Crumbs... bakers snap in biscuit test
IT was a task of monumental proportions – create an impressive yet sturdy structure made entirely out of gingerbread.
So it was hardly surprising that nerves were snapping and egos were crumbling in the Great British Bake Off tent last night, as the biscuit showstopper turned the contestants into emotional wrecks.
The 11 amateur bakers were given four hours to engineer the 12in-high edible creations – but as walls caved in and towers tumbled, many saw their ambitions reduced to a pile of crumbs.
Val Stones, 67, who won over viewers last week with her eccentric oven-side exercise routine, saw her soaring New York skyline creation fall apart before her eyes.
She begged presenter Mel Giedroyc to give her time to fix the creation, but was forced to explain to judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry why her biscuit Statue of Liberty had toppled, saying: ‘Bless her, she gave up.’
However, it was Louise Williams’s gingerbread disaster that saw her eliminated from the Bake Off tent.
The 46-year-old hairdresser attempted a wedding scene – with a church, mini gravestones in the yard and a proud bride and groom – all flavoured with orange and spices. She explained she had designed the arrangement in preparation for her wedding in west Wales next year.
But the steeple of her delicate church snapped during construction – and then, just moments before the end of the challenge, the entire structure came tumbling down.
Frantically trying to reassemble the church, the pressure appeared too much for Louise as she welled up and hid from the cameras in the corner of the tent.
She was forced to present her creation in two parts – with the liquorice-tiled roof placed on a plate alongside the gingerbread church. Her biscuit calamity was, the judges declared, ‘unfortunate’. Given Louise’s woes, it’s no wonder that fellow baker Selasi Gbormittah, who also made a church, invoked the help of the baking gods – by crossing himself before he started.
His prayers seemed to work, as his structure, which featured stained glass windows made from boiled sweets, stayed miraculously intact.
Student Michael Georgiou was also wary of the perils of biscuit week, saying: ‘One little slip and your structure can just collapse,’ as he struggled to stick the roof on to his Santa’s grotto.
But one contestant did manage to tame the dreaded gingerbread – engineer Andrew Smyth. He put his mathematical expertise to good use to create a bridge over the River Cam, which was deemed ‘absolutely brilliant’ by Miss Berry.