The Great British
Baking Show does not have a great track record with chocolate challenges.
While this is only the second season to have a dedicated “Chocolate Week”—the
other being series six of Bake Off, aka
season three of PBS’s Baking Show, aka
Netflix’s collection three—chocolate bakes have plagued contestants throughout
the run of the show. Whether it’s struggling with temperatures in the tent as
the bakers attempt collared cakes or trying to guess at golden brown with
chocolate loaves and sponges, adding chocolate to the equation, beyond
decorative flourishes, makes for challenging baking. Season 11 has some ground
to make up after the shaky “Bread
Week,” and despite a weak showing in the signature, the bakers ultimately
deliver, thanks to the surprisingly creative and demanding technical and
showstopper challenges.
The episode begins inauspiciously, with rain. Chocolate is
notoriously finicky and it tends to hate water—yes, this is a first challenge
gun, we’ll check back in at the showstopper—so having excess moisture in the
air is a disconcerting way to start chocolate week. Fortunately for the bakers,
the producers have taken the weather into consideration this season and for the
signature round have asked not for a tempered chocolate concoction, but for the
bakers’ take on the lowly, but beloved, brownie. They’ll only have 90 minutes,
which isn’t much to bake, cool, and decorate their 18 brownies, but the bakers
can use any kind of chocolate and any additional flavors or decorations, so
long as they achieve a fudgy texture.
The bakers set to work immediately, cognizant of the
impending time crunch. Brownies make sense as a signature challenge. They’re
well known home bakes, the kind of recipe any amateur baker should have down
and should be able to bring their own personality to. However, aren’t they just
a bit too easy for Bake Off? The bakers
have the same doubts, so they work overtime to bring more flair and complexity to
their brownies. Linda takes inspiration from her childhood Christmases, topping
her mixed nut and date brownies with white chocolate and Turkish Delight. Marc,
a relative newbie to brownies, makes praline buttercream to top his roasted
macadamia nut brownies. Dave goes for texture contrasts, making milk chocolate
ganache and honeycomb to top his and incorporating popping candy into his
batter, while Peter is more health-conscious, with pistachios and dates in his
caramelized fig upside-down brownies.
The rest of the bakers steer well clear of healthy with
their signatures. Sura goes for a bold combination with ruby and dark chocolate
brownies, topped with Italian meringue. Lottie makes the round difficult for
herself by doubling down on sweets, with a layer of baked raspberry cheesecake on
top of her chocolate and pecan brownies. Hermine layers on the flavor as well,
topping her coffee and chocolate brownies with white chocolate ganache, pistachios,
and raspberry sprinkles, and both Mark and Laura opt for s’more-inspired bakes.
Mark’s have a chocolate chip cookie base and are topped with Italian meringue
and caramelized cranberries, while Laura’s Italian meringue-topped chocolate
and hazelnut brownies feature a salted caramel drizzle.
The editors do a good job of keeping the tension up
throughout what should be a rather straightforward challenge. As the time ticks
down, it becomes clear that several bakers are in trouble. Laura’s brownies are
raw, Lottie’s may be as well, and Sura drops half of hers inside the oven. What
should have been a walk in the home-kitchen park has gone massively awry. The
ominous tone of the closing minutes carries over into the judging. Things start
a bit harsh, with Paul giving Peter the crushing critique of, “just okay” on
his admittedly risky upside-down brownies, and they continue from there. Laura’s
brownies look a mess. They’re under-baked and much too sweet. Sura is dinged
for only presenting half the requested brownies and not even taking them out of
the tin. She could overcome that with a delicious bake, but unfortunately Paul
doesn’t like her flavors and while Prue does, she doesn’t like the texture.
Mark’s brownies at least look good, and Prue seems to like
them, even if they’re a bit sweet, but Paul doesn’t like the texture, finding
the cookie base too thick. Hermine’s are messy, but Paul thinks there are too
many flavors and Prue again knocks them for being too sweet, despite the nice
acidity of the raspberry. Linda seems to have misjudged her ratios, because her
brownies are too sponge-like for Paul’s taste, as are Dave’s. Paul likes the
flavor, but they’re overbaked and Prue considers them closer to a tray bake
than brownies, which require in her estimation a gooey middle and crackly top.
Both Marc and Lottie are critiqued for their messy presentation, though at least
Marc gets a passing grade for flavor from Paul. Paul also likes the flavor of
Lottie’s, but her texture is massively off, and though Prue likes the sharpness
of the raspberries, the proportion of cheesecake to brownie is off. After the
particularly rough round of judging, Lottie hits the nail on its head: They all
tried to overcompensate for the perceived simplicity of the brownie when they
should have just embraced it and done a standard brownie well. As Mark says, “That
was brutal. I mean, brownies? What are people watching this going to think of
us?”
The bakers don’t have much opportunity to lick their wounds,
however, as it’s time for the technical. Paul encourages them to focus on their
textures as they bake chocolate babkas. A babka is a traditional Jewish loaf
cake made from enriched dough which is stretched thin, layered with nuts and
chocolate, then rolled, split, and twisted into its distinct, decorative shape.
Once it’s baked, the loaf is brushed with syrup, and it should be crisp on the
outside and fluffy and light inside. The bakers will have two and a half hours
and given Paul’s warnings about the difficulty of this challenge, and their
performances in the signature, they’re hesitant to say the least as they get
started.
None of the bakers are familiar with babka—has Seinfeld
not made it across the pond?—but their spirits seem to lift as they work with
the dough. Several comment on the feel of it, liking its stretch and stickiness.
They’re able to successfully windowpane their dough, stretching it to check whether
light will pass through, telling them the gluten is fully developed and the dough
doesn’t need any more kneading. It’s fun to watch them play with and work the
dough, rolling and twisting it into shape. Sura, Hermine, and Lottie fall into
the trap Paul mentioned to Prue at the start of the round, making their twists
too long for their pan, but Linda and some others manage to nail the size. Most
of the babkas fail to fully double in size after proving, but compared to the
signature, the bakers seem to be on track. Things are looking up as the bakers
pull out their babkas and take them to the table for judging.
Lottie’s size and twisting woes put her in last place, her
babka having sunk in the middle. Dave’s twist has gaps and his dough is too
dense, putting him in eighth. Next is Sura, who struggled with the plaiting and
wound up with a heavy, tight loaf. Marc’s babka isn’t bad, just a little dry,
putting him in sixth, and Hermine’s is neat, albeit under proved, which earns
her fifth. Peter is fourth, as his babka hasn’t risen appropriately, but it’s
well baked and tender. The top three all get high praise. Mark is third, his
babka delicious, even if it could have used more plaiting. Laura is second,
with a lovely, cakey dough, and Linda gets first place, with what Prue calls a
model babka. Even Paul is unable to find fault in it. It’s great to see Linda
get another technical win. She’s over the moon and Paul seems genuinely
surprised and impressed when he finds out she’s never made a babka before. On
the other side of things, Lottie and Sura are in trouble, having struggled in
both rounds.
The next day, the bakers head back into the tent for the
showstopper and once again, the producers impress with a surprising and canny
challenge choice. The bakers have four hours to make a spectacular two or more
tier white chocolate celebration cake featuring decorations that display an expert
use of white chocolate. Since the contestants are baking the chocolate, rather
than making candies, sculpting, or doing other detailed chocolate work, their
bakes are less likely to go awry due to conditions in the tent. They will have
some temperature-sensitive flourishes in their decorations, but had it been a
particularly hot or rainy day, the bulk of their showstoppers would not be
adversely affected. It’s a smart choice of brief, and more importantly, one
that sets the bakers up to succeed.
Instead of asking them to battle the elements, the judges are
asking them to battle their main flavor. White chocolate is incredibly sweet
and, as Laura notes, it’s much less nuanced than other types of chocolate.
Finding a way to present a white chocolate cake that isn’t cloyingly sweet or one-note
will be challenging. It also is incredibly difficult to temper and work with
and has a high cocoa butter content, which can throw off baking ratios. Anyone
on Bake Off should be able to make a
delicious, flavorful chocolate cake. Making a delicious, flavorful white
chocolate cake is much trickier.
Inspired by her two-year wedding anniversary, which was the
day before, Laura is pairing her white chocolate cake with Italian meringue
buttercream and a sharp black currant jam, with a large white chocolate flower
decoration on top. Lottie’s also celebrating an anniversary, her grandparents’
sapphire or 65th wedding anniversary. Her cake will feature sapphire geode
crystals, a passionfruit curd, lime drizzle, and a white chocolate sail. Sura
and Hermine both thought of their parents for their cakes. Sura’s will
celebrate their 36th anniversary, with strawberry and lemon jam, tempered
chocolate ruffles, and piped buttercream flowers. Remember that challenge one
gun? She’s attempting to counter the sweetness of her white chocolate sponges
by watering down her white chocolate. Paul is skeptical, as is this viewer, but
Sura seems confident. As for Hermine, her cake is a throwback to her parents’
wedding, a white chocolate genoise with lemon syrup, lemon curd, vanilla
extract, a white chocolate collar, and piped ganache roses.
