A Surprise At The Great British Bake Off

And a winner I was cheering for in Canada

Red Beans & Advice is a weekly feature for paid subscribers. This week, I’m wrapping up my annual reviews of the Great British Bake Off and The Great Canadian Baking Show. SPOILERS BELOW.

I might as well break the news to you right away: shockingly, Dylan did not win the cake plate.

Those tricky producers at GBBO made it look like he was a sure thing, as Paul Hollywood showered him with praise, and he racked up win after win.

But the show always claims that the cake plate is not a cumulative award: the judges are supposed to pick the winner based on how they do in the final. This time, they did.

Signature challenge: 24 scones, 12 savory and 12 sweet

“At just 20 years of age, Dylan’s flair with flavor set him apart,” Noel Fielding intones as the episode kicks off. “You’re the flavor king this year,” says Paul. Three Hollywood handshakes, two star baker titles. However, Dylan admits his nerves get in the way, as they did in the previous episode.

“I would love to win, I do want to win, I can’t lie,” exlaims Georgie. Her ambition did not go unnoticed by the judges over the season. “She wants it so badly,” Prue murmured to Paul last week.

Christiaan, who I liked all season, is described as “always the bridesmaid” who did not win a technical nor star baker until last week. “Christiaan was the nearly man,” says Noel. “He could be peaking at just the right time,” says Alison.

The two types of scones have to be filled. Now, I’m a fan of scones, but I am just as happy with a plain scone as I am with a fancy one. To me, a scone should be a platform for jam or butter. I don’t need it to be a sandwich substitute.

Christiaan is doing curry cheese and toasted coconut scones. Dylan is doing a scone with clotted cream and strawberry, but marinating the strawberries in rice vinegar. His savory scone is salmon and cream cheese. Georgie is doing raspberry for sweet and olives, herbs and cheese for savory

Paul likes the look of Christiaan’s. Prue says they have a comforting warm feeling. Georgie’s are “a bit wobbly,” says Prue. Paul says the savory ones are a bit tough. There’s not enough flavor in the raspberry ones.

Dylan’s are “really messy,” Prue says. Paul says the strawberry ones weren’t strawberry enough. Dylan is not happy. “I didn’t do justice to what I spent a week trying to perfect.”

The technical: an afternoon tea display

They’re asked to make four individual lemon sandwich cakes, four strawberry tarts and four classic egg and cress rolls. Prue says the bakers should know how to make these, and the test is really to see how organized they are.

Dylan says he’s never made an afternoon tea before. He finishes last and we are getting a sense of the loser edit. Georgie is second and Christiaan wins. He finally got his technical after all these weeks.

The showstopper: an exquisitely decorated hanging cake

It must be three tiers. “Do not hold back,” Alison says. “If I was a baker, I’d be absolutely terrified,” Prue says. This is one of those situations where it’s engineering more than baking, and it seems unfair to base anyone’s fate on something so tricky.

Georgie is doing a combination of lemon sponge, zesty lemon chantilly, and elderflower butter cream. If she wins, she says she’ll fall to the ground and roll down the hill.

Christiaan is doing raspberry jam with licorice and a poppyseed cake. Dylan is risking sacrificing stability for a Earl Gray flavored genoise filled with marscapone cream and candied orange. It’s a tribute to his travels to Murano, Italy. Prue and Paul are worried that the cake will be too light. “It’s all in your hands,” Paul says.

You can barely watch them as they suspend their cakes in the air. Basically, they’ve set them up like hanging plants, and attached them to big hooks. I do not know why this proves who is a good baker. How many times will a baker be asked to do this? (Or maybe this sparks a hanging cake trend.)

After Alison and Noel help Dylan bring his brightly colored set up to the judges, Prue says, “You have to explain to everyone at the party what is going on here.” “It’s not obvious,” says Paul.

He notes that the sponge has collapsed in parts, and his layers are not balanced with the filling. “Nevertheless, fascinating work,” Paul says.

Georgie says her cake is inspired by summer gardens, and it is imaginatively decorated. “It certainly says summer,” Prue says. Paul calls it impressive, well baked. “Beautiful,” says Prue, who declares it, “absolutely delicious. Well done, Georgie.”

Christiaan brings up a cake with kind of a mid century modern appearance. One of the layers looks like corrigated metal. “A great looking slice,” Paul says. Prue says the flavors are too concentrated. Paul thinks it’s slightly overbaked, but very Christiaan.

Of the trio, Georgie’s showstopper comes out the best, and in a surprise given the Dylan build up, she takes home the glass cakeplate.

A few weeks ago, I predicted things might come down to Dylan and Georgie, but Dylan got so much praise and so much screen time that I was convinced he’d win.

However, there was a hint when the Michelin starred restaurant where Dylan now works posted a photo of him in their kitchen. Normally, there is no sight of the finalists before the results are announced.

Georgie ought to do well for Love Productions as a future cookbook writer and show host. She’s polished, and she has a built-in fan base in her native Wales. After the ceremony, Paul actually makes her roll down the hill in her lovely summer dress.

My main reaction to the season is that GBBO seems stuck in a rut, especially when compared with CBC Baking, which regularly mixes things up with challenges that send you to Google.

After 15 seasons, Bread Week, Cake Week and Patisserie Week are all getting kind of stale. Maybe the program is skittish of trying international themes after past disasters with Mexico and Japan, but the Canadians regularly put a spotlight on individual bakes from around the globe to good results.

GBBO puts too much focus on Paul, and Prue does not get the respect that she deserves, given her iconic status in British cuisine. At this late date, it’s unlikely that balance will shift; the producers seem convinced that it’s Paul as the lead singer and everybody else as his back up band.

A Happy Canadian Winner

Moving on to Canada, I wish I could give you a full review of the final episode of CBC Baking. But, it has yet to pop onto YouTube. That’s discouraging, given that all the episodes from the past few seasons live there.

I don’t know if it had to do with copyright infringement, or if the CBC doesn’t realize the show has a growing number of followers outside Canada.

In any case, the winner was Elora, the baker from Bangladesh who was one of my favorites this year.

Of the two shows, CBC Baking has become my favorite. Along with more innovative and internationally focused challenges that pay respect to other cultures, it has the proportion of cast members in balance.

There’s no effort to build either of the judges into bigger than life characters: Bruno and Kyla are always kind in their critiques, and praise from them sets the bakers aglow.

I hope someday that the show lands on Netflix or Amazon Prime so that it gets the audience it deserves, and viewers can catch up on past years.

If you watched either show, feel free to let me know what you thought of these seasons.