The Final The Great British Bake Off

Tents, bunting, Glastonbury, Glyndebourne.

-I love a classic British event.

-I wish we were going to one, mate.

Might have the very thing for you, chum.

Welcome to the final of The Great British Bake Off.

-MEL GASPS

-You organised all that?!

-Put the guy-ropes up myself.

-Oh, great.

In the beginning...

That is one of the best things I've seen in bread, ever.

-Wow.

-..there were 12.

Now...

Oh, no.

..there are three.

How long have we got?

Three bakers.

Three final challenges.

Stop looking so nervous, you're making me nervous.

-Do I look nervous?

-Yeah.

-If I'm making you...

-I know.

-..if YOU think I look nervous, wow, I must look really nervous.

-I know.

From the very beginning of this year's Bake Off, Tamal has shone.

I've tried many times to put collars around cakes.

First time in the tent, and you've achieved it.

He's delivered daring flavours...

The rosemary's coming through, the honey's coming through...

-..and ingenuity.

-That looks spectacular.

..despite taking almost every bake up to the wire.

Perhaps I was a little bit too ambitious on this one.

'I've been getting stressed.

'"Oh, God, I'm in the final, it's so stressful."'

And then I'm like, "Ooh! I'm in the final!"

I keep wanting to tell people, like, strangers, "I'm in the final!

"Yeah, me!" "Who are you?"

Nadiya's Bake Off didn't begin quite as well.

Last place is...this one.

Whose is this?

Eventually shaking off her technical curse...

-And in first place...

-That's me.

-APPLAUSE

-..her spectacular bakes...

-That's ingenious.

..inspired by her family...

The overall effect is really very beautiful.

..propelled her to claim Star Baker three times.

'I know week by week how much I've had to claw my way through.

'Now I'm battling myself a little bit, thinking,'

"But I really want to do well, but I really want to win.

"But I don't want to come second or third, I want to win,"

and it's just really weird.

I'm come in feeling very strange this morning.

Ian has also been named Star Baker three times...

Truly magnificent.

..the competition standout engineer of incredible structures...

I think you get full marks for originality.

I don't think I'll ever see a well like this again.

..and inventor of pioneering flavours.

When have I ever had tarragon and apple? And I like it.

I wrote in my journal,

"This could be a pivotal moment in my life, this weekend."

It's like, "Whoa, that's too big. Don't think about that."

'It's just another weekend in the tent, three things to cook,

what's there to worry about?

Quite a lot, actually. But never mind.

HE EXHALES DEEPLY

Bakers, huge congratulations.

After 27 challenges, you're here in the final.

So, this is your last ever Sig Chal.

Mary and Paul would love you to make, please,

16 filled iced buns.

Ah, thank you.

-Happy days.

-Thank you, Mary.

-Two different types, please.

Any flavours, that's all good.

You've got three hours on the clock.

-On your marks...

-..Get set, bake!

I've got the capacity to turn this

into a very stressful-looking challenge.

You can almost sense that it's the final.

Just really quiet.

Feel like I should be whispering.

Just cooking another thing.

-PAUL:

-This is The Great British Bake Off Final.

We're looking for every single thing that they bake,

or prepare, has to be the best they can produce.

Sometimes you have a bit of an inkling,

but on this occasion, I have no idea who's going to win.

-PAUL:

-An iced bun is a thing of beauty.

There is nowhere to hide, from the icing, to the bun, to the filling.

They have got to use enriched dough, which is tricky.

A good iced bun should be cram-jam full of flavour.

A lovely, soft, beautifully textured bun and the icing,

when you just get your teeth into it, should be soft, not crisp.

It's all down to keeping calm and following, in your head,

the stages that they need to achieve to produce perfection.

-Morning, Tamal.

-Morning.

-Tell us all about your iced buns.

So, the two different iced buns that I'm making, the filling for one,

I'm making a citrus marmalade and a caramel creme pat

and then the other one is an apple and whipped cream,

so I'm making apple sauce with a little bit of cinnamon

and some ground cloves in it.

Tamal's apple iced buns are inspired by the apple turnovers

his mum always brought him when he was little.

His second batch will be flavoured

with citrus marmalade and caramel creme pat.

What about the icing?

I'm doing a simple royal icing for the tops of both of those.

-A royal icing?

-Yes.

-Any flavours going to be in that icing?

No, I thought all my flavours are going into the fillings,

because I thought the icing is quite a simple element.

Just make sure that the shape and the icing is all...perfect...

-EXAGGERATED ACCENT:

-Perfect Paul!

Everything's got to be perfect!

-I'll do my best.

-Thank you, Tamal.

-Thank you.

Like a standard bread dough, an enriched dough should be kneaded.

It doesn't need kneading for too long, just five minutes.

So, I think quite a wet dough means you get a very light,

fluffy bun, which is what we want.

Just looking for the stretch of the gluten.

I'm going to put in a bit more flour into this,

because it's still quite a wet dough.

But it's getting there. I think it's going to be...

CLANG

-HE LAUGHS

-Sorry!

Thanks, little chum.

