You know that feeling when you’re watching an episode of your favorite show, and the episode just feels AI-generated? Like all the tropes and moments are there, but somehow the episode is missing that spark that makes the show great? Yeah, that was how I felt about Caramel Week.
Now, it could simply be that I was never going to like Caramel Week. First seen as a full-fledged episode theme in Season 8, I can’t say that caramel is one of my favorite flavors. While I like it as a supporting act, as the main event, caramel is inevitably too sweet.
My personal frustrations out of the way, let’s get on with the recap. After a fun bit where Noel has his teeth glued together by caramel sauce, the bakers march into the tent. The signature challenge is “caramel biscuits,” a challenge that can be taken in various directions, but most are going for the millionaire’s shortbread route – a thick biscuit base, a soft-set caramel and a chocolate topping. The exception is Christiaan, who is honoring his Dutch roots with a batch of stroopwafels (funnily enough, the technical challenge for Season 8’s caramel week). Whether or not stroopwafels count as biscuits feels debateable, but the judges let it slide.
Nelly is also honoring her heritage by making a Slovak caramel biscuit based on what her dad used to bake for her. Ok, altogether now: awwwww. Elsewhere in the tent, there’s some chocolate/nut/caramel from Andy (hazelnuts), Georgie (peanuts) and Gill (Brazil nuts). We also learn that all elderly British people are obsessed with Brazil nuts. Illiyin’s biscuits are inspired by florentines (essentially a bunch of nuts and dried fruit glued together with a caramel sauce). Finally, there are some fruit flavors from Dylan (who is using a very fancy pineapple juice to flavor his caramel), Mike, who’s going for a classic chocolate orange and Sumayah, who describes her biscuits as “mango, lime and sesame,” plus a hibiscus caramel. Said caramel ends up looking like blood.
Next, we get a montage of the greatest sin in caramel making: stirring. Caramel is made by boiling sugar until it melts and well, caramelizes. But if the sugar doesn’t melt evenly, it can crystalize, creating a hard and unappetizing lump of boiled sugar. If you stir your caramel, you greatly increase the risk of crystallizing it. There’s also a big debate about whether a dry or a wet caramel is best. Dry caramel is made with just sugar, while wet caramels use a bit of water.
Now, not to brag, but I have never crystalized a caramel. I make it thusly: take the sugar and a bit of water, and then stir them together OFF THE HEAT until all the sugar is moistened. Then, bring it to a boil, and cover your pot. This will trap the condensation, further decreasing your risk of crystallization. Then, take your caramel off the heat once it’s no longer making much noise. It’ll keep cooking as it cools, so take it off slightly earlier than you think you need to, to avoid burning.
Illiyin falls victim to crystallization, and several bakers have timing issues. Nelly stirs her butter in at the wrong moment, creating a lumpy caramel, and she has to start again. Sumayah takes her caramel off too early and it’s liquidy. Meanwhile, Mike manages to both overbake his biscuits and overchill his caramel, and is not optimistic going into judging.
During judging, nearly everyone has done some variation of good but not great. Sumayah is dinged for the texture of her caramel. Georgie has the best flavors, but Paul doesn’t give her a handshake (thank god) because some of her biscuits have cracked. Mike is at the bottom of the heap after this challenge. His biscuits are too soft, likely because of too much time in the freezer, and his caramel is bulgy. “They didn’t like my bulge,” he says after the challenge. “Bit of a personal comment.”
The technical challenge is a pear tarte tatin with a caramelized walnut ice cream. YUM. I want to make this immediately. It also still appears to be freezing as the judges are wearing coats, so melting ice cream won’t be an issue.
A tarte tatin is made by caramelizing fruit (traditionally apple), and layering a sheet of puff pastry on top. You bake it, flip it upside-down, and ta-da! Gooey fruit and pastry goodness. For the challenge, the bakers are making rough puff, a slightly easier and quicker variation of puff pastry.
We get off to a flying start when Mike, who is really not having a good week, splits his custard. Then his butter gets too warm. He still holds onto his sense of humor. “Right, we’ve got to come out now,” he says as he takes his tarte tatin out of the oven. “I’m gay.”
Meanwhile, Gill and Andy both burn their caramel. The most memorable moments of the technical come from Nelly interacting with the hosts. First, Allison tries to lift her up. Then, Noel throws Nelly’s leftover pastry into Andy’s hat. Andy throws it back, Noel tries to hit it with a rolling pin, and breaks the bowl containing Nelly’s caramel. In my opinion, this is as bad as when Sue Perkins put her elbow in Howard’s English muffins back in 2013. Nelly takes it in stride and remakes the caramel, but Noel does not own up to his mistake during judging.
Once again, the big theme of the technical judging is “good but not great.” Maybe this is why the episode lacked spark – everyone’s doing fine but there’s not really any baking magic. Andy and Gill come ninth and eighth respectively due to burnt caramel. Mike is in seventh due to underbaked pastry. At the top we have Sumayah in third, Christiaan in second, and Georgie in first. Technicals seem to be emerging as Georgie’s main strength.
In the judging pavilion, Paul is mildly disappointed with the quality of bakes this episode. There’s a discussion of the ideal color of caramel (apparently, Paul’s spray tan). Then, the showstopper is announced: a caramel mousse cake, with sugarwork decoration. Now, I love a mousse cake, but caramel wouldn’t generally be my flavor of choice.
Sumayah complains that she doesn’t like mousse cakes. During biscuit week she didn’t like the flavors she was using, now she doesn’t like the showstopper … I guess she’s seeking to break the curse of “going home the moment you don’t like what you’re baking”. Personally, I’m a fan of her flavor profile, which is inspired by banoffee pie. Andy is also using banoffee flavors, and is decorating his showstopper with a model tree topped with apple candy floss (aka cotton candy). Gill is sticking to her brand of non-nonsense northern English lady and is making a sticky toffee pudding cake, and Goergie is keeping it classic with hazelnut and caramel. Her showstopper is topped with an elaborate isomalt rose (isomalt is a very stable version of sugar used for sculpting). Christiaan and Sumayah are also decorating with isomalt.
Nelly’s showstopper is inspired by her husband. “He thinks I’m the most amazing woman, and I don’t,” she says, making me cry in my pajamas on a Tuesday morning. Her flavor profile, however, is not my favorite – white chocolate, pecan and caramel. Way too sweet. Illiyin has also gone down the dark path of white chocolate, but she’s using pistachio instead of pecan. Dylan is wisely bringing acidity into his bake, with what appears to be an entire tree’s worth of Amalfi lemons. Mike, meanwhile, is using coffee and popcorn. Because of course he is.
Considering all the potential for drama in a mousse cake/sugar work challenge, this one goes off without a hitch. Dylan is obsessing over his lemons and his mousse cake cracks slightly, but the judges love his flavors, so much so that Paul dubs him “the flavor king”.
“Flavor king is cool, I’m happy with that,” says Dylan, in the most miserable tone. He then goes on to complain about the crack in his mousse cake. Look, Dylan, I know you’re a perfectionist, but it’s starting to feel like you’ve got a giant stick up your ass.
Most of the bakers have done some version of “meh.” The exceptions are Nelly and Georgie. Nelly’s showstopper is the highlight of the day, and apparently despite my misgivings, tastes amazing. Georgie’s is pretty small but has good texture and flavor. Thanks to her good day yesterday, she takes Star Baker. Going home is Mike, who definitely performed the weakest over the three challenges. He was a great personality, but it was his time.
Next time: pastry! With some classics – tarts, phyllo and choux. Who will be stretched too thin? Who’s choux will fall flat? And will Nelly make me cry again? Keep reading to find out.
