Episode 8 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

This week was the Bake Off quarterfinals

and the pressure was on for the final five.

It's important that you go in and execute everything to perfection

otherwise you're on your bike.

In advanced dough, they were stretched by sweet loafs.

Yep, you nailed that one!

And Eastern European loafs.

I'm really excited!

And Mary got sloshed on a doughnut!

ALL: Cheers!

Ooh! Don't mind if I do!

Welcome to An Extra Slice! Hic!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Good evening.

It's quarterfinals week in the tent

and the Bakers faced advanced dough which proved far from simple.

With just two weeks to go until we find out who wins,

here is Nancy's reaction to getting this far.

What's that, week eight?

Week eight!

LAUGHTER

Hm! Nancy quietly pleased, there!

Perhaps Chetna made a bit more of an effort to sound excited?

(SQUEALING) Week eight!

Much better.

Incidentally, Paul seems to have come up with an offensive nickname

for Chetna.

So, doughnuts.

What have you decided to make?

LAUGHTER

So, it was all going on in the tent.

Fruity, really sweet and a little bit flaky.

Tonight's panel of celebrity fans will be giving us

their take on the final four bakers as they head for the finish line.

Of course, it was the week where Bake Off's youngest ever baker,

Martha, left the tent.

Audience: Aw!

She'll be joining us in a bit.

Plus we'll be looking at some of your bakes from home and,

trust me, there's a load of doughnuts here in the studio audience.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I've been busy searching through the leftovers in the tent

for more unseen clips.

You know the phrase, there is an elephant in the room?

Well, it sounded like there was one in the tent during the judging

of Nancy's Showstopper.

I think you probably could have done with frying it slightly less.

Erm, if you...

WHOOSHING NOISE

Yes, er, time to meet tonight's panel of celebrity fans.

First up is a Hairy Biker who once dreamed that Delia Smith came

to him in the night naked with a pot of garlic mash.

LAUGHTER

It's Dave Myers.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Next, an author who sold almost as many books

as I've eaten chocolate digestives, 26 million.

It's Marian Keyes.

APPLAUSE

Finally, a comedian who says he doesn't bake,

he just goes to Greggs.

Hal Cruttenden.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Dave, first things first.

Tell us about your Delia dream.

Well, I've always loved Delia's garlic mash.

Is the way she macerates the garlic in olive oil,

leaves it for a few hours and puts it into the mash.

You know when you're filming

and you say something to your mate that you don't think's being

picked up and of course it was.

"Hey, Kingy! You never believe last night

we were in Namibia.

I dreamt Delia Smith came to me stark naked with a bowl of garlic mash!"

And it was the first newspaper headline be ever had.

It was, "TV chef fantasises over naked Delia".

Marian, you do a bit of baking yourself, don't you?

Well, I dabble and I love it.

But I wouldn't call myself a master baker by any means.

I couldn't do the bread thing at all because I'm terrified of yeast

and the yeast knows it.

LAUGHTER

-No, yeast and me just don't get on.

-So, any disaster stories?

I mean about baking.

God, I've loads! I mean how long have you got?

There was a time I made panna cotta and just for the craic,

I added 20 times the normal amount of gelatine.

LAUGHTER

And it set so hard that you couldn't even get a spoon into it.

Oh, yeah, I blew up a banana cake another time.

It was taking too long to bake so I put it in the microwave

and then there was an almighty bang and that was the end of that.

Now, Hal, when it comes to doughnuts, ring or jam?

Well, if there is an option, both.

But, obviously...

I'm a feeder, obviously. But...

LAUGHTER

Guys, don't be cruel.

No, but... Both, I love.

But obviously jam is an extra so, yes, I'd go probably for jam.

How do you think you'd fare as a baker in that tent?

Considering I'm appalling as a baker,

I would stress really, really badly.

I think I would do an Ian before we even started.

I'd just get the ingredients and go, "there's no chance" and run away.

The whole thing... I'd lose my cool very fast.

I do know how they even put up with...

Even Mel and Sue come up and go, "how's it going?"

I'd go, "go away!" So I think I'd be very...

I would run out screaming.

You'd just see me in the background naked running...

LAUGHTER

Now, it's time to see how you've been getting on with your bakes

at home and some of you are really getting into the spirit

of Bake Off.

James decided to decorate his cake with Smarties... 16 packets of them.

-It looks amazing, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

Now, we do like a cake that's masquerading as something else.

Rob from Isleworth has done himself proud with his full roast

turkey dinner cake.

Wow!

