Episode 3 The Great British Bake Off

For ten weeks this summer,

12 of Britain's best amateur bakers battled it out in the Bake Off tent.

For the first time, they faced sugar-free baking...

I've got the fear.

Cake fear.

..Victorian-era classics...

I think I filled it too much, it's quite crammed.

..an obscure Cypriot delicacy.

Not in a million years have I heard of this recipe, at all.

Decisions, decisions, all of them wrong!

And as the stakes got higher, the challenges got tougher.

How do I get you from there to there?

Aargh! You've twisted it!

But even a few wobbles didn't stop the bakers

as they fought to impress judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

That's fantastic, really well done.

Cool!

On the whole, I think they've been the best bakers we've had.

But now it's Mary and Paul's turn to step into the Bake Off tent and share their knowledge with you.

Showing you step by step how to make each one of their favourite bakes perfectly.

Get your cup of tea ready, sit in your comfy armchair

and watch what Mary and I are going to create.

Coming up...

Mary makes a delicious guilt-free carrot cake,

perfect when one slice just isn't enough.

Followed by an indulgent apricot frangipane tart.

Paul creates flaounes, a classic Cypriot pastry.

Then revisits the Victorian era with a raised game pie.

And then finally creates a show-stopping lime and passion fruit charlotte russe.

Every week, Mary and Paul asked the bakers to complete three challenges.

And each week there is a theme.

But as the bakers hit the halfway mark,

the theme was a little different - alternative ingredients.

Morning, bakers.

Now for your signature bake, Paul and Mary would like you to bake a cake.

But you can't use sugar.

You can use honey, fruit but nothing that comes from a bag.

It can be any shape, size or flavour that you desire.

-Two and a half hours on the bake.

-On your marks...

-Get set, bake!

I think we're looking for something that's as close to a regular cake

as possible, it's just a bit harder!

I have made sugar-free cakes before, so I feel OK with the sugar-free...

Yeah.

Dare I say it!

Mary's sugar-free carrot cake made with agave and maple syrup

is the perfect alternative to the classic

and every bit as delicious.

Paul, carrot cake. This time, a sugar-free carrot cake.

This was an interesting challenge we set them.

It was interesting to see what flavours they were going to introduce.

Obviously they needed natural sweetness.

You've gone down the carrot cake route - I think it's a very wise choice.

It's naturally quite sweet as well and it packs a punch.

The sweetener I'm using is agave syrup.

It's a little bit like aloe vera, you know, that plant.

Inside, it has a lovely sweetness.

Great for tanning yourself, aloe vera. Not that I'd know.

Is it? I think you've used a bit of it, come on! Let's get on with it.

So to start with, I'm going to have 200ml of vegetable oil,

and then if you put the agave syrup in there, and you need 175mls.

OK. And then we need three eggs.

Then I'm going to add 400g of carrots

and they want to be grated on a fairly coarse grater.

OK.

And that's it.

Once the carrots are grated, add to the eggs.

-There you go.

-Perfect.

Spot on.

Then add agave syrup and vegetable oil and mix.

That's just perfect.

Right, I'll put that to one side and start the dry ingredients,

275g of self-raising flour.

That's it.

Then measure out two level teaspoons of baking powder

and add to the self-raising flour.

And the reason why we're adding more baking powder is

because this is a pretty wet mixture

and it's heavy with carrots so it'll give it that extra lift.

To the self-raising flour and baking powder, add one teaspoon of cinnamon.

And one teaspoon of mixed spice.

Thoroughly mix the flour and spices.

Then add 150g of walnut pieces

and 150g of sultanas,

then into the mix, grate the zest of an orange.

-It's a whopper, this.

-It's huge.

Thank you very much. So in go the dry ingredients, on top.

I'm going to put it in the mixer to whizz round

just until it's all mixed.

There we are.

So if you just watch that in, it's really like a fairly runny batter.

And these will be going in the oven at 160 fan,

so into the oven on the same shelf.

Using natural sugars gives the cake a darker colour when baked.

This means that predicting when the cake is baked is notoriously tricky.

I can't tell whether it's burning or if it's just...

Hopefully it's not burning, it's just the molasses.

Bit longer.

Definitely not.

I've got the fear.

Cake fear.

I'm not taking my eye off the ball! Not on this!

To avoid burning,

the cakes should be covered in foil for the last ten minutes of the bake.

There we are. These took just about 40 minutes.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for five minutes

then transfer to a wire rack.

And then I want to leave those until they're absolutely stone cold.

But on to the icing.

First of all I'm going to cream the butter, so we'll have the butter first.

-How much butter, Mary?

-50g.

And while that's just starting off,

can you do 400g of full fat cream cheese?

That's fine.

In goes the cream cheese and it really must be full fat,

otherwise what happens when you add the maple syrup, which is

-going to be the sweetener, it'll all go runny.

-OK.

In it goes.

And that's it.

