Second Quarter-Final Junior Bake Off

-SIGHING:

-There's something in the air, Sam.

-Ah, yes, the smell of freshly-mown grass.

-No.

SAM SNIFFS

-The pungent waft of freshly-baked bread.

-No.

SAM SNIFFS

The mouthwatering whiff of strawberry buttercream cupcakes.

No, Sam, it's excitement in the air. It's the second quarterfinal!

SAM SNIFFS

-Oh, yeah!

-Welcome...

-BOTH:

-..to Junior Bake Off.

Today's batch of quarterfinalists get tied in knots in the Technical.

And the twists and the folds, it's a bit "Eeugh!"

And panic over patisserie...

They're raw...

SHE SIGHS

..as the judges put them under pressure.

They need to be calm, they need to show some ingenuity,

and imagination as well.

This is their chance to prove what they can do,

they've got everything to play for, the semifinal is in sight.

THAT is a pro job.

Yesterday, three bakers went through to the semifinal.

Now, three more places are up for grabs.

So which of these five quarterfinalists will prove

they've got the baking credentials?

Which one are you more excited for,

-the Technical or the Showstopper?

-Showstopper.

Last week, Lottie from Cheshire won her place when she put

a lemon meringue pie into a cake.

That is like sunshine on a plate.

I'm really, really, really excited to be back,

cos it's so much fun in that tent.

Yeah!

Macy from Coventry excelled with her piping

to produce her image on a giant cookie.

It's very professionally put together.

In the lead-up to the quarterfinals, baking has taken over my life,

I've been practising two or three times every single day.

Maisie from Swindon began her heat with a baking disaster.

I forgot to put the flour in my mixture.

But kept a calm head to make it through.

To have produced, on a second run, cupcakes that look like this,

that's an extraordinary feat.

Everyone has been telling me, "Stay calm and read the recipe",

so this time I am going to stay focused.

Is your oven open?

Rachel from Solihull showed off her artistic skills on a painted cake.

I love your cake. It's really, really inspiring.

I think the judges are probably going to have

their expectations a step higher,

so there really is no room for mistakes.

-Strawberry.

-Kiwi.

-Grapefruit.

-Lemon.

Jenna from Nottingham impressed with her concept of

a lemon drizzle cake in the shape of a giant chip butty.

The ketchup, the chips... You've really used your imagination.

My parents and brothers, they're like, "Right, Jenna, just do

"your best and knock 'em dead",

so I'm just going to follow their advice.

ALL: Stir the cake mixture!

-THEY SLURP

-A little bit too sweet.

THEY LAUGH

Just two challenges stand between these five bakers

and a place in the semifinal, and first up, it's the Technical.

Hello, bakers, and welcome to the quarterfinals.

Our judges want to see your bread-making skills,

with one of Allegra's recipes of five pretzels.

Now, these twisted bread knots should be accompanied

with a sour cream and chive dip.

We need the pretzels to be neatly shaped with a clearly defined knot.

We want them to have a golden crust on the outside and lovely

and chewy on the inside.

-You've got one hour and ten minutes. On your marks.

-Get set. BOTH:

-Bake.

Have you guys made pretzels before?

I've made, like, white bread shapes, so it might be similar.

I feel like now that we're at the quarterfinal,

everyone's more competitive.

So I feel like this stage is going to be much harder.

I love a pretzel. The distinctive shape is what defines it.

They have these holes here, and the knot in the middle.

That's a good pretzel.

Crisp outside, chewy in the centre, and we want caramelised onion.

Those onions need to be brown, so when they go into the pretzel,

we get that natural sweetness.

It's not an easy ask.

I'm just going to put my onions into the saucepan and caramelise them.

They're still quite green at the moment,

I want them to be a bit more caramel-ey.

SAM: If you want to try this recipe at home,

make sure a grown-up knows what you're doing.

(Come on.) Please caramelise.

Watching them like a hawk.

I know, I'm just like...

-Ooh, yours are looking good.

-I think they might be done.

They're all evenly brown.

Ehh...

Onions blitzed, the bakers start on their dough.

I'm rubbing the butter into the flour,

and I'm trying to get it to look like breadcrumbs.

Just added baking powder to make them rise.

Add the sugar, salt and onions.

Now?

(100ml...)

SHE WHISPERS TO HERSELF

Right now I'm just kneading the dough.

I just kind of push it, and then bring it back and kind of roll it.

I didn't really get taught,

I've just been watching loads of cooking shows lately!

I think my dough's coming together quite well.

I've done lots of kneading before, because I make bread quite often.

It's still quite...glubby! You can feel stuff in it.

Bakers!

You have 45 minutes left before we KNEAD to see your bread.

Once kneaded, the dough must be divided into five balls.

I'm just rolling the dough into kind of long, thin sausages.

They need to be 65cm.

To ensure the pretzels have an even bake,

the rolls should be the same thickness.

Some places are a lot thinner than the other places.

I'm a bit worried about the shaping, because it's rather complicated.

You twist it... and then twist it again.

And then pull it over.

I've done croissants,

but nothing like this with the knots and the twists and the folds.

It's a bit, "Eeugh!"

I'm just going to, like... Oh!

SHE LAUGHS

-MAISIE:

-(OK...)

Pretzels were originally created in Germany,

by monks who gave them to well-behaved children,

and their unique shape is said to represent arms crossed in prayer.

Oh, there we go.

That looks sort of like it.

(13. 13. 13.)

They're a bit weirdly shaped, but I think we'll be all right.

I am just putting some egg yolk,

so that they can turn a nice golden-brown colour.

The sea salt gives it a bit more flavour.

-MACY:

-They have to be in the oven for ten minutes.

Bakers, you've only got 15 minutes left.

"While the pretzels are baking, make your sour cream dip."

-How are we doing, Maisie?

-OK.

I'm just making the dip, and there are no quantities,

-so we have to make it to taste.

-Ooh, that's interesting!

-Give you a little tip, Maisie.

-Yes?

-You can always add, you can never take away.

-Yeah.

-Good tip, innit?

-Yeah, in life.

-Same when you're putting wax in your hair.

-Yeah.

Put too much in, can't take it out, have to get in t'shower again,

-wouldn't you?

-No, you can't(!)

I like mine quite chunky, when you bite it and it goes...

-SHE MAKES CRUNCHING NOISE

-Needs a bit more pepper.

-It's good.

-I added more milk.

This time it tasted a little bit nice, rather than not nice at all.

Bakers, five minutes left.

These need to come out of the oven.

Whoa...

I can't see!

OK, I think they're done.

I would have liked them to have gone in a bit longer.

There we go.

OK, bakers, that is it. The Technical is over.

Please bring your pretzels to the gingham altar.

I paid a lot of attention to being precise,

because you know how much the judges like it to be uniform.

I got everything done, and I think it's all right,

I just think it's a bit uneven, a bit, "Eeugh".

The judges are looking for pretzels that have a golden crust

on the outside, are chewy on the inside

and have a clearly defined knot.

Maisie, they are very neat.

Pretty much five identical golden-brown pretzels.

We've got three spaces in between and we've got a lovely knot.

Shall we taste?

It's lovely and chewy in the middle, crunchy on the outside.

The onions are just caramelised, maybe a little bit more.

I'm going to try it with the dip.

It's a delicious dip, Maisie, so that's a good job.

-Lottie!

-They're all different shapes.

-Where you've got thicker bits...

-Yeah.

..they're slightly under-baked.

Where you've got thinner bits, that's baked perfectly.

Your chives are chopped just how I like them.

And I like the consistency of it as well.

Macy!

They're a good, even size. Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside.

I think the onions could have been caramelised for a little longer.

I'm going to go in for the dip.

-Did you add a bit of milk to that?

-Yeah.

-Mm.

-There's a slight wateriness around the edge.

-Jenna.

-Look at the three equal spaces.

That's a saleable pretzel.

Crisp on the outside, let's try the dip.

-I love your cracked pepper on top.

-Yeah, good touch.

Very good, very nice indeed.

Rachel, those are lovely and golden.

We have got some thinny bits, as opposed to thicky bits.

