Episode 3 Junior Bake Off

Here we are again at the Bake Off tent, where the

search to find Britain's best junior baker continues.

There'll be tears, tantrums and sweaty palms.

-And that's just from us.

-Welcome to Junior Bake Off.

Today, precision is called for as the bakers

face a mathematical technical.

Oh, mine are just breaking.

Judges Allegra McEvedy

and Graham Hornigold get dose of their five a day...

I need to get the balance between rhubarb and parsnip right.

..with show-stopping vegetable cake.

So who will produce the goods

and who will fall by the wayside?

This has got a big crack at the back.

Shhh!

Today's fresh batch of bakers are about to enter the tent for the

first time, but only one will make it through to the quarterfinals.

Oh, wow, this is so cool!

Oh, we have our own stuff and everything!

First to step up to the plate is 11-year-old cricket-loving

Will from Hertfordshire, who has high ambitions.

I want to be a master patissier when I grow up.

It's a great way of being a baker and it will really challenge me.

Ten-year-old Matilda from Surrey has found there are downsides to

making cakes.

I bake a lot and my mum hates all the clearing up, but I do try

and help sometimes, but I find the clearing up really boring.

11-year-old Isaac from York counts singing and drama

amongst his hobbies, but there is one pastime that comes first.

This is so cool.

'Life without baking would be like life without air.'

I just couldn't live without it.

It's like a dream kitchen.

12-year-old Grainne from Belfast dreams of selling

cakes from her own food truck one day.

When I'm in my baking zone I get annoyed

when my dad tries to join in or tell me there is

a better way to do it and I'm just like,

"Please, get out of the kitchen"

The Technical challenge will be a test of their baking knowledge

and the recipe the judges want them to follow is about to be revealed.

Morning, bakers. You all all right?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-Excellent.

Well, right now, it's time to get down to work.

Graham and Allegra would like you to make ten chocolate

and orange checkerboard biscuits.

Mmm, now the two flavours and colours of dough

will make up a checked pattern of four squares.

Judges, what are you looking for?

Well, this bake is all about precision, so we're looking

for nice, neat square biscuits which have held their shape.

We want them to melt in your mouth

and have the right balance of orange to chocolate.

Fantastic, before we go any further, have we all washed our hands?

Can we have jazz hands, please? Pretty clean.

Excellent. All right. Best of luck, guys.

You have one hour to make ten checkerboard biscuits.

-On your marks...

-Get set

-BOTH:

-Bake!

Checkerboard biscuits were popularised in Germany

as a Christmas treat where they are known as schwarz-weiss-geback,

in other words, black-and-white cookies.

It feels absolutely amazing to be in the Bake Off tent.

It's just like dream come true.

I'm quite happy it's biscuit

cos I have made lots of biscuits before, but I've never made

the checkerboard ones, so I'm looking forward to making this.

Checkerboard biscuits. What say you, Chef Graham?

The bakers will find it slightly harder today

because they have to make two different colours, two different

flavours and marry them together with a checkerboard pattern.

These are a precision biscuit and I'll be looking for nice squares.

Flavour wise, I mean, it is a straightforward shortbread.

They've got to be a little careful because chocolate

is such a strong overpowering flavour that they need

to kind of go heavy on the orange zest in order to balance that.

Let's see how these go.

Everybody's present and correct. Plenty of zest in there.

It is a very, very technical bake, this.

I just creamed together the butter and the sugar,

and now I'm adding the semolina and the flour.

Once they've mixed the basic shortbread dough,

the bakers can start adding the flavours.

I've just divided the mixture in half

and I'm adding the orange zest to one half of the mixture

and then, next, I'll be adding cocoa powder into the other half.

With a recipe I've never done before, I mostly

go for the flavour,

but I do try to get the good presentation in it.

I'm just about to wrap the doughs in clingfilm

and then put them in the freezer.

If I didn't chill them,

then it would spread in the oven

and then it wouldn't be a

perfect square shape.

-Morning, Will.

-Morning.

-How are you doing?

-I'm doing good.

I'm just rolling out my dough at the moment

to the same thickness.

Why it important to get the right length and...

So that the corners match up perfectly.

OK.

The rolled out dough should also be thick enough

so that when the chocolate is put on top of the orange one,

cut in half and flipped over,

it forms a square rather than a rectangle.

