Episode 1 Bake Off Creme de la Creme

This is the competition chefs like me have been looking forward to.

15 teams of top pastry chefs,

a stern test of their skill and creativity

and the most respected judges in the business.

Add to that one of the Britain's grandest stately homes,

top-notch kitchens and the finest ingredients and we have ourselves

a mouthwatering contest to look forward to.

I couldn't have earned Michelin stars without

a team of incredible pastry chefs to bring a spectacular end

to the meals I serve but, as a hot kitchen chef,

it's a whole other world and it fascinates me.

OK, service, please.

So, to help me unearth the magic

and find the nation's finest pastry chefs I've turned to the best

head patissiers working in Britain today.

Benoit Blin from the two Michelin starred, Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons

in Oxfordshire.

Pastry, from its taste, from its texture,

from the way it looks, from all the work that goes into it

and the moment you share it with somebody.

You put it on a plate, you give it to somebody and there is the wow!

The multi-award-winning Cherish Finden,

executive pastry chef at the five-star Langham in London.

It's all about precision. We measure everything.

You can't have a good meal without dessert.

Dessert is the grand finale of the whole meal.

And Claire Clark, MBE, pastry consultant

and supplier to some of the finest restaurants and hotels in the world.

It comes from your heart. It comes from within.

It's all about what you give and it takes years to learn the techniques.

I think it's wonderful that the spotlight is being

shone on the pastry chefs.

People are going to be amazed at what they can do.

'We're going to set teams from all over the country

'some incredible baking challenges...'

Everything under control?

-Not really.

-Not really.

'...using jaw-dropping techniques that home bakers can only dream of.'

They'll perfect thousands of exquisite miniatures

and construct towering showpieces that have to be seen to be believed.

-Why do we do this idea, mate?

-I don't know.

Precision baking, stunning results and a whole new level of judging.

Too much work is going on in there and we don't taste half of it.

I only get one flavour.

This is not home baking, chef.

I want Mary Berry!

-Tonight, this epic search begins.

-Calm, I'm going to stay calm.

One team features three of the youngest pastry chefs

in the country...

People might underestimate us because of our age.

Their rivals have invented some of the bestselling

supermarket desserts in Britain.

How confident are you with the solidity of your dessert?

-Very confident.

-And an elite unit from the city of London...

-How far in are we?

-I don't know.

..that have honed their dazzling skills in secret restaurants

none of us will ever enter.

Got to get this right.

But which team will win this heat...

Don't touch it, don't touch it, I've got it. Move that box.

..and qualify for the semifinals?

-Keep going, keep going, keep going.

-In this incredible Bake Off...

-Specs, specs, specs!

-..who is the creme de la creme?

I'm just a little bit nervous now that I'm going to put

something on and it's going to collapse.

I need a drink.

To find the country's finest pastry chefs,

we've come to one of the finest stately homes in Britain.

The Welbeck estate in Nottinghamshire

is the ancestral home of the Dukes of Portland.

For over 250 years,

it's hosted stunning banquets for the nobility and royalty.

It's the perfect home for the grandest Bake Off yet.

What would happen if, instead of home bakers,

it was teams of top professional pastry chefs

in purpose-built kitchens doing tough tests of their skills?

Well, we're about to find out.

In one intense day of competition,

Cherish, Claire and Benoit will set two immense challenges

and the first requires incredible attention to detail.

Welcome, chefs. We start today with the miniatures.

This is to test your precision when producing high volume

small, fine pastries.

Three different types, 36 of each.

108 in total and every pastry in each batch must be identical

and you have three hours.

Your time starts now.

We brought the miniature test to illustrate

what a pastry chef has to deliver every day.

Beautiful pastries in numbers.

In the first challenge of each heat, the teams will have to make

batches of handcrafted geometric and layered miniatures.

This morning's layered miniature

is an exquisite French classic, the framboisier.

Framboise means raspberry in French and the framboisier is

the perfect challenge for them to show us their abilities to layer.

They will have to work on the time management to make sure that

all their layers are beautifully set, including their mousses

and I want absolute precision in the slicing and cutting.

In the first kitchen,

the framboisier layers have unconventional foundations.

We've done a very different base to the framboisier.

We've used a breakfast cereal, like a puffed wheat cereal,

done with honey, and binded together with white chocolate.

We've taken quite a few risks.

There's no point coming here and playing it safe.

Neil and his team are the secret agents of the pastry world.

They work for a company called Restaurant Associates,

operating fine dining rooms that are hidden inside the skyscrapers

of the city of London.

Not many people know we exist,

that big companies have got restaurants inside

for their clients.

Their mission is to execute Michelin quality desserts for people who

are so wealthy or so private that they want to dine in total secrecy.

Half the time we don't even know who's in the room.

It may be better that way, to be honest.

'The secret chefs' framboisier has layers of puffed wheat, raspberry

'mousse, pistachio frangipan and a creamy Swiss meringue.'

Neil's team, are we OK? How are we doing there, Alice?

-We're doing good, thank you.

-Good, thank you, yeah.

Is there any way that you're working together or not working together?

Yes, we've taken each challenge on our self,

but we are also helping, like myself

and Paula are helping Alice do certain elements for her dish.

-You've separated each job to each different chef?

-Yeah.

And you've all worked together?

We work for the same company so we're sort of spread across London.

Paula and Alice didn't know whichever beforehand

so it's been a big learning curve.

-So you've brought them together?

-Yeah.

-Kind of like a dating agency for pastry chefs?

-Don't say better.

'And in the next kitchen...'

Ben, as soon as that's done,

jump straight on the yoghurt mousse, right?

We're all making certain elements.

I've got Ben working on the pistachio sponge

for the framboisier.

