The Great British Bake Off (series 7)

The seventh series of The Great British Bake Off aired from 24 August 2016, with twelve contestants competing to be crowned the series 7 winner. Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins presented the show, and Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood returned as judges. The competition was held in the grounds of Welford Park, Berkshire for a third year.^[1][2]

This series was the last of The Great British Bake Off to be broadcast on BBC One, as the production company Love Productions opted to move the show to Channel 4.^[3] It was also the last series on the show for Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, as they decided to leave as presenters of the show.^[4] It is also the last series of the show to feature Mary Berry as a judge.^[5] This series was won by Candice Brown, with Andrew Smyth and Jane Beedle finishing as runners-up.

Bakers

Results summary

Colour key:

     Baker was one of the judges' least favourite bakers that week, but was not eliminated.

     Baker was one of the judges' favourite bakers that week, but was not the Star Baker.

     Baker got through to the next round.

     Baker was eliminated.

     Baker was the Star Baker.

     Baker was a series runner-up.

     Baker was the series winner.

Episodes

     Baker eliminated

     Star Baker

     Winner

Episode 1: Cake

For the first challenge, the bakers were given two hours to make a drizzle cake, the brief being that the cake be moist and well permeated with the drizzle. For the technical challenge, the bakers were instructed to make Mary's recipe for twelve jaffa cakes. The recipe used a whipped fatless sponge, orange jelly and tempered chocolate with a design of sorts. For the final challenge, the bakers were instructed to make a mirror glaze cake. The cake had to have a genoise sponge and have a very shiny, mirror-like top, covering the cake entirely.

Episode 2: Biscuits

For the Signature Challenge, the bakers were given two and a half hours to make 24 iced biscuits (cookies). The biscuits had to be crisp and uniform. Viennese Whirls were set as the technical challenge. To be completed in an hour and a half, they had to be filled with buttercream and jam, and had have a defined shape. For the showstopper, a gingerbread scene was set as the challenge, the only brief being it that it had to be 30 cm high, and contain eight characters or objects. The bakers had four hours for this challenge.

Host Sue Perkins did not appear in the episode.^[24][25]

Episode 3: Bread

For the bakers' first challenge, they had to make a chocolate loaf in two and a half hours. The loaf had to contain chocolate in some form, whether it be powder or actual pieces of chocolate. For the technical challenge, the bakers were required to make twelve Dampfnudel, a recipe Paul called "notoriously difficult". In two hours, the bakers had to make twelve steamed bread rolls with two types of sauce. A savoury plaited (braided) centrepiece was set as the showstopper. In four hours, bakers had to make a centrepiece using at least three flours.

Episode 4: Batter

The first task was to make Yorkshire puddings, which involved the standard recipe filled with a variety of ingredients and flavours. The technical challenge was to make 12 heart-shaped "lace" pancakes, which required the bakers to draw a heart-shaped design with the batter. The showstopper challenge was to make 36 churros.^[26]

Episode 5: Pastry

For the signature bake, bakers were tasked with baking 24 breakfast pastries. Two different batches of 12 pastries were to be made. The technical challenge required the bakers to make one feathered Bakewell tart. For the showstopper challenge, the bakers were challenged to make 48 filled filo amuse-bouche; 24 with a savoury filling and 24 with a sweet filling.

Episode 6: Botanical

In the signature, the seven remaining bakers were asked to create a meringue pie containing citrus fruit, such as orange, grapefruits and lemons. In the technical, the contestants had to create two leaf-shaped herb fougasses. In the showstopper, the contestants were asked to create a three-tier cake with a flower theme. All the tiers could be the same flavour, or each one a different flavour, and the cakes could be decorated with flowers.

Episode 7: Desserts

The Signature challenge required the bakers to make a family-sized roulade. The judges were looking for a light sponge cake, even layers of filling, and a clean swirl. The technical challenge was for a Marjolaine or dacquoise, an unusual layered cake made with meringue, decorated with ganache and nuts. The showstopper challenge tasked the bakers with making 24 mini mousse cakes in two flavours (12 of each).^[27][28]

Episode 8: Tudor

Week eight featured the show's first Tudor theme, featuring food common in the 16th century. During the signature challenge, the five remaining bakers were asked to bake a shaped pie with Tudor flavours. The pie could be any type of pastry and they could use whichever fillings they wanted. In the technical, the contestants were asked to produce a dozen jumbles – six knot balls and six Celtic knots. In the showstopper challenge, the contestants were asked to bake a marchpane (marzipan) cake in a three-dimensional shape. However, all of the cakes had to be Tudor-themed.^[29]

Episode 9: Pâtisserie (semi-final)

The first task for pastry week required the remaining four contestants to bake 24 palmiers, with two different savoury fillings and shapes. The technical challenge was to make a Savarin, a liqueur-soaked yeast cake, which none of the contestants had made before. The final challenge was to make 36 fondant fancies.^[30][31]

Episode 10: Royal (final)

In the final signature challenge, the bakers had to make a filled meringue crown, which had to contain at least three layers of meringue, in three hours. In the technical, the judges decided to make a familiar bake challenging: the bakers had to make a Victoria sandwich, with no recipe or method given, in 90 minutes. The final showstopper involved the largest number of bakes ever requested in a challenge. The bakers were given five hours to make a picnic fit for the Queen, including one chocolate celebration cake, 12 sausage rolls, 12 mini quiches, 12 savoury scones and 12 fruit and custard tarts.^[32][33]

Christmas specials

The Masterclass episodes will be replaced by two Christmas specials, which will feature four contestants from the past 7 series. The two Christmas specials will be hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins and judged by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood as always.^[34]

Controversy

Before the series had begun, some viewers complained of the "gendered" icing in preview pictures of the bakers. In the promo shots of the bakers, the male bakers were given blue icing while the female bakers were given pink icing, whereas the previous year, every baker was given the same colour regardless.^[35][36][37] As a result, the BBC altered the colouring of the icing.^[38]

Ratings

The opening episode had an average viewing figure of 10.4 million according to overnight ratings, an improvement over the figure of 9.3 million for the corresponding episode in 2015. This made it the most watched TV show of 2016 so far, with the official figure also making it the most watched TV show since the 2015 Bake Off Final.^[39] Its run on the BBC ended with an average overnight viewing figure of 14 million for the final, peaking at 14.8 million, which is a record for the show.^[40]

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[41]

Specials

References