So that’s it for another week! Next week is all about PASTRY, so join me for our annual discussion about why you’d bother making your own filo when Jus-Rol exists. Thank you for all your brilliant comments, don’t forget to come and join the Strictly liveblog if you’re passing on Saturday, or say hi on Twitter @heidistephens. See you next week!
Poor Terry, he’s in bits. This experience has clearly meant a lot to him after the loss of his wife. Karen sheds some tears too, I’m gutted for them both.
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Final results time! This week’s Star Baker is...KIM-JOY (yaasss)!
But sadly we have to say goodbye my friend to two bakers, because tonight is the night where 9 becomes 7.
Leaving Bake Off this week are…KAREN AND TERRY. Ah, that’s a shame. They both had a rough weekend in th Bake Off tent, but it’s the right decision.
So who will it be? My guess is Karen and Terry to go home, and Kim-Joy for a well-deserved Star Baker. Daft challenge though; biscuits are for eating immediately, can’t be doing with stringing them up.
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Time for Showstopper judging! Prue’s not there, but Paul isn’t usually interested in what she has to say anyway.
Manon’s chandelier looks amazing, but Paul isn’t getting the spice he wants. The pattern on Dan’s butterflies is exquisite, but the biscuits don’t have enough cinnamon. Ruby’s peacock looks like it’s been drowned in a swamp, but her cardamom biscuits are delicious. Rahul’s chandelier is wonderfully colourful, albeit a bit messy in places. The flavour is great though. Karen’s biscuits are a bit chunky, and the flavours aren’t quite working. Briony’s biscuits are unusual - Paul has never had anything like it, but doesn’t say if this is a good thing.
OMG, Kim-Joy’s chandelier is spectacular - it’s got icicles and snow scenes and everything, and her biscuits are perfection. Terry’s Christmas scene can’t really follow that, sadly. Jon’s birthday chandelier is a bit messy, but his biscuits taste great.
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Assembly time! Biscuits are being strung to the biscuit structures. Jon’s biscuits are breaking, Ruby’s ganache isn’t holding, and Terry’s turtle dove has broken its neck. It’s chandelier carnage.
Karen is having a terrible day - one of her biscuits has broken on the floor, and Terry’s swans are a-burning. Not sure these two can survive spice week.
Kim-Joy is piping individual snow scenes on her biscuits. I think she might be one of my favourite Bake Off contestants ever.
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Ruby’s making a peacock chandelier, featuring cardamom. DRINK. Meanwhile Briony’s chandelier is turmeric latte flavour. DRINK. More cardamom from Rahul, who is making 150 biscuits, because he loves nothing more than being under pressure.
Is Briony’s chandelier sponsored by Vodafone?
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Like Kim-Joy, Terry is going for a 12 days of Christmas theme. He’s working on the maids-a-milking right now, presumably his swans will be a-swinging.
Jon’s chandelier features raspberry and chilli jam, and is designed to celebrate his daughter’s 21st birthday. Dan has declared the entire challenge ‘ridiculous’, which isn’t endearing himself to Paul. Loving Dan’s sass.
Kim-Joy is making a festive chandelier, with snowflakes and festive scenes. Manon’s gone for an Art Deco theme, which reminds her of growing up in France, because Manon is actually 100 years old.
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Karen is making her biscuits from liquorice and cardamom. I hate liquorice, and anything that tastes of liquorice or aniseed - dill, fennel, ouzo and their evil friends all make me boak. Don’t think I could even smell that without heaving.
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Showstopper time! Prue has been throttled by her own jewellery, so Paul is on his own.
This week’s Showstopper is a fiddly one - our bakers have to make a spiced biscuit chandelier that can be hung as a centerpiece over a table. This is not a thing, but I’m already thinking of knocking one out for Christmas. Won’t actually do it, obvs, but it’s a nice thought all the same.
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The internet tells me that a mamool is a mamool, a mamoul or a ma’amoul. Either way, it’s a warm-blooded vertebrate that gives birth to live young.
So what did the judges think? They all look like Play-doh to me. Jon’s have too much flavour, and if we’ve learned anything in life, it’s that too much of something is bad enough.
Karen came last, Terry 8th. Ruby comes first!
There’s a lot of great style in the tent today. Prue’s nails, Ruby’s lipstick, Kim-Joy and Manon’s rainbow hair, Karen’s spotty top. Go Bake Off ladies.
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Terry’s fig rolls have melted, and they’ve only got one minute left. Karen’s aren’t looking too special either. Those two are in trouble this week.
Nobody knows what they’re doing, but it seems to involve pushing a walnut-filled ball into a mould. Karen has used the wrong one, and she’s not having a great day.