Cooking needs to be nice and chilled, relaxed.

It's going to come out in our food, as well, hopefully.

At just 27, Reece is one of the youngest head pastry chefs

in the world.

I'm always conscious of it when I meet other pastry chefs...

'Service, please, Lucas.'

..cos it is quite a young age, but, honestly, I don't care.

From his kitchen in the five-star Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire,

he's put together a team of young guns.

25-year-old Ben and 21-year-old Lauren.

They are the youngest team in this year's Creme De La Creme.

-We'll find out.

-There might be...

-This could be the last time we...

-A few tears.

Yeah, there might be a few tantrums,

a couple of diva antics going on.

The young guns' framboisier will see Greek yoghurt and honey mousse,

raspberry and lavender jam

and raspberry cream layered between three of Ben's pistachio sponges.

We are a young team. I'd say it will give us an advantage

just because people might underestimate us because of our age.

The chefs in the final kitchen might be older,

but they too started very young.

My grandmother was certainly one of the most talented cooks

I ever worked with, so, yeah, she really inspired me

to take up this as a job, really, you know.

I fancied a job with long hours and no money, so that ticked the bill.

Despite his grandmother's influence,

James's career could have been very different.

I left school and I was going to be an accountant

and I was waiting for an accountancy course.

I needed a little bit of part-time work. I called my local hotel.

They were looking for a leisure club attendant or a chef.

I can't swim so I've been a pastry chef now for around 20 years.

James has pulled together a team of inventors.

Makiko is a former colleague

and the multiple award-winning cake designer.

Graham is one of the leading pastry innovators in the country.

Together they develop and test desserts for Marks & Spencer.

Having a real scientific knowledge of the products you're

working with, it really allows you to bend the rules a little bit.

The inventors' framboisier will be made by Graham.

So I'm doing layers of ganache, mousseline of raspberry again

and then we are covering it with a mirror glaze.

On top of the mirror glaze will be a handcrafted white chocolate tube

filled with a vanilla cheesecake mousse.

The four layers of ganache

and mousseline will rest on just one layer of light coconut dacquoise.

Now I just need to make sure that every layer is actually set.

Graham will have to use a blast freezer to rapidly cool each

layer before he can add the next.

Cos if you don't, you cut it,

if one of the layers isn't completely set, it's gone.

It's finished. So you have to make sure it's frozen.

So this is pretty good.

I've been training on a domestic home freezer

so this hopefully will be all right.

The handcrafted miniature the teams have been asked to deliver is

a classic choux buns known as a Paris-Brest.

This traditionally is a choux pastry ring

filled with praline cream and covered in almonds.

To make them all identical,

first of all they've got to pipe them exactly.

And then they've got to bake them.

They can lose their shape in the oven

and they've got to be dry on the outside. They've got to be crisp.

There's a lot to think about.

You can't hide anything with the Paris-Brest.

What you see is what you get.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

To ensure their Paris-Brest is crisp,

the inventors have turned to Makiko.

So I pipe one centimetre diameter piping nozzle and, on top,

I'm piping seven millimetre piping tube.

Their innovative take begins with a double layer of choux pastry,

then there's another choux ring that will be placed inside.

It will be filled with a flaked almond praline flavoured

with espresso coffee.

This is a pastry that everybody understands.

Everyone's eaten chocolate eclair. I've made choux pastry.

When you get chocolate eclairs in a supermarket,

they're quite often soggy or little bit soft.

There's a trick between getting choux pastry that's a bit

boring and floppy and one that's really actually well cooked.

To avoid sogginess, softness, we put plenty of crunch on top.

'Makiko's developed a paste containing almond,

'vanilla and sea salt to bake on top of her choux.'

When it's cooked, the inside melts so the form, the shape of the rings.

So this is like an extra pastry trick that you're going to use

to make sure that your choux pastry is definitely going to be crunchy?

Yes.

'A crunchy topped choux is also a mission

'for our secret chefs of the city.'

We've got two types of cream inside.

We have the creme puffs plus the mousse.

These, we want crispy to give a crunchy bite.

Paula's made a coffee crunched that professionals call craquelin

with nibs of cocoa and sugar.

It will top a Paris-Brest filled with praline mousse

and an espresso coffee creme patissiere.

As it melts in the oven, the craquelin should form a crisp shell.

Can you put 250 for me, please?

I'm a bit concerned because it's very uneven, the way she cuts it.

She cuts it with no love. I need passion, I need love in the team.

I could not see that, so, for me, as a professional chef,

it has to be perfect evenness throughout.

With Makiko and Paula's choux baking...

-What's the face?

-Nervous!

..our young guns are still piping.

-Better to get something up than nothing, though.

-Yeah.

Topping their choux with traditional almonds,

they're aiming to deliver crunch inside

with a crushed hazelnut brittle,

contrasting a creamy rum-based caramel that's far from traditional.

So this is our banana caramel that we're making

to put inside of the Paris-Brest.

It's just one of the other textures we've got going on in there.

Let's go.

We knew that the Paris-Brest can be done halfway through.

We're not too worried about being behind.

Pastry chefs! That is half-time.

You have one and a half hours remaining.

'Paris-Brest baking and most framboisier layers chilling...'

So this is just a raspberry mousse.

'..the teams have made a start on their third miniature,

'petit gateau cylinders.'

I expect the professional chefs to be like a mad scientist,

be creative, be innovative.

Surprise me with ingredients that I've never tasted before

whether you use a jelly, a creme brulee, a dacquoise,

a financier.

I think the cylinder is such a great challenge, as well.

It has to be so beautiful that it is telling me to eat me, eat me.

How are we doing, Team James? What's going on?

Talk me through what's happening.

We're just about to start the chocolate.