-Hello.

-Morning, Grainne.

Good morning, Grainne. How are your doughs shaping up?

I think they're pretty good.

I forgot to put the milk in this,

but I thought it was wet enough.

-So you're happy with that decision?

-I'm happy, yeah.

-So you're not using that milk?

-No.

The dough is put back into the freezer in one piece.

This helps the biscuits hold their shape when slicing.

I forgot to chill it in the big, long rectangular shape,

but I think I can fix it by just chilling them in this shape.

I hope it will be fine.

Once chilled, the dough can be cut into evenly sized biscuits.

Who's this guy?

That is a sock puppet I made when I was five.

What's his name?

His...

-You've not named him?

-Whoa!

-Can we...name him now?

-Yeah, sure.

The Hulk.

-Mm, not The Hulk.

-Steve.

-Steve works.

-Steve.

-Steve?

-Steve the sock puppet.

-Steve the sock.

There we go. You seem to have quite a lot left.

Yeah, that was a problem.

What would Steve say? If he saw...

Well, Steve's right here.

Yeah, well, let's ask him. Steve, what do you think?

He says it looks rubbish.

LAUGHING: Oh, Steve!

You're being harsh, Steve.

We haven't even taken them out of the oven yet.

-Hold on, he wants to say something.

-Go on.

-He was just joking.

-He was just joking.

-Oh, good.

-Well, that's what mates do.

-Yeah.

15 minutes left.

Um, Isaac...

-That's the cooling rack. That's the cooling rack.

-Oh.

Just so you know, you might want to put it on a baking tray.

-Oh, yeah. That's true.

-THEY LAUGH

I'm not meant to be helping, but I thought that was crucial.

-Yeah, that was...

-That was crucial.

Thanks, Matilda. Thank you.

If you want to have a go at baking,

make sure a grown-up knows what you're doing.

The shortbreads' cooking time depends on their size.

I don't want the biscuits to go too hard

that you can hardly bite into them,

but I don't want them to be soggy

so they're still like a dough.

I definitely don't want that.

Not done.

Ooh!

Isaac! You're going to give me a heart attack, man!

I don't think they are ready.

-Yeah, you've got about three minutes left.

-I'd use up...

-Use up your time.

-Your time.

They're a bit small, they look a bit rectangular.

It depends how far away you are when you look at them.

Yeah, from far away, they're really small.

Really small, but if you come straight there, that's quite big.

Yeah, bigger. Good.

Come on.

Shh!

Aw.

Bakers, you have one minute left. 60 seconds.

They should be all right now.

Going back in.

Just for 30 seconds.

Bakers, you've got 30 seconds.

They are coming out, they're coming out again.

-I'm going to have to rush you now to get these finished.

-Yeah.

Aw, mine are just breaking.

Bakers, that's it.

We're waving the chequered flag on your checkerboard biscuits.

If you'd please like to bring them up to the altar to be judged.

I know it's not going to be perfect,

but I hope they say it tastes brilliant.

I think it went OK.

I just think they looked a bit more rectangular than square.

The judges are looking for buttery, square checkerboard biscuits

with well-balanced cocoa and orange flavouring.

Matilda...

rulers.

Not necessarily a square form, however, the bake looks quite nice.

The flavours are good.

You get the orange to start with, not overpowered by the cocoa,

which would have been quite easy,

and then the chocolate comes through at the end.

-That's a good bake.

-Thank you.

Isaac. Not bad squares.

The fact they are very slightly under and got a little more chew

rather than crumbliness to them is not altogether unpleasant

and you've gone heavier on the orange which actually works for me.

I think that's a really good bake, Isaac.

-Grainne.

-How are you feeling now about that decision

not to incorporate the milk?

I think I could have put a bit of milk, but I think they are OK.

I'm glad you didn't cos I was parched at the time

so it was a lovely little treat.

They are definitely on the squidgy side,

but the flavour is really nice.

Just a little more precision on your bake.

Will.

For me, you haven't got too bad a checkerboard.

It's quite nice. Nice and clean edges.

They are little because you only used half of your dough

from what I could see. That's why they are on the small side.

Let's give them a taste.

Well, that brings a new crunchiness to the party.

It is slightly overcooked.

If they'd have been bigger you'd have been OK.

MARK: Graham and Allegra now have to decide which two checkerboard

biscuits they think are the best.

