Episode 7 Junior Bake Off

We are just moments away from the big kick-off.

-What's the mood like in the tent, Sam?

-Nervous, Mark.

Anything could happen once that whistle blows.

Are you happy with the practice the guys have been putting in?

Yeah, they've been training for this day for most of their lives...

-Sorry, what?

-They're NOT playing football?

-They're baking?!

Oh, that's why they're wearing the aprons! Ah-ha-ha!

-We knew that, we knew that.

-TOGETHER:

-Welcome to Junior Bake Off.

Today's four bakers...

-Power!

-..face a sticky situation...

-Need to get a wiggle on!

-..with a soda bread technical...

-It's stuck to the bottom!

-I'm quite happy now!

..and deliver show stopping surprises on sticks.

The face almost fell off!

Oh, there goes an ear!

-So, who will handle the heat...

-Should it be on fire?

..to make the judges lost for words?

Mm-mm-mm, mm, mm, mm!

Four more talented bakers are raring to go in the Bake Off tent.

At the end of today, just one of them will be

picked for next week's quarter-finals.

At home in Middlesex, ten-year-old Andrea has been influenced

by her family's proud baking traditions.

Both of my parents are from Bulgaria,

and my mum has passed me down lots of different recipes,

and they are just really tasty and I love baking them, too.

Aged 12, Freddie from Newcastle loves a challenge

and recently produced a silver wedding anniversary cake.

I think my creativeness definitely makes me stand out,

and I like making things that people never expect me to make.

12-year-old Lucy from Liverpool is used to having her cakes judged.

If it's for a party or something,

my mum usually comes in and tells me if it will do or not,

but my big sister usually says it's not nice, but she'll still eat it!

11-year-old Alfie from Swindon enjoys bell-ringing,

but baking is one area of his life where he is very competitive.

I'm really confident I can get to the final,

but I don't know all the hurdles that are about to come towards me.

-Morning, bakers. You all right?

-Yeah.

-Yay!

This is the first of two challenges,

and it's your technical challenge this morning.

Our judges would like you to bake some bread.

But not any old bread - soda bread.

And not just any old soda bread, no, no, no -

specifically, cheese soda bread,

and they'd like you to make your own butter to go on the side.

Now, judges, what are we looking for in the bread?

So, this is a rustic loaf, it's got to have a rugged crust all over

and a nice, crumbly texture inside.

With the bread, we'll be looking for a prominent flavour of cheese,

with the butter, a good level of herbs,

and throughout, the correct level of seasoning.

You have one hour to bake your soda bread and churn your butter.

Best of luck. On your marks...

-Get set... BOTH:

-Bake!

The recipe is a complete surprise to our bakers,

so this challenge will put their baking know-how to the test.

I like making bread. And I've made butter before.

So, I feel quite happy about doing this.

I've put wholemeal flour, plain flour, rolled oats,

a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and just a pinch of salt.

It's the bicarbonate of soda which gives soda bread its name.

I have never heard of a soda bread with cheese,

but I am going to try my best to impress the judges.

What a lovely looking loaf of soda bread.

Loving that rugged crust all the way round here.

And of course, the cross is actually there

so that the bread can cook in the middle.

Quite a nice, deep golden colour. Not light, not too dark.

Lovely crust on the bottom, that's firm, that's good to go.

It's got a lovely moreishness about it.

So, here, they've got to make their own butter, this is when they

really need to taste it to get

-the balance right of those two things.

-Absolutely.

Soda bread doesn't use yeast, it uses bicarbonate of soda,

which rises the bread like yeast would.

I'm just adding the buttermilk and honey into all the dry ingredients.

The lactic acid in buttermilk reacts with the bicarbonate of soda

to create tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide that makes the mixture rise.

If you put too much flour, it's going to be a dry bread,

but if you put too much liquid, it's going to be too wet and soggy.

Alfie has his family to thank for his love of baking.

Baking does run in my family,

because my nana

was a secondary school baking teacher,

and then my mum does a lot of baking as well.

So, I learnt off them, basically.

I'm happy, I'm feeling confident.

(Oh, no! Honey!)

So... da! 15 minutes have gone.

HE LAUGHS

45 minutes left, bakers. Good gag!

-Morning, Freddie.

-Hello.

-Looking good.

-Thank you.

-Are you making two loaves?

-No, I'm just making one.

Oh, I just wondered, because you've got half a recipe here.

-MARK: You've got spare for later, haven't you, Freddie?

-Seriously!

I'm putting a cross on top, so it cooks all the way through

and also gives it a nice shape at the end.

A sprinkling of cheese will give the bread the golden colour

and cheese flavour the judges are looking for.

The recipe says to bake the bread for 40 minutes.

If you fancy baking,

make sure an adult is around and knows what you're doing.

