Great British Bake Off Series 7, Episode 7: Dessert Week (Recap With Spoilers)

I have been not feeling well this week, so I am a week behind on my GBBO write ups. Episode 8 is already out, and I've not yet recapped episode 7 from last week! I've also lost the notes that I jotted from last week when I was already not feeling well (I'm dealing with terrible headaches and foot aches as I continue to go through my cancer treatments).

I think I am too tired to review episode 7 from last week again, so I will give just a couple of quick jots about it here.

The dessert week was interesting because it focused on desserts I knew nothing about. Here they are:

• The signature was a roulade, essentially a rolled sponge cake filled with different kinds of sweet fillings
• The technical was a marjolaine. That is a cake that combines meringue, praline buttercream, and chocolate ganache. It looks lovely and also challenging: you can see the recipe by judge Mary posted here at the BBC website. 
• The showstopper was two sets of miniature mousse cakes, twelve each, with each dozen flavored different.

I usually write up detailed lists of who do what, but I am way too exhausted this week to do that and can't remember the details well (since my notes are missing). I am also struggling to write because my terrible headache pains and lack of sleep are making me have a hard time coming up with common words (a little scary for me as a writer, teacher, and thinker, but I will take a deep breath, keep praying, and assume that words will come back to me soon).

So here's the super, easy recap that I remember a tiny bit.

Andrew had an amazing week. He did every single challenge beautifully, creating roulade and marjolaine that looked lovely and tasted delicious. His miniature mousse cakes were especially cool, and he placed them on a ferris wheel that helped present them in an especially festive way. I've been wanting Andrew to manage a win the entire series, and this was the first time he actually managed it!

Jane also had a good week, and the other women still left did pretty well, though Candice had a rougher week than usual. All of the women went on to the next episode.

There were other two men left: Selasi and Tom. I would have guessed Selasi might not make it, but surprisingly, Tom (who had won two weeks this season) had a terrible week. He messed up every single challenge in some way, especially the mousse cakes at the showstopper, and surprised us all by having to head home. Although Selasi is the most relaxed of all the contestants, and hasn't yet won an entire week, he does seem to be getting better as the show continues.

I was liking Tom more and more as each week went by, and I appreciated the way Jane tried to encourage and help him (she's probably my favorite person in some ways, and her mousse cakes were seriously incredible). If you remember from weeks ago, Paul Hollywood had reminded us that all winners of the bread week had made it to every final in the first six series. Since Tom won the bread week this year, Paul seemed to be providing the possibility that Tom would do that, but here he is, losing it in episode 7 and not even making the quarter final.

Episode 8 (the one I hope to see in the next day or two) is the quarter final with five contestants, with episode 9 the week after being the semi-final with four. If you remember, the tenth episode is the final between the last three bakers.

Andrew, Selasi, Benjamina, Candice, and Jane are the five currently left after this episode. Who do you think you might want to win from here? I tend to be leaning toward the hope of Jane winning, which would be fascinating since she has only won once...the very first episode! Is it possible? Stay tuned and see.