Episode 9 – Patisserie Week
It was semi-final time in the tent which means the stakes were raised and the bakers really needed to impress the judges. Here are the highlights.
Signature Challenge – Madeleines
This week’s bake off kicked off with the semi-finalists having to make 24 madeleines, 12 each of different flavours. Ruby decided to make raspberry and lemon madeleines and orange and cinnamon ones too. Rahul went with the same flavours but injected the humps with orange curd. Briony went for a cocktail theme with a mojito and espresso martini madeleine. Kim-Joy’s were flavoured with ginger and lemon and made orange madeleine bunnies. Paul made it clear that they needed a hump.
Judging time, Rahul’s madeleines looked beautiful but the orange ones didn’t have a perfect hump. Ruby’s madeleines looked a bit of a mess and also didn’t have a hump, they were also a bit heavy but the flavours were good. Briony’s hump needed to be bigger, the sponge was good but there wasn’t a lot of flavour in the mojito ones but the espresso martini ones were a winner. Kim-Joy’s were lovely and had a nice hump.
Technical Challenge – Torta Setteveli
For this challenge, the bakers needed to make a 7 layered cake; 2 layers of genoise, 2 layers of bavarois, a chocolate crunch layer, a chocolate mousse layer and to finish a mirror glaze. Prue’s hint for this challenge was “you all have a freezer, use it!”
Ruby had the right attitude and got straight into it, Kim-Joy had never made a chocolate mouse and ended up crying. Half an hour to go and Kim-Joy was still making her mouse whereas everyone else was on their mirror glaze. The decoration was applied and the time was up.
Judging time and Briony’s had good shine and layers but the chocolate glaze was rubbery. Ruby’s looked great and had a lovely mousse and bavarois. Kim-Joy’s chocolate mouse had marbled but the rest was good. Rahul’s torta looked like a Halloween cake and also had a rubbery mirror glaze. In fourth place, Rahul, third place for Briony, second place for Kim-Joy and Ruby came in first place.
Showstopper – Parisian Window
The semi-finalists needed to make 36 pastries using choux, pate sucree and millefeuille pastry. They had five hours and presentation is everything. Everyone went for a rough puff except for Briony. Rahul was basing his inspiration from bakery windows in Sheffield as he’s never been to France.
Everyone who has made rough puff was putting them in the oven but Briony was still puffing. Kim-Joy made choux nuns, and Rahul was running out of time. Ruby was the only one that looked in control.
Judging time and Kim-Joys nuns and tarts needed to be smaller and more delicate, her millefeuilles were dry and dull. Ruby’s pastries were beautiful but too big, the flavours were great but the fruit needed glazing. Briony’s tarts were colossal but her mouse had run and her millefeuilles were raw. Rahul got a kicking for not glazing his tarts and the base was too thick, the eclairs are a mess and they were boring.
Start baker this week was Ruby but we had to say bye-bye to Briony. Only three bakers remain and next week it’s the final!
Maybe during the programme, you were seeing all of those beautiful appliances. If you were wondering about the disappearing doors on the ovens and those retro type fridges, you can read more about the features appliances here.