Two of the bakers opt to celebrate birthdays. Mark makes a
birthday cake for his wife, who loves white chocolate. He uses ground
pistachios, Marula fruit liqueur, lemon, and white chocolate, with tempered chocolate
shards and geometric shapes. Dave goes for a fruitier flavor profile, making a
Frasier cake for his girlfriend, with amaretto-soaked sponges, crème
Mousseline, chocolate splashes, white chocolate drips, and strawberries. The
rest of the bakers celebrate their family members. Peter again is inspired by
his brother, though he doesn’t go with a gluten-free option this time. His cake
celebrating his brother’s graduation features chunks of white chocolate, mango
curd, Chantilly whipped cream, coconut yogurt, and a white chocolate collar
with colorful math equations painted on.
Marc dedicates his cake to his daughters Rosemary and
Jasmine, using pureed raspberries, white chocolate fondant flowers, raspberry
Swiss meringue buttercream, and a white chocolate drip on his rose and
jasmine-leaf decorated cake. Cakes aren’t a particular strength of Marc’s, so
he’s worried. Linda is less so, also having thought of her daughter as
inspiration. She beams with warmth as she remembers her daughter, who had
special needs and died when she was 18. Linda will be making a modelling
chocolate rose on top for her daughter, who she calls a sweet English rose, and
will be pairing her white chocolate with vanilla mascarpone cream, raspberry
jam, and amaretto.
Things seem to be going well for the bakers, aside from
Laura, who loses an hour when she needs to remake her sponges. The tent heats
up—it’s already 25 degrees Celsius in the tent early on, which is 77 degrees
Fahrenheit—but while several bakers struggle with their decorations during the
endgame, they more or less pull through in time for judging. Mark is up first.
Both Paul and Prue love the look of his cake, though they’d like stronger
flavors. Lottie delivers as she needed to on her presentation, but her cake is
overbaked, leaving her still in danger. Or at least she seems to be, until Sura
realizes her bottom sponge is raw, her watered-down white chocolate recipe not
working for her. As Prue says, her sponge looks like marzipan, and there’s no
coming back from that.
With any suspense around the elimination gone, attention
turns to who could contend for Star Baker. Dave’s Frasier cake looks a little
dark, but tastes great, and Prue loves it. Linda’s piping work is not what it
needs to be, but her flavor is delicious. Marc’s cake looks beautiful, with
just a slight critique from Paul that the sponge is too heavy. Prue agrees it’s
dense, but likes that it tastes strongly, but not overpoweringly, of white
chocolate. Peter gets high praise from Paul for his clever approach to the
flavors, and while Paul doesn’t love Hermine’s messy decorations, he can’t
argue with her flavors, which Prue adores. Matt labels Prue’s strong response
to the citrus zing of the cake a “Prue-gasm,” and hopefully the term will
stick. As for Laura, remaking her sponges paid off, as both Paul and Prue
compliment her black currant flavor and her thoughtful approach.
The episode tries to wring a little suspense out of whether
Lottie or Sura will be eliminated, but as Prue foreshadowed, Lottie did manage
to be not the worst. As for Star Baker, Paul is leaning toward Peter, while
Prue suggests Mark, and ultimately, Mark gets the win. Sura’s felt like an easy
top five contender, but this just wasn’t her episode. She only presented half
of the signature, she was in the bottom for the technical, and her showstopper
wasn’t edible. It’s crushing to see her go, and for her to go out like this,
but it’s the right call. She will be missed, and it will be lovely when she
inevitably pops back up for a future holiday special. Next episode, the bakers
take on pastry, and hopefully put this brownie fiasco behind themselves.
Stray observations
- I was not ready for the gut punch of Linda talking about her
daughter. What a beautiful way to share her memory with the audience. - Noel’s offer to go home instead of Sura or Lottie
certainly had some takers in the audience beyond Prue and Paul. This is such a
likeable cast, it’s a shame we’re already sending favorites home. - Noel singing the technical instructions to Hermine is absolutely delightful, and Matt’s bit about the judges’ critiquing the bakers for
making overly sweet bakes is great. - This episode benefits tremendously from being almost 10
minutes shorter than the rest of the season. Hopefully this tighter editing
will continue as bakers continue to be eliminated. - Mark has officially ruined Italian meringue for
me. Thanks for that, Mark. And everyone in the U.S., please vote!