Masterclass The Great British Bake Off

After weeks of furious whisking, caramelising and piping,

we've seen the bakers struggle with strudel,

design gingerbread constructions

and battle with biscuits, pastries and doughs.

-Amazing.

-I'm happy.

Each week, the bakers are asked to complete three challenges

but, as always, it is the technical challenge

that sends fear throughout the Bake Off tent.

Technical challenge.

They are making the challenges harder and harder.

To say it's a matter of luck would undermine everyone's efforts.

It's like a Russian Roulette.

Designed to reveal

just who has enough baking experience, know-how and instinct

that will impress even Mary and Paul.

Mary's going to slap me in the face.

The taste is not very appealing.

-The texture's there...

-Hmm.

..but the look is terrible.

Oh, no!

Ooh.

There's nothing I can do. Everything's just gone to pot.

That ticks the boxes, as they say.

You've absolutely nailed that.

Getting steadily more difficult,

the judges were out to really test the bakers.

Paul and I had to choose really difficult bakes for them.

I knew if I found it tricky, they'll find it very tricky.

But now it's time for Queen of Cakes, Mary Berry,

and Prince of Pastry, Paul Hollywood,

to get baking themselves.

So, the tables have turned.

I've really got to show that I can do it absolutely perfectly,

but stopping at all the stages where everybody could go wrong.

We're going to be there, taking you through the steps of making

each of the technical challenges.

So, nobody's got any excuse not to do it perfectly at home.

Coming up - Mary's Queen of Puddings

combines layers of rich baked custard and fruit jam

with a frothy meringue crown.

Paul's deliciously tempting recipe

for homemade doughnuts bursting with jam.

A British classic, teacakes,

combining a crunchy biscuit and topped with soft meringue,

all under a dome of shiny chocolate.

Mary's recipe for a Fraisier,

delicate layers of sponge sandwiched with the perfect creme patissiere,

topped with marzipan and chocolate.

Fondant fancies, the ultimate sweet treat

of fondant icing, sponge and melted chocolate.

And if you've ever wondered how to knead dough or pipe meringues,

Mary and Paul will show us how to get the perfect results

with their quick tips.

Now it's my turn

and I will go and play in the Bake Off tents.

It's a lovely excuse to have a good cooking session.

Halfway through the Bake Off

and things began to steam up, as the bakers faced puddings.

They had their hands full as they made sponge puddings

and struggled with show-stopping strudels,

but it was Mary's technical challenge

that had them running scared.

What we'd like you to make is...

Queen of Puddings.

It's layers of baked custard and jam topped with a chewy meringue.

So...

-on your marks...

-Get set...

-..good luck, and bake.

There's always a certain amount of dread

that you're going to make a prat of yourself on the technical challenge.

I've never made jam before.

That worries me a lot.

I've known a few queens in my time, but never a Queen of Puddings.

A timeless dessert made from breadcrumbs baked in custard

with homemade jam and a crown of delicately peaked meringue.

We're going to do a Queen of Puddings. It's a wonderful pudding.

It's made from things that you're likely to have in the cupboard

and it uses the whole egg, it uses up the breadcrumbs.

It's a good pudding.

But you're going to show us the definitive recipe

that you invented back in the 1600s of how to actually make these...

Cheeky! Cheeky, cheeky, as usual!

So, to start off with, I'm going to butter the dish.

Make sure you choose a dish that will go INSIDE your roasting dish.

We're going to do it bain-marie, which just means

we're going to have boiling water round the outside,

so it doesn't cook too quickly.

Prepare 75 grams of white breadcrumbs

by blitzing them in a machine and pour into the buttered dish.

Just put that in like that.

Measure 50 grams of caster sugar and 25 grams of butter.

It's a good idea to weigh the butter on top of the sugar

because you've then got a clean bowl to weigh the next thing.

So I need milk, 600 ml.

So, into the pan,

and I think it's best to use full-cream milk,

and in goes the sugar and the butter.

I'm going to add some lemon, only the zest.

That addition of the lemon I think really adds to the custard.

Orange is lovely in cakes

but for this particular thing,

I always add lemon.

Warm the milk until just hot,

but not boiling.

Separate three eggs and keep both the white and the yolk.

You'll need the yolks for the custard now

and the whites for the meringues later on.

If you boil the milk now

and you pour it straight on to the egg yolks,

they'll immediately curdle

and they won't be the thickening agent to the custard.

So, first of all, get the egg yolks mixed together

and then one little splash in to start with

because if you put it all in, you won't get it smooth.

Then in it goes.

Then I'm going to pour that over the breadcrumbs.

Leave that to soak. Then I'm going to make the jam.

It's important to use equal quantity of fruit to sugar.

So we've got some blackberries, some blueberries and some strawberries.

Starting it off low

and let the natural juice come out.

But without the full instructions,

making jam didn't come quite as naturally to our bakers.

"Make the jam."

That's detailed, isn't it, Mary? "Make the jam."

I'm just trying to remember how to make jam.

I'm trying to reduce it because the name jam suggests that,

you know, it's quite thick.

Every week, the technical challenge is a guessing game.

As with all jams, you need equal amounts of sugar to fruit

so with 200 grams of fruit there should be 200 grams of sugar.

So I've turned the heat down a little

and in goes the sugar

and you've got to dissolve the sugar without boiling.

And when it's dissolved, then boil rapidly

until it is a jam consistency.

Allow the jam to cool in the pan whilst you bake the custard.

Pour hot water into the roasting tray around your custard dish

and bake in a bain-marie for about 30 minutes at 150 fan.

This is one occasion when you can keep opening the oven door

and giving a little shake to see.