Into the proving drawer, I'm just going to chuck

a thermometer in there, check the temperature's good.

I think I'm going to prove it for about an hour.

This is kind of the stuff that I ran out of time for,

and keep an eye on, at home,

just sort of trying to do other things at the same time.

I'm doing two proofs, so I'll prove it now for about an hour.

And then I'll prove it again once it's shaped, for...

another half an hour probably?

Feel all right. It's a nice, soft dough.

Tamal and Nadiya are proving one dough which they intend

to split for their different buns.

Nice and wet.

But Ian has made his final Signature Bake twice as hard.

Yeah, I'm going to do two batches of dough.

I'm using some elderflower cordial for this.

Wasn't sure what flavour to do for these iced buns,

and then cycling along last week,

there was this glorious smell of fresh elderflowers,

and I thought, "Yes."

Ian's elderflower buns will be filled with fresh lemon curd

and his second dough will be for spiced buns

flavoured with cardamom and cinnamon,

and filled with apple and cranberry jam.

-Why did you do two separate doughs?

-Um...

I wanted the flavours in there right from the beginning

to sort of permeate the dough.

Elderflower, it's going to be fascinating

to see what comes through in the dough.

In place of sugar in the elderflower dough,

I'm just using elderflower cordial,

cos there's an amazing amount of sugar goes into cordial.

You're actually pushing the boat out. This is the final.

You're going to be very, very busy

to do two doughs, two different flavours.

-Yes, mm-hmm.

-Are you going to finish it on time?

-I hope so.

-You have to. There is no, "Oh, I might do."

You HAVE to finish in that three hours.

(Nadiya...are you flavouring your doughs?)

-(Yes.)

-(I'm not.)

How's your dough rising? Are you happy with it?

I've done it in the oven. Stick it in the oven on the proving setting.

Have you now?

-Yeah, it wasn't rising that fast.

-Yeah, mine's not rising that fast.

-What's Ian doing?

-Ian's sticking with the proving drawer...

Just starting to make the lemon curd.

..and he's made a start on his fillings.

Zest and...juice of three lemons going into there.

Start to just coat the back of the spoon nicely.

They're both doing something with creme pat, which I'm not.

I'm weighing my egg yolks. Getting this set for the creme pat

relies on you having the right amount of egg and cornflour.

Got to go for precision in the final.

I'm doing almond creme patissiere, and then I'm doing cardamom bun...

-OK.

-..and then I'm doing a nutmeg finger with sour cream jam.

A sour ja...

Sou... Shall we start that again? Oh, my goodness, I'm so messing up.

-Nadiya...

-Yeah, look, my hands are shaking.

-Put your hand out.

-You are shaking.

-Yeah, I am, I'm really nervous.

Nadiya has put herself under even more pressure by choosing

to be the only finalist to break with iced bun tradition.

I'm doing one shape fingers, and then I'm doing the other one round.

-Nice.

-Round?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Why shouldn't a bun be round?

-That's fine.

-My buns are round.

-Exactly.

-Always.

You're going to be baking them individually -

will they touch or not?

-They don't touch when I bake them.

-OK.

Thank you, Nadiya.

90 minutes remaining in the final Signature Bake.

That's been proving for an hour. It's doubled, so... Perfect!

So this is the cinnamon... Mostly cardamom, actually.

So I'm adding in my spices now.

'I tried with some spices and things in the dough during the week

'and I was like, "Mmm, it's in the filling."

'I don't think it added anything in the dough. So this is where I start

'getting paranoid about, "Have I spaced them appropriately?"'

Got to leave enough for them to grow.

That's what Paul wants in a batch bake. His buns to be touching.

So they're not baking, they're proving.

Elderflower and lemon ones, one set proving down there,

another set proving behind me.

One, two, three...four, five, six, seven, eight. Done.

-TAMAL:

-Ugh! Shaky hands.

The second proof is a chance to make even more fillings.

This is a citrus marmalade.

There's a lot more fruit juice going in, other than the clementines.

It won't just be pure peel, trust me.

I'm using lemon powder, just to make it a bit sour.

There is sourness from the cherry, but it's just not enough.

Lemon's obviously another liquid, and you don't want to put

liquid back in and make it watery and maybe not even set the jam.

-Right, apple and cranberry.

-Obviously, now you're in the final.

For all that you're a gentle, sensitive, feminine,

hedgerow-raiding soul...

you WANT this now, don't you? Surely?

Everything about this whole process has felt very unlikely.

From the first phone call about the audition to being here.

It's almost like you're really good(!)

Two Star Bakers and a time in the wilderness, finds form right -

and I have to say RIGHT - at the last minute, and then...who knows?

-Focus.

-Focus, yeah, move quick.

Now I've released the inner you, it's OK to say, ("I want this.")

You think so?

Bakers, one hour to get your buns in gear.

In they go. Good luck, fellas.

One batch is cooking

and the others will be going in in the next few minutes.

It's traditional for iced buns that they are a batch bake.

It's fine! If you want to break the mould,

you know, on Paul's favourite thing in the world...(!)

I'm really nervous about the whole non batch-baking.

Why would you be nervous?

