Bake Off week nine and we’ve reached the semi finals. Only two more to go before we all get our Tuesday evenings back and I have to find something else to write about.
This time the theme was patisserie. That fiddly and intricate style of baking that’s guarantied to make you stop and stare with lust into any French cake shop window, but not necessarily the sort that inspires you to have a go at making it in your own kitchen.
For the last couple of years there’s been a Bake Off professionals show on TV as well as the amateur one that we’re currently watching. I’ve found it very difficult to engage with the professional version because it’s baking at a level way beyond the domestic kitchen and I could never imagine myself doing it at home. That’s a little how I felt with this weeks amateur show. I watched but didn’t feel engaged or involved.
The challenges that the bakers faced were a domed patisserie cake for the signature bake, a Gateau Saint Honore for the technical and a patisserie selection presented in a sugar glass box for the showstopper. Yes you did read that correctly. The bakers were asked to construct a see through sugar box to display their baking in, then to compound the madness of it all the boxes were simply admired and lifted to one side. It was baking as a form of architecture with zero consideration given to what it would taste like if eaten. As much as i love to bake I have no interest unless I or someone else is going to eat and enjoy the results of my efforts.
When I was considering which of the challenges to have a go at I did consider the domed cake but there were two things going against it. Firstly if you’ve clicked on the link you will have already seen that the recipe runs to twenty stages , secondly it required a silicone mold to make the domes in and I don’t own one.
I then looked at the Gateau Honore recipe and that ran to twenty two stages. Maybe this show caught me on an unadventurous week but that felt like quite a few stages too many.
I clearly wasn’t alone in feeling a bit daunted by this week. I’ve mentioned before that I bake for #GBBOTwitterBakeAlong and so far we’ve stuck to the shows challenges. This week it was agreed to take a wider interpretation and simply to bake and share any patisserie that we wanted. That was fine with me and I opted for raspberry eclairs. Choux pastry filled with raspberry cream and topped with melted chocolate. A prefect tea time treat and proof that patisserie doesn’t have to be up to French cake shop standards.
There’s a recipe below for raspberry eclairs if you fancy having a go. It’s by Trine Hannmann and if you’re looking to treat yourself to a cookery book anytime soon her Scandinavian Baking is one of the most used on my shelf and highly recommended.
Next week it’s the final.
David in the kitchen. 