Episode 7 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

The gloves were off,

and the pressure was on...

Oh, no!

..as Dessert Week...

Disaster.

..rolled into the tent.

We wanted a mousse. And I don't think we got a mousse.

Don't worry, Paul. I got you a moose!

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Time for An Extra Slice.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Hello, and welcome to the show. Did we all enjoy Dessert Week?

-ALL:

-Yes!

Selasi has always been one of the more laid-back bakers,

but this week, he took it to a whole new level.

LAUGHTER

Meanwhile, Paul's been trying a new hair product,

and asked Jane whether she thought it had made a difference.

It's thick, it's glossy, it's looking gorgeous.

-I thought so.

-LAUGHTER

While the bakers struggled with the Technical, Paul and Mary

nipped out for a quick drink, which turned into a full-on pub crawl.

After several angry calls from Mel and Sue,

they finally stumbled back to the tent.

When we walk in to see them,

they are going to knock us flat.

LAUGHTER

So, Dessert Week saw our seventh baker serve up his last course.

And Tom left the tent.

-ALL:

-Aww!

But I'm delighted to say that, by the power of his bread centrepiece -

Thor's Hammer - and also a train,

he'll be joining us later on.

-ALL:

-Yeah!

APPLAUSE

Speaking of ambitious creations, Ruth from Bristol

came up with a design for a cake to be served as a dessert at a wedding.

And what a charming and sophisticated design it was.

LAUGHTER

I mean, how often do you see a bog roll made out of fondant?

LAUGHTER

Lovely work, Ruth.

More of those later. Plus, we will be taking a look at the bakes

brought in by our studio audience.

Is there a mousse loose aboot this hoose?

-ALL:

-Yeah!

Our panel will be trying a few of those.

And don't they look delighted at the thought of it?

LAUGHTER

Let's meet them before they try and DESERT.

First up, she's a judge on Bake Off Creme de la Creme

and a woman who loves eating seaweed with shortbread.

-It's Cherish Finden.

-Hello.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Next, it's the double Olympic silver medallist,

who, when she isn't cycling, is baking.

It's Becky James.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

And, finally, a comedian and actor

who says he's only ever baked functional cakes.

It's Chris Addison.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

So, Cherish, seaweed and shortbread together.

You describe that taste as umami. What is umami?

Well, umami is a savoury taste

and it is the fifth basic taste.

So, we have the bitterness, saltiness, sour,

sweetness and the fifth one is umami.

OK.

Now, Becky, having won two Olympic medals in Rio for cycling,

where do you find time to do any baking in your busy schedule?

You actually get quite a lot of free time when you are training, so...

-Oh, do you, Becky?

-Yeah.

-LAUGHTER

If I've got morning training, I'll spend the afternoon baking.

So, when I'm not training, I'm baking.

Well, I just want to say, you have actually got your medals with you.

So, I really think... Do you think she should get them out? I do.

-ALL:

-Yes!

And then one of you... So, anyone who is good at running, go for it.

LAUGHTER

Oh, my word.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Thank you for showing them to us.

Now, Chris, you only bake functional cakes.

-Yeah.

-What does that mean?

It means that they are...

There's nothing fancy or nice-looking

about the cakes that I bake.

They only really exist as a cake.

Sometimes, the function that they serve

could not even be cake-related. I've...

-LAUGHTER

-I've cooked things that

you could use in construction.

LAUGHTER

Very functional. Nothing fancy.

Now, if you are sitting there thinking,

"Mm, I haven't seen a unicorn cake for a while",

then I can tell you that your wait is over.

Naomi from London and her friend set out to make

this hugely ambitious rainbow coloured creation.

-ALL MURMUR

-Wow.

Several hours later, exhausted, yet triumphant,

they sat back to admire their handiwork.

LAUGHTER

You see, if they'd said they were aiming to do

a pig wearing a party hat...

LAUGHTER

..it still wouldn't have been great, would it?

Jasmine from Stockton-on-Tees sent us a picture of a cake

she made for her friend's birthday in the shape of a horse's head.

She thought it was terrible, but then, to be fair,

she's got no sense of perspective.

