Episode 4 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

-Week four in the Bake Off tent.

-Freezer, freezer, freezer. Please!

-Temperatures were rising.

-Agh!

-The bakers were baking.

-It's so hot!

And in a Bake Off first, one Showstopper got shoved in a bin.

-SUE:

-No, no, no, no, you can't...

Bloomin' 'eck! I'm Jo Brand. Welcome to An Extra Slice!

CHEERING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Crikey! Good evening. This week was probably the most dramatic week

in Bake Off history, as Iain put the "alas" into baked Alaska,

and Paul just couldn't hold back.

Does the "bincident" mean that he will have to go?

HE SNEEZES

-Bless you.

-Goodbye.

As a result, Iain became the fourth baker to leave the tent.

On the plus side, it does give me the chance to say

-did he get his just "desserts"?

-AUDIENCE GROANS

Thanks(!)

He'll tell us what HE thinks

when he joins us in the studio a bit later on.

Plus, I'm joined by a panel of celebrity fans,

who'll be giving us their take on this unprecedented event.

We'll be looking at some of the desserts

you've been whipping up at home.

And as for our studio audience,

well, what an array of puddings I see before me.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I've been delving deep into the Bake Off bin

to retrieve some more unseen moments.

Let's enjoy this clip of Mary.

When we look back,

-both of them have been...

-COW LOWS

..very consistently have been Star Baker...

-COWS LOW LOUDLY

-..erm, they've proved themselves,

and they were really at the same level. And the cows agree.

That must be Mary's affectionate term for Mel and Sue.

And here's another exclusive.

Apparently, Mary turned up for filming

after a heavy night in the hotel bar

and had to be reminded who someone was.

I'm a baker who judges baking.

Time now to meet tonight's panel of celebrity fans.

First up it's Michelin-starred chef and yummie Brummie Glynn Purnell.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Next, it's former Bake Off baker

and custard theft victim Howard Middleton!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And a comedian who enjoyed stuffing her face with cake

so much last time she was on,

she's back for more - it's Roisin Conaty!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's dessert week on Bake Off.

Glynn, what's the most extravagant dessert you've ever made?

We've got a dish at the minute which is called

the emotions of mint chocolate chip,

and basically it's warm chocolate mousse, cold ice cream underneath,

two different textures of chocolate,

and we pour liquid nitrogen over the top of it so it freezes the top

-but still stays warm on the bottom.

-That sounds amazing!

You've got a dish that people order,

"Can I get the emotions of mint chocolate chip?"?

If they can get the sentence out without choking.

I've got a dish named after me husband.

It's called the bad temper of dinner.

Now, Howard, you were in the last series of Bake Off.

What's the hardest thing about baking in that tent?

The timing, I think, is the worst thing.

When you're baking at home, you're obviously more relaxed.

You can take your time, you can put the washing in and do other things.

When you're in the tent, you've absolutely got to concentrate,

and you've got often quite ridiculously short timescales

to do quite complicated things.

-Roisin, you've told me your area of expertise is eating.

-Yes.

Which desserts are you hoping for this evening?

-Tiramisu, Jo.

-Really?

-Yes. That's my dessert.

I've had it all round the world. Wherever I go, I eat tiramisu.

-Does it vary much round the world?

-It really does.

The best one I ever had was in Kilkenny, in Ireland.

-Who'd have thought?

-AUDIENCE MEMBERS WHOOP

Good, you've all had it as well!

Well, you've certainly been busy at home,

creating some stunning desserts,

and I have to say that a few of them were even stunningly good.

Emma Mason from Nottingham made a fraisier dessert cake.

AUDIENCE: Ooh!

That looks gorgeous, doesn't it?

And if it's brightly coloured bakes you're after, then look no further

than Morgan of Wiltshire's three-vegetable savoury bread.

Here's what it looked like before he put it in the oven.

To be fair, if you fancied a night-time snack,

at least you could see it in the dark.

It's tomato, spinach and beetroot.

And perhaps it looks more inviting once it's been baked.

No, it doesn't.

Tommy from Switzerland - that's right, Switzerland! -

sent us a picture of the meringue he made for a Halloween party.

I think it's absolutely brilliant.

When he asks people what they think of it, they all stay neutral.

A LITTLE LAUGHTER

Yeah, thanks(!)

-I got it, Jo.

-Yeah, thank you, Glynn.