I hear you are a bit of a dancer, a mover? Is that right?

-Yeah, I do breakdancing.

-Do you really?

-Yeah.

I was in the British Breakdancing Championships. True story!

-So, what moves have you got, Freddie?

-We want to see it in all its glory!

Come on, Freddie, show me what you got-ah!

-Wow, that's good. Oh, that's really good.

-Oh, wow!

Oh, he's shoulder freezed you, you can't use that move now!

And then, I spin around... And then I do my... I'm a bit old for this!

-Do that... Ah! Well done, Freddie, you did well there.

-Thank you.

Eighth in the British Championships.

-How did you come eighth?

-I don't know.

There's eight people in it.

With the breads in the oven, the bakers can focus on the herb butter.

I'm just about to make the butter by overwhipping the cream.

Power!

Overwhipping the cream breaks down the milk fat,

causing it to harden and stick together, which forms the butter.

It's looking like butter now.

I know it's ready because all the buttermilk has come out.

Half an hour gone, half an hour to go. Come on, bakers!

Let's do this for a bit...

-Morning.

-Hello, Andrea, how are you doing?

-Fine, thank you.

How much seasoning are you going to place in this butter?

I'm going to do it by eye, see how much I need for it.

Do you want to name another one of your five senses

-that you're going to use to do that, apart from the eyes?

-Mouth?

-Taste!

-That's the one. Top tip. See you later.

-Bye.

-Bye!

There we go.

Feels really squidgy!

I've never just stared at my baking for this long.

Oh, wow, yours is much better than mine!

-WHISPERING:

-No, it isn't.

-Yes, it is!

I'll come round.

-WHISPERING:

-Yours is dead good!

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Do you think so?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah, it looks crunchy,

it's supposed to be all crunchy.

Oh, I feel quite happy now.

-Andrea.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Good.

-Enjoying yourself?

-Yeah.

-Good!

Have you got, like, any recipes

that your family might have helped you with?

Yeah, my great-grandma and my grandma and my mum have kept a book.

-It's in Bulgarian.

-Wow!

-Wow! Can you speak Bulgarian?

-Yeah.

Can you say in Bulgarian, "I love cake"?

Az obicham torta.

-Az obicham torta!

-See you laters!

-LAUGHS:

-Bye!

Bakers, you've just got five minutes left now.

The only thing that's left to do now is let the soda bread out.

But it shouldn't be too long and it shouldn't be too scary.

I think it looks OK. I think it's meant to look like that.

I think everyone else's looks the same in colour

but mine is a bit of a different shape.

I'm happy, yeah.

It's looking less brown than over there, so, fingers crossed.

It has stuck to the bottom so I am trying to lift it up.

There we go.

I hope my bread has really cooked through and it's crunchy.

I'm thinking that's too big.

Bakers, that is it.

If you would all like to bring your cheese soda breads

and your butter up to the altar please.

Allegra and Graham are after a loaf with a rugged cheesy crust

and crumbly texture with a well seasoned butter on the side.

-Freddie?

-I really like that you've left the muslin.

That's a very nice touch, but we picked up on the fact that you

left a little bit of the dough in your bowl.

That's why yours is about 25% smaller than the other ones.

Let's see what's going on inside.

Really good cheese flavour. Nicely seasoned.

A good bake.

-Try it with the butter.

-Really strong flavour of thyme.

That's nice to see. A touch too much salt for me.

Really good. Well done.

Lucy, it's a well cooked loaf.

You can see that cooked through to the centre.

You are missing that punch of cheese

when you actually eat the bread itself.

-I think your seasoning is spot on. A very nice bake.

-Good.

Alfie, it's a little pale, but it is cooked inside. Hurrah!

I'm not really smelling the cheese.

I was just a little disappointed on the butter

because there's not many leaves of thyme in there.

-Do you like the flavour of thyme?

-I didn't actually try the butter.

-Why not?

-I was wanting to get it in the fridge as soon as possible.

It takes about one second to taste your food.

Always, always taste your food.

Alfie, you could have done it for a minute more,

and with Andrea, you know you could have done it for a minute less.

It's a touch dark, isn't it? Yeah.

I really like that because it reminds me

of hard cooked pieces on the side of cheese on toast.

Andrea, there is only one thing to say about that butter

which is, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.

That is properly, properly delicious.

Good balance of salt, right level of thyme.

Which two bakers have pipped the others to the post by producing

the crumbliest soda breads and most flavoursome butter?

In no particular order, the first of our top two is Freddie

for his great cheese delivery,

good understanding of the dough and good bake.

The second of our top two bakes is this one from Andrea.

The butter was astounding.

I'm really happy.

I took a risk with the presentation and the flavours

and it paid off in the end.

