dough week (I know dead horse and all whack whack whack).  But to call it the best tasting merely showed me that as long as someone bakes something the way he prefers, he is going to lift it higher than I feel it probably deserves.  Same with the hot mess cheescake Monica had.  No dumping a bunch of quickly made messy accessories that did not add to the bake itself or even compliment it balance out the fact that she bought her cookies for the crust.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's recipes:

Antonio's ricotta cheesecake
Olivia's Black Forest cheesecake
Monica's Neapolitan cheesecake
Liesel's German cheesecake

Maggie's porcini, lemon thyme, and three cheese souffle (technical challenge)

Monica's pomme charlotte
Olivia's schichttorte
Liesel's schichttorte
Antonio's Gâteau Saint Honoré


 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm always curious as to how themes like international week take shape.

Antonio's vanilla and citrus ricotta cheesecake sounded good. Bonus points for serving it with vanilla ice cream. Hee, I loved that Matt said if he worked with Antonio, he would come by and make a mess on his bench. I also loved that Antonio admitted that he needs a clean workspace to bake but that his bedroom is a mess. I hear you, dude.

I had to pause the episode to laugh at Maggie looking absolutely aghast at Monica's premade chocolate biscuit crust. In real life, I don't care if a cheesecake crust is homemade, but on a Bake-Off show? Yeah, you need to make that from scratch. You know Paul Hollywood would have been apoplectic about a baker using store bought biscuits! Monica's Neapolitan cheesecake sounded good but I just couldn't get over that. I understand she was concerned about finishing in time, but still. I couldn't believe that Maggie said the finished cheesecake looked playful and joyful because I thought it looked terrible. There were HUGE cracks visible even with the faux ice cream cones trying to disguise them. And let's talk about those ice cream cones - in theory, the could have been a whimsical addition to her Neapolitan theme, but instead it looked like big hunks of Play-Doh dumped on top of her cake. When Matt and Maggie were eating their slices, it looked like the white layer was wet and more liquid than pudding, but neither of them said anything about it.

Olivia's Black Forest cheesecake with chocolate and cherry filling sounded classic and delicious. It's too bad that she got it into the oven so late and she didn't have enough time to let it cool. Hey, maybe she should have used store bought cookies instead of making her own crust!

Liesel's ricotta cheesecake with sour cherries and Vienna kipfel looked very pretty. I disagree with Matt about it looking like a cherry tart with a cheesecake base. My mom used to make all kinds of different cheesecakes (it was my dad's favorite so she always made one for their anniversary, his birthday, and other special occasions throughout the year). You can put fruit or other stuff on top and it's still a cheesecake. Cherry cheesecake is totally a thing too! Most of the ones I've seen (both homemade and at restaurants) have an entire layer of cherries on top. I would much rather see Liesel's cheesecake carefully covered with cherries than Monica's slapdash cheesecake with those unidentifiable decorations.

I've never made a souffle, but even before I started watching cooking shows, I had the fear of souffles put into me by various sitcoms. Everyone but Antonio did surprisingly well. His was dry and not fluffy. The other three all did very great. As soon as the judges started gushing about Monica's, I knew there was no way they would eliminate her this week (much to my dismay). Knowing that Antonio finished last and Liesel came in third, I knew Liesel was going home unless she pulled out the most amazing showstopper ever. The judges love Antonio too much to eliminate him.

Antonio's lychee and raspberry Gâteau Saint Honoré was not my favorite from a visual standpoint. I know that baking is not all about the way something looks, but I feel like the showstoppers should look impressive. Part of my bias about Antonio's is that I don't think profiteroles/choux buns make for a fancy looking dessert.

Olivia's almond and orange schittorte was the only one of the four that really looked like an impressive showstopper. The cake itself was great with those 40 layers. The sugarwork gave it some height and grandeur.

Liesel's schittorte with apricot jam had beautifully tempered chocolate on top. It had a mirror finish. I bet you could have counted your pores in the reflection.

