The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 6 – Halloween

Were there tricks or treats for the bakers this week? It was a Halloween themed bake off which I couldn’t help but think of past contestant Helena Garcia being an ideal baker for this particular week. Garcia wrote The Wicked Baker: Cakes and Treats to Die For in 2020.

The contestants dressed up a bit for the Halloween special with Noel showing up in a full skeleton jumper. Janusz thanked Syabira for helping him with is eyeliner while sporting some seriously wicked shoes.

Signature: A decorated apple cake in 2 hours.

The judges stressed that the apple flavor must be prominent. Sandro made a Bundt cake with a skull isomalt decoration (I think it was isomalt) and Paul stated that the apple flavor wasn’t there. Abdul’s bonfire cake was judged as “effective” (Paul’s other favorite word) with good tart apple flavor. Janusz packed too much spice in his cake and not enough apple flavor and Dawn was also missing the apple flavor in her cake. Kevin, who ran short on time, iced his cake while still too warm – so there was a melt down of icing – but the cake was deemed delicious. Paul stated that it was be a perfect trifle.

Maxy and Syabira both were given a Paul Hollywood handshake. Maxy’s apple walnut caramel cake was “delicious” and Syabira’s witch cake was deemed delicious as well although the judges weren’t keen on her somewhat sloppy decor.

Darcie’s $0.02: I was confused by Dawn’s ‘sharlotka’ sponge. Every sharlotka recipe I have seen uses more apples than batter while hers was the inverse ratio. It was a poor decision to use a very light sponge with heavy wet fresh apples so it’s no wonder her cake sank in the middle and didn’t bowl the judges over with apple flavor. It was a pleasure to see two handshakes in this challenge as they’ve been in short supply so far this season. It looks like Syabira got her groove back.

Technical: Set by Paul – 8 s’mores. Biscuits with chocolate ganache and an Italian whipped meringue for the marshmallow center.

This technical didn’t seem too difficult overall. Judging had Janusz in second place and Syabira in 1st.

Darcie’s $0.02: This far into the season it seemed like these were a bit too simple for a technical challenge, but a few bakers did seem skittish about making marshmallows. Poor Abdul destroyed his marshmallows with aggressive torching. Few bakers had ever made digestives because they are something they usually buy, although I am excited to make Paul’s digestive recipe because they are my favorite British biscuits and are not easily found here. And I have that exact Nordic Ware cookie stamp! It’s part of this set, which is my favorite group of stamps. Who am I kidding, they are all favorites. Living close to the Nordic Ware outlet is a definite perk.

Recipe: Paul Hollywood’s S’mores

Showstopper: A hanging lantern filled with sweet treats in 4 hours.

Sandro’s skull covered dome looked fantastic. His Florentines were too thick and his chocolate fudge cookies had far too much coffee and chilli. Both judges feigned choking and Paul stated he wouldn’t be able to taste anything else after that.

Janusz’s popcorn lantern looked professional. The biscuit had a lovely almond flavor. His cricket infused truffle “needed more crickets” to balance out the sweetness. I never thought I would hear the phrase “needs more crickets” in a baking competition. We have a bearded dragon, Panama, which eats crickets and I can’t even watch her eat crickets. I’m just not that daring to try the little buggers. I am actually marking off on the calendar when Panama can just have veggies.

Maxy’s lantern had a small issue with the top being crushed which she blamed on an errant zombie sneaking into the tent and smashing it. Her biscuit was good with lovely orange flavor. Her pumpkin spiced macarons were delicious and her brownie monsters were too rich – and should have been cut into smaller pieces.

Abdul’s lantern was “neat” – his cookie flavor was delicious. The Brandy snap witches’ fingers with matcha were crisp and tasty. His date balls had good texture but too much rosewater flavor.

Kevin’s lantern was scary in a very messy way. His sugar cookie was delicious, his macaron was very sweet but good flavor, and his butterscotch salted peanuts were too sweet and could have used more nuts. Paul received a laugh when he said something about Kevin’s “nuts hanging out.”

Dawn brought up her lantern but didn’t hang it until Paul moved to do it. She was fearful that it would have fallen if she hung it at her station. Her work was deemed just too basic and simple.

Syabira’s spider lantern was stunning. Her biscuit was “unbelievable” with hints of dark chocolate in the gingerbread. Her witches finger was peanut flavored and delicious. But her orange and white truffle treats were too much. Prue declared that Syabira was “off her head” and that orange and truffle do not belong in a biscuit.

Darcie’s $0.02: These structural challenges always make me nervous and I’m not even baking them! I really can’t add much to Jenny’s lovely and thorough descriptions. I expected the judges to discount Sandro’s hanging ‘dead disco ball’ because it wasn’t baked, but they seemingly didn’t care about that. I thought Syabira was clever to avoid isomalt concerns by using lights and cutouts that created the mouth and eyes to provide a look into her spider. Janusz was technically excellent this week, but it seems to be his turn to have flavor issues.

Syabira was star baker for the first time with Paul declaring that none of the other bakers came close to her this week. Sadly, Dawn went home.

Jane’s translation service: “Off her head” which Prue stated to Syabira translates to crazy.