What's the flavour profiles you're putting together?

Lap sang tea in my parfait, which gives it that smoky flavour.

So smoked flavour in the chocolate parfait.

We've then got a sweet miso sauce with some soy,

and yuzu ganache in the fridge.

So you've got tea, miso...

-Yuzu.

-..yuzu.

So then you're getting that kind of citrusy acidity going on there.

As a hot kitchen chef, they sound like all the sorts of flavours you

use with lots of savoury items, that smoking flavour, that miso flavour,

that salty element that comes along and that works well with chocolate?

I think as long as you've got bitterness in there.

We got 63% fat content in there,

so it's going to be quite nice and bitter.

-There is a lot going on here.

-I'd best crack on.

-OK.

Is that a pastry chef terms for clear off, yeah? Yeah.

I'm going!

Smoked chocolate parfait, ganache flavoured with the Japanese

citrus fruit yuzu and a crunchy peanut butter feuilletine biscuit

will being cased in a metallic looking chocolate cylinder.

This is our copper powder

and we're putting it on top here, a tempered chocolate.

Because we're putting it onto a little acetate band,

when the chocolate starts to crystallise it will

adhere to the acetate band and that should give us

a perfect shine through with the chocolate.

I'm just squeezing it in here to try and make my cylinders

as perfect as possible, which is no mean feat, I can assure you.

Just sealing off the chocolate to make sure there is

a seal there when I unwrapped the acetate,

so it is one continuous cylinder rather than

a strip of chocolate that's just been bent round.

Inside Neil's carefully sealed cylinders will be a chocolate

caramel mousse and a mango and passion fruit brulee.

Both sandwiched between finely cut discs of a French classic

he's delegated to Alice.

I'm making a dacquoise, which is a light coconut sponge

to go in our cylinders.

Dacquiose sponge should be incredibly light

as it contains no flour, just egg white, sugar

and, in this case, desiccated coconut.

I'm doing all the sponges, doing a bit of everything, really.

And then, in the end, everyone's going to help me hopefully.

The young guns won't be tempering any chocolate,

concentrating again on the flavours of their fillings.

I'm just making orange and chilli curd

-that's going to go in the petit gateau.

-Orange and chilli?

-Yeah.

-Is that a flavour profile that works well together?

-We think so.

We're having it with chocolate, as well so orange and chocolate go

and orange and chilli go and chilli and chocolate go.

With a base of brownie and a tuille biscuit insert,

they'll be piping layers of chocolate

and Szechuan pepper cream,

orange and chilli curd and a sharp orange mousse.

Once set in the mould,

they plan to spray each cylinder with a cocoa butter glaze.

We forgot to actually bring something with us. Our own moulds.

Oh, so you actually forgot your cylinder moulds?

So what we did is, we was up late last night making them

ourselves out of acetate.

-It was a team bonding exercise...

-Uh-huh.

..and now it's all become apparent to the guys,

but I had it all pre-planned up here.

Yes, so you did this on purpose?

-Yeah.

-We're waiting for plan B?

-Yes.

-OK.

ALARM SOUNDS

That's the official plan B warning sign.

I'm just starting the second layer of the petit gateau.

There's a coconut sponge in the bottom.

Then I'm putting the dark chocolate and caramel mousse on top.

All right, on the same tray, get the orange curd, as well.

Reece's young team have taken a risk.

They need the mousse to set inside their home-made cylinders

before the petit gateau can be glazed.

That's our critical point.

If we fall behind on them timings,

then we could be in trouble for the rest of the day.

The third stage will be to put

the sphere of frozen brulee in the middle.

Neil's team, they look actually quite organised.

My concerns, though, being overcooked.

It's looking dark.

It hasn't risen.

I'm a bit concerned with James's cylinder.

There is so much going on. We have peanut. We've had yuzu.

Dark chocolate. I may be wrong. I might like it.

He works a little bit messy, especially with the chocolate work.

You can see it goes a little bit everywhere

but hopefully we'll see some nice finished produce in the end.

Oh, no, I've just been covered.

Reece's team has been clean and tidy throughout the whole task.

I mean, I'm wondering if they're doing.

I've seen lovely technique, great piping skills,

great levelling skills.

-They've got one speed.

-Yes.

It's like they are floating through the day.

Pastry chefs, you have half an hour remaining.

This is all BLEEP.

Reece's handmade moulds are too large for his recipe.

OK, put those in the freezer.

And they don't have enough mousse to fill them.

Put those in the freezer. Start weighing out more mousse.

I'm making holes and putting coffee cream inside.

I got plenty.

I'm just blow torching my framboisier moulds

to release the mousse from it.

Ben's second mousse is a different colour to his first.

I need some...

Can you go away cos I'm BLEEP about to lose it!

And Graham's framboisier still hasn't set.

Sorry, mate, I've just BLEEP it all up.

There's not a lot I can do about it.

-Lauren, ice as quick as you can, yeah?

-Yeah.

-My little pocket rocket.

Pastry chefs, you've got five minutes.

I'm with you in two minutes.

Those are terrible, man.

I feel like crying.

-You've cut more than we need, haven't you...

-Yes.

..cos I'm running out of meringues?

-Guys, you have 45 seconds.

-Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Right, can we do the sponge?

-Quick, quick, quick, let's do it.

-We need to get one more row in.

-Just put it on the end or something. Middle?

-Specs, specs, specs.

There's a raspberry missing off one.

OK, pastry chefs, that is it. Time is up. Stop what you're doing.

Take them off, take them off, take them off.

-Take them off, take them off, take them off.

-All done, Alice?

All done, Paula?

Oh, this is so embarrassing.

