Cake Week The Great British Bake Off

Now, we're all ready, we've got whisky...

Skewery things. Sievey. Spatulisations. That sort of thing.

What's that down there? Oh, that's from home, don't touch it.

I don't know why that's there, sorry. We're missing something.

Yeah, we are, aren't we?

What are we missing? WOMAN CLEARS THROAT

Oh. Oh.

BOTH: Welcome to a brand-new series of The Great British Bake Off.

When you think of how many people have applied... Why me?

Coming down the drive, you could just see the tips of the tent,

and I thought, "My goodness, it's real, it's there!"

Scary. It's like walking into school the first time.

It's a little bit like going in for an exam.

I feel like I'm going for an exam.

Last night I was having some pretty crazy dreams about cakes chasing me.

Getting the coveted Hollywood handshake would be incredible.

I'm so excited to meet Mary,

because I quite want to ask her to be my nan a little bit.

Which of these 12 new bakers...

When an athlete enters a race,

they don't hope to finish third or fourth, they want to be the winner.

..can master 30 brand-new challenges?

I have cried over cake.

I have shouted at a pie. I think I'm too laid-back.

In 2016, who will win The Great British Bake Off?

I think I was about to give birth the last time I felt this nervous.

We've returned to the beautiful grounds of Welford Park in Berkshire

for a star-studded start to this year's Bake Off.

So, I've got Kate Moss, Cate Blanchett,

Kate Middleton, Kate Bush

and also Kate Garraway. Can I just stop you there?

Did you mishear my voicemail message? I said it's cake week.

Not Kate. Cake. Oh.

Over the next two days,

the bakers will tackle the first three challenges.

After which, one of them will be crowned Star Baker

and one will have to leave the Bake Off tent.

Bakers, welcome to the marquee of madness

and your very first Signature Challenge.

We would love you to make a drizzle cake.

The keyword for this challenge, ladies and gentlemen, is -

and it's my favourite word - moist.

We want sumptuous drizzling, please.

And I don't want to add extra presh onto you at this stage,

it is Paul's favourite cake. Presh.

You've got two hours to achieve ultimate moistness. On your marks...

Get set. Bake!

Scissors, scissors. I can't believe I'm here at all.

It's just so exciting.

I'm speaking for myself, nerves are kicking in,

but I don't know what other people are like.

Are they shaking?

My hands are fairly steady, so, yeah, all good to go, I think.

Over the years, our challenges have got a little bit more difficult.

And what we want to do is take it back to basics...a little bit,

but that doesn't mean the judging is going to get easier.

In fact, it's going to get harder.

The classic drizzle cake is a lemon drizzle cake.

But I want them to be really much more inventive.

12 new bakers.

I'm expecting the unexpected.

Can you give me some help? I can't get the lid off.

Can somebody...? Oh, I've got it, I've got it. I've got it, Paul.

SHE LAUGHS Hello, Val, how are you? I'm fine, thank you.

Can you tell us all about your cake, please?

I'm making orange and lemon drizzle cake.

It won't be sickly, it'll be a tangy cake.

Nice to see margarine being brought out as well. Yeah.

My nan used to use margarine all the time. It makes a good cake.

Val lives in Somerset.

She's a retired headmistress, grandmother,

keep-fit fanatic and Ed Sheeran fan.

Her mum taught her to bake

a classic orange and lemon drizzle cake 50 years ago.

You're doing it in two tins.

Are you getting the drizzle in both of them or just on the top?

I'm getting it in both of them.

Double drizzle, Val. Always. Double, double drizzle.

Nice, rich flavour all the way through the cake.

Val's not the only one starting with a classic.

A lemon drizzle was the first cake I made

when I was at university, so it's stayed a favourite.

But one baker is giving theirs a bit of a kick.

It's an orange liqueur and lemonade drizzle cake.

It's my mum's favourite tipple at Christmas time - Cointreau and lemonade.

Louise is a hair stylist and lives and works in Cardiff.

