Episode 2 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

Week two of The Great British Bake Off

and the 11 remaining bakers faced an epic struggle.

Oh, it's hurting my back.

Gingerbread collapsed and dreams were shattered...

If you were going for soft, then it's really soft.

If you're going for biscuit, then you've failed.

..when biscuit week came to the tent.

Who wants to eat some carpet? I'll eat a bit of carpet.

Well, it's fibre, isn't it?

Time for An Extra Slice.

CHEERING

Hello, and welcome to the show.

This week, it was all about biscuits

and a Showstopper that, for some bakers,

proved nothing short of catastrophic.

But, first, let's delve into a luxury assortment of unseen moments.

Paul finally reveals what he puts on his hair

to keep it looking so slick.

I like to use lard but you can use oil, too.

Listen closely and see if you can work out

which biscuit Kate hates the most.

I really, really don't like eating macaroons.

I'm hoping they're not going to make us make a macaroon.

I wouldn't particularly enjoy making macaroons,

so I'm hoping that's not what it is.

Macaroons are just not a lot to me, so I'm hoping it's not a macaroon.

Nobody's asked you to bake macaroons, Kate!

She probably hates them

because she can't get free supplies at her parents' farm.

Now, if there was ever a "Who can sieve flour the highest?"

competition, there's no doubt Andrew would win.

I'm joined by a panel of celebrity fans

who'll be hobnobbing about biscuit week very shortly,

and, of course, the second baker left the tent.

Sadly, it was a parting of the ways for hairdresser Louise.

AUDIENCE: Awww!

But the good news is she'll be joining us here a bit later on.

AUDIENCE: Yeah!

If you thought Louise had a bit of a shocker this week,

spare a thought for Sarah from Manchester

who also attempted a 3-D biscuit structure.

Her husband has always loved the iconic Concorde aeroplane,

so Sarah thought she would surprise him

by doing a Concorde cake for his birthday.

He was surprised by it, all right.

And our studio audience have been busy as well.

Let's hope that turns out to be a good thing.

Show us your bakes!

CHEERING

We'll be trying some of those later on.

So, before they get the chance to escape, let's meet our panel.

First up, she's a food writer who runs a top cookery school

and so she finds shortbread impossible to resist.

It's Rosemary Shrager.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Next, it's a BBC Breakfast presenter who says she feels devastated

when someone offers her a fruit biscuit.

It's Steph McGovern.

And a comedian who says he doesn't understand

why anyone in their right minds would bother with a rich tea.

It's Josh Widdicombe.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Now, Rosemary, you are many things - chef, writer, teacher -

but one thing you're not is a dunker, is that right?

I'm not a dunker, no, I'm not.

It's funny, cos I was never brought up to dunk.

You just didn't dunk then.

Is that cos you're posh?

I'm not really posh. You are, Rosemary.

She is, isn't she?

Secretly, that was in public.

Oh, OK. What you do in private...

Did you dunk in private? Oh, very occasionally.

Only occasionally. Only occasionally.

Especially when it's biscotti in Vin Santo - I'll dunk all the time.

Yeah, you're not posh at all, are you(?)

Steph, not a fan of fruit in biscuits, I take it.

Oh, no. Oh, no.

I don't mind a bit of lemon or orange flavour,

but you know if you bite into, like, a nice crumbly biscuit

and then you meet a bit of rubbery raisin?

I'm devastated.

I hate things like raisins in my biscuits.

No way. You're gutted cos it's not a chocolate chip.

Absolutely. Oh, I know, I know, it's so wrong, isn't it?

It is, sick and wrong. Sick and wrong!

It is. Now, Josh, as we know,

Paul Hollywood has worked in the world's top hotels

and is revered in the world of baking.

But I've discovered the accolade he seems most proud of is this.

Worst-dressed man in the UK last year.

Worst dressed? Were you? Oh, yeah.

That's right, Paul. Yes, he was voted worst-dressed man

in GQ magazine's poll last year, Josh.

That's a bit embarrassing, isn't it?

Yeah. I wonder who came second? Well...

LAUGHTER

Unbelievable, isn't it?

They described my look as an update on Bilbo Baggins.

No! He's not even a historical figure!

