Episode 6 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

The six remaining bakers were pushed to their limits this week.

I think that was the toughest week on Bake Off I can remember.

Baking European cakes that proved to be a bit of a mouthful.

Kugelhopfs, kugelhopfs.

I don't know what a Savarin is.

I don't know what a Savarin is either but I'll eat it!

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

APPLAUSE

Bonsoir, hola, guten abend, hello!

This week was one of the toughest the bakers have ever faced,

as they attempted to correctly pronounce the names of their European cakes.

And what cakes they were!

Some of the most complicated we've ever seen on Bake Off,

most of which I'd never even heard of!

To be honest, one of the bakers could have said they were

making a Latvian ninky-nonker and I'd have believed them.

And it's nice to see that, six weeks in,

Paul is really getting to know the bakers.

In sixth place is...

this one, whose is this?

Oh, Kat.

Sorry, Kate.

See how easy that is!

Pete Bollywood, there, on fine form.

Meanwhile, Mary was talking about the Signature Bake,

yeast-leavened cake, with the use of helpful hand gestures.

Nearly all of them, I expect, will choose one

that is a sort of Savarin-type,

with a funnel up in the middle.

LAUGHTER

So, Paul and Mary agree to disagree, and no-one left the tent.

Luckily, Diana will be here to give her first TV interview

about her time in the tent.

Plus I've another panel of celebrity fans, who'll be giving us

their views on the European antics.

And, with less than four weeks until the final,

our thoughts are turning to who might win.

To discuss that, we'll be joined by last year's winner,

Frances Quinn, and fellow baker, Glenn Cosby.

It gives me the perfect excuse to play a great bit of unseen footage

from Sweet Dough Week last series.

Paul, Mary, Mel and Sue are all discussing

Glenn's apricot brioche buns.

And that's what sets them off...

The thing about Glenn's buns was the...

You can't just spin icing on the top and put apricots on...

So Kimberley, she's...

She's made some pretty lovely iced fingers, what did you think?

APPLAUSE

Thanks for sending in your pictures

of the baking you've been doing at home.

We've got some corkers coming up in just a bit,

and as usual our studio audience have come bearing bakes.

Have you all gone a bit European?

Get out your kugelhupfs!

CHEERING

Romesh, what's happened? Do you want to help them?

There's been a disaster!

APPLAUSE

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

First up it's Michelin-starred chef,

whose guilty food pleasure is beans on toast, Richard Corrigan.

APPLAUSE

Next, it's actress, TV cook and author, whose food of choice

is crisps and chocolate in the mouth at the same time - Fay Ripley.

APPLAUSE

And a comedian who's a vegan, so he can't eat proper cakes.

It's Romesh Ranganathan!

APPLAUSE

Romesh, you're a vegan, which means you can't eat

eggs, milk, butter or cream.

-No.

-Why bother getting out of bed in the morning?

I've got absolutely no idea.

I don't even know why I enjoy Bake Off so much.

It's torturing myself. It's like me watching a barbecue show.

What sort of cakes can vegans eat?

Quite boring ones, made out of chickpeas and dust?

The chickpea and dust is a favourite, I'll be honest with you.

There's all sorts of replacements and stuff like that.

Cardboard.

I'm beginning to get an idea of how this show's going to go.

Richard, beans on toast, what's that all about?

You know, you come back from work very late, very tired.

Completely shattered most evenings.

And maybe once a week I'll treat myself to a little sourdough toast

and some beans and a little bit of red chilli on the top.

So that's a little bit kind of exotic?

A little bit, the sourdough.

Mother's Pride and Daddies Sauce then.

-No. Sourdough.

-Look at his look! "Oh, no!"

Fay, are you a big fan of creamy, continental cakes?

Well, I am and I'm not. I've got a dairy intolerance,

so I crave all those things with the layers and the cream

but it's like a loaded gun, to be honest with you.

And what I do is I hold off

and I don't have them and I don't have them,

and then I can't resist any more and then...

I have to use the facilities.

Romesh, you've brought along some vegan cakes that you've baked, haven't you?

I've made a chickpea and cardboard brownie,

which I think you're going to enjoy. It's actually chocolate and cherry.

Everyone sit back from Fay a bit.

-There's no dairy.

-Wow.

There is no dairy.

What are we comparing it to - nice compared to something horrid

or nice compared to a proper brownie?

Sorry, what did you just call me?

LAUGHTER

I think they'd be better a week old. They're a little gooey.

I think they're really nice.

Right then.

Well, you've been as busy as ever at home

creating some wonderful European cakes.

Louise, who is half-Swedish,

made one of Sweden's traditional Kristina Cakes, which looks amazing.

Louise grew up on an island north of Stockholm,

but thanks to marrying a man she met over here,

she left that bleak and windswept landscape,

and now lives in St Albans.

Now, I got a bit worried

when I thought Annabel from London had sent in a picture

of some "keks",

but then I discovered that a kek is a Romanian cake.

It should have a beautiful marbled appearance.

Annabel's looked like this.

Refusing to be beaten, Annabel simply trimmed off

all the burnt bits,

and I think you'll agree that that made a vast improvement.

Ian from Taunton sounds the perfect husband.

Every year for the past 22 years, he's made a birthday cake

for his wife, Anna, which he decorates with a likeness of her face.

What a lovely treat for her.

She's recently had her birthday,

and here's the cake he presented her with.

If you think this looks less than flattering,

take a look at the one he did last year.

And the year before that, Anna seemed to have gone bald

and had a nose job.

Of course, what we're all dying to know is,

what does Anna actually look like?

Well, here's a picture.

Only joking!

Although how bad would we feel if that was true?

Anna actually looks like this.

Becky of Worthing sent us a picture of a cake she made for a friend's baptism at sea.

Although it could simply be a leaky washing machine.

And I have to say, if we take a closer look,

I can't help thinking it looks a little bit sinister.

Anyway, thank you so much for being such good sports

and sending your pictures in.

Details below if you want to send us a picture of your baking.

Right, back to the tent.

Let's remind ourselves what happened

when the bakers went all continental.

It was European Cake Week in the tent.

The Signature was to create yeast-leavened cake.

Oh, I hate this bit.

-Moment of truth.

-Looks how it should look.

-Your choice of flavours for the inside, I think, are wrong.

-Oh.

It's very, very good.

A tricky prinsesstarta was called for in the Technical.

Not a clue. Not a Scooby-Doo.

Congratulations.

And the Showstopper pushed the bakers to the extreme.

Hungarian Dobos torte.

What am I doing?

Nothing like cutting it fine, is there?

It's what I call a Showstopper.

Mary and Paul had a to-do and neither agreed to back down.

We don't agree.

The person leaving us today is...

It's nobody, lads, because they were really rowing and it was really awful.

And Chetna was finally crowned Star Baker.

APPLAUSE

It was breadsticks at dawn for Mary and Paul

as they just couldn't decide which baker should be sent home.

Here's how the Bake Off queen of charm and tact

described their difference of opinion,

choosing her words carefully.

On the whole, Paul and I agree because we have the same standards,

but on this particular occasion, we definitely disagreed.

Here's what Paul had to say.

We had a little bit of a tiff.

Richard, do you think Paul and Mary did the right thing,

keeping them both?

I think one in particular could have left, and that's Richard.

Well, it is a competition and someone has to go at the end of it.

The problem is I think they've set a precedent,

because they're all neck and neck.

They all seem very, very good to me,

so I think they'll have trouble each week, at this stage.

Who would you have sent home if you had to send someone?

If I had to, I would... I feel Richard.

He keeps saying it out loud in front of the camera,

but he feels like he's hanging on by his coat-tails a bit.

I think at least he's expecting to go.

What about if Mary and Paul had a proper fight, Romesh?

-I'm talking tops off and bare knuckles.

-Hello!

That's a pay-per-view I'd get involved in.

Who do you think would win?

I think, hands down, Mary.

Can you imagine Mary getting quite drunk before the match

so she doesn't feel any pain?

