Episode 1 The Great British Bake Off

Over ten weeks, 12 of Britain's best amateur bakers tackled 30 challenges,

testing their baking skills to the limit.

All you have to do is impress our lovely judges, Mary and Paul.

-On your marks...

-Get set...

Bake!

They had to confront cakes...

Argh!

Got the fear. Cake fear.

You have five minutes.

..battle with biscuits...

Oh...I've just snapped it.

Just do it again.

..and prevail over patisserie.

Could all rest on the placing of the icing.

Each week, one rose to the top...

-That is sheer heaven on a plate.

-That is superb.

Oh...

Congratulations.

..while others curdled under the pressure...

Oh...!

The pastry is not done underneath.

..proving once again that things never run as smoothly as expected

in the Great British Bake Off tent.

-LAUGHING:

-Definitely going to be a good one(!)

What the hell?

Oh, that's not good. It's stuck in me nozzle.

I've got a chocolaty nozzle.

But now it's time for our very own Star Bakers to take centre stage

as judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood

take over the British Bake Off tent to do what they do best -

share their knowledge, their passion

and their favourite recipes from the series.

These masterclasses will give you the confidence

and the knowledge to get you baking in your own kitchen.

We'll show you every detail of these bakes so you can't go wrong.

Coming up, Mary Berry makes a classic Madeira cake

with a zesty twist.

And a very British layered walnut cake,

smothered in a fluffy white frosting.

Paul bakes Italian hazelnut and orange biscotti,

followed by wafer-thin French arlettes.

And finally, Mary brings a much-loved '70s Showstopper

bang up to date with her take on a Black Forest gateau.

Each week, Mary and Paul ask the bakers

to complete three challenges

and the Signature Challenge is their first opportunity

to make their mark, show off their skills and impress Mary and Paul.

Welcome, everybody, to the tent.

Now, this is your first Signature Challenge

and for this, we thought we'd start you nice and simply

with a very basic Madeira cake.

Easy!

You've got two hours to complete this.

-On your marks...

-Get set...

Bake!

Some bakers use this opportunity

to put their own stamp on the Madeira cake...

That's my thyme, which I'm going to...blend it together

with some lemon zest.

It's green cardamom and orange Madeira.

I'm making a gin and tonic Madeira cake.

..whilst some stay traditional.

It's just nice the way it is, with the orange and lemon in it.

No frills, just a very classic, traditional Madeira cake.

For Mary's take on the Signature Challenge,

she stays true to the classic Madeira cake -

a rich, buttery sponge,

decorated with a tangle of candied peel.

Well, we kicked off the series I think, Mary,

with a relatively simple challenge.

Madeira cake.

I think it's good to start off with something simple and classic,

and what more classic than a Madeira cake?

And a Madeira cake should be a close-textured cake

and to make it keep, my version has a little bit of ground almonds.

To start with, I'm going to candy the peel,

so if you can give me a lemon...

Lovely.

Cut the lemon into 8 or 16 slices, depending on the size,

and carefully remove the flesh.

See, I was always told to cut away from you.

You're absolutely right - health and safety, I should.

That's it.

So, to candy the peel, I need a sugar syrup -

can you measure me 200g of granulated sugar?

And I've got 300ml here of water.

And then I will add the sugar to it and dissolve it.

-OK.

-There's your 200g.

200g.

Stir it all the time until it's dissolved.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add the lemons.

Simmer gently until it looks lovely and shiny,

about half an hour's simmering.

Well, that's been bubbling away gently for about 30 minutes.

It's got a lovely shine to it, it's translucent,

and it's soft as well, so I'm going to drain that.

So I've just got a baking tray here and then just spread this out.

Right - I need some caster sugar.

Just sprinkle it over and that makes it candied.

But it's sticky at the moment,

and the whole idea of putting it in the oven

is for it to dry out and become crisp.

So I've set the oven fairly low, 100,

-and I'm going to leave it in for one hour.

-OK.

The bakers had varying degrees of success

with their attempts at candied peel.

I'm not sure how crisp your candied peel on the top is.

Not very.

Now, you just listen as I drop this on the plate.

This is proper candied - it's not sticky and wet.

TINKLING

That's how it should be.

That's a Bake Off first - the candied drop test.

Never seen you do that before, Bez.

Uh...it's not quite candied.

I tried to candy the lemon - it's not quite right!

It's more like lemon sludge.

So, that candied peel's had about an hour. Let's see how it's doing.

Should be done.

Well, it looks right, but the real test is to -

and it's going to be hot -

pick it up and it's got to be a crisp.

TAPPING

That's right. That's just as it should be.

Now it's time to do the cake.

-If you just weigh everything into this bowl.

-OK.

So, to start with, 175g of butter.

-175g.

-That's right.

And it's one of the occasions when I would definitely use butter,

-because the butter flavour comes through.

-Oh-ho-ho!

Go on - is that exactly right?

-That is.

-I thought it might be.

To the butter, add 175g of caster sugar,

225g of self-raising flour and 50g of ground almonds.

Now, I'd like four eggs.

-Do you want them cracked straight in?

-Yes.

-You'll do it one-handed.

-You sure?

-Yes, go on.

And I don't want any down the side of the bowl.

That's right.

Well done - nothing's here yet.

-Ah, it is.

