The Great British Baking Show Season 14 Episode 2 Recap: Biscuit Week

It’s bisuit week on The Great British Baking Show. This week, eleven contestants return to the tent to make a put their skills to the test in the form of biscuits. 

Of course, The Great British Baking Show Season 14 Episode 2, “Biscuit Week,” has to open with a comedic bit from Noel, Alison, and Paul. Noel and Alison show Paul a digestive biscuit that they continuously dunk into a cup of tea without it disintegrating.

When Paul asks what’s in it, Alison mentions a secret ingredient that Noel admits is a “thin layer of concrete,” before we get into the episode proper. 

Signature Challenge: Marshmallow Biscuits

For the signature challenge, the bakers are asked to create 12 identical biscuits sandwiched with or topped with perfectly set marshmallow.

The bakers are allowed to take creative license when it comes to flavor, design, and size with Alison mentioning that there’s nothing stopping the bakers from making a biscuit the size of Noel’s head.

Prue mentions that one of the things that she’s looking for a flavor that elevates and balances the sweetness of the marshmallow, while Paul is looking for outstanding “shop-made” presentation. 

Some standout during this challenge include Dana’s speculoos-inspired teacake inspired by her mom. Christy went for a tribute to her Nanny June, with a touch of rosewater and mixed berry jam inside a gorgeously decorated white chocolate shell.

Other bakers go for a taste of childhood in far off places. Tasha’s bake is inspired by a malt drink she had in Australia and Abbi’s is inspired by growing up in Tunisia. 

Maenwhile reigning star baker, Dan, is making a biscuit inspired by peanut butter, bananas, and chocolate wagon wheels. 

After two and a half hours, and a made rush to make their dozen biscuits as presentable as possible, Paul and Prue go around to deliver their verdict on the signature bakes. 

Paul and Prue disagree on Dana’s spicy biscuits. Paul thinks that the spices in the biscuit overwhelm the marshmallow, but Prue doesn’t mind it and says it works beautifully. Rowan is praised for  his technical skill and the flavors he layers in his lemon, rosemary, and violet biscuits. 

Saku is praised for her flavors, but Paul mentions that her biscuits are a little underbaked. Matty’s biscuit’s lacked in presentation, but he had some great flavor with his jam. Josh’s Black Forest biscuits are praised for their balance between sweet and tart.

Christy’s signature bake inspired by Nanny June is praised for having the perfect level of rose flavor, but could have done with a little more mixed berry jam.

Abbi’s Tunisia-inspired biscuit is criticized for looking messy, but overall has great flavor (maybe a little too much orange). Paul encourages her to leave time to finish off her bakes. 

Dan’s wagon wheel inspired by his son’s favorite foods is technical perfect, but he reached with a cartwheel design that ended up looking a little messy.

Meanwhile, Keith’s peanut butter and jelly-inspired biscuits are praised for a having a “beauty and the beast” quality. While the presentation is messy and off, the Prue finds the flavors to be quite delicious. 

Nicky’s biscuits with rhubarb and ginger have a small problem. Paul can’t find the jam! He cuts into several biscuits looking for an inkling of the jam that Nicky says he applied in a thin layer. 

Tasha’s biscuits, inspired by an after school drink are the first treat to earn a Hollywood handshake this season. Paul is impressed that while her biscuits looked thick they crumbled in her mouth and the chocolate had a smooth finish. 

Technical Challenge: Custard Creams

After the signature challenge, comes a technical challenge from Prue. Prue has asked the bakers to make custard creams. This challenge is judged blind, and is a true test of time management. 

They’re given a pared down recipe and an hour and a half recipe to make a shortbread and a custard buttercream. 

As the bakers start their bakes, Prue and Paul discuss the challenges the bakers face. Prue says that the biscuit looks simple but it’s easy to go wrong. The biggest problem being not chilling their biscuit dough enough. 

PRUE: It needs to go into the oven really, really cold. If it’s the slightest bit warm, the butter will start to melt and it’ll lose its shape. 

During the next hour and a half, the bakers all attempt to make the same recipe. Keith struggles with his buttercream, and Christy ends up accidentally stealing Rowan’s dough. 

There is a lot of fascination with the custard cream stamp with many bakers not realizing they can press the button down to release the dough.

As the clock ticks the bakers struggle to get their bakes out. Keith suffers with time management, Saku laments that her batch looks ugly, and Josh cracks a joke. 

JOSH: I love a custard cream and I’m going to mental scared by them now forever. I’m never gonna be able to eat one again am I? 

During the judging the Paul and Prue judge the biscuits on their shade, uniformity, and technical skill that went into the presentation. 

They then rank the custard creams with Keith coming in 11th and Saku coming in 10th. Both has issues with presentation. The word mess coming up in both their evaluations. 

Christy comes in ninth, Tasha in eigthth, Dana in seventh, Josh sixth, Matty fifth, and Nicky in fourth. Rowan comes in third with the biggest critique being that his custard creams were just a little bit soft. 

Dan comes in second with his being “pretty good” but not as good as Abbi’s which came in first and earned high praise of “better than commercial custard cream.”  

Showstopper Challenge: Illusion Biscuit Banquet 

The next morning the judges ask the bakers to make an illusion biscuit display depicting their favorite meal. This challenge goes a little bit into Netflix’s show Is It Cake? and I have expected many of the bakers to come up with hyperrealistic cookies. 

There’s a mix of technical and artistic elements to this challenge. 

PRUE: Nearly all the biscuits they make are going to have to be a very specific shape, so there’s a real danger of overworking the dough. And we all know, that if you overwork the dough it gets tough and loses its crumbling texture and its crack. 

The bakers all lay out their ambitious plans for a meal. Josh and Dana go for fast food feasts with Josh making five types of biscuits for a burger and fries and Dana is doing a gravity-defying pizza. 

Christy, Matty, and Rowan are working on grazing boards. Meanwhile Abbi is making a dim sum feast complete with fortune cookies and Tasha is making a Japanese katsu. 

Elsewhere in the tent, Keith is working on a seaside lunch which presents its own technical challenge with recreating a crisp container. 

Saku is working on a recreation of a Sri Lankin breakfast. 

Two contestants are also working on pie. Nicky is working on a steak pie and Dan is working on a cheese and onion pie. 

Judgement

After a dash to the finish, Paul and Prue are ready to judge the bakes.

First up is Tasha. Paul immediately praises her presentation and says that it really gives the illusion of being a chicken katsu. Both of the biscuits involved in her bake are perfect and Prue says that she’s set the bar high.

Next is the cheeseboard trip. Christy’s grazing board which Prue says looks wonderful and Paul proclaims it to be “smart and neat.” Rowan is praised for having good flavors, but his illusion doesn’t quite work. Matty’s cheese board is presented well and earns high praise for presentation.

After the battle of the cheeseboards comes Keith’s seaside lunch, which presents as clever. However, many of his biscuits are a little raw inside. 

Then came a lineup of presentations that were clever and original including Dana’s pizza, Abbi’s dim sum, and Saku’s Sri Lankan breakfast.

Next is the pie contest. First we have Dan, whose cheese and onion pie is slightly overbaked followed by Nicky whose steak pie is “a good looking thing.” However, her chips illusion doesn’t quite work, but her steak biscuit works well.  Her gingerbread needed work.

Then came Josh’s burger and fries. It’s an impressive presentation. (Not surprising considering the amount of work and engineering he put into the bake.) Paul and Prue each praise different aspects of his bakes with Prue being amazed by the transparent tomato slices. 

PAUL: I think you’ve created something a little bit special. You don’t often get illusion stuff that tastes and looks as good as that. 

After a second of shock, Paul walked back to Josh’s station and gives him the second Hollywood handshake of the episode. 

The Elimination

After two days of amazing bakes, it’s time to crown a new Star Baker.

Noel gets to announce the Star Baker slot, and it’s Tasha. A slight surprise, given how up and down her performance was in the signature and technical challenges this week.  However, Josh, the other recipient of the Hollywood handshake this week feels that it was well deserved.

JOSH: Tash is such a deserving Star Baker for this week, cause her signature yesterday–and I tasted her signature–it was incredible. It was well worth star baker for the week on its own. 

Alison then announces that Keith will be going home this week. This decision isn’t surprising given how Keith has struggled, but it is a little sad, since Keith admitted that he dedicated time to his baking because he wanted to be on the show. 

It’s clear his flavors were there, but his technique could still use some work. However, he seems to take his experience in stride.

KIETH: I feel fine. There’s nothing sad about this moment. I’ve had the most fantastic time. I said to someone, the first weekend, there was bruises up and down my arms. I was pinching myself every half hour. So, I don’t know how many hours I am going to spend in the rest of our lives banging on about this. 

What did you think of this episode of The Great British Baking Show? Let us know in the comments below. 

The Great British Baking Show airs new episodes Fridays on Netflix. 

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