Because you two are doing batch-baking.

But it works all right for you when you break the mould,

do you remember that Technical in week one?

Yeah, that... Coming 12th was amazing(!)

TAMAL LAUGHS

Wonder if we could do with just a bit more cranberry in there.

I'm a little bit behind, it's nothing disastrous.

I just wanted to have this creme pat made and cooling.

Looking good, yep, happy with them.

-I am pretty happy with the bake.

-That's my least favourite.

Nothing a little icing won't cover, I hope.

Might use a bit of ice.

Pop the pan in an ice bath just to help it cool quicker.

OK, I think this is as thick as it's going to get.

The elderflower ones are all fine, they're done,

but the cinnamon ones seem to be taking a bit longer.

A worry. Come on!

I don't know what's made it slow in there.

Makes me wonder, did I leave something out?

Very loose-set creme pat. I think it'll be just about pipe-able.

OK, bakers, you've got 15 minutes. 15 minutes!

They look strange and I don't know why.

My main worry at the moment is that creme pat.

I hope it can cool down in time, cos I'm a bit screwed if it doesn't.

HE EXHALES SLOWLY

I think I'll do the icing first.

-Can't use my creme pat.

-Why?

-It's not set.

Bakers, three minutes till bun time.

Creme pat I am not going to include, which is kind of a big element

of those creme pat ones to not be using.

-HE SIGHS

-Oh, so frustrating!

OK, bakers, string up the bunting, this bun-ting is over.

HE EXHALES

It's judgment time in the final Signature Bake.

-I'm amazed that you got finished.

-So am I.

-Well done.

Now, the overall appearance, these have all touched each other

-when they've been baked.

-SUE: Batch bakes that you pull apart.

But the icing is a little bit messy.

That's a very nice finish of the filling.

They all look a fairly even shape.

And then we come to the cardamom ones.

-They've not got a shine quite the same.

-No.

But maybe they're going to taste wonderful.

The icing doesn't go with the filling.

It's two completely different things.

What I'm intrigued about

is I think something's missing from this dough.

-Cos it took way longer to cook in the oven.

-Did you put sugar in it?

That's the bit I'm wondering about.

I don't think you've got sugar in there.

Which is why it took ages longer in the oven,

and that's why it dried out and becomes a crispy bap.

-Yeah, yeah.

-With icing on it.

And that's what's sending all my senses out, they don't marry up.

The second one, totally different - soft top, icing perfect,

-cream good, flavour of the lemon coming through.

-Yeah, mm-hmm.

And all together as a package, just dynamite.

I think that's sheer heaven on a plate.

The cream is spilling out and the lemon curd looks good

and they're a sheer joy to eat.

OK, lovely. Thank you.

They look most tempting. Lovely neat piping

with an original finish on the long ones.

And the little round ones are quite different.

There's no rips anywhere. Normally it's ripped.

That's different, that is unique.

What you could have done was just a little bit of icing sugar on them.

-Hmm.

-Just to cover up these plain bits here.

Let's start with this one.

-Holding together quite well.

-Yeah.

You can really taste that jam.

The jam is quite sharp, and you've put the right amount in.

-I think those taste lovely.

-Now...

-Cardamom almond creme pat.

Cut through this.

Creme patissiere in the middle with almond flavour...

-I just think those are lovely.

-Both of those tick the boxes.

They're neat, they're full of flavour

and they're so different as well.

-Fantastic.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Let me just wipe him down. NADIYA LAUGHS

Oh, no, we'll do it with the hose later.

You've put royal icing on the top and just coloured it.

I would have thought that royal icing should have had a shine to it.

That doesn't have a shine.

It's a shame that your creme patissiere is not set.

Now, your timing has been an issue before,

and we're back to the same thing again.

But I think we need to try them, I think the bake looks good.

-Let's start with this one. This is cream and the apple.

-Yep.

Nice and soft.

Overall, the texture of the bun is beautiful. The flavours are good,

but the only thing that lets it down is that icing. It's not right.

But let's move on to this, this hasn't got creme pat in.

So a marmalade butty.

-That is so good.

-Wow.

-Really like the marmalade.

The peels were beautifully tender, it was sharp.

I think the flavour of that's great

but obviously you've ran out of time.

The flavour of this, though, with the apple and the cream,

is very, very good.

You were just let down by time.

Yep.

If this were an earlier week and I'd got those comments,

I'd be feeling pretty happy.

I just can't get it out of my mind that this is the final,

and I don't want to be getting big things wrong in the final.

Some good comments there. "Heaven on a plate."

I'd like to think I'd try and remember those bits, but at

the same time, I'm going to remember

that 60g of caster sugar and think, "Argh!"

I'm really pleased, cos one thing I was worried about was that

if it didn't go well this morning I'd have just gone, "Ooh"

and slumped and just not felt great.

I mean, I don't know what it's going to be like...

in the Technical, but at least I can go in feeling like,

"Come on, let's do this."

It is time for your last ever...Tech Chal.

-It's one of Paul's recipes. Paul, any pearls of wisdom? No.

-Nope.

Paul and Mary, your bungee jump awaits. Have a great time.