Anyway, I'm delighted to say you've been sending in loads of pictures

of what you've been making at home.

I thought I'd focus on novelty birthday cakes this week,

starting with the brilliant work of Helen from Hereford -

a full English breakfast made entirely out of cake.

Next, Helen is going to bake a chocolate cake

made entirely out of black pudding.

Now, I'm hoping to be able to feature

a Highland cow on every show.

We had one last week and here's the birthday cake made by Pat

for her granddaughter Freya.

The reason...

LAUGHTER

The reason for choosing to do a Highland cow

is because Freya is obsessed by them,

which is also the reason Nick did a birthday cake

for her friend's 30th of Lionel Richie.

"Hello! Is it me you're looking for?"

"Yes, Lionel, but I didn't expect to find you on my kitchen worktop."

Well done, Nick, that is truly disturbing.

Lucy from Hertfordshire baked a cake for her niece's birthday

and what a highly professional job she made of it.

That's not a bad likeness of a tiger, is it?

What a shame it is in fact a bee.

Other viewers decided to have a go at last week's Jaffa Cake Technical.

Helen from Nottingham had a go.

And if you think they don't look great, but they probably tasted OK,

Helen's husband Nick assures us that they didn't.

Do keep sending your pictures in.

Sweet or savoury, success or failure, we'd love to see them.

Details at the bottom of the screen.

OK, back now to the tent,

which saw biscuit devastation on an apocalyptic scale.

Let's remind ourselves what happened.

It was biscuit week in the tent.

Now, that's crispy.

The bakers felt the strain in the iced biscuit Signature.

Oh, what a nightmare. Not enough time, not enough time.

There were bees,

bunting

and butterfingers.

Whether I can serve these, I'm not sure.

In the Viennese whirl Technical, the judges were looking for

12 crumbly, buttery biscuits.

Got a few... I know what you're going to say - issues.

And Kate's perfectly-piped whirls won her first place.

Well done.

In the dramatic Showstopper...

..the bakers had to construct a 3-D gingerbread story.

Oh, bother it! Gosh, I hate gingerbread.

There was an unhappy ending for Louise

when she became the second baker to leave the tent,

while Candice's gingerbread pub won her Star Baker.

So, Louise left the tent.

She had a terrible time with her Showstopper gingerbread design,

which she based on the wedding she's planning for next year,

as she explained.

I'm making a gingerbread church in west Wales

with a bride and groom and five...

Bridesmaids?

Ushers?

..gravestones.

Of course!

Here's Louise's final wedding scene.

You know when you go to church and they're raising money for the roof?

She could just say they haven't raised the money yet.

That's very good.

LAUGHTER

Rose, where did Louise go wrong with her bake?

Well, when you're actually doing the gingerbread,

what you have to do is you get it out.

The problem is, they did it with a template to begin with, but, then,

if you get it out, it moves during cooking.

So, the problem is, if you don't get your template again

and just cut it while it's still warm and get neat edges,

to actually start building it is almost...

It's an impossibility because it's got a rounded edge.

Oh, OK. So they're not going to do it.

Steph, do you think Mary and Paul made the right decision

in asking Louise to leave?

Yeah, even though Val was quite close.

Cos Val's all over the shop, isn't she?

She is, though, isn't she?

And even though they were quite close, I just thought, Louise, yeah.

As much as I love her, she's dead canny.

Problem is, when you're cooking,

it's such an emotive thing that the moment you lose that confidence,

if you don't start getting it back, the deflation in your feeling...

I know what you mean. Unbelievable. You have that problem?

Yeah, you put the holes in the plastic,

put it in the microwave and if your confidence isn't there...

That's it, you've had it! You're in serious trouble there.

So, for her to come back, quite difficult.

As you say, Val was a contender to go as well.

Mary said her Signature ice cream biscuits looked "informal"...

Such a euphemism, isn't it?

The main problem with the biscuits

that were made to look like ice cream is

I don't think you should ever make a food

and then make it look like a better food.

Cos I was just looking at them going, "I don't want biscuits,

"I want ice cream now." But she didn't give up, did she?

No. She didn't give up. She never gives up. No.

That's what I love about her. Well, Paul liked the way

she decorated the Empire State Building

using a lollipop stick, and, being Val,

she hadn't acquired just the one lollipop stick,

as she explains in this bit of unseen footage.

30 years ago, I put 1,000 of them to make toffee apples for school fairs,

and I'm down to about my last hundred.

1,000 lollipop sticks!

I mean, anyone else would just buy 50 and see how they go.

Oh, no, not Val.

I thought it just looked really well-crafted and, do you know what,

when the Statue of Liberty fell, I didn't mind.

I thought it looked quite cool, sticking out the side of a building,

and I thought maybe they need to consider that in New York.

It was like Planet Of The Apes, wasn't it? It was.

In her family-inspired Showstopper,

she depicted her sister next to a windmill

as she lives in the Netherlands.

We've actually got some photos of Val's sister in the Netherlands,

and it has to be said that Val managed to capture her likeness.

Here's Val's sister in a field of tulips.

Here she is in the Van Gogh Museum.

And here she is after visiting one of those Amsterdam "coffee shops."

So, the big story in the tent this week

was the 3-D gingerbread Showstopper.

Josh, now, each scene had to include at least eight elements.

How would you have coped with that? Quite a lot, isn't it?

I would just have thought of events that contained eight elements.

Right. So, this was the day I met S Club 7.

LAUGHTER

Between them, the bakers made 320 individual pieces of gingerbread

and then, after they'd all tried to assemble their structures,

there were 2,746.

Let's remind ourselves how so many of the bakers' show-stopping dreams

ended in tatters.

Santa hasn't gone as well as I wanted.

Poor Michael. He was so gutted at how his Santa's workshop turned out,

wasn't he? Oh, yeah.

But Paul and Mary thought the actual gingerbread tasted lovely

and he did well in the Signature

with his chocolate and orange beer biscuits.

So, can he bake?

I loved the beer biscuits. I thought they looked really cool.

I mean, he's not a stand-out person for me yet - I love Val still,

and I love Tom, I love Candice, but I...

Yeah, I think Michael's doing all right.

I think so, too. Well, I think Michael's Showstopper

wasn't actually the worst thing to happen to him that day.

Do you remember Mel asking him this question?

Do you still believe in Santa Claus?

Of course. Who doesn't?

So imagine how he felt when, a little bit later,

Mel suggested that Santa Claus might not be real.

LAUGHTER

I think the baker that really shone in the Showstopper

and who was awarded Star Baker this week was Candice,

and she made an entire pub, complete with pool tables, sticky carpet

and, according to the judges, it tasted great, too.

Were you impressed with her boozer, Steph?

Oh, absolutely. As soon as she put the sticky carpet on there,

I just thought, "That's my kind of girl."

She goes to the same places as me.

Because that was a genius idea, and, also, like,

the pool table with the lime jelly as well.

I just thought she did a fantastic job.

I was worried for her to begin with because I thought this is going to

be hard work for her, but if she's that good at her lip liner,

she's going to nail this with her being able to do the piping.

But, also, don't you find she just gets on with it?

Yeah. It's like she's sort of under the radar slightly and then suddenly

she produces this thing I thought was wonderful.

Was there anything missing from Candice's pub, Josh,

that you'd like to have seen in there?

I'd have liked to have seen Mary Berry drunk.

Too right!

Now, Andrew also did really well with his Cambridge punting scene.

It had 37 different elements.

Here are his detailed plans.

That's pretty impressive, isn't it?

Here's Selasi's detailed plan.

Now, can we have one of our Extra Slice Mexican bake waves, please,

to mark another series first?

Our first Hollywood handshake.

Ready, steady, go!

Perfect. Well done, everybody.

Amazing.

Yes, Tom got a coveted Hollywood handshake for his biscuits.

Wahey! Yeah!

Do you think he can go all the way, Steph?

I love Tom because things like...

He just comes out with these phrases all the time, like,

"Fear is the mind-killer."

And he'll just say that while he's doing his baking and you're like,

what does he mean? But...

And, also, while everyone else is doing, like,

churches and New York scenes and lovely family things, he's like,

"Near-death experience."

He's just... I just quite like his drama and the fact he puts

loads of alcohol in cakes as well, so that's a winner for me.

