Episode 12 Junior Bake Off

Welcome to the hypocentre of the baking world.

Two challenges stand between our five semi-finalists,

so they're going to have to produce pure perfection today to win over

Mary Berry and James Martin.

As only the best will go through to the final.

This is Junior Bake Off.

Today, the heat is on in the last of the semifinals.

I'm starting to feel the pressure now.

For five bakers, it's come to the crunch.

Score.

But only two will go through to the final.

It's going to be tight.

-Does that look right?

-No, not really.

Today our bakers need to up their game

as they take on their toughest test yet.

First they must magic up Mary's meringue roulade

in the technical challenge.

And then put their heart and soul, not to mention arms and legs, into

sweet pastry tarts for the human body themed Showstopper.

Meet today's semi-finalists...

Harry from Hampshire.

In his heat, Harry's sticky toffee puddings impressed.

And he delighted with his decorations

for his Hadron Collider cake.

-It's a good cake.

-That is a really, really good cake.

Thank you.

I'm a confident and passionate baker and I have the courage

and the ability to get through to the final.

If I became Junior Bake Off champion, I would be over the moon

because it would mean I was the best baker in Britain.

Kavern from London.

Kavern created scrumptious crumpets but it was the fabulous

flavours of his bug biscuits that really dazzled the judges.

-Did you put nutmeg in there?

-Um, yeah.

-It really works.

-Thank you.

I think I deserve to be in the semifinals because I am confident

and I'm not nervous any more. So I think I could win,

and I'm just going to give it my best shot.

Archie form Northern Ireland.

Archie's classic cheese straws and the bold flavourings

of his beetroot sea monster cake, secured his place in the semifinal.

We asked you for a monster cake and there's no doubt that

that is a pretty good monster.

It feels really good being back for the semifinals.

I don't really have a game plan

but I just think I can impress them with my baking.

Zainab from Hertfordshire.

Zainab made some beautiful butterfly cakes.

Yep, that's perfect.

And really wowed with her wonder of the world coral cake.

It looks enormous fun.

My plan to get through to final is to just give it my all

and work my hardest and concentrate on my bakes rather than

panicking that other bakes are going to be better than mine.

And Monty from Cheshire.

Monty captivated with his wonderful Welsh cakes

and fiery flavoured chocolate dragon.

We like originality and to be creative

and end up with a well-flavoured cake. We've got the lot.

Mary and James are going to pretty much be looking for perfection.

I'm pretty sporty and that makes me quite competitive

so the other bakers need to watch out.

First up, it's the tricky technical challenge.

Bakers. Welcome back to the Junior Bake Off tent

and of course, the semifinals.

Today you'll be making one of Mary Berry's very own recipes.

Lemon meringue roulade with whipped cream,

lemon curd and fresh raspberries.

Your meringue should be crisp, well risen and it should have a

spiral effect when you cut through to look like a Catherine wheel.

And inside the middle we're looking for a lovely cream

mixed together with the lemon curd and don't forget on top,

a little light dusting of icing sugar.

One hour to complete this challenge. Have you washed your hands?

ALL: Yes.

Lovely. OK, guys. On your marks, get set, bake.

These semi-finalists are experienced bakers

so if you want to try this at home, ask an adult to help.

I've never made a meringue Swiss roll but I've made Swiss rolls

so I'm pretty confident with it.

I was quite scared when I found out it was going to be a roulade

because Mary Berry's really good at meringues

and she'll be watching extra keenly.

Nothing will go unnoticed as this one of Mary's very own recipes.

-So, Mary, a meringue roulade.

-I think it's a good challenge.

There's going to be elements of this that they get wrong.

They could under beat it, they could over-cook it.

Perhaps they don't separate their eggs well.

Perhaps somebody will get a bit of yolk or a bit of grease in it.

Then they'll have to start again. It isn't too complicated.

A few ingredients. I think we're going to get good results.

Well, fingers crossed.

