S03.E01: Cake

[Athena]

This is the first episode of PBS's season 5 of the "Great British Baking Show".

Quote

Returning for a third series, the Bafta-winning The Great British Bake Off sees twelve of the country's best amateur bakers do baking battle. Hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, the bakers face three challenges each week, devised by judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

The first episode is all about cake, and the pressure is on from the very first challenge. The bakers tackle an upside-down cake for their signature bake.

The feared technical challenge sees the bakers tackle Paul's recipe for rum babas, a hybrid of cake and enriched dough. It is an unusual and and unfamiliar recipe that baffles some of the bakers.

And to keep hold of their place in the bake off tent, the bakers attempt to produce a showstopping cake that reveals a hidden design when it is sliced into. Who will impress the judges and become star baker and who will be the first to leave The Great British Bake Off?

[GaT]

Welcome back show! It's so good to see it again. I don't have any favorites yet, but it wasn't hard to see Natasha would probably be gone, nothing really went her way. I'm currently side eying Cathryn, I'll see how things go, but I'm getting some "Ruby" vibes from her.

I don't remember seeing commercials on PBS before, is that new, or did I just forget? 

No little history lesson at the end :-(

Edited June 23, 2018 by GaT

[Kohola3]

4 hours ago, GaT said:

I'm currently side eying Cathryn, I'll see how things go, but I'm getting some "Ruby" vibes from her.

I was thinking the same thing!

Natasha just had one horrendous day so no surprise she was gone.  I did like the look of her roses on that cake, though.

As always, they seem like a lovely group of people, so different from the trash talking on US shows.

[toodles]

It's hotter than the surface of the sun where I live so I decided to watch GBBO on Netflix yesterday.  The English countryside is soothing on a hot day.  

I was thrilled to see new episodes on my DVR!!  If there were a GBBO channel, I would would watch it all day long.☺☺☺

Edited June 23, 2018 by toodles

[Grumpbump]

This show is miles better than the Best Baker in America or Spring/Halloween/Holiday Baking competitions on Food Network.   I was so happy to see this last night. 

However we didn't see all the cakes at the end.   They left out.... what? The middle of the pack?

[Winter Rose]

For so long, the first three seasons of this show always felt like a myth, so I'm excited to finally see one of them. Although because of how they did the seasons here, it's kind of strange hearing Paul say the challenges this year are harder than ever and Mary saying she's never seen striped piping on a cake.

I admit I kind of took a disliking to Stuart. I get that it's a competition but he sounded like someone buying into his own hype and then nearly gets eliminated.

[dubbel zout]

10 hours ago, GaT said:

I'm currently side eying Cathryn, I'll see how things go, but I'm getting some "Ruby" vibes from her.

I got some Ruby vibes from her, too, but self-deprecation is a veddy British trait.

I'm not invested too heavily in anyone yet, but I'm always amazed at how sad I am when the first person gets cut. It's got to be a drag to not make past the first weekend. On the other hand, everyone goes in knowing they might not go the distance.

This show is so soothing.

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, Winter Rose said:

I admit I kind of took a disliking to Stuart. I get that it's a competition but he sounded like someone buying into his own hype and then nearly gets eliminated.

So far he's the only one I want to see gone. Something about him is rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe because he's a school sports coach type he's more competitive than the normal contestants here? I just feel like he could go into a rage if they say anything too bad about his bakes. Those tight pursed lips kind of give me a vibe that he wants to hit something when he gets criticized. 

Sad to see Natasha go but not surprised. I felt she was sunk the moment she decided to go with the ban marie (however that's spelled) when no one else was doing it. I do respect her for going with her gut though. Still, wish it had been Stuart.

I'm just so happy the show is back. 

I'm getting a cross between Ruby and Candace with Catheryn, which is not good because they are pretty much the only two contestants on this show I actively hated watching. 

[bugsmum]

I'm so so happy the show is finally back!  

Not a big fan of upside down cakes, so didn't love that as a challenge, but whatever.  I liked Natasha so I was sad to see her go first, but there's no getting around the fact she had a bad weekend.  

[dleighg]

While I appreciated the technique of the hidden picture cakes, those seem to usually lose a lot of flavor because of the need to be very sturdy. I make a checkerboard one once and wasn't impressed. The one Union Jack cake *was* pretty spectacular looking. 

The sunset was very very sad looking.