Over 300 cakes and pastries made in just three hours and now,

for the first time, the teams will have their work

judged by three of the finest pastry chefs in the world.

Neil's team of secret chefs have served a framboisier with

a puffed wheat and white chocolate base, a raspberry jelly,

rose mousse, pistachio frangipan and Swiss meringue bulbs.

You hit the brief. Internal multiple layers.

You have actually six different types of component in just

one little slice of cake.

Mmm.

Raspberry, raspberry, that's good. That's the brief.

The frangipan is lost in the middle. I lost the pistachio.

I like the combination of texture.

I'm not sure I like the Sugar Puffs. They are little chewy.

I'm not convinced that it harmonises with the rest of it

but I do love the raspberry flavours as Benoit said.

It's really strong and it comes through.

Their Paris-Brest is filled with praline mousse, a coffee creme

patissiere and topped with a coffee and cocoa nib craquelin.

It looks a little rough.

I was looking for a little bit more neatness overall and more appeal.

I like the coffee flavour. It's strong and it's dominant.

I love the crunch. I would say it hasn't helped your choux pastry.

The weight of the crumble on top has prevented

it from being of light as it normally should be.

It's kept it down during the rising in the oven.

I can feel a little bit of that bitterness of the choux pastry

being slightly overcooked.

The petit gateau was filled with a chocolate caramel mousse,

mango and passion fruit curd and a coconut dacquoise.

They are round, they are level, they are clean, they are sharp.

Love your choice of colours. They do reflect what's inside.

Love the texture of your mousse.

I could not really get the mango

and the passion flavour that you're trying to put together.

Unfortunately, there's not enough balancing texture inside,

so we've got a lot of chocolate mousse

and just the thinnest little layer of the coconut dacquoise.

There is one problem really, which troubles me,

and it's eating the coconut dacquoise.

I'm still, as I speak, fight with little bits of coconut.

Maybe the balance of your recipe has far too much of it,

or it's not cooked enough, yeah, because it's still there?

It's going to be there certainly for a little while.

-Chaps.

-Hi.

Reece's team of young guns have made a framboisier with three

layers of pistachio sponge, raspberry and lavender jam,

Greek yoghurt mousse and raspberry cream.

The hangman's noose.

It's so precise looking. Even your decoration on top.

-All the pistachio nuts are facing the same way.

-Thank you.

-Claire, you're pondering.

-Hmm.

It's a good ponder.

A real kick of raspberry flavour with really good acidity.

I'm getting more flavour of pistachio from the pistachio

-on top than I am from the sponge...

-OK.

..and I think the sponge is a little bit on the tight side.

But I see why you got a tighter kind of texture

because you've got a very clean cut, which is a compromise you had to

make to really get a neat slice, but the raspberry flavours are there.

It's not far.

Their Paris-Brest is filled with hazelnut creme mousseline,

a rum and banana caramel ganache and hazelnut brittle.

Precision is so important in the pastry kitchen.

I would like you to pipe a little bit more uniform

because I can see a lot of shapes.

Oh!

-That's how it's meant to be.

-That's how they eat it in France, isn't it?

It's a different word than the Paris-Brest.

The banana, the rum, it's not Paris-Brest any more.

It's a different race. We've gone exotic. We've gone Brazil, whatever.

And the part I like the most is the little crunchy caramel

and nutty flavour in it. I like it. Thank you.

The banana, the caramel, they just dance on my palate.

The rum, I like it just a little bit more.

A little bit more booze?

With just a little bit more booze.

Inside their petit gateau is a chocolate brownie, a sesame

and walnut tuille, an orange mousse and an orange and chilli curd.

You're telling me now, from the visual point of view, that the

top part here and the bottom part is the same orange mousse?

-So we did have a slight problem with this.

-A huge problem.

If we could serve it in the dark, it might be better.

That's a good answer.

Mmm.

Lovely texture.

It's an explosion of flavour.

Not sure I share all your enthusiasm. I do like the flavours.

If I had my eyes closed,

I wouldn't know the chocolate brownie was there.

Your mousse is beautiful and light

-and I agree it's got a lovely orange flavour.

-Lovely.

What a shame that you couldn't actually finish it off.

When you first started this morning, you went like on a jolly,

as if you were on holiday, or if you were at home.

This afternoon, if you don't pull it out of your backside,

you're going to be stuck here and not finish this afternoon.

You guys have amazing work here but you need to shift the gearbox.

Chef.

The framboisier reimagined by James's team of inventors

has a coconut sponge base, raspberry jelly,

ganache and is topped with white chocolate and cheesecake mousse.

The great quality of a pastry chef is working organised and clean

and I'm sorry to say that this morning you disappointed me.

Chef, what happened to your uniform?

I felt like I'm in a car crash.

We just got a little bit disorganised and that's why

we ended up where we were.

That's a problem I expect you to solve this afternoon

and really work on for me.

Following on this, looking at the slice,

-is it meant to be shorter at the base than at the top?

-No, it's not.

So you couldn't actually trim what's on the top?

I had to get the 36 out.

But you haven't got 36. You've got 34 now, you know that?

You've counted them, no? There's 34 there.

OK, good news. It does taste a lot better than it looks.

-It's a shame it wasn't set enough.

-Yeah.

So I will say a little accident this morning

-but you can recover from it.

-Yes.

I like the bottom layer

but I don't really get the mascarpone tube that you put on top.

It is so fatty on my palate.

And, because the chocolate is so thick,

-when I eat it, it's a bit sweet on the top for my liking.

-OK.

Their Paris-Brest contains a coffee mousse-filled choux ring,

vanilla crunch, almond praline and caramelised hazelnuts.

These are looking clean. They're looking sharp.

They're looking regular. This is what I'm looking for.

I just want to see the formulation of layers.

