The Great British Baking Show season 4, episode 6 recap: A botanical bonanza

The Great British Baking Show had a trio of wildly different challenges for the new botanical theme on this week’s episode.

This week’s episode of The Great British Baking Show started out with some rain, which seemed oddly appropriate for a botanical theme. Of course, Mel and Sue saved those jokes for later, starting things off with a Snow White joke instead. The bakers also wore thematic shirts, including

But they soon got down to business for the signature: a sizable citrus meringue pie in two hours. Paul noted that “citrus” covers a lot more than just orange and lemon, and the voiceover continued the idea. People threw different things into their pastry as well as debated using different meringues. Most defaulted for Italian or French, though people like Jane opted for Swiss.

Signature challenge judging:

"Benjamina: Grapefruit and Ginger Meringue Pie. High tier. Paul and Mary were pleased with her grapefruit usage.Selasi: Grapefruit, Orange, and Mint Meringue Pie. Mid tier. A misstep with the curd layer made it too thick and dry.Rav: Mandarin Margarita Meringue Pie. Low tier. Meringue too soft, flavors not strong.Andrew: Tangy Lime and Ginger Meringue Pie. Mid tier. Thick pastry, but delightful curd.Tom: Blood Orange Halloween Pumpkin Pie. Low tier. Slightly underdone pastry, and missing citrus.Jane: Lime and Coconut Meringue Pie. High tier. “I like it,” said Mary.Candice: Lime, Coconut, and Lemongrass Sugar Meringue Pie. Mid tier. Didn’t look great, but tasted good."

No, there aren’t any typos above. Some people used the same flavors. Citrus is not that big of a category, after all.

Paul’s advice for the technical challenge, since he assigned it per our predictions: check the presentation and “be patient”. In two hours, the bakers had to make two fougasse, which should look like leaves. Therein came the shaping warning. Of course, the direction about “consecutive lines” for the openings in the fougasse had everyone a bit concerned. Ditto with whether or not to create some steam in the oven.

The Great British Baking Show season 4 production photo. Credit: Courtesy of Tom Graham (via PBS press room)

The technical challenge results:

"7th: Selasi. Soft, not crispy.6th: Andrew. Lacked baking time, but tasted fine.5th: Candice. Not leafy-looking, wanted more oven time.4th: Jane. Incorrect cuts, and a little too small.3rd: Rav. Crisp and soft, but didn’t have the correct appearance.2nd: Benjamina. Looked great, had a complete bake.1st: Tom. “That’s nice,” said Paul, who also wanted some cheese and wine."

What an odd reversal of fortune there! Rav spent a lot of time at the bottom of technical challenges, so to see him jump into the top three is a bit surprising. Ditto with having Andrew, Candice, and Jane towards the bottom, since the three of them have had some excellent weeks lately.

The sun came out for showstopper day, appropriate considering the parameters of the challenge: four hours for an at least three-tiered floral cake, with “floral” meaning pretty much “as long as flowers are involved somewhere, generally with flavors, you’re good to go.”

The loose guidelines on what qualifies as “floral” really didn’t help the bakers, and Paul and Mary asked a lot of pointed questions of the bakers during their walk around.

Production photo from The Great British Baking Show S4E6. Credit: Courtesy of Monika Frise / PBS press room.

Judging results for the showstopper:

"Candice: Four Seasons Cake. Mary liked the appearance. All four tiers also tasted good.Andrew: Spring Elderflower Trio. 2. Needed more decoration. All three tiers had some disappointments. “That’s a shame,” said Paul.Benjamina: Floral Tea Cake. Slight underbake, and missing tea flavors in the top and bottom layers. Middle layer was good though.Rav: Blossom Cake. “A bit of a mess,” Paul said on the appearance, and Mary said it lacked imagination.Jane: Three Tier Orange Cake with a Floral Chocolate Collar. 5. The appearance was a bit “informal” to steal from Mary (though she didn’t use the word), and she apologized to them.Selasi: Three Tiered Ombre Floral Cake. 6. Paul dubbed it “impressive” to look at. All three tiers earned plenty of praise.Tom: Floral Tea Cake. They liked the way it looked, they liked the way the cakes tasted (even Mary). “I’m really impressed,” said Paul."

Tom took Star Baker, thanks to his skill in the showstopper, and Andrew made it through to next week, because Rav ended up going home instead.

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Next week, it’ll be the end of the course for one baker with desserts as the theme.