Great British Bake Off Week 7 Recap

Happy Wednesday bakers! How did you enjoy the bake off last night? It’s all getting a bit tense now that we’re down to the final few weeks of the competition!

This week was all about sweet yeasted breads (SO many bun based innuendos!) and the bakers started off by producing 24 buns. I personally might have gone for a variation on lovely cinnamon buns rather than the Chelsea buns many of the contestants went for (not a big fan of raisins and sultanas!).

Both Brendan (lemon poppy seed bunskis) and Sarah-Jane (Bakewell buns) produced delicious looking treats that received deservedly high praise from Paul and Mary, while Cathryn and John’s buns were a little disappointing. Ryan, who had spent the prep time once again looking like he was heading for disaster, produced lardy cakes so good that Paul felt compelled to shake his hand and say well done. Sarah-Jane once again crashed and burned, once again sealing her exit from the competition at the end of this episode.

Next up was the technical bake – jam doughnuts, and any thoughts I may have been having about trying to make doughnuts in the near future got severely diminished in this segment! Only James (who’s made them a milliontrillion times before) and Danny managed to make presentable doughnuts, with the other contestants either over or underbaking to their doom.

Finally, the showstopper which this week called for an enriched celebration loaf. Danny hit a home run with her European wreath cake and was crowned star baker (maybe because they just couldn’t give it to Brendan for the third week in a row) and James once again tried to cram a whole bottle of whisky into his bake. Poor Ryan went for a traditional pork savoury loaf which turned out pale and undercooked (and not really a showstopper either) and saw him sent home, along with Sarah-Jane (way overdue!) after her plaited chocolate, marzipan and cherry loaf was pronounced raw by Paul.

So, who do you think will win? At the moment I predict John will be leaving us next week but then the field will be pretty even between Brendan, Cathryn, James and Danny, although Brendan has been more consistently good than any of the others. At the moment if I had to bet on anyone winning it would be Brendan, and what a lovely moment it would be too as it clearly means so much to him.

Next week – OHMIGOD THE MOST AMAZING GINGERBREAD HOUSES MANSIONS EVER!! Can’t wait!

x Kerry

PS – Bonus bake off news –

• Paul admits he finds his new sex symbol status to be baffling and hilarious
• Want to make Brendan’s Chelsea Bunski’s or the Jam Doughnuts?
• Baking puns on the rise as ratings for GBBO continue to skyrocket
• Mary Berry admits to using supermarket pastry and BOUGHT cake mixes. Good GRIEF. I agree on the pastry but there’s really no excuse for cake from a box – although she does have a range of boxed cake mixes that she might be trying to plug… (and the judges accuse Brendan of being stuck in the 70s – take a look at Mary’s cake mix packaging!)

PPS – did you watch Nigellissima on Monday? What did you think of it?