-Oh, stop!

Right - and then, I wanted the grated rind of one lemon.

I love the smell of lemon.

It is one of our favourites on Bake Off, isn't it?

Lemon, lime...

Now, all I've got to do is mix all that together,

so into the machine...

There we are - turn it on slowly, so the flour doesn't go all over me.

Mix the ingredients together to create a dense batter.

Once thoroughly incorporated,

spoon the mix into a lined, seven-inch cake tin.

In that goes - every scrap out.

Then you just level that off.

Make sure the paper is absolutely flat all the way round.

The total cooking time will be about an hour.

How will we know when it's ready?

It'll be shrinking away from the sides,

there will be a crack in the top and it'll be a nice colour.

So I've set the oven at 160 fan. Let's put that in...

..and we'll have a look at it after half an hour.

Halfway through, add the candied peel

and return to the oven for the remaining time.

For the bakers, the last part of the bake is the moment of truth.

Watch it like a hawk.

My cake's not cooked in the middle, but the top is really brown,

so I'm just covering the top.

It's just the temperatures, I don't think I've got them right.

The perfect Madeira cake should have a dome

and a signature crack on the top of the cake.

Looking for a crack.

I'm happy with that.

I think it looks great - it's got a lovely crack.

I think it's all right.

I'll dress it up and try and make it look pretty.

That's it - so, that looks a pretty good bake

and it's a lovely, pale, even brown colour.

There's the traditional crack on top.

So, let's put it on here and it'll be time to try it.

Nice - got the cake. Just need the cup of tea.

Oh, or a glass of Madeira.

Trust you, Mary.

Madeira cake - is it ready to eat now?

It's perfect - and look what we've got.

-Tasty. Now, we need...

-That's a good start.

-We need to have cake to go with it.

-Yes.

There you go, then, Mary.

How about that?

It's a perfect thing to have at, sort of, elevenses time -

-we don't want a lot of cream on top and in the middle.

-No, no.

You can smell the citrus in there, can't you?

And I think the texture's fantastic, the look of it is good.

-Oh, such a great flavour, isn't it?

-Mmm...

You can't beat a good piece of Madeira.

I think it was a perfect start for our first challenge.

I think it was.

I think most of them did produce some decent Madeira cakes,

but to be honest, yours is the best, Mary.

Oh, I'll drink to that.

Better not have too much, we've got a bit more baking to do.

Nonsense!

And now, Paul's tip for a foolproof plaited loaf.

You need to divide your dough into seven.

And then roll each piece out the same length.

You think, "Ooh, that's going to be complicated." But no...

So, you have seven strands of dough. Join them all together.

Put four one side, split them in half,

and three the other.

Start with the one with the most on. That's the four.

Bring it from the outside

and put it on the inside of the one with the three.

Take it from the outside, bring it over to the one to make it four.

Outside again, into the middle.

Outside, outside, outside...

And do this all the way down

to the bottom.

And it tapers off naturally.

There's one side.

The second side, flip it over, spread them out again,

and repeat, exactly the same way.

Outside, to bring it over to four.

Into the middle again. Into the middle.

And then repeat all the way down.

And there you have it -

seven-strand plait, perfect.

All you need to do is prove and bake it.

The cake theme continued into the first Technical Challenge,

but the bakers had no way of knowing

what Paul and Mary had in store for them.

Bakers, welcome to your first ever Technical Challenge.

Now, this one has been set by lovely Mary

and it is quintessentially British.

Paul and Mary would very much like you to make a walnut cake.

You have got one hour and 45 minutes.

-Very good luck. On your marks...

-Get set...

-BOTH:

-Bake.

I fairly know how it's supposed to be done.

I don't want to talk too much because I might fail,

so I'll just keep it to myself.

I think I've made it, years and years and years ago,

but a long, long time ago,

and I don't think it really...worked.

Mary's walnut cake layers rich vanilla buttercream

between light, delicate sponge,

before being covered with a blanket

of pillowy white meringue frosting.

Mary, you chose to do a walnut cake for the first Technical Challenge,

specifically one that's covered with a frosted icing, too.

And it's all layered.

It is quite tricky - they've got to cook three sponges

and it's quite a tricky frosting.

So how do we go about making one?

Well, first of all, I would like you to weigh me some butter.

For the sponge, add 225g of butter...

Come on, are you going to weigh it?

-It's 225.

-OK.

..and 225g of caster sugar.

So we're doing the sponge mixture by the creaming method.

Cream together the butter and the sugar.

Then weigh out 225g of self-raising flour,

one teaspoon of baking powder...

..and then finely chop 100g of walnuts.

Getting the right size of the walnuts is important to ensure

that they spread evenly through the mixture.

Mary's recipe didn't specify what size to chop the walnuts,

which caused the bakers some consternation.

Just getting really paranoid about the size of the walnut pieces.

If they're too big, I'm scared that they'll drop down -

if they're small enough,

they'll incorporate nicely into the cake.

Well, if you buy chopped nuts, they're usually about that big.

I think that is the perfect walnut size.

I can't see how it can't be.

-Is that rough enough for you?

-That's fine.

Pop them to one side - that's lovely.

And I'd like four eggs from your pot over there.

Okey doke - very clever.

If I do that, it goes all over the place. Lovely.

Just going to blend those together.

Right.

