Episode 3 Junior Bake Off

Hello and welcome to the famous Bake Off tent.

In there are a fresh batch of bakers, whisks in hand, aprons on,

and flour at the ready.

Their mission is to impress our baking gods,

James Martin and Mary Berry,

and claim that place in the semifinal.

Cos this is Junior Bake Off.

Today, our bakers make a real splash...

Whoops.

..as they're pushed to their baking limits.

Oh, my...

This cannot end well.

With a place in the semifinals at stake...

Can I do it?

..who will hold their nerve?

Just about perfect.

And who will crumble?

Two more biscuits to ice, I can do it, I can do it.

In today's heat, our bakers will first face

their Technical Challenge -

Mary's marvellous marble cake.

And they'll have top pull out all the stops with an

under-the-sea-themed biscuit display in the Show Stopper Challenge.

Only one baker will make it through to the semifinal.

But who will it be?

I think one of the things I enjoy about baking -

you can do anything you want with it.

You can taste it, you can smell it, you can...

Well, I'd like to say you can hear it, but sadly that's not the case.

The best thing about baking is you can be free

and there's no rules for it.

I'm so excited, I can't put it into words

but quite nervous at the same time but more excited, definitely.

I've baked for church, I've baked for the community

and I can't wait to bake for Mary Berry.

Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited.

I absolutely love baking, ever since I was two.

So I really want to have a chance of, like, showing it off.

I'm going to go into the tent really confidently.

And show everyone what I can do.

But enough of the talking - it's time for the baking.

The Technical Challenge is the first opportunity the bakers have

to show the judges their skills.

Bakers, welcome to the Junior Bake Off tent.

Now, this is where the serious baking begins.

Your first test is the Technical Challenge.

James and Mary... Booyah!

..they're going to get you to make marble cake.

We would like you to make a chocolate and vanilla marble cake

with feathered buttercream icing.

We're looking for a moist cake with clear marbling

and distinct feathering.

Very important question - have you washed your hands?

ALL: Yes.

OK, you've got an hour and 20 minutes. On your marks...

get set...bake.

Now, guys, these are experienced bakers,

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

I am just putting all the ingredients into the bowl to make the cake.

Mary's marble cake is made using the all-in-one method.

So the eggs, flour, sugar and butter are mixed together at the same time.

Judges James and Mary will be keeping a close eye on the bakers,

as they know exactly what it takes to bake the perfect marble cake.

The skill will be the marbling.

They have the chocolate and they have the vanilla.

Getting that evenly through the mixture, it's really quite tricky.

I think there's plenty of things that could go wrong.

If they haven't mixed it properly, they won't get the height, but also

if they haven't levelled it properly you'll get a slope to one side.

It's probably the hottest day of the year today,

so I think that'll come into factor when they put the topping on it.

It may actually look like a simple recipe,

but in this heat in a day like today,

-it's going to be tough.

-I think it will be.

I think that's what I've got.

Oh, no. One teaspoon of hot water.

Three years ago, 11-year-old Emma's passion for baking rocketed

when she made her very own birthday cake.

Now, she specialises in all kinds of bread.

So how long have you been baking?

When I was little, I used to go round my gran's house

and help her with, like, gingerbread, sponges and all that.

Classic, everyone learns with their gran.

And then, she just taught me from then all my different techniques.

I've made cakes, I've made chocolate cakes,

but I've never made a marble cake.

But I've got the idea, so...

Ben loves researching the history and science of baking

and he has a handy tip up his sleeve.

If you whisk the eggs before you put them in every time,

it always rises better cos you can get more air into the eggs,

which then goes into the mixture and, of course, carbon dioxide,

that's what gives you the bubbles inside the cake, which then lifts it.

And we don't want a flat cake to present to the judges.

I'm impressed.

Rustic baker George was introduced to baking

when his auntie bought him a recipe book for his birthday.

And he's feeling really confident about today's challenge.

I think it's going OK now but, I mean, we'll just have to see.

Whoops.

The cake mixture is split into two,

one half flavoured with vanilla, the other chocolate.

I love this kind of stuff

because I'm more of a sweet baker than a savoury baker.

It's because more people eat it, basically.

Megan has been baking since she was four and regularly holds tea parties

for her friends to show off her favourite cakes.

I'm just putting the chocolate mixture in the corners

and then I'll add the vanilla one and I'll swirl it all together.

Clear, define marbling is crucial.

Over-swirling can lead to blending the two mixtures together,

and Mary and James won't be impressed.

Looks quite combined.

I'm happy with that. Put it in the oven, I think.

Yeah, according to this recipe, it goes in the oven.

