Great British Bake Off: Contestants are baffled as they’re tasked with making a Sussex Pond Pudding

They’ve all won star baker – a first for the quarter final. 

And Tuesday night’s instalment of The Great British Bake Off, saw the five remaining contestants left baffled as they were tasked with making a Sussex Pond Pudding for the Dessert Week technical challenge.  

As the amateur bakers battled it out, vying for a place in the Bake-Off semi-final, viewers are left divided over the use of suet.

The technical challenge, set by Prue Leith, was a Sussex Pond Pudding, and the amateur bakers were given two and a half hours to make them.

To make things even more stressful, contestants were not allowed to restart their creations should anything go wrong. 

Given more specifics, the contestants were told to create a suet pastry filled with a whole lemon filled and served with a silky smooth creme anglaise technical. 

None of the contestants appear to know what their supposed to be making, with Hermine complaining ‘this is evil’ when she realised they weren’t even told what amounts to use.    

Hermione’s first pond pudding fell apart straight away as she took it out of its case, while Peter and David’s were raw due to being under-steamed.

Marc’s wasn’t horrendous but ultimately, the judges named Laura as winner of the technical challenge, despite Prue saying it was ‘no better than the rest.’ 

Bake-Off viewers took to social media, with many admitting they hadn’t heard of Sussex Pond Pudding either.

Others were aghast when Peter explained what suet actually is. 

‘If 2020 was a dessert it’d be a sussex pond pudding #GBBO,’ joked one viewer, while another asked: ‘what on earth was this pudding? #GBBO.’

Someone else jokes: ‘When life gives you lemons….make a steamed suet pudding.’ 

‘This liver fat & flour house for a WHOLE LEMON shouldn’t be allowed to be a thing #GBBO,’ fumed someone else, while one viewer tweeted: ‘I’m not a fussy eater but that pudding looked revolting #GBBO.’

‘Usually #GBBO gives me food envy but what in the world was that squishy, soupy lemon suet pastry travesty??’ asked someone else.

After Peter’s explanation of suet, one fan of the show asked: ‘Is it just me that finds it bizarre that folks on #GBBO haven’t used or don’t know how to use suet?’

But viewers were disturbed as they learned exactly what is was for the for the first time: ‘Thank you Peter, for making me dislike Suet even more than I originally did,’ tweeted one person. 

‘I did not know suet was that ganky yellow cushioning fat,’ wrote another, with someone else adding: ‘Peter describing what suet is… NOPE NO THANK U #GBBO.’ 

‘Well when you put it like that, suet just sounds gross!’ admitted one viewer. 

 

Many viewers pointed out that, if most of the desserts were undercooked, perhaps the amateur bakers hadn’t been given adequate time.

One fan of the show tweeted: ‘So I googled this rotten yoke 4 hours and 25 minutes to make it and the bakers were given 2 and a half? No wonder they were all raw, doomed from the start.’ 

‘That was stupid technical, if the time of baking was that important they clearly needed more time, they’ve got to get their heads around what they are doing and then do it. It seems like they don’t account for prep time…?! Especially as no one had enough time… #GBBO’ fumed another viewer.