RECAP | THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BAKE OFF S04E04

Last year The Great Australian Bake Off merely flirted with the idea of leaving things out on “free from” week, better known as the week Robert went home. Now it’s time for vegan week. There was a vegan week on last year’s GBBO, but as I’ve mentioned previously, this series was filmed 18 months ago, either before or concurrently with that season. We don’t know which is the chicken and which is the egg.

Anyway, we open the episode with lovely shots of the flowers of the Dame Edith Walker Estate before coming across the Vestus pissedofferum, whose common name is Matt Moran.

We start the episode with the bakers telling us how they feel about vegan week. When Don thinks about vegan food, he thinks of lettuce leaves on a plate. When it comes to his feelings on vegan food and colourful shirts, Don is a lot like Jon from Wales on the last season of GBBO. Wynn is also not a fan of this particular concept. Anston however, is thrilled. We learned in week 1 that he’s vegan and this is the first week he can taste his bakes. I’ll argue that he could’ve made vegan bread, but then we wouldn’t have had those delicious looking pork scrolls. Angela is also vegan, but we didn’t know about it until now. She doesn’t assume that this will give her an advantage, because things can still go wrong. All in all though, this is perhaps the most prepared group of bakers they could’ve found for vegan week.

Signature: Layered Slices

The first thing we learn when we get inside the shed is that Laura is recovering, but has left the competition. I’m really sad to see Laura gone, she was consistently good and she did interesting things with her baking. I also think she would’ve done quite well with vegan week. Let’s not forget her exchange with Matt in week one that sounded like it was out of a Beckett play.

Anyway. The signature is a layered slice. It must have at least three layers, and the base must be baked. It should be cut into twelve identical pieces and not contain any animal products including dairy, eggs or honey. The bakers had two hours to make their slices.

Sue made a vegan ma’amoul slice from a recipe that has been in her family for over 100 years. It had a pistachio and rosewater centre and a semolina base and top. It was decorated with candied pistachios. Matt and Maggie said that the slice cut well and was nice and crisp on the bottom. They said that the flavour was good and it was nice and crunchy, but it was too dry.

Anston may have had his favourite moment of the series so far when he was able to taste his baking for the first time. His black forest slice had a cherry and chocolate fudge cake base with 70% dark chocolate (I don’t know about vegan, but I do know Lindt 70% is dairy free because it’s one of the few chocolate things my sister can eat with my nephew’s dairy intolerance). The middle layer was a cherry jam and it was topped with a chickpea cream/meringue thing. I know the name of this method, but I can’t remember what it’s called. The judges said that the flavour was good and it ate beautifully, but it didn’t fill the brief because the layers weren’t clearly defined.

As we learned at the beginning of the episode, Angela is the other vegan in the tent and everything she bakes at home is vegan. She made a matcha and raspberry slice. It had a coconut and almond base, a raspberry puree centre and a matcha and cashew cream on top. While she’s baking, the judges remind Angela that she didn’t do well last week and needs to pull it off this week. No pressure! Maggie said she would’ve preferred more raspberry and a thinner base, but the matcha rounded out the flavours.

Dan tells us that he bakes vegan for his partner and their theory is that they can eat more because it’s healthier. He made a Cherry Ripe slice with a baked almond meal base, a macadamia and coconut centre and a cherry, strawberry and coconut compote. Matt and Maggie say they look cute. Matt loves the flavour and Maggie says it’s rich. Maggie also loves the flavour combination of cherries and strawberries, which she’s never had before.

David is not a fan of vegan week, but he has fun with it regardless. He asks Sunny to taste his peppermint cream to see if there’s enough peppermint. Maggie tells him to go with his gut. David says his gut is to put some eggs in. His peppermint slice has a chocolate cake base, a cashew and peppermint cream centre and a dark chocolate top. David also cleverly gets the judges to taste his peppermint cream before judging time for some early feedback. What a great strategy! David had some issues with the chocolate setting before the end. When it came to judging, David said it met the consistency brief because they were consistently poor. Matt and Maggie love the flavours despite the chocolate issues, particularly the mint going through the richness of the chocolate.