Add the beaten eggs bit by bit to ensure the mixture doesn't split.

Now, I just want to show you this.

It is now perfectly mixed in, but it hasn't in any way curdled.

Now, if I added the last bit of egg, more than likely,

it would slightly separate,

and that means you don't get quite such a good rise,

so, I'm going to, at this stage, take a tablespoonful of the flour,

like that - just flip it in there and put the rest of that in.

Now, let's have a look at that

to prove that that hasn't split at all.

-No.

-It's absolutely perfect.

Once all the egg is mixed in,

add the flour, walnuts and baking powder.

I'm just mixing until all the flour is incorporated in

and I'm not getting little flecks of flour throughout.

Divide the mixture evenly between three 20cm sandwich tins,

which have been greased and lined with baking parchment.

So, we divide these between the three.

-Are you tempted to use your hand on things like that?

-Certainly not.

The mixture must be level in the tin

to ensure that the cakes rise evenly.

These want to be baked at 160 fan

and they'll take about 25 minutes.

So we'll leave those to bake.

And of course, the tins need to lay flat in the oven,

as one of our bakers found out.

Oh, no.

It's not even.

That's my disaster. When I arranged the racks, I didn't put it properly.

It was tilting inside.

So, never mind - can't do anything about it.

Could you prop it up on some walnuts?

-No, that's ridiculous.

-No.

-No, no, no.

-No.

-No.

-No.

Should be ready, they've had about 25 minutes. Let's have a look...

And as you press the top, they should spring back,

which exactly they do.

Good colour...

Absolutely flat on top.

Right - we'll leave those just to shrink back a bit more

and cool in the tin, then we'll lift them out.

So, it's caramelised walnuts next, and they're quite tricky.

Put 100g of caster sugar in a pan with a splash of water.

The first thing to do is to dissolve the sugar

so that there's no grains in the bottom.

And of course, you can stir it to begin with,

until the sugar has dissolved,

but if you stir it after that, that's when trouble starts,

because it goes cloudy and crystallises.

Now the sugar has dissolved,

it's as clear as clear,

turn the heat up and let it boil away.

And it's very, very noisy

and when that dies down and you hear it go quiet,

and it's a lovely straw colour, I'm going to take it off

and put my nuts in and then lift them out

and they'll be covered in caramel.

Caramel is notoriously difficult to get right at the best of times...

This is the bit that could go horribly wrong.

..let alone during the bakers' first Technical.

If I move away, it'll go disastrously wrong.

Just a waiting game.

That's definitely not happening. I'm starting again with that guy.

-Why does that happen?

-I don't think there was enough water in it.

-OK.

-Mary said one tablespoon. I'm going to break the rules.

MEL GASPS

The secret to perfect caramel is not to stir it

and not to let it crystallise.

I'm worried that it's not melting, the sugar's not melted completely.

Going to start again.

Now, peace. No noise.

And we just wanted a gentle, gentle, light colour.

-But the secret is, you know, watch it.

-That's right.

There we are - and we're going to put those in there.

So that, at that stage, is praline,

and just tip them about like that

and you don't do it over the heat,

and then we're going to just lift those out.

Place the covered walnuts on a sheet of greaseproof paper.

Go on, then.

And you know what you could do with this little bit that's left?

You could pour on there and that'll harden up,

and crush it up and sprinkle it over the top - or just eat it.

I'm not going to leave it in the pan.

-So next, it's the buttercream.

-Mm-hm.

To make the buttercream filling,

put 125g of softened butter in a bowl and beat.

Then weigh out 250g of icing sugar.

Mix the butter with half the icing sugar

and add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract

and one tablespoon of milk.

Now you will have a cloud of dust to start with.

Mix thoroughly.

Add the remaining icing sugar...

..and another tablespoon of milk.

And a tiny bit more milk.

Then mix again until light and creamy.

You can see that's a totally different colour -

-it's spreadable...

-SHE SNIFFS

..and it smells beautifully of vanilla.

Now, there should be at the end there...

-A stand?

-Yep.

Place the first sponge on a cake stand.

So, in that goes, like that.

Spread a third of the buttercream on the first layer.

I'll just spread that right to the edge.

And then repeat with the remaining two layers.

Like that...

Perfect.

And then we'll be making the classic frosting for this sort of cake.

That's it. Then...

-Does it look right to you?

-No.

-What's wrong?

-Just lumpy that side.

Oh, go on, get your spirit level out, then.

Yeah, still a little bit fat there, Mary.

PAUL LAUGHS

This is the difference between you and me -

you know, when you're at home, it isn't the end of the world

if it's up one side and down the other.

But I suppose when you're selling 42 of these in a shop,

-they've all got to be absolutely identical.

-Yeah.

OK. Give or take, come on.

OK. Hang on...

-We haven't got all day, you know.

-Go on.

Put that on, push it down...

-Okey dokey, we're away.

-Yeah. Good.

Now, it's on to the frosting.

For the frosting,

place four tablespoons of water in a bowl

over a pan of simmering water.

Next, measure out 350g of caster sugar...

Right, that's lovely.

..and add it to the bowl.

As the sugar starts to dissolve,

add a quarter of a teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Separate two large eggs and then add the whites to the bowl.

And then I'm going to just stir that until the sugar has dissolved.