-It just wants to be set.

-You want that little bit of wobble.

A little bit of wobble,

and it will go on cooking as it comes out of the oven.

That looks absolutely as it should do.

It's really like cooking an egg custard

but we've strengthened it with the breadcrumbs.

No separation in it.

And then you've really got to let that cool just a little

before you put the jam on,

otherwise the jam could mix with the custard.

-Let's get on with the meringue.

-OK.

Weigh out 175 grams of caster sugar

which will be mixed in with your whisked egg whites.

The eggs want to be fresh eggs.

If an egg is old, say two weeks old,

the white is runny and you don't get so much volume.

If you use a hand mixer,

big bowl and move it all the way round.

But we've got a mixing machine,

so put the eggs into the bowl

and whisk it on full speed

until it looks like cloud, and we've got a bit of that about today.

Don't use a plastic bowl for whisking egg whites

as they can retain a film of fat that can deflate the meringue.

It isn't full volume yet, but it looks just like a floating cloud.

-Yep.

-So at that stage, we start to add the sugar.

And if you add it slowly, on full speed,

it will get stiffer and stiffer and stiffer

and it's very unlikely that you'll over-whip it,

but most people under-whip it.

Sugar not only adds sweetness,

but it stabilises the egg whites by coating them

so that they can be beaten for longer and not dry out.

And that really is the beautiful stiff meringue

coming up in peaks,

I remember when we've done this before, the one thing you love to do

is put it over my head. One day it will come all over me.

-I'm sure it will.

-Go on.

Let's just see if that day is today.

Is it trickling down? No.

Proper meringue. Perfect.

No, nothing. I did try, Mary.

-Did you give it a bit of a shake?

-I did, actually.

But the bakers weren't quite so confident in their own meringues.

I get a bit scared with egg whites. I don't want to over whip it.

I think you just need to whip it until it's, you know,

quite stiff, so I'm just going to keep going.

Oh, God, it's a bit runny.

Hang on. Don't put that over my head, please, Ryan.

Once your custard and jam are cooled and set,

it's time to assemble your pudding.

So, first of all, the jam going on.

It's all about building the layers up now, isn't it?

It is. Spread that very carefully over the top.

You've got to be very delicate doing this

because it's very easy to lift the custard up into the jam.

That's just perfect.

Then we've got the meringue to put on the top

and I've found that it's best

to put it on in sort of blobs to start with

and then we can build it up from there.

I'd be tempted just to dollop it on.

I dare say you would, but having done this one or two times,

I find that to do it sort of like that seems to work best.

It looks as though I haven't got enough but I can assure you I have.

In my very early days,

I'd just finished making cakes

and a lady rang up and said,

"I like you because you're the only one

"what's on TV that scrapes her bowls proper."

So I'm now going to smooth that over using two spoons or a palette knife,

and I'm going to spread that to the edges

and then we can start to peak it.

I think that looks really sort of homemade, don't you?

-When you get the sort of peaks coming up.

-Mm.

And that's just the right consistency for the meringue.

There we are. Ready for the oven.

You can see all the layers.

Lower the oven 20 degrees to 130

and it'll take about 25 minutes.

I don't really want to put the jam on yet.

If I was at home, I'd wait another five or ten minutes

but I think it would be worse to run out of time.

I was worried if I plod a whole lot on

and it will just go vroom, straight in.

That just looks awful. Mary's going to slap me in the face.

I'm a bit disappointed about the meringue.

It kind of collapsed a bit, so it's a bit gooey.

I was hoping to make it puffy and make peaks.

Please be good.

That looks better.

It's the colour of ivory.

So, the classic Queen of Puddings.

A layer of lovely custard at the bottom,

a bold layer of jam in the middle

and a lovely thick layer of meringue,

crispy on top, marshmallowy in the middle.

It looks good enough to eat, Mary.

That looks stunning, Mary. It really does.

I love the way that meringue's all peaked.

Would you like some?

I would like a scoop, please, Mary.

It's all holding together nicely.

Mmm! Oh, it's lovely.

It's crispy.

The custard's well set.

I mean, really, for busy people,

you can make the custard the day before

and then just spread the jam over the top

and put the meringue on the next day.

Can I have some more, please, Mary?

Of course you can. Oh, I'm so glad you like it.

-There you are. A little bit of everything.

-Thanks, Mum.

The seventh week of the Bake Off

and the remaining bakers faced three sweet dough challenges,

making signature regional sweet buns

and show-stopping celebratory enriched loaves,

and Paul was in his element

as the bakers faced another of his tricky technical challenges.

What we'd like you to make are jam doughnuts.

Now, Mary and Paul are not only looking for consistency in size

but also in jam distribution and colour.

-On your marks...

-Get set... BOTH: ..Bake!

I'm really frightened.

It's going to be an experience, you know.

It might not be a good experience.

I really wish that I knew what I was doing.

The technical challenge is sometimes,

at the best of times, it's like a Russian Roulette.

A fairground favourite,

jam doughnuts made from hot balls of sweet dough

filled with strawberry jam

and rolled in caster sugar.

Right, Mary. Doughnuts.

It's a fairly straightforward method to making a doughnut,

although a few stages that you've got to cover.

Mix 500 grams of strong flour

and 50 grams of caster sugar into a bowl.

In fact, granulated, you can actually feel in the dough

so the caster sugar's fine enough not to be felt

once the liquid goes in.

Add 40 grams of softened butter,

10 grams of salt,

14 grams of fast-action yeast and 130 mls of water

into the same bowl.

I'm also going to add two eggs to this as well

and, again, it's an enriched dough.

You need the eggs. It'll help to bind it together

and give it a beautiful yellow colour inside.

