Caramel Week of the Great British Baking Show opened as Noel Fielding, co-host, was about to read a poem. Before he could do so, Alison Hammond gave him a huge spoonful of caramel. This rich brown, sticky dessert is the star this week and requires an intense process to create. Making caramel means patience while slowly melting sugar at the correct temperature. The other ingredients included depend on what type of caramel you’re making.
Before moving on to the desserts, the episode showed clips of some of the contestants assessing the process of making caramel.
“Caramel is about bravery,” Dylan said at the beginning of the episode.
“Caramel can go wrong so easily,” Georgie said. “It can split, it can burn, it can crystallize.”
“We’ll see after the end of the weekend, whether I ever want to make caramel again,” Mike said.
Nelly said, “Game is on, fight is on, and I’m ready.”
The Challenges
The Signature Challenge: 12 Biscuits, Either Sandwiched or Topped with Set Caramel
The Caramel Week signature challenge is to create 12 biscuits, either sandwiched or topped with set caramel. It could be any kind of biscuit, but the dominant flavor had to be caramel.
“Literally get everything ready, then we’re onto the hot molten sugar,” Gill said. “Then the fun begins.”
The caramel needed to be a rich color, “almost the color of my skin,” Paul Hollywood, celebrity judge, said, holding up his hand. The caramel also needed to be set, so not too soft or liquidy so that it flows out of the biscuit, but not hard as a rock either.
“They need to be elegant and exquisite,” Prue Leith, the other celebrity judge, explained. “There should be nothing clumsy about it.” The trick is to make sure that everything is cooled and set properly to ensure the caramel holds its shape.
Christiaan created Stroopwafels, the Dutch classic for the Dutchman. Sandwiched between thin Dutch waffles, Christiaan made spicy nut praline with Caramel made from Dutch stroop, a type of syrup, urfa chilli, and nigella seeds.
“A little taste of home for you today, isn’t it?” Hollywood remarked to Christiaan.
Christiaan’s biscuits turned out quite “attractive,” to which Leith added, “I would find it impossible not to buy those.” The judges said that the praline balanced the caramel well and the waffles were well-crisped.
Nelly also created a taste of home: Pagáče, a Slovakian-style biscuit her father used to make. She put salted caramel inside chocolate and walnut biscuits, with spun sugar on top. Unfortunately, Nelly had to restart her caramel because it started to get lumpy.
When tasted, Leith dedicated they were too “stodgy” and both judges decided that the caramel was too hard but the walnut flavor was fantastic. Despite the struggles, they did like how they looked.
Sumayah made a sesame sable biscuit, with bright pink hibiscus caramel and mango-lime ganache. They turned out exotic and elegant looking and the flavors were amazing but something went wrong with the caramel because it didn’t set and was too soft.
Andy baked a shortbread biscuit with caramel and toasted hazelnut praline. He called them “a bit of a fix” biscuits. His simple biscuits turned out with a good chocolate finish, good look, good flavor, and good texture.
Georgie based her biscuits on her favorite chocolate and peanut butter bar. “They were always my favorite growing up,” she explained. “I used to eat like five in a row.” Her version of her childhood treat included shortbread, peanut butter nougat, and chopped peanut caramel.
Her biscuits were precise and elegant, according to the judges. “I don’t like peanut butter, but that is delicious,” Leith remarked. Her signature was almost good enough for a coveted Paul Hollywood handshake, but he didn’t give it to her because a few of her biscuits were messed up from pulling them out of the molds.
Dylan made pineapple caramel with an oat biscuit, topped with lime cream. While the camera watched him put together his creation, he said, “I am way more intimidated of Prue than Paul. She’s the only Michelin-star chef I’ve met.”
His biscuits turned out looking a little bit “like a UFO convention,” according to Hollywood, remarking on the little elevated discs. But both judges thought they were delicious and had a good texture. Hollywood also like that the citrus kick lightened up the flavors.
Illiyin decided to take a spin on Florentine rounds, which are usually made with nuts, candied fruit, and caramel, topped with chocolate. Her version had a spiced shortbread, sultanas, almonds, candied orange peel, caramel, covered in chocolate.
Her biscuits turned out “exquisite,” according to Leith, with a quite original taste, that Leith added was, “like a little triumph.”
Mike created “Dad’s Favorite,” a version of millionaire’s shortbread, a triple-decker with “buttery cookie, sweet caramel, and dark chocolate.” His take had an orange zest biscuit layer, a vanilla caramel layer, and an orange and milk chocolate layer. The farmer decorated his biscuits with lilacs from home. Unfortunately, he struggled to get his biscuits out of the tins and decorated, so, down to the wire, Gill came to help him.
The judges decided that his shortbread looked nice but the caramel was bulging — spilling out of the square a bit. They thought his caramel had a nice orange flavor but the shortbread needed to be thinner and crispier. Though Leith said it tasted lovely, she added, “Just work on your bulge.”
Gill, in honor of her mom’s favorite caramels and toffees, also baked a millionaire’s shortbread version. She used shortbread, raisins, Brazil nuts, and syrupy milk chocolate. Her biscuits turned out very pretty and like they could be see in a bakery. “That’s a borderline billionaire shortbread,” Hollywood said.
The Technical Challenge: Pear Tarte Tatin
Prue set Caramel Week’s technical challenge — all about “timing and temperature” — requesting a Pear Tarte Tatin, with crispy, flaky, rough puff pastry, topped by perfectly caramelized pears and a caramelized ice cream on the side.
