Great British Baking Show season 14 episode 9: Patisserie Week

The penultimate episode of season 14 of Great British Baking Show has arrived, and it’s not only Patisserie Week, but it’s also the semi-finals. The remaining bakers, Tasha, Dan, Josh, and Matty, were the final four, and they could not make any mistakes this week.

The show started off with a financier Signature Challenge. A financier is like a small cake topped with some kind of buttercream or icing and can be in just about any flavor. Josh made specific dessert-flavored financiers while the other bakers pretty much made one chocolate kind and one fruity kind.

This wasn’t a bad challenge. Some had issues with overbaking, while others had trouble with messiness or making the financiers too large, but other than that, the bakers did pretty well. If this were an earlier week, it would have been a success, but because it’s week nine, these small mistakes matter.

It was Dan who really showed his stripes in this challenge. His flavors were perfect, as was his bake, so he got the famous Hollywood Handshake!

Great British Baking Show had extremely stressful semi-final

On to the Technical! The bakers had to make an apple frangipane tart. Sounds pretty simple, right? Making a frangipane tart in two and a half hours is not easy when you have to make the crust yourself. On top of that, the bakers had to slice the apples themselves and arrange them in a pretty pattern, and they had almost no recipe to work with. It was nearly impossible,

Tasha really struggled with the challenge, and her tart showed that struggle. It wasn’t baked enough, and her crust cracked and crumbled. Dan and Matty also had issues with their crusts, but not as much as Tasha. Josh took the top spot and won his first Technical Challenge.

Time for the Showstopper! The bakers had to make an extraordinary mille-feulle. It’s pretty much an Italian puff pastry layered dessert.

Right from the jump, you knew this wasn’t going to go well for Tasha. For some absurd reason, she decided to do an inverse puff pastry. To get an idea of how difficult this is, think about trying to roll out and fold cold butter without it cracking. Yeah, not easy. The pastry turned out okay, but her mango curd was too grainy for the judges.

The judges also had issues with Matty’s puff pastry and thought Dan’s overall presentation was a bit messy.

As you can probably guess, this meant Josh got his second Star Baker!

So who went home? Considering how much Paul had issues with Matty’s puff pastry, I was sure he was going home, but it was  Tasha who was sent packing this week. This was an absolute gut punch. She has been one of the most memorable and fun bakers to watch this season, and it sucks that she won’t be part of the finale.

It kind of hurt even more because Allison wasn’t there as host. She has a way of making these horrible moments a little bit better with her humor and kindness. She was sick this week so Noel was on his own in hosting duties.

Next week will the be finale! Who knows what the judges will have them bake and how the final three with perform. It will be one of the few times that the finale will include only men.

What did you think of this week’s episode of the Great British Baking Show? Did you agree with who went home? Stay tuned to Guilty Eats for the latest food TV news!