First of our top two bakes this morning,

are these lovely checkerboard biscuits from Isaac

for their fantastic squariness

and also the fact they were very nicely baked.

Thank you.

The second of our top two

are these by Matilda

for their nice checkerboards and dusting and well baked.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Congratulations, guys. But, Grainne, Will, don't fear,

we've still got the Showstopper this afternoon

and, genuinely, everything could change.

I feel absolutely amazing that I'm in the top two.

I never actually thought I was going to get it,

but I'm very glad I did. Yeah!

I'm so proud of myself to be in the top two, but I'm also really

proud of the other bakers cos they all did fabulously as well.

I thought the comments on the sizing

and that they were overdone a little bit was fair,

but they tasted good.

To try and come back on top for the next round,

I'm really going to concentrate. I'm going to keep my head down

and I'm going to bake like my life depends on it.

What do you think the best dunk is, mate?

Oh, surely it's custard cream.

-What about a bourbon, though?

-It's a solid dunk, that. Solid dunk.

Can't beat a chocolate digestive, though.

Fair play, fair play. Tell you something, though,

-these checkerboard biscuits are doing pretty good.

-Yeah.

-Oh!

-HE LAUGHS

-I win! Full biscuit!

-I don't want to play any more.

Showstopper time.

Touched a nerve.

Wait for me, Mark.

Hey, up, bakers. You all right?

-Yeah...

-Yeah?

Excellent. It's time for your final challenge of the day.

Graham and Allegra would like you to make a delicious vegetable cake.

Oh, it can be anything - courgettes, sweet potato,

it can be carrot, cabbage - probably not cabbage.

-Not cabbage.

-Let's be honest.

You've got an 1.5 hours to complete your vegetable cake masterpiece.

-On your marks

-Get set. BOTH:

-Bake.

I think some of our Showstopper challenges

are more geared toward looks.

This one, for me, is more geared towards taste.

So although we want to see a properly turned out finished cake,

I do think we'll give a little more weight to flavour this afternoon.

If you take the most well-known vegetable cake, a carrot cake,

it doesn't necessarily taste of carrot,

but you know it's a carrot cake.

The recipe I'm making is a courgette and lime cake.

It's meant to be like an allotment growing competition

so inside, there's lots of lime and courgette and it's really nice

and it's filled with pistachios.

Grainne's courgette and lime sponge will be sandwiched together

using pistachio buttercream.

Crumbled chocolate cake will represent the soil of an allotment

and she'll decorate with prize-winning fondant vegetables.

The trickiest part about this would probably be making sure that

the courgettes are fully wringed out so there is no extra liquid and

just making sure that it's cooked well and that when I take it out

I don't take it out too quick and it will crumble.

I love to experiment with my flavours at home.

It's great to come up with new creations.

Will's experimenting by adding parsnips to his sponge.

It will be sandwiched with home-made rhubarb compote

which will also flavour his buttercream icing.

Roasted vegetable crisps will be placed on top

to form the shape of a bonfire.

Afternoon there, Will.

Good afternoon.

So parsnips and rhubarb is a new one for me.

I hope you like it.

Well, I'm interested. Is it something that you discovered?

I read about it so I tried to put it together.

When my dad, on Sundays, he makes roast parsnips sometimes

and he never makes enough of them

so we always end up fighting for them, in a way.

So, I thought I'd add that.

-I'm liking the sound of that.

-Definitely not boring.

I'm making a chocolate and beetroot cake

because I got inspired by making this

because my grandad grows his own vegetables

and he also loves growing beetroot.

Matilda's grandad's veg patch will be recreated using beetroot

and chocolate sponge, which will be sandwiched

and smothered in chocolate ganache

and decorated with a salted caramel fence,

fondant vegetables and wellies.

I think I need to be careful of not putting too much beetroot in

cos you don't want to overpower it

but you want to put enough to make it all moist in the middle.

I'm doing a three-layered beetroot chocolate chilli cake with

crystallised rose petals on the top

and a forth layer of cake for cake crumbs around the sides.

It's called Beetroot To My Heart.

Matilda is doing a beetroot cake as well. Rivals.

Mine is going to be better.

Oh, of course they are.

Isaac's romantic beetroot chilli cake is sandwiched

and topped with spiced cream cheese frosting.

It will be decorated with home-made crystallised rose petals

and the sides will be finished with his crumbled chocolate sponge.

-Hi there, Isaac.

-Hello.

Tell me about your cake?

It's a beetroot chocolate chilli cake.

I see you've got allspice and chilli in there

so it's going to be quite interesting to see the balance.

-And cinnamon.

-Do you like spices?

Yeah, I like cooking with spices but I don't like spicy food.

The chilli isn't like you get it straightaway,

it's just like an aftertaste with a warm bit in your mouth.

So, I've just wrung out the courgettes to get rid of as much

liquid as I can and now I'm adding them to the mix.

Then I'm going to add some flour.

If there's too much moisture, it just ruins the cake

and it doesn't cook quick enough.

I need to get the balance between rhubarb and parsnip right and then

I can move on to the decoration,

because if that's not good then...

It's a Showstopper, so it has to be perfect.

You've got an hour left. One hour. Come on.

Ooh!

-What's happening?

-I forgot to put the eggs in.

OK. Have they been in the oven?

Yeah, just for, like, two minutes.

Oh. Well, two minutes, still pretty runny.

You can maybe pour it back into a bowl, just add the eggs into it,

then put it back in the tins?

OK. Should I get a bowl?

-Yeah, try it.

-OK.

And if that doesn't work, we'll start again.

I've tipped the batter into the bowl again,

added the eggs and now I'm scooping it back in.

Hopefully it will be OK.

I've practised it like five times.

It's probably just cos I'm under pressure, cos I forgot the eggs.

I've never done that before, I've never forgotten anything.

Now I hear on the grapevine, Isaac, that you are quite a good singer.

-Yeah.

-Is this true? When do you sing?

I sing in, like, choir and I sang in the choir recently.

-Oh, nice.

-That's pretty cool.

-Do you sing high, do you sing low?

-High.

-High.

-What we are basically saying is that we want to sing with you.

Yeah.

No.

-THEY LAUGH Oh, come on.

-You don't want to sing with us?

Let's see who can sing bake the highest.

-Bake, yeah.

-# Baaake. #

-# Baaake. #

-I was higher.

# Baaake. #

That's pretty high.

Best of luck, Isaac.

# Baaake. #

-That's enough singing for one day.

-You know it.

They are not done.

I inserted a skewer and it came out wet so I know it's not done.

Matilda will be assembling her cake using chocolate ganache,

which is chocolate melted in warm double cream.

-Afternoon, Matilda.

-Hello.

You're over your egg moment?

-Yes.

-Well done, good recovery.

-Thank you.

And what have you got going in there?

That's chocolate ganache and the chocolate is just melting.

And what's your plan to get the rest of it to melt?

I actually don't know cos it's not melting,

but if I just leave it, I think it will melt.

Because there is no warmth left in that bowl.

OK, I think I can put it over a saucepan of water.

I think I'm going to put them in for one more minute.

Bakers, half an hour left, half an hour. Are you excited, mate?

No, I just really need the toilet. Half an hour, yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Oh, God.

-Yo.

-Yes!

-Nice.

-That one came out well.

Two more.

Oh.

Yeah, that will definitely be the crumbling one.

I don't think the greasing went well, so it just stuck.

My plan is just to do two layers.

These sponges look good. Look nice and moist.

Are you happy?

This has a big crack at the back.

-BOTH:

-Shh.

(Don't tell anyone. Don't mention it.)

What decoration have you got in here?

They are sugar-crafted vegetables.

My grandad's got an allotment and I'm just copying his allotment.

This is my grandad's and he grows the vegetables and...

-This is Grandpa?

-Yeah, and he taught me to bake.

-Aw, lovely.

-It's such an embarrassing picture.

It's not, why is it embarrassing?

Cos I look so weird.

You're a baby.

Will is making beetroot crisps to build up his bonfire decoration.

Oh, God. Oh, no! Oh, no!

I knew that would happen.

Don't worry, he has washed them.

So, what's this we've got? Is this cream? Buttercream?

This is just vanilla buttercream.

I've got cupcake crumbs and I need the icing to help it stick.

Oh, right. So this is not necessarily decorative.

-Yeah, that's just...

-Got you.

I was going to say, because the way you're putting it on willy-nilly,

I thought Graham is not going to like that.

At the moment, I'm spreading my jam.