[PaulaO]

I was so excited when this showed up on my DVR, thinking it was the new season. However, it’s the original season 3 as aired in the UK.  Fine with me since I’ve only seen this once, on YT.

[J-Man]

I love the fact that Natasha is a midwife -- sort of a call-out to my OTHER favorite British show, "Call the Midwife." 

[ae2]

The hidden picture cakes seem pointless when you have to cut the cake in half to see what it is. No one cuts a cake in half like that! Whereas the Union Jack cake, the hearts, and the flowers you see the effect in every slice. I feel those are more true to the spirit of the cake.

I think it was Natasha's cake with the roses on the outside and the... I have no idea what the inside was. It was just a multicolored cake. No hidden picture, or am I dumb?

Speaking of being dumb, Mary said about the blackbird pie cake, "it tells a story and anybody could guess it." Even after being told what it is I can't figure out what the hidden picture is supposed to be?

The pie effect is cool though. 

Some of the flavor combinations this episode were truly interesting! 

[dleighg]

The pinkish thing was supposed to be the maid's nose. 

              The maid was in the garden, Hanging out the clothes. When down came a blackbird. And pecked off her nose.

I agree about the special way of cutting them.

I think Natasha's was just three colored layers (another sunset? Without the sun?)

[illdoc]

10 minutes ago, ae2 said:

"it tells a story and anybody could guess it." Even after being told what it is I can't figure out what the hidden picture is supposed to be?

Okay. Now that I see a big, close-up picture of the "pie cake" (above), I can see a yellow beak (blends in with the color of the cake) with orange between the beak halves. I think they said (a couple of times) that it's the blackbird grabbing a maid's nose. The orange is the nose, the yellow is the beak, and the black above it is the blackbird's head. 

[dleighg]

I didn't even notice the beak grabbing the nose (in the cake part). I just thought it was the nose! so not so obvious at least to me!

[Kohola3]

Nor I even with the explanation.  And I was confused by the black things sticking out the top which I assume are supposed to be the beaks of some of the 4 and 20 blackbirds.

The pie/cake was clever, though.

[Mabinogia]

The better of the two Union Jacks was the only one that really impressed me once cut but that pie cake was impressive uncut. I didn't realize until they cut it that the "bowl" was cake too. 

[J-Man]

Gesine on "Baked in Vermont" did a cake with the letter "D" baked into it (for Dartmouth College.) I thought that was kind of impressive. But the better of the two Union Jacks on this episode was even more spectacular.

[mlp]

I thought the uncut blackbird cake was neat and I knew right away what it was.  I didn't get the "picture" inside though.  Even with the explanation and the screenshot above, I find it hard to make out.

I was thrilled to be able to watch a season we hadn't seen in the States.  I was so happy to have it that I didn't mind the ads.  If that's what PBS had to do to get the rights to show it here, fine.  I'll even watch more ads if they can get season 2.

After it was over, I came to the forums planning to read the running comments made while the show was on in the UK and discovered they start with season 4.  I guess season 3 must have been before P-TV.  I tried to find recaps with comments on line but couldn't find any.

[Kohola3]

7 hours ago, mlp said:

I was so happy to have it that I didn't mind the ads. 

The beauty of ads on PBS is that they are grouped at the beginning and end.  If you DVR it, it's easy to fast forward through them!

7 hours ago, mlp said:

Even with the explanation and the screenshot above, I find it hard to make out.

I think Mary's remark about it being easy to see the story must have been referring to the uncut cake.  I got that part but, I agree, it was difficult to make out what was happening inside.  

[Rickster]

On 6/23/2018 at 9:49 AM, Grumpbump said:

This show is miles better than the Best Baker in America or Spring/Halloween/Holiday Baking competitions on Food Network.   I was so happy to see this last night. 

However we didn't see all the cakes at the end.   They left out.... what? The middle of the pack?

Yeah, I think they left out three, which I didn’t realize until I saw the shots of the bakers waiting for the decisions at the end, and couldn’t remember a couple of cakes. I could be wrong, but I thought later seasons showed everyone, even if it was a couple of seconds snippet.

[Kohola3]

16 minutes ago, Rickster said:

..but I thought later seasons showed everyone, even if it was a couple of seconds snippet.

I believe that you are correct. Maybe they realized that everyone's efforts should be recognized even for a second.