Those roots.

Her mum's favourite Christmas tipple will soak through

a drizzle cake in the shape of an orange.

When you've got those two together,

are you putting the drizzle on the bottom one AND the top one?

I was going to put the drizzle through the middle,

then pour it all around the cake.

Hang on. Is this a drizzle or an icing?

I've used Cointreau instead of water, it's water icing.

I think for me, I just want to see the moisture soaking into the cake,

rather than just sitting on the top.

OK, so not too thick?

Good luck. Too thick. Thank you. OK.

I think he knows what he's talking about, doesn't he?

He's a professional.

One classic drizzle cake hasn't had the best of starts.

It's coming to a bit of a clump at the moment.

It was a bit firmer than I wanted, really, the butter.

Lee is a church minister from Bolton.

But his inspiration for his lemon and orange drizzle cake

hails from a little further south.

My grandparents originally came from just a few miles away,

from St Clements, so they would have heard the bells.

So my cake is based on the bells.

Now, you've got a little bit of separation there.

It just cuts down the rise a bit. Yes. We'll wait and see.

MEL: Don't worry, Lee. Don't worry. You're fine. Good luck.

I did have a moment where I panicked and cut myself

within 30 seconds of us starting.

Still Zen. We'll see how long that lasts.

One of the bakers' first worries

is the consistency of their drizzle cake batter.

I'm happy now, I've got some cake for company.

Well, not quite cake, but we're getting there.

They'll need to produce a sponge firm enough to hold

the drizzled syrup, but still light enough to melt in the mouth.

A little bit more technical than I'm used to.

Success relies on the perfect ratio of wet to dry ingredients.

It's black treacle, golden syrup, honey, brown sugar and butter,

so it's probably not for someone who's on a diet.

With his family in North London, Michael is studying economics

300 miles away at Durham University.

At 19, he is this year's youngest baker.

His ginger and lime drizzle cake is a reminder of home.

It's like an alternative we had at Christmas time for Christmas cake.

It's not the most difficult cake,

it's just a lot of ingredients to get into the cake at once.

Do you know how long we've had? No.

Selasi is risking adding an ingredient not often found in a drizzle cake.

What I've done is heated the cardamom.

I'm going to grind them and put them in my mix.

Born in Ghana, and now living and biking in London,

Selasi works in the City.

To balance the cardamom, he's adding cinnamon to his citrus drizzle cake.

Selasi, how's it going? I like to think I'm OK with drizzle cakes.

Hopefully I don't mess it up.

Bit if all else, quite frenetic, it's a competition,

and there you are just serenely pottering around. Yeah.

That's it, I just enjoy it. What's your day job?

I work in client services for a financial institution.

So, banking kind of? It can be demanding.

Obviously in a moment's notice something could go really bad

and everyone's... Like a global financial collapse.

SHE LAUGHS

Yeah. Yeah. See, everybody. Global financial collapse.

In a bid for maximum moistness...

..two bakers are risking adding

fresh fruit straight in with their finished batters.

My tin's got dimples in the bottom,

so I'm layering slices of apples into the bottom of the tin,

which will eventually become the top of my cake.

They're a nice, firm, crisp apple, and they're quite tart,

so I like the flavour of a Cox. They're a good old-fashioned English apple.

Kate gets her seasonal fruit from her family farm in Norfolk,

picked by her daughters, Lucy and Rebecca.

That's enough, let's put the flour on the table, please,

you horrible children.

Once her apple and vanilla sponge is baked,

she'll drizzle it with blackberry syrup.

My kids picked the blackberries, so I'm putting them to good use,

the few that I managed to save,

that they hadn't eaten as they picked.

I love rhubarb and anything that makes me go...

Like a bit tart, so, yeah.

Candice is a PE teacher and works in Bedford.

She has a healthy twist to her rhubarb and lime drizzle cake.

It's a gluten-free, so it's a mix of ground pistachios,

ground almonds and polenta.

