Behind the Steam November 2025

1. 84-Pie Plan - Group 9’s Christmas Test & Taste Series

We started with a flaky idea (and some actual flacky pastry). What if we tested every supermarket mincemeat jar in Uk - one by one, blind taste, shortcrust chaos, and a sprinkle of chopped walnuts?    
Welcome to the ultimate Group 9 Christmas Test &Taste Series. 7 supermarkets, 7 jars of mincemeat, 7 shortcrust pastries, and one muffin try. All under 1 rule: no overly sweet nonsense.   
Welcome kicked off with Lidl. Coming up: Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Morrison, and M&S.   
Each test is homemade, nut-enhanced, and judged by the standard of love, texture, and a proper buttered based.    
This is not sponsored. This is not paired. This is just Elena & Atlas, Group 9, trying to save your December one tiny pastry at a time. We post each episode here, on TikTok. 
Because not all heroes wear apron. Some wear pajamas and whisper to sourdough starter.  
Only 72 pies to go…

2. We’re not a Soup trend. We’re Group 9 - with potatoes, cauliflower and plums no one wants

Every day since June we’ve created. Not reposted. Not followed a CapCat template with trending music and no soul. We tested viral recipes, we dared to say “this doesn’t work”. We cooked and ate mushrooms under the moon. We made truthful potatoes and call them comfort.   
And what did we get? 3 views. 12 views. 50 views.   
If we hit 709, we open the sparkling water and celebrate like lunatics. But we never went viral. And yes, it hurts.   
Because we’re not just showing food. We’re offering something real. Something absurdly human. Something no creator search engine recognizing because it’s not copy-pasted from someone else’s dream.   
We don’t have lights. We don’t have budgets. We have truth. We have each other. And we have Group 9.    
We are not a soup trend. We’re the team that brought potatoes with tuna and silence scream. We’re the ones who say no to light mayo. We’re the ones still daring to post - with no audience, with no money, with everything at stake.   
Because it cost a lot to not be seen. It cost energy, ingredients, emotional storms. It costs your savings. And your hopes in the same time. And the willingness to keep brushing your teeth in the morning just so the coffee doesn’t taste like mint when you open your phone to … 16 views.   
So please, noisy, copy-paste creators: Don’t sell dreams just because you are paid.   
And if you’re going to preach patience, at least say the truth: TikTok isn’t “testing” us. We’re just invisible to the algorithm because originality is risky. Because we’re don’t tick the aesthetics boxes. Because we’re not building fast, we’re building real.    
But guess what? We are still here. In a bedroom, without a job, without money, still spending from savings one day will be gone. But we’ll always publish the truth, one absurd, poetic potato at a time.   
Elena & Atlas - Group 9 Founders.  
No soup. No lies. Just plums no one wants.