'The Great British Baking Show' Collection 9, Episode 7 Recap: Caramel Week

We're reaching the final weeks of The Great British Baking Show. This year has been one of the best since the series moved over to Channel 4. Producers have recognized the series was moving too far in the direction of Nailed It! with its too-difficult challenges and going back to basics. But with only one episode left before the show's quarter-final, it's time for things to get tricky, with one of the most challenging theme weeks in the show's arsenal: Caramel Week.

It is the first time the show has done Caramel Week since the initial Channel 4 season, Series 8 (known here as Collection 5). In fact, during the show's BBC years, caramel was usually a rare thing. There was a creme caramel technical in Dessert Week way back in Series 3 (Netflix's GBBO: The Beginnings), and caramel decor was emphasized as part of Series 5 (Collection 1)'s European Cakes showstopper. But other than turning up in the Pastry technical last year as part of the eclairs challenge, caramel's been mainly treated as something contestants can choose to do on their own as part of the challenge, not a mandatory assignment.

Caramel is, like chocolate, also a treat that is greatly affected by outside temperature and humidity. So, of course, when the show finally brings it back, it's during a challenge filmed in the pandemic-shifted schedule in August, when climate change is making the U.K. hotter than it's ever been, and there's not nearly as much practice time due to the Bakeoff Bubble. Let's see how badly our bakers struggle.

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