Episode 8 Bake Off Creme de la Creme

Welcome to the final of Britain's first ever

professional pastry team competition.

15 teams of chefs started,

some have triumphed...

It's very clean, it's very sharp.

-Wow.

-You just got a "wow" from Benoit!

..whilst others have wilted in the heat of competition.

And now, only three remain.

They have shown some extraordinary skills

and creativity to get here

and now, one long, intensive day

of cooking stands between them

and the coveted trophy.

In the prep kitchen for the grand final,

are the boys from the five-star Hilton on London's Park Lane.

Have you built the Ferris wheel yet?

Ruthless time management and a wealth of experience

in precise mass catering has seen captain Sajeela, Sam

and James win both their heat and semifinal convincingly.

Look at that! Beautiful layering. And do you know what?

I heard that crunch as I got through to the bottom.

But their consistency has come at a cost.

There is no great innovation there.

We've been told twice now that we're playing it safe.

So I said OK, let's take a risk, let's do it.

-We can win this competition.

-I'm ready when you are.

Right, two minutes.

They're up against captain Mark

and his two former cookery school students, Helen and Samantha.

-BLEEP!

-Can we glaze that one again?

Underdogs from the beginning,

they scraped through to the semifinals on a wild card.

It actually tastes really good,

but it hasn't got the flavour profiles that should be there.

But then staged a stunning comeback to reach the final.

Wow, this is what I call a showpiece!

When you have the judges coming round inspecting you,

-it's quite intimidating!

-We're just pleased to get to the final.

-Yes, OK, it'd be lovely if we won!

-Wow, you've changed your tune!

-Pour some...milk.

-The third finalists

are captain Christophe with Josua

and Valeria from a South London patisserie.

Christophe, can I have an oven at 90?

Their unshakeable team spirit saw them dominate their heat...

It's absolutely beautiful and you brightened my day!

..and cling on for the wild card place in the final.

You are making me smile, that's for sure!

-Did you do everything you wanted to do?

-Yes.

-And more.

-And more?

Now, the preparation is over...

I can't do it, man.

BLEEP

Sorry, I forgot to put it on.

..it's time to discover who is the creme de la creme.

-Come this way. Forward.

-THEY GASP

In just a few hours, one of these three teams will be declared

this year's winner of Bake Off Creme De La Creme.

# Duh duh-duh duuuuh! #

And in this grand final,

they'll face a challenge unlike any other in the competition.

-I feel better already(!)

-You'd better!

HE COUGHS

The judges have drawn on their own experiences competing in the most

spectacular and gruelling patisserie competitions in the world.

Welcome, chefs.

There is only one big test today,

and the judges want you to create

a spectacular showpiece banquet

that feeds 100 people.

We'd like you to make at least six different desserts.

We'd like to see a variety of textures and flavours.

And we also would like you to make a showpiece structure with height,

not shorter than 75 cm.

We want the presentation of your banquet dessert

to showcase your professional skill,

but of course, be visually stunning.

The choice of the theme is up to you,

but we'd like it to reflect you as a team,

showing your pastry style

and your unique personality.

You now have six hours to complete your showpiece banquet.

Best of luck, chefs.

Your time starts now.

OK, guys.

We're going to smash it, yes?

It's just another day at the office.

Let's do this, let's do this.

It's crunch time.

There is no second day,

there is no coming back,

they leave everything in the kitchen today.

The main challenges for them today

will be to manage again their time perfectly.

Six different styles of pastry to feed 100 people.

It needs to be interesting and different textures,

different colours, different shapes,

innovations - the lot.

The teams are free to create any type of dessert they wish,

but in line with international competition rules,

at the halfway stage, they must have half their menu ready for tasting.

Is that a usual thing to do, when you're judging competitions,

especially at this top end?

Well, it's standard. It's standard in any professional competition.

You don't have to wait until the last minute when you can focus really on the display.

It's also part of the challenges, you have to deliver your recipes

or your items all the way through at specific times.

It makes it more interesting.

The whole of our theme, obviously, because we're pastry chefs,

we're trying to give the judges the showpiece of being a pastry chef.

We're very passionate about it and that will hopefully come over

on our scoops and our little jars and things we're going to do.

The cookery school's homage

to the life of a pastry chef

will feature a towering stack

of tempered chocolate bowls and utensils.

For the first tasting,

they'll be delivering a chocolate and hazelnut mousse,

a mango and lime dome

and a rhubarb and custard tart.

I really like what I see on the menu.

Rhubarb custard - who don't like rhubarb custard?

I can also see a chocolate with hazelnuts - soft, light,

foamy mousse and a crunchy nut and a filling.

I really can eat it in my mind.

But I have to mention that they look a bit tense this morning.

It's a little bit free-form today, what we're doing.

We haven't had too long to practise for this and get ready for it,

so some of the elements are things we've done in the past,

you know, so...

Maybe they'll say we're playing it safe a little bit.

We'll see.

In the next kitchen...

Are you happy with that?

Oh, yeah - beautiful.

We are doing a pastry fair.

Like a funfair, but pastry.

That's our theme.

