Another first for the series, and one I hope they continue to elaborate on, especially with the savoury side of things
Signature – Raised Game Pie
Oh if only I was making this this week instead of the show stopper, the fiance would be in heaven. I really like making the pork pies from previous series technical challenge, but haven’t made them again, even though I promised!
Key Points
- Hot water crust pastry – the thinner the better, on all sides, but thick enough to hold the filling with out the juices seeping out
- Start it off on a high temperature to ensure the pastry is crisp and then turn it down for the meat. The Game needs to reach 65 otherwise it can be dry
- The decoration needs to be ornate, to show of the wealth of the Victorian families.
Comment about Nadiya’s use of spices not being very Victorian, but not nothing about Tamal’s use of Ras al Hanout. Ian was certainly cutting it close with his lack of design, but his flavours saved him, just. Flora’s pie look beautiful with the distinctive layers, but she just crammed too much in, which left her with a over coloured pastry and dry meat. Nadiya’s was set out beautifully, well decorated and a great bake but her flavours didn’t work so well, which is a surprise for her, as she’s usually so spot on.
Technical – Iced Tennis Fruit Cake
A rich fruit cake decorated with Royal icing which made popular after Queen Victoria’s wedding. With so much to go wrong it was certainly a challenge against the clock. The cake needs significant time in the oven, but enough time to cool too, to guarantee the icing wouldn’t melt.
Key Points
- Dense fruit cake needs to be baked for 2 of the 3 hours
- Royal icing is made with egg white, and kneaded until smooth and non-sticky
- Fondant icing/sugarpaste magic ingredient is gelatine, heated over a gentle heat and icing sugar added gradually then kneaded until smooth.
Baked icing? What was Matt thinking? Plus what on earth happened to his first fondant? You’ve just got to love Nadiya reaction to it all:
Matt: This is a joke isn’t it?
Nadiya: what is that, sugarpaste
Matt: Yeah….mines quite different to yours
Nadiya: It is yeah
I’m not sure why Paul didn’t use baking paper for the tin, it would have saved the gouge he lost on the side. Even if a baking tin says it’s non stick, I always use paper. Flora’s was over baked but otherwise good. Tamal’s was a little under baked, as was Matts and Ians. Nadiya was the only person to get everything right, she even had a tennis net that stood up too.
Showstopper – Charlotte Russe
A Traditional victorian Blousy dessert with a set bavarois cream and jelly, all free standing and held within sponge fingers. So super healthy then!
Key Points
- The bavarois needs to be set, but still be creamy and not a hard jelly set.
- Pipe the sponge fingers individually to guarantee uniformity, and over lap them to ensure that there are no leakages
Once again Flora is pushing out the boat on flavours and design, with distinctive layers, but you’re never going to win on bake off with Paul’s nemesis of pomegranate
Nadiya had clear definitive colours, and it was good to see a different technique used for the bavarois. I may even use this for my version of the Russe.
Paul had a good bake on the sponge fingers but a river of jelly when you cut into it, but balanced it on display of victorian cut fruit. Personally I think Paul is hanging on by a thread in the competition and I’m not sure how much longer he’ll last.
Tamal managed to wow with his layers, instead of using sponge fingers as at the base, he used jelly top and bottom. It looked beautiful both inside and out. Hats off to him for getting Star baker, he’s been so close and it’s well a deserved win this week.
Oh no Matt, What happened? Last week star baker and this week you’ve left us! So sad to see this, but he did have the worst week, compared to everyone else, even his antique tin couldn’t save him. Ian’s not that strong on cakes but his decoration of his Crown Russe was stunning.
I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me, two things I haven’t tried before sponge fingers and jelly. But the thing I’m most anxious about is getting my flavours balanced throughout. I’m thinking of doing a festive mulled wine flavour, using seasonal spiced plums and a bit of zesty orange too. The question is how to, if to and what to do for the layers!!
One Liner of the week, comes from Flora: I have visions that the victorians had dreams about gelatine!