Episode 13 Junior Bake Off

Welcome to the coliseum of baking.

The arena where 40 young bakers have faced each other over cakes,

pastries, biscuits and bread

in a bid to become Britain's best young baker.

But only four are remaining

and they face the biggest baking battle of their lives.

This is Junior Bake Off.

After weeks of mixing, icing,

baking and whipping, this four have risen to the top...

Meet Emma, Zainab, Harry and Ruby.

..and earned a spot in the Junior Bake Off finals.

Only one of them can win.

Who will it be?

Over the next three shows, they'll face four challenges.

And they're the toughest yet.

Well, there's quite a lot of pressure at the moment.

From a knowledge test...

Can't remember the name.

..to catering for the UK's biggest dance group, Diversity...

Look at this!

..to the ultimate tea party.

They're really good.

They must impress if they want to claim the title

of Junior Bake Off champion.

Today our finalists face the pressure of a professional kitchen.

No!

Baking in one of world's most famous restaurants.

They must bake to the highest standard.

Not only to impress James and Mary...

-That's lovely and light.

-Mmm!

..but also renowned executive pastry chef Marcus Bore.

If it's to leave my kitchen, it has to be of the highest standard.

And a baker who's no stranger to pressure,

Great British Bake Off 2012 winner John Whaite.

To go into a professional kitchen is a massive thing,

so they must be so nervous and I wouldn't want to do it myself.

A professional kitchen awaits. Let's meet the final four.

Consistency and high standards

have been her trademark from the beginning.

I could eat more of those.

Her form dipped just once.

The real key to this is the cream in the middle. Not a lot.

But it was her Showstopper in the semifinals that landed her

in the last four.

Very moist, full of flavour, outstanding pastry.

Getting through to the semifinal was amazing,

and now getting through to the final is even more amazing.

I know the competition's going to get tougher.

All I can do is just bake my heart out.

Arguably the most determined baker of the four.

Yep, that's perfect.

Her creativity wowed from day one.

Looks enormous fun.

-If the Barrier Reef looks like that...

-You're off.

I'm definitely off.

And with almost flawless bakes throughout...

That looks pretty good to me.

..she's worked her way into the final.

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

I think the judges' expectations are going to be really high now

that it's the final,

and I think they're going to be looking for very detailed bakes.

With a style all of his own.

What's this?

-It's you.

-What?

Harry combines one-of-a-kind ideas with top-notch flavours.

-Mmm.

-That's a really, really good cake.

-Thank you.

He may have stumbled in the semifinals...

Yours is a bit shorter. Why is that?

..but he pulled it back to secure his spot.

-And you've cracked it.

-Thank you.

That is really, really good. Well done.

I really need to raise my game on time,

because I've had a few time issues in the earlier rounds,

but I think with my recipes in the final, I'm going to be really good.

Her unique ideas have made her one to watch from the outset.

But the jewel in Ruby's crown is her pastry.

I would pay for that in a restaurant. I can't fault it.

And her Devonshire tart in the semifinal wowed yet again.

The pastry is absolutely delicious. Beautifully cooked.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

When I'm older I'd love to be a pastry chef,

and I think Junior Bake Off will help me live that dream.

Bakers, congratulations. You've made it to the Junior Bake Off finals.

Well done.

But it's here where the pressure really gets turned on.

Now, guys, today we're going to leave the Bake Off tent...

..and we're heading off to a surprise location.

A professional kitchen.

Now, working in teams, you'll be expected to make

a selection of professional standard bakes

and serving it up to a panel of judges,

before Mary and James decide which team have done the best.

Are you ready?

-Yes!

-Go!

Wherever the bakers are going,

Mary and James have dusted off their travelcards and got there first.

We've taken them out of our lovely friendly tent

that they've got used to and we're now in a professional kitchen.

Which is very tough.

And we're expecting great standards.

Walking into a professional kitchen is very, very different

to the Bake Off tent.

It's all industrial gear, stainless steel, noise, atmosphere.

It's a different level and they're going to be nervous

before they even walk through this door.

James has got it spot-on.

There is a tense atmosphere on the bus.

# We're all going on a summer holiday. #

No, honest. There is.

I'm feeling quite nervous about today because I've never been

in a professional kitchen, but I'm going to be excited to meet

the panel of judges that I've not met before.

The worst thing today that could happen is I burnt whatever

I'm making and then I wouldn't have anything to present to the judges.