I need to impress the judges to win it, to take a risk

and you need to seriously put all your skills in the showpiece.

At the Park Lane boys' edible Winter Wonderland,

there'll be a helter-skelter,

snowmen, Christmas trees

and a chocolate train.

At the first tasting,

they'll serve toffee apple lollies,

passionfruit and raspberry cones

and macaroon burgers.

I know I'll be looking personally for exquisite skills.

This is the final, we want sharp, great pastry chef skills,

but because it's a pastry fair,

we want also to have a colourful display

and a little smile on our faces.

Feeling good, feeling excited.

We're on fire.

But not everyone on the team

is feeling as stoked as captain Sajeela.

Yesterday I started to feel quite ill, almost like the flu...

But, got to plough through that, haven't you?

So...get on with it,

hopefully we'll produce something that we're actually proud of.

In the final kitchen...

The theme of our showpiece

is harmony.

Harmony, because...

We actually make cakes every day

for the village where we all work

and live in Blackheath

and this is the harmony of all

the customers coming and the scenery

and the pond, the church, so we're going to bring all that together.

Also, the harmony of the team.

This pan-European team are attempting to

unite the world around

a swan-topped croquembouche.

For the first tasting,

they'll deliver an Asian

pandan leaf-flavoured fudge cake,

an Italian risotto sponge orange cake

and Mexican Margarita macaroons.

Christophe's team, there's some interesting stuff there.

My only concern is that it's not quite going to be balanced enough.

Looking at their menu, the tamarillo and pandan dessert,

I'm not sure.

There's a chocolate sponge base there,

the tamarillo is in the form of some kind of jelly...

The oranger risotto sponge sounds really interesting.

Also, Margarita macaroons....

Mmmm.

I hope that comes through this afternoon, cos that will be

about time for some alcohol, I think.

-Christophe?

-Yeah?

Good, thank you very much.

Christophe is giving directions which he doesn't normally do,

he's very focused today.

We're going to do them all together, the same time.

I will start with the macaron religieuse.

It went very well in the previous heat, so I'm doing that,

with a bit of a twist, which nobody knows about!

I can't wait to see the judges' faces when they're going to try it.

This is the jelly that is going to go in the orange - a star anise

and orange jelly.

And I'm making a risotto sponge...

which is going to be the base of the same cake.

I've done the chocolate decoration for the macaroon religious

and for l'orange.

While Christophe is adopting a harmonious strategy...

Nice, Christophe - looks good.

It's like I do that all my life!

..Mark is overseeing all three of this morning's desserts...

It's not very sweet, shall I put a bit more sugar in?

I've put a little bit of sugar in it.

..delegating individual components to Samantha and Helen.

This is the orange zest pastry.

It's got some ground almonds in it, just a little bit.

It will be filled with the ginger creme pat and the rhubarb.

I've finely sliced the rhubarb and I made up just a sugar syrup just

to soak them in, but I also put a little bit of red food colouring in.

Just because the rhubarb was a little bit green

and I wanted it to be a nice pinky rhubarb colour.

And these are put into the oven and dry out so they'll be crisps.

I have a little checklist under here, but also here as well.

So, yeah, it's really important that we know the list as well.

It's just constantly ticking what I've got to do next!

Over in Park Lane,

the team's strategy has undergone a few last-minute changes.

-How are we doing, James, Sajeela? Sam, we all right?

-Yep.

You're saying you're all good, but I know you've got the lurgy,

-you're not in a good way.

-Yeah, I'm not feeling too well.

But that'll be all right today - the adrenaline'll kick in,

it's the final, you'll be fine!

I'll battle through - if I collapse, I'll just get back up!

Just keep your distance, I don't want to catch anything!

-James, are you OK?

-Yeah, not too bad.

-What have you got going on?

The cones that are going to be for the passionfruit

-and raspberry cone.

-And then what else are you making?

Er, most of it!

-Most...! What's the other two doing?

-Er, they're...

We had a little rethink last night.

-And they decided that you should do it all?

-No, we planned it.

At first, it was me doing everything!

And then we had a little rethink, so...

Sajeela's on the tiramisu, Sam's got the macaroons going,

I'm doing the cones and then from there,

we're all getting onto that showpiece,

start decorating, start putting things together.

Sajeela, come and talk to me.

I've got your Pastry Fair menu here.

Talk me through... What's the idea of this?

In the front of our hotel,

there's a winter fair,

so we always go there.

At Christmas time, you're working long hours

and the moment you get a break, you go to the funfair,

have a mulled wine, chill out all the chaps, you know?

Have a chat, so we do that - we are fun people, let's do a funfair!

-OK, so this is the whole idea, this is all about fun.

-Yes.

-Putting some enjoyment into the judges' lives.

-Yes!

Trying to make them smile.

OK, Valeria?

-All good?

-All good.

Despite their cooperative approach,

Christophe's team are making this final challenge even harder.

These are pandan leaves for the Asie.

They've been infused all night.

I'm going to make a mousse out of it.

It's a very interesting, very different flavour.

For the morning tasting,

they're producing extra individual portions of their desserts.

This is the fudge cake for the Asie

and I'm going to pipe onto it some tamarillo jelly compote.

