Biscuits and Traybakes The Great British Bake Off

Welcome to this week's marquee of action, crammed full

of whipping, caramelising, chaffing, tempering and...

(What was the other thing?)

-Sorry, you lost me at whipping.

-What is that thing?

-The Great British Bake Off.

-Bake Off. yeah.

We're doing whipping? I didn't bring my leather chaps.

Whole episode of whipping.

'Last time...'

Go with your instinct.

I have no instinct on fruit pies.

'Despite Ruby stretching herself to the limit,

'it was Kimberley's pies and tarts that saw her crowned Star Baker.'

That is, quite frankly, delicious.

And one of the nicest pies I've had for some years.

'And while Glenn and Rob struggled...'

Looks all right.

The monster's in.

'It was Ali who eventually had to bid

'an emotional farewell to the bake-off.'

If you don't keep in touch, I'll kill you.

'Now the eight remaining bakers..'

Maybe there's a little bit of action here.

'..face the largest Signature Bake yet.'

Umm...that.

Don't tell me you're going to wing it!

'..the thinnest technical challenge ever devised...'

Oh, gosh, this is really hard.

'..and a Showstopper that's so tall...'

This is very delicate.

'..it could topple.'

Oh, I feel sick making this!

'Britain's best home bakers.'

OK, is that going to stay? I am slightly concerned.

'But who can make their way to Star Baker?

'And whose Bake Off is about to collapse?'

Je ne sais quoi.

When I've done this previously, people were quite impressed.

That was my mum and dad, though.

Do you know that Britons spend almost as much annually

on biscuits as they do on fruit and veg?

Well, you have to make sure you get your five a day.

-Shortbread.

-Tiffins.

-Garibaldis.

-Tuiles.

-Bourbons.

-Jammy Dodgers.

Custard creams. I mean, that's six, we're doing our bit.

It's biscuits and tray bakes week. Wagon Wheels.

-What I love is a big brownie.

-Yeah.

Halfway point, yay!

I don't know how far I can get, but I have my mother

and my husband telling me to get a grip and just man up.

The halfway point is a really big milestone for me.

Everybody that's left in the competition is quite strong

and it's going to be very hard to stay in.

If there's anybody who's massively competitive,

they're keeping it very quiet.

I feel a little bit sort of calmer this week,

I don't know how long it'll last.

Bakers, welcome to your fifth week in the tent,

and a classic cats and dogs British summer.

Now, for this morning's Signature Challenge, we'd like you

to make your favourite tray bake. Now, this can be brownies, blondies,

rocky roads, although because there's a recession on,

millionaire's shortbreads have been downgraded to a penny crunch.

Paul and Mary have said the pieces should be identical in size,

and everything you make as part of the tray bake

should be from scratch, be it caramel, marshmallow, whatevs.

-You've got two hours, so on your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

'A classic British tray bake can be biscuit, cake or pastry, but must be

'baked in a square or rectangular tin

'and cut into neat, individual pieces.'

They've got to think of something original,

each layer compliments the next.

If it's got a pastry base, it's got to be crisp,

if they're putting a jam layer in, it's got to be the right thickness.

We want some lovely surprises and wonderful finishes.

For me, a tray bake is all about the flavour and also the textures.

The very fact that it's a simple, often just a one mix,

baked and cut, makes it extremely difficult,

because when you're judging, you have to be even more critical.

I'm just soaking the dried bananas because they're slightly chewy ones.

'Howard's signature is based on a classic.'

It's quite similar to a flapjack.

I tend to have a slightly rustic approach to stuff,

so I suppose my tray bake is going to follow that to a certain degree.

'His flapjack recipe is all about the most important meal of the day.'

It's got porridge oats, some puffed oats in it.

The main flavour I'm trying to get is grapefruit.

What's your base? How are you going to build these layers?

It's all in the pan.

Layer it out, bake it and I'm doing a yoghurt icing on top

to give that bit of sharpness again with the grapefruit.

Sounds lovely and healthy.

It's probably not, because it's got quite a bit of butter

and sugar in there!

'Howard isn't the only baker relying on a classic.'

I'm making hazelnut and chocolate brownies,

something that I make often at home.

I've just pimped them up a little bit, so I've added the cherries.

'Beca attempted to develop her signature brownie recipe with

'the help of her husband's army regiment.'

It was a toss-up between what flavours

I was going to put in my brownies this week, so I did a batch

of pear and walnut and chocolate, and then these, and I gave them

to Matt. He took the brownies into barracks

and apparently, he's still having e-mails and text messages

from people saying that they like

both of them, so that wouldn't have helped me in any way, bless them.

I'm playing with my food, ultimately.

I know you're told not to, but I like to have a bit of fun.

'Frances has had another one of her ideas.'

I'm making my millionaire's banoffee bonus,

so it's millionaire's shortbread crossed with a banoffee pie.

'As well as blending two classic recipes,

'Frances is also planning to cut her tray bake into blocks

'and stack them up so that they're ready for a game.'

You're wonderful at design,

but sometimes, things haven't been tasting quite good enough.

The originality of this is of course

putting a banana in the toffee part,

and that's going to be quite difficult

to get it to set firm enough to cut.

Yeah, you do need to cook it for quite a while

to reach that fudgy consistency.

Will we actually be able to play it, Frances? That'd be good.

