The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Patisserie Week – 2025

We are near the finish line. Week nine is all about patisserie. Again, Darcie has been sharing the “comments” here. I have been setting them up – and adding online links etc. I have a lot to catch up on!

Signature Challenge: Cream horns.

Cream horn are also called cannoncini (the Italian name) or Schaumrollen (the Austrian name). In some parts of the United States, especially Pittsburgh, they are called lady locks or clothespin cookies. We have nine online recipes for cream horns; one for Lady locks and one for Clothespin cookies in our Library.

Darcie: The temperature worked against the semi-finalists, even with rough puff. Toby’s pastry was sticking to the work surface, which meant it was too warm. There was a clear divide between good puff (Jasmine and Aaron) and not-so-good puff (Tom and Toby). Paul learned that Toby used Gordon Ramsay’s rough puff and said you should never trust a pastry recipe from a chef. Overall the flavor combinations were good, but Aaron received criticism from the judges on his orange and cherry combination.

Technical Challenge: Framboisier by Paul Hollywood

This challenged not only the bakers’ cake and custard making abilities, but also their sugar working skills. That’s a lot to accomplish in just 2.5 hours. The bakers faced an additional challenge because they did not have candy thermometers that indicate where the various stages are, so they had to proceed by memory. Only one baker (Aaron) managed to get a sugar dome made at all; the rest cracked or deflated. Toby was fourth, Aaron was third, Tom was second, and Jasmine came in first.

Darcie: I have made plenty of confections, but I have to look up the temperatures for hard ball, soft crack, hard crack, etc. every single time. That was a diabolical trick. It’s difficult enough to make a sugar dome even without this additional layer of guesswork. I have never tried one and it looks nerve-wracking even without a time crunch and being judged against other bakers. It’s no wonder that only one baker managed to even get a dome, as flawed as it was. Toby and Aaron had another issue in that they added butter to their custard when the custard was too warm. This destroyed the texture of the mousseline, which did not set and oozed out all over the plates. Aaron’s also split, and looked very unappetizing.

Showstopper Challenge: A macaron sculpture.

We have over 400 online recipes for macarons. We have one how-to Macaron tower recipe indexed.

Darcie: Because this was the semi-final, the judges were more critical than earlier in the season, finding some fault with all of the bakers’ work. As Toby said even Jasmine received negative feedback, which had rarely been heard the previous weeks. Every negative comment was brutal for the contestants – they looked like they were physically pained after the judging.

I was really rooting for Toby to make it through because he is just so likeable, but the mousseline disaster was too much to overcome, even though he made an impressive comeback in the showstopper with his crates full of lemons. I agreed with Paul’s comment that Tom made a chocolate sculpture, not a macaron sculpture. Aaron’s sculpture was messy but more importantly, his macarons were not good. Based on only what I could see, I might have sent Aaron or Tom packing instead of Toby, but it was definitely a close call between the three of them. Onward to the final!

Toby left and Jasmine was crowned star baker. The finale will consist of Tom, Aaron and Jasmine!