After bidding farewell to Claire last week, the bakers returned to the GBBO tent to don their aprons to face their biggest challenge yet- Biscuit week. The first challenge required the contestants to make thirty-six savoury biscuits in two hours. The heat was on for the hopefuls as Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry asked for biscuits that were consistent in size, bake and colour.
"It’s got to be the best of its type," demanded Mary. Biscuit flavours ranged from Jordan's sough dough and chilli cheese biscuits to Luis' Spanish influenced-black olive and rosemary thins, to Iain's oatmeal and fig slices.
As biscuits naturally don't require much kneading, the thickness of the bakes varied between the novice bakers. Martha, the youngest culinarian to have ever set foot in the Bake Off tent, decided to create quite the original biscuit sensation. The student challenged herself to make seventy-two biscuits to create her caramelised onion and goat's cheese sandwich biscuits, which impressed the judges.
In the end it was Richard who succeeded once again in producing "flavoursome biscuits" while Martha's sandwiches retained a "good snap" according to Mary. However, Kate's shortbread parmesan and apple biscuits sadly failed to wow the judges and were deemed too soft, under-baked and lacked apple flavours.
The second biscuit challenge required the bakers to produce eighteen Florentine wonders in one hour and fifteen minutes. Mary demanded the bakers to create chocolate-layered snaps with a lacy appearance, delicate biscuits with an even bake and covered in an even distribution of chocolate.
In order to create the classic chocolate marking on the bottom of the Florentine, the chocolate must be tempered in order to avoid leaking through the bake - a task that challenged both Martha and Diana. Due to the high sugar content in the biscuits, it is easy to burn the bake which caused some trouble for the contestants including Iain, whose biscuits were over-baked. Ultimately, Richard won the technical challenge, creating beautiful "lacy, crisp, perfect" biscuits with a "good zig-zag" and a perfectly tempered chocolate layer, according to Mary. After a good night's rest, the bakers returned the next day, ready to face their 3D show-stopper challenge.
Paul wanted "rigid but good tasting biscuits" while Mary asked for everything to be "homemade."
Enwezor decided to create eighty biscuits to construct his space adventure moon scene and self-proclaimed "super-duper spaceship" but his shop-bought fondant didn't go down well with the Queen of baking, Mary Berry.
With Nancy's colourful Hansel and Gretel scene, Iain's Wild West creation and Martha's gigantic Ski village mountain scene, it is suffice to say that all the bakers were worthy of a blue peter badge in tonight's episode. Despite feeling at risk of leaving the tent, Iain surprised the judges with his sweet biscuits with a "good snap and crunch."
Meanwhile, Diana's train-themed bake was called "perfect" for Mary, while firm favourite, Richard, produced a sea-themed 3D sensation that was deemed 'genius' by Paul.
In the end, Richard impressed the judges and was crowned this week's Star Baker while Enwezor sadly failed to impress Paul and Mary and was sent home.
Episode three promises an evening of drama as the baking contestants must face 'Bread Week,' next Wednesday at 8pm on BBC One.