Then I'm going to get my hands in there initially

and just gently turn the bowl

and break down the egg

until you can see it's actually starting to create

a little form of dough like a paste.

Now, you've added two sachets of yeast to 500 grams of flour.

That's more than you would with bread.

Yeah. It's an enriched dough.

It's got eggs, butter and sugar in it,

so it's going to need that extra bit of yeast to leaven it,

to get it rising up.

Keep your milk in the other hand, which is 150 ml,

and then gently begin to push the dough together.

So the best way to add liquid to a mix

is add about three quarters to it, mix it well

and then drip feed in the rest.

But this unusually wet dough

was the first thing to catch out the bakers.

My dough resembles some kind of swamp monster.

I've put all the water in, but this just seems really weird,

really sticky.

It's very wet, which is good, it's nice to see wet dough.

Wetter is better, as they say in the bread world.

So this looks disgusting at the moment

and if I work it properly it will stop being disgusting.

I thought the dough was a little bit too wet

so I'm putting more flour in.

It's probably wrong.

I'll probably get told off.

I would describe kneading this doughnut dough

as being quite like the gym.

Slightly sweat-inducing,

not my favourite.

-You can feel how wet that dough is.

-Hmm.

If there's one thing I've learnt from you,

it is to make bread doughs,

whether they're rich or normal bread doughs,

to have it wet.

-Yeah. It does make a difference.

-It makes a better rise.

Now, I'm using an enriched dough, so I'll use flour instead of oil.

The wet, sticky mess goes into the middle.

Coat the top with a little bit of flour,

roll it round for a bit,

and then heel of the palm in the middle,

and initially I'm just going to coat it with some flour

and then begin to roll it up.

Now, all I'm doing here is,

A, mixing all the ingredients together, but,

B, you begin to develop the gluten,

so the more I work that,

the smoother that will get and the more of a stretch I get.

And you can feel how soft it is,

but it's the speed that prevents it from sticking too much.

DOUGH SLAPS AGAINST TABLE

And you can see it's getting smoother already.

Any aggression, take it out on the dough.

Well, please do.

There you have the beauty of using a mixer

and it's actually very possible to over-mix in a mixer,

using a dough hook.

The more they manipulate this then it just starts to break apart,

it gets too glutinous.

By hand, very difficult to over-mix, over-knead.

Have a got with that. Go on, Mary. You chuck it down.

Be brutal with it.

That's it. From up here. That's it.

Your cakes have just dropped in the oven. Think about that.

That's the one.

-You see how smooth that is now?

-It looks remarkable.

-A totally different dough to the one we saw a minute ago.

-Less wet.

It's stretchy. Yeah.

It's lovely.

Now, that will go into a bowl,

cling film that.

You're making it technically airtight.

It stops the draught getting to it,

forming a skin and preventing it from growing.

Leave the dough to prove for about an hour

until it's doubled in size.

Well, there it is, Mary.

If I take this off, that is full of air.

Absolutely...

..full of air. It just bursts like a balloon.

-You can see the structure of it as well.

-Hmm.

The air holes of the doughnut.

It's a bit like netting.

Stringy, yeah. Bit like webs.

Get that dough out into the flour. It's a very wet dough.

You see how stretchy it is, as well?

Coat it in flour.

Now we need ten doughnuts.

Get your little dough balls and then roll them into a ball,

either in your hand or on the bench.

It is tricky and it is a very, very wet dough.

But I do like the feel of that dough.

-That one's not too bad, is it?

-No.

Then just leave it like that, cover it up with any bag

and they'll double in size.

That will tell you that they're ready to go in a fryer.

Paul's doughnut challenge ran rings around some of the bakers.

Quite splodgy, pancakey little badgers.

Not sure that's exactly how they're supposed to be.

My dough's really pretty wet and the dough's gone a bit flat.

Technical challenge...

I have no idea how these babies should look.

I'm pushing it down a little bit,

otherwise it'll have a little tan mark round its midriff.

There they are, Mary.

You see they spring back. Finger in, it bounces back.

That is an indication that it's ready.

Now, the fat is set at 160.

-It's going to take roughly five minutes each side, OK?

-Yes.

Grab your dough ball,

drop it into the fat,

grab your dough ball,

drop it in the fat.

These would normally take two at a time anyway.

And this is the safest way of frying it, and you must,

if you're doing it at home and you haven't got a deep fat fryer,

have a really deep pan and always watch it.

Yeah. Absolutely.

You're looking for a slight oblong, not a perfect ball

because it means it was under-proved,

and not a flat disc because that means it was over-proved.

When they go in the first time they do exactly half

-and then you turn them over after five minutes...

-Yeah.

..and you get that light line of a lighter colour in the middle.

-Well, if you look inside here now, can you see the colour?

-Oh, yes.

And there's the white line that runs round the middle.

Now, those have had the allotted time.

Just drain them off a little bit, take the extra bit of fat off,

and then just roll it in the sugar.

Dust them off with your fingers.

Two more for the Hollywood Doughnut Factory.

Ten little beauties.

We can't jam them now. The dough is still cooking

because of the fat that's round it,

so what we need to do is cool these down, inject them with the jam

and they'll be perfect and good to eat,

so a little bit of patience, Mary.

But the bakers had been patient and were ready for their injections.

It's part-baking, part doctors-and-nurses, isn't it, this?

It is.

Doughnut doom.

-I think you might have got...

-I've got a blockage.

-It's literally a jam.

Oh, this is hideous.

Do you know what? I'm so pleased.

I kind of don't care what Paul thinks

because I am so proud of those.

There they are, Mary. Now it's time for jamming.

