Episode 4 Junior Bake Off

Mark, have you any idea what our judges have in store

-for our four bakers today?

-Yes. It's going to be sweet.

-Brilliant.

-Or savoury.

-Oh.

-And it's going to be baked.

-Well, obviously.

-And it's going to be delicious.

-You've got no idea, have you?

-No.

-Brilliant.

-Welcome... BOTH:

-..to Junior Bake Off.

Today, a new quartet of bakers hope to prove themselves to judges

Graham and Allegra.

-Do you think that's too much colour?

-I don't know.

Who will rise to finicky flatbreads?

And whose cupcakes will achieve the impossible?

I never smile.

Four more of Britain's best junior bakers

are hoping to impress the judges and win a place in the quarterfinals.

But who will it be?

Oh, my God, this is so cool.

Euan, who's 12 and from West Lothian,

is used to his bakes being judged.

The biggest critic in my family is my granny.

If you give her something and it tastes horrible

she will not spare your feelings.

She will be downright and say, "That tastes awful."

From Stratford-Upon-Avon,

11-year-old Sienna's mum is an air hostess

so she gets ideas for her bakes from her travels.

It's nice to see what other countries do

and how they express their creativity in their cakes.

Lucy, do you have a notebook?

I don't know. I'm having a look.

Um, yeah, I've got a notebook.

Lucy, from Kent, who's also 11, fits in baking between school,

football, jujitsu, Guides and trampolining.

UTENSILS BANG

Baking's my way of relaxing because there's nothing around you,

nothing to distract you.

It's just like you're one with the baking.

Isn't it cool, the little things?

Peter, aged ten, is the youngest of our four bakers

and lives in Sheffield with his parents and younger brother.

My favourite show is Bake Off

because I can get inspiration from it but now I'm doing it.

It's so exciting. And the tent's over there and I'm ready to go.

The bakers' first test is a leap into the unknown

as they have no idea

what Allegra and Graham will ask them to make.

Welcome to the Bake Off tent, guys.

It's time for your Technical challenge.

This morning Graham and Allegra would like you to follow a recipe

for turmeric and cumin rotis.

Now, rotis are a traditional Indian flatbread.

And with that we would like you to make a beetroot hummus.

Mm, lovely. Judges what are you looking for?

We're looking for rounded rotis

with an element of char but not burnt.

Yeah, a soft tear, thin, flaky layers inside.

And in the hummus, a smooth, chunky consistency

and well-balanced flavours.

Best of luck, guys.

You have one hour to create your turmeric and cumin rotis.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake.

I've never made rotis before but I'm quite confident with bread

so I'm looking forward to it.

I've never even heard of them.

Haven't made rotis before but, um, it seems quite...easy?

I love a roti. I really do.

It's, like, crunch on the outside, the soft tear, the layering inside.

Look at that. Lovely.

These bakers are going to have a tough time getting these layers

if they don't put the right proportion of flour into the mix.

Or when they're rolling it onto the tables.

Very, very important they only dust it.

Otherwise they could find themselves in some trouble.

You'll just end up with one thick roti

as opposed to the nice layering inside.

-Essentially, yes, yeah.

-And this guy here, the pink one.

The hummus, you don't want it to be completely blended and pureed

otherwise it's a bit of a dull eat.

I mean, on the surface, this savoury challenge

looks quite straightforward

but, actually, I think this is really tricky for them.

There's plenty of room for error here.

Just now I am mixing my flour, salt, cumin,

turmeric and sunflower oil together.

It's going quite well at the moment.

It's forming into, like,

a sticky pastry at the moment.

Sienna is the only one of our four bakers familiar with a roti.

I haven't made rotis before but because I'm half Indian,

my family make them quite a bit.

So I kind of know what rotis look like.

If too much flour is added to the dough at any stage,

the bakers are in danger of not getting the layers they need.

Oops.

I'm not sure if this has got enough water in it.

It just doesn't seem...

I think it should be a bit more together than this.

Lucy, how's it going?

You look at home in the kitchen. Who taught you to cook?

Well my mum, my nan and my grandpa

taught me to cook.

Lovely. Have they been giving you any tips?

Well, my grandpa, he told me to knead it more than it says.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Exactly. You don't want to under-knead it.

You have to wrap it in clingfilm

and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Resting the dough in the fridge allows the gluten that's been

built up during kneading to relax and helps prevent a tough roti.

Now I'm starting to make my beetroot hummus.

Add the chickpeas, oil, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, beetroot

and sea salt to a blender and whisk it.

Chickpeas.

-Hi, Sienna.

-Hi.

Have you made hummus before?

Um, no, never. Well, I don't really like it but...

Is it going to make it more difficult to make, do you think?

-No, it's fine.

-No, it's fine.

-I'll make it, I just won't eat it.

Just remember to taste it. You always taste your food.

Even if you don't like it, you still have to taste it.

Not enough time in the blender and the hummus will be too crunchy.

But if it gets over-blended, there's no way back.

That smells good.

-Don't like it.

-SHE GIGGLES

It just tastes like leaves. I don't know why.

Allegra said she likes bits of like chunk in it.

So I think that they're really going to enjoy my hummus.

I'm going the extra mile to make my beetroot hummus look nicer

by putting it in a piping bag.

If it doesn't look nice then it's not that appealing

and you won't really want to eat it that much, will you?

Bakers, you've had half your time. You've got 30 minutes left.

Just enough time to hummus a tune.

Come on, Peter. Let's have a look. Let's have a look.

See what we're working with here. What you going to do with it now?

I've got to roll it out. More flour. And then I've got to...

No, sorry, first I've got to divide it into balls.

Nice. Nicely done.

If you need to use sharp knives or hot ovens,

make sure you check with an adult first.

When I'm rolling and folding it I'm putting layers into it

so that when you tear it open you'll have some nice, crispy layers.

And I'm going to put some of the flour on

and then I'm going to fold it up again and put oil on there.

Adding a little oil and flour between the folds ensures

the layers separate when the roti is cooked.

But too much flour can make them stick together.

Rotis don't contain yeast to help them rise

but if the pan is hot enough, steam will help them puff up.

That's what I thought at first but then it started to rise.

I think the judges want to see a yellowy, crispy colour.

I think the judges want it quite dark.

-Hi, Lucy.

-Hello.

-Oooh.

-Do you think that's too much colour?

-I don't know.

-Maybe.

-What do you think? What do you think?

Cos I don't know how it's going to be cooked on the inside.

I'm not saying a word. I can't say anything.

ROLLING PIN CLATTERS

Bakers, I do not know where the time has gone

but you have just ten minutes left.

-SAM LAUGHS

-That's right, Sienna.

-Thanks for stressing me out.

-Sorry.

-Sorry.

I am getting really nervous now.

I think Lucy and Sienna are doing really well.

HE SIGHS NERVOUSLY

A bit under pressure but it's just how it is.

Is that done?

-Roll. Roll. Roll. Roll. Roll. Come on.

-Come on.

ROLLING PIN CLATTERS

ROLLING PIN CLATTERS

That one will do but it's just not the best.

Three, two, one. That's it, bakers. Stop what you're doing.

Nice work. Excellent.

All right, would you like to bring

your roti/hummus beetroot extraordinaire

up to the altar, please?

I was pleased with three of my rotis

cos they were nice and golden brown

but one of them, sadly, wasn't the best cooked

but I had to include it.

I hope the judges notice that I piped my hummus into the jar

because it looks a bit neater.

The judges are looking for four equal-sized rotis,

charred but not burnt with a soft tear and distinct layers.

Accompanied by a beetroot hummus with a bit of crunch.

I think we should get stuck in cos a cold roti ain't much fun.

That's true.

Peter. You've got a lovely char on these. Beautiful colour.

It could have done with a little bit more colour.

But the other ones are all good to go.

Looks like you've got layers which have just stuck together slightly.

That would tell me that you were a little heavy-handed on your flour.

It did have the nice, soft tear.

Just going to taste some of your hummus with it.

That's exactly the texture that I wanted to see on the hummus.

Nice bits to bite on. That's perfect.