I think I feel better working in a team

because if you do something wrong your partner's there to help you.

Now we're baking for the professionals,

the standards are going to be much higher and much harder.

As they reach central London, they're just moments away

from their toughest challenge yet.

You're going to be baking in...

Harrods.

How about that?

Harrods is famous not only as a department store

but for its afternoon tea.

Boom!

And our bakers are about to join one of the busiest restaurants

in London.

Their mentor and one of our guest judges is executive pastry chef

Marcus Bore.

We are producing 24 hours a day,

363 days a year.

To give you an idea, we are doing, in terms of volume,

a million scones a year.

If it is to leave my kitchen,

it has to be of the highest standard.

I will not let something go out the door

that I would not serve to my customers otherwise.

So we're setting the bar pretty high.

To survive the pressure of a professional kitchen

and come out on top in today's challenge,

our bakers must follow chef Marcus' rules.

Guys, you don't look the part.

Cool!

You have to have chef whites if you want to work in this kitchen.

So if you can put these on, and your aprons.

Wow!

Cool!

And then we can get started, how's that?

That is so cool.

Go and get changed, we've got work to do. Let's go.

Not only will our bakers look like professionals,

they'll have to bake like them as well.

They'll be making two kinds of scones - fruit and plain,

and some shortbread tea fancies.

All to Marcus' recipe and his exacting standards.

Look at them. They look like real chefs!

You guys look the part, are you ready to do the part?

Scones. Step forward so you can get a better look.

The bakers need to pay close attention

if they're to replicate Marcus' scones.

To do this at home, you don't tell your mum I showed you

cos you need to pour the flour on the table like this...

-Sorry, Aaron.

-It's all right. No worries.

You don't want to drown it in flour

because the additional flour is going to make your scone dry.

And if your scones taste dry, I'm not going to be happy.

See, there's a very, very fragile dough

because we want the scones afterwards to be very, very tender,

OK?

As well as plain scones,

they'll also need to bake a batch with fruit.

For the fruit scone, we're just going to work the fruit,

the sultanas and knead the dough by hand.

Special care is needed when adding the fruit.

If they overwork the dough, the scones will be too tough.

Once they're cut out and given an egg wash,

the scones go into the oven.

Now we go on to the tea fancy.

A tea fancy is a small tea pastry that you're going to eat together

with your scones when you have your afternoon tea.

This is what it all looks like when it's refrigerated.

Now this dough obviously,

because it doesn't have any liquid in it, it rolls totally differently.

You can see that already. For the bottom of the sandwich,

we're just going to take plain rounds.

Now we're going to cut out the centre of these.

The idea is that, if you are making 100,

the first one looks the same way as the last one.

The shortbread filling is a delicate whipped cream

called Chantilly.

The whipped cream is actually quite fragile

and we can't pipe it onto the shortbread while it's warm,

so later on, when you do your own and they're coming out of the oven,

don't go piping it onto the hot shortbread

because your cream's going to run all over the place, OK?

See the way he's whipping it off there like that

to get a nice neat finish. You see that?

So the first onto the shortbreads, now we put a little bit of the jam.

Just like that.

So, here are your strawberry shortbreads.

Can you do that? OK.

Our bakers will work in two teams.

The Blue team are Ruby and Harry, and the Orange, Emma and Zainab.

OK, bakers, this is it.

Chef Marcus would like you to prepare ten plain scones,

ten fruit scones, 15 shortbreads.

You've got an hour and 15 minutes to complete this bake.

-OK, guys, are you ready?

-BAKERS:

-Yes!

On your marks, get set...

bake.

Our four finalist are experienced bakers,

so if you want to make these at home, ask an adult to help.

I think it's going be a tough competition

cos they've done really well to get this far, so really, it's equal.

Both teams start with the plain scone mix.

OK, so we need to put the flour, butter, sugar and baking powder.

And remember, this is all the flour.

Yeah. Oh!

Sorry!

-HARRY: Is the baking powder in?

-Yep.

Sure?

Are you sure the baking powder went in?

Yes, sure.

-Sure you're sure?

-Sure, sure, sure.

So just take this off.

And while you're rolling that out

-I could start the shortbread ones.

-Yes.

-HARRY: Why don't we do one each?

-Yeah, and I'll do the sultana one.

To achieve a light texture,

the scone dough should be treated gently.

How's it going, chefs?

-Good.

-Are you delegating jobs to each other or, how you working this out?