Literally.

LAUGHTER

If Picasso made chocolate sponge...

LAUGHTER

Suzanne made the perfect cake

for her friend's ruby wedding anniversary -

a Ruby Murray.

Everything on top of the cake is made from icing,

-even the poppadom.

-Wow.

-Wow.

Suzanne decided to go with a design based on Cockney rhyming slang,

because she's from, yes, you've guessed it,

Welwyn Garden City.

LAUGHTER

Cakes that look like a cactus continue to be popular

with this being the goal.

-ALL:

-Aww!

-Yeah, I know, that's sweet, that one.

But, last week, we saw how well Alana from Kent got on.

LAUGHTER

And this week, Alexandra and Demi from York had a go.

LAUGHTER

It looks like a sad little alien's popped round to say hello.

LAUGHTER

And, speaking of sad, Bethan from Surrey has made an apple cake.

SAD PIANO MUSIC

LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER LOUDENS

And, finally, let's find out what happened when Harry Met Sally

and, together in a kitchen in Kingston,

tried to make a Victoria sponge in the shape of a penguin.

Using this stuffed toy for inspiration,

they eventually produced this...

GASPING AND LAUGHTER

I won't have what she's having, thanks. I'll make myself a sandwich.

LAUGHTER

I really look forward to seeing your pictures,

so do keep sending them in.

Details at the bottom of the screen.

Now, let's remind ourselves what happened

when the sweet trolley rolled into the tent.

This week, the bakers faced desserts.

Week seven of Bake Off. Good enough is not good enough any more.

In the roulade Signature, the judges were looking for superb sponges,

flavoursome fillings and skilful swirls.

Look at the smile on her face.

She knows it's good.

The marjolaine Technical demanded precision baking,

focus and a steady hand...

Eugh!

..with engineer Andrew coming first.

And, in first place...

APPLAUSE

A place in the quarterfinals rested on the Showstopper.

-Breathe, breathe.

-It's not going very well.

24 mini mousse cakes.

Two different flavours in just four hours.

Andrew won his first-ever Star Baker...

Yes, finally, finally!

But time was called on Tom and he left the tent.

-MEL:

-We'll miss you.

APPLAUSE

So, having experimented his way through to week seven,

Tom left in style,

with every one of his bakes having had that characteristic Tom twist.

A Signature roulade, with no sign of the roul.

A rectangular marjolaine for the Technical

that, technically, wasn't a rectangle,

and a mini mousse Showstopper that wasn't actually mousse.

Becky, were you surprised to see Tom go?

Yeah, I was. Especially after last week as well,

after him getting Star Baker.

Everyone had upped their game and I just don't think

he'd upped his game quite as much as everyone else.

I think he was the right baker to go, so, er...

Ooh, there's a little bit of dissent there.

-Ooh!

-Well, I was very disappointed with his marjolaine.

And, of course, the Showstopper as well.

It just doesn't look right. He didn't perform well.

So, it just went haywire.

He did that thing, where people are sort of in...

Whether he did it subconsciously or not, I don't know,

but you know when people are slightly in denial

about what they can and can't do and they go,

"Mm, mousse. I can't do a mousse.

"I'm going to make a cake and call it a mousse".

LAUGHTER

Something which Val used to do a little bit of,

where people would go, "So, we need 12 of these".

-And she'd go, "Yeah, I've made 18".

-LAUGHTER

I mean, you need 12. Just the roulade as well.

The roulade at the beginning, which didn't look like a roulade.

It looked like somebody'd nicked all the Smarties off

a Colin the Caterpillar cake.

LAUGHTER

Well, during the judging of his roulade,

there seemed to be some difference of opinion, regarding Tom's nutmeg,

according to this bit of unseen footage.

I had no idea that you'd got the nutmeg in there

and you put quite a lot in.

-No, I'm not getting the nutmeg either.

-Do you?

-I'm getting nutmeg.

Big-time. Dancing on the palate.

Rumba-ing.

-No-one else?

-No.

-Just haven't got the palate.

-Thanks, Tom.

LAUGHTER

Could we change? Do you think...?

Is Sue free?

