The Final - Day One Junior Bake Off

We started with 40 bakers - now we are down to just three.

They're limbering up as we speak!

Welcome to the final of Junior Bake Off!

For the last three weeks...

-Oh!

-..Britain's best young bakers have faced biscuits, pastry,

bread and cakes.

Oh, it's OK!

Yesterday's semifinal saw Tyrese and Macy excel in the knowledge test.

Ground almonds.

And then Macy secured her place in the final with her Showstopper.

That is so yummy!

Nikki's buns were overbaked,

but their inventiveness impressed the judges...

The flavours are inspired.

..whilst Tyrese's timekeeping worked him to the wire.

Come on, you can do it!

But it was Jenna and Lottie who said goodbye to the tent,

leaving Macy, Tyrese and Nikki to face the final three challenges.

Here we are at the final.

We've got three very worthy bakers in there,

and I'm so excited to see what they've got to give us.

-Are you nervous?

-No.

Macy is an extremely calm, solid baker.

She's exceptional at technique.

If I had to point out an area I think she could improve in,

it's sometimes not quite pushing her imagination enough on flavours.

Being in Junior Bake Off has taught me to believe in myself.

My plan is to just stay calm and focused,

and do my best throughout the whole thing.

It's mainly for the pastry I'm nervous.

Tyrese, he's so passionate about where his family are from,

and the things he's grown up with.

But we saw yesterday, he lost his focus slightly.

Today, we are expecting perfection.

I'm really, really, really, really,

dot, dot, dot, really happy.

And I want to make sure that I win.

Nikki has 100% earned her place in this final,

due to her love of flavours.

But to win, she needs to brush up on her technique.

I never, ever in my right mind thought I'd ever get here, really.

And so to be in the final with two other amazing bakers,

it's just a dream come true, and I'm really proud of myself.

Welcome back, Junior Bake Off finalists!

-Yeah!

-Whoo!

-How does that sound - pretty good, yeah?

-Yeah.

-Pretty good.

You guys obviously didn't get the memo

about white T-shirt, suit jacket combo today?

-No, just us, then, mate, yeah?

-Oh, man!

Our judges would like you to make 12 canapes.

Now, these canapes must be made up of at least two different fillings.

Now, not only will you be baking for our judges today,

you're going to be baking for some special guests of ours.

And they are vloggers Marcus Butler and Oli White!

Hello!

Look who I'm here with!

Marcus and Oli have become Internet sensations...

with millions of subscribers to their channels.

They enjoy a challenge, and they love Junior Bake Off,

so today, they are our guest judges.

-Morning, lads.

-Come on in, lads!

-No way!

-How's it going?

-Hello!

Er, Nikki is in shock!

Welcome to the Bake Off Tent, lads. Thank you so much for being here.

Marcus, I know that you cook, but how's your baking?

-Horrific.

-Oh, really?

-To be honest, I'm not a good baker at all.

What about canapes, favourite canape?

-Mini fish and chips.

-Mini fish and chips!

-Good one!

-Mini burger.

-Nice.

OK, bakers, you know what I'm going to ask you next.

Have you all washed your hands? Let's have a look.

-Fantastic.

-Well, you've got one hour and 45 minutes

for your Signature bake.

-On your marks...

-Get set...bake!

I really wasn't expecting to have two YouTubers here.

And two that I love, so I was, like, amazed.

The bakers start by making the rough puff pastry for their canapes,

which simply contains butter, flour and water.

I think the hardest bit in this challenge is the pastry,

because flaky pastry is quite a hard pastry to achieve and get right.

For canapes, they are finger foods.

They can be sweet, they can be savoury,

but they need to be maybe two or three bites,

so we're looking for something really small.

The flavours that they need to bring in today

either need to be shoulders up, as in, what's that?!

Or shoulders down, as in, that's amazing.

One or the other - just nothing in between.

I'm using a dough scraper just to cut down my butter.

Because your hands are warm and butter is cold,

then you don't want your hands to melt it,

and make it become a sticky dough.

Today, I'm making some mini Parmesan and wild mushroom vol-au-vents,

along with some mini custard and cardamom - I love cardamom -

like, creme patissiere tartlets.

Nikki is the only baker making a sweet canape.

