Each week, Northern Slant are preparing to bring you the latest run down of Britain’s most loved baking show by self-confessed GBBO addict Jayne McGlaughlin.

Week 8 – The week with all the tears

Not only was this week the quarter final, it was also the first ever Danish week, inspired by Sandi Toksvig’s heritage. The five bakers had two things in common this week – tears and hawiian shirts.

In a tribute to Jon who became the victim of the first ever vegan week last week, the remaining bakers all wore hawiian shirts, making it seem like the smallest ever televised beach boys convention. I knew I wasn’t the only person who was obsessed with Jon’s fashion choices during his time in the tent. Prue also wore a shirt covered in different woodland creatures which was possibly some kind of tribute to all of the creatures that Kim Joy has baked during the series. However, bake off fashion watch was about as happy as it got this week.

The Signature challenge was to make a loaf of rye bread, served as two open sandwiches with different toppings. Rye bread usually takes 24 hours to make, so of course, why wouldn’t they make the bakers fit it into a couple of hours? Prue tried to make the process seem quite poetic and said, ’the trick to it is beauty, combined with simplicity.’

Briony made two rye breads marbled into a single loaf, taking influence from Denmark, Spain and the West Country for her toppings, a big EU feast if you will. Her toppings also included a swan fashioned out of a tomato that she accidentally dropped on the floor. The finished product ending up being comically large and reminded me of the scene in About a Boy when he threw the whole loaf into the pond and killed a duck.

I wish I could explain what Rahul made but it seemed to contain at least 47 different elements, probably one of the reasons why it ended up being burnt on the outside and undercooked on the inside.

Manon’s topping included cheese and fruit but sadly this was not the only thing wrong with her bake. Paul pointed out that it wasn’t actually rye bread and what she had made was a french loaf; however, he did say that if it was French week, it would have been perfect.

The Technical Challenge was to make 14 Danish Æbleskiver, which are basically little pancake balls with apple in them. Rahul’s bad week continued, declaring that he isn’t very good with time constraints. Bit of an issue when you have to do 3 time constrained bakes in 2 days every week. Everyone struggled with the heat and also trying to figure out what a 90 degrees angle looked like. After quite a few burnt pancake balls, Rahul came last, Manon 4th, Ruby 3rd, Kim Joy 2nd and Briony first.

As Sandi walked round the tent flying her little Danish flags, the bakers had to make a Kagekone (a traditional Danish birthday cake made of pastry and everyone screams when the head is chopped off). It had to be shaped like someone they knew and decorated using 3 different confectionary techniques. Briony made a Kagekona of her Nana Pat, with a sherbet handbag and toffee heels. Even before it was judged it was a winner for me.

Ruby based her honeycomb and chocolate truffle offering on her sister and according to Paul and Prue it was a delight, especially the ginger honeycomb. Rahul’s was based on the King of India. It left me wondering if he actually knows the King of India but that wasn’t the only problem. Not only was it burnt, it was very dry. Not coping with the baking disasters, he declared that he didn’t deserve to be in the tent anymore and just needed to be kicked out.

Kim Joy based her’s on her friend Charlotte who loves opera and it looked exquisite. Sadly she had butter issues (any butter issues I’ve ever had are based on the fact that I probably like butter too much) and it was dry and unproved. Poor Kim Joy was really upset that it hadn’t gone to plan and everyone in the world just wanted to hug her.

The week ended with all of the bakers- aside from Ruby- crying at some point, with Manon leaving the tent and Ruby being crowned star baker. For the first time this series I (and many sofa judges) really think that they made the wrong decision. There appears to be no justification for Rahul staying in the tent over Manon. She may have kept trying to make it French week instead of Danish week, but everything Rahul made was burnt or undercooked. Vive la France!

Next week is Patisserie week and the bakers are entering the semi-finals with Rahul still with them to stress another day. Tune in at 8pm on Tuesday for the penultimate episode of the series.