So I'm mixing that first and then lastly, I will add the maple syrup.

Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

Then add one tablespoon of maple syrup.

So let's just turn that on.

And beat until combined.

That's mixed.

So there we have it.

Now, just assemble the whole thing together.

Can you find me a cake stand? There's one at the end.

That's right.

They are very moist so be very careful when you start off.

That's it.

I've only added a tablespoonful of that maple syrup,

I think it's quite nice not to have it too sweet in the icing.

That's it there.

Then we'll put the cake on top.

It gives you quite a good height, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does.

Spread the cream cheese frosting onto the top layer.

It's a lovely consistency.

And finish with a palette knife.

There we are.

Pipe the remaining frosting on to the cake.

And decorate with rosettes.

There we are. Now a few walnuts on the top.

That's just lovely.

And a dusting of cinnamon to remind people that's one of the flavours.

Absolutely.

And there you have it. A carrot cake, using natural sugars.

Lovely. I'll get the kettle on.

I'm dying to taste it, actually. I'm just in the mood.

Right.

Look at that!

It does... Wait a minute, come on.

Uhhh... Uhhh!

Well, that looks well risen, doesn't it?

Looks well baked, Mary, lovely colour.

We expect it to be very moist as carrot makes a moist cake.

That...is...delicious.

You would never know that that has no sugar in it at all.

That's delicious.

I'm quite pleased with it.

Good job that we left the walnuts in fair-sized pieces

because it's nice to come across in the cake.

Mm. It is nice, it adds a lovely texture to the cake.

I think, overall, you'd never know.

Eat yourself slim, Mary, eat yourself slim.

And now, Paul's tip for the perfect quick bread starter.

This is one way of introducing more flavour into your breads.

This is the sponge method.

In the bowl I've got half the flour I'd normally use in the recipe.

Then I add all the yeast, fast action yeast, straight in.

Then a little bit of water to start with. Give that a mix.

And there you have a thick batter.

You need to store that. I store it in a jar

which you pour in...carefully...

If you haven't got a jar to put the paste into, then use a bowl,

covered in clingfilm, just to stop the air from getting to it, that's all.

Seal it up. And leave it in your kitchen.

Most kitchens operate around 22 degrees.

After nine, ten hours of this rising -

and it may rise and fall, it's not a problem -

you end up with this.

Now this smells beery, yeasty,

this is going to be beautiful in your bread.

So you add the rest of your ingredients, the rest of the flour,

the salt, a little bit more water to make a dough, then you shape it,

prove it, bake it, and that nine hours it took for this to grow -

that flavour will be introduced to your bread and it will taste fantastic.

Week six was all about pastry.

And the bakers' first challenge was a classic.

Good morning, bakers.

For this morning's signature challenge,

Paul and Mary would like you to make a frangipane tart.

Now, frangipane cream, for your information,

was named after the 16th century Italian nobleman Muzio Frangipani.

Nice.

And pastry cases after the 16th century Italian nobleman Giovanni Shortcrust.

Now, your tart must be open top, it must be made of shortcrust pastry

and most important of all, you've got two hours on this, bakers.

On your marks, get set, bake!

I'm not feeling massively confident, really.

Underprepared, I think.

So nervous this week, I just feel like I need to...

..get better!

Mary's Frangipane tart is an elegant classic.

She is using a spiral of apricot halves

glazed with a home-made apricot jam,

covered in flaked almonds.

Frangipane tart, it's a lovely, strong flavour of almonds,

sometimes I top it with different fruits.

Today I'm going to use apricots, but you can use peaches or pears,

plums, whatever's in season.

But I think it's a great pud with lashings of cream.

Or custard.

Or custard. Right. For the pastry, 225g of plain flour.

And you'll need 100g of butter.

That's lovely. I'm going to rub that in and I'm going to do it using a processor.

How much sugar do you need preparing, Mary?

50g of caster sugar.

So in goes the flour and the butter. And then...

And that is quick, easy, all done.

Then I'm going to add the sugar to that,

and if I can have one egg, just beaten.

A large egg. That's lovely.

And a tablespoonful of water in there.

That's good enough, isn't it?

I'm going to turn that on for a second with the sugar.

And then I'm going to add the egg all at once

and just combine it until it's all together.

That's it. So let's just tip this out.

And I'm just going to bring back together.

Oh, yeah, feels good.

So I'm going to roll that out

and a must in our house is to have a proper rolling pin.

I don't like the ones you fill with ice water or marble,

there's nothing like a proper rolling pin.

-I don't like the one with the knobs at the end.

-Neither do I.

So we're all agreed.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to fit a 28cm flan tin.

That's it.

Then I take the base out

and I put this underneath, like that,

and you can see where it's coming.

That's it.

And then, to move it into there, if you catch hold of it,

pull it in all the way round, like that,

so in that can go, like that,

and then all you've got to do is bring it over.

Then press the pastry into the corners of the tin.

