Episode 9 Junior Bake Off

Welcome to the most important baking battle in Britain.

-Fire up the ovens.

-Ignite the hobs.

-Pinnies at the ready.

Think we're going a little bit over the top?

Yeah, maybe a little bit.

-BOTH:

-Welcome to Junior Bake Off.

Today's four bakers face a sticky situation.

Jam explosion is all we can see.

With a Technical that oozes.

OK, that's bubbling. Don't know if that's good.

It's what's on the inside that counts with show stopping sponges.

-Is it going to be like three layers?

-Six layers.

-Wowzers.

So who will keep a cool head while others are losing theirs?

That looks awful.

The four bakers doing baking battle today

have their eyes on a place in the quarterfinals.

So which one will it be?

12-year-old Ben has grown up on a farm near Leeds

and has won prizes for his bakes in local competitions.

I think I'm a very precise baker.

My mum has often told me off for being for too precise,

"Stop measuring things."

But you've got to be precise, I think.

Amari from Birmingham is 11.

She's the eldest of five children and is the head baker at home.

I don't let my mum use the kitchen while I'm baking.

Even if it's dinner time and all my brothers and sisters are hungry,

I tell her I have to bake.

Ten-year-old Khushi from Hertfordshire

is so passionate about baking,

she keeps a blog with all her recipes.

I'm a person who loves to bake cakes.

Sometimes I imagine when I'm older I'll be in my own bakery

and just making breads and cakes for everyone.

Nine-year-old Oscar has been practising his bakes at home

in Maidenhead on his three older siblings.

I have been preparing for the Bake Off by baking a load,

experimenting with different flavours.

I'm quite excited because it's... Well, I am.

The four bakers will need all their baking instincts now

as their first challenge is a complete unknown.

Hello there, bakers. How are you all feeling?

A bit nervous?

Don't be. They're all going e-r-r-r-r.

Honest, don't you worry cos you've done absolutely brilliantly

to get in this tent.

We've got two challenges for you today,

the first of which is your Technical.

And I've got to say, this Technical

is one of Sam and I's favourite puddings.

It's a traditional, good old-fashioned jam roly-poly.

-Yeah!

-Yes!

-Love it.

Your jam roly-poly must be accompanied by a custard sauce.

Judges, what are you looking for?

So, we need a neat, tight swirl of the jam,

and a nice, soft dough with no cracks.

We're also looking for a good, doughy texture

and a smooth custard sauce.

All right, I think I know what Sam's thinking.

-Have you washed your hands?

-I was thinking that.

-Yeah.

Excellent stuff.

Bakers, you have one hour and 15 minutes

to create a classic jam roly-poly and custard sauce.

-Best of luck. On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake!

It's a whole different atmosphere being in the tent

compared to at home.

I usually have brothers and sisters around

so it's quite good to have my own space for once.

I am starting to make the dough of the jam roly-poly.

I have never made a jam roly-poly before,

but I'm looking forward to make it.

Here we go, this is our perfect jam roly-poly.

What I'm looking to see is a nice moist layer, good roll,

nice swirls, even distribution of the jam.

Cooked throughout with a perfect golden outside crust.

The challenge is rolling it out to the right thickness

because too thick and it won't cook in time,

too thin and it'll overcook

and maybe get too much jam coming through it, as well.

It looks so simple but it's actually a very tricky bake.

I just put 200g of self-raising flour

and 150g of vegetarian suet...which is fat, apparently.

Suet is more dense than butter so it's traditionally used

to make puddings where a soft doughy texture is required.

-Hello, Ben.

-Hi.

-Morning, Ben.

-How's it going, buddy?

It just was a bit sticky so I've added a bit more flour to it.

Tell me about the consistency that you're looking for within the dough.

It's like not too sticky, just slightly.

Have you worked with suet before?

I've used suet, yeah.

I'm rolling out the dough into a rectangular shape,

but it says eight inches to ten.

I wouldn't say I'm too precise at home

because I generally like being messy,

but I do think we're going to have to be precise here for the judges.

Ben - the shape of his dough is questionable.

It's going to end up as an oval.

It's definitely a bit thick, as well.

Amari's gone very thin on hers.

If she goes too thin,

then those layers of bubbling jam are going to melt together.

Once they have rolled out their dough,

the bakers add a layer of raspberry jam.

The stage I'm on right now is,

"Leave a quarter furthest away from you jam free."

Leaving a section jam free is essential

as the jam spreads as it's rolled.

The technique of rolling is to get it quite tight,

so I roll up and kind of squeeze it down, as well,

just to get it all together, so when you cut it

you can see the swirl in it of the jam.

Khushi's working very clean.

She's got a nice, tight roll on that.

On the other hand, young Ben over there -

jam explosion is all we can see.

He's rolled it so that it's oval

which is why he's getting that explosion coming out.

When jam roly-polys were invented 200 years ago,

they were wrapped in an old shirt sleeve then steamed in the oven,

earning them the nickname Dead Man's Arm.

Nice.

Fortunately we now have baking paper and tinfoil,

which our bakers should twist at both ends

to ensure the poly cooks through and holds its shape.

I'm just about to put the jam roly-poly

in the oven for 45 minutes,

and it's got a cup of water underneath it to help the steam.

If you fancy baking, make sure an adult knows what you're doing.

SAM SINGS How's it going?

-Making jam roly-poly.

-Oh, yeah.

Good, I suppose.

You suppose? That doesn't sound very confident.

Well, they're faster than me.

-Oh, don't worry about that!

-Slow and steady wins the race.

So you've never made a jam roly-poly before?

-No, I've made a Swiss roll before.

-Right, OK.

-That didn't turn out too well.

-Oh.

-Ah.

The ends need to be like a sweet wrapper.

I don't think I've left enough space for that,

so I'm going to have to put it in the oven like this

and hope for the best, I suppose.

Good, it's in.

Bakers, we are halfway through our challenge,

which means you've got 37 and a half minutes left.

30 minutes for my jam roll and I'm just making the custard

so I'll be able to finish in time.

So I'm just heating up the milk with the vanilla

and mixing the egg yolks, the cornflour and sugar.

Custard forms when the warm milk hits the egg yolk mixture.

Patient, continuous stirring prevents lumps forming.

The consistency I'm looking for is quite a thick consistency

but not too thick.

I'm just hoping this is going to thicken up soon

cos at the moment it's just water.

OK, that's bubbling.

I don't know if that's good, it's bubbling over the side.

That's probably why you needed to wrap it up.

How's it going, Oscar?

I've still got that in the oven because I did it a bit late.

-OK.

-When are you getting it out of the oven?

-Seven minutes.

-In seven minutes.

-6.57 minutes now.

Don't forget you need a little bit of time to plate it up, as well.

OK, bakers. Not to rush you but you've got five minutes to go.

It looks quite nice, it has a few cracks in it,

but hopefully that'll be OK.

I'm just hoping all the jam hasn't escaped out of the roll.

I can already see a bit there.

I was hoping not as many cracks, but I hope it'll turn out good

when the judges taste it. Yeah.

Bakers, you have one minute left.

You've not got much time left, I'm not going to lie.

-So just take it out.

-Yeah.

Yeah, what will be will be.

It looks like a failed baguette.

I think it needs a bit longer.

You haven't got any time. You've got no time.

It's all right, it's all right, it's all right.

Do something like that. Make it pretty, make it look pretty.

OSCAR SNORTS It's good, it's good, it's good.

OK, bakers, that is it.

Step away from your jam roly-polys.

That looks awful.

Would you all like to bring your jam roly-polys

up onto the altar, please?

I'd say I'm quite annoyed but the swirl was OK,

so I'm hoping it'll taste nice.

Mine is a lot fatter than everyone else's

and the actual dough is quite a bit thicker but I think it's OK.

Allegra and Graham are looking for a roly-poly

with a golden brown crust, a doughy texture

and a neat swirl of jam,

topped off with a silky smooth vanilla custard.

GRAHAM: Oscar. I see you have a little split, straight away.

A little bit of leakage from the end here, the jam.

But you have achieved the roll.

It's a little bit under for me, a bit doughy.

The custard's very nice and smooth, it's a good custard.

Just pop it back in the oven, cook it a little bit more. Perfect.

Amari. It looks nice.

Oh, you've got another whole swirl in there

that I wasn't expecting to get so that's impressed me.

It's perfectly cooked, very nice.

The only thing is that because it's so close, it's all boiled together.

It's started to spread a little bit and I think that's

because you really wanted that tight roll.

-Is it your first attempt at custard?

-Yeah.

Yeah, it's a really good custard, well done.

So Ben, your jam explosion was there for all to see

and it doesn't seem to be too bad.

You can see here you had an oval piece of pastry

so the centre's going to be thicker and down the ends here

it's got one layer missing.

So inside it's not cooked in the centre,

we can see that from the colour.

You have got a decent swirl, your flavour's good, the balance is nice.

Another ten, 15 in the oven and a thinner roll,

your poly would have been spot on. Shall we try the custard?

Nice consistency. Beautiful.

Khushi. Shall we have a go at yours?

Look at that. Very nice indeed.

-Your roll is good.

-Very good.

Good, springy texture, a little bit doughy on the palate,

nice sweetness coming through from the jam.

Really well cooked. I'm just going to test your custard, actually.

-Ah.

-Oh.

So, your custard has little lumps in it.

-It's not a silky smooth custard that we were hoping to have.

-Yeah.

Which two jam roly-polys and custard will the judges choose?

So in no particular order, the first of our bakes

that we're putting in our top two is this one,

Khushi, for its near perfect poly.

Second of our top bakes for its nice tight swirls,

smooth custard is this one

from Amari.

So congratulations. CLAPPING

-SAM: Well done, guys.

-Good.

-Well done Khushi and Amari.

Lads, don't worry though it could all change around this afternoon.

You've got the Showstopper still to come so don't worry, guys.

THEY CHATTER

I'm really happy with the result because I didn't think

I would get into the top two and I did so I'm really happy.

-I've never made it before.

-It was so scary.

It was kind of a disappointment how the custard was a bit bad

but I'm really happy that the swirl in the jam roly-poly

was really good.

But don't worry you guys, it doesn't matter.

We all did amazing.

The jam roly-poly - it was too thick.

But I think they were fair comments

cos when I tried it, it was pretty undercooked.

I messed it up at the beginning because I spent too long on it.

I'll have to try a lot harder this time if I want to get through.

Oh, I've got to say, Sam, that Technical was magic.

Well, Mark, baking is a lot like magic.

I mean, you take butter, sugar, eggs, flour, milk,

whisk it together and abracadabra!

And, finally, make it disappear.

Hey! It's Showstopper time.

Bakers, it is the final chance for you guys to try and impress

Graham and Allegra.

This afternoon, they would like you to make an inside-out cake.

Now, what's on the outside of your cake should give us a clue

of what's on the inside of your cake.

When we open it up, we want to see a pattern.

You've got an hour and a half to complete your masterpiece.

-On your marks.

-Get set. BOTH:

-Bake!

When you look at a whole inside-out cake,

I want to be guessing what I'm going to be tasting on the inside

by looking at what's on the outside.

When I cut into it, I want to see some imagination

gone into its design, some surprises, something delicious.

All the bakers start by making a basic sponge mix.

I think the judges are looking for a cake

that stands out from the rest

and I think my cake is kind of like that.

Amari's six-layered cake in Neapolitan colours and flavours

will be in the shape of an ice cream

which has been dropped on the ground.

-Hey, Amari.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-I'm good.

And how did you come up with the idea for this amazing cake?

Well, I was on the beach and my little brother

dropped his ice cream on the floor, and I thought,

"That would be quite a good idea for a cake."

-Did he cry?

-Yeah.

-Aw, mate.

-So he had to have mine.

Amari, that's being a good sister though.

No, I didn't want to give it to him, I was forced to.

-Right.

-THEY LAUGH

The name of my bake is called Tropical Delight.

I thought lots of people would be using chocolate and all the usual,

so I thought I'd make something different with actual fresh fruit.

It's pineapple flavouring and coconut flavouring.

The pineapple and coconut are very different from each other,

and they go very well.

Khushi's alternating her pineapple

and coconut flavoured sponges to create a chequerboard design inside.

It'll be topped with mango buttercream,

fondant decorations and filled with tropical fruit.

I've just got to make a really bright yellow

because this is just going to be a normal Victoria sponge colour.

So when you cut inside, you can see that it's very bright yellow

and a normal colour Victoria sponge.

Unlike Khushi, Oscar has chosen a classic flavour combination.

It's two thirds vanilla and one third chocolate.

One day I was making chocolate milkshake

and I put loads of cream on and then I thought,

"Well, why don't we make a milkshake cake?"

Oscar's double-layered chocolate shake cake will be marbled inside

and decorated with swirls of buttercream and marshmallows.

The effect I am looking for is marbled.

You don't mix too far because then it turns into an actual mix,

and that will just be a lighter brown,

so you wouldn't get anywhere.

Ben is also marbling his sponges.

My bake is red and vanilla marble cake.

You just get the fork in and go round like this.

Ben's three-tiered marble cake will be sandwiched

with layers of fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

-Hi there, Ben.

-Hi.

-How did you get that colour?

I got the colour by using this Christmas-red gel thing.

That's a proper red.

-Got strawberry flavour going through that cake, have you?

-No.

Because if I use strawberry extract,

it makes the whole cake taste too false.

How will you get the strawberry flavour in?

-I'm using actual strawberries in the centre of the cake.

-OK.

Nice.

Good, good.

With all the sponges in the oven,

the bakers move on to their fillings and toppings.

I'm going to make a mango buttercream.

With no buttercream to make, Ben is preparing his strawberry coulis.

So you basically dissolve the sugar in the water

and then you add your strawberries

and then you put them in the blitzer.

It gives more strawberry flavour to the cake.

This way.

While the cakes bake, Oscar is keen to check out the competition.

There's five layers in there. That's bad.

-BEN:

-It's quite an atmosphere here but I quite like it.

Bakers, half an hour to go.

It is the moment of truth so I don't want to crack it.

-No.

-Nice.

-Lovely.

I've got the rise but underneath they haven't marbled as well

as on the top.

But who's going to look at the bottom of a cake?

Phew!

Khushi's in trouble here.

Two of them are a bit on the low side, I would say.

I was going to say, I was a little concerned

earlier on when I saw them in the tins.

I am quite upset because this is too hard,

so I won't be able to use it.

So I'll just have to use these two

but hopefully it'll turn out good.

-The one that's got it all to do on the build is Amari.

-Yeah.

Hers is quite a complicated build.

I've been sprinkling popping candy on my cakes

just to give them a little bit of a wow effect.

I'm going to put a few marshmallows in the middle, try that, why not?

Lovely jubbly.

OK, bakers, not to rush you but you've got ten minutes left.

The bakers must use their remaining time

for their final decorations and finishing touches.

The decorating part is probably one of the most nerve-racking parts.

This is a waffle print to create that ice cream effect.

-BEN:

-I'm very pleased with how it's going, actually.

Lovely jubbly.

I can do this. I can do this.

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

Step away from your inside-out cake.

Allegra and Graham are looking for cleverly designed cakes

where the inside reflects the outside.

I know they will notice that there's one chequerboard missing,

because I've just thrown the cake in the bin.

Did you feel this turned out how you wanted it to?

No. My actual idea was a bit different so I had to improvise.

Well, improvisation is a baker's best friend,

so there's nothing wrong with that at all.

The element of the inside-out is on the top.

We've got the oasis which shows us that we are entering

into your wonderful world of paradise.

For me, your sponges are a little low, you know that.

GRAHAM: You've got the makings of a chequerboard,

so you've achieved that.

Nice texture from the coconut which comes through.

You've got fresh fruit and then the mango.

Nice job, Khushi.

It went quite well because my cake

turned out how it should do

and it looks pretty good, actually.

It looks very pretty.

Good colour, nice marble.

It's very bright, is it going to make my tongue go red?

It made my fingers go red.

THEY LAUGH Yeah, I've seen that.

What you've got here, Ben, is quite a dry sponge

and not necessarily enough cream.

Here we go with the coulis.

And that really does help it because it helps to moisten up that sponge.

My only thing about your cake is that I'm not quite sure

that it absolutely nails the brief of an inside-out cake.

If the red parts in the sponge had been flavoured with strawberry

-then I think I would have had a surprise inside.

-Yeah.

As a cake and as an eat, it's very, very yummy.

The thing I would have to say I'm most proud of

is probably the waffle print

cos it actually looked like a waffle cone.

-Amari, you dropped your ice cream.

-THEY LAUGH

No, I have to say, I love the design of this, I think it's really fun.

It smells like an ice cream, let's see if it tastes like one.

Wow.

It looks like a Neapolitan.

That popping candy makes you believe you're eating a waffle cone

because it's giving you that crunch.

You could say it was the definition of an inside-out cake

in that what we're seeing on the outside is reflected on the inside.

Thank you very much, Amari.

The decoration could have been better

but I hope they're going to say it tastes nice.

Double milkshake marvelousness is what we're looking at, isn't it?

Very good, I love the idea. Are we supposed to try them together?

I didn't really think you should pour it on the cake.

-ALLEGRA LAUGHS

-That wouldn't work.

I think you can do what you want.

-Really?

-SAM LAUGHS

OK.

Nice marbling.

You've got a very nice texture of the sponge.

You've got vanilla and chocolate, you can taste both of those.

But it's slightly sweet for me.

Oh, that's yummy.

It's very fun, it's very jolly, thank you.

Well done, bakers.

Right now, though, Graham and Allegra have a very difficult decision.

They have to choose which one of you will go through to the quarterfinals.

Whilst they do that, you can take a break.

Off you go, guys.

Do you think that went well?

Yeah, I think it went well, actually.

Let's crack on with this morning, the Technical Challenge.

-Amari and Khushi, they got your top two.

-Yeah.

The boys both had technical issues, I think we can say, on their polys.

So with Ben's jam roly-poly, essentially it wasn't cooked.

Oscar's had been broken in half and wasn't closed at the ends,

so he didn't get that steam delivery.

Did the boys redeem themselves in the Showstopper?

Well, I think you've got to say that Ben's,

it does look the business.

For me, it just didn't quite have the excitement of a Showstopper.

Oscar, essentially, he's put a nice idea together,

needs to learn the balance of the flavours

that he's trying to get across.

In terms of flavour delivery - Khushi's absolutely great eat.

She had to change her cake midway through in the Bake Off tent.

That's not an easy thing to do.

She kept her cool and she still delivered an inside-out cake.

And Amari?

She did well in Technical this morning and Showstopper?

This afternoon she's demonstrated a number of techniques.

We asked for a Showstopper, she gave us a Showstopper.

I don't care what you say, that stops my show.

I think it's lots of fun.

-When you smell it, it smells like you're at the seaside.

-Yeah.

It doesn't smell of fish, it smells of ice cream.

It smells of an ice cream.

So have you got any bakers in mind that you want to put through?

There's someone who's playing quite strongly in my mind.

Yeah, there's definitely somebody to talk about.

Bakers. Well done, you've all done tremendously well today.

Unfortunately, only one of you can go through to the quarterfinals.

And our judges thought that this person -

their Technical Challenge this morning

was a well-accomplished bake

and that their Showstopper took them on a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

The baker going through to the quarterfinals is...

..Amari.

THEY CLAP AND CHEER

-Well done, Amari.

-Well done.

Khushi, well done.

I was really excited when my name was called out

cos I didn't think that it was going to be me.

So it was a bit of a shock.

I think Amari deserved to win because of her amazing Showstopper.

GRAHAM: Amari delivered a very good concept to her cake

and she delivered that with a story about her brother

and she put that into a beautiful bake.

On that table we had three cakes and one vision,

and that's what did it for me.

Next time, the bakers face a holey challenge.

I'm a bit stressed, to be honest.

Ooh.

And it's a race against the clock for biscuit buildings.

I'm a bit worried about time.

They're just cracking.