RECAP: ‘Great British Baking Show’ Season 17, Episode 3
The tent and our hearts are full this week as our beloved bakers are joined by loved ones to take on a brand-new challenge in “Bake Off” history: Audience Choice Week!. Thousands of public submissions poured in to choose the bakes for the Signature, the Technical, and the Showstopper, resulting in three fan-sourced challenges. Let’s get cooking!
Read on for my take on Episode 3 of “Great British Bake-Off” (AKA “Great British Baking Show” for us American swine) Season 17. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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The Signature: Family Favorite Flavors & Cheesecake Chaos
The Challenge: An exquisite baked cheesecake inspired by a family favorite. The twist on the twist? Baking with a relative! Hugs abound, but so do structural failures. Will Michelle see the family resemblance?
Huh? Oh, wrong show.
The Lineup:
Shannon and mum Tammy: "The Naughty Bailey" - A dead dog’s boozy Irish Cream cheesecake. How lovely. And desperately sad.
Tom and partner Alex: "Alex’s Favorite Flavours" - A white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. Tom is giving major bossy-bottom energy.
Nikki and cousin Jen: A cherry Bakewell with way too much laughter and frivolity for my liking. Side Note: Any time I see an extract bottle of any kind come out, I immediately know they're going to overdo it. So brace yourselves for an artificial almond chemical bomb.
Molly and partner Ash: Raspberry “Cheesecake on the floor!” Now we finally see where Molly gets it - Ash explains that Molly’s mum literally tossed his welcome cheesecake to the ground.
Clara and fiancé Kieran: A Honky Tonk peach cheesecake. They’re moving to Georgia! Sure, Clara… there’s definitely a lot of cowboys down there.
Connie and husband Myke: Ginger and lemon Basque cheesecake, topped with poached pears to represent themselves. Very sweet (but hopefully not cloying).
Moyin and mama Kike: Basque cheesecake with a vibrant orange curd.
Yannis and mum Ruhsar: (Moira) Quark cheesecake. Definitely bringing a totally different cheese to the party, though Yannis immediately undermined himself by name-dropping Philadelphia cream cheese.
Take it away, Mo! (That’s an extremely deep cut, and if you get it, we’re friends now.)Gabe and partner Ellis: "You’re Coconuts" cheesecake. The throuple boy band is down a member for the family episode, but the boys are out here representing and, crucially, bringing the nuts.
Gary and sister Paula: Swan cheesecake. Honestly, I just completely zone out the second Gary starts talking, so I couldn't tell you much more about it.
Mo and cousin Esrat: Cardamom and strawberry cheesecake. Behold, the first Mo smile of the entire season! It is genuinely so nice to see these bakers actually light up around their family members.
Gary wins smart-guy award of the day by bringing two mini desk fans to aggressively cool down his cheesecake.
Nikki and Jen fall painfully behind, leaving themselves next to no time to chill.
In a stroke of pure panic, they resort to dumping ice around the cheesecake after it comes out of the oven.
Lots of nervous milling about while everyone stares into the abyss, praying to the baking gods that their cheesecakes actually set.
Best line of the round: “Ganache ‘er up, baby!”
Surprise, NO surprise - Nikki and Jen’s cheesecake is nowhere near set. To borrow an elite word from Nigella, it just squidges out the sides as they slap the cherry layer on top. It is in a truly tragic state of affairs by the time it hits the judging table.
Judging takeaway: Paul loves a fat middle. Looks like there’s a chance for me after all.
The Signature Verdict:
The Good: Tom and his glorious fat middle; Gabe (though he needed to thin out his curd); Yannis (minus the fig pips); Gary’s elegant swans; but the biggest moment of the round: Moyin’s stunning spiral curd gets a HANDSHAKE! And mom gets one too! How deeply meaningful for him to experience that right in front of his mother.
Somewhere in Between: Molly (raspberry flavor tasted way too fake); Clara (a literal flood of liquid drowned out the taste); Mo (the flavors competed with each other); Connie (overly wet poached pears).
The Bad: Shannon’s shockingly salty, "please don't ever do this again" Bailey’s cheesecake.
The Ugly: Nikki’s—called it!—fake almond ooze.
The Technical: The Mystery Box… oooOOOOoOoOoo
The Challenge: Tiny gingham cabinets hide a mystery box of baking staples. It’s basically a mini-episode of Chopped in the tent! To show off their own concoctions, Paul went classic with an apple tart, while Nigella casually wielded a blowtorch for a meringue-covered pie.
Naturally, we get SO MANY lemon drizzle derivations.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage: the Esterhazy Torte! Yannis leans hard into his Austrian roots to bake a country classic.
There’s an awful lot of guessing measurements going on since explicit recipes aren't provided. That said, some bakers clearly smuggled in small personal diaries packed with notes. I’d love to know what kind of vetting prompt let them bring those in.
Gays supporting gays! Gabe and Tom frantically fan Gabe’s cooling bake. I am genuinely shocked neither of them whipped out a folding fan to thworp it.
Moyin somehow manages to shatter an entire KitchenAid bowl over a double boiler. Classic tent behavior. I thought for sure those were heat-proof.
After her eggs accidentally start scrambling, Molly has to frantically pivot to an American buttercream. On behalf of the United States, I formally apologize to the judges.
Gary’s lemon loaf completely caves in, featuring a massive, tragic sinkhole right down the middle.
In a frantic final dash, multiple bakers spend their last remaining seconds desperately trying to plug their structural flaws and fill their cake holes. I know how much I love to fill my cake hole.
The Technical Rankings:
11th Place: Shannon (Way too flat on the lemon front for a proper lemon loaf.)
10th Place: Molly (Not enough flavor across the board… ouch.)
9th Place: Yannis (The torte was a flop.)
…
3rd Place: Clara (It was genuinely beautiful.)
2nd Place: Mo (Nice shoe—er, choux!)
1st Place (Winner): Gabe! (Bringing pure pizzazz to the table.)
The Showstopper: Couture Cakes & Fashion Fondant
The Challenge: Four and a half hours to construct an entirely edible, wearable fashion statement!
As Molly wisely noted, “Your brain is where the cake sits.” There is something profoundly prophetic about that statement.
Their plans:
Clara: A piña colada purse designed explicitly to prey on Paul’s known weakness for pineapple and coconut.
Shannon: Gingerbread fairy wings. Essentially, a flat biscuit with a bit of decoration slapped on top. Feels a bit too basic for a Showstopper, no?
Mo: Victoria’s Secret-style angel wings built from almond sponge, cherry compote, and delicate wafer feathers.
Connie: Has apparently been soaking her fruit for a full year. Pure, unadulterated baking insanity.
Tom: A Dolly Parton-inspired wig topper. The bottom tier costs extra. Rum-soaked banana sponge goodness.
Gary: A knitwear technologist making a literal knitted bobble hat out of cake.
Gabe: The resident costume designer is constructing a biscuit and choux crown packed with Turkish delight flavors. When Paul asks if it will snap or bend, Gabe channels his inner Elle Woods: Bend and snap, honey! This has easily got to be the gayest season of “Bake Off” in history.
Moyin: A pistachio and raspberry hat. When asked what kind of hat it is, he deadpans, "It's a hat." Let’s be real: that is NOT A FUCKING HAT. It’s just a cake!
Molly: Making an actual hat (take notes, Moyin) - a Formula One-inspired baseball cap flavored with sophisticated Earl Grey.
Connie: A massive, regal mother-of-the-bride hat that looks majestic.
Nikki: After completely bombing her Signature with chemical almond extract, she decides to risk it all on a mojito sombrero by free-pouring a questionable amount of liquid straight out of a bottle.
Yannis: A mango lassi-flavored Bengali groom’s crown.
Shannon decides to bake a second emergency gingerbread base just in case her first one crumbles, since she apparently has time to burn. This better be literal perfection. And right on cue, her first base promptly snaps to pieces.
After a massive structural crack, Nikki aggressively manhandles her bake, breaking it into even more pieces and forcing herself into a nightmare repair job.
Moyin is lucky he secured that handshake earlier, because his "hat" is looking desperately lackluster.
In the dying seconds of the clock, everyone rushes to mount their bakes, and things immediately begin sliding off their frames. Perhaps Shannon's overly simplistic approach was the smartest move in the tent after all.
The Showstopper Judging:
Connie: The hat looks fabulous! Nigella is obsessed, calling it divine. And thankfully, it tastes incredible too.
Tom: The wig topper is a total triumph, and the heart-shaped glasses tie the whole look together. It tastes phenomenal; Nigella literally cannot stop eating it.
Mo: The wafer feathers look remarkably neat. Judged as "highly effective," plus it’s delicious and light.
Moyin: Look, it’s a cake. Nigella tries throwing him a lifeline by calling it “the most beautiful cake,” but it wasn’t even close to being that. Most of it promptly crashes onto the floor, though to its credit, what's left tastes pretty good. Sadly, it completely failed the brief.
Gary: That hat is stuck FIRMLY to the mannequin's head. They have to physically wrestle it off. The orange color scheme is... violently bright, and the bake itself is a bit too dense.
Gabe: Paul calls the construction a bit untidy, but Nigella falls in love. The rose flavor is light and lovely, though the choux pastry is noticeably overworked.
Nikki: The judges are weirdly impressed by her mojito sombrero, though I’m personally not convinced. It looks a bit too arts-and-crafts for my taste, even if the flavors and textures actually hit the mark.
Yannis: The crown doesn't read very crown-like, but the mango lassi flavor shines through.
Molly: The ball cap looks a tiny bit sad with a brim that sits way too high. The sponge leans dense, but the flavor profile is gorgeous.
Shannon: The gingerbread wings look neat as a pin, but we all expected a bit more punch. The biscuit is a bit too tough and desperately needs more jam. Though I did appreciate Nigella sweetly pointing out tiny dabs of jam just so Paul could actually find them.
Clara: A brilliant handbag, complete with an entire runway catwalk. Alison even earns a mock handshake for awkwardly holding a mannequin arm. The result is a delicious, moist, buttery cake hailed as "exceptional" and "some real achievement".
The Final Verdict
For our Star Baker this week, it’s Clara! A designer purse fit for the Paris runway (or at least a very stylish street corner). WORK IT, GIRL! (a phrase Connie said at least twice.)
And leaving the tent, we have Shannon. After three rough bakes this week, her time in the tent sadly came to an end. She seems like an absolute sweetheart, so it’s genuinely hard to watch her go.
Who will RISE to the top of the tent next week? Who will SINK straight to the bottom depths? Join us next Saturday to recap Episode 4!
What do YOU think of “GBBO” Season 17? Drop your comments below!
