Great British Bake Off 2015 (Mod Warning: Post 1)

PressRun

I think Nadiya is a lock to win, tbh. Ian peaked too early, and I think Nadiya just has a little bit of an edge on Tamal. Obviously it'll all come down to how it all works out on the day, but I just feel like Nadia has come on leaps and bounds and will probably pull out something amazing for the final showstopper and signature.

BabysCoffee

If nadyia doesn't go mad with crazy flavours and colours she looks likely to win. Otherwise I reckon Tamal could do it.

I'm not a fan of Ian. I thought he was particularly smug when presenting his well and although it was spectacular, it wasn't really a cake.

j@utis

Last showstopper wasn't supposed to be a cake - it was a chocolate creation with a biscuit element. I thought Flora's idea was the most fun, pity she didn't produce it (as usual had too much to do). Nadiya's peacock looked inedible pile of blue gunk, Ian's well lacked fine details and actual chocolate work (everything was out of molds). Overall it was very boring episode with no interesting bakes.
I'm surprised they're not doing croquembouche this year.

dee_mc

j@utis wrote: »

Last showstopper wasn't supposed to be a cake - it was a chocolate creation with a biscuit element. I thought Flora's idea was the most fun, pity she didn't produce it (as usual had too much to do). Nadiya's peacock looked inedible pile of blue gunk, Ian's well lacked fine details and actual chocolate work (everything was out of molds). Overall it was very boring episode with no interesting bakes.
I'm surprised they're not doing croquembouche this year.

I thought Nadiya's peacock looked beautiful and demonstrated plenty of skill as well as artistic flair.
They did a choux pastry challenge already so very unlikely to see croquembouche. I'm looking forward to seeing the final challenges!

Tarzana2

RhubarbCrumble wrote: »

I find both Mel and Sue very irritating, and I can't believe we're stuck with Mr Smug in the final. I'll be disgusted if he wins!

He deserves to be there. Thank fook it's not a lame personality competition.

j@utis

dee_mc wrote: »

I thought Nadiya's peacock looked beautiful and demonstrated plenty of skill as well as artistic flair.
They did a choux pastry challenge already so very unlikely to see croquembouche. I'm looking forward to seeing the final challenges!

she used modeling chocolate which a different from just tempered chocolate. she kneaded and rolled it to cover her chunky bird. that's not much of the skill, every kid knows how to shape the play-dough into their favorite animals.
sorry, for sounding very negative towards her but I thought her showstopper was very overrated.

From BBC website about the next week: "The signature challenge sees the finalists tackle enriched dough to create delicious filled iced buns. The technical requires them to conquer something they have all struggled with, and finally, for their last ever showstopper, they must make a classic British cake."

The technical is gonna be interesting!

Tarzana2

I didn't really like Nadiya's showstopper, thought it looked a bit crap.

Tarzana2

BabysCoffee wrote: »

I'm not a fan of Ian. I thought he was particularly smug when presenting his well and although it was spectacular, it wasn't really a cake.

The brief didn't mention cake, it was biscuit and chocolate work. Some people made cake but it wasn't a prerequisite. And his biscuits were apparently excellent.

If anything, Nadiya kinda cheated more. She just basically made rice krispie square mix instead of biscuit.

Bobsammy

Tarzana2 wrote: »

The brief didn't mention cake, it was biscuit and chocolate work. Some people made cake but it wasn't a prerequisite. And his biscuits were apparently excellent.

If anything, Nadiya kinda cheated more. She just basically made rice krispie square mix instead of biscuit.

Nadiya made biscuits as well, they were in the chocolate nest beside the peacock.

maryk123

Nadiya to win

Tarzana2

Bobsammy wrote: »

Nadiya made biscuits as well, they were in the chocolate nest beside the peacock.

Oh yeah! Forgot.