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

Now, it was a great week for Andrew,

who wowed the judges with all three of his bakes.

And was finally crowned Star Baker.

Cherish, Paul was impressed

by Andrew's joconde sponge. Were you?

I was very impressed with the way

he piped the tuile mix on.

And it was so precise, the way he piped it.

The piping skill was amazing.

And the sponge, the joconde sponge, that he spread on,

he cooked it just right. So, yes.

Well, interestingly, La Joconde is what the French call the Mona Lisa,

partly because "joconde" means happy

and refers to her iconic half smile.

And partly because of that

Swiss roll she's famously holding.

LAUGHTER

Are you impressed by him, Becky?

Yeah, he's so good. So, so good.

He's just so neat and precise. That comes from the engineering.

And he's done incredible.

And he's seven. He's about seven.

LAUGHTER

Andrew did particularly well to produce a passion fruit curd,

given the size of his sieve.

LAUGHTER

It's one of the toy ones. He's seven -

-He's only got a little kit.

-LAUGHTER

Was Andrew a worthy Star Baker, Cherish, would you say?

Well...

-ALL:

-Ooh.

-Oh, controversial.

I get excited when I look at Jane. She was everywhere.

She was making five mousses.

Different recipes, different textures, different looks.

Jane, if you're out there,

you are employed.

GASPING AND LAUGHTER

-Oh, wow.

-Wow.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

As if 24 mini mousse cakes in four hours wasn't enough of a tall order,

Jane made more work for herself by creating five different mousses.

Her Showstopper ticked all the boxes,

with the judges praising the texture,

soft sponges and delicious flavours.

Here's Mary.

You have achieved...

Sheer perfection? A miracle?

..a light mousse.

LAUGHTER

Oh, that's a bit of a letdown.

"You have achieved...

"what we asked you to do." LAUGHTER

Jane's boozy chocolate and hazelnut roulade Signature

proved one over the eight for Paul,

who said the alcohol had ruined her flavours.

Cherish, at what point do you judge

whether there's just too much booze in your bake?

Presumably, when you're staggering to a kebab shop

and phoning your ex-boyfriend... LAUGHTER

..is too late, is it?

Well, I feel that whenever you feel a bit of burning sensation

-at the back of your throat, that would tell you.

-Oh, is that it?

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah. That would be too much.

When you take a bite of the cake

and then you look back and now there are two cakes.

LAUGHTER

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

There was one shot of Jane carrying her mousse cakes,

which caught my eye.

I keep trying to persuade myself that it really has set.

JANE CHUCKLES

LAUGHTER

And, for some reason, it made me imagine her doing this.

I keep trying to persuade myself that it really has set.

JANE CHUCKLES

EGYPTIAN MUSIC

LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

One thing I found interesting this week was that

Paul's got several different ways of saying the word "interesting".

LAUGHTER

Let's have a quick recap and I'll translate for you.

First, here's Paul with Tom.

Millionaire shortbread is stunning, but inside a sponge...

should be interesting.

Millionaire shortbread is stunning,

but inside a sponge is a really weird idea that won't work.

LAUGHTER

Interesting that you've rolled it up that way.

Pity that you've rolled it up that way...

LAUGHTER

..as that way is the wrong way.

LAUGHTER

Interesting that you covered it.

You shouldn't have covered it. LAUGHTER

-You said that you had coconut in there.

-Yeah.

-Coconut extract.

-What have you got, flavour?

-Extract paste.

-Ah, OK.

-Ooh.

Well, that interesting.

LAUGHTER

By which Paul does actually mean,

"Oh, that's interesting". LAUGHTER

Benjamina also knows how to get Mary interested.

Are you putting any of the pineapple inside?

Cooked it down for a bit, with a bit of the rum.

CORK POPPING, LIQUID POURING

LAUGHTER

Selasi couldn't wait to get started on Dessert Week.

Ah, here we go again.

LAUGHTER

In the Showstopper, Paul criticised Selasi

for forgetting the word "mini",

as his chocolate mini mousse cakes were massive.

Let's remind ourselves.

OK. Here's a mini sausage roll. OK?

