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Dublin: 5 °C Thursday 28 March, 2024
AS IT HAPPENED

Moss, Angel Delight and sleeveless jumpers...The Great Irish Bake Off semi-final

Baking hell! There’s only four of them left!

IT WAS THE SECOND last Great Irish Bake Off this evening and we were BESIDE ourselves with nerves for the remaining four.

Stephen, Oonagh, Maryanne and Will were battling it out for a place in the final, and this week they were asked to chronicle their bake off experiences in “journey cakes”.

There’s a bang of notions off that, but we’ll go with it for now.

Last week Barbara and Aoife were told to fork off after a challenging set of patisserie tasks.

But now it’s all about the final four. Could Stephen be beaten? How panicked could Will look?

Let’s catch up…

Okay, for the penultimate time, we’re off.

Is anyone else going to really miss Anna’s “I Believe I Can Fly” arms at the beginning of each episode?

Paul says he’s not going to hold back with his remarks this week. YEAH PAUL! LET EM HAVE IT!

Like we said, they have to bake a cake that symbolises their journey through the bake off. And, like we said… NOTIONS.

Despite the fact they’re all sweating buckets, Anna’s cracking jokes and they’re all laughing nervously and slightly manically.

Is that a GREEN cake Will? It’s far from green cakes we were reared.

Oonagh says “I feel like I can actually bake now”. Well we should hope so. It’s a baking competition.

Oonagh also says that she “listens to the cake” to allow it to tell her if it’s done or not.

A TALKING CAKE! WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE RICH LADS!

According to Maryanne:

Once you get past your mid thirties, shorts are not an option

Eh, we beg to differ Maryanne!

Maryanne asks the others if they find they use “ten times more baking parchment than you would at home”

That’s because you’re not paying for it Maryanne!

If you were, you’d be squirrelling leftover bits of it away in that drawer in your kitchen where all the old birthday candles, bits of tinfoil and takeaway menus are kept, aka the sh*t drawer!

Both Will and Stephen are making chiffon cakes, so-called because they’re so light and fluffy.

Will’s will represent both the Dutch and Irish flags – blue, red, green, gold and white. Hmmmm.

Meanwhile Maryanne’s making a Fraisier cake. (Not – to our disappointment –  a Frasier cake).

A fraisier cake is ”an incredibly pretty French cake filled with delicious strawberries and crème pâtissière”

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That ominous music can only mean that they’re coming close to the end of the challenge.

Maryanne is making icing roses and leaves, which look lovely…

While Stephen is drawing faces on his macaroons.

We’re not going to lie… we’re not convinced about this Stephen. Not convinced at all.

OH GOD! Maryanne forgot to put the praline in, and she’s going for perfection so she’s taking the top layer off her cake.

OUR NERVES!

She did it. She did it. God bless us, everyone!

Now it’s time for the judges to cast their eyes and gobs over the cakes.

Paul tells Oonagh that her macaroon hearts are a bit cracked. She counters with:

They’re supposed to be… they’re broken hearts.

Come off it Oonagh. You’re pulling a fast one.

Will’s cake is next.

Is this the way it’s supposed to look?

Ouch, Paul. Ouch.

Stephen’s macaroon faces have gone down a treat. That’s us told.

Paul and Biddy’s tough criticisms aren’t going unnoticed:

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Technical challenge time, and they’ve been challenged to make a seaweed tart and a moss-flavoured mousse for desert.

Moss-flavoured mousse. More notions right there.

The technical challenges come out of Biddy’s love for foraged ingredients. Not bits of sticks and old nappies though… fancy stuff like wild garlic and samphire.

The pastry for the tart is made using the rubbing in method.

We all remember that from school, right? Once you’re finished rubbing it in it has to look like breadcrumbs. We’re right back in Sr Brigid’s Home Ec class…

Maryanne said “shoot” there, but she REALLY wanted to say “sh*t”. Don’t blame her really.

The desert is being made using carrageen moss, which is a type of red algae found along the Atlantic coast.

We’re all for experimenting, but moss-flavoured mousse? We’re Angel Delight people, if we’re being honest.

 

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They’re having fierce trouble getting the moss mousse out of the moulds.

17pauloonagh Fairly sure it's not supposed to look like that.

Will’s mousse is upside-down. Morto.

Maryanne has proclaimed that this is:

… probably the worst experience of my life

And earlier she proclaimed that she really preferred cake decorating to baking.

Maryanne, are you sure you want to be here?

Will has been named the winner of the technical challenge, but now the judges are tearing his first cake apart, calling it a “disaster area”.

Close your ears Will pet. Don’t mind them.

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STAR BAKER TIME!

It’s Maryanne!

Her face=priceless.

And going home is…

Oonagh.

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So there we have it. Will, Stephen and Maryanne are through to the grand final of the first ever Great Irish Bake Off.

Join us right back here next week for the finale liveblog. Creamy buns, greasy tins and all…

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