Very well done. Nice effort, Peter.

So, Lucy, lovely shapes here that you've got.

But just a little bit dark in patches.

It's got a nice, soft tear.

You've got nice layering, actually. Maybe just a little bit heavy,

some of the flour again, because it's sticking together.

You've taken it slightly further in the blitzer

but it's within the window that I was looking for.

Really, really good flavour on that. Well done.

It's going to get tough. Right, Euan, let's go for your ones.

The only thing with this particular one is where you've folded it,

you haven't rolled it back in.

so, consequently, you pull the flap and you've got this raw layer.

Otherwise you've got a really nice cook.

That's a good tear.

Really good layers. I can open up all four of those.

Try it with your hummus.

Mm. That's really good. That's very good indeed.

Right then, Sienna. Here we go, last but not least.

Now, yours are very even.

I can see you got the layers inside. Oh, yes.

Look at that. That's a good tear. That's a very good tear.

So, on the presentation, I noticed that you piped your hummus

just to make sure that you didn't make any mess. I like that.

Good eat. Really nice. Good job.

Thank you.

Difficult one.

The judges now decide which two bakers have made

the softest rotis and the most delicious hummus.

So, in no particular order. This one.

Well done, Euan.

On account of its really quite impressive layering.

Our second, based on presentation

and the thought and attention to detail is Sienna.

Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Well, congratulations.

But, guys, don't worry, it could all change around.

You've got the Showstopper still to come this afternoon.

But before that, I think you deserve a bit of a break.

-Come and taste your rotis, will you? And your hummus.

-Hummus!

The feedback I got today was a bit more constructive

than the stuff my granny would say.

My granny would just say if it was horrible or it was nice.

-That's good.

-It is good, yeah.

Judges aren't really that scary.

Allegra's the happy bunny.

And then, not as much...Graham.

Scared now I'm in the top two.

I'm going to just keep my head down and focus.

It's a little disappointing to come in the bottom two

but I've got the Showstopper so anything could turn round.

-I enjoyed that Technical.

-I noticed. You ate loads of it.

I did. But you know that spot in your tummy

that's reserved just for sweet stuff?

Oh, yeah. Mine's a bit empty too.

Hey, the Showstopper will sort that out.

Oh, I'm so excited.

-MARK LAUGHS Come here, you.

-Get off.

-All right.

Bakers.

Graham and Allegra would like you to make a pull-apart cupcake creation.

These consists of 12 individual cupcakes

attached to create one overall design.

You have an hour and a half to do this.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake.

I'm going to try and get back on top after this morning

and see if I can just get through to the next round.

With the pull-apart cupcakes, I want to be excited.

I want to see their personality, their creativity

and importantly - taste.

So there's two words in the title - cup and cake.

There's nothing about the yard of frosting

that most people put on top of their cupcakes these days.

If they give me that much frosting on that much cake,

I'm not going to be happy.

Today I'm baking cupcakes

in a design of a Snakes and Ladders board.

I've done the Snakes and Ladders theme

because at home we like to play board games.

Lucy will use lemon buttercream icing

and fondant decorations to create her Snakes and Ladders board

which she'll make from lemon, poppy seed and blueberry cupcakes.

My mum taught me a little tip with the blueberries,

if you don't put flour on them before you put them in the mixture,

the blueberries will all sink to the bottom.

So my cupcakes are going to be lemon and chocolate

and they've all got a white chocolate icing.

-What are your berries for?

-Oh, I'm making a Union Jack.

Peter's strawberries and blueberries will top white chocolate icing

to form the red, white and blue of his Union Jack.

He's flavouring his patriotic cupcakes with lemon and chocolate.

Are you going with the zest and the juice or just the juice?

Um, just the zest.

I like that sharpness. Very nice indeed.

Just cut this out, yeah?

-Just zesting it through...

-Yeah, just zest.

Peacocks are really pretty and they have lots of nice colours

so that's why I chose to do this.

Sienna is using chocolate,

lemon and lime to flavour her peacock creation.

Although the judges have asked for 12 cupcakes,

Sienna is going the extra mile and making 58 to achieve her vision.

I've practised over ten times.

Euan, Euan, Euan. So what's your cupcakes about then?

It is about my family cos I am doing a family tree.

The trunk of Euan's family tree

is made from coffee and chocolate cupcakes.

He'll use three different flavours in the cupcakes for his foliage.

Each flavour representing a family member's birth place.

My great-great-great-granny Grace was born in Scotland.

Raspberry is one of the flavours

cos raspberries grow a lot in Scotland.

We've also got Vena Pearl and Charles.

Charles was born in England.

-So we're doing strawberry and vanilla.

-Classic.

-Excellent.

Chocolate and coffee represents my dad's African side

and my granny was born in Africa, as well.

-So what flavours are you doing for that?

-Mango and passion fruit.

-Lovely.

-Fantastic idea.

Bakers, you are halfway.

You have 45 minutes left until the judges pull apart your cupcakes.

-That's not very nice.

-No.

-Pull... It's the challenge - pull them apart.

-Oh, yeah. Yeah.

If a skewer pushed into a cupcake comes out clean,

it means the cake is baked through.

-I'll check these ones cos these are the ones that normally...

-OK.

-..take less long cos they're small...

-Of course.

-Oops.

-That's all right.

I've got a hold of it. There we go.

That's really strange cos they've been in

for the amount they normally have but they're still not ready.

-I'll just let them have another...minute.

-Yeah?

What's wrong with these cakes?

That's so peculiar. Argh!

I'm unsure what to do.

Peter's recipe required him to use two eggs but he's only used one.

Why they hadn't risen is because there wasn't an egg in them.

They'll still taste amazing but they don't have an egg in.

And I don't have time to restart that recipe

-so I'm just going to carry on.

-OK. Sounds good.

Well, I'm just about to make the icing.

Instead of mixing sugar with water like normal icing,

buttercream uses butter.

Serious quantities of butter.

I'm going to whisk the butter up so it's soft

and then once that's done, I slowly add the icing sugar in.

If I don't add it in slowly it will just go everywhere.

HE LAUGHS

Euan, what's happening?

You've turned into Casper the Friendly Ghost.

My icing sugar is going everywhere.

-Oh, dude.

-Right.

Word of warning. Don't let Graham see this.

Graham. Graham. Graham.

That's all we're saying. That's all we're saying

EUAN LAUGHS

Now I need to arrange my cupcakes into a Union Jack.

Peacocks. It's quite difficult, the shape.

So I've got my chocolate and coffee ones to represent the trunk.

Mm-hmm.

I have four different flavours of icing.

I wanted to do eight different flavours.

My mum said I could only do four.

Unlike Lucy and Euan who have brought in

home-made fondant decorations

and Peter who is using fresh fruit,

Sienna will be piping all of her decorations from scratch.

I think it is quite ambitious

cos I've got loads of icing to put on it.

And I've got lots of different piping techniques, as well.

I'm scared that I'm going to run out of time.

Bakers, you have just five minutes remaining.

I need to spread the icing evenly with this palette knife.

Then I've got to decorate with fruit.

I just hope I can do it in time. I'm getting very nervous.

HE SIGHS

OK, bakers, that is it.

Step away from your bakes.

I hope so much that I've done enough

to get through to the quarterfinals.

That's a great piece of work. I love the idea behind it.

Presentation-wise, it's a really good finish.

The other thing I like about it is you've got the icing

going all the way across so it does look like a whole cake.

But when you do this, it's the pull-apart.

-And I like the ratio of the icing.

-Just enough.

Dried blueberries?

They have sunk a bit, haven't they?

Bit more then you might have wanted after the extra flour touch

that you gave them.

For me, the dry blueberries are just slightly muted.

It's still a great cake.

-I'd be very happy to pick that up from a patisserie.

-Yeah.

This is clearly a Union Jack and very well delivered too.

You'd have to say it's a tiny bit messy.

-Yeah.

-But I know you were pushed for time at the end.

-Lemon first, I think.

-Lemon indeed.

-Graham.

Really lovely and do you know what I particularly like about this?

There's a real fruity freshness.

It's a really nice eat. Well done.