I'm not going to spread it all the way to the edge.

I want it to be visible

but I don't want it to be dripping out the sides.

Right, bakers, you've just have five minutes now.

This is where it could all go wrong. Have to...

Yes!

Bakers, one minute left. 60 seconds, finish up.

OK, bakers, that is it. Time is up.

It's time for our judges to have four of their five-a-day.

I've very pleased with how my cake turned out

and I think it looks amazing.

Hey-hey-hey! Whoohoo!

It cuts a little soft, looks a little moist.

It's not cooked.

Oh, that is a truly special cake.

It's really, really a good idea.

It's just...a little bit of execution.

But you have a flavour combination I've never had before in my life

and I think it's fantastic.

I feel really happy about what I've just done.

I feel like I've kind of proven myself

and I really do hope the judges like it.

Cuts nicely.

You see the green of the courgette and the pistachio in there,

slightly opaque and, like, under.

It might just be the moisture coming out of the courgettes

which is doing that.

Not under to me.

No, it's good. It's just a nice, moist cake.

I had no doubts about the courgettes and the lime,

that was always going to work.

The chocolate is one step over for me.

One of the layers just didn't work so I had to do two.

Other than that, everything was fine

and I hope the taste impresses the judges.

Well, Isaac, it's a much better cake for being a two-layer cake.

Three would have been too much sponge.

Nice, rich, decadent looking cake.

That is yummy.

To me, that tastes like a very dense, deep, Jamaican...

-Yeah, gingery.

-..fudgy, gingery...

-Yeah.

We got loads of words for your cake.

We are liking the cake.

Chilli is a nice heat, a nice warmth at the back.

You have a really good understanding of flavour.

I really hope that my presentation does spot the eye of the judges

and they see how hard I've worked.

Whoa!

That is a yard and a half of chocolate yumminess.

Is there a flavouring on the ganache?

It's just chocolate.

Cos I know you had a bit of trouble melting that

and it's hot in this tent but that ganache is on the turn,

it is splitting.

That's a very, very nice, dense chocolate cake.

It's very fudgy in its texture.

Have that with some ice cream - sorted.

OK, Graham and Allegra are going to have a chat

and then when you come back,

only one of you will be going trough to the quarterfinals.

Off you go, bakers.

Well done, everyone.

Yours was the best.

Well, judges, before we get started,

I have a feeling this is going to be your toughest decision yet.

Let's go back to this morning, the technical challenge,

the checkerboard biscuits.

The two out on top were Isaac and Matilda.

The only ones that came out with relative squares was Isaac.

Matilda's were rectangular but they had a good checker.

And then we come to this show-stopping performance

from all four, really.

Will, on the table that is the most interesting flavour combination.

I mean, Graham and I are wowed by that. Parsnip and rhubarb.

-Flavour-wise, that's the one.

-Yeah.

-But baking-wise, it's not fully baked.

-No.

So where do you go from there?

Well, so that's a hard one.

Grainne and Will gave us cakes that are yummy

and taste of the vegetable inside them.

Isaac's cake is phenomenal.

Chocolate, moisture and heat, and all those little spices work

and you just want to keep on eating and eating and eating and eating.

Matilda's cake, great chocolate cake

but the issue we have is that they are all phenomenal vegetable cakes.

Unfortunately, the three of them have to go home because all of them

probably deserve to go through.

Bakers, what can we say?

Absolutely brilliant today,

you should all be incredibly proud of what you've achieved.

But, unfortunately, Allegra and Graham can only take through

one of you to the quarterfinals,

and they've decided that this person

is a naturally gifted baker

and cooks straight from the heart.

The baker going through is...

..Isaac.

THEY CHEER

Well done, mate.

I'm over the moon with joy. I could never feel happier.

This is probably one of the happiest moments of my life.

He can't believe it.

Graham and I felt that Isaac was really one of the most

instinctive bakers that we've had in that tent.

There is something about his food,

about his bakes that you just want to eat.

You're lost for words?

A diamond, when you find it, is rough and that is exactly what Isaac is.

With a bit of polishing, a bit more precision and some practice,

he can be anything he wants to be cos he's got heart

and it shows in abundance in his food.

Next time, four new bakers face finicky flatbreads...

Roll, roll, roll! Come on!

..and a cupcake show stopper that demands real flour power.