The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 7 – Custard

This week was all about custard: pouring, frozen and set custards to be exact.

Signature: 8 ile flottantes – poached meringues floating in crème Anglaise in 1 1/2 hours

I was surprised how many bakers had not heard of floating islands. I, myself, am not a fan of meringues, floating or otherwise. I like some texture in my food and to me the meringues are reminiscent of baby food – and not the great banana jarred baby food which I would steal bites of while feeding my kids. Puddings, pots de crème and crème brûlée are fantastic but there is something about that little quenelle of white cloud-like dessert that is a big no for me.

Having said that – the only floating island that interested me was Syabira’s mojito inspired dish. I loved how she applied a toasted element to the outside of the meringues. When it came to judging, most of the bakers received kind comments. Sandro’s was “very alcoholic” and he was told he should have just stuck with one alcohol – the brandy instead of also adding the Prosecco. Kevin’s meringues were infused with 8 tablespoons of Prosecco which helped them to dissolve and became very flat.

Darcie’s $0.02: Unlike Jenny, I like floating islands. It’s the lightness of the meringue contrasting with the richness of the custard that does it for me. I usually add an element with some crunch, like a tuile or a shortbread, but enjoy the delicateness of this dish. Sometimes instead of a custard I will use Jacques Pepin’s recipe for Oeufs à la neige in peach sauce (one of the few good uses for canned peaches). I thought Sandro and Paul were correct when they said Syabira’s meringues looked like breaded chicken breasts, but the idea of a crunchy exterior intrigued me. Janusz’s was the most clever in presentation for me, and his flavors sounded great too.

Technical: The technical had staggered start times so that the results could be judged fairly as soon as the desserts were made. (They do this when they prepare souffles as well.) Prue asked the bakers to make six pistachio praline ice cream cones dipped in chocolate in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Recipe: Pistachio praline ice cream cones.

The bakers did well overall and judging ended with Maxy in 2nd place and Sandro in 1st.

Darcie’s $0.02: I was surprised to see how many bakers had never made ice cream (especially a custard-style ice cream). Two hours and 45 minutes makes for a tight schedule – I wish they would have provided the bakers with compressor machines so they didn’t ruin their freezers by putting in the custard to cool. That just seems unfair, especially since even people who didn’t put the custard in the freezer had melty ice cream. Also, the cone making devices heated unevenly making all of the cones mottled and unattractive. A challenge shouldn’t be about the lack or quality of equipment. However, that may have made this challenge a bit too simple. If ever there was going to be a technical where they could use minimal instruction as a ploy to test the bakers, this seems like a better choice than the previous one.

Showstopper: A decorated custard gateau with the set custard being the “star” of the dessert. They were given 4 hours to complete this challenge.

Syabira and her tropical drink inspired desserts are stealing the show. Her pina colada cake with pineapple flowers was a stunner and was judged to be perfect. Abdul was the only baker who went a different way and chose to do a mille-feuille dessert made with puff pastry instead of going the sponge route as the other bakers had. Abdul had perfect custard but his pastry was judged to be too light and needed about five minutes more baking time. When Abdul pulled the puff out of the oven, he even said they were too light and I know he was running short on time – but why didn’t he just put those trays back in the oven for five minutes?!

Janusz’ final product was impressive looking however taste and texture let him down. His sponge was great but Paul stated that his custards were like wallpaper paste.

Maxy’s looked like a cross between “really messy and really attractive” but the custard was not the hero – the cake was delicious.

Paul commented that Kevin’s dessert looked like it met with an earthquake but that his flavors were the best of the day. His custard was infused with thyme and bay and Prue stated she was going to go home and steal that recipe.

Darcie’s $0.02: This challenge brought home why I love this reality cooking show so much more than most: when Kevin was struggling to put the finishing touches on his showstopper, the bakers who were finished all chipped in to help him. This camaraderie between the bakers is so much more pleasing than manufactured drama. There is enough tension with the time constraints and the many things that can go wrong when baking that there is no need to add personal drama to the mix. With all of the terrible news in the world today, the bit of sweetness that GBBO brings is refreshing.

I could tell that Janusz’s custards were too thick and gloopy when he was spooning them into the mold – the texture just looked wrong. Syabira’s cake looked fantastic; I would buy that at a bakery in a heartbeat. Sandro may have had a better chance at star baker if he had been a bit less ambitious and had two perfect layers instead of one excellent and two so-so ones.

While the judges are keen to say that the bakers are judged fresh every week without any carryover, it seems as though both Janusz’s and Kevin’s past performance may have influenced the decision to send Kevin home.

The Star Baker was Syabira and Kevin was sent home. I have a bit of an issue with this result. Paul said that Janusz’ cake was not edible and just looked nice while Kevin had some structural issues but the flavor was fantastic. To me that lines up with Paul’s “style over substance” comments of years past and while I enjoy Janusz – he caught a huge break this week.