Not sure what the tongs are for, other than to make a pretty pattern. Quite a niche kitchen tool, mamool tongs.
Cardamom! DRINK!
Did someone just say they were cooking with mastic? Isn’t that a silicone sealant? Pretty sure we attached our sink to the wall with that.
A mamool looks like a fig roll, and tastes of aniseed. It’s a no from me.
Time for this week’s Technical Challenge, which has an Arabian twist. It’s a Mamool (sorry, no idea how to spell it, will look it up in a minute), but it’s a delicate spiced pastry that requires tongs.
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Rahul is trying to be happy, but it doesn’t come naturally to him. He can’t be THAT lacking in self-belief, otherwise he wouldn’t have applied to GBBO in the first place. I’m not buying it, sorry.
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Judging time! John’s cake has little gingerbread people on it, but it’s a bit claggy. Karen’s bonfire night cake is a bit hard, and has too much booze in it. Ruby’s Jamaican ginger cake looks fab, and tastes only of rum. Rahul’s has nailed the flavour and texture, and gets another handshake. He apologises for being so good at baking.
Briony’s ginger cake is dry, and doesn’t taste gingery enough. Terry’s cake looks a mess and is too gluey. Kim-Joy’s cake looks amazing, and tastes stunning. She gets a handshake too. Dan’s cake is a ginger shambles, but Manon’s is soft and beautiful - one of the best ginger cakes Paul has ever had. Another handshake.
The Paul Hollywood handshake is now in negative equity.
Time’s up! Stop right now, thank you very much.
45 minutes remaining. Cakes are coming out for cooling and icing. Kim-Joy’s tiny gingerbread house is beautiful, and would sell for at least £140k in Shoreditch.
Stop putting icing on hot cakes, bakers. It never works.
Kim-Joy is poaching pears and making a miniscule gingerbread house to go on her cake. She likes making tiny things.
Crackers, but amazing. We all need more Kim-Joy in our lives.
Terry’s ginger cake has pears in it. Apparently his cake mix is the right consistency, despite looking like tinned beef stew.
Dan cake batter has curdled, so now it features lumps of cheese. This is less than ideal. He has a brief meltdown, then starts again.
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Manon prefers fresh ginger, and is mixing it with lemon curd. She’s been quite busy at work this week, so she’s improvising.
Cool as a gingembre concombre.
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Karen is updating a Yorkshire Parkin, mostly by adding ginger. Disappointing not to get a ginger Bakewell.
Dan is making a lemon and ginger cake, with Swiss meringue. That sounds glorious.
Ginger comes in various forms, we learn - ground, stem, fresh, at the BRITs in a union jack dress.
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Briony is making a honey and apricot ginger cake, using honey from actual bees. It has fresh AND dried ginger in it. Already regretting putting ginger in the bingo *opens new bottle*
It’s a classic family teatime treat for this week’s Signature Challenge – a ginger cake (DRINK). Paul wants to find the perfect balance of heat and warmth, which are the same thing.
BAKE OFF FASHION WATCH:
- Noel – eats, shoots, and leaves
- Sandi – my cherry amour
- Paul – not waving but drowning
- Prue – I’m trapped in a deckchair, being strangled by this telephone cable. Please send help.
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And we’re off! Previously on Bake Off: messy meringues, seeping blancmange and melty chocolate showstoppers. Briony had a nightmare but dodged a bullet when nobody was sent home.
This week: Terry’s back, and it’s time to SPICE UP YOUR LIFE (drink).
Reeling from the discovery that Choco Leibniz is pronounced Choco Lye-bnizt. Especially as I live with a man who speaks fluent German and says Leebnitz. Now considering possibility he’s a spy or similar.
This week’s Bake Off Bingo – a glass of milk for any occurrence of the following;
- Cardamom
- Cumin
- Turmeric
- Ginger
- Spice Girls references
Welcome!
Evening all, and welcome to this week’s Great British Bake Off liveblog! It’s SPICE WEEK, so brace your tastebuds for aromatic, intensely* flavoured culinary happiness. I’m a big user of spices in my baking, so am really looking forward to tonight’s show. If only smell-o-vision was a thing.
Last week Terry phoned in sick, so none of his fellow bakers went home. As a result, we expect to see two bakers riding the Spice Bus** home tonight, so there’s everything to play for.
I’ll be giving proceedings an extra kick up here this evening, while you are actively encouraged to add some exotic flavouring down below. The action all all starts at 8, so I’ll see you then!
*in-tents-ly? Needs more work
**niche 90s reference
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