Episode 5 Junior Bake Off

The search continues to find Britain's best young baker.

They're having biscuits thrown at them...

Bread thrown at them... Ah!

And massive cream cakes thrown at them.

-Don't even think about it.

-Welcome...

-BOTH:

-To Junior Bake Off.

The heat is on for today's four bakers...

They're still really hot.

..with a sticky caramel technical.

It's too thick.

They face the music with show-stopping biscuits...

I haven't got enough time.

Oh, I forgot to put the chocolate chips in.

Whoa!

..and await the judges' final verdict.

You're biscuits, for me, are a little dry.

The four intrepid bakers heading into the Bake Off tent

are all aged 12.

So which one will do enough today to claim their place

in next week's quarterfinal?

Rugby fan Megan from the Rhondda Valley

is a perfectionist in the kitchen.

I've practised my bake so many times,

I think my family are getting sick of them.

-Are you nervous?

-Yeah.

For Alex from Manchester, baking is an obsession.

I have been dreaming of cake, biscuits, buns, pizza.

Everything to do with baking.

Relishing the competition is Hafsa from Wembley.

I really want to win.

It would mean the world to me

because I've been baking ever since I was little.

At home in Gosport, James is used to having his bakes

tested by his two little sisters.

I'm worried about professionals looking at my bakes

and saying, "Uh, that bit's good, but that bit isn't good.

"Uh, no, you could improve on this."

It's amazing being in here.

First, our bakers take on a recipe they've never seen before,

designed to test them on their baking instincts.

Hello there, bakers. How are you doing?

-CONTESTANTS:

-Good.

-Good, good. A bit nervous?

-Yeah.

-Don't be, don't be.

We have got two challenges for you today,

the first of which is our technical, which is where Allegra and Graham

would like you to create a layered salted caramel cake.

Mmm! MARK LAUGHS

Good faces.

So it's a Victoria sponge with a salted caramel filling,

covered in salted caramel butter cream

and then piped and feathered with - yeah, you guessed it -

salted caramel.

Judges, what are you looking for? Salted caramel, by any chance?

Well, Sam that salted caramel needs to be absolutely smooth

and have a holding consistency.

We'll also be looking for a moist sponge

and finesse in the feathering.

Fantastic. Now here's a quick word from

our Barnsley hand-washing police.

'As thou washed thee 'ands?

That's, uh, have you washed your hands?

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Excellent, brilliant.

You have one hour and 20 minutes

to create a salted caramel masterpiece.

-On your mark...

-Get set... BOTH:

-Bake!

It feels amazing to be baking in the tent, finally.

I've been waiting for it for months!

When I heard I was making a salted caramel cake, I was a bit worried

because I've never make one before.

It sounds really yummy and I hope that I get to eat it.

So, the salted caramel cake.

For me, it's largely about the caramel.

It's actually sitting proud, standing up from the cake.

The feathering on that is exactly where we want it to be.

Nuts nicely pressed on the side, not whacked on.

Good sponge, nice crumb. Nice moist layers.

The caramel's held its place,

it hasn't dripped down into the sponge below.

This might seem like a very easy recipe,

but it's a very easy cake to mess up.

The bakers start with the Victoria sponge.

We've got the caster sugar, the self-raising flour,

the eggs and the butter.

Ugh.

Oh, my God.

There's much less pressure at home.

If you don't like it, you just put it in the bin, no-one knows.

It's not like that here.

-All right, Alex. How are you doing?

-Good thanks.

-Yeah?

-Just getting all my mixture in the tins.

-Excellent stuff.

You know when the judges said that the technical

-was going to be a salted caramel cake, were you "yay!"

-or "nay"?

In between, really. I've done caramel before

and I've done a cake before, I've just not done it together.

What's your forte?

-What's the thing that you love to bake, that you're best at?

-Cakes.

-Yeah!

-Oh!

-Hang on a minute.

-You said...

-"This is a cake!"

-Wait a minute!

-That is good detective work.

-That is good detective work.

-Thanks, mate.

All these bakers are experienced, so if you want to try this at home,

remember - tell an adult first, will you?

Bakers, you have had 20 minutes, there is one hour remaining.

Loads of time!

While the cakes are in the oven, the bakers need to crack on with

the most crucial part of the bake.

