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There’s nothing scarier than Paul Hollywood staring into your eyes while biting your bake


It’s the first time we’ve seen Prue and Paul linger in the background, like exam invigilators (Picture: Getty)

I was curious to see what the bakes for festival week would be. Expecting a lot of carnival colour, I wasn’t disappointed by the time we got to the showstopper.

Alice has spent the week marking, on top of her bake off prep. I’ll be impressed if she can whisk after all of that – I get cramp writing my shopping list!

Things kicked off with an Easter favourite: hot cross buns. I may have misheard Prue and thought we were getting unicorn hot cross buns… turns out she said uniform. Bit of a shame.

It’s the first time we’ve seen Prue and Paul linger in the background, like exam invigilators.

There’s more dodgy camera work this week too, with a zoom on the buns in the oven through the legs of a mystery baker. I was trying to identify the baker by their buns and I think it might have been David.

It’s a relief to see this episode seems to have settled back down; the judges are cheerier, the bakes are going well, this is much easier viewing than last week.

When it came down to the bun judging, somehow Prue cheerfully saying Alice’s bakes ‘look homemade’ sounded like a backhanded compliment.

The bakers are looking like meerkats during this challenge, with heads popping up and down from counter to oven every couple of minutes (Picture: Channel 4)

I certainly didn’t think I’d ever be saying ‘I want Henry’s buns’ out loud, but Paul apparently also wants them, gifting him with his first, very well deserved handshake. Yes, shut up.

Next up in the tent were Sicilian Cassatelle and they look delicious. I’ve never heard of them but I really want to try one now and it’s enjoyable to learn about new bakes. Also, hands up anyone who’s ever sieved cheese? Anyone? No? That’s what I thought.

We’ve been missing some good presenter/ baker interaction so it was nice to see Sandi taking her time to give the time’s up order to Michael and helping Henry in his pasta rolling.

I felt for the bakers during the technical judging – aside from the occasional burst Cassatelle, they all looked genuinely pleased with themselves for creating something they’ve never eaten before. Yet Paul and Prue proceeded to pick them apart swiftly and sharply.

They didn’t have time to dwell though, with Sarawak layer cake making me glad I didn’t have it as a showstopper when I was in the tent. It’s full of layers, fried layer at a time, deconstructed and then reassembled and traditionally served in Malaysia on special occasions.

Described as a complicated battenberg, this is a bake that requires lots of advanced planning and mapping out. It wasn’t until I went to culinary school that I appreciated the importance of cracking out pen and paper and carefully crafting a plan of action before starting.

The bakers are looking like meerkats during this challenge, with heads popping up and down from counter to oven every couple of minutes.

There’s something a little unnerving about Paul staring into your eyes while taking a bite of your bake.

I’m really impressed with their showstoppers, they’re not flawless but they’re beautifully put together and for four hours 15 mins of tent time, they’ve done really well. It’s nice to see our bakers being truly tested and having them rise to the occasion.

Henry got his second handshake this week, this time earning a comedy handshake from Sandi – the boy is on a roll and then goes and gets himself awarded star baker.

Unfortunately it’s also time to say goodbye to another baker. I’m sad to see Michael go, he’s been great to have in the tent. He does go out on the best quote so far though: ‘I wish I was a pretty crier, like in a black and white French film.’

And with that ladies and gents, we’ll be heading into quarter finals next week – well timed with the rugby!

MORE: The Greatest Bake Off: Sandi Toksvig makes dig about Henry’s ‘girlfriend’ amid Alice romance rumours

MORE: The Great British Bake Off’s Michael Chakraverty crashes out after tough Festival Week

MORE: With such dull challenges, it’s no surprise the Bake Off contestants have hit a wall





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