Can you go "Ha, ha!" in a really sarcastic way?

Yes, you see, I've got a meringue called elements of sarcasm.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Kayleigh made a unicorn cake

as a special treat for her sister-in-law's birthday.

Awww, that's sweet of her.

I bet her sister-in-law was really touched.

I know a unicorn only has one horn.

I didn't realise it had six mouths!

And what are those two lumps above its horn?

Can I say, we did check Kayleigh's age,

just in case she was only six or something.

She's 28.

Philip from Camberley made

blackcurrant and white chocolate mousse cakes.

AUDIENCE: Ooh!

Exactly. They're lovely, aren't they?

They're topped with a macaron to add what Philip describes as

"a flourish of camp".

Mission accomplished there, Philip, I think.

And finally, Jo from Sheffield

sent us a picture of a loaf baked by her twin sister Ruth.

Apparently, during the kneading process,

Ruth's pastry brush went missing. Wherever could it be?

Then she got her loaf out of the oven.

Brilliant.

Thank you so much for sending your pictures in.

Keep them coming. Details below.

Whether they're spectacular or just a bit of a spectacle,

we'd love to see them.

Right, let's get down to business.

Here's a reminder of what happened

in Bake Off's most extraordinary week of all time.

The bakers got saucy in this week's Signature Bake.

The judges would like you to make eight self-saucing puds.

Er, I've got some leakers.

I like 'em. They probably won't be fancy enough for the judges,

-but there you go.

-Out you come.

-Perfection.

-I think it's really, really good.

-Exceptionally baked.

-Thank you.

'They got confused making Mary's tiramisu cake in the Technical.'

How the hell are you supposed to cut that horizontally?

-Job's a good 'un.

-Nice lines, nice layers. They're all equal.

This is number one. The flavour was perfect.

'And they lost the plot in the Showstopper...'

The ice cream's melting. Quickly.

'..making baked Alaska in tropical conditions.'

Now it's all melting. The whole thing's melting.

'Iain chucked his bake in the bin...'

-SUE:

-No, no, no, no, you can't...

If he doesn't present something for us to taste,

how can we let him stay?

-JO:

-'..and was chucked out of the tent,

'whilst Richard was crowned Star Baker again.'

Mary and Paul said Iain's behaviour was unacceptable.

I thought it was funny, actually - I did! - and completely understandable

as well. What do you think?

I can completely see where Paul and Mary are coming from,

because he could have served the sponge or the meringue

to prove what he'd done for all of that time.

But, you know, when somebody else leaves your ice cream out the freezer

and the emotions start running high,

then I would probably have thrown it in the bin myself!

I think most hairy men would have done the same.

Have you ever thrown anything in the bin?

I mean something you've baked, not just an empty tin of beans.

Ask him if he's a hoarder!

I worked in a pastry kitchen when I was a young lad

for about six to eight months, and if anything went wrong

I had to go up and show the chef,

so I've been trained that you wouldn't throw it away,

you would show somebody before you'd done that.

Howard, have you thrown food in the bin in a huff?

Oh, yeah. I've thrown food at the wall and all sorts of places.

And I think you can do that in the safety of your own home.

-I think the difficulty is...

-LAUGHTER

..when you do it on national television.

You know if you order a takeaway and the wrong food shows up?

In temper, I've chucked that in the bin.

-And then got it out again?

-Yeah!

-20 minutes later!

-I've done that, yeah!

"All right, I'll have the anchovies, then. Fine..."

Now, Diana took Iain's ice cream out of the freezer.

Erm, do you think she was to blame for this in some way?

Yes!

I don't think it was her fault,

but she did take the ice cream out of the freezer.

But you need something to present, otherwise there's no show!

If everybody just bins their stuff

and everyone just wheels up bins to the front of the room...

This Showstopper Challenge didn't get off to a great start.

Let's begin by seeing Paul and Mary's reaction

to Martha telling them what she was baking for her Showstopper.

I'm making a Key lime pie-inspired baked Alaska.

-Ooh!

-Ooh!

Well done. And you've won. Goodbye.

And here's how they reacted when Iain told them

he was creating black sesame seed ice cream for his baked Alaska.

-Hello, Iain.

-Hello. Morning.

-That looks absolutely revolting.

-Yes.

Now, Howard, you experienced some drama when you were in the tent.

When you were making trifle,

your fellow baker Deborah stole your custard, didn't she?