She's doing the fruit scones and I'm doing the plain scones.

Who decided that?

We decided it together.

-Are you nervous?

-Er, a bit.

Cos, erm, Chef Marcus is wandering around.

Oh, he's there, isn't he?

There he is. I can see him! He is on it.

-On it like a bonnet.

-On it like a bonnet.

He's got all the one-liners, this one, hasn't he, eh?

Do you think this is too thin?

Um, I think it needs to be a bit thicker.

-Yeah.

-Cos his were really thick.

-All right, guys?

-Yep.

-Yep.

-How you going? All right?

-Good.

How have you delegated these two tasks here?

Well, I've never made shortbread before and she has,

so we thought it would be better for her to make it.

The other two, one's doing the fruit scone, one's doing the plain scone.

No-one's doing the shortbread right now.

-I don't think that's a good idea...

-You don't?

..cos they're not going to get the shortbread done in time.

HARRY: That's done. Don't we need to put the eggwash on now?

Yep, you can start doing that.

The teams seem to be getting to grips with a professional kitchen,

and both sets of scones go into the oven.

Downstairs, their second guest judge has arrived.

The winner of The Great British Bake Off 2012 is...

John.

Since winning, John Whaite has studied at the famous

Le Cordon Bleu cookery school, so he knows how it feels

to be judged on his bakes,

and what it takes to work in a professional kitchen.

Now that the tables have turned and I'm no longer the person

being judged but the judge, I still think it's vital, to be honest,

and that's the most import thing,

because if you don't know what you've done wrong,

how can you improve, how can you grow from that?

Blue team, Orange team.

You got 30 minutes left to complete your bakes.

Half an hour?

Now let's move on to these.

-Shortbreads, right?

-Yep.

Harry and Ruby start their shortbread mix

by mixing together butter, sugar...

Where's the icing sugar?

Just checking.

..vanilla essence, egg yolk and flour.

Zainab and Emma are getting ahead, as they've already made and chilled

their shortbread dough.

Now they just need to roll it out.

Did you make the shortbread already?

-Yeah.

-Cos the vanilla essence is still here...

No!

She forgot to add the vanilla essence.

Maybe I might be able to knead it in or something.

-I might knead it in. Can I add it?

-Yep.

-I'll add it.

By adding the vanilla essence at such a late stage,

they run the risk of spoiling the flavour.

Hopefully I've kneaded it in OK and it'll work.

One advantage of working in a team,

you can always have someone to help you if you mess up.

Right, just check you've added everything else

just in case you missed anything.

So it's a real team effort from the Oranges.

How about the Blues?

Put some flour there. Big pinch.

Yeah, that's good.

Don't knead it, don't knead it, don't knead it.

We need a lot more flour.

Just roll it out, yeah? Don't knead it.

-What's going on?

-Our shortbread dough is going quite well.

It was a bit sticky, so we've added a bit more flour to it.

Look, you've added so much extra flour.

Look, how are you going to get these rings off the bottom

when it's like that? Where's your bread slicer?

OK, you might have to put that in the fridge for a second

cos it's really wet. You don't want to overwork it, it's shortbread,

-know what I mean?

-OK.

OK, put it back in again.

That can go back in the fridge for a few minutes.

While the Blue team's dough goes into the fridge...

-How many have you got now?

-I'm just going to make five more.

Ten.

..the Orange team are already cutting theirs out

with full attention to detail.

I'm going to make a couple more so they're nice and...

Right, take that one away, and these two away and this one away.

I can make them really easily, they're pretty easy to make.

We've got four there.

I think we are quite ahead as a team,

but something can go wrong and we could just go really far back

on time, so I'm just praying that's not going to happen.

The recipe requires 15 shortbread tops

and bases to create the perfect tea fancy.

How long do they need again?

-Eight to ten minutes.

-Eight to ten minutes.

And you're sure there's 15 there, yeah?

With 15 minutes left, all the scones come out of the oven,

and while the Orange team shortbread biscuits go in...

..the Blue team's dough is still in the fridge.

They only take eight minutes to cook, though.

No, they take ten to 12 minutes.

-No, eight to ten.

-It says here...

Well, we'll be fine.

I'm hoping that's going be better.

It's still very sticky.

I think it's going to have to do. Right, you do that.

Holy macaroni!

11 minutes left to bake.

Yeah, some of them are burnt.

-Put them in the oven?

-Yep, let's go.

