Bake Off: from Patisserie Week to the Final

Last week was the semi-final of series seven of ‘The Great British Bake Off’.

The theme of the show, which aired on Wednesday (October 19) at 8pm on BBC1, was Patisserie Week,

In the signature challenge, the four remaining bakers were once again butter-bashing and folding their pastry to achieve perfect lamination for a difficult French pastry.

Co-judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood asked the contestants to create 24 Palmiers, ‘with two different savoury flavours and shapes, both with clearly defined layers and perfectly cooked pastry’.

In the technical challenge, Paul tested the bakers’ patisserie prowess with a ‘high-end, all singing and dancing’ Savarin: a yeast-based cake penetrated with orange syrup, decorated with fresh fruit and a hand-written chocolate label.

The show stopper was the bakers’ last chance to prove they had what it takes to make it to the final, with a multiple mini-cake bake. Paul and Mary requested 36 fondant fancies of two different types, with a genoise sponge, buttercream and fondant, all made from scratch.

Next week is the final, and with just three of the original 12 bakers remaining, the theme is a Royal Bake Off. The tent will play host to three challenges to impress the Queen.

The last signature challenge will see a return to meringues, a challenge that a few of the bakers stumbled over in week six.

For the technical challenge, Mary has made a simple bake of a very British classic very tough, as she has only given the bakers one recipe instruction and no measurements. This is the ultimate test of the final three bakers’ intuition.

On the final day, as the bakers’ families gather outside the tent, the finalists face their last showstopper: the most complex one ever seen on Bake Off, with the most bakes ever requested in a challenge.

With only one oven, it’s five solid hours of baking for the finalists to prove they deserve the winner’s trophy. The show airs on Wednesday (October 26) at 8pm on BBC1.