Practically. Or more just eat it, I think, really.

'Three bakers are hoping to lay claim to yet another classic.'

I'm making a blackberry Bakewell tart, basically.

When it's cut, you should be able to see four distinct layers,

the base, the jam, the frangipane and the almond topping.

So it's an almond sponge in the bottom, and then it has a mixture of

three berries, which is blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

'Christine's three berry Bakewell will be decorated with

'glazed fresh berries and almonds,

'sitting on a golden crumble topping.'

My mother, bless her, always used to put a bit of water in her crumble

to get more sort of lumps, but it's never worked for me.

Sort of a cross between pastry and crumble, then,

but she used to do it successfully.

I'm going to be pushed for time and this pastry needs to stay cool.

I've never done tray bake. I don't really do biscuits,

so this week is going to be difficult.

'Ruby's the only baker risking a pastry base for her

'blackberry Bakewell tray bake.'

So, tell us about the layers in your Bakewell.

So, it's just got a sweet shortcrust pastry for the base

and then I've made a blackberry jam,

and the frangipane is flavoured with ginger and lemon as well.

And the top?

-Um...that.

-Don't tell me you're going to wing it!

Well, I meant to practise, but I had my exams.

I've just finished my exams.

-MEL: Congratulations!

-How did they go?

They were OK, I've given it some.

What's more stressful, Ruby? This or the exams?

Oh, this is more stressful, exams are a breeze compared to this.

Just so we know!

How was your week?

Apparently, being Star Baker doesn't confer a free upgrade

-on the train home.

-What?!

Did you sort of rock that in the train carriage,

you sat in First Class and went,

"I think you'll find my face is my ticket - Star Baker,"

and they went, "Yeah, that'll be 47 quid."

'Kimberley's Bakewell features a soft biscuit base,

'Florentine topping and contains five different types of cherry.'

This is for the topping. I've got dried sour cherries in there,

some maraschino cherries for colour,

and I've also got some normal glace cherries.

And then inside I'm going to be using black cherries

and damsons, because they have a really good,

fruity, berry flavour.

With the tray bake, the point of them, really,

is just a kind of simple bake, everyday,

so it shouldn't be too complicated,

unless you're in a baking competition.

In which case, you use five different types of cherry!

Mascarpone, double cream.

'Rob is also adapting a classic.'

Vanilla bean paste.

'But it's not British.'

Today's tray bake is based on a Tarta de Santiago, which is

a Spanish classic frangipane cake.

Normally, it's flavoured with lemon. I'm flavouring it with orange

and I'm adding blueberries to it, to give it a fruity edge.

'Rob's Spanish-style tray bake will be decorated with

'swirls of piped mascarpone cream, flavoured with a whisky liqueur.'

I used to live and work in Spain for a couple of years.

That's where I met my wife,

and Tarta de Santiago is absolutely divine.

I've had two bad signature bakes, so I've got to get better than that.

It's been tested on people. They've all said they like it,

so unless they've been lying to me

or I mess it up, it should be all right, I'm confident.

'Most of the bakers are making their tray bake from one single mix.'

God, it's a workout!

'Or building up different layers of ingredients in the tin

'before baking.'

The crumble will fill in the gaps.

You're not expecting communication, are you?

Because you aren't going to get any.

'But Glenn needs to find time to make three separate layers.'

Pistachio digestives,

marshmallow and apricots, glued together with dark chocolate.

'And then assemble them afterwards.'

I'm making marshmallow, which takes six hours.

Six hours, and yet this is a two-hour bake.

You're beginning to see the problem with my plan.

I'm going to be whacking it in the freezer and praying, that's my plan.

Right, that's got an hour to get cold. Now, biscuits.

'Glenn is making an apricot and pistachio tiffin,

'but he hasn't had much time to practise.'

If you'd had the week I've had at school,

you'd know why I haven't practised anything.

I've marked 50 essays, 120 speaking and listening assessments.

-For that same reason, preparation is key.

-Aww, Glenn!

It's a juggling act.

Now, I noticed over there, you have a bit of chocolate,

well, I say a bit of chocolate - a mountain of chocolate.

-How big's your tray?

-It's actually only that big.

Is that it? Well, that alone would fill that.

It would, I might have got my quantities a little wrong.

I'm trying to scale down and I think I've managed

with my biscuits and marshmallows,

-but somewhere...

-What happened, Glenn?

As long as they're neat, tidy, equal, concise,

of a good size and you're not wasting too much,

you'll be all right.

-Not wasting too much?

-Yeah.

Bakers, that's an hour gone, an hour to go,

meaning essentially, you're halfway through the tray bake challenge.

Doesn't matter how simple the recipe...

With all the excitement going on,

I forgot to put the chopped nuts in.

It might be easier to just scrape it into a bowl, re-line the tin,

mix it and put it back.

I literally just want to shove the whole spoon in my mouth.

If I was home, I probably would!

GLENN COUGHS

Yay, I'm so pleased!

The freezer technique - so far, so good.

The slight note of surprise in my voice is probably detectable,

given that it didn't quite work so well at home.

I've got 45 minutes left. This is a wing and a prayer.

'Glenn and Frances need to factor in enough time

'for their tray bakes to set in the fridge.'

She looks nice, is it a she? It's a she, isn't it?

They're always shes.

