Hello GBBOFL! I apologize for the silence recently. Between being back at work for a bit, the resumption of B1G football, and the start of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, Bake Off took a backseat. But I'm back so let's catch up! As always, the Scoreboard can be found here (updated through Week 6).
Yes, I did bake these Baby Yoda cookies for Christmas last year.
Chocolate Week (Episode 4)
- It's felt like this group of bakers hasn't been as good as groups of the past. Their inability to bake brownies in this Week 4's Signature isn't making me feel any better about them.
- I love dates. But dates belong with stinky cheese and bacon, not brownies.
- British Slang of the Week: "I do really want a nice stodgy middle." -- Linda
- According to the brief, they wanted fudgy brownies. Where do you fall on the fudgy/cakey debate?
- Shout out to Nailed It! and The Soggy Bottom who recently made and gifted us a delicious chocolate babka. It took them almost two days to make theirs.
- Un-Chosen Linda with another Technical win. Some bakers are just really good at the Technical Challenge. Her performance in Week 4 puts her in 2nd place among all Bakers with 27 unadjusted points.
- I've never seen a cake on Bake Off as raw as Sura's.
- Boy I hope "Prue-gasms" don't become a thing.
- Behind a strong week from Mark, for the first time in the modern TCFL era, your Commish has landed in 1st place.
Pastry Week (Episode 5)
- British Slang of the Week: Pasty. Pretty much every culture in the world has a version of this. To me, they are empanadas. Is the most prominent American version of the pasty a... Hot Pocket?!
I can feel the roof of my mouth burning by just looking at this picture.
- If a Baker serves sauce on the side, shouldn't the Judges taste with the sauce?
- As well as Un-Chosen Linda has done in the previous two Technicals, this one was a disaster. Credit to her though, I probably would have quit after the 2nd failed choux.
- How could almost none of the make a creme patissiere?
- Finally, a Technical that has gone how we thought it would: Always-Chosen Peter in 1st, and the Un-Chosen Marc and Linda in last.
- I was pretty sure a caged tart (on this scale) isn't actually a thing, and just a Bake Off invention. A quick Google search came up with multiple blog posts wondering if Nicholas Cage really did invent it as Noel and Matt claimed during the brief.
Nicholas Cage's best performance is National Treasure.
His 2nd best is National Treasure 2.
- That said, some of them did look fantastic. I can only imagine what a professional would be able to do. If it's a trend that Bake Off has started, I support it.
- I keep my spot in 1st Place through the Week 5 but it's precarious with Paullywood on my tail.
Japanese Week (Episode 6)
- Japanese Week is a fun choice. Too bad it ended up being not-actually-Japanese, especially during the Signature Challenge. They should have just called it "Asian Stuff Week" and not pretended/bungled their way through it. Bake Off has made a weird habit of offending wide swaths of people on almost a weekly basis, and this week was no different. Baos are Chinese, not Japanese. Ditto for pandas. A matcha crepe is still a crepe which is still French. Unlike many out there, I don't think Bake Off is broken, but how are the producers letting weird stuff like this happen?
- For some actually-good steamed bun-related content, check out Bao on Disney+.
- British Slang of the Week: "Absolutely chuffed!" -- Peter
- I keep 1st Place for at least one week longer as my #1/4x Baker, Mark, exits the tent. The fight at the top is tight with 1st and 5th only separated by 24 points.
Until next week (I promise)...
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