I agreed with Matt's assessment of Monica's pomme charlotte. It was way too busy looking. Maggie tried to defend Monica by saying that it's a showstopper so she wanted to put everything there. I love Maggie, but come on. Monica throws shit on EVERYTHING she makes, not just the showstoppers. And for me the major problem is that if she decorated everything beautifully, I could live with it but Monica's decorations always look tacky, amateurish, and unnecessary. You know that saying about how you should look in the mirror before you leave the house and then remove at least one accessory? Monica needs to learn how to edit her ideas so that she doesn't have these gaudy and childish looking decorations on everything. Then again, the judges keep putting her through week after week so what do I know?

Liesel obviously knew she was going home before they said her name. While they were all sitting on their stools, she was on the verge of tears. When I look at what the bakers have done throughout the season, I'd rather have seen Liesel in the finals because I'm much more interested to see what she makes than to see what Monica makes next week. Congratulations to Olivia for being star baker!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

It's finals week and the pressure is on for the three remaining bakers. The Bake Off grounds are turned into a celebratory garden party as the bakers throw everything they've got into the final bake.

Edited December 10, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo
Added Unaired USA tag

[OnceSane]

We might as well hand the win to Monica now. SMDH.

[tenativelyyours]

A bit of a weird final for me.

Had to laugh when it was all over.  Even when she is blind judged, Monica gets away with not meeting the brief. 

The signature was rather off from the start.  I was surprised that Antonio didn't get dinged at first for his take on the Opera cake but then realized he did the mango glaze instead of using chocolate and then added the tempered sheet.  It is a shame he did not get his sponges right because his layers and cuts were the best by a considerable margin.   Olivia's had the sponges right but it was kind of a mess layer wise.  It was not quite what I thought a final signature should be but you could see the quality in her sponges and that is a huge plus for me.  Monica did not cut the edges which made me a bit peevish.  The sponge thickness was a big problem, but I had a bigger one in the cheat she employed and it did not look fabulous but actually the layers looked messy and oozed.  Even though she cut corners to tin it while layering.  And the mess is a huge no no as far as Opera cakes are concerned I thought.

Antonio really hit it out of the park with his technical.  And seeing Monica get second on taste when she has over worked the dough and thus did not make a Sfogliatelle (and it was weird how Matt was pronouncing them -- half the time he totally dropped any 'g' and I have always heard the g pronounced by all kinds of different Italians).  It still amazes me how much they let her get away with not doing the brief.  Maybe what she made was better to eat but her method actually produced a nice sweet hop pot from the looks of it.  And it had nowhere near the crunch that the pastry is meant to have as you could hear when they ate Olivia's and Antonio's.  In fact when it was pulled apart it looked, ironically enough, like the inside of a true danish (not a Matt Moran cake like danish).

I was actually a little underwhelmed in some areas of the show stoppers.    Both Olivia and Monica made rather small cakes when all is said and done.  And I wasn't sure if Monica left the paper stenciled map on the cake.  It looked to me that she did. If she did, her taking that route instead of doing a real stenciled on map that she then filled in pretty much sums up a lot of the issues I had with her bakes.  And the recap reminded me that her umbra was off despite it being the brief in the cake she won the first star for. 

I loved the intricacies of Antonio's presentation wise, but I'm not sure doing a brownie would have won him the title even if the other two had flops.  I wish he had just pushed a little more in doing a true cake somehow and keep his skills that he did showcase at the same level.  I think that more than the poor sponge in the signature kept him from getting the cake plate. 

I was glad to see Olivia win over Monica that is for sure.  I think Monica is a great person.  But she always seemed to skirt the brief when she did not miss it.  Her technical performances I think illustrated how much she relies more on the cutesy display she wraps her bakes in.  I thought it was interesting that Olivia pointed out how she had learned doing the contest, how to restrain the flash for taste.  I can't help but project a little that she might have watched Antonio's top bakes and get a sense of that.  He was really never flash.  Sometimes to his detriment since he could be too simple.  But of them all he married presentation with taste the most overall.  Plus the difference just between the two women's cakes when they were sliced.  I find it odd how happy it makes me to have such great technology that I can see the superior quality of a sponge on this episode and on the British season that just wrapped.  And even the bread on the US version now airing.  I might not be able to taste it, but for once I can see to such detail and precision the same thing the judges are telling me. 