'Everyone else...'

My goal was quarter past and it's quarter past.

'..begins the countdown by the oven.'

43 minutes left.

When you think of tray bakes,

you might well think of the WI, school fetes, or the Brownies.

I doubt very much

if you'd think of a North London Premiership football club.

'Believe it or not, the official name of this unmistakable

'pink tray bake is Tottenham cake.

'However, it owes its existence not to football,

'but to the Quakers, a Christian group who broke

'away from the established church in the 1650s.'

The persecution of Quakers was rife

throughout the 17th century and beyond.

They believed everybody's life on a daily basis was far more

important than adherence to ritual or dogma.

They decided to move to more rural areas like Tottenham, away

from the distractions of the city, but also pressures from other groups

where they conduct their business and build their meeting houses.

'One Quaker businessman who thrived during the 19th century

'was the baker, Thomas Chalkley.

'He's believed to have first made Tottenham cake

'as an affordable treat for children,

'who could buy a square for a penny and off-cuts for half the price.'

Tottenham cake embraces the ideals of the Quakers.

They believed in peace and living a frugal life

without unnecessary luxuries,

and they also believe in treating everybody equally.

Friends would often bake for each other

and the cakes would be distributed at meetings.

Tottenham cake is still made by Quakers using local ingredients

and distributed at the meeting houses.

I've made Tottenham cake for perhaps 50 years.

The Tottenham cake is a very convenient cake.

It ties in very much with the Quaker ideas of simplicity and equality,

because it can be easily cut up and distributed

to a large number of people.

The distinctive pink icing is traditionally made from a fruit

that grows in the garden of the Tottenham Quaker House.

Because we have this lovely mulberry tree in the Quaker garden,

we always had pink icing.

The Tottenham cake is very popular, everybody likes it.

We have to be sure that everybody gets a bit.

Over the last century, Tottenham cake has grown in popularity

beyond just the Quakers and their meeting houses.

On the 27th April, 1901, a tense FA Cup final replay ended

with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club beating Sheffield United 3-1

to become the only non-League side ever to win the title.

To celebrate this momentous victory,

local bakers made huge trays of Tottenham cake,

handing them out to children.

And, to this day, Tottenham cake is still made in local bakeries,

all round North London and served at White Hart Lane for special events.

That's all good.

Bakers, you've got 30 minutes left of tray bake madness,

30 minutes to go.

Still quite soggy.

It's so difficult because it needs to be gooey in the middle,

but obviously needs to be cooked.

OK, it's a little bit uneven,

but, oh, well, we are where we are.

It is quite a simple bake.

I was thinking, you know,

from a signature point of view, it is very me,

but it's also, I suppose, me in that I'm trying to do

a bit of a play on words, in that it's a breakfast tray bake

and I'm going to be displaying it on a breakfast tray.

I'm going to attempt...

SHE CHUCKLES

..getting this out of the tin.

Mary and Paul will expect each slice of tray bake to be identical.

180.

HE SIGHS

Why don't I teach maths?

18 by three?

It's going to be difficult to get that exactly right.

Howard, are yours four centimetre squares?

Oh, gosh, I've done it by eye, I don't know!

Bakers, I hope you haven't bitten off "bourbon" you can chew.

It's four minutes left.

Gold leaf is very flimsy, it just seems to disappear.

SHE SNORTS

A bit like money.

You go for it.

Just drizzle the living heck out of it.

Bakers, that's two minutes.

You're on a two minute tray bake warning.

-Stop!

-I can't.

It's just a blackberry! It's just a blackberry.

They're looking slightly scruffier than they did at home.

OK, bakers, 30 seconds.

OK, bakers, it's been a rocky road, but it's over,

so please step away from the tray bakes, the bake is up.

-MARY:

-Every piece is even,

nice straight sides...

Yum!

This is the longest I've ever heard Paul be quiet for.

I know, it's worrying me!

I think you have an issue with the middle line of three

which aren't quite baked enough,

but the overall look, as a tray bake and the criteria that we gave you,

-is very good.

-Thank you.

I think, overall, it looks quite attractive.

The flavours are lovely.

The textures are nice, as well.

Go on, Jenga this.

I'm going to take this one away.

-There you go.

-Oh, well done.

It's good, it's got a nice colour underneath.

I was really worried about the toffee bit not setting,

because you'd put in banana, and you've been able to cut through it.

Obviously... Oh! Hello!

I think the flavour of the biscuit's good,

the chocolate on the top and that little bit of salt in there, as well.

I think this time, not only have you got the design right,

you've got the actual bake right, too, for me.

It's far too thick.

I mean, they look, I mean...

grotesque. I think they're just too big.

-Grotesque?!

-Grotesque is harsh!

It tastes very good. You've shown us all sorts of skills.

The apricots, the pistachio, the chocolate taste absolutely lovely.

Thank you.

I agree with Mary totally.

The textures in there are particularly good.

Your marshmallow's fantastic.

I'm a fan of the grotesque, bring it on.

So, what has happened to that yoghurt icing?

You've lost a bit of the definition because it was still warm.

It's strong grapefruit flavour.

I like it because it's not too sweet.

Very stodgy.

-It's too thick.

-Right.

Because of the density and the texture you're going for,

if you'd actually made it thinner, it would have been better.

It's under-baked.

OK.

It's quite raw inside.