The thinner parts have overbaked,

and then the thicker parts are slightly underbaked.

-Mm.

-You can tell you've browned those onions a little longer,

it's naturally sweet.

It could have taken a crack of pepper, for me,

-but the salt is spot-on.

-Well done.

The judges will now decide which two bakers have presented

the best pretzels.

In no particular order, the first of our top two...

-..is Jenna, for her well-shaped pretzels.

-Thank you.

And the second person...

is Maisie, for giving us

a lovely, smooth dough and a clearly defined knot.

It was quite a shock. They were like, "First of the top two is..."

And I was like... And they went, "Jenna!" and I was like, "Oh, yay!"

Going into the Showstopper, I really need to work on my time,

because every time I've done it, I've been a bit over.

I am a little bit disappointed. This gives me another reason to

really try and bake my socks off in the Showstopper this afternoon.

After pretzels, the judges want to see

the bakers' choux pastry-making skills.

-Did you say, "choux pastry-making skills"?

-Yeah.

Ohh, I thought you said shoe-making skills!

Nice...LOAFERS.

Good afternoon, bakers, it's time for your Showstopper challenge.

Allegra and Nadiya would like you to make 12 eclairs.

Now, our judges are looking for at least two different flavours,

and remember, it's for a place in the semifinals.

-You've got 90 minutes. On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake.

I've just got some water and some butter.

This is going to be the base of my choux pastry.

The key to a great eclair is a great choux paste.

It needs to be well piped and then it needs to rise up,

and you get this golden-brown crunch on the outside

and these glorious cavities waiting to be filled on the inside.

We want to see flavour combinations that we put in our mouth

and think, "Wow, why didn't I think of that?"

I've chosen the flavours because I really like smoothies.

One is going to be strawberry and raspberry,

my other one is mango and passion fruit.

Rachel will top her mango and passion fruit eclairs

with a zesty orange icing,

and her strawberry and raspberry eclairs will be decorated

with icing made with fresh raspberry juice.

Choux pastry is rather hard,

so it's important to beat in the flour quickly.

The texture will be correct when it's like a smooth ball of paste.

-Maisie.

-Hello.

-Hi. What kind of flavours are you doing?

I'm going to be making a mint chocolate one

and a raspberry and chocolate one.

My mum's cousin lives in Prague,

and I really like all the patisseries there.

And I've seen ones similar to the ones that I'm doing, so...

-So we're expecting patisserie-standard...?

-Yeah.

-MARK:

-Maisie's minty eclairs will be filled with chocolate ganache

and mint cream.

Her raspberry eclairs will also be filled

with ganache and raspberry cream.

It will be topped with a fancy gold leaf.

-MAISIE:

-I make eclairs, like, all of the time,

and then as soon as I start practising for the Bake Off, my oven

decided not to work, so I've been going round people's ovens, like,

"Hi, can I borrow your oven to make some eclairs, please?"

# Macy, Macy, how are you? Yeah! #

-Good.

-MARK LAUGHS

-What eclairs are you going to be making?

-Yeah.

Chocolate and hazelnut, strawberry, and then rose.

You only needed to do two, why did you decide to do three?

-Cos she's a legend.

-Yeah. Well, we know that.

Macy's chocolate eclairs will be topped with chopped hazelnuts.

The strawberry eclairs will be filled with

a strawberry coulis cream, and her rose eclairs

will have a rosewater cream centre.

What do you do with these?

I'm going to sprinkle them on top, they're just rose petals.

-Can you eat these?

-Yeah.

CHANTING: Eat it! Eat it!

-Bit chewy.

-They're not really that nice.

-Wasn't going to say, Macy.

-SAM LAUGHS

-I've got a mouth like potpourri.

I'm doing rose and strawberry eclairs,

cos I've got a big rose in my garden.

And then there's little wild strawberries

in the same flowerbed as it,

and I really like the flavours together.

Lottie's garden-inspired eclairs will be filled with

strawberry and rose-flavoured Chantilly cream and decorated

with crystallised rose petals.

She's also making banoffee eclairs that will be topped

with chocolate drizzle bananas.

-I've done another drawing.

-Aww.

-ALLEGRA:

-Oh, your drawings are epic, they're so beautiful.

-So we've got banana and caramel.

-Yeah.

How are you going to get the banana flavour?

I've got bananas and I'm just going to put them on the top.

-OK.

-And then I've also got some caramel cream.

I made caramel at home.

But it kind of set like rock.

-And that wouldn't whisk into your cream.

-Yeah.

Once they're happy with the consistency,

the bakers pipe out the choux pastry,

which should be thick enough to hold its shape.

I'm using a star nozzle because it helps prevent cracking

when it bakes.

-Hi, Jenna.

-Hi.

Tell us about your eclairs.

I'm making banoffee eclairs and Bakewell eclairs.

So it's a pudding in a pudding.

Jenna's banoffee eclairs are flavoured

with mashed banana cream and a caramel icing.

She'll achieve the Bakewell flavours with an almond cream filling

and she'll decorate with fresh raspberry icing and glitter.

-Your pastry's quite loose, isn't it?

-Yeah, it's quite a runny mixture.

Have you done anything differently today that you

wouldn't have done at home?

No. I don't know what it is. Does look a bit strange.

Guys, you've had half your time, you've got 45 minutes left.

I'm going to cook them at 220 degrees for ten minutes,

and then I'm going to turn the oven down.

You have to cook it at a high heat to get it to puff out,

and then when you turn it down, it cooks inside.

With the eclairs in the oven, the bakers move on to

making their fillings.

This is going to be the sauce that's in the strawberry cream.

I'm just putting in mint extract.

And I'm just doing it to taste, because sometimes it can be

really overpowering and taste like toothpaste.

-All right, Rachel, what you doing?

-I am just making my cream.

This one is raspberry and strawberry,

and the other one is mango and passion fruit.

-Excellent.

-Ooh, MAN-GO crazy for this passion fruit!

-Oh, ey up!

-Oh, oh... Wahey!

-Oh, oh...

-Oh, we're mad, us, aren't we?

-Sorry, sorry.

-We're mad.

-Sorry.

SHE SIGHS

Right, I'm going to take these out the oven now I think.

They're not quite cooked in the middle.

They're looking really good and they have puffed up.

-They're raw.

-SHE SIGHS DEEPLY

They're nice and crispy, which is...good.

-Maisie?

-Yeah.

-Mine are cooked on the outside but kind of raw

-on the inside.

-That's what happened in there as well.

Can I have a look at yours?

Are they browned like mine really badly?

Yeah, but they're raw on the inside.

Now I need to find the paper nozzle and stab them,

so that the steam of them comes out.

I'm going to put them back in, but I'm going to cut them open

so they crisp up but not on the outside.

I reckon they need about two more minutes.

In you go.

I just need to let them cool, so I'm going to get a cooling rack.

I'm going to put them in the fridge.

If I put them in the fridge, the moisture of the fridge

will make them go flat.

-Just watching them like a hawk now.

-Jenna's not having much fun.

I was worried when I saw that liquid batter. It'll give you

a tiny rise and then it'll come "snap", and straight back down.

Rachel, she's put them in the fridge. I'm really concerned

that that choux pastry is going to become soggy.

(Yes!)

RELIEVED SIGH

Panic over.

They're a bit brown on top, a bit too much, because they had to

go in for a bit longer.

Bakers, you've only got 15 minutes left.

(Just cool down. Please cool down.)

Where's my other nozzle gone?

My technique is to alternate between raspberry, chocolate,

raspberry, chocolate.

I want them to kind of look sophisticated. Whoops.

I think I could be a little bit neater. I'm quite messy.

Not full potential messy.

I've recovered!

They're not looking good, but that's just...

how they're going to look now.

I just need to put the bananas on the banoffee.

Bakers, one minute to go, get 'em on the plate.

-I'm rushing.

-I just need to make them look a bit more pretty.

Glitter improves everything.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Bakers, that is it!

Step away from the eclairs.

I've made eclairs so many times, but as soon as you go in

that tent, magical things happen, and your time just, like, goes.

