Episode 2 Bake Off Creme de la Creme

Welcome back to Bake Off: Creme De La Creme,

where the search for Britain's best pastry chefs continues unabated,

with two even tougher challenges for the four remaining teams

as they compete in this week's heat.

And as the old saying goes -

if you can't win the heat, get out of the kitchen.

In the toughest of Bake Offs...

Guys, I'm dripping blood all over the place here.

..ten teams of professional pastry chefs

are vying to be crowned Creme De La Creme.

Go, go, go, go, go!

So far in the first half of the competition...

-How long have I got?

-2 minutes 15...

..the first five teams...

Can you move the box?

..have had a rude awakening...

I'm not going to get everything done. Not possible.

..as world-renowned judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Findon...

When I eat it as a whole, sugar, sugar, sugar.

..set two well-nigh impossible challenges.

You're flying!

Paolo's international team triumphed.

But despite an epic fight-back...

If we carry on like this, we'll be finished...

..Jack's team couldn't claw back enough points

to stay in the competition.

I'm proud of them. Definitely, I'm proud of all of us.

Now...

the teams are given even less time...

-Still not quite sure what's gone wrong with them, unfortunately.

-Oh.

'..to perfect hundreds of exquisite miniatures.'

And they'll have just three hours...

Freeze, freeze...

..to create a towering masterpiece...

Let's go.

..fit for the grandest of weddings.

It's like being a surgeon on this.

But which three teams will survive?

And whose fortunes in the competition...

Nothing's moving, is it?

'..are on the verge of collapse?'

Is this a good time?

No, this is too heavy.

Over the next two days,

these four remaining teams will face two new challenges...

Let's do this.

..worth a total of 100 points,

and the lowest-scoring team will have to leave the competition.

My stomach is already gurgling!

So is mine.

And the first challenge will be the fastest

that Benoit and Cherish have set so far.

Good morning, chefs, and welcome to two more testing challenges

as set by the Jedi of patisserie judges, Cherish and Benoit.

The first challenge will be a test of your precision,

uniformity and consistency of excellence

across a high volume of miniature patisserie,

and today's miniature patisserie is petits gateaux -

which, unless I'm very much mistaken, means "little cakes".

Well, if you want to be exact.

It means "Small cakes".

Interesting distinction, thank you.

So, what SMALL cakes have you chosen?

We would like you to do 36 choux pastry eclairs,

12 centimetres exactly in length,

filled with one filling minimum, glazed and beautifully decorated.

Eclair, of course, in English,

meaning "eclair".

Cherish?

I've chosen Mont Blanc,

a traditional dessert that consists of meringue, chestnut and cream.

How you build it is up to you,

but I'm expecting it to be identical across the batch of 36.

You have 40 points available here - 20 from each judge -

two hours to complete the challenge.

Good luck to you all.

Your time starts now.

Fifth gear right from the start.

-Yes, Chef.

-Get the recipes out.

All the teams have chosen to begin by preparing the choux pastry

for their eclairs.

My judging criteria will be simple.

It will start with the perfect choux pastry,

piped correctly and baked correctly.

Everything can go wrong with an eclair.

Starting with the choux pastry -

you get the wrong recipe, you may have nothing.

You can start with having a good recipe, bake it,

and it goes wrong -

it's overcooked or undercooked, and you've got nothing.

But if you haven't got the choux pastry right, you've got nothing.

-I can do this!

-Yeah, go on!

Feel the burn!

Chloe is going to start on the choux paste.

She's very good at it.

Once the choux paste is actually made,

we swap because I am slightly more confident with piping than Chloe is.

As a head tutor at Leeds City College,

Fabrice may have all the confidence,

but his young guns Kevin and Chloe

have proven to be a winning combination.

I have entered a competition with Chloe before.

We ended up winning, which was fab.

'Personally, it's a challenge.

'I haven't done a competition in about 25 years.'

Well, they've got to bring something!

Come on, I'm bringing 25 years of experience,

I've got to have them for something!

After the experience of the first heat,

Fabrice has decided to make one or two changes...

We listened to your advice last week.

We look at what mistake we done, and learn from them.

-I've simplified what we are going to do...

-OK.

..in order to be able to present 36 products, definitely,

to a certain standard.

Fabrice's simplified eclairs

will be filled with a chocolate

and raspberry creme patissiere,

and topped with a milk chocolate glaze

and nibbed almonds.

Adding the eggs to the choux now, Fabrice.

Yes, thank you.

Whilst the pressure to perfect choux pastry is all on Chloe...

BLEEP!

..in Liam's team...

Good start, guys. Keep it clean and keep it tidy.

Yes, Chef.

..that honour has fallen to Chris.

I'm happy with my choux mix.

Yeah, it hasn't taken as many eggs as it has in the practices.

Obviously that the eggs that we're using here could be bigger,

they could...

So I'm not going to need as much as we were using before.

Adapting should come naturally to Chris.

When catering for Queen and country, there's only one rule...

In the military, you can't not produce a meal.

Being under time parameters, we get taught to overcome and adapt.

We work with what we've got.

We have to produce something at all times.

Liam and the boys must produce 36 eclairs,

topped with a fondant glaze and toasted almonds,

and filled with a milk chocolate

and orange mousse.

This time, we've really tried to think about our flavours.

We want them to come through really strong and bold,

which is something we got picked up on in the last round.

We've got our uniformity really well, we got good marks for that,

so we're going to maintain the uniformity

and just really work on the flavours.

Yeah, seems all right, mate.

I'll just put that back in there.

Do you have the vanilla?

Paula has also found that the secret of leadership is delegation.

I'm putting all my hopes in Gimena's capable hands.

She's our choux master,

and she's going to do all the piping of the eclair.

Gimena used to be my first boss here in London,

and Jisung used to be Gimena's boss.

So, I'm leading a team of bosses,

and they used to boss me around all the time!

So this is my turn!

Paula and her former bosses have decided to spend precious minutes

adding a craquelin to the top of their choux for added crunch,

and they've also committed to a time-consuming

Japanese banana and white chocolate cream filling,

known as namelaka.

Hi, Paula.

How does it feel to be back at the scene of your great victory?

It's good to be back!

Yes, but does it add to the pressure that you won last time?

Yeah, well, now we're back to zero, so...

You kicked their asses, didn't you? Those guys over there.

But you're confident that everything is on schedule?

-Yeah.

-No hiccups thus far?

So far, so good.

We're keeping the panic for the last five minutes!

-Good strategy, good tactics!

-Yeah.

But there's already plenty to panic about.

I do my eclairs, hopefully they are all the same size...

The judges expect eclairs that are exactly 12 centimetres long.

By hand it is difficult to be precise exactly,

but we tried to do...

These are the ones, I've drawn them 11 centimetres,

so when they are actually baked in the oven, they grow a bit.

Hopefully, if all goes well,

they come out 12 centimetres and all look the same!

But precision piping...

hasn't sent everyone into a panic.

I'm not going to check every single one,

because every second I'm going to waste for a couple of millimetre

or something, I'd rather spend on finishing the product.

Deux, quatre, six, huit, dix, douze, quatorze, seize, dix huit...

I'll measure the first one...

Bogdan is doing eclairs whilst he uses the star nozzle.

The reason why, with a plain one, it doesn't grow as much in the oven.

With a star nozzle, it's able to crack and open up,

and then we get a nice finish when it's cooked.

-My hand is shaking!

-Just breathe, man!

More, more, more, more.

Although currently working on an organic farm in Gloucestershire,

it's Romanian-born Bogdan's international exploits...

Mind your back.

..that make him the secret weapon in Stephen's team.

On the cruise ships,

I learned a lot of pastry skill from different cultures of people.

From French, from Swiss, from Germany,

and I want to bring here in this competition

all my knowledge about the pastry,

and to go through in this competition far as possible.

Inspired by the hedgerows around the farm,

Stephen's team's choux will be filled with organic blackberry curd,

glazed with fondant and topped with chocolate

and freeze-dried blackberries.

And Bogdan is hedging their bets by cunningly piping an extra batch...

-BENOIT:

-All right, Stephen's team.

Interesting technique, icing sugar over your 52 eclairs!

-So you counted!

-How many have you done?

You've done like enough to do one and a half times the challenge!

We did a few extra to make sure we have 36...

To make sure we choose the best ones.

But icing sugar helps to get up a nice, clean, crisp top.

OK, I've never seen that before.

Have you seen icing sugar over the...?

-No, this is the first time.

-Really?

-But we might learn something.

-We might learn something!

-We want to finish...

But most important,

are you going to give us the 72 pastry that we ask for last time?

-You're going to get them...

-No, we're going to get 98!

Eclairs going in, guys.

Wish me luck!

Good luck, Chef!

-Do you want the craquelin?

-Yes, please.

Quick, quick, quick.

These go soft very fast.

And it gives you a crunchy top.

Eclairs going in the oven, first batch.

I want to put in the eclair now.

-Too much time outside...

-Just five more.

We are now halfway through, so you have one hour left.

Choux pastry can go in...

Can I?

Oh...

What's up?

As if piping, baking, filling and topping 36 identical eclairs

in just two hours isn't hard enough...

..the teams have another mountain to climb.

-Right, guys, 55 minutes to go, yeah?

-Yes, Chef.

I'm just doing the meringue to go inside the Mont Blanc.

A classic Mont Blanc combines meringue, Chantilly cream,

and sweet chestnut puree -

an homage to the snow-capped mountain in the Alps.

For me, the very crucial thing is that I need to taste the chestnut.

They can mix and match the taste with ingredients.

At the end of the day, I want chestnut.

If the chestnut taste is not there, mark will be deducted.

And of course, the meringue has to be crispy.

I don't want soggy meringue!

So, Fabrice has made the meringue, and I'm just spreading it.

This is for the shards for the Mont Blanc.

Chloe's ice-like meringue shards will surround a mountain

of vanilla Chantilly cream

and the traditional chestnut puree vermicelli

with a less than traditional twist...

That's the yuzu there and that's the mandarin there.

To make the puree to go along with the Mont Blanc, yuzu is quite harsh,

but it brings a beautiful freshness to something.

This - great palate cleanser.

A Mont Blanc is very rich, very cream-heavy, very chestnut-heavy,

very earthy flavours. This cuts straight through it all.

This should come through a lot nicer,

because it's a lot harsher, yeah?

-That's why we have to...

-I've not sweetened it at all.

-I don't think it needs it.

-No, I don't want it sweet,

-because everything else is sweet.

-Right, put that to one side for now.

But Fabrice's team...

Leave that just to absorb.

..aren't the only ones embarking on an alternative ascent of Mont Blanc.

How is the namelaka? Should it be like this?

No, it's... Go back in.

The Mont Blanc is a joint effort,

so we are trying to get our flavours from home to this one

so we get an unusual flavour for our meringue.

We chose to do guava.

Paula's guava meringue will be topped

with marshmallow Chantilly,

and her chestnut vermicelli piping

will be flavoured with rum.

We are very confident.

We tried, and it goes really well with the chestnut.

Tastes good. I hope they like it.

Stephen's team...

..have also turned to drink.

Right, rum. We have a chestnut filling,

which is almost like a chestnut buttercream.

And then we're going to add some rum,

because rum really goes well with chestnut.

Stephen's chocolate-sprayed rum and chestnut buttercream

will sit on top of meringue

and vanilla cream,

with an almond financier sponge base.

It's the shape rather than the flavours

that should help his Mont Blanc standout.

We have cones.

They are Mont Blancs in a cone shape

-and they are going to sit on our almond base.

-Very good.

That looks a little bit like a Mont Blanc.

Yes, because obviously the Mont Blanc Mountain

-is quite pointed, in a way.

-So I gather, yes.

I think most mountains are quite pointed, but...

Yeah. OK. It's particularly pointed, right.

So it's really important to get these even,

otherwise, when we present it,

it's going to be a bit kind of all over the place.

It's these air bubbles that are going to make

the biggest difference, cos if you've got an air bubble

on the side of it, it will show later.

I just started building the Mont Blancs.

I'm just putting cherry fluid gel down just to stick the cherry

that's been soaked and macerated. We'll pipe some cream round that.

The meringue will sit on top,

and then the vermicelli will sit on top of that.

The piped vermicelli surrounding Liam's team's Mont Blanc

will be an eye-catching green combination

of spiced chestnut puree and pistachio.

It will cover a vanilla Chantilly cream centre.

It's just a case of it all being neat and tidy.

It's up to me on this one.

Pressure's on.

Meanwhile, the pressure...

..is only getting worse for Chris and his choux.

I'm not really 100% happy with them.

I'm not sure what's really caused it,

but they haven't seemed to have risen.

Bogdan, oven.

Eclairs.

Some of them are a little bit fat,

but we're going to pick out the best of them.

That's why we've got a few more, which is good.

I knew the ruler would come.

Kevin, give me mine.

Mine's bigger.

Yeah, but, Cherish, if you look at this one, it's 12.

Oh, I get this glare.

Them ones puffing up any better?

They've only been in two minutes.

If they're puffing up better, maybe we should pipe another tray.

We could pipe another tray.

You've got some more choux pastry?

I've got some more choux pastry, yeah.

Pipe everything you've got, guys, because this is not going anywhere.

The choux are ready.

They look OK.

Try to pipe larger. Go for it. You've got nothing to lose.

This is not going.

Right, just keep going.

Chefs, you have 30 minutes left now.

Half an hour.

-Let's go, let's go, let's go.

-Loads of time.

Let's just keep our heads down and keep calm.

-Loads of time, there.

-Loads of time!

Make sure they're full.

Eclairs are in.

Let's start assembling everything, girls.

Guys, don't give up.

We can still do this.

If I'm dipping, you're sprinkling.

-OK.

-Right?

Obviously, our eclairs are quite big.

They weren't supposed to be as big, but they are as big.

It's going to be tight on the filling.

It's just a milk chocolate which I tempered,

and then I added some toasted nibbed almonds to give a crunchiness.

The eclairs are looking better, Chris.

I'm glad we've gone with that. Look at that.

-It's going to be a rapid fill.

-Hope I counted it right!

Hi, Liam, how's it going? 12 minutes to go.

It's going to be a push now to get them out.

Right. How was the second batch?

They're a bit bigger. We are a little bit happier with them, but

we're still not quite sure what's gone wrong with them, unfortunately.

Oh. Well, you've done one, so you only have another 35 to go.

What time are we on?

Chefs, you have ten minutes left.

It's getting built. It's getting built.

Where's your eclairs?

You've got enough, yeah?

Bogdan's eclairs are so large

that the team has run out of filling.

-That is not...

-Get some... I don't know.

We have to be smart, here.

I missed out two, so I need to put another two.

We're good.

Yes.

Guys, you have one minute left.

Just 60 seconds and everything

needs to be on your presentation trays, please.

-Liam.

-Come on. We'll have to push both sides to get them in.

-Yep.

-We're about to run out of time.

Don't just chuck them on.

Come on, you're nearly there.

How long have we got?

Ages. Enough time to put those on a plate.

OK, time is up.

Step away, please, from your miniatures.

Is that blood on your arm or raspberry?

Raspberry.

Now, that was hard.

-I'll just go home now.

-Two is nothing.

I'm hoping they don't get the two...

-I don't know.

-They're going to cut a few, but they might be clever...

-and cut ones in the middle, which

-BLEEP!

Nearly 300 petits gateaux made in just two hours.

Oh, God.

It's judgment time, and we're going to start with Paula's team, please,

if you'd like to bring over your miniatures.

Paula's team's Mont Blanc contain guava meringue,

marshmallow Chantilly, and rum and chestnut cream.

Their eclairs are flavoured with banana namelaka

and topped with a cocoa nib craquelin.

It's a little bit less than what I was expecting.

It's a little on the rough side.

As you can see, the scales are straight in front of me.

I am very particular about every weight

that's sent out of my kitchen.

And if they don't get it, I make them redo everything again.

Hopefully, they will be quite consistent.

45.

Ah, no. 34.

It's not quite acceptable.

This is 13.

11.5.

How could you(?)

-That's a whole 1.5 centimetres.

-That's 11.

Normally an eclair, I like to eat it with my hand.

Mm, OK.

Banana...

Yes.

Do I like it?

Yes.

Your choux pastry is slightly undercooked.

When you said namelaka, oh, I said, "Wrong recipe."

Because namelaka - time, which you haven't got today.