These cardamom custard tarts will be topped

with blueberries and mint leaves,

while her mushroom and Parmesan vol-au-vents will be spiced

with chilli and drizzled with truffle oil.

-Hi, there, Nikki.

-Hello!

-Nikki, meet Marcus and Oli.

-How are you doing?

-Good!

Now, you're probably a bit nervous that these lads are here right now?

-Yeah.

-And why might that be?

Um, because, like, they're like two of my favourite YouTubers.

-Oh!

-Oh!

-Nice!

-I heard you've got your own YouTube channel, though?

-Yeah.

-What do you do on it?

I do like lifestyle videos, so...

-Any baking videos?

-I do do a couple of baking videos.

What's the number one thing you should know about baking,

the most important rule?

Just make sure you read your recipe twice,

to make sure you've put any ingredients in.

-That's what I don't do.

-Yeah.

I skim over the recipe and miss out half the ingredients!

Yeah, that's a problem, that is a problem.

-See you later, Nikki!

-See ya!

What I've done is, I've rolled it out, then I've folded it in,

then I've folded it again,

rolled it out a second time and done the same thing.

I'm going to wrap it in clingfilm now

and leave it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Folding the pastry and chilling it creates the laminated layers

that make a classic rough puff.

I'm making saltfish and avocado canapes.

Saltfish and avocado is popular in St Lucia.

My family, they always use it

in, like, a lot of things that they make.

Tyrese will add a St Lucian kick of hot pepper sauce

to his saltfish and avocado canapes.

He's also making apple, mango and chicken canapes.

Saltfish, salty, what are we doing to...?

First, I'm boiling it and I added a tablespoon of sugar.

Because I've been watching my gran and my aunt,

and they've just given me different tips.

I think sometimes they get annoyed and are like,

"Oh, Tyrese, get out of the kitchen!"

Because I'm always behind their feet, saying, "What's next?"

She's like, "Leave me to cook my food,

"and when I'm done, you can ask."

I'm making mini mozzarella and basil pizzas,

and mini cheese and onion quiches.

I make pizza, like, every week for my family.

I decided to do something simple, because it's how I eat -

I don't use all these fancy combinations.

Macy's mini quiches will be filled with red onion,

Cheddar cheese and mixed herbs.

Her tomato-based mini pizzas will be topped

with mozzarella and fresh basil leaves.

-Hello, Macy!

-Hello.

What's it like not baking just for the judges today?

-It's more pressure.

-We're going to be nicer than the judges.

-Tell us, do you watch these boys?

-Yeah, I subscribe to, like...

-Oh, really, do you? Excellent!

-Boom, another subscriber!

Yeah, that's good! That's two so far, lads!

Beautiful! Good luck!

Thank you.

Bakers - you've had 45 minutes, you've got one hour left!

Once the pastry has formed its layers in the fridge,

the bakers can start rolling it out.

I'm wondering why you have a ruler -

are you measuring it out precisely?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Five by five centimetres.

-Nice.

-Nice work.

-It's a simple baking method.

-Yep.

-Because I've done puff pastry before...

-Yeah.

You don't want it to be too thick,

otherwise it could just not cook properly.

I'm going to blind-bake my pastry for ten minutes,

so I've put baking paper and then baking beans in them,

so that the pastry cooks first before I put the filling in.

If you're going to bake at home,

make sure an adult knows what you're up to.

So far, so good!

It's all about the whisking.

With her pastry in the oven, Nikki has moved on to making her custard.

Mmm, that's really nice.

It's got a nice bit of orange in there, and then you get the vanilla.

So, I've got chicken, seasoned, and I'm just grating some apple into it.

Um, I'm just making the filling for the quiche canapes.

I feel like I've put too many herbs in.

But in the Bake Off Tent, everyone just does strange things.

I'm going to be using some wild mushrooms.

And I'm also using chestnut mushrooms.

-How's your saltfish?

-Good.

-Sure?

-Yeah, it's done.

-Happy?

-Yeah.

-Not too salty?

-No.

Tasted it?

Bakers, you've got 20 minutes left.

They didn't come out like that at home, I can assure you!

The ones at home, when you broke into them, it was like a biscuit.

But it was still flaky.

Here, they're like puff pastry that you eat your sausage roll from.

They're not looking how they were meant to look.

But I'm just going to carry on.

I've got to fill them all and cook them.

