So we’ve made it to dessert week!

The signature bake for this week was a roulade, with the main challenge seemingly avoiding cracked sponges (a very Bake Off problem!).

Tom was the first to show some cracks, not in his roulade, but more in his confidence after he underbaked his first sponge. Andrew, meanwhile, pinched his dad’s curd recipe while Candice earned approval for the rolling of her roulade from Mary. The final roll of course was the make or break time with Tom seeing his break, and Jane rolling the wrong way!

Tasting was going to be key (as it should be) and here Candice fell short with an overbaked sponge. Andrew nailed it with skill and taste, giving him a chance to live up to his promise of making dessert week his own, but Tom looked in real trouble early on.

On to the technical challenge: making a marjolaine (a rectangular French gateau to you and me).

Andrew again nailed it, Candice did well, but Selasi and Tom found themselves as the bottom two. With this in mind, the battle for the star baker crown seemed nailed on for Andrew while Tom looked all but certain to be heading home only a week after winning star baker.

The showstopper challenge was a tough one for the less ‘appearance-orientated’ bakers (i.e. Tom), with the bakers tasked to create 24 mini mousse cakes in two different flavours.

While many of the competitors had nailed their mousses and largely the appearance of their mini mousses, Tom simply failed even to really create a mousse at all, hammering home the final nail in his coffin. Meanwhile, the battle for star baker was made more competitive by Benjamina impressing with her flavours. Jane earned great praise for doing five mousses well and showed once more that she could be a dark horse in the battle to win this year’s crown. Ultimately, though, Andrew’s ferris wheel presentation and solid display throughout the challenges earned him star baker.

Roll on Tudor week!