‘The Great British Baking Show’ Season 5 Finale Recap [Spoilers]
All good things must come to an end, and that includes the competitive Season 5 of The Great British Baking Show, that has an all-male cast. The remaining bakers are all intense, quirky, and bring their own special skills to the work table. Judges Paul and Mary are showing no mercy to the talented bakers, and are intent on pushing all of them outside of their comfort zones.
The last men standing are law student John, medical student, James, and Brendan, a recruitment consultant who has one toe in retirement. Vulture says that the judges have chosen a complex signature challenge called a savory pithivier. A pithivier is a decorative pie, often a dessert, but this time savory, which has a filled dome and a double crust of puff pastry.
James opts for a chorizo and chicken pie, while John goes for roasted vegetable and sausage, and Brendan goes in another direction with a vegetarian option of potato and peppers. The greatest challenge here which is the theme for the whole season: avoid a soggy bottom. With all of the vegetables, moisture will be released, and so it’s important to keep that in mind when creating your pie.
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The judges appreciate all three pithiviers for taste, but James has a soggy bottom with his Spanish-inspire pie. The other two bakers had a great taste and flaky crusts with their pie and controlled the moisture from their veggies.
Next is the technical challenge, and technical it is, as the judges want 25 fondant fancies. Think little petit fours of lemon Victoria sponge topped with marzipan, apricot jam, and a dome of buttercream, totally covered in pink rosewater fondant. They might look simple and cute, but Paul and Mary have given the bakers very few instructions. The judges show viewers what the mini cakes are supposed to look like, but all three finalists find it difficult to present a professional result.
Paul Hollywood shakes his head while blindly assessing the finished products.
“Consider yourself chastised.”
James wins this one, redeeming his soggy bottom on the last challenge, but both judges think he had a heavy hand with the rosewater, which Mary called “pungent.”
With the showstopper, this will come down to the wire for the three men, who are being judged on this final episode, but also on their bakes from the whole season. This final challenge will be themed as “highlights from the past year,” and it must include a chiffon cake, which cannot include butter, making it a “fickle sponge.”
John themes his heaven and hell, Brendan’s is a family reunion, and James goes with a U.K. theme (think Brexit). Brendan’s cake that references his family coming back together after a significant rift includes three layers, one with gingerbread men.
John’s heaven and hell cake reference finishing up his final year of law school. Heaven is lemon and coconut meringue “cakelets” rolled in dried coconut and Hell is represented by a dark chocolate and orange layered cake.
James’ offering confuses the judges with five individual cakes representing the countries of the U.K., but Paul is confused as to why they are not physically connected. He also says the chiffon is dry.
It’s all come down to this, and all the contestants from day one are gathered to celebrate the winner, which is John, who has expressed interest in being a baker (and not a lawyer).
Congratulations John!
