What an amazing semi-final this week. Some of the trickiest challenges to date saw off one of the Bake Off’s flavour powerhouses in history. They faced Signature Baklavas (however you pronounce it), a Technical Schichttorte (a grilled German cake) and 24 Showstopping Entremets. Was there any favouritism from the judges this week however… find out below.
Eliminated: Chetna
My Elimination Prediction: Diana (see the rest of them here)
Star Baker: Richard (for an unbelievable fifth time!)
Good: Luis
Bad: Nancy
Best Bake: Every contestant’s Entremets impressed me this week
I am incredibly saddened to say that Chetna Makan, you have finally been eliminated from Bake Off. For those of you who do not know already, I predicted that Chetna would finish first before the show even started and it’s unfortunate that she had to leave during a week in which the standards were higher than Mary Berry after having one of Luis’s doughnuts last week. We all know Chetna is the “Flavour Queen” and once again she didn’t disappoint but it was purely technical faults that meant Chetna has to go home. Her baklavas were good but they were just slightly below the grade on flavour for Paul. The grilled cake Technical challenge didn’t go well with Chetna finishing last. In order for Chetna to stay safe, she had to have a faultless showstopper, which was unfortunately not the case, with Mary slating Chetna’s poor layers and Paul criticising her flavours.
WE STILL LOVE YOU CHETNA! #TeamChetna
Nancy didn’t have her best week, despite wowing everyone with her relatively simple, but perfect, baklava and her Raspberry and Almond Entremet. A 3rd place finish in the Technical meant that Nancy was considered for elimination.
Luis had another strong, and consistent week, with a unique “baklava cup” in the Signature, fantastic looking and tasting Entremets in the Showstopper and all topped off with a 1st place Technical finish. Despite this great week in which Luis looked unflappable, he still didn’t receive Star Baker.
I did say this last week but I don’t think Richard deserved Star Baker this week. For so many weeks in Bake Off history, Mary and Paul say that Star Bakers are given the accolade for a great week of consistency and amazing baking, which Luis undoubtedly demonstrated this week. Only on a few occasions has Star Baker been given out to a baker who redeemed themselves with an absolutely exquisite and faultless Showstopper – Ryan from Series 3 was one such baker. Unfortunately I don’t think Richard met this criteria not least of all his Technical Bake was nowhere near the standard that Luis, quite literally, bought to the table.
Of course I cannot finish my review without predicting the winner. Previous patterns of the winners include:
- Bakers who finish in the Top Three of the Bread Technical Challenge tend to win the competition – LUIS
- The person who has won Star Baker the most has never won the competition – RICHARD
- The underdog has come through to win – NANCY
Who do I go for? Well I want to find out who you think will win by voting in the poll below:
Andrew in the Kitchen 