-That's brilliant, isn't it?

-That is fantastic!

Now, the turkey is fruitcake, the potatoes are carved cupcakes

and the veg is sugar paste.

Presumably for pudding he made a trifle out of giblets.

Karen also made a cake that looks like something else.

It's a red velvet cake that looks like a bomb has hit it.

Unless we've got it wrong and Karen has actually

constructed a brilliantly accurate red velvet kettle there!

Emma put hours of work into making a birthday cake for her daughter,

Erin, in the shape of Rapunzel's tower.

There's the base of the tower and here it is in all its glory.

Yes, we do like a hedgehog take here on an extra slice.

Kate from Lincolnshire decided to make one baste on this picture

she found on the internet.

Let's see how she got on.

LAUGHTER

Nailed it, Kate!

To be honest, it looks more like a badger that's been run

over on the dual carriageway.

Keep sending your pictures in. Details below.

We'd love to see them, the wonderful, the weird

and the ones that beg the question, "Sorry, but what's that?"

Now let's get back to the tent, and remind ourselves what happened

when the five bakers met advanced dough.

'It was the quarterfinals in the tent.'

The pressure is definitely on now.

It only takes like, one bad bake or one mistake to make you go home.

'The signature sweet loaf got everyone thinking.'

I think this task is really difficult.

I think I've got enough time.

Think Christmas crossed with Chinese New Year in a bread.

Ohhh! It's twice the size.

I think it's slightly under done.

It's not awful, is it?

-Great flavour coming through. Well done. Nice one.

-Thank you.

'Followed by another tongue-tying technical.'

Pattiser... Pattiza?

-I didn't even know it was.

-How much legs do you want?

-Raw.

It is absolutely raw.

I wouldn't eat that, Mary, if I were you.

-'Mary loved Luis cocktail doughnut showstopper.'

-Oh, ho, ho, ho!

-Why are we bothering with the doughnut?

-'Martha left.'

-You rock.

-Thank you!

'And Richard won Star Baker for an amazing fourth time.'

So, Martha's gone.

Did Paul and Mary gave the right baker the boot, Marion?

It's hard to say because somebody had to go.

I actually thought it was going to be Nancy.

Because she's such a maverick and she gives

so much back cheek to Paul.

But I really didn't think she was going to survive another week.

It's very hard because everybody goes about Martha, like,

"I can't believe she's such a great baker and she's only 17."

She's a great baker, whatever age! But she had a bad week.

We're at the stage where everybody's really good,

and unfortunately it had to be her.

How many...? Did you cry?

I... I never cry. I sobbed!

It was one of the most...

If I want to see teenagers being emotionally destroyed I'll

watch X Factor. I don't expect it on Bake off. It was just...

It was so sad because she was trying not to cry. So the moment was so...

You just wanted to reach out and hug her.

For me it was like Bambi's mum dying.

It was like ET. Wasn't it?

Sorry, I reminded you all about Bambi's mum! Sorry.

Sorry, but...

And anybody who's not seen the film, I've ruined it but...

LAUGHTER

She seemed to have a problem throughout the enriched yeast thing.

It's trying to get together the time to allow it to raise,

and the time to allow to cook.

-It's very difficult to gauge.

-Yeah.

Now, the Signature Bake this week was to make sweet fruit loaf without

using a tin.

I should say actually if you want to try baking without a tin,

then Mary and Paul's range of no tins will be available...

LAUGHTER

..in all good bakeware shops later in the year.

Now, was it mean of Paul

-and Mary to give the bakers just two and a half hours?

-Oh, yeah.

It's got so much more fat, it's got more eggs in than a bread dough.

It's heavier and is going to take more time to lift up.

Something like Nancy's had so much fruit,

I'm thinking more of the plum bread.

You know, you'd take Lazarus to raise that.

She took a microwave, didn't she?

LAUGHTER

I think virtually everything that Paul and Mary do

is quite mean... Paul is so...

Paul... Paul, whatever they are doing, Paul puts them off...

If you were putting bread in the toaster, "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing a bit of toast, Paul." "Very brave. Very brave."

LAUGHTER

Isn't it? I mean, everything...

Then they get to the technical bits,

and set them something really hard and they sit outside eating it,

going, "They'll never be able to do this, will they? No!"

LAUGHTER

It's just vile.

Meanwhile, with time against her,

Nancy did something we've never seen before on Bake Off.

I'm going to finish the first proof in the microwave.

-It's a dangerous thing to do.

-It is.

Ohhh! It's twice the size.

-It's enormous!

