Chocolate The Great British Bake Off

Four bakers remain, two boys, two girls,

all ready to tackle the semifinal.

-I'm semi-hysterical.

-I'm semi-excited.

-Let's get the semis on.

-Welcome... BOTH:

-..to the Great British Bake Off.

-Last week, the bakers tackled patisserie.

-Why won't it pipe?

Nadiya was awarded Star Baker for the second time.

Well done.

And despite Flora's underwhelming overembellishments...

-I think you attempt too many things.

-Sorry.

..it was Paul whose problematic patisserie

saw him leave the tent in the quarterfinals.

-Unlucky, buddy.

-Cheers, Paul.

Now the four remaining bakers

face a semifinal dedicated to the trickiest of ingredients.

-Chocolate.

-Nothing good coming out of that oven this afternoon.

-And they're in for a shocking...

-What?!

-...Bake Off first.

-Will you remind me to breathe?

-Never bake again.

But who will prove they're worthy of a place in the final?

Oh, God, they're really burnt.

That was stressful. I'd sooner have another baby.

I really would.

AS FORREST GUMP: Life is like a box of chocolate.

NORMAL VOICE: You never know what you're going to get.

Chocolate?

It's chocolate week.

It's week nine, and out of the 12 bakers who started,

only four have made it this far.

With one Star Baker title to his name,

Tamal has impressed with his creativity and stunning flavours...

-That's fantastic.

-Thank you.

-Oh, the handshake!

-Thank you.

..but has struggled with his timings.

-Tamal...

-What?

-Less than a minute now. Come along.

-Grr!

It would be amazing if I managed to complete a bake on time

without the stress.

It's not really my style, is it?

Flora's bakes are always beautiful,

but she has a tendency to stray from the brief

and place style over substance.

Just forget about the amaretti. It doesn't add anything to it.

I've been criticised a lot

for things that take away from the brief.

I'm trying not to distract too much this week, but improve.

Nadiya overcame her troubles with Technicals...

Last place... Whose is this?

..and has grown in confidence,

impressing with her artistic flair and bold use of flavours.

The flavour is quite something.

If I go back nine weeks, I didn't think that I would be here now.

I just have to remember and think back

how I got through those nerves and being at the bottom,

and I just have to remember that and say,

"Look, you're here. Look how far you've come."

Ian's precision, ingenuity

and unusual and exquisite home-grown flavourings...

Interesting that you're using rosemary.

..have earned him three Star Baker titles.

Well done.

So, my daughter said,

"I don't think you're good enough to win it or anything."

But it's like, well, you know, we're down to the last four.

You know, playing the numbers game,

things are looking pretty reasonable.

But, unfortunately, there's some pretty talented people in there.

So, you know, don't want to get ahead of myself.

Good morning, bakers.

Or should I say... semifinalists? Well done.

Now, today, very exciting. It's the thing I love most in the world.

-Guinea pigs?

-No. Chocolate.

We'd very much like you to make a chocolate tart this week.

Now, the pastry can be any kind of pastry you want,

as long as it's chocolate-flavoured.

The filling can be anything you want, as long as it's chocolate-flavoured.

And you can use any decoration you want,

although my betting is that you'll use chocolate.

You've got two-and-a-half hours to go cocoa-loco.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake!

Let's not say semifinals. Just easier not to say it.

Just another day, it's just another chocolate tart.

It's only slightly horribly tense. I think everyone's quite nervous.

This is the semifinal now. There is no room for error.

If they make an error in making the chocolate tart at this point,

it can prove fatal going into the final.

You have to be on it.

Chocolate tart. Sound very simple.

But it's got to be immaculate, it's got to be a superb flavour.

It's got to taste brilliant. It's not as easy as it sounds.

I'm just making a sweet shortcrust,

but basically swapping some of the flour for cocoa.

I think the addition of cocoa to pastry is a bit of a nightmare.

You'd think adding a dry ingredient into a fairly dry mixture

would be fine.

But, unfortunately, it's not as plain sailing as it appears.

I think when you add the cocoa powder,

it does become a little bit more brittle.

So, I think that's the worry.

The trick to making perfect chocolate pastry

is adding just enough liquid to counteract the dryness of the cocoa

and bind all of the ingredients together.

The little white flecks in this are ground oats.

-Morning, Tamal.

-Hiya. Morning.

Right, tell us all about your chocolate tart.

The basis for my chocolate tart was an American recipe.

You've got the chocolate filling

which is quite a dense chocolaty filling, quite rich.

And then on top of that is a layer of raspberry coulis,

just a thin layer.

After struggling with time last week,

Tamal has opted for a minimalist chocolate tart.

He'll decorate it modestly with a layer of crushed pecan praline,

and he's making just the one filling.

It's always very difficult with chocolate to know when it's done,

because it's dark already.

-Yeah.

-You've been practising?

-I have been practising.

I'm going to do exactly the same as I've done at home and hope for the best.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

I hope it's not too simple.

I think if it's tasty, that's what they'll be looking for the most.

-Good morning.

-Morning.

Right, can you tell us all about your chocolate tart?

So, I'm going to have... It's a dark chocolate pastry,

and then I have the passion fruit layer, it'll be like a custard,

and then I'll have a milk chocolate mousse

and then a dark chocolate ganache.

What are we expecting when we look at it?

There'll be quite a lot of decoration on top.

There'll be some jellies and some chocolate work.

True to form, Flora is going all out on the decoration.

She'll top her triple-layered tart with macarons.

Semifinals!

And I've probably given myself too much to do already, but, oh...

Just want to get this pastry as thin as possible

without it completely breaking apart.

This is for the macaroons.

I'm just going to get them piped, and once they're out and drying,

I'm going to roll out my pastry.

-Good morning.

-Good morning, good morning.

-Morning, Ian.

What have you got up your sleeve for us today?

So, I'm doing a bay-infused salted caramel sauce on chocolate pastry.

Bay-infused caramel? What do you think that brings to the table?

It just sort of brings a slight sort of, I don't know,

sweetness and floral element to it.

Once again, Ian's relying on his home-grown herbs

to set his tart above the rest.

-I think you're going to have to get a move on.

-Of course. Definitely.

Thank you.

The pastry's feeling quite good, actually. It's about as it should be.

I've had issues with the pastry just not being very pretty.

So, I make sure that it's one whole piece

when I'm laying the pastry into the tray.

There may need to be a bit of patchwork, but that's fine.

Shortcrust was made for patchwork.

-Good morning, Nadiya.

-Morning.

-Nadiya, tell us all about your tart.

So, I'm doing a chocolate tart with chocolate pastry

and then it's going to have a layer of salted caramel and peanut,

and then a layer of chocolate mousse and peanut.

Nadiya will make her own peanut butter

to flavour her chocolate mousse

and she's covering it with a chocolate ganache.

I'm going to decorate it with some truffles covered in peanut powder.

Peanut powder - that's interesting.

I'm going to use something called tapioca maltodextrin,

which is a starch, which, essentially, it can take on fats.

What I do is, at home, anything that I buy that's a fat,

I always put a bit of that in

just to make it into a powder and see how it tastes.

-You're a bit of a scientist.

-You're in the wrong job.

-Could you make that into a powder?

-We don't want Mary into a powder.

Thank you very much.

-Everyone needs a sprinkle of Mary.

-Have you finished?

-Yes.

-She's furious now.

-You just get on with that.

God! Can you imagine? That's what she suggested!

No, let's not turn Mary into a powder.

With her pastry in the oven, Flora moves on to her first layer.

I have the passion fruit layer, which will be a bit like a custard.

If it's overbaked, it'll go like scrambled eggs.

Ian, Nadiya and Tamal are using caramel

to bring sweetness to their tarts.

I'm just making the caramel now for the pecan praline.

That worked fine twice at home

and then I had one batch that just crystallised.

Just like eating caster sugar, basically.

Because what I'm doing is so simple, everything has to be done properly.

Tamal will use his praline to make a pecan brittle

which will add texture to the top of his tart.

Nadiya's salted caramel will cover her pastry base.

I'm using rock salt for my salted caramel so that it's not all salt,

you get bursts of saltiness when you bite into it.

I really like salted caramel, but I've done it before

where it's really salty and it's kind of been...

It just becomes savoury.

She's also adding ground peanuts for extra crunch.

So far, so good.

Like Nadiya, Ian's flavouring his caramel with salt,

but he's using fine salt rather than rock salt.

It's just trying to get the balance right with the salt.

Because it can easily be overwhelmingly sweet, this tart.

Oh, that's a lovely colour.

See, pray and the praline will happen. Perfect.

I can't really tell when it's baked when you're blind baking.

I'm just going from the fact that it's kind of had ten minutes

and that's what I've always done at home.

Looks about right. It's not burnt.

The bakers are halfway through.

That's the passion fruit custard.

Got the caramel sauce here.

This is my salted caramel and peanut layer.

I'm going to stick it in the freezer for about ten minutes.

It does look slightly dense.

Now you see why it needs the raspberry

to lighten it up a little bit.

With their first layers complete,

Nadiya and Flora get to work on their decoration.

I'm just starting on the chocolate filling.

I'm just aware that everyone else looks much busier than me.

Maybe I should have done a tiered chocolate tart.

I think it's because I've got Flora behind me

and she's making about six billion different elements to hers.

So, it's like, oh...

I should probably be just concentrating on a tart

and that's it, not venturing into other minefields.

But I always do.

Sorry.

Maybe slightly over-set it.

But, hopefully, the freezer will prevent any further cooking.

I'm praying.

I'm so aware of how good it has to be that it's just painful now.

That's that done.

-Ohh.

-No snooping.

Bakers, half an hour. That was tart.

I think the raspberry balances it out nicely,

so hopefully they'll like it as well.

No, no, I never look forward to facing Paul. Never.

He scares me witless.

I'm looking for a beautifully smooth mirrored surface

that you can kind of see your own reflection in.

Ohh.

It's just not coming together.

It's on now and there's very little I can do about it.

OK, bakers, 15 minutes till your ganache hits my gnashers.

15 minutes.

I'm going to coat my truffles in a peanut butter powder.

Will turn Paul into powder if he doesn't put me through to the final.

I could be finished before the time is up.

It's rather delicate work, this bit.

Ian's is really classy. I wish I'd done a mirror glaze.

Hard. Could be my last Signature.

Why am I shaking?

OK, bakers, tart time is up.

-You've gone for a simple finish.

-Mm-hm.

And providing that everything else is right, it'll be good.

The pastry on the outside is lovely.

You've got it right into all the corners.

But I think we need to have a look inside to see how this holds.

Lovely thin pastry, I can see.

And a good layer of your chocolate mixture.

I love the contrast of textures, because we've got crisp pastry,

we've got a crunchy top and we've got a smooth middle.

I'm trying to debate whether I like it or not. Um...

No, I do like it. If you hadn't put that coulis on the top,

it'd be too much, I couldn't eat it.

-But the fact that that's on the top makes it a great tart.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, Tamal.

Quite attractive. You've got a lovely mirror on there.

You've got a nice thin crust. It looks good. I love that shine.

Oh, it cuts well.

It's rich, it's creamy.

Once this is all assembled, you really can't taste the bay leaf.

-I don't like the caramel underneath.

-OK. Mm-hm.

I think if you'd left it pure caramel,

-you would have been better off.

-Right.

You're king of flavours and I think you missed a trick there.

-OK.

-Thank you.

Well, the appearance is very attractive.

I love your twirls on the top.

I'm a little bit concerned about the thickness of the pastry.

But let's have a look at it and see what it's like.

It's holding together really well.

I like it.

I like it and I'm not a peanut fan.

Ohh!

Well done, Nadiya. That is fantastic.

The peanut butter coming through is not overwhelming,

it's not stodgy, which it could be.

I love the crunch at the bottom as well from the salted caramel.

-Spot-on. Well done.

-Thank you.

Handshake! I got a handshake! That's cool.

I think the overall decoration does look very attractive.

I just hope it tastes as good as it looks.

You haven't got much of a shine on your ganache.

Maybe you got it a little bit warm.

-Cuts well, though.

-It does cut well. Great layers.

Really distinctive colours which you see. Very well done.

It has split, your passion fruit base, hasn't it?

-I thought it had, yeah.

-Quite badly.

But it's light

and the kick of tartness that comes from the passion fruit is fantastic.

You've gone to the trouble of making macarons as well.

If you're going to do a macaron, do it properly.

MEL GASPS

-Not good.

-No?

-It's overbaked. Dry as a bone.

But the overall appearance and the flavours are good

and your pastry is crisp.

-Thank you, Flora.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I mean, it wasn't a complete disaster,

but for a semifinal Signature, it was pretty catastrophic.

I mean, Nadiya got a handshake.

They liked it!

Paul and Mary liked it, so...

And I got a lingering handshake. Happy days!

Mary liked it. Paul did his...

"Oooh, I'm not sure. Do I like it?

"Yeah, it's all right."

I do feel a bit deflated. Paul didn't like that caramel.

I mean, it's the semifinals. Everything has to be tickety-boo.

But that wasn't. So, yeah, that's a bit of a worry.

Bakers, welcome to the Technical Challenge.

Now, as it's semifinal week,

Paul and Mary have something rather special up their sleeves.

It's a Mary recipe.

Now, Paul and Mary, as you know,

we ask you to leave the tent during the Technical Challenge,

so off you pop.

Bye-bye.

Now, bakers, because this Technical Challenge is so quick,

we're going to stagger your start times.

So, I'm going to be asking three of you to leave the tent.

As you all get called in one by one,

we'll let you know what that challenge is.

So, Tamal, Ian and Nadiya, could you please leave the tent?

-What?!

-Off you pop.

-Thanking you.

Don't go!

It's all gone a little bit Lord Of The Flies, hasn't it?

-See you shortly.

-Oh, my God.

OK, Flora, Mary and Paul, please,

would like you to make a chocolate souffle.

You've got 1 hour and 15 minutes on the clock.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake!

This is the least funny thing I've ever done in my entire life.

Oh, goodness.

It says absolutely nothing in front of me. There is nothing helpful.

Number one, make a chocolate creme patissiere. OK.

Number two, make a meringue. Number three, make a souffle.

I have never made a souffle in my life before.

That looks amazing.

So, why have you picked a chocolate souffle as a Technical Challenge?

Because I reckoned it was one of the most difficult things to make

and they were at the stage that we've really got to challenge them hard.

We're looking for a well risen, level souffle.

Now, it should be a little bit softer in the middle.

It's like a mousse in the middle. It's perfect.

-They've got to make a creme pat, a chocolate creme pat...

-Exactly.

..and then on the other hand, whisk up some egg whites,

and they've got to be both exactly the right consistency to come

-together to allow for this souffle to rise.

-Exactly.

They can go wrong by not mixing it right from the first place.

If they fold it in too much, it won't rise.

If they fold it in too little, you'll have big flecks

of beaten egg white, like little pieces of uncooked meringue in it.

Not good.

That's delicious. It melts in the mouth.

All the little bubbles in there, all the chocolate,

just bursts in your mouth.

Let's just hope we get some beautiful souffles,

-just like this one.

-We shall see.

It says, "Bake for 40 to 50 minutes," so I need it to go in the oven...

Well, with 40 to 50 minutes left,

cos you need to serve it pretty much immediately, don't you?

It has to come out then. Oh, my God!

Will you remind me to breathe?

-I tell you, I've never been so happy to see you.

-Lovely to be here!

Ian - Paul and Mary would very much like you to make

a chocolate souffle. You've got one hour and 15 minutes.

-On your mark.

-Get set.

-And bake.

HE INHALES SHARPLY

Right.

I kind of thought this one might rumble my lack of knowledge, but...

This is just to get the meringue started,

so six large egg whites and 40g of caster sugar, which I'll put in.

MEL: In order for the meringue and creme patissiere to combine

at the exact point,

the bakers will have to make both elements simultaneously.

My mind's gone blank.

I'm just trying to remember how to even make a creme pat.

HE SIGHS

Which I'm...

I just can't remember anything.

I'm... I'm going to...

I think I know what I'm...

This is for the creme pat. Creme pat is a posh way of saying "custard".

I've never made a chocolate creme pat.

-Ian, how goes it?

-I can't even remember how to make a creme pat.

-You've made one on Bake Off before.

-Yeah, exactly. I know.

-I've just got to get a grip and remember how to do it.

-OK.

Do I put the cocoa in there now? I just don't know.

OK, Nadiya - Paul and Mary would love you, please,

to make a chocolate souffle.

You've got one hour and 15 minutes on the clock.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH: Bake.

I've never made one. I have never made one.

Why have I never made a souffle? Oh, wait.

Because they're a pain to make.

I'm just trying to cool the creme pat down.

I just think if I add it to the egg whites

when it's still really hot, it's just going to do something dodgy.

I've no idea if it's correct. I'm just going to...

Instinct is telling me, "Don't add this when it's really, really hot."

Trying to make the creme pat.

If it's too hot, it'll cook the egg whites.

But if it's not hot enough...

I'll take it to as long as it cooks the flour out

and then I'm thinking I'm going to make my meringues.

But that's really hot, so why would I put hot with meringues?

It'd just melt everything.

So I think I'm going to whisk this until it's light...I think.

-Tamal - Paul and Mary would love you to make a chocolate souffle.

-OK.

You've got an hour and 15 minutes.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH: Bake.

Never made a souffle before.

Definitely never made a chocolate one, so...

awesome!

You know what? I'm always the last one,

so it's kind of fitting that I'm the last one to come into the tent.

I'll be the last one to finish as well, so...

-SUE:

-The trick to a good souffle

is getting the consistency of the creme patissiere correct.

Too thin and it will sink, too thick and it won't rise.

FLORA: I really don't know how thick it has to be.

It's not massively thick for a creme pat.

Maybe if the creme pat's too thick, it won't rise up.

A creamy consistency here.

I'm going to strain it through a sieve.

You know what? It's not going to sieve, it's so thick.

So there's baking parchment and string for a collar

and I think what that does is it stops the outside cooking

too quick, so it cooks it more evenly throughout.

I think that's what happens.

-Do you need these paperclips?

-I don't know why they're in there.

-Did they give you those?

-They gave those.

-Paperclips?

-They're in there.

I don't quite know why.

What, for filing your souffle?

Yeah, for filing it away in the folder that says,

"Never bake again."

Sorry. That was just... Jekyll and Hyde moment.

Sorry. I'm OK. It's all fine.

Stiff enough not to fall out of the jug thing.

That looks about right.

MEL: The souffle will only rise

if the egg whites are stiff enough to trap the air, and they must be gently

folded in - just enough to fully combine with the creme patissiere.

Persevere. It's fine. It'll be OK.

So, the meringue's going to be a lot looser than the creme pat,

which is where the skill of the folding comes in, how you do it.

If that makes a souffle, I think I'll eat my hat.

Oh, my God. It really is going to rise a lot, isn't it?

Look, that's... Oh!

I don't know. It just...

It just looks way too sloppy. I don't think it's going to rise.

It's got white specks in it, which it shouldn't really,

but I'm running out of time so I'm going to just get it in.

I'm not even going to look in the oven.

There's nothing good coming out of that of this afternoon.

That was stressful.

Oh, my God! I would sooner...

I would sooner have another baby. I really would.

-SUE:

-In 45 minutes, the bakers must open the door

and present the souffle for the second semifinal judging.

MEL: As always on the Technical Challenge,

Mary and Paul will blind-taste the bakes.

OK, baker one, your souffle time is over. I'm coming to get it.

MARY WHISPERS

This looks interesting. It's not very flat, though,

and this comes down to the texture of the creme pat with the meringue.

-It's holding up well.

-It is holding up well.

It's got a good colour on it. Now, that's lovely. It's well baked.

-It does look good, doesn't it?

-It does.

-Nice flavour.

-Very good flavour.

I don't think it's been mixed enough but it is baked beautifully.

-Good result.

-Yeah.

-Good rise.

-Mm.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-MEL: Good luck. Enjoy.

This hasn't got much rise on it, because that should be up here.

Not as much height as the first one.

But they have incorporated every bit of the meringue.

-Good consistency.

-It's a good consistency.

It's a lovely flavour and texture.

-It's just over-folded, which means you lose volume.

-Yeah.

-Lots of meringue in this. You see the white meringue?

-Mm.

All the way through it. Look at all that meringue in there.

-There's loads of it. See?

-Not quite mixed in.

It's quite bad, that.

-It tastes absolutely fine.

-Mm.

OK.

-It looked horrible.

-You think so?

-Yeah.

-We've got a good rise there.

-The height is not bad.

-It's badly split, though.

-And there are some flecks.

-Let's have a look.

-It's holding up well.

-It is, yeah.

There are a few flecks on the top but it isn't... It's all right inside.

It's a good flavour. The texture's very sponge-like, isn't it?

-It's very light.

-It's beautifully light.

OK.

MEL: Whose souffle rose highest in Mary and Paul's expectations?

OK. In fourth place...

is this one. Whose is this? Nadiya.

What we can see is the lumps of meringue.

I think this comes down to

the actual way you've introduced the meringue into the mixture.

A little bit first, to slacken down the creme pat,

and then you fold the rest of it in.

So, in third place...

This was less risen than the rest.

The flavour was there but what had happened is,

you had over-mixed it and therefore we didn't get the rise.

In second place is this one.

A lot of flecks, though, still,

but you managed to get the height in your meringue

and you can tell that because it's still sitting on the top. Well done.

So all that remains is first here.

Flora, we had a good rise and when we delved inside,

it was a lovely texture and a lovely flavour.

You've done well. Well done.

Number one! And in the semifinals.

I will take that very nicely, thank you very much.

I felt well out of my comfort zone in that

but I got something that was edible.

I wasn't last, so I'm pleasantly surprised.

I just thought, "Oh, if I can just not come last, that would be nice."

So, yeah, to come second...

Pat myself on the back today.

SHE SIGHS

Just didn't want to come last. Er...

It's just standing out for the wrong reasons.

I know I'm going to go home.

I'm going to do the best Showstopper I can, but...

I don't think I'm going to...

I think it's going to be...

Would you say, Paul, that it's quite difficult to call who

-the three finalists are going to be this year?

-I think yes.

I think over the two challenges, Ian is in the weakest position.

He didn't do particularly well in the Signature

and he was third in the Technical.

When you look at the other three, they've all moved around.

I mean, Nadiya was last in the Technical but, for me,

she was right up there in the Signature.

I think Tamal and Flora are sort of in the middle.

I think a lot of it depends on the Showstopper.

Mary, this is inconceivable - that Ian, who won Star Baker

three times in a row could be in the trouble in the semifinals.

Well, Ian's got to do well but, indeed, so has everybody else.

Morning, bakers. Welcome to your semifinal Showstopper day.

Now, I don't know about you - I have not eaten enough chocolate...

-Oh, no.

-..this weekend, OK?

Today, Paul and Mary would like you all to create

a stunning and delicious chocolate centrepiece.

Now, this centrepiece has got to be three-dimensional.

You have to make your own moulds and your own stencils.

It needs to have a biscuit element and use any chocolate you like,

as long as you feature white chocolate.

This is your last bake before three of you hit the finals.

We wish you the very, very, very best of luck.

You've got four hours on your challenge.

-On your marks.

-Get set. BOTH: Bake.

I'll be honest - not done it to time at home.

That's why I'm nervous.

I'm just here, I'm just going to do another bake.

And I'm just going to concentrate on that.

I think this needs to go brilliantly, otherwise I am in...

a lot of trouble.

My hands are already shaking. I'm feeling really nervous.

Really nervous.

This is their last chance to get into the final next week.

What we're looking for is detail, precision,

exquisite artistry, using chocolate.

There's no doubt about it that chocolate is tricky to work with.

But there's no excuse - we still want a very spectacular

centrepiece at the end of it, so they're going to have to work at it.

-Good morning.

-Morning.

Tamal, tell me what you've chosen as your chocolate centrepiece.

So, I'm making a bell tower.

So there are three tiers to it

and I'm making two different types of biscuit.

The sides are made of a vanilla shortbread,

coated in chocolate with piped chocolate on it as well,

and then the other four sides are made out of

just pure tempered chocolate panels

with some piping on those as well.

Tamal will top his tower with chocolate pillars and a bell.

They'll sit on a star anise biscuit

and he'll use white chocolate to adorn the walls.

I know what I think's going to be the trouble with it.

Which is going to be the tricky bit that we'll have to watch out for?

It's all been tricky getting it done in the time,

cos there's quite a lot.

I want to get the biscuits done as quickly as possible,

then get on to doing all the chocolate work.

-Good luck, mate.

-Thank you.

Like Tamal, Flora has decided that biscuit will play a key role

in her centrepiece.

-Morning, Flora.

-Morning.

-Morning, Flora.

-Can you tell us all about your chocolate creation?

I am making the cocoa carousel.

So I've got a hexagonal pecan shortbread,

-chocolate and pecan shortbread, that I'm doing...

-That sounds good.

..for the centre of the carousel, and then the roof is going to be

a chocolate-and-puffed-rice mixture that I'm going to put

into a cone and that will shape the roof, just cos it's much lighter.

So the base will be a chocolate cake as well.

I think it's a bit of a challenge - you're making a cake and a biscuit.

To complete her centrepiece, Flora will make

white chocolate ganache horses to sit inside the carousel.

You've got a horse mould, so they're all going to go round the outside?

-They'll be stuck into sticks.

-You bought that?

-I made it.

-You made that?

-I made it. I know.

-How did you make that, Flora?

-A lot of time spent...

-Is that a dog?

-Oh, come on!

-It's not a dog.

-Oh, come on. I mean, look at it.

-It's not.

-Look at the legs - that's not dog's legs.

-Look at the head!

It's a "dorse".

She's a clever girl - she's going to make it look like a horse. Come on.

-Good luck, Flora.

-Thank you.

Oh, I'm nervous!

Nadiya's gone for a different interpretation of the brief -

focusing on a sculptural element,

with the biscuits playing a supporting role.

-This looks fascinating.

-Yeah, what's going on?

Tell us all about your chocolate creation.

So, I am making a chocolate peacock with marshmallow, like,

puffed rice crispy biscuit base.

The peacock will be sitting on a log

and so I'm going to temper some chocolate and make,

sort of, edible chocolate bits,

and I'm going to make individual tail feathers that will go

all the way up here,

and I'm going to put little cinder eggs inside the nest.

-A bit like honeycomb?

-Yeah, a little bit.

-Ah, nice.

Nadiya's peacock will be covered

in a form of edible blue modelling chocolate,

made from melted candy and glucose.

Her cinder biscuits will be covered in white chocolate

and sit in a tempered chocolate nest.

-I'm going to be fascinated to see how it turns out.

-Yeah.

-Are you going to be able to do this in the time?

-I do hope so.

-Good morning, Ian.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

Ian, tell me what you've chosen as your chocolate centrepiece.

It's one of the more complicated ones, this one.

We're making a chocolate well today.

It's going to be cast in here out of chocolate.

Then this is going to make a handle

on the end of which is going to be a little bucket,

which is going to go down into the well.

What's the water going to be made of?

A mixture of white chocolate, a bit of milk,

bit of cream and a bit of lemon flavour as well.

-It will be melted chocolate at the bottom?

-A cold chocolate drink.

Ian's well will be surrounded by a circle of shortbread biscuits.

-Have you made this before, Ian?

-I have, yes.

-Did it go well?

The first attempt took me four days,

but that included making all the moulds.

-Will it work when you turn the handle?

-It should do.

Good luck, mate.

God, they're really burnt.

I worried about it being underdone and being too weak,

but I've overcompensated a bit.

It is a pecan and chocolate shortbread.

It's going to be the sort of support for the roof,

so it's pretty fragile,

which is why I'm an idiot, I bet it's going to break.

While Tamal and Flora concentrate on their biscuits,

Nadiya prepares her candy and glucose modelling chocolate.

She'll use a melted version of the same mixture

in blue and green to pipe her tail feathers.

It gets brittle as it cools down,

so it's just trying to work with it quite quickly.

With so many elements to each centrepiece,

speed is of the essence for all the bakers.

I'm making two different biscuits. This is one of them.

It's my shortbread. Obviously I want something that tastes nice.

This is the base of the carousel, it's just quite a tall cake.

I've done two full assemblies and they've been OK.

You know, it could always change, that's the worrying thing.

With the bakers all interpreting the brief in different ways,

the one unifying factor is chocolate.

To create a shiny and glossy finish,

the bakers will have to temper their chocolate.

This is how I temper my chocolate.

I melt it over a bain-marie,

get it to a temperature where everything is melted,

then you put in ready-made tempered blocks of chocolate in

and keep stirring it until you get it down to the temperature

that you can work with it.

The right temperature is between 30 and 32 degrees,

depending on whether it's dark or milk chocolate.

The slightest error in temperature control and the chocolate will

not be shiny and could end up with a grainy texture.

Yes, it's still rising too quickly. I'll let them sit for a wee minute.

It's such a narrow margin for things to go well.

It feels a little bit daunting at times.

I've brought my own thermometer from home,

so I've got two of them, just to double check.

I won't really know for sure until it's set

whether it was tempered properly.

Ian, there's chocolate in the microwave, chocolate on the hob,

chocolate in the proving drawer, I am surrounded.

There's chocolate everywhere. So now it's the big pour.

-That looks beautifully shiny.

-Yes, it looks good at the moment.

Yeah, I'm a little bit worried. I need about 60.

Each tail feather is made of

two different colours of modelling chocolate and topped with a dragee.

They'll be set on a layer of tempered dark chocolate.

Does the semifinal feel different to all the other...?

Well, nobody is really talking to each other,

there's lots of occasional glances,

like, "Oh, no, they're doing that!" and things.

Which is unsettling me somewhat.

I keep changing nozzles

because the chocolate's setting and blocking it off.

This doesn't look like a rushed job at all(!)

I'm just making the white chocolate truffle mixture for the horses.

I'm just adding a bit of brandy.

I always think booze and white chocolate are good.

I'm running short on time, to be honest.

These are my little eggs.

I've totally forgotten how to do a shortbread.

They've chilled and I'm just coating them now.

They're not bad.

That's the beginnings of the peacock's tail.

I had to pick something where you have to do 500 feathers(!)

Bakers, the next hour of your life is going to be chocca.

-I can do this.

-One hour.

I'm just trying to rush and it's just not working.

I've just got to take my time. God, chill out!

This is pretty much it in terms of detail

and now I'm going to start the assembly.

I'm a bit cautious of the fact that everything just looks all right.

I think maybe, for a semifinal,

things should be looking pretty good, should they not?

OK, I need to relax because my hands are shaking and I need to just stop.

I want a nice glassy finish which, to my pleasant surprise,

it appears to be.

This is just tempered chocolate, ice-cold sugar syrup.

This looks more like a bit of a nest, a bit twiggy, a bit messy.

I am pretty worried about the time,

I'm about an hour behind where I want to be.

Yeah, not great. I just need to push and push and push until the end.

The bakers have 30 minutes to complete their centrepieces.

I do need to get a shift on, definitely.

Oh, come on, that's not funny.

Not even remotely entertaining.

I think that's precarious enough.

Oh, please, don't, not now.

I think this is probably

the messiest piping I've ever done in my life.

Oh, this is the end of me right here.

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

Anybody got any free hands?

Right, if you can just hold those two there, please.

OK, bakers, the chocolate factory is closed. Down tools, please.

-Tamal, if you'd like to bring yours up now.

-Thank you.

This is very impressive... as I walked into the tent.

When you're close up, it doesn't look as good as

when you're standing back here, but the whole thing is very effective.

I think the idea was sound enough.

If you're going to pipe, make sure the lines are straight.

-The darkness coming around the edge of the biscuit.

-They were overdone.

But I just think the attention to detail,

some of this work down here, the joining together,

the whole thing, I'm not convinced that it's neat enough.

The tempering of the chocolate is very good.

It's got a lovely shine on it.

A good bake on the shortbread.

It's got a good crumble on it, it melts in the mouth.

The star anise is tasting well, it's beautifully crisp,

it's holding up and it's well baked.

The flavours you've got coming through are excellent,

but at the end of the day, it could have been neater.

Ian, can you manage your well?

Very contemporary. I like what you've done with the well,

to build the well, it's quite solid.

I think you get full marks for originality.

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

We asked for something spectacular,

we've certainly got something spectacular.

I think I'm going to go down for some white chocolate.

Oh!

-It's going in.

-Oh, that is amazing!

The bucket goes...

Oh, come on, everyone can sort the crankshaft.

I think we'll try one of these biscuits in the white chocolate.

I think the biscuits are lovely, crumbly. Lots of flavour.

That is beautiful shortbread.

Shortbread should taste buttery.

It does. It's a first-rate one.

I could go on dipping it in there, but I'm not going to.

The lemon oil,

who's thought of putting lemon oil in chocolate before?

But I wanted to see more piping,

a little bit of fretwork around the outside.

We needed to see more skills of your chocolate work.

-Yeah, hm.

-You know, don't you?

As ever, timing was an issue for me.

Where all your time is spent up was tempering the chocolate

and pouring it into the mould and waiting for these things to set.

-Yeah.

-Your flavours are good, and that's what we're after as well.

-Good, thank you.

-Your flavours are good.

My question is, is there enough work in there?

Flora, do you need a hand with your carousel?

No, it's all right, thank you.

I like it. I do like it. I just think it's a bit...

wonky.

All your chocolate has a sort of bloom on it.

We haven't got a nice, glossy shine. It's a very flat finish.

Shall we try lifting that?

-Does that come off?

-Yeah. It'll cut through.

Very good.

Very good! Let's have a look at this.

-(They're great, aren't they?)

-How much cocoa did you put in there?

Four teaspoons of cocoa and 200g of dark chocolate.

I mean, I can taste the cocoa,

but I can also taste a bit of rising agent as well.

Ahem-hem, we can taste the raising agent a little bit too much.

-Underneath this roof, you have puff rice.

-Yeah.

The fairground is closed for the day.

-Oh, no!

-Wow.

-I'm sorry. Sorry.

Sorry. SNIGGERING

-It's a bit crumbly!

-Yeah!

-It's all right, we've caught it and eaten it.

Normally when you do something like this, it binds together.

-That ain't binding together, that's just...

-No.

It was more for the shape.

Right.

-Erm, it's crumbly, it's quite bitter...

-It is.

..but on the other hand, it's very impressive when we look at it.

It looks very exciting, it looks fun,

but it doesn't taste as good as it looks.

Sorry.

-Nadiya, do you want a hand with your peacock?

-I should be OK.

The overall effect is really very beautiful.

It has a lovely, flowing, feathered tail.

It shows a lot of skill and I think you've done it very well.

I think it's, erm, it's a great piece of art.

It looks in proportion and neat.

There's not one piece you haven't thought of and made it look good.

The nest is very clever. The detail on this thing is very good as well.

I want to see if it tastes as good as it looks.

It's still got it's crunch. It's good.

It's effective and it tastes good, too.

And what about the biscuit element?

It's fun. It tastes good, it's sweet, it's firm, it's holding together.

I think the whole thing is very effective.

It looks good and it tastes good. Thank you, Nadiya.

Thank you.

So, the semifinalists have completed their three challenges.

There's an awful lot riding on this for them. What do you think?

When you look at Tamal, for instance,

one of his biscuits was slightly burnt.

The others were fine, the shortbread was fine.

Tempering the chocolate was exceptional.

-It was just a little bit messy.

-Yeah.

But I think he's in a very safe area.

I think Tamal's done really well. I think Nadiya's done really well.

Although she was last in the Technical, she dominated

in the Signature, I felt, and she dominated again on the Showstopper.

I thought the design was good, very clever, very artistic,

and the textures and flavours, in each one of the criteria,

the biscuits and white chocolate was very good.

Ian had a lot to do today to, kind of, claw back some of what he needed.

He did something very, very spectacular. It worked.

Ian was very neat...

but was there enough work in it? Four hours' work?

I think there was a lot of templates involved, a lot of moulds involved.

He took a lot of the chocolate up to temperature, poured it in,

left it to set.

He could have shown us a little bit more skill and a bit more

variation with the white chocolate,

but what he did, he did very, very well.

Now, you see, Flora, she worked very hard on all the parts of it, but

when you break it down and you taste it, it is a huge disappointment.

The only thing that tasted all right was the horse.

I think we're looking at Ian and Flora

-for leaving the Bake Off at this stage.

-Hm.

It's tricky.

Bakers, I've got the good job.

I'm going to announce who this semifinal Star Baker is.

It's a majestic Star Baker who has

dominated in two of the challenges particularly,

using a common theme of the pea -

peanut, and then we had a peacock.

Nadiya, you're the semifinal Star Baker. Well done. Well done.

APPLAUSE

SHE SIGHS

I have the more onerous task this week.

It's always very, very difficult to do this on semifinal week.

As Mel said, you've all worked incredibly hard

and this was an extremely close call.

It's with real sadness and regret I have to announce that the person

not joining us for the final...

..is Flora.

I'm so sorry, darling.

Come and do hugs. Deep hugs.

I am gutted, of course I am, but in the same respect,

I feel so, so honoured.

I feel very privileged to have got this far,

so... What a fantastic nine weeks.

Amazing.

'Flora's time has come because she always wants the extra twirl'

on the top, but she really needed to concentrate on her flavours.

To get through to the semifinal, it's a big thing,

and I think she's done as much as she can.

Nadiya deserves to be in the final and she deserves to be Star Baker.

She's really picked two bakes that are quite tricky to do,

and got it spot-on at the right time.

I made it to the finals.

CHEERING ON PHONE

PHONE: They just heard you!

-That's the kids!

-Oh, my God. Well done, Nadiya.

Sorry. It should have been me.

- Don't weep, you big soft...!

CHATTER

I feel like I've got through on the skin of my teeth today.

I really thought that was it, I'm, erm... You know, I'm going home.

I can't really believe it. I'm an actual finalist.

I kind of want to start working now!

I kind of don't want to go to bed.

Next time, it's the final.