Episode 1 Junior Bake Off

The famous bake off tent is up.

The ovens are preheated and the aprons are on.

Over the next three weeks, a batch of the UK's best junior bakers

face the biggest baking battle on Earth,

but only one can be victorious.

So grab your whisks, pop the kettle on,

cos you're about to indulge in the new series of Junior Bake Off.

From thousands of applications, 40 have made it to the bake off tent.

Score.

I really, really, really, really, really want to win this.

To win it would be nuts. It'd be crazy if I did win it.

But to become champion, they'll have to bake their hearts out.

I love baking. There's almost like a magic to it.

Come on. Bake!

Boom!

'They'll face cakes...'

Oh, Jiminy.

'..biscuits...'

It's pretty tricky. We're under so much pressure.

'..and pastry.'

I really don't want a soggy bottom.

'In a bid to impress the judges -

'baking royalty Mary Berry... '

It just melts in the mouth.

We're looking for an all-round baker.

They've got to be methodical,

and they've certainly got to have a passion for baking.

'And award-winning pastry chef James Martin.'

I was about eight years old when I got my first chef's jacket.

If you ask any chef that's gone on to achieve success,

it all starts when you're about this age.

That's as good as it's going to get.

Little bit nerve-racking that they're wandering around

-looking out for our mistakes.

-They asked for ten.

And we know how much of a bad mood James gets in don't we...?

All right, mate?

'Who will rise?'

-Done it.

-Yes.

Yep, that's perfect.

'Who will crumble?'

GASPING

Cake catastrophe.

Who will be crowned Junior Bake Off Champion?

This cannot end well.

Done.

Baking powder.

Today is the first of the heats.

Four bakers will face two tough tests.

First, the technical challenge.

They have to follow James' biscotti recipe to the letter.

The second is the Showstopper.

They must impress with an incredible cake inspired by today's theme -

racing.

Only one will make it through to the semifinal. But who will it be?

Griffin from North Wales.

Being on Junior Bake Off

it's literally the greatest opportunity ever.

When I'm older, I want to have a farm

and then have my own bakery from like organics just from the field.

Anna from Kent.

I love baking because it releases my stress from school homework.

It's a nice way to relax.

Alexandre from Hertfordshire.

It's amazing to be here

and to think that only 40 bakers get the experience.

I feel so special.

Or Brinta from London.

I'm 100% ready to bake my socks off. I really want to win.

To prove they deserve a place in the semifinal,

these four passionate bakers are about to show off their skills

in the technical challenge.

Bakers, welcome to the Junior Bake Off tent.

You've made it. But right now is where the hard work begins.

Your first test is the technical challenge.

James and Mary would like you to bake biscotti.

It's an Italian twice-baked biscuit.

If that wasn't enough,

they want you to make some lovely home-made fresh lemonade.

The biscuits we're looking for are a uniform shape,

but most importantly we're looking for the correct thickness and size.

And the fruit and nut filling must be evenly distributed

and the bake must be beautifully crisp when you bite into it.

You've got an hour and 15 minutes. Have you washed your hands?

ALL: Yes.

Good stuff. On your marks, get set...bake.

'These guys know their way around the kitchen,

'so if you fancy baking make sure you ask an adult first.'

It's really fun to try something new.

Then you do it a few times and it sort of becomes second nature.

I'm a bit nervous cos it could go all horribly wrong.

'Well, I hope it doesn't,

'because James and Mary are watching every move.'

So, James, biscotti. Your recipe.

A great challenge.

It's baked in two parts - the first bit you don't want them too brown

otherwise it becomes too dry,

but you want to make sure they're fully cooked

or when you cut it, they're going to be soft in the middle.

The texture comes from the second bake.

It must be done without colour. All you want to do is dry it out.

I can see the lemonade soaking up quite quickly.

Let's hope they follow the recipe very carefully

and that's what they should achieve.