-It's the size of a Labrador.

Paul hadn't experienced anything that shocking since

he accidentally ate some supermarket bread and quite enjoyed it.

To make matters worse,

Nancy popped a Findus lasagne in at the same time.

-Whose Signature Bake stood out for you, Marion?

-Luis.

I thought it was magnificent.

It looked incredibly beautiful and I thought it was really clever

doing a little business with the sugar cubes

and the cherry brandy so he got the liquid and the flavour

into the dough without making it too watery, do you know?

-He's fantastic.

-Luis is a big favourite. He looks like a baker.

-He does.

-He looks like your friendly village baker.

I was watching it the other day and thinking,

I'd like him to be my dad and then realised he's younger than me.

LAUGHTER

There's just something about him, he's just...

For a big man, he's got that sort of...

He's got a lovely touch, hasn't he?

-You'd be safe in his arms, wouldn't you?

-Absolutely.

I loved Chetna's date and walnut swirled bread.

I thought that was really clever.

It was a clever way to tackle the problem of a freestanding bake

cos it was separate pieces put together. The insides were perfect.

-It looked rustic. I thought Chetna nailed that one.

-Yeah.

Now, one thing you can rely on when time's against you

and the pressure is really on is that a certain someone will

put in an appearance just to make you feel that little bit worse.

LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

Now, is that sort of unsettling when someone's skulks

-up behind you like that?

-It's a little bit, Jo, yes.

-Are you going to touch me?

-No.

-OK.

But... Hang on.

Raw.

He does do that, doesn't he?

He sneaks around, would you be upset by that, Marion?

I find him terrifying.

And the very worst thing he could say to me is good luck.

You know? Because that's so freighted with, "you're a failure".

LAUGHTER

Now, the Showstopper was to make doughnuts. Hurray! I love doughnuts.

The challenge was to make two lots of 18 doughnuts,

36 doughnuts in total so five bakers, 36 doughnuts each,

-that's how many in total, Mary?

-150 doughnuts.

That's right - 180 doughnuts.

Someone in that tent prides himself on his expertise in this area.

You know how people give themselves intimidating

nicknames like the Godfather or Ironman.

In a bit of unseen footage Paul reveals his...

I am Mr Doughnut.

Paul really gets into the part.

If they try and hide any bad doughnuts from me, I will find them.

Sounds like a trail for the least scary Liam Neeson thriller ever.

Marian, whose Showstopper stood out for you?

I'm sorry to keep harping on about it, but Luis'.

It was theatre. It was an event, it was thrilling.

It was so much more than mere doughnuts.

Like, the planning that went into it.

-I mean, I'm am quite appalled that he wasn't Star Baker.

-Are you?

I'm outraged, to be honest with you.

Yeah. I really am.

I just think he's technically fantastic.

Like you, I'm a fan of Luis.

I mean, if I could have put the two together,

I would have had Luis' raspberry margarita doughnuts

and Richard's rhubarb and custard doughnuts,

and that would be the ultimate Star Baker.

Which I think Paul was quite taken with as well.

My heart is with Luis. I love Luis.

But it seemed to me that Richard's was the one that Paul really loved.

I'm sure Richard's a very nice man. I feel very threatened by him.

Because he is such an alpha male.

Isn't he? Because he's a builder and a baker.

You just know he's the sort of person,

if I went with my wife round to dinner at his house with his wife,

I just know the conversation coming home would be,

"Didn't he do a lovely meal? And that kitchen, he did that kitchen."

My wife would go, "Isn't he a nice man?" And, "I'm leaving you."

And the little, the doughnut things he made the little steps

he made for the eclairs... He just can do everything.

-His crates were lovely.

-Yeah.

Then his eclair staircase is going to be his chicken ladder

for the hens.

Because he did animals as well...

LAUGHTER

Now we come the part of the show where we take

a look at some of the bakes brought along by the audience.

Now, first of all, Kirsty and Maxine. Where are you?

What have you brought along?

We're both big fans of Mel and Sue,

and we also wanted to make some cinnamon swirls,

so we put our thinking caps on and came up with this.

So it's Princess Leia Buns on a Cake of Mel and Sue.

LAUGHTER

Thank you very much. Now, we've also got some unusual looking doughnuts

brought along by Rachel. Rachel, where are you?

Now, you thought it be a good idea to make them blue.

-Let's have a look.

-AUDIENCE GROANS

Not sure you were right there, Rachel. Erm...

They kind of look a bit like kiwifruit

you find in the back of your fridge after six months, don't they?