Scarinae

From the Daily Mail... Of course :rolleyes:

Toto Wolfcastle

There was a 'where are they now' on today about last year's bakers (thank you series link!) and it was a reminder that the standard isn't as high this year as it was last year. Last year was amazing.

Sunny Dayz

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

There was a 'where are they now' on today about last year's bakers (thank you series link!) and it was a reminder that the standard isn't as high this year as it was last year. Last year was amazing.

Ah that's what was recording this afternoon, I seen the record light on the box and assumed the young lad was recording something. Will watch that to get in the mood for the final!

Midnight Sundance

I was looking at last years bakers and thought they'd a better bond than this years lot. They seemed to have more personality and the talent did seem to be a lot higher last year

Snoopy1

I'm watching a season in america at the moment. They dont even call it bake off!!!!

ibarelycare

I only watched last night's show last night and I thought it was a pretty poor semi-final compared to other years. I thought Nadiya's showstopper looked very amateurish. If Flora had pulled her's off, it would have been the best. Flora was irritating me to my last nerve by the end though, so glad she went. I think Nadiya deserves to win.

Red Kev

I didn't think Nadiya's showstopper was the best and I don't think she should have won. It's easy enough to model Rice Krispies, I've had kids do it before. As another poster said she used modelling chocolate which is a bit like using marzipan or modelling icing sugar. The tail was a plastic tail covered in confectionary, delicious no doubt, but not a winner for me.

Ian's was more dramatic, but he just tempered chocolate, if he had had a couple of other methods it may have won, but I'd still place it above Nadiya.

I think Flora left because overall it was pretty close and the other three were better than her throughout the series.

I think Tamal will win, I thought this a few weeks ago, he has the talent as seen in the first challenge with the chocolate cake. Maybe Ian has a chance if he does something special, but I think he's burnt out and deflated by now.

I also agree that the standard last year was a bit better, must look up the 'where are they now' programme, it sounds good.

Toto Wolfcastle

They only looked at what the 3 finalists are doing now and that was only at the end. The rest of it was a look back at different moments from the series and the bakers spoke about their experiences of those moments. They had a bit about the Baked Alaska too and Diane was a massive knob about it.

Scarinae

This is actually the first year I've watched it properly! I saw last year's final, and I watched an episode from a previous series where someone made a gingerbread colosseum. So I wouldn't know if the standard is different this year compared to previous series. I'm loving it though, I'll definitely be tuning in next year.

Tarzana2

Red Kev wrote: »

I think Tamal will win, I thought this a few weeks ago, he has the talent as seen in the first challenge with the chocolate cake.

I think so too, all the focus is on Nadiya but Tamal has been the most consistent throughout, nearly always in the top bakers every episode. If he has some wow moments in the final I think he'll swing it.

Red Kev

Long read here on GBBO but a good article IMO, it even manages to get a mention of Gerry Ryan, the lamb and the rock in a sock episode. (Which was a shocking 29 years ago ).



http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/06/genius-of-great-british-bake-off

SmallTeapot

If anyone wants a laugh - Buzzfeed article

Scarinae

Bake Off final tonight!!

Sunny Dayz

Last night I watched the recap of the 2014 Bake off series to get me in the mood for the finale tonight. Gosh the finalists last year were much better! Their bakes were far more impressive than this years.

Scarinae

Does ayone know what prize the winner gets? Money? I was just discussing this with a colleague and neither of us know, it doesn't seem to be on the GBBO website either

Toto Wolfcastle

I think they just get a cake stand and a bouquet. There isn't any other prize.

Scarinae

I suppose the joy of winning is the prize! And it would open avenues for cookbook deals and stuff (I would buy one written by Nadiya or Tamal)

Toto Wolfcastle

On the subject of books, Richard from last year has one out and it looks amazing. I had a flick through it in Easons and it's lovely. It was close to €30 though and it's only £7.99 on Amazon.

Sunny Dayz

The boss bought lovely fresh currant buns in the local bakery this morning on account of it being Wednesday, sunny and the bake off final is tonight.