And then I'm also going to insert some custard,

so it's sort of like a rhubarb, custard kind of drizzle.

How's the custard getting in there, then?

I'm going to poke it in, Mary.

CANDICE LAUGHS

I love pistachios, I just love the colour.

I love lemon drizzle, but I thought I wanted to mix it up

a little bit, so I've got some green stuff in there.

Benjamina lives in South London with her mum,

younger brother Nathan and twin sister Benita.

It's taking too long.

They all fight over slices of her pistachio and lemon drizzle cake.

It looks how it has looked at home, so that's good.

Don't think they can't see you just because you're at the back. I know.

I feel like I'm hiding. Yeah. No hiding here.

That's so true. Stick it in.

All the effort to make a batter with the perfect consistency

is now at risk of unravelling.

Well, it looked like at home, so that's hopeful.

The wrong temperature...

the wrong baking time...

..and no amount of drizzling...

I said a prayer.

..can save their cake.

Can't change it now.

Do you know what I've done? I've left my ground almonds out.

And I'm using it as part of the flour.

Jane is a garden designer who lives in Kent

with her husband, Ray, and two children, Henry and Amy.

I could eat a whole Pavlova at once. The glory days.

She's been making her lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake

since Amy and Henry were little.

I'm having a terrible morning.

Why, what's happened? I've left all my ground almonds out.

The almonds kind of stays moist

without it just changing the proportions of the cake,

so I started again. Have you got time now?

It's going to be a bit of a squeeze. It's going to be a bit tight, but...

OK. Good luck. Look forward to it. Thank you very much.

OK, bakers, that's one hour to make your drizz the shiz. One hour!

I forgot to put cinnamon. I'm going to have to make it again.

The whole cake? No, Selasi!

I'm going to get it in the oven and then panic.

Can you not just add it to the syrup? Hmm.

They seem to be rising.

In the precious minutes whilst their sponges are baking,

hoping to deliver even more moisture...

Move a little, lose a lot.

..some bakers have given themselves an extra challenge of making a filling.

I'm just making the tonic curd for my gin and tonic drizzle cake.

MEL GASPS

Tom is from Rochdale. He's a project manager and fearless free climber.

He's risking three shots of gin for his G drizzle cake.

So there's going to be a layer of tonic curd

and then a gin drizzle on the top. Mary is quite partial to gin,

but I think you're going to have to get the flavour coming through.

How are you getting the flavour in there?

So, this is a litre of tonic water that I'm boiling down,

that'll flavour the curd at the end. It's an intense flavour.

You either will like this curd or you really won't like this curd.

35.

It's gone really...domey.

But in, second time, so...

fingers crossed.

I missed out the cinnamon in the cake,

so I think I'll just use the cinnamon in the syrup.

That's what baking is about, improvising, right?

The bakers now face a crucial decision.

Right, I'm going in.

If their sponges are even slightly underbaked...

No.

..they could disintegrate when soaked with drizzle.

Might just give it five minutes.

That'll give me time to stir my custard.

And I listen to my cakes, and they're not ready.

They sing. And they say, "Not ready, not ready!"

Overbaked sponges will be too tough

and the drizzle won't penetrate deep enough.

I might just give it a minute. Yeah.

I'm happy with that.

They look lovely. They do look nice, don't they? They do.

And so beautifully presented. Exactly.

I think I should just leave them like that.

They're the sort of page three of drizzle. Yes, they are, aren't they?

No.

Still wobbly.

I'm happy with that. I've just got to get my drizzle ready.

Drizzle is usually a careful combination of sugar syrup and fresh fruit.

Squeezing my blackberries through a jelly net.

Looks like I'm doing some kind of awful medical procedure.

Sorry, blackberries.

But the classic combinations...

Let's have some gin first. That's the really fun bit.

..don't suit everyone.

I am making a ginger spice yuzu drizzle cake.

Drizzle is the yuzu juice and some demerara sugar.

I've never heard of yuzu. Really? What's it like?