Two hours. You haven't got enough time.

So you should have perhaps used the banana flavour, different recipe.

This, tuned where it should be,

potentially a nice little eclair to enjoy.

I think it's not complete.

It's just like a dress without a skirt on.

Meringue has gone slightly soft.

Cream, nice.

If it wasn't so rough on the presentation,

I think I could almost say I enjoyed it.

We wouldn't want you to go TOO far!

I liked the chestnut filling,

but I was hoping to have a little bit more rum

because I love my rum. But do I really mind?

No, I don't, because it tastes really, really nice.

Yeah, definitely.

More booze, more booze next time.

More booze.

Stephen's team's Mont Blanc have an almond financier base,

vanilla cream, meringue,

and a chocolate-sprayed rum and chestnut buttercream.

Their eclairs are filled with blackberry curd

and glazed with fondant.

We wanted you to bring, as professionals, the eclair.

This is not looking like a professional eclair.

The way it's glazed is like...

put something on it.

You guys finished early.

Take a little bit more time to at least try to glaze it nicely.

-Are you going to weigh it?

-Yes.

Did you have any filling in there?

It looks like you don't have any filling in there.

You've got 43.

And you've got 72.

Ooh!

So, this one's likely to be empty.

-That is why it is 40g.

-Oopsy.

Basic skills, Chef. What a disappointment.

On the other hand...

..it's baked perfectly.

Slightly crunchy on the outside

and the middle is nice and soft.

So, should we move to the Mont Blanc, then?

They look like a little army of garden gnomes.

You thought about it.

You want to be different, so that is a plus point.

When you piped in the mousse,

I can see that there are gaps in between.

I don't like that.

Just that mousse is completely split

so you've got the butter floating around with the chestnut.

And I'm going to stay there for the negative

because the rest is pretty positive.

The sweetness is well-controlled.

The financier is quite nice.

The meringue element is too soft.

Meringue is a very simple recipe.

But this is completely collapsed.

Overall, it was bland.

I didn't enjoy eating it.

Fabrice's team's Mont Blanc are filled with vanilla Chantilly cream,

topped with chestnut puree vermicelli

and a mandarin and yuzu puree.

Their eclairs are filled

with chocolate and raspberry creme patissiere,

and are topped with raspberries, Chantilly cream

and a milk chocolate glaze with nibbed almonds.

Looking at your eclair, it was just too rushed.

It was irregular.

It was not precise at all.

I don't even need to weigh.

As a professional myself, I can't say anything against this.

However, it's a competition.

I've got to make sure that I serve something on the day.

Do I taste the chocolate?

Yes, definitely.

Do I taste the raspberry?

No.

I was expecting a little bit of raspberry mousse in there

or maybe some raspberry confit,

and when I look at your filling, it's split, as well.

I taste the raspberry.

But it is very light.

And it's a combination with your chocolate.

The choux pastry itself, it is baked,

but it's a bit on the dry side.

Mont Blanc.

Really like the idea of the meringue being on the outside,

and also, Mont Blanc being a French mountain,

you get those plaques of ice, looking like meringue, brilliant.

But the whole thing inside is rough.

It's quite nice that you put a bit of the yuzu and orange on the top.

Wow.

The particular idea of the yuzu is extremely sharp.

Yes.

Sharp it is.

But a Mont Blanc, for me, is big, soft, chestnut.

I haven't got enough chestnut here.

I've got a lot of yuzu and a LOT of Chantilly cream.

It's fabulous, the taste.

Fab-u-lous?

-Wow!

-They marry with each other.

But, again, this piece of pastry

needed a little bit of tender loving care.

Liam's team, you're next.

Liam's team's Mont Blanc have a sweet pastry base,

macerated cherries and a chestnut and pistachio vermicelli.

Their eclairs are filled with chocolate and orange mousse

and topped with fondant and toasted almonds.

Obviously, we are fully aware that you struggled.

Was the recipe, to begin with, the wrong one?

Difficult to judge.

I am struggling to see a glaze,

but again the eclair being wrong to begin with,

it's going to be very difficult to get it back.

How can you go wrong with orange and chocolate?

Chocolate and orange, orange and chocolate, I love the taste.

Flavour is not the issue.

-The rest is.

-What a shame.

Sorry, chefs.

The Mont Blanc or, should we say, the Mont Vert!

You have a green mountain in England?

I'm sure we have many.

Yes. I think we call them the Lake District.

How is the green mountain?

I really like my chestnut.

I'm not too sure why you mixed it with pistachio.

Cherry - overpower.

They are all flavours fighting and saying,

"Please, taste me! Please, taste me!"

All jumbled up in my head like a tumble dryer.

Funny enough, I've had most of it.

So I can't say I don't like it.

-Where is the meringue? Have you had any meringue?

-No.

There's cream. Good. Is it white? No.

So, am I eating a Mont Blanc?

I'm not.

Benoit and Cherish will now award each team a mark out of ten

for each miniature.

We didn't realise that the choux pastry challenge

would be that difficult for them to achieve.

(I'm scared.)

Some of the very big flavours they put together

clashed with each other as well.

A total of 40 points are on offer,

and they'll be revealed, starting with the lowest.

Liam's team.

Well, there was clearly an issue with your choux pastry.

I'm awarding your team 7 out of 20.

I award you 5 out of 20.

Making it a total of 12 out of a possible 40.

'Third is Fabrice's team with 13.'

So, who's mastered the petits gateaux?

Paula, I got the Mont Blanc picture, but the namelaka filling

was the wrong one for a competition in two hours.

I'm awarding you 11 points out of 20.