Tamarillo is Japanese tomato,

so it's a very tangy,

but very, very flavourful fruit.

-OK, I'm going to start, Josua.

-OK. The macaroons look beautiful.

Thanks.

Christophe has decided to start early on elements of his showpiece.

This is part of the decoration of the croquembouche.

It's nougatine, actually,

and it's made of sugar

and almonds.

We actually call them wolf teeth -

-dents de loup!

-Dents de loup.

The wolf teeth will go on the base of the croquembouche,

all the way around it.

And Christophe's not the only captain hoping to get ahead.

So this is part of our showpiece. So we're going to do some plates.

I'm using the plastic plate mould as a mould.

They usually can snap on this plate, so I'm starting them now

so I can get at least a few out ready.

This is going to be the helter-skelter.

This is white chocolate.

I'm going to colour with red strips.

A bit of a paint job.

I'm now spraying the red cocoa butter colour,

to get the strips for the skelter.

-BLEEP

-- this machine, look at this

-BLEEP.

This spray machine is not good at all.

As well as the pressure to deliver for the first tasting...

BLEEP!

..if the teams don't use the morning to begin preparing the other

desserts on their buffet...

..they'll leave too much to do in the afternoon.

Look, Valeria...

Longer, no?

We have so much to do today that you have to be doing two or three jobs

at once to get through this, otherwise we've got no chance.

This is the toffee apples that we're going to be making.

I've made an almond cream with caramelised apple inside

and then we're just going to scoop out a tiny bit in the middle,

fill it with a green apple and caramel puree

and then dip it in a red glaze afterwards.

And then they're just going to go onto these shortbread bases, just so

the actual judges can pick them up and it's not going to get all messy.

Started doing a few ganaches whilst I'm making the macaroons -

you've got to try and obviously get three or four jobs going at once.

But Sajeela is still focusing on just the one task.

Unfortunately, the spray gun is not working properly,

so I had to go for my plan B.

So I'm brushing the chocolate instead of spraying.

Things go wrong all the time, but what can I do?

So I had to go for my plan B.

This is the chocolate and hazelnut mousse with praline

and chopped hazelnuts.

This is our oranger - this is the risotto sponge

and this is the jelly.

-Beautiful!

-Pastry chefs,

you have half an hour remaining.

We are making Christmas trees

to go around our winter fair.

They might look a bit ropey at the minute,

but once they're piled up on top of each other, all these odd bits

that are poking out start to make it look like loads of branches

on a full Christmas tree.

-How many do you want to do on top?

-About three.

-Do you need it right now?

-In a minute.

-Are they big enough?

-Yeah.

I'm just about to coat the inside of our cones with a white chocolate

cocoa butter so we can pipe inside and it's not going to get soggy.

Ah, no, no, no!

I'm going to start with domes, they seem pretty solid, OK?

Want me to help you?

Er, de-mould the chocolate mousses.

-Why don't you lift it up, no?

-You're very smart.

-Helen, you're glazing, yeah?

-I'm about to, yes.

You're doing croquembouche after, yes? You've got three hours after.

I need to... I want to...

do this and caramelise them.

Trying to get ahead on his showpiece

has started to put Christophe's

harmonious strategy under strain.

I want to finish only one, I can finish only one.

OK, we'll get together, because it's too much.

OK, I'm going to make the mousseline for the macaron.

The mousseline is done,

you just need to add lemon zest... Lemon juice and lemon zest.

And they're not the only ones struggling.

How many more minutes to go?

Right. We're losing time...

-The religieuse is done, yes? I'll do it, now.

-Yes.

-So I need two more.

-Did you hear me?

-Yes. Two, yes?

-OK, perfect.

The first tasting is approaching.

-Finished?

-Yep, next.

Chefs, you've got five minutes left, guys.

This is done, this is done.

-The macarons look beautiful.

-Thanks.

-Do you want a bit of gold leaf on the top of that?

-This one, yes?

-You want it?

-Yeah, yeah.

Mark? Can I get you to do this? Would you mind?

Oh, beautiful.

OK, pastry chefs. You can start bringing up your first three dishes.

The judges will now get their first opportunity to assess

the finalists' work.

And as with elite pastry competitions around the world,

this midway tasting will take place behind closed doors.

No scores will be revealed until the end of the day.

We are used to this pressure.

The place we work, sometimes we have big functions

and we take the dessert to the chef to taste and he says

he doesn't like it,

so we have three, four hours to make 400.

The Park Lane boys' fairground toffee apple

sees caramelised Golden Delicious sponge

dipped in a red vanilla glaze

on a crisp shortbread base.

I can see a lot of dents on the surface, it's not highly finished.

For me, I think this is an OK look to me.

It's a nice crunch.

I expected to have more apple.

It does remind me a little bit of an apple pound cake. You know?

Those kind of things you do at home on a Sunday afternoon for comfort?

But is that good enough for a competition like today?

You look at this like, "Mm, do I want to eat it? No, not really".

The second dessert is a cone containing raspberry jelly

and passionfruit mousse

served on a chocolate bench.

I'm a bit disappointed with the whole look.