And you just go all the way round.

Roll the pastry over the edges then trim the excess

and prick the base with a fork.

Then that needs to go into the fridge

because it really does need to firm up.

Chill the pastry base in the fridge for 10 to 20 minutes.

That's it, nice and firm.

So you can fill it with, either foil,

or I'm taking baking parchment, like that,

and you should have some baking beans over there.

Just tip some of those in.

So that needs to go into the oven,

which we've preheated at 170 degrees fan,

and that will take about 15 minutes.

Not all of the bakers decided to blind bake their bases.

For a frangipane tart, I don't think you do blind bake, but...

we shall find out!

If you blind bake it first,

it means that the pastry is less likely

to get soggy with the filling.

I find with blind baked, is any pastry that's above the frangipane, baked twice, it looks burnt,

it doesn't look very nice.

I've done it without it and it doesn't need it.

Now that's beautifully dried out,

you see, it's got the tinge of colour on the outside.

It's absolutely dry in the middle - it really is best to bake blind,

-because you're sure of getting the pastry done underneath.

-Yes.

So let's put that to one side.

-Let it get cold and, on to the filling.

-Right.

First, weigh out 175g of butter.

And 175g of caster sugar.

Then combine the butter and sugar until creamy.

As that mixes, measure out 175g of ground almonds.

So the ground almonds can go in.

Pour the almonds into the butter and caster sugar mixture

and add four eggs.

And then we need a teaspoonful of almond extract.

Now, very important to use almond extract because it brings out the

flavour of the almonds, and it's much stronger

than using almond essence.

I'm going to judge that because I make this often,

I absolutely love frangipane tart!

Once the frangipane is mixed,

cover the base of the tart with a generous layer of apricot jam.

-Lovely, isn't it?

-Great colour.

So you've got a good layer right to the edges, so everybody will get

a taste, and then I'm going to put the almond mixture on top.

Spread the frangipane over the apricot jam,

making sure it reaches all the way to the edge.

And then once this is cooked, I'm putting apricots on top.

So that's it.

That goes into 170 fan oven

and it'll take about 30 or 40 minutes.

Well, that looks pretty good. It's had about 35 minutes.

You can see that it's absolutely set.

And it's shrinking back from the sides,

which is just what we want.

So we'll just leave that to cool a bit.

Meanwhile, we'll get on with the next stage.

Mary's tart will be decorated with poached, fresh apricot halves.

I've got the apricots here and I'll tell you how I cook them.

My method is to take 300mls of water and 150mls of sugar,

dissolve the sugar, bring it to the boil,

and then drop the apricot halves into the syrup

and move it off the heat.

And leave it to get cold, and the heat of the pan

and the sugar syrup cook them,

and they keep this lovely colour.

Place the tart on a cake stand.

That's it.

And to decorate,

arrange the apricot halves in circles over the top of the tart.

Then glaze the apricots with some warm, sieved apricot jam.

So to give it a lovely shine, just brush over the top.

Once glazed, sprinkle over some lightly toasted almonds to finish.

So there it is.

My apricot frangipane tart, what do you think of it?

Well, I think the apricots with the almonds together will be delicious.

Can't wait.

This looks fantastic.

Those apricots and those flaked almonds I think make a difference,

but let's see if we can cut our way through this.

Should be lovely, crispy pastry, and that's what it's all about.

Indeed it is.

Look at that!

It's really well baked underneath,

which it matters, and it is a lovely thin pastry underneath.

Mm.

That apricot jam makes a difference underneath.

Mm. That's delicious.

The almond coming through is fantastic.

It marries up really well with apricots on top.

I think it's good as a cake, it's also good as a special pudding,

Sunday lunchtime, a lovely pudding to have afterwards.

You know what I would have with that? Fresh custard.

I wouldn't mind some really nice vanilla ice cream with it.

Yeah, I agree.

Because it's still warm, that sitting on the top, just melting down...

oh, yes, please! I'll go and get the ice cream!

From a quintessential home bake to something rather more unknown.

The Technical Challenge in Pastry Week left the bakers with puzzled faces.

This is a recipe close to Paul's heart.

Just nestling underneath the chest hair.

Paul and Mary would very much like you to make...

flaounes.

It's a cheese-filled pastry made in Cyprus

to celebrate the end of Lent.

You've got two hours on the flaounes clock.

-On your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

-Flaouna!

What is this!

Not in a million years have I heard of this recipe at all.

Never heard of them, never heard of them.

It sounds like an airline. "Fly Flaounes."

The way you say it sounds like it's an insult. "Flaounes!"

I've made these a few times. Erm...

No, I haven't, really. Never heard of it!

With a filling of cheese and sultanas

wrapped up in a spiced, bread-like pastry,

covered with sesame seeds, Paul has kept his flaounes traditional.

Flaounes, Mary - what do you reckon on that as a Technical Challenge?

A good one or indifferent?

I for one had no idea what a flaouna was.

