The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off

[Athena]

Special celebrity charity bake off edition. 

Quote

The Great British Bake Off returns with five special Stand Up To Cancer episodes. In each episode Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding are joined by four different celebrities aiming to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith with their baking skills. Over five episodes, Paul and Prue set 15 exciting new baking challenges, pushing the celebrities to their baking limits. But only one celebrity per episode will be awarded the coveted star baker apron.

 

[Corgi-ears]

That postscript was a bit of a gut punch. Fuck cancer.

[GaT]

We don't get any of these special episodes in the US :-( We still haven't gotten the last series.I wish Netflix would get all the other seasons & specials. I just watched the seasons that we got again for the third time.

[Cactus]

I could not stop laughing at Martin Kemp "baking" his buttercream!

[Corgi-ears]

The second episode had a heartbreaking segment about a 11 year old girl losing her fight to cancer, yet that only just edged out Nick Hewer's baking for the title of "most tragic thing in the episode."

[Ceindreadh]

6 hours ago, Corgi-ears said:

The second episode had a heartbreaking segment about a 11 year old girl losing her fight to cancer, yet that only just edged out Nick Hewer's baking for the title of "most tragic thing in the episode."

I appreciate that they have to show the reason why they’re doing this, but following up that girl’s heartbreaking story with a plate of singing cupcakes...talk about mood whiplash!

[vinnieprice]

I have to fast forward through the stories.. I just can't. It's too much for me. Fuck Cancer.

[Globegrl]

The stories are heartbreaking.  As an American I must say I enjoy the style and grace of so much of the British programming I am fortunate to view.  We could really learn a lot...

[GaT]

Well, I finally got around to watching the first one, & it's was......different. This was my first GBBS without Mary, Sue, & Mel, so of course that was a big difference, but I didn't realize that the contestants were just celebrities, I thought they were celebrities who could bake, so that part was kind of disappointing. Also, since they're celebrities, they were kind of "on" the entire time which I didn't care for. The ending was a sad surprise, too. I'll have to decide if I'm going to watch the other 3.

Edited April 4, 2018 by Athena
Removed streaming links

[Amarsir]

On 4/2/2018 at 12:20 AM, GaT said:

Well, I finally got around to watching the first one, & it's was......different. This was my first GBBS without Mary, Sue, & Mel, so of course that was a big difference, but I didn't realize that the contestants were just celebrities, I thought they were celebrities who could bake, so that part was kind of disappointing. Also, since they're celebrities, they were kind of "on" the entire time which I didn't care for. The ending was a sad surprise, too. I'll have to decide if I'm going to watch the other 3.

They want to hit the "anyone can bake" message, so every celeb episode has 2 people who kinda can and two people who absolutely can not. I think "comic relief" in past seasons was the same way. It also helps if you know the people and find them funny. Lee Mack in episode 4 (the copy of which I now see has been removed) was hilarious but definitely not a baker.

They also all have real downers with the cancer segments, so either skip that bit or steel yourself for it.

[Athena]

PTV Forums does not allow for posts about methods on "Flying to England". We know posters do it, but please do not publicly post about it on these forums. Thank you.

[Amarsir]

Well if you want to see a celeb who can bake, Teri Hatcher stepped up in episode 5. She was so thrilled to be there too, which I think got on the others' nerves at first. But overall a good representation for the Americans in GBBO.

[vinnieprice]

I loved Teri Hatcher so much because she was so good to go. Clearly a fan, and I could totally see myself practicing and planning like that. She was just great.

[magdalene]

I just watched the episode with Lee Mack.  Very funny celebrity bakers.  The show stoppers were quite inventive at the end.  It surprised me that Paul Hollywood didn't seem to know who Frida Kahlo was.

[Athena]

This special series is returning on March 5 with a new lineup of celebrities.

[Corgi-ears]

Nailed It! tries and tries and tries, and then Bake Off comes along and gives us John Lithgow's Swiss Roll -- or, as he put it, oddly accurately, a Swiss guard's discarded underwear. That was hysterically awful-looking.

Did Noel really say, while bantering with Jon Richardson, that Tom Cruise would make "fairy cakes"?! Mr Cruise's lawyers will soon be on line 1.

