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GBBO: Fans devastated after this baker left the tent

Updated / Wednesday, 16 Oct 2019 13:21
The dreaded Pastry Week came and left soggy bottoms and crumbled tarts in its wake.
The dreaded Pastry Week came and left soggy bottoms and crumbled tarts in its wake.

With The Great British Bake Off back on our screens, the evenings are certainly brighter, as our favourite bakers and hosts continue to delight us with innuendos, soggy bottoms, and outlandishly colourful shirts. 

Hosting duo Noel Fielding and Sandy Toskvig returned to the baker's tent with their usual balance of gothic charm and sunny sense of humour and, by the looks of things, the tenth series is set to take the biscuit.

Pastry Week
Ah, Pastry Week. When the soggy bottoms threaten to come out in all their hideous glory, when tart bases run the risk of burning in the oven and when - for many people - the most devastating elimination of the season took place. 

After a spate of quirky themes like Festival Week and 1920s Week, the tent returned to normality with the challenge week that many dread, as bakers find themselves struggling with artful pastry creations, finicky tarts and the mammoth task of building a structurally sound Showstopper, all out of flour and water. 

Add to this the pressure of it being the quarter-final and you've the makings for a very stressful baking session. 

Challenges
First up was the Signature Challenge, with bakers asked to prepare their take on the French classic savoury Tarte Tatin. Henry impressed with his Crab, New Potato & Tomato, which Prue enjoyed so much she took some for her lunch, while Steph serves up a shallots and cheese version. David's spiced carrot version goes down well, as does Rosie's apple-infused creation. 

The Technical Challenge saw them try their hand at Moroccan pies made with Warqa pastry and loaded with harissa, citrus and other fragrant spices. Calamitous all round, the Technical saw Rosie's pie explode, Steph frazzled with pastry and Henry's pie collapsing. David emerges as the best Technical baker in this round, winning his first challenge. 

Finally, the bakers had to create their Showstoppers, an ambitious series of stacked pies. Alice serves up a Pie Treehouse, while David creates a nautical "open pie," which some have since accused of being a tart. Steph builds a carousel of pies, which Rosie includes no less than nine pies in her Showstopper. Henry decides to do an upside-down chandelier pie, but gets his timing wrong and promptly panics. 

Star Baker
For the fourth time this season, Steph was named Star Baker, winning praise yet again for her attention to detail, impeccable flavours and precision. 

Sent home
It was a day few thought they'd see, as he had brought such joy and now-iconic moments to the tent - not least when he told Paul Hollywood to shut up upon receiving a hallowed handshake last week - but lovable scamp Henry was sent home. 

The only thing sweeter than cuddling up for an episode of the Bake Off is catching up on the hot-takes, declarations of love and the conspiracy theories that go down on Twitter. Here are our favourites: 

David did make a pie!

The akhudnxe technique

Same

Classic scamp behaviour 

Get a grip

It's time 

Soggy bottoms up 

Finally 

Yer man 

Assemble!

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