Get your doughnut.

Pop a knife in, roughly half-way, a little bit of a wiggle.

Get your jam which you'll put in a bag here.

Just cut the end off.

That's a pretty good tip of yours, to tie the end

so it doesn't come out all over your hands.

One. Two. That's enough.

It's basically been sieved.

So it's a strawberry jam, or, traditionally, raspberry jam.

And another one. And obviously, you could fill these with anything.

Custard. Apple puree works well.

Jam is certainly the most popular one.

But don't worry about the jam leaking out of it. It just means

you've really got lots in there. Great colour, filled with jam

-and we'll try some in a bit.

-Can't wait.

Paul, I think those are magnificent.

They're all a beautiful colour with the white ring round it,

full of jam, bursting with flavour.

-Do you want some with some jam, I take it?

-Oh, definitely. Yes.

Beautiful inside.

Oh, thank you.

It is absolutely beautiful.

It's so soft and yet that lovely sugary outside...

I don't think anybody could ever resist those.

I'm quite certain that everybody now knows how to make

a very good doughnut.

And now Paul's top tip for kneading dough perfectly.

Flour on the bench.

Dough. Heel of the palm. Fingers.

Gently tap the dough down,

fold over the top bit and begin to roll up.

And all I'm doing is incorporating all the ingredients together.

This will begin to get smoother and smoother.

A little bit more flour, just to stop the dough from sticking

too much to your hands and the bench. Massage your dough.

You're massaging with the heel of your palm and your fingers,

beginning to build that gluten up, the bonding agent in all breads.

Hold down the base, heel of your palm in, stretch,

fold it up, pull, rip.

And then repeat this process for about five, ten minutes

and you'll feel it getting stronger and more and more elastic.

Speed will come with practice.

And I can feel this beginning to go.

By hand, you can never overdo it, but you can certainly under-do it.

But kneading is all about power and technique.

Leave nature to do the rest.

Week eight of the bake off and the remaining five bakers were tested on their biscuit knowledge.

They were challenged to make savoury crispbreads

and spectacular gingerbread structures.

Thinking that the judges couldn't possibly find anything too hard to throw at them,

Paul's technical challenge made them very nearly crumble

under the pressure.

Today we're asking you to make six chocolate teacakes,

an iconic biscuit.

-So, on your marks...

-Get set...

-BOTH: ..Bake.

Ah!

Marshmallow chocolate teacakes.

OK. I know them, I see them in the shops.

-They're a Scottish classic.

-I've had many of them, but never made one.

My children would love these

so if they turn out all right, I will make them.

Homemade chocolate teacakes,

combining a delicate dome of moulded chocolate

filled with a light marshmallow meringue

and supported by a firm biscuit base.

Paul, quarterfinal technical challenge.

Marshmallow teacakes. I think they're really tricky to make.

They are unbelievably tricky.

So we're going to start by melting the chocolate.

Melt 200 grams of chocolate over a bain-marie,

making sure that the bowl does not touch the boiling water.

Here's our chocolate. Now, it's beginning to cool and set.

Now, this is a good temperature to have it at.

It's warm to the hands.

As it comes into contact with the mould,

it actually begins to cool very, very quickly.

I'm just starting off with a blob in each one.

Allow that to cool slightly. It'll help you then build up the walls.

Begin to bring up the chocolate up the sides of the mould.

Take your time doing this. Don't rush it.

And you've got to get that just right

-because if it was too hot it would run down the mould.

-Exactly.

So you've just got to get it runny, so that it clings to the side.

Exactly. You don't want to make it too thin

because essentially it's going to be the cage that goes over the marshmallow.

That looks pretty well covered now

and you've got that slightly thicker layer at the top

-which should make it turn out well.

-Exactly.

Put the moulds aside to set, but don't put them in the fridge

or the chocolate will discolour and loose its shine.

I need to get it done now, so the chocolate cools.

If the chocolate doesn't hold, you won't have a teacake.

You'll just have a big, messy thing on a plate.

I'm just going to do it my way and it'll be fine.

You're the Frank Sinatra of Bake Off.

# I baked it my way. #

I want it to be a slow pourer than that

so that it will stick to the sides.

I think it's a bit like if you make Easter eggs,

the best thing to do is to put a thin layer on, let it dry,

and if you don't think it's thick enough, just put another layer on.

Gut feeling says don't put them in the fridge,

unless I'm running out of time and they're not going to be hard,

in which case I'll abandon my gut instinct and put them in the fridge.

What I'm making now is a biscuit.

A good, earthy, crispy biscuit to go at the bottom of the marshmallow.

Measure out 50 grams of plain flour and 50 grams of whole-wheat flour.

Then add 25 grams of caster sugar, 25 grams of butter

and half a teaspoon of baking powder.

-25 and 25.

-Just be patient. I've got to take a little bit. That's it.

-That's one thing I'm not good at.

-I know.

-Terribly impatient. It's one of my flaws.

-I have learned it.

Could you put a little pinch of salt in there as well?

Thank you. That's about right. Yeah. Lovely.

I'm going to get my hands in there and begin to break up the butter.

Now, I've got that crumbed quite well.

The butter's gone into the flours very well.

I just need that little bit of liquid now to bind that together.

-One tablespoonful of milk.

-This is quite a dry biscuit.

So you begin to crush and pick up all the mixture together.

Tip the mixture onto a surface and bring together into a ball

before rolling it out to about half-a-centimetre thickness.

Get your cutter. We obviously need six.

You want them quite hard. You don't want that soft biscuit

when you bite into a marshmallow.

Put on a non-stick baking tray and into the oven

for about 10 to 12 minutes at 150 degrees fan.