Mary, the safety harness is there.

Paul, we haven't bothered for you, very much a single trip.

For this final Technical Challenge we'd very much like you

to shake hands once again with Mr Pastry.

Paul and Mary would love you to make six raspberry millefeuille.

We're looking for thin layers of crisp rough puff pastry,

raspberries - natch - Chantilly cream and some fondant icing.

You've got two hours to complete this challenge. On your marks...

-..get set...

-..and for one final, technical time...

BOTH: ..bake!

-NADIYA:

-Never made a millefeuille before. I can't even say it.

-TAMAL:

-I know what one looks like,

so that's a big advantage over most of the technicals we've had.

-IAN:

-Feels like a lot to have to do in two hours.

The reason why we choose millefeuille

is because Nadiya, Tamal and Ian have all had problems

and issues with their pastry throughout the whole of Bake Off.

Now, I think this needed to be sorted out.

For me, it's all about the crispiness, the flakiness

and the butter flavour that comes through in this pastry.

The recipe, we've given...a lot of the method.

In true Paul Hollywood style, just a little bit left out.

After all, it's the final.

I'm not as experienced with rough puff.

It's not one that I'm a big fan of.

This would not be my pastry of choice for the Technical.

-Two hours is not a lot of time.

-Doesn't bode well, does it?

What with my vol-au-vents and the cream horn,

they were nothing short of a disaster zone.

Do you think we're being tested because we did bad pastry?

TAMAL LAUGHS

It's a possibility.

It's a personalised challenge, just for us three.

-Oh, gosh, yeah.

-It is. I think it is.

Paul's rough puff pastry recipe requires grated butter

to be folded into the dough.

It's grated. Keeps it nice and small, I think.

I guess it helps to incorporate it, I'm not quite sure.

I'm just going to do it like I do it at home.

So I'm making a block of that butter,

and I'm just going to incorporate it in like I do and hope for the best.

I'm not ignoring the instructions, I'm interpreting the instructions.

So it's been a slightly chequered relationship with pastry...

Yeah, we've...

..so far on Bake Off, but how are we now, are we on talking terms?

-We're on talking terms now.

-Yeah?

Post-cream horn we've just reconciled.

That butter is so warm, I need to chill it in the freezer right now.

Now we're on to a bit of jam. I feel comfortable with jam.

It's just the instructions for making a jam,

which say, "Make a jam."

Probably should have got a bigger pan.

-"Make a sugar syrup."

-Just says, "Make a sugar syrup."

Which is helpful(!)

-I wonder what that's for.

-What is that sugar syrup for?!

I imagine it's for putting a gloss on the raspberries,

but I don't know.

"Make a 30x20...candy-stripe icing." (Candy-striped icing...)

Never made icing like this before. No experience of it.

Candy-striped icing?

I'm so confused.

(Candy striped...) Yeah, candy stripes.

You know what candy stripes look like, for goodness' sake.

(Agh!) Everything just seems to be taking ages.

I'm presuming they're going to join together. There's no sign of it yet.

I think the sugar syrup is for my candy stripes.

So that's what I'm using it for. I think that's what it's there for.

"Divide the pastry into three, roll each piece into 30x20,

and then bake."

-TAMAL:

-Oh, it's just such a warm day.

I can feel it starting to melt, which is not ideal.

Doubting my measuring skills now. 23...

That's fine, just checking!

OK, I'm going to put this one in first.

TIMER BLEEPS

Bakers, you have half an hour left.

Oh, that's the worst pastry in the world ever.

Got layers, so it's OK.

They look horrendous, but please don't judge.

Ugh.

That's what's doing my head in.

Yeah, I'm happy with that.

I don't know how to cut these, I don't know how to cut these.

You do wonder why you put yourself through this at times.

Feel like I'm kind of losing control of this task a bit.

I have to measure, that's the bit I can't do.

And which way to cut it.

Oh, my God. Your pastry looks so nice.

Mine is awful.

(Chantilly, raspberries...) "Make six three-layered millefeuilles."

Oh, God. It's really hard keeping going

when you think you've done a really bad job on something.

I don't get it.

HE SIGHS

Where's my tray, where's my...?

I can't even count, I can't even do Key Stage 1 maths.

It's really tricky to cut, so brittle.

HE GROANS

Whatever happens here today,

I have to live with for the rest of my life.

-Knife-edge stuff, isn't it?

-It really is.

How am I going to make that pretty?

-How, how...? How does that...?

-OK, bakers. Five minutes left.

OK, bakers, your final Technical Challenge...

is closed.

Please bring the millefeuille up and put them on the old gingham cloth.

Mary and Paul are expecting precise, neat millefeuille

with crisp, flaky pastry.

I think we need to start with this one.

It looks as though one or two might topple any moment.

They are a mess.

You can see the layers, they haven't bonded on the top.

The middle layer is almost gone

and the bottom one has almost evaporated to nothing.

Bit of sugar syrup underneath the top would have helped bond the top.

The pastry, it is cooked through.

It looks as though you sat on the top to squash them all in.

This pastry's been a bit rushed. You can take off each layer.