It's average, like the first dessert at the moment.

The cone's got a lovely crunch to it.

Good acidity from the raspberry flavour inside.

Nice vanilla.

The finish is just not there.

This is final!

Finally, a "Big Macaroon",

the cheese and ketchup made from passionfruit

and raspberry gels and the beef patty from dark chocolate ganache.

It does look like a bun with the sesame seeds on the top.

Visually, the inside of the macaroon is actually quite creamy,

so it should give me a crispy outside

and a soft texture in the middle.

Mm-hm.

Mm!

The texture is actually quite nice.

Flavour wise, we are on chocolate and raspberry,

but could be a bit cleaner, perhaps?

-Out of the three, perhaps it's the most balanced one.

-Definitely.

-So this is Mark's team.

-"Life of a pastry chef."

Shall we give it a taste?

They could be slightly too big, maybe just slightly too big,

I don't know.

Well, the brief was for a lavish dessert buffet table,

so you know, for me, it's not a petits fours table.

It's got to be a dessert.

Mark's team's rhubarb and custard tart

is filled with a ginger creme patissier

and topped with rhubarb crisps.

The pastry is actually really nice.

I was worried about the thickness, but it's really crumbly

and it also just melts in your mouth.

But the rhubarb, it's completely fibrous

and lacks all flavour of rhubarb.

Their mango and lime dome has a lime jelly and cremeux insert,

surrounded by mango mousse on a lime zest sable base.

By looking at the colour, it's very glossy,

I really like it and it draws me in to sort of like, "eat me".

You can see that the glaze over here is not quite precise

when they put it down.

I'd like it at this stage of the competition to have a very

perfect, precise finish.

The amount of gelatine they put in is to perfection

because I really don't like it when it is sort of like bouncing off.

It is well-balanced in the taste,

-I can taste mango.

-It's fresh.

It's really refreshing, it's tangy and it's really nice on my palate.

Their chocolate mousse sits on a chocolate

and hazelnut joconde sponge with piped praline cream.

Fairly neat.

A bit chunky for a petit gateau.

We've got a swirl of praline cream

with some crushed caramelised hazelnuts

and a sprig of dark chocolate.

I like to take it all in one go...

Praline, praline, praline...

The hazelnut flavour is present, it's fairly light in texture,

personally, I like that.

I would have wished perhaps a little bit more crunch, but I don't mind.

That's a good start.

-This is Christophe's.

-OK.

'Halfway into this challenge, we are on time.'

And it's one of... You know,

I have to say, it's the first time!

Christophe's team's macaroon religious is filled with

lemon mousseline and Margarita jelly.

I like the chocolate on top,

I just think it's a little thick.

The piping could be neater.

I suspect there's a surprise inside.

There we are, we have a liquid gel inside.

I'm not sure that's working for me at all!

Wow! The alcohol...

..is so strong, I'm not really enjoying it at all.

Well, I'm a bit disappointed with Christophe,

because usually he gets his flavours perfect.

Yeah. What a shame.

Their l'oranger cake sees Grand Marnier bavarois filled with

an orange and star anise jelly

on top of risotto sponge.

In terms of finishing,

I actually expect it to have a better finish than just a mousse.

So, the risotto sponge looks really interesting

and I can see that there's a layer of orange jelly that is

sitting on top of the risotto sponge.

I can actually see the bits of rice in the sponge.

I can feel the texture of risotto on my palate

and I can really feel the Grand Marn...

BENOIT CHUCKLES WICKEDLY

I think it's just too much Grand Marnier on my palate.

-What about you and the Grand Marnier?

-You know I'm going to love it, Benoit!

-I'm sure!

-It's very interesting.

-Yes, it is interesting.

Let me get Christophe back - on this one, we get Christophe back.

He brought something... Even though it's a classical

like Grand Marnier, something a bit interesting was in it.

So let's hope the finishing gets to improve by the time

they get to the end, isn't it?

Finally, their chocolate fudge cake,

l'Asie, containing tamarillo jam

and bavarois,

infused with Asian pandan leaf.

-There is some chocolate in there.

-Ah, it's the tamarillo.

I'm not convinced this is a marriage made in heaven.

I think it's trying to bring something a bit different

and it has delivered that for me.

Having said that, I don't know...

It's all mixed up. I'm not sure I like it, to be honest with you.

I think pandan is a flavour that most people are not familiar with

and so it's difficult to evaluate that as a flavour profile.

Boring, boring, boring.

It doesn't excite me at all.

And the texture of these two mousses is so familiar,

you have a sponge and jelly with a mousse.

What is there to excite me?

Well, then, judges,

you've had a little taste of three of their dishes.

What's your story so far?

So quite a few interesting flavour combinations

and textures this morning.

Who would you say is out in the front at the minute?

I would like to say that Mark's team

will be slightly ahead of everyone.

In terms of Sajeela,

and Christophe, they might be at the edge

because one is very good with showpiece, whereas the other one,

Christophe's team is good on taste.

Do you want me to really hedge a bet?

I'm going to go with Mark's team.

It's too early to say, you're trying to pull something out of a hat.

