‘The Great British Baking Show’ Series 3 Episode 8 Recap: Patisserie Week
We’ve made it to the quarter finals on The Great British Baking Show and the competition is heating up. The tent is looking quite deserted these days as the bakers frantically prepare their rough puff and choux in hopes of convincing Mary and Paul that they have skills usually reserved for a master pastry chef.
If you will recall last week, the Victorian theme was a good one for Tamal. He produced a game changing game pie and a barnstorming bavarois for his Charlotte Russe earning him his first Star Baker title. Mat, on the other hand, had a bit of a tennis cake tantrum and his Charlotte Russe cracked under the pressure. In the end his proud moment as Star Baker the previous week couldn’t prevent this fall as Mat was eliminated from the contest.
Now let’s see how the tension inherent in a patisserie quarter final played out with our five remaining bakers. Or as Tamal described it, a herd of gazelles being picked off by Paul and Mary.
The signature challenge was to make twenty-four cream horns in three and a half hours. The bakers were to choose two filling flavors and the variety of pastry, either puff, rough puff or flaky pastry. The judges stressed the importance of a well-filled horn and enough moisture in the bake to raise the puff.
Mary set the technical challenge of nine identical mokatines to be assembled in two hours. These are small, delicate genoise sponge squares iced in coffee buttercream and topped with crème beurre au moka. The tricky part of this recipe is that it relies only on whipped eggs to make the cake rise.
The showstopper challenge was a mountainous creation called a religieuse à l'ancienne, which is French for “old nun”. A freestanding, three-tiered tower of choux pastry éclairs, this structure is held together with sugar syrup and decorated with buttercream. The contestants were given four hours to bake and assemble the piece though the towers were left to stand an additional two hours to test the sturdiness of the centerpiece bake.