Really liked the filling of the Mont Blanc.

For that, I award you 11.5 out of 20.

Making a total of 22.5 out of 40.

Your marks for Stephen.

A couple of your eclairs were empty.

For that, I award you 9.

Your choux pastry was the only properly baked one today,

but you neglected completely your glazing, so I'm awarding you...

..9 out of 20.

Meaning a total of 18, which means congratulations to Paula's team.

You are in first place.

But tomorrow there are many points available

for the Showpiece challenge,

so all of that could be turned on its head.

So, for now, take a well-earned rest, reflect on the day's events,

tear into any team members who you feel might have let you down,

and we'll see you here tomorrow, bright and early.

Well done.

We're messier than we expected, but at least we won again.

Yes, again.

-We won!

-Happy.

-Woohoo!

Calm down, there's the showpiece,

and the guys always smash us.

We were quite pleasantly surprised.

We thought we'd done really badly.

The comments were pretty hard-core today.

You could see everyone was just taking a beating.

-We knew it was going to happen.

-Yes!

-But that was horrible.

It's like climbing Mont Blanc when an avalanche is about to hit.

There's only a couple of points in it.

I think we're one off third place.

Easily claw-backable in the showpiece one.

-Don't even say that

-BLEEP

-word.

-"Claw-backable"?

-Well, it is.

-That's not a word, is it?

-Cut it.

Tomorrow's final challenge is the grandest yet,

and the teams have been given a golden hour to prepare

any items that need to set overnight.

So, Paula's team, do you think they're way ahead?

Are they in a different league to the others?

I don't think it is quite the case.

But who's going to be pushing her?

All three teams can push her.

And even those at the bottom can push her,

-because they've made mistakes.

-Mm.

At any point of the competition, the leader is so important.

You lead the team. If you get panicked, the team get panicked.

If you are very calm, you're very directive of what you want to do,

then the team will follow you,

so you need to be very confident with yourself,

but you need the drive.

So, hopefully, they can redeem themselves tomorrow

and show us their pastry skill and their true abilities to do well.

-On va voir.

-On va voir.

I don't even know what that means.

(We will see.)

What have we done?

Shortbread done, sponge is done.

-Lemon curd is done.

-Curd's done.

This is done.

Tomorrow, I'll jump straight on the passion fruit mousse.

I'm starting to think we haven't done enough.

Welcome back, chefs.

I hope you're ready to take on the final challenge

because, at the end of today,

one of you will be respectfully asked to leave.

And so to today's showpiece challenge.

This week, it's an occasion showpiece.

And what better occasion than a wedding?

Well, almost any, some might say, but that would be churlish.

So, Benoit, Cherish, why a wedding cake?

Is it something you're trying to tell us?

Well, it's not just an ordinary wedding cake.

So, today we are asking you to make an exceptional

tiered gateau de mariage that caters for 50 people

and has a minimum of five tiers.

I'm looking for exceptional technical skill,

with flavour, texture and decoration.

It must be highly finished,

that the groom and bride will be very proud of.

Fair enough.

So, 60 points are available to you,

30 from each judge.

You had one hour preparation last night.

You now have three further hours to complete your gateau de mariage.

So, for better or worse, your time starts now.

Let's go, guys.

I need the sugar after you.

The pastry chef became in charge of making the wedding cake

for centuries. They were doing it in different ways, different styles,

but this is what we do for a living,

so this is at the very core of our job.

This is my life.

Is that 1.5kg?

I love making wedding cake!

Big challenge.

A lot of things can go wrong.

The cake might be too dry.

They might not be able to produce the cake in time.

And can you imagine, if they make a wedding cake

and it starts to topple and it starts to fall...

and then we go?

I want it to be flamboyant. I want it to be creative.

Make it big, make it bold, and make it a showpiece.

I did my first wedding cake, and when I got married the second time,

I didn't bother.

I went somewhere sunny instead, and somebody else made the wedding cake.

Because it didn't really bring me luck to make my own the first time.

Wedding cake, I've made once or twice.

Gimena over there, she makes them for a hobby.

She's the designer and she's the boss today.

Gimena's ambitious design will require 12kg of buttercream

to cover and fill five - yes, five -

triple-layered tiers of chocolate brownie with cream cheese,

a Victoria sponge, a blueberry yoghurt sponge,

a lemon yuzu cake,

and an apple, ginger and cinnamon cake.

Golden hour was very good last night.

We managed to make all the sponges.

So today, we're not baking, we're purely assembling our cake.

We're making all these fillings, the buttercreams,

putting all the cakes together.

Each layer is a different decoration,

so different flavours and different texture.

We went crazy.

Gateau de mariage madness.

They're on the trolley, guys. Just be careful.

And it seems to be spreading.

As a team, we haven't made wedding cakes.

It's a completely new challenge for us.

It's new techniques that we've had to learn.

We are taking a risk today.

It's everything or nothing, I think, on today's challenge.

It might not be exactly what the judges are going to be expecting.

It's us trying to reinvent and show them something

that they possibly haven't seen before.

Liam is risking an unorthodox chocolate wedding cake,

featuring an unheard-of combination of sachertorte

soaked with raspberry liqueur

and a pistachio Victoria sponge.

Each tier is sprayed

with milk chocolate flocking.

But his chocolate wedding cake's construction

could prove to be an even bigger gamble.

I'm just cutting out the sacher chocolate cake

to the size of the Victoria sponge we used.

Now I'm going to start building the cake.

We're not using a cake stand,

so we have to make sure all our cakes are the same level,

otherwise, the further up we go, with the tiers,

it's got potential to lean over and fall over.