Here's a mini muffin. OK?

And here's Selasi's mini mousse cake.

LAUGHTER

Time now to take a look at the bakes brought in by our audience.

Rachel, where are you?

-Hello.

-Hello. You've baked a tribute to someone. Who is it?

It's Candice.

We love her ever-changing lipstick.

LAUGHTER

What we've got is a white chocolate sponge cake,

topped with a pink peppercorn and rhubarb marshmallow.

-Crikey.

-And then we've also got some salted caramel ice biscuits.

That is amazing.

-Well, it's what Mary would call "a lot of fun".

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

Thank you very much indeed, Rachel. That's great.

APPLAUSE

Izzy and Lydia? Where are you?

OK, now you've made a tribute cake to a baker as well.

Who would that be?

It's Andrew.

-LAUGHTER

-So...it's...

That is brilliant.

It is a ginger treacle tart, with an orange pastry.

And then it's got a little rocket,

because he did Aerospace Engineering.

Why did you choose to honour Andrew in this way? Is he your favourite?

Well, we're both ginger, so...

LAUGHTER

It looks great. Thanks very much for bringing him along. Thank you.

APPLAUSE

Sally? Where are you?

-Here.

-What have you brought along?

I've got a cinnamon, apple and caramel cake.

Oh, look at that. That's amazing. AUDIENCE MURMUR

And that's my dog.

Is that a little bird that I see there as well?

No.

LAUGHTER

What is it, Sally?

I don't know what word I can use.

-Poo?

-Yes.

-Is it a dog poo?

-It's a dog poo.

LAUGHTER

-CHRIS:

-With eyes?

-LAUGHTER

-Well, it's like...

it's like the emoji poo.

Oh, I see.

LAUGHTER

-Thank you, Sally. That's brilliant. It's great.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

Right, over to Claire now. Where is Claire?

You've made something quite unusual, Claire, haven't you? What's that?

I have made the chicken and the egg.

-Right.

-So, I've got a mini cupcakes with eggs.

And some of them are roast chicken.

AUDIENCE MURMUR, LAUGHTER

And they have real sage and onion stuffing inside as well.

They look great, but we are never going to know what they taste like,

cos we're not going anywhere near them, but...

LAUGHTER

..thank you very much. That's great. APPLAUSE

So, panel, we can't put it off any longer.

It's time to taste a couple now.

So, Devika, where are you?

-Here.

-Hi, there.

-Hi.

Now, you've also gone for cakes that look uncannily like something else.

-Yes.

-What are they?

So, my mum and I made these spaghetti and meatball muffins.

-CHRIS:

-Oh, wow, look at those. That's amazing.

-Thank you.

-How have you done the meatballs then?

So, the meatballs are chocolate and Rice Krispies.

Oh, yeah.

The spaghetti is buttercream icing.

The tomato sauce is strawberry jam.

-And the Parmesan is white chocolate.

-CHRIS SNIGGERS

And then the actual muffins have got white chocolate in them as well.

-Oh, those are really nice.

-Nice. What do you think, Becky?

-Try a bit of meatball.

-Mm.

That's really nice.

-Cherish, you're looking pensive.

-Really sweet.

-What do you think?

I think I really like the idea.

You really like the idea? LAUGHTER

But, but...

This is Cherish. She's, erm...

she doesn't pull punches.

LAUGHTER

But I think the sponge is a bit dry for my liking, sorry.

-ALL:

-Ooh.

Well, two out of three and they look amazing.

-Thank you.

-So, thank you for bringing them along.

APPLAUSE

Where is Melinda?

-Hi.

-What have you got there?

I have a lemon and salmon cheesecake.

-ALL:

-Ooh.

-Lemon and salmon?

ALL MURMUR

-Yes.

-Fish in a cheesecake.

That's quite an unusual thing to do. SCATTERED LAUGHTER

Cheese and biscuits can be a bit boring.

And I just thought, lemon cheesecake is very nice,

but to perhaps savour it up a little bit,

for those who haven't got such a sweet tooth...

I've tried it with smoked salmon. It's a bit strong.

But poached salmon's quite nice.

It's quite subtle. It's not overpowering.