MUSIC: "It's My Party" by Jessie J

So it's in the oven. Just need to set the timer.

25 to 30 minutes.

Fingers crossed it all goes OK in the oven.

-All right, George?

-Yes, thank you.

I've got a little trick for you. When I first started baking,

-it's an old Oriental, sort of, like, meditation...

-OK.

-..technique.

-OK.

So just bear with me. Do it with me.

All right? Shake it before you bake it.

All right? Close your eyes, don't open them.

So, deep breath.

Close your eyes.

Hold it. Just hold it.

'Works every time.'

The crowning glory of the marble cake is the icing.

Mary and James will be expecting a well-mixed,

perfectly smooth buttercream.

I'm going to sieve the icing sugar.

Gets all the lumps out of it because if you look in there

it's quite lumpy, but then, when it comes out, it's really fine.

I'm going to have to start that again.

I didn't sieve the icing sugar and it made it grainy.

So that doesn't taste very nice.

I'm quite annoyed, really.

Bakers, you've got 30 minutes left. That's half an hour.

OK, I think it's done.

Right, now the scary bit - turning it out.

Yeah, this is the bit where everything could go to pot.

Oh, it's not very marbly, but I hope that

when the judges cut into it, there'll hopefully be a lot of swirls.

-Careful, don't burn yourself on the edges. Lovely.

-Ow!

-Go!

-Oh!

-Are you all right?

-Ah, yeah.

Is he OK?

Oh, he's burnt himself.

Even though he's losing time, the JBO medic has advised

Ben to keep his burn under cold water for ten minutes.

OK, bakers, you've got ten minutes left. Make it count.

Ten minutes.

Ohh...

Ben's got a problem. His cake is still too warm to ice.

We'll put it in the fridge, but no longer than...until it's cool

because otherwise it will mess with the texture.

I'm going to pop it up here, brother.

All right?

Oh, my...

This cannot end well.

Feathered icing will complete Mary's marble cake,

but it will take a steady hand.

Can I do it?

I'm shaking.

OK, guys, you've got a minute left to go. One minute.

Right, on with the icing. Now!

OK, bakers, the Technical Challenge is over.

History, OK? It's time to bring your beautiful bakes up to be judged.

Lovely.

Mary and James will be looking for an even sponge,

clearly defined marbling, and a perfectly feathered icing.

Who will impress the judges the most?

I think we ought to start from the right.

Well, first of all, Emma, it looks pretty impressive, actually.

Now, the marbling itself, you've got a little bit.

We've got a very nice, even bake.

You've got the flavour right,

you've got the right amount of vanilla in there.

I think the icing's fantastic.

And now we come to Megan. You've got good marbling.

You've made an attempt, under difficult circumstances,

-to do the feathering.

-Decent thickness on the sponge as well.

Very good texture.

-It's lovely and moist.

-And a very good rise as well.

And then we come to George.

We've just got a bit of a slope to the sides.

This one has probably doubled in size as apposed to that one.

You've done a good bake underneath.

But the marbling is not too even.

Yeah, and the chocolate has dropped to the bottom, which is a shame.

I've got a lot of chocolate in mine.

Tastes pretty good and I like that chocolate at the bottom

-but it shouldn't all be there.

-Good effort.

Ben, so what happened with your icing? Where did that go?

I had a tiny bit of time left and it had all melted.

I can see straight away it's already moist,

which is always quite a good sign.

A little bit of a problem with the marbling.

I've got some here with none in.

It is tricky but that's what a marble cake's all about.

-It's light.

-We're both going back for seconds so it must be light.

So, overall, I think you've done exceedingly well

on the hottest day of the year.

Your very first bake, you should be very proud.

Looking forward to the next challenge.

It was clearly quite tasty because Mary had about four pieces of it.

You could just see her... "A little bit more of that."

It went OK, but I'm just a bit upset about how the chocolate mixture

and the vanilla mixture wasn't evenly marbled.

'I think I have quite a good chance cos I had,

'like, quite a lot of positive comments about it'

and they've got all to play for and I still can do it.

'The judges were really fair and I could improve on my marble cake.'

I'm just really excited now for the second challenge.

Bakers, it's time for your Show Stopper challenge.

Mary and James would like you to make at least 12 biscuits

inspired by today's theme, which is "under the sea."

The flavours are down to you. But some points to bear in mind -

if you are doing biscuits, they should snap.

If you're doing cookies, they should be soft in the centre.

And if you're doing shortbread,

it should melt in the mouth when you taste it.

We're looking for creativity in the biscuit,

and in the display.

Guys, you've got an hour and a half.

On your marks, get set, bake.

