The Great British Bake Off series 16: who left GBBO tonight? Recap chocolate week
Who left the Great British Bake Off in chocolate week? 🍫📺
- It was chocolate week on The Great British Bake Off.
- The fifth baker has left the tent after the latest test.
- But what happened on the show this week?
The Great British Bake Off is back and it was time for a week of chocolatey treats. The remaining amateurs returned to the tent for the latest round of challenges.
Channel 4 has dug into the pantry and come up with old favourite for this week’s theme: chocolate. But which bakers would melt under the pressure?
Remind yourself what happened in the tent last week. See who has left the show so far after the first four episodes.
Paul Hollywood singled out a contestant and named them ‘one to watch’ last week. It comes after they won back-to-back star baker awards.
What were the challenges on GBBO this week?
It was Chocolate Week, but it proved not to be a sweet occasion for one of the bakers. See below which one cracked under the pressure.
First up, as usual, was the signature bake and they had to whip up chocolate mousse cups. They had to make a tempered chocolate cup to put the mousse into as well.
All eyes were on if their cups would have the shiny glaze and that signature snap. From my years of watching cooking shows, I was dreading it on behalf of the bakers.
We had plenty of ambitious creations - including multiple fake takeaway coffee cups. Has the Bake Off tent gone all ‘Is This Cake’ on us?
The technical challenge was described as a ‘Bake Off first’ before it was revealed. Paul Hollywood had come up with the task - he warned them to ‘choose wisely’, which is giving Indiana Jones flashbacks.
He set them a white chocolate tarte and they had ‘artistic licence’ with the bakers having five minutes to pick ingredients from a pantry. It was quite the twist.
They were required to make a shortcrust pastry and white chocolate ganache. A few of the bakers were left sweating over recipes for the tart casing, having not been set one by Paul, leading to a variety of results.
For the final challenge of chocolate week, the bakers had to come up with a spectacular fondue display. It was required to be themed and have a baked element as well as two treats - to be dipped into the chocolatey goodness.
The ambitious designs included ones themed around Ladies Day (at the horse racing), spectacular ‘crystals’, and more. Perhaps the most sentimental of all was Iain, who was recreating the place he plans to propose to his girlfriend at - hope it went well!
Now, I am just going to check my cupboards to see if I stocked up on chocolate this week. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Who left The Great British Bake Off this week?
Spoilers for GBBO series 16 episode 5 (September 30) to follow, including who left. Don’t read further if you haven’t watched the episode yet.
A few bakers missed a trick with the signature bake. Lesley didn’t fully highlight the mousse, while Nadia also had some middling feedback from the first challenge.
While his flavours really impressed, Aaron’s mousse didn’t set, which led to some mixed feedback. But on the whole, it was a strong outing with the signature.
The technical once again proved to be a real challenge for some of the bakers, even before serving up Iain had a struggle as his tart started to fall apart. Toby’s pastry was overworked but his taste made up for it.
Iain’s flavours also were praised despite the pastry crumbling. During the rankings, Nadia was in eighth place, followed by Iain in seventh.
Still to come was the showstopper and during the creation stage of the fondue masterpieces, Toby and Nadia struggled. Finding the assembly stage did not go to plan.
Nadia’s feedback in the end wasn’t all doom and gloom, with Paul declaring that she was ‘halfway there’. Toby left Paul ‘a bit disappointed’ as his cake was bone dry and the Graham crackers called hard.
Both Toby and Nadia were highlighted as being at risk by the judges. But which one would go?
Paul and Prue decided that Nadia’s time in the tent was over. She is the fifth baker to leave.
Who won Star Baker on GBBO this week?
The mousse challenge saw a few of the bakers impress early doors. Toby and Jasmine started out strong with taste-bud catching flavours.
Iain hit it out of the park with his mousse and his chocolate. In the battle of the fake coffee cups, Tom came out on top and secured a Hollywood handshake with Paul declaring it “could be for sale” in a patisserie shop in Paris.
It is the second handshake of the season - for those keeping count. It put him as an early frontrunner for the award this week.
The blind judging in the technical challenge saw Jasmine come in second place, while Lesley won after highlighting white chocolate the best.
However, the showstopper was left to come and would have a major say in this week’s result.
Nataliia was up first and impressed, while Tom got solid feedback, but the judges felt his treats overwhelmed the fondue. Lesley went the simpler route with her bakes, but her treats in particular were praised.
Jasmine got stellar feedback, culminating in a Hollywood handshake. Which was the third of the season (and second of the night).
Star Baker this week went to: Aaron. Being declared the most consistent across the week by Paul.
If you love TV, check out our Screen Babble podcast to get the latest in TV and film.