I think it was a fairly tricky challenge,

because every single person didn't know what they were going to do.

-That's exactly right.

-But they made quite a good job, considering.

They did OK. I mean...

-You're not going to give any praise.

-No!

But, let's see if we can knock some up ourselves.

Can you grate me some cheese, please?

You've some halloumi there, could you grate me 250g of that halloumi

with that big grater into that bowl, please?

I will. I'm going to be the commis-chef here, very much below.

Absolutely!

Along with the halloumi, grate 500g of Pecorino Romano.

Mix together in a large bowl and set to one side.

Now I've got some more ingredients to put in.

Could you weigh me up 90g of the semolina flour?

And 75g of the plain flour.

-Thank you. This is all part of the filling.

-That's it.

-Now I'll need 7g of the instant yeast.

-Right.

So we'll mix that in.

Two teaspoons of dried mint. Thank you.

-This is something I have never used, dried mint.

-It's lovely.

I've used it in bread.

-I need 100g of sultanas.

-Right.

100 exactly.

Thank you - that can go straight in there, if you just coat them around.

With the dry ingredients mixed, break four eggs.

Add four tablespoons of milk, beat together...

..and add to the dry ingredients.

Right. I'm going to mix this all together.

And it forms a little paste.

Now the cheese is going to go in here now,

this will pad it out a little bit as well.

Now that is a very strange mixture to me.

It's really mostly cheese, isn't it?

It is. And do you know what I'm going to do?

-Get your hands in.

-Get my hands in there.

Now that's the actual filling, I'm going to place to one side.

Could you weigh me up 750g of the strong flour?

Now this is the coating on the outside,

that's going to wrap around the filling.

What's unusual about the filling, it's got yeast in

and we're going to have baking powder too.

That's it.

Now, you see you've got two pots, can you bring me those two pots of spices on the end?

Now this is interesting. What you've got here is mastika.

And this is mahlepi.

I don't know that at all.

It's a spice, a seed which you grind down,

it creates this beautiful smell,

and it's a flavour in a lot of Greek cooking and baking.

What I need is two teaspoons of that in there, please.

What I'm going to use, this is mastika, this is basically gum.

I need a teaspoon of this to go in there.

And if you were going to buy those two, where would you buy them,

get them on the internet or go to a Cypriot shop?

You can actually buy them from health food shops

and some supermarkets are now stocking these.

What I'm going to do is just mix these together,

just blend these up at the moment.

The next thing I'm going to need is 7g of the instant yeast, please,

straight in.

-Shall I put it on one side?

-Yes, please. A teaspoon of caster sugar.

-Just a little bit of sweetness in there.

-And here's the salt.

I have got my core ingredient, 60g of butter, if you could, as well.

I've done it perfectly for you, there you are.

Now there's some milk in a jug, about 450ml of milk.

I'm going to start rubbing this butter into the flour.

That is actually 400, you might need a little bit more.

Let's add a bit at a time.

Always add about three quarters to start with, give that a little bit of a mix.

This is where the bakers looked at their mix and thought,

"Do I have to knead this or not?"

They haven't told you whether to knead or not.

It says, "Make the pastry then rest."

I've never made a pastry with yeast in it,

which makes it feel so much more like bread than it does pastry.

I assume they want it to be a bit biscuit-like in texture.

I don't know. Maybe it's like filo. Is it like filo? I don't know!

My instincts say to knead it a little bit.

Can't make up my mind.

Pastry's not something you normally knead,

you've got make sure everything's combined.

You need to do enough to bind the pastry dough together,

that's the key thing.

Just pop that to one side, thank you.

Now I'm happy with that.

It's come together, and it's still fairly loose.

You can see all the little rips and tears.

Right, OK.

I'm going to pop that into this bowl.

And?

Cover it up and we'll leave that to rest.

Now, over here, 200g of sesame seed, if you could, Mary.

And these are not toasted, they're just straight sesame seeds.

Plain sesame seeds.

But if you get some boiling water from a pan and pop them in,

we're going to add a little splash of white wine vinegar,

give that a mix.

Now we're going to leave these two to rest in here for a bit.

What happens is the hot water balloons,

it expands the sesame seed and puffs it up

so when it sticks on the pastry,

it just looks nicer and they're all puffed up and it releases all the flavour.

Once the water, vinegar and sesame seeds are mixed,

leave them and the dough to rest for around 15 to 20 minutes.

Right, Mary, I've got my dough, my sesame seeds, my filling,

so you can see how much this has grown.

Looks quite different, it's lost all that patchiness.

Nature does a lot of this work.

I'm just going to divide this into two,

so I should get six from each,

I'm going to make 12 in total.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface

until roughly 3mm thick.

It's like making filo.

Then using a template, cut into 12 15cm squares.

That's a pizza wheel, is it?

Always useful!

Once the squares are cut, drain the sesame seeds and scatter them

on the work surface. Lay the cut pastry on top

and firmly press down on the seeds.

