The Great British Bake Off: The rocky road to the quarter-finals
Tessa Delaunay-Martin
TV blog
Tagged with:
Attention: This post contains spoilers and is intended for viewers who have already seen episode seven, Pastry, of The Great British Bake Off.
The final five bakers are gearing up for Advanced Dough week and while we’ve seen some outstanding original creations, it hasn’t been easy baking the whole way.
With 21 challenges behind them it’s not hard to lose track of all the signatures, technicals and showstoppers, so we decided to take a look at the bakes that have earned Chetna, Luis, Martha, Nancy and Richard a place in the quarter-finals:
Dubbed the Flavour Queen by Paul Hollywood, Chetna has consistently delivered tasty bakes from the start, including tiered Victoria sponges (which Paul thought were too tall) and a cardamom, pistachio and coffee Swiss roll:
Her flavourful bakes also include aromatic fenugreek and carom crackers, crispy lentil kachoris with a “staggering” amount of spices according to Paul, lemon meringue eclairs and chocolate eclairs with mango and praline.
The only bake Chetna seems to have missed on the flavours was during Pies and Tarts week with her rice custard tart with mangoes and raspberries:
Even when her onion and pine nut rolls came out flat Paul thought they were “absolutely delicious” and when her baked Alaska melted, Mary Berry assured her that “the fact that it looks a bit messy, I forget about that. It just is stunning when you eat it.”
Chetna finally won star baker for European Cakes week when she came second place in Mary's Swedish prinsesstarta technical challenge, and decorated an impressive caramel-covered almond liqueur dobos torte with spheres made from dipping grapes in caramel. These left quite an impression on Mary who seems sure that “everybody will be copying that!”
A graphic designer by trade, all of Luis’ bakes have demonstrated meticulous military precision, from his George versus the Dragon biscuits that married flavour with theme so well that Paul “ran out of superlatives”:
To his apple and cinnamon kugelhopf:
Although Luis' presentation is consistently praised by Paul and Mary as spectacular, stunning and amazing, sometimes the flavours don’t quite come together.
For the European Cakes week, his beautiful monumental caramel work ultimately left Mary feeling it was “far too sweet” and Paul adding that “it’s quite washy with the flavour”:
While Mary and Paul disagreed on whether the flavours worked in Luis' roscon de reyes, a beautifully decorated showstopper centrepiece loaf, he still won star baker in Bread week:
And he’s back on track, with Paul declaring Luis had “nailed it on all counts” with the clean lines and different flavours in his stars and stripes eclairs:
At 17 Martha is the youngest baker to be in the tent and the only quarter-finalist not to have won star baker yet, but she has won the technical challenges for mini pear pies and tiramisu.
She has produced innovative bakes including adding paprika to her pie pastry and a goat’s cheese-filled twist on a classic sandwich biscuit:
And made snow from marshmallows for her charming 3D ski village scene:
She also baked a stuffed sunflower loaf with cheese that Mel Giedroyc could hear bubbling away:
But challenging recipes also can make for some less successful outcomes. Paul and Mary weren’t fans of the look or the flavour of Martha’s maple syrup and bacon eclairs:
Even though she forgot Paul’s name and called him “the male judge” Nancy has been one to watch out for since the beginning, winning both star baker and the technical challenge in the first week for an “absolutely perfect” cherry cake and her Jaffa orange cakes that looked identical:
Nancy also produced a stunning baked Alaska for her showstopper:
And earned extra brownie points for her hand-raised trio of apple pies:
Not every bake has been flawless though. Her signature rum punch savarin with coconut cream and tropical fruits was overproved, leaving a crease:
But Paul and Mary still thought the flavours were fantastic and since then Nancy's baked a showstopper dobbos torte, the first savoury eclairs we’ve ever seen, as well as a technically perfect Swedish prinsesstarta:
Richard has won star baker a record-breaking three times, coming first in the technical challenges for two of those weeks with his pencil behind his ear at every bake.
His florentines with the perfect zigzag and biscuit showstopper Pirates! gingerbread boat and peanut butter island won over the judges in Biscuits week:
The previously unknown Breton kouign amann technical challenge that baffled all the bakers, along with his eclair stairs and these signature minted lamb pasties earned Richard star baker for Pastry week:
He also won during Desserts week, being the only baker to deliver a truly saucy signature pudding that both judges enjoyed without quibble, and which Paul proclaimed as “complicated but exceptionally baked”:
But even Richard has a few wobbles now and again, often having a tougher time in the week after being star baker. The curse of the star baker might explain why he came last on this pear-shaped challenge...
What were some of your favourite bakes from the quarter-finalists?
More on The Great British Bake Off
BBC One: The Great British Bake Off: Meet the judges and presenters
BBC Two: The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice
Discover more bakes with BBC Food
Episode One: Cake recipes
Episode Two: Biscuits recipes
Episode Three: Bread recipes
Episode Four: Desserts recipes
Episode Five: Pies and Tarts recipes
Episode Six: European Cakes recipes
The Great British Bake Off continues on Wednesday, 24 September at 9pm on BBC One and BBC One HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.
Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.
