Great British Bake Off – Recap – Week 7 – The 80’s and the Curse of the Melting Ice Cream Cake

New shows for those watching on Netflix. On December 4th, Netflix will air season 3 of the holiday shows. Hooray! Christmas in the tent. Season 3 contestants, if I’m correct, will showcase Briony Williams (Series 9), Tom Hetherington (Series 8), Yan Tsou (Series 8), and Terry Hartill (Series 9).

Back to the recap. It is always this way: the day you forget your umbrella the skies break open and dump torrential rains. The day the bakers have to fry doughnuts and make ice cream cakes is the hottest day on record. I’m convinced that Noel is a vampire because he never sweats. Sweat was dripping off of me and I sat in Colorado in November as I watched.

Here are our bakers:

• Dave, 30, Armoured Guard
• Hermine, 39, Accountant
• Laura, 31, Digital Manager
• Linda, 61, Retirement Living Team Manager (eliminated Week 5)
• Loriea, 27, Diagnostic Radiographer (eliminated Week 1)
• Lottie, 31, Pantomime Producer
• Makbul, 51, Accountant (eliminated Week 2)
• Marc (a.k.a. Hamish, his dog’s name), 51, Bronze Resin Sculptor
• Mark, 32, Project Manager (eliminated Week 6)
• Peter, 20, Accounting and Finance Student
• Rowan, 55, Music Teacher (eliminated Week 3)
• Sura, 31, Pharmacy Dispenser (eliminated Week 4)

Well, it was 80’s week in the big white tent.

Signature bake: 8 individual quiches, two savory flavors with a short crust and removed from their tins in 2 hours.

Laura commented during the baking, as she was melting into a pile on the floor, that she felt like she was baking in Santa’s kitchen. You would think that they could have some portable air conditioners in the tent to take the edge off. It’s not “Naked and Afraid”, it’s a baking show.

We were worried about Hermine finishing but she received favorable comments. Hermine went French (see her recipes linked below). Cornish Marc went of course the fish route and Lottie and Dave battled out a full English breakfast quiche. Prue was worried about beans in Lottie’s offering and Paul had the nerve to tell her to judge fairly. Paul remember last week when you wouldn’t touch a gherkin.

Recipes:

• Hermine’s salmon and leek; and spinach and mushroom quiches

Technical: Paul Hollywood requested six custard and jam finger doughnuts in 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Sure, let’s deep fry when everyone is dehydrated from sweating. Poor Peter admitted to having never deep fried before. I hope the first time was special for him.

Judging: 6th – David, 5th – Lottie, 4th – Laura, 3rd – Marc, 2nd – Peter, and 1st place Hermine!

Recipes:

• Paul Hollywood’s jam and custard doughnuts

Showstopper: An ice cream cake containing one baked element in 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Let’s pour more kerosene on the fiery tent, shall we? I can’t even relive the horror of the ice cream flows. From Laura forgetting to turn her ice cream maker on cool to Lottie’s bad decision to cover her cake in ice cream that was basically liquid – it was a hot mess.

Hermine was crowned star baker and Lottie was sent home. Next week’s theme is desserts – I hope it is cooler for the bakers.

Recipes:

• Marc’s retro ice cream parlour cake
• Peter’s Christmas ice cream cake