This show really puts on a great final lawn party.  There looked like there was a ton of food and for once seeing the sausages grilling, I was hungry for savory instead of sweet for a finale viewing.  I was a bit sad that we didn't get the input from the contestants.  For some reason I like to see who of the final three made the biggest impression on the rest.  Maybe none of them picked Olivia and so it wasn't included (Even if I take my Antonio bias out, I can see a lot of them rooting for him because of his age and his incredible generosity in helping everyone else from what I gather, the entire contest -- there was a little blurb I read pushing the finale and he was mentioned by Fiona, Liesel, James and Jeremy as always quick to jump in, not just because he was always done but often when a crises arose he would drop whatever he was doing to try and help and for all four was the one to kind of "fix" a mess they found themselves in either with time or something that had gone wrong).

I know it is not fair but I hate the scheduling.  As someone watching in the US it ends at a terrible time.  Right as the holidays push aside almost all original programming and it is the exact right kind of show that I find myself craving as it gets cold and I want simple enjoyable comfort viewing.  I so wish it was just starting in a way.  And not just because I will miss it knowing I have to wait another year.  I hope it is getting the same type of ratings for Australia as the British show does. 

Olivia's husband is handsome once he got rid of that tragic dated eighties curl-do he had in their wedding pictures. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's recipes:

Monica's opera cake
Olivia's passion for opera cake
Antonio's opera cake

Matt's candied orange and ricotta sfogliatelle (technical challenge)

Olivia's tropical masterpiece
Monica's ode to Italy masterpiece
Antonio's brownie masterpiece



 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I am so sad that this is the end of the season and I won't have any Bake Off shows to watch in the near future!

I like opera cake - what's not to like? Cake with coffee, buttercream, and chocolate!

Normally I feel like Monica strays too far from the brief so I was surprised that she was the only one to do a classic opera cake. I liked the chocolate curls on top.

I thought the judges would say that Antonio had too much going on in his opera cake: passionfruit, mango, marshmallows, freeze dried fruit, etc. I was also sure that the judges would say the sheet of chocolate he had perched on top of the marshmallows would make it difficult to slice the cake evenly. I was surprised that his sponge was too dry.

Olivia's passionfruit opera cake looked very pretty. So glad she was able to gt it done after having to make her sponge again because she forgot the butter the first time around. Love that the judges were so impressed with her cake. I thought some of the layers looked slightly uneven from the side.

I thought that Olivia would be at a disadvantage during the technical challenge since she's the only one of the three finalists who hasn't specialized in Italian stuff this season so it was nice that none of them had made sfogliatelle before. I really loved that despite how difficult the technical was, all three of the bakers admitted that they were enjoying the process of stretching the dough. Hee, and I loved Monica and Antonio eating all that ricotta. I thought the main point of the technical was creating all those layers in the pastry, which Monica utterly failed at so she shouldn't have placed second.

Olivia's coconut cakes with raspberry, pineapple, and lime sounded pretty good. The finished cake was so pretty and I liked that her decorations added a different texture.

I was not at all surprised that Monica's final showstopper was Italian themed. Do what you know, right? I liked that each of the three cakes (gianduja, lemon, and cassata) represented a different part of Italy. Ugh, of course Matt said that he and Maggie knew she would be in the final from the very beginning. WE KNOW. Maggie described Monica's showstopper as restrained, but I found it messy looking.

I was surprised that Antonio decided to make brownies for his last showstopper. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE brownies so I fully approve but when he said he was making brownies for the finale showstopper my first thought was are you sure that's what you want to do? Maybe the instructions the bakers were given were different from what the hosts said on camera, but I heard them say that the bakers had to make a masterpiece CAKE. I loooooooove raspberry brownies so I was excited to see how that layer turned out. I am not a huge fan of passionfruit and I think I was passionfruited out after the signature bake, but I was interested to see how he incorporated pineapple into the passionfruit layer of his brownies. Then when he described the middle layer to the judges, I didn't hear him mention anything about pineapple. The espresso layer sounded good. And I loooooove mascarpone (the way Antonio and Monica feel about ricotta is how I feel about mascarpone) so I was excited about that and the white chocolate mousse.

