This is the sixth week of Season 14 of The Great British Baking Show ™ and focuses on spices, herbs and floral hints.
This page is all about the food that the show brings to our screens. The goal is to have a lasting memory of some of the flavors and taste combinations, to bring some creativity and ideas to your own cooking. I hope you find it fun and useful.
Signature Dish
In episode 6 of Season 14 of The Great British Baking Show ™, the 7 remaining contestants were required to create twelve identical, perfectly fragrant spiced buns.
Swedish Cinnamon Buns
Saku put cinnamon and cardamom in her enriched dough and in the filling.
The judges liked the color of the cooked buns, but critiqued them for inconsistent sizing. The texture was a little 'tight' which is a sign of under-proving.
Yuletide Spiced Buns
Tasha put cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in her filling, and put mulled wine in both the dough and the glaze. (Her suggestion is to replace half the milk/water in the dough with mulled wine.
These buns were judged as having a great texture, consistency and a beautifully balanced flavor.
"Rum Drunk" Spiced Buns
Matty's dough was packed with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger as well as with dried fruit which had been soaked in ginger rum.
The judges rules Matty's spiced buns as being over-proved and therefore too dense. Paul Hollywood was looking for more fruit, but Prue Leith pronounced these Run Drunk Spiced Buns as delicious.
Maple, Pecan & Cinnamon
Cristy had a cinnamon dough, with pecan and cinnamon filling and a lovely maple glaze.
Paul Hollywood said "very impressive". The dough had been rolled very thinly to allow for more filling and clear layers.
Spiced Bun in a Million
Dana used a plain enriched dough with a cardamom, pistachio and orange filling.
Paul Hollywood, in judging, said "It's about uniformity ... getting the balance of cardamom right and spreading the filling evenly throughout.
Dana's spiced buns were of uneven size and there was too little cardamom.
Lemon and Blueberry
Josh made a cinnamon dough, dotted with fresh blueberries, and also with dried blueberries that were soaked overnight in spiced cinnamon tea.
Josh also injected a heart of lemon curd into the very center of his spiced buns.
Both Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith praised the lovely open texture of the dough in the spiced buns. The only criticism was that the blueberries got lost and the buns didn't truly qualify as 'spiced'.
"Dreaming of Greece"
Dan filled his spiced buns with saffron, cinnamon and star anise as well as lemon and orange. These buns were topped with sliced figs in honey and butter.
Prue Leith loved the fig topping, calling it a small act of genius. However, the spiced buns suffered from inconsistency.
Technical Challenge
Lemon and Thyme Drizzle Cake
The judges wanted to see a light, moist sponge soaked with lemon and thyme syrup and decorated with sugar glazed lemon and thyme.
Before the judging, Prue Leith stated her worries for the contestants as being (a) that the tin wouldn't be greased well enough and (b) that the competitors wouldn't use enough thyme.
In reality, the faults judged by Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood were:
Icing too thin
Too little thyme
Uneven coloration
Texture too open
Sponge stuck in tin
Too coarse
Too dark
Overbaked
Lemon not crystallized
Clumsy icing
Show Stopper - floral dessert
Celebrating florals in both flavor and decoration, these desserts must have at least one baked element
Contains a compote, jellies and 2 bavarois.
Marks for flavor √ √ √ √
Marks for Texture √ √ √
Presentation √ √ √ √
Lemon/elderflower genoese sponge with creme diplomat and 2 jellies in white chocolate ganache coating
Marks for Presentation √
Marks for Texture √
Marks for flavor √ √ √
Layers of elderflower joconde sponge & dandelion jelly pond with choux swans & meadowsweet cream.
Marks for Presentation √ √
Marks for choux √ √ √
Marks for flavor √ (too floral)
Elderflower in everything! Also blackberry mousse, lemon cremeux, Genoese sponge and blackberry mirror glaze.
Marks for flavor √ √ √
Marks for Texture √ (stodgy)
Presentation √
Earl grey cheesecake, hibiscus mousse & buttercream on a ginger biscuit base with decorative jelly.
Marks for presentation √ √ √
Marks for Jelly √ √ √
Marks for flavor √ √ (ginger dominates)
Raspberry bavarois and white chocolate mousse with hibiscus jelly and coconut sponge in an isomalt floral box
Marks for flavor √
Marks for texture √ √
Marks for presentation √ √ √
Ten layer dessert with Breton biscuit, bavarois, 2 sponges, 3 jellies and ruby chocolate mousse wrapped in sponge and topped with jelly art.
Marks for presentation √ √ √
Marks for Jelly Art √ √ √
"Absolutely heavenly" Prue Leith
