The Great British Bake Off review: The technical challenge was an apple tart. Wasn’t that a bit like MasterChef asking contestants to make a soft-boiled egg? writes ROLAND WHITE
The Great British Bake-Off
Presenter Alison Hammond was ill for the semi-final of The Great British Bake Off (Ch4), meaning Noel Fielding had to bear the terrible burden of being the show’s comedy twist.
In fact, it went so smoothly that viewers may wonder why it takes two people to trick the contestants and make terrible jokes.
The technical challenge was an apple pie. Wasn’t that a bit like MasterChef asking the contestants to make a soft-boiled egg?
You can’t go wrong with the taste, Prue Leith advised, so the most important thing is the presentation. That turned out to be bad news for Tasha, whose scab collapsed.
That followed a poor performance in the earlier round, when she, Dan, Matty and Josh were tasked with creating backers.
Noel Fielding had to bear the terrible burden of the show’s comedic turn
You can’t go wrong with the taste, Prue Leith advised, so the most important thing is the presentation
To be clear: these are ‘financiers’ with a French accent. They’re sponge cakes, not hedge fund managers. Not only did Tasha’s buttercream curdle, but Prue’s verdict was, “You look like you dropped one or two.”
With Matty and Josh at the top of their game, and Dan always capable of good performances, Tasha really needed to shine in the showstopper round. She didn’t, and she won’t appear in the finale next week.
The challenge was to make millefoglie, Italian for millefeuille, richly decorated puff pastry.
When Tasha needed a triumph, she opted for such a complicated method of making pastry that even Dame Prue hadn’t tried it.
Her dough wasn’t square enough for the judges, and her curd was grainy. Poor Tasha looked like a little girl who had just had her sweets confiscated.
Josh was the star baker and will be the one to beat in an all-male final.