Hal, if that's not put you off, would you like to... ?

-Are you pleased with them?

-Well, I've never made doughnuts before.

I don't think they look that bad.

I think we'll be the judge of that.

-They are more frightening up close, actually. Look.

-Wow!

They look amazing!

Like they come from the bottom of the sea.

The bottom of something else!

Hal, what's the verdict?

-LAUGHTER

-Oh, hang on.

I might have found something I can't eat. No, I'm joking, I'm joking!

It's fine.

I think it's fun that it's visually so attractive

because it makes up for its deficiencies in other areas.

-Marian?

-It's hard to get beyond the blue, isn't it?

The blue is the best bit.

Thank you very much. Hal, please could you just go and vet Erin?

Where's Erin with her doughnuts? There you go.

We're not going to tell you what's in them,

-and we want you to guess, OK?

-Great!

-It's all right.

-It's not anything scary, like a horse lasagne or anything.

-Great.

They're gorgeous. Thank you.

So, that's your sort of jam doughnut, isn't it, really?

-All right, give it a try.

-Have we got napkins here?

-Oh, Hal, you're so middle-class.

-I am!

-It tastes like fish and chips.

-Eurgh!

-Tomato sauce.

-Yeah!

LAUGHTER

Tell us what's in them, Erin.

They are salt and vinegar flavour doughnuts

with a posh tomato ketchup inside.

Hal looks slightly emotionally disturbed.

-LAUGHTER

-Why not jam? Why not?

I expected it. It was the shock of not knowing I think was the thing.

But no, again, it's fine. If it's here, all eat it.

LAUGHTER

So, thanks very much to all our bakers in the studio. Thank you.

APPLAUSE

Time now to meet a Grade A baker

who made it all the way to the quarterfinals.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Martha.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Hello.

-Hi!

-Welcome to An Extra Slice.

-Thank you.

How was your time in the tent?

Oh, brilliant. Every minute was just brilliant.

Apart from the tears, which weren't as good, but the rest of it!

Well, I mean, it was stressful for you, wasn't it?

You were studying for your AS-levels

at the same time as competing in Bake Off.

Did you decide your exams

weren't quite enough of a challenge on their own?

Oh, I think when you apply, you don't apply thinking,

"I'll probably get on the show."

When I applied, I didn't even tell my parents until I'd sent the form.

When I said to my mum, "The odd chance I do get on the programme,

"it's the same time as my exams."

But they were like, "No, don't worry. You won't get on."

But, here I am.

-It was a sacrifice worth making.

-Oh, well, I'm pleased.

Now, you're 17, what was it like

being in the tent with all those old people?

I think it was really great to spend time with people who are older

than me cos I can learn a lot about what they've done in their lives.

Did you have to take anyone to the toilet?

No!

Let's talk about your Signature Bake.

A spiced plum ice bread swirl. Bit of a mouthful.

Now, Paul and Mary loved it. That must have felt really good, did it?

Yeah, it was really good.

It's always nice to have a good start,

otherwise it kind of throws you for the whole weekend.

Even though that didn't really help this week!

But I was really glad that they liked something

and I didn't go out on a massive car crash of events.

Well, yeah, you finished fifth in the Technical.

-Yes, I know.

-Yeah.

-With your take on the Povitica.

You had a secret weapon, though - clingfilm.

Let's just have a look.

You rolled your dough using clingfilm.

You rolled your filling using clingfilm.

Are you sponsored by clingfilm?

I think I definitely should be now!

Well, let's see what Paul and Mary had to say about your finished loaf.

You'd baked... clingfilm.

-Good bake.

-Doesn't necessarily mean it's a good bake inside, though.

There you go, raw.

When you say it's totally raw, it is absolutely raw.

Mm.

Yeah. Just to clarify, it wasn't totally raw, Martha.

It was absolutely raw.

Something inedible. That's what you want to aim for in Bake Off.

Absolutely. But I mean, nearly all the bakes were raw, weren't they?

-Yeah.

-Not just yours.

So I didn't feel too gutted because it was actually...

We just laughed about it. Four out of five were almost inedible.

-That's quite an achievement.

-Yeah.

At that point, you didn't worry too much that you might be in trouble.

I knew I was in trouble because five out of five is still not good.

It's not a good place to be, even though they were all not great.

At this point, everyone is so close that even though everything

in the morning tasted really nice, it didn't really matter

because mine was still a little bit under baked in the morning

and to come fifth, I need to perfect the next day.

-And then it wasn't.

-That's a big stress, isn't it?

