Yep, it’s final time for Great British Bake Off contestants Dave, Laura and Peter. Ten weeks of dodgy babas, outstanding caged tarts and cheesecakes galore are coming to an end – so it’s only fitting to look back at the many challenges the bakers have been set.
It's been a long and rocky road making this series of Bake Off given everything that has happened this year - and we’re indebted to everyone who made it possible. So today we’re very proud to say…
— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) November 24, 2020
IT’S THE FINAL!
Tonight. 8pm. @Channel4. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/Qhtm6NIChM
Some bakes have been pretty standard: pineapple upside-down cake (although anyone who opts to make individual ones rather than a massive tray of the delicious stuff, is beyond us), quiche, pasties and chocolate brownies (how so many of the contestants messed this round up, we don’t know…).
While many of the showstopper challenges looked pretty inedible once constructed and reinforced (no one wants a large bread plaque, Paul Hollywood, and no, we’d rather not chip away at a 3D biscuit table setting, Prue Leith). But there were some bakes we’d genuinely like to attempt.
These are the goodies you might just catch us trying out at home…
Soda bread: Move over sourdough, soda bread looks an absolute doddle to make. And you can bulk it out with crispy bits of bacon and a tonne of cheese. We are totally sold.
Chocolate babka: There looks to be something very soothing about braiding together a cocoa laced dough and squishing it into a baking tin. And then you get to tear hunks off and get away with eating it for breakfast. Yum.
By some miracle I have made a #Babka 🙌🏻
— Ottalie 🤍 (@MissOtt) October 19, 2020
I may have exploded my standing mixer in the process, but it's really yummy 😋 #GBBO pic.twitter.com/4xVQ7iIXDG
Coconut macaroons: Towers of coconut, mango curd and chocolate – these babies look ridiculously good. Plus they require a little finesse, but won’t keep you in the kitchen for an entire weekend.
Chocolate florentines: A few batches of these, boxed up nicely, and Christmas presents are absolutely sorted this year.
Ice cream cake: Oh the nostalgia! And the weird squeak as your teeth bite through the cold of the ice cream into the sponginess of cake. To be fair to the bakers, they had to contend with a heatwave when making theirs, but at home, an ice cream cake would be quite an entertaining project.
The joys of making an ice cream cake during a heatwave… #GBBO pic.twitter.com/BK3YnEg0cs
— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) November 3, 2020
And the ones we definitely won’t…
Battenburg: Mr. Kipling just does them so well; why interfere?
Eclairs: The very idea of devoting an entire afternoon to grappling with choux pastry and piping bags makes us feel quite exhausted. These are best bought from the bakery; light, airy, full of cream and slathered with chocolate. Homemade, they’re bound to bring on some kind of existential crisis.
Life this year. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/OL7ZU1MDnN
— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) November 10, 2020
Sussex Pond Puddings: We’d happily eat one (they’re traditionally stuffed with a lemony syrup after all), but the words ‘suet’ and ‘pastry’ strike fear into our amateur baking hearts.
Jelly art design cake: No. Just no. Sure, the bakers’ cakes were impressive, but jelly should only be used in trifle, or in conjunction with ice cream at children’s birthday parties. That is all.