You can tell by the colour as soon as you see it,

-that's not the colour it should be.

-Right.

It's got a lovely topping on it, lots of fruit in there,

but the actual mixture is just soggy.

-OK.

-Thanks, Rob.

I'd like to apologise for my blackberry Bakewell.

It's messy and it's under-baked.

The pastry's awful, as well, I can tell you that now.

Great! I can't wait to tuck in!

OK, you have got a bit of a soggy bottom there.

I think the flavour's excellent.

But the textures are all wrong.

Bake's very good, it's got a nice, strong colour underneath it, as well.

It's nice to see those layers, it looks very tempting.

I really like it, because the texture of the Florentine's excellent.

It's got a good chew to it when you bite through,

and they're all equal, they look very pretty.

It's been well thought out, well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Congratulations.

You can keep that smile.

'I feel like I can always do a little bit better.'

The Japanese have a word for it.

The Japanese call it "kaizen",

which is constant and never-ending improvement.

It's that kind of, OK, you can be happy with the way you are,

but you can always do a little bit better.

Relieved, I think, because I so wanted to come back this weekend

showing that I can bake and do the substance with the style.

I wouldn't serve something that rubbish to anyone.

Not very good, is it?

They liked the flavours, liked the idea,

thought it looked a little bit sad and when they cut into it, it was.

I'll still eat it.

They don't know it yet,

but the bakers are about to face the most delicate Technical Challenge...

I'm already cream-crackered.

..Mary has ever devised.

Hello, bakers. It's crunch time, in more ways than one.

It's your Technical Challenge.

Now, Mary, it's one of your recipes.

I know you're very fond of it,

but we are going to ask you, please, to leave the tent.

Paul, your salsa class starts in about two minutes, so off you go.

(The shirt.)

So, today, what we're asking you to make is a French classic.

It is as French as striking, smoking and shrugging.

We would like you to make 18 tuiles.

Tuiles!

And we'd like you to shape half of them in the traditional manner

and then pipe some chocolate concentric circles into them,

and the other half rolled up like cigars and dipped in chocolate.

You've got an hour and a half to make your tuiles.

Phwoah!

-On your marks...

-Get set...

-BOTH:

-Bake!

I had a feeling it was going to be tuiles.

This will be entertaining.

A tuile is an incredibly thin biscuit

that is named after the French roof tile it is said to resemble.

I've never made tuiles.

I am going to follow the instructions and just pray.

La, la-la, la-la...

I have made a tuile, and I certainly haven't piped

any concentric anything on to my tuile, just made a tuile.

So, I'm not going completely clueless,

but about 80% clueless, I'd say.

I did these, like, once,

and they came out horrible,

so it really doesn't give me any confidence at all.

I feel OK, I made some last week, so...

This really is an exceedingly difficult challenge.

We're checking their piping skills,

we're checking their time management and their precision.

These ones here, they'll be putting on a rolling pin,

and these will go around a spoon handle.

CRUNCHING: Mmm.

I can hear that crunch from here - that is what it's all about.

The baking is tricky.

If they don't keep it in long enough,

when they take it out, it won't snap.

If it's in too long, they won't be able to roll it up.

They've got to be ready, finished, in one and a half hours.

It's tricky.

Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar.

Mary's tuile batter is a mix of icing sugar, butter,

egg white and vanilla essence.

Need to beat this in.

If it is overbeaten, the tuiles could shrink in the oven...

Nothing a bit of elbow work won't fix.

..ruining its shape.

You don't need an awful lot of mixing because you don't want

tonnes of air in them, they've got to be quite flat.

That's probably about the consistency I would expect.

It's sort of batter-y, but a little bit thicker than a pancake batter.

Transfer one sixth of the mixture into a small bowl and add the cocoa.

To weigh, or not to weigh.

The bakers make their chocolate piping mix...

Mmm.

..by mixing cocoa with a portion of the batter.

So, that weighs 360 divided by six...

60. Six sixes are 36. 60.

Both batters then need to be left long enough to set.

Leave to rest. How long?

When I've made Madeleine batter at home,

it says to leave it for about 20 minutes,

but we don't have that time.

I mean, what?

Just no idea.

The only help Mary has provided is in the shape of a template.

I think it really needs to be quite thin.

It's getting them thin enough

without being too thin.

Because if they're too thick you won't be able to bend them,

they'll just break.

There's a real knack to it, a knack which I...

..do not have.

These aren't tuiles, these are paper.

That's definitely not thick enough.

I don't know if they're the right thickness.

Je ne sais quoi.

Three concentric circles on to that...

To add the chocolate circles to the tuiles,

Mary hasn't supplied a piping bag.

Or any instructions on how to make one.

I remember watching it a long time ago,

and then thinking there's no need to bother

because I could just buy a piping bag.

No need to shake, it's all good.

There are going to be grandmothers up and down the country

being like, "She can't even make a piping bag?"

You're doing a philosophy degree, and a piping bag fails you.

You've studied Wittgenstein.

Oh, that's... That's nothing compared to this.

I will not be defeated by a sodding French biscuit.

It's not until you pipe you realise...

..how...

..nervous you are.

They certainly look it, my love. Are you OK?

Little bit dissatisfied with the size of this nozzle,

but I don't really...

have an enormous amount of time to worry about it.

