Roll up, roll up for another thrilling night under the Big Top. With ringmaster Paul bearing down, our eight remaining bakers are under pressure to put on the greatest show on earth – in pastry.
Mary adds to the tension by striding into the tent in a white jacket. The crowd gasps as we wonder if she’ll escape in pristine splendour with no more than a little greasepaint on her collar.
For their first challenge, the bakers must produce twenty-four Danish breakfast pastries. Mary claims that a bad breakfast pastry can be ‘as dry as old boots’. Be warned – you don’t mix your metaphors with Mary.
Selasi kicks things off with his pineapple and coconut pinwheels and rhubarb, mango and ginger plaits, whilst Rav is plaiting pecans and walnuts and swirling cinnamon with lemon icing.
Benjamina is taking her Danish on a US excursion – with peanut butter and banana pinwheels and pecan and maple syrup swirls, complete with rashers of candied bacon. The fillings are a success but some of her pastry is raw.
Andrew’s baking journey is closer to home as he recalls the fact that his dad always kept dates in the glove compartment. (Legal clarification – that’s the dried fruit, not an accusation of some very restrictive extra marital affairs.) Baking date swirls with maple icing and poached pear and chocolate pinwheels, he admits he has a neat corner butter obsession – ‘if that means a little bit of hand fudging, that’s fine with me’. I’m not entirely sure what ‘hand fudging’ is but several minutes later he looks very red faced.