The Sugar Also Melts in 'The Great British Baking Show's "Caramel Week"

Oh dear, it's Caramel Week on The Great British Baking Show, and that's always a sticky situation, ready to shatter at a moment's notice or, worse, melt into goo. The last time we saw Caramel Week was Season 12 (Collection 9), when it turned up, not at Week 4, but Week 7, featuring that Season's Top Five, the episode just before the quarter-finals. The contestants had a lot of challenges (mainly due to the Pandemic Schedule; it was August), and, at the time, I noted that Caramel Week was usually reserved for the creme-de-la-creme*, and was very happy to see the show at least attempt to keep it as a later challenge. 

Sadly, that was before National Theme Weeks. Since that change, Week 4 has suddenly stabilized into Fussiest Ingredient in the Pantry Week. Last season, it was Chocolate Week, which was a disaster. Now, it's Caramel, the only other truly miserable thing to work with when you are in a tent outside. It may not seem like that big a deal; there's only a four-week difference between Weeks 4 and 7. But there's a steep curve between what the Top Nine can handle in the first four weeks and what the Top Five can handle after two months of competition.

With that in mind, let's see which of our bakers can crack the caramel code and which wind up burnt sugar at the bottom of a pan.

The Signature Challenge to kick off caramel is on the easier end of the scale: one dozen perfectly uniform caramel biscuits. Think Millionaire’s Shortbread (a high-class version of a Twix) or those decadent caramel sandwich cookies from fancy coffee shops, which most of us only experience as TastyKakes. The main thing is to ensure the caramel in question lays properly, with no threads or striping, just a dozen fully clean, set but not hardened squares/rectangles/circles. I will note that I’m heartened by how much the bakers recognize the enormity of what they’re being asked to do; no one thinks this is easy.

Let’s see who set up correctly and who cracked wide open. As always, the Signature Challenge is, as always, judged on a pass/fail metric.

• Mike ‘Dad’s Favourite’ (Pass): They’re a bit bulgy on the sides but delicious nonetheless.
• Christiaan ‘Spiced Nut Stroopwafels’ (Pass): The only one brave enough to make SnoopWaffles*; the judges are impressed.   
• Illiyin ‘Almond Florentine’ (Pass): Prue declares a new kind of dessert has been invented, and Paul can’t even complain.
• Nelly ‘Good Old Times’ (Pass): She did hardened caramel ribbon decor on her sandwich biscuits. That’s a flex. Unfortunately, her shortbread is stodgy,
• Andy ‘A Bit of a Fix’ (Pass): He gets extra praise for combining chocolate and caramel because misery loves company.
• Dylan ‘Oats with Pineapple’ (Pass): These look amazing, like little flying saucers. (Paul calls the plate “a UFO convention”), and they taste amazing.
• Gill ‘Fruit & Nut Millionaire’ (Pass): They are store-bought perfect. Paul says they’re so good, they’re Billionaire’s Shortbread.
• Sumayah ‘Sesame Hibiscus’ (Fail): The caramel didn’t set and wound up like jam. The judges really didn’t want to call that a fail.
• Georgie ‘Favourite Chocolate Bar’ (Pass): These are a mess because the chocolate cracked when it came out of the molds. Paul picks a nonbroken one to judge.

This is the second week in a row Paul has teased Georgie with a handshake and then not gone all the way. He’s trying to build her up, give her an arc. Nice try buddy, but half of those broken should have been a Fail. 

*SnoopWaffles only available in America at your finest weed stores. (Puts hand to ear) Hold on, I’m being told...ah yes, Void Where Prohibited.

Prue sets this week's Technical Challenge, which she says is an exercise in timing and temperature. Well, that's true of all caramel treats so... thanks for the non-advice? Once the judges leave, Noel announces the bakers are being challenged to make a Pear Tarte Tatin. Picture a French apple tart with slices laid out in a fan pattern, but it's pears instead of apples with caramel filling instead of dairy. That's rough puff pastry, blind baking the shell, working the caramel, and slicing the fruit before the final bake. 

Oh, and they need to make a side of ice cream because that wasn't hard enough already. Let's see who pares the pears perfectly and who winds up pear-shaped.

9. Andy: Burned and blackened.
8. Gill: Her caramel is almost burnt, way too dark.
7. Mike: Barely baked at all.
6. Nelly: The pastry and pears are perfect, but she didn't add enough caramel.
5. Dylan: Doughy, messy, underbaked.
4. Illiyin: Her crust is more shortcrust than puff.
3. Sumayah: Slightly underbaked
2. Christiaan: The pears lay properly in their shell.
1. Georgie: It actually is the best one on the table.