This one is a little bit neater.

It feels like shortcrust. It's very thin, isn't it?

-There are flakes here.

-Yeah.

The pastry that I'm taking is beautifully crisp.

It's ticked a lot of the boxes. Moving onto the last one, though,

we can see straightaway there is an issue with the top, it's not bonded.

It's not bonded at all.

That's because the syrup was not thick enough to stick it down.

-A few layers in there.

-Good layers.

The big gaps there, to pipe like that

and leave big gaps is a major issue.

It isn't quite done, the pastry.

The jam is well-made, it's a very good flavour.

The pastry is flaky,

but it just needed that little bit longer in the oven.

Has anyone managed to get even close to the perfection

that Mary and Paul demanded?

In third position is this one, whose is this?

The pastry seems very odd, what have you done?

I grated all that butter and made it into a block,

and it was a like a butter block with air holes.

-So I think, yeah, that's why it's just...

-Pulled apart.

And in second place is this one.

-That's me.

-The fondant icing was not bonded. There were big gaps here.

And in first place...

The pastry's very good, very neat inside. Good, strong bake,

which was what we were looking for. Good layers.

And overall, a very neat millefeuille.

-Well done, Nadiya.

-Thank you.

-APPLAUSE

My goodness, that was SO tough.

I just got the first in the Technical in the final.

It's been an OK day today.

So my kind of past track record with Showstoppers,

that's what I'm kind of pinning my hopes on for tomorrow.

I need to nail it tomorrow, that's what I need to do.

One challenge remaining.

In just a few hours, at a very special tea party,

either Nadiya, Ian or Tamal

will be crowned the winner of The Great British Bake Off.

Bakers, welcome to your final challenge in the Bake Off tent.

No matter what happens today,

you should all be incredibly proud of yourselves.

And no matter what, you'll all be getting invitations

to the post-show party, where Mary will be reprising

her now famous twerking routine.

-Absolutely.

-Good all the way.

Now, what we would love you to make today is a classic British cake.

A single-flavoured but multi-tiered cake.

Bells, whistles, jazz hands.

You know you can do it, you've got four hours on the clock.

-On your marks...

-..and get set... BOTH: ..bake!

Yesterday, just want to put it behind me.

Today is today, it's the Showstopper.

-What the hell? Go for it.

-Going to be a busy one.

The last challenge is always the hardest challenge.

We're looking for a classic British bake, such as a Victoria sandwich.

Such as a lemon drizzle. Such as a Battenberg.

Not that simple.

They've got to make whatever they do perfectly.

The finished result when we walk up to it has got to wow us.

We want them to do three tiers minimum,

so actually baking it could be a problem.

A smaller cake will bake quicker than a big cake,

so it's about consistency.

We'll be comparing each slice out of each cake to make sure

that each one is exactly the same.

This is our bakers' last chance.

THUNDERCLAP

Rain drumming overhead,

we're looking forward to a classic British tea party this afternoon.

-Morning, Tamal.

-Morning!

What have you decided to do for your final

Bake Off Showstopper Challenge?

My initial inspiration was sticky toffee pudding, which I love.

I always like the sponge in a sticky toffee pudding

to have chopped dates, and I started putting more fruit into it,

and realised it's become a fruitcake.

-Sticky toffee pudding cake?

-Sticky toffee pudding fruitcake.

Tamal's triple-layered sticky toffee pudding cake contains figs,

dates, oranges, lemons and prunes.

It will be filled and topped with a date and toffee sauce

and decorated with spun sugar.

The theme was meant to be something old.

There were these pictures in the press a few months ago

about this Chinese fishing village that had been abandoned

and sort of overtaken by the undergrowth,

and I really like that idea, so it was,

the spun sugar was meant to represent cobwebs.

So let me get this straight - your classic British cake

is based on an ancient, abandoned Chinese fishing village?

-Yeah.

-I love you. I love you.

-Humidity can play with caramel.

-Yeah.

-Are you taking that into consideration?

-Yeah.

This is the first time this has happened. Wait and see what

the weather does and adjust what you're doing in terms of decoration.

Yeah, I'm going to be working right up to the end.

-What's new?

-SHE CHUCKLES

Tamal's journey to a final Bake Off Showstopper

began when his big sister Shama started teaching him to bake

as soon as he could hold a wooden spoon.

It's gone from the two of us making a fairy cake or a cookie...

Look how well you've done now. If it weren't for me, would you be here?

Well, probably not, but I'd probably be a successful billionaire

somewhere on my yacht in the Mediterranean!

-But would you be happy?

-Yeah, I'd have a yacht!

I am utterly amazed by how well he's done

and also with his work at the same time.

Tamal has had to practise for the final between shifts

-as a trainee anaesthetist.

-He's the full package for me.

He's good-looking, he's funny, he's intelligent.

Whatever happens...

I can't stop doing that!

We had perfect weather yesterday for sugar work and now we've got this.

This is the worst possible weather for me.

That 10% chance of rain forecast was a load of rubbish, wasn't it?

So I'm making a lemon drizzle cake

and I'm using the creaming method, just adding the eggs in.

