Bake Off - coming soon! (title edited by MNHQ)

[MotherOfGodWeeFella]

Just seen the trailer...looking forward to it.

By removing hers from the ban Marie, Tasha indeed came first by not actually steaming hers… she won by not following the instructions 🤣

I’m so sad about Saku as she’s comedy gold! Everything she says makes me laugh! Someone get her on instagram

She is on Instagram!

Which just goes to show that the instructions were wrong. Paul really had no business geting into a strop about that.

So sad that Saku went. If you're funny you're for the chop this year.

The technical was daft.

The bombs were weird.
But for once the pre show bit was funny with the spoons.

Exactly! She was the only one who realised they couldn't be cooked in time in a bain Marie. Paul set them up to fail.

Late to the party but I'm gutted that Saku went (although I could see the writing was on the wall)
I loved her expressions, sometimes she looked bloody furious if Paul didn't like something! 🤣

Although how on earth did Matty not even come in to the reckoning for bottom two...?

The technical challenge was absolute carnage!!
I remember my mum making steamed puddings in a pressure cooker (1980s)
I didn't like them, they seemed to be greasy but dry at the same time I have the same complaint about pork chops

dh was sayign they should put them in the microwave, i dont think they have a microwave,
i think this is the fault of the challenge
very sad Saku has gone, she was a real character

Yes they woukd have been fine as a microwave mug cake!

I think I've seen people using a microwave on Bake Off, but I have no idea whether they have them this series.

That's what I said to DD... they clearly did not have enough time or at least some of them would have managed...

Didn't they have microwaves when they were melting white chocolate a few weeks back?

I think they may be provided with them if they need them but aren't allowed to use them all the time. They aren't professionals. It was a bit much to restrict the time that badly.

It's obvious now that Paul's comment to Pru about having enough time, and just needing to understand how long to steam the puddings, was done after the fact - because the whole thing was such a cock up. Tash didn't get penalised for taking hers out of the water-bath, I think she should have & she shouldn't have won the technical. I have my doubts as to how blind it actually is.

I agree about Tash winning the technical.

It wasn’t a fair competition seeing as she baked hers differently and went against the specific cooking instructions to do it her own way.

Her inclusion in the judging shouldn’t have been allowed.

They definitely have cute little pastel-coloured microwaves under the counter. They had to use them for a white chocolate thing I think.

But it would have been against the rules to use in this technical.

They did have enough time though. They had 90 minutes overall. The point of having baking skills is to know how long things take to cook and anyone who has made a steamed pudding before would know this, work out when the latest was they could get the sponges in and work accordingly. The issue is that steamed puddings are very old-fashioned and few people make them any more so the knowledge is not there. On that basis I thought it was a really interesting challenge, and it made no difference to the end result, and was fun to watch.

I think a lot ofcthe time with the technicals and showstoppers in particular, they give them unreasonable time frames just because cock ups make good telly ( it's got worse on Channel 4 imo) but maybe they went too far this time, as everyone's was a disaster so it was obvious the instructions were wrong. I wonder if they will address it on extra slice or just have a laugh about how terrible they all were?

Morning
Was released from a&e last night
Missed the show, I've not read any of your replies
But all my friends messaged me
Haven't a clue what bro made for star baker
And haven't a clue about this technical.
Will report back

Feel bit better , but coughing and snotting up blood clots now, probs from everything they had to pump into me. Carried in and walked out.
My old consultant who worked on our ward, was walking through a&e , took 1 look at me and i bypassed everyone, I couldn't walk. How I've managed in the past 4 days . They had to help me walk.
Total carnage in a&e but my colleagues were absolutely amazing

CheshireCatSmile, that sounds terrible. Hope you get plenty of rest today and start feeling better.

I think for the technical you are only allowed to use the equipment and ingredients on the bench. There are normally a couple of microwaves they can use for showstoppers and signatures if they need them, but not on the benches. They provided one each for the caramelised white chocolate.

I think it probably is blind - or they would have picked up that she didn't follow the recipe - but the producers could have stopped her if they wanted to. It's not exactly cheating, because if the others had managed to steam theirs, they would have a different texture to a baked sponge - much lighter and moister if you get it right. Or tough as old boots if you don't (Fizbosshoes mum!) But given that no-one actually achieved a steamed sponge, hers were marginally a success. PH did make it clear that was a very small achievement.

The time limits thing is so interesting. It definitely got worse on C4 and the low point for me was PH sneering that no-one could make a brownie when it was literally impossible to cool them and get them out of the tin in the time. But because they are all (in my opinion, others may disagree!) pretty strong bakers, the only way to create drama is to cut down the time limits. And a series where 12 good amateur bakers make nice cakes is not very gripping to most people. As the Guardian loves to point out!

That sounds horrific. Hope you feel better soon.
I have a rubbish cold and have been in bed drifting in and out of sleep for 2 days. I was going to ask how you knew you had pneumonia but that sounds a million times worse than what I have so now I know 😄

Bless you @Angrycat2768
I started with a cold but didn't rest. My days were 89/92% could get a breath and literally passed out
Hope you get better now.

Watching bake off now so will read replies

I think she's entitled to credit for recognising that it wasn't going to happen if she steamed the puddings and finding a solution that enabled her to produce something that was at least cooked.

Yes I don't think Tash cheated either. She did start off with them steaming but recognised that they weren't going to cook in time so did something to try and fix that. I don't think they had enough time as most were so uncooked.

Wow they were all terrible 😂

The show stoppers were amazing
Well done little bro!

Next week looks stressful

Reason why wife didn't answer the phone, bathing the kids 😂

But they don’t have specific instructions just some general ones, you can’t penalise going off piste if there are no detailed instructions in the first place