Great British Bake-off: The Final

[StrangerintheNight]

Just typed out a very excitable post only to find the previous thread, on which I was an avid lurker, had exceeded it's capacity. So if you don't mind, I'll start the overflow thread in the lead up to the Grand Final.

I don't think the judges disliked Brendan at all. Mary in particular always seemed very fond of him I thought.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2218692/The-Great-British-Bake-Off-winner-John-Whaite-uses-Three-pages-A4-sheets-gold-leaf-perfect-lemon-meringues-sin-show.html

I really want to have a go at the heaven and hell cake!

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2218831/Great-British-Bake-Off-It-measuring-fondant-fancies-says-JAN-MOIR.html

I love John, his final cake was clearly the best and I'm really happy for him that he won. But I do feel bad for Brendan, and kind of like he was robbed! John had quite a few duff bakes over the series, many more than Brendan. I was trying to think back to the technicals in light of the judges impication that Brendan excels mainly because he practices his set recipes so much, but my recollection is that Brendan tended to do OK in technicals and even won one or two? Maybe my memory is deceiving me.

I was so shocked and touched by Brendan, normally as cool as a cucumber, letting his emotions get to him and fighting back the tears in that on camera interview. So touching.

Its a shame for James that he had his worst ever week at the worst possible moment. There was no way he could have fairly won in the end.

Danny's blog post linked further back on the thread is very interesting. I understand that the programme makers are only interested in creating entertainment, but it does lead to these one dimensional characters, and allows people to be critical based on very leading editing.

The amount of hate I've seen expressed is disturbing, elsewhere really, not here so much. How do people manage to ignore the fact that these are real people just trying to do their best?

Riverboat - I agree with you I have to say. Love John and he was the best this week no doubt but I also feel bad for Brendan!

Brendon was robbed!

Yes, John's last cake was a show stopper but surely the result shouldn't have been based mainly on that.
I feel a bit let down by Paul and Mary and I never thought I'd say that.

I think they gave it to John as he has talent and if he works as hard as Brendan has over the years he will have flair, whereas Brendan is someone with a bit of talent who has practised so much his stuff is really reliable and good, but he doesn't have flair.

I think that showed on his gingerbread house - very good production values but limited imagination.

I also think John needed it to get away from his really critical family - he was so eager to please them, I felt sorry for him, as if he never gets praise at all.

HOORAY for John (just interviewed on Chris Evans) but I reckon it was his beautiful sausage what done it !!!

I think you summed it up pretty well tiggy. Brendan has been more consistent over the weeks than John and he obviously wanted to win so much.

The idea behind his show stopper made me wonder if there is a back story about family strife, given his Irish upbringing and his current lifestyle.

Miggsie "Brendon doesn't have flair"

Did you see his SWAN petite fours????

I feel like it would have made a mockery of three people earning a place in a final if they were going to be judged on all their past performances. On that basis John might as well have stayed at home. Instead the slate was wiped clean and they were left with one programme to beat the others.

On that basis James had a shocker and was clearly out. John and Brendan were level pegging after the first two bakes, but John had by far the better looking, more creative cake, which also tasted really good. I think it did all come down to that one cake.

I guess the people who think Brendan was robbed wanted it to be judged on coursework, not on an all or nothing final exam!

But the judges did talk about previous weeks last night so they were taking them into consideration.

Swan petit fours are fairly standard stuff for a swanky occasion - I have the recipe in a book - they are not too hard, I've done them. My mother did Cordon Bleu back in the 70's so I recognise a lot of Brendan's stuff from there.

He did them incredibly well - his execution is fantastic, but he does need his instructions and practise.

He also doesn't add to the recipes, I think that is what Paul and Mary picked up on. He would always follow a recipe, not experiment and add things or add his own touch.
Everything he did he did very well, but he wasn't someone who could create recipes or generate new ideas, that is the difference. Skill without imagination, whereas John had imagination and was working on his skills.

Even if it only came down to last night´s cakes, I preferred the look of Brendon´s.

And the judges thought the taste/texture was great-didn´t they?-and he still didn´t win!

What did they say about the taste/texture of John´s cake?

I don´t think they preferred it, did they?

Seems a bit ridiculous to me that nothing else counted.

I am so pleased John won. He's the one that will make a career of it, and the "finally done something to please my mother" was just SO sad.

God forbid I ever do that to my children.

I thought John deserved to win last night and really pleased for him. His cake was by far the best and very glad that he also got a first in his degree. How good is that bloke. I didn't hear the comment about pleasing his mother though that is really sad. He really is perfect partner material, clever and a great baker!

Yay. Doing the happy dance here!

That heaven and hell cake was beautiful. Streets ahead of the others.

who won the LAST bake off? I am watching it on cable, Jasminder had just been let go, and then I went travelling...

Please someone put me out of my misery! Was it the yummy mummy? The feisty girl who never went to uni, or was it the bloke?

Diddl - they were very complementary about the flavours of John's cake, saying that it was hard to do a chocolate version well, and the combination with the lemon worked well. I'm sure one of them also said that he was pulling out all the stops in terms of showing off lots of different techniques which may have earned him extra brownie points.

I really thought Brendan's was uninspiring last night, it just looked like a spongy cake on top of another spongy cake with some gingerbread men around the base. The slice looked really unwieldy on the plate as well, no elegance! I think he had produced far better looking cakes in other rounds, it just seemed a bit pedestrian in the end (albeit clearly very well baked and very tasty).

Brendon's petit fours are the sort of thing that Fanny Craddock was dong in the 60s. John deserved to win on the basis of last night's show he was best, I'm glad and he didn't have an "i'm entitled" bone in his body.

Mary thought his sausage was beautiful as well

"it just looked like a spongy cake on top of another spongy cake"

And for me, John´s just looked like a choccy cake with some little cakes on top.

I thought that Brendon was the most consistent.

Still, he wasn´t young with a "sob story".

Dont jest too much my Dr was telling me they do a operation now taking the appendix out through the mouth!euk! I replied how disgusting!