I've been too many times on too many occasions

when everything is played until the last minute.

Last three hours, we can do this, yes? Come on!

Watch yourself, Mark.

In these final three hours,

the teams will have to perfect every remaining dessert...

Look all right?

-Yes.

-Should be fine.

..and every showpiece element must be completed.

We're just getting the construction of the showpiece,

getting everything painted and ready.

This is metallic dust mixed with cocoa butter to make it metallic.

Obviously it goes with the copper pans and silver pans

and things like that, the gold lids, and stuff, yes.

As well as completing a huge stack of tempered chocolate pots and

utensils for their showpiece tribute

to The Life Of A Pastry Chef,

Mark's team still have to complete

a gin and lemongrass panna cotta scoop,

lemon mousse pots with almond biscotti

and a passionfruit, rum

and coconut opera slice.

This is the coconut sponge we've got for our opera.

-Mark, are you layering this up?

-Yes.

I love putting the showpieces together!

If only I had a bit more time!

Over on Park Lane...

I'm starting garnishing the snowmen.

..they're aiming to manage their time more wisely than

they did during the morning.

We need to work hard to get this done properly.

All I need to do is just keep pushing it.

Trying to finish as soon as possible...

all the garnishes. Stuff like that.

For their spectacular chocolate

and sugarwork Winter Wonderland,

Sajeela's team need to find time

to make snowmen, a helter-skelter,

a chocolate train

and Ferris wheel

plus deliver 20 tiramisu teacups,

20 fairground cupcakes

and a spinning chocolate carousel cake.

-There's a lot going on here, all the fun of the fair.

-Definitely.

-Everything you want as a kid.

-Of course.

As soon as you pick that theme, you might as well run with it,

go for it, everything. So it just all looks amazing when it's done.

And in terms of the sheer scale of stuff, you have

so many small things, really quite complicated and complex.

It's not easy. There's a heck of a lot for us to do.

It's not easy, especially with a man

who's only running on about 30% over there.

Oh, no, he'll be fine!

As soon as the pastries are done,

we can work on decorating the Ferris wheel, things like this.

Obviously the main thing is to get all the desserts up first

and then decoration can come afterwards.

Christophe's team also has an issue with sheer quantity.

Who would have thought I'd ever do a croquembouche on telly?

I'd have never thought it.

Their croquembouche is made up of over 150 filled choux buns.

It's the centrepiece of their

buffet, dedicated to Harmony.

They also have pulled sugar flowers

to complete, a blown sugar swan,

20 espresso coffee opera petits fours,

a chocolatier gateau and a tropical

exotique cheesecake, with fresh mango.

Croquembouche is something you've done a long time, now.

-This is your speciality.

-Yes, this is something I've done from, well,

I learned from the age of 16.

And who taught you?

A very experienced French pastry chef on my apprenticeship,

who only knew one way -

the hard way, always.

And you're doing it the same?

When I started learning, you need to burn the skin

on your hands against the heat,

because I never use gloves.

-So you used to have...

-So you have to hold hot nougatine

in your hands.

For a long period of time.

-So you were a pastry chef that could touch hot things.

-Yes.

That's not what most pastry chefs are known for being able to do!

I know!

-I think we need to concentrate a little bit, guys.

-Yes - I am trying!

-Am I making you lose concentration?

-A little bit, but that's OK.

So where you work together in harmony,

I'm like a fly in the ointment that's just turned up,

ruining the harmony?

-Well...

-So polite!

Do you know what I love about you? You're always so polite!

OK, pastry chefs, you've had one hour.

Try and keep them the same angle, yeah?

As they watch the teams continue to build their banquets...

Your stencilling work...

-The touching up will have more work to do.

-I know...

..the judges are free to taste any of the completed desserts.

Mark... Can I try your panna cotta?

Yes, we have a little compote to go with it,

a little lemongrass gin.

The thing about the panna cotta is, it's really simple.

It can be rubbery, it can be gelatinous... Luckily,

Mark's is light, it's really creamy

and just with the right amount of gelatine,

so it's barely holding together.

It's pretty good.

I'm dying to taste your dome.

-Normally you would have three thin coats of glaze...

-Yep.

-..but this one has got only one.

-So it's just for tasting.

-So I shouldn't look at it, really!

-Blindfolded!

The raspberry flavour is quite intense, that I'm really happy with.

A little tad too sweet,

but perhaps that's coming from the meringue itself.

Is the meringue cooked enough for the overall balance to work?

But raspberry is present, which is what we expect.

This is my Ferris wheel.

I'm going to have these S-shaped patterns going around.

It's obviously quite delicate.

White chocolate is a bit softer than dark chocolate,

so fingers crossed it all stays together

and it should impress some people.

Sajee, get the rings on it, mate.

Seriously beautiful letters, yes?

Whilst the Park Lane boys

and the cookery school are constructing almost entirely

with chocolate...

..Christophe's team have opted for sugarwork.

Caramel to construct their croquembouche...

Once you come to the top, you need it to be very pointy

and this is where you need to concentrate on the size

of the choux and the shape.

..and blown sugar for the swan that will top it.

I'm doing it because I think it is beautiful,

I know our judges have got good taste and an eye for beauty

and I'd like to impress all three of them.

Sugar can only be worked into shape

when it's hot, and will only hold that shape once cooled.

To create the flowing curves of a swan,

Josua will have to move constantly between blowtorch and fan.

Yes, beautiful, beautiful.

This is it. This is the one. It's perfect.

Perfect.

I can't believe, Josua, first time, first go. I've got this ready, Josh.

-Oh, I've got this.

-Just stick it on top. Safe. Than sorry.

Better safe than sorry.

I'm pulling flower petals.

I have to do 18 in total

and each flower has got three petals.

What am I spraying this with?

Even in the midst of delicate construction work,

there's no escaping the judges.

James, would you please tell me what is the flavour of your cupcake?

The one on your right is a salted caramel popcorn

and the one on your left is a bubble gum.

(Any good?!)

The salted caramel popcorn cupcake was really tasty.

The sponge was light, it was fluffy, it was moist.

As for the bubble gum cupcake,

it doesn't have the impact I remember from my childhood.

It's kind of the feeling that I like to have

with my first taste of the bubble gum cupcake,

so I think the bubble gum cupcake was a little bit weak.

-Will that come off?

-I would rather not.

-You all right with it?

-Yeah, stand in front of me.

-Wow.

-Guys, your cakes look amazing.

Guys, don't tread on my cake.

-Let's go, come on!

-Come on!

-Can somebody fix the

-BLEEP

-thing!

What do you want? This?

No, I want the table to be set and it's not set.

Got it?

Yes!

THUD

-Oh, mate. Can't do it.

-What happened?

-We can't do it, man.

-Huh?

-I cannot do it.

-It's melted?

I can't do it, man.

Sammy, come here, mate.

Let's get through it.

Don't worry, don't worry. Come, help me, help me with that.

OK, let's go. Take this out.

BLEEP

Pastry chefs, you have 30 minutes.

I'm going to take it.

Can you put your finger here so this doesn't slide?

OK?

All right, stop - this is not happening.

-Hm?

-There's no space for my hands.

-Do you want me to do it?

-We're going

-to leave it on this and put it on top.

-OK, yes.

-OK? OK, so...

Perfect, yes, no problem. Good.

Plan B.

-OK, ready?

-Steady...

Wow.

Yes, I'm happy.

Good, beautiful.

-Girls, I'm walking, yeah?

-OK.

Do you want me to walk behind you?

-Tell me when I'm nearly there?

-You're nearly there.

-How high have I got to go?

-A wee bit more, just a wee bit more. Yep.

-Forward...

-THEY GASP

-Is it...?

-Yeah.

It's only that bit.

-This, you take last.

-OK, Chef.

-Please.

No problem, no problem.

Saj... Fence.

Right, I'm screwed.

I'm screwed.

-Can you stick this?

-Put it on flat.

When you stick it, I need to stick it there.

-Too hot, man.

-Don't put so much weight on them if you don't have to.

Five minutes. Five minutes!

OK, anything else?

Josua? Josua...

Oh...

Too late to apologise!

OK, you know what you do? You cut the choux. I'll do that.

..OK.

-It looks beautiful, though.

-Yes, but I wanted this!

-Come on, Josua, I wanted that.

-Sorry, I forgot to put it on.

-Too late.

-I could try to take the swan off.

-Please,

don't start taking it out.

-Please, guys, don't

-BLEEP...

Don't.

OK?

OK.

-Where's that round thing?

-It's OK, Joshua, don't worry. It's OK.

Trust me. It looks super good.

Sajee, turn it around.

So you see it here.

No, wait.

-Here.

-No. I don't want it in front.

Five, four,

three, two,

one... That is it, pastry chefs.

That is the end of the final.

Happy?

-Are you?

-Yeah.

Yeah!

-We do our now best.

-Yes, but it's still full,

you've got to think it's still full.

-It went wrong, we still put something out.

-Of course.

-Eh... No, no, no, no, no! No!

-SHE LAUGHS

Stop it! God!

I did it!

Three showpiece banquets.

Desserts for 300 guests

in just six hours.

But which of these spectacular spreads is the work of champions?

The Park Lane boys' Pastry Fair features toffee apple lollies,

fairground cupcakes,

passionfruit and raspberry cones

and macaroon burgers.

The judges still have to taste their tiramisu teacups

and their chocolate carousel cake.

Well, visually, from a distance,

it caught the corner of my eye,

so it does work, it does draw you in to your display table,

which is part of the brief, well done.

Sam, you were involved in a Ferris wheel tragedy,

would you go through it for me?

Obviously it's very hot in here,

I had it standing up for half an hour on the table, all happy days.

Bring it over here and...

it just fell apart, unfortunately.

I've got no doubt you make yourself proud.

You've got the fighting spirit,

I will say you've got the pastry chef fighting spirit. Yes, Chef.

I think obviously your mistake has been baking too much on white

chocolate which is a more fragile chocolate. What do you see, Claire?

I see a sign going to the fair and I love it!

This is great technique in piping, really nice and neat.

I love the technique of your train.

Again, nice, neat edges.