-So, you've just got to crack on.

-Yeah.

-Well done.

The recipe only states the temperature

at which the tuiles should be baked.

Right, I have no idea how long these are going to take.

Three minutes, and I'm going to sit and be patient.

I'm going to see how long Beca's take to cook.

Same oven settings, it's all right.

Mary will expect a uniform colour...

Hmm, not quite done.

..and identical shape.

One biscuit is melding beautifully into another.

-Oh, hang on, yeah, one's having a love affair with another.

-Yeah.

-There's a bit of three-way going on, actually.

-Oh, Jesus wept.

There's actually a bit of five-way - one, two, three, four, five.

Seven and a half minutes that'll be, yeah.

I rather think they're OK.

I think those look good, Frances.

You're all right, my love, you're fine.

I know they're meant to be thin,

but there's thin, and there's...

very thin.

If the tuiles are allowed to cool, they'll be impossible to shape.

They dry really quickly when they come out of the oven, ah!

I should have brought them out a little bit earlier,

because that one is now solid.

They're really delicate.

Are you worried about the cracking?

They're cooking at different speeds.

Ooh, that's broken.

Oh, gosh, this is really hard.

This is really hard.

You've got nine? Two, four...

Yes, you've got nine, brilliant.

And you've got some more in the oven?

-No, not yet!

-OK.

-Don't make me panic!

-Sorry. Sorry.

OK, bakers, 30 minutes left before you get to play tuiles of fortune.

This Technical Challenge now gets even harder.

OK, now for the bit that hurts.

If they don't attempt to roll their cigar tuiles

straight from the oven...

Ow! Ah!

HE LAUGHS

That is painfully hot!

..the delicate biscuits are even more prone to cracking

and disintegrating.

I'll go that way. Oh, no, crackage!

I've got quite good asbestos hands anyway.

Build up your tolerance over the years.

I look like a right nutter here, don't I?

Oh, no, they're breaking.

Some of these are a bit more like fag butts than cigars.

(Do these look good, Howard?)

That one's not. That's pretty rubbish.

I'm going to go for another batch of cigars.

I think those are OK, but what do I know?

Don't trust me, necessarily.

OK, bakers, that's five minutes.

Hope your biscuits are good, else we'll put them in the tuiley-bin.

Ah!

Ow!

Has this gone according to plan?

Right, let's dip.

I think that one could do with another minute in the oven.

-You've got a minute.

-Yeah, I have.

Oh, look at those!

Bakers, that's it. The challenge is now over.

If you'd like to bring your tuiley-wheely-wheely-wheelery and

put it round by the photo of yourselves,

then the judging shall commence.

Mary and Paul will be looking for crisp, golden tuiles...

Can I put it behind someone else's photo?

..that are uniformed, and beautifully curved.

You should be proud of that lot.

And they'll have no idea whose tuiles are whose.

Right, shall we start here, Mary?

The colour's good, they look evenly baked.

Pattern is quite neat as well.

Just a little bit too thick.

These are well rolled, a tricky business.

They're better.

OK, we move on to the next one. Well, these are burnt.

Both of them.

We certainly get the snap,

but the colour is just a little bit too dark.

-They look a nice, even bake.

-They look quite thin.

That's a good snap.

Tastes OK. And the colour's all right.

These look good. They're a nice colour round the outside.

Good pattern. Shame about the bend in there, though.

Nice flavour.

Moving onto the next one.

Bend or snap, Mary? Bend.

That's a shame, they look quite good, these ones.

-Colour's good.

-It's just a matter of a moment more.

The cigars there are OK, cos they're nice and crispy.

It's a good colour, nice bit of chocolate on the end,

but unfortunately, the tuiles themselves are too thick.

They're quite pale, these, aren't they?

These cigars are under baked,

and they've had difficulty in rolling them.

Usually that is because they've been left

without rolling them straight away.

These are a bit of a mess, actually.

It's broken in a lot of different places.

Must have been quite a delicate batter. Good colour.

-And these are a little bit short.

-Yeah.

And lastly...

These look quite pale and thick.

There you go. There's one.

There's two.

The tuiles will now be ranked from worst to best.

In eighth place is this one. Whose is this?

I think you know what went wrong, Howard.

It's too thick, and wasn't baked long enough.

It was basically the colour as well.

Seventh place.

Overbaking.

Sixth place is this one. The pattern was there,

and actually, you got one of the best snaps in there,

but the whole thing was too thin.

Beca is fifth, Rob is fourth, and Frances secures third.

Number two is this one.

Not bad at all.

The pattern on this was very good. Very neat, very precise cigars.

Good amount of chocolate on the end and good colour.

And in first place...

Christine, you got the crispest lot.

Lovely, even pattern, and these are perfect too.

Well done, Christine.

I'm feeling ecstatic!

Really, really thrilled!

First place. Can't be better than that, can it?

I came second, absolutely gobsmacking.

Who knew how that happened?

I knew today that in terms of ranking,

I was probably the bottom one. It just...

To me, it just shone out.

I've learnt something today that I didn't know before

about how a tuile should be.

That's useful.

One challenge remaining.

There's a lot of jangly nerves out there, Mary.

It's up and down. You just think that somebody's coming through

really well, and next week they don't do as well.

The good ones have all reversed.

