S07.E01: Cake Week

[Athena]

The show returns to BBC One. American viewers, please be aware of the "Unaired USA" tag and leave now so you won't be spoiled.

Quote

Twelve new amateur bakers don their aprons and head for the iconic tent in the heart of the British countryside. Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins are back, as are Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, who have devised 30 new challenges to test the bakers' knowlege, skill and creativity.

The competition begins with cake week. The group first take on a British classic and are then faced with Mary's technical challenge - a popular little cake with a fatless sponge and tricky chocolate work. Finally, the bakers have the opportunity to show the judges what they can do with their showstopper.

The best of the bunch will be crowned star baker, while one contestant will be leaving the tent.

Extra Slice talk also welcome. "The Chronicles of Nadiya" discussion can take place in the Nadiya thread. Thank you.

[Athena]

Trailer: 

[Occasional Hope]

That green cake looked disgusting.  Some yummy looking cakes though in drizzle and showstopper sections.

I would never think of making a jaffa cake.  That's what Mr Kipling is for.

The orange shaped drizzle cake was a good idea, but executed poorly.

There seemed to be an awful lot of throwing things away and starting over this time.  LOL at Paul saying the cake she wished she had thrown away, would have bounced.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Occasional Hope
forgot some stuff

[some1105]

Jane's cake looked beautiful, but Selasi was the most delicious dish.

[Cactus]

I'm still laughing at Mary's reaction to Paul dunking his jaffa cake.

[OnceSane]

Selasi had a great first week, but Jane did deserve Star Baker and she's just adorable.  Actually, I think either could have taken it, especially if he had succeeded at his mirror cake.

Dark-lipstick lady (can't remember her name right now) is lucky, she could have been eliminated easily this week.

[zibnchy]

My emotional involvement with this show is not healthy. If Mary Berry ever fixed me with one of her disappointed looks I would crumble and die on the spot. I would also probably pee myself so I'd die with a soggy bottom! I even love Paul Hollywood. I love Mel and I have a very serious crush on Sue Perkins. ("Pssssst Sue. Call me.)

Love Selasie and Benjamina and I love the lady who listens to her cakes (but she needs to bring her A game next week). And I loved how the red headed kid really failed pretty bad the first day and then smoked the signature challenge. That's a lot of stress on a young person and he did so great.

I was holding my breath there at the end. This show is a thing of beauty. It is my happy place.

[tenativelyyours]

I was crushing hard on Selasi even before the show started just from the bios.  Now I can't even find words to describe... whew.   I'm not sure about that either since even last season I liked Tamal right off, but my crush took at least a second episode to firm.  Having someone trip my trigger as well as bake like that might be too strong an investment since I've always gone through every season never having just one person I root for over the others so much.  When he first pulled out his genoise I though they weren't baked properly and then when they cut into his show stopper, it was so perfect.  You could just see how wonderful it was.  I wish he had gotten the glaze better because I think it just edged him out of being star baker.  I'm still trying to see past my huge lusty crush for him, but I think he still might have deserved that star due to his placement in each three of the challenges as I perceived them.    I adored his laid back approach throughout and maybe I am glad in a way he did not get star baker since his relaxed approach is fun but also it made me worry he was being too laid back as well.  So maybe knowing it wasn't a coast will keep him on his toes.  And well into the series.

I'm crushing a bit on Michael too and Tom could be in there.  Which I do hope they both pull it together so I have someone to fall back on if Selasi goes.  I might need some of Tom's alcoholic bake goods though if that happens. 

 

Benjamina is adorable and I think of the rest she is the Nadiya to Selasi's Tamal in compare to how I gravitated towards them early on in their season.  And I really am a shallow person as I find her staggeringly beautiful. 

I think as a whole I really love this season's field even more than last.  I'd like to give Candace a bit of a makeover or make less.  She really is a beautiful woman but less here would be more.  She and the hair dresser, Selasi, Benjamina, the aerespace guy and Michael among others all quickly demonstrated the immediate camaraderie and simple pleasure at seeing others do well coupled with a determination that they all do their best that makes me love this show so much. 

Lee and the other older woman in jeopardy seem rather out of their element compared to the others but I hope she can spring back like this week's star baker did.  I felt for the swallow woman too since she knew how bad her finished show stopper was.

 

I loved "where did you get the orange juice?"

"the orange"

[sum]

2 hours ago, OnceSane said:

Selasi had a great first week, but Jane did deserve Star Baker and she's just adorable.  Actually, I think either could have taken it, especially if he had succeeded at his mirror cake.

Dark-lipstick lady (can't remember her name right now) is lucky, she could have been eliminated easily this week.

While watching I was quite sure that Selasi would get the star baker. On second thought I totally agree that Jane equally deserved it and yeah, her reaction was really sweet. Nonetheless Selasi looks to be one of the most skilled contestants of the bunch and how calmly he dealt with his mistakes was refreshing. 

I understand they want to impress the judges from the get go but my unqualified advice would be that for the first 2-3 weeks focusing on nailing basic stuffs is a better strategy than overdoing things that weren't required. You have yet to be accustomed to the environments and the gadgets, etc. Normally there are one or two obvious candidates to go home in these weeks. In principle earlier performance doesn't affect later results. So don't worry about not getting noticed. 