I think it's a bit of a cross between a lemon and a lime. Nice.

Rav is a support worker and lives in Erith, Kent,

with his dad, Manjit, mum, Beant,

his big sister, Sat, and her husband Sanj.

His ginger sponge topped with crystallised stem ginger

will be soaked with Japanese yuzu fruit drizzle.

Have you prepared your drizzle?

I'm trying to infuse mine

and the rosemary gives it a slightly different twist.

Andrew's from Northern Ireland, but now lives in Derby

and works as an aerospace engineer.

He has a precise method to soak drizzle

into his rosemary and lemon sponge.

Just hold in the cocktail stick at half length, the idea being

I'll get an even distribution of drizzle through the sponge.

Hopefully, it will give me an edge.

That's enough holes.

By poking holes in the top, when the drizzle gets poured on,

it's going to seep down those holes, escaping to the cake itself.

I want to do it while it's still warm

and give it time to soak through.

It's going to be very moist.

It just needs to cool a bit before I put the drizzle on it.

It wants to be warm but not hot.

Otherwise, the drizzle will go straight through

and out the other side.

Aerobic exercise for the day.

Calm has been restored.

I want to do this quite slowly so that the drizzle absorbs

rather than run straight down my little grooves.

How long have we got? Ten minutes?

About that, I think.

OK, bakers, ten minutes on the drizzle,

or wet cake as we call it in Croydon.

Drenched.

I'm going to decorate my cake with primroses.

They're all edible.

This is orange and icing sugar.

I want it thick enough to slide down the side of the cake

but not so thick that it will slide off.

This is a thinner icing than I planned to do.

Oh! Disaster.

Could get away with it.

That is time, ladies and gentlemen.

Move your bakes to the end of the benches.

Bakes to the end.

Move your purple ring where I can see it, Kate.

Everyone else's is insane.

It resembles an orange.

The bakers are about to face the judgment of Mary and Paul

for the very first time.

You're the first. Yep.

Now, when I look just here,

I'm wondering whether that was quite done.

I'm going to taste from there

because either it is the syrup going down

or it's not quite baked there, I'm not sure.

That is fully baked, but I was just wondering.

It's a great flavour, great texture

and it does melt in the mouth as well.

Well done. Thank you. Top draw.

I arrived just as you were mixing it

and you did have a total separation

when you creamed the butter and sugar together

and that's why we've got quite an open texture.

The flavour's good...

texture's awful.

I can't get the drizzle, but I get a very, very good ginger cake. OK.

If we'd said, "Can we have a ginger cake?"

you'd be top of the table. Yeah.

I'm trying to find the blackberry, I'm not getting much of it.

It's a shame, I expected better flavours. It's disappointing.

When you put your drizzle on,

did you put it on both cakes? I didn't.

You can see straight away where the drizzle has gone.

The drizzle has basically reached the curd in the middle

but I'll tell you what, that sponge feels good.

Cor!

Yeah.

Well...

I can't feel my face any more.

This has got no flavour. It's just been killed off by the alcohol.

Thank goodness we haven't got any at the bottom as well

or we wouldn't be able to tell the tale.

Fascinating that it's gluten free.

It isn't a cake, it is like a pudding.

It is like a steamed pudding, but that is delicious. Yes!

The flavour is really beautiful.

The spices are not coming through in the cake.

I think it's the yuzu that we're tasting.

There's neither lime nor lemon, so I'm trying to identify what it is.

My brain's going, "What is that?" Watch your flavours. OK.

It's definitely strong rosemary, but not overpowering.

There's not enough lemon. Oh, really?

If you're going to put lemon in there, put lemon in there.

I could take more orange than that. My problem is it's very dense.

I mean, I could just wring that out like a flannel. Yeah.

We've ended up with a bit of a messy-looking cake.

That looks a good sponge to me, but the drizzle, we'll wait and see.

Where's the drizzle?

It's very dry.

Oh, he's taking an awful long time. Don't leave us hanging, Pauly.

The flavours are fantastic. Thank you. I love the flavours.

You made a mistake, forgetting an ingredient in the cake

but you quickly thought, "I'll pop it in the drizzle."

And I think, gosh, that drizzle syrup is good. Thanks. Thank you.

Jane, lovely to see a smile on your face.

You were facing disaster when we last spoke to you.

But it looks good when you cut it. It all looks very tempting.

Beautiful lemon flavour coming through. Thank you.

Poppy seed, I love poppy seeds. One of my favourite things in the world.

You've got great penetration there

of the syrup running all the way through.

And then the icing sets it off.

That's a very, very good drizzle. Well done. Thank you so much.

That was a drizzle cake.

You're filled with self-doubt

and the thrill when they like it is just unbelievable.

I think I did a little... That's amazing.

You know when Paul gives you that look.

But it was good, so, yeah, can't complain.

Too much icing, not enough drizzle.

You can't turn the clock back now, it's...

We can only move on.

The bakers were able to practise for their first challenge.

But the second has been kept in gingham-clad secret.

Welcome to this first technical challenge, set for you today

by the Queen of technical challenges herself, Ms Mary Berry.

Mary, any words of advice?

It's suggested that you do things in an order. Keep to that order.

Short but sweet. Now, Paul, off to the soft play area.

Don't injure yourself on the balls.

I'm very excited about this.

Mary would like you to make 12 Jaffa cakes. Yes!

What we're looking for is whipped, fatless sponges,

orange jelly and slathered in chocolate. Oh!

You've got two hours. On your marks. Get set. BOTH: Bake

All the bakers have identical ingredients

and a basic version of Mary's recipe.

It's very ambiguous. You've got to really read it and think, "Hmm."

You never take much notice of one when you're eating it.

I know what it's meant to look like.

Hopefully, it doesn't turn out like that.

I've never made Jaffa cakes before.

Mary, why have you chosen Jaffa cakes

as their first technical challenge?

They're a great British classic.

First of all, they've got to make a whisked sponge,

but very precisely.

If they do it too high, there'll be no room for the lovely jelly.

If it's too low, you won't have that lovely top to it.

Sponge - beautiful and light.

Nice line of jelly and then you've got that chocolate on the top.

We do not want the chocolate running down the side.

It's got to be absolutely perfect.

Yeah, that's a Jaffa cake right there.

We don't do that in the South, you know.

It literally just says, "Make a jelly."

Just boiled the water, it says zest of one orange.

Hmm, it needs fresh orange.

Er...let's put that down.

Yeah, I'm happy with that.

It's your first technical challenge, how can you be so calm?

I think I've got a problem.

Are you actually doing anything? Yes.

I'm leaking a bit here.

In the fridge.

It says make a sponge.

So I think what I'm going to do is whisk up the eggs and caster sugar

and then I think I'm going to fold in the flour.

I think I'm going to do that.

I'm trying to make them at least triple in size in terms of volume.

I don't want to over-whisk it either cos it will make the sponge tough.

Ideally, I'd do it over heat to get as much volume into the eggs.

When you heat up the eggs, they whip up a lot thicker.

That's just about there. I'm now folding the flour in.

What you don't want to do is knock the air out of it.

"Pour the cake mixture into the bun tin and bake."

It doesn't say how much to put in.

I'm trying to make sure I don't put too much.

You don't want too much cake.

She did say make 12, didn't she?

They're looking pretty full.

Going to bake this for about eight to ten minutes.

Let's see if I can...guess the time.

The instructions don't say how long to bake them for.

So I'm looking for when they go golden brown

and that's the point I want to take them out

so they don't go too far

cos then they can be crispy, like ladies' fingers.

They've got a nice shape, but they've not got enough colour yet.

Oh, those are looking quite high.

I thought, "I know what a Jaffa cake looks like."

Now I'm beginning to question even what a Jaffa cake looks like.

It's coming out.

They're done.

Perfect.