So this guy's called double chocolate and strawberry.

Breaking up a little bit there, Peter. It's almost a little dry.

-I can feel it.

-It's because I left an egg out.

-Ah, OK.

-Ahhh.

-A touch dry.

-Yeah.

-Good flavour, though.

We've all left out the egg. Don't worry about it.

-Thank you very much indeed, Peter. Great cake.

-Thank you, Peter.

-Looks amazing.

-Thanks.

The only thing I'd say on the look of it -

the trunk, so, it looks to me like you've run out of icing.

-Chocolate and coffee?

-Yep.

Light cake. Not too much butter icing.

But then you've got a lovely little hint of coffee.

OK, so we're going for the mango and passion.

The flavours are coming through. They're light but they're present.

Strawberry and vanilla.

Huge vanilla hit.

Strawberry jam finish. Really good.

So, the raspberry.

Euan, I never smile.

I think Sienna would be my major competition

cos of her fabulous peacock.

No two ways about it Sienna, that is a showstopper.

Absolutely beautiful.

Well, we really like the jewel piping

that you've got going on here and the colours.

-Lemon first?

-Yeah.

I mean, the thing is your design is gorgeous.

You just might have to say that as an individual eat

-that's quite icing-tastic.

-Mm-hmm.

Very light sponge that you've got here.

Slightly lost the citrus in there by the weight of the icing.

Chocolate down the bottom there.

That's also a very well-baked cake.

You've just got too much buttercream there.

-OK.

-But you should be very, very proud of that cake.

-Yeah.

Thank you.

-You definitely deserved it, though.

-High five.

-They said loads of things about mine so I didn't really know.

-High five.

Well, judges, I thinks it's safe to say that you've got a pretty

tough decision on your hands.

Euan did well in the Technical

and he did all right in his Showstopper, as well, didn't he?

I think you'd have to say he did a bit more than all right.

I mean, what a lovely piece of work.

And, also, Graham smiled.

You've got lovely teeth. You should smile more.

-I haven't seen them.

-That's not going to happen.

His understanding in marrying those flavours together

and his execution were very, very good.

-Group hug.

-Right, come on then, get in.

I mean, Lucy here, as well. It just looks fantastic.

-Beautiful.

-And how well executed is that?

I mean, she's done that so perfectly.

She's been a contender all day.

I think yours looked really good, how you piped it.

Peter, he's just been joyful to watch.

The flavours are very simple but good. He's just a good baker.

And finally, Sienna? I mean, that is a showstopper, isn't it?

It's a total showstopper. I love it.

Lots of imagination. Great use of the dual piping bag.

Just too much buttercream for me.

To Sienna's credit, she hasn't brought anything from outside.

She's actually, you know, hand-piped all this under pressure,

within the hour and a half.

This is so difficult for you.

I think I know who I fancy.

There's a couple I see great potential in

-so I'm just a bit undecided right now.

-OK.

Interesting. All right, well, have a think.

-I think it's going to be one of you two that go through.

-No, it isn't.

ALLEGRA SIGHS

Bakers, Allegra and Graham can only pick one person

to go through to the quarterfinals.

And they said that this baker dug deep into their imagination

and showed complete understanding of technique, flavour and finishing.

The baker going through is...

..Euan.

Hey-hey.

I think Euan really deserved it

cos he really thought about how he can make the tree really amazing

and his flatbreads were really, really good.

-Have you enjoyed yourselves?

-So, so good.

-Yeah.

So what Euan produced today showed his passion as a baker,

which translates onto his food and into his flavour.

And, you know, technically, this morning,

he showed real understanding of the dough

and then this afternoon he was marrying flavours

from all over the world and he just really, really, he got my vote.

Hey!

I'm really excited to tell my friends and family cos

I think that they weren't actually expecting me to get through.

But I think they'll be slightly annoyed

cos I'm going to have to do a lot more baking.

The heat is on for the next four bakers.

They're still really hot.

Will it be a caramel calamity...

It's too thick.

..or a biscuit bunfight?

I haven't got enough time.

I've forgotten to put the chocolate chips in.

Ahh.