Now, a little teaspoon of baking powder, please, Mary.

This encourages this filling to rise

and open up inside the flaouna.

Once thoroughly mixed, take the cheese filling

and divide into 12 equal portions.

12 of these little balls, doesn't matter

if you use a little bit of flour.

Shape them and you fold over two sides like that.

Then you fold over the pieces onto the top, both sides again,

leaving a little hole in the middle,

a little square which will puff up as you bake it.

It's totally different, I can't think of another Danish pastry

or anything that is folded just like that.

No. It is different.

Folding the flaounes was yet another source of confusion for the bakers

in Pastry Week.

"Then you put the filling in the centre of each square and fold over the edges."

"Leaving the centres exposed."

But then you get a really thick layer of pastry,

that doesn't seem very pleasant.

Really?

You've just got to guess.

No, can't be.

That looks quite nice.

Sorry to all of Cyprus if I am ruining the lovely national dish.

Decisions, decisions.

All of them wrong!

Once folded, brush the tops of the flaounes with beaten egg yolk.

What you need to do, ideally,

is leave that to rest for about 15 minutes

before you bake them off -

you bake them at 180 fan for 15-20 minutes,

drop it down to 165 and leave it again for another 15 minutes.

So, into the oven.

Right, Mary.

There you go.

They really do look amazing,

they have grown since they went in the oven.

You can see how much they've grown and puffed up,

and made the hole in the top, which has got round, which is fine.

-They smell so good too.

-I can't wait to try them, they'll be delicious.

Me too.

Here they are, Mary, my little taste of Cyprus.

These are the flaounes, here we go.

Look at that.

That does look tempting and good!

The sultanas are evenly added,

and that lovely mixture of cheese in the middle, and very thin pastry.

You can smell the mastika and the mahlepi in this straight away,

it's quite strong when you smell it.

It's like being back in Cyprus again.

Now that's a flavour that I've never tasted before.

But it's unusual and I like it.

I think it's fantastic.

Yamas, Mary. Yamas!

And now for Mary's tip for how to guarantee equal-sized portions

for your cupcakes.

Here's a quick way of making even-sized,

even weight cupcakes with an ice cream scoop.

I've got an ice cream scoop here and it's got a quick release

and you can only do it with this sort.

Take your mixture, the usual one, your favourite, put the scoop in,

take a good scoop full

and make it level on the side and then just into the case.

And you can do this like lightning

and you know they're all going to be the same size when it's finished

and no-one's going to fight over them and if you're putting them

into a charity sale or something, everybody's getting the same size.

So, very easy, no need to dip it in hot water or anything.

With the release, they come out very easily.

In week seven, the bakers were asked to step back in time

to make a staple of Victorian social climbers.

Good morning, bakers.

This week we'd like you to make a raised game pie.

Now, you can fill it with whatever you like, it needs to be made

with a hot water crust pastry and you can use jelly or not.

You've got three hours.

-On your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

Week seven, we go into the top end now, the slightest mistake

is not something you want to be doing, really.

Made some slight mess already!

Paul's game pie is as ornate on the outside

as it is lavish on the inside.

Filled with venison, boar, rabbit and pigeon,

it's the perfect centrepiece for any dinner party.

Well, Mary, the Signature Challenge on Victorian week,

we kicked off with a game pie.

Very appropriate because there was a lot of game about

and it was not expensive.

What we've got here is a selection of meats, some venison,

some boar, we've got pheasant, pigeon and we've got rabbit.

I need that to be chopped up,

I have 700g there which all need to be diced up

-into that sort of size, Mary.

-That... What is that size?

I don't know, half inch square...ish.

Over here I've got some cloves of garlic, I'm going

to rob two of these things here.

Now there is something I haven't cooked with, wild boar.

I like boar, it's becoming more popular in this country now,

because there is quite a lot of them around.

Well, it's just like pork, only a bit more gamey.

Right, that is all chopped up.

We've got 700g now of all the meat inside that bowl.

What I'm going to add, I've got here, some bacon, and again,

that little bit of fat you're going to add to it as well.

You do need a little bit of fat,

whether it's a pork pie or a game pie,

but it's just got to be chopped up small, it all adds to the flavour.

I think so. So here, I'm going to add my bacon to that.

That's 200g, and 200g of the minced pork belly.

There's a couple of other things I want to add in there, Mary,

two tablespoons of the Madeira, please.

There we are.

I'll take this as a bit of... that will do, nice bit of kick.

Of course, if you haven't got Madeira,

you could use port or another fortified wine,

there's no need to go and buy a special bottle, which this is.

I will need half a teaspoon of the allspice

and half a teaspoon of the mace as well, please.

Add the spices then finely chop two tablespoons of fresh thyme

and two tablespoons of fresh parsley.

Then add them to the mixture and season with a little salt

and pepper.

I'm just mixing all these ingredients together.

