Cake The Great British Bake Off

-Hey.

-Come this way.

-This is good, this is very good.

We have got 12 oven-fresh bakers raring to get into the tent

with just a mere 30 challenges between them and the title.

Plus two meticulous judges - Queen Mary Berry and that angry man

with the expensive blue contact lenses - can't remember his name.

-Welcome...

-BOTH: To The Great British Bake Off!

Thousands of people applied, hoping to reach the Bake Off tent.

It's been quite a while coming - now, today, it starts.

Just 12 have made it through, and over the next ten weeks...

I'm just most excited about being in the tent.

To walk in there, have your station, see your ingredients,

see your recipe.

Their baking will be scrutinised, whatever their experience.

'I've been baking for 60 years.'

I suppose I'm having my chance at last, aren't I?

'The thing that worries me the most is probably opening the oven'

and realising I've burnt everything.

The Bake Off judges, Mary and Paul...

I don't know how she's going to recover that.

..have prepared 30 brand-new challenges.

'Been aware of Mary Berry for a long time,'

so quite looking forward to having her taste my wares, if you like.

'If I'm given the opportunity,'

I will give Mr Hollywood a run for his money I think.

Each new challenge has been carefully designed...

Fill your boots.

..to reveal who is a brilliant baker...

See what everyone else is doing.

..and who had the judgment...

Come on!

..to deliver perfect cakes, breads, biscuits and desserts.

Do you like my offcuts?

You've got one of the best-tasting offcuts in the business.

Those who fall short will be asked to leave.

Those who excel...

I think it's all right. Miracle!

..will be named Star Baker.

I've got the shakes!

But who will make it through...

Absolutely no idea.

..and be crowned the winner...

Come on, Diana. High-five me!

..of the Great British Bake Off?

Are you worried about this?

This year we've travelled to the Royal County of Berkshire.

We've rowed down the River Lambourn,

unloaded the mixing bowls

and pitched the Bake Off tent among the hidden gardens of Welford Park.

It's already time for a lie-down.

So, the definition of cakes. Well, they can be large or extra-large.

-They can be plain or fancy. Light or fruity. A bit like us.

-Mmm.

And they can also be kept in a hermetically sealed box

for up to three days.

Unlike us because we can only really do two before we go off.

-Don't put me in a box.

-It's either that or the love dungeon with Paul.

-I'll take the box.

-Me too.

-Yeah.

The first of this week's three challenges involves the ultimate

in cake-based gymnastics.

Bakers, welcome to the Bake Off tent!

Today, you've got your first ever signature challenge,

and Paul and Mary would love you to make your very best swiss roll.

Now there are two ways to make a swiss roll -

first of all you push Roger Federer down a hill,

secondly a lovely thing involving sponge and jam.

Indeed. But the crucial feature

is the very tight roll, which creates the swirl.

That signature swirl. There's a mime for you.

OK? You've got two and a half hours, very good luck everybody.

-On your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

# It's only a cake, it's only a cake

# Keep telling myself it's only a cake! #

Baking. We know how to bake, don't we?

We do. Only thing we know!

'brand-new year, 12 new bakers.'

I can't wait to see what they're all like.

I've been baking for a really long time but I'm still learning

and do you know, I learn from our bakers

so I shall be there seeing what I can absorb too.

Swiss rolls are a great first Signature Challenge.

The key thing is - choose your filling carefully,

whether you're going to put coffee in it, or a buttercream,

make sure your filling is not too wet.

Then the whole thing together as you roll up will be perfectly

aligned and you'll get that symmetry

when you cut down through your swiss roll.

This swiss roll was the Sunday treat at home.

No matter what, we had to be home for Mother's swiss roll.

Diana joined the WI when she was just 13.

Three years later, she met her husband Malcolm.

They live in Shropshire and have been married for 53 years.

Her mum's simple tea swiss roll is filled with lemon curd.

My daughters said, "Keep calm, Mother!" So...

"Treat it as if you were in a school exam and read all the question."

SHE LAUGHS

Good morning.

Hello. You all right?

Morning, Luis. Tell us about your swiss roll.

I am making a Spanish swiss roll.

The sponge is orange and aniseed flavoured

cos my mum used to make a lot of baking with aniseed, being Spanish.

And I've also got honey from my bees,

-which I keep bees.

-Your own bees!

-Yes.

Luis trained as a graphic designer and lives in Stockport.

His wife Louise gave him his first beehive eight years ago.

He now has four in his garden, four in his allotment

and one at his caravan.

His honey will be whipped into the cream

that will top his orange and aniseed roll.

How much aniseed are you going to put in?

-Only about 15 grams. Just enough.

-And are you going to be careful?

Aniseed is such a pungent flavour.

-It is and you don't want it numbing your mouth too much.

-Exactly.

-I don't want to feel as though I'm in a dentist.

-No. So...

-OK.

The cardamom seeds, I'm just trying to make them a little bit

and make them a tiny bit of powder and when this is ready,

I'm going to put it in.

I love to eat these but I have never made them.

It was a learning curve.

Chetna lives in Broadstairs in Kent with her husband Gurav,

four-year-old son and six-year-old daughter.

They've all tried her cardamom, pistachio and coffee swiss roll -

the first she's ever attempted.

In India, most sweets would have a touch of cardamom

so I'm just using what I've grown up eating.

Home cooking, if you can say.

A swiss roll is traditionally a fatless sponge

made of a basic mix of sugar, flour and eggs.

I'm just whisking up my egg whites with caster sugar in

for the base of my swiss roll sponge.

And I need these in peaks, which I think I'm nearly at.

But not quite. Come on!

Claire lives in Cheshire with her husband Carl,

and their bull mastiff Trevor.

Her chocolate orange swiss roll is filled with orange jelly

and decorated with a milk chocolate orange tree.

-CLAIRE:

-My dad absolutely loves orange-flavoured chocolate.

Every Father's Day, that's all he gets.

We did try to be more creative,

but now we just throw him some orange-flavoured chocolate!

So it's kind of inspired by my dad really.

My swiss roll is going to be a pistachio praline sponge with

a strawberry jam and pistachio cream through it.

There's a lot of flavours going on.

It's mainly pistachio and strawberry just in as many different

guises as I could get them.

Has it got that colourful sort of green, nuclear kind of tang to it?

I'm going to extra-green it.

Richard's a builder.

Born and raised in north London,

he's the fourth generation in the family business.

The outside of his pistachio and strawberry swiss roll

is a tribute to his daughters.

I've just mixed up a pink mixture of my main sponge.

I'm very lucky to have two daughters,

so everything in our house has become pink.

So, yeah, I'm well-versed in flowers now.

Richard isn't the only one attempting to pattern his sponge.

I am baking my design into the Swiss roll.

It's a Japanese thing traditionally called...

..Kawaii?

Jordan lives in Nottingham with his girlfriend Bonnie

and works for a fruit machine company as an IT manager.

His Japanese-inspired kawaii swiss roll

will be filled with strawberries and creme patissiere.

What I found out at home is that too much pink

takes many, many hours to freeze,

and the only time I've got it to look beautiful at home

was either when I used a tiny amount of pink

or when I freeze it for about four hours!

As I've got two-and-a-half hours, that's not enough time.

Freezing should ensure that the pattern

keeps its shape during baking.

I'm just going to pop this in the freezer.

But one baker is heading straight for the oven.

There we go, three minutes in the oven.

Who wants to do some sugar?

CHILDREN: Me!

Enwezor is a business consultant and lives in Portsmouth

with his wife Karen and their four children.

And one more, I think.

Their favourite Swiss meringue buttercream

will fill his floral swiss roll.

PAUL: How big is this going to be?

I've got to be careful.

-I've done it in the past but put too much in, because I'm greedy.

-Yeah.

And I can't put too many raspberries in

or else it makes it too big as well, so...

There is no such thing as too big, not in my world.

You've got to get the spiral in the middle in proportion to the

sponge - if you've got too much in the middle, you don't

get the lovely Catherine wheel.

It should be balanced, you should see some layers.

Fingers crossed, fingers crossed.

The delicate thin sponge of a Swiss roll bakes in just minutes.

So tempted just to watch it for the whole time whilst it's baking!

TIMER BEEPS

Go.

I never use a timer at home.

SHE INHALES DEEPLY

It's such a small range

where you can go over so easily,

and I have burnt some.

Kate is a furniture restorer and lives in Brighton

with her five-year-old daughter Eloise.

Her red velvet swiss roll is filled with white chocolate buttercream

and topped with white chocolate flowers.

It's different ovens. You never know.

So I've given myself between six and ten minutes.

Not ready.

The sponge for a swiss roll requires a texture like no other cake.

Nothing else to do.

I'd be gardening at home and forget about it.

It must be only just baked -

any more, and it won't be moist enough to roll without cracking.

So I've done it for ten minutes and I've found that it's overdone,

but less than that, it's raw.

Done. We're ready.

It's just on the edge, yeah. It's literally a few seconds.

You can smell the aniseed.

-Ah-h!

-Anise!

That's one very sexy sauna.

Thank you.

Still going to give it half a minute.

It kind of springs back when I touch it, which is good.

And now I'm going to roll it up when it's hot.

At just 17, Martha is the tent's youngest ever baker.

She's had to juggle practising for the Bake Off

with studying for her AS levels.

Her tiramisu swiss roll is topped with a row of macadamia nut brittles.

I think if you roll it when it's hot,

it's less likely to crack because of all the different proteins

and stuff are still hot and they all move around,

whereas when it's cold, it's more likely to crumble,

which is why I roll mine up when it's hot.

But it's really hot!

The judges are looking for a tight and clearly defined roll.

They'll be appearing any second now.

Half of the bakers have decided to pre-roll straight from the oven

before adding any fillings.

I'm just going to make a little slash, then it draws tightly.

One baker likes it even tighter.

Why have you done that?

Because if you score it, it prevents it cracking,

I think, when you roll it.

-I want to see you do this then.

-OK, right.

We're not standing here for the next ten minutes, Mary.

This is a new theory to me. I haven't seen this.

-God, you're doing multiple scoring.

-Oh, yeah.

-Iain, it's not a squid!

Iain grew up in Belfast but now lives in London

and is a construction engineer.

His apricot and basil swiss roll

is filled with a mascarpone and white chocolate cream.

This is one of the most monitored rolls

in the history of swiss roll making.

Mmm!

Mary, don't be inscrutable - be loving!

-Leave him alone. Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

You've got one hour left to roll yourself to Switzerland.

Sorry!

The bakers' next hurdle is perfecting their filling.

Just preparing a morello cherry jam. It's a Black Forest roll.

I can't say it's a Black Forest swiss roll

because the Black Forest is not in Switzerland.

It's in Germany.

It's in Deutschland, like where my dog comes from!

Norman's a retired merchant navy radio operator

who lives in Buckie in the north-east of Scotland

with his wife Iris and his schnauzer Lucy.

Not only is he a passionate traditional baker,

but he's also a keen potter

and today Norman's Black Forest swiss roll

will be presented on something never seen before on Bake Off.

-Don't tell me you made it.

-I did, yes.

-Let me have a look at that.

-That's a skateboard.

What do you normally do, a sponge on a segway?

Do you always serve things on a...

I've done it on a segway, yes, now and again.

The idea of the flavours of a Black Forest in a swiss roll

ticks all the boxes for me.

Will you be wearing lederhosen when you serve it

-to complete the full effect?

-Jawohl.

A traditional swiss roll is rarely decorated...

I'm going to make the brittle.

..something most of this year's bakers are planning to ignore.

-Those look smart.

-Oh, no. Don't pick them up. They're setting.

I'm just making a simple syrup.

I've got nuts in the oven, but once the sugar's melted

I've got to drop the nuts in and then reheat it.

And then it should go nice and toffee and golden,

or it might go white and crumbly and horrible...

..which has happened...

..more than once.

Nancy lives in Lincolnshire

and has five children and eight grandchildren.

Baking keeps her hens very busy.

She plans to top her family's favourite coffee swiss roll

with chewy caramelised hazelnuts.

-It's gone a bit dry, Nancy, hasn't it?

-Dry nuts.

-Dry nuts.

-Yeah.

-Should it be...

-That should be like toffee!

-Nuts in a liquid.

So what I'm going to do, this is just between you and I.

-Yes, no-one else will know.

-They don't need to know, those other two.

I'm going to blitz that to a powder.

What I'm loving, Nancy, is you don't seem remotely worried about this.

Are you worried about this?

OK, bakers.

That's quinze minutes or zwanzig Minuten on your swiss rolls,

depending on which part of Switzerland you're in.

Ta-da!

Right, here's the tricky bit, where I'm going to try

and roll it in one piece.

I'm just going for it!

This is the momento!

It's cracking a bit.

Looking all right so far.

There we go.

Ta-da!

Are there going to be any cracks? No! I'm happy with that.

It's split a bit.

HE GROWLS

HE SIGHS

I've just had this crack, which is not helping at all.

Oh, well, a bit of cream on top?

Oh, no, it's split!

Yeah, looks quite good. I'll have a taste of it in a minute.

By my Swiss watch, one minute precisely -

one minute to go on this challenge!

I'm going to dust it with sugar so it gives, erm, stripes.

No-one will ever know...

-Stop the shake.

-Sorry.

Stop the shakes, OK. It's looking good.

-Oh, no, it's falling out!

-It's looking good, no, it's looking good.

Left them too long!

I've got the shakes!

Covering up the cracks.

OK, bakers. Time's up. Well done, your first challenge is over.

I hope you all win, I'm maintaining strict Swiss neutrality.

My goodness.

I'm a little bit nervous about what the judges are going to think,

just because it's Paul and Mary!

The bakers will now have their creations judged by Paul

and Mary for the very first time.

-Hello, Martha.

-Hello!

So, I love the decoration, I think

the actual shape of the swiss roll is good.

Not much of a roll though, there's not much of a swirl in there.

SHE CHUCKLES

So mean.

The sponge has an excellent flavour, and it's beautifully soft.

The flavour of the alcohol coming through is perfectly balanced

with the flavour of the cream and the sponge.

-But, overall, that tastes fantastic.

-Yeah.

I like the decoration on it.

It looks a little bit under-baked,

and the raspberry is bleeding into the sponge.

Therefore, you're not getting the definition.

So beautiful.

The flavours are good, the cardamom doesn't come through till

you've just finished and it's just the right amount.

I love what you've done

to the strawberries on there, I think it works.

It's very trifle-ly.

It is just so moist, everything is running into each other.

It looks as classic as I can remember.

It hasn't been rolled quite tight enough,

and if you'd put the lemon curd with some cream it would give you

-just a little bit more hold together.

-Yes, yes.

HE COUGHS

The orange is coming through, the cream is a little bit nondescript.

I quite like the cream. LAUGHTER

You stand up for what you think's right. You're wrong, but I'll tell you what it is.

-A matter of opinion!

-The orange is so strong that no matter what you put with it...

-Yeah.

..it's going to get kicked into touch.

-You know where you went wrong.

-Yes.

Your theory of putting all those cuts across...

-All the way along, yeah.

-..I don't think it helps one little bit.

-It actually makes it into a fold rather than a spiral.

-Yeah, it does.

A bit of a spiral there!

It's pretty good, isn't it? I like that.

The crunch of the nuts on the outside with the coffee

and the sponge together works extremely well.

Sponge is lovely. The flavour of the cherry has come through.

It's just a bit bold, and a bit fat, and a bit big.

-Bold, fat and big, Norman.

-It's for men.

Oh, my days.

This one's got a nice swirl. It does look good.

You've got that tartness coming from the oranges, that honey,

the aniseed, I think it works phenomenally well.

It's got wonderful decoration.

The swirl that you've got is probably one of the best ones

we've got here today.

-It's too dry.

-It is dry.

-Is it?

Hmm. Huh!

It's too dry and that's why it's cracked.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-You left it in there too long.

I think what you've done with the decoration is impressive. What's your job?

-I'm a builder.

-Right, OK.

-I laid...

-The structure of it looks pretty good -

-I like what you've done with that.

-You've got a lovely spiral here.

That...

-..is fantastic.

-Whoa. Oh, my God.

The sharpness coming through, the sponge, the pistachios, the decoration.

-You've got a winner there.

-You're a builder? You're in the wrong job, mate.

You're seriously in the wrong job.

-Thank you so much.

-Very, very lovely.