Now, throughout the show, I've been having a sneaky peek at the bakes

brought in by our audience here and, I have to say,

some of them do look a bit "informal."

But...

let's take a closer look at a few of them.

Michelle, where are you?

Hi, Michelle.

Hello. Now, what have you brought along in honour of biscuit week?

I did try and make the Bake Off tent,

but it's kind of had a few construction problems.

I've got a tip for you there -

what you need to do is cut off the edges...

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Thank you for bringing it along.

Let's move to Holly and David, where are you?

Hi, there. Hi. Now, you've brought along some biscuits.

What's special about them?

We couldn't decide what to make last night after a few glasses of wine

and my favourite food is cheese and I hate Marmite.

Right. Whereas my favourite food is Marmite and I hate cheese.

Right. So we compromised on cheese and Marmite biscuits

that we both hate.

JOSH: Oh, that's nice! So you've mixed them together

so neither of you can eat them now.

That's brilliant, thank you.

Er, Maram, where are you?

Have I pronounced your name correctly?

Yes, it is. Oh, good.

Now, I know you've made Viennese whirls.

Josh, do you want to go and get them?

They look slightly different from normal ones.

Now, can you explain, Maram, why they are purple and green?

So, the actual Viennese whirl biscuit has got a purple yam in it.

Purple yam? Yeah.

I'll just bring them back now.

And what's green?

So, the green is called buko pandan,

which is a very young coconut in the Philippines.

So, hang on, what's a yam?

A sweet potato, basically, a purple one.

Is it called an ube?

Ube, yes. Ube, right.

Did you buy it off uBay?

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Do you want to try one? Yes, try them.

So, tell me what's in it again?

Yam and coconut.

Really good.

Now, Steph, you don't like fruit in biscuits.

How do you feel about biscuits made out of vegetables and leaves?

In all honesty, that tastes minging.

Sorry.

That's lovely, and I'm getting one of my five a day. It's brilliant!

So, we've got one on each side at the moment.

Rosemary? Um...

Eat a different biscuit. I'm going again.

I don't love it.

I think it's a soft texture, good texture, but it's too soft.

Yeah. Does that make sense? What about the flavours, Rosemary?

No, the flavour... Well, actually, I'm not over-keen.

It's not my favourite.

It's the only one you've tried!

Look...what are you trying to get me to do?

She said it's minging, I'm trying not to say it's minging.

Not my cup of tea. But thank you, Maram. You're very welcome.

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

Back now to the tent and our second baker has left.

She's the hairdresser from Wales

whose bara brith biscuits were a real highlight,

but, sadly, her gingerbread Showstopper

failed to cut it with the judges.

Please give a very warm welcome to Louise!

Welcome. Please have a seat.

Louise, welcome to An Extra Slice.

It's really lovely to have you with us

after your all-too-brief time in the tent.

You're a hairdresser in your day job.

We saw a little bit of you in action in the salon.

Here we are.

Do you do everyone's hair so it looks exactly like yours?

Yes. I might come in.

Have you ever had a hairstyle just collapse at the last minute?

No. AUDIENCE: Aww!

I have to say, Louise, my heart really did go out to you this week.

Let's talk about your Showstopper,

which was inspired by your wedding that you're planning next year.

I mean, one of the churches you were considering,

the one that you decided to do in your gingerbread scene,

was this church in west Wales.

Beautiful.

And here's your version.

Is the wedding still on?

Yes.

But not in that church. Oh.

I've actually never seen a bake collapse on the finishing bell.

That was such bad luck.

What was actually going through your mind at the moment that happened?

"I'm off the show." Was that it?

I just knew. It was too close to the end,

I couldn't do anything about it.

It was... You know, time was ticking away and I knew from that moment

that it was game over for me. I mean, what actually went wrong?

Apart from the fact, obviously...

Everything went wrong. Did it? Everything went wrong.

The icing hadn't set and it was hard handling that

and trying to construct it, and I hadn't trimmed my edges, either.

Big mistake. But the good news was that the judges complimented

the flavour and snap of your gingerbread.

I mean, obviously you must have been pleased about that.

Yeah, because taste is really important to me.

It's more important than...

Although the finish is really important, taste is everything.

It's more important to me as well. And me.