Biscotti are made by combining flour,

caster sugar and baking powder.

Then in go the dried fruits, nuts, lemon zest and juice.

I've never made biscotti before, actually.

So it'll be a new experience for me.

12-year-old Alexandre is extremely proud of his French heritage

and wants to become the next Michel Roux.

My Signature Bake would be things like croissant

and puff pastry, which look pretty impressive

and are quite hard to make but the end result is amazing.

James' recipe says to use two beaten eggs,

but one baker has decided to use just half the mix.

I'm not worried about the recipe cos it looks quite easy.

12-year-old Brinta's crazy about sports

and hopes her baking will impress two people in particular.

I'm excited to meet the judges. It feels amazing, really.

It's really cool.

I've never made biscotti before. I am a bit worried about this

because I don't know what the consistency is meant to be.

11-year-old Griffin loves living in the country

with his horse and his two dogs.

He started baking with his auntie when he was eight years old.

I am quite a precise baker, so it has to be perfect.

When mixed, the dough should be soft and sticky.

Probably half the mixture's on my hands.

'11-year-old Anna learnt to bake at Brownies

'whilst earning her Hostess Badge.'

So what age did you actually say, "I'm going to be a baker."

Probably when I was...six.

So that's five years.

And you haven't still...haven't found the technique to get

that off your hands. That's good.

Well, I'll tell you what - put your hands out and then...

rub them together.

Boom, shackalacka.

The soft dough needs to be transferred into the oven quickly

so that it keeps its shape.

Now I can get moving forward, on with the lemonade.

The lemonade shouldn't be too sweet or too sour.

Tricky.

I don't think it's sweet enough

cos there's sort of a bittery lemony taste,

so I think it's too empowering so I'm adding some sugar.

Yeah, I'm happy with that.

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

30 minutes, y'all.

Yeah, that's ready.

In order to cut the baked biscotti cleanly, it should be left to cool.

But one baker isn't hanging around.

It's kind of breaking.

I'm going to put them in the fridge to cool down

cos I only have 30 minutes.

This one was too brown. And it looks smaller.

Now we're going to do slicing and dicing.

I thought you were a little bit nervous,

so I got my main man Alex over there.

Alex!

Yeah, bust a little tune.

Beatbox it up, yeah? Go.

HE BEATBOXES

Slower, slower.

# I like to bake

# My mate's called Jake

# I sit near a lake

# I eat cake

# It ain't fake

# That's why I'm here

# My grass is long

# I use a rake

# That's why I'm here

# At Junior Bake Off. #

-Yeah.

-Boom!

That's the way we roll. Come on, let's go.

'Yeah, I think Griffin is impressed...on the inside.'

I need to put the slices in the oven for ten minutes.

To give biscotti its signature crisp,

the batches go back in the oven.

But half of Brinta's seem to have gone somewhere else.

What did you just put in the bin?

Some of the biscotti that kind of went wrong.

HE GASPS

-JAMES:

-Somebody's told me you changed the recipe.

Em, I didn't put all the egg whites in cos

since the lemon juice is quite a lot, it gave it more moisture.

-So, yeah, that's it really. I only put like half of it.

-It's all right.

Bakers, there's five minutes left. Five minutes now.

They're looking OK, but they're not exactly what I expected.

My serving plate - I've obviously got little bits of crumbled biscuit

just to make it look authentic and home cooked.

If it doesn't look good, no-one's going to eat it.

Ten seconds.

OK, bakers, your time is up. The technical challenge is over.

Can you please bring up your biscuits.

'James and Mary will be expecting the biscotti to be uniform in size,

'the fruit and nuts evenly spread throughout

'and the lemonade a perfect balance of sweet and sour.'

Looking at the first one... Looks like it's biscotti.

-I don't know what these bits are.

-It looks a bit crumbly, doesn't it?

I put it there to sort of decorate, to give a rustic feel to it.