We've got to make sure we get it right today,

as we are in fourth place.

If it survives, Liam's chocolate wedding cake won't be alone.

I need two of these.

You've got two. Fine.

Are you using that clingfilm?

No.

Why does our clingfilm always keep walking off?

We want to go down the whole chocolate route,

because it's our theme, it's an awesome-themed wedding cake.

It's a theme that was chosen long before the competition.

It's my wedding next year.

I asked Stephen a few months ago, like,

"Would you make a cake for the wedding?"

It's the right sort of flavour profiles and textures

for me and my fiancee.

If they don't love the cake, I do, so sod them.

James' dark chocolate glazed wedding cakes

will contain more layers than any other team's

with eight in each, including shortbread,

limoncello-soaked sponge,

chocolate cashew ganache,

raspberry jam and lemon curd.

It's all layered and nicely textured.

-Beautiful.

-And on a nice, wooden stand

we got made from the wood from our farm.

-So it's all kind of, like...

-Organic wood.

-Exactly.

-Right. I much prefer that.

So we've not gone floral design, we've gone with the chocolate theme.

Right. Can I taste one of these?

-No, unfortunately, you can't.

-Right, thank you.

I knew that question was coming,

-so we've got something for you to taste, today.

-Oh, OK.

It's about half of the cake.

So can you tell me what I'm putting in my mouth, now?

So, you've got chocolate sponge, lemon curd and cashew ganache.

-Cashew ganache?

-Cashew ganache.

It rhymes beautifully.

It's delicious.

It's a perfect combination of flavours in every way.

Ten out of ten.

I'll try and get Benoit and Cherish to be slightly more positive

when they next talk to you.

Won't happen, but I'll try.

-Strawberry jam?

-Yes, here.

-Looking good, Chef.

The teams now face an epic layering exercise...

We're about to start assembling the cakes.

The shortbread is out and cold.

We've got our ganache.

..with five multi-storey gateaux.

Did you put pistachios in there as well, mate?

Yes, mate, yeah.

When cut, the judges will expect to see clearly defined layers

of sponge and filling.

Right, so it's going to be jam first.

Jam first. And then the chocolate sponge.

But a precisely layered sponge...

You need to make sure they're all level.

..is something Fabrice has decided not to worry about.

We went totally different, probably, from the other teams,

so I didn't take it as wedding cake, as an English wedding cake.

-You didn't have to.

-Exactly.

So my interpretation, probably, as a Frenchman as well,

I went with an entremets with a chocolate mousse,

and tried to bring something different.

Because the only card we've got to play is being different.

OK. So, you seem to have a lot of mousse.

Is there more sponge to come in there?

There will have another layer of mousse just to cover this,

then we have the pain des Genes with a bit of pink pralines on the top

to get some crunch to it,

because we are very aware that it can be monotonous

to have a mono-textured product.

So you have two layers of sponge?

-No, one.

-Just one layer?

It's a gamble, but sometimes a gamble pays.

Fabrice's maverick entremets-style gateau

also contains a passion fruit mousse

and each one will be covered

with a dark chocolate mirror glaze.

All five will be arranged

around a romantic centrepiece

that's also a bit of a gamble.

Do you want gloves?

-BLEEP

-hell, Fabrice, mind yourself, dude.

Are you sure you don't want gloves?

For the very first time, Fabrice's team are building with sugar.

So what we're doing is, we're creating a part of the showpiece

where we're trying to get a nice, kind of, elegant swirl.

Obviously the risk factor of working with sugar

is that it's incredibly hot.

165 degrees, we've taken this to.

-SHARP INTAKE OF BREATH

-Don't worry. It's fine.

We're quite inexperienced when it comes to using sugar, so...

this is a risk, but you don't get anywhere without taking risks.

Chefs, you are exactly halfway through.

So, one and a half hours left.

All right, let's go. Let's try and get it done in the next 20 minutes.

Unless the teams can fill and build their layers quickly,

they won't have enough time remaining to chill

and set their cakes...

Three layers already in the blast chill?

Freezer, please.

..making glazing and stacking impossible.

OK. Lemon curd after.

Oh, God, all I can smell's that limoncello.

-Timer, 15 minutes.

-All right.

And if that weren't stressful enough...

-Just flatten it.

-Yeah, yeah.

Let me just get this one off, first.

..there are also decorations to prepare.

You've got to be careful of where that crack is.

Don't weigh too much for now.

That's it. Do your best. Yes.

One, two, three.

I'm going to make a flower.

It's going to have leaves round it, which I'll start in a minute.

Just kind of abstract...

flower assembled out of chocolate, basically.

I'm just airbrushing the petals for the flower.

We're trying to get a bit of brightness to these,

and these are going to be almost like...

One's going to be used as a cake topper.

These are new techniques that we've learned,

so I'm sure there's areas that we still need to improve on,

and I'm sure we'll get told.

Looking lush, mate.

I'm doing my royal icing for covering my cakes.

We build them upside down, because we wanted sharp edges,

so we added lots of buttercream on the outside,

and then you just smooth it out,

then you chill it a bit,

then we're going to get the icing that she's making now on top.

Covering the cakes with chocolate ganache,

just getting a good layer on first,

and then I'm going to skim it

so it's the smoothest cake you've ever seen.

OK, girls, lemon one going in the freezer, for the first layer.

1 hour and 20 minutes.

-Glaze?

-No, you want to get that in the freezer, mate.

-OK.

-First, chill, otherwise we're going to die.

The glaze is ten minutes.

We've got two all-boys teams with two dark chocolate wedding cake.