Yes, it's lovely.

So nice when you cut it open it's not just a single ring.

-Thank you very much.

-I'm going to pay you a compliment, Makiko.

This is baked really, really well. This is how we like it.

I don't like the pastry to be too dry.

It is crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside. I love it.

Flavour wise, I think you can taste the hazelnut and the coffee,

but it's very, very, very light.

The petit gateau is filled with smoked chocolate parfait,

peanut butter feuilletine, yuzu ganache and miso sauce.

I can see that the seam is not properly joined

and I also can see cracks in each individual cylinder.

When I cut it open, I love the way that all that yuzu filling

oozed out onto my plate, so I think it was a real wow moment.

I really love the taste.

The combination of the 63% acidic chocolate together with

the yuzu tastes beautiful.

The only comment that I have is that I would usually...

And this is how I would break it

and I only can taste your chocolate mousse,

but if I could have put my cylinder this way and when I eat it,

wow, it's amazing because I have every element on the fork.

Thank you.

The final result in Creme De La Creme is based on points

awarded by the judges.

The team with the most points after both tests are guaranteed

a place in the semifinal.

Each judge is going to award each pastry batch a mark out of ten.

That's a total of 90 points available for your miniatures.

'A low score now could make progressing in the competition

'impossible.'

We're going to start the scoring with James's team.

For James's framboisier...

..you score 10.

For the Paris-Brest...

19.

For your petit gateau...

17,

and an overall score for your miniatures round

of 46.

Despite the innovation, a failed framboisier has led to

a less than ideal start for James's team.

Will Reece fare any better?

For Reece's team's framboisier

you score a total of 21.

For the Paris-Brest, 18.

And for the petit gateau, 10.

You score a grand total of 49.

'A damning verdict on their unfinished petit gateau

'leaves Reece's team just three points ahead of James's.

'Can Neil's team beat them both?'

For Neil's team's framboisier, 20 points.

For the Paris-Brest, 15.

'Neil now needs 15 points for his petit gateau

'to beat Reece and James and win the miniatures challenge.'

And finally, for the petit gateau...

..16.

And, Neil, your team is in the lead.

Only just, mind.

But with a total of 51. Guys, what an incredible start.

Deep breaths.

Take a break and come back this afternoon. Well done, chefs.

Dismissed.

I was sort of wishing numbers to come out

because I was adding it up as it was going along and I'm like,

"We only need that now and we'll be in the lead."

-Were you that reasoned?

-Yeah.

-I didn't have a clue what was going on.

-Still a bit nervous.

Still too much to play for.

The fact that we are so close in points makes it even more nervous.

Had a few hurdles. Tripped over a few hurdles. Stuff does go wrong.

It doesn't mean we need to run around,

throw ingredients around or on ourselves.

Some of the other teams have come out

and it looks like they've been to war in there.

You know, it's hard to take when you know what you can produce

and you don't produce it.

-Right, done.

-It's only six.

-Second one.

-Yes, exactly.

-All put to bed. All forgotten, all finished.

The day's second and final challenge is on such a grand scale that

evening before the heat began...

Why won't the scales turn on?...

..the teams were given a golden hour to prepare any elements that

needed to be chilled or set overnight.

I would make them a little bit thicker.

They'll be constructing a complex and stunning centrepiece dessert...

15 apple leaves, yeah?

..and there's so many points on offer

it could turn this heat on its head.

How close is this?

Five points between the three teams, which is nothing.

So everything is to play for this afternoon definitely.

Looking forward to seeing a little bit of grandiose in what's

come up in their preparation.

Neil's team, out in front deservedly so

or is it a little bit against the run of play?

They deserve to be where they are

and they look like a very well drilled kitchen.

They're playing safe at the moment.

They're getting half marks for everything across the board,

which means they're showing good skills but not exceptional skills.

Reece's team, the framboisier was beautiful.

They just didn't quite have time to finish their cylinder.

James's team is a bit weak compared to Reece's team.

They are not as refined.

They have the skill but they kept their eyes off the ball

and that really grinds my gear.

So if Reece's team and James's team managed to complete the task,

they're going to get higher points?

-I'm not sure about James's team, but Reece's team, definitely.

-Yeah.

Welcome back, chefs. It's time for the showpiece.

The judges want you to create a visually stunning showpiece

dessert that takes its inspiration from a popular British pudding.

This is all about taking something ordinary

and turning it into the extraordinary.

I would like you to reinvent apple crumble and custard.

I'm excited to see what new idea you bring to your showpiece.

We need you to showcase your artistic side using all

the best pastry chef skills,

sugar work, chocolate work, moulding,

carving, modelling to make your design truly exceptional to look at.

However, it's really important that you keep the link

between your showpiece and the humble apple crumble and custard.

This test is worth up to 50 points from each judge

so there's plenty of room there to make up some lost ground.

You now have three hours to present your showpiece.

Good luck.

Your time...starts...now.

Let's go. You left me hanging. You left me hanging. I can't believe it.

That'll be good.

Right, guys, I want to work really clean, yeah?

A showpiece dessert is the pastry kitchen's highest calling.

Paula, it will get blown off the tray.

It needs stunning visual impact

to bring a touch of magic to a fine dining room.

-Have you got the thermometer, chef?

-The sugar one is in here.

And every one of the 36 servings that the teams must deliver

need to have flavours and textures that must be tasted to be believed.

Running around a little bit more this afternoon?

-Just kicking it up a gear, Chef.

-Gone into second gear.

-Are we in third gear yet?

-Third, maybe fourth.

Third or maybe fourth, nice. OK, talk me through it.

What's the design concept?

It's really important, I think, for there to be

-a connection between your dessert and where you get it from.

-Right.

-So where do you get your apples from? An apple tree.

-Yeah.

So you have to go and pick your own apples

and then that's the interactive part of the dish.

Where I come from that's called scrumping.

'Reece's team are making glazed apple-shaped desserts filled with

'apple and caramel mousse on a disc of Sable Breton

'and a sprinkling of chocolate soil.

'The apples will be displayed on a tower of white chocolate tree trunk

'slices and their inspiration

is the garden of the hotel where they work.'

The Grove have been on the phone.

There's a tree missing. Is that right?

Yeah, there's a tree that's a couple of hundred years old...

-You haven't cut it down?

-No, no, we've got some of it with us here.

This is from a 100-year-old apple tree?

Yes, so that's where we drew the inspiration from.

Right, I'll leave you to kick it up to fourth. Crack on, chaps.

I'll see you later on.

'If they can move fast enough, our young guns might just

'pull off a showpiece that'll move them from second to first place.'

Hopefully, none of the other teams will have anything like us.

It would be good to see something different.

This is a solid piece of chocolate that we've cast as this shape

and this is going to be the main part of the tree, which is

going to emulate an apple tree.

Neil's tree will be sculpted from 6kg of dark chocolate.

Falling from it will be apples made from a set roasted apple

and caramel mousse filled with elderflower-infused diced apple,

a vanilla brulee sphere

and a juniper-flavoured German crumble called streusel.

It makes me feel a bit anxious,

cos we really don't know what we're giving them.

We will only see if it's actually worked when the dessert has been

presented to the judges and they cut it in half.

The secret chefs of the city face a tense afternoon.

-Will they be able to hang on to their lead?

-How's the apple mousse?

The apple mousse is in the fridge. I'm just waiting on the streusel.

-OK, you're not going to set it too much?

-Huh?

-You're not going to set the mousse too much?

-No, I'm not.

-OK.

Despite spectacular plans,

the cornerstone of this showpiece could rest on one decision.

-What kind of apple are you using?

-Golden delicious.

-Really?

-So it's all based on golden delicious?

-Yes.

Because the golden delicious typically taste sweet

and very mild in flavour.

And also, in terms of colour, it's fairly pale.

What apple are you using?

Myself and Alice both like the taste and texture from pink lady,

especially what we were doing with it. We were just getting a better

flavour from when they were cooked in the caramel.

-Are those Bramley?

-Bramleys, yes.

For me, it's the only apple you should use for apple crumble.

My grandmother made it exactly this way.

OK, talk to me about your crumble, quickly.

Inside, we're going to have some apple puree

with a little bit of roast fennel, just a touch.

-Very, very light.

-OK.

We've made a little Calvados and creme fraiche parfait,

which we've got in the freezer.

A little financier with brown butter.

And it all comes back into an apple shape?

The shape of an apple, and served inside the chocolate apple.

James's fairytale-inspired showpiece will feature a sugar work princess

standing over a metre tall.

The apple she'll be surrounded by

are an experiment in temperature and texture.

Crisp white tempered chocolate filled with a warm sabayon custard,

frozen Calvados parfait and a room temperature

bramley and fennel puree.

The bramley is likely to be acidic and full of apple flavour.

He's touched my heart

because he's putting a little bit of Calvados inside, which is Normandy.

Normandy is where I come from.

That's going to be great,

and they are going to build an apple with crumble inside. I can't wait.

'After this morning's disastrous framboisier, responsibility

'for making the giant sugar worker princess has fallen to Graham.'

You had a bit of a bumpy ride this morning.

I had a nightmare, let's be honest.

I'm just going to concentrate and redeem myself, you know.

'Graham's warmed a mix of sugar, glucose and water under a heat lamp

'which he can then pull to form the elements of the showpiece.'

I'm going to pull branches and stems and things like that.

Pulled sugar work is something that you're fairly skilled at?

I'm OK at sugar, chocolate, all that sort of stuff.

I'm also good at patisserie as well,

but it just didn't happen this morning in fairness.

'Two hours to go and the final showpiece test.'

I am making the Sable Breton bases for our apples to sit on.

'Sable Breton is a crumbly French shortbread from Brittany

'traditionally made with sea salt.'

It's sort of like a crumbly base.

We've chosen the Sable Bretons.

It's got a better taste to it, as well, with the texture you want.

I'm rolling up my speculoos biscuit,

a lightly spiced brown sugar biscuit.

I think it's German, actually.

Quite crisp, almost cracker-like in terms of its texture.

-It should be quite crumbly.

-What's the crumble part?

-The crumble is this one.

-OK.

-Juniper.

-Juniper crumble?

'Neil's team have added dried ground juniper berries

'to their German streusel.'

-Very autumny flavours goes very well.

-Yeah.

Judges have definitely got to like that, haven't they?

Well, going by this morning, we don't know what they like, really.

Well, you're in the lead. You're in the lead. You're in the lead.

'As well as the components for their apple crumble,

'many presentation elements have to be made according to how much time

'they'll need to cool or set.'

-It's leaking.

-Keep it calm, Maki.

I'm going to put the white chocolate over the top

which will set the frame almost

and then we'll be pouring the tempered chocolate in the middle,

so this will create the bark effect around the outside of the logs.

So this is the shape of the princess.

Graham began working on presentation in last night's prep hour.

Using a hybrid royal icing professionals call pastillage.

This is royal icing with gelatine in it

and it's got titanium dioxide in it.

It makes it go pure white and it just sets quite concrete.

Oh, my God!

Don't worry, it's fine. I'll sort it. It's all right, I'll fix it.

Slightly annoying.

As well as tempering giant slabs of chocolate for their tree...

I'm going to use a digital spirit level so each base is level.