- Didn't someone make a comment why Paul always wears a blue shirt? Not anymore! 
- I read last year some people were not happy that Kenwood mixers replaced KitchenAid ones. Apparently back to KA this year. Speaking of which, a couple of more refrigerators in the tent would make the bakers life so much easier.
- Probably he won't last too many weeks but Andrew got my support from the very first challenge. He seems like a good kid and reminds me of Mat the firefighter (one of my two favorites) from the last series... and Eddie Redmayne too.

Edited August 25, 2016 by sum

[Pallida]

I love you show. Thank you for being back. I need to look into baker bios as I know so few names. 

I loved Mary sniffing the matcha and saying it smelled like grass.  I think someone used matcha in the past, but far more sparingly. Grass cake does not sound pleasant. 

I'm glad the constructive criticism continues as I find it educational for all the dream desserts I'll never get around to making. 

[zibnchy]

Paul was both snarkier and nicer. I've really grown to like him. I love the way the cast needles him - I believe it is all in fun. I really feel like the cast actually like one another.

I really liked the way they showed more of the bakers boosting each other's morale. It really is a lovely show.

[pamplemousse]

I don't know that I agree about Jane deserving to win Star Baker over Selasi. I'm sure her work tasted great, but I think her flavor profiles lacked originality and her showstopper was basically the technical writ large. Granted, she didn't know they were going to be making jaffa cakes for the technical when she'd planned out her showstopper. She's obviously a skilled and experienced home baker, but I think she lacks imagination when it comes to flavor combinations and even the presentation of her showstopper (while pretty) looked old-fashioned compared to the contemporary and elegant presentations of some of the other cakes. We're in the 7th season now and I guess I'm looking to root for someone with a bit more in their arsenal rather than being able to do simple tasty desserts with typical flavor profiles of orange & chocolate or lemon & poppyseed -- I feel like you could buy those at any supermarket, doesn't even need to be an upmarket one. Jane seems like a sweet lady and she's able to execute well, but I find her work so far to be boring and way too safe for the level that this show is at right now when you've got people executing white chocolate mirror glazes and doing much more interesting flavor combinations and techniques (even though, to be fair, some of those were executed poorly but at least they were interesting and trying to be outside the box). I understand Selasi didn't win Star Baker on the technical sticking point that he didn't actually meet the brief since his mirror glaze was not really a mirror glaze. However, not completely meeting the brief has never stopped the judges from advancing and even awarding Star Baker in the past to some contestants they favored. 

I'm really surprised Paul has never had matcha sponge cake. Matcha desserts (which they've been doing in Asia for ages) are quite trendy and popular now and have been for several years in the U.S. and Europe in upscale restaurants and patisseries, I've even seen matcha-flavored desserts in Starbucks before. And matcha sponge cake is like the most basic and common of matcha desserts. IDK, I love this show but I often feel like Paul and Mary have very pedestrian preferences and give too much credit to boring and safe stuff. With that said, that guy used way too much matcha powder in his genoise sponge mix, you could tell just by looking at it -- the green color was too dark. Every matcha sponge or cake I've ever seen and eaten had an attractive pale green shade. And then Paul with his skepticism about yuzu, which is used all the time in cooking savory and sweet nowadays. Sometimes I get the feeling that he's chipped out of ice every season just to judge this show. His palate and preferences are so basic and so euro-centric, but like euro-centric from the 1950s-70s. Mary, too, although she's more polite about it usually.

My favorites right now are probably Benjamina and Selasi. The boozy desserts guy is amusing and I'm curious to see what he'll try next (will he keep the booze theme going?). I also think the red-headed aerospace engineer might have some interesting ideas for desserts should he stick around long enough. I like the games mistress (too bad about her rubbery genoise because I quite like chocolate w/tropical fruit flavors) and yuzu guy too.

Edited August 25, 2016 by pamplemousse

[ElectricBoogaloo]

In past seasons, I felt like they gave us only the very briefest of introductions to the bakers during the first week (usually it's just this is X who is married and has two kids which means they all blend together in my head) so I appreciate that this season they are giving us more details about them because that helps me remember them better. Don't they usually rank the signature bakes? Or am I just being forgetful because it's been a whole year since the last season?

I've never had Jaffa cakes but they sounded interesting when Mary and Paul were showing the examples. Later when I saw the bakers were making orange jelly, I thought ugh. I am one of those people who doesn't like orange and chocolate together (Mr. EB, on the other hand, loves those orange balls of chocolate). I found myself wondering if someone would make me jaffa cakes with some sort of berry jam. Thanks to wikipedia, I learned that "VAT is payable on chocolate-covered biscuits, but not on chocolate-covered cakes" so there was a court case arguing about whether they are biscuits or cakes. In Ireland, they are considered cakes because their moisture content is higher than 12%. See? You learn something new every day!

Val is the retired headmistress who was doing aerobics in her slippers while baking in her kitchen, loves Ed Shereen, and used margarine like Paul's nan. Thank goodness the only thing on the pan she knocked over was edible flowers! Her orange and lemon drizzle cake had way too much icing on top for a drizzle cake (and I say that as someone who likes icing). The elderberry, raspberry, and rosehip buttercream for the showstopper sounded yummy! I also love chocolate cake with cream cheese filling so I was ready for her cake. Her chocolate glaze was so shiny and smoooth!

Andrew is the Irish ginger aerospace engineer who only poked his toothpick halfway through his rosemary lemon cake before adding the drizzle. Poor guy made his Jaffa cakes upside down! He took it pretty well though. He was laughing all the way through, even when he realized his were too big, so I like him. His salted caramel cream mirror cake with chocolate orange cream and caramelized hazelnuts looked shiny and smooth. The cake looked really tender and springy. Good recovery after the technical.

Louise is the hairstylist who made her drizzle cake in the shape of an orange. I was sure that Mary would love her orange liqueur and lemonade drizzle cake since we all know that adding alcohol to a cake is the best way to Mary's heart. She was smart enough to listen when Paul questioned whether she was planning to use a drizzle or an icing on the outside of her cake. She definitely gets style points for making her cake look like an orange. Even without the camera zooming in, I could see that the texture of her cake was really dense. Maybe she did that on purpose so the cake would hold the drizzle? She gets bonus points for telling Andrew to put his Jaffa cakes with the chocolate side up. Her white chocolate trifle raspberry mirror cake sounded good but no mirror glaze? Her flavors definitely saved her.

Lee is the minister who had a watery drizzle cake batter. I liked that Mary explained that the batter separating is what caused his orange and lemon drizzle cake to have such an open texture. At least Paul said that the taste was good. I LOOOOOOVE chocolate cake with strawberries (growing up, our birthday cakes were always chocolate cake with bavarian cream and strawberries) so I was all for Lee's showstopper. But man, making a four layer cake did him no favors. The sides of the cake were so lumpy and bumpy.

Rav is the who cut himself in the first 30 seconds and stumped Mel, Paul, and Mary with yuzu. Seriously, you guys? Yuzu was all the rage about five years ago. I say this every season, but if you are in the food profession, it's kind of your job to keep up on trends like that. It's not Rav's fault that Paul doesn't know what yuzu is supposed to taste like. Rav's coffee butttercream mocha mirror glaze cake was so shiny and the top was so smooth. See, Paul? He doesn't need to "work on his flavors."

Michael is the 19 year old econ student. His lime, ginger, and honey drizzle cake looked really dark, so I'm glad it was just the ingredients (not that it was burnt). Once again Paul and Mary's complete ignorance of non-British flavors rears its ugly head. Paul has never heard of matcha tea being used for cake and Mary thinks it tastes grassy.

Selasi is the who from Ghana who did the great Wonder Woman outfit change from his motorcycle gear to a suit and forgot to put the cinnamon in his batter. I'm not a huge fan of cardamom so I'm not sure I would have liked his citrus and spice drizzle cake. Good thing he listened to Candice and just added the cinnamon to his drizzle so he didn't have to make his cake all over again. Paul really loved that cake! His raspberry, sloe, and white chocolate mirror cake sounded delicious. Raspberry bavarian cream - yum! Thank goodness he realized he hadn't added the raspberries just yet. When I was younger, I hated pink and then after college, I suddenly started to love pink (but only bright obnoxious fuchsia pink - no pastels for this girl) so I LOVED that Selasi did that bright raspberry mirror glaze on his cake. It definitely stood out from all of the others in a good way. I don't know what Mary was talking about because the top looked really shiny to me. He was also smart not to make a really tall cake. Some of the other bakers made taller cakes and it made the bumpiness much more obvious. I really love that even when he made mistakes, he was just totally calm. I can only aspire to that kind of zen.

Kate is the woman who got her apples from the family farm. Her blackberry, apple, and bramble drizzle cake was so pretty with the blackberry drizzle on top. It's too bad that Paul said he couldn't taste the blackberry. She took a risk by putting a bright turquoise glaze on her gooseberry cake but unfortunately the lighter color showed every lump in her crumb coat. Heh, she wasn't kidding when she said she loves swallows. Swallow cake, swallow dress, AND swallow earrings!

Candice (aka dark lipstick lady) is the PE teacher who made a gluten free raspberry and rhubarb lime drizzle cake with custard. Hers was by far the prettiest in the first challenge. She was smart to use a bundt cake pan which allowed her to add all those raspberries and pistachios in a really lovely way. I'm not British so I don't know the difference between a pudding and a drizzle cake so I'll have to take Paul's word for it. She's the one who added orange juice to her jelly. Has she learned nothing from the first six seasons of this show? NEVER DEVIATE FROM THE RECIPE DURING THE TECHNICAL! Her passionfruit coconut chocolate mirror cake was shiny on the top but the sides were really lumpy. I give her presentation points for putting her mirror cake on a mirror though - cute idea.

Benjamina is the woman who has a twin sister. Her pistachio lemon drizzle cake had pretty colors on the top, but I don't like eating dried flower petals. She really seems to know her stuff since she got all the talking heads about the science behind baking (heh, as opposed to Selasi who said things like yeah, this is over hot water but I don't understand why it helps). Her white chocolate salted praline swiss meringue buttercream cake with hazelnuts was so shiny and smooth. I saw Mary take another bite as she was walking away!

Jane is the garden designer who left her ground almonds out of her cake batter the first time. Her lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake looked like the quintessential drizzle cake. Hee, the 12 year old in me giggled when Paul told her that she got great penetration of the syrup. Her chocolate orange mirror cake really was like a giant Jaffa cake! Sometimes we get those weird coincidences where something that a baker chose for the signature or showstopper is very similar to the technical so it's always fun to see the outcome. Her glaze looked really shiny and they loved the flavor.

Tom is the rock climber who made the gin and tonic drizzle cake - did you see Mary's eyes light up when he mentioned the gin and tonic? I loved that both Paul and Sue reacted to the overwhelming alcohol flavor and Mary didn't at all. His black forest mirror glaze cake (with kirsch for Mary Berry) sounded good. Glad to see that he learned his lesson from overboozing his signature and decided to cut back on the kirsch in his showstopper. There is a HUGE difference between 200mL and 15mL though. His cake was so lumpy on the sides.

Wow, a lot of people made their cakes again for the showstopper. Candice, Benjamina, Tom, Val, and Andrew all remade their genoise for various reasons (forgot sugar, rubbery cake, too thick, etc). Louise made her crème pâtissière twice, Lee remade his chocolate ganache, and Benjamina remade her meringue buttercream. But once again, Sue was so sweet in the face of (other people's) panic. I loved when she told Benjamina that every second she spent crying was a second not spent showing everyone what a great baker she is. Hee, to parapharse Project Runway, you can cry but you have to cry and bake.

I'm glad that we didn't have any freezer/refrigerator related disasters this week but it really annoys me that they don't provide one refrigerator for every 1-2 bakers and assign them the same way that they assign work stations. If they did that then you wouldn't see people opening a freezer door, saying, "Oh, there's already a cake in there," and then going down to the next one (which is what happened this week).

I was not surprised that Lee went home. I agree that Jane's flavor combinations seem much more traditional, as did her presentations. I liked that Selasi is taking risks but not going too weird.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes from this week's episode:

signature bakes (drizzle cakes):
Lee's St. Clements orange and lemon drizzle cake
Candice's raspberry and rhubarb drizzle cake with custard
Benjamin's pistachio, cardamom and lemon drizzle cake
Jane's lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake

technical:
Mary Berry’s jaffa cakes

showstopper (mirror cakes):
Andrew's ultimate indulgence mirror glaze cake

[Athena]

On 2016-08-25 at 1:22 AM, pamplemousse said:

I don't know that I agree about Jane deserving to win Star Baker over Selasi. I'm sure her work tasted great, but I think her flavor profiles lacked originality and her showstopper was basically the technical writ large. Granted, she didn't know they were going to be making jaffa cakes for the technical when she'd planned out her showstopper. She's obviously a skilled and experienced home baker, but I think she lacks imagination when it comes to flavor combinations and even the presentation of her showstopper (while pretty) looked old-fashioned compared to the contemporary and elegant presentations of some of the other cakes. We're in the 7th season now and I guess I'm looking to root for someone with a bit more in their arsenal rather than being able to do simple tasty desserts with typical flavor profiles of orange & chocolate or lemon & poppyseed -- I feel like you could buy those at any supermarket, doesn't even need to be an upmarket one.

The judges do start penalizing for lackluster and lack of adventurousness as the series progresses. It's the the first week, so hitting the briefs and doing them well will set you apart. While her flavours may be traditional, she was the most consistent using the briefs, flavours, and technically. It is actually hard to find a good tasting lemon & poppyseed cake. I prefer Selasi too, but I trust the judges on this show.

I think part of the reason the show has worked is due to an element of the traditional. I think people expect it from Mary and they do not mind it from Paul. I do not think it is old fashioned. While the show does celebrate really inventive flavours, they will award it if the baker is consistently good about it. Nadiya was a prime example of this and so was Tamal. The show's predictability and "safe" profile actually makes it comfort viewing at times. A lot of this show is based in British baking nostalgia as well. I prefer the more daring bakers too and the show does celebrate them. I think they have to achieve this balance of  both celebrating traditional flavours and more inventive flavour combinations, and that is subjective.

Like you, my early favourites are Benjamina and Selasi though. If Selasi is as good as we suspect, he'll get Star Baker in no time.

On 2016-08-25 at 6:06 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Don't they usually rank the signature bakes? Or am I just being forgetful because it's been a whole year since the last season?

They have never ranked signature bakes only the technical ones. What they have done is talked about who did well and who didn't do well in the past, but not always.

[Rinaldo]

17 hours ago, Occasional Hope said:

That green cake looked disgusting. 

It did. However, I had hopes for the blue frosting on another cake, as I think people are far too restrictive about what are "acceptable" icing colors (I always wanted a blue- or purple-frosted birthday cake as a kid). However, the blue came out badly in looks and texture, and apparently taste, so no go there.

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Don't they usually rank the signature bakes?

Never. Only the technical is ranked. They give reactions to signature and showstopper, so that we can tell in a general way who did better or worse, but without any specific rankings.

I figured that Selasi was on track to be star baker, but his lack of a mirror glaze, which was after all a central part of the brief, knocked him down a notch. That's crucial, especially at this early point: do what we asked for. Fussiness over flavor nuances can come in later weeks.

[sum]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

did you see Mary's eyes light up when he mentioned the gin and tonic?