No, it's not, is it? It actually... Well, I quite like it.

-CHRIS:

-That's extraordinary.

Cherish, is it umami or oh, blimey?

LAUGHTER

Sorry, I just don't like it...

LAUGHTER DROWNS SPEECH

-Oh, blimey then.

-Sorry.

What's the problem?

It was slimy, it was fishy...

-It was just...

-LAUGHTER

I just can't eat it, sorry.

-That's fine, that's fine.

-I tried, but no. It's a no-no for me.

-I won't take it personally.

-LAUGHTER

I think, if you have a dinner party,

you could have some nice invitations, which say,

"Come round, we're having something slimy and fishy".

LAUGHTER

So, thank you very much, Melinda.

-My pleasure. Thank you.

-APPLAUSE

Thanks very much to all our studio bakers.

Back now to the tent and time to meet a baker whose flavours

were sometimes baffling, but never boring.

Who triumphed with bread, but was done for by dessert.

Will you please welcome Tom!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Lovely to have you with us, Tom.

Well done for getting all the way to week seven.

Now, you were awarded Star Baker twice,

which is a massive achievement.

I mean, did you ever imagine that that would happen?

Were you hoping it would?

I didn't think I was getting past week one,

so Star Baker was a bit of a surprise.

Bread Week Star Baker was, for me, just the best.

If I'd have gone all the way through to the final, but done badly

in Bread Week, I think I'd have regretted that forever.

But getting Star Baker in Bread Week just felt like,

yeah, I've achieved something.

And then Botanical Week was a complete surprise.

You know, I don't really do kind of pretty things and floral things.

And so to get it for that felt like

a real pat on the back for some hard graft.

Well, here's how you felt going into Dessert Week.

So far, being Star Baker has not been great for me.

I've had a bit of the curse of the Star Baker in the past.

So, I'm just going to try and ignore that.

How did that go, Tom?

LAUGHTER

-Yeah, not well.

-Aww. LAUGHTER

So, in the roulade Signature,

you did manage to achieve the swirl the judges wanted.

But you disappointed them

by smothering the whole thing in chocolate.

I was trying to make it look like a Twix.

-That was...

-LAUGHTER

If only Twixes were really that size.

LAUGHTER

Wouldn't that be great?

The judges loved the originality of your Hipster Picnic Showstopper.

You did apple pie and melted ice cream mini mousses,

alongside carrot cake.

Although, I thought that the sandwiches were -

if you look - prawn...

LAUGHTER

..and macaroni cheese.

LAUGHTER

You were let down by your mousse. What happened?

I got so, in my head, worked up about making sure

my mousse would set. And I was practising.

And I was like, how can I make this mousse set quicker and quicker?

And I had this genius idea of, instead of using the moulds,

that I'd pipe it on,

forgetting that, when you push mousse through a piping bag,

-it stops being mousse and becomes cream.

-Ah!

Now, let's go back to Botanicals Week,

when you won Star Baker for the second time.

You made a blood orange and pumpkin meringue pie for your Signature,

which the judges felt was too sweet.

Did you agree with them?

I don't think I did. I quite liked the pie.

I kind of see where they were coming from.

They were looking for something really sharp and kind of classic.

But I wanted to push the boundary of that.

They said citrus. Orange is a citrus.

It's not lemon, but I thought I'd try it.

And I really like pumpkin pie, so I thought, why not?

And you came first in the herb fougasse Technical.

Possibly cos it turned out you were very au fait

with a fougasse. LAUGHTER

Let's just remind ourselves.

I love fougasse. I've never actually made a fougasse.

But it's one of my favourite things.

It's actually my cinema snack.

LAUGHTER

Now, tell me truthfully

do you really take a fougasse with you into the cinema?

Honestly, every time I go to the cinema, I have a fougasse.

My wife picks it up for us and we go to the cinema.

Date Night, we're there, sat with our twin fougasses.

LAUGHTER

Are you risking a fine with contraband fougasse?

-Do they allow you to smuggle a fougasse in?

-I just...

-I just stick in my wife's handbag.

-Right.