For instance you've got Howard, Kimberley, Ruby, Beca

all at the bottom four of the Technical, that's unusual.

Frances, she's worked hard, hasn't she?

She nailed it with the millionaire's shortbread.

The decoration was good, but more importantly, the flavours

were good and textures were there, and then she was third on technical,

and I think she's in line for Star Baker.

That would make her so delighted,

because she's so suffered under the yoke of someone

who can make things look good, but don't taste OK.

Christine came top in the technical, Mary.

She did, and she had the almond tray bake,

and that had very good flavours.

So going into the Showstopper round,

who do you think is in trouble?

Howard is having a tricky time. His tray bake, far too simple,

because we're looking for technique and skills.

Ruby's been an interesting one this week,

because she started off Bake Off feeling very insecure,

and seemed to manage and master her stress levels,

and this week she's back again.

She's a talent. I think she's had a busy week. She's had exams

and stuff this week. She's taken her eye slightly off the ball.

Rob is somebody who's presented early doors

as somebody who's got a lot of technical know-how.

I was expecting him to rise all the way,

and he's sort of kept at one level.

He's got it, but he's not using it.

With this lot of bakers, it seems that we never really know.

We're going in slightly into the unknown.

-I'm hoping they're going to make biscuits.

-Hope so.

Morning, bakers, and welcome to today's Showstopper challenge.

We'd like you to make a biscuit tower.

It should be at least 30cm high.

You can have multiple layers of biscuits,

they can be any size you want,

but they should all be decorated absolutely beautifully.

You've got four hours on biscuit tower challenge.

-On your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

For the first time this year, the bakers have a chance

to impress not just with their baking,

but also with their construction.

To create this tower, it's not only got to taste good

and look good, but structurally, it's got to be sound.

You've not only got to be a baker, but you have to be an architect too.

I want something that when we actually taste it,

those biscuits snap, have different flavours, different finishes,

different icings, good to eat, and good to look at.

The texture of the biscuits is crucial

to the stability of the towers.

If they don't work the dough enough, the biscuit may be short, crumbly

and too weak to support any weight.

My biscuits are really, really delicate.

They're Viennese whirls, so they've got a really high fat content

which makes them very short and crumbly.

Kimberley's rather brave choice of Viennese biscuits

will be stacked in the style of a wedding cake

and piped with a caramel buttercream icing.

-How many layers will there be?

-16.

Gosh, that's a lot of piping!

It's a lot of piping, it's a lot of biscuits.

The bottom ones are going to be taking some weight.

You've had any problems with it crumbling or breaking off?

I haven't, actually. I've been quite lucky.

If I can get the bottom ones frozen

before I put them into the tower, actually, they're quite stable.

The tea in a tea bag tends to be finer than ordinary leaf teas.

It's quite common to use green tea powder within cooking,

but actually, using other forms of other leaf tea, I think,

is a bit unusual.

Howard's making four different tea-flavoured biscuits

and shaping them to form a Japanese pagoda.

When I've done this previously, people were quite impressed. Yeah.

It's like, "Wow!"

That was my mum and dad, though.

My biscuit flavours are all shortbread. Four flavours,

orange and cardamom, lemon and lavender, chocolate and vanilla.

Christine will be stacking her biscuits in the shape

of a Bavarian clock tower.

The shortbreads have all got to be the same size,

because it's no good having a thick one and a thin one,

I won't be able to build it.

And I'm making 70, and they've all got to be the same.

To ensure a safe and stable structure,

consistency of the biscuits is crucial, or the towers could topple.

I've got a little mark here, for 3mm, and I'm measuring my biscuits.

When I did them at home, some of them were like breeze blocks

and some of them were like crackers, so I might as well just...

I need to be consistent, so that's why I look a bit OCD.

Ruby is using ginger and cinnamon, and lemon and ginger biscuits

to build a tower in the shape of a dropped ice cream.

Everything hangs on today for me,

so I really have to just focus and be precise,

and something as simple as measuring these biscuits

to make sure they're the same height,

that could make the difference.

This has worked beautifully in practice,

and I've found that the key is

to get the dough properly cold before it goes in the oven.

As long as it doesn't taste like meat...

I'm OK with it looking like salami.

Glenn's cherry and hazelnut shortbread

will be in the shape of a helter-skelter,

and his structure inspired by a traditional Scandinavian cake.

I'm using these, erm...

Discuses?

Kransekake pans, which produce a series of rings

that will make the tower.

I'll cover them in white chocolate,

and then I'm making a raspberry macaron.

You always go for, like, massive mixes.

You use the biggest bowl that we've got on Bake Off.

How many are you going to make from that?

Well, this is in case I do need to literally make two batches,

because I'm not the world's most experienced macaron maker.

Right.

It's very difficult to make compromises on something

that's an iconic shape.

Everybody knows what they look like, so if there's something missing,

I can't cut my cloth like other people might be able to.

Rob's Showstopper is in the shape

of one of the world's most recognisable science fiction characters.

It's a Dalek.

-PAUL:

-Of course it is.

That will obviously "exterminate" the competition.

That's the E-word. We don't say that round here.

-Why don't you say the E-word?

-It brings bad luck.

It is pretty much to scale.

Chocolate would be this part here, lemon and orange.

-Depends which bits break.

-The lemon Daleks were always my favourite.

-Exactly!

-Love them.

The towers require multiple batches of biscuits.

10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, great.

While watching to ensure they bake correctly...

Both lots are going in the oven.

..there are plenty of decorations to keep them busy.

I'm making my macaroons, which are going to be sat on my structure.

It's based on a cake stand, so I'm having several layers,

and on different layers there'll be macaroons and sugared flowers,

and I'm hopefully going to make little iced gem biscuits as well.

So there'll be lots of nice, girly treats all over it.

Very unlike me.

I've tested it on friends

and they've been very helpful taste testers.

Frances aims to construct a biscuit haberdashery box,

with a tower of buttons and beads.

They've said I needed to put a bit more vanilla in my vanilla one.

They really liked the ginger one

and they liked the unusual nature of the peanut butter one.

Not only do the biscuits need to be perfectly baked...

Still leathery. That's way, way, way behind.

..they also need to have time to cool

before any construction can begin.

They're not too bad.

GLENN GIGGLES

I would expect them to feel a little bit crisper,

but I'm going to go with the colour and...hope.

Last batch, done!

Bakers, you've got an hour of tower left. One hour.

It looks very precarious work.

You've got some icing there. It will be glued together?

Yeah.

Oh, I feel sick making this!

Beca, Christine and Howard are all using traditional royal icing

to cement their towers together.

As it gets taller, it gets more wobbly.

But Rob is sticking with science.

I'm gluing this together now.

The sugar I'm using is a microwavable malt mix.

Ow! Oh, God, that's hot.

And this will become more sound as other things get glued to it.

So this is your marker, this is how tall it's got to be?

-Yeah.

-That's a lot of biscuits.

-Then I've got beads as well. So...

OK, is that going to stay?

I am slightly concerned, I have to say.

Let it go, let's see. Those are nice.

It's all good.

Erm...

This is very delicate.

Hurray!

OK, bakers, 30 minutes until Mary and Paul...

-DALEK VOICE:

-..exterminate!

Ooh, right, OK.

I don't think that's going to happen.

Maybe there's a little bit of action here.

I need to put this buttercream on. Because it's curved,

I can't really just use a palette knife, I need to use my hands.

It just means I can get it in all the gaps.

If you've got a problem with time, you can

always go into your TARDIS and go back about four hours.

If I had one of those, it'd be done by now!

-They look really good. I mean, look at that!

-I

-made them.

15 minutes, and check.

I'm going to put some dried raspberry powder on the top.

When I put freeze-dried raspberries on the tops of mine,

it burnt, so what you could do is, I've got some edible glue

or some egg white, and brush a little bit on once it's baked.

Bakers, ten minutes on your towers. Ten minutes on your towers.

Oh, ten minutes, oh, my God.

Come on, push, push, push.

Ooh...

This is the hairy bit.

Bakers, that's one minute to go, one minute to go on your towers.

Yeah, you're OK. Ooh!

Oh, no. Oh, God.

OK, bakers, down tools, construction's over,

put your bakes to the end of your benches and stand clear.

Frances, hold it together, my love.

No-one will notice, I'll just stand here while they're judging. Come on.

I can't leave you just there.

It's all right.

If I leave, it won't stand up.

OK...

It's judgement time.

Glenn, could you bring your Showstopper up, please? Thank you.

It's definitely tall enough, it's colourful. Yeah.

I'm quite pleased with that.

-It does look quite impressive.

-Thank you.

The macarons look great. You've got a nice shine on there,

bit of a foot as well.

They've got a bit of chew in the middle, you've got them

beautifully evenly baked, even those little ones, which is good.

The shortbread's good. I like the taste of the chocolate,

and the macarons are exceptional.

Thank you.

I think it's fun, it'd be great for a little girl's party.

And it is quite stable, you can see that.

-I don't like the flavour of the biscuit.

-No?

-Don't like the texture either.

It's not quite a cookie, it's not quite a biscuit,

-because it doesn't snap.

-OK.

But the macarons are exceptional.

-You get the end.

-Ooh.

Ooh. I was worried when I came round

that Viennese was never going to be a carrier for a structure.

And it proved the point.

You've got cracks all the way down every one of those layers.

You only have to rub them lightly, and it all falls apart.

It needed a little bit of extra work in it.

But nice to see the two different coloured layers,

it gives it a very nice effect.

Howard.

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what that tastes like.

Fingers crossed that it's OK.

It's meticulous.

It's totally different.

Never seen anything like it before.

I think it's impressive, it is a piece of art.

I love that. That's clever.

Tea is quite a difficult flavour to impart into anything,

but to impart it into a biscuit,

I think you've done well there, Howard.

The flavours are there, but I do find it quite boring to eat.

But full marks for design.

Nervous, I am nervous.

I feel like I have, hopefully, style, but not structure!

The brief for this challenge was a tower.

-Now, that tower has to stay up.

-Yeah.

The biscuits are beautifully baked. They're different thicknesses,

different sizes, different finishes, but it has sadly collapsed.

The flavour of the biscuits are good but it's like...

-four hours, you made a load of biscuits.

-Yeah.

I achieved what I wanted to do.

I THINK it looks like an alpine clock tower.

I think that's stunning.

You have made something that you could put on a tea-party table,

and everybody would have a decent piece of shortbread.

It's very cute. It's a good, strong structure as well.

All the flavours are all good, texture's good,

the bake's good, the look of them's good. Excellent.

I wanted a Dalek, I promised a Dalek, I've got a Dalek.

Well, it definitely looks like a Dalek, as we know.

It's a little bit clumsy.

Are these edible?

No, but there is a cocktail stick through the middle.

Well, there's the edible glue.

Now, that, I would not like to come across.

They're OK. That's probably the best I can do on the biscuits.

I think the one on the top's the nicest one,

the others are bland. Some are better than others.

-Right, OK.

-For the design, it's exactly what it should be.

But when you actually come down to eating it, it's not such a joy.

I'm so disappointed in myself because that bake had to save me,

and clearly, I've messed it up completely.

You almost feel you want to get hold of it

and turn it upright and lick it.

A lovely textured biscuit. Works very well with the white chocolate.

-They tasted lovely, really good.

-Oh, good.

The orange comes through really well on the top, the texture of it...

Is absolutely beautiful.

Mmm. Great flavours, great texture. Well done.

I'm shocked!

-Well done, Ruby.

-Thank you, Ruby.

'Mary and Paul must now decide who will be this week's Star Baker

'and who will be going home.'

Where do you think people stand at the end of this challenge?

Let's talk first about Glenn.

His helter-skelter, well, it came together in the end, didn't it?

It tasted good, it looked good.

Christine has had a really cracking week, in the main.

I thought she did magnificently. Not only did it look stunning -

practically, there was a tea for the family.

Now, Frances was also having a very good weekend until today.

The most important thing is to produce a tower. Well, it fell.

Kimberley had a slight roller coaster.

Those Viennese weren't baked properly.

You could rub it and it was still paste.

Does that put her in the danger zone?

You could throw her down there, yeah.

Howard was down there as we approached this challenge.

Has he done enough?

I was highly impressed with this.

I wasn't mad about it, but I do think the actual structure

was beautiful, very well thought out.

-Rob gave us a Dalek.

-But I didn't really want to eat it.

A lot of the components, you couldn't eat anyway.

You ate a lot of glue, Mary.

And actually, the edible glue just tastes of nothing.

It was a bit scruffy,

but I admire the ability of the guy to do it anyway in biscuit.

I thought that Ruby today had a bit of a saviour.

Has she done enough to keep herself out of the danger zone?

That's for Mary and I to discuss.

We'll leave you to decide.

I just need to take some of these biscuits for scientific analysis.

Have a dunker, mate. Have a dunker.

Well done, bakers. I'm sure you all feel pretty exhausted.

You've been stalwart and brilliant across the board, so well done.

I'm the messenger of good news.

Paul and Mary have decided who's going to be this week's Star Baker.

This baker's provided some truly wonderful stuff for us to eat

this weekend, so thank you very much.

And I would personally like to book myself in

to the Bavarian Christmas Shortbread House

for about two months.

-Christine, you are Star Baker.

-Well done.

I get to be the bearer of bad news this week.

As you know, we do have to lose one of you...

..and the person we're saying goodbye to today is...

..Rob.

No prob.

-Oh, Rob, you will be a very sad loss.

-We'll miss you.

-Sandwich.

-Sandwich, give me that sandwich.

My ambitions when I came in were to win Star Baker once,

not get kicked out in the first round,

and to win one of the technicals.

I did all three of those, so that's fine, and mainly to have some fun.

We will miss you.

OK, I'll miss it too.

It is always a difficult decision who is going to leave.

Rob started off a proper scientist, very meticulous,

but that's really where he stayed.

-Dead lucky.

-I know, I know.

'I do feel that I've been saved by the Showstopper yet again.'

Oh, I just don't want to be in that position again.

-And you just pulled it out, didn't you?

-I'm so glad.

I'm pleased they like my bakes more than I seem to, so that's good.

I'd already booked my cab home, so...

Well done.

I think it's kind of told me that

I need to be a bit more careful and think things through really clearly.

Please, not the design.

It is emotional, really, really emotional.

I think I was dreading the moment the biscuit dropped on the floor.

I feel like I've been on Glenn's helter-skelter.

I'm feeling so happy, and so pleased, and surprised.

I don't really do biscuits

and I've had the week from hell at school, and haven't been able

to practise anything, so I'm really proud of myself.

Just so pleased I've got past the halfway point now,

and, yeah, completely over the moon, absolutely.

Halfway through, that'll do me. I can go on holiday now.

Come back for the final.

I'm going to take a few days off from baking,

I suspect that's fairly normal.

I think I'll go home and boil something.

But it won't be suet.

'Next time...'

Come on!

That's good, get out the tension.

'..the bakers must rise to the challenge of sweet dough.'

I just thought, let's use a bit of booze.

'With signature tea loaves...

It's like a little bottom.

Got to go naughty sometimes.

'..Paul's twisted technical...'

-You're very cruel.

-Oh, yes.

'..apricot couronne...'

Am I reading this right? Oh, gosh.

'..and 168...'

I've never known buns that big.

'..showstopping sweet buns.'

There's going to be no panic.

Who am I kidding?

'But whose dough will be sweetest?'

-Those are monsters.

-How beastly are they?

-Very.

'And whose bake off...'

It's gone...plop.

'..is about to come to a bitter end?'

I might as well be doing this entire challenge like this,

because that is how much of an idea I have.

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