When you cream butter, you get quite big air bubbles in there.

By having it already melted, you don't get quite so many air bubbles,

thus you get slightly denser cake.

It's kind of what's expected for a carrot cake

and what seems to suit it best.

I like mine with a decent kick of citrus, that's why this one

is getting some lemon zest. Also a bit of lemon juice, as well.

You've got some cinnamon and some allspice, some fresh ground cloves,

some freshly-ground star anise.

It's got to have a nice, even distribution of the fruit.

So I coated the fruit in a little bit of lemon juice to make it sticky

and then I've coated it in a bit of flour.

It's just to help the fruit not sink down.

Tamal and Nadiya are aiming

to perfect one cake mix for three tiers.

But Ian's decided to make this final Showstopper even harder.

It's going to be no less than five cakes.

Five?! Five, I mean,

did you realise that you were bound to be doing more cakes

-than anybody else? But how about your timing?

-You've got to finish them.

-Yes.

-To get consistency,

are you making one batch which is going to fill all of them?

-Cos you're never going to fit all the mix in there.

-No, exactly.

I'm doing two batches. I think it's slightly ridiculous.

Yes, a lot of carrot. It's Ian's Colossal Curvy Carrot Cake.

Ian's built his own stand for his Colossal Curvy Carrot Cake

and he's developed a unique decoration

to bring all five of his cakes together.

It's difficult to describe, almost like a waterfall

design of a giant carrot going all the way down...

So like a cascading...

-Cascading carrot.

-..liquid...carrot?

When you were foraging, as you often do in a hedgerow, did you eat

any weird mushrooms that may or may not have inspired this bake?

You've got to wonder, haven't you?

My daddy's done really well to get to the final.

The reason Ian entered was because I wanted to go to the tea party,

but I didn't really know that I'd have to give up my kitchen

and that he would be like a man possessed with this project.

The kitchen's become a laboratory,

so I just have to leave the kitchen to him,

then when he goes off for his baking weekends,

I blitz it and then a fresh week comes and he trashes it again.

Go!

He's a rock in our family. I'm very proud of him.

-BOTH:

-Good luck, Daddy!

Ten sponges, it's a lot of sponge to bake,

but then also to cool and then to ice.

They want precision, don't they?

They keep banging on about precision.

Just trying to get a fairly even layer throughout the different tins.

I'm measuring out the cake batter by eye.

As long as it's sort of halfway, it should be OK.

Just trust my instincts and get on with it.

Just feel like I want to quickly do my maths.

Hang on, I'm just going to make sure I'm using all the right sized tins,

cos I had a few lying around.

Where's my ruler?

They just seem a little bit thinner than I was expecting.

Just check that I have worked out the areas of each one correctly.

I'm doing a lemon drizzle cake.

It's definitely one of our favourite classics at home,

so I decided I'm going to do a wedding cake.

-Ooh!

-Who's getting married?

We went to Bangladesh to get married and they don't do cakes there

and if I'd got married in this country,

I'd have definitely had a cake.

Nadiya's triple-layered Big Fat British Wedding Cake

will feature jewels from her wedding day

and saris to complete a red, white and blue theme.

I'm going to fill the cake, slice them into three

and fill it with lemon curd and then lemon butter cream

and then I'm going to cover the whole cake with buttercream

-and cover it with fondant.

-Where do these fit in?

-So I'm making my own fondant.

-Out of marshmallows?

-Yes.

-Right.

So this cake is basically your way

of saying to your husband, "Will you marry me again?"

-Sort of?

-Maybe!

I like lemon cakes,

I like chocolate cakes,

I like mud cake...

The last few weeks have been

absolutely chaotic in our house, actually.

Guys, can you come inside and set the table, please?

I've been feeling what Nadiya's been doing for the last ten years -

looking after the children, doing the school runs - and this is

definitely the first time she's gone away and done something for herself.

The initial few weeks, she was like,

"I'm out, I'm going, I'm not going to make it."

I think, as the weeks progressed, she's thought,

"I can actually do this. I am good!"

I don't care what happens in the final - she's a winner.

She's a champion in our eyes.

Two more minutes.

Two more minutes, and then we'll...

Did a bit of maths, then - didn't look right in the tins.

Too shallow. Not enough of it. Recalculated again.

Melting marshmallows.

They're monstrous marshmallows, they will take forever.

I knew it'd take me a long time to get this lot in the oven

and I knew I'd get the fear. And guess what? I do!

-Right.

-I'm encouraged to see Tamal's still putting things

in the oven, though, as well.

TIMER BUTTON BEEPS

Wow! I don't want shop-bought fondant in the final.

Marshmallow has all the ingredients that you need in a fondant,

so you add icing sugar till it becomes a pliable dough.

I'm a mum and I'm at home

and sometimes I don't want to faff around

and I've got marshmallows at home, I've got icing sugar at home,

"Let's just do it," and it saves money.

Two hours left in the final Showstopper.

Is that thunder?

Or did I just imagine it?

I've frozen my cakes because when you freeze them,

they're so much easier to slice.

Got a few pans constantly going

so I can keep going with what I want to do.

This is for the sauce on top,

so it's a mixture of date syrup, unsalted butter and cream.

Got three cakes in the oven, a pan of toffee cooking

and two pans of caramel going, as well.

I'm not usually a big fan of the whole multitasking thing,

but I kind of need to be doing different things at the same time.

You see, when you cut it, it just cuts so much better.

So this is exactly the same again

and this is going to go in the other three cake tins.

Ya-ay...eee.

Yeah, that's fine. I'm happy with that.

I'm going to just microwave this for a second.

The consistency I want is something I can spread, so I think this

is just about there, because it'll thicken up a lot as it cools.

I don't want to put it into the freezer when it's still really hot.

But it will go in there soon, just to speed up the cooling.

Ian miscalculated his first batch of cakes...

..and there's something not quite right about his second.

I forgot to put the oranges in with the mixture.

Um... So I guess it's better to discover these things now

rather than after it's gone in the oven, but still.

It's just another delay in getting them in the oven.

Outside the tent, the rain has stopped in time for the arrival

of the finalists' friends and family.

And a few familiar faces.

It is so weird being back!

It's amazing!

I don't know, I thought I would enjoy it a bit more watching,

but it's just made me really nervous!

I came here and I said, "Why am I not there?!"

SHE LAUGHS

Yeah, I would like to be in that tent, but I'm not.

What can you do, isn't that life?

I'm so pleased that's not me.

Or I'd have been stood on my head or doing something on the floor,

or tap dancing or singing or something.

Have I got a favourite? Nadiya.

I'd like to see Tamal do it, I think. Yeah, he's a cool guy.

Do I actually have to say?

My money might be on Ian because he's very different.

Who's family are near?!

All right.

I think...Nadiya will win.

So all the cakes are done. It HAS stopped raining.

Um... Caramel!

The change in weather...

may just have handed Tamal an advantage.

I wouldn't want to be doing this and thinking,

"I've not tested myself, I've not tried new skills."

Sugar work is something that I really didn't have much

confidence on before all this started.

-A lot of sugar work, Tamal.

-Yep.

-Are you nearly there?

-Cooling is the issue, now.

Happy, Nadiya?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Happy, Paul?!

HE LAUGHS

I forgot to take the cream cheese out of the fridge earlier.

It's supposed to be at room temperature. Spread it out a bit...

I said I'd make some, and it's here.

It's going to be tight.

I'm now going to make...

some flowers.

I've got to make three large ones, six medium ones and lots

and lots of small ones.

I'm trying to do as much as I can given the time restraints.

Bakers, we've called time on the drizzle outside,

the drizzle inside's got one hour left.

One hour, on your classic bakes.

These very, very last cakes.

-Oh, no!

-CLATTERING

Left it in a bit too long! It's gone...

Well, at least we know it sets.

Oh!

I didn't think I was making it difficult for myself.

As usual, I've... Sorry.

How long have we got?

Bakers, half an hour till your personal show is stopped.

OK.

It's getting there. It's softening up a bit.

I just want to fill the cakes and get on with the spun sugar.

Which reminds me...

Ah! Froze my finger.

It's OK. We don't need fingers after this, anyway(!)

Ian, hurry up!

-Now is not the time for calmness.

-I know. It's not.

Now is not the time for anything Zen.

-You're going to have to motor now, my love. Do you do motoring?

-Mmmm...

-No?

-Not really, but...

-How long have we got?

-Bakers, three minutes.

Oh, Ian did actually run, then.

Hurry up!

Finished!

Ladies and gentlemen...

Bake Off 2015 is over. Whoo!

SCATTERED APPLAUSE

-Group hug, guys.

-Well done.

-We did it.

-I'm going to do a you and start crying!

-Don't cry!

-Don't cry!

I feel emotional.

Even Tamal, he was starting to crack at the end then

and he's meant to be the strong one amongst us!

I just, um...

There was a lot riding on today for me.

I have tried so, so hard to get everything per...

SO hard, to get everything perfect.

I had a tear in my eye as I walked out of the tent,

thinking, "I'm not going to ever do that again."

Yeah, I've been through a lot. Put a lot into this.

A lot on this apron, bit more to go on it, yet.

Yeah, no, I've gone and given it my all.

Nadiya, do you want a hand bringing up your Showstopper?

-Got it?

-Yes, careful, careful, careful.

Thank you.

-It does look spectacular.

-It's very smooth, it looks very elegant.

I think the flowers are very delicate, they've been well made.

Each one of those is beautiful. I'll take a slice out of each one.

What we're keen on trying, though, is getting

the texture of the lemon drizzle inside the same on each layer.

Those look a very even bake, all of them.

Even judging it with your finger when you're pressing the texture,

it's exactly the same on each one.

The lemon comes through beautifully through every layer.

The texture of the fondant is perfect,

your method with marshmallows is new to me and I think it's very good!

Now, Nadiya.

That's stunning.

The actual fondant on the outside is beautiful, it's marshmallowy,

and that with the whole cake itself is delicious, really good.

If this was your wedding cake, I think your husband's outside,

you're going to have to take him

-a whole tier a bit later on.

-I might have to!

Tamal, if the abandoned Chinese fishing village can't come to

the table, I will give it a hand!

It looks spectacular.

It is breathtaking.

I don't quite understand how it all comes together...!

But I think you've done brilliantly!

It's a really muggy day

and the one thing spun sugar doesn't like is moisture.

This is quite tricky to do. To do a web, to link up the three,

I think is ingenious.

The idea of turning a sticky toffee pudding into a cake was

always going to be a tricky one.

A sticky toffee pudding is normally quite close textured.

The fruit looks quite evenly distributed, which is good.

Do you know, that really...

I didn't really know what to expect at all.

I was expecting to make rude remarks about it being a pudding

and not a cake. It's a BEAUTIFUL cake,

a wonderful filling with delicious icing on the top here.

I think you've done exceedingly well.

It's totally different.

The taste of the toffee almost replaces the custard.

One thing I was really worried about this was, was that going

to bake inside with the amount of fruit in there? And it's baked.

This works.

And for once, you've managed to do it on the time, as well, which is...

-What a time to do it!

-Thank you! Thank you so much.

-Well done!

-Thank you!

Ian, last but not least.

What a construction!

The thought of making five. You did make work for yourself!

The fact that you joined it all together with one massive

iced carrot down the middle is very clever. The icing is good.

-It's a very classic looking carrot cake.

-Sensibly, you've gone simple,

so we're expecting something magnificent inside.

You seem fairly consistent with your mixture. They're beautifully even.

That's one of the best carrot cakes I've ever had.

And you could pick any one of them.

The flavour that comes through the bake is delicious,

the texture that comes through with the nuts, it's beautiful.

The sensation you get as well, with the spices,

gives a little bit of warmth to it. The icing is delicious, it's cool.

And every one of them are exactly the same.

Would I have thought of putting star anise in a carrot cake?

No, I wouldn't. The orange is in chunky pieces and I like it.

It is a different carrot cake.

Flavours, textures, the look, spot-on.

Thank you.

-SHE EXHALES

-It's over.

It's all done.

TAMAL EXHALES

HE SIGHS

WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE

As Tamal, Nadiya and Ian join their friends and family,

Mary and Paul have a decision to make.

Paul, you said that was one of the best carrot cakes

you'd ever experienced.

Yeah, perfectly baked.

The depth of the flavours, stunning.

That is the best carrot cake

and who'd have thought the sticky toffee pudding cake...

That is stunning.

But what a clever man - he took a classic pudding

and a classic fruit cake and made them into a new classic.

Yeah, and this was obviously an emotional journey for Nadiya.

She's made her own wedding cake and it tastes amazing.

Is it fair to say we've never experienced

such incredible-tasting bakes?

-Incredible. All best of their type.

-Do you think it's close?

-Do you know what? I think it is.

-It must be.

Are you in agreement? Do you know yet?

-I think we will be.

-Well, if you haven't,

we have prepared the mud pits, so you can wrestle it out

-in the time-honoured Bake Off way.

-As you did in series one.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Please wear the thong, Paul.

WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE

Lovely finalists, if you'd care to step up, my loves.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I sincerely hope that the three of you

are feeling incredibly proud of yourselves,

because you have given us the most extraordinary bakes

over the last ten weeks. Of course, there can only be one single winner,

and so, with real pleasure,

the winner...

of the 2015 Great British Bake Off

is...

..Nadiya.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

There has to be a mistake!

-Well done, Nadiya.

-Thank you so much!

You're the winner of the Great British Bake Off!

PAUL CHUCKLES

You've got this.

CHEERING

SHE WEEPS

Nadiya has brought something special to the Bake Off.

Her ideas, her flair, her emotion,

her passion were all in her bakes.

She just nailed the whole final

and that was the best-tasting final we've ever had.

I feel really pleased. Nadiya had a pretty flawless weekend.

Totally the deserved winner.

Yeah, I'm so pleased to have got this far, really pleased.

Yeah, it's a huge honour.

I think I'm going to come round to your house

at some point in the next few weeks

and we're going to have dinner together, yeah?

OK. Your mummy's promised me.

Baking with a group of people you get on with so well,

you really feel proud for them when they do well.

It's just... Yeah, it's just amazing.

She's going to be insufferable now, though.

She'll never shut up about it.

She's never been the winner before, has she?

-She is now, though.

-She is now.

I am never, ever going to put boundaries on myself ever again.

I'm never going to say, "I can't do it."

I'm never going to say, "Maybe."

I'm never going to say, "I don't think I can."

I can and I will.

I'm really proud of Nadiya. So not confident to start with

and over the weeks, she's grown and grown

and learned herself that she can do it

and when she came into the final today,

she was nervous, but she had a sort of look that,

"I'm going to do it," and she did.

Sheer perfection.

-VOICE BREAKING:

-And I enjoyed every minute.

SHE GIGGLES

Well done.

I'm so proud of you.

You're amazing, you are.

Are you a fantastic home baker?

Do you think you could impress Mary and Paul with your baking skills?

To apply for the next series of The Great British Bake Off, visit:

Good luck!