The Great British Bake Off 2024: baking week summary

Joining Andy in the “overheated” corner, Sumayah’s coconut, raspberry and meringue tarts are partially compensated by their “good appearance” and “good texture”. In Paul’s eyes, the icing on Nelly’s Italian meringue is “everywhere,” but he and Prue love the flavors of the blood orange and hazelnuts, despite the “pretty thick” cake.

“I hope it’s not f… filo,” Andy says, considering the technical challenge they face, adding, “Because I’ve never done anything like that before.” Well, he’s already succeeding, because the bakers have two and a half hours to prepare the spinach and feta spanakopita cake. “Think of a large sausage roll,” he tells himself, somewhat unconvincingly. He and Gill struggle with an uncooperative dough, but it’s the unpressed spinach that causes so many bakers to encounter the Bake Off classic, the “soggy base”.

Dylan is delighted with his “delicious” butt and takes first place in spanakopita. “Always the bridesmaid…” laments Christiaan, once again coming in second place.

I know I said this week was a “sensible” cake trip, and an exquisite offering of classic Paris Brest seems totally appropriate as well. And then a few bright sparks in the Bake Off team decide they need the addition of an edible cake stand. ‘Why?’ I hear you asking. Honestly, I have no idea. Perhaps this was intended to add an element of threat. Maybe they went over last week’s budget on Le Creuset and Magimix and now they can’t even afford a quick trip to Ikea.

Relatively unfazed by this strange command, bakers choose building materials with varying degrees of success. By choosing nougatine, Dylan and Christiaan show artistic inclinations… but desperately hope for vertical support. The former fills his disappointingly flat puff with roasted green tea mousse and pecan praline, then places it on a temple-like stand with black sesame seeds. “It works for me,” Paul says, but Prue thinks “you need to add more choux to balance it out.” Any more choux and he would be in serious danger of tipping over!

Having thrown his first ring in the trash because of its somewhat cubist distortion, Christiaan creates a stand of vibrant curls out of almond nougatin. Prue says it’s “baroque.” I think it’s more rococo. However, I miss the opportunity to have an intelligent conversation about artistic styles and the judges decide that despite the “great flavors” of the pecans, the orange mousse is “too thick.”