The Great British Baking Show ™
Season:
Episode:
Challenge:
12 perfectly baked custard cream biscuits
Noel Fielding: "The judges would like you to make a batch of twelve perfectly baked custard creams.
Your custard creams should be made with a short, buttery biscuit and imprinted with that classic custard cream design. And they should be filled with a custard buttercream."
Paul Hollywood: "Custard creams? I think this is a great technical challenge, but do you think it's too simple?"
Prue Leith: "It's not that simple. It's actually easy to go wrong. I think the most common problem will be people not chilling their biscuit dough enough. It needs to go into the oven really cold. If it's a slightest bit warm, the butter will start to melt and you'll lose the definition and the shape. And the next most common problem will be not getting the buttercream (crème au beurre) properly chilled. It's all about chilling and timing."
Paul Hollywood: (tastes) "It holds together beautifully. Beautiful custard flavor, but there's a lovely snap to it as well on the mouth."
Time Allowed for this challenge:
1 hour 30 minutes
How the bakers performed
Abbi
Ranking
1
"This has got nice definition. "
"Beautiful. "
"Nice and equal colors. Right. It's got a slight brown hue to it. "
"That looks really good. Nice and thin. "
"Yeah. Now you're talking really crispy. That's a good biscuit."
"That's a lot better than a commercial custard cream. Very good. "
Rowan
Ranking
3
"Now, these look great."
"Don't they look good" They're even."
"They look very professional. Sadly, slightly under baked."
"You know why? It's because they're too thick."
"Another couple of minutes, that would have been perfect. It's a real shame. "
Matty
Ranking
5
"These biscuits look a bit pale. There is a bit of definition there."
"Yes, it's good."
"And they are pretty neat."
"And they're not overfilled. Nice nap. That biscuit just needs a bit longer in the oven. It's got a slightly floury taste."
Dana
Ranking
7
"Lost a bit of definition in places."
"Yeah. A little unevenly filled."
"There is actually a little bit of a crunch to that. "
Cristy
Ranking
9
"This one, unfortunately, has very little definition. You can't read custard cream on it. Well filled, though."
"Difference in thickness and thin. They're just not rolled enough because the dough is quite soft."
"The custard is better than the biscuit."
Keith
Ranking
11
"These are a bit messy. Uneven, no definition. The dough is obviously very soft, very difficult to cut. It's like rubber. "
"Not a success, sadly. "
Dan
Ranking
2
"Lovely color. Pretty even on the top and bottom. "
"Very, very good. Well filled. "
"Needed a little bit longer in the oven."
"It's a pity, because apart from that, I would have said that's pretty faultless. They look wonderful. "
Nicky
Ranking
4
"Now, this one's got a little bit more color on it. "
"There's a bit of definition here, although it's washed out on a few of them. Well filled. The custard comes through really nicely in it. "
"Good flavor. Same old problem. A little bit under baked."
Josh
Ranking
6
"This has got a bit of color to it, which I quite like. Expect a little bit more definition, but it's not bad. "
"Piping is pretty good."
"Tastes properly baked. "
Tasha
Ranking
8
"These lost a little bit of definition here. The filling inside is a bit sparse. "
"Also, it's not quite set."
"Still very soft. So is the biscuit, actually. Not much snap to that again. I think it needs a little longer in the oven. "
Saku
Ranking
10
"It's not bad, but it's a bit thick, this one. A lot of them are misshaped, but that one's thin at one end and fat at the other. "
"That one there has got no definition on it at all. "
"That custard actually curdled - it's a shame. "
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