Kugelhofs and Apfelkochs and Heigeltopfs and gugelheims. Yes my knowledge is about as bad as Mel and Sue's accents last night. But they did make me laugh. I rather liked Sue's Dutch English and Mel's 'I'm-not-really-sure-which-bit-of-Europe-this-is-from-but-I'm-winging-this-and-hoping-I-sound-like-Abba' interpretations!
A Signature Cake Inspired by Europe
This was a wide brief. The cake could be anything. The only rule was it had to be leavened with yeast not baking powder so the challenge here was patience and timing. There were Kugelhopfs, Gugelhupfs and Savarins in the main.
A classic combo from Luis with Apple and Cinnamon in a towering bundt tin. I see sales of the tins booming already.
A fruity version in a bundt for Richard inspired by his German brother in law.
Chetna and Nancy chose Savarins. A little brave I thought considering the timing because these are all about balancing liquid to sponge in an unhurried way. Chetna's was orange flavoured with a cinnamon cream and Nancy went back to the tropics with Rum Punch, Coconut and a banana which led to much debate from Paul. "A banana?!" He exclaimed. Now how many of us would have loved the addition of "in my tailpipe" added on the end there? #80s
Martha also chose a Savarin too - dark chocolate and topped with almonds. Looked gorgeous.
And Kate. Now Kate chose the Eurovision map of 'Europe' and sought inspiration from Israel (?!). Inspired by a babka she chose sour cherry, chocolate and pecan flavours.
The results already started to divide the judges. Mary loved Kate's creation but Paul thought it was dry. Mary didn't like Nancy's 70's decorations but agreed with Paul that the flavours were good.
The rest were OK except Richard whose icing glaze had sadly crystallised and didn't look inviting to Mary. And Paul was not impressed with the structure noting the yeast had not had time to activate enough.
A Swedish Technical Challenge
It was Mary's turn to be cruel and challenging this week as I think this was the most complicated bake we've seen on the show. The series even. There were 26 ingredients and 14 stages. None of the bakers had a clue how to make this Swedish Princess Torte. There was multi tasking. Multi baking. Multi folding. Multiplying and multi calm. Yes calm. I couldn't believe how calm these bakers were. I was expecting flurrying and hurrying but these guys were super organised.
Cakes went into the oven on time. Cakes came out of the oven on time but sadly there was sinkage. Chetna's cake was more of a single layer than something to cut into three. As was Kate's and both started again.
But aside from those, there were no jam disasters. No marzipan disasters and only one creme pat disaster from Kate. It oozed out everywhere and she struggled to get it to the freezer as it dribbled. She was experiencing the curse of the Star Baker. Poor Kate.
Now this cake is supposed to be a dome. There was only one proper dome which was Nancy's. It's a shame it was a very dodgy, bogey green colour because it was perfect other than that and she won the round.
Chetna came second for her rose and flavours. Martha and Luis firmly in the middle flanked by Richard with his 'mess' and Kate with her 'collapsed mess' at the end and 'nil point'.
So the exit this week was going one of two ways at this stage. Richard or Kate.