Well, chefs, you put a big smile on my face. I love it!

-Thank you so much.

-Why don't you get onto tasting?

Shall we start with the tiramisu?

Their espresso cups are filled with a classic tiramisu,

with mascarpone cream, meringue sponge

and strong espresso coffee

balanced with sweet Tia Maria.

It does taste like a tiramisu.

It's in a glass, so it's a bit minimalist in that approach

because you went to the safe side.

But inside, it's just a dream to eat.

-Thank you.

-Claire.

I agree, delicious. What does tiramisu mean? Pick-me-up, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Picked me up straightaway, love it.

-Thank you so much.

I just have a question. Love the taste, texture.

What does tiramisu...

With the funfair, how does it link from Italy to... You know?

We were going for the whole teacups and roundabouts,

-and that sort of thing.

-Is it the teacup that moves around?

-Yes!

That is a good one, well done!

Their chocolate merry-go-round cake has a chocolate mousse filling

sandwiched between layers of raspberry liqueur-soaked chocolate

Genoise sponge and a feuilletine base hiding some popping candy.

Oh, yes.

The popping candies!

OK, so I get the popping candy, you want to bring the funfair element.

If anything, it's a little dry for me, but I like the crunch

of the feuilletine and the praline it brings up.

And the chocolate pop is... Could be a little stronger. OK?

I agree, totally. Just a little on the dry side.

I do like the popping candy, it's kind of fun.

-It's not fair, I didn't get any popping candy at all.

-Oh!

-It was all here, on my spoon! I had plenty!

-I got some.

The finishing touch of your cake, it has to be more precise, more shiny.

The chocolate is on the thick side.

So the question there - would it be enough to serve 100 of our guests?

Yes, Chef, we did it for one and a half portions per person.

A fairly small portion, though. And getting a half?

Might be a bit awkward, so some will have two, some will have one.

Yes.

For their Harmony showpiece buffet,

Christophe's team have made a pandan l'Asie fudge cake,

Margarita macaroons,

a risotto sponge l'oranger

and Moulin Rouge

raspberry mousse dome.

The judges are still to taste their croquembouche, espresso opera

petits fours, their mango exotique

and chocolatier gateau.

Love the peace and Harmony in abundance.

I think it's great, I couldn't WAIT to rush over here.

To do a croquembouche is a big task

and you did it freehand.

I love your desserts, I think they're very visual.

I think you have got some contrast in shape,

but I can see one or two that are almost finished identically.

I would have wished perhaps a little more extravagance,

knowing you, Christophe and your two colleagues.

And the sugarwork... Well, I credit you, Josh,

for having brought a little bit more blown sugar with the swan.

I can only congratulate you guys with the time you had to play for.

-Thank you.

-So Josh, it's lovely layering in your opera.

And you were scaling it, I noticed.

I just wanted to make sure it's perfect.

Opera is one of my favourite cakes, always has been.

Is all of this enough to feed 100 of our guests?

What do you think, Josua? Is there enough for 100 people?

I think there's enough for 130-140 people.

The choux buns in their croquembouche

are filled with a creme patissier

flavoured with blackcurrant cassis puree

and their opera petits fours

has an espresso coffee

and Kahlua cream layered

between almond joconde sponge.

The choux bun's lovely.

It's got a lovely texture on the outside still,

really powerful hit of the blackcurrant

and I love the sugar, it's still crunchy and crisp on the outside.

Real texture contrast.

I really enjoyed eating the opera slice

because every layer is so well soaked.

The coffee kicked in and then the Kahlua -

just at the back of my palate.

-Well done.

-Yes!

Their mango cheesecake exotique

has Madeleine sponge and mango glaze.

Their chocolatier gateau has a sable base and a honey

and cinnamon-flavoured chocolate mousse filling.

Now, when you cut into an entremets, that is exactly what I want to see.

Clean, sharp, even layers,

all the sponges even. A contrast.

Only little criticism, maybe my glaze is a little bit thick there.

Well, the chocolate, it looks like chocolate, no doubt about it,

but I could not taste the beauty of chocolate dancing in my mouth.

It's sort of like quite boring when I eat it.

I think it's a little bit generic... in taste.

But I do like the texture combination.

Would the sable be cooked enough, do you think?

-It could probably do a little bit longer.

-Yes.

A little bit more cooking on the sable, because it gets starchy now.

Cheesecake as well, your jelly is a little bit thick on the top,

and I don't taste cheese.

It's a great mousse, but it tastes like a mousse, like a bavarois.

And it doesn't taste like a cheesecake.

Um, you know, if I'm having cheesecake,

I just want it to taste a little bit like cheesecake.

But I do get your other flavour profiles coming through.

I would say, for me,

it's really safe for a competition like this one.

Looking at the other cakes, actually,

you've got to get back to the minimalism.

When you do a clean, simple design,

it needs to be absolutely perfect.

And we can tell there is a little nitty-gritty there.

Very good.

For their Life Of A Pastry Chef,

the cookery school has served chocolate and hazelnut mousse,

mango and line domes,

rhubarb and custard tarts,

gin and lemongrass panna cotta

and the judges have yet to taste

their lemon mousse pots

and coconut rum opera slice.

