Great British Bake Off 2019: the final
The final of Bake Off is here! See who won and how they clinched the top spot with Chetna Makan's roundup.
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Great British Bake Off 2019Ten weeks of baking in a tent and this year’s final comes to an end with David, Alice and Steph baking their best to win the Great British Bake Off 2019.
It has been an interesting ten weeks, with some very cool bakes and some questionable technical challenges – but I really liked the bakers this year. Yes, we did have a much younger group, some categories were totally missing and it would have been nice to see a more varied group of bakers, but I hope they will rectify this next year. The series may have had a bit of a slow start with its fair share of slightly boring episodes, but the final did not disappoint!
The show started with the three final bakers attempting to bake the ultimate chocolate cake, which had to be creative, impressive and beautifully decorated.
Alice made a chocolate, pear, ginger and maple cake, which didn't look great and lacked chocolate according to Paul. The fruit and spices tasted great but it was missing the dominant chocolate flavour that is (of course) a must for a chocolate cake.
Steph made a Black Forest chocolate cake, which turned out to be very crumbly and a little over-baked, but it looked good and tasted OK too. David made a chocolate, Armagnac and prune cake, which looked and tasted good but was overpowered with too much alcohol.
The final technical challenge of the series required six twice-baked Stilton soufflés. These needed to hold their shape when turned out of their moulds, whilst remaining delicate and fluffy in texture served with biscuits on the side. Steph says it is the hardest technical so far but it sure needs to be as it is the final after all.
Steph had a clear meltdown when her soufflés turned out more like cheese soup, and I really felt for her. Watching that wasn’t very nice and hopefully it showed viewers that baking in the tent is a very stressful job. David tops the technical with a pretty good batch of soufflés, while Steph comes last with her almost non-existent ones.
And so we move on to the final showstopper, which starts with Alice very upset as her parents are having trouble getting to the tent. In the beginning of the program her parents mentioned that good management was what Alice needed most to clinch the Bake Off title. After watching her in the final and seeing her baking bench, it was very clear that she wasn’t listening to them!
For the showstopper the bakers needed to make a deliciously deceptive feast in the form of a picnic basket. It must contain some form of cake, bread and biscuit in it, which I thought was a great final showstopper challenge as it covers all the main facets of baking.
Throughout the whole task David stays really calm and in control; something I think he has encompassed throughout the series. Alice, on the other hand, looks really panicky and has been the same through the series too. She really does need to listen to her parent’s management advice!
Lovely Steph is a really good baker – something the judges repeat throughout each episode – but I think she does lack a little self-confidence. This was very apparent in the tense final, when she broke down a number of times.
After the judges have tasted all the bakes, it is pretty clear who the winner is going to be. Sure enough, they announce that David is the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2019!
I’m so pleased with the winner this year, as he has made some very creative bakes, taken risks, stayed calm and always looked very happy to be in the tent. This brings us to the end of very exciting few weeks, and I’ve loved sharing my thoughts on Bake Off here with you. If you are a keen home baker, then do apply for next year as you have nothing to lose!
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