Hi All - it is with mixed emotions that I am announcing that this is the last episode of Scrummy Handshakes - at least for now. Alison can't return and doing this withougt her makes me ... well... sad. Maybe the future will bring a different path, but for now, this is what I need to do.

I hope you enjoy this last episode where we tear through the rest of Juniors!

We see:

Amazing builds of meringue, illusion cakes, mirrors, jellies, and much more.

Floor cookies and the worst floor cake in bakeoff history.

Some touching moments.

Laughing with Harry.

Hurting Harry!

Lola. All the Lola.

Victories for all.

A deserving winner and a satisfying final round.

I will still keep the Instagram alive: @scrummyhandshakes but feel free to follow my personal one as well: IG: @iwassheldonfirst

Keep on Baking!

Still traveling a lot so baking limited - but did make some brown butter CC cookies! And then had some my employee made - hers were better so I got her recipe :-)

Ellie Jean Taylor is having a baby! Bake off starts in UK on Tuesday sept 26... still no confirmation from Netflix on their having episodes 3 days later.

Last round for Heat B before recombining the groups. Pastry - the differentiator in my book. A lot can go wrong and the options are wide.

In the technical they ere asked to make pop ta.... (i mean) STARS. They had to make their own peanut butter to go with jelly inside the pastry. Keys to this were get the thickness right, make the peanut butter smooth, and crimp to hold it all in. Aisya and Fraser did this pretty well. Frasers got a bit overbakes=d though and it pushed him to 2nd in the technical. Salma did a decent job. Both Tomas and Gabriel struggled. Tomos with uneven rolling of his pastry and gabriel with over saltiness and not blending his peanut butter smooth... and not crimping, earning him last.

In the showstopper they had to make a family crest using pastry. some went sweet (Gabriel and Tomos) while the other went savory. Salma went with what was more of a dough than a pastry crust. It was yeasted and had no butter. Hers was "good" but Liam was wanting for short crust so it cost her I believe. Aisya went with a spicy chicken pastry and traditional short crust. Colorful... but a little messy. Tasty though. Fraser - delicious and used star anise brilliantly, but very simple in its design. The two sweet pies both used fruit - a risk for sure because of moisture. Gabriel added a creme patissiere ... which looked very lumpy... but apparently tasted good. He blind baked his crust which was smart. Tomos... did not blind bake and this was a mistake. Soggy bottom. Kiss of death and he was sent home.

Star baker went to Fraser who is a brilliant baker. I was pulling for Aisya, but at least they both head to finals.

So we combine both groups next episode:

Heat A: Lola, Quique, Macy, Kezia

Heat B: Fraser, Aisya, Gabriel, Salma

My bets are on Fraser or Aisya. I'm excited to see them all again though - hope its a good contest.

Sheldon talks about making Christina Tosi's (Milk Bar) Cornflake Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookie - - one word "yum" and talks about the next step of making his own recipe.

Where are they now with Nancy Birtwhistle - Season 5 winner.

Rav's dress looked amazing!

No new bake off news yet...was hoping for contestants.

Technical "Rainbow baked Alaska". Banana ice cream... eww. Biggest challenge was getting ice cream to set. Gabriel's forgot butter and flour in the cake... so added it after. Salma and Fraser nailed it. Gabriel and Mia and Aisya did not. Setting issues.

In the showstopper - illusion desserts. Most made a cake, Salma sort of did but used Maltese biscuit. Three people chose pizza to make an illusion on - Mia, Salma, and Tomos. All had different flavors and approach. Salma's stood out. Mia's stood out the other direction... Fraser's meatball sandwiches looked absolutely professional - flavor of mint maybe not a great choice. Aisya's "chicken satay" was amazing. Gabriel's "fish and chips" looked a bit messy to me... Rav seemed to like the flavor, but in my personal opinion, Gabriel did not meet the visual part of the brief. Apparently Mia's jam snafu on the pizza though was worse as she ended up going home. I disagreed in general... but as I've said before - I didn't taste them.

Next week = Pastry for B to decide who goes on to finals week.