‘The Great British Baking Show’ Made Bombes — Not Bombs — on “Dessert Week”

For the all-important Showstopper Challenge in The Great British Baking Show, “Dessert Week,” Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith asked the bakers make something explosive: bombes. These spherical delights had to include one baked element and at least two desert elements, and they had to look fit for a feast!

While the name bombe doesn’t necessarily sound appetizing — it sounds just like “bomb,” so the puns this week were all pretty scary — the bakers all pulled out the stops to produce glorious desserts. Well, they sort of pulled out the stops. Steph Blackwell certainly went above and beyond the call of bombe duty. The remaining six bakers — David Atherton, Henry Bird, Rosie Brandreth-Poynter, Michael Chakraverty, Alice Fevronia, and Priya O’Shea — all found some downtime to play tic-tac-toe, strike yoga poses, and gossip about the freezing point of gelatin. Still, The Great British Baking Show bakers made bombes!

Even though bombes may not be the hip thing in American kitchens, they actually have a long history of being British faves. From the kitchens of Kensington Palace to the shadow of “bin-gate,” here’s what you need to know about this week’s bodacious bombe dessert challenge.

What are Bombes on The Great British Baking Show?

As hosts Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig explain, a bombe is basically a rounded spherical or half-spherical dessert, full of some kind of chilled treat including ice cream, mousse, or bavarois. In The Great British Baking Show, “Dessert Week,” the bakers could choose their dessert filling, and only David decided to make an ice cream. Interestingly, the outer dome can be made with or without the stabilizing aid of cake. Steph was the only baker to just rely on mousse for her dome.

Even though, as the name suggests, they are French in origin, bombes have a long history as British favorites. A bombe was served at Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s wedding, and viewers of Victoria won’t be surprised to hear that legendary 19th century chef Charles Francatelli included a section on “bombs” in his 1862 cook book. (The PBS series falsely attributes the creation of bombe surprise to Francatelli, but to be fair, he did help to popularize them.)

Of course, there are more modern examples of a bombe. Food Network’s The Kitchen has a recipe for a Brownie Bombe. If you’re really adventurous, you can make a Pokemon mousse bombe. Another riff on a bombe? A Baked Alaska. You know, the infamous dessert that spawned “bin-gate.”

How Do I Make the Bombe from The Great British Baking Show? Is There a Bombe Great British Baking Show Recipe?

Itching to try your hand at your own bombe? The British site for The Great British Baking Show has recipes for Steph’s bombe, which Paul Hollywood called the best thing he’d eaten in ages, and Alice’s Tiramisu bombe, which almost nabbed her Star Baker.

A new episode of The Great British Baking Show will premiere on Netflix this Friday.

Watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix