Great British Baking Show recap: full of cake and hope

The overnight temperatures dropped into 60s here in Florida, and with that chilly fall weather came the warm return of The Great British Bake-Off. I love this show, and so glad it found its way back into comfort rather than craziness.

Nigella Lawson’s entrance was lovely in that it gave Prue a chance to say goodbye; Mary Berry just evaporated. The Doctor Who joke—calling the Tardis a Proving Box was a nice touch—was funny until I thought about it for more than a few seconds.

That’s probably why they dropped it the second Nigella walked out. It would have been weird to pretend Nigella rude for Nigella to be Prue in Nigella’s body, or to say something like, Oh, I’m so much younger!

“I’m full of cake and hope,” she said, and I am, too, for her time on the show. Like an over-whipped meringue, Nigella is a little stiff, and some of her jokes have more bite than usua. “You’re the only person I’ve ever seen look chic in shorts,” she told one baker.

But so far I love how she’s 1) willing to challenge Paul Hollywood and mock his bronzer and 2) keeps giving actionable feedback. For her technical, she gave them so much advice, not just a vague line.

And she also has some life advice, too, such as “The fear of the unmoulding seizes one” and “I suppose a lot of feel like we have a person beyond the surface.” (Look for something Nigella said to be the tag at the of my podcast next week, which you should subscribe to in your favorite podcast app right now.)

Maybe the best part is that she eats cake like I would: full mouthfuls. I might have joked about it, but right after I watched, I saw this video with Yannis, who pointed out her refusal to eat like a dainty woman on camera should be celebrated. I agree, and I’d guess I noticed it because of how unusual it is to see a judge just dive in like they want to try the food.

Let’s dive into episodes 1 of series 17, which is Netflix collection 14 (my chart makes sense of that absurdity).

Sassy Brits and tidbits ►

• “Nice bit of color in it as well,” Paul said, and Nigella said, “Almost as good as you.” And he laughed a laugh that sounded like, Can we stop the cameras and recast?
• Alison’s humor and presence makes her one of my all-time favorite hosts, and Noel’s sweater game continues to impress: this week’s is a torso, like on a statute, with a fig leaf covering the giblets.
• In a social media video, Molly talked shared about how the production lowered her workstation, and eventually offered a lower side table, too—something she hadn’t ever tried at home. “It has changed my life, quite honestly,” she said in the video.
• Moyin is a competitive sprinter, and Paul asked how long it takes him to run 100 meteres. Moyin said, 10.76, prompting Paul to say, “I’ll have a go with you.” Then Noel told Paul, “Ten seconds, not ten minutes.” I don’t know if Paul really didn’t realize that, but even having run a marathon, I know it takes me about 10 seconds to go from standing to moving, and I’m guessing I could outrun Paul—especially if there was cake at the finish line.
• I couldn’t believe Gary’s swearing ended up on TV: “Blinking heck,” he said after getting a compliment.

Signature ► What fun bakers, and what messes they made with chocolate cakes! Even the good-tasting ones were over-baked or flavorless or had issues. Danni made the mistake of saying she was done and bored, and then, of course, decorating didn’t go well. Ironically, the biggest disaster came from Molly, whose cake pan slid out of the oven while she was trying to put it back. But after leaving the tent, she returned and baked a new one that was far better than other attempts!

Technical ► For the Nigella’s coffee and walnut cake, the bakers got no instructions, just a beautiful illustration, like the ones we see on TV. (The show’s illustrator is Tom Hovey, and he has a coloring book full of GBBO illustrations if you’d like to play along.) They actually created decent replicas, though varying degrees of success into the actual baking. “If Nigella wanted it to go to her plan, she should have left us one,” Tom told Alison.

Showstopper ► The task was portrait cakes, which Clara thought that was “narcissistic.” The queer guys shined out: Tom just made a giant Simpsons head of himself; Gabe had a mirror that, when shattered, revealed his drag persona, Blu Romantic.

Star Baker/leaving the tent ► Mo won Star Baker, especially after his showstopper flavors left the judges stunned. Danni and her “two catastrophic failures” was saved by Shannon’s surprise exit with a medic. On the companion show Second Helpings, Shannon said “I had a bit of a dicky tummy.” And I’m resisting adding that to the next section, a list of double-entendre. I hope you’re proud of me.  

Context-free entendre ►

• Nigella: “I like a bit of goo”
• Gabe: “I think we all see Paul in Gary”
• Alison: “Do you ever call anything sticky willy?”
• Tom: “Not too big, not too small” (looks at camera)
• Paul Hollywood: “Could be the nut size is huge”

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