While beginning on their puff pastry dough, the contestants explained how it works: When puff pastry is created, it’s a dough layered with butter. However, the butter has to stay cold enough that when it is baked it is still firm and melts while baking. As the butter melts, it creates the air pockets that you see in desserts like croissants.
Hollywood and Leith were looking for beautiful crisp and laminated pastry, perfectly caramelized pears, and smooth, tasty caramel walnut ice cream. Some of the contestants produced better caramel and pastry than others — with varying colors of caramel, some too light meaning it wasn’t cooked for long enough, and some too dark, meaning it was burnt.
As always, the technical challenge is tasted blind. Here are the results:
- Georgie
- Christiaan
- Sumayah
- Illiyin
- Dylan
- Nelly
- Mike
- Gill
- Andy
The Showstopper Challenge: A Caramel Mousse Cake with Sugar Work Decoration
The mousse cake needed at least two caramel-based components, and needed to include the sugar work decoration.
“I can make a really good one at home,” Mike said, after the challenge was introduced. “Who knows what the curse of the tent will do to me today.”
The judges were looking for a celebration of caramel with a baked element, most likely a light sponge cake. The mousse was also tricky because they wanted it to be light but stiff enough to keep shape when added to the cake. While making the mousse, the bakers also needed to look for a strong color on the caramel to be able to produce the flavor inside the mousse so that it melts in the mouth.
“Decoration is key,” Hollywood said. The sugar work required caramelizing sugar and spinning it, in order to create a beautiful design. And just like most of the other challenges, the key to decoration is enough time for the creations to cool and set.
“I want to see something I’ve never seen before,” Leith said, “And that tastes absolutely divine.”
Georgie baked a chocolate cake with hazelnut praline, feuilletine, salted caramel mousse, glass glaze, and a bright red sugar rose on top.
The judges loved her creation — they said it was professional and eye-catching. Though it needed to be bigger, everything about it was good.
Andy created a sugar tree with apple-flavored candy floss (that’s the British word for cotton candy) as the leaves. His cake was something like a banoffee pie, a version of a banana pudding, with caramel mousse, almond caramel crunch, and banana. Hollywood and Leith thought his design was brilliant and fantastic. His mousse was light, soft, and delicious, and the banana level and mousse were perfect. Hollywood liked the flavor on his candy floss but Leith did not at all — though it seemed to be more about personal preference than execution.
Sumayah came up with another version of a banoffee pie with caramelized banana sponge cake, caramelized date molasses mousse, banana pecan fudge, and molasses caramel. Her decorations of spiky, brightly-colored, glass-like shapes of sugar were inspired by Dale Chihuly, one of her favorite artists. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a glass glaze had too much gelatin and turned quite thick. The judges also thought her textures were wrong and disappointing. Though many of her bakes were incredible, Sumayah struggled with caramel week and was worried she’d be sent home.
Gill is known for her sticky toffee recipe. She baked a spiced date sponge cake, with vanilla custard, and toffee sauce. Hollywood loved the richness of the color on her cake. Both judges liked the spices but thought the mousse was too thick and sweet.
Nelly, inspired by her husband who “always believed” in her, created pecan caramel mousse and white chocolate mousse covered in a caramel glaze. Her cake turned out elegant and lovely, with a satisfying flavor. The judges also thought her white chocolate mousse was delicious.
Mike was inspired by his favorite popcorn salted caramel espresso martini from the movie theater he and his partner go to. He used coffee chiffon sponge cake, with caramel coffee mousse, praline mascarpone, and spikes of popcorn and caramel. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get his mousse correct and remade it at least once.
Hollywood and Leith decided that if he had been going for a tiramisu, it would have worked. But, because of his issues with creating the caramel mousse, he had very little of it. Leith asked, “Where’s the mousse?” Moreover, Hollywood thought it was too sweet.
Illiyin made a vanilla sponge with caramel mousse, white chocolate mousse, a pistachio ganache, and feuilletine. Her decoration was an isomalt tiara. She also had issues with her caramel. Illiyin’s cake looked nice — though could have been neater — but needed a bigger sponge layer.
Dylan, drawing from his travels to Italy, baked a ginger soaked sponge with Amalfi lemon gel, honey caramel moussie and honeycomb tuile. He specifically used Amalfi lemons because they are naturally sweeter. His cake was topped with a bright-yellow, beautiful lemon. His cake was also kind of small but pretty and “amazingly packed with flavor.” Before calling Dylan the “flavor king,” Hollywood praised Dylan’s use of flavors and said that he was, “happy to be punched in the face with lemon.”
Christiaan used a shortbread with caramel mousse, lime jelly caramel insert, coconut mousse, and lime genoise. He used limes from a tiny lime tree from his home garden and decorated his cake with a bright blue, sugared wave, creating a beach, complete with sugar shells. The judges loved his decoration and the sharpness of the lime jelly. They also said that his caramel mousse was perfect.
While deciding who would be Star Baker and who would be sent home, Hollywood and Leith remarked that, “The Showstoppers were okay but they weren’t brilliant.”
Georgie was then named Star Baker of Caramel Week. Unfortunately, Mike was sent home. However, while he was saying his goodbyes, he had nothing but compliments for everyone else, highlighting the camaraderie that makes Bake Off so special.
What should we look forward to for next week’s episode? Pastries.
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