It's important that all the sugar

is dissolved in the water before whisking -

if not, the frosting will have a grainy texture.

That's just about right.

I'm now going to whisk it on full speed

and it will begin to froth up.

The water in Mary's recipe confused the bakers,

who didn't know it was needed to dissolve the sugar before whisking.

It just seems a bit odd to be putting water into a meringue.

Is this the right thing to do?

I think it's meant to be light, fluffy and shiny.

I think I'm doing OK -

it feels like it's sort of almost at the right consistency now.

Just doesn't look like it's going to stay up for me.

That looks pretty good to me. Can you see that?

Now, the secret was dissolving the sugar first.

-And there it is, looking like snow.

-It's perfect.

Right. So, let's put the whole lot on.

Gosh, it looks wonderful, doesn't it?

It's good stuff, this.

Spread the frosting all over the top and sides of the cake.

It should have a lovely, sort of...swirly effect.

And finally, add the caramelised walnuts.

And we reckon it serves ten people, so we put ten walnuts.

-That is perfect.

-That is absolutely stunning.

Just shows you, if you know how,

you can create a little bit of magic.

Ooh, yes! A bit of walnut cake. Let's have a look at this.

There you go.

That really is pretty good, isn't it?

You can feel it's moist inside,

you've got lovely layers in there as well.

-It's all about the taste with this, though, isn't it?

-It is.

Can't beat a good walnut cake.

-What do you think of the cake?

-That's lovely.

That sweetness comes from the marshmallow frosting.

It balances well with the walnuts inside it as well.

Goes very well with a cup of tea or a cup of coffee in the morning.

To be honest, you can have that any time of day, it's delicious.

I'm glad you've enjoyed it.

For the remaining bakers, week two was all about biscuits.

The Signature Challenge came first,

and it was certainly no time to crumble.

Now, bakers, your Signature Challenge

is to create 24 crunchy biscotti.

The biscotti can be any shape, flavour, size -

it's completely up to you.

But the biscotti must be identical.

You've got two hours on the bake, so ready yourselves.

On your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

A classic biscotti is made using almonds

and whilst all the bakers stuck to the traditional oblong shape,

most opted for slightly more unusual ingredients,

including coconut and fennel, white wine and even jackfruit.

But for Paul's take on these crunchy Italian treats,

he'll flavour his biscotti with hazelnut and orange.

Biscotti, Mary.

Do you remember we set the Signature Bake as a biscotti?

Now, I've been to Italy quite a few times on holiday, actually,

and I do love biscotti.

What's your favourite biscotti?

Mine, without doubt, is apricots and pistachio,

not too finely chopped - I love it.

I'm doing a hazelnut and orange.

So, could you weigh me up 250g of plain flour, please?

Thank you - and half a teaspoon of baking powder, please.

And 250g of caster sugar.

-There you are.

-Thank you very much.

While I'm doing this, Mary, I need three eggs,

just beaten up together, please.

That'll be the liquid in this mixture.

-These are so simple to make.

-They are, and they're lovely.

And they keep, too, don't they?

Like as though you're making scrambled egg - how about that?

-Just like that?

-That's lovely, thank you.

Now, while I'm just making this dough, Mary,

could you weigh up 200g of chopped hazelnuts,

which I have in that jar?

It's a lot of hazelnuts, isn't it?

It is - you have to put a lot in to pack it out.

That's the stability of the dough itself, you know?

And also, what I'm going to finally put in here

is just the zest of an orange.

-Right.

-I need that grated, please, quite finely, grated one.

I'm doing really rather well, actually.

I seem to be getting an awful lot of zest.

I'm being very careful not to get the pith, too.

No, don't take the pith.

-How about that?

-That's lovely.

Straight in.

Now, I'm going to mix all these together again with the liquid.

I'll use a little bit of flour as well.

If you just bring over that...flour, thank you.

I'm going to use that to tip this mixture into there.

Look at the colour of this.

-Excellent.

-Look at that.

Such a beautiful dough.

Now, I'm just going to...

divide that into two,

so I'm going to make two logs with this.

All I have to do is shape it into...

Can I have that flour back? Thank you.

You keep on taking all me stuff away, Mary!

-You seem to have messed that up...

-I know I've messed it up a bit.

-I'm a mucky baker.

-You are.

Flatten it down...

And then roll it up into a little bit of a sausage.

So you're kneading it just enough to incorporate...

Just to bring it together.

And also you've got all that orange zest

that needs to be evenly distributed.

Exactly. I've got one...

..and then two, the same size.

These are going to go into the oven now for 150 fan or 170 non-fan

for about 20, 25 minutes,

until they adopt a little bit of colour.

They'll come onto the bench.

Leave them to cool five or ten minutes and then carve them up.

-Pop them back in and finish the bake.

-So they're twice baked?

Twice baked. This is the first one.

The timing of the first bake is crucial.

Too little, and the biscotti logs won't cut properly.

Too long, and the biscotti could burn

or become too hard on the second bake.

This level of precision

meant the bakers had a nervous wait on their hands.

Timer.

TIMER BEEPS

BEEPING

No, not yet. Just a few more minutes.

It's still wet.

Another five minutes. I'm not going to cut into it if it's wet,

cos that'll be disastrous.

Well, there you are - see the way they flow out because of the eggs?