The bakers must carefully separate four egg whites.

Any yolk in the mixture will prevent the meringues from going stiff

when whisked.

It's awesome being back in the Bake Off tent.

I like going up against good bakers.

Monty loves flavours

but admits there's one area of his baking that needs a bit of work.

The bit I'm not looking forward to is probably the decoration

because I'm not the neatest baker.

Oh, no!

I think it's just about trying your hardest

but not forgetting about time as well.

Perfectionist Zainab is one of the best young golfers

in the country, so has a competitive streak and she's in it to win it.

-Are you confident with this?

-Um, I am quite confident with this

because I think it's quite an easy challenge.

An easy challenge. Wow!

I'm whisking the egg whites until it's stiff in texture.

Unflappable Archie already has seven years baking experience

under his belt, but today he isn't taking anything for granted.

It's going to be harder than the last time because it's the semifinals.

That makes me more nervous.

Meringues are very tricky.

One minute over or one minute under, it could be a disaster.

Harry is a dedicated baker who like to practise his bakes

until they exactly match the photo in the recipe book.

I definitely came with a different mentality

because I need to up my game and not let anyone have a chance.

-ZAINAB:

-I add the sugar gradually so it will become a fluffy mixture.

I just hope that I can keep up the good work

and make it through to be the Junior Bake Off champion.

Kavern loves drama as well as baking

but he's hoping he doesn't get semifinal stage fright today.

Does that look right?

No, not really. I don't think it's thick enough.

Just egg whites?

I think there was a little bit of egg yolk that went in there.

See, that, that could be the problem. Do you know what?

This is the semifinals. It's probably best if you start again.

Don't panic. Right, so we need four egg whites. Go!

Lovely.

It's looking better already, isn't it? Look at that.

I'm just really disappointed I had to start again.

The meringue is ready when it's whipped into stiff peaks

and there's only one way to truly test it out.

-# I'm just upside down

-Just upside down...

-#

Ah yes, good meringue. Score.

Bakers, you've got half an hour left in this challenge.

The key to this stage is making it flat in the tin.

Are you confident that this is going to roll up nicely

and not snap or...?

Yes, I think this is going to turn out really well.

-AARON LAUGHS

-I kept my kitchen tidy but not me.

And now I have to sprinkle on the flaked almonds.

In the oven.

Time in the oven is critical as the meringue must be crisp on top

whilst remaining moist enough underneath so it can be rolled.

I've just turned the oven down so it's in its second part of the bake.

Lowering the temperature ensures the meringue is baked through.

The meringue has risen loads.

Bakers. You've got 15 minutes left.

I'm about to take my meringue out.

The moment of truth.

Is there a technique to getting this out or are you...?

I just need to be brave.

Done.

Perfect.

HE SIGHS

The filling is created by whipping cream,

then folding in raspberries, lemon curd and lemon zest.

Is there anyone in this competition that you're a little bit dubious of?

Um, Archie.

Why's that?

He's pretty much doing his stuff already. He's really quick.

Now for the riskiest roulade moment...

Will the meringue roll?

It's meant to crack, so it's not a problem.

I'm starting to feel the pressure now.

It could all go wrong at any second.

A slip of the hand. It will literally all be over...

And he's done it!

You've got two minutes left, Monty.

I know.

It turned out to more difficult than I thought it would be.

HARRY LAUGHS

One minute now, guys. Come on, one minute.

Hopefully, I've got enough time to decorate.

Icing sugar.

25 seconds, Monty.

I'm done.

Semi-finalists, your technical challenge is over.

Please step away from your bakes.

The judges are looking for a well-baked meringue

with a crisp exterior and a neat roll.

So, Zainab. That looks pretty good to me. Crisp on the top.

I can taste the lemon zest and the lemon curd.

I think the taste is very good.

A nice colour on top of the meringue. Well done.

Thank you.

Kavern. You started again but we got there in the end.

We got a nice even colour to our log.

It's a little bit squashed.

-That's a good flavour.

-The lemon's coming through.

-Yes. Well done.

-Thank you.

Harry, yours is a bit shorter, Harry, why is that?

Because when I took it out of the oven, the edges were golden brown.

I didn't think it really matched with the main colour,

so I cut them off.

We'll taste the bit that you managed to leave us.

Great flavour to the cream.

-I'd just like to have seen more meringue.

-Yes.

Monty...

Such a shame. It's as though it's been made in a bit of a hurry.

The actual flavour is very good but it needed a little more care

when you were rolling it up in the end.

So, Archie. Looking at that, things went well for you.

It looks very neat and you've cut off the ends.

-It's got a nice crust.

-Inside looks good.

-It's really good, that.

-Well done.

-Well done.

Well, there you go, bakers.

Your first challenge out the way, one left to go.

Two of you are going through to the final.

-Did you put icing sugar on it?

-A tiny bit.

I was quite proud of what I made.

I should have left myself more time for the presentation,

the rolling basically.

Literally, I had two seconds to put all my raspberries on.

I think my main competition is Archie because both me

and him got quite good comments.

I feel like I did pretty well

but it's all to play for going into the Showstopper bit.

Mine looked actually quite good. I just cut too much of the ends off.

I feel like I've got a bit to prove in the second challenge

because everything didn't go to plan.

But I think I can win them over.

Bakers, this is the Showstopper. And ultimately,

the challenge that's going to seal your fate.

Now, to impress Mary and James,

they would like you to make 12 small sweet tarts.

And the theme of today is the human body.

Now, whatever you decide to do, make sure they're an even shape and size.

You need a good ratio of filling to pastry.

And of course, we need 12 in total.

Now you've only got an hour and a half. On your marks, get set, bake.

For the Showstopper, the bakers need to master the art of

a well-baked pastry case and a perfectly balanced filling.

I'm really hoping this afternoon we see consistency.

Because when you get consistency and you get quality,

you're going to go through to the final.

We're expecting a very high standard.

And it's no good looking right and left at what somebody else is doing

because they're all doing something very different.

Pinch of salt.

All five bakers start their sweet pastry by mixing together

flour, butter, salt, eggs and sugar.

-ARCHIE:

-Just getting everything incorporated.

But one baker is spicing things up.

I've chosen to add a bit of nutmeg

and a pinch of cinnamon in to my pastry.

I think it's important to add some spice,

otherwise your pastry will just be plain.

Kavern is making heart shaped cinnamon

and nutmeg shortcrust pastry tarts with a fruity jammy filling.

-You've got some jam here. Is this home-made by you?

-Yes.

Did you use jam sugar?

No, I just used simple caster sugar.

Did you put some lemon in it?

No, I just cut up some strawberries, put in some sugar

and boiled it for 40 minutes.

-It's really good, really nice.

-That's amazing.

Mary and James will be looking for a thin, crisp pastry base,

so the bakers should be precise when rolling out the dough.

A little tip is, you actually take a piece of paper

and put it underneath. And when you can read what it says on there,

-that's when it's thick enough.

-No-one can read that.

You need to roll it a bit thinner then.

He won't get it much thinner than that.

Come on. You can get it thinner than that.

I think that's quite thin.

-You can do a bigger print look. Can you read that?

-No.

Harry has based his Showstopper on a well-known medical board game.

Home-made chocolate words naming parts of the body

will top 12 lemon tarts.

All bakers are judged on their lemon tart, do you know that?

-It's dangerous doing it then.

-It's dangerous doing it then, innit?

I am making two types of tart.

I am making orange mascarpone and lime chocolate ganache.

Monty will be making a ginger flavoured pastry to

hold his two fillings, and will decorate his tarts with

home-made fondant legs, eyes, teeth and fingers.

Talking of fingers...

Now, I noticed earlier, you had your fingers crossed. Why was that?

Um, I want to finish them.

I've never finished them in an hour and a 30 minutes.

They're always about an hour and 40, an hour and 45.

So it's going to be a real big challenge for yourself

-to actually bake these in time.

-Yeah, I know.

-ARCHIE:

-I'm feeling pretty confident

because I've made this so many times.

So I think I'm going to do OK.

Archie's traditional Bakewell tarts, made from home-made raspberry jam

and almond cream filling, will be topped with fondant decoration

and will form a human face.

The pastry is not going into the tins properly.

It just keeps on cracking. I think it might be too dry.

-ZAINAB:

-I've got to make sure there's no holes in this pastry

because otherwise it will let the mixture out when it's in the oven.

Zainab is baking three different types of tart.

Treacle and walnut to represent the brain.

Caramel cream, with berries in a heart shape.

And cardamom milk, because milk is good for your body.

-So we've got a lot to think about with this one.

-Yes.

I thought, I can't just make one because that wouldn't be enough

because I need to toughen up, because I'm in the semifinals now.

-I think we'd better leave you. You've got an awful lot to do.

-Thank you.

She has chosen quite a lot of fillings.

If she gets it right, it could be fantastic.

If she gets it wrong, it could be a big, big failure.

What are your chances? Do you think you're going to go through today?

I may be the youngest and the smallest baker, but I am powerful.

Boom!

Monty, Harry and Zainab are blind baking their pastry cases

before any filling is added to try and avoid that dreaded soggy bottom.

Right, bakers, 30 minutes left to bake.

Hopefully it's enough.

Pre-baking done. It's time for the all-important filings.

Going to just try and make sure that I put in the right amount of jam

so that it doesn't overflow.

What's this?

It's you.

Right, these need to go in.

Everything's done.

-KAVERN:

-Now I'm just clearing up.

HE SIGHS

Guys. You've got 15 minutes and that is it.

I think they're OK.

Looking good, Mr Tarty.

They need to be in the oven for another five minutes now.

It's tight.

Not going so well for me.

-What happened here?

-I think they over-baked. Stuck.

I really don't know what you're going to do here. Honestly.

I was going to arrange the tarts as a face.

But now I'm not.

Bakers, just five minutes left for a chance for a place in the finals.

Five minutes. God.

HE SIGHS

I don't think I can do this on time.

I haven't got much to do. These are ready.

HARRY GROANS

That one's broken a bit but I need to present 12.

Everyone's plating up.

I've just got to make the chocolate ganache

and then pipe on all of this and then put my decorations on.

I'm actually finished now.

-HARRY:

-Hardly any time left.

I think I'm just going to finish in the nick of time.

60 seconds left to go, guys.

-HARRY:

-It's going to be tight.

Need to run round.

I need to do the lips.

In 20 seconds? Are you joking?

OK, guys, that's it. Your time is up.

Please step away from your worktops.

I've got 12 but...

I really need to decorate them.

The very last challenge of the semifinals is complete.

For three of these bakers, that was their last bake.

-ARCHIE:

-I'm disappointed but I did bake as hard as I could.

They are a bit over-baked, but the middle could be magic.

Come on.

Well, it's a Bakewell tart in the middle.

And there's jam underneath.

It's a good bake but you can see underneath where that jam has

leaked out, which has made it stuck on the bottom.

It's actually a really good taste.

The Bakewell is really nice, the jam tastes really nice.

-It's really good.

-Thank you.

I thought that the Showstopper went all right but I'm not that

confident going into the judging because my presentation was a bit...

appalling, really.

Your pastry was quite interesting with the ginger.

If anything, you probably overdid the pastry in terms of the bake.

The pastry's a little bit bitter because of the over-cooking.

The chocolate one looks a good texture.

It just needs a little bit more cream in there.

This is slightly split but the flavour, it's slightly bitter,

it goes well with the orange. Good effort.

The best thing that Mary and James could say is that my tarts

taste really good with the cream and chocolate.

You've got the pastry lovely and thin because that's really

the key to a good lemon tart, is really, really thin pastry.

That's a very good pastry. It's held together.

And the lemon is scrumptious.

I've never put elderflower cream with lemon tart before

-and you've cracked it.

-Thank you.

That is really, really good. Well done.

I'm hoping they'll like the crunch of my treacle and walnut tart

and I'm hoping the texture of my milk tarts will be really good.

Those custard tarts look most tempting.

I think the filling is really good.

-So this is the treacle...

-And walnut tart.

That is perfection, isn't it, that bake?

-The flavour of that is really good.

-Lovely.

I think people would come back for a second one of those.

-Great job, well done.

-Thank you.

I'm really excited to see what's going to happen

and I'm really anxious to hear what the judges say.

Well, they're certainly jam filled.

-I think the jam is very good.

-The jam is spectacular,

it's just a shame they're just slightly under done.

-But great effort and great taste.

-Well done.

OK, guys, it is now down to the judges to make their decision,

so would you like to go out and have a little break

and we'll see you in a bit.

-ZAINAB:

-That was good. I think everybody did well.

Sweet pastries scrutinised, there's nothing more the bakers can do.

Well, today, they had difficulty with their timing.

Well, Zainab, she managed to do three different tarts

in her Showstopper.

She was obviously showing off her skills.

And to be able to do that under pressure in the semifinal,

-she did really well.

-Her roulade...

That was probably one of the best rolled ones.

Great texture, great colour. The bake on the meringue was perfect.

It was the best.

Let's move over to Harry.

He'd done really well in the technical challenge.

The bit that was left tasted pretty good.

That lemon tart, the custard was perfectly flavoured

-and the pastry too.

-Right, let's go on to Monty.

His technical challenge wasn't one of the best.

He tried to rush it and that's what happens

if you leave everything to the last minute.

When it came to his tarts today, his pastry was all right

but it was cooked for too long.

-Kavern...

-Technical challenge.

The taste was fantastic, he got the right amount of lemon curd in there.

He's done exactly the same thing with the jam tarts,

just unfortunately they weren't completely cooked

-through at the bottom.

-Let's go to poor old Archie.

It was a game definitely of two halves with him.

The roulade was fantastic and then this afternoon...

Just ran into a brick wall. I don't know what happened

I think he should be praised for the way he accepted it.

He tried to present it.

Do you know what, we've got some great contestants,

but, of course, you've got to pick two of them to go through

to the finals. Good luck with that.

Mary and James had a tough decision to make but they have made it.

The first baker going through to the final today is...

Zainab.

APPLAUSE

One space left and that person is...

Harry.

APPLAUSE

I'm really happy that I got through because I'm just that one step

closer to being Junior Bake Off champion.

I feel really ecstatic to be in the final

because I never thought I'd make it this far.

Zainab was calm, collected and she gave us a wonderful display.

Harry came from the back

and literally stole the lead with the final Showstopper.

Well, we've certainly got a real mix in the final

and I'm looking forward to it.

40 of Britain's best young bakers have now become four.

Our finalists are...

Emma, Zainab, Harry and Ruby.

Over the next three shows, four tough challenges await.

Quite a lot of pressure at the moment.

From being put on the spot in the knowledge test...

Cumin?

..catering for top celebrities...

-Look at this!

-Very nice.

..to baking for the ultimate tea party for their biggest fans...

They're really good.

..their friends and family.

They're really tasty.

But next time...

'Look at them. They look like real chefs.'

..it's their biggest challenge yet.

They'll leave the Bake Off tent

and face the pressure of a professional kitchen.

-Put it in the oven?

-Yes. Let's go.

Who will shine?

Done.

And who will crumble?

Some of them are burnt. No!

As only one can become Junior Bake Off champion.

It's done, done. Leave.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

If you fancy baking, there's loads of Junior Bake Off recipes

waiting for you on the CBBC website.