I'm really happy and I'm really proud that I'm in the top two.

I learned that I need to taste my food before I present it to anyone.

I need to really work on my flavours and make sure my decoration

is good in order to get through to the next round.

What do you like best, Mark, bread or cake?

Oh, that's too difficult, mate, I couldn't tell you.

Yeah, it's difficult, isn't it?

It's lovely, isn't it, when you bite into a soft loaf

with that crusty outside?

It's definitely bread.

But then, saying that, what about when you cut into a lovely cake

and it oozes with chocolaty, creamy goodness?

Cake, definitely cake, or is it bread?

-Well, the show stopper's next and that's cake.

-Oh, I like cake.

He likes cake!

Hello there, lovely bakers.

For this challenge, Graham and Allegra would like you to make

12 bite-sized cake pops.

These are spherical cakes that are served on a stick

-so they look like lollipops but they're not lollipops.

-They're not.

They're cake pops.

The flavour of these cakes can be entirely up to you

and how you design them is up to you. You have 90 minutes to do this.

Best of luck. On your marks...

-Get set... BOTH:

-Bake!

Some cakes are really serious.

Cake pops are deeply frivolous.

When you bite into it, you want something that actually does

taste nice, so it's not only on the style, it's also on the flavour.

I want to see the personality of the young baker come through.

It's not a time to be safe.

All four bakers are making a basic sponge mix

but their finished cakes on sticks will look very different.

It'll look like a cupcake.

I will top them with creme fraiche and then I will decorate them

with fruit and it just tastes wonderful.

Andrea's mini vanilla cupcakes will be flavoured with ground walnuts

and chopped fruit.

They'll be encased with fresh raspberries

and topped with creme fraiche.

-Afternoon, Andrea.

-Hello.

-How are you making the cakes?

I'm going to crumble cake

and then add it to the mixture of coconut oil, lemon zest and walnuts.

And then I am going to...

form it into a cake pop

with this.

I'm making watermelon surprise pops...

So watermelon on the outside

and it's also watermelon on the inside.

I've put several ideas together.

Alfie's watermelon cake pops will contain raspberry flavoured

sponge and chocolate chips will represent the seeds.

They'll be covered in a green sugar coating

and striped with glitter.

It's really important to impress the judges in this round,

because, if I mess this up, that's my hopes gone.

Andrea and Alfie are baking their cakes before crumbling

and shaping them into cake pops.

My cake is the oven that quick because I have a lot to do.

There's two different methods of making cake pops

and I'm making the one in the mould.

I'm making the teddy bears' picnic cake pops.

The bears are going to be flavoured orange and the bees lemon,

and the cakes will have a cherry in the middle.

Freddie's orange flavoured bears will be coated

in melted chocolate and the lemon bees will be sugar glazed

and decorated with fondant icing.

-Hi, Freddie.

-Hello.

-How are you doing?

-I'm doing OK actually.

-What is your vision this afternoon, Freddie?

There's going to be six teddy bears and three bees.

How are you going to decorate them?

I'm going to paint them with this edible paint

so it looks like the stripes. I've got all the eyes and face and ears.

-We will leave you to it.

-Thank you.

-Can't wait to see it.

See you in a bit, Freddie.

I need to get a wiggle on.

Like Freddie, Lucy is also using the cake pop mould method.

My cake pops are going to be vanilla sponge but in the middle

I'm going to have fruit flavoured centres.

Lucy's cake pops will resemble the fruit favours in the centre.

She will decorate them with coloured sugar glazing and fondant icing.

Hey, Lucy, what's the plan, flavour wise?

I'm just doing vanilla cake but I'm going to inject them

-with different flavoured fillings.

-What are the flavours?

Strawberry cream, apple puree, lemon curd and marmalade.

-Wow, have you done it before?

-Yeah.

-Good.

While their cakes are in the oven, Andrea and Alfie turn to

making the mixture that will bind their cake crumbs.

I'm using coconut oil, lemon zest, and walnuts.

This mixture is to add to the cake to make the cake pops.

I'm just putting the colour and the flavour into the butter icing.

So what I'm going to do is chop the cake crumbs with the chopper.

-Good.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Happy?

-Yeah.

Those bits are starting to burn which people may not say is good

but it is because you know they're done.

OK, bakers, 45 minutes gone, 45 minutes left.

I've got some blended strawberries

and I'm just going to add some cream.

Lucy is injecting her purees directly into her cake pops.

I'm now going to make the cake balls.

-Afternoon, Alfie.

-Afternoon.

-What flavour's that?

-Raspberry.

Then I'm going to have chocolate chips to look like the pips.

-I'm adding them...

-In where?

Into...

-OK, good.

-THEY LAUGH

We'll leave you to sort that one out.

Laters!

I've forgotten to put the chocolate chips in,

so I'm just sticking those in now.

Andrea is having a mare.

She is falling to pieces.

It's not going very well.

I'm taking my cake pops out of the moulds

and I'm just putting the sticks in.

Then I'm going to put them in the freezer so they harden

and then I can decorate them.

With their cakes firmly on their sticks, it's time to decorate.

Should it be on fire?

I'm only kidding! Sorry, bad time for a gag.

Bad time for a gag.

I think that my design is different to everyone else's,

and it will go down well with the judges.

Oh, no, the sticks are pushing through.

The weight of the cake pops

is pulling it down with the filling in.

Baker's, you've got 15 minutes. 15 minutes left.

These are going to form their faces for the teddy bears.

The face almost fell off.

There goes an ear! I'll eat that one.

I'm using edible glue at the moment so I can stick the glitter on.

So all I do is shake it over the top.

Two minutes, bakers, you've got two minutes.

Chocolate!

That's it, time is up.

Step away from your cake pops!

I've missed out a couple of the cake pops having chocolate chips in them.

I don't know which ones they are because they all look the same.

That's a wow factor. That's very good indeed.

I love that you've picked up the detail of the pale green lines

that a watermelon has.

Fingers crossed I have chocolate chips.

I'm a winner.

Very nice, moist cake. Not too sweet.

Pleasantly cakey, hilarious colours.

Very nice cake inside. Good flavour.

Nice cake pops, well done.

A good show stopper.

I hope the judges judge it by the taste more than the looks

because I've done four different fillings

so hopefully they are paying attention to the fillings.

You very sensibly went with one sponge throughout

and then different flavour injections.

The lemon curd is very present in that, very nice indeed.

Slightly overshadowed by the very sugary outside.

Nice little texture on the sponge itself. Quite heavy on the glazing.

A very pleasant apple cinnamon flavour. Thank you, Lucy.

They look fun, there's lots of colour,

there's an element of freshness, which I really enjoy.

You've got the creme fraiche, you've got the raspberries

and then you've got this dense walnut cake in the centre.

Kiwi helps to refresh the mouth, yeah? So that's nice.

All nuts have quite a lot of natural oil in them.

Walnuts included. And then to mix it with coconut oil has given it

a slightly fatty, oily texture.

Very heavy but it's still tasty.

-Very nice indeed.

-Thank you.

I love the attention to detail,

and the fact that you've done various types of pops as well.

-That's a whole lot of fun, that.

-I'm going to go for a bear.

I'm going for a bee.

Good lemon flavour.

You've got the flecks of the lemon zest in there.

That's really working.

When you said you had a glace cherry

inside a chocolate covered ball of cake...

So, it's going to have a sugar overload.

Sometimes less is more.

Very nice job. Really good, Freddie.

-Go party with your friends.

-Yeah!

Let's start with the savoury, the technical challenge.

-How did everybody do?

-Very, very even across the board.

Good butters but some great breads.

So, bringing that knowledge through to the afternoon, well, poor Andrea,

she did have a bit of a nightmare. It didn't go well for her.

The cakes weren't holding together in the balls.

But she had a plan B and she saw that plan B through

so top marks to her for that.

What about Lucy and her show stopper?

She was devastated when they started to slide down.

Too much weight in there.

It just couldn't stay up there.

Then she was rushing and that showed in the finish.

So we've really come down to a tale of two boys.

The boys seem to have smashed it this afternoon.

You've got something that is very visually stimulating from Alfie,

but actually, when you look at it, not a vast amount of work.

With Alfie, he was so chilled in his production of this.

-Yes, simple but effective.

-Yeah.

Then we go to Freddie.

He's got the whole scene going on, but most importantly,

he's got really good flavours.

That chocolate and orange is smashing.

Glorious.

So, two very different approaches to a cake pop show stopper.

Does that mean that those two

are in with a chance of going through to the quarter-finals?

TBC, we'll get back to you, Mark.

-"Tibuc."

-Like it.

Well done, bakers, you've all done fantastically well

but unfortunately only one of you can go through to the quarter-finals.

Allegra and Graham thought this baker showed natural creativity

and an instinctive flair for flavours.

The baker going through is...

..Freddie!

Well done, Freddie.

I am really, really, really, really,

really happy that I got through to the quarter-finals.

I can't believe it.

Freddie demonstrated a true understanding of the brief.

He put his personality down on the cake.

His bread was good, his butter was good

and I feel really excited about seeing

what he'll show us in the next round.

I got through to the quarter-finals!

Next time, the bakers face a topsy-turvy technical.

And have a cracking good time.

You're actually making a jigsaw?

I just finished it by patting it down.

With biographical biscuits.

That, to me, is high street standard.