Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Recap: Festival Week 7

Six bakers are left. Cake week saw the demise of Dan, biscuit week crumbled Jamie’s dreams of baking royalty, bread week sent Amelia packing, dairy week bid adieu to Phil, the Roaring 20’s sent both Michelle and Helena home and desserts scooted Priya out of the tent. (Weeks 1 and 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6).

You may notice a change in the above photo from prior recaps. Checking off a baker each week made me feel a bit like a hitman. This week I decided to use a photo of a Bundt cake I had made to show those who have left us and now I feel slightly less sinister. Hey, at least it isn’t a pie in the face.

Things seemed calmer in the tent for Festival (celebratory) bakes. There were plenty of ball and bun puns as well as a close up of David’s derrière but things seem to be slowing down to a pace I enjoy. Although Noel was wearing the latest fashion inspired by Hefty trash bags and we were supposed to believe that Sandi was being lugged about in a rucksack, there weren’t any bullhorns or sirens and for this I was grateful. I do long for the quiet sophisticated charm of Mel and Sue. While I like Noel and Sandi, things seem more frantic and individual conversations with the bakers seem rushed and non-sensical.

Signature bake: 24 yeasted buns with a festival theme in 3 hours

Steph’s zest and spice hot cross buns and Henry’s chocolate Kardemummabullar each earned them a Hollywood handshake. Henry’s response to the highly prized badge of honor was priceless, “No….shut up.” Steph stated that she was never going to wash that hand again.

Technical challenge: Paul Hollywood’s chocolate & ricotta cassatelle

Paul tasked the bakers to create a dozen Sicilian cassatelle in one hour and 15 minutes. The cacophony of pasta machine handles hitting the floor foreshadowed the technical issues bakers had with these fried delights. Alice and Michael had exploding taco-like pastries while the others performed well. From worst to best: Alice, Michael, Steph, Henry, David, and Rosie took first.

Showstopper challenge: Malaysian kek lapis Sarawak in 4 hours and 15 minutes

For festival week’s showstopper, the bakers were told to make a Battenberg-style ‘Kek Lapis layer cake’ found in festival celebrations in the Sarawak region of Malaysia. Each layer is grilled, one by one, and then cut and stacked into an intricate design. This cake is also dubbed the “thousand layered cake”. There are a few recipes for this work of art indexed in our library and one of my favorite shops Skordo has a recipe kit to make things a bit easier.

Henry confessed to using 110 eggs while practicing for the showstopper. Ironically, Paul stated that his cake looked like an egg sandwich to which the ever quick-witted baker replied: “that was the look I was going for.” His cake was nicely textured, not perfect but executed well.

Steph’s orange chai-spiced cake received glowing judgments even though she had some gaps in her design. Rosie’s cake was deemed messy but tasty. Rosie chose to do a more complicated triangle design, had burnt cake to deal with which caused her to start over on her last cake. She often is her own worst enemy. David’s cake was architecturally interesting but small in size. Size matters in showstoppers. The lines and colors were good but the texture of the cake was rubbery. Alice received raves as well for her orange chocolate salted caramel cake which was extremely neat and tasted very, very good. Michael’s needed more color and was rubbery. Sometimes that is just how the ball (cake) bounces.

The star baker for this week was Henry. (I was certain that it would be Steph). Michael was sent home but stated he was happy, proud and tired. Michael has made great strides in his anxiety levels from earlier episodes. Baking therapy works.