Right.

Now, what I'm going to do, that can be popped in the fridge just

to rest, what we'll do is prepare the hot water crust pastry.

In Victorian week, some of the bakers decided to give their game pies a modern spin.

-Morning, Tamal.

-Morning.

-Tell us all about your raised pie.

I'm doing a Middle Eastern flavoured, themed game pie

and I'm frying the meat in a spice mix, so it's ras el hanout...

-I beg your pardon?

-Ras el hanout. Is that how you say it?

-Ras el hanout.

-Tell me what that is.

-He's a villain in Batman.

It's a Moroccan spice blend.

Which were your five spices?

Orange, star anise, ginger, fennel and cassius bark.

In Victorian times they would have used mace,

it's the outside of the nutmeg, but many of the spices you've mentioned wouldn't have been available.

Now we've got the meat in the fridge,

we need to prepare the hot water crust pastry

so could you weigh me up the flour, 450g of plain flour?

I will indeed.

I love hot water crust pastry, I love working with it as well.

So do I, in fact, I can't wait!

Lovely, and 100g of the strong flour.

The beauty of using a hot water crust pastry, the lard in it

creates a seal because the amount of liquid inside this pie,

it creates a natural seal which holds all those juices in.

Thank you. And on top of that, 75g of butter.

-Nice, Mary.

-How about that?

-Very nice.

I'm getting as good as you at judging.

Could you weigh me 100g of lard, please?

Because over in the pan over there I have 200ml of water,

to which I'm going to add that lard.

Perfect.

And over here I've got the water, so I'm just going to

drop in a couple little drops, just to melt it.

I'll take that off the heat now, it's got enough heat in there,

which is beginning to melt the lard.

Now, I've got some... A little salt, please, Mary.

Now, that is nearly all melted.

Straight in.

Pop that over there.

Now, obviously don't put your hands straight in this.

It's a tad warm, so get a wooden spoon or any spoon

and just stir round and bind the ingredients together.

Got to work with it fairly soon, because it will begin to firm up.

Your hands must be quite tough, because that is hot.

It is fairly warm, yes.

But it's just the quickest way of doing it.

Get your hands in there, work that pastry in the bowl,

comes together quite quickly...

So I'm just going to bring this pastry together.

I've got my tin ready.

Happy with the pastry.

Mat had a tin like this, which he

borrowed off his mate, Dangerous Dave.

I've got a sort of new version of it which is

basically just clipped together.

I've just rubbed the inside with a little bit of butter

and I've got the pastry ready,

so I'm going to rip off about a third, leave that for the top.

Get my rolling pin, and I've got to line this now.

What's tricky about lining this is,

you've got to get right underneath at the bottom.

So, begin to roll out your pastry...

What we're going to do is coerce this into the middle.

You're being very gentle as you do that.

I am, because I don't want to form any cracks.

I don't mind a fold,

because you can thin that out anyway with your fingers and shape it.

So I'm just dropping it down,

pushing it with my fingertips into the corners.

-Would you mind bringing out the meat for me, please, Mary?

-Right.

While you're doing that, I'm going to prepare the lid.

Cutting off a little there for a bit of decoration.

You'll also note - what have I not used while rolling out?

-Flour.

-You don't have to, because...

Because the lard in there,

it's not really conducive to sticking to a rolling pin.

Happy to leave that there for a minute, we've got our shell lined.

Get the meat.

I'm just breaking it up to allow it to get into the corners.

And it really does have to get right into the corners so that

it's tightly packed, you don't want any spaces whatsoever,

-do you?

-Nope.

I've got an egg, could you crack an egg, Mary?

And we'll use that as a bit of eggwash to bind the lid to the base.

Get the lid, place that onto the top.

Once the lid is in place, neatly trim the excess pastry

and crimp the edges to seal.

Now, what we need to do is make a little hole in there.

So the first thing I need to do is put a little hole in there first.

-There it is. A little steam hole.

-Right.

What that does, you know when it bubbles up and all the gravy

and the stuff and the meat comes out, it'll end up coming

through there rather than inside the pie, so it looks a bit neater.

That's very clever.

Next, for the decoration, roll out the pastry trimmings.

Using an oak leaf cutter, cut out 20 leaves

and arrange around the lid to decorate.

-Finally, brush with eggwash.

-And that's ready to go in the oven.

You're going to put it in the oven at 180c fan for 30 minutes,

drop it to 140c and leave it in there

for another hour and three quarters.

It'll be beautiful, golden-brown and smelling like heaven.

So the idea is to have that blast of a hot heat to start with

-to make this a lovely chestnut brown colour on top...

-Mm-hmm.

..and then lower it down so that the meat becomes tender.

Changing the temperature halfway through the bake was essential if

the bakers wanted to have a well-cooked crust

and a tender filling.

-What temperature are you doing it?

-200.

I've done SO much meat I don't think it's going to cook.

-For the whole time or...?

