The scent of fruit, pastry cream, and innuendo is in the
air- it’s tart week at The Great British
Baking Show! Mel and Sue barely have time to lampshade the pastry puns they
won’t be deploying this episode before we’re off to the races, with the bakers
back in the tent and ready to get to work. For the signature challenge, they must
make a tarte tatin, a sweet or savory caramel fruit tart made by putting caramel
and fruit in the bottom of a pan, covering them with pastry, and baking the
tart pastry-side up before removing the tart from the oven and inverting it to
present a caramelized fruit topping with a perfectly baked pastry crust underneath.
Apple and pear are the traditional choices for tarte tatin, but the bakers are
free to use whatever fruit they’d like.
It’s a straightforward challenge, and likely a tasty one,
but it’s far from the show’s most inspiring. The signature bake is
theoretically all about personal, unique flavors, yet all but three of the
bakers opt for apples and/or pears for their tart, and for good reason. Apples
and (not quite ripe) pears have sturdy textures that hold up well to baking,
and both caramelize without releasing too much excess moisture, which would
ruin the pastry. The bakers spice things up with different secondary flavors
(Brendan uses ginger, Danny goes savory with Roquefort cheese, and James gambles
on the potentially medicinal-tasting lavender), but on the whole, the tarts
look and sound very similar to one another.
The big exceptions are Victoria, who struggles with her fig,
walnut, and pink peppercorn tart, Cathryn, whose plum, cherry, and five spice
tart earns a “quite scrummy” from Mary despite the excess moisture from the
stone fruit leaving the tart somewhat soupy, and Sarah-Jane, who knocks it out
of the park with her caramelized banana tart. Seasoned fans of The Great British Baking Show will know
Paul Hollywood is a massive fan of a well-executed banana and toffee combo, and
that, along with the sameness of the other tarts, leaves Sarah-Jane in good
position at the end of the first round.
Perhaps the bakers should have been more creative with the signature
challenge, but their desire to play things safe is understandable. The
producers should have planned for a more interesting assignment, particularly as
the signature bake only two episodes prior was upside-down cake. By this point
in the show’s run, the producers should know better, and PBS’ decision to air “Tarts”
only a week after “Cakes” (because of the two-episode premiere) highlights the
similarities of these two early challenges, neither of which is especially
memorable or striking.
Thankfully, while the challenge itself isn’t all that
engaging, there are a number of entertaining moments with the bakers that keep things
moving. Both Mary and Paul have fun psyching out the contestants, we meet Ryan’s
adorable daughter Molly, and Danny is utterly charming as she nerds out to the
judges over her tarte tatin. Her discussion of the tweaks she’s made to her
recipe, looking for the right balance of sweet and savory, is interesting and
her passion is endearing. It’s exactly the kind of conversations the show
should be spotlighting, letting the bakers give the audience a glimpse into
their process rather than plugging in narration from Mel and Sue to fill in the
gaps. While both hosts are around, they have surprisingly little onscreen time,
at least compared to their many hushed voiceovers. This distances the viewers,
putting Mel and Sue—and by extension the audience—at a remove, commenting upon
the action rather than experiencing it in the moment.
Both are much more present during the technical challenge: treacle
tart. This Mary Berry recipe is a British staple, a tarte with a thin pastry
crust and a golden syrup, breadcrumb, and lemon juice filling. Mary has
specifically requested a woven lattice top for the tart, but what the bakers
may not realize is that the pastry for the lattice will stick to the filling as
soon as it’s laid on top of it, making the lattice very challenging to weave. A
few bakers manage to find solutions to this challenge, but overall, it’s the
contestants’ main stumbling point. Stuart realizes with 40 minutes left that he’s
made a mistake with the filling, but otherwise, things seem to go swimmingly. This
makes for another rather straightforward challenge, which isn’t necessarily a
bad thing, but it’s also another weaving or plaiting technical challenge, right
after the eight plait technical in “Bread.” Though most do a decent job, a
couple bakers struggle, including Sarah-Jane, who breaks the audience’s heart
as she puts herself down, berating herself for her creativity and whimsy, two
of her most lovable traits.
The treacle tart, like the tarte tatin, may be a somewhat
underwhelming challenge, but what does work well is the judging. Paul and Mary
do a terrific job of demonstrating the texture and flakiness they expect from well-made
pastry, and they help the audience understand what to look for when baking at
home. The closeups on the crusts show the slight differences in color and
texture between a perfect bake and one that’s just under, and Paul’s gentle
scraping with his knife demonstrates the structural integrity of the
appropriately baked crusts versus the flaky, slightly soggy crust of those that
are under-baked.
After a somewhat repetitive and disappointing day one, “Tarts”
has some catching up to do in day two. Fortunately, this episode delivers with
its showstopper challenge. The bakers must create an ornate, pastry case-ready
fruit tart, and they do not disappoint. Every single tart looks beautiful, and
the flavors the bakers play with are some of their most inventive and enticing
yet. James clinches Star Baker (after winning the technical) with his rose,
lychee, and raspberry fruit tart, which both Paul and Mary are over the moon
for. Mary says it’s the first rose tart she’s ever had, and based on the tone
of her voice, it won’t be the last. Stuart recovers ground with his absolutely gorgeous
raspberry triple chocolate layer tart, and Sarah-Jane more than makes up for
any technical challenge wobbles with the delicate apple-slice flower design on
her French apple tart with blackberry and cassis jam.
Not only are these tarts visually stunning, the range of
ingredients and designs attempted by the bakers lead to a much wider array of
outcomes. Some have good flavors but a less-than-ideal bake, some are perfectly
baked, but are less original. This makes for more engaging television, as the
audience decides who they’re rooting for, whose tarts look most appetizing, and
whose technical errors they’re most willing to overlook because those sugar
spirals are just darling, or because sponge? In a tart? How have we never tried
this before? This is the level of baking fans tune in to The Great British Baking Show to see and the pride and excitement
most of the bakers feel over their showstoppers is infectious. Alas, someone
must go home and this episode, it’s Victoria, whose weekend never quite came
together. As Cathryn notes, Victoria may be headed home, but she’s a terrific
baker nonetheless. She more than proved her acumen in “Cakes” with her lovely blackbird
pie cake, and her creativity will be missed in the tent.
Next week, the sugar rush continues as the remaining bakers
take on desserts. Cavities for everyone!
Stray observations
- Danny’s yelp of glee when her tarte tatin turns out is
exactly what I needed after another exhausting, anxiety-ridden week of
real-world terribleness. Sometimes you just need a win, even if it’s a
vicarious one. Way to go, Danny! - Speaking of anxiety, anyone else fully on board with those
fighting with their caramel? The number of times I’ve turned a pan into a
grainy mess with a thoughtless stir, or burned one by leaving it unattended too
long… - We find out this episode that not only is James a bassist,
he plays with his sister at their local pub. Welcome to team string player,
James! - Fellow team string player Brendan, you’re making it hard to
root for you this episode with those ridiculously massive apples. Your
blackberry, nectarine, and dragon fruit tart looks tasty, though. - Mel, no one wants to
imagine Paul and Mary naked! (Well, this is the internet. Never say “no
one.”) And Sue, thank you for your valiant work, defending James and his tart from
those mutated macarons.