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Great British Bake Off 2016: Tom leaves the tent and Andrew is named star baker in Dessert Week

And onto the quarter-finals we go - but how will our remaining bakers fare in the coming weeks?

Clarisse Loughrey
Wednesday 05 October 2016 14:59 EDT
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Dessert Week has ended with a rather surprising result for our competing bakers on The Great British Bake Off.

The bakers were first challenged with creating the rather simple roulade, relying on their unique creative approaches elevating the traditional cake; followed by the technical challenge's complexly layered marjorlaine, a French delicacy which features a nutty meringue sandwiched between two flavours of crème pâtissière, then covered in glossy chocolate ganache and decorated with nuts.

The showstopper was a revelry of 24 mini mousse cakes - a challenge for most of the bakers who almost all went for deliberately ambitious takes, from Candice's vintage-inspired pieces served in a champagne glass and Jane's cappuccino flavoured, fleur-de-lis designed cakes.

Andrew finally snagged the place of Star Baker, with the title having so far been entirely elusive to the competitor; thanks to his all-out, Tropical Holiday roulade, which outshone Candice's passion fruit and white chocolate cheesecake-confection even though he also utilised passion fruit in the cake. When it came to the technical challenge's marjolaine, Andrew's take was deemed "crispy" perfection and won first place on the challenge.

His showstopper then took on his family's love of ice cream to recreate a day at the beach, combining forest fruits and mint chocolate in what Paul and Mary raved as absolutely "divine" in its taste.

Though crowned last week's Star Baker, the tables turned against Tom over the course of Dessert Week, and he was sent home; Tom's Millionaire roulade went south in his attempt to make a second sponge after the first was undercooked, but Mary Berry deemed its flavour cloying and Paul Hollywood decided its appearance simply wasn't up to scratch.

Neither was his majorlaine; Paul again labelled its appearance "all over the place", while Mary thought it was a little too much on the "chewy" side, though it was Selasi's even messier presentation that landed him last place in the challenge.


Then came his overly ambitious Hipster Picnic for the showstopper, in which he attempted to pipe mousse over his combination of dessert "sandwiches"; which backfired when the mousse lost its lightness and ended up "stodgy and thick". Paul admitted the idea would have been fantastic - if Tom had been competing in a completely different challenge.

Last episode's Botanical Week saw lover of all things coconut and lime, Rav Bansal, wave goodbye; with Tom being proclaimed Star Baker once more, after winning big during Bread Week.

The Great British Bake Off airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on BBC1, followed by An Extra Slice on Fridays at 9.30pm on BBC2.

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