That doesn't sing "Wedding" to me.

Why not? Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

They have to bring something else than dark,

because it's a joyful day.

We need them to be uber-crisp.

As for Liam's team,

they have been using the chocolate sacher cake

and the vanilla sponge in it.

I think, if anything, it brings another dimension to the cake.

It kind of eases off the chocolate a little bit.

-Can I have the entremets out, please, as soon as?

-Right.

I've got a little bit worried about Fabrice's team.

Too much mousse, you have such a thick layer of chocolate mousse

and then the passion, and then only one layer of pain des Genes.

At least they've made the effort to bring a new skill to the team,

which is sugar work.

Paula's team, five different cakes, five different flavours.

We're going to have to taste five slices.

OK. Ready to go with the flowers.

I'm going to start to put all the cakes here.

Be careful, yeah?

-Right, let's go.

-Right...

-Freezer.

-Freeze.

55 minutes left. You just get building, mate.

-Chris, let's clean them down.

-Hot skim, and then stick.

All right, we'll let you hot skim first before we clean.

-How long's it going to take you to build them?

-About half an hour.

I'm not terribly sure what the military boys are doing.

But I think it might be along the lines of chocolate.

-That's that one done.

-These guys are doing sugar work.

It's like being a surgeon. Watch your finger.

Oh, thanks. That's much better.

Everyone's got a different thing. It is what it is.

We'll see how we get on.

-I want to save that for the glaze.

-OK, make glaze.

OK, we got it.

We delivered the baby.

The building bit's going to be dramatic.

You have to be very careful with the level, first of all.

We have some supports to go inside the cake

to hold the weight of the cake.

So they all have to be perfectly measured and balanced

in order for the cake not to collapse.

Whilst Paula struggles to strengthen five different cakes with dowels...

Wait, wait, wait. The second one is very dangerous.

Try it a little bit to your side.

..it's the moment of truth for Liam's unsupported tiers.

Do you have anything underneath to hold the cake?

Nope. Just the cake.

-There's no dowel?

-No.

And that's not the only risk they're taking.

We're not stacking the cakes up in a straight line.

We're staggering them as well,

so, again, we have to counterbalance

and make sure we get the gravity right.

Right, next one. Everything's looking really sharp.

Meanwhile, the teams that have avoided the stress of stacking...

..now have the added pressure of finding other ways to impress.

I'm just conscious that this is going to snap.

Chefs, you have half an hour to go.

30 minutes to go.

You can start to glaze it, if you want.

I trust you, you can do it. Do you want to bring it out?

-Let's go.

-We're going to bring through our stand.

Get something to fan it.

Light on your feet.

This is just for you, this, isn't it, Fabrice?

GROANING

They've brought a forest. Is that allowed?

Well, it might be organic.

Let me check. Let me check.

-25 minutes.

-Now we run.

Chris, you get ready for flock.

Yeah, doing it now.

Get the blowtorch.

Fabrice, can I just put that there?

No, you have to do it over the edge.

Where do you want it? On the cake board?

No, it needs to go back on here. We need to place it now.

Cake's ready now.

Yeah, go.

Two are done, I'm still doing it, obviously.

-OK.

-Get a nice palette knife and take your time, put enough on.

15 minutes, yeah?

What if anything goes wrong with the flock? We've got no scope.

Nice glaze. Well done.

Bang it, yeah? You've got loads, Bog. On top, loads.

Let me check how heavy it is.

OK, let's go.

You have to let it go. You have to let it go.

Happy there?

-Are you just taking a log?

-What?

Are you going to just take that log?

Yeah. I'll take that log.

-Three, two, one.

-Yeah, go.

That's it, that's it.

Presentation side, this way?

At the end of the table.

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

No, just stay there. That's fine.

Slowly, slowly, slowly.

What's the best side? I can't see.

There's a few air bubbles in that side.

Are we ready, Kevin, so I can move it?

OK?

Nothing's moving, is it?

I figure we have it facing that way?

-Yes.

-And you want to hold the tray for now?

-Yeah.

One, two...

-Tell me when.

-Off.

FABRICE EXHALES

Hi, Paula. Is this a good time?

It's the final tier.

Anything I can do?

It's going to sit in the vase?

Yeah, but I'm trying to get that round.

Just 60 seconds left.

Right, now, this is too heavy.

No point moaning about it, keep pushing.

Yeah, but I want to turn it.

-It's fine.

-No, it's not.

As soon as I let go, mate, that whole thing's rolling off.

-I wouldn't put it on there.

-Yes?

-No.

It's just counterbalance because the chunk's wonky.

Time is up now.

Done.

Walk away from your showpieces.

It's moving, right? It's moving a lot.

There's an air bubble just popped up there, that's left a massive cavity.

Leave it, leave it. Leave it.

Well, I can certifiably say

I'm not going into the wedding cake business.

Four stunning five-tiered wedding cakes,

made in just four hours.

-Good job.

-Yes. Well done.

English style...

It matches our uniform.

The suspense is killing me.

Paula's team.

I think you guys worked very, very well.

Five flavours within four hours is really a push.

When I look at it from afar, very impressive.

Looking at the flowers, very beautifully done.

It's an English wedding cake.

You have been safe in your choice.

It looks elegant, you've met the brief.

Is that enough?

We'll see what the other teams can deliver.

But saying that, it's very technical to get these five tiers straight,

well-masked and well-covered.

For that, you did very well.

OK. Those are your five slices of cake.

Before I move any further, your sponge is not baked.

You can see here, there are some areas

which are slightly undercooked.

You can feel that the sponge is not actually light and aerated.