-I think I'm going to have to.

That's a long time. 200?

-That's really low. It's at 26.

-That's 26?

Well, having it out there's not going to help, is it?

-I might put it up to 220.

-Really?

-220?! You'll burn the pastry.

Jesus.

-Look at that.

-Wow.

Obviously you can see the hole, all the juices have been through.

The leaves are all slightly shrunk, again, that's because of

the protein, it's shrunk them back,

but that's perfect, beautiful colour.

I'm going to leave it in there now for at least an hour before

I even consider taking it off, it just needs to set and we'll be

able to eat it later a little bit warm.

But ideally, it is best served cold, and that would give

-the liquid time, the natural juices of the meat, to set.

-To set.

-Into a jelly. No need for...

-I'd have that with a bit of...

A few chips.

I beg your pardon?

HE LAUGHS

You wouldn't?

Game pie, Mary, been waiting for this one.

I think it looks fantastic and I think Queen Victoria would approve.

I'm sure she would.

This should be delicious, let's cut into it and have a look.

Ooh, yes. I'll take a big wodge and then cut one in half, OK?

That's a good idea, but the pastry is lovely and crisp, isn't it?

-But that's what you expect from hot water crust.

-Ohh!

-Oh, look at that.

Look at that fella.

That DOES look good.

Crispy pastry, hot water crust, loads of game in this, Mary,

should taste delicious.

It's nice that you kept the meat in decent-sized pieces.

That tastes delicious.

Oh, that is lovely, and you've got a strong flavour of thyme going

through there, that really is good.

Absolutely.

The Showstopper for Victorian week was a complex French dessert

called a charlotte russe.

Good morning, bakers.

Today, Mary and Paul would love you, for your Showstoppers,

to create a dessert that sounds a bit like a film star from the 1980s.

Charlotte russe.

Ooh, so a charlotte russe is a big, blousy dessert

with bavarois cream and jelly. It has to be freestanding.

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

-On your marks...

-Get set...

-Baaa-ke!

A lot of wobble happening this weekend, a lot of wobbles.

Emotionally...

structurally...

The simple exterior of Paul's charlotte russe

belies its complexity.

A ring of sponge fingers surround

a creamy passion fruit bavarois

topped with a sharp lime jelly.

Victorian Showstopper, Mary, do you remember the charlotte russe?

Could I forget it? I've never seen so many different ones.

Yeah, but you know what got me?

It was one of the tastiest things we've ever chosen for them

to do on Bake Off.

I'm going to make one, but I'm choosing flavours that I love,

lime and passion fruit,

so it's a passion fruit bavarois with a lime jelly.

I'm going to knock up the sponge fingers first.

Could you separate for me three medium eggs, please?

Right, I'll do that.

There we go.

I'm going to deal with those egg whites in a minute,

but I'm going to deal with the egg yolks first.

I'm going to pop them into a big bowl...

-To the egg yolks, add 35g of caster sugar.

-There we are.

And beat until pale and creamy.

You see how much it's thickened up now?

It's beautiful, glossy and smooth.

-Then add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

-Lovely.

Next, place into a bowl, 60g of plain flour and a pinch of salt,

and one tablespoon of cornflour.

-Right.

-Thank you. I'm going to sieve this...straight into the mixture.

Once sieved, fold the ingredients until you have a smooth consistency.

Then pour the egg whites into a bowl and add a pinch of cream of tartare.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartare to soft peaks.

Measure out 35g of caster sugar...

..gradually add the sugar to the mix, whisking continuously

until it forms a glossy meringue.

OK. There we have our beautiful, light meringue.

One of these days you're going to do that

and it's going to trickle round,

and if it comes on top of me it'll go straight on you.

Ah, nah, it didn't, it didn't come out, OK.

Right, what I need to do is incorporate this into that.

So to start with...

-..I'm going to add a little bit.

-To slacken it down.

-Yeah, exactly.

And that's often the one thing people forget to do,

and then it goes in all lumpy and white streaks.

You've got to slacken it down.

Add the meringue gradually, keeping as much air

in the mixture as possible.

-That looks perfect, doesn't it?

-It does, nice and light.

I've got a piping bag here and I've got two trays,

which I'm going to pipe straight on there.

So that's parchment paper that you've done just

-a pencil across the top?

-Yeah.

Pipe the mixture in lines of equal length on a baking parchment.

What I've got here is just a little bit of icing sugar,

and this will help with the crisp on the top as well,

to form a slight caramel on the top of the sponge finger.

So I'm going to pop these straight in, and they're going to

go in the oven at 170 fan for around 10 minutes, 10, 12 minutes.

They look good, they've just got a tinge of pale brown round

the outside, a nice sugary top.

Quickly remove the sponge fingers from the baking parchment

and place to cool on the wire rack.

Now we need to crack on with the bavarois.

To start with, what I've got over here,

I've put seven leaves of gelatine into cold water,

this just softens them, this is the jelly,

and there should be 450ml of milk.