Biscuits have been out now for a good 10, 15 minutes.

Could you just trim the biscuits slightly with that?

-Why am I doing that?

-Because you've got baking powder in there.

So what's happened is the biscuit has grown just beyond

the base of the teacake. So what will happen is

it won't be able to go inside the mould. So it's a little trick.

What do I do if I crack it now?

If you break them, I'm just going to go

and you're going to have to do them all over again.

This is one of the most tricky things I've done,

especially when you're standing over me.

Now you know how they feel in the bake off.

Don't you worry. I'm doing it really, really carefully. There.

-It's good, that, Mary.

-I can be quick now and do them all,

-but I was nervous of that first one.

-Now, while you've been doing that,

I've been melting the remaining chocolate.

You see how loose that is? I'm going to drop each biscuit into there,

give it a bit of a coating.

Slide it onto the wire. That's one biscuit.

I can't resist tasting this cos it's beautifully short.

-Could you patch up any little bits that have no chocolate on there?

-Oh, I'm very good at patching up.

All I'm trying to do is just put as much chocolate on,

evenly as I can.

Last one going in.

OK, Mary. We've got our component parts.

Now we've got to start the meringue.

This technically is a Swiss meringue,

but we're adding golden syrup to it.

It'll thicken the whole thing up and give it a beautiful shine.

Now, to start with, I need three egg whites.

-I'm doing it the old-fashioned way with my hands.

-Making a right mess.

-I love making a mess.

-Yeah(!)

Now, while I'm doing this, could you weigh me up 150 grams of caster sugar, please?

-Right.

-That'll do, Mary. Thank you very much.

Pop this straight into the whites.

I'm also going to add half the seeds of a vanilla pod,

six tablespoons of golden syrup. One.

Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

-Approximately.

-Approximately.

And I need a pinch of salt, please, Mary.

A little bit of salt in there will just dampen things down a bit

so it's not too sweet.

Whisk the mixture over a gentle heat of a bain-marie

for about six minutes, making a very stable meringue...

for most of the bakers, anyway.

I've never made marshmallow before.

I think it's some kind of Swiss meringue, by the looks of it.

I think everyone's finding this quite tricky, aren't they?

So I'm not on my own.

Oh! Well, look, it's rather nice, actually. And it's quite stiff.

My first encounter with marshmallow.

But then it was time to put the whole thing together.

Oh, lordy. Too much marshmallow.

I need to spoon some out.

If I pull off six teacakes, you know, that's all right.

We have our domes, we have our biscuit base, we have our meringue

and we have our chocolate that'll bind the whole thing together.

Pipe in the meringue into the base.

You want to take it about three-quarters of the way up.

Don't overfill it. Otherwise, when the biscuit goes in,

the meringue's just going to pour out.

And the next stage is a little bit of chocolate just on the meringue.

This will help the biscuit bind to the meringue.

-That's just pure, melted chocolate.

-It's just pure melted chocolate.

What you've got to do is just run round the outside of each one,

just putting a little bit of chocolate.

This is actually where the bottom of the biscuit will bind

with the dome of the chocolate.

And the whole thing should become one. OK. There we go.

Get each biscuit, pop it into there.

And initially, just leave it in there for the second.

Ideally, you don't want to put them in the fridge cos it'll oxidise

and turn the chocolate, you know, that off colour.

Put a bit of pressure on there cos you've got that bit of give...

-Yep.

-..where it hits the marshmallow.

And it doesn't matter a bit that you've got fingerprints on there.

-It'll be at the bottom.

-It's underneath.

-Exactly.

Bit of pressure...

and there we have the bases finally in contact

with the marshmallow.

Leave your chocolate teacakes to set firmly in their mould

before attempting to turn them out.

SHE GASPS

They're not ready!

That's the way to do it.

-SUE: Ooh, my word. You've made a teacake.

-I didn't think I'd ever make a teacake.

I don't know whether to eat it or set up a shrine in honour of it.

That's beautiful.

SHE GASPS

So, yes, so far, so good.

-CATHRYN:

-Oh, no. Look! No. Oh, my giddy aunt.

Oh, no.

Well done.

-Now we've got to release it from the mould.

-I'm glad it's you, not me!

You've got to put a bit of pressure on the top. Lovely.

And you shouldn't need to touch the actual dome.

It's popping out really nicely.

Yeah, lovely.

That is sheer perfection.

Wow. So beautifully formed, aren't they?

Mmm. Honestly, when you look inside, rather soft marshmallow,

lovely crisp biscuit

and an ample share of chocolate on top.

You've got it all over your moustache, young man.

That's the way it should be. That's a proper chocolate teacake

-and I hope everybody at least tries to make one.

-It's absolutely lovely.

And now Mary's twist on piping the perfect meringues.

For special occasions, you may well want to pipe meringue

and there's a bit of a skill to it. When you ice a cake, you fold it,

but when you're doing a lot of mixture like this, you twist it.

You start with the bag like a soldier, upright.

There's a huge tendency to have it like that

and you'd get a one-sided meringue. So first of all squeeze the bag

and go round in a circle.

Then you get to that point and it's not coming up, you do down.

Round the outside

and down to finish.

So, continue in that fashion.

Keeping it upright, going round in a circle, then down at the end.

Plenty of pressure in the bag. There we are.

With only four bakers remaining and the final in sight,

the bakers grappled with petit fours

and with choux pastry gateaux.

But it was Mary's technical challenge

that brought a dose of French sophistication to the Bake Off tent.

OK. Bakers, we can now reveal to you that we would like you, please,

to cook the all-time classic French celebration cake, the Fraisier.

Now, this has got to be visually stunning, OK?