Wow, wow, wow. What a grand finale.

Helen, Mark and Samantha,

you should be so proud of yourselves.

I'm looking at your showpiece, absolutely love it.

You remind me of my daily routine back in the kitchen.

Oh, my goodness, I saw the measuring tape - can you see that?

-That was just for you!

-That's me! Oh, my goodness!

-Beautiful, beautiful work.

-I love the centrepiece, it's very visual.

I also like the flow of it.

I like the fact it's slightly toppling over, bit this way,

bit that way.

There are lots of skills all across the table.

You've got the sensation of plenty-ness, which is

what a buffet is supposed to be doing.

So it's a great day to celebrate our life. Well done.

Tasting?

-Yes, we should.

-Definitely.

-We should.

Their opera slice has layers of

rum-soaked coconut dacquoise sponge,

passionfruit buttercream

and chocolate ganache,

decorated with cubed rum jelly and coconut crisps.

Well, I can taste coconut dacquoise,

but there are pieces

of coconut that are on my palate,

so it's not quite the thin finish.

And I think the chocolate actually overpowers the passion.

Finishing, it has to be a little bit more precise -

or else I have to start using my ruler again!

One of the reasons you have difficulty to cut it is

because you used a softer coconut dacquoise and it's barely cooked,

the coconut, so obviously you might have struggled to cut it anyway.

Absolutely.

I was watching you glazing, so in terms of skill on this one,

I think... We are a little bit down on what you should be.

Mark's lemon mousse pots are layered

with a yoghurt siphoned sponge,

lemon curd and are topped with almond biscotti croutons.

I really like the acidity of the curd and the mousse.

I think it's really well-balanced.

It's really cleaning my palate,

it goes very well with the croutons as well.

I love the presentation, I think it's really dramatic,

but it's a bit acidic for me.

Overall, I think we have to congratulate you, there is

a lot of different technique that is on the buffet spread, right from the

mousse to the slice to the opera and to the dome, so chefs, well done.

-Thank you.

-Well done, chefs.

'The judges have a huge decision to make...'

Decision time.

Hard work.

'..based on the centrepieces they've just seen,

'the desserts they've just tasted and those they've

'tasted at the halfway stage and throughout the day.'

Sajeela's team have got a great theme.

It ties very well with the story of where they come from,

the little "Big Macaroon", I really enjoyed that.

Christophe's team, I mean, they exemplify peace and harmony,

don't they? They work so well together.

The croquembouche, the neatness and simplicity.

The orange risotto dessert,

incredible! The sponge was lovely.

It's such a joy watching Mark's team.

They're very skilful with their chocolate work.

Their chocolate and hazelnut mousse,

there are five different components inside.

Absolutely love it.

So, have you finalised your scores, judges?

-We have.

-One or two marks in it, for me.

-Shall we go and tell the chefs?

-Yeah.

-We should.

We have a chance.

Pray to the God. We have a chance.

Each judge will be awarding you a mark out of 100.

Five categories, 20 points each.

Design of display,

quality of finish,

skills and technique,

flavour and texture

and practicality of buffet.

It's now the time that you've been waiting for.

Chefs, will you please come round and join us

at the front of your kitchens.

Judges, we'll start with Mark's team.

Can I have your marks out of 100, please?

71.

73.

70.

Mark, that means your team has a total of 214 points.

Onto Sajeela's team, please.

51.

51.

52.

OK, Sajeela, that means that your team has scored 154 points.

And then Christophe, your team.

Judges?

63.

74.

67.

Which means Christophe, your team has scored 203 points.

Which means,

Mark, your team is the winner of the grand final.

Congratulations!

APPLAUSE

Well done, guys.

-Thank you.

-Really well done.

Wow!

I don't know what to say, it's just crazy!

-Thank you. You really make us very proud.

-Thank you!

Such an amazing team.

Amazing showpiece, amazing cake,

lots of technique and of course

never give up, the spirit that they have is amazing, amazing, amazing.

I would say "la creme de la creme".

That's it. Nothing more.

Perfect final, perfect teams to be with, we met some great people.

I've learned there's things that I want to do, as well,

seeing the other guys, what they've been doing.

We never stop learning in this industry.

That's what I love about it.

Well done! Well done.

Obviously, it would have been nice to win too,

but we knew Mark was exceptional.

And when I was growing up, my mum always said it's OK

if you're not the winner, you don't always have to win, you know?

You completely deserve it. 'I'm happy for them.

'They did an amazing showpiece at the end of the day.

'I've learned not to do'

white chocolate showpieces, that's for sure!

Especially in a hot kitchen.

Congratulations!

I'm going to take away from the experience just knowing how hard

you can actually push yourself when you're under that much pressure

especially with two great people by your side, you'll be amazed at what you can actually do.

We've met 45 great pastry chefs

who joined in the competition

and they've shared amongst themselves all the great attributes

of a great pastry chef, which is dedication,

hard work, commitment,

skill, more skill

and MORE skill!

-And never give up, never give up!

-And technique, and taste!

-And technique! And taste!

-Flavour!

And texture!