God. Who cares what it looks like, quite honestly, really?

Your Signature bara brith sheep biscuits looked gorgeous,

absolutely gorgeous. Mel said the judges were looking for a biscuit

that's "as crisp as Paul Hollywood's hair."

Let's have a look at what you'd planned.

When we bite into it, is it going to break?

Is it going to crumble? What's going to happen? Bend? It's not...

It's a softer biscuit.

Did you feel then that things weren't quite going your way?

Because I'd flood icing on the biscuits,

it seemed to soften the texture.

I've made them at home and without the icing they're really tasty

and they have got a flavour of bara brith and they're crunchy.

But the icing just sort of softens them.

We saw how the other bakers came to your aid, though,

and Candice was on hand, wasn't she,

with some advice... They're all so lovely, they really are.

..on keeping calm? Let's have a look.

Louise, breathe. Sorry? Breathe.

EXHALES

As was Selasi.

Don't stress, don't stress, don't stress, don't stress, don't stress.

I think I'd find that quite stressful. Yeah.

What did you think of Louise's flock of sheep, Josh?

Loved it. It was very good.

I liked how Welsh all your bakes were,

the bara brith sheep and the west Wales church.

Where are you from? Wales.

Let's talk about cake week, then,

cos that was a better time for you, wasn't it? Yes.

Now, for the Signature you baked

an orange liqueur and lemonade drizzle cake, yeah?

Yes. Which I thought looked delicious.

Did that turn out how you wanted it? Did you think it looked like Zippy?

No, I thought it looked like two bosoms flat on the table

before it became Zippy, and I fixated on that, I don't know why.

I definitely thought it looked great.

It was the one that stood out.

Oh, thank you. What about your mirror glaze Showstopper?

Now, whilst you didn't manage to achieve the glaze -

neither did some other people -

the judges again loved the flavour,

so that must be very pleasing for you.

Yeah, I was delighted with that

cos I was very pleased with those flavours.

I based it on a white chocolate trifle that I make

and I knew they were a winning combination.

On hindsight, I should have made it a smaller cake

with still the lovely flavours and worked on the presentation.

Well, what we'd like to do is give you a chance to have another go

at a bake that didn't go to plan, so no pressure.

What have you gone for?

I've gone for my gingerbread wedding.

CHEERING

Let's just... There we go.

Oh, wow!

APPLAUSE

Josh, how amazing does that look?

It looks incredible.

And there's those gravestones we've heard so much about as well.

So I might eat a gravestone.

Should I go gravestone or should I go...? Go for it. Just...

Why don't we break that off and why don't we just go like that?

I don't want to spoil it. No, there you go.

Oh, that's great. That's lovely. Very good.

Thank you. Really good.

Thank you. It's absolutely gorgeous and it looks phenomenal.

Gorgeous. It's really impressive.

Also, I love the image of you sat on the train from Wales

with that on your table.

Congratulations, it looks absolutely brilliant.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Louise, very sorry to see you go.

We've loved watching you in the tent

and we've made you one of our special cakes

which Josh is bringing over.

Oh, my God, I'm so tense. I know, it is nerve-racking.

There we go. OK, so...

..Louise, this is... Aww!

APPLAUSE

..you giving your bara brith sheep biscuits a quick blow-dry there.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Ladies and gentlemen, please give Louise a Great British send-off.

Are you all right with that?

Louise, everyone.

And, finally, Kate made some very attractive Swallowtail butterflies

which, as a child growing up in the country, she kept as pets.

In what is possibly one of the most startling bits of unseen footage

I've ever found in the tent,

Kate explains what happens when butterflies pupate.

When butterflies start to pupate,

they fix their tails to the side of the tank

and then they split their skins, which I knew they did,

but they wiggle and wiggle and their heads fall off.

Who knew the birth of a butterfly was so horrific?

Let's hope Michael didn't overhear that.

But they wiggle and wiggle and their heads fall off.

That's it for this week.

A big thank you to Louise,

to all of our studio bakers and to our celebrity panel -

Rosemary Shrager...

..Steph McGovern...

..Josh Widdicombe.

Next week, it's bread week. Will Paul get crusty?

And which baker will be toast?

See you next week at 9:30pm.

Till then, goodbye.