Jen Rose Writes🌹

The tent was free of dairy this week but there was still plenty of tiers, tears and tension as the remaining six bakers fought for a place in the quarter final.

(You can read my thoughts on the previous weeks: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5 and Week 6)

This week, the bakers faced a first on The Great British Bake Off: Vegan Week! Though the usual ingredients were scrapped, in place of coconut oil and Fava beans, Paul and Prue still expected perfection from the bakers.

DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS FOR THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF, SERIES NINE EPISODE SEVEN AHEAD!

The bakers

It was a difficult week this week, as the bakers had to ditch their usual ingredients and methods in favour of vegan ingredients and recipes. The pressure definitely showed in the tent this week but two bakers in particular proved Vegan Week was nothing to worry about. Kim-Joy lived up to her name and brought joy to the tent this week and Rahul, as usual, impressed Paul and Prue and failed to see his potential…again!

The challenges

Vegan Week kicked off with the Signature Challenge, in which the bakers were asked to make eight savoury tartlets.

The tartlets proved difficult without the usual dairy ingredients but some of the bakers still wowed, with Prosecco caramelised onions, hummus and the cutest mascarpone squirrel ever featuring in their bakes. Of course Paul “Handshake” Hollywood dished out another handshake, just to prove he’s down with veganism…or whatever.

Next came the Technical Challenge, which saw the bakers create a tropical fruit pavlova. The upgrade on the traditional dessert saw the bakers subbing eggs for fava beans and putting coconut pastry cream on top (which, I won’t lie, looked eerily similar to porridge). This challenge proved tough, due to the fragile nature of the pavlova and the bakers weren’t too sure what they were doing (which inspired Briony’s first tent sing-song, I Don’t Know What I’m Doing). Some bakers pulled off the pav, whilst others found themselves stuck in a dangerous position come the Signature.

The Showstopper Challenge saw the bakers make a vegan celebration cake and, let me tell you, this is where the tears come in (both from the bakers and me, into my Mr Kipling cake packet). The bakers didn’t compromise on delicious flavours and brilliant designs this challenge, with a foxy offering, a mocha inspired cake and a mocking ‘only fools eat horses’ cake. Of course, there were some difficulties. Getting the flavour in was one but, for two bakers, the real problem was getting their bakes to stay in place (nail biting scenes if ever I saw one).

The result

For the first time in the series, and possibly in Bake Off history, I predicted the results. Although it looked like Rahul might snatch back his Star Baker crown, only to say he probably didn’t deserve it straight after, Kim-Joy enjoyed her second week as Star Baker and (honestly) it was well deserved!

Ruby and Manon looked on thin ice, it was Jon who exited the tent this week. He’s been a brilliant baker, a poor chooser of shirts but he just couldn’t hack Vegan Week.

Honestly, I’m not really sure who my moneys on at the moment.

The final 5 bakers (how quick has it gone?!) face the Quarter Final, Danish Week!

That’s it from me, for now, but you can expect a BRAND NEW type of post from me on Sunday. As I’ll be three weeks in to my third year of uni, I thought I’d share with you this:

Yep. The dreaded ‘D’ word! In my first post, I’ll bring you up to speed with all things dissertation: what I’m planning, where I’m at and how I’m feeling.

Let me know your thoughts on last night’s episode?