The Great British Baking Show Recap: Technical Difficulties

by

Several things bothered me about this episode, but I need to address the tiramisu and white chocolate right away – both are just awful. I’ll eat pretty much any dessert, except for tiramisu. (I need to really examine flan before deciding, but it at least has a decent chance of being good – maybe 50-50.) Tiramisu is just mushy and tastes strongly of coffee, and I don’t enjoy either of those things. While Italians excel at many things, their famous dessert needs to disappear like the Roman Empire – endlessly discussed online by people who will never actually taste it again.

And white chocolate (yuck!) isn’t truly chocolate. It’s created using just the cocoa bean’s butter and fat, without any of the solid cocoa itself. It’s similar to saying a caprese salad is a pizza just because it includes tomatoes and mozzarella. What *makes* pizza, pizza is the crust, and what makes chocolate, chocolate is the cocoa. It’s obvious! We’ll see both of these key ingredients in many desserts during this episode, and, like a bus speeding toward a kindergarten, something needs to be done to prevent disaster.

For this challenge, the bakers need to make mousse cups – that is, cups made of solid chocolate and filled with chocolate mousse, plus some kind of baked component inside. What I appreciate about all the challenges is that the judges aren’t only looking at chocolate skills; they also want to see baking skills like sponge, cookie, brownie, or biscuit work. After all, these are bakers, not someone like Mary See trying to create the ultimate candy shop.

Lesley, Aaron, and Tom are all attempting the challenging tiramisu, and both Tom and Aaron had a clever idea: serving the coffee-flavored dessert in small coffee cups. It’s a surprisingly simple solution, though perhaps they should have thought of it sooner. This sets up a small storyline in the episode where Aaron and the seemingly perfect Tom develop a rivalry – one is truly perfect, the other isn’t – and both are secretly hoping to impress Paul Hollywood (and maybe even attract his attention physically).

I have to say, Aaron’s creation just *looked* better – not just the rich, dark-chocolate cup itself, but also the clever white-chocolate lid that reminded me of something you’d grab at any Starbucks, complete with a tiny, croissant-shaped biscuit for dipping! The only downside was that the mousse wouldn’t set properly, and both Paul and Prue were pretty harsh, calling it Terrible with a capital T – which, of course, stands for Paul Hollywood! While Perfect Tom’s cups weren’t *quite* as visually stunning as Aaron’s, they were, simply put, perfect. He skipped the lid, but he *did* create a perfect little coffee stencil on top using cocoa powder, and it was totally effective. Paul said he hit that perfect balance of sweet and bitter – which, honestly, is what people always tell me about my humor! – and gave Tom the perfect handshake, the one he’d been perfectly hoping for. Point one for Tom.

Alongside Tom, Toby also excels, creating a white-chocolate (which he admits isn’t his favorite) shell designed to resemble an orange. Inside, he layers a chocolate-and-orange mousse with an Earl Grey sponge. Paul notes the mousse could have set for a little longer, but both judges commend his effort with a “well done.” Iain receives high praise for crafting Belgian beer glasses from chocolate and filling them with his version of Black Forest gâteau, despite running out of time to finish the cream topping. The judges don’t hesitate to sample a bit of the cream directly from his measuring cup and mixing bowl.

Nadia had trouble with her strawberry mousse and pistachio cream, and Prue thought it was much too runny and unorganized. Runny and unorganized! That actually sounds pretty good to me-just kidding. It reminded Prue of fruit soup, or, as Paul put it, a fool. Lesley attempted to incorporate 16 different components into her dessert, but they didn’t quite work together, and the split ganache on top unfortunately resembled doggy diarrhea. Paul felt the entire creation was overly complicated. Which would you prefer: something that’s overly complicated, or something that’s runny and unorganized?

I get most frustrated with the Artist Formerly Known As Bake Off when they reveal the “gingham pantry” for the technical challenge. The bakers are tasked with creating a white-chocolate (yuck!) tart with a pastry base. But, they also have to choose various toppings from the gingham pantry, and the catch is they must use everything they select.

This is completely ridiculous, like looking at the dirt on someone’s boots. This isn’t about skill at all. Actually, the technical challenge is the *least* important part of the competition. No one has ever been eliminated or saved based on how they did on it. If you removed the technical challenge entirely, I don’t think anyone – bakers or viewers – would even notice. However, it *does* serve a crucial purpose: it allows the judges to assess how the contestants perform when everyone is making the same thing. It’s about making a fair comparison – judging one tart against another. The only way to do that accurately is if all the tarts are identical. Now, they’re asking bakers to make a chocolate tart that’s unique. And what is that? It’s just a signature challenge! You’re essentially repeating the same round twice!

Honestly, watching the pastry challenges is always a bit painful! I felt so bad for Nadia; she really struggled with her pastry shell. It was so thick she had to start over, but then she ran out of time and her second attempt just crumbled – it reminded me of a teenager losing their phone for the weekend! She ended up having to use a thicker base again. And Iain! He created a beautiful-looking tart with raspberries and white chocolate (seriously, gag), but then somehow managed to mess it up while trying to put it on display. They both ended up at the bottom, with the judges telling Nadia her flavors and textures weren’t working and, predictably, her casing was too thick. Then we had the second round, Tom versus Aaron, and it was incredibly close – although Tom always seems to tower over Aaron! Aaron ended up in third with two stunning lines of passion-fruit purée on top, and perfect Tom was right behind him in fourth with a beautiful nest of crisscrossing lines over blackberry cream.

Lesley’s tart, described by Prue as tasting like a Key-lime pie, surprisingly came out on top. The judges said it tasted most like white chocolate (retch). Wait a minute – did they say white chocolate (vom), or Key-lime pie? I’m begging for some clarity, but this whole situation is illogical. It’s best if we just move forward.

The main attraction was a fondue presentation featuring a pot you could eat, chocolate fondue, and three baked goods for dipping – plus, maybe a cake or something else. Honestly, I found the whole thing confusing. My husband was likely showing me fan videos of Patsy Stone while I was trying to watch. It quickly became obvious that only two contestants were really at risk of being eliminated. That’s not referring to the competition between Aaron and Tom – I mean that it’s pretty clear either Nadia or Toby will be going home this week. It’s a two-person race to the bottom.

Nadia is attempting to create a bowl from a high-heeled shoe, but the chocolate keeps fracturing when she removes it from the mold – something she says doesn’t usually happen. She also tries making a tiramisu (eye roll) and encasing it in chocolate, but the mixture is too liquid and the chocolate sides won’t adhere. Meanwhile, Toby is building a camp stove using marshmallows, graham crackers, and churros for dipping – a smart idea inspired by s’mores. However, his chocolate is also cracking.

So, when the judges tasted Nadia’s chocolate, they raved about how it *looked*, but she didn’t quite manage a full shoe – a bit of a quirky detail! Still, everything else tasted fantastic, especially her tiramisu. Toby’s display was definitely more visually appealing overall, but things went downhill fast. When Paul tried to get a slice of his cake from the chocolate case, it just completely fell apart! And it didn’t get any better – his churros were burnt, his graham crackers were rock hard, and Paul said his cake was both incredibly dry *and* tasteless – which, honestly, is something they also say about my humor! It was a rough go for him, that’s for sure. I was really hoping for a good showdown!

It was a close call, but Nadia was eliminated from the competition. This makes sense considering she’s been facing challenges for several weeks, and all three of her bakes in this episode were unsuccessful. Toby has also consistently had difficulties, and his showstopper was possibly even worse than Nadia’s, but winning the signature challenge might have been enough to keep him in the competition for another week. (It’s gotta be him or Lesley next week, though, right?)

All the other displays were really good. I particularly loved Iain’s – it was a tree on top of a cake, with fondue flowing down it and collecting at the base. Instead of just having treats piled up at the bottom like everyone else, Iain cleverly used them as steps leading up the tree. Paul commented that it looked like something from The Lord of the Rings, actually finishing a thought I was just having! So, I’m going with it looking like something from The Hobbit instead. There!

Nataliia also demonstrates creativity: Her white chocolate and raspberry fondue is presented as lava flowing from Mt. Vesuvius, cascading over the remains of ancient columns and buildings. The judges enthusiastically praise all the cakes, buns, and sauces, describing their reaction as an eruption of positive feedback.

A clear top three is starting to emerge. The judges are incredibly impressed with Jasmine’s creation, which looks like a chocolate fountain – it includes bowls crafted from chocolate sponge, coated in chocolate, and finished with a chocolate tree. It’s so flawless, it seems like Tom might have helped, though it wasn’t quite as inventive as the other bakers’ work. She receives a Paul Hollywood Showstopper Handshake – I really dislike these and wish they’d stop happening. I fantasize about a different reality where Mary Berry is the sole judge, offering only encouraging words and smiles when the bakers succeed.

The rivalry still feels like a classic showdown – Tom against Aaron, a direct head-to-head competition between two gay bakers. Tom’s presentation is immaculate, featuring a stunning lighthouse centerpiece on a pool filled with vibrant pistachio fondue, which makes his chocolate creations really stand out. However, Prue wasn’t impressed with his madeleines, and Paul felt that the fillings in his buns were too much, overpowering the dipping sauce – a slight imperfection in an otherwise flawless display.

Surprisingly, Aaron won with his incredible chocolate-piano creation – honestly, it’s the best thing he’s ever made! It was incredibly detailed, looked really difficult to construct, but was flawlessly executed. Prue particularly enjoyed his Chinese five-spice Florentines, and Paul loved his chocolate-sable biscuits. The judges felt he was the most consistent baker across all three challenges, which is why he was crowned the winner, even though he didn’t receive one of the highly-prized handshakes. It did feel a little as though the judges were hesitant to give the win to Jasmine or Tom again, but we can’t diminish Aaron’s achievement. He performed exceptionally well, and I have to commend him for not using white chocolate (Technicolor yawn) at all.

Read More

2025-10-03 12:57