Well! Paul looks surprised and chuffed to discover his favorite is accidentally the Technical Challenge winner. Watch out, or he'll be proclaiming her star baker this week.

The Showstopper Challenge is, as expected, a caramel cake. It's a Caramel Mousse Cake, to be exact, that must be highly decorated with sugar work and feature two kinds of caramel (sorry, "caramel-based components"). The bakers have four and a half hours to pull it off. The sponge is up to the baker to pick (light or heavy, any flavor they want), but the mousse must be caramel-flavored and colored, and the sugar work decor must also include caramel.

Georgie can smell that Star Baker from here. Her interview with Paul is cutesy, flirty, and slightly ditzy. Prue smiles, knowing perfectly well what the woman is doing, and assumes Paul learned his lesson from last season, so she needn't stop this. We'll see about that.

Let us judge which of these cakes are Caramel Creativity and which need to be melted down.

Nelly’s ‘Behind Every Great Woman’ Cake: It’s right out of a bakery window and slices like it’s worth hundreds of dollars. Prue is super impressed by how it melts in her mouth, and Paul loves her toffee/coffee flavors.

Christiaan’s ‘Tropicaramel’ Cake: The picture doesn’t do the hardened caramel wave justice, but then again, a front-facing shot shows it nearly falling off. Paul starts cutting it, and the knife almost gets stuck in the thick caramel layer. But the lime and caramel packs a punch and a half of flavor, and all is overlooked just for that.

Sumaya’s ‘Banoffee Pecan’ Cake: It’s a visual feast, but her top layer has far too much gelatin and isn’t staying on the cake. Instead, it peels up as Paul pulls the knife away, showing off the naked sponge underneath. It’s practically inedible rubber, which would be the death knell for just about anyone else, but we all know Sumaya will be fine.

Illiyin’s Caramel & White Chocolate Cake: It's a bit small, and the crown, while impressive, doesn't make any sense with the rest of the design; it's just stuck on it randomly. Prue notes that a significant part of the problem is that the sponge layer is too small to support the mousse, which Illiyin knew but hoped no one would notice.

Andy’s ‘Lonely Tree’ Cake: Andy was having a bad week until the Showstopper, but the fact that this tree looks for all the world as if it would pass for a music box or a sculpture in a museum guarantees him another week in the tent. It helps that his mousse and cake taste perfect.

Gill’s ‘Sticky Toffee’ Cake: Gill made the platonic ideal of a caramel mousse cake, which Paul absolutely appreciates because it's done so well. (Remember last season's sausage rolls, and only one person made a real sausage roll? Those kinds of incidents explain why Paul loves this cake.)

Mike’s Coffee Popcorn Cake: The unfrosted sides and the caramel shards make it look like a holiday cake, which Paul notes, calling it “Festive,” even as he complains that the lack of frosting on the sides makes it look unfinished, and doesn’t fill the “highly-decorated” requirement. Worse, it’s a layer cake, not a mousse cake; Prue notes this also does not fill the brief.

Georgie’s ‘Glass Rose Mirror’ Cake: It is rather too small, but wow, that rose she made is startlingly impressive. (The detail on the leaves is chef’s kiss.) She also nailed the mousse, the mirror glaze, and the gelatin outside. Prue is genuinely surprised.

Dylan’s Lemon Honey & Ginger Cake: This cake is also rather too small, and the lemon technically didn’t hold together, but the overall effect is simply gorgeous; I could easily see this costing £100 in a shop window. As for the flavor, Paul literally massages his jaws after eating a slice; the lemon punches him in the mouth so hard.

By rights, Sumaya should go home. She was the only one who failed the Signature, and her Mousse cake was an utter disaster. But there’s no way the judges will get rid of her yet; she’s simply far too talented. This problem is redoubled by no one standing out this week either; for example, Andy came in last in the Technical but walked off with the Showstopper. That leaves this as a judge’s gut decision, so Paul grabs the advantage and bullies Prue into giving Georgie star baker (eh, it’s probably as close as she’ll get). 

As for who goes home, I know they had to pick someone, and Mike even agrees it’s his time, but I would have liked him to have stayed longer.

The Great British Baking Show continues with new episodes every Tuesday in the U.K. and Friday in the U.S. on Netflix through the end of November.