Great British Bake Off 2019: Roaring Twenties Week
Another week, another new theme – see what the bakers had to rustle up for three 1920s-inspired challenges with Chetna Makan's roundup.
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Great British Bake Off 2019
This week’s Bake Off brings lots of sunshine along with it, and it is so lovely to see the bakers all happy, fresh and cheerful before the start of the first challenge. With a new theme titled ‘Roaring Twenties’, Michelle starts by telling us how she has been living, sleeping and dreaming everything Bake Off. When you enter the tent you think you can go back to normal life in the week, but that is not the case; for those few weeks Bake Off is all that is in your life, and every waking moment is spent thinking or preparing for it!
The episode starts with bakers having to make four individual and highly decorative custard pies. It’s no surprise that Helena has given her pies a freaky twist by adding a sea monster, which ends up looking amazing and very impressive indeed. I always look forward to seeing what she bakes as they’re so creative and original.
You can notice the tension in the tent when the bakers try to get the pies out of their cases, with everyone’s hands shaking with fear. Then comes the shocker when Rosie drops one of her pies and it is destroyed beyond all repair, to which she declares that she is going to be going home this week. Despite the tragic pie-dropping I do love the beautiful little elderflower domes with jelly – they look amazingly beautiful and very delicate.
David’s custard pies are perfect, with silky smooth custard and crumbly pastry, finished with flirty flapper girls, which wins him a very deserved handshake from Paul. Steph does very well too, with her citrus-flavoured pies.
We then get to the technical challenge of beignets souffles, which are fried choux balls filled with smooth raspberry jam; crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside, served with sabayon. No surprise that none of the bakers have ever made these before!
Michael has a meltdown with some very runny choux, which is when Noel comes in to give some support and words of encouragement. I’m loving Noel and Sandy even more this year; they seem to be really enjoying their time with the bakers and are quite entertaining.
David comes last with raw beignets and Helena triumphs with her very well-structured offerings.
Finally, we have the showstopper – a 1920s-themed two-tiered cake, with flavours based on their favourite cocktails and designed to be a visual spectacle of the era. There are lots of cocktails that come up but the most popular seems to be the pina colada, with four out of nine bakers using it as inspiration for their cakes.
In brief, the judges say Michael’s cake is neat but lacks flavour; Rosie’s cake is good but not perfect; Alice has made a nice cake but it looks a bit of a mess; Priya has rushed her decorating; Michelle’s cake has too many concepts and while the sponge is nice it’s a little dry; Helena’s piping isn’t very good but if Prue had her eyes closed it was nice; David’s cake is lemony and lovely; Steph’s lime sponges taste great and the cake looks fantastic and Henry’s cake design impresses the judges.
So we have Steph, Henry and David safe at the top, while at the bottom we have Michelle, Helena, Priya and Rosie, who all seem to be in danger of going home.
Then comes the time for announcements, and it’s no surprise that Steph is crowned Star Baker once again. And for the baker going home, this week there’s not one but two – and it is Michelle and Helena who get the bad news.
I’m sure I could hear people shouting at their screens when we heard who was leaving. It wasn’t just me – even Priya thought she has dodged the biggest bullet in the world and Rosie had told herself that it was her going. So I do wonder what the judges are doing! Regardless, we move on. I’m unhappy about the decision but looking forward to Dessert Week.
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