'Bake Off' dessert week: The biggest moments of episode five

Delicious dessert week is here in The Great British Bake Off and after last week's double elimination, the contestants were hoping for a sweeter time in the tent.

But with judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith ramping up the challenges each week, there are no easy rides for the bakers of 2022 who this week had to make a steamed pudding, a lemon meringue pie, and a showstopping mousse cake.

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Here's what you missed from dessert week.

The biggest moments from The Great British Bake Off 2022 episode five

Paul Hollywood offends Dawn with 'Mum' comment

It's usually the bakers cringing under the piercing gaze of Paul Hollywood, but this week he was left looking embarrassed after offending Dawn.

Arriving at her bench during the signature bake, he quipped: "Morning, Mum - er, Dawn. You do remind me a bit of my mum."

An unimpressed Dawn replied: "Yes, thank you, I'm not that much older than you."

Hollywood kept digging as he said: "No, I know, but I'm saying you remind me a little bit of my mum."

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Host Noel Fielding tried to smooth things over by saying Mama Hollywood was actually "really cool", while Prue Leith said: "He told me I remind him of his great grandmother."

But Hollywood said: "I never said that, Prue. I said you remind me of my great, great, great grandmother."

Desserts backwards is stressed

It's an apt fact that you might never have noticed until host Matt Lucas pointed it out during a stressy moment, but it certainly rang true for Carole.

She got a taste of desserts spelled backwards during the steamed pudding challenge when things went catastrophically wrong not long after her chat with Lucas, when eight collapsed puddings emerged from the oven.

Hilarity in the technical

Unfortunately for the bakers, they've reached that point in the competition where the technical challenge instructions have become ludicrously brief.

Leith turned out to be mocking them when she told them to "read the recipe carefully" at the beginning of the task.

When they turned their lemon meringue pie recipe cards over, Janusz called out: "Have you seen the method, guys?"

They all collapsed into laughter as they read the only instruction: "1. Make a lemon meringue pie."

Leith told Hollywood: "There's the pastry shells, the lemon filling and the meringue. I'm quite sure they can do all three. Why do they need a recipe?"

Gravity-defying mousses

This week's showstopper was a mousse cake with a surprise element hidden inside, and lead to some jaw-dropping bakes from the contestants.

While some bakers struggled with the flavours and textures, others rose to the challenge beautifully, creating amazing desserts that even Leith and Hollywood couldn't believe had worked.

Amongst the most impressive were Sandro's globe of the world and Janusz's stylish, colourful mousse hiding a cupcake picture - plenty of competition for star baker this week.

The Great British Bake Off continues on Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4.

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