I think that's a jolly good excuse, don't you?

If anything, this is probably slightly overcooked

on the second bake. But the right texture though.

-And the fruit is beautifully, evenly distributed.

-Tastes really good.

Should we try the lemonade?

That's good. It's nice and sharp.

The true test of this, if it breaks up, it's no good.

-It's absorbing it nicely.

-You can relax.

Well done.

Brinta, where's the rest of it?

I started off cutting it out of the oven, but then it was too hot.

-So it started to crumble off.

-You changed my recipe.

It needs more eggs. You can tell that because it is quite dry.

It's more dry and crumbly than I would expect.

Will it hold?

It has done. You may have changed the recipe, but it still tastes good.

Thank you.

-Anna.

-These are slightly smaller than the others.

The fruit is beautifully even. A little bit brown on the second bake.

Probably the oven was maybe a bit too hot or maybe a bit too long.

-Lemonade.

-Did you taste it?

-No.

If you'd have tasted it, you might have added a bit more sugar.

But great job.

-Griffin, they are slightly bigger.

-Nice distribution of the fruit.

This has taken on a little bit of that colour.

It's sort of a toasty top.

Great flavour.

It's worked.

The secret of all this with the lemonade

is not to make it too sweet, and you've all done a great job.

When you set out with a recipe like that

and something that you've never made before,

you've done an unbelievable job.

-BRINTA:

-I was kind of relieved.

I thought it was going to go all wrong

and they didn't like the biscotti, but it went OK.

Did you put lemon in yours?

-GRIFFIN:

-I don't know if the judges noticed that I put extra lemon on,

but at least they liked the flavour.

These are well crispy. They're delicious.

I think my main competition would be... Oh, that's a hard one.

Maybe Anna or Griffin

because they both seem very confident about their chances.

But I hope I can rise above the bar.

-ANNA:

-My nerves are settled now I've done the technical challenge.

I just want to do the Showstopper cos I know I can do it.

With only the Showstopper standing between them

and a place in the semifinals, the bakers must impress.

This is it, guys. It's the final challenge.

James and Mary would like you to bake the most amazing cake

inspired by today's theme, which is racing.

We want perfectly baked cakes. Not dry, and a perfect texture.

The size, the shape and the flavour is entirely up to you.

-So best of luck.

-Now you've only got an hour and a half to complete this.

On your marks, get set...bake.

To impress Mary and James,

they'll have to cross the baking finishing line in style.

I think it's really important to show off your skills to the judges

and not be satisfied with anything but your best.

The key to the Showstopper has got to be about taste,

but mainly about simplicity.

I think if you do too much you're going to over complicate things,

so make it taste really good and then work from there.

We want them to show their skills.

I want some originality and something that says,

"I would never have thought of that."

With only an hour and a half to bake,

it's straight into beating the mixture.

I'm going to make a two-tier cake.

The bottom one's going to be mango

and the top's going to be vanilla and raspberry.

It's quite a big mixture and it's quite tough.

With a double whammy of fruit-based sponges,

Brinta's going for gold with an Olympic-themed cake.

It's going to have the Olympic rings on top representing all

the racing that was on the Olympics.

At the bottom, there's going to be some boats around.

-MARY:

-It's quite a big cake you're making.

-Yeah.

How long do you think that's going to bake for?

About 20 minutes or 25 minutes. It depends.

Just looking at it, I think it might take a bit longer.

We'll let you get that in. Good luck.

I've made it about five times now.

We were just giving it to my friends and family.

Griffin's carrot and walnut cake topped with cream cheese frosting

is based on the story of the tortoise and the hare.

So where did you get the idea for this then?

My Auntie Les and my mum's colleague

thought of hare and the tortoise, so then we went with that.

You've made your made your tortoise and your hare.

How long did that take you to make?

-That took me a couple of hours.

-That's fantastic.

-Are you happy with everything?

-Yeah.