One of my favorite things about the Bake Off finales is seeing all of the eliminated bakers come back and hug each other. It was fun to see them goofing off and taking pictures. Hee, and peering into the kitchen to watch the finalists bake. High five to whoever decided to make that face hole picture thing with Matt and Maggie - hilarious! They had lots of fun stuff for the kids too. Loved the giant Connect Four and giant Jenga. And any party with freshly made cotton candy wins in my book (premade cotton candy SUCKS).

Congratulations to Olivia - I am so happy for her. At the beginning of the episode, I realized that as long as Monica didn't win, I would be fine with the outcome. I don't hate Monica or anything, but I think she slid by for far too long. More often than not, she didn't fulfill the brief and for that she should have been eliminated several times over.

Antonio has amazing skills, and that's before you take his age into consideration. He is so talented and he has great instincts. This was really evident in a lot of the technical challenges. I liked that his signature and showstopper creations fulfilled the requirements and also managed to look good. I know that sounds like I'm setting the bar pretty low but in past seasons, it's been common to see bakers who only seem capable of doing one or the other.

Olivia has done well throughout the competition, but she definitely peaked at the right time. I found it interesting that she said the most important thing she learned over the course of the competition was to consider the flavors first instead of what it will look like. Too bad Monica never figured that out.

8 hours ago, tenativelyyours said:

Sfogliatelle (and it was weird how Matt was pronouncing them -- half the time he totally dropped any 'g' and I have always heard the g pronounced by all kinds of different Italians).

I didn't notice his pronunciation during the episode so I went back to listen one more time. It sounded pretty close (Australian accent notwithstanding). In Italian, "gli" is pronounced similar to "ylee" (it's a sound we don't really use in American English) so sfogliatelle is pronounced svo-ylee-ah-tell-ay.

[OnceSane]

Yay!  Olivia won!!  Total surprise, I thought Monica had it in the bag due to Matt's ridiculous fawning over her "I don't have to follow the brief!" bakes.

I loved Olivia jumping into Antonio's arms after they finished the final showstopper.  So cute!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yes, it was so cute when Antonio went running to Olivia after time was called and she just leapt into his arms. Very sweet.  I also laughed at the earlier group hug when Monica called them her munchkins. Either she is really tall or they are really short (or both!).

[PepperMonkey]

I will miss this and can't wait for the next season, already.

Still Team Antonio but I would have been okay with a win from any one of them. Yes, I totally agree that Monica didn't fulfill the brief SO many times, and should have left a couple times when she didn't, but that's not her fault. It's on Matt and Maggie. Especially Matt. Having said that, I thought her showstopper cake sounded delicious, but was ugly as all hell.

Antonio has a huge future ahead of him, much like Reynold from MC AU. He should see if he can apprentice with Reynold. I know he's "just" a home baker, but kid has skills. I can see him being huge in pastry in the future.

Congrats to Olivia. They are all such lovely people. It was good to see all the eliminated ones and their lawn party almost made me cry. It was so family.

[WedgeOfSpite]

I liked Monica's take on the bakes, and didn't feel she strayed too much of the brief. I felt that she was creative, and had an interesting take on it, while still keeping enough in the parameters. And that most of the time what she did was cooked well, and tasted good.  So that yes, even in blind bakes what she did was rewarded as such. The problem she had it seemed to me, was that she tended to too sweet. Which I agree is a problem with deserts in general, and part of why I have no problem resisting sweets.  Well that and my time as being as working in a bakery.   But it seemed like Monica took the judges feedback to heart, and dialed back on that. Shame she couldn't do better in the showstopper, as I think she would have gotten a deserved win, if she had. But she didn't, and therefore allowed Olivia to slouch into winning. 

