Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off mixed things up on Tuesday, with the competition introducing the show’s first-ever Mexican Week as the Bake Off theme.
While the Great British Bake Off 2022 line-up got to grips with tacos, guacamole and tres leches cakes, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith were left to ponder which contestants should be sent home in a rare double elimination after no one went home in last week’s episode.
As always, reigning Bake Off champion Giuseppe Dell’Anno is back with his Britalian Bake Off column for RadioTimes.com, spilling the pinto beans on which contestants are in trouble, his favourite moment from the episode and why he wasn’t a fan of Mexican Week in general.
Watch Giuseppe share his verdict on Bake Off’s latest episode below – and keep watching at the end of each video for more from Giuseppe!
Favourite moment
So my favourite moments for Mexican Week were all courtesy of Carole. She is the gift that keeps on giving. At some point she was deflowering some chocolate decorations – I feel for them – and she also renamed guacamole, ‘guacomolo’, and the aniseed Mexican bread was renamed ‘Panda Denise’ or something like this.
I mean, if that’s not a gold TV moment, I don’t know what is. She is my favourite 100 per cent. I might have to dye my hair pink at some point in honour of her.
Least favourite moment
I haven’t been a particular fan of the Technical Challenge this week, if I’m honest. It felt more like a MasterChef challenge rather than a Bake Off challenge. A lot of attention was focusing actually on the filling of the tacos.
Don’t get me wrong, I love tacos, but I would have liked to find out how to make a good corn tortilla. I’ve never made one and I would have loved if the judges would have given us some insight into the right methods and the good practice to bake a successful tortilla. Apart from the thickness of the tortillas here and there, most of the feedback was about a filling and that felt slightly disappointing in a way. It is a baking show, after all!
“Kevin and Carole need to watch out!”
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Kevin and Carole so far have delivered largely erratic performances. They both had exceptionally good bakes, but also some others that you know were too close to a disaster for comfort. So, I think that they need to polish their act and aim for consistency, try to play on their strengths if they want to stay afloat for the foreseeable future. So good luck to them.
Tip of the week: Get to know your spices
Well, my lack of experience in Mexican food doesn’t doesn’t make me entitled to give any tips to the bakers whatsoever when it comes to Mexican baking, but my impression is that a lot depends on the balance between the different spices and herbs. So the one thing I would have done if I had to address Mexican Week, I would have tried to get to know my spices very well. Because obviously not all chillis are made equal, so you need to know how powerful all of the spices and herbs are so that you can balance them carefully when it’s time to bake.
Giuseppe answers…
What did you think of this week’s double elimination and were Rebs and James the right people to go?
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Suddenly, Rebs had a very bad week. This week, all her bakes had problems and issues. And I was not surprised at all to find out that the judges were eliminating two people rather than one. They needed to do that to restore the order in the progression of the show.
James was slightly less expected than Rebs. I think that it must have been a relatively close call between James and Carole. They both had issues throughout the challenges, but I think that James’s showstopper in particular didn’t go down very well with the judges, despite his efforts to go the extra mile and give it his best shot.
So I think that the names that were picked were picked for reason and while it’s not good that two of them went, at least now we are now back on track to get three names for the final episode.
Maxy won Star Baker again, which is her second time winning an episode. Do you think Bake Off is becoming the Maxy and Janusz show as they’re the only two people winning Star Baker?
Maxy is certainly shining through the challenges and she’s doing exceptionally well. I’m gonna stick my neck out and say that together with Syabira and Janusz, probably she’s going to be the third name, the third element, to make up the final three. That wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.
I have to say she came first in the Technical Challenge, and especially in the showstopper, but both Janusz and Sandra gave her a good run for the money because they all delivered very good showstopper cakes. But based on the feedback we got from judges, possibly Maxy was the one that had texture, flavours and appearance best balanced across the board. She definitely was a deserving winner.
I’m still waiting for Syabira to have her performance push her all the way to the top of the charts because I’m 100 per cent convinced that she’s got what it takes to get Star Baker so fingers crossed for her.
A Week in the Life of Giuseppe
So this week is actually quite exciting because I just started my book. As of this week, I will be roaming around the country in bookshops, local radio stations, enjoying the little fame that comes with the publication of the book and plugging it as much as possible. So fingers crossed!
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To make your own show-stopping bakes at home, Giuseppe’s debut cookbook, Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes (Quadrille, £20) is available to pre-order, out 13th October.
The Great British Bake Off airs on Channel 4 on Tuesdays at 8pm. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Entertainment hub for the latest news.
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