-You're quietly confident, aren't you?

-Yep.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

I'm making a Battenberg.

On the one side there's going to be vanilla

and then on the other side there's going to be cocoa.

Anna's Battenberg will represent the chequered flag of Formula 1

and it will be finished with green coconut grass

and home-made marzipan racing cars.

-What kind of cars are those?

-Ferrari.

-Ah.

-And a Tyrrell.

-Is that right?

-No.

Why Formula 1?

Every year when it comes on, I always watch it for some reason.

-For some reason...

-THEY LAUGH

I'd say I've got a natural flair for baking

because I sort of get the hang of something quite easily.

Alex's Tour De France strawberry sponge cake

will feature a racing track,

fondant bikes and topped with a chocolate Eiffel Tower.

Why the Tour De France then?

Well, because I am originally French it gave me a nice theme.

I've got my mini piping set...

which I'm then going to use to make shapes.

Mainly the Eiffel Tower.

-You're going to set it and stand it up.

-Yes.

-Gosh, he's brave, don't you think?

-Very brave, yeah.

Bakers, you're halfway through this challenge.

Going to put this into the oven now.

No sooner have the sponge mixtures gone in, Anna's is coming back out.

How's it going? What's happening?

-I forgot to add the rest of the milk to the cocoa powder.

-Oh, no.

Let me have a look at the recipe. What are we making?

-A Battenberg.

-How long does it take to bake?

-35 minutes.

-This is the final challenge. The Showstopper.

-Oh, I don't know.

It's only three-quarters of a tablespoon though.

Without extra liquid, the sponge is in danger of being dry,

but with the clock ticking, Anna decides to go without it.

I think it's looking all right.

OK, bakers, 30 minutes left to bake. 30 minutes.

Now my cake's ready to take out of the oven.

Looks exactly like how I do it at home,

so I'm very happy with it so far.

Looks like a really good sponge, man.

-How long have you given it in your recipe?

-Half an hour.

That is really, really soft, man. That's definitely not ready.

I would call over James or Mary just for a second opinion.

MARY: Let's have a look at it, shall we?

That big one I don't think's going to be done in the time.

So why don't you just use the smaller one?

Hello and welcome to Junior Bake Off. I'm Aaron.

And I'm Alexandre.

Today we're going to be looking at some original bakes

based on the theme of racing.

So...today we're going to...

LAUGHTER

I messed it up now.

Sorry, my co-presenter is not completely trained yet.

LAUGHTER

Mmm, that's nice.

It's coming together all right, I think.

It does take a bit of practice to make sure that you don't

squidge too hard or too softly.

You need to apply just the right pressure.

The top tier was supposed to originally have this design,

the bottom one was supposed to have some boats on it.

So it's just the Olympics, really.

Oh, it's caught in the middle.

I'm doing a start line.

I'm just going to put this on and then the Olympic Rings on top.

One minute. Get a move on, guys.

It's not cooled in time.

-What are you doing?

-It's not going to hold down, so...

You're joking.

-Are you serious?

-Yes. I'm desperate.

-HE GASPS

-No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

It's all just sliding down.

OK, bakers, your time is up. Please step away from your bakes.

It's over.

For three of these bakers,

this will be the last time they face Mary and James.

Who has done enough to win a place in the semifinal?

Alexandre up first.

I think my bake went quite well.

My decoration was actually one of my best.

Everything's riding on this bake.

Sorry.

Excellent.

What happened to the Eiffel Tower?

I made that out of chocolate but it ended up melting in my hands,

so instead I decided to just sort of cover it in some chocolate.

I've got the feel of the French flag and the bicycle,

but I'm rather sad we didn't get our Eiffel Tower.

The first thing that you come across is strawberries, and I like that.

-The flavour's certainly there.

-Absolutely.

To me, the texture's a little bit too close.

Having said that, it does work. Well done.

My bake didn't exactly go as planned.

The worst thing that could happen is they find a few soggy bits

because it hasn't fully cooked.

You've had a very difficult time and you've been very,

very composed over the situation. You've taken the smaller one.

-You've achieved a cake in the time.

-Right, I'll dive in.

Quite soft in the middle. You can see just, unfortunately,

just still not quite cooked in the centre.

It's very light.

That would be a really good cake

if it was given that extra time in the oven.

-Well done.

-Well done.

I'm really proud of this Showstopper now that it's over and done with.

I just really hope that they like it, the flavour and the presentation.

I like it. I think it's original.

Your garnish, I have to say, is fabulous.

I'm looking forward to this.

Nice. Going through beautifully, isn't it?

Come on, let's try.

I'm going to be honest with you, Griffin.

I've had really good carrot cake, and I had that in New York.

It was one of the best carrot cakes I ever had.

This is a close second. This is really, really good.

That's a spankingly good carrot cake.

It is beautifully moist.

-Good effort.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

It went pretty well apart from when I forgot my milk.

'If I get through then, yay.

If I don't, then I'll just be proud of what I've done.

You set out to do a Formula 1 scene and that's exactly what we've got.

Certainly have.

The interest will be when we cut into that Battenberg.

Anna, you've cracked it there.

You've got equal amount in each square.

Yeah, I think at first glance a really good effort.

It's not an easy thing to get right.

The vanilla - absolutely perfect. It's a beautiful texture.

Then when we come to the chocolate, it is a little on the dry side.

Really, really clever. Well done.

Guys, that's it. You've done all you can do.

If you lot want to go and have a little break, grab a drink

and we'll see you in a bit.

-ANNA: (Well done, guys.) GRIFFIN:

-Well done, girls.

Cakes tasted, it's time for the judges to make a decision -

who should go through to the semifinals?

Let's talk about Brinta.

MARY: There was no way the big cake was going to cook in the time.

Then, of course, she had the smaller cake with raspberries in.

But she finished it, she presented it.

On the whole, I think she...she probably had an off day.

This guy here, Alexandre.

Often when you put in fruit it makes the textures really, really close,

but the flavour was there.

Very creative though, cos when the Eiffel Tower flopped...

If it was a Leaning Tower of Pisa, he would have got away with it.

He was such an amazing little chap. His knowledge.

He had an answer to everything, but he was trying to achieve too much.

Griffin - he is the one that knows all about flavours.

He tasted everything and he produced a cake that's excellent.

In the challenge this morning,

probably those biscotti were the nicest of the lot.

-I just like Griffin's confidence.

-Moving on to Anna.

She was the one that was really in control of time,

more than anybody else. I thought that Battenberg...

She knew her mistake about the chocolate sponge,

but that vanilla one was absolutely superb.

It's not an easy thing to do, and particularly do it here

and under pressure.

I think she achieved fantastic results, really.

Well, it's a tough one. Good luck.

Bakers, we've seen some fantastic creativity, some great skills.

You've done such a good job.

James and Mary had to make a very, very tough decision.

Now the person that's going through to the

semifinals of Junior Bake Off is...

..Griffin. Well done.

Congratulations.

To get through to the semifinals, I'm like really buzzing inside.

I'm going to prepare by just

practising and practising and practising.

Soon our house is going to be flooded with cakes.

He did us proud. He produced an excellent cake.

I just thought that had the best of everything -

the icing was just fantastic over the top.

He did really, really well,

and deservedly will go through to the semifinal.

I'm really proud that I've got this far,

and I'm really proud for Griffin.

So I hope he wins.

Next time...

Four more intrepid bakers enter the tent...

Mm, that's nice.

..facing technically tricky chocolate fondants...

I really do think they're going to collapse.

..before going wild with the Showstopper.

Mm. I think I'm going to put a little bit more green in.

But there's only one place in the semifinal.

Come on.

Who will claim it?

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