The Great British Bake Off: Desserts
August 28, 2015 7:43 AM - Season 6, Episode 4 - Subscribe
For the nine bakers left, it's time to tackle the sweet ending to every meal - desserts.
The signature challenge comes in the form of a French classic - creme brulee. The bakers need to achieve the perfect wobble of the creme and an audible crack of the brulee. It's not easy though, as they have to brulee under the grill, not with a blow torch. While some will reach perfection, others will serve up scrambled egg and custard soup.
Mary picks the technical challenge, and it's a European medley - the spanische windtorte from Austria, with a nod to Spain and some Swiss and French meringue thrown in. It may only be meringue, cream and soft fruit, but it's tricky to construct and needs to be decorated with delicate fondant violets - if only the bakers knew what a violet looked like!
Not one, not two, but three baked cheesecakes make up the show-stopper. Mary and Paul are looking for faultless baked cheesecakes, beautifully flavoured and stacked in a show-stopping way - easy? The bakers don't disappoint with their inventive ingredient combinations, but not all of the tiered cheesecakes are structurally sound.
description via bbc iplayer
The signature challenge comes in the form of a French classic - creme brulee. The bakers need to achieve the perfect wobble of the creme and an audible crack of the brulee. It's not easy though, as they have to brulee under the grill, not with a blow torch. While some will reach perfection, others will serve up scrambled egg and custard soup.
Mary picks the technical challenge, and it's a European medley - the spanische windtorte from Austria, with a nod to Spain and some Swiss and French meringue thrown in. It may only be meringue, cream and soft fruit, but it's tricky to construct and needs to be decorated with delicate fondant violets - if only the bakers knew what a violet looked like!
Not one, not two, but three baked cheesecakes make up the show-stopper. Mary and Paul are looking for faultless baked cheesecakes, beautifully flavoured and stacked in a show-stopping way - easy? The bakers don't disappoint with their inventive ingredient combinations, but not all of the tiered cheesecakes are structurally sound.
description via bbc iplayer
Yeah, Tamal was robbed of star baker this week.
Nadiya's cheesecake was incredible, what a genius idea!
I particularly liked that the official Twitter account for the show tweeted out what you might want to buy to eat during the show this week. This is a show that's very difficult to watch if you don't usually keep baked goods of any kind in your house.
posted by theseldomseenkid at 10:04 AM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Nadiya's cheesecake was incredible, what a genius idea!
I particularly liked that the official Twitter account for the show tweeted out what you might want to buy to eat during the show this week. This is a show that's very difficult to watch if you don't usually keep baked goods of any kind in your house.
posted by theseldomseenkid at 10:04 AM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
I was surprised and disappointed by Ian winning star baker … again! The show is certainly playing up the idea of him being the favourite and it all feels heavily edited to me. Tamal was indeed robbed of being star baker.
I couldn't believe Sandy tried her freezer trick and served cream soup TWICE.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:21 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
I couldn't believe Sandy tried her freezer trick and served cream soup TWICE.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:21 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Yup, Tamal was robbed. (He was my early favourite and remains my favourite - I would've eaten that mango cheesecake of his whole*.) Really, star baker should've been between him and Nadiya - her reduced soda flavours (and that suspended can) were fantastic.
Mr minsies really dislikes Ian, and I started to after his "Mr Humble" bit at the end of the show.
*Not a euphemism, I swear.
posted by minsies at 9:56 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Mr minsies really dislikes Ian, and I started to after his "Mr Humble" bit at the end of the show.
*Not a euphemism, I swear.
posted by minsies at 9:56 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was genuinely surprised at how many of them ruined a creme brulee - it's not what I think of (a baked custard, in essence) as a particularly challenging dish at all. Maybe the time pressure got to people? I genuinely thought the meringue would have been harder, given the delicacy of the rings.
I've never heard of a non-French style meringue. Marshmallowy, eh? Sounds... not great, but then I'm not a gigantic fan of meringue at the best of times, too sweet and insubstantial.
Nadiya's soda can looked amazing, I would have given it to her for inventiveness, though do remember they take the totality of the three challenges for star baker, and she's pretty inconsistent. I loved the glorious sugar toffee droplets on that other cheesecake. I was disappointed no one tried an Asian-style fluffy cheesecake, but I suspect the judges would have shat their pants as it wouldn't align with their idea of a "proper" cheesecake.
Ugne is really out there, always skirting the line (or going over) of wacky-but-good, or wacky-but-no-it's-just-really-wacky-what-the-heck-is-this.
posted by smoke at 6:02 AM on August 30, 2015
I've never heard of a non-French style meringue. Marshmallowy, eh? Sounds... not great, but then I'm not a gigantic fan of meringue at the best of times, too sweet and insubstantial.
Nadiya's soda can looked amazing, I would have given it to her for inventiveness, though do remember they take the totality of the three challenges for star baker, and she's pretty inconsistent. I loved the glorious sugar toffee droplets on that other cheesecake. I was disappointed no one tried an Asian-style fluffy cheesecake, but I suspect the judges would have shat their pants as it wouldn't align with their idea of a "proper" cheesecake.
Ugne is really out there, always skirting the line (or going over) of wacky-but-good, or wacky-but-no-it's-just-really-wacky-what-the-heck-is-this.
posted by smoke at 6:02 AM on August 30, 2015
I was genuinely surprised at how many of them ruined a creme brulee - it's not what I think of (a baked custard, in essence) as a particularly challenging dish at all.
Maybe it was the "putting it under the broiler" thing that fucked it up? Because I was shocked to see a bunch of them put the cooked sugared dishes into the oven and then CLOSE THE DOOR. No! You put the heat on high and leave the door open! Otherwise you're still cooking the entire thing!
That technical challenge dish was insane and I kind of want to make one now, though I have absolutely no idea what occasion in my life could possibly merit such a dish.
Half the people on this show have apparently never seen a violet in their lives.
I want that fucking mango cheesecake.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:06 AM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
Maybe it was the "putting it under the broiler" thing that fucked it up? Because I was shocked to see a bunch of them put the cooked sugared dishes into the oven and then CLOSE THE DOOR. No! You put the heat on high and leave the door open! Otherwise you're still cooking the entire thing!
That technical challenge dish was insane and I kind of want to make one now, though I have absolutely no idea what occasion in my life could possibly merit such a dish.
Half the people on this show have apparently never seen a violet in their lives.
I want that fucking mango cheesecake.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:06 AM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
I assumed their ovens, like my stupid oven, wouldn't turn the grill on without the door being closed. A safety thing apparently. It totally sucks.
posted by smoke at 7:19 PM on August 30, 2015
posted by smoke at 7:19 PM on August 30, 2015
Are people also watching the companion show, An Extra Slice? This week's episode was the best one I've yet seen—so funny.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 9:13 AM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 9:13 AM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I am by turns terrified of and deeply impressed by Ugne.
posted by Diablevert at 5:15 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Diablevert at 5:15 PM on September 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
I also love Ugne, but as I remarked to my wife while watching the episode after this one, something about her defies my theory of mind. Like, whatever her thought process is that leads her to "I'm just going to do some bonkers complicated thing with a different flour and a weird flavor combination for no reason" *shrug* *carefree grin* is just impenetrable to me. About half the time I have _no_ idea what she is going for, which is fascinating.
posted by gauche at 9:44 AM on August 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gauche at 9:44 AM on August 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Spanische windtorte isn't actually a real thing, is it? When I try searching, the only images Google brings up are related to this show.
posted by meese at 3:18 PM on October 12, 2018
posted by meese at 3:18 PM on October 12, 2018
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posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:45 AM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]