This challenge is going to be pretty tough today,

because biscuits just bring back memories of my granny

and even I can't make biscuits as good as she could.

I'm looking for a bit of creativity, but fundamentally for me

it's always got to be about the taste so, you know,

things may look good, but does it taste good?

The finished display has got to really catch the eye.

I want to see their skills, I want to see piping,

moulding with their hands.

It's a difficult challenge.

Now, Emma, what are you making today?

I'm making a lemon and coconut shortbread with lemon juice

in it and some fondant icing.

Emma's shaping her biscuits into fish,

starfish and, as an added touch, jumping shortbread dolphins.

On sticks.

James told you at the beginning how shortbread should be.

It should melt in your mouth when you eat it.

I've done them before and when my dad ate them,

they melted in his mouth, so I was really happy about that.

-They must be good. We'll look forward to tasting them.

-Thank you.

I am baking white chocolate biscuits that will be

in the shape of sea creatures.

George's sea creatures may sound adventurous, but he's also

planning an extravagant method of displaying them.

-A goldfish bowl. Wow.

-Are they going to be swimming?

-No.

I'm going to stand them up in the sand, which is

just a mixture of light brown sugar and muscovado sugar.

-OK, I look forward to it.

-Thank you.

I'm making shortbread lemon biscuits.

I'm doing a round one by Mary Berry.

Not only is Megan pushing herself with three types of biscuits,

but she's going all out with her display.

It's going to be a two-level one with message bottles as stilts

and blue buttercream peaked as waves.

Some fish with blue curling ribbon

so it looks like water that it's spurting out.

A treasure chest at the bottom

with a scuba diver with some gold coins made out of icing sprayed

with gold spray so it, like, looks like a pirate ship.

-And I'm hoping you've done this before.

-I've done it loads of times.

I think this is very, very exciting.

MUSIC: "Lost Generation" by Rizzle Kicks

I'm putting it in this plastic bag to put in the freezer.

For about five minutes.

Once the biscuit mixture is made, it's important to chill it.

This keeps the dough firm

and helps stop the biscuits spreading whilst in the oven.

At first, I thought I could do iced fish biscuits. But then I thought,

"Wait a second, why don't I do something more obscure?"

So then I thought, "Of course, fish and chips!"

This is battering for the fish biscuits I'm making.

The butter makes it stick to the biscuits better

and the demerara just gives it a lovely sweetness.

Whoa! Oh, that was close.

Ben is making shortbread chips and cookie fish

served with an almond essence of

fruit coulis ketchup and sugar salt.

Presentation is everything.

How are you going to wow us with the way that it's served?

Well, it couldn't have been anything other than a fish and chip box.

Ah, right. OK, this is fantastic.

Are you a container man or are you a newspaper man

for your fish and chips?

I am a container man, but I like it with the scraps.

-You disappoint me, Ben.

-I like it with the scraps.

That's Yorkshire. Scraps and chips.

To create the perfect display,

the bakers will have to handle the cut-out biscuits with care

if they want them to hold their intricate shapes.

This has gone a bit funny because of the heat

and I think the butter inside it is starting to melt.

And so, it's not the usual consistency.

But I think in the oven it'll be OK.

165, yeah.

In they go for 20 minutes.

Relieved now. Now I can just start on my icing now.

OK, bakers, you've only got half an hour left, 30 minutes.

Tiniest bit longer.

I think they're just about perfect.

No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

I forgot to put my six in and I added too much egg

so they're ruined, really.

With less than 30 minutes to go,

Emma decides to start her biscuits all over again - a risky business.

I'm not very cool under pressure, I'm just really nervous now.

I don't know how long I've got left,

but I'm just praying that this is going to be enough.

It's the worst nightmare that probably can happen.

Had to happen to me.

Good luck!

It seems Emma's not the only one having a biscuit nightmare.

Some of them haven't... Well, none of them have.

They've, like, spread out.

So Mary's oatcakes are out

and spur-of-the-moment shortbreads are in.

Good luck, Megan.

You can do this, you can do this.

I don't mean to scare you, guys, but you've only got ten minutes left.

Ten minutes.

I've got to hurry up.

You can probably tell by my face I'm trying to be really, really focused.

I don't want them all different sizes but it doesn't matter because,

of course, you don't ever find identical chips

in a fish and chip shop.

And if you did, I think you've made quite a discovery.

MUSIC: "Applause" by Lady Gaga

This is nearly it, guys, you've got a minute left to go.

Eight, nine, ten. Two more biscuits to ice. I can do it, I can do it.

I can't do it!

Oh, where's the other chip fork?

OK, guys, stop baking. Stand away from your worktops.

The time's up.

HE EXHALES

After a whirlwind of mixing, baking, icing and decorating,

the fate of our bakers lies in the hands of out judges, Mary and James.

I'm pleased with what I've done.

I know I could have done it better, but I'm just happy that

I made some biscuits to present to the judges.

I think they look very good.

Your handling of the icing, you've obviously practised it a lot.

Now that, I think, is a very good bake underneath.

It's kind of like a cookie texture, I suppose. Not as soft as a cookie.

It's probably not what you're looking for.

I think they're lovely biscuits.

They're beautifully decorated but, to me,

-the white chocolate's not coming through.

-It's a good effort.

And I love the originality of the sand, I think that's a great idea.

Thank you.

It went OK. I had to remake some biscuits.

Normally, I'm a perfectionist and they weren't good enough

for James and Mary so I had to make them again.

I love the way you've decorated those starfish.

And we've got the oatcakes underneath?

No, no oatcakes on it any more.

That biscuit, certainly, there's a snap to it.

Not too sweet as well, which is really good.

Another one that looks pretty good is these.

They're lemon ones.

They should be slightly soft and more cookie-like.

-They are soft.

-Yeah.

-The lemon's coming through. Well baked.

I think you've done very well.

I think it went pretty well for me, but I can't determine how good

the flavour and texture was because, of course,

I'm not allowed to eat them, am I?

I think it looks absolutely fantastic.

So original.

Tell me what texture you were hoping for.

In the fish, a bit more like a cookie,

but in the chips, I was hoping for quite a crispy texture.

You might want to try it with the strawberry coulis as well.

-Dip it in the ketchup?

-Yeah.

The almond flavour is coming through very much on the chips.

-So this should be more like a cookie?

-Slightly more like a cookie.

It's well cooked through.

Evenly baked throughout.

To me, probably a little bit too long in the oven, maybe,

cos it's almost the same texture as the other one.

Probably about a minute or two over.

I think it's a great idea, absolutely fantastic,

and you should be very proud. Well done.

I think it went OK, but it was really hard in the tent

cos I made another mistake.

I had to make my dough again and that was really annoying.

Well, they look straight from the sea.

And you're a clever girl to get those dolphins jumping.

-And this is all the same biscuit mixture, is it?

-Yeah.

I want it to be a bit like a shortbread, it melts in the mouth.

I think you've cracked it, it is a shortbread

and it does melt in the mouth.

And I love the addition of coconut.

There was one thing I was after when I came here,

something that reminded me of my grandmother cooking for me

when I was about your age.

And that's it.

Could eat more of those.

Nice job, guys. Two very happy, satisfied judges. That is it now.

Go and have a little break and we'll see you very soon.

Wouldn't like to be you two right now.

I think that turned out quite well, didn't it, all of us?

Biscuits judged, Mary and James have to make their decision.

Who will they put through to the semifinal?

Let's start off with Ben.

I thought the fish and chips was just a great idea.

The actual chips themselves were a good shortbread but the fish,

he wanted it to be soft in the middle, which it wasn't.

And he didn't do so well when it came to the marble cake.

-Let's move on to Emma.

-The presentation can always be worked on

but what made up for the fact of that was the flavour, really.

I just thought they were great.

And her marble cake, she was the only one that got the finish on the top.

-Let's move over to Megan.

-She was trying to do too much.

Her stars were perfect. If she'd done all starfish,

I think she would have been on to a winner.

Certainly, in the one this morning, the marble cake, did extremely well.

So, finally to George.

I thought he did very well with his piping.

The flavour was all right, but it wasn't really special.

I think the detail on it requires confidence

and to do that under pressure...

But his marble cake didn't come out too well.

It didn't come out so well, but it's going to be tough, this,

because they're all in the mix, really.

Well, there can only be one. Good luck.

Bakers, you have done an amazing job.

Now, as you know, only one person can go through.

James and Mary have made a very tough decision.

And the person going through today is...

Emma, congratulations, you're in the semifinal.

I can't believe it.

I feel absolutely amazed. I never thought I would actually do it.

To get through to the semifinals, it's just absolutely brilliant.

Emma was great. She was right up there in her fist bake.

And those biscuits, didn't they taste good?

Emma's got the ability to create taste.

-And that's what it should be about.

-We're very proud of her.

-She did very well.

-She did brilliant.

I'm really happy I got through to the semifinals.

And I can't wait to go ahead and bring on the challengers.

Next time, a new batch of bakers enter the tent...

My heart's beating very, very fast.

..to face technically challenging biscuits.

And prove their skills with a spectacular Show Stopper.

Well done, little cake.

But only one can go through.

Who will it be?

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