It's all about the layers of sponge, strawberry and creme patissiere.

So, on your marks.

Get set.

-Bake.

-Bake.

I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to do what I instinctively feel

is right, but I need to go back and read the instructions for a start.

I read through the recipe and I can't quite visualise it,

which isn't really a good sign.

I know what one should look like, but I don't actually know

if I can do it, so let's see.

A Genoese sponge, sliced thinly

and layered with enriched creme patissiere,

edged with a crown of sliced strawberries.

Fraisier cake. I've never made one in my life.

It is really, really special. It's tricky to make,

but it is one of the most delicious cakes you'll ever make.

Visually, it looks stunning. I'm going to show you

-how to do it perfectly.

-Go ahead, then.

First of all, roll out a thin disc of marzipan

and draw around the base of the cake tin

so that the circle will perfectly fit on the top of your cake.

Place on a baking tray and leave to chill in the fridge

whilst you make the Genoese sponge.

Now, a classic Genoese is just eggs with flour and sugar and butter

and you make it over hot water.

If you've got a powerful machine, you can do it just by whisking

the eggs and sugar to start with.

Crack four eggs into a bowl and get all the zest off two lemons.

You will need their juice for the lemon syrup later.

Measure out 125 grams of caster sugar and add to the eggs.

Mix it on full power so that you get good volume.

There they are. That's it.

Now you can see it's lovely and thick. You can over-beat it.

If you get it really firm, almost like meringue,

you won't get the flour in.

Sift in 125 grams of self-raising flour, a little bit at a time.

If you add all the flour at once,

it's likely to go in in pockets,

so just a little like that.

When I made this when I was trained, we used plain flour

-and you used just the volume of the eggs to rise the sponge.

-Yeah.

But I find now we all use self-raising flour,

why not use it and get the extra rise

and you know it works every time.

Add the melted but slightly cooled butter to the sponge mixture.

If added whilst hot, you'll lose the volume of the mix.

It's melted, but it's not runny, not oily, just very, very soft.

At this stage, it just looks like a normal, whisked sponge

that you would use for a Swiss roll,

but adding the butter makes it a Genoese.

Gentle folding mixture to get all that in.

This is the danger point because if you go on working in the butter,

the volume will go down and you won't get such a good rise.

Gently pour the mixture into a greased and lined cake tin.

Don't pour the mixture into the tin from a great height

because the air bubbles will be stretched and burst.

Do it close to the tin.

If you do see a little bit of flour in it, just give it a little stir.

It goes in the oven at 160 fan, that's four gas,

and it'll take about 35 minutes.

Looks good, Mary.

Oh, good. Sigh of relief.

You can tell the cake is baked as it will shrink away

from the sides of the tin and will spring back when pressed.

And you expect that slightly roundedness with a Genoese.

Leave the cake in the tin to cool whilst you make the lemon syrup.

Juice the two lemons that were zested earlier

and measure out 75 grams of caster sugar.

Heat together in 70mls of water until it's all dissolved.

Leave that to cool as you make your enriched creme patissiere.

I'm going to start off by putting 600ml of milk into the pan here.

Then I'm going to put a vanilla pod into the milk

and those seeds are going to add flavour.

Heat the milk until just below boiling point.

Measure out 180 grams of caster sugar

and 100 grams of cornflour to thicken it.

I mean, I use a lot of creme patissiere

when I'm making Danish pastries, you know.

I think it tastes so good.

Oh, I think it's lovely.

And if you get the consistency right, it cuts through like a dream.

Now, I've found that in order to get this beautifully smooth,

it's a good idea to coat the cornflour in the sugar,

otherwise the cornflour can go in lumps.

So that's just mixing it together, like that, before the eggs go in.

Then I'm going to add four eggs and two egg yolks.

So there we've got the four eggs in there,

two extra yolks. That's just to enrich it.

And you just go on mixing until it's really, really smooth.

That's really well mixed. There's no flecks of cornflour.

-It does help to put that sugar and cornflour in first.

-Yeah.

Pour the hot milk onto the cold egg mixture

so that the eggs don't scramble.

You can use a sieve to catch the vanilla pod and keep whisking.

pour back into the saucepan and stir continuously

so that it doesn't go lumpy.

Even though there's a lot of egg in there,

the cornflour is stabilising that and it will gradually thicken.

Whilst Mary's creme patissiere might be thickening,

the bakers' nerves were not so set.

I might have to make this again. I don't want to take any risks with it.

This is a really, really complicated recipe.

It's curdled. I'm not using it.

I'll keep it just in case the next one's worse.

Normally with creme patissiere,

you're looking for a medium thickness.

But in this instance, because the strawberries are going to be

set within it, it needs to be thicker.

I'm sure, you know, a perfect baker wouldn't do what I've just done

with mine, but I'm not perfect. I'm a human being.

-I think it's there, Mary.

-Right.

I've just got the addition of the 150 grams of butter

that's slightly softened. Just drop that all in in one go.

And then some kirsch, about a tablespoon.

If you haven't got kirsch, you could use...

Limoncello would be nice. Brandy. Whatever's in the cupboard.

And now we need to take that out and put it to cool.

I find it's better to put it in something shallow

and then it cools quickly.

So once that's cooled down a bit, we'll put it in the fridge

to become really firm.

Now the cake should be cooled. Shall we have it out of the tin?

It certainly is cool.

Right. Spring-form tin.

Take off the paper from the bottom.

Now for the exciting part. We're going to assemble the cake.

Grease your cake tin and line it with greaseproof paper or acetate.

This is what will give the Fraisier cake its distinctive edges

once assembled.

Acetate is perfect for lining this, but not everybody's got it at home.