6 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

It did. However, I had hopes for the blue frosting on another cake, as I think people are far too restrictive about what are "acceptable" icing colors (I always wanted a blue- or purple-frosted birthday cake as a kid). However, the blue came out badly in looks and texture, and apparently taste, so no go there.

Interestingly most top Google search results for mirror glazed cake images are blue, purple and red ones.

One of favorite moments of the episode: "We don't do that in the South."

[shandy]

It's like it never was gone.  Mel still wears pants most people would only keep for doing the gardening, Mary's hair hasn't changed since 1952,  Sue was getting excited about breast shaped sponge cake.  Paul's standards are still so arbitrary it reminds me of David Carradine being tested in kung fu - when is a wet cake a pudding and not a drizzle (grasshopper)? I can't get Candice's lips out of my head - not like any gym teacher I ever knew! I also fell in love with another teacher, Val, who marches to the beat of her own drum. I hope she can keep it together long enough so we see more of her. I do appreciate Mary doesn't patronize the older contestants - shape up or ship out. Lee the Pastor was clearly sinking fast. Jane was a little lucky getting two chances at a chocolate-orange combo, but so was Chetna with that Croatian recipe in a previous iteration - them's the breaks.

Being a lover of green tea ice cream I could see there was far too much matcha in that undergraduate's mix. I do think Mary and Paul pretend to have no clue though - I would be very surprised that Paul at least had no idea about yuzu or matcha - he built his reputation baking bread for London's top restaurants - they can't all rely on recipes from Paris in the Belle Epoque. I think the directors ask them to pretend to be food clueless.

I'm afraid I'm with Mary on 'dunking' anything chocolate covered into hot drinks. 

[tenativelyyours]

Don't forget there is jelly in there under that chocolate.  Mary's quiet chide was well deserved.

 

And something I forgot to mention was Mary.  She looks much better this season.  Maybe because it was warmer this time around when it started.  Last season she seemed a bit frail looking and had me worried.  She seems to really have that sparkle only she can bring right out the gate.

 

Are we going to have a thread for An Extra Slice this time around?   I'd like one please if we could.

[Athena]

3 hours ago, tenativelyyours said:

Are we going to have a thread for An Extra Slice this time around?   I'd like one please if we could.

We could have a catch-all topic for Extra Slice if there is demand. In previous seasons, it has not seemed a lot of people from here watch it and/or post about it enough to warrant individual episode threads. If people are interested, we can create one thread for it, otherwise, you can talk about Extra Slice on each of the GBBO threads. The episodes are not inherently spoilery for any American viewers who may watch this show when PBS airs it. 

[tenativelyyours]

Maybe I'll end up being the only one that posts in it, but I do think it would be better to a single topic thread for the show since it would seem odd to start talking about Jo in episode threads!  Even though the show itself is devoted to GGBO it still has moments that strictly its own which could be confusing as well as perhaps irritating for those that don't follow and later when those that watch in the US find totally perplexing unless PBS or Netflix add it to their line up.

[Kostgard]

I love this show so much. Didn't realize how much I needed it in my life until I watched today. Mary Berry is a treasure, from the way her eyes light up at the mention of booze to the withering look she shot Paul for being so gauche as to dunk his Jaffa cake.

So far, all the contestants are lovely and charming, as usual. The only surprise for me was to discover that Andrew is old enough to hold a real job that requires a college degree, because he looks about 14.

[PepperMonkey]

IT'S BACK!!

Love everyone. Missed this show so much.

Selasi and my AND Mr. Monkey's cake crush. Mr. Monkey loves his laid back attitude and I just love him in general. I never dislike any of these contestants, though.

And I love Mary but everyone gets twisted knickers too easily over blue frosting. If that had mirrored properly, I don't think it would have been as much a problem. I don't know about the taste, but I like having fun with food and that includes neon frosting and garnish that isn't always edible.

[Kromm]

This show often likes to reward the token old biddy with Star Baker doesn't it?  I know that doesn't always mean they win in the end, but it's who they often like the audience to see as a frontrunner. 

I can see how Mr. Stickler Paul would feel they had no choice but to slightly punish some of the other non-old-biddy choices for not taking their mirror glaze requirement totally seriously. He's usually Mr. "Listen To The Challenge" and contestants seem to always forget it.  That's what got Selasi knocked out of the box here.   And they do seem to weigh the Showstopper far heavier than 1/3rd.  I think as viewers we often look at who did okay in the first challenge and wins the technical and think we know who's in front. But it often doesn't turn out that way because the Showstopper seems to count for at LEAST half.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Kromm

[Kromm]

I will say that one thing that occurred to me is that the anglo-bias of this show got revealed again in the judging.  The poor guy asked about Yuzo made the mistake of describing it as between lemon and lime.  So Paul, being the ass he sometimes can be (and his commitment to his familiar tastes) interpreted this to mean that the taste of Yuzu is inherently a compromise between lemon and lime. It's actually apparently an offshoot of a mandarine (an ORANGE). If Paul thought the taste was too weak it was more because the contestant likely didn't use enough of the ingredient. But lemon and limes are not on a scale where you have to weigh to either one side or the other. The very idea is ludicrous. 