Sunny made a peanut butter, chocolate and date slice. At the point where I normally write my notes, the illustration just said ‘vegan slice,’ which wasn’t very helpful because they’re all vegan. It’s the theme! Anyway, it had an oat and coconut base, a peanut butter and date filling, a layer of rhubarb compote and vegan chocolate on top. The judges said the slices were very identical with three defined layers. They love it so much that they can’t even speak for a bit. Maggie says that it tasted buttery, even though there was no butter in it, and Matt said he wouldn’t have known it was vegan.

Wynn made a chocolate and raspberry slice. It had a dark chocolate and pistachio base, a raspberry and white chocolate mousse, and raspberry jelly on top. Because gelatin is a pork byproduct, Wynn set his jelly with agar agar, which is seaweed based. He was worried about using it because he hadn’t before, and it ended up being too rubbery. He joked before the judges tasted saying he would’ve liked it to be a bit firmer. That’s some good misdirect. The chocolate and raspberry flavours were great, but the jelly was rubbery.

Don made a chocolate caramel slice with a fudgy chocolate cake base, lime and coconut centre, caramel sauce and vegan chocolate. When the judges walk up to Don, he’s melting cocoa butter to make his own chocolate. Matt asked Don if this is something he’s done before, and Don replied “I don’t tend to bake vegan.” Maggie says the slice looks luscious, it has great flavours and the chocolate is thick and fudgy.

Technical: Vegan Terrine

This week’s technical challenge is a Matt Moran recipe. He said that the recipe was so complex that he didn’t leave anything out this time. As Mel points out to the contestants, this isn’t a good thing.

Matt’s clues are: distinct layers, soft touch, packed light and go for gold. Is this Bake Off or the Olmypics?

Mel and Sue tell the bakers that their challenge is to make a vegetable terrine. Traditionally a terrine is a meat based dish similar to pate, but this version is made with vegetables and wrapped in a galette.

When Dan heard they were making a Terrine, he thought it was the Italian city. Unfortunately not, though now I’d like to see that in baked form.

Over in the potting shed, Matt and Maggie talk about the terrine. Matt cuts open the terrine to reveal layers of mushroom duxelle, red capsicum, spinach, sweet potato, purple carrots. Matt says that the vegetables need to be cooked right through and that the contestants need to press down on the terrine as much as possible so it holds together.

Back in the shed, the contestants are starting on their terrines, and Wynn is showing off his pancake tossing skills.

Halfway through the challenge, we see Claire just holding a bowl of spinach.

As the contestants are putting their terrines in the oven, I yell at them to put something on top to weigh them down until I see Sue put a lid on her dish. Claire and David sit in front of the oven watching his terrine bake.

When the bakers turn out their terrines, Angela and Don’s fall apart. It seems everyone has done quite well, but we don’t know more until the judges cut into them. After tasting, the judges comment that it was really close this week. From last to first, we have Angela, Don, Wynn, Dan, Sue, David, Sunny and Anston. Matt points out that a vegan is in first spot, but a vegan is also in last spot. Afterwards, Anston says it could be his week for Star Baker, which is not a good thing to say before the showstopper! However Wynn said it was his week last week and he was right.

Showstopper: Vegan cupcakes

It’s the judges’ tea time, and Matt and Maggie tell Mel and Claire that they’re enjoying themselves and are impressed with the quality of the baking. They mention that Angela and Sue are struggling, and they also mention that Wynn isn’t doing as well after winning Star Baker last week. They mention the curse of the Star Baker. Meanwhile, Sunny and Anston are doing well.

For the showstopper, the judges want 48 decorated vegan cupcakes. Mel wants pulled pork nachos, but apparently they’re not vegan, so no luck. They can make up to two kinds of cupcakes and they have four hours.

David says that 4 hours should be enough time for 48 cupcakes, but he was wrong about 2 hours being enough time for the slices. He made a carrot cake with cashew cream and macadamia on top as well as red velvet cupcakes with raspberry coulis and a vegan cream cheese topping. Maggie loved the spices in the carrot cake and the crunch of macadamias. Matt said that he wouldn’t know it was vegan because it’s a perfect carrot cake. The red velvet was velvety, but Maggie didn’t like the icing and Matt said it was very sweet.

