{"id":13528,"date":"2021-11-10T19:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13528"},"modified":"2021-11-10T11:32:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T11:32:53","slug":"german-week-on-the-great-british-bake-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-week-on-the-great-british-bake-off\/","title":{"rendered":"German Week On The Great British Bake Off!"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might be familiar with the TV show The Great British Bake Off<\/strong> <\/em>(The Great British Baking Show<\/em> in the US, I believe!), where a group of people compete to be crowned the nation\u2019s best amateur baker (Baker: der B\u00e4cker\/die B\u00e4ckerin<\/em>). Each week they have three baking challenges, with one person being crowned Star Baker at the end of it, and one person being sent home. Every week has a different theme on Bake Off, and last week\u2019s theme was a first: German Week!<\/strong><\/p>\n

German Week challenge one: Weihnachtspl\u00e4tzchen<\/h3>\n
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Photo by amirali mirhashemian<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

For German Week, the contestants had three challenges. The first was to create two batches of 12 German Christmas biscuits (die deutsche Weihnachtspl\u00e4tzchen<\/em>). These either had to be dip coated or decorated, and all the biscuits in each batch had to be identical (identisch<\/em>).<\/p>\n

There are a huge variety of German Weihnachtspl\u00e4tzchen<\/em>, including the Vanillekipferl, Zimtstern, Dominostein, Pfeffernuss,<\/em> and Spekulatius<\/em>. They are usually beautifully spiced with all the flavour of Christmas time! You can read more about them here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Each week on The Great British Bake Off, the contestants name their bakes. Here’s what a few of the Weihnachtspl\u00e4tzchen<\/em> on German Week were called:<\/p>\n

“J\u00fcrgen\u2019s Tee-Sterne Und Milchkaffee Gipfele”<\/strong> – \u2018J\u00fcrgen\u2019s tea stars and milk coffee Gipfele\u2019. A Gipfele<\/em> is another word for Kipferl<\/em>, a crescent-shaped biscuit (eg. Vanillekipferl<\/em>)<\/p>\n

“Guiseppe\u2019s Italian Linzer Augen Und Bethm\u00e4nnchen”<\/strong> \u2013 Bethm\u00e4nnchen<\/em> are marzipan pastries popular in Frankfurt, while Linzer Augen<\/em> (\u2018Linzer Eyes\u2019 – otherwise known as Linzer Cookies) are shortbread bakes in the shape of hearts and stars, and filled with jam. They are native to Linz, Austria.<\/p>\n

“Crystelle\u2019s Engelsaugen And Pistachio Heidesand Biscuits”<\/strong> \u2013 Engelsaugen<\/em> means \u2018Angels\u2019 eyes\u2019. These are similar in appearance to the Linzer Augen, but rounder and more ball-like. Heidesand<\/em> biscuits are a type of German shortbread, named after the L\u00fcneburger Heide, a region in northern Germany.<\/p>\n

Challenge two: Prinzregententorte<\/h3>\n
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I couldn’t find an exact photo, but a Prinzregententorte looks a lot like this! Photo by Logan Clark<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The second challenge was to bake a Prinzregententorte<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 \u2018Prince Regent Cake\u2019. This cake was originally created in honour of Luitpold, who was prince regent of Bavaria in 1886. The Prinzregententorte<\/em> traditionally has eight layers (layers: die Schichten<\/em>) of sponge, with chocolate buttercream on either side, and is coated in dark chocolate.<\/p>\n

The bakers had some trouble with this technical challenge, as it was so hot in the tent that their cakes kept melting (to melt: schmelzen<\/em>)!<\/p>\n

Challenge three: Hefekuchen<\/h3>\n
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Photo by Yulia Khlebnikova<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The final challenge was the Showstopper. The contestants had to make a \u2018Spectacular Yeast Leavened Cake\u2019 with a minimum of 2 tiers, inspired by German Yeast Cake (der Hefekuchen<\/strong><\/em>).<\/p>\n

Hefekuchen go by all sorts of different names, such as Apfel-Hefekuchen<\/strong><\/em> (apple yeast cake), or Hefekuchen mit Schoko und Banane<\/strong> <\/em>(yeast cake with chocolate and banana). The Gugelhupf, \u00a0Stollen,\u00a0Zwetschgenkuchen <\/strong>and Schmandkuchen<\/strong> are also types of Hefekuchen.<\/p>\n

This challenge was anglicised slightly; as German contestant J\u00fcrgen pointed out, a traditional German yeast cake would only be one tier, not two!<\/p>\n

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Photo by Marta Robles Diaz<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Naturally, along with this episode came some tension! First of all, because there is a German contestant (J\u00fcrgen) on this year’s series, some viewers believed this week put him at an unfair advantage. However, although J\u00fcrgen did very well, it was Italian baker Guiseppe who won Star Baker!<\/p>\n

The episode was also criticised by some for its opening scene where presenters Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding dressed as German band Kraftwerk and put on German accents. Some said this was beleidigend<\/em><\/strong> (offensive\/insulting).<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Germany has its own version of The Great British Bakeoff called Das gro\u00dfe Backen<\/em> <\/strong>(\u2018The Great Bake\u2019). One notable episode from 2017 sees the contestants making a cake inspired by the book ‘Fifty\u00a0Shades of Grey’<\/em>. You can watch and listen to a clip from that episode here:<\/p>\n