The last smear of icing has been wiped away, along with our tears, as we bid cheerio to another season of The Great British Baking Show, known as The Great British Bake Off across the pond. It's particularly poignant this year, because Series 7 -- Season 4 in the United States, which recently ended on PBS -- is also the last to feature the bawdy witticisms of co-hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, along with their signature "Mel-Sue sandwich," the double-bear hug they gave contestants who were asked to, alas, leave the tent.
The duo, along with judge extraordinaire Mary Berry, chose not to return for a new season after the show's production company, Love Productions, left the venerable BBC One for rival Channel 4. Judge Paul Hollywood is staying on, and a new cast will join him, but die-hard fans have fretted that the show's signature charm is surely lost. Thankfully, an untapped treasure trove of amateur baking competition awaits.
Hello, YouTube. Archived by enthusiastic fans, Bake Off videos abound. There are earlier seasons of the British original that have yet to air in the United States, along with a series of celebrity Bake Offs.
But once we've run out of British episodes, then what? Thankfully, The Great British Bake Off has found passionate audiences around the globe, leading to the format being licensed to 25 countries. The American version of the show, first featuring Hollywood as one of the judges and later Berry, was closely modeled on the original, but The Great American Baking Show seemed as flat as a sponge cake that didn't rise.
Perhaps it simply isn't nearly as satisfying to watch our own familiar traditions showcased onscreen. Start searching through YouTube, though, and you'll find a plethora of Bake Off videos, in varying degrees of quality, featuring a smolderingly sexy pastry chef judge in Bake Off Italia and wisecracking Aussie bakers Down Under -- plus a peek at the recipes and ingredients that inspire bakers from distant locations. Other global spinoffs range from Hela Sverige Baka (All of Sweden Bakes) to Poland's Bake Off -- Ale Ciacho! (Bake Off -- What a Cake!)
None of the shows are subtitled, so it's an exercise in language immersion, although Google Translator can be helpful on the individual show websites. ("Auf die platze, fertig, bakt!" is how the German hosts repeat the standard "On your mark, get set, bake!" that Mel and Sue made famous.)
Even if you don't speak Portuguese, German or French, the language of baking appears to be universal. As nervous bakers tackle tricky technical challenges, we still feel their anguish in a fallen souffle or a bread that doesn't rise.
We delight in the charming sandwich cookies shaped like toast made by contestant Cait in The Great South African Bake Off, and the rather risque 50 Shades of Cake challenge in Germany's Das große Backen (The Great Bake), complete with, yes, silver fondant handcuffs. The utilization of a deli slicer by Valerie Begue, Miss France 2008, to create paper-thin wafers of fresh pineapple for a tarte tatin in Le Meilleur Patissier (The Best Baker) is a revelation.
The color palette and work station layouts inside the tents are strongly based on the U.K. model, but each country adds some local flavor: Pastel colors dot the Swedish tent, seemingly inspired by their glorious national confection, the prinsesstarta cake; black and white toile skirts decorate the French baking benches; and indigenous basketry adorns the walls in the South African tent. The opening sequence and music is nearly always the same, no matter the country, although sometimes the sequence makes a wider cultural reference by featuring hands of differing skin tones baking regional specialties.
While the ubiquitous white tent is found in most versions, the first season of the Norwegian Bake Off was filmed in a log cabin nestled in the snow and the Australian production was moved for season two from the marquee tent to a "shed" -- which, like shrimp and other Aussie things, is far larger than we would consider a typical shed in the United States. Brilliant blue peacocks strut near the tent on the grounds of a French chateau, stylish Milanese furniture provides seating for judges in the Italian tent, and palm trees shade the one in Brazil. The hosts tell punny jokes, judges play "good cop-bad cop" and amateur bakers cry, hug and cheer each other on.
Anzac biscuits, pavlovas and lamingtons are all regional favorites that feature prominently in the Australian series, tweaked with such local produce as passionfruit and kiwi, and augmented with the Asian spices that have become ingrained in Australia's culinary culture. In the South African cakes you'll find marula -- a fruit that grows in the veld, typically used to make a popular liqueur -- and naartjie, a type of sweet mandarin orange.
In Italy, under the doe-eyed gaze of pastry chef Antonio Lamberto Martino -- a doppelganger for Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, as played by Viggo Mortensen -- bakers demonstrate advanced skills, but also introduce us to lovely customs, such as "la merenda," basically, a child's afternoon snack.
On the Brazilian show, paes trancados, a filled and braided bread glistening with egg wash, is a bread baker's dream. Camila's complex version stuffed with lamb shank marinated in red wine includes pomegranate seeds, cinnamon and walnuts, while Marcos' patriotic tribute showcases Brazil nuts with South American tamarillo, or tree tomato.
Watching these spinoffs is an unexpectedly heady delight for the Bake Off devotee. The camaraderie among bakers is supremely evident, even if the formats of the shows vary somewhat from the original, and the treat comes from watching for the inevitable expressions of the local culture. The Irish bakers tend to be somewhat broody and dark, constantly second-guessing themselves, while the Germans are jolly and munch on huge rolls stuffed with slabs of meat while piping decorations onto cakes at the same time. The South Africans -- white, black, Asian and Muslim -- are determinedly cooperative with each other, and the Australians are charmingly gaudy and loud.
Now that The Great Canadian Baking Show is in production and scheduled to air in Canada in November, will we find differences in what our Neighbors To The North make in the tent, learning about our cultural differences -- and commonalities -- through baked goods?
Cathie James, executive producer of the show, thinks so. Noting that featured ingredients and recipes will include butter tarts, Nanaimo bars and, of course, maple syrup, James says.
Emphasizing individual achievement above competition is the goal for the Canadian version, as it is in Bake Offs around the world, and, ultimately, that is the common denominator. When a recipe fails and a baker is at his or her lowest moment, other bakers rally around to get bakes on plates, offer high-fives and share wisdom.
"The Bake Off is part Brady Bunch, part Hunger Games, " quips Australian contestant James in season two.
Style on 09/05/2017