Now, we're going to bring these off, cut them all into little slithers.

Right.

-That's the texture inside - see?

-Yeah.

Smells amazing.

-Certainly does.

-Going to cut them on an angle.

A little bit for you as well, there, Mary.

Oh, I like the end bits best.

So, each one of these will go back on the tray.

A little gap, just to allow them to get a bit of air in there,

a bit of baking, a bit of heat.

-So they're going to be twice baked?

-Yes.

Do you have to turn them over on the second bake or not?

Depends what your oven is like.

If it's a fairly stable oven, you can be all right.

But if you find that one side is getting quicker than the other,

then yeah, you're best off turning it.

How many have we got there, Mary?

2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

-You've got 12 there.

-So we need 12 more.

That's not a problem.

2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11...

Get another one for luck.

So there you have it - you have 24,

which are going to go back in the oven.

How long do they need to go...?

Realistically, about ten minutes.

-Same temperature?

-Same temperature.

So what are we looking for

when they come out of the oven next time around?

HE KNOCKS

-Crisp.

-Absolutely crisp, yeah -

the smell again will really permeate that oven,

cos you're releasing all the hazelnuts as well,

and the orange, cos you've opened it up, now,

and then they'll begin to caramelise and crisp up and be delicious.

Right, Mary, they should be about done.

Indeed they are - look at these fellas.

Look at that - crispy, brown,

the smell of the nuts releasing all their oils, nice and hard.

The smell is knocking me out.

It's simple, it's straightforward, but packed with flavour.

We've got our coffee, Mary. We've got our biscotti.

Choose your weapon.

I'm going to take one from the end.

They're beautifully evenly baked,

and gosh, they're crisp - listen to this.

-SHE TAPS THE BISCOTTI

-Lovely - all the way through.

Now, do you dunk yours or not?

I don't dunk anything. I like it with.

-Mmm! That's a bit of all right.

-Try dunking it.

Come out, let it drip for a bit...

When it stops dripping, it should be soft...ish.

It alters the whole thing. Actually, it is rather nice.

Far from me to teach my grandmother how to suck eggs,

or Mary Berry to dunk a biscotti,

do you think it works, then?

Once you bite it, you then get all the flavour of the nuts,

and also, it's easier on your teeth.

-Exactly.

-Mmm! So good.

I will be a dunker from now on. But only for biscotti.

And now, Mary's tip to keep your ramekins secure in a bain-marie.

Here's a tip when you're cooking bain-marie.

That means that when you cook something like ramekins in the oven,

it's in a bath of water.

These modern tins are silicone and they're pretty shiny,

and everything slips about in them.

Just watch - you see?

It goes like that very easily, as you're sort of walking to the oven.

So to stop that,

if you take a couple of sheets of kitchen paper

and put it in the bottom of the tin, then put your ramekins on top,

for something like a creme brulee, a baked custard,

or even pate that you want to keep pink in the middle...

And then pour the boiling water halfway up the ramekin

and that means you don't get a bubble in your creme brulee.

And as soon as the water is absorbed by the paper,

that makes it absolutely firm and they don't slip about.

Another idea - I've got old aluminium tins

and if you've got an aluminium tin like this,

if you put ramekins in here, they often leave a black mark

and to stop that black mark,

either put a squeeze of lemon juice in the water

or a little bit of vinegar, and that should stop the black mark coming.

So it's worth having a try.

After surviving the biscotti challenge,

the bakers stayed on the Continent with a little-known French biscuit.

Bakers, welcome to the Technical Challenge.

Paul and Mary, they'd like you to make, please, eight arlettes.

It's a high-end, light, delicate, cinnamon-flavoured biscuit.

ARLETTES be having you. You've got two and a half hours.

On your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

Their second Technical Challenge in the tent

left some of the bakers perplexed.

I have never heard of this in my life.

It's a wee bit on the complicated side for a biscuit.

Following it step by step, cos this has got to work.

Paul's arlettes are exquisite -

delicate, thin swirls of cinnamon pastry,

delicious on their own or eaten with a creamy dessert.

So, Paul, why did you choose arlettes?

That was a bit hard for the second challenge.

It was - I mean, I saw this recipe

and I practised it, and I had a go at it,

and I thought, "That's going to be fantastic as a Technical Challenge."

We're testing them on dough, manipulation,

we're testing them on dexterity, the use of the butter...

Actually, Mary, it's a puff pastry,

but the butter's on the OUTSIDE to start with, not on the inside.

However do you do that without getting butter all over yourself?

Let's just see what happens, shall we?

Can you weigh me up 60g of plain flour

and 60g of strong white flour?

-So that's 120 in all?

-Mm-hm.

Do you make your own puff pastry, Mary,

or do you just buy it from the shops?

I...do not make my own puff pastry.

Once I found that it came in packets,

I'm perfectly happy.

-That's exactly 120.

-Lovely.

Teaspoon of salt...level. Straight in.

And over here, I've got 40g of melted butter.

Then add in 50ml of cold water and mix together.

I'm going to use the spoon initially.

Use your hands to further incorporate the mix until you get a smooth dough.

So...

That is a nice little piece of dough for your base, for your puff pastry

and what I want to do, I need to chill that down.

Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour.

While it chills, prepare the butter that will envelop the dough.

What I need is 125g of unsalted butter, please.

