Oh, we'd make all these things at home and have made the Princess Torte
Also, about the weather, they are in England. A heat wave there is the upper 70's.
I find the show so welcoming after the nasty cut-throat American versions with all the posturing, negativity, and fake drama. I stopped watching them years ago.
These are amateur bakers in a contest, they actually welcome each other's and the judge's fair criticisms, and seem to grow from their experiences. It's blissful with everyone being civilized, friendly, and supportive of each other with none of the American hissy fits and drama queen episodes.
Also, to have judges for a baking contest who are actually trained professionals (and not the celebrity du jour who plays with food), who know why things turned out the way they did and to tell the contestants why and where they went wrong, is very educational, both for the viewer and the contestant.
Yes, the recipe for the princess torte was vague on purpose. It was a very complicated recipe to test their technique. They stated that up front when they introduced the recipe. And, unlike American cookbooks, the direction to "make a crème patisserie" is something one would very likely find in a European recipe. I deal with this vagueness all the time in my German cookbooks. They assume a level of expertise.
Loved that episode and I think I would have done so much better with the princess torte, however. smileys/wink.gif