Sunny used flax meal as an egg replacement/binding agent for her cupcakes. She made coconut cupcakes with a passionfruit buttercream and passionfruit jelly, topped with meringue kisses. Her chocolate and raspberry cupcakes were topped with pistachio buttercream and meringue kisses. Matt decides to goad Sunny by saying she’s doing well, then points out that she hasn’t won Star Baker yet. The passionfruit was a great cake. Maggie loved the flavours and said that it had a good mouth feel. The chocolate cake was light, chocolatey and a little bit crumbly.

Wynn decided to go with only making one kind of cupcake. Given that most of the bakers who did two had one that was significantly better than the others, this turned out to be a good decision. His ginger and pear cupcakes were flavoured with molasses and had buttercream made with vegan butter and almond milk. They were topped with caramel sauce and gingerbread men. When Matt tasted the batter, he was concerned that the bitterness of the molasses wouldn’t cook out, but he was proven wrong. He said the flavour was great and Maggie loved it.

Sue was daring with her flavours and made a turmeric cupcake topped with coconut cream and fresh figs. She also made red velvet cupcakes with a tofu-based cream cheese frosting. Matt is concerned about the intensity of turmeric as a flavour, but Maggie was intrigued. When they see the cakes, Matt comments that they’re very yellow. Matt also says that they’re not to his palate and that Lebanese grandmothers around the country will hate him. Maggie mentions that they’re a bit dry and there’s a little too much turmeric for her, too. The red velvet cupcakes are gluey and sticky, but the flavours are good.

Angela had a theme for her cupcakes. Her ‘sinner’ chocolate cupcakes had a salted caramel filling and chocolate ganache topping, while her ‘saint’ vanilla cupcakes had a lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream topping. Matt and Maggie were intrigued by her lemon curd, which she said was made with soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and cornflour. When Angela brings her cupcakes up for judging, the saints are in front of Matt and the sinners in front of Maggie. Angela remembers evil Maggie’s appearance last week. The chocolate cake was fudgy but the icing was wrong. Meanwhile, the judges loved the vanilla cake, which was well balanced thanks to the lemon curd. Maggie wanted more.

Don made chocolate cupcakes with raspberry curd and frosting as well as vanilla cupcakes with a creme patissiere and topped with chocolate. The judges ask Don how he’s making the creme patissiere and Matt warns him that the texture could be gluey if the cornflour isn’t cooked out completely. Maggie loves the look of the choc top, however the cake was dry and dense while the creme patissiere was like rubber. The chocolate cake was very fudgy and the judges loved the raspberry.

Dan’s cupcakes were milk bar themed. His vanilla cupcakes had a strawberry jam filling and berry frosting, while his chocolate cupcakes had a salted caramel filling and a peanut butter frosting. This is either the second or third time Dan has used chocolate and peanut butter in a showstopper, they’re clearly flavours he uses a lot (this is only week 4). During the challenge, Matt tells Dan that he’s sitting in the middle. When the cupcakes are presented to the judges, Matt said he loved the narrative behind it and that the strawbery jam was refreshing and beautiful. Meanwhile Maggie was busy nudging and whacking Matt, so Dan has done well.

Anston‘s first cupcakes were dark chocolate and lavender. More importantly, he made mojito themed vanilla and vodka cupcakes with a raspberry coulis filling and a lime Swiss meringue buttercream made from aquafaba (I remembered what it was called because my housemate came home and mentioned that we could make some). Anston said that everyone’s good and he wanted to push himself more with the flavours in this challenge. Maggie loves the flavours in the mojito cupcakes with the citrus, lime and vodka. She also likes the lavender flavour against the chocolate. The chocolate cakes were more cakey, but also drier.

Back in the potting shed, Matt declares vegan week a massive success as he’s learned a lot and eaten a lot of things he wouldn’t know were vegan. When the star baker conversation comes up again, Sunny and Dan are mentioned, but not Anston, who had a great week. The only mistake he made was that his slice didn’t have defined layers, so that’s a bit harsh. Matt and Maggie mention that Sue, Angela and Don are all possibilities to go home.

Sunny wins Star Baker and Sue is going home.