125g exactly.

My judgment wasn't quite as good as yours, but get going.

Right - can you pass me that big bowl as well, please?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

I need 25g of strong white flour and 25g of plain white flour.

-That is 50.

-Thank you very much indeed.

Now, you put the flour with the butter -

by putting flour in there, it just tries to save it

that little bit longer when you're rolling it out on the table.

So just work this together until it takes all the flour on board.

-OK.

-So this is a bit like making puff pastry,

but you wouldn't have the flour in there

and you'd press your butter like that, ready to go in the middle.

But you're going to put it on the outside.

Exactly - it just makes things a bit more awkward for them.

-Excuse me.

-It certainly does.

Roll the butter between the two sheets of nonstick paper

until it's at least twice as long as the dough.

Now just flatten out that butter. I'm going to pop that in the fridge.

Chill this for about 20 minutes, then we'll bring out the dough

-and the butter and begin to fold it up.

-OK.

That awkward reverse puff pastry technique

made life difficult for the bakers.

"Place the dough in the centre of the butter,

"wrapped up, and fold the butter over to encase the dough."

Sounds the wrong way round.

Put this one in the middle.

That's quite unusual, because you're wrapping the butter

around the dough, rather than the dough around the butter.

You give me some tricky jobs, don't you?

It's really, really chilled.

Fantastic. Now, I have to be quick, so I'll talk while I'm doing it.

So, what I'm going to do is just gently roll this out slightly.

Place the dough on top of the butter. Fold that over.

And again.

So what we have is a layer.

Do you want to have that little bit of butter off there to go in, or...?

-Yes, thank you.

-It's all part of the service.

Quick, quick, quick!

It's all on a timer, cos it's getting hot in here.

Going to flip that over on to the bench.

A little bit of flour on there,

and then we're going to roll this out,

cos what we're going to do is turn it into a book turn, OK?

Now, a book turn is over, over, and then over again, OK?

And you've got to keep it cold and be quick.

So at this stage, I want to put it back in the fridge to chill down.

The folding will create the lamination in the pastry

and needs to be repeated twice more,

ensuring it is chilled for 25 minutes between each fold.

Having got to grips with the reverse puff pastry,

Paul's instruction for the sugar and cinnamon filling

left the bakers with another quandary.

If I put it in at this stage, what will it do?

If I put it in at that stage, how will it affect things?

So we've to put the filling in in one of the layers,

so I'm on my second layer, now.

This is my third turn.

I've decided to add it in on the final turn.

Just thought I would add the sugar in at the end,

then you would get to keep the texture a little bit.

So, I've put it on twice.

This is the part where you have to put in the sugar and the cinnamon.

I did say in the notes "Put the cinnamon and sugar into a turn."

It didn't say what turn. If they put it in in the beginning,

because it dissolves into the dough, into the butter,

it begins to break up the mixture

and break up the lamination, so it all falls apart.

If they put it on the last one,

then it'll hold together a lot easier,

cos it just dissolves

and you get the flavour of the cinnamon and sugar in there.

For the cinnamon layer, you'll need 50g of granulated sugar

and two teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

While I'm just mixing this in,

could you bring that dough back to me?

My main job is going backwards and forwards to the fridge!

Right, what I'm going to do now,

do exactly the same thing again - thank you.

Might need that again.

What I'm going to do is roll it out again.

That's the third, now.

OK. Now what I'm going to do is put some of this sugar mixture

onto the top.

-Over.

-Again, book turn.

Over. And then over.

So it's all sealed up inside, there, like a parcel.

Now, this is the bit we have to be fairly quick with.

Just going to open this up a little bit wider.

Now, that's pretty much it, right?

Going to roll it up -

not too tight and not too loose.

Just let it roll up naturally.

Wrap up the pastry roll and chill again for about 25 minutes.

The whole idea of chilling this down is to harden the butter up again,

make sure you get those nice, neat layers all the way through

so it puffs up in the oven.

That needs to be chilled down for the last time

and we'll just cut it, roll it out, bake it - that's it.

-That's firmed up.

-Thank you - right, going to take this out.

Just going to trim off the ends first.

Carefully measure out eight 1cm thick slices.

-See the layers in there, see?

-They look beautiful.

Dust the work surface heavily with icing sugar

and turn and coat each slice.

This will prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.

Next, thinly roll out each section, coating once more in the icing sugar.

So, there you have it, Mary.

Slightly off circles, they're more like ovals, really.

By the time they come out, they blow up and they're absolutely gorgeous.

Now, these go into the oven at 180 fan,

and they're going to be baking for around six minutes,

then they're going to be flipped over

and baked for another five, six minutes.

So they should be in there for a maximum of about 12 minutes.

Right, they should be about done - and indeed they are.

-There's a strong smell of cinnamon. Lovely.

-And butter.

Cinnamon and butter.

And there you have it, Mary - eight beautiful arlettes,

set as a dastardly Technical Challenge which, actually,

I don't think was that bad.

I think it was well worth it. I mean, they look beautiful.

After all that work, Mary, and the lamination

and the addition of the sugar and the cinnamon, here we are.

This is what an arlette is all about.

And it does look very stylish.

I reckon that even making these at home,

they would have great success.

Just pick your arlette.

-They do...

-You can see all the spirals going round,

the lamination all the way through it.

The nice crack, and then the butteriness that comes through.

You get that flavour of the cinnamon as well.

It's essential to have the cinnamon,

and then with the sugar as well, lovely.

Now, this goes really well with ice cream.

OK - well, where is it, then?

-I thought you were going to bring it?

-Next time.

The first Showstopper Challenge of the series was a retro classic.

Bakers, good morning. Welcome to your Showstopper Challenge.

What we're asking for in this challenge

is a Black Forest gateau,

which graced many a menu back in the 1970s.

You've got three-and-a-half hours.

-On your marks...

-Get set...

-BOTH:

-Bake.

Keen to impress on their first Showstopper,

the bakers pulled out all the stops.

Most took this opportunity to go to town with the decoration...

Cherry powder makes it quite pink, but not quite pink enough,

so I'm going to add a little bit of...colouring.

It's a liquid chocolate cake, so you add boiling water to the batter,

mix for quite a sticky, gooey chocolate cake,

which is exactly what we want.

..with some opting to add extra ingredients to the sponge mix.

I've called it a Purple Forest gateau,

cos I've used beetroot in it, so it's a nice, moist cake.

But I just wanted to do something slightly different with it.

Mary's Black Forest gateau is as elegant as it is timeless.

A mouthwatering mix of chocolate sponge,

cream and liqueur-soaked cherries.

Perfect in any decade.

Black Forest gateau, an absolute classic.

It dates back to the 1930s.

It almost predates me. And it was a wonderful first Showstopper.

First of all, I need six eggs,

so if you'd be kind enough to break six eggs straight in.

And none down the side of the bowl.

-And...

-BOWL CHIMES

-You're being a bit theatrical about that.

-I am.

It's a nice, light sponge and you can't really go wrong...

-BOWL CHIMES

-..if you get the eggs and sugar

to the right consistency.

-So we're six in there, are we?

-Yes.

And then, if we add to that 150g of caster sugar.

Whisk the eggs and the caster sugar until they reach ribbon stage.

And weigh out 100g of self-raising flour...

and 50g of cocoa powder.

MIXER WHIRS

That looks just about right.

This wants to be, when you lift it out,

-the impression goes back quickly.

-Mm.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the batter,

folding it in gently, so as not to knock out any air.

This will ensure the sponge stays as light and airy as possible.

Take two lightly greased 23cm tins,

lined with baking parchment.

When you have a smooth finish, turn the mixture into the prepared tins.

So those are ready for the oven. I've preheated it. 160 fan.

And they will take about 25 to 30 minutes.

So if you could just open the door for me.

OVEN DOOR OPENS

The addition of cocoa to a sponge mix makes it darker

and, therefore, harder to judge when it's ready.

Oh, no. They need a bit longer.

They are darker than I'd have liked, but...

I think that's going to be OK.

Ooh, they feel quite different to how they felt at home.

They're springy, so that's good.

My chocolate sponges could look a wee bit better.

I'm just a bit concerned about that dip.

Leave the cakes in their tins for about ten minutes,

before turning out and leaving to cool on a wire rack.

Then we come to the cherries.

I've got about 390g of cherries in Kirsch.

So if you can just strain them,

so the cherries are separate from the juice.

Now, I'm going to make a sauce, a thickened sauce,

to go with the cherries. Can I just take that away from you?

-Yep.

-If you can chop each one into about four.

And if I could have the cornflour over here.

That's lovely.

To make the cherry sauce,

put two tablespoons of cornflour in a pan and mix in the cherry juice.

Not all the juice at once. Just a little to start with, like that.

And it's a bit like making custard.

You know, you want to make a paste.

And I'm doing that before the heat is turned on,

so it will be absolutely smooth.

These cherries taste lovely, Mary, you know.

Well, there's enough for you to pinch there.

So that is...

..absolutely smooth.

I can add the rest of the juice...

..and turn the heat on.

I'm stirring all the time until it's thick.

Looking like a red custard.

Look at that, then.

You see, it's coating the spoon.

Got a lovely shine to it.

So I'm going to add the cherries to it.

You've chopped those up beautifully.

In they go.

Make sure they're all coated in that sauce.

Now, I'll just show you.

You see, you can imagine, that is wonderful!

I'm going to just turn it into the bowl that the cherries were in.

Now, if you could just pop that back with the cake.

For the chocolate decoration,

take 24 fresh cherries complete with their stalks...

They'll be dipped in white and plain chocolate.

I need 150g of white chocolate.

Right. And I need 250g of plain chocolate.

I need more, cos I'm not only going to dip the cherries in chocolate,

I'm going to do some Christmas trees.

-OK.

-All very ambitious.

Now, white chocolate, if you get it too hot, it will never set.

Different fat content, isn't there, in white chocolate?

Yes. It's totally different to dark chocolate.

Whereas dark chocolate, again, if you get it too hot,

you get a bloom on it and it doesn't have that lovely shine.

So one's got to be really, really careful.

You've heard me say this before -

chocolate melts in a child's pocket, so you don't need very much heat.

I love it when you say that, Mary.

Right.

And keep turning it.

If you boil the water and steam's pouring out of here,

you'll find that you'll overheat the chocolate, so...

-Slow simmer?

-A slow simmer, yep.

Interestingly enough, it's the white chocolate that melts first.