It kind of melts and gets claggy.

Same story.

Actually, worse.

I love the yuzu. Very perfumey, very fragrant.

The yuzu kicks.

And with that poppy seed sponge, bam!

Because the icing, there is a lot of sugar in it,

the acid of the yuzu cuts the sweetness of the whole combination.

Bitter.

If you love your dark chocolate,

this is definitely the slice for you.

I like it. I like the power, the impact.

-You make a difference.

-And then plus the bitterness of the chocolate,

it cuts through the sweetness.

-I think you've balanced it very well.

-Thank you.

-I'm assuming the wood isn't edible.

-Obviously not.

Right. Just needed to check.

It is a beautiful wooden stand.

The person who actually created that for you has done a cracking job.

But it is a cake competition, so it's all about the cake.

There is limoncello in there.

But the lemon flavour of your curd is good.

The lemon flavour is there, but was that not enough?

Did you need to add limoncello?

Because that strong alcohol flavour is really tearing my taste buds.

The aftertaste of the limoncello

gives me a tingling sensation on my tongue as well.

And I can see that over here, your glaze, it is so elastic.

You see? look at this.

Will I serve it to my guests?

No. Because it's just so elastic, it's so thick,

and I just can't enjoy eating.

Recipe, recipe, recipe. Get it right.

-That's all.

-Thank you, gentlemen.

Just getting the recipe right.

Anyway, that wasn't as bad as yesterday, so...

Who's next?

I will commend you with the fact

that you've never done sugar work before,

and you tried to bring a skill to the table you may not have.

This is the spirit of the competition.

Nicely tempered, nicely cut.

-Approve?

-Approved.

I'm sensing this isn't sponge.

At the bottom, we've got a pain des Genes,

so you're aware you may have an issue with your texture.

-Yes.

-Each layer of your chocolate mousse and your passion,

it is not well defined at all.

Building on the positive,

I like the passion fruit flavour on the chocolate.

It works, actually. One without the other would have been too acidic

or too sweet and a bit rich.

Now, because you've got that balance

of the passion fruit mousse and this,

it actually is pleasant.

But you're definitely craving for some other things going on.

You've been safe.

And it shows.

Nervous.

Really nervous.

Wow, this is what I call wedding cake.

Innovation, creative, and flamboyant.

I can hear the woodpecker pecking on your tree trunk.

I can smell autumn coming, and I can see mushrooms everywhere.

Well done, Chef! Well done.

You've come back. Welcome back.

I'm serious when I say I wasn't expecting that.

Visually, you were talking about chocolate, and I was getting bored.

But then I see that, and I say, "I was wrong."

I want to eat this.

It's dry, Chef.

Both sponges, quite dry.

The ganache is just so hard.

Good thing is it brings a lot of strength, so...

It's not soft, so that's going to last for a while.

But, to eat...it's a little dry.

-Yeah.

-Thank God for that beautiful raspberry compote.

I wish you had raspberry compote in four other places

just to help the dryness. It might have worked then.

It's a tale of two halves.

It's a beautiful presentation.

For their showpiece, 60 points are available.

Once added to yesterday's points,

the team with the lowest overall score out of 100

will leave the competition.

It's anyone's game.

So, who's guaranteed their place in the next heat?

In first place...

..the judges have awarded you 37 points out of 60,

giving you a combined total of 59.5 out of 100.

Congratulations to...

Paula's team.

You are through to the next round, you are safe.

And the team in second place...

The judges have awarded you 41 points out of 60,

giving you a combined total of 53 out of 100.

Congratulations go...

..to Liam's team.

So, congratulations, you're through, your place is secure.

There's only one place left, so in no particular order...

Stephen's team, judges awarded you 21 points out of 60,

giving you a combined total of 39 out of 100.

And Fabrice's team, the judges awarded you...

..29 points out of 60,

giving you a combined total of 42 out of 100...

..so it means that Stephen's team is the one that is leaving tonight.

Congratulations to the rest of you.

Commiserations to Stephen's team.

Sorry, guys.

I'm going to miss you.

I'm really going to miss you. You've done yourself proud.

I think we're all pretty gutted to be leaving.

We were looking forward to the challenge,

and, of course, each week, you think,

"Right, we will learn from this."

No, it's fine, it's fine.

Hopefully, if we decide to come back next year,

we'll be challenged again.

You scraped this one. Can you scrape another one?

Lucky I bring my sugar master with me.

And my leprechaun for good luck!

I don't know who I need to bring next week!

Well done, bruv, well done.

The girls are plain sailing at the moment,

they haven't really put a foot wrong.

We'll get there one day.

We definitely need to get in their heads a little bit,

and show them that we are capable of beating them.

We knew you'd be first, didn't we?

Between now and the next heat, we are absolutely freaking out.

We don't have plans now.

We have to make one!

We didn't expect to get so far.

So, it's Stephen's team that has lost its place in the competition,

more's the shame, but join us next week

when the remaining three teams get to grips

with viennoiserie, petits fours,

and an Under The Sea-themed chocolate showpiece.

Other animated cartoon songs are available.

See you then. Bye for now.

Next time on Creme De La Creme...

-The pressure is on.

-Breathe.

The teams fight...

Choose your weapons.

..for a place in the semifinals.

We've chosen to challenge the team with viennoiserie.

I'm glad I've done croissants before.

-Because we would have been in a

-BLEEP!

Uh-oh.

It's the chocolate showpiece.

-Hold the bubble.

-You have to be magnificent.

-The tops have cracked.

-You're

-BLEEP

-joking.

I don't know what to make of anything any more.