Great British Bake Off Series 3

[Slainte]

I'm so excited, the new series starts next week . Link

Didn't get the chance to post when it was on but managed to see most of the programme even though DS2 had me wading through the books from the last 2 series at the same time.

I have to say, it might be the editing but Victoria had the look of a condemned woman almost since last week. It wasn't any surprise that she went. I am glad Stuart pulled it out the bag a bit on the last round. Doesn't do for the winners to be too obvious from the beginning and he didn't have a couple of dodgy rounds - fancy not putting enough syrup in his treacle tart!

Still not sure who I like best although I felft for Sarah Jane for crying over her treacle tart. Bless. All she did wrong was get her lattice in a twist.

Whoops - that should be did have a dodgy round.....

Caught up! Very happy to see James get star baker but sad to see Victoria go so early.

Want to try James' apple and lavender tarte tatin.

Did you see the meringue showstoppers for next week? Excited already .

bisjolympics - yy, but also a touch of the mum from Outnumbered?

Thank you minniebar! I knew she reminded me of someone.

Victoria was a churlish loser! 'I suppose it's just you have to impress the people who are the judges, and it's a shame that in their eyes I didn't do better'! Just stop putting peppercorns in everything you mad woman!

Late watching it this week but not surprised that Victoria went. Loved watching them all try to do a lattice ! Think the amount of time they got was short though?

Are we taking guesses on the winner yet? Also I think you can have a great game of innuendo bingo with this show. The line of the night for me was 'I have fiddled with Mary Berry and I hope she won't mind'

Oh hello Mary-Ann am going to make your mousse cake today for my birthday and then as its my birthday I will proceed to eat it all and not share it with anyone!!

wotchers real Mary-Anne !! lovely to see you on here !
I like to think that Danny is a dark horse and will come shining through - but favourite is James. I thought the invalid fruit tart looked really nice too

Wotchers, Hi & Hello to hiviolet, HazeltheMcWitch, AnneOfCleavers & MaryAnnSingleton!

Hi BBB - I've got a very basic setup, the most important items being the lens and the lighting.
I have a Canon EOS 350D and a 50mm lens for those delish food closeups.
For lighting I have 3 lamps - 1 desk anglepoise & 2 small desk lamps all fitted with daylight bulbs(colour temperature >5000)
A white tablecloth to act as a backdrop & a table near a window with indirect light.
A bit like this setup, but without the light box: tinyurl.com/cj547ax
Hope this helps!

herethereeverywhere: Many happy returns! Hope the baking goes well - and you manage to repel all boarders with the results!

Felt a little sorry for Victoria but she seemed a little out of her depth? Cakes are obviously her speciality and there is nothing wrong with that.

Really could have eaten Danny's tart all by my greedy self! James and John are both really interesting to watch and I love Manisha's way of doing things. (Think I've gotten the names right...maybe!) Like Brendan too.

Still have no time for Stuart, seems to get through despite being bottom two all the time. Noted that Cathryn's "little me" act was perhaps wearing on Mel who pointed out that surely all the compliments must be helping her confidence - I think she watched too much of Jo last year and thinks that is how you win.

Thanks Mary Anne. I can never seem to get my pictures bright enough or sharp enough come to that, not like yours. Despite being a bridge camera it seems it can't do as much manually as I would like. I got a book on photograph for my birthday and now I am seriously considering getting a proper DSLR so I find myself looking at other people's photos and wondering how they did them. Perhaps I will just fiddle around with more lighting with the current camera whilst I am saving up for something decent.

TwoIfBySea - I thought Catherine might have been copying Jo lack of confidence thing as well but I never found Jo grating. I don't know why Catherine annoys me. I was wondering if it had been done before. I keep wanting to say if it's so hard on you, leave the programme! A bit uncharitable of me I know.

I'm late to this thread and just been catching up. I've watched out of order and just seen the bread one tonight.

I have a question for Mary Anne or anyone else who knows - where does all the stuff come from to display the finished bakes?

On the bagel challenge one baker (might have been Danny) had a basket wrapped in a stars and stripes flag - do the bakers get some advance warning and bring stuff from home or do they all have to fight over who gets the best display items?

Can I ask Mary-Anne a question as well?

How much information are you given for the Technical Challenge?

Also (while I'm here) how much warning did you get of the bakes for the following weekend? Did you get told at the beginning what every week would be so you could practise your signature bakes/showstoppers?

I think (not just because I kind of know James' mum and am a doctor but because he looks very confident and convincing) that James is on for a win.

Brendan looks and sounds like Mrs Doubtfire.

Hi marquesas and BartletForTeamGB

Advance notice of the technical challenge = none. Unless you were a lucky guesser, the first you knew of it was when you're allowed to turn over the recipe.

With the other stuff, all the recipes for Signature Bakes/Showstoppers for all episodes had to be submitted before filming began. I think the contestants this year were filming just at weekends, but with us it was a bit more random - once there was just 3 days inbetween - not much time for practicing at all!

You could bring your own display items, or use the stuff in the tent, it was up to you. The display items for the Technical Challenge were always provided.

Thanks for answering, Mary-Anne (feel very excited to 'meet' you!).

I meant how much information did you get on those sheets of paper for the technical challenge. They go on about the bakers don't get told very much. Weights of ingredients? Temperature? Timing?

Thanks Mary Anne, I'm glad to here that's it's all as we see it, no CDWM type manipulations.

I noticed that in the last series most of sweets bakes came straight from one of Mary's books that I have so I guess at the very least it's a good idea to have a go at all the published recipes from both judges.

BartletForTeamGB: oh right - sorry - misunderstood.
It's all a bit hazy now, but I seem to remember you were told what to do - not really how to do it eg 'mix the cake'. Weights/Temperatures weren't really messed with.
Also, the amount of information lessened as the weeks went on, eg the cooking time 'window' would get larger and larger. I think for the Sachertorte in the final, the instructions said 'cook for between 30 mins & 1 hour' - and then it was up to you to choose when to take it out.
I mostly relied on hoping that I had cooked something at least similar to whatever the Technical Bake turned out to be.

marquesas: I'd say breadth of experience would be most important, rather than just using the judge's recipes - lots of different types of things.

I thought I had a pretty wide range myself, but I hadn't made specifically a lemon tart/focaccia/mille feuille/sachertorte - but I had made different kinds of pastry/various breads/a range of cakes - which certainly helped!

Vikingvagine - Just a very BIG THANK YOU for all your help with the multi toned icing problem I had last week! You very kindly did some research for me on MN for which I am very grateful! I'm delighted to report back that the birthday cake for my 12 year old DD was a great success! I went for the "fill one side of the icing bag with plain, 1 side with pink icing" option and the 2 tone rose finish looked great! All her friends were wondering how i did it! I apologise for not thanking you earlier but the party was only yesterday and this has literally been my first chance!

A big Hello also to Mary-Anne from last years GBBO. You were great favourite in our house Mary-Anne, especially with my 2 children (who I think wanted to secretly move into your kitchen!!) and we were all rooting for you in the final! Its lovely to now hear how you're getting on post GBBO!!

YW!

Hi Mary-Anne! We were big supporters of yours last year! Glad you're doing well now.

Hmmm... Stuart's marzipan base on his tarte tatin seemed a bit random! I was surprised that they liked it so much...

The cake I made from the new book didn't quite go according to plan!
Here
Must try Mary Annes's melting moments, I think the mousse cake is a biot beyond my skill level!

Time to break the eggs and sift some flour!