Brace yourself for Soggy Bottom Bingo – it’s Pastry Week!

Hands down, this is my favourite week! Pastry is the king of beige foods. And for one very good reason: life is better wrapped in pastry.

So what did the pastry-themed week have in store for the remaining seven bakers? Would it be all puff and nonsense? Would the bakers crack and flake under the time pressures?

Let’s find out!

**** SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of the outcomes of each of the challenges, this week’s star baker and the sixth of The Class of 2025 to go home. Please don’t read on if you have yet to watch the Pastry Week episode and don’t want to know the outcome! ****

THE SIGN OF A GOOD BAKER

According to Prue, pastry week is one of the most important weeks in Bake Off because if you can’t make pastry then ‘frankly, you’re not much of a baker.’

Phew, that’s me flying under the radar for a little while longer then

Aside from my love of all things pastry, I think that’s why it’s my favourite week. This week (and bread week) are the two that I feel really show more of the bakers’ technical talents rather than their creativity and artistic flair as some of the other weeks tend to major on.

THE SIGNATURE: SAVOURY PASTRY PLAITS

For the first of the pastry challenges, the judges were expecting the bakers to produce crisp, flaky, laminated pastry with a savoury filling, shaped into a beautifully plaited design.

They were given two and a half hours to complete this task, which for once seemed like a decent amount of time! Even though the pastry making process is quite protracted (laminated doughs require chill time in between each roll and fold), the fillings typically go into the oven uncooked, so this takes away the time that would otherwise be needed to make and cool the filling.

Hopefully the bakers remembered that and didn’t try to make their lives harder by choosing a pre-cooked filling…

AMAZINGLY BRAVE

As we learnt what each of the bakers had chosen to create for the pastry signature, Lesley told us that she was using a Paul Hollywood recipe for her filling. But she had decided to pimp it up a little bit to improve it. Bold.

And then there was Toby. Who decided he was going to do a full puff pastry, even though it wasn’t required for the challenge (rough puff pastry is a lot quicker to make and is still a laminated dough). Amazingly brave is how Prue described him. Paul looked slightly incredulous and told him he wouldn’t have enough time to make it.

I must admit that I feared Toby may become a victim of his own ambitions on this one. I’ve seen [more than] enough TV reality food programmes in my time to know that, for those contestants who decide to go over and above the brief, it usually doesn’t end well. It’s so much better – and safer – to knock it out of the park with what is expected than to go rogue and not quite pull it off.

But then Toby has shown us time and again that he’s a risk taker. And I kinda like that about him.

FORTUNE FLAVOURS THE BRAVE

Anyone who works a lot with pastry knows that you need really punchy flavours for your fillings. For them to cut through the pastry, they need to be a bit, well, extra.

So what did the bakers opt for in an attempt to wow the judges?

Tom used his time living in Hong Kong as inspiration for a fermented soy and chilli oil infused sausagemeat filling, wrapped in red pastry shaped like the severed tail of a dragon. Lesley’s take on Paul’s sausage plait had a layer of homemade gooseberry compote through the middle. And Jasmine added leek, apple, thyme and smoked paprika to her sausagemeat.

Toby and Nataliia both picked chicken as their main meat content, with Toby adding bacon, leek and cheese and Nataliia wrapping her chicken and bacon around garlic butter sticks in a nod to her Ukranian roots and its national dish, chicken Kiev.

Aaron chose beef as his meat filling, which he flavoured with vibrant Jamaican curry spices and Scotch bonnet chilli.

And Iain’s meat-free savoury plait was created from tofu, broccoli and potato (see earlier note about pastry needing punchy flavours )

PLAIT’S THE WAY I LIKE IT

So what did the judges make of their flavour combinations? And their plaiting skills? Did they live up to Paul’s expectations of neat, precise and incredible tasting savoury pastry plaits?

Lesley’s take on a Hollywood classic was a hit, with Paul admiring the colour, structure and overall look of it but saying that it could have been improved with slightly thicker pastry to give it more flake. Prue thought the addition of the gooseberry compote was a little bit of genius.

Tom, Nataliia and Aaron were all told that their pastry was slightly underbaked. Paul found Toby’s flavours boring and Iain’s needing more punch. And Prue said if sausage rolls all tasted like Jasmine’s, she’d eat a lot more of them.

Despite his pastry being ‘a few minutes under’, Aaron received some incredible feedback for his Jamaican beef plaity – none more so than both judges taking a chunk away to eat for their lunch! Nice one, Aaron.

So did Toby pull off the full puff? Kinda. It wasn’t a disaster, but neither was it brilliant. Paul said it had some lamination but with full puff pastry you would expect double what he had achieved. So you probably put yourself through the extra stress for no additional gain there, Toby,

THE TECHNICAL: gala pie

Set by Paul, the technical challenge was a gala pie, described as a spectacular rectangular pork pie made with hot water crust pastry and a line of eggs running through the middle. They had three hours to make it, which would need to be split into roughly two equal parts of making and baking time.

As always, the technical challenge is presented to the bakers with scant instructions. Paul did tell them that they needed to be neat and precise for the recipe to work. And out of their earshot, he told us that it was vitally important they create a steam hole in the lid of the pie. Without it, the chances of pastry blowouts and soggy bottoms are waaaaaay higher.

This was shortly followed by:

Iain: “I don’t think it needs an air hole, but maybe it does?”. Yes, Iain. It does.

And Aaron: “I didn’t put a steam hole in it but I think it’s going to be OK.” No Aaron. It is not.

KNOWING WHICH WAY IS UP

Something I was surprised we didn’t see discussed or highlighted during this week’s technical was which way up your eggs need to go in the tin when you’re making a gala pie.

As a gala pie is sliced through once baked, you need to lay your eggs down horizontally in the tin so that each slice has a full ‘O’ of yolk. If you put them in vertically, you’ll end up with a line of yolk.

I’m not entirely convinced there wasn’t some ‘selective’ footage during both the baking and the judging on this one

Call me a cynic, if you will.

If you’re going for the full aesthetic with a gala pie, you also need to trim the egg white ends off before placing them in the tin. This means that you won’t end up with a slice that is all white with no yolk. The beady-eyed amongst y’all would have spotted during the judging that Lesley didn’t know this

LEAF IT OUT, PAUL

So what did the judges make of the seven gala pies waiting for them on the gingham altar?

Well first off, Paul seemed to have a little bit of an obsession with the number of leaves the bakers had (or, more accurately, had not) decorated their pies with. I mean, in the grand scheme of things and considering it wasn’t specified exactly in the instructions…

Both Nataliia and Toby received those dreaded words that should never be said in the same sentence – soggy and pastry – in their feedback. Prue said she thought Iain’s pie looked like it had been crimped by two different people! Aaron’s was underbaked, Lesley’s was well-baked, Tom’s was a bit of a mess and Jasmine’s was robust with good flavour.

So this week’s baker at the bottom of the technical was Aaron. He did have a great signature, so slightly less worrying for him than if he’d also had a bad first round. Tom was sixth, Nataliia fifth, Toby fourth, Lesley third, Iain second and Jasmine first.

THE SHOWSTOPPER: SCULPTED TARTS

After probably two of his worst rounds in the competition so far, Tom was going to need something pretty special in the pastry showstopper to dig himself out of danger. I was also a little nervous for Toby as I can’t help thinking he’s a little under-marked and over-harshly criticised for his baking.

Anyhoo, onto the pastry week showstopper, which this year was to be visually stunning sculpted tarts. The judges were looking for great textures and flavours and beautifully sculpted tarts that showcased their engineering, design and baking skills and also told a bit of a story.

To make the task trickier, the bakers’ structures needed to be at least a foot tall and could not be made from anything other than the pastry used for their tarts. They had just four hours.

A ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS

Paul told us that this year’s pastry showstopper was an opportunity for us to be a bit nosey and dig around in the lives of the bakers.

Aaron had other ideas, however, as he told us that he didn’t really want to say on camera what his sculpture was because he would then be admitting to something that had been a secret for years. Relenting eventually, he let out to millions of viewers that his ‘Nobody Gnomes’ tart was based on his antics with a friend and the period of time where they used to move his friend’s mum’s gnome around the garden without her knowing [until now!]

Toby told us that he used to work at a theme park and spent some considerable time trying to tame a goat called Milly that lived underneath a rollercoaster there. He thought he had achieved it – only to be rammed by her

MASTERING THE [T]ART OF PASTRY SCULPTURES IN JUST FOUR HOURS

Yes Toby, that’s four hours and not the four and a half hours you thought you were getting. Kudos for pulling it back, though!

And with Tom’s two biggest fears being structural pastry and Paul Hollywood, how did he – and the rest of the bakers get on?

Lesley delighted the judges with her ‘exquisite’ pastry bees and the depth of flavour of her honey-glazed pecan tart. Aaron divided the judges with his use of jasmine extract – which Paul didn’t like but Prue said was nice although she couldn’t eat much of it.

Ian’s retelling of the story of how the Giant’s Causeway came to be was a hit, described as detailed, clever and a great work of art. Although Prue did say that she thought he’d gone a bit OTT with the whiskey (and we all know that Prue likes her boozy bakes!)

Despite having half an hour less than he thought, Toby managed to pull off his pastry rollercoaster showstopper. His pastry was considered ‘exceptional’, although his structure was a little on the wonky side.

Nataliia’s sculpted swans were a visual triumph but the judges thought her pastry was too thick, overworked and a bit on the tough side. Jasmine’s sculpted tree looked like something you’d seen in a professional patisserie shop window according to Paul, although her tart was missing a texture (like a curd or jam) and was a little on the dry side.

And Tom needn’t have worried about either Paul or the structural pastry as he got a ‘Tom’s back in the tent’ for his Connect Four pastry sculpture.

FAREWELL TO THE SIXTH BAKER OF THE CLASS OF 2025

I thought this was a pretty tough one to predict this week as nobody had a total car crash week and while there were some issues in the signature and technical, everybody put up a great pastry showstopper.

I feared for Toby a little because, as I mentioned earlier, I think he’s judged a little harshly sometimes. Thankfully, those fears were baseless

The judges’ discussions with Alison and Noel centred around Nataliia and Aaron at the bottom. Tom saved himself from joining them with his great showstopper. Jasmine and Lesley were both in line for star baker after having three great rounds each.

Sadness for Nataliia as she became the sixth baker to leave the tent.

And a third star baker crown for Jasmine this week. Unquestionably well-deserved as she’s exceptionally talented, but I so very much wanted Lesley to get it this week. Let meringue week be yours, Lesley!

Until next week!

The post THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF 2025: WEEK SIX – PASTRY WEEK appeared first on The Little Bakery of Happiness.

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GLUTEN-FREE VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE

The Victoria sandwich cake is a classic cake in the repertoire of any home baker. Get it right and you'll delight your friends and family and will be fighting them off for that extra slice!

My gluten-free Victoria sandwich cake recipe is the one I included with my Magical Gluten-Free Plain Flour Blend when I entered it into The Great Taste Awards back in 2017.

The judges used it to test the flour and said: "The cake came out perfectly, with a golden top, and had a particularly delicious taste. It was at least as good as a standard recipe, perhaps more moist, and it remained good and moist for several days." My flour was awarded a Gold Star

I have since scaled the recipe up to make a deeper cake (because who doesn't like more cake?) and am now sharing the recipe with you so that you can make this knockout gluten-free Victoria sandwich cake for yourself.

Happy baking!

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 0

Ingredients

• 285 g Stork for baking (tub)
• 335 g caster sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 350 g Magical Gluten-free Plain Flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 50 ml milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (not essence)

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 180c /160c fan and grease and bottom line two 8" round cake tins (not sandwich tins as they will be too shallow).
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
• Weigh the Stork into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for two minutes.
• Add in the caster sugar and vanilla extract and beat for a further three minutes.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, each with 1tbsp (heaped) of the flour mix you sifted earlier. Beat between each addition.
• Add the remaining flour and beat until smooth.
• Finally, add the milk and beat to combine.
• Divide your cake batter between the two tins, smoothing the tops. Bake for around 30mins (it may take a few minutes more or less depending on how true to temperature your oven runs) until the tops are golden and spring back when pressed.
• Leave the cakes in the tins for 10mins then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• While the cake is cooling, whip 250ml of double cream until thick and spreadable. Set aside.
• When your cakes are cold, place one layer of it on a plate or cake stand and spread liberally with your favourite flavour of jam (I always use blackcurrant).
• With the side of the second layer that was face down on the wire racking facing upwards, spread the double cream all over the cake. (You want it this way up so that you have the smooth base of the cake facing upwards when stacked.)
• Carefully lift this layer up and flip it over and down on top of the jammy layer on your plate/cake stand.
• Liberally dust the top of your cake with icing sugar, pop the kettle on and get stuck in!

  xx Millie, Marcus, Milo, Maddy and Me xx

THE ORIGINS OF THE VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE

I would like to tell you that the Victoria sandwich cake was named in my honour. But that would be a hoofing great lie. And anyway, the cake has been around for a very long time and while I’m old, I’m not *that* old!

The Victoria sandwich cake (which you may also hear being called a Victoria sponge) is actually named after Queen Victoria. She was rather partial to a bit of tea and cake of an afternoon (a woman of exceptional taste, clearly).

The Victoria sandwich cake is traditionally baked with fat, sugar, flour and eggs in two layers. These layers are then sandwiched together with jam and freshly whipped cream and finished with a light dusting of icing sugar. Simple, elegant, light and delicate, it is a truly delicious cake.

A GOOD CAKE RECIPE

Having a good Victoria sandwich cake recipe in your repertoire is essential for the budding home baker. If you’re just starting out on your home baking journey, you can’t go wrong with mastering a good Victoria sandwich cake recipe!

So can you still bake and enjoy a Victoria sandwich cake when you are following a gluten-free diet? You bet you can!

A GREAT TASTE(ING) GLUTEN-FREE VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE RECIPE

My gluten-free Victoria sandwich cake recipe is the recipe I used when I was developing my gluten-free flour blend. By keeping the cake recipe constant (and picking a classic, no-place-to-hide recipe), I was able to see the effects that different flours had on the end bake – both good and bad. And it’s how I eventually settled on the mix and quantities of flours in my Magical Gluten-Free Plain Flour Blend.

And when a set of Great Taste Awards judges describe your gluten-free Victoria sandwich cake as every inch as good as a ‘standard’ (gluteny) recipe…yeah, that’s a pretty special moment in my gluten-free baking career

You can probably now see why this recipe is so special to me. I hope when you bake it that it makes you every inch as happy as it makes me every time I bake it (and, of course, eat it, too!) I’m delighted to be sharing it with you

The post RECIPE: GLUTEN-FREE CLASSIC VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE appeared first on The Little Bakery of Happiness.