The Signature Bake for European Cakes Week

involved making a yeast-leavened cake, such as a bundt or a kugelhopf,

which is one that uses yeast instead of baking powder.

Nancy's cake was a rum punch Savarin with coconut cream,

and decorated with tropical fruits

and some Christmas decorations she bought in 1976.

The totally tropical taste of her European cake.

Nancy, what did you make of Nancy's Caribbean Savarin?

All I think is I would have served it with a grapefruit juice for a starter,

and then a cheese fondue for main, just because it felt very retro.

-A bit Abigail's Party.

-It was a bit, wasn't it?

Martha also decided to make a Savarin and embarked

on an ambitious dark chocolate and almond liqueur version.

Here's the moment when it dawned on her that she'd made this

harder than it needed to be.

It's just hard not knowing what it should be like.

I feel like how I feel in technicals, even though this is a bake I could have practised!

I could have practised it.

-Bless her.

-Yeah, bless.

It's weird how it doesn't feel like - and she fully admits it -

she doesn't actually know how these things are supposed to turn out.

It must be so annoying for the people who have spent months and months...

"I don't even know what it's supposed to taste like, but apparently it's incredible!"

She's 17, and me at 17, the only thing I was cooking

was crystal meth. I'll be honest.

I'm just so impressed by the youth on offer.

I think crystal meth is next week on Bake Off.

For their Showstopper,

the bakers had to make the Hungarian Dobos torte.

Some people argue that it stops being a Dobos torte

if it has more than five layers.

Other people argue that nobody cares.

Which of the Dobos tortes really impressed you, Richard?

Nancy, there was a real clarity to it.

Clean, beautiful presentation.

I think she got the texture in there as well,

which I think is really important.

It's all Nancy with me, I'm afraid.

Somebody's got the hots for Nancy, haven't they?

Why don't you marry her?

To be honest, the one that took me was Chetna's,

because of those amazing baubles and things.

If you Google "bubonic plague",

that's it in cake form!

Sort of the lumps you get under your arms and all that,

and I like that novelty, that history element to it.

Romesh, who's impressed you?

I thought Luis, the structure was impressive.

They said it was disappointing in the flavour.

One of the things I was really impressed with him

was he properly psyched out the rest of the contestants.

When they went to the last five minutes, he was just, like,

cleaning up. "You still making your cake, are you? See you later, mate!"

In less than four weeks' time,

we'll all know who wins this series of Bake Off.

So it's time for us to discuss who we think will make it

to the final, and who we think will receive the ultimate

creme pat on the back. I haven't got a clue.

No change there then.

To help us look at the runners and riders, ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome last year's Bake Off winner, Frances Quinn,

and one of her fellow bakers, Glenn Cosby.

APPLAUSE

Welcome to An Extra Slice.

Frances, you won last year, pipping Ruby and Kimberley at the post.

At what point did you think, "I might win this"?

You probably saw from my face when they even announced it,

I looked like I was going to go down.

The final was so close. So, so close.

There wasn't a frontrunner from the beginning.

Glenn, let's not beat about the bush, you didn't win.

Not even close.

You went out in week seven - at what point did you think

"I'm never going to win this"?

I couldn't believe I was on it, and then when you get in the tent,

and all of us shared the same anxiety, you just don't want

to be the person who goes week one - sorry, Tobes.

That's all you're thinking about, and then it was Bread Week

when this one brought out the Swan Vesta box.

I was like, "Glenn, every week is a gift."

For as long as you stay holding your own, it's all a gift.

Let's take a look at the remaining six bakers.

Now, who do you think will be in the final three, Richard?

I'm going to put Nancy number one,

Luis number two and then Chetna number three.

I just think steady, steady goes the train with Nancy,

delivering high quality at all times, you know?

For me, it is all about the girls.

Nancy, also, for me, Martha,

and Kate. And I think there is also a chance

that Norman might abseil in with a pesto and lavender pavlova

or something and steal it from under them!

Would you like Norman to come back?

-I'd love Norman back.

-Can you imagine...?

APPLAUSE

Can you imagine what Norman's sugarwork would have been?

