Spotting the Dick in Season 15 of 'The Great British Baking Show's "Dessert Week"

For the second year running, The Great British Baking Show has decided that "Dessert Week" should be the last theme before the Quarterfinal round. Like Pastry Week, "Desserts" is a bit of a grab-bag theme, encompassing the kind of baking that doesn't fit neatly into other categories. This is where you'll usually find the cheesecake-style challenges (cheesecake is a pie, but it doesn't require the bakers to make a complicated crust), the mousses (meeses?), puddings, and a Bake Off favorite, the meringue challenges.

Until recently, "Dessert Week" was a floater theme that turned up just about every season, landing anywhere from the first challenge post-Bread week to the actual Quarterfinals. Because it has served as an easy and a hard theme week, the Dessert Challenges have included everything from super difficult creme caramels to the easier sticky toffee puddings. However, it also has contained some genuinely off the wall bakes, like Pavlova, ice cream bombes, and the deeply feared clear jello domes with a baked scene inside it. Dessert backwards is "stressed" after all.

Dessert Week is also a theme that can be profoundly revealing of a baker's limitation. Last season, for example, Dan's inability to handle flavors in an intelligent way became unignorable when he submitted Thai Green Curry Crème Caramels. (He saved himself with his Bombe Showstopper, but it was a clear sign he was hitting his expiration.) Whether or not this season will be equally telling remains to be seen, as does whether the judges will proceed to ignore its warning signs or if Paul will admit that his chosen favorite shouldn't continue.