-Did you think she was in trouble at that point?

-No, I didn't. No.

Because you have been remarkable.

-I honestly thought you were going to win. Honestly.

-Thanks.

I am sad that you are here.

LAUGHTER

But not in that way.

I sulked. I sulked when you left. Because as I was saying earlier,

it was that way you were trying not to cry, it was

like the opposite of David Cameron pretending he cared about Scotland.

It was like...

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

It was...

No, I just found that so moving and I think you are right.

You are incredibly brave and confident and it's so interesting,

you said your parents didn't think you would get in

so your parents don't really believe in you but yet...

They'll hate me for saying that.

I was thinking, what do your parents do?

Because I'd love children to be as confident and go getting.

-My eldest is also called Martha.

-It's a great name.

Now you've made the name hugely popular,

and it's far less original.

Now, the problem you had was that you had to present a perfect

show stopper to stay in the tent.

Let's have a look at a moment where you're mid bake.

These are way over proved.

I'm really kicking myself for that.

-Oh.

-Now, you look truly shocked.

Oh, my heart just sank when I opened the drawer. I was like, no.

Because there is nothing you can do. It was biscuits.

In ten minutes, you can make another batch and put them in the oven

but bread, the second proof,

you have no time left to do anything apart from cook them.

Do you ever want to put your stuff in a bin?

I think you should have... You've got the excuse, you are a teenager.

You can go... No!!!!

You, you... I would have used that.

Just go, "Yeah," and stormed off to the house

and locked yourself in a room and not come out for days.

-I think the problem is...

-You were far too mature.

You leave the tent and then you realise there's nowhere to go

because you're not in charge of getting yourself home,

so you just come back in again looking sorry for yourself.

That's why I didn't do it.

Which was your favourite bake from your time in the tent?

My favourite bake was probably the biscuit scene week,

just from doing it myself, making the mountain and then also

when you look around the tent and you see what everyone else is doing,

there were dragons and sea monsters and houses.

It was just really cool to see them all evolve out of work surfaces.

Let's have a look.

I'm making like a ski village mountain scene.

It's a massive marshmallow mountain.

I always get nervous towards the end and my hands start shaking.

Yeah, it does look like Verbier.

As soon as you bite into it, beautifully crisp.

-Coffee hits you, not too strong.

-The creativity is superb.

Well thought through, Martha. Well done. Well done.

APPLAUSE

Well, here on Extra Slice we do give bakers a chance to redeem themselves

so which bake have you had another go at

and did it involve the use of six rolls of clingfilm?

I've made passion fruit and chocolate doughnuts.

ALL: Oh!

Guys, you are going to get to try them. Are you pleased with them?

I think they should be OK. I'm hoping.

-They look OK.

-Fabulous.

-They are perfect, aren't they?

-Come on then, guys.

Hal looks like he's having a religious experience.

-These are really good.

-Thank you.

You are like a child genius without the weirdness.

This is the most perfect doughnut.

-Perfect.

-Ah, thank you.

I just got to the filling!

Utterly transcendent. It really is. Oh, my God. You're amazing.

Congratulations. I've never seen a reaction like that.

So, Martha, we were so sorry to see you go

and we've got a present for you.

I've got you a cake and Hal's just about to bring it over.

There we go. Thank you very much for that, Hal. Fantastic.

Obviously, I covered it in clingfilm...

..for no reason whatsoever. There we go.

Right, now, it's you coming first in both pear pies

and tiramisu technical bake.

It's lovely. Thank you.

So, ladies and gentlemen,

please give Martha a Great British send off.

Martha, everyone.

CHEERING

Thanks, Martha. Will you be all right with that? Thank you.

So, what have we learned this week?

Well, we've learned that it's not just the bakers who tremble

with fear whenever the judges come up to their workbench.

The kitchen utensils are terrified, too.

Every part of the tree...

We've also learned that it's just as well Mary is happily married.

I'm not that fond of dates.

Finally, we've learned that inanimate objects in that tent

have a mind of their own.

That was odd, wasn't it? Perhaps it was a delayed reaction to this.

-If you...

-VROOOM!

LAUGHTER

Time is running out. If you want to see your home baking on the show,

details of where to send pictures of your triumphs

and tragedies are at the bottom of the screen.

A big thank you to Martha, to all of our studio bakers

and to our celebrity panel, Dave Myers...

APPLAUSE

..Marian Keyes...

APPLAUSE

and Hal Cruttenden.

APPLAUSE

see you next Wednesday at ten. Good night.