GBBO - Week 6

It was pastry week and there were definitely innuendos aplenty. One of which, I think, went right over poor Alvin's head. Something about plums. Let's just leave it at that.

I like pastry week. Okay, I like most weeks. But pastry week is usually fancy. I also like the laminating of pastry. Mainly because until Bake Off I thought laminating was something I used to have to do in my old job to make posters.

I digress, it was pastry week. First on the cards was a frangipane tart. A tart made with an almond type paste. Not the image above. Those are custard tarts but look like mini versions of what some of the bakers (Flora) came up with. Plus you can find the recipe here.  As for the frangipane tart I doubt I will ever be trying one of those. Sounds far too much like marzipan for my liking and with an almond paste you can be sure it probably tastes like marzipan no matter how much fruit you put on it. I did feel a little sorry for Flora, hers looked like one of the pretties but sadly was a little overbaked.

The technical challenge involved Flaounas. I had never heard of them and neither had the bakers or even Mary Berry for that matter. Bit cruel I thought. To go from pitta bread to that was a little evil on Paul Hollywoods part. In my own selfish way though I am glad that they were a challenge. They look so yummy and they have a cheese filling. You can find the recipe of the Bake Off website for those of you taking part in the Bake Off challenge.

The show stopper was a bit of a 70's throwback. They contestants had to make volauvonts. And they had to make two very different fillings. My firm favourite was Flora's. It was chocolate. Chocolate is always going to trump octopus ink (sorry Ian).

The winner though was Mat. He has lagged behind everyone else and I did think that this would have been as far as he went. But no, he turned it around and did very well this week. I thought that was quite nice.

Instead we said goodbye to the nurse baker, Alvin. Poor Alvin always seemed to be very hard on himself. I think he put himself under a lot of pressure and it finally caved in on him. He was one of the quieter ones who was always so apologetic when he did something that Paul and Mary didn't like.

Now, while I have been talking about Bake Off I think it is only fair to finally mention Extra Slice with Jo Brand. If you haven't seen it you should. It highlights some of the funnier moments in that weeks episodes with a panel of three celebrities. The celebrities include a comedian, a chef and then a random celebrity (it was Andy Murrays mum last week). The comedians often come back for other episodes and some of the chefs do too. The audience gets to show off their own bakes and then the panel gets to taste them. Last weeks with the freeform bakes didn't go down well. The last baker who left the show then comes in for an interview. Sounds all a bit samey and it is but it's entertaining.

Next week is Victorian week which should prove interesting. In the meantime please not that all of these images are not mine and in fact belong to the Bake Off website.