These are a good size, I'm just slightly worried that

they might be a little bit overbaked, maybe.

-Yeah.

-Just a little bit. So we've got the mint

and we've got the raspberry.

Lovely and crisp on the outside, but I'm missing the filling.

-Yeah.

-Cos you didn't get the rise, you can't really fill it.

-But good flavours, Maisie.

-I'm going to try the mint one.

-I love the mint flavour.

-That's a great combo.

That is as pretty as a picture, I love the details

that you've done on top.

Crispy on the outside, little bit soft in the middle.

You get that banana flavour, and mixed with the chocolate,

it's delicious. This one is the strawberry and rose?

That is the taste of an English garden in summer, absolutely lovely.

Great job on the visuals here, Macy, they look really appealing.

Let's go for strawberry. Oh, they're nice and full.

-Mm.

-That pastry is lovely and crisp on the outside.

Delicious strawberry flavour, really pure.

Shall we go onto the rose ones?

Rose petals are a little bit tough to eat,

and they just break up the smoothness.

Let's try the hazelnut and chocolate.

Deliciously melted chocolate, the flavour of the toasted hazelnuts...

THAT is a pro job.

Just remind us what flavours we've got?

It's mango and passion fruit and then strawberry and raspberry.

They're quite a good colour, but I'd love to see more toppings.

SHE CHUCKLES HAPPILY

You put them in the fridge, so they've gone slightly soggy,

but otherwise, I get mango in the cream, I get the passion fruit

-on top. Your flavours are perfect.

-Yeah.

I'm going to try this one.

That's like healthy eating, but in an eclair.

ALLEGRA LAUGHS WITH MOUTH FULL

Jenna, I know you had a lot of trouble with your choux pastry,

but you saved it, and you've given us glitter! Yay!

Going in.

That is a Bakewell eclair. Who knew you could do such a thing?

-Really nice.

-Let's go for the banana ones.

Yummy cream, banana, chocolate...

That is yum.

-MACY:

-It's going to be really hard to tell who's going through.

-MAISIE:

-They all look like

-they should be in a shop or something.

-Yeah.

So, judges, quarterfinal day, and I think you could tell,

because it was quite tense.

Shall we start with the three bakers who weren't in your top two

this morning? Let's start off with Macy.

To get that really hollow inside is really difficult,

and she got that. They're crisp and they're golden

and they're baked really well, and really good flavours.

-What about Rachel?

-She knows her flavour combinations,

-but I was slightly let down by the toppings.

-Lottie?

They were picture-perfect. Beautifully baked, they were filled,

and then she took all the effort to decorate the top.

Maisie, who WAS in the top two this morning, how did she get on

in the afternoon?

She's a really determined, talented baker, but we all have bad days,

and she did not show her finest side this afternoon.

Someone else who had a bit of a mare was Jenna.

She salvaged it, because what she DID get out

tasted absolutely sensational.

Yeah, you loved her flavours, didn't you?

-Any idea on which three it's going to be?

-We have got one in the bag...

-We have.

-..and then there's a bit of a mix going on

that we need to have a chat about.

Bakers, thank you for all your hard work, you've done tremendously well.

Only three of you can go through to the semifinals.

And the first baker is...

..Lottie. Wahey!

-Well done, Lottie.

-Thank you.

Our second baker is...

..Macy!

SAM LAUGHS

And the third baker going through is...

..Jenna.

Well done, guys. Unfortunately, it means we have to say goodbye

to Maisie and Rachel, you've been absolutely wonderful.

We gave them a pretty tough task,

but they gave us some absolutely delicious eclairs.

I was really, really shocked, you could probably tell from my face.

And I'm just really excited for the next round.

Jenna, well done.

I'm still kind of floating above the clouds thinking,

"What just happened?"

When I come back I'm just going to try and do my best

and go with the flow, you know?

The girls really ramped it up today, and what's going to come next

is only going to be better.

Next - it's semifinal time.

Whoa!

-A blindfold challenge awaits the bakers.

-Is it naan bread?

And it's a bun fight to the final.

-Those are epic.

-Nailed it.