The Great British Baking Show Is Obsessed With Rum This Season, Here’s What They’re Cooking Up

(Photo: The Great British Bake Off/Facebook)

Season 13 (collection 10) of The Great British Baking Show has kicked off. The season is about halfway through and the one ingredient that several contestants and judges are obsessed with is rum. Almost every episode so far has had a contestant feature this spirit. The addition of booze is usually a popular choice to bribe the judges, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith with a good time.

Episode one – Cake Week 

Reb’s ‘Piña Colada’ Cottage

(Photo: The Great British Bakeoff/Facebook)

Reb’s who hails from Northern Ireland had a tropical take on her childhood home. The piña colada is a cocktail from Puerto Rico made from coconut cream, pineapple juice and of course rum.  Not exactly the flavors one thinks of when imagining Northern Ireland.  The cake featured a coconut sponge with flambeed pineapple and rum buttercream. For her presentation, Reb misted the cake with a ‘coconut rum rain’ to represent the weather typical of her homeland. 

Leith said “I love a good coconut rum rain” and apparently loved the flavor of the cake overall. 

Episode two – Biscuit Week 

Sandro’s ‘Cheat Day Treat’ Burger Macarons

Sandro (Photo: Great British Bake Off)

Sandro made macarons imitating mini burgers and fondant fries. The macarons were passionfruit and lemon with rum-salted caramel. He added just a bit of rum to the caramel for a flavor infusion. 

Leith thought the flavors were absolutely fantastic and that said “not too much rum, just the right amount.”

Episode 4 – Mexican Week 

Kevin’s ‘Sweet Dreams are Made of These’ Borrachitos

Kevin (Photo: Great British Bake Off)

The bakers were asked to make pan dulce for the signature challenge for Mexican week. Kevin opted to not make the very popular concha and instead made rum-soaked borrachitos which roughly translates to ‘little drunkards’. The sweet baked breads were soaked in star anise and rum syrup. The borrachitos were topped with rum butter and had a desiccated coconut base. 

Hollywood and Leith both enjoyed Kevin’s pan dulce creation. Hollywood commented “I really do like the flavor,” possibly because of all the rum heavily featured in the dessert. Leith said “to be honest it’s one of the best we’ve tasted” in comparison to the other bakes. 

Episode 5 – Dessert Week

Janusz’s ‘Piña Colada’ Pudding

Janusz (Photo: Great British Bake Off)

The bakers were asked to make steamed puddings for this week’s episode. Janusz used the ever-popular flavors of the piña colada in his pudding. The pudding was made from a coconut sponge with caramelized pineapple with a coconut crème anglaise and pipettes of coconut rum inserted into the top. He also gave another nod to the tropical cocktail by adding a tiny umbrella, which is necessary for a true piña colada experience. 

Noel Fielding loved the concept because as he said “whenever me and Paul go out, he always buys me a piña colada.” He added, “if Paul buys us a piña colada, we know it’s going to get messy.” The host and judges appear to have a great time whenever the rum cocktail is pouring and Hollywood has had one on most continents. Hollywood says it best, “everybody loves a piña colada.”

Rum might just be the real star baker of the season. Keep tuned in to see if rum is featured in future episodes like the upcoming Halloween week. 

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