Great British Bake Off: East Sussex baker uses insects in Halloween special

This week the bakers faced three Halloween-themed challenges despite the fact Halloween isn’t for another couple of weeks (I would know, it’s my birthday). Everyone was dressed up and East Sussex baker Janusz went with a skeleton top and eye liner, topped off with zebra print boots. He said he was dressed as Noel Fielding, one of the presenters, ‘Not Fielding’.

Previous weeks for East Sussex baker Janusz

Challenge one was apple cake. A loose Halloween link I think due to the tradition of apple bobbing. The judges wanted one thing for this challenge - for the flavour of apple to sing. Despite this simple request, many bakers overcomplicated the flavours, including Janusz.

He went for a spiced apple cake inspired by his mum’s recipe but unfortunately the spices took over. Prue said: “Spices have killed it, it misses the apple.”

Two bakers got handshakes for that round so Janusz wasn’t in a great place but definitely not bottom of the pile.

Next up was a campfire favourite - s'mores. Again, I think the link here is quite weak. Could say you make s'mores around the campfire telling scary stories, but that’s definitely more of an American tradition rather than something for the Great British Bake Off. I worked in a summer camp in America and s'mores were a favourite with the kids. These Bake Off versions looked even better - biscuit, chocolate, and marshmallow - delicious.

This was a more positive round for Janusz as he came second out of seven - just being pipped to the post by Syabira who had a very strong week all round.

Finally they had to make hanging lantern pinatas…the Halloween link here was lost on me to be honest but I’ll go with it. Janusz chose to make a big box of popcorn filled with trick or treat truffles. This was a clever idea because the trick truffles were made from crickets…that’s right, the insect. He said it tastes like bacon and they actually went down well with the judges. Prue said: “We need more crickets, it would have balanced it more.”

Sadly the flavours weren’t right again though. Paul said: “It’s over-spiced. I’m concerned about some of your flavours are going wayward.”

I’d say the s’mores definitely saved Janusz this week and it was a case of someone doing worse than him. This was the first week I was worried about him though so let's see if things improve next week for custard week.

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