‘The Great British Baking Show’ Draws Nigella in for Cake
'The Great British Baking Show' enters its Nigella Era with Season 17’s "Cake Week."
Welcome back to the tent and The Great British Baking Show for Season 17. It’s a new era for the nearly two-decade-long reality series as Paul Hollywood once again gets a brand-new judge to keep him in line after seven seasons of Mary Berry doing a quietly effective job of it and nine seasons of Prue Leith not managing nearly as well.
(The opening credits also now feature a new little kid, since the original is now an adult.)
Up until now, when folks have left Baking Show, it’s been in the dead of night, no acknowledgment, just a “Welcome new people!” to the ever-shifting staff around Paul. The Season 7-to-8 transition involved moving to a whole new network, so of course there was no on-screen goodbye to the ones who refused to go with the dough. Since then, two hosts, Sandi Toksvig and Matt Lucas, have left during the break between the holiday specials and the following season, leaving Noel Fielding to have a new partner each time. But the former quit because she couldn’t stand the boredom, and the latter left because they couldn’t fire Paul, so neither exit was acknowledged at the time either.
Prue is officially the first full-time cast member whose exit was planned well in advance, with her replacement already waiting in the wings and no hard feelings from any corner, so of course she’s the first to get an actual on-screen farewell. It will also probably surprise no one that her TARDIS (a Proving Box with a Raspberry on top) has been parked outside the tent this whole time. Doctor Prue bids them farewell and heads in to rise and regenerate into a new judge. A few puffs of dry ice later, and Food Network’s noughties late-night stand-and-stir host, Nigella Lawson, steps out and accepts Alison Hammond’s offer to judge some cake.
Signature Challenge: Chocolate Stout Cake
Speaking of cake, the very first challenge is to bake one! Of course it is. More specifically, the Signature Challenge asks for “sumptuous chocolate stout cake.” The cake can be baked into any shape; it can have as many layers as they want and include any ingredients they want to add to chocolate and stout, but it must include at least one filling or topping.
As always, the Signature is judged on a Pass/Fail Metric.
- Connie ‘Jamaican Dragon’ (Pass): Slightly overbaked but good flavor
- Shannon ‘Enchanted Black Forest’ (Fail): Paul complains it looks trifle-esque; Nigella says it tastes more like a pudding
- Tom ‘Tipsy Cherry’ (Pass): Paul loves how it looks; Nigella loves how it tastes
- Nikki ‘Blackberry & Malt Mascarpone’ (Pass): Nigella praises the blackberry jam
- Mo ‘Peanut & Caramel Stout’ (Pass): Nigella admits she likes that it’s not perfectly neat; Paul loves the flavors
- Moyin ‘Nigerian Chocolate Stout’ (Pass): Too much baking powder, but Paul loves it anyway.
- Clara ‘Taste of Two Homes’ (Pass): Paul gruffly admits it’s a nice cake.
- Danni ‘I’m a Little Cakey, Port & Stout’ (Fail): A mess, and raw inside
- Yannis ‘Sacher Symphony’ (Pass): The collar is a bit wonky, but the flavors are divine
- Gabe ‘Pint & Peanuts with Dad’ (Fail): It’s pretty... pretty bland. Nigella calls it “one note”
- Molly ‘Spiced Chocolate Stout’ (Fail): She nearly crashed and burned, so the fact that there is a cake is win enough.
- Gary ‘My Uncle Guinness’ (Pass): It was too warm when he iced it, but the flavors are spectacular.
Overall, it’s not the worst opening Signature we’ve had, but it’s not the most impressive either. Eight passes is respectable, but it really felt like the judges graded on a curve.
Technical Challenge: Coffee & Walnut Cake
Nigella sets the first Technical Challenge of her Baking Show career this week. She challenges them to make her version of a Coffee & Walnut Cake, but instead of giving them the bare-bones recipe, she gives them a poster-sized version of the official Baking Show Illustrator’s interpretation of her cake to work from.
Did I cackle? (Maaaaaybe.) I officially tip my hat to whoever came up with this twist. Let’s see who drew the correct ingredients and who failed to color by numbers.
12. Molly: No flavor; Nigella says it “reeks of anxiety”
11. Danni: “Raw inside” is apparently a theme
10. Shannon: Overbaked; the walnuts are ground too fine
9. Moyin: Way too salty
8. Clara: Overbaked, dense
7. Yannis: Nuts ground too fine, texture incorrect
6. Connie: Not nearly enough coffee flavor
5. Nikki: Nuts not ground enough (Paul: “These nuts are huge!” Nigella: 👀)
4. Mo: Coffee needed to be punchier
3. Gabe: Needed more filling
2. Gary: Declared “deliciously soft”
1. Tom: The coffee hits just right
Considering it’s her first-ever challenge, and she didn’t exactly give them a recipe, Nigella says she’s impressed by the overall results. That said, Molly and Danni are clearly the weakest links and will need flawless Showstoppers to avoid the bottom.
Showstopper Challenge: Self-Portrait Cakes
This week already hasn’t been going well for multiple contestants, but unfortunately, it’s not about to get better. The Showstopper Challenge brings back one of the worst Baking Show Cake Week concepts to date: the Two-Tiered Portrait Cake. I think we all remember the genuinely horrific results of the Season 11 “Personal Celebrity Hero” 3D bust cake Showstopper Challenge. While there probably won’t be a Freddie Mercury-level image that looks like it escaped from the Nailed It Kitchen, the results don’t look like they’ll impress Lawson much.
I suppose this is throwing Nigella in at the deep end to see if she can swim by having her experience a not-great Showstopper Challenge. But there’s good news: Alison is here to lead Noel in comforting the bakers after their failures. There’s also better news: Shannon is taken ill partway through the challenge, and post-COVID protocols mean she’s being sent home, so the chances of anyone being eliminated this week just dropped to zero.
Let’s see which cakes present a pretty picture and which fail to draw a crowd.
Danni’s ‘Magnolia Jam, Stinging Nettle & Sticky Willy’: We’ll spare everyone a shot of Danni’s cake, which collapsed between the time the bake was declared finished and judging. The nicest thing the judges say is that “at least you presented something.”
Gary’s ‘Home at the Stables’: Paul complains he did the same two-tier piping move as the Signature, but Nigella calls that “playing to his strengths,” even if the flavor is weak.
Moyin’s ‘Head of Heritage’: An actually well-done 3-D bust cake; the best part is the jam inside, which makes it look like it’s bleeding when Paul slices it. Slightly overbaked, but the Nigerian flavors get high marks.
Yannis’ ‘The Pointillism Canvas’: Genuinely ingenious; the cake is just square layers, the portrait is all in the dyed decor. Paul says it’s a little dry, but Nigella isn’t here for that, calling the cake “an experience.”
Connie’s ‘Chocolate & Berry Portrait Cake’: The top layer is leaning like a slide, but that Picasso-style face is a work of edible art, even if she didn’t finish. The cake is delicious too.
Gabe’s ‘Blu Romantic’: Don’t be fooled, there is a portrait, which the judges have to smash the mirror to see. Nigella calls the concept profound. (It’s better than the silly blue devil horns.) The cake’s overbaked, but the citrus flavor is perfect.
Nikki’s ‘Sunflower Serenity’: It’s a leaning tower of cake, and the portrait is clumsy, though at least it’s identifiable. The cake itself has way too much going on inside; Nigella asks if she was an overachiever in school.
Clara’s ‘Impression of Me’: It’s all a little clumsy, but the books are cute even if Clara’s Van Gogh self-portrait is decidedly mid. It’s rich, but the flavors are muted, and Nigella says it needs more punch.
Tom’s ‘My Favorite Cartoon’: It’s a little Simpsonsesque, but honestly, that helps cover a multitude of sins. Even Paul can’t really find much wrong with it, which clearly surprised him.
Molly’s ‘Lemon & Mango Portrait Cake’: I do like knitted frosting work. Nigella calls it cozy. The portrait isn’t bad either, and the flavors are spectacular. This is the level of success she needed after yesterday’s failures, and the judges are very pleased.
Mo’s ‘Lemon & Blueberry Portrait Cake’: He included his cat (named Simba!) in his portrait. This is obviously the best cake, hands down, for that alone, and also because Paul is instantly obsessed with the cat. (Also, the cake is perfection.) (Also, also: GINGER CAT.)
Star Baker this week goes to Mo (and Simba!). As expected, Shannon’s illness is used as an excuse to push everyone through to next week (and get a double elimination out of the deal), so we’ll all be back next week for Biscuits.
The Great British Baking Show Season 17 continues with new episodes every Tuesday on Channel 4 and Fridays on Netflix.
First one’s free, kids! Upgrade to a paid subscription today for our full coverage of the The Great British Baking Show Season 17.
Seasons 1 through 7 are available on Roku, while Seasons 8 through 16 (still incorrectly listed as “Collections 5 through 13”) are accessible on Netflix outside the U.K.
