I saw that also, kind of ruined the end for me knowing who the winner is.

Current season?? Not at all!! If watching on PBS (or even streaming on Netflix) you have to realize that these British shows we see here in the US are several seasons old. The one currently being shown - Season 4 - was filmed in 2013. They are now on Season 7.

Nope. We're watching season six on PBS, according to Wikipedia. I thought they were filming seven. Guess they're showing it there, and we'll get it next go around.

Well then your PBS channel is much different from mine as it is most definitely only Season 4 currently being shown.

This is what I've been watching.........is yours not the same???

I'm watching the same season as you, gardengal.

Wow. This is utterly confusing. So PBS is surely showing 2016, session 6. Sounds like we should be ultra careful about what we say.... :)

They are also showing Master Class episodes.

What PBS is calling "season 4" is indeed actually BBC season 6, which has already completed in the UK. It is the final season with Sue, Mel, and Mary. Paul will continue on with the show when it moves from the BBC to Channel 4, which will have new hosts and Paul and Prue Leith as judges.

Please, no spoilers, even from the US crowd, as Thirteen in NYC is two weeks behind everyone else because it was preempted for two weeks of begathon (and no "Master Class" eps here). *I* would have contributed more if they had aired the episodes!

Now that I have researched it more, it appears that what is being shown currently on my PBS channel - publicized as Season 4 - is in fact BBC Season 7 (not 6)!! At least according to Wikipedia and the bakers involved : Great British Bake Off Season 7.

And all the regular players are there - judges Paul and Mary and hosts Mel and Sue. Very confusing :-)) I was under the impression that all PBS channels aired similar programming but maybe not the case.

And personally, I could care less who wins, so no spoilers involved for me!! It is the show itself that is appealing and the baking techniques and performance under pressure, not who the actual winner is. IMO, they are all winners as I can't imagine baking like they do - I am a talented cook and moderately skilled baker but I couldn't reproduce most of those creations!!

Ooo! You are so lucky gardengal. That sounds awesome.

ETA: Those bakers are listed under Season 6 on Wikipedia. We're watching the same version?

I'm curious to know if any of you have made any of the recipes and how they turned out. I'll start :) I made Mary's Tiramisu cake, and boy was that an exhausting endeavor. It turned out surprisingly well (structurally speaking), considering: A.) It was my first time making chocolate decorations; B.) I'd never made a spunge (I love it when they say sponge) before; C.) I had neither a Swiss/jelly roll nor a 7" square cake pan and had to improvise; and D.) I had to scrap the first batch of mascarpone filling because it curdled...and then the second batch curdled. :/ (I used a method I found on the internet to salvage it (six tubs of Mascarpone ain't cheap, you know!) using a double boiler, but it ultimately ended setting up as hard as butter.) I must say, though, I was disappointed in how the whole thing tasted. The coffee flavor didn't come through, but the booze sure did (Mary!!!!)

I haven't made any of them. I'm actually a fairly ambitious baker. I love to learn about all the longstanding European traditional desserts and see their creativity. They're amazing! I would think, though, that they are less likely to have very sweet stuff since Americans are either the highest or second highest ranking sugar lovers in the world, rivaled only by Germany.

Might as well share a few pictures of the process.

1.) My homemade Swiss roll pan and my first-ever sponge:

2.) My homemade 7" square tin, my chocolate work, some liquor and my Union Jack teacup, of course :

3.) The finished product looked promising despite broken flags:

4.) Evenly-soaked sponge and pretty good layers, but you can see the mascarpone filling was crumbly instead of creamy:

Gorgeous! I love it, and your choice of flags. See? You could be on that show too. Crumbly. Hm. Was anything mixed with it? Maybe add some cream next time. Just a dash? I have learned, don't brush on or dot on the coffee. I soak the cake. Heavily! That gives it the deep coffee flavor. Once it sits, it'll hold its shape.

Are they really just going to have Paul and another person for the new episodes. What makes the show is Mary and the 2 other women. They are Fabulous. Together they made the show. We need Mary !!

I too love this show and am amazed at the knowledge and expertise of the contestants. I mostly have never even heard of the stuff they make and would never attempt any of them. My biggest surprise when I first watched it was that they are all such excellent cooks, I had always heard that the British are awful cooks. Maybe with the sweets it's not the case? I used to watch a show on BBC called "You are What You Eat" and all the people on this show ate nothing but pre-processed and take-out - as if no-one there eats real food at all. I guess they searched for the worst-case scenarios for the show and that I shouldn't assume everything I see and hear is true.

They're going to have Paul and three other people. Same sort of set up, different type of people. They're aiming for a younger crowd, I read

I'm of a different opinion, I think most of the bakers are so-so. But of course then it wouldn't be much of a competition if all the bakers were aces, well it actually would be more competitive but hard to pick a winner.

"I had always heard that the British are awful cooks."

A rather common misconception :-) There are just as many great British chefs/cooks as there are anywhere else. And traditional British foods are delicious when correctly prepared. My only complaint is that there is a tendency to overcook the veggies. But I think even that is less of an issue now.

I think part of the reputation for British food being bad is that rationing during WWII and after was severe and lasted a long time - well into the 50's - and the Brits were forced to make do with minimal ingredients and tough cuts of meat. And overcooking was maybe a way to deal with that. But my travels there have produced some absolutely wonderful meals. Pub lunches and meals are some of the best!!

My parents were British and I grew up with this style of cooking. Mom baked but not a lot and she never got as creative as the bakers on the show get. She would make steamed or sticky puddings (which I loved as a kid but seriously sweet!!), always plum pudding and Christmas cake (fruit cake but not at all like you encounter here in the US - very boozy!), trifles, mince tarts and sponges and jelly rolls. I have learned how to make all of these as well but do so seldom now that the kid is grown and gone and I am single. Still do a trifle for family Christmas dinner and mince tarts but that's about it. Now and again I make a Pavlova for a summer dessert.

Thanks rob! I'd love to be on that show, but they'd have a lot of bleeping to do if I was on it, 'cause when I get stressed/frustrated, I tend to swear. :D

I think the method I used for fixing the curdled mascarpone mixture changed it on a molecular level causing it to harden while it was setting up in the fridge. And from what I read, the mascarpone mixture curdled because it was either overbeat or the cream that was added was too cold when I added it, or perhaps a combination of the two (I'll never know, I guess). As for the coffee flavor not coming through, I did evenly soak the sponge layers with the liquid, which, going by memory, here, was a mixture of instant coffee crystals, boiling water, brown sugar and Bourbon (the recipe called for Sherry, as I recall, but who has Sherry in their house?); the problem, I think, was that the Bourbon just overwhelmed it. (Plus I'm used to drinking pretty strong brewed coffee, so the instant stuff, in the amount prescribed, probably didn't have enough punch.) But look at all the lessons I learned!

ALWAYS have sherry in the house!! Not to drink - I am not overly fond of it - but primarily for cooking. I use it to flavor all manner of sauces, in sherry trifle and other baked goods, for marinades and anywhere you would use a wine with cooking. Sherry is just a fortified wine. While I love to drink red wine, I don't use it much for cooking because of the color it imparts to most dishes.

btw, if you use sherry to cook, avoid cooking sherry!! It's awful - get the real stuff but you do not need a premium label.

Similar to gardengal, except I don't buy sherry, I use vermouth in anything that calls for sherry, wine (if I don't have it on hand) etc. Yes, avoid any cooking wine. They're nothing but sodium-laden swill.

I'm wrong. It comes on on Friday, not Saturday

Thanks for the correction, gardengal!

It comes on Sunday at 4 in NYC.

BRANDY! It wasn't sherry that I didn't have in the house for my recipe, it was brandy! Oops!

But I still don't have any sherry :)