[oldCJ]

I never thought I’d see the day when a cookie vulva wins bake off. 

[bybrandy]

I never thought I'd see a day where I was sort of rooting for Russell Brand.   The world is a mixed up topsy turvy place.  Jon Richardson cracked me up a few times.  Lithgow's going around and exclaiming over everybody's bake was charming.    Good start if you don't worry about the baking.   

[GaT]

I think I've watched one of these before, but I don't remember it. I thoroughly enjoyed it & really laughed a number of times, but oh, the story of that poor woman in the middle of the show just made me weep. I guess they want everyone to realize what the show is for, & not just sit there enjoying the show. 

[oldCJ]

James Acaster had me in stitches. Loved that his showstopper tasted the best. Russell Tovey is fit! When did that happen?

[bybrandy]

On 3/13/2019 at 12:56 PM, oldCJ said:

James Acaster had me in stitches. Loved that his showstopper tasted the best. Russell Tovey is fit! When did that happen?

Seeing Acaster in this reminded me that he had 4 netflix comedy specials I hadn't seen.   So I got to spend some time catching up with those after this episode.  That was a bonus!   

I've done some googling and still I have no idea.   I understand that flapjack is made with golden syrup oats and butter.  The bit I still haven't gotten after LOADS of googling is what is flapjack like?   Like a granola bar?  

[Athena]

7 hours ago, bybrandy said:

I've done some googling and still I have no idea.   I understand that flapjack is made with golden syrup oats and butter.  The bit I still haven't gotten after LOADS of googling is what is flapjack like?   Like a granola bar?  

I love flapjacks and there isn't a comparable North American item. They are kinda like a granola bar except with a lot less of add-ons and are more chewier and crunchier? It's hard to describe. The butter and golden syrup makes it slightly stickier. It has a bit of crispy outside, but the oats make it chewy. It's firmly in the baked goods category but you can buy them plastic wrapped individual portions.

I've tested a few recipes. I recommend Mary Berry or the Smitten Kitchen one to replicate it. The latter is the one I use the most often.

[bybrandy]

I was really expecting a train wreck with both Big Narstie and Johnny Vegas but Johnny Vegas was quiet and Big Narstie left early.  So we got the bonus of Sandi.   No complaints at all from an episode I was genuinely dreading.  

[Danny Franks]

11 hours ago, bybrandy said:

I was really expecting a train wreck with both Big Narstie and Johnny Vegas but Johnny Vegas was quiet and Big Narstie left early.  So we got the bonus of Sandi.   No complaints at all from an episode I was genuinely dreading.  

I don't watch all of these celebrity episodes, because they often have at least one person on who I simply don't want to watch. Now that I know that talentless hanger-on leaves early, I'll probably watch this one. Thanks.

Edited March 24, 2019 by Danny Franks

[Lois Sandborne]

I caught up with these yesterday, and I spent the whole evening lowkey thinking about UK-style flapjacks.  Only because for my whole life a flapjack has meant a chewier, eggier pancake, and it a little bit blew my mind to think that our two cultures could magic up the same weird word to describe two such completely different foodstuffs.  I demand to know which came first, and I, without any evidence at all, accuse the UK of appropriating our word for their odd sort of oatmeal-creme-pie-without-the-filling things.  I would also demand an apology, but they did all look kind of tasty, except for the woman who put chocolate and mint on top of her oats.

James Acaster delighted me with his ability to admit he should've taken Paul's advice about his mix being too wet, although I was also cracking up when he was defending the texture and saying it looked wet because it was unbaked, and offering his hand for Paul to shake in advance.

And Sandy baked a cake!  That was adorable.  It looked quite good too, especially for something she did on a moment's notice.  I didn't miss Big Narstie at all when he left.  I know each episode has at least one cut up we're not supposed to expect much out of, but I've been delighted by how earnest pretty much everyone else has been in the tent so far.  Russell Brand cared super a lot about his brownies, y'all.  And Johnny Vegas really wanted those moscow mule biscuits to turn out.  I guess it's hard to be too silly when you're working against cancer.