I've tried it just lining the tin with cling film.

That's absolutely fine. Or you can use foil that's lined with parchment.

Now it's time to cut your cooled sponge in half.

So you put your hand flat and get eye level...

And then what I do is I turn the cake and move it round

as I'm doing the knife

and then go through to the middle a bit later. That's it.

Put the bottom half of the sponge back in the lined cake tin

and brush with half of the lemon syrup.

I'm going to get a spoon

and squash that down so that it really does get into the sides.

Now we come to the strawberry part.

It's essential to cut the bottom off and have a neat slice

and this will go next to the acetate.

-Yup.

-Pressing it firmly down onto the sponge.

I'm absolutely squashing them as tightly as I can to each other.

You notice how the very last one I squished in

and they're very, very firm against the side.

Put the chilled creme patissiere into a piping bag

and pipe it onto the exposed layer of sponge in the tin

-so that it is all completely covered.

-Can I have a go, Mary?

-No, because you're going to show me up. You can do it ten times quicker.

-I love piping.

-I know.

Well, I'm going to let you pipe the top, the chocolate part.

Right. That is completely covered.

Now we're going to just go between the strawberries,

sort of like that, all the way round.

Now, the next move is to put the chopped strawberries

into the middle here.

-So the layers are building up.

-They are.

And now I'm going to put the rest of the creme patissiere

all over the top of that.

So that's perfect. And now we come to the final layer.

So just turn that upside down onto the top there.

-It gives you a nice flat top, doesn't it?

-It does.

I'm pressing that down well.

So we used half the sugar syrup on the first sponge

and I'm now using half the lemon syrup on top.

Then take a spoon and just press that down,

just so as it's level, and then we need the marzipan.

-Do you remember we put the marzipan in the fridge?

-Yup.

I think I'll be able to lift that off in one piece cos it's so cold,

like that, and slip it on the top.

And that is a perfect fit.

Now you want to put that back in the fridge

to be really firm before we turn it out and decorate it.

But without knowing what the finished cake looked like,

the bakers found putting it together harder than expected.

I can't do it.

Ooh!

So in France, it's nearly always decorated with chocolate.

How about you having a go making some shapes?

They don't have to be perfect, you know,

but the spirals do look quite effective.

It always looks better to use plain chocolate rather than milk chocolate.

-It also holds up better.

-It's your artistic flair

coming out on top of a cake.

Let the chocolate swirls harden quickly in the fridge

whilst you release your cake from the tin and start to decorate.

-It's important to pipe quite thick ones.

-Yeah.

Now, this is the one cake that you must keep in the fridge all the time.

That's it.

Now all that's needed is a nice dusting of icing sugar

and that would be wonderful for any celebration.

Doesn't need any cream. Just as it is.

Absolutely.

-Looks great, that, Mary.

-I think we ought to try it, don't you?

I think we should, Mary.

It's a shame to cut into it.

How about that?

-We ought to share that. Can I just take a little?

-I don't think so!

-OK. I'll take myself.

-No, it's all right. It's all right.

Do you want some of this, Mary? The strawberries,

the creme patissiere and then the last thing you hit

is that marzipan, which I think works really well.

It's so beautiful when you've finished and, of course,

it tastes absolutely wonderful.

-I totally agree, Mary. It's gorgeous.

-Mmm.

For the final week of the Bake Off, the bakers had to supply the food

for the village fete, from perfect puff pastry pithiviers

in the Signature Challenge to chiffon cake showstoppers.

As the last technical challenge of the Bake Off, Mary and Paul

chose to test the bakers' mettle with volume and consistency

where size definitely mattered.

What we're asking you to do is to make...

and ice...

25...

fondant fancies, a square of delicate light sponge,

a dome of butter cream, all encased in a glossy fondant.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake.

-Bake.

It's baking on the hoof while still producing a really good product.

I'm really excited because I've always wanted to make fondant fancies,

but I'm nervous because they are difficult little creatures to do.

This is about really professional finish.

Who would ever make a fondant fancy? Maybe I'll want to after this.

A sweet treat of perfectly-shaped squares of cake,

covered in runny, fondant icing and chocolate.

Will you show us, Mary? Show us how to do your fancies.

We're going to start off with a classic sponge base.

Crack four eggs into a mixing bowl

and measure 225 grams of caster sugar,

225 grams of self-raising flour

and 225 grams of baking spread or softened butter.

Add the zest of one lemon and mix well.

All the ingredients are the same weight

so it's an easy recipe to remember.

That's it. It couldn't really be easier.

I'm going to put all that mixture into the prepared tin.

And if you wanted to make a chocolate mixture,

you would take away 25 grams of the flour and put in 25 grams of cocoa.

Normally, I would level that off, if it was just a Victoria sandwich,

but I want this to be absolutely level on top,

so I've found that the best way to do that is to push the mixture

into the corners with a slight dent in the middle,

then it will level itself out.

Put in a preheated oven at 140 fan and bake for about 40 minutes.

Don't open the door whilst baking or your sponge may sink.

-That's fine.

-There you go.

It's shrinking from the side and it's springing back.

Put it on top of the jar and it should come out.

There we are. Turn that upside down

in order to get a lovely, flat surface on the top.

Put the cake aside to cool whilst you make your butter cream.

Measure out 200 grams of icing sugar

and 250 grams of unsalted butter and whisk together well.

Move the bowl round and keep the beater still.

Then the rest can go in there.

Now you see that is a lovely light colour.

It's well blended, no lumps in there and it'll be full of flavour.

On to the marzipan on the top.

Roll out 200 grams of marzipan thinly,

using icing sugar to dust the surface instead of flour

so that it adds to the flavour.