Put it on for eight minutes, cos they're quite small.

To complete the tea fancies, they must be filled with perfectly-made

Chantilly cream.

If not whisked enough, the cream will be too runny.

Over-whisked and it will split and be useless.

I'm looking for a nice stiff cream

and I don't want to over-whisk it and have like, um, cheese.

It's not done yet. No.

-Er, check that, cos that looks cool.

-Feel that...

-I don't think that's done.

-No, that's not done.

HARRY: We don't want it too fast, though, cos it could ruin it.

ZAINAB: That's really nice.

Let's see. Go.

That looks like it's split.

Who's decision was it to keep going? That's split.

-ZAINAB: That's done.

-That's done.

-I don't know.

-I think it's over.

That's over-whipped.

So do you want to get more ingredients and do it over?

-Yeah, we'll have to do it again.

-That's the right decision.

-HARRY: Did we whisk it for too long?

-Obviously, yeah.

Both teams have the same problem...

Let's do it right this time.

..and are both back to square one.

Watch it this time.

Put a bit of that vanilla. Never waste it, look.

Cos I'm going out tonight.

Done. Right. OK.

Bakers. You've got five minutes left to bake.

Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick...

-No.

-No.

Chef Marcus will be expecting nothing but perfection.

GASPS

-Don't worry, we can just wipe that off.

-Yeah, wipe it off.

-We don't have enough tops!

-We don't have enough tops?

Look. Two, four, six, eight, ten, 12...

-14.

-13.

Urgh!

Where's the other two tops?

I swear I did 15.

We'll have to present them like that.

Bakers, one minute left. One minute.

That's perfect. Perfect.

-Someone do the lids.

-I'll do the lids.

Look at this. It's melting, guys, but that's all we can do.

Just get them on. Oh, no, guys!

Strawberries!

20 seconds, guys!

Jam, jam, jam, jam.

Please step away from your work benches.

The time is up, bakers.

It's done, done, done. Leave.

-Perfect.

-That's done. That's really good.

HARRY: It's not the end of the world, is it?

Our bakers have done all they can.

Time to plate up for our guest judges, Marcus and John.

I think John's standards are quite high,

but he was in the same position as us, so he knows how we feel.

I think they are good enough to impress them.

Yeah, I think they are, as well.

Both teams must also plate up for judges James and Mary.

What shall we put aside for Mary and...?

I think we should put aside that one

-and that one.

-Yeah.

And...that one,

and that one...that I just broke.

First to face Marcus and John, the Blue team.

Take them to the judges. Let's roll.

Alongside their ten plain and ten fruit scones,

they're serving 15 strawberry tea fancies.

Don't drop them.

I'm relatively impressed by the kids today.

I can't wait to see how talented they are, how passionate they are

about baking and I just hope they don't let themselves down,

I really do.

-Hi, guys.

-Hey there.

-Right.

-So you have the original strawberry shortbread.

The shortbreads don't look probably as good as they should do.

I think because your cream melted, it's too much shortbread

-and too little strawberry.

-Yeah.

The shortbreads themselves have gone quite soggy.

OK, so shall we go on to a fruit scone.

They look very uniform, and it's fairly even, you've got a few,

a few little clumps of fruit here and here.

The inside, it's not quite light enough for a proper patisserie scone.

-Shall we have a try of the normal...

-The plain scone. Yeah.

This is better.

You can see the inside texture is a lot lighter.

-A lot more like a fluffy cloud.

-Yeah, absolutely.

When you mixed the dough, you mixed this one into perfection,

but then it had a bit too much time working on the er...

Working on the fruit scone here.

The plain scones are fantastic.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

You should be very proud of how hard you've worked today.

-Absolutely.

-Thank you.

-Well done indeed.

They've done their best to impress Marcus and John,

but what do judges James and Mary think?

Well, Harry and Ruby, I think, struggled this morning.

We've got the fatal mistake here, which, this looks as if it's

been put in to the mixture while the biscuits are still warm.

If you look, it's already begun to absorb into that biscuit

and made it a bit soggy.

Certainly the flavour that I can taste...

..the strawberry cream is fantastic.

It's lovely, and I love the, they've got a lovely glaze on top.

I mean they've done well with that. So let's have a look at these scones.

Now, even the moment I touch those,

this is as hard as can be, which tells me that it's overworked.

They've put the fruit in

-and obviously worked and worked and worked and worked.

-Yes.

We haven't got such a good rise and it is really hard.

The plain scone is much lighter, softer,

more enjoyable than the fruit one.

I think, you know, getting that one right,

that's a real plus point for those two.

-That went a lot better than I thought it would go.

-Yeah.

Next up - Zainab and Emma.

They baked ten plain and ten fruit scones,

but will the judges notice that some of their tops are missing

from their mango tea fancies?

-Hi, guys.

-Hello.

-Hello, guys.

-Thank you very much.

OK, a shortbread each.

You baked it to the right degree.

You know, they are neither too light, nor too dark.

It looks small, it looks elegant.

You had a bit of a difficulty because the cream didn't work out,

but then we recovered from that one and looking forward to tasting this.

Mmm.

The shortbread itself is so crumbly.

It just melts straight away in the mouth, doesn't it?

The shortbread is mixed to just the right consistency. Well done.

I'm just a bit curious why two of them don't have tops.

Two weren't perfect, so we took them off

and, erm, we forgot to make another two.

Consistency with something this small is so important,

so that's a bit of a letdown, the two tops missing.

Have a look at the scone.

That's a fairly even distribution of fruit.

They are not tough, they are not, er,

not rubbery, so you didn't over-mix the scone dough itself.

-You want to have a plain one?

-I'll have a plain one, too.

You can just smell the very gentle hum of butter in there.

And it's just so light.

One thing I would say, when they are cracking up a little bit on top

is because they didn't have enough resting time.

Overall, I would say this is a very good effort.

-Very good. Well done.

-Well done indeed.

They've done all they can to wow Marcus and John,

but they need to win over James and Mary.

Looking at those, James, they're the size that I think are right for tea.

-The plain scone, they've cut them out quite evenly.

-Yeah.

They're nice and small.

-They're lovely and light.

-Mm!

-Flavour's nice.

It's a lovely texture.

Well, Emma and Zainab have done really well with those.

Let's have a look at one of the ones with fruit in.

The texture of this is very different to the plain one.

It because it's over-worked, but still, a lovely flavour.

When it comes to these,

if I'm picky the biscuits are just slightly over-cooked for me.

But when you bite into them, the lovely buttery biscuit...

On the whole, I think the flavour of it,

particularly with that mango, is beautiful.

Just very light, very delicate.

I think they've done very well with that.

That went really, really well.

Both teams have given it their all

and, as always, their fate rests in the hands of James and Mary.

I just... To me....

I don't know, it's a tough one. It's a tough call.

Maybe Mary and James will think different to them

and they'll be like, "Mmm, delicious."

They can only decide once they've compared notes with Marcus and John.

Timing-wise, the one that did best were Orange.

They were simply more in tune with one another.

I think the bake of the biscuits was fantastic,

although the cream wasn't there.

Both lots of fruit scones were overworked.

I think there's positives and negatives in both...

They were more in tune with one another.

JOHN: That's so important in a professional kitchen.

MARY: Well, we seem to be in agreement. Shall we get them all in?

-Absolutely.

-Yes.

It's decision time.

Winning this challenge will take them one step closer

to claiming the Junior Bake Off title.

Bakers, well done. You completed your first challenge of the finals.

The judges do have to make the decision

on which team completed the challenge the best.

Mary?

Just because we weren't in the kitchen with you,

don't think we don't know exactly what you've been up to.

We have tasted everything, all of us have,

and we've come to decision. Haven't we, James?

We have. Best team...

..goes to...

..Orange team.

Zainab and Emma just pipped the others to the post.

That biscuit - beautifully crisp.

And the scones were just that little bit better.

-JOHN:

-Both teams did incredibly well.

To have that skill, that talent and that passion at their age,

it's mind-blowing.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

It went really well because we won.

But I think the other team are going to step it up the next challenge

cos they really want it as well.

At the end of the first day of the finals,

Emma and Zainab have impressed the most.

But with three challenges left,

there's plenty of opportunity for Ruby and Harry to pull it back.

Next time, things get even tougher...

Quickly! Put it in!

..as our four finalists are put on the spot with the knowledge test...

Cumin?

A bit like an overweight butterfly!

..before baking for the UK's biggest dance group - Diversity.

Very nice.

But they must impress James and Mary

if they want to become Junior Bake Off champion.

-That's broken, it's broken!

-OK, OK. Put it down.

If you fancy giving baking a go,

head to the CBBC website and choose a Junior Bake Off recipe.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd