Victorian The Great British Bake Off

# What do you see when you peer through the trees in an English country garden?

# One large tent and a massive silver gent

# In an English country garden

# Cakes that are fairy

# And a judge whose name is Mary

# Three challenges so scary...#

Oh.

TOGETHER: Welcome to The Great British Bake Off!

Last time...pastry.

This is ridiculous!

-Can I do 48 in five minutes?

-OK.

Nadiya had a vol-au-vent meltdown.

But a poor showing in all three challenges...

-It's raw.

-Your plums aren't cooked, either.

-Sorry.

..meant Alvin had to leave the tent.

And Mat's first-class canapes won him Star Baker.

Now, for the first time ever, The Bake Off is going back in time...

..to the Victorian age.

Oh, my God!

Using 19th century skills...

It's like a hotel in Thailand over there.

..antiquated utensils...

Wobble is perfect. I'm happy with that.

..and long-lost recipes...

I mean, it can't be that hard, right? It's cake.

Queen Victoria would be proud.

..the remaining six...

It's not hot enough.

..are about to quite literally make history.

Whoops...

Don't let a fondant tennis court be the end of you.

I know! This is it.

The Victorian era ushered in a new dawn for home bakers.

And over the next three challenges, our hopeful half dozen

will be tested on techniques that defined modern baking.

I haven't really baked that many Victorian recipes,

so this is all very new to me.

And there's a lot of gelatine

and where gelatine's involved, there's lots of collapse.

I know very few things about the Victorians,

apart from they had really good frocks.

I think this is the least confident I've been

going into the tent this week

because of the things we've got to bake.

I'm very excited. This kind of feels like the week I've been waiting for.

There's some stuff coming up which I've always wanted to bake.

And so, yeah, I'm quite happy.

Good morning, bakers.

Now, for the next three challenges,

we're going Victorian.

-Mmm...

-The Victorian era of course gave us things like baking powder,

eggless custard and the indomitable Mrs Beeton.

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

You can fill it with whatever you like.

It needs to be made with a hot water crust pastry

and you can use jelly or not.

You've got three hours.

On your marks, get set...

Bake!

Week seven. We're going up into the top end now.

The slightest mistake

is not something you want to be doing, really.

EGG SMASHES

Made some slight mess already.

For the Victorian middle classes,

game pie was a dinner table status symbol,

a way for upwardly mobile families to emulate their social superiors.

Our raised game pie is an excellent challenge.

It's very Victorian, too.

They loved their pies.

They were ornate.

The decoration should be intricate.

The key thing here, which we'll be looking for,

is not having a thick base or thick sides or a thick top.

The thinner the better.

Just getting the pastry started.

Game pie is made with hot water crust,

a robust pastry created by boiling water and fat in a pan

then adding flour.

Made properly, it should seal-in the moist filling

and keep its moulded shape.

-Morning, Paul.

-Morning, Paul. Morning, Mary.

Morning. What have you chosen as your raised pie?

The meats inside are going to be venison, pheasant, pigeon and boar.

Wild boar?

Wild boar.

Paul's Not A Boaring Pie

will be flavoured with cayenne pepper, juniper berries and shallots.

Now the pastry itself, what tin are you using?

The tin's just on the side there.

This is a modern version of the Victorian tins.

They were beautifully fluted around the outside,

so you pressed the pastry and then you got this very attractive design.

And it would have all sorts of decoration on the top.

What are you going to be doing?

Just some leaves around the edges and more leaves in the centre.

Sorry to let you down! Thank you.

Ornate pie moulds were all the rage amongst aspiring Victorians,

as advances in mass production made them more affordable.

Last week's Star Baker, firefighter Mat,

has unearthed a genuine antique of the era.

Right, Mat, show us your tin.

Oh, that's a classic!

So where's this one come from, then?

That's my mate Dangerous Dave's mum's tin. Sheila.

1850.

Sheila's tin will be used to form Mat's Raised Venison and Pigeon Pie.

He's adding pork belly and bacon to his game

and flavouring it with mixed herbs.

What decoration have you got?

-I'm doing some plaits around the outside...

-Lovely.

..and some antlers in the middle.

The idea is to try and get them standing up.

How would you do that?

Just sort of make them on the side and then, hopefully,

I was going to try and bake them after and then stick them in.

-Thank you.

-Cheers.

While Paul and Mat are tailoring their pies

to traditional Victorian tastes,

Tamal and Nadiya are taking a more flamboyant approach

to their flavours.

-Morning, Tamal.

-Morning.

Tell us all about your raised pie.

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

And then I'm frying the meat in a spice mix.

So it's ras el hanout and then there's some extra...

-I beg your pardon?

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

-Do we know what...?

-Ras el hanout.

-That one.

I think she's angling for a taste.

Yes...

It isn't chilli. It isn't hot.

-No. There's a little bit of paprika.

-It's aromatic.

Tamal's spices will flavour his rabbit, pigeon and venison filling.

With almonds, apricots and minced lamb completing his Arabian theme.

Having minced lamb means that it will hold together

and not all fall apart, which is good.

Why do you need something that's quite fatty?

Is that because game's very lean?

Well, it makes a much better pie.

Fat is our friend!

-Good luck, Tamal. Thank you very much.

-Cheers.

I assume the Chinese five spice

isn't typical of Victorian cooking,

but I experimented with lots of other flavours

and actually really like this.

It's quite aromatic. It's a little bit different.

Nadiya's Aromatic Game Pie

will be jam-packed with pheasant, venison and duck.

Which were your five spices?

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

Cassia bark?

In Victorian times, they would have used mace,

the outside of the nutmeg,

but many of the spices you've mentioned

wouldn't have been available.

Let's hack up some meat!

Just getting on with my filling,

so I'm cooking the meat just to brown it off a little bit.

It helps to enhance the flavours.

Unlike the landed gentry, who ate it all year round,

for the Victorian middle classes,

game was an expensive seasonal treat

and serving it in a pie showed you were on the way up the social ladder.

I'm used to working with some of the meats

but game meat's not something you do all the time.

But it can be dry.

One of the first things that I properly cooked was pheasant

and it was a competition at school called Highland Chef.

And I won it.

I got quite a good nickname of Bird Girl

for a really long time after that!

Good morning, Flora. Tell us all about your game pie.

I am doing a sage and game pie

with pheasant, pigeon and rabbit.

Interesting.

Country girl Flora is adding pork belly to her game,

flavouring it with traditional herbs, shallots and Muscat wine.

And the decoration on the top, what are you doing?

I've got a lattice that I'm going to stick on top

-and then cut some leaves going around the side.

-Lovely.

Seems to be under control.

Thank you.

Flora isn't the only baker

experienced at with working with game.

The inspiration for this pie was,

shortly after I moved to Cambridgeshire,

I came across a hare on the road

and I just thought, "I can't let this go to waste."

Thus began my passion, really,

for picking up animals that had been, erm...

They'd been bumped on the road. They hadn't been pancaked!

-Hello, Ian.

-Good morning.

-Can you tell us about your game pie?

I am doing what I'm calling Road Kill Pie.

Mm-hm...?

Ian's pie is a veritable meat feast

of venison, partridge, guinea fowl, sausage and streaky bacon

baked inside a home-made mould.

Can you tell us about the decoration on the top?

It's my very simplified bird.

I'm going to put a wing around it

and then the eyehole is going to be sort of the steam hole.

So there's going to be a little decoration around there, but it's relatively simple.

Unlike delicate shortcrust,

hot water crust can be kneaded.

This develops the gluten, making it strong enough to shape.

The mould is sort of half the decoration, really.

So you want the pie to really stick to the mould.

Their pie casing should be rolled thin enough to bake crisply.

Too flimsy and the filling could seep out.

The method of rolling it out...

it's leaked every time with me.

Bit of time just manipulating it.

So just putting in the filling now.

I'm just going to pack it as densely as possible,

because it does shrink away to nothing when it's getting cooked.

For image-conscious social climbing Victorians

the decorations on a pie were as important as its contents.

Middle Eastern flavours made me think of the Arabian Nights.

On the side of the pie, there's going to be some crescent moons

and the roses,

I imagined like if the stories were being told in a garden.

It all makes sense up here.

It looks attractive enough.

When you're sort of running out of time, you've got to prioritise, really.

Right, I'm going in.

I think I filled it too much.

I think it's quite crammed.

To get a crisp crust, the pies should be baked at a high temperature.

Then the heat reduced or the game will be overcooked and dry.

It's in the oven for half an hour to start off with

and then I'm going to turn it down to 160

and leave it in there for another hour.

-What temperature are you doing it?

-200.

I've just done so much meat, I don't think it's going to cook.

-For the whole time?

-I think I'm going to have to.

That's a long time. 200...?

In the pan here, we've got a grisly pot

of pig trotters and pork bones

which, hopefully, I'll make a jelly with.

I'm not sure if it'll work, but I might as well try it.

OK, bakers, we're very game to eat your pie.

And in an hour, yes an hour,

we shall be doing that.

For game to be cooked through,

it needs to reach at least 65 degrees.

It's really low.

It's at 26.

That's 26?

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

I might put it up to 220.

-Really?

-To 220?

-You'll burn the pastry.

-Jesus...!

How's that jelly coming along?

Erm...

It's kind of reduced down a lot.

Oh, God, I've just had a pig's trotter sauna!

Right, don't look at it.

It's not going to improve anything by looking at it.

Right, you horrible lot,

five minutes to get them pies out

or it's to the workhouse for the lot of you!

Oh, 71.

You've got 71?

That's definitely done in the middle.

67.

It's not hot enough.

It's better than it was at home and there's no leaks.

Oh, God...

-Yes!

-Yes!

The wobble is perfect. I'm happy with that.

One minute for this bake.

Flora, one minute.

Ah...!

65.3!

She's coming. She's going to need to come out.

As Queen Victoria used to say,

"Please put your pies to the end of the benches.

"I can't wait to try them."

Time's up!

I don't know what everyone was worried about, really. That was easy.

Paul and Mary are looking for an ornately decorated pie

made from thin, crisp pastry,

filled with tender flavoursome game.

Overall, the bake looks fantastic.

The colour down on the side with that mould looks amazing.

Very classic looking.

And the antlers...

They look more like dolphins to be honest, or dogs. I'm not sure what they are.

I could've done with a bit more time on the antlers, to be fair.

That looks a really well-packed pie.

You've got the bottom baked and the sides baked beautifully.

I think the top could have done with a little bit longer.

And the meat is tender.

You've got the herbs right.

I think, overall, it's not bad.

I think the flavour is good in the game.

I think it needed an addition of maybe bacon.

Right. There is bacon in it.

Yeah, more.

Yeah.

Just to remind you

that we asked for a highly-decorated pie.

Oh, there's the foot, though, Mary. There's a little foot.

-OK, if we take that off.

-And the wing and the eye...

So what you've done is a wing?

A wing and a little eye.

The appearance is absolutely beautiful.

The pastry, it's a bit thick underneath.

Yeah, sides, bottom, far too thick.

You can half that.

The filling is absolutely exceptional.

It is beautifully tender.

I just wonder how that jelly is...?

Is that a game changer, Mary?

It's beautifully set. It's lightly flavoured.

-And it's the real thing.

-Great.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

That looks...

extremely delicate.

-Beautiful design on the top.

-Yeah.

Wow...

Strong bake all the way around.

The game's being lost a lot by the spices.

This is a game pie.

We should taste the game and it's strongly spiced.

I think it's set out beautifully, it looks great

-but, for me, just too much spice.

-OK.

The overall appearance,

particularly of the top, I think is most attractive.

These roses look great.

Look how moist it is in there.

You can see it's almost setting itself.

The mince lamb would have done part of this job for you.

That's very clever.

It has that spiciness, not too much spice, not to knock you back.

It's a gentle blend of spices.

Do you know what?

That's... That's fantastic.

I mean, really well done.

-Thank you.

-Oh, the handshake...

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Thanks a lot.

The decoration...

Remind me what that is?

It's just some leaves in the centre, there's a few leaves on the outside

and a small bird leaf on the top there.

I can see what you are trying to do. It just loses its way a little bit.

-Great filling inside.

-Yeah!

You've gone a bit thick there on a corner. This corner's better.

Just around here...

..it's a little bit underdone.

Pastry has a nice flavour.

It's quite a tough meat, that.

You may have overbaked it slightly.

Mm-hm.

-I expected a little bit more moisture in there, to be honest.

-Right.

It's been ruined slightly by overbaking it, overcooking it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You've caught it all round the edge. It's ballooned quite a lot.

Er, overfilled, probably.

Is... This is?

-Pigeon.

-The pigeon...

-Is a little tough.

-Yes.

The rest of it is beautifully tender.

And the pastry is...

..crisp, which is what we like.

Thank you.

I was expecting to be

hung, drawn and quartered during that judging.

And I wasn't.

Which is a blooming miracle!

Not good.

Not a good game pie.

I know I can do better, so that's a bit disappointing.

Woo-woooo!

Never thought I'd get a handshake from Paul.

Maybe a little bit of confidence has come back.

We know where that's going to go, though, don't we?

When it comes to Victorian domestic cuisine,

one name towers above all else, like a great sponge colossus.

That name is Mrs Beeton.

But despite her image as the quintessential home cook,

a close look at her early baking recipes reveals a scandalous secret.

If you really want to know where Mrs Beeton comes from,

you have to look here.

This is the English Woman's Domestic Magazine,

founded and edited by her husband, Samuel Beeton.

He brought her, his young bride of 21,

into the business to write the cookery column.

She'd had absolutely no experience or interest at all.

And we know that because the first recipe she ever included

was for sponge cake.

But, unfortunately, she forgot to mention that you have to use flour.

That's a base element, isn't it, really?

-You'd have thought, wouldn't you?

-Otherwise it's just a batter or a lake.

Mrs Beeton might not have been a natural-born baker,

but she was a canny editor,

trawling historical cookbooks

to compile her first full-length publication

Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management.

How many recipes did she actually create and originate?

I've only been able to find one.

It's called Useful Soup for Benevolent Purposes.

Oh...

I've been looking for one of those!

I've only ever managed to find either a Useful Soup or a Benevolent Soup.

But never managed to combined the two.

Hitting the shelves in 1861, the same year as Great Expectations,

Mrs Beeton's book outsold Dickens,

as Victorian housewives sought the secret

to baking flamboyant dinner table centrepieces.

And it has remained in print for over 150 years.

The bakers have no idea which 19th century recipe

they're about to revive.

Bakers, it's that time again. It's the Technical Challenge.

And for this one, Mary has raided her antique cookbooks

and has come up with a marvellous recipe from the 1890s.

Before they disappear into the tent of dreams,

Mary, do you have any advice for the bakers?

Timing is really important,

so you really must get going.

Gosh...

Motivational and frightening!

Tarty-bye, tarty-bye!

-Lots of love.

-Off you go now.

-Lots of love, but leave.

Mary and Paul would like you to make...Tennis Cake.

Yes. You and us both.

Now, this is a rich fruitcake

decorated with an icing that became royal

after Queen Victoria used it on her own wedding cake.

You've got three hours to make this.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake!

Oh, my God!

Just sounds like a very...

..strange little recipe.

I mean, it can't be that hard, right? It's cake.

Mary, what were you thinking?

A fruitcake as a Technical Challenge?

It's not so much making it, it's the cooling of it, isn't it?

I reminded them in the tent that they had to get going.

In the first half hour, they've got to make the fruitcake.

While that's baking, they can get on with the top.

Any one of those things could break down. Almond paste...could go wrong.

Sugar paste... Making that can go wrong.

Colouring sugar paste can go wrong.

Piping could go wrong.

The net... Well, that's easy to get wrong.

It's all about texture. It's about flavour.

It's about consistency in the fruitcake, as well.

If they get going and get that cake in the oven early

and they spend time on the intricate design,

we should get some wonderful cakes.

It's all about the timing.

The instructions aren't that detailed, no.

It sort of says, "Using the creaming method, make the cake."

What more do you need to know, other than that, you know?

I'm just going to prep all the fruit,

because I assume that needs to go in the cake, as well.

Cor, it's hot!

So size is important.

So you don't want the fruit to be too big,

because it will just sink down to the bottom.

The bakers need to be quick off the blocks.

Such a dense fruitcake

should be baked for at least two of the three hours,

a fact Mary's recipe neglects to mention.

I'm assuming it's quite a slow bake.

So I think it's really important to get it in the oven really fast.

It's in, yeah. Which is kind of a bit of a relief.

Right, next, almond paste.

Almond paste is how the Victorians referred to marzipan.

Get all the ground almonds in and get the icing sugar, the caster sugar, the almond extract

and the egg whites in there.

Mix the ingredients in one by one, until you get a dough.

Should be easy enough...

Bakers, you've had over half an hour.

Urgh...!

Timing is of the essence.

You might want to get your cakes in the oven as soon as you possibly can.

OK, I'm going in.

"Roll out the almond paste.

"Cut it into 23 by 15 centimetres rectangle

"and place it on a silicone sheet."

OK, make the royal icing. Let's make the royal icing.

Royal icing will be used to pipe the net, rackets and decorative border.

I think royal icing is the stuff that kind of dries

when it gets piped.

"Divide the royal icing into three colours. One third pale pink...

"..one third light gold

"and leave the last third white."

To make the surface of the tennis court,

Mary's recipe asks for sugar paste.

Never even thought of making my own sugar paste.

I imagine it's not a home baker thing.

Oh, it's weird...

I have made sugar paste before. I actually made it yesterday.

For another recipe, so...

Shot myself in the foot by saying that, didn't I?

The magic ingredient in this is gelatine.

A lot of gelatine in Victorian food.

I have visions that Victorians used to, like, worship gelatine.

The gelatine must be melted over a gentle heat,

otherwise the mixture will seize.

Whoops...!

I've just been heating that on full whack.

That's good, isn't it?!

Then plenty of icing sugar is added gradually,

until the paste can be rolled out.

Just has to be pliable and dry.

I think it's there.

Like, not sticky. Like, it's not sticking to my hands anymore.

Oh, maybe I should do it again.

That wasn't very wise of me.

This is a joke, innit?

What is that? Sugar paste?

Yeah. Mine's quite different to yours, innit?

It is, yeah.

Everyone else has got it like...

..something that you can actually roll out.

I don't know now. It's just weird.

"Roll out the green sugar paste and place on top of the almond paste." I'm about to do that now.

I've gone for texture. Has anyone else gone for texture? Probably not.

So what's happened with that icing?

I can't make it. Do you know what I mean? I'm just getting the hump now.

Don't get the hump. You're brilliant.

It just won't go right. Oh, this is...

-Honestly!

-Have you got time to do it again?

-It's annoying, isn't it?

-Listen, mate...

Don't let a fondant tennis court be the end of you!

I know, but this is it.

The bakers have just an hour to bake, cool

and decorate their Victorian tennis cakes.

No. Not ready.

Oh, it's nowhere near yet.

Taking it out too soon could leave the cake raw inside,

but every minute they wait eats into their cooling time.

Turned it up by ten degrees.

It's just taking so long.

Says, "Use number three nozzle, three quarters of the white paste.

"Pipe the outline of the tennis court,

"but leave a 1.5 centimetre gap around the edge of the paste."

I think I can remember what a tennis court looks like.

It just looks like something green with a rectangle on it.

I don't know what a tennis court looks like.

You've never played tennis?

I have. I just never paid attention to the lines.

Tennis nets, tennis nets...

Two small tennis rackets.

Trying to get rid of the evidence of this, really.

Pipe round the edges, actually.

So I might be able to get away with the fact that...

that this is pretty shocking.

Bakers, it's 30 all.

30 minutes are all that you have.

I'm going to take it out.

Clean.

Clean.

Clean.

It's sunk a little bit.

But, other than that, it's all right.

Damn, damn, damn, damn!

Not keen on these tins.

I'm really not happy with my icing.

No, they're not set.

Oh, the handle's not ready yet.

-Fridge, fridge!

-Fridge?

Oh, no, I think I'm going to freeze.

-Freeze?

-I'll freeze, you fridge.

OK, bakers, that's ten-nis minutes.

Ten-nis minutes to go.

"Place the almond paste and sugar paste tennis court

"on top of the cake, leaving the side bare."

You've only got to get the surface.

It's too hot. It's boiling!

It's not going to do in time.

It's a bit darker than everybody else's.

"Decorate by sitting the tennis court upright on the court and the rackets either side."

What did you do that with?

-Icing?

-Yeah.

Oh, it's yellow.

Yeah, I probably left it in the oven too long!

Oven?

Yeah.

-Were we supposed to put it in the oven?

-I don't know!

Bakers, one minute till you're due on court.

They're all broken.

Just going to have to put these on as they are.

Argh...!

Time, ladies and gentlemen, please!

Oh...

You've done the net.

-I think you're the only person who has.

-Mat baked his.

-Baked...?

-His decorations.

Oh, really?

-What, to try and get them to fix?

-I don't know!

It's time to find out who's served an ace

and who will be awarded double fault from Paul and Mary.

-Right, shall we start from this side, Mary?

-Indeed.

Now, we asked for a net to be up.

We have got...partial net.

We've got beautiful, flat sugar paste.

There's a little bit of action in the front there.

Oh, it just got stuck into the side of the tin.

Oh, right, yeah.

It's good distribution of the fruit.

It tastes good, the fruitcake. Nice and moist, too.

Let's move on to the next one.

The net is absolutely straight.

Neat piping around the outside.

Good fruit distribution in this one.

And we've got a nice, light crust around the outside.

-It's like hot Christmas cake.

-Mm.

Moving on to number three.

This looks like a tennis court from Hades!

-The net...

-Is standing.

It's standing, yeah. It looks like a fence.

I think a ball would probably go through that, if I'm honest.

A little bit of a dip in the middle. And the colour...

There seems to be little extra bits of green around the outside here.

Don't quite know how that got there.

In the very middle here, it is raw.

Needed a little longer in the oven.

That's why it's got a dip there.

Moving on to the next one.

The pipe work is pretty good. A little bit of a dip.

Where's the net?

It's got a strong bake all the way around.

Good flavour, though. Nice cake that, Mary.

Moving on to the next one. We have a net.

But it's just had a tumble.

It's had a bit of a fall, that one.

Beautifully piped round the outside.

Looks as though it's been caught slightly.

You can taste the burntness slightly on this, can't you?

It's slightly overcooked around the outside.

Mm. Let's move on to the last one.

The piping's not bad, but no net.

No net.

I think it's slightly under,

and it has caused that bit of a dip in the middle.

Again, the fruit is beautifully distributed.

Mary and Paul will now seed the cakes from worst to best.

That was good. That was quite good.

In sixth place is...

this one.

Mat. Net was fantastic.

-Thanks.

-Problem with the cake. It was underbaked.

And in fifth place...

That's me.

This was slightly underbaked.

Mm-hm.

In fourth, it was this one.

It's a great-looking cake. You overbaked it.

And in third place, who's this?

We've got a well-finished cake.

Was sort of missing a net.

In second place is this one.

It's a nice cake. The other half of the net?

As I put it on, it just collapsed.

So in first place?

Nadiya.

You managed that net.

It was a beautifully-baked cake. Well done.

Yay!

To be in week seven and to get number one in Technical

is a massive achievement for me. Massive.

I think that was my least successful bake in the tent so far, really.

Looked pretty bad and was raw.

So, I don't think you can get much worse than that, really.

Oh, it's just... It's cakes, isn't it?

I mean, almost every time I've done badly, it's been cakes.

Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed with that.

Really pleased that this morning went well.

As long as I don't do something terrible tomorrow. Let's see.

Pigeon, jelly and tennis.

It's been game, set and match. Quite literally.

Who do you think might be in contention for Star Baker?

There's two. There's Tamal and Nadiya.

I think Nadiya did well. She won the Technical.

Her game pie was very good.

The thing that ruined it was spices. She overwhelmed all the flavours.

But when you win the Technical Challenge

like Nadiya did, who knows, you know?

Tamal, I think has done really well. Third in the Technical.

I was amazed with Tamal's pie,

because he just got the spices right.

I think Mat's got to be a bit careful.

He was sixth in the Technical

and dare I say Paul or maybe even Ian.

Coming fifth in the Technical and having a bad day today,

you know, could cause some issues.

One challenge stands between the bakers

and a place in the quarterfinals.

Good morning, bakers.

Or as they would say in Victorian times,

"Wotcha, cock. Have a banana!"

Today, Mary and Paul would love you for your Showstoppers

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

Charlotte Russe.

Oooh...

So a charlotte russe is a big, blousy dessert

with bavarois cream and jelly

and it has to be freestanding.

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

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake!

A lot of wobble happening this weekend.

A lot of wobbles, emotionally, structurally...

The Showstopper Challenge today is a charlotte russe,

a traditional Victorian dessert made up of lady's fingers,

a bavarois cream and jelly.

Simple enough.

Or maybe not.

The most difficult thing in this challenge

is getting the bavarois and jelly to set

and they've got to add the right amount of gelatine,

that it's not too stiff and it's not too runny.

All the bakers are making traditional sponge fingers

for their external structure.

Sponge fingers have got to be nice, light and airy.

So the way you do that is by whipping up the egg whites

to get loads of little bubbles in them

and, when it goes in the oven,

those expand and it gives you a nice texture.

This mix needs to be very, very light.

Fingers are just dense otherwise.

Most are also using the sponge mix

to create the base layer of their russe.

-Hello, Ian.

-Morning, morning.

Right, tell us all about your charlotte russe.

So we are going to start off, obviously, with that at the bottom,

then we're going to have some rhubarb compote,

then some bavarois,

then another thin layer of compote,

more bavarois and then, finally, the jelly on top.

And then a three-dimensional crown.

-OK.

-Gracious!

Ian's crown will sit atop a ginger jelly,

flavoured with home-grown lemon verbena.

So you're really going overboard on the...

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-..on the sponges?

I was lacking with my decorations yesterday.

I'd like to make up for it today.

-You've got a lot ahead of you.

-I have.

Ian isn't the only baker

bringing a very Victorian sense of grandeur to their russe.

Hello, Paul. What are you making?

I'm making a strawberry bavarois cream.

Jelly is rhubarb and orange

and, obviously, the Victorians were very elaborate with their fruit.

So I'll be doing some fruit carvings.

Paul's adding almond to his sponge fingers

and rosemary to his jelly,

which will support his fruit sculptures.

Strawberries into roses.

-Apples into swans.

-Apples into swans?!

Apples into swans are very clever. It's the way you use the knife.

If you glance into Mrs Beeton,

everything was so ornate

because labour was cheap

and all the cooks would be competing against each other.

What, do you do it with a sort of little hammer and chisel?

-A sharp knife.

-Oh, with a knife.

-A sharp knife.

A hammer and chisel on an apple?

But tiny, little one. I thought Paul would have a little one in his kit.

-A little small one.

-No.

I just thought the sponge fingers looked a bit plain,

so I wanted to do something to make them a little more distinctive.

Doing it a bit of a cheat style and building them almost as a wall.

So they're all touching.

And sort of hoping that's going to prevent any...

..sort of leaks.

Mat's making a strawberry charlotte russe

filled with strawberry bavarois, topped with strawberry jelly

and decorated with...strawberries.

If you keep it simple, there's less to go wrong.

The sort of pitfall of keeping things simple

is that you've got nowhere to hide.

But it's sort of served me all right so far.

Unlike Mat, Flora's flavours are far from straightforward.

-Good morning, Flora.

-Morning.

Will you describe the layers to us?

I've got a pink layer of the raspberry sponge

and then I've got a champagne jelly with pomegranate juice

and some raspberries.

And then I've got a white chocolate bavarois

and then the sponge, jelly and bavarois repeated.

Flora's also making champagne truffles.

Her top jelly layer will be flecked with gold leaf

and her middle layers studded with fresh pomegranate seeds.

What possessed you to use pomegranate?

I actually really like pomegranates.

What's your beef with pomegranates, Paul?

It's the texture.

Everything is being aimed at being soft and silky and smooth.

And then bang! You're hit with a pomegranate.

I'm not going to seed them all for you, I'm sorry.

FLORA LAUGHS

Just going to start lining the tin with the sponge fingers.

This is my lady's fingers chopper,

to ensure that each of my lady's fingers

is exactly nine centimetres long.

If I overlap, there's less chance of a leakage.

I'm happy with that.

While all the other bakers are using sponge to support their fillings,

Tamal has opted for something a little more precarious.

I've got a jelly layer at the base.

There is no sponge fingers on the bottom

and I'm doing raspberry and ginger jelly

and the top jelly is blackberry and apple.

Inside Tamal's jelly sandwich

is a cardamom, rosewater and orange blossom-flavoured bavarois

with macarons as decoration.

It's easy to overdo it with all those ingredients.

They're quite strong flavours.

I'm going to get started on the bavarois.

Bavarois starts life as a custard.

Dissolve the sugar in the milk, heating it up

and that's going to go into the eggs in a minute to thicken up the eggs.

I'm just infusing the milk with the cardamom

and then I'll filter out, so you don't get the bits of cardamom in.

You just the flavour.

It should end up set, like a mousse.

And that means adding just the right amount of gelatine.

I want it to wobble when you shake the plate,

but to be structurally sound at the same time.

Then delicately whipped cream is incorporated gently

to create a silky texture.

Just trying to get all the lumps out, really.

It's nearly there.

-Good morning, Nadiya.

-Morning.

You've got a meringue going at the moment. Explain.

When I was at school,

one of the things my teacher taught me was how to make a bavarois cream

and she used Italian meringue in hers. And I'm using her recipe.

The idea of putting an Italian meringue in there is a good one.

It lightens it up, but it'll also help as well with the set.

Nadiya's creating two different flavours of bavarois -

one raspberry, one mango -

topped with mango jelly.

And how are you decorating it?

It's quite a simple decoration.

I'm going to use a little bit of the Italian meringue.

Everything that I've put in the dessert,

I'm going to put on top of the dessert.

It's quite simple, but I think...

I think, as long as... I think it's...

I don't know. We'll see.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-See you.

-Thank you.

Yeah, I think they want an elaborate design, perhaps.

But, no, I'm not worried.

No, I'm not worried at all.

If I can get it out there and it's set, I'm happy.

I'm getting started on the base jelly,

which is the raspberry ginger one.

I'm going for quite a firm set with this jelly.

Just want to try and get it right.

It's mainly the flavour that I'm after for the champagne.

My aim, essentially, is to just get them trollied!

Hitting shelves in the late 1800s,

ready-made gelatine enabled home bakers

to copy decadent desserts being served up at restaurants

without the faff of boiling up hooves.

So one, two, three...

And getting the jelly just right

is key to creating the perfect charlotte russe.

One and a half gelatine sheets are in there.

I'm hoping that's enough.

..six, seven, eight...

One and a half should be enough, surely?

There's three-and-a-half hours to go, but no time to waste.

I'm just getting my first layer in.

Before it sets too hard, the bakers pour their bavarois.

It's all looking just how I wanted it,

which is kind of a like a thick custard, really.

I'd like it to sort of...

-..settle down a bit more.

-Like, lay a bit smoother.

Each layer has to set before the next is added,

or the whole russe could collapse.

And, in the meantime...

..it's on to decorations.

So, making some macarons to go on the top of my charlotte.

The title of the cake is Victoria's Crown,

and this is the crown itself.

So, bake that for about 20 minutes or so.

And... Yeah, then start assembling it.

Everyone else is doing loads of stuff.

It's like a hotel in Thailand over there!

Paul...

-Yes?

-This is a question, obviously, I've asked a million times,

but when did you first get into carving fruit?

Er, in a day.

-In one day?

-In one day, I learnt how to do it.

You went from eating them to going, "Oh, I must make a swan"?

It's what I like doing. It's the arty side of things.

-It's fantastic.

-You love it, don't you?

Oh, I love it. It's great. It's great stuff.

-What are you making out of the pineapple? A penguin?

-Yeah!

OK, bakers, that's one hour.

Time to rush the russe!

You've got 60 minutes.

I'm going to put my second layer of mango bavarois in.

This will be the penultimate layer.

I've just got the jelly to go.

I just want it just so I can spoon it in.

Hopefully, I'll have enough time,

because I've got to then freeze it and then decorate it, as well.

Don't seep on me, please!

That'll do. Straight in the freezer.

OK, bakers, just ten minutes left,

so pull your sponge fingers out!

This jelly will set enough. I won't get the fruit on top, but...

it should be all right.

How do I get it from there to there?

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

OK, then.

What's going on round here?

No, it's split, man.

You need to get it more onto this.

Do you need more hands?

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

-Shall I put my hands...?

-No, it's coming off. It's lifting off, man.

Ah... You're twisting it!

That's all right. Let go.

-OK?

-No, look...!

Oh, it looks so close.

That's it.

What a shame.

Taxi!

This is the start of Victoria's Crown.

OK, bakers, one minute!

Ian, you've got one minute to do the coronation of that sponge!

Flipping heck...!

APPLAUSE

Very good.

Bakers, time is very much up.

My gelatine's not set properly yet.

Paul and Mary are looking for a stately charlotte russe

of perfectly set jelly and silky bavarois,

circled by shapely sponge fingers.

-Flora, are you OK to bring yours up?

-Yes.

I think the definition in your sponges are good.

They look like lady's fingers. I think they look really nice.

Ooh...

Well, we've got very, very distinctive layers there.

The actual bavarois...

..is rich, creamy.

It's lovely.

I like the jelly. It's quite boozy!

The bavarois itself tastes amazing.

Your pomegranate and raspberry jelly...

Pomegranate will always lose out to raspberry.

It's never going to bring anything to the table, bar grit.

And, to be honest, because you've got the jelly,

which is carrying that lovely champagne flavour to it,

the bavarois is beautiful

and then you go and ruin it by adding those sharp flavours.

I don't think you'll do pomegranate again, will you?

-No.

-Thank you.

The general appearance is absolutely lovely.

You've slightly overlapped your sponge fingers.

-I think they're a bit flat.

-Yeah.

They've just opened up a bit too much,

because it doesn't really look like a lady's finger.

MEL: Oh, hello, sailor.

The layers look fantastic.

Clear, definitive colours.

Oh, Nadiya...

I love it.

The raspberry bavarois is so light,

it's like a mousse.

Likewise with the mango.

They're beautiful consistencies,

they're airy, they're creamy.

They're very good indeed.

-Well done. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Paul, do you want to come up?

The fruit design on the bottom, very Victorian.

Would have been nice to have had one on the top,

but it looks...

..a little bit watery.

We'll have to test that and see.

There goes the river.

We have a sauce on top, not a jelly.

I think you've got too much gelatine in that bavarois.

The flavour's great, though. The sponges are excellent.

The almond really comes through.

The jelly is very sweet.

And it's not set.

Ian, do you want to bring charlotte up to the table?

I think it looks spectacular. Queen Victoria would be proud.

Oh-ho!

-Oh...

-Wowzers!

We've got wonderful layers there.

Spectacular, mate. I mean, really...

From the sponge finger, crispy on the outside,

beautiful and soft on the inside.

The bavarois holds.

Not too much gelatine, so it falls apart, it's silky smooth.

You have the jelly consistency without being too rubbery.

-And again, the flavour's coming through.

-Great.

That is purely magical.

Brilliant. Thank you.

-You've had some issues with it. It's split.

-Yeah, it split.

And the sponge fingers around the outside are too close together.

There's no definition between one and another.

The piping of the cream...

I just think it's a little bit...

-rushed.

-Mm.

-That's what it looks like.

-Yeah.

-If you can hold that sponge finger in, please?

-Got it, my love.

Lovely.

-The jelly on the top really hasn't quite set.

-No.

It may not have set, but it's true strawberry flavour.

Bavarois is delicious.

I love this challenge.

It's the best one ever!

It's very light, it's airy, it's creamy.

You've got all the elements there for a fantastic charlotte russe.

I just think you've lost it on all counts,

except for the filling, the bavarois,

-because that is delicious.

-Good.

-Thank you, Mat.

-No worries. Cheers.

Tamal, your sponge fingers,

you've done this distinctive design and it does look very, very special.

Macarons look good.

Oooh, sir...!

Now, you've managed without putting any sponge.

You didn't need to stabilise it. It looks fine to me.

You've got some lovely flavours there.

The rosewater and the cardamom together,

they're two tricky little flavour combinations

that, actually, you've got it perfectly balanced.

It's creamy, it's silky, it melts in the mouth.

That is beautiful.

The fact that you managed to keep the rigidity in the charlotte russe

by just using the jelly

is extremely clever and the flavours are gorgeous.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I think they liked it.

Paul and Mary must now decide who deserves Star Baker

and who will leave.

Flora had a middling day yesterday, didn't she?

She was fourth in the Technical.

Although the flavours were pretty good today,

I think the addition of the raspberry and pomegranate

just didn't work.

Paul, with his pouring jelly, just isn't satisfactory.

You can't have a jelly like that.

Mat is certainly in a bit of trouble, isn't he?

Because he was, of course, last in the Technical Challenge.

The whole thing had split.

Well, he went for it being very simple,

but even that didn't work for him.

So, for me, I think at the bottom,

I would say Paul and Mat are in trouble.

OK. Do you know who you might pick as Star Baker? Any clue?

I have at the moment.

-Oh...

-I think I've got one.

Well, while you're doing that, Mel and I are going to enjoy

some of Paul's apple swans

or maybe a banana mongoose.

Bakers, what a joy!

I get the fun job of saying who has got the illustrious title

of Star Baker this week.

These challenges have been tough in Victorian week.

They've involved care, they've needed attention to detail

and patience.

And so it's entirely fitting that Star Baker this week

is a man who is incredibly used to PATIENTS.

Congratulations, lovely Tamal.

You're this week's Star Baker.

Oh, I don't like this bit at all.

We can't progress to next week with all of you, sadly.

So I'm really, really sorry to say

that the person who won't be coming with us next week is...

..Mat.

We're going to miss you.

Lovely Mat!

-The tallest baker in the world!

-Aww!

-Thank you. Thanks a lot.

-What a joy to have you.

'That's it. All done, yeah.'

Obviously, I'm sad to be going,

but it's definitely the right decision.

'Yeah, brilliantly proud.

'Got a lot further than I thought I ever would.'

You know, I got to week seven, I got a Star Baker.

Yeah, I'll get back into baking. I'll have to now.

People will want loads of cake and stuff made for them.

I best start charging, I reckon.

Keep praying. Keep praying. It's all good.

Didn't know what I was doing, it's gone all right.

I think we've just entered a realm in Mat's baking world

that he just wasn't comfortable with

and the problem is, when you have three challenges

and two of which you slip up on, you can't do that.

We're coming up to the quarterfinals now.

Oh, you'll be sorry.

'That was a close call. Definitely. I can't afford to do that next week.'

It's not nice. Someone's got to go, it's a competition,

but I did feel relieved.

I'm so happy.

-I'm so pleased for you.

-Thank you. Thank you so much.

I can't wait to ring my parents.

Hello, Mum. Guess what? I got Star Baker!

-'Sorry?'

-I got Star Baker!

'Oh, my God!'

Tamal's been knocking on the door of Star Baker now for weeks.

Finally, he's got it.

It will boost his confidence and, when he comes back next week,

I think he'll be working very, very hard to keep up his standards.

So this was one of my secret aims that I haven't told anyone.

But the aims were don't go out in week one,

make something that they think is tasty,

get Star Baker once.

And I've done it.

And, yeah, it's great.

Next time, it's the quarterfinal.

No. I can only taste fear in my mouth right now.

And the bakers face their biggest pastry demons...

I have to get some puff pastry out, whatever kind it is.

..tackle some high-end French patisserie...

They should be sheer perfection.

I really don't know what I'm doing here.

Ow!

..and push show-stopping choux pastry to a whole new height.

Come on...!

Practised it and it looked beautiful for about five minutes

and then just made a gentle topple down.

Oh, I'm too nervous for construction.