So we're going to put that into the centre and cut it off.

So that's the base from the cake you've used as a template.

Brush the flat top of the cake with warmed and sieved apricot jam

so that there are no lumps on the surface.

Layer the thin square of marzipan on top of the cake, which should be

the exact fit and perfectly smooth.

Now we have to cut it into the squares.

Take a sharp knife, make quite sure there are no crumbs on the knife

and do it slowly. It's really precision to get every one identical.

If at the edges there's a little bit of a tilt, turn them over

and level it off with a sharp knife.

When you've made 25 equal squares,

you can butter cream the sides of each cake.

So a little butter cream.

It's just to give the smoothest edge,

and it's got to come right up to the marzipan.

So there's one done.

Perhaps would you like to put the little blob on top?

Yeah, tell me when.

Just a neat small blob in the middle.

-How's that?

-Perfect.

The butter cream is important as it will act as a crumb barrier,

stopping any crumbs from the sponge

getting into the fondant icing later on.

I shall put these in the fridge and when they have hardened up a bit,

I will put a knife across the sides.

-Just to smooth that right down.

-And if they really have got a bit too cold,

I dip the knife in hot water, dry it and then push it across,

so that it's absolutely smooth.

They're not perfect at the moment.

-They will be by the time you've finished.

-I can tell you, they're going to be.

Put the cakes in the fridge to chill whilst you prepare the fondant icing.

This, I have to say, is a bit tricky. The fondant comes in a block.

You can buy it in good supermarkets.

But, of course, it's hard and stiff.

We want it to pour over, or to dip the fancies into it.

So I'm going to run that down with a little water.

To make the hard fondant liquid and ready for dipping,

cut up the block and put it into the mixer, using a beater, not a whisk.

Mix at a slow speed whilst you add in the water,

a tiny amount at a time.

It's important to only add a little at a time

so that you get the icing to the correct pouring consistency.

It wants to coat the back of a spoon.

That is just a little too thick.

It's nearly there.

If you do go too far, you can bring it back with a bit of icing sugar.

My recollection of this is that it's more a delicate pink

rather than a deep one.

So we're going to have a deep one!

HE LAUGHS

Oh, that's quite a bright pink from that tiny little drop.

I did not expect that.

That's not the only thing they didn't expect. The dipping fondant challenged

their baking skills to the max.

-Is this your pioneering tactics?

-Yes.

The rest won't be as messy, I promise you.

A hand is always the best method.

-Plunge, quick.

-Plunge.

-Plunge, bang, out.

-Wow!

It's more Generation Game, this,

than sort of bijoux French patisserie, isn't it?

Bijoux is not what comes to mind.

-Is it dunking?

-It's called a dunkage.

-Le dunkage.

-Dunkage de fondant petit.

That looks just about right.

So I'm going to add a little rose water.

It's a lovely flavour but it should be used in moderation.

I'm just going to put a few drops in there

and that will be plenty. That's just a hint.

Then we come to the colouring and the smallest amount.

We could always add more.

That looks just about right to me.

So for ease of dipping I'm going to transfer it to this bowl,

and you can always thin this down if it isn't quite right.

Take the cakes from the fridge. They should be really chilled by now

so the sponge holds together when dipped in the fondant,

allowing no crumbs to come loose.

Take the fork and don't put it in straight,

put it in at a slight angle,

like that, and then that's ready to dip. So in it goes.

So why don't you pour it, Mary?

I think you get a smarter finish

and I found it easier to do it this way.

So in it goes, right down, then a little twist,

let it drain a bit, and then put it on there like that.

Once you've iced all 25 fondant fancies,

leave them to set before decorating with melted chocolate on top.

-Right, do I need to chill these?

-"Leave the fondant to set."

Oh, that doesn't mean chill, I don't think.

Not bad, eh? You know, they look quite cute really.

It's just been a very stressful process.

Even though one's lost its nipple, you know, not a bad job.

-If I ever see another fondant fancy I'll...

-What will you do?

-Deck it.

So there they are, all set and firm.

We need the finishing touches.

So melted chocolate that's cool

and I put it into a piping bag.

A lot will go on the tray. That's what I expect.

You let it come out here and you go backwards and forwards like that.

-You see how quick you've got to be?

-Yeah.

And as you get going you can be much, much braver and quicker.

You see I'm getting the hang of it now.

Now it's your turn.

I expect you do 100 at a time. Do you, when you're doing them?

Er.. yeah.

Well it is a bit different you and me doing it.

I think you've done it much more often. I'm just dead careful.

I must admit, it's one of my favourite, little jobs.

We won't have an examination to see whose is best but I quite like mine,

a bit informal.

I think mine's a bit more elegant.

HE LAUGHS

A really tricky, technical challenge.

It really looks good when you cut inside.

They're delicious, you know.

We've now shown everybody how to make these properly at home.

Well I've enjoyed doing it.

It's so nice to show how to make things.

You can just follow it, step by step,

to get a perfect finish.

Hopefully it encourages people to start trying it for themselves.

Next time, a first as Mary and Paul share five of their signature bakes.

I'm quite looking forward to putting my own personality into the signature challenges.

And we're able to do OUR special twists.

They'll take you through every step of their recipes in real detail...

I rather like turning things out. I like the surprise.

..offering all the hints and tips to get the perfect results at home, every time...

Tack a little bit down on the table.

When you roll that over you can pull it and get a bit of tension.

That's a very good tip.

..guaranteeing success, whatever the recipe.

What a beautiful bake. There we are.

May I eat it now, Mary?

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

-Dig in and see what you think.

-That's wicked, that.

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