"What did you do, Norman?" "Put a blob of caramel on it."

Frances?

I'm saying at this point, Richard, Martha, Luis.

Yeah.

Why those three?

Because Richard's not featured in anybody else's predictions.

He just seems to be, I know he's had a few blips,

but I think that could work to his favour,

because it's going to make him dig deeper,

and Bake Off is as much a mental game as it is a baking game.

I've still got my money on Richard.

I know it's difficult, but his mini pear pies were unacceptable,

weren't they?

They looked like a set of pears that had once met some pastry.

OK, and Glenn, who do you plump for?

I'd also controversially put Richard there.

He was so strong at the beginning. Martha, I think,

or do I think Nancy?

I'm torn between them, and I think Luis is probably my favourite.

Romesh, who do you think will end up in the final three?

I actually agree with you, Richard.

The steady train, Nancy.

Nancy the Tank Engine, she'll be in there.

She sort of flaps about then smashes it, every single time.

"I'm not a good chocolate person" - nailed it.

"I'm not good with caramel" - smashed it. How do you like that?

Just every time, unbelievable. She's playing all coy.

"I don't know what I'm doing! Ha-ha, beat you!"

I also think Chetna will be in there, and Luis.

Those will be the three.

I'm so glad that you two could join us this evening.

Frances and Glenn, thank you very much for coming.

APPLAUSE

Time now to check out what our studio audience

have been baking at home. They've brought in some cakes

that are European in style. I mean the type of cake.

I don't mean the cakes have turned up

wearing loafers with no socks and a jumper tied round their shoulders.

First of all, we are going to go to

Helen, Charlotte and Laura.

What's the European angle on your cupcakes then?

We've got Brussels sprout cupcakes.

Brussels sprout cupcakes.

Romesh, would you like to go and get them, we'll have a little taster?

Is it the Brussels? Is that the element that's European?

Did you cook the Brussels sprouts or are they raw?

They were grated in and then baked.

Oh, I see. Oh, ta!

Unfortunately, I can't try, so you enjoy.

-OK.

-They're quite sprouty smelling.

There's something weird and vegan-y about it.

A bit hippy and California and lots of other things.

The technical part of putting this together,

you've done a really good job.

-Thank you.

-Really, really good job.

OK, well, as Rich has said, you've done a very good technical job

but never, ever do it again.

Julia, tell us about your cake.

It's an Eastern European chocolate and sauerkraut cake.

And what language is that writing in round the side?

-Romanian.

-I speak a bit of that language

and it says, "This cake is not as nice as Julia says."

What does the writing actually say?

It says, "Yummy! An extra slice."

APPLAUSE

Juliet, where are you?

That looks a bit precarious, what is that?

It was supposed to be the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

And it's leant a bit more than...

It's leant a lot.

I see you're holding on to it. Will it fall over if you let go?

I haven't tried. I've been holding on

since about 11 o'clock this morning.

And how did you travel here?

-In a car.

-Were you driving and sort of...?

-Presumably, you were in the back nursing it.

-I was driving.

Juliet.

Were you texting with the other hand?

It's wonderful. I want to know what happens

when you let go of it, so, Juliet, go for it.

APPLAUSE

Time now to meet a baker who knocked Brad and Angelina's wedding

off some of the front pages.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Queen of the WI, Diana.

APPLAUSE

Welcome to An Extra Slice.

-It's lovely to have you.

-Pleasure to be here.

Now sadly, you had to leave the show a few weeks ago due to ill health.

How are things now?

Still no taste and smell.

It was interesting Romesh saying about vegan,

really now I could have sawdust sandwiches,

and I'd be really quite cheap to keep.

How did it happen?

We went out for supper the night before, as we do,

before programme five.

I absolutely blacked out, bashed my head.

Spent a night in A & E and that was the consequence.

-Permanent loss of smell and taste.

-Yes. I've seen a neurosurgeon

and it may come back, it may not.

Listen, thanks so much for being with us tonight.

We really do appreciate it.

APPLAUSE

You must have been gutted to leave. What do you miss most?

You never know when you haven't been voted off

how far you would go.