I'm near the bottom I would say,

because things have to taste good and a dry sponge is NEVER good.

Oh, I could do with a lie-down.

It was so stressful in the lead-up,

and just to get nice comments was just a real joy, it was lovely.

The game plan now is a bit more focused.

I think it was a bit too laid-back.

I'm just really disappointed with myself.

I don't know why I'm crying over cake.

Everyone was able to plan and practise for their first cake.

The second is a complete mystery.

This is your first technical challenge.

It's cake week so, of course, it's going to be a Mary Berry recipe.

Now, Paul and Mary are going to judge this blind,

so with the greatest respect - tatty byes.

Good luck and do your very best!

Right, your very first technical challenge is Mary's classic

cherry cake.

You need the cherries suspended throughout,

drizzled with some icing and some lovely toasted almonds on top.

You have got two hours to pop Mary's cherry in the oven

-and bring it out again! On your marks...

-Get set...

-..bake!

Oh, God!

SHE CHUCKLES

Technical challenge. This is how it feels!

The bakers have been given the same ingredients and Mary's basic recipe.

The recipe is sparse.

Not that difficult, I didn't think.

Mary - cherry cake.

Why have you picked this as the first technical challenge?

It's a Great British classic,

but it's quite tricky to get absolutely right.

Sometimes, the cherries all go to the bottom.

So they've got to do the right preparation of the cherries.

Just look at that all the way down.

That's what you're looking for, isn't it? Suspended cherries.

And also if you get the icing too runny, it will run off.

It's got to just gently trickle down.

It's the bakers' first technical challenge. First impressions last.

They'll be very nervous. It's only the second thing that they've made.

This is gorgeous this, Mary.

Is this better than your mum could ever do?

I think it is, really! Don't tell her.

Well, it says "prepare the cherries".

We don't know what "prepare" means.

Does she mean wash? Does she mean cut?

I'm going for cut.

I'm just going to cut the cherries in half rather than quarters,

so you want a bit of chunky cherry, don't you?

I remember reading somewhere that you have to dry cherries

before you add them to a mix, because otherwise they sink.

See what everyone else is doing.

Need to wash them and then you need to coat them in flour,

because if you don't, they'll sink to the bottom of the cake.

How much caster sugar? 175?

To make the cake mix, Mary's only instruction is to beat all the

ingredients together.

I usually whip the butter and the sugar first, do it all separately.

But let's stick to her rulebook instead of mine!

And she hasn't told them what consistency it needs to be.

Just keep beating it well.

I was going to use a machine but it's not worth plugging it in

and getting it going just for that, so I'll do it by hand.

It's a bit of exercise as well!

It's quite a thick mixture which is quite good, because I was worried that

if it was too runny the cherries would just sink straightaway.

I'm just folding in the flour,

which I know would be easier by machine but I just like to feel it.

90 minutes to go.

I just want to make sure there is a good spread of cherries,

because I just don't want all the cherries to be clumped together.

Okey-dokey.

SHE SIGHS Timer.

Mary's recipe states an oven temperature but no baking time.

BEEPS

I don't know how long to bake it for so...

once it's reached 35 minutes, I'm going to keep checking it.

I'm reckoning it's going to be nearer the 45.

I feel like I've missed something.

LAUGHTER

Have you got the cherries in?

Yes. I haven't saved my five for the top, though.

I didn't leave enough cherries to decorate

because I didn't look at the recipe and see "five cherries to decorate".

I saw "icing" and "lemons" and "almonds" and...

Fantastic!

..and my brain just completely skipped over the awful

ingredient of cherries.

Oh!

I think it's ready to come out.

Right, I think I'm going to take mine out.

I think it's all right. Miracle!

The hard bit is the turning out.

(That's OK.)

Hang on...

I can't see my cherries like yours!

That's probably a good thing, mine are all at the bottom.

HE LAUGHS

Oh, no, it's all right. Mine looks like King Luis'.

Yeah, I'm pretty pleased with it.

The cherries look well-dispersed from what

I can see from the outside, so...

I don't know. We'll see what it's like when they cut into it.

If the cake isn't completely cool before decorating,

the icing will melt into the sponge and disappear.

-Norman, I'm loving your fanning action.

-Good. Yes.

Please continue. Your Black Forest swiss roll went down really well.

Oh, yeah. It's a blast from the '70s.

Always.

Yeah. You know, we used to go out for a steak supper

and finish off with a Black Forest gateau and ice cream.

And I bet you sported some quite good flares, Norman.

-Oh, aye. Aye.

-And some big old chops?

I could never get used to the, er... the platform shoes, though.

-I did buy a pair, but...

-Did you wear platforms, Norman?

Once. I just said, "No, I'm not wearing that again."

-Now, listen. Have we fanned enough?

-Let's see. Oh, yeah.

Some of the best fanning I've seen this week.

(Thanks very much.)

LAMB BLEATS

OK, bakers. That's 30 minutes of your technical challenge remaining.

Remember, no conferring. I'll class that as "cherry aid".

I don't mean any harm.

I'm picking perfect shaped almonds.

I don't normally bake like this, but...

because it's Mary Berry...

I'm just toasting the almonds at the moment,

because I thought, "Get them done and let them cool down."

Make sure the pan doesn't get too hot.

If you over-toast them, they can become bitter.

So you've got to keep a watch on that.

I can smell something burning.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-No, something's burning.

-Really.

-OK.

Oh! It's mine! OK, do that again, then.

Thank you!

Right, this is the juice from the lemon and the icing sugar.

It should make a fairly, fairly runny icing.

I'm just checking the consistency of the icing,

because I want it to just fall off in places.

I don't want it to completely cover the whole thing.

It needs to be able to stay on the cake

but not be a solid lump of icing blobbed in the middle, is it?

HE LAUGHS

OK, bakers. Ten minutes to dust, glaze and decorate.

Right.

Hmm. Well, I've just made that up on the spot.

I'm thinking spider's web.

SHE LAUGHS

This is where you let gravity take control

and just let it run off the sides.

The glaze, I don't think, should be really thick.

I could be completely wrong.

But you've got to go with your instinct.

Oh, yeah, that looks nice.

Can't believe I'm putting almonds on one by one.

OK, bakers, that's it.

It's time to say cherry-o to this particular technical challenge.

Come on, Diana. High-five me.

So, if you'd like to bring those magnificent rings up to the

altar and place them behind the photo of yourself. Thank you.

'Mary and Paul will be looking for a golden brown sponge,

'an even distribution of cherries and a thick coating of lemon icing.'

OK, Mary? Shall we start with this one?

The cherries are on the top, the almonds are there,

the icing looks about right.

Good distribution, actually, with the cherries.

-They are all the way through, aren't they?

-Mm-hm.

Good bake. Good icing.

Some of these nuts have been caught a bit.

Slightly overbaked, but very good distribution

of the cherries.

-Little bit dry.

-Mm.

-Little bit overbaked.

Right, the next one.

Icing just a little bit runny.

Distribution's not bad, though, is it?

A little bit dry, and slightly overbaked.

Where are the cherries?

Let's just cut down here again.

Yeah, they are there.

They've decided to move to one side.

It's got a very nice finish,

and they've caught the icing just at the right time.

It hasn't dripped down on the bottom here.

Nice distribution of the cherries there.

The icing here is just a bit too runny.

The nuts are slightly overbaked again.

The colour of this one looks OK, although the icing is very weak.

Nice bake.

But the cherries are whole.

And when you do keep them whole, they do stay at the bottom.

I think the colour could be a bit lighter.

Again, the cherry pieces are very big. See? The size of these.

Now, this one's boldly decorated.

The icing's got a good colour.

And, also, so has the actual bake. It's a nice, light colour.

This one lost its cherries.

I think this person's forgotten to keep back some cherries.

Where are the cherries?

I really don't know where those cherries have gone.

There's no cherries on the top, they have to be in there somewhere.

-There's a couple.

-There are very, very few cherries.

I don't know where they've gone.

A lot of them have sunk down to the bottom, haven't they?

Nice finish to it. Nice bold icing.

The flaked almonds on top perfectly browned.

The cherries have dropped to the bottom, haven't they?

Which is a shame. This one, I like the icing on this one.

The cherries, you can see...

The icing shows that this person can do things with precision.

It is a nice bake. Nice flavour, too.

Well done, guys, on the whole.

MEL: 'Mary and Paul will now reveal

'who's baked a technically perfect cherry cake.'

PAUL: In last place is...

this one. Couldn't find the cherries.

I think I chopped them so small, they evaporated into thin air.

You're probably right.

11th place...this one here.

The outside was just a bit dry.

Tenth place is...this one.

The cherries are whole.

-Icing was a bit weak.

-Yeah.

MEL: 'Enwezor's ninth, Claire eighth,

'Luis seventh, Kate sixth,

'Diana fifth and Iain fourth.'

And, in third place...

Lovely icing. Nicely browned.

In second place is...

this one. Well done.

That's a very nice cherry cake.

And first is just here. Tell me who it is?

Nancy. Well done. Absolutely perfect.

A lovely texture, even distribution of the cherries, perfect nuts.

Wow. To be commended on your nuts by Mary Berry.

You've had a great day, Nancy.

-Thank you.

-Well done, Nancy.

APPLAUSE

For Mary Berry to tell me that my cake was perfect...

It doesn't get better.

'I feel like I've experienced quite a lot.

'I've been proud, and I've been'

a little bit ashamed of what I've produced!

It's going to make me want to try harder tomorrow.

And I will put in that wee bit of extra effort,

and I might have one pint less tonight.

The fat lady hasn't sung yet!

THUNDER RUMBLES

-SUE:

-'It's day two.

'Just one challenge to go before someone must leave the tent

'and Paul and Mary crown this year's first Star Baker.'

PAUL: I can see a good handful of people doing really well.

I would say Nancy, I would say Chetna, and I would say Martha.

How do you get those skills at that age?

When you look at the bottom end -

Claire's down there. Enwezor's down there.

I think Jordan is down there.

Iain came fourth in the technical,

but actually his swiss roll sort of missed a beat somehow.

Norman, he came very low down in the technical.

-Second to last.

-Second to last. He needs to lift himself up a bit.

For me, the man who serves food on a skateboard can never be in danger.

I think that's a quote from Confucius.

MEL: I think we're looking at a Norman conquest quite soon.

That's why you're sitting there, you two, isn't it?

MEL: Good morning, bakers. Welcome to your Showstopper day.

Now, Paul and Mary would like you please to bake your own

choice of British cake.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Ha-ha!

Ha, ha, ha!

But they would like you to bake in perfect miniature.

We want 36 miniature cakes.

But they have to be identical and beautifully decorated.

You've got three and a half hours. On your marks...

-Get set...

-Bake!

Right, here we go.

'Baking show-stopping miniature British classics requires precision.

'The bakers must produce a whopping 36 cakes

'of identical size, shape and texture,

'all beautifully decorated, of course.'

This is my lucky spoon.

It's got all kinds of flavours in it, from curried rice pudding.

I'm making Victoria sponge. Just going to have four tiers.

36 four-tiered cakes? How do you eat it?

-MEL: Easily.

-Easily.

Just put it in your mouth.

'Chetna's miniature Victoria sponges will be filled with lemon curd

'and topped with raspberry cream.'

Nothing fancy, but they'll just look... The idea is...

Nothing fancy? Four tiers! Nothing fancy?

What is fancy to you?

-KATE:

-With a Victoria sponge, it's quite a delicate cake if you get it

right, because you get loads of air into it, and if you add the egg

too quickly, it can curdle and then it will make the sponge too heavy.

'Kate's two-tiered Victoria sponges are filled with raspberry jam

'and topped with fondant butterflies.'

I know that you can get a nice rise with doing the all-in-one method,

but I just think that if you want to guarantee

the fluffiest cake possible...

It does make it difficult to handle, but it does taste better.

I'm going to make you Jaffa orange cakes.

OK. Explain.

So, we have vanilla sponge

sandwiched with Cointreau orange jelly

and slightly flavoured buttercream.

The orange flavour's purely going to be in the jelly?

Yeah. In the buttercream and the jelly it's too much.

MEL: 'Nancy's take on the classic Jaffa Cake

'is topped with dark chocolate and handmade orange pastilles.

'And she's developed a brutal technique for ensuring uniformity.'

I have here a guillotine.

MEL: Erm, hang on...

PAUL: What's the guillotine for?

Because when I practised my 36 cakes,

I wasn't cutting every one in the same place.

So my cake lays there,

and then every one's cut in exactly the same place.

-My husband made it.

-It's very nice, yeah.

I have executed them very well, but I just hope today I can do it.

MEL: You're certainly going to

-execute some cakes with this, aren't you?

-Yeah.

These Amarena cherries come in, like, this beautiful syrup,

and the syrup and the cherries are going in my cake

to make it really moist and lovely.

And you get this really good cherry flavour coming through.

'Claire's chocolate cherry mini cakes

'will be topped with ganache and a gold fondant heart.'

I just want to really enjoy today.

I don't want this cloud of, sort of,

"Oh, God, I might go home" hanging over me.

I just want to enjoy what I'm doing, so... Yeah.

I'm just going to work two batches at once.

-SUE:

-'Luis and Jordan are the only two bakers

'attempting the trickier Genoise sponge.'

All or nothing! That's the approach.

'It should result in a light but firm cake

'that will hold its shape when cut.'

It's the traditional way, so it's over a little boiling water.

I've got sugar and eggs in here.

And you stand and you whisk for a very long time.

'Jordan's updated lemon drizzle cakes will be topped with hazelnut

'and lavender honeycomb and filled with blueberry and lemon curd.'

Stirring curd and making Genoise.

You have to keep stirring your curd and I hate just standing there

just stirring curd, so might as well do two things at once!

The Genoise cake can be quite hard to make.

I'm doing the cold version, and as long as you get it really

fluffy, it should hold the air and rise in the oven.

'Luis' Genoise sponge will be soaked in elderflower syrup and

'filled with raspberry buttercream.

'His take on a lemon drizzle cake

'is that you have to do all the drizzling yourself.'

Every cake on the top

has a pipette, which is

full of a lemon syrup that I've made.

So you soak the top bit yourself.

MEL: So every...

LAUGHTER

SUE: You've got 36 of these pipettes? LUIS: Yes.

Do you really think that if you were having tea,

you'd like to be given one of those?

-Maybe you think it's quite fun.

-It's a fun cake.

MEL: Slightly medical.

I'm just trying to measure equal amounts into my trays,

so my thicknesses hopefully come out the same.

I'm going to try to get them uniform.

Try and do, like, three quarters of a tablespoon.

I like to use an ice cream scoop to measure,

just because I find that it fills them right to the top

without them going over, and it makes it really even each time.

'Martha's lemon drizzle cakes are faithful to the classic,

'but flavoured with an ingredient more usually paired with chicken.'

I'm using lemon thyme, which is chopped up,

so that the thyme-y oil should go into the cake.

And then I'm putting a mascarpone cream in the middle

and some lemon curd.

Quite straightforward.

Yes, I know. I feel like it might be a bit simple.

The key thing is when you're doing simple cakes,

make sure what you do is spot-on.

Yes. That is the key thing.

I'm going to put the first one in and then move on to the next one,

because I have quite a few to go in.

Fill your boots.

-SUE:

-'Baking such a large quantity of cakes

'requires meticulous planning...

'and a constant eye on the clock.'

Right!

So, I've just taken out the walnut sponge.

I'm going to have to cut it hot, which is

not something I like to do, but it's the only way you can get it

to cool down fast enough to start assembling the Battenberg.

'When Enwezor has cut his coffee and walnut Battenberg squares,

'they'll be joined with swiss meringue buttercream.'

I'm cutting the batons, so that they can be assembled.

This is the most important part of whole bake,

because if I'm sloppy here,

it just makes the whole thing so much harder to do.

The oven hasn't cooked them completely evenly.

Some of the ones at the back have cooked a bit more.

-SUE:

-'Once they're cool, Iain's mini lemon drizzles with poppy seeds and

'lavender will be filled with mascarpone cream.'

-PAUL: Three cakes this size.

-It's going to be very tall.

I'm going to stack them.

Yeah, but I'm cutting the round top off them.

-Right.

-Yeah. They're like that. Yeah.

That's a big cake, mate.

-SUE:

-You're halfway through! It's half-time!

Bring out the dancing girls and the orange segments!

What do you mean there have been budget cuts?

-'Chetna has moved on to her filling.'

-I think I've got a good lemon curd,

you just need to keep stirring the whole time.

Just pouring honeycomb over my toasted lavender

and toasted hazelnuts.

Right, this is your chocolate mousse?

This is the chocolate mousse.

Is it all right? Good?

-That mousse is mine.

-Get off it.

That mousse is mine. I can't believe you've given that to her!

That's mine, that mousse!

Give that back!

-I want to get my spatula in there.

-Get off. My mousse.

-I did a netball thing there.

-My mousse.

-Oi, that's mine!

-My mousse.

Whether I see it again is...

is in the lap of the gods, huh?

Got some.

I've got good news and bad news.

Good news - it's great. Bad news - I've eaten it all.

I'm just making the jam now.

I come from a raspberry growing area.

I used to pick raspberries as a child,

and we'd get paid tuppence a pound. It was good money in those days.

I mean, £3.10 got you a really good fishing rod or whatever, you know.

'Norman's jam will fill his classic mini almond sponges, which will

'be decorated with fresh cream and raspberries.'

What is this strange object there?

Well, because it's a loose-bottomed cake tin,

and instead of poking them out one at a time, I made this thing.

A couple of drill rods,

you just pop it on and they all come out at the same time.

Oh! I'm sorry. I love that, Norman.

-Thank you very much.

-Stormin' Norman.

-Thanks.

Good man. I love your gadgetry.

ANIMAL BLEATS

OK, bakers, that's an hour left on your mini bakes.

If you want mini time, that's 3,600 seconds!

-JORDAN:

-I've got the shakes, which is not good for cake!

KATE: I'm pleased they're not horribly dry.

Oh, Claire, look what you've done.

Absolutely no idea.

Let's leave them in.

Poor Claire. She's having real trouble with her chocolate cakes.

The recipe's not right.

PAUL: It could be that the mixture's too wet.

When you get that almost volcano eruption,

it normally points it to that.

I don't know how she's going to recover that.

I am making some lighter chocolate and cherry cake

that I can cut out into circles that will

hopefully cook a bit quicker, cos it's going on a tray.

And then I'm going to sandwich it with some of these, then cover them

with chocolate and some sprinkles, and hopefully the decoration.

You've got half an hour left on your bakes.

Half an hour, guys!

I really have to speed up.

Get faster, to make this challenge.

So, I've made all the sponges. Got the cream ready.

So I'm just going to make 36 pieces of each size.

MEL: 'Those who haven't baked their miniature sponges separately

'need to cut them into individual pieces,

'which could dry out the edges.'

They look extremely neat and uniform.

They're not dry. I'm going to get my other thingy.

-Yeah. And I'm going to...

-Eat. Do eat!

-..tidy up some of these.

-Do eat! Please do.

-Mmm.

My God, I can do it!

Two, four, six,

eight, ten, 12...

13, 14, 15, 16...

17, 18, 19, 20, 21,

22, 23, 24...

25, 30, 35, 36.

The honeycomb has not gone very well.

So, I'm thinking on my feet. I'm making a caramel.

I've toasted some more nuts.

I'll put the caramel on the nuts, wait for it to set.

Blast it, turn it into a praline. Put THAT on top.

It's just annoying, because they're not as neat as I wanted them to be.

DIANA: I'm ganaching my buns.

SHE LAUGHS

Some of them are a bit dicey-looking, but I've got 36.

-SUE:

-Word's got out about your offcuts.

Oh!

You like my offcuts?

You've got one of the best-tasting offcuts in the business.

SHE LAUGHS

Frantically running out of time.

I'm having to work really fast.

To the wire.

-DIANA:

-They wouldn't sell those in a patisserie in France, would they?

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three,

two, one!

THEY LAUGH

HE SIGHS

Wow.

That's brilliant!

No, it's horrible. Absolutely horrible.

-Happy, Martha?

-Sort of.

THUNDER RUMBLES, RAIN POURS

-SUE:

-'It's judgment time.'

MEL: Chetna, do you want to bring yours up, please?

PAUL: I think they're too tall.

It looks like an upside-down ice cream cone.

MEL: They look gorgeous.

It's a very good sponge. Not overbaked.

I love the lemon curd in there.

I think a less layer.

But the flavour's OK and the bake's good.

Looking at that, it doesn't wow me.

They do look a mess. I think you've been slightly overambitious,

certainly with the honeycomb,

-which is why you resorted to the praline.

-Mm-hm.

I think that blueberries and lemon,

the flavour's going to be drowned.

If I close my eyes, it's a lemon drizzle.

It's a bit of a shame.

-You've already had quite a bit of mousse.

-About a kilo or two.

I did wonder if I'd ever get it back, to be honest.

Chocolate mousse, chocolate sponge, chocolate ganache. Tick, tick, tick.

-Just concentrate a bit more on the way it looks.

-I will.

It's a good bake, you know.

They are very thin sponges.

Proportionally, it looks perfect.

In my book, that's absolutely scrumptious.

Thank you.

-SUE:

-I love that you've got your pen behind your ear, as if you're about

-to give an estimate.

-Sorry, I forgot!

-No...

LAUGHTER

PAUL: I've never seen them individual before.

I think it's very cute.

I can't get the two flavours as being sort of different.

-I think the coffee could have been a lot stronger.

-Stronger.

But I think you've done very well

to think of something that I've never seen.

PAUL: Very tricky to do. Well done.

Great. Thank you very much.

PAUL: The overall appearance is a bit bland.

It's the colours. It needs something more to it.

For me, the sponge is good.

It's beautifully baked, but I need more flavour in the middle.

-You want to put the liquid in there, Mary?

-Yeah.

MEL: Ooh, I like that action.

-SUE:

-Drizzle mezza.

-Until it's empty.

-Drizzle away!

Mmm, good sort of boozy fug. Great.

I just think... The lemon flavour's coming through.

I'm not getting that raspberry coming through in the sponge.

PAUL: I think, overall, the idea's good.

I like pipette, it's very novel.

Exposure of sponge, though, I would disagree with.

Because it will dry out. That's what it wants to do.

But I think you've just got away with it.

-SUE:

-Iain, you're up next. Do you need a hand?

No, that's OK. Thank you.

PAUL: Giving that to somebody as a miniature cake...

It's a good portion.

It is. But, it's too much.

You've thought individually, and not as a whole.

You haven't achieved an even bake.

We've got all different colours of bake.

Struggling to get some flavours.

In fact, even the light one is overbaked.

When I put my fork into there, it went through like butter.

Beautifully soft, not overbaked.

It's creamy.

The mascarpone, the lemon curd, the crispiness on the top, the sugar,

that is very good.

I mean, it looks a bit clumsy.

-Yes.

-If I'm honest.

-That's fine.

-They're both dry.

-OK.

Chocolate, you sort of get.

And then the little decoration on the top, you get this crunch...

Hmm.

What perfection. A sheer joy to look at.

And your little gadget for cutting them in half,

I think it's worked really well.

Every one is exactly right.

The sponge is very light.

The moisture of the cream and the orange comes through well.

It is very, very good. Well thought out. Well done.

-Well done, Nancy.

-Congratulations.

-Are you taking it back with you?

Otherwise we will eat it.

Norman, they look like a row of soldiers.

It is simple, but it's got to taste as well.

To me, that is absolutely scrumptious.

You've baked each one perfectly.

Not easy to get every single one the same colour, the same size.

The flavour of that almond, married with the raspberry

and the fresh cream, I think you're on a winner all the way.

What did you think of the jam?

-Loved it.

-Was it good jam?

-Yeah. Well done.

-Splendid. Thank you.

-Well done, Norman.

-Ten. Well done.

Mary and Paul must now decide who's going home

and who they'll crown this year's first Star Baker.

For me, there was three people who stepped away - Martha...

-Yeah.

-Nancy...

-Yeah.

-..and Richard.

The lemon drizzle, she made it perfectly.

And it isn't easy to get the flavours all the way through.

And I liked very much Richard's - so neat and so moist.

And Nancy's looked perfect, didn't it?

Oh, Nancy's piece de resistance. Nancy's was perfect.

OK. We've sung some praises, now let's do a little bit of lamenting.

Who didn't come up trumps today?

Poor Claire. She had a very bad day.

She was in pretty much chaos.

What about Iain's massive three-in-one tower?

I think that was a major mistake, that Showstopper.

But, having said that, Jordan's looked awful.

You can push the boat out and try something,

but you've got to be able to come up with the goods.

Well, good luck, Paul and Mary. It's over to you now.

-Let us know your decision.

-We await.

SHEEP BLEATS

Bakers, one hell of a first weekend. Congratulations to you all.

I'm delighted with my job today,

because I get to announce the very first Star Baker.

What you need to know about this person is, they are ruthless.

They'll take a sponge, and they'll just chop its head off.

Our Star Baker is Nancy, with her guillotine.

So, it falls to me to do the slightly more difficult job.

I'm afraid one of you will not be joining us on our Bake Off journey.

And the person that it's very sad to say goodbye to this week is...

..Claire.

-We're so sorry, Claire.

-Claire, come and have a massive sandwich.

Like a big, big, Mel and Sue sandwich.

Oh, you'll be very missed, love. You're a real cracker, you are.

When they did say my name, obviously I was a bit like, "Oh."

Because I think there's a little glimmer.

There's a little pinprick in your mind that thinks, "Maybe not."

You know, "Maybe not."

Unlucky. Unlucky.

Could anyone have taken that better? You're still laughing.

Claire had some good ideas,

but, unfortunately, there was a few mistakes made,

you know, during the whole weekend.

-And you'll still keep baking?

-Yeah.

She couldn't really finish the challenge that she'd set herself.

I think she was just in a panic,

because everything went wrong for her.

Oh, my! That was so much harder than I thought.

I was 100% certain I was the one going,

so this week we'll be practising... lots.

Well done. High hopes.

High hopes. You'll be fine.

You'll be fine.

It means a lot still to be here, because I really want to show

that I'm a good baker, because this weekend I haven't.

Well done, Nancy. Congratulations. Well done.

Star Baker. Absolutely amazing.

Because there's some really clever people in there

and I'm thinking, "Well, maybe I must be quite good, then!"

Next time...

I am up to the wire.

..it's biscuits!

OK, we'll give it a throw.

We discover the dirty secret behind the ice-cream cone.

All the fun, none of the typhoid.

And the bakers tackle signature savoury treats...

I'm literally down to the moment now.

..technically perfect Florentines...

-That looks as if you have done that correctly.

-Do you think?

-Yes!

..and monumental three-dimensional Showstoppers...

There's going to be skyscrapers, there's going to be a monster,

there's going to be a plane flying.

..but who will be crowned Star Baker...

-That's it.

-That one's so wobbly!

Everything's gone wrong.

..and who'll get the message to leave the Bake Off?

-It's B.

-B.

-A.

-A.

-K.

-K.

And E.

You just made that one up!