-READS:

-'Make caramel by melting

'together brown sugar and the butter.'

Is this combined? That's not combined.

That's a big mess.

The butter and dark brown sugar should be gently melted.

I'm scared to leave it!

HE HUMS

-I'm watching you.

-SHE CHUCKLES

Because you seem to have more experience with caramel than me.

-Morning, James.

-Hello. Morning.

-How are you doing, buddy?

-I think I'm doing fine.

Because I've never made caramel before.

I can still see bits of sugar, which isn't good.

Yeah, just keep going.

You just need it to come together a bit more than that.

-Crucial stage.

-Yeah.

The sugar should be completely dissolved

before the rest of the ingredients are added,

otherwise the caramel will be grainy

and won't reach the right consistency.

Then I'm going to add my double cream,

my condensed milk and my salt.

I'm just waiting for it to be piping hot,

so I'm waiting for some steam.

Boiling the caramel allows the moisture to steam away,

therefore thickening the mixture.

-Morning, Hafsa.

-Morning.

-How are you?

-I am good, thanks.

Crucially, how are you feeling about your caramel?

I think it looks about right.

Are you happy that, once its cooled down,

it's going to get to a holding consistency?

Yep, I think so.

The more I spread it out, the quicker it will cool.

When the sugar crystals in the mixture cool down, they harden,

-helping the caramel to set.

-Cool.

I don't think I'd ever be thinking

that I'd be staring this close at a cake.

Ooven glooves. Ha-ha!

Aargh! The top of my cake broke.

I think it's OK, it's OK.

I will hide it.

I am just sandwiching my two Victoria sponges

with caramel in between.

They are still really hot.

I didn't think they'd be as hot this close to the end.

If the cake isn't cooled down enough,

the caramel filling will melt into the sponge.

They're quite a bit cooler.

OK, bakers, you've got half an hour left.

Uh! Half an hour left.

That...is good.

Yeah. I can put cake upon cake.

'Make the icing by creaming the butter until soft,

'then add half of the caramel mixture.'

It's really, really nerve-racking now.

So as you know, I'm all about that caramel. And over there, Megan,

hers is the one I would tip as being the best consistency at this stage.

There's quite a bit of mess going on from Hafsa at the moment.

I did notice she had lumps in her caramel.

Perhaps she is going to run into problems later.

Decorating is definitely one of my strengths in baking.

You can just go wild and, like, show your personality.

The caramel butter cream should be applied as one smooth layer.

The hot water helps because it warms the palette knife

and it gives the icing a smoother finish.

It's very messy.

It's broken there, but I have a plan.

Cover it with icing.

If that doesn't work, I will eat the bit that has come off

and then put icing in the hole.

Uh! Right.

The outside of the cake is decorated with

a single layer of chopped peanuts.

Well, I've just grabbed a handful and smothered it around the edge

and carried it until it has run out and then got another handful.

Don't eat this if you've got a nut allergy!

Bakers, you've got ten minutes left.

SMASHING

The remaining caramel should be piped in neat lines.

My heart is thumping a lot.

The lines aren't really even.

'Then using a cocktail stick, create a feathered design.'

An attractive feathered effect is achieved by dragging

the caramel in opposite directions.

It looks nice and happy.

One minute left.

Me thinks I am done.

It's too thick.

I'm shaking.

Dramatic spin.

Slow spin.

OK, bakers, stop what you're doing.

That is it, your time is up.

If you'd like to bring your salted caramel cakes up to the alter

to be judged, please.

It's wonky.

I tried really hard but I can't tell

whether the cake is going to be nice or not.

It's going to be very nerve-racking when they cut into the cake.

Alex.

-The first thing you'd have to say - it's on the wonk, isn't it?

-Yes.

Let's be honest, that is on the wonk.

Having said that, I am enjoying your feathering.

On the nuts, it's approaching peanut butter on the side.

I think you were dragging your hand round.

You want to pat it on, and then you get a cleaner finish.

What I'm seeing here is a nice sponge, good layer of caramel.

-That's a nice cake.

-Good effort.

Thank you.

Well done, Alex.

-Moving on.

-Megan! That's a fine looking thing.

That, for me, is a near perfect feather. You had a good caramel.

Yeah, consistency wise, it was on the money.

Really nice nut work.