And it's beautifully runny.

Dipping into a deep bowl is difficult,

so I'm going to put them in these little bowls here.

And it's just the right consistency.

And that's it.

And I'm going to dip these cherries halfway up.

-If I do the white ones, you do that one.

-OK. Just halfway.

That's it.

-It's kept us quiet for a bit, hasn't it?

-Hasn't it?

And I do about 24, so that's 12 dark and 12 light.

But we're going to do even more of these.

I'm going to put those to set

and I've still got some chocolate left

and I'm going to make these fir trees.

So what I've done, I've drawn fir trees on a plain sheet of paper.

Then, on top, some baking parchment

and I've fixed it there - cos it would slip otherwise -

with a paperclip.

Fill a piping bag with the remaining melted plain chocolate.

-Don't make it too thin because it's too brittle.

-Mm.

Now I'm going to do up the middle here.

Fairly strongly, because...

..it's got to hold together.

You can see that I'm not a great expert in fir trees, so may I...?

-It's good.

-I'll hand over to you and you do the others.

-And you'll do it like lightning.

-I haven't piped for ages, actually.

-Says he, going at it. Good, great.

-No, I haven't.

I haven't piped for ages.

-Wait, that was a bit big, down the bottom.

-It was, wasn't it?

And a bit squiggly going up as well, look.

What sort of stem is that?

It's a strong one!

You need to do 12 of these and they all need to be cool.

And, on a hot day, you really will have to put them in the fridge,

otherwise it won't work.

Like Mary, the bakers saw the Black Forest gateau challenge

as a chance to get creative with their chocolate work.

There were lots of trees...

..cherries...

the odd animal...

-Ian, when I think of the Black Forest...

-Mm.

..my first thought is...elephants.

..and even a cup and saucer.

When I found out what we were going to make,

the first thing that came into my mind

was a saucer and a cup would look nice on a cake.

Falling over and the cherries are spilling out of it.

Paul, we're on the homeward stretch.

-Now, we've dipped those in chocolate.

-Mm-hm.

We've chilled them and it's firm.

Can you tip each one sort of on the side like that

-and sort of do rough zigzags? Do any pattern you like.

-Yeah.

While you're doing that, I'm going to have 750ml of double cream,

pouring cream, and I'm going to whip that,

just until it's spreadable consistency.

Pipe white and plain chocolate on one side of the dipped cherries.

That looks perfect.

It's holding its shape, it's not overwhipped and it's not curdled.

I can't hear you, Mary. I'm just concentrating at the moment.

Well, I'm glad to hear that.

With a sharp serrated knife, slice the cooled sponges in half.

Then spread a third of the cherry jam across one of the sponge halves,

followed by a layer of cream.

I like to put the cherries on before the cream,

otherwise it gets a bit streaky.

And then we put this one on top, like that.

It's worth having something as indulgent as this.

After all, you can always have a small slice.

You'd be very tempted to go back for a next one, though.

Repeat the process with the next two layers of sponge.

It's looking good, though, isn't it?

So far, so good.

Cover the sides with the remaining whipped cream...

If there's any little bit that you can see the other side,

just touch it up for me.

..using a palette knife to get a smooth finish.

Well, this really is a joint effort, isn't it?

It's like plastering a wall.

Right, we're away. Here we go.

Pipe cream rosettes on top.

-Just a nice finish, isn't it? It's worth bothering.

-Yep.

There we are.

And fill the centre with the dipped cherries.

Mmm!

Finish by adding the chocolate fir trees to the outside.

There we are. What do you think?

I think it looks lovely.

I would...

If you'll allow me, Mary...

-Go on, then.

-Just a little bit of chocolate on it.

Actually, it does bring out the piping and it looks lovely.

It highlights everything beautifully, I think.

And if you put something like that on the top.

I think it's a bit of all right.

And I think a lot of people are going to copy that

for a very, very special occasion.

Slice?

Not just now. Let's have it later.

-With a cup of coffee.

-KNIFE FALLS

Black Forest gateau. I've waited years for another one of these.

It looks pretty grand and thank you for the addition

of the grated chocolate, it just makes it.

I think it sets it off.

But the whole thing together - the chocolate, cherries on the top,

loads of cream. I can't wait to see what it looks like inside.

Well, it is for a special occasion, I reckon, don't you?

-I think this is a pretty special occasion, don't you, Mary?

-Oh, well.

Got a nice wedge there, Mary.

Oh, look at that!

It does look pretty special, doesn't it?

Everybody should get a tree, because there's one for each portion.

It looks fantastic, it smells incredible!

That richness coming from the cherries. It just melts, doesn't it?

It's very, very smart, especially with those cherries on top,

dipped in two kinds of chocolate.

And the swizzle round looks pretty good, doesn't it?

This is absolutely delicious.

The problem is, Mary, this is only masterclass one.

What are we going to do next?

I've got one or two things right up my sleeve, ready.

-I've got some blinders, as well.

-Good!

Next time, Mary and Paul take on five more Bake Off challenges.

These masterclasses, hopefully, will improve your baking at home

and we want YOU to be inspired to try Bake Off for yourself.

We'll show you how to create bakes you never thought you could do

and give those extra tips,

so you can't go wrong.

Join us next time for the Great British Bake Off Masterclass.