/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67557716/bake_off_2020_episode_2_september_29.0.jpg)
Welcome to the Eater round-up of Great British Bake Off 2020, as Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Matt Lucas, and Noel Fielding return to Channel 4 with the 11th series of cakes, puddings, breads, and inevitable recourse to terrible baking puns. Filmed in a bio-secure coronavirus bubble, producers had originally said that Paul Hollywood’s terrible handshake was cancelled, but somehow, it is still here, as sweaty as ever.
Great British Bake Off 2020 Episode 2 tackled biscuits, with a signature challenge covering Battenberg, a technical challenge covering pineapple upside down cake, and a showstopper covering ... well ... wait and see. Contestant introductions were many, cutaways were rife, and cakes toppled to the floor.. Here, now, is Great British Bake Off 2020 Episode 1, (sort of) as it happened.
Great British Bake Off 2020 Biscuit Week: The Introduction
From a coronavirus briefing to ... some fake biscuit facts. Sorry folks, that was rubbish.
Great British Bake Off 2020 Biscuit Week: Signature Challenge
04:35: It’s Florentines. Biscuit; fruit; chocolate; snappy. Matt Lucas and Noel
Fielding do another weird ready, steady
**interminable void**
bake
gag and things can actually begin.
05:00: David knows the snap is key; Hermine is just scared; Prue once again refers to a baked good, on a show about baking, as “fattening.” No-body-cares.
If none of these biscuits are called quarantine florentines I'll be very disappointed #GBBO @BritishBakeOff
— fionashields (@fiona_shields) September 29, 2020
I’m not convinced florentines or macaroons are biscuits ♀️#justsaying #gbbo
— Becca Adams (@Asqbecca) September 29, 2020
I still don't understand what florentines are even though I've been watching people make them for the past 20 minutes #GBBO
— Dan 2.0 ️ (@D_4294967295) September 29, 2020
05:43: Peter is riffing on sticky toffee pudding for a sticky biscuit. Sura is riffing on Sohan-e-quom, an Iranian brittle of rosewater, cardamom, almond, and pistachio. Noel takes the opportunity to remind Sura that she knocked David’s cakes over last week. Traumatic stuff.
07:27: Linda remembers that common childhood story of stealing florentines. Not for all. Mark wants a “bite of nuts.” Stand by for Paul Hollywood’s Kneady Sleazy Wheeze of the Week... but wait, because Mark, Mak, Hermine, and Dave are all using mango. Dave loves eating “all things mango.” How many mango things ... Are there? Laura is going for salted caramel florentines, and her interstitial reveals that she is the landlord of a pub with a pizza oven, bloody hell what a ... Oh, no, it’s a sign in her garden. Still. Nice pizza oven.
9:47: A little interlude on measurement features Mak saying that “some people measure, but I don’t have the patience.” I feel a Foolhardy Manoeuvre That Will Quite Obviously Backfire As Soon As It Is Mentioned of the Week coming on.
12:10 Lottie DROPS THE QUARANTINE FLORENTINES. @fionashields can rest easy. Mark’s switching oven shelves and Laura is timing to the second. Meanwhile, some niche discomfort:
Most of the bakers are making their florentines in molds. I’m really uncomfortable about this. Heresy!!! #gbbo
— Dan Beasley-Harling (@DBeasleyHarling) September 29, 2020
14:45: Rowan is doing waistcoat florentines in honour of his own waistcoat collection. Matt Lucas tells Paul “that this is what posh people talk about.” Where’s that Channel 4 pay scale...
15:22: Rowan’s Battenberg is a visual representation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which, absolutely, why not. Linda’s Battenberg is going to be an ambulance, which, absolutely, why not. Mak is doing a pistachio marzipan, because he hates almond marzipan, which, absolutely, why not. Hermine is adding marmalade and orange liqueur to her marzipan, which, absolutely, why not.
16:20: Everyone’s tempering their chocolate. Paging Sohla El-Waylly...
17:00: It’s notable that where Sandi acted as a sort of grounding, wearily straightforward sounding board to Noel, Fielding and Lucas’ double act is predicated entirely on each other being ambient-weird. It may grate, over the series. Matt Lucas says “if you communicate through rap, the kids really take it in.” At least you didn’t put blackface in the script this time my dude (:
18:41: C H A O S M O N T A G E
19:15: Signature challenge tiers
- WHO LET THE HOLLYWOOD HANDSHAKE BACK IN HERE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CANCELLED WHY ON GOD’S EARTH IS THIS SWEATY BLUE-EYED MAN STILL ALLOWED TO TAKE PEOPLE’S HANDS AND GRASP THEM IN A MANNER DESIGNED TO SHOW PLEASURE BUT IN REALITY SCANS AS DEEPLY CREEPY tier: Lottie
- God tier: Sura
- Somehow winged it tier: David
- Very surprising tier: Marc
- Never had anything like it tier: Peter
- Paul wants something bitter tier: Laura
- Don’t stop dreaming (but maybe do, because, they’re bad) tier: Rowan
- Too chewy tier: Hermine
- Prue was worrying about very large nuts tier: Mark
- It’s not a florentine tier: Linda
- Foolhardy Manoeuvre That Will Quite Obviously Backfire As Soon As It Is Mentioned of the Week (and it’s not a florentine) tier: Mak
The Hollywood Handshake was supposed to be dead and gone. Dead and gone. Dead and gone.
Great British Bake Off 2020 Biscuit Week: Technical Challenge
29:11: Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood’s Machiavellian schemes continue with macaroons. Not macarons. Macaroons. With more mango. Big week for mango.
I FRICKEN LOVE MACAROONS #GBBO If I was releasing a bakery cook book I'd call it "Get It Macaroon ye"
— Louise Stewart (@LouiseStewart) September 29, 2020
I was not aware that macarons and macaroons were two separate things #gbbo
— - (@sillycharityx) September 29, 2020
Ada is transfixed by the macaroons on #GBBO pic.twitter.com/HQoUnrACSz
— Andy Brunning (@ndbrning) September 29, 2020
Me: those macaroons look good
— Darryl Edge (@DarrylEdge) September 29, 2020
Paul and Prue: these are not good
Me: those are not good#GBBO #GreatBritishBakeOff
30:22: Matt Lucas does that macaron macaroon macarooon joke nobody asked for.
31:10: Noel inadvertently recognises the horror of the Hollywood handshake by asking Lottie what it felt like when “Paul’s sausagey fingers grasped your tiny hand.” Lottie says she felt nothing. Correct answer.
32:00: There’s not been enough jeopardy on the technical challenges so far. Sura’s toppling of Dave’s cake last week was an event, for sure, but much like the professional kitchen round on Masterchef, the gap between the preparation and the judging just feels ... too long? Long-time fans will remember that they used to be punctuated by historical segments explaining the origin of each bake, but those are long gone. So, there’s a lot of fiddling with greaseproof paper and Laura is gracious enough to admit that when it comes to mango curd, she’s talking out of her arse.
35:04: Some good old-fashioned craning necks into ovens and trying to define an inscrutable baking term (“golden.”) This is the GBBO of yore. Some trolling from Matt: “you have five minutes ... Until we tell you you have ten minutes.” Great stuff.
36:30: Technical challenge tiers
- Actually baked tier: Mark, Mak, Dave, Hermine
- Does taste very good tier: Sura, Linda
- Squashy tier: Laura, Rowan, Lottie, Peter, Marc
- Squashy and messy tier: Rowan
Great British Bake Off 2020 Biscuit Week: Showstopper Challenge
39:50: The showstopper is ... Well to be honest it could be anything after last week:
These cake heads are TERRIFYING #GBBO
— A future Martin Goodman (@donnyjuff) September 22, 2020
Chris Hoy blow up doll cake? #GBBO
— Darren or Dave (@BvBeeBoy) September 22, 2020
mentally i'm here: #GBBO pic.twitter.com/VXJLuaFn5Z
— Truck Festival (@TruckFestival) September 22, 2020
The cakes are not heads. The biscuits are not heads. The biscuits are... A 3D [opens book] sculpted [rifles through some pages] table setting [shuts book] trompe l’oeil [looks at camera]
44:00: Prue: It’s not going to be easy. Rowan, who is surely favourite to leave right now, is doing a lighthouse with a flashing light on top. “Worse things happen at sea,” it’s called. Counterpoint: they do not. Countercounterpoint: Rowan stans... They are many.
#GBBO
— Roonil Wazlib (@wokestofscrolls) September 29, 2020
*Prue and Paul insults Rowan's biscuits*
Me: pic.twitter.com/UksZ1h1PcS
Me anytime Rowan is on screen. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/vHKBCujYko
— Not Bevan ||BLM (@FrecklyBiscuit) September 29, 2020
Rowan already has my heart #GBBO pic.twitter.com/CnBnRq3Qa1
— Ty (@thraakthr) September 22, 2020
Paul Hollywood keeps telling Rowan he doesn’t use his time properly
— Brady Newstead (@bradynewstead) September 29, 2020
Rowan......#GBBO pic.twitter.com/MLvQLJ43of
46:24: Viking biscuits. Ethiopian coffee ceremony biscuits. Haggis biscuits. A tale of two tea sets: one from Sura and one from Mak.
54:12: V E R Y L O N G D E C O R A T I O N C H A O S M O N T A G E
57:20: Showstopper challenge tiers
- An amazing toast and tea tier: Marc
- An amazing job tier: Dave
- A great job tier: Peter
- Great snap tier: Sura, Mark
- Look good taste bad tier: Hermine
- Not enough work tier: Laura
- Too much work tier: Linda
- A bit clumsy tier: Mak
- Rubber lighthouse tier: Rowan
Star baker: Dave, proving that this series consistency looks to trump wow factor.
Going home: Mak. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh nah should have been Rowan mate. Rowan had 0/3; Mak 1/3; Rowan’s error is always the same, hubristic ambition that ends in disaster, across two weeks. Honestly, the judges have had a shocker, and that’s not even accounting for the Hollywood handshake. Prue even said OUT LOUD that “Rowan doesn’t take any advice.”
Running theme: Controversy and outrage.
Rowan: Oh Mac, I'm astonished!
— ️ (@xQuaintrellex) September 29, 2020
Yeah so is everyone else. #GBBO
Ay not being funny but r they jokin getting rid of Mak over Rowan? #GBBO
— Steph_Trash (@DubStephClarkey) September 29, 2020
Mak? Not Rowan?! #GBBO pic.twitter.com/r2ywwg23ak
— Chris (@blaggerchris) September 29, 2020
Oh no no no I don’t think so #GBBO
— Gemma Styles (@GemmaAnneStyles) September 29, 2020
How has Rowan stayed in the @BritishBakeOff competition he's consistently bad, Mak was poor but the technical should have saved him #GBBO #BakeOff
— Ben Cramp (@BenCramp2) September 29, 2020