..Neil's team use their prep time to make

and chill their roasted apple mousse.

On the bottom, we have roasted apple mousse.

We have a juniper streusel on top of that

and then more apple mousse to hold it all together.

The extra apple mousse should ensure that both halves

of their fallen apples can meet with a flawless join.

We're not going to have enough.

But their recipe hasn't produced the volume they were expecting.

-Neil...

-Yes.

-..I want you to make a decision.

I'm going to run out of mousse.

Do you want me to fill it with streusel to bulk it?

-As long as they are roughly the same height.

-Yes.

-It doesn't need to be right to the top.

-No, no, no.

-We can't cover with the mousse, can we?

-Yeah. Put mousse on top.

We just need to make sure it's no higher than the mould.

We've got to get this right, otherwise we're BLEEP.

This is the caramel mousse that we made yesterday.

The core of our apple, essentially, and these are little pips inside.

Reece's caramel cores will eventually be surrounded by

Ben's golden delicious apple mousse.

In my mousse there's going to be apple puree,

Instagel and a pro-mousse, so it's like a powder,

so it sets a lot quicker than normal gelatine and then whipped cream

and we're going to get that in to the moulds with our caramel mousse.

The main thing that could go wrong today is our apple mousses.

They might not freeze in time so then we can dip them.

No?

It's the second time Ben has been caught out with colouring...

I added a little bit too much food colouring.

..and it could set the team back massively.

I'm going to start that again.

-HE GROANS

-BLEEP! BLEEP!

-How far in are we?

-I don't know.

Pastry chefs, you have one hour left.

Don't add any colour to it at all.

-I'll add the colour if we need it.

-Yeah.

Doesn't look like sugar, does it?

Graham is going to attempt to repair his broken princess...

..by first melting his pastillage...

I don't know how brave I am.

-You're brave in an unbrave kind of way, yeah?

-Yeah.

..then creating his own edible glue.

The adhesive is sugar, so you boil some sugar, dip it in...

How confident are you with the solidity of your structure?

Very confident.

We've got ahold of some leaves off an apple tree

and we've brushed the back of the leaf to get the vein,

so when we peel the actual real leaf off,

we should have a leaf made out of chocolate.

We're then going to brush it with some greens, some bronzes,

to make it look a bit like an autumn tree.

So, here, I'm just making some of the petals that are going to

go around the tree. We've got to make 108.

Lauren, keep going, you're doing a great job.

-Shame your head chef can't

-BLEEP

-keep up.

Yeah. No. Half an hour.

So, the mousse, second time around, luckily, is the right colour.

One all-lace apple...

Makiko has created a pastillage apple

for Graham's towering princess.

Stress.

-You all better pray.

-Want some help?

No help, just let me get it on.

No, no, don't touch it, don't touch it. I've got it, I've got it.

-Move that box, Chef.

-What box, this box?

-That box, that...

GRAHAM INHALES DEEPLY

-Well done.

-Ah!

-Well done...

-Neil?

-Yes.

In 40 seconds, the mousses will have been in for half an hour.

Gloves... Gloves.

That's cos you blew into the glove, Alice.

-You put moisture in the glove.

-Right, well, it's my own fault then.

-Yeah.

-Just turn it upside down. You need to turn it upside...

This is the two halves of our apple mousse.

-Now plugged in...

-It's right here.

They need to be... moulded back together,

so we're just introducing a tiny bit of heat to the mousse,

just to make it tacky.

-Nice and quick, Ben, yeah?

-Yes, Chef.

-Ben's second mousse might be the right colour...

-All right?

..but it hasn't had enough time to set.

They're not coming out as nice.

-Go and put them back in. Let's build all of this...

-Yeah.

..then we've got that.

-When it gets to half an hour, then we'll do it.

-Yeah.

Three hours to do something like this, this is extreme.

You need to be brave.

This is our tower structure, this is what the dessert will sit on.

-No-one touch the table, yeah?

-So, how far are you away, Chef?

-16 minutes left, 16 minutes.

-16, I'm there.

OK, I'm going to start making the sabayon.

Sabayon is essentially an aerated sauce, so a bit like a custard.

We'll whisk our eggs and sugar till they're cooked - ribbon stage -

then I'm going to add some cream and my Calvados itself.

So, it should be served just warm.

I'm going to start taking these apples out.

So, this is an electric spray gun.

We've made a mixture of white chocolate, cocoa butter,

and we're going to spray our apples with green white-chocolate spray.

This will give it a sort of velvet look on the outside of the apple.

I'm just going to start building desserts.

We've got our apple compote, our puree, our little friands.

Our parfait blackcurrant fluid gel to give us that lovely sharpness.

And there are speculaas to go on top.

We're going to dip it in a green pectin glaze,

so it actually gets the shine of a fresh apple.

Did you think we need to dip them twice to try and cover it a bit?

-Two minutes.

-Two minutes.

-Two and a half minutes.

-Two and a half.

-Get it on, carry on, carry on.

-Only six.

Six on each one - five on the first one and one on the plate.

Whoa, whoa - we need to spray red on those.

No, no, leave them there now.

It's just some red cocoa butter,

just to emulate the Pink Lady apple that we've used.

I know that I'll put something

on this and it's going to collapse, so...

-Better to have something up than nothing at all, yeah?

-Mm-hm.

You have one minute remaining, guys.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa!

-Come on, guys, keep going, keep going, keep going.

These piping bags don't like pressure.

-Oh!

-Alice...

Leave it, leave it. Put it on and leave it.

The leaf.

You can't stick it back on. No, don't.

You need to stick it on with liquid chocolate.

It's not just going to float there.

Please, give me a break. Just this once, for today?

Five...

-four...