Hopefully, this will taste really good.

Light sponge.

That's my kind of cake.

-Good bake, Megan.

-Well done.

Thank you.

James, this also looks like a very nice bit of feathering.

Thank you.

I like your nuttage.

-You broke your cake?

-Yeah.

How did you fix that?

-I covered it with icing and stuck it together with icing.

-OK.

You've actually done a magic job.

You've got a really nice sponge on the top.

And underneath, you've got salted caramel sticky toffee pudding.

-LAUGHTER

-Two for one!

-Which is great!

So, Hafsa, this looks like a nice cake.

Feathering could have been a little neater.

SHE WHISTLES

It's given us a lovely ooze. Look, it's given us a lovely ooze.

It's a surprise in the centre.

It's just not quite caramel we were looking for today.

Your sugar is not fully dissolved.

I've got one of your lumps of sugar here.

So this is why your caramel is not setting.

Sponges are good.

Just let down by your caramel.

-All four cakes are really good bakes.

-Well done.

The judges will now decide which two salted caramel cakes

they think are the best.

All right, judges, have you made your decision

on which bakes are your top two?

One of our top two is Megan.

And the other bake - this is in no particular order -

-is James's.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-GRAHAM: Well done.

You've all done so well, I reckon you should eat your cakes.

When he said it was near perfect feathering, that was amazing.

My stomach was all twirly and it was really cool.

-Give me cake now.

-Yes, OK.

This is my celebratory dance.

Next time, I'm going to level out my cakes.

I don't mind coming in the bottom two.

I've still got the showstopper bake to show off what else I can do.

Now, while our technical really tested our bakers and how well they

could follow a recipe,

the showstopper will let them express themselves.

-Sam, how do you express yourself?

-Oh, it's easy, mate.

Through the medium of interpretive dance.

All right, bakers, it is time for your final challenge of the day,

and it's the big one.

Graham and Allegra would like you to make 12 musical biscuits.

You've got an hour and a half to complete this bake. Good luck.

-On your marks...

-Get set... BOTH:

-Bake!

The bakers have been asked to depict their love of music in biscuit form.

It can be any shape or any flavour they like.

I want to see a nice snap, crumb, good even bake, nice smooth edges.

They can use any dough, but what I don't want to see

is 12 identical, boringly iced biscuits.

That's my idea of a fail.

Well, for my showstopper I am doing a musical jigsaw.

Me and my family, we all like jigsaws

doing, like, a thousand-piece on a Sunday afternoon.

And we all play musical instruments,

so it just kind of fit to make a musical jigsaw.

Alex's jigsaw will be made out of chocolate chip shortbread

which he'll coat with nutty chocolate spread before adding

a layer of fondant icing, onto which he'll pipe musical notes

to replicate a sheet of music.

Alex, are you musical?

Yes, I've got a drum at home.

-You brought your drumsticks along with you?

-Yes.

-Amazing!

-Go on, give us a little beat. Go on.

Then we'll dance.

-Yeah. Short and sweet, I like it.

-It's fine, yeah.

-Like it, like it.

Music is one of my favourite things.

I like House Of the Rising Sun, that's one of my favourite songs,

so I decided to make this presentation board

and do the biscuits in the shape of notes.

James is the only baker attempting two different types of biscuit.

His House Of The Rising Sun notes

will be peppermint with chocolate buttercream icing

and chocolate bourbons covered with a lime glaze.

Jamesy baby, chips and gravy. How's it going?

-It's going well.

-Yeah?

Is it the same base dough for both the biscuits?

This is chocolate biscuit dough

and I made peppermint biscuit dough, which is in the fridge.

-GRAHAM:

-So, two types of biscuits?

-You've got lots to do.

-Yeah!

The bakers need to be careful not to overwork their dough

or their biscuits could end up dry and brittle.

My showstopper is going to be biscuits

that spell out do, re, mi.

I really like The Sound Of Music,

and that's one of my favourite songs from it.

Megan's musical scales will be made out of orange flavoured shortbread

topped with melted orange chocolate,

onto which she'll pipe iced musical notes.

-I can't sing.

-SHE GIGGLES

But I like to sing.

Takes me a while to do this because I need to get it really thick.

The thickness of the shortbread dough will determine

the texture of the biscuit.