-Unbelievable.

-She accidentally acquired it.

She stole your custard, Howard.

Well, let's just remind ourselves what happened.

Where's my custard?

-What's happened?

-I used Howard's custard by error.

It's either a terrible error

or the most incredible case of baking espionage I've ever seen.

No, I'm really sorry.

-TEARFULLY:

-I'm sure that one custard's as good as another...

AUDIENCE: Awww!

Is it true that you got shouted at in the street after that?

I've had people shout, "Custard!"

All the bakers take a different approach

to their baking, don't they? Some bakers are perfectionists.

The OCD's kicking in nicely, so things have to fit perfectly.

Having a design agency, everything you do has to be precise.

And some of them are Norman.

A few spots of flour here and there, but you always get that.

I don't think you do.

It's fair to say Iain's meltdown saved Norman from being ousted,

I think.

According to Mary and Paul, Norman's sticky toffee pudding looked untidy,

and he was second from bottom

with his tiramisu cake Technical Challenge.

Now, Glynn, did Stormin' Norman have a lucky escape, do you think,

-this week?

-Most definitely.

I thought his first one, the sticky toffee,

looked a little bit like a really bad shepherd's pie.

You know you have half-burns on the sides? It looked a bit like that.

Yeah. Howard, do you think Norman would have gone

if Iain hadn't had the problems he did?

I think he probably would have.

I suppose I've got a bit of a soft spot for Norman.

I think a lot of people have said Norman is the new Howard,

which I'm not sure I completely like, but...

He's no Howard, I'm telling you that now.

They said about me last time that I looked as if

I'd wandered in the tent from an Alan Bennett sketch.

I think he's got that same quality to him.

If Norman and Diana combined,

they would have the perfect amount of confidence,

because Norman's confidence is up there, Diana's is down there.

If they go, "Ooh, it's not great,"

she goes, "Yes. I should be baking at home. I shouldn't be here. Taxi!"

He's quite feisty, is Norman.

He came out fighting this week, defending his self-saucing pudding.

Sticky toffee pudding's not meant to look beautiful.

You know, it's a bit like, er, some people, you know,

they're nice-looking on the outside but they're all rotten in the middle.

And my puddings are the opposite of that.

Cheers, Norman. Erm...

Now, Norman wasn't the only one who was starting to fight back.

Here's what Paul and Mary had to say

about Nancy's Signature pistachio puddings with chocolate sauce.

-We have asked for a sauce.

-For me, it's overbaked.

That outside sponge is dry.

And here's what she had to say about that.

I don't think they were dry.

They're a pudding, so you can eat them in two minutes, anyway.

So they don't get time to go dry. It's not like it's a cake.

So I don't agree with him.

Ooh, I like it. They're getting feisty.

-Howard?

-They are getting feisty! And I think it's really good.

I think it's just a shame

that Nancy's gone and found a field somewhere to say this

rather than saying it to Paul and Mary's face.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Four weeks in, who do you want to win, Howard?

My heart is with Nancy, I think.

I like Nancy. I like her dry sense of humour,

even though she went into a field into talk about Paul and Mary.

I think, um... I like her approach. I think she's meticulous.

I also like Martha as well.

I think they're really both very strong contenders.

I'd love to see Martha win it. See the youth win it.

I think she's got so much potential.

She's still at school and doing exams as well.

These people are all at home making cakes.

She's doing exams and she's practising.

She's as cool as a cucumber.

She's confident. She listens when Paul and Mary speak,

although it does throw her a little.

-I would love to see her winning.

-She's great.

Because she's so young, she will have so many chances.

Diana, or someone a bit older, someone who's been baking

their whole life who has not been rewarded for it,

-you'd like to see them get some sort of go...

-Yes, absolutely.

Iain will be joining us in a bit. First, let's check out the desserts

our studio audience have baked at home.

There's a prize for anyone who made

a baked Alaska in a two-man tent in their garden.

Let's have a look at a couple. James, where are you?

James is here with a tirami-Sue.

-ALL:

-Oh!

APPLAUSE

Molly, where are you?

-Here.

-Molly, what have you got there?

I've got a Mary Berry cheesecake but it's quite scary.

Oh, yes, that is Mary Berry in a Hammer Horror film in the '70s.

I hardly need ask you...

Roisin, would you mind bringing some stuff over for us?

-I don't like meringue.

-Oh.

-What have you brought, Tony?

-Um, it's meringue.

Bloody meringues?!

He's got some too.

It's chocolate and salted caramel.

Oh, save it for someone who eats meringue!

It looks amazing. It looks gorgeous.

Now, Tony, I believe you suffered an injury during the making

of your delightful production.

Yes, when I was melting the chocolate,

I forgot the pan was still over the gas and I picked it up.

-ALL:

-Oh...

How bad is it?

I went to A & E the next day.

Did they go, "Not another Bake Off experiment(?)"

Glynn, what's the verdict?

It's lovely. You've got that little bit of chewiness with the meringue

-rather than the powder.

-It's really nice.

-Really lovely.

-Well worth the burn.

Howard, you're just happily munching away there.

Yeah, just leave me. I'll carry on like this for a while.

-Is it nice?

-It is nice. Very nice.

-It's delicious.

-It's lovely.

-Alison, where are you?

-Hello, Alison.

-Hello.

-Now, what have you got?

-I have got a carrot meringue pie.

Oh, come off it?!

-Go.

-I can see tiramisu all round this room!

Go and get it. Why carrot?

It was an idea to get vegetables into my kids.

Oh, OK, everyone always does that, don't they?

-What is this? What is this?

-I repeat, "What is this?"

-Carrot.

-Carrot?!

-ALISON: Carrot meringue pie.

-Would you like some?

-There is carrot in the filling and in the pastry.

I have never not eaten a cake in my life!

But there are so many bad words in that sentence you just said, Jo.

Go on, have a go.

-It is nice.

-Is it very...?

It is nice. I don't like meringue but it is actually a very nice cake.

-Oh.

-Is it very carroty?

It's just wrong.

I wouldn't have necessarily known that it was carrot.

It is coming through quite strongly on lemony for me.

So if you were trying to get carrots into people without them knowing,

this might be one way of doing it.

Thank you very much, Alison, that's great.

Back to the Bake Off where one baker

was reluctantly asked to leave the tent.

Not because he was rubbish

but because that was where he threw his baked Alaska.

Without him we would never have heard of za'atar.

Will you please give a huge welcome to Iain!

WHOOPING AND CHEERING

Wow! Welcome to An Extra Slice, Iain.

Before your final Showstopper, were you enjoying Bake Off?

Yes and no because it is very stressful.

I think people don't realise at home

that when you are baking in a tent it is very, very different.

I was up and down, I think, through the whole show,

and then, very down at the end.

Well, let's get down and dirty -

a bit like your baked Alaska is now, I'm afraid -

and remind ourselves of what happened

on that fateful Showstopper bake.

-Where's my ice cream?

-It's here. I'm sorry, Iain, we...

-Argh!

-BLEEP!

Well, you've got your own freezer.

Someone's taken it from the freezer. This has all melted.

Why would you take ice cream out of a freezer?

Eurgh!

-SUE:

-OK, all right. Let's think about how we are going to present that.

-Um, that's not... OK.

-I'm going to throw it.

Oh...

No, no, no, no...

Iain, Iain, Iain, you have to present it.

Look at it. How can you present it?

-ALL:

-Aw!

Iain, what was going on in your head,

when you lifted off the baking ring and it just went...?

I think I lifted it off to show how bad it was.

I was never going to serve it, it was that bad.

I didn't realise how bad it was until it went...

What sort of advice was Sue giving you

in terms of how you could serve it up?

She was coming up with some alternative serving suggestions.

Lake Alaska was one.

Yeah.

It must have been really annoying

when you just found it sitting there, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was really annoying

cos first I looked in the freezer and it was like,

"I definitely put it in this freezer."

It was like... I just tried...

And then I asked where it was

and Diana nicely told me it was at the end of her bench.

She took your ice cream out of her freezer for a moment.

I think it was about a minute, OK?

Your stress was building anyway. Let's just have a look.

I think that shows you were getting

stressed out even before the Showstopper challenge.

Here we are.

HE GRUNTS

Come on!

Come on, come on! Oh...

Eurgh! Oh, no.

Are you normally someone that lets your feelings show like that?

Or is this just with the baking?

It's just for baking, yeah.

Because I am so interested in it and just so into it

when I'm doing it, all the emotions come out, I think.

Here is a bit of unseen footage.

Luis is... I don't think you've seen this.