I think there's lots of nice layers in them.

They are a little bit topsy-turvy, but I think...

Oh, whoopsie! I think they look good, so...

More puffy than I expected.

That's a good thing...I suppose.

So, I'm just filling the pastry with the mushroom mix.

Bakers, you have five minutes left.

-Uh...

-You all right?

Presentation is the key to everything that I do.

I wanted to do something quite sort of earthy.

And so, like, for toppings, I've done blueberries.

Come away from the mini pizzas!

Sorry, they're going to be judged first, aren't they?

-There's two spares.

-Is there two spares?!

-Yeah.

-Oh, it's like you knew!

She was thinking of us two!

-It looks nice.

-Thanks. Yours look really nice, too.

Thanks.

OK, bakers. That is it.

Your Signature Challenge is over.

Step away from the canapes.

Well done.

I'm done. Hallelujah!

Wow, look at this.

Whoo-hoo! That is like layer upon layer upon layer upon layer

-of butter and deliciousness.

-Thank you.

-That's really nice.

-Thank you.

Your filling works really well

with the crisp butteriness of your pastry.

And you get that Parmesan and the mushroom works...

-Is that some chilli in there as well?

-A little bit.

-I enjoyed that, yeah.

-Well done. That is accomplished, that is.

So, these are creme patissiere tartlets,

infused with vanilla pod, orange and lemon zest

and a little bit of cardamom.

Nikki, that is pretty much the perfect pudding canape for me.

-Thank you.

-It's not too sweet, it's very clever.

The hit of the fresh blueberry on top and the pastry around it,

the butteriness. And underneath, it just needed a little...

-Just a fraction more.

-Yeah.

But if you'd blind-baked the pastry first,

then just added the custard, it would have been perfect.

I thought that was amazing. I thought that was really nice.

-All in one, he was.

-Oh, it was so good.

-Thank you.

The flavours of that just worked so well.

And biting down into the blueberry as well just... Oh, it made it.

Thank you.

-I am so excited.

-I'm really excited for the pizza.

-Mm!

-Oh, my God.

-Yeah.

-It tastes amazing.

They are crisp on the bottom, crisp on the inside.

Where the filling's just given it that little bit of moisture,

it's just nothing but pleasant.

All I'd say is just a bit more adventurousness on the filling.

What was the next one again?

Cheese and onion quiche.

You were right to blind-bake first.

If you'd done it without blind-baking,

you'd have got really soggy and it's not soggy at all.

I can't rave about this pastry more.

It's... It's perfect.

For me, personally, I'd go for the pizza one, but...

I think I'd go for the quiche.

-The quiche is nice.

-I'm with you.

-Mm.

How did it go?

-Good, I think.

-It's looking good.

It looks pretty amazing, to be honest.

Have you ever had saltfish?

-I don't think I have.

-I don't think I have.

-No...?

-The pastry is really cool.

Look at the lamination on that.

You didn't allow your butter to melt into the dough,

which is why we've got these gorgeous, lovely layers.

You get the fishiness, the saltiness

and you get the butteriness in the pastry.

And those three things together are slightly magical.

-Nice.

-Thank you.

-We've got the chicken, apple and mango.

-Yeah.

I mean, the pastry, again, perfectly baked.

-Really good.

-Mm, that is so good!

-Wow.

-The chicken and mango just goes so well.

The flavour in that's amazing.

That is a delicious filling.

-You should be very proud of yourself.

-Thank you.

-That is yummy.

Marcus, Oli, thank you so much for coming down to the tent.

-Thanks for having us.

-Any last words of advice before you leave?

I mean, you guys have made it this far already,

so whoever's going to win, well done,

but you should be proud of yourselves either way.

Just keep doing what you're doing. You're doing amazing.

Go on, off you go. Get some rest, you'll need it for the afternoon.

-This is my beanbag.

-Whoo!

-It feels really weird.

I think I do have a chance to win,

because I think my flavours are really different.

But if I don't, then hey-ho. But, yeah, it'd be amazing to win.

How do you think that went?

OK.

During the Signature bake, I was worried about the pastry,

because I didn't think it would be cooked.

But Nadiya thought it was perfect.

I think I've done quite well. I'm quite proud of myself.

And in the Technical this afternoon, I'm going to knock it out the tent.

