Nothing flaky about Coleraine Bake Off contestant Iain's 'giant' pastry showstopper

The most recent episode of the show which aired on Tuesday, October 7, saw Iain progress to the next stage thanks to his impressive skills during Pastry Week.

The heat was on – literally and figuratively – in the Bake Off tent as judge Prue Leith said: “This is one of the most important weeks because if you can’t make pastry, you aren’t much of a baker!”

The Coleraine man impressed the judges with his signature and technical challenge bakes but it was his Giant’s Causeway showstopper which wowed Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.

First off, Iain’s signature challenge was to create a savoury pastry plait – he chose to base his plait on the traditional Irish Claddagh ring design with joined hands, a heart and a crown.

His ‘Irish Stew-sage Roll’ was filled with tofu and vegetables and while Paul Hollywood – known for his dislike of tofu – was not a fan, presenter Alison Hammond tucked in and said she loved it!

Next up was the technical challenge which required the contestants to create a Gala Pie – a traditional British, cold-eating, pork-based pie made with seasoned chopped pork and a whole hard-boiled egg at its centre, all encased in a hot water crust pastry and sealed with savoury jelly.

Despite Iain joking: “Hiding eggs in the middle of a pie seems sneaky”, his technical challenge was a hit with the judges with him being placed second in the category.

Then it was on to the Showstopper – a sculpted pastry tart at least one foot in height with a highly decorated theme.

Causeway Coast baker Iain drew on his local heritage to create his incredible showstopper – and to educate the Bake Off judges in the folklore of Finn McCool at the same time!

Iain’s Giant’s Causeway Sculpted Tart illustrated the legend of the rivalry between the north coast’s Finn McCool and the Scottish giant Benandonner.

Creating little hexagonal pastry stones, Iain told the judges that the Causeway came about due to two giants ‘chucking rocks at each other’.

Explaining how the Giant’s Causeway “came to be”, Iain said: “The story is Finn, the Irish giant, thought the Scottish giant was too big for him to beat so he dressed up as a baby.

"The Scottish giant comes over and is like ‘that’s a big baby! If that’s how big the baby is, how big is Finn?’

" And he is so terrified that he runs away, all the way back over to Scotland.”

He went on to create the two giants – and baby – along with Causeway stones on top of a pecan, walnut tart topped with Irish whiskey cream.

“It’s so detailed and so clever. The pastry is beautiful,” said Prue with Paul adding: “It’s a great little work of art really showing off the Giant’s Causeway.”

Tasting the showstopper, Prue joked: “I never thought I’d live to see the day when I said this – but I think there’s a tiny touch too much booze.”

Paul added: "It does taste very good but I think the alcohol is a little bit too high, it overwhelms everything. Texture-wise I think it’s spot on”.

And with that high praise, Iain was through to the next round of the Ch4 show – Meringue Week.