Edited August 28, 2016 by Kromm

[Corgi-ears]

On 25 August 2016 at 1:22 PM, pamplemousse said:

I'm really surprised Paul has never had matcha sponge cake... IDK, I love this show but I often feel like Paul and Mary have very pedestrian preferences and give too much credit to boring and safe stuff.

22 hours ago, Kromm said:

I will say that one thing that occurred to me is that the anglo-bias of this show got revealed again in the judging.

There has for me always been an interesting tension in the show. On the one hand, the cast is always so pleasingly multicultural, but, on the other, the actual bakes -- and more crucially, the flavours they tend to reward -- are so resolutely "British." If we were to be critical, we might even say that the multicultural casting obscures the degree to which the show tends not to be open to multicultural flavors. Not just matcha, but yuzu is also a common flavor in the rest of the world, and it was rather jarring to see Paul and Mary's unfamiliarity and even distaste for them.

It was nice that Candice not only fleshed out the mirror glaze theme by serving her cake on an actual mirror, but she might have also styled herself as an evil queen. Meanwhile, I know Eddie Redmayne didn't win the second Oscar he was so hoping for with The Danish Girl, but it's still surprising to see him give up acting for baking. (Wait -- or was the "Danish" in "Danish girl" referring to the pastry?)

Edited August 28, 2016 by Corgi-ears

[Kromm]

24 minutes ago, Corgi-ears said:

There has for me always been an interesting tension in the show. On the one hand, the cast is always so pleasingly multicultural, but, on the other, the actual bakes -- and more crucially, the flavours they tend to reward -- are so resolutely "British." If we were to be critical, we might even say that the multicultural casting obscures the degree to which the show tends not to be open to multicultural flavors. Not just matcha, but yuzu is also a common flavor in the rest of the world, and it was rather jarring to see Paul and Mary's unfamiliarity and even distaste for them.

They didn't dare act this time like they didn't know what matcha is (because it's become a bit more trendy in the UK), but you could definitely see a little tension around Paul's mouth where he was trying not to frown at the mention of it.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Kromm

[Rickster]

On August 25, 2016 at 6:11 PM, shandy said:

 

Being a lover of green tea ice cream I could see there was far too much matcha in that undergraduate's mix. I do think Mary and Paul pretend to have no clue though - I would be very surprised that Paul at least had no idea about yuzu or matcha - he built his reputation baking bread for London's top restaurants - they can't all rely on recipes from Paris in the Belle Epoque. I think the directors ask them to pretend to be food clueless.

 

I tend to go with the fake cluelessness argument myself too. A large majority of the viewers have probably never heard of matcha or yuzu, so they can relate to Mary and Paul's role as traditionalists asking gosh what is this?, rather than being alienated by conversations that make them feel stupid.

One thing that struck me watching this episode, not that's it's anything new, is how utterly delightful and self effacing all the contestants are, which I think a is key to its success and a major difference vs US cooking contest competitors.

[Enigma X]

53 minutes ago, Rickster said:

 

One thing that struck me watching this episode, not that's it's anything new, is how utterly delightful and self effacing all the contestants are, which I think a is key to its success and a major difference vs US cooking contest competitors.

I agree that each season that the contestants are pleasant but disagree at the implied "because it is a British vs an American" show. I think it has more to do with that there is no money involved and the producers sought out people who simply loved to bake and not anyone who had a bakery to actually promote. I mean Britain did give the world Big Brother--which is as competitive and full of wretched as they come.

[Kromm]

2 hours ago, Enigma X said:

I agree that each season that the contestants are pleasant but disagree at the implied "because it is a British vs an American" show. I think it has more to do with that there is no money involved and the producers sought out people who simply loved to bake and not anyone who had a bakery to actually promote. I mean Britain did give the world Big Brother--which is as competitive and full of wretched as they come.

There's no direct money involved (well I suppose there might be a stipend/appearance fee for simply being on camera--Big Brother certainly has that and I imagine Bake Off likely has to as well).  

But reality show winners get indirect perks/rewards.  Appearance fees to speak or (in the case of Bake Off) bake at live events. Spokesperson jobs (there are a LOT of food spokesjobs, from appliances to food stores/restaurants to snack cake endorsements). In the UK specifically (because there are so damned many of them) paid panel show appearances.  In the case of shows like Bake-Off and MasterChef, book deals.  They can, pun intended, dine off the show for years, even sans grand prize. 

[halopub]

On August 24, 2016 at 10:40 PM, Pallida said:

 

I loved Mary sniffing the matcha and saying it smelled like grass.  I think someone used matcha in the past, but far more sparingly. Grass cake does not sound pleasant. 

I was not impressed by Mary's reaction to matcha. It's not the first time I have wondered about her palate and food tasting experience. 

14 hours ago, Corgi-ears said:

If we were to be critical, we might even say that the multicultural casting obscures the degree to which the show tends not to be open to multicultural flavors. Not just matcha, but yuzu is also a common flavor in the rest of the world, and it was rather jarring to see Paul and Mary's unfamiliarity and even distaste for them.

It was nice that Candice not only fleshed out the mirror glaze theme by serving her cake on an actual mirror, but she might have also styled herself as an evil queen. Meanwhile, I know Eddie Redmayne didn't win the second Oscar he was so hoping for with The Danish Girl, but it's still surprising to see him give up acting for baking. (Wait -- or was the "Danish" in "Danish girl" referring to the pastry?)

In addition to the amount used, I think the contestant would have been better off just calling it a kind of green tea. Matcha has been used before, in an opera torte (season 3?) and in the edible biscuit box challenge. I'd have to review the episodes to be sure, but it was most likely matcha and not a steeped green tea used for those challenges.

For the uninitiated I think a good way to taste the use of matcha is in a shortbread cookie or a castella sponge cake. 

I did not have a great impression of Andrew from his promotion blurbs but he was relatable and I'm hoping he puts that engineering knowledge to work next week.

Regarding the mirror cakes, I have seen dark green done well and I wonder if a less Art Deco blue might have worked. Shades much darker.

Edited August 28, 2016 by halopub
Spelling

[Enigma X]

51 minutes ago, Kromm said:

There's no direct money involved (well I suppose there might be a stipend/appearance fee for simply being on camera--Big Brother certainly has that and I imagine Bake Off likely has to as well).  

But reality show winners get indirect perks/rewards.  Appearance fees to speak or (in the case of Bake Off) bake at live events. Spokesperson jobs (there are a LOT of food spokesjobs, from appliances to food stores/restaurants to snack cake endorsements). In the UK specifically (because there are so damned many of them) paid panel show appearances.  In the case of shows like Bake-Off and MasterChef, book deals.  They can, pun intended, dine off the show for years, even sans grand prize. 

It still sets up for a very different show where you know you are in competition for a monetary prize regardless of whether you choose to do any of those things in the end.

[pamplemousse]

I consider Paul a baker primarily of bread, first and foremost, so his opinion on desserts or pastry is always something I take with a grain of salt. As for Mary, she's a cook-of-all-sorts but I don't consider her to be an expert on all things desserts. If anyone, the guy who judges Great Irish Bake-off is probably the most qualified IMO to judge the show's format and content since he is a pastry chef -- you can tell he is too because he is such a stickler for uniformity and consistency of appearance & bake.

[Kromm]

1 hour ago, pamplemousse said:

I consider Paul a baker primarily of bread, first and foremost, so his opinion on desserts or pastry is always something I take with a grain of salt. As for Mary, she's a cook-of-all-sorts but I don't consider her to be an expert on all things desserts. If anyone, the guy who judges Great Irish Bake-off is probably the most qualified IMO to judge the show's format and content since he is a pastry chef -- you can tell he is too because he is such a stickler for uniformity and consistency of appearance & bake.

So the  conceit here is supposed to be that we have two judges, neither of whom is qualified for at least a third of what the show tests?

I suppose that's why they used the somewhat annoying, but unquestionably an actual Pastry Chef, Johnny Iuzzini, as Paul's stand-in for the Holiday themed US run that Mary did. 

[emma675]

I finally got to watch this last night. I love this show so much.

I'm still at the point where I only know a few names/faces, but it seems like a very kind, laid back group this season. I'm hoping dark lipstick lady and hairdresser lady get it together a bit more, because they seemed cool. I can't remember any of the younger guy's names (except for Selasi), but they seemed fun, although a bit out of their depth at points.

What constitutes a mirror glaze? I get that it's a shine on the top of the cake, but is it a ganache, and what makes it so shiny?

Edited August 29, 2016 by emma675d
Removed streaming reference

[shandy]

On 29/08/2016 at 4:06 AM, Kromm said:

So the  conceit here is supposed to be that we have two judges, neither of whom is qualified for at least a third of what the show tests?

LMAO at that major shade. To be fair, GBBO started as a cheap little traveling show on the second bbc channel, made by a company that specialized in cosy daytime reality shows. Neither Mary or Paul were superstars when hired.  The first season was more about home baking than ritzy patisserie - so a family business baker with a little exotic hotel experience, and a former home ec teacher famous for selling books with idiot-proof instructions  must have seemed like a good mix. I do agree that Hollywood re-modelling himself as a patissier probably has colleagues at the various hotels he worked at grumbling into the ganache that he is the Brian Williams of pastrycraft.  But most popular show on British TV, if he wanted to swap the tent for an ice rink they would go with it.

[Christina]

Each week, Lynn Allingham (@Tuck_Shop on Twitter) makes a miniature of one of the star bakers' bakes. She has posted the one for cake week, and chose Jane's showstopper, Chocolate Orange Mirror Cake. 

I'm going to try and post the tweet, but I'm having a few issues. If it fails, this is the link to her Tumblr 

[Margo Leadbetter]

Ah ha! I knew that yuzu had come up once before on Bake Off but for the life of me I couldn't remember which episode. So I had just happen to be rewatching Series 2 right now and sure enough, there it is in the first episode. Urvashi's cupcakes. Paul and Mary claim not to have heard of it and Urvashi gives them a very thorough explanation as well as a taste and a sniff. So either they're playing dumb or they both have very bad memories, but they definitely weren't clueless. Don't mess with us, show!

[kscoaster]

On 9/16/2016 at 9:33 PM, Margo Leadbetter said:

Ah ha! I knew that yuzu had come up once before on Bake Off but for the life of me I couldn't remember which episode. So I had just happen to be rewatching Series 2 right now and sure enough, there it is in the first episode. Urvashi's cupcakes. Paul and Mary claim not to have heard of it and Urvashi gives them a very thorough explanation as well as a taste and a sniff. So either they're playing dumb or they both have very bad memories, but they definitely weren't clueless. Don't mess with us, show!

Oh thank you!  I thought it had been used before but couldn't remember the episode.

[Occasional Hope]

It seems next week is botanical week, so they can use matcha tea to their hearts' content ;)

[Primetimer]

Can the bakers rise to the challenge of Cake Week?

View the full article

[awaken]

In a world gone mad, this show is a refuge. A place where rubbery genoese, or non-shiny mirror glaze are the worst problems. Keep doing what you're doing, GBBS!  

Edited June 18, 2017 by awaken

[LittleIggy]

Never heard of a Jaffa cake before. I was imagining the bad guy from "Aladdin" (yes, I know it's Jaffar).

So good to see my handsome Paul again!:-)

[GaT]

So glad to have the show back, but sad that this is the last season it will be in this form :-(

[sum]

A fun fact about Jaffa Cakes. From Wikipedia: 

Quote

Categorisation as cake or biscuit for VAT
In the United Kingdom, value added tax is payable on chocolate-covered biscuits, but not on chocolate-covered cakes. McVities defended its classification of Jaffa Cakes as cakes at a VAT tribunal in 1991, against the ruling that Jaffa Cakes were biscuits due to their size and shape, and the fact that they were often eaten in place of biscuits. McVities insisted that the product was a cake, and allegedly produced a giant Jaffa Cake in court to illustrate its point. The product was assessed on the following criteria:

• The product's name was regarded as a minor consideration.
• The ingredients were regarded as similar to those of a cake, producing a thin cake-like batter rather than the thick dough of a biscuit.
• The product's texture was regarded as being that of a sponge cake.
• The product hardens when stale, in the manner of a cake.
• A substantial part of the Jaffa Cake, in terms of bulk and texture, is sponge.
• In size, the Jaffa Cake is more like a biscuit than a cake.
• The product was generally displayed for sale alongside other biscuits, rather than with cakes.
• The product is presented as a snack and eaten with the fingers, like a biscuit, rather than with a fork as a cake might be. The tribunal also considered that children would eat them in "a few mouthfuls", in the manner of a sweet.

The court found in favour of McVitie's and ruled that the product should be considered a cake, meaning that VAT is not paid on Jaffa Cakes in the United Kingdom.

In Ireland, Jaffa Cakes are regarded as cakes by Revenue as their moisture content is greater than 12%. As a result, they are charged the reduced rate of VAT (13.5% as of 2016).

Despite the legal ruling, there's still a debate over whether it's a cake or a biscuit. ?

[Quilt Fairy]

Two seconds after Mary told Selasi his cake didn't have a mirror glaze on it, the camera picked it up from a side angle and you could see a beautiful, even shine on it.  Maybe not a mirror shine (how does one even do a mirror glaze?) but up to the brief, IMO.

[Amethyst]

I wouldn't have given SB to Jane.  Her last bake was good, but it just seemed like a repeat of the Jaffa cake, it's just that she got it right this time.

One flavor I hated was all the white chocolate.  To me, it only works when it's paired with something bitter like dark chocolate, since white chocolate borders on overly sweet.  Andrew not only had the best cake, but he had the best flavors, imo.

When I heard mirror cake, I thought of these.  Of course, this woman has been making them for some time now, but you can actually see your reflection in these, while I didn't think any of tonight's cakes had this kind of shine.  

I love this show.  I'll really miss this cast, too.

[Ms Lark]

4 hours ago, Amethyst said:

When I heard mirror cake, I thought of these.  Of course, this woman has been making them for some time now, but you can actually see your reflection in these, while I didn't think any of tonight's cakes had this kind of shine.  

I immediately thought of those cakes, too. They're beautiful. Shiny! None of this week's, while v. pretty, were real mirror cakes in this light.

Blue cake: A friend of mine has a rule "don't eat blue cake." We used to send him photos of ugly blue cakes we found on the internet for his birthday. The swallow cake might work here.

Matcha and Yuzu: Jeez. A friend of mine and I made matcha blueberry muffins at least 10 years ago (she moved away, that's how I know it's been that long). Yuzu has been popular for many years, too. You can buy it in most grocery stores! Paul and Mary need to be less euro-centric and expand their global palates a bit more. Even if they're faking it, I'm not keen on clueless judges.

Still, love the show and look forward to the rest of the season. Trying not to get spoiled.

[hula-la]

On 2017-06-16 at 9:10 PM, LittleIggy said:

Never heard of a Jaffa cake before. I was imagining the bad guy from "Aladdin" (yes, I know it's Jaffar).

 

I have heard of them, but the term always seemed vaguely racist to me. Like something the bad guys from Lethal Weapon 2 would say.  I probably shouldn't read so much into the name of a cake.

[J-Man]

The name of the cakes comes from the Jaffa orange, which was developed in the city of Jaffa (a/k/a Yafo), in Israel (although it was Palestine at the time the oranges were developed.)

I bought some store-brand Jaffa cakes at Aldi (in the US) around the holidays, so they're not unknown here.