As world-famous vloggers,

Oli and Marcus are no strangers to taking part in a challenge or two.

Lads, are you up for a Bake Off challenge?

-I usually win, don't I?

-Oh, do you?

-Oh!

-Make-up time.

-Make-up time, Oli.

All right, you've got 15 seconds to pipe as many cupcakes as you can.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Hang on.

-BOTH: Pipe!

-Pipe it!

-Pipe!

-Oh, God.

-Wow, you've not done this before, have you?

-Pipe!

Five seconds left, come on.

-This is rubbish!

-How long is left?

-Stop!

-OK.

-Well...

-I think the winner is...

-Marcus!

-Hey!

-Oh, I don't think so.

-Well done.

Well, the Technical Challenge is up next

and that requires some expert piping.

Bakers, welcome to your final Technical.

And this one is a combination of both Allegra and Nadiya's recipe for

three chocolate and passion fruit meringue pies.

Now, these pies are made up from chocolate pastry,

passion fruit curd and topped with meringue.

Judges, any advice?

The colour of the chocolate pastry will make it harder for you guys

to judge whether it's baked or not, so keep an eye on it.

And the curd needs to be set,

the meringue pillowy, with defined peaks.

Now, because it's the final,

and we don't want the judges to see which pie is whose,

in the nicest possible way, could you please leave?

Bye.

-Bye.

-Good luck.

OK. Bakers, you have one hour and 20 minutes.

Good luck. On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake.

The bakers starts with a chocolate pastry.

I can't believe it's the last Technical

I'm going to ever be making in this tent.

I haven't made chocolate pastry before, actually,

so it will be quite interesting to see how it comes out.

Nothing's really worrying me.

It's just generally I think it's going to be hard.

Well, Nadiya, these chocolate passion fruit meringue pies

really are the ultimate Technical, aren't they?

It is the final Technical, so we're not about to make it easy for them.

On the outside, we've got the meringue, which has to be peaked,

it has to be golden brown and it has to be fluffy inside.

Look at that curd. What we're looking for is that,

when we cut it, it doesn't spill out.

So it's got to be the right consistency.

But the real test is that pastry of yours.

So super-thin around the edge here, isn't it?

There is a potential that, if they get it too thin,

they could have cracks. And what we don't want is a leaky bottom.

Shall we have a taste?

The curd dominates the main part of the flavour.

And then, at the end, you've got that chocolatiness of the pastry,

which should have just that tiny edge of bitterness,

without being burnt.

I've made chocolate pastry before and I've made lemon meringue pie,

but not ever, like, mini meringue pies.

Putting it into the fridge for 15 minutes.

While the pastry hardens, the bakers start on their passion fruit curd.

For the filling, mix the passion fruit puree with the cornflour

and stir until it forms a smooth paste.

In a bowl, mix together the sugar and egg yolks

and carefully whisk into the passion fruit mixture.

You want to make sure that you don't get any really massive,

gooey clumps of cornflour in it.

-Ooh!

-Smells good.

-Passion fruit, mate!

-Yeah.

I'm passionate about that smell.

It's nice. How are you feeling, Macy, this afternoon?

-I'm feeling quite good about this one.

-Yeah?

(Who do you think your biggest competition is in the tent?)

-I think it's Tyrese.

-Ooh!

THEY BOTH CHUCKLE

Whisky business!

Ha-ha-ha!

I've removed the pastry from the fridge

and I'm about to roll it out until it's nice and thin.

You don't want to have too much pie crust.

Then, you won't be able to taste the filling that well.

-Tyrese! How are you doing, mate?

-Good.

-Have you made this before, Tyrese?

-I've made lemon meringue pie.

-Perfect.

-You're all right, then. You're in the same ballpark.

However, though, chocolate pastry,

as Nadiya said, you can't tell if it's baked or not, can you?

Yeah, because if you bake it for too long, you won't be able to tell.

-Yeah.

-Because it's brown.

-Yeah.

Who do you think your main competition is?

I think it's Nikki.

-Interesting.

-OK.

-Interesting. Interesting.

I'm just making sure it hasn't got any cracks in it,

because, if it does, then the filling will come out.

If you're blind-baking your pastry using this method,

you'll need heat-proof clingfilm.

This is the first time that you've been ahead of me.

I know, yeah!

Next, I've got to whisk the egg whites.

Oh, so I'm making the meringue.

-Hi there, Nikki.

-Hello.

-So, the Technical Challenge,

the final one you're ever going to do. How are you feeling about it?

In a way, I'm feeling sad that it's, like, nearly over,

because it feels like it's gone so quickly.

But it's, like, nice to see a light at the end of the stressful tunnel.

Nicky, who's your biggest competition in the final?

You can't ask me that here.

-Why not?

-Because!

-Where else are we going to ask you?

-You can say it quietly.

-Yeah, go on.

(The person behind me.)

The person behind you?

-The person be...!

-Ssh!

-Ssh!

-You mean Tyrese?

That's funny, cos he said the same about you.

-Did he?

-I think they're only saying that cos Macy's over the other side

-and she can't hear.

-She's the silent assassin.

-Yeah.

-She's the silent assassin.

-Yeah. She's going to get you.

That's good.

So, if I do that, it's not falling off the spoon.

God, that was scary.

OK.

20 minutes to go, bakers.

Come on.

They're still on the soft side and they are quite soggy,

but I'm going to add the curd and bake them for another ten minutes.

Oh!

It's just so nice!

Oh.

I'm just creating little swirls and spikes.

And just get, like, little bits that are a little bit browner

than the actual base of the meringue.

I'm the first in the oven.

That's nice.

I've just remembered, I didn't put the cornflour in the meringue.

Putting cornflour in the meringue makes it a little bit chewy.

And I've missed out, so...

Oh, well.

Ten minutes left, bakers, on your last ever Technical.

Soak it up!

I really like the colour of them.

They're a nice sort of lighty golden brown.

I think they turned out really well.

But I don't know until I've seen everyone else's.

Nice!

It's hard, cos they're really small.

Right, bakers, that is it!

Time is up on your last-ever Technical.

If you'd like to bring your passion fruit meringue pies

up to the gingham altar.

The judges are looking for perfectly baked chocolate pastry,

filled with a set passion fruit curd, topped with pillowy meringues.

And they have no idea whose pies are whose.

They are all absolutely Junior Bake Off finalist standard,

so well done.

Looking at this one - the meringue could have done with a bit more.

I'm with Nadiya. A little bit more mountainous.

And also, for me, a bit more colour.

Going in.

That pastry is thin all the way round.

And what we didn't want was overflow. We haven't got that.

We've cut it and it's just stayed exactly where we wanted it to.

Texture of the curd is fantastic.

And that pastry is not burnt.

Baker number two.

So, this has got more colour.

I think the meringue has sunk a little bit.

Very thin pastry, so thin that some of it is falling apart.

The curd is delicious.

And it's holding shape.

But I think this baker forgot to put something into their meringues.

Yeah, it's overly fluffy and not rich enough.

-And not meringuey enough.

-Not meringuey enough.

Baker number three has given us lots of meringue.

Very generous, which is exactly what we wanted.

Great, defined peaks and a lovely shade of brown.

-Ooh!

-Oh!

-Ooh!

-Ooh!

-What we've got here...

-A little bit of leakage.

There's some holes in the pastry just there.

And you can see that's where the curd has leaked.

That's a really good meringue.

That's a really good curd.

But there's a hint of bitterness at the back,

which obviously you get with cocoa, but it has been overbaked slightly,

which is a shame, because the curd and meringue are really good.

Nadiya and Allegra must now decide

which baker has made the best meringue tarts.

For its lovely, thin pastry

and pillowy meringues, the one we've chosen is...

This one.

Yeah, congratulations, Nikki.

But congratulations, all three of you.

It's been a fantastic start to the final.

A really strong day.

Bakers, you've got one more challenge left

before we crown our Junior Bake Off champion.

I suggest you go and get a good night's sleep.

We'll see you bright and early in the morning.

I can't actually believe that I was first.

I'd say tick for doing my best and doing well today.

I think that the judges' comments were fair,

because my pastry, it was a bit overbaked.

But, hopefully, I'm going to come back

and my Showstopper just blows the judges away.

I am going to have to try my very best tomorrow

to make sure that what went wrong today

is overpowered by how well I do tomorrow.

One final talent remains.

This time tomorrow, one baker will be Junior Bake Off Champion 2016.

The winner is...

COW MOOS