[illdoc]

3 hours ago, Rickster said:

Yeah, I think they left out three, which I didn’t realize until I saw the shots of the bakers waiting for the decisions at the end, and couldn’t remember a couple of cakes

According to the wikipedia entry, 2 of the cakes (Brendan & Danny) are "UNKNOWN". Manisha's is listed as "White Chocolate Cake with a Red Velvet and White Chocolate Mousse Heart" which I don't remember seeing and Peter's is listed as "Jubilee Cake" (whatever that means). So I think there were 4 "unshown" (I recognize the other cakes). 

From Wikipedia: 

Baker/Signature(Upside Down Cake)/Technical(Rum Baba)/Showstopper(Hidden Design Cake)

Brendan/Plum, Sour Cherry & Walnut/10th/UNKNOWN

Cathryn/Apple, Hazelnut and Calvados/5th/Hidden Cupcake Cake

Danny/Plum, Ginger & Orange/7th/UNKNOWN

James/Parsnip, Pear, and Pecan/2nd/"Simmer Dim" Sunset Cake

John/Toffee Apple, Orange & Cranberry/11th/Hidden Pink Hearts Cake

Manisha/Vanilla, Peach and Raspberry/6th/White Chocolate Cake with a Red Velvet and White Chocolate Mousse Heart

Natasha/Pineapple & Passion Fruit/12th/Mother's Day Layered Rose Cake

Peter/Pear, Muscat & Chocolate/3rd/Jubilee Cake

Ryan/Kumquat and Orange Polenta/8th/Hidden Flowerbed Mousse Cake

Sarah-Jane/Pear, Chocolate and Hazelnut/1st/Hidden Crown Cake

Stuart/Tomato and Ginger/9th/Lemon and Pistachio Union Flag Cake

Victoria/Pear and Pecan/4th/Blackbird Pie Cake

[dargosmydaddy]

3 hours ago, illdoc said:

Manisha's is listed as "White Chocolate Cake with a Red Velvet and White Chocolate Mousse Heart" which I don't remember seeing and Peter's is listed as "Jubilee Cake" (whatever that means).

I think we saw the heart cake (unless there was more than one heart cake? I'm pretty sure I remember hearts...) and Peter's Jubilee cake was the nice looking Union Jack cake, I believe? (As opposed to Stuart's not-so-great one.)

[sum]

3 hours ago, illdoc said:

According to the wikipedia entry, 2 of the cakes (Brendan & Danny) are "UNKNOWN". Manisha's is listed as "White Chocolate Cake with a Red Velvet and White Chocolate Mousse Heart" which I don't remember seeing and Peter's is listed as "Jubilee Cake" (whatever that means). So I think there were 4 "unshown" (I recognize the other cakes). 

I guess it's a bit confusing out of timely context.
'The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was a multinational celebration throughout 2012, that marked the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952'
Basically why he chose to make a Union flag cake.

Too much time on my hand... I've done some investigative work on the unseen cakes!

All twelve cakes on the table. From left to right,
1st row: Cathryn / Peter / Natasha / Stuart
2nd row: Victoria / John / Danny / James
3rd row: Sarah-Jane / Ryan / Brendan / Manisha

Brendan's green batter & the final result

Danny's two-tone batter. Some greenish bit in the bowl for the center of her cake. 

Manisha's said to be 'White Chocolate Cake with a Red Velvet and White Chocolate Mousse Heart'


Hope that helps. XD

Edited June 24, 2018 by sum

[Destiny74]

I love this episode.  I like the idea of a hidden picture cake but I never want to try and make one.  It looks really detailed and tedious to do.

Natasha's cake was lovely from the outside but applying pressure to her not quite done cake stack just did her in.  Those not quite done sponges just congealed when pressure was applied.  And I too was not a fan of James's sunset cake.

Cathryn may look kinda like Candice but is totally not annoying like Candice.  And she is not as self depreciating and hang dog as Ruby.  That's what always bugged me about Ruby, she would crap all over her bakes BEFORE the judges even got a chance to taste them.  Then they would both be really kind because she was so hard on herself.  That bugged me.  Cathryn is no where near that.  She might second guess some of her choices after the Hollywood side eye but she never comes to the table whining about how terrible her bakes are.

I love Sarah-Jane.  She's adorable.  And I like the med student (James) and I like Brendan.

Edited July 14, 2018 by Destiny74

[proserpina65]

On ‎06‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 11:15 AM, Winter Rose said:

I admit I kind of took a disliking to Stuart. I get that it's a competition but he sounded like someone buying into his own hype and then nearly gets eliminated.

I'm fairly sure he was joking.