Episode 8 Junior Bake Off

Welcome to Junior Bake Off. Only 32 bakers made it to the heats.

It's up to them to battle it out for the title

as only one can be crowned Junior Bake Off Champion.

We're we are on a mission to find Britain's best young baker.

This is the most important day of my life.

I'm going to bake my socks off.

The Bake Off tent is home to a great baking battle.

In today's heat, four of the country's best bakers

will battle it out for the last place in the semi-finals.

-I think it needs a few more minutes.

-But who will rise?

I've baked brownies before and I don't think a lot can go wrong.

And who will crumble?

Hopefully they taste all right.

But standing between them and the title are our judges.

The queen of cake making Mary Berry.

They've got to be able to bake really well.

It's got to be technically good.

They've got to have a real passion for baking. We want superb results.

And Master Baker Paul Hollywood.

The people that rise to the occasion will be the Junior Bake Off winner.

Ten seconds. One, two, three, four. That's enough.

-My name's Aaron Craze. You need to put the chocolate in.

-Thanks.

I'll be supporting the bakers, as we discover our last semi-finalist.

In today's heat, our four hopefuls face two challenges.

They must impress as they follow one of the judge's favourite recipes.

Today they have to make chocolate brownies.

In the second, they must prove themselves by creating

the most incredible and unique biscuits they can

inspired by today's spooky theme, Halloween.

It's tough because only one can make it through to the semi-finals.

But who will it be?

Meet Freya from Newbury.

My style of baking is creative and imaginative and a bit silly.

If I get through to the next round, I'd be over the moon.

Cameron from Derbyshire.

I've come here because I know I'm really good.

I've been training two hours a day.

It's the most important day of my life.

I'm going to bake my socks off.

Aasiya from Hertfordshire.

I like baking because of the smell that comes out of the oven.

To be judged by the best bakers in England will be really cool.

And Sam from Somerset.

I like baking because it can unite people together.

When it goes right, I get crazy and start singing, Hallelujah

and dancing around like mad.

The first challenge for a place in the semi-final is technical,

bake one of Paul's recipes for chocolate brownies.

The trick is to get the mixing done properly.

It should be nice and smooth. And no lumps.

They have to make 12 equally-sized brownies

that are crunchy on the top and gooey in the middle.

Often, they're taken out too soon and dip

or in too long and the middle hasn't that squidgyness.

They all have the same ingredients

and the same amount of time, but the results could completely different.

-Bakers, have you washed your hands?

-ALL: Yes.

Good. Listen up, your brownies are going to be judged on three things.

Technique, texture and taste.

You've only got one hour to cook these brownies.

Remember, this is your chance to impress our judges.

-Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes.

On your marks, get set, bake.

These guys know their way around a kitchen,

so if you fancy baking, ask an adult.

To make the brownies, they whisk together the eggs and sugar.

For nine-year-old Cameron, who wants to be a sportsman

or a baker when he's older, he's letting his bake do the talking.

-Hi! How's it going?

-Good.

-How are you finding this challenge?

I've made brownies before so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm hoping the judges like it.

How do you fancy your chances? Do you think you'll get through?

I'm hoping I do. It would be really nice.

It depends on what happens with the food.

I only usually bake when I'm feeling happy.

I'm feeling happy at the moment, that's why I'm feeling confident.

10-year-old Sam is no stranger to the pitfalls of baking brownies.

The worst thing that can happen is that you can cook it for too long

and it tastes burnt.

You can get the texture wrong

and it can be really dry in the middle.

The bakers then add the all-important chocolate.

You have to fold it quite slowly

and don't mix it because it gets all the air out of it.

10-year-old Freya who loves to write her own cookery books,

is already speeding through the rest of the recipe.

Freya, what's happening?

I'm just mixing the flour, the cocoa powder

and the baking powder to the chocolate and eggs and sugar.

-It makes your arm ache though!

-It does, doesn't it? Just do this.

Wiggle, wiggle. Put it on the side like that and go, ten seconds.

One, two, three, four. That's enough!

-That helps!

-Was that all right?

What got you into baking in the first place?

I didn't like the cakes in the shops so I started making my own.

My dad always used to make flapjacks

and I used to help him and lick the bowl afterwards.

Aasiya got into baking after going to a baking party.

She's got her sights firmly on the last place in the semi-finals.

So what sort of baker are you?

I like cakes and cookies.

But I don't like savoury stuff.

Really? That could be challenging.

They could throw a curve ball in the competition. Are you prepared?

I can, just prefer not to.

How do you fancy your chances? Tough competition out there.

Still a chance.

-Will we see you in the semi-final?

-Hopefully.

That's looking very nice and light.

-Good stuff. Don't forget to put the rest of the chocolate in.

-Thanks.

OK, guys. You've got 30 minutes left. 30 minutes.

I'm feeling very confident.

I've baked brownies before.

I don't think a lot can go wrong.

'With everyone concentrating on the task in hand,

'there's a potential problem with Cameron's mix.'

His folding technique wasn't that good.

He still had quite a considerable amount of mix

and chocolate left in his glass bowls.

I think that is going to cause an issue.

'Under the pressure, Sam's earlier confidence is starting to wobble.'

I like to spy on the opposition to see what they're up to,

see if theirs looks better than mine.

To be honest, I'm not very neat and tidy.

Presentation is not my strongest point.

I'm hoping to wow the judges on flavour, more than appearance.

'With the mixes in the tins, the brownies head into the oven.'

Fingers crossed, it turns out all right.

'While some take a break, others are not letting their guard down.'

I've just got to concentrate on my brownie,

check it and make sure it doesn't burn, really.

Bakers, smelling good. You've only got ten minutes left to go.

I've left it for a bit, already, to let it cool

so it can be crunchy on the top.

'With most of the brownies coming out of the oven,

Aasiya is speeding ahead with the finishing touches,

but the judges are watching.

I've been glancing at her now. She's sprinkled the icing sugar

over the top of the cake while it was hot.

What's going to happen to that is,

it will soak into the cake

and lose its whiteness.

-I know.

-She's breaking all the rules.

'Meanwhile, Freya isn't convinced about her bake.'

It's not bouncing very well. I think it needs a few more minutes.

I'm just going to put it in again.

'With the clock ticking and a place in the semi-final at stake,

'she's taking a big risk, but will it pay off?'

OK, bakers, five minutes left to go. You've got five minutes to go.

'When it comes to cutting up the brownies,

'the bakers have to try and present 12 equal slices.

'But Freya is still holding out for the ultimate brownie.'

Right, let's test it.

Much better.

OK, dudes, you've got one minute left to go. Plate them brownies up.

I'm very happy with my brownies, I think they look good

and I hope they taste as good as they look.

OK, your time's up.

Step away from the brownies.

For the first time, the bakers are about to have their bakes judged

by two of the country's top experts.

But who will be taking a big step closer to the semi-final?

I think overall, the standard is pretty high.

Yes, they look good, don't they?

First to face the judges is Cameron, having made brownies before

he's confident he's got them just right.

But will Paul and Mary agree?

You've got the crust on top which is

typical of a brownie as it should be

and you've cut it up beautifully evenly.

Not quite the rise.

It could've had a bit more rise

and that means that you didn't quite beat your eggs to full volume.

There's bits of darkness where the chocolate hasn't gone into the mix.

You need to fold it a little bit longer and you'd have been OK.

Well done.

Up next up is Aasiya.

Having sped ahead,

Mary and Paul notice that she didn't follow the recipe exactly

but will they be able to tell by the taste?

You were speeding along, weren't you?

I bet it's going to taste good.

You've got a nice crisp on the top.

Lovely crisp.

Lovely flavour.

You took them out of the oven and didn't cool them.

You immediately sprinkled icing sugar on and cut them up.

You can see the icing sugar has melted a little bit.

When you cut the knife down, it sunk in because it was still hot.

Sam was worried about his presentation compared to the others

and is relying on their flavour, but what with the judges think?

Sam, how did you think you coped with this?

I found it easy because

my mum taught me how to make chocolate brownies.

If I had nine brothers, the one that's going to go first is that one

and there'll be a bit of a shouting match.

Be careful when you cutting, that they're all the same size.

Very good rise, isn't it?

It's gooey, the chocolate is good, the bake is good.

Finally, Freya, who took a last-minute risk

by putting her brownies back in the oven and nearly ran out of time.

But was this the right thing to do?

-You've got a very good rise.

-It's chewy, good taste.

Mind you again, they're not actually in perfect squares, are they?

They're not quite equal but I think you've done a good job.

Thanks very much.

Cheers guys. OK, so your first bake is complete.

You've one more challenge to face.

You've everything to bake for.

It's your second test.

Come up with some biscuits inspired by today's theme

which is Halloween.

Paul and Mary are going to be judging.

Intricate decorating, they've got to look fantastic

and also, it's got to taste really, really good.

-Are you ready?

-Yes.

-All right.

On your marks, get set, bake.

The bakers have just one hour and a half

to bake the biscuits they've been practising at home.

This is the last chance they have to impress the judges.

For Sam, it's all about taste

so what will his orange and cinnamon biscuits have to wow the judges?

I'm putting popping candy which is my secret ingredient.

Will that give you the edge?

Yes, because my popping candy will stand out and surprise the judges.

Fancy your chances? Will you get through to the semi-finals?

I hope so and I think I've a good chance of getting through.

What about the finals? Reckon you can win this?

I don't know, we'll have to wait and see.

Freya pushed her timings to the limit in the first challenge,

so is hoping to beat the clock with her white chocolate

and ginger spooky biscuits.

I was going do ginger biscuits

and then I thought it was a bit boring,

so I looked at all the ginger in the cupboard

and I found this stem ginger.

I tried it and it tasted really good.

If you did win, how would this change your life?

It'll be a real honour to be crowned the first Junior Bake Off Champion.

I'll let you crack on.

I'm just going to stay here because I can't actually get up.

-Just work round me.

-OK.

What are you actually making for the judges?

I'm doing spicy toffee apple treats.

Toffee apple?

That's quite traditional for Halloween.

Good start for the theme.

I've got two different cutters, a pumpkin and a bat.

The pumpkin will be the treat and the bat will be the trick.

Aasiya was super speedy in the first round.

Will she be able to keep up the pace

with her white chocolate and orange biscuit invention?

Where's the theme of Halloween?

It's going to be a little boy scaring a little girl

in a ghost costume.

This is interesting, like a little scene.

I must admit, there is a good bit of competition out there,

but this is interesting. Nothing like this.

Why don't you make one that looks like Paul?

-Maybe put a big belly like that. Yeah?

-No.

I'll do that.

Time to get my hands dirty.

I think the presentation and the taste are about the same

because if it doesn't look good, people wouldn't want to eat it.

If it doesn't taste very nice, they won't eat it so it's both really.

The biscuit mixes start coming together.

And finally, all the all the bakers hopes

start heading into the oven.

Our bakers are making some scary bakes

but before they terrify the life out of the judges find out what happened

when I met a woman who makes scary cakes for a living.

Boo!

I've come to this dark, spooky dungeon to find out

just how to make the scariest bakes.

Nothing is going to scare me in the slightest.

It's going to be a long night.

This is Louise Hill, award winning cake sculptor and creator

of the most incredible, edible and best of all, frightening bakes.

Louise, what are we up to today?

We'll make some really disgusting, totally blood curdling cupcakes.

Before we do that, we've got to do this.

What the... What's going on?

It's the magic of the dungeons.

Let's get out of here, this is freaky.

Start off with a really nice sponge.

We're going to put a layer of skin over it.

Not skin, you can't do that.

It's just chocolate paste that's been coloured to look like skin.

Do a bit of rolling like that.

Where do you get these crazy ideas?

I just really like disgusting, horrible, gross things.

Strange girl.

Cut it to size and make a jagged slice down the middle

for the wound opening.

To stick the skin to the cake use some butter cream.

Put that on the top.

Get loads of this disgusting, congealed blood jam

in the middle of the hole.

Make the stitches.

Just some black chocolate paste on the cupcake and just squash it in.

It looks like it's been ripped out.

To make it extra disgusting, whip up another batch of blood

using chocolate and strawberry sauce and food colouring.

When it looks realistic because it'll freak you out.

I've just cut the cake.

It looks gross but it tastes really good.

-It looks so realistic.

-You've got to taste it.

I think you really need to have a bite of this eyeball.

She's not actually mad.

They look gross but they taste fantastic.

I can confirm, these are edible.

But back in the tent, it's the moment of truth

as the biscuits come out the ovens.

The most important part is baking it for the right time,

you can either get it too hard or too soft.

OK, you little monsters, you've got 30 minutes left to go, 30 minutes.

But while the other biscuits are cooling on the side,

Sam's haven't even gone into the oven,

something he seems pretty cool about, considering what's at stake.

This is the best I've done it.

This time it's turned out really well. Au revoir.

With Sam's biscuits finally in the oven,

the bakers turn their attention to their all important presentation.

It'll be in the form of a cartoon.

Oh, that's a good idea.

A yummy Halloween scream.

-You're doing a scene, bubble writing as well and people talking?

-Yes.

-Good luck.

-It's a very clever idea but everything is very little.

We want originality and no-one has ever done anything like this.

I think we're going to have to wait and see.

With the clock ticking,

there's been a major mix up with Freya's colourings.

I've turned it black instead of orange.

Somebody said that was the orange but it's the black.

I think I'll just leave it black,

I won't have time to change it.

But desperate to impress the judges,

Freya has a change of heart so starts her topping again.

Freya is being really ambitious.

Also, it's taken a lot on to do the popping candy and the chocolate

and the biscuit and the icing.

I hope she hasn't bitten off more than she can chew.

OK guys, we've got 10 minutes left to go, 10 minutes.

With the clock ticking away, things aren't looking so good for Sam.

He's been so busy concentrating on getting his decoration right,

he's forgotten about his biscuits and they've over baked.

They were meant to bake for seven minutes

but they baked for 17 minutes.

Hopefully they taste all right and they don't taste burnt.

He's got to cool those quickly because the chocolate won't set.

Cameron is pulling out all the stops attempting a tricky toffee topping.

How did you make that?

I've used butter and sugar and vanilla essence.

I've put food colouring in.

He's done original icing which is toffee

and that's quite a skill to make.

The lines are dead straight.

Cameron is doing this meticulously.

While the spooky Halloween biscuits start to take shape,

Freya is again having problems with her timing.

Will she get it all done?

OK, you've got one minute left to go.

Finally, I'm done.

OK, bakers, your time is up.

Please step away from your worktops.

That includes you.

With the baking finally over,

who will take the last place in the semi-finals?

Cameron, you're up first.

Confident Cameron, thinks his spicy toffee apple treats,

in pumpkins and bats

are just what the judges are looking for, but will they agree?

I was impressed with your piping.

You've a very steady hand but it's all in the taste.

-The spices are coming through.

-It needs more of a bake.

It needed another five minutes in the oven.

It's a bit too soft for me.

Next up is speedy, Aasiyah.

She's hoping to seal a place with her orange and white chocolate

yummy dream, scream, spooky cartoon biscuits.

This is original.

I like the idea of this 3-D thing.

It's a 3-D image on each one.

That white chocolate and orange really comes through.

Taste that, delicious, isn't it?

Absolutely delicious, needed longer baking. They're thick,

they needed longer but a very original presentation.

Sam baked his biscuits for longer than needed,

but will his orange, chocolate and cinnamon biscuits,

with popping candy win the judges over?

It's a great idea. They look like 3-D pumpkins.

-Popping candy?

-Yes.

-I'm getting that.

I think it's slightly over baked.

Getting a slight burnt flavour.

Beautifully crisp but a little over baked.

Finally ambitious Freya, ran out of time

but hopes her ginger, white chocolate and popping candy biscuits

topped with blueberry spiders and fruit witches show her potential.

This looks fantastic, Freya.

A nice colour. Looks like a ginger biscuit.

Tastes like a ginger biscuit.

Popping candy again.

These spiders with blueberry.

You were very ambitious.

Your biscuit is baked extremely well.

The flavour is very good, texture is excellent

and I do like the highlights of the chocolate underneath.

Well done, Freya.

Thanks for all your hard work.

It's now up to the judges to decide who goes through to the semi-finals.

But with the last place in the semi-final at stake,

what exactly is on the judges minds?

Start with Cameron.

The flavour was great, the idea was great,

apple and cinnamon. The bake let him down, like an uncooked dough.

His skills were absolutely excellent.

He was well within his time and very methodical.

I thought his brownie was pretty good

but he didn't clean out his bowl and put all the mix in.

I thought overall, Cameron has done quite well.

I feel a bit nervous

and I really don't want to find out

who's going through.

OK, well we're moving on to Aasiyah.

I thought this idea was a great idea, I really did.

Telling a story, it was ingenious.

However, the biscuits did need a bit longer in the oven.

Too soft again.

Her brownie, she was the first to get it in the oven

and that showed in the final result.

Hers hadn't risen quite as much.

I think it's anybody's game at the moment

but it would mean loads

if I got through, really cool.

Moving on to Sam.

The whole impact is excellent.

The pumpkin idea was great

but they were over baked, they taste burnt.

Sam's brownies were very good.

The only one with a real crispy top.

I'd love the judges

to put me through to the semi-final

because I've worked really hard

and I'm competitive.

I love baking.

Moving on to Freya, that as a concept is fantastic.

The taste of those biscuits

and the bake of those biscuits is exceptionally good.

She did go over her time. It was a great biscuit.

She made really good brownies.

She went through the method,

did exactly as she should've done, beautifully mixed.

The judges' comments made me feel

really happy and excited.

I can't wait to hear who's getting through.

Two bakers that stand out as being exceptionally good.

Two isn't good enough,

only one can go through.

That's up to you two.

Good luck, guys.

Paul and Mary have made their decision

and the person going through to the semi-finals is...

..Freya.

I'm feeling really happy.

I can't actually believe I've got through.

Freya's creativity, her baking

and her confidence put her through today.

Those are crucial to being a good baker.

Freya, I hope will go far.

She's certainly got the skills, she mustn't be over ambitious.

I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, really,

really happy to get through to the semi-final.

Next time, it's the first of the semi-finals

where they must prove themselves as the challenges get harder.

I'll definitely up my game.

We're moving up a gear, it's getting hotter.

And the pressure starts to show.

Oh my God!

But who will get one step closer to becoming Junior Bake Off Champion?

Going through to the finals is...

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