Antonio had this reoccurring issue of being a bit too simple, and that was what did him in here. Which is a shame, as I like him overall.

I liked all three bakers prior to the final, but I ended up being pretty pissed  that Olivia won.   I mean much as I  liked Olivia, she had a tendency not to be able to finish things, as her weakness. And that weakness persisted to the final, where she wouldn't have been able to have presented one of her final products for one of the challenges, if not for the combined help of Monica AND Antonio. That doesn't say "best baker" to me. Far from it. So while Olivia had good ideas, good flavours, to my mind, if she didn't have help, she wouldn't have won. So pfffft to her win.  Which as I liked her prior to the final, wasn't how I was expecting to feel after the final. 

Edited April 25, 2017 by WedgeOfSpite

[RealityCheck]

The Great Australian Bake Off season 4 gets Winter premiere date: Tuesday January 16, 2018

I'm glad it's starting next year.  The British Bake Off just finished, the Canadian and South African Bake Offs and Holiday Baking Championship are currently airing, and the American Baking Show and Top Chef are due to start next month.  I'm happy not to add another competition to the list of shows I am currently following.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 11/5/2017 at 2:23 AM, RealityCheck said:

The Great Australian Bake Off season 4 gets Winter premiere date: Tuesday January 16, 2018

I'm glad it's starting next year.  The British Bake Off just finished, the Canadian and South African Bake Offs and Holiday Baking Championship are currently airing, and the American Baking Show and Top Chef are due to start next month.  I'm happy not to add another competition to the list of shows I am currently following.

FYI - we have a forum for The Great South African Bake Off so feel free to post there! I didn't realize S3 had started (and I totally missed S2) so I need to catch up!

[RealityCheck]

Correction to the premiere date.

The Great Australian Bake Off Season 3 premieres Thursday January 18 at 8.30PM.

And the contestants were announced in this article.

[RealityCheck]

Matt Moran Talks All Things "The Great Australian Bake Off Season 3"

The article does not contain spoilers.

Great Australian Bake Off Returns
 

Quote

 

[The contestants are] all people who love to bake, whether their day job is dentist, accountant, plasterer, psychiatrist or IT administrator.
There's even a Maggie lookalike retiree who's decided, with the encouragement of her children, that this arena represents her "time to shine".

Episode 1 : Cake
Signature challenge : marble cake
Technical challenge : chocolate-dipped hazelnut madeleines
Showstopper challenge : the ultimate children's birthday cake

 

And, from this article, the next season has already been commissioned.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Signature challenge : marble cake
Technical challenge : chocolate-dipped hazelnut madeleines
Showstopper challenge : the ultimate children's birthday cake

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Wooooo, I can't wait for the show to begin airing! But referring to the upcoming series as Season 3? I'm cracking up over how they're still pretending that the first season never happened. I know, I know, the first season was on a different channel with different judges and hosts, but IT STILL HAPPENED AND I LOVED NANCY!

So excited that we're definitely getting S5 too!

ETA: I'm copying and pasting the list of S4 bakers from the link above for the inevitable moments in the upcoming weeks when I will be trying to figure out who is who! You can read their official mini bios below or here (Lifestyle Food website): - just be forewarned that they are listed alphabetically by first name on the website, as opposed to alphabetically by last name from the article above:

Claudia Anton (48), Psychiatrist from Melbourne
Chris Asquith (32), System Administrator from Newcastle
Barb Dunn (37), Finance Manager from Brisbane
Max Fetiveau (28), Plasterer from Brisbane
Robert Harwood (34), I.T. Administrator from Perth
Raeesa Khatree (37), Ex-Lawyer turned health store worker from Brisbane
Marcus Matear (27), Dentist from Melbourne
Jessica Osbone (28), Sales Co-ordinator from Brisbane
Alex Papadopoulos (47), Building Material Importer from Melbourne
Emma Sievwright (23), Science Graduate from Brisbane
Michelle Trevorrow (64), Retiree from Melbourne
Dave Yan (35), Accountant from Sydney

Edited January 16, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo