It’s getting real now on Bake Off – it’s the semi-final and Patisserie week! Here’s what went down as we march on to the business end of GBBO 2016:

• In a rather empty-looking tent, the bakers were tasked with making palmiers. The main spectacle during the baking process was the HUGE slabs of butter worked into the pastry – enough to give you a heart attack just from watching.
• Andrew had an early fail with his pastry and was forced into redoing everything an hour into the bake. Everyone else seemed to get on pretty well, although there were some similar flavours running through a few of the bakes.
• Jane’s efforts had good flavour but the pastry had gone soggy thanks to her oily fillings. Candice’s palmiers looked good and had a crispy texture to them, but the look of her onion-dominated pastry efforts was a little messy (Paul actually ended up noting that they weren’t technically palmiers!).
• Selasi’s were underbaked and soggy, and he emerged from the signature lagging behind the others, as Andrew managed to win praise for the layers, colour, and flavour despite his dodgy start.
• The technical tasked the bakers with making a savarin. Jane dominated with a perfectly executed bake. Sadly, Selasi struggled, his syrup failing to penetrate far enough into his sponge, and his presentation lacking in finesse as well. At this point, it looked like Selasi, our favourite, was nailed on to be leaving the tent before finals week.
• And so on to the showstopper and the challenge of making 36 fondant fancies. These looked divine – we’re big fondant fans!
• Candice’s praline fondants had a hidden surprise in that delighted Mary, and even Paul was impressed by her flavours and the skill on show. Selasi, meanwhile, struggled once more – he was really out of his depth this week, sadly. Jane’s presentation let her down, surprisingly for her, but her flavours were spot on, whilst Andrew did well with his simple approach.
• There perhaps had rarely been a more inevitable departure from the tent than Selasi, and so it proved. Andrew was named star baker and will go into the final full of confidence.