-That's it.

-Yes.

I'm going to pop this straight onto a pan to warm up.

While the milk is warming, separate the yolks from six eggs.

Measure out 75g of caster sugar...

add the egg yolks to the sugar...

and beat until pale and creamy.

That looks about right.

When the milk is near to boiling, take it off the heat

and gradually pour it over the egg mixture.

Throw the lot in. Thank you.

I've got the gelatine leaves that have been soaking here,

get rid of the liquid, pop that straight into the mixture

and dissolve that into the milk and egg yolk mixture.

And can I have my pan back, please, Mary?

Thank you. Going to pour this back in here.

And this is going to go back on the heat.

Just till it coats the back of a spoon,

so it's just going to thicken slightly.

As soon as the bavarois is the right consistency, remove from the heat.

You can see this now, it's coating the back of a spoon beautifully.

That's better.

This goes straight into a bowl and it needs to cool down.

While the bavarois cools, cut one end of the sponge fingers and

arrange vertically around the inside of a greased and lined cake tin.

Next, whip 350ml of double cream.

Measure 200ml of passion fruit puree and mix into the bavarois.

Add the whipped cream to the mixture and fold gently.

That looks delicious.

Spoon the bavarois into the tin lined with the sponge fingers.

And it's important to have it at that sort of setting stage.

If it is really runny, what happens is it goes into the sponge

-and makes it like a trifle.

-Yeah.

And also, it would seep through

the little, tiny gap, which we don't want.

I'm going to pop this into the fridge,

and then this we'll leave to set for a good three, four hours.

Right, Mary, we've got our bavarois in there, chilling nicely.

We need to make the jelly for the top. I'm doing a lime jelly.

First, place three sheets of gelatine in cold water to soften.

Put 125g of caster sugar and 150ml of water into a pan

and place on the heat.

While the water and sugar warm on the hob, zest and then juice two limes.

-Oh, I love the smell of lime.

-Right, this is heating through.

-OK.

I'm going to put that in there as well.

Add the zest and juice to the pan and bring to the boil,

stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

-That's ready.

-That ready? Fantastic.

Remove the pan from the heat,

squeeze the excess moisture from the gelatine.

-Pop that in there.

-Once added to the pan, stir until it's dissolved.

-That looks good. Almost dissolved, hasn't it?

-I think it has, yeah.

Then sieve the liquid into a jug.

Let's just get rid of all the little bits of zest,

but the flavour has already gone into that liquid.

And that is a pale lemon, it's not lime,

so you want a bit of colouring in that.

Well, a little bit of colouring.

-Go easy.

-Little bit in first. That'll do.

So that's still... Gosh, that's hot still.

It's still warm, what we need to do is leave that to cool slightly.

Probably about 20 minutes or so.

-Gosh, it's as firm as firm.

-Oh, look at that.

-Look at the slight wobble, very mousse-like, isn't it?

-Yep.

So what we're going to do is pour this on.

The consistency of that is really important,

because if it's too runny - straight into the sponge.

Finally, return the russe to the fridge and chill

until the jelly has set.

Right, Mary, here's the charlotte russe.

-Let's have a quick look.

-Steady, steady.

Right.

When the charlotte russe is ready to decorate, place on a cake stand.

The finished russe is delicate, so moving it isn't as easy

as it looks, as one of our bakers found out.

How do I get it from there to there?

That's it, just hold it together, hold it together.

-There we go then.

-Right.

-What's going on round here?

-It's split, man.

-Is it?

-You need to get it more into this.

-Do you need more hands?

It's just keeping the sides together, it's set inside.

-Shall I put my hands...?

-You've lifted it... It's lifting off, man.

Ahh, you twisted it. That's all right, let go.

-OK?

-No, look.

Oh, it was so close.

That's it.

What a shame. Taxi!

Once the russe is safely on the stand, decorate with fresh fruit.

Now, I think that is beautiful to have any time of year,

but in the summertime... What better way to celebrate Victorian baking?

Well, here it is, Mary, finally ready for a slice of beauty.

It does look most tempting.

-Ohh.

-Goodness gracious, that is...

-You beauty.

-..sheer perfection.

You're doing quite a good job of that, Mr Hollywood.

I'm trying. I am trying.

There you go.

It looks good on the plate too, doesn't it?

That really is...superb, isn't it?

There aren't many times that I'd go back for yet another one,

this time the jelly.

It's quite refreshing, it's quite tart as well,

from the passion fruit,

and the little bit of lime jelly's set really well.

The sponge is there as well.

This is delicious, Mary, but where do we go from here?

Onward and upward.

Next time, Mary and Paul once again step into the tent

to take on five brand-new challenges.

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

We've got some amazing bakes to show you during the masterclasses,

and it's great, Mary and I again in the tent,

and we can create our own bit of magic.

Join us next time for The Great British Bake Off - Masterclass.