[bybrandy]

49 minutes ago, Lois Sandborne said:

I demand to know which came first, and I, without any evidence at all, accuse the UK of appropriating our word for their odd sort of oatmeal-creme-pie-without-the-filling things. 

Apparently.
From: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/flapjack

NOUN

1.British A sweet dense cake made from oats, golden syrup, and melted butter, served in rectangles.

Example sentences

2.North American A pancake.

Example sentences

Origin

Early 17th century (in flapjack (sense 2 of the noun)): from flap (in the dialect sense ‘toss a pancake’) + jack; sense 1 dates from the 1930s and is probably a regional coinage.

[Danny Franks]

12 hours ago, Lois Sandborne said:

I didn't miss Big Narstie at all when he left. 

I'm watching now, and can't wait for him to go. He's incredibly annoying, and making an absolute minimum of effort, as well as just ignoring instructions because he apparently can't be bothered to pay attention.

I absolutely loathe the sort of apathetic, anti-intellectual attitude he represents, and I doubt he's actually ill on the second day. I think it's more likely he just couldn't be bothered planning a showstopper, and couldn't be bothered coming back to bake anything.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Danny Franks

[bybrandy]

6 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

I think it's more likely he just couldn't be bothered planning a showstopper, and couldn't be bothered coming back to bake anything.

I also suspect that is the case, or he's hung over, or he didn't want to get out of bed.  But no seriously I doubt he was sick. 

[Ceindreadh]

Whatever your feelings about Big Narstie, I think it was a bit unfair to make the technical challenge use pork if it’s against his religion to use it. 

Kind of made it pretty obvious which effort his was going to be (even if he had followed the rest of the brief). 

At the end of the day though, this is all being done for charity. And his inclusion probably got a bunch  of viewers who might not necessarily have tuned in otherwise and that’s the whole point of the specials. 

[bybrandy]

7 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

Whatever your feelings about Big Narstie, I think it was a bit unfair to make the technical challenge use pork if it’s against his religion to use it. 

Kind of made it pretty obvious which effort his was going to be (even if he had followed the rest of the brief). 

At the end of the day though, this is all being done for charity. And his inclusion probably got a bunch  of viewers who might not necessarily have tuned in otherwise and that’s the whole point of the specials. 

Would the judges be aware of which of the contestants didn't eat pork?  

And I don't think the taste had anything at all to do with his judging.  It was all done when they looked at the two rather than 6 pork pies before even digging in to find the beef.   

[Ceindreadh]

16 hours ago, bybrandy said:

Would the judges be aware of which of the contestants didn't eat pork?  

And I don't think the taste had anything at all to do with his judging.  It was all done when they looked at the two rather than 6 pork pies before even digging in to find the beef.   

Somebody must have been informed because I doubt Big Narstie carries chunks of meat with him on the off chance he needs to make a pie!

 So obviously whoever packs the ingredients for the technical would have known to give him beef rather than pork  

[bybrandy]

2 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

Somebody must have been informed because I doubt Big Narstie carries chunks of meat with him on the off chance he needs to make a pie!

 So obviously whoever packs the ingredients for the technical would have known to give him beef rather than pork  

Of course, but the judges aren't out there purchasing ingredients.  All the producers know who made what dish.  The only two people who are out of the loop are Paul and Prue.   

[GaT]

Just watched the 4th episode & laughed a lot. I have no idea who any of these people are, but I love how pleased they are when Paul or Prue tells them something is good. Once again the cancer story made me weep, so, so sad.

[Danny Franks]

On ‎3‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 11:02 PM, GaT said:

Just watched the 4th episode & laughed a lot. I have no idea who any of these people are, but I love how pleased they are when Paul or Prue tells them something is good. Once again the cancer story made me weep, so, so sad.

I really enjoyed that episode, simply because Joe Wilkinson, who is (moderately) famous for being a very odd comedian, was actually really good. Usually, you'd expect him to be there as the comedy relief who is hopeless, but he clearly took it seriously and made an effort.

The blonde girl is from Made In Chelsea, a reality show about rich kids in London. And while I hate that show and its adulation of the idle rich, it seems like every time one of them appears on something else, they come across as genuinely nice. It's an irritating juxtaposition.

[Badger]

Joe Wilkinson is in Ricky Gervais's show, "After Life."  

[GaT]

I spent the entire 5th episode wishing Caroline would just pull back her hair. Seriously, it must have been in everything she baked & she kept playing with it. Nicola is absolutely adorable, I mean she's right up there on the adorable boxer ranking with Sugar Ray Leonard. 

[oldCJ]

On 4/4/2019 at 1:36 AM, GaT said:

I spent the entire 5th episode wishing Caroline would just pull back her hair. Seriously, it must have been in everything she baked & she kept playing with it.

That and her constant finger licking was so gross!

[ABay]

I can't believe I actually liked Russell Brand.

It was interesting seeing James Acaster in something other than Mock the Week. He's not my favorite panelist on that so I've never watched his Netflix stand-up specials, but he was entertaining here.

Greg Wise...How is this guy married to Emma Thompson? Is he stellar in bed? Because he has a personality deficit that surprised the hell out of me.

Watching these, I really wished for closed captioning. I don't usually have a hard time understanding the contestants but several of these bakers need to learn how to enunciate.

[GaT]

I don't see any other threads for this, so I guess it's for all of them.

Is anyone else watching the episodes this year? I'm still amused by them, & the stories of the people with cancer just kill me. I just watched the 3rd episode, & at one point you can hear the mother of the guy with cancer crying while she's driving him back from the doctor, & it just broke my heart. 

[Ceindreadh]

37 minutes ago, GaT said:

I don't see any other threads for this, so I guess it's for all of them.

Is anyone else watching the episodes this year? I'm still amused by them, & the stories of the people with cancer just kill me. I just watched the 3rd episode, & at one point you can hear the mother of the guy with cancer crying while she's driving him back from the doctor, & it just broke my heart. 

I’m watching it and enjoying the baking. I’m afraid I fast forward through the cancer stories. I’ve too many in my own family tree. 

[Corgi-ears]

I thought the 3rd episode was kind of irritating. I thought every celebrity was playing to the camera too much; every laugh was just a bit too loud, every pun or joke just that bit labored. And while Tan acknowledged that it was an incredible "privilege" for his greatest fear to be "aging" and "wrinkles," it was still the case that his greatest fear was...aging and wrinkles. On a programme about people getting cancer.

Quote

at one point you can hear the mother of the guy with cancer crying while she's driving him back from the doctor, & it just broke my heart. 

I know 😭 The fact that she was just slightly off-camera, but we could hear her full-on heave-crying was just devastating.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Corgi-ears

[Danny Franks]

On 3/25/2020 at 11:41 PM, GaT said:

I don't see any other threads for this, so I guess it's for all of them.

Is anyone else watching the episodes this year? I'm still amused by them, & the stories of the people with cancer just kill me. I just watched the 3rd episode, & at one point you can hear the mother of the guy with cancer crying while she's driving him back from the doctor, & it just broke my heart. 

Yeah, I don't like watching these cancer stories at all. Just hearing the stories told by their loved ones was bad enough, but now that they're showing ones where the sufferers themselves have chronicled it on their phones, it's even tougher. 

That 'stand up comedian' on the third episode? I don't see how he makes a living at all.

[Lois Sandborne]

He has some competition, but I think James Blunt might be the cutest contestant they ever had.

I liked the savory technical in the 4th episode, even though most of the results turned out looking a bit like dog food.

I generally begin watching the personal stories, but I admit I don't always finish them. I do what I can for the cause and say my prayers though, so I hope that evens me out on the cosmic balance.

[Aulty]

 The new SUTC Bake Off series starts on MArch 9th on Channel 4.

Here's the lineup for the first episode:

Quote

Daisy Ridley, Rob Beckett, Alexandra Burke and Tom Allen tackle millionaire shortbread in the signature and a fruity tart in the technical, and create their pet hates in cake form in the showstopper

 

[Lois Sandborne]

On 3/2/2021 at 4:08 AM, Aulty said:

 The new SUTC Bake Off series starts on MArch 9th on Channel 4.

I've been looking forward to this. I like Rob, and it should be fun to see Tom Allen bake after all the hell he gives people on Extra Slice and The Professionals. Daisy Ridley is the new Star Wars lady, right? She seems like quite a get.

[Aulty]

The thing with those celebrity episodes is that you never know what we'll get.

I knew that Rob and Tom went to school together, but I can't tell if they were/are mates. Tom baking fully suited up was very on brand, and very entertaining that he brought some techniques and vocabulary from his stint as host of the Brake Off Professionals with him. I love Alexandra Burke, she is a always a very positive, upbeat addition to any show. Daisy is lovely, but she was overshadowed on both the baking and the entertainment.

Looks like this season of SUTC Bake Off will be heavy on the 3D cakes. A former colleague watches German Bake Off and apparently they do 3D cakes every single week.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Aulty

[Aulty]

Ladies, stiff peaks alert:

Quote

Episode 2 - James McAvoy, Anne-Marie, David Baddiel, Dame Kelly Holmes 

James McAvoy, Anne-Marie, David Baddiel and Dame Kelly Holmes make signature decorative tarts and a savoury technical, and render their spirit animals in cake form in the showstopper

Original Air Date: March 16th, 2021

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Aww, I felt bad for Daisy since she was pretty dismal at every challenge. I was laughing so hard when she said that she was making a toilet for her showstopper.

Tom is to be commended, first for baking in a suit and not getting a stray spot of flour or sugar anywhere on him, and second for managing to get his millionaire shortbread to look so neat (I was convinced they were going to end up looking like a disaster).

Rob did pretty well. I was impressed by how neat his showstopper was. It looked simple but it's so easy to make something like that look sloppy if you aren't precise.

Alexandra did so well (heh, aside from her messy looking millionaire shortbread). Her tarts in the technical challenge looked nice and although her showstopper design was pretty simple (rectangular cake with a sheet of fondant on top), she had lots of cute little details like the dog's butt sticking out from under the sheets and the whole thing was well executed. She made a smart choice to keep the design simple so that she could get it done.

[Danny Franks]

This was a fun episode, and for once it was one that had a cancer story which has a happy ending. I'm always braced to feel miserable at the final reveal, but to see that the girl in this one recovered and now works for the NHS was fantastic.

Tom Allen is always funny and his overly mannered, prim persona really worked well in this setting. I'm not a big fan of Rob Beckett normally - he's not offensive or anything, just laddish and kind of obvious in his humour - but he clearly prepared more than the others for this, determined not to be the 'designated stand-up comedian who is hopeless.'

I don't really know who Alexandra Burke is, other than someone who sings music I don't listen to, but she was nice enough. And I think she was the deserved star baker, which was a decent achievement after her signature bake.

On 3/10/2021 at 8:32 AM, Aulty said:

I knew that Rob and Tom went to school together, but I can't tell if they were/are mates. Tom baking fully suited up was very on brand, and very entertaining that he brought some techniques and vocabulary from his stint as host of the Brake Off Professionals with him.

I don't know if they were friends at school, but they're definitely friendly nowadays. Rob, Tom and Romesh Ranganathan did a TV show last Christmas where they were all locked into a big toyshop in London overnight, and tasked with keeping themselves entertained and awake. It was a fun diversion, and the three guys had good chemistry with each other.

15 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Aww, I felt bad for Daisy since she was pretty dismal at every challenge. I was laughing so hard when she said that she was making a toilet for her showstopper.

She was just a little bit off in a lot of aspects of her bakes and it was in ways that really ruined the end result - overmixing her bake each time, not getting the chocolate set, struggling with fondant. I laughed when she had the realisation she she's "that person... the one everyone laughs at." She always seems so sweet and wholesome, but is clearly not a natural baker and seemed to second guess everything she was doing.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

I'm not a big fan of Rob Beckett normally - he's not offensive or anything, just laddish and kind of obvious in his humour - but he clearly prepared more than the others for this, determined not to be the 'designated stand-up comedian who is hopeless.'

I really appreciated that he had definitely prepared to be on the show. And I also liked that when he got compliments on how nice his millionaire shortbread looked, he said the credit went to the silicone molds and his wife (like many other people, I tried making hot chocolate bombs and I agree that silicone molds make your stuff look so nice with very little effort on the maker's part).