I have something in common with the five winners, of course.

I've never been voted off.

So, you know, that's something, isn't it?

Martha said that you were like a grandmother to her.

Was that nice to feel that?

That was lovely. When you think you've got a nearly 70-year-old

and a 17-year-old brought together with a common baking theme,

that seems to me pretty good. Pretty good.

-Now, Freezergate.

-Yes.

Who would have thought a show about cakes could be

quite so controversial. What actually happened?

Well, I think it's been well documented.

But it's nice to hear it from you.

Who knows who's documented it and what their angle might be.

My conscience is clear.

You know, that's it. I'd like to put it to bed, really.

If that's possible. I hope so, anyway.

Can I just ask you one thing, or I want to reassure myself

I saw it. You did take Ian's baked Alaska out of the freezer?

Yes, I did.

From the other side of the tent,

Ian came over, picked it up, and after that,

it went to his side of the tent.

That's all I know, because you're so busy doing your own thing,

I didn't even see him throw his in the bin.

I only heard the oohs and ahs, because you are concentrating

on what you're doing.

What did you think when you found out Ian had thrown

his work in the bin?

Silly boy, really.

I think us girls would have said,

"Well, we've got to make something of it."

Put the meringue on the top and presented it.

It would have been OK, it would have been good.

Did you feel bad at all?

I wish it hadn't happened... but it did happen.

The heat of the moment. Presumably, it being 35 degrees in the tent

and you were making ice cream, it would have been stressful?

It was the same for everyone, of course.

All the Showstoppers are stress...

Well, they test you, and that's the way it should be, really.

Now, my favourite bake of yours was your 3D biscuit Showstopper.

Was it, really?!

It was, because it was big, for a start.

-Bold and beautiful, was it!

-It was gorgeous, let's have a look at it.

What's challenging is getting that to hold

as a tube for the main part body of my engine.

-Let's see you make the pinwheels.

-I knew you were going to say that.

Slowly does it, there's no rush. Particularly of course in the train industry.

Look at that. The engine is beautifully round.

You did it round a tin? That was clever.

Shall we go for a little bit of the tuile on the top?

That's just perfect, lovely.

APPLAUSE

I'm surprised Sir Richard Branson hasn't put in an offer, really.

Absolutely. We'd all like to go on a train like that, believe you me.

Maybe your next challenge should be to bake a level croissant.

I'm sorry!

Now, I've dug something out that you said in the tent.

Let's have a look.

Being on Bake Off is a culmination of a lifetime baking.

It'll be the biggest thing I've ever done, apart from, you know,

giving birth and all those weird things.

Why did I say that?

What other weird things have you done?

Diana, we loved watching you in the tent

and we do miss your traditional bakes.

You were one of the traditionalists.

As a thank you, we've baked you a cake

which Romesh is fetching for me.

I think that's slightly bigger than I ordered.

-Can I have a guess?

-Well, it's a box.

Is it either a swan or trainers, because my trainers created...

Let's have a little look and see.

APPLAUSE

So, ladies and gentleman, let's give Diana a Great British send off!

Thank you so much for coming. Diana, everybody!

APPLAUSE

Are you going to be able to manage it? I don't know how heavy it is.

Next week, it's pastries in the tent.

So get baking and send us pictures of your pastries.

Could be pasties, eclairs, sausage rolls -

pretty much anything that isn't a cake, a biscuit or bread.

Details below.

The fantastic and the not so fantastic may feature

on next week's show. So what have we learnt this week?

If Paul asks you a question and then repeats your answer back to you,

your answer was probably wrong. Watch and learn.

-What's in that egg white?

-Lavender.

Lavender.

-How are you finishing it?

-I'm going to wing it again.

You're going to wing it.

You're adding butter to the dough after. How much?

-Four tablespoons.

-Four tablespoons?!

A big thank you to our guest baker, Diana,

to Frances and Glenn and to all our studio bakers,

and to our celebrity panel, Richard Corrigan...

APPLAUSE

Fay Ripley.

And Romesh Ranganathan!

See you next week. Good night!