Too thin, they could over-bake and end up brittle.

I like it to be really soft, like a bite.

I don't want it to be hard.

Ooh!

Like Alex and Megan, Hafsa is also making shortbread biscuits.

But she's given herself the tricky task of making double the amount

with half the thickness of Megan's to create her vision.

-Nothing happened, nothing to see.

-THEY LAUGH

Is that a sundial?

-Yeah.

-Wow!

-When it goes on the plate,

the sundial will be right in the centre and there will be music notes

all around signifying that music, you can play it whenever.

That's really deep and meaningful. I love it.

Hafsa's sundial will be constructed out of lemon shortbread discs.

The surrounding guitars and notes

will be flavoured with spices and seeds,

then decorated with home-made sugar paste flowers.

I like messing around with, like, different flavours.

Do you know what she's put on top there?

-Charcoal?

-ALLEGRA LAUGHS

-What is it?

-Blue poppy seeds.

-All them as well?

-Yeah.

-I'll think them.

These ones that I'm making now, I'm going to put cardamom powder

and saffron.

Why are you brushing it on

as opposed to putting it through the dough?

Because when you put it through the dough,

it ends up with a lot in one sort of place.

Then it can really, like, overpower.

These are about to go in the oven.

I have given myself quite a lot to do.

# Do, re, mi, so, fa, la. #

Ti, do.

I think I might need to speed up a bit.

-# You've got one hour left

-# One hour left

-# In your biscuit challenge

-# One hour left

# Ooh, yeah! #

Oh, I've forgotten to put the chocolate chips in!

You've done what, sorry?

I've forgotten to put the chocolate chips in.

Argh.

I...I...I don't know how that happened.

They don't look very brown. They need to be golden.

I'm cutting the biscuits out using my square cutter.

It's better to cut your biscuits out when they are warm

because it cuts cleaner.

And then I'm about to put it in the freezer so that they cool faster.

Oh!

HE SIGHS HEAVILY

-WHISPERS:

-No more breakages.

Bakers...

# You are halfway through

-# Your musical biscuit challenge

-# Oh, yeah

-# 45 minutes to go

-# Yeah! #

Once the biscuits are cooled, they can be decorated.

Perfect.

How are we doing, Alex?

Good, thanks. I'm just chocolatising my biscuits.

I forgot to put the chocolate chips on the inside of the biscuit.

Right. That's not a major disaster, is it?

Not totally cos it's already quite chocolaty.

Is it?

-It's quite messy job you've got there.

-Yeah.

Be the tidiest version of yourself you possibly can be, Alex.

-Definitely.

-Alex?

Invoke your inner tidy-boy self.

That's very, very deep down.

SHE COUGHS

Whoa!

-SHE SIGHS WITH RELIEF

-Wow, that was close.

That looks very gratifying.

Is it gratifying, James?

-Hmm.

-Hmm.

I'm just going to say "hmm" to everything that you say

while I'm icing these.

Do you basically want us to leave so you can concentrate?

-Hmm.

-I think that's a yes.

What happened there?

I think it just cracked open.

Could you not just ice it back together with that?

-Oh, yeah!

-Use it as glue, use it as glue.

-Do that, yeah!

So, how does this work? Here we go.

Yes. Excellent.

I was meant to write musical jigsaw, but I've actually written...

I wrote musical biscuits, but I'm just covering over it.

At least I've realised.

OK, bakers, not long to go now. You've got five minutes. Come on.

HE HUMS

# Dramatic music is playing right now. #

Just put them on the board.

I made them at home out of icing - sugar craft flowers.

Covering up the break.

Moment of truth.

These peppermint ones are breaking.

Ahhh!

All the guitars, they're really fragile

cos the top bits, they keep on breaking.

This bit's fine.

No, it's not.

I've just broken one more than I could afford,

so...the song will not be finished.

Ooh!

The peppermint ones are going to have to go without piping.

I haven't got enough time.

This one can't go without piping.

One minute left. 60 seconds, guys.

It's not the best I've ever piped.

Yeah, I can do this.

That one's broken. I can fix them.

I'm shaking really, really bad.

OK, bakers, that's it.

Please step away from your musical biscuits, your time is up.

I think the flavours work really well in my bake,

but all the biscuits just kept on breaking.

There is something about this that appeals to me.

I quite like your little flowers here.

Your icing looks quite nice as well.

Is that the saffrony-cardamomy one?

-Yes, saffron and cardamom.

-I'm going to go for one of those.

Your biscuits, for me, are a little dry.

I'm not really picking up the spices you mentioned.

By sprinkling it on top like that, you're not really giving it

any chance to come through on the flavour.

I'm going for a bit of lemon and poppy seed.

CRUNCHING

You get a lot of poppy and you could just do with a few less.

But visually, very interesting. Thank you very much, Hafsa.

I can see that you've put a lot of work into these

in terms of you've made two doughs, you've made icing,

you've made buttercream and you've tried some piping.

It's definitely delivered on the brief.

This is peppermint with a chocolate butter icing.

Yes.

It's really refreshing, hits the top of the mouth.

-It's very crumbly.

-Good.

-That, to me, is a yummy biscuit.

-I'm going for a bourbon.

-Yeah.

-I like the lime with it, nice touch.

-Thank you.

What you've got here is a really considered bake.

If you were a bit more patient, you'd have a really considered finish,

much more finesse, yeah?

-Thank you very much, James.

-Cheers, James.

Very nice. I mean, a nice, fun idea.

I mean, to be totally honest, given the strong technical this morning,

we thought you might have done something

with a bit more oomph to it, but it's very well delivered.

Let's have a taste.

Nice snap.

Good little crumb. Nice orange flavour.

-Lovely orange flavour.

-A really nice little biscuit.

I think that's well delivered. Thank you very much, Megan.

Did you find that inner tidy Alex?

I tried my best, it just...

Everything together sort of slightly smudged.

Yeah, I think we can say that.

But it is a nice idea, I like the design.

I'd like a bit more crumb and a bit more butter flavour,

but otherwise, it's a really nice bake.

You've got a decent shortbread, nice chocolaty stuff

and then a bit of sweetie on top.

It works just great.

You've just let yourself down a little bit on the actual execution

because it's a little bit messy, Alex.

-Slightly. Thank you.

-THEY CHUCKLE

-I really liked yours.

-Yours was really nice.

I think our bakers have made this very, very difficult this afternoon.

Very tough.

Hafsa in the technical, she didn't do brilliantly,

I think that's fair to say,

but did she redeem herself with the showstopper?

It's pretty. These are probably the prettiest things on the whole table.

It just lacks...moisture.

There is more attention to detail of how it looks

rather than how it tastes.

Alex this morning, his salted caramel cake,

-it was on the wonk, let's be honest.

-THEY LAUGH

What did you think of his showstopper today?

Alex had a nice idea, making the jigsaw. It's got a good flavour,

nice amount of sweetness.

I thought that was great, lots of fun.

Just need him to work a bit tidier.

Megan, her bake is great, it's a good shortbread.

It's the best shortbread on the table here.

For me, Megan hasn't necessarily challenged herself

as I'd liked to have seen.

She had a near perfect cake this morning.

She's got a very, very simple biscuit here.

Meanwhile, look at James. I love that he went for two doughs.

-We thought that was really impressive.

-Yeah.

Two doughs, two different toppings.

-Again, just, you've got to say, it's messy.

-Mm.

Bakers, thank you ever so much for all your hard work today.

Unfortunately, only one of you can

go through to the quarterfinals today.

Our judges have made their decision.

They think that this person's bakes today were visually pleasing

and followed through on flavour.

The baker going through to the quarterfinal is...

..Megan!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's the most amazing feeling EVER.

I seriously don't think that it's sunk in yet.

Megan was really, really good.

I think she really deserves to get through.

Yeah!

Of all the bakers we've seen today, Megan showed very good

technical skills and demonstrated an understanding of flavour.

She was absolutely in control,

made a really knockout salted caramel cake.

She did deliver her vision in musical biscuits this afternoon,

but we need her to push herself a bit more for the quarters.

-Well done, Megan.

-Thank you.

I'm going to try and make sure that I improve

because going through means it's going to get tougher,

and I really want to make sure that I can get up to that standard.

Next time, the bakers face a brittle bake.

Oh, my biscuits broke!

And it's celebration time...

Yeah. Come on!

..with show-stopping birthday cakes.

Party on. That's what we say to that.