-Just clean up, clean, clean, clean.

three...

two...

one.

Cool.

Whatever happens now, it doesn't matter. That was good.

Mm, that's very good.

Their tree needs a bit of TLC.

Could use our watering can.

I don't think it quite has enough height. It's a bit sparse.

It's very stagnant.

Level one, level two, level three, level four, level five

-and I'm looking at the same thing.

-Yeah.

That lovely chocolate flour, it's not an apple tree.

Also, they are a bit disconnected with what you are trying to do.

I'm getting an apple flavour from the glaze, but not from the mousse.

I would say it's more of an acidity than a pronounced apple flavour.

-OK.

-Do I find a crumble in that dessert?

I don't think so.

Obviously, there is no place for the sable breton to expand,

so it stays within your rubber mould,

and it's stayed very stiff and you lose the crumbly effect.

-Thank you, guys.

-Thanks, Chef.

There's little impact of any height.

You need to look down to see the visual impact.

Really flat, it's like a carpet of apples.

The apples have fallen from the tree, I get that.

The apples - I see the lines on the outside as well.

I've seen you trying to smooth it down.

Yeah, we didn't get the volume from the mousse,

so the moulds weren't filled as much as they should have been.

Not a huge apple flavour at all.

I know the Pink Lady is very fragrant

and it's quite a delicate flavour...

I think it's just got lost,

especially as you've added the caramel tones in there.

But I do like the elderflower element.

The custard inside...

..very nice. Creamy, runny... Not enough of it.

Maybe a little bit more of your compressed apple,

with more crumble, a bit more custard,

then you have a different dessert.

I'm actually quite surprised that the crumble in there

is still quite crunchy.

Saying that, the mousse - too much gelatine in it.

Look, when I move this, this is still moving.

The brief, you interpreted quite well...

..but there is another two or three layers where you can bring

a good idea to a great idea.

-Wow.

-Visual impact - we just got a "wow" from Benoit.

There is a lot of finesse in the apple

and it give good credit to the woman you are trying to represent.

All these very fine pieces really make it look very feminine

and princess-like.

This little apple, I thought, was very intricate.

I was hoping that you'd make a couple more

hanging down from the tree.

Instead of making three OK pieces,

I wanted to create just one really delicate one.

And I think we took some learnings from this morning,

that we wanted to get the piece out well.

I'm asking you how to serve the rest of the dessert

because I've got a small apple shell, but they are big globs.

So, you could take it to the table, you could have a bit of interaction

with the sabayon and scooping out and serving.

Is it not going to look a little bit messy?

I think in a larger one, it certainly would be more challenging.

-So, it's very dramatic in a way...

-Yes.

..but in terms of serving, maybe a little awkward?

-Yeah.

-The Bramley apple is definitely there.

Speculaas brings the spice element.

I'm not sure if I taste the blackberry, as such,

because the Bramley is very strong.

Should have the Bramley apple been cut with another variety

to lower the acidity a little bit?

-But...I've got the apple crumble.

-Yeah, thank you.

I love the Bramley apple, I love the tartness of it.

I don't think you even need the blackberry.

I'm a little disappointed at the thickness of your shell

cos it could be part of the dessert,

but it's a little bit thick for me to tackle.

The chocolate is not well tempered as well.

There is no snap, there is no gloss to it.

Overall, design concept - gorgeous float, lots of techniques...

I think you've got all the elements of the apple crumble,

so you've delivered on your dessert as well.

Well done.

THEY BREATHE HEAVILY

Concept, presentation, taste, technique

and delivery of the apple crumble brief

will see the judges award each team a score out of 50.

The team with the highest total score for the day

will go through to the semifinal,

as will the highest scoring runner-up across all the heats.

Chefs, I can now reveal the results.

Reece, we'll start with your team.

The judges awarded you...

When added to this morning's score,

that gives you a grand total of 117 points.

'With scores in the low 20s from all three judges,

'it gives James's team

'a possible lifeline back into the competition.'

James, the judges awarded you...

Which gives you a grand total of 140 points.

'It's a strong recovery.'

'But can Neil's team hold on for a guaranteed place in the semifinal?'

The judges awarded you...

And finally...

When added to your score this morning,

it gives you a grand total...

..of 131 points.

Which means today's winners

are James's team.

James, you go through to the semifinal. Congratulations, guys.

MAKIKO LAUGHS

Well done...

The only thing that's got us through is our camaraderie

and our team spirit, and I think that showed in buckets

in the second half today and I'm very proud of that.

-Bloody well done, guys.

-Thank you very much.

-You know, it's never over until it's over, yeah?

-Thank you very much.

-Graham, there is the semifinal to look forward to.

-Yes, absolutely.

-So, we need to take on board everything!

-Yeah, yeah.

We are delighted that we've taken on guys

who are currently in the industry and we've won.

You can accelerate that by at least tenfold by the time

we get to the semi, so we need to pick ourselves up and go again.

I was pretty sure they had it, to be quite honest,

after seeing what they'd produced.

We were trying to throw some apples at it, but we missed.

LAUGHTER

-You look disappointed.

-Mm, it could have gone better,

but I'm overall happy with this experience.

-How old are you?

-25.

Ah, he's still a baby. A baby.

It's going to come. Not if, but when, yeah?

Thank you, Chef.

'Next time...'

-BLEEP!

-No.

-'The British Armed Forces...'

-This is carnage.

'..do battle with one of the finest hotels in the world...'

-OK?

-No.

-No, we're not OK?

'..and the only all-women team in the competition...'

I imagine that them three judges are worse than your teachers.

Oh, my God, by, like, 100 times worse.

'In this incredible Bake Off...'

It's not acceptable. You are a professional.

'..who will be the creme de la creme?'