..trying to pipe his meringue onto his baked Alaska,

with it inside the freezer because it is so hot.

But Mel is getting really worried because yours is in there as well.

Have a look at this.

Be careful because Iain's ice cream is there.

-I know.

-Very, very careful, mate.

Freezer piping. Very, very quickly, my darling.

We've got a slightly angry baker over there.

(Quickly. He's looking angry.)

-Hurry, hurry!

-Hold that for me.

-Pipe for Britain!

So instead of presenting a melted baked Alaska to Mary and Paul,

-you chucked it all in the bin...

-Yeah.

-..after which, you did this.

HE GROANS

I was thinking, "Maybe Iain's gone to Iceland to buy a baked Alaska."

Where did you actually go?

-I just had some quiet time near a tree, I think.

-Did it help?

-Not really, no.

-No?

Now, you will have seen this before but here are some of your former

Bake Off colleagues sharing their thoughts on your departure.

Really, really sad that Iain's gone.

He will regret that for a long time. And that is the toughest thing.

It was because he was so proud of what he was doing,

he wanted it to come out perfect. So, yeah, I do feel for him.

I am really gutted for him,

and I'm really annoyed that he did that, and I've told him so.

Maybe the heat got to him a bit too much. I don't know.

Oh... Gutted.

There's some nice words, yeah, but I still would've thrown it in the bin.

Yeah?

Because I just didn't want to serve something that wasn't

my intended result.

Just to have all those flavours I thought went well together

and not to have ice cream, which I think is the main part of it,

not to have that in my bake, I don't think was an option.

Mm. Well, as you know, we do like to give baker's a second chance

to create one of the bakes that didn't quite work for them.

So let's see how your chocolate, black sesame seed

and coffee-caramel baked Alaska has turned out.

ROISIN GASPS

-ALL:

-Ooh!

WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE

There you go, guys. And a big spoon to serve it with.

If you could just turn it round

so everyone can see what it looks like inside.

-ALL:

-Ooh!

GLYNN CHUCKLES

No-one's ever gone "ooh" at one of my puddings.

-The ice cream's incredible.

-Is it?

-Yeah, it's really, really good.

I can see your rage now.

Nice texture because it's got the little bits in, which is nice.

-It's really nice.

-It's lovely.

Is that a massive thumbs up from everyone?

-Delicious.

-Lovely.

-Definitely.

I am sorry it's come a bit late but they love it. Congratulations.

Thank you CHEERING

Which of your bakes were you most proud of?

Because I like baking a lot of bread, I think

the Moroccan plait came out the best because it all went to plan.

I didn't need to do any grunting and, um...

use a bin. So, yeah, that was the best one.

Well, thanks so much for coming to see us.

Roisin, if you could fetch Iain's present,

because we thought we would get you something.

So, here we go.

GROANS AND GROWLS

I am not presenting you with that, sorry!

APPLAUSE

Sorry, that... that wasn't good enough.

Roisin, can we have something that is good enough?

I've got to line this up.

I am hoping that'll be a bit better.

Right, here we go. Don't want to break that. There you go.

AUDIENCE: Ooh...

-APPLAUSE

-Congratulations.

It's lovely to meet you.

And, everybody, let's give Iain a Great British send-off!

Iain!

CHEERING

Thank you.

Next week, it is pies and tarts in the tent.

-Whoa...

-This has to be up there

as one of the strangest things I've ever done.

If that stays up without falling, I will be amazed.

-I'm going to put that one right under their nose.

-Too sweet for me.

Oh, my goodness.

One of the challenges involves a stack of pies

that has to be at least three tiers high.

So get pie stacking at home

and send us your pictures, or send us a picture of some tarts.

Although that's a risky thing to say.

Details below. The triumphs or tragedies

may feature on next week's show

So what have we learnt this week?

Meringue comes in several different forms.

Kate, Luis, Nancy and Richard made Italian meringue.

Chetna and Iain made French meringue.

And Norman made...meringue.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. He actually made a rice pudding

They do make meringue in other parts of the world.

There is a slightly orange coloured meringue found in Indonesia.

That's the meringue-utan.

And, um...

..meringue isn't actually eaten too much in the Middle East

except of course for Yemen meringue pie.

A big thank you for our guest baker Iain, to all our studio bakers

and to our celebrity panel,

Glynn Purnell...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

..Howard Middleton...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

..and Roisin Conaty.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Good night.