Tuesday morning and next week’s Radio Times arrives with its annual Bake Off Final cover. Perhaps appropriately ‘caked’ in make-up, it’s hard enough to recognise them, let alone sift any secrets from their inscrutable expressions. Only three of them will actually make it through, but which three?
Facing up to the challenges of patisserie week, Stacey, Kate, Steven and Sophie get going with a signature of twenty-four choux buns – twelve iced and twelve with a baked craquelin crust. Paul is ‘expecting exquisite pastry’. He emphasises ‘exquisite’ with the pride of a man who’s ladled himself up from a pan of scouse to drink from the fine bone china of finesse.
Kate impressively describes her bakes in a way that sounds immediately mouth-watering, with Valencian orange and brown sugar and ‘Bellini’ buns pumped up with peach cream and prosecco. (Her discovery of prosecco flavouring is a revelation to us all). Noel asks Kate if she dreams about the final. ‘Yeah, but I’m not in it’ she self-deprecatingly replies.
Sophie is quietly confident that her patisserie expertise could serve her well. Her impressive choux collection is filled with strawberry and rhubarb and a chestnut and vanilla mousse.
Steven opts for the high risk of high fibre as he creates wholemeal choux filled with the flavour of key lime and coconut cheesecake. He matches them with a batch of Bakewell tart balls.
Sandi is spotting the tell-tale signs of Steven’s stress – red cheeks and a twitchy eye are obvious examples but I also think there’s a bravado shrug that says (in the words of the unsinkable Molly Brown) ‘I ain’t down yet’.