But I'm hoping, now and the rest of the world has seen it,

we're going to see fougasse stands in cinemas everywhere.

-LAUGHTER

-Bread that dare not speak its name.

LAUGHTER

Cos I tell you, if my husband stuck his fougasse into my handbag...

LAUGHTER

..it would come out with God knows what all over it.

LAUGHTER No, it really would.

But let's talk about Bread Week.

The judges loved your chocolate orange swirl bread in the Signature.

Then, you stunned them again in the Showstopper

with your savoury plait.

Here you are telling the judges what it was going to be.

I am doing a two-piece centrepiece.

One is going to be a serpent, which is Jormungandr.

-Sorry?

-Jormungandr.

And Mjolnir, which is Thor's Hammer.

LAUGHTER

Because I thought, when I heard you were doing Jormungandr

and m-non-yur...

LAUGHTER ..I thought it might be

an Ikea bookcase and bedside cabinet...

LAUGHTER

..in bread form, which I would have loved, cos it would have been big.

What inspired you to do such an ambitious design?

We had to do a plaited centrepiece and, ever since I've been little,

I've loved legends of Vikings and the Norse.

And, in that art, you always see these knots and plaits

and they are really intricate.

So, the moment I knew it was plaits, I thought,

yeah, I can do a really nice story here.

Let's talk about Biscuit Week,

when you received the first Hollywood Handshake

of the series for your chai frappe latte chino biscuits.

What was that like?

That was great.

And, you know, I'd been piping for about an hour at that point.

And my hand was just kind of crippled.

LAUGHTER

And so, what he got was this kind of limp, shaking hand.

LAUGHTER

I think it was a lot less impressive than the biscuits.

I'd done a lot of time and practising.

I'd made hundreds and hundreds of those biscuits.

And loads of different things -

grinding the coffee big, grinding it small.

So, it was really nice to have that pay off.

Now, changing the subject completely...

On a scale of one to ten, how important is wafting?

LAUGHTER

I only ask, cos you did quite a lot of it.

LAUGHTER

And you use a variety of techniques. Let's have a look.

First of all, here's your bread wafting.

LAUGHTER

There's your sponge wafting. LAUGHTER

Then, here's your all-purpose weird wafting.

LAUGHTER

That's our favourite, but I couldn't help noticing that this week

you were using a special gadget to help with cooling your bakes...

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah.

Let's have a look at the cutting edge technology you employed...

SOFT HAWAIIAN MUSIC

LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER

Was that more effective than it looked?

Yeah, it really works!

It was only a quid, as well, so, you know...

LAUGHTER

Now, as you know, Tom,

here on Extra Slice, we do give you an opportunity

to have another go at a bake that didn't go quite to plan.

So, which one of your bakes have you brought along?

I've chosen to do my pumpkin and blood orange meringue pie.

Okey dokey.

Here we go, guys.

Do you think it's exactly the same as you made it in the tent?

I've tried to make it a little bit less sweet.

I've added a little bit of an orange curd in the bottom,

-to see if that makes a difference.

-What sort of meringue is that?

That's an Italian meringue, with some roasted pecan nuts in.

-Oh... CHRIS:

-That's really good.

-It's amazing.

-Oh!

Oh! LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

-BECKY:

-Absolutely delicious.

-And you think it's amazing, do you? CHRIS:

-Yeah, it's really good.

The meringue - that you put some nuts in it -

it's really, really nice. Well done.

-Thank you.

-Well, we're very sorry to see you go.

And we've made you one of our special cakes.

-There we go.

-Here we are.

-Ooh.

-Oh, shut up!

LAUGHTER

-You're not helping!

-SCATTERED LAUGHTER

Righty-ho.

Okey dokey.

-ALL:

-Aww!

APPLAUSE So, there we go.

That's you, with your plaited snake

and your chai frappe latte chino biscuits.

Please give Tom a Great British send-off.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

That's it for this week.

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

and to our celebrity panel -

Cherish Finden...

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

..Becky James...

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

..and Chris Addison.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Next week, it's Tudor Week.

Who will impress Queen Mary and who will be sent to the Tower?

See you at 9:30.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING