Episode 8 Junior Bake Off

We have one tent, two judges, three more heats, four more bakers.

And five more inches around my waist.

-BOTH:

-Welcome to Junior Bake Off.

Today's bakers are about to take on a topsy-turvy Technical.

GASPING

And bake biographical biscuits...

You're actually making a jigsaw.

I think I just finished it by just patting it down.

..as they battle it out to dazzle judges Graham and Allegra.

That, to me, is high street standard.

Today's fearsome foursome are armed with baking know-how

and brimming with recipe ideas,

each hoping to go through to the quarterfinals,

but who will impress the judges?

Isabel from Hove is 11 and has baked over 100 cakes in her lifetime.

It's kind of strange to actually be here

and going into the tent.

I've got my chopping boards.

Baking runs in the family

for 12-year-old Ben from Sutton Coldfield.

It means quite a bit to be part of Junior Bake Off,

because I've been trying to get my dad to do the adult Bake Off

for a couple of years, but I thought I can do it for him instead.

12-year-old Darcey's from a village near Belfast,

and was taught to bake by the best.

My granny was a primary school cook,

it's been, always, a part of my childhood.

And nine-year-old Will from Cardiff

has his baking ambitions set high.

When I grow up, I maybe want to own my own restaurant

and become the head chef.

This could be a great jump-start for my career.

The bakers' first challenge will test their baking instincts

as the recipe's a complete mystery.

Hello there, bakers. How you all doing?

-Good.

-Good, thank you.

-Good.

Now this is your Technical Challenge, where Allegra and Graham

will want you to follow a recipe of their choice.

Now, I'm going to give you a hint of what it is.

I'm a cake.

MARK GRUNTS

What type of cake am I?

Ooh, a Madeira cake?

-No.

-Fruit cake?

Please be quicker.

You are an upside down cake.

-That's the one!

-Excellent.

So this is a sponge-based cake with a layer of fruit

at the bottom of the tin.

Now, the fruit in the recipe is pineapples and blueberries.

Allegra, what are you looking for in this bake?

So what we're looking for is a nice caramelisation of the fruit on top

-and an appealing design.

-OK. Graham?

I'm looking for an even colour and a moist sponge.

-OK.

-Right, well, here's a quick word from the hand-washing police.

Have you washed your hands?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

-Excellent, good to know!

-Good.

Guys, you have one hour to create

your pineapple and blueberry upside down cake.

-Best of luck. On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake!

It's quite an easy recipe and it's quite thorough, so...

hopefully I can do it.

I've never baked one of these before,

but I think I can nail it, if I put my mind to it.

So this is what an upside down pineapple and blueberry cake

should look like.

The right amount of blueberries. The outside, nice and golden.

-Yeah.

-My favourite bit of this cake is always going to be this bit

round the edge, where you get the nice caramelisation.

Trouble is, that's always going to be the hardest bit to get.

You need to remember to take your palette knife and run it

round the inside of the tin to release the cake from the mould.

Cos if you just try to turn it out without doing that,

you're going to lose the outside third of your cake.

Exactly, but the most important thing about this cake

is obviously the taste.

-See how light that is as well.

-Light as a feather.

And, with a cake that's that simple to make,

there's nowhere to hide, really.

"Grease the tin and line with grease-proof paper."

An upside down cake is, as the name suggests,

baked upside down and then turned over.

Thoroughly greasing the cake tin is essential to ensure

the top of the cake doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the tin.

Feeling quite excited and quite nervous as well.

I've just creamed the brown sugar and butter together

and now I'm spreading it over the bottom of the lined tin.

It's slightly tricky to spread the butter and sugar,

but...we'll get there.

SHE LAUGHS

To achieve a golden caramelised top to their cake,

the bakers need to coat the base of their tin

with a thin, even layer of butter and sugar.

HE MUTTERS

This is difficult.

Well, I think I'm quite good at following recipes,

but I'm kind of struggling at the moment.

Is there a certain technique to spreading the butter

and the brown sugar, or do you just hope for the best?

I've heard Darcey is already on the fruit decorating bit,

and I still have to spread all this stuff.

The design of the fruit at the bottom of the tin is crucial,

because it will form the top of the cake

when the bakers turn it upside down.

Well, I'm just arranging all the fruit.

It's the funnest part for me,

because I don't really want an ugly-looking cake.

The cake is a simple sponge made from butter, sugar, flour and eggs,

plus one other crucial ingredient.

Now I am going to add one tablespoon of the pineapple juice

to give it a nicer flavour.

TIN CLANGS

OK, then it'll just have to do.

I'm quite far behind everyone else.

By the looks of things, I may be the first to get it in the oven.

I think I'm pretty confident,

I've made a lot of cakes before, so...

I think this one should go well.

If you fancy a go at baking,

make sure you get the OK from an adult first.

I did forget to put the pineapple juice in.

I don't really know this recipe at all,

so I did read it through, but I just forgot.

SHE LAUGHS

Hopefully the judges aren't too harsh.

OK, bakers, you have had 30 minutes.

The challenge is an hour, which means you've got another 30 minutes.

Good math.

I haven't put mine in the oven!

I've got 30 minutes left

and this needs to go in the oven for 30 minutes.

I need to speed up.

It's kind of nerve-racking.

I don't know if I'm going to get it finished.

HE SIGHS HEAVILY

I don't want to be too confident, but I think it looks good anyway.

It's looking good at the moment.

The blueberries are going up and bubbling,

but I think that's OK.

Ooh, it smells nice.

Are you happy with the colour?

Er, um...

HE MUTTERS

Yeah, I'm happy with the colour with the time to go.

-BOTH:

-Yeah, yeah.

Bakers, time check please.

You've got ten minutes left.

Ten minutes, that's all.

I think it's nearly done.

Yes. THEY WHOOP

Exciting! THEY LAUGH

First one out, it's really tense.

Everyone's watching you.

-ALL:

-Five, four, three,

two, one.

TIMER BEEPS Best of luck.

Next it says...

to insert a skewer into the cake. It should come out clean.

-And it's clean.

-Yeah!

In your face, sponge cake!

The final stage of making an upside down cake

is successfully turning it right side up.

Slightly nervous.

GASPING

Oh, no.

It's all stuck round the sides.

Erm...

I just don't think I put enough butter around the sides.

-Right.

-Is that the reason?

-What are you trying to do?

I'm trying to bring out the sides

-and leave the middle.

-Right, so it makes it look...

-a bit more full?

-Yeah. More of a cake.

-Yeah, patch.

-Patch up, patch it up.

-Yeah.

I do hope I've buttered mine enough.

SHE SIGHS

Right, I better go round the edge,

just to make sure it doesn't stick.

I think I'm a bit nervous now, yeah.

The moment of truth.

No, no, no, no.

Yes, yes. OK, OK.

Almost. Ish.

Yeah. Ish. Yeah.

HE GASPS

Hoo-ho-hoo!

It worked!

Bakers, you've got one minute left.

Everyone got it in a couple of minutes before, except for Will,

so I just hope his comes out OK, as well.

I think it has done.

Just people's sides have been stuck.

This is the bit where the moment of truth comes in.

It's stuck. It's all stuck.

Erm...

Bakers, you've got 30 seconds left.

No!

It's stuck and he's got 30 seconds.

No, it's actually stuck in the...

WILL HUMS

-BEN WHISPERS:

-Moment of truth.

APPLAUSE Yes! Good man.

Now, bakers, time's up.

Will, you nearly gave me a heart attack then, man.

Right on the money. Well done, guys.

-Well done.

-Excellent. Woo-hoo-hoo! APPLAUSE

Well done, bakers. You've all done your upside down cakes.

If you'd like to all bring them to the altar, please.

'I forgot to add the extra tablespoon of pineapple juice,

'but I do have a really nice pattern.'

I was a bit devastated, but I think I was able to patch it up.

Allegra and Graham are after a well-designed, caramelised top,

golden sides and a moist sponge.

OK, so, Will, we're going to start with yourself.

Plenty of purple is what I'm seeing there.

Very nice-looking sponge.

Mm! It's very slightly dry around the edge, to me.

Did you put in the pineapple juice?

No, I forgot to put in the pineapple juice.

Thought so, maybe that's why. But, anyway, nice bake.

-Well done.

-Nice effort.

OK, Darcey, obviously you're going to be disappointed.

We spoke about running the knife around.

-It's very important that you do that.

-I think you rushed it

a little bit, cos you were far and away the fastest baker.

But, in terms of flavour, that's absolutely up there.

Yeah, your sponge is really nice.

It's got a very good pineapple flavour.

-You put your juice in, though, didn't you?

-Yeah.

Yeah, you can tell, because it's really quite moist. So, well done.

Here we go, Isabel.

Abstract. But I like that.

-Obviously, we've lost a bit on the sides here.

-Yeah.

I don't think you put the pineapple juice in either, did you?

So you've got, like, this nice, moist sponge,

but it doesn't necessarily flavour of anything.

Ben. Looking good, my friend.

You've got your sides intact,

-I like your pretty pattern on top, you've got your juice.

-Mm.

It does make a difference.

That's a good bit of baking in my book.

Very moist, good crumb. Nice, even bake.

-Solid stuff, though.

-Yeah, really good.

-Solid stuff.

Allegra and Graham must now decide

which two upside down cakes are the best.

So our top two cakes...

In no particular order.

This bake here, based on its good design and its nice, moist cake,

so well done, Ben.

And then second one, and we did looks and we also went on flavour,

and we're going for Will.

-BOTH:

-Yay!

-APPLAUSE

Well done. Well done, Ben and Will.

And well done to all of you, actually.

That was a really tough first Technical Challenge.

But it could all change,

we've still got your Showstopper to come.

Yeah!

Mm!

'They said my cake was really quite nice,'

so that's really encouraged me for the next round.

'Quite disappointed that I didn't get in the top two,'

but I know I can still bring it back in the Showstopper.

'I hope that I can'

sort of redeem myself with the Showstopper.

Hey, I tell you something, Mark,

they're brilliant, those bakers, aren't they?

Yeah, they're fantastic. But I want to know a bit more about them,

what makes them tick, but how on earth are we going to do that?

How about...

through the medium of biscuit?

-Sam!

-MARK SIGHS

That is brilliant!

All right, bakers, it is time for your Showstopper Challenge.

Graham and Allegra would like you to tell us

the story of your lives, an autobiography, if you will.

However, we don't want this autobiography in pen and paper form.

We don't want it typed up on a laptop or a tablet.

No, we want it in biscuits.

Now, your lives can be expressed in any flavour you see fit.

Chocolaty pets, gingery families.

Lemony hobbies.

-Didn't make any sense at all.

-No, it didn't.

Guys, your biscuits should not only look good,

but they should show off some creative flair.

You need to make 12 biscuits

and you have an hour and a half to do that.

OK, are you ready to risk it for a biscuit?

-Yeah!

-Excellent. In that case...

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake!

Wah!

The Showstopper, for me, it is about the wow factor,

so I really want to see something that makes me go,

"That's extraordinary, that is spectacular.

"Where did that come from in your mind?"

Something I haven't seen before.

What I'm looking for is dependent on what type of biscuit it is.

If it's a ginger snap, it has to do that - it has to snap.

One egg yolk in.

Mix.

I am making ginger and honey biscuits with lemon icing.

Will's giant honey and ginger biscuit will be cut

into a 30-piece jigsaw, depicting the most important part of his life.

It's a family portrait of me, our house,

my dogs and my parents.

It's going to look quite cool and it'll fit into that box.

For my life in biscuits,

I'm making a biscuit I call Musical Munchies.

I've been playing the trumpet and listening to music

since I was in Year Three, so it's quite important to me.

Ben's shortbread trumpets will be flavoured with lemon

and his musical notations with lemon and ginger.

To decorate, he'll be using royal and fondant icing.

I'm really looking forward to tasting these, Ben.

-I love lemon.

-I like ginger.

I like it so it's quite lemony,

I've just got to use the right amount of ginger

to balance out the lemon.

-You look like you've got everything under control.

-Do I?

-Actually, yeah.

-Thank you.

-You need your spatula.

Like Ben, Darcey's also making shortbread.

Today, I am making some of my gran's secret shortbread,

which will have a lemon icing on top

and I'm making some Viennese "chockey" sticks,

cos I play a lot of hockey myself.

Darcey is the only baker to give herself the tricky task

of making two different types of biscuits.

In addition to her shortbread chef's hats, she'll be making

Viennese hockey sticks, covered with chocolate and orange popping candy.

-Who's that?

-Oh, that's me and my granny.

Are you going to save the biscuits for your gran and your mum?

It depends how they taste!

-LAUGHTER

-Good luck, Darcey.

-Thank you.

-Nice one.

One of my favourite kind of biscuits is gingerbread,

so I just thought it would be nice to make them.

I have to put all the butter, the sugar and the syrup in

and I just mix it until it comes together.

Isabel will use royal icing and silver balls to turn her gingerbread

into biscuit ballerinas, reflecting another one of her hobbies.

I do modern, jazz...

competition, solo and ballet.

I enjoy dancing and baking both the same.

My mix isn't coming together properly.

Consistency's not right.

It's too wet.

Getting the right consistency is vital.

Too wet and the biscuits won't hold their shape.

Too dry and they'll crack, crumble and taste floury.

I've used enough flour and water

so I really, at the moment, don't know what's going on.

I'll just add in a little bit more.

No, actually, it could be getting a bit dry now, so...

I think that's going to have to be the last thing.

It's not the same as when I practised at home.

-No, it's not.

-WHISK WHIRS

I think that's...

that's as right as I'm going to get it.

Yeah, that's OK now.

In the last seven days, I've made it every day,

start to finish, so I've been practising like mad.

CLANGING

I'm here, I'm here. Don't you worry.

Thank you.

I'm doing chef's hats for my granny's shortbread.

I hope my shortbread will have a snap,

but still quite crumbly when you bite into them.

This is the mixture for my Viennese biscuits.

The softer Viennese biscuit dough contains a lot more butter

than the shortbread, so it's usually piped.

I have given myself quite a lot to do,

but I have come back fighting from this morning.

It's happened again.

Ben, what's happening?

-Falling apart.

-What, you mean you're falling apart?

-BEN LAUGHS

-No, the mixture.

Why do you think that is?

I think I put in too much flour,

and now it's really dry, so it's really hard to move.

Will is the only baker not cutting his biscuits before baking.

Hiya, mate. You all right? How's it going?

-Not very good.

-We caught you at a bad time? What...?

-PAPER RIPS ALL:

-Ooh!

-Oh, no.

-Ah!

-We've just made it worse.

-What can we do to make this not a disaster?

-No, it's fine.

-It's fine.

-Are we all right?

How are you going to fill in the gaps?

I'm just going to take some of this, I'm going to pat it down.

You're actually making a jigsaw?

-A jigsaw of biscuits.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I think I just finished it by just patting it down like this.

Fantastic. Well, you seem in control, Will.

Yeah, I'm kind of accidentally in control, yeah.

OK, bakers, you've only got 30 minutes left.

Cutting biscuits when they're baked

means they're more likely to hold a shape.

But they're also more likely to break.

It's all cracking when I pull it up.

It's gone all bad.

I've got some lighter bits where too much flour has been added,

and it's showing through.

I'm hoping to hide all of the whiter bits with a little bit of icing.

When you can see peaks, that's when it's done.

-Hi, Isabel.

-Hi.

-How's it going?

-Um, it's going better.

Yeah? That's good. Why've you got holes in your bake?

So you can dance with the biscuits.

-Is that your own idea?

-Yeah.

-That's brilliant!

-Clever.

So not only are you eating, you're getting some entertainment as well.

So have you made more of a quaver or a semibreve for your musical notes?

I've made a quaver as well as a treble clef.

You're meant to be making biscuits, not Quavers!

Bakers, you have 15 minutes.

I find it quite stressful, decorating.

It is my favourite bit though, but it is very stressful.

Presentation is very important to me.

They say you eat with your eye.

I think I am a bit of a perfectionist.

Not with anything else, just when it comes to baking.

Bakers, you have just five minutes left.

Where is it? where is it? Where is it?

Where's my treble clef cutter?

I don't think I can finish this, I'm going to try.

Come on!

Fyuuhhh...euullgggh!

I took them apart, and now I can't remember how they fit in.

Must go like this...

No. This...

Yes!

I am putting on the popping candy

as the chocolate's setting on the biscuits.

I've definitely never felt this much pressure to finish

one of my bakes before.

9, 10, 11, 12.

I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it.

OK, bakers, time is up. Well done.

Wow. Properly imaginative.

Yeah, they look very nice.

Shall I pull her skirt off? Ooh... Whoops!

That has got the right amount of ginger in for me.

Nice and crispy, good little bit of chewiness in the centre as well.

Really nice even bake.

Very pretty as well. Style points.

'I'd rather just stay this happy'

than, like, hear what was wrong about it.

I love it. It says that you...

It comes from the heart then, you know, family's where the heart is.

I mean, it's not your tidiest job ever but, you know,

sometimes tidiness isn't the most important thing.

It had a nice break, it felt a bit chewy,

is that what you intended?

I like more chewy biscuits.

-Mmm, like cookies, kind of thing?

-Yeah.

The honey comes through stronger than the ginger which is odd,

because ginger's a much stronger flavour. That's nice.

The lemon icing really helps to refresh the mouth, which is nice.

Well, Ben, in terms of the brief, it looks like

you've absolutely nailed it.

Your life in biscuits, clearly it's about music.

Really good presentation, nice piping. Broke nicely.

Good lemon flavour.

-Definitely a touch of floury.

-Just goes a bit sandy.

Really nice idea. Solid job, Ben.

I'm hoping the judges will think I've redeemed myself

from this morning.

Darcey, that, to me, is high street standard on the visuals.

That broke very nicely.

-Oh, popping candy!

-Yeah.

The chocolate, popping candy and orange make it

interesting on the mouth, it's dancing around.

And on the chef's hats, the icing really makes a difference,

it makes a real contrast to the biscuit,

-giving that little bit of sharpness.

-Granny would be proud.

Over to our tree!

THEY CHATTER

Judges, what a day!

What a day.

Let's start with the Technical Challenge.

-Who shone for you?

-Ben nailed it.

What did you think to Ben's biscuits?

They are extraordinarily well-crafted biscuits.

Unfortunately, they're a little bit dry.

If we're talking about somebody who did well in the Technical,

-Will, he was in the top two.

-He was indeed.

He did really well there.

It looked good. I could have sold that cake.

Could you sell his Showstopper?

It's a very good idea, the execution isn't necessarily there for me.

OK. What about Darcey?

She obviously was gutted after this morning.

Of course, which is fair enough.

We've also got to bear in mind, she was first in the oven

and she was first out of the oven.

-Yeah.

-So she made the mistake and all the others thought,

"Right, I've got to do that," so they got the turn out.

But when it comes to the Showstopper, kind of a 180, really.

The way she presented it was very, very good, but I see past that,

because essentially for me it's about the taste.

I've got to say, Isabel's Showstopper is a lot of fun.

-Yeah.

-Oh, it's hilarious, it's great, it's so inventive.

I mean, it's a bit bonkers. But we like a bit of bonkers.

-We love that.

-And it ate pretty nicely as well.

Now, have you got any idea on who you think you could put through

to the quarterfinal?

-I think we're down to our top two.

-Ooh, interesting.

You can't choose us, Allegra. Ha-ha-ha-ha!

-You're not in it.

-Oh, right, OK.

Bakers, congratulations, you have all done tremendously well.

But one baker showed that they have a real understanding of flavour,

that they are bang on when it comes to the visuals

and that, by jiminy, they are determined.

The baker that our judges have decided to put through is...

Darcey!

'I think my granny's going to be as amazed as I am,'

it's her recipe that got me this far.

'Darcey did really well,'

it looked like something a professional chef would prepare.

So I really think Darcey deserves to win.

-GRAHAM:

-'Darcey went through for me on taste.'

She recovered from a quite sticky situation this morning,

and she had biscuits this afternoon which delivered on flavour.

-ALLEGRA:

-'I mean, it was properly show-stopping what she did.'

I want to see what she can do next.

'Tomorrow's bakers face a Technical that oozes.'

Jam explosion is all we can say.

'And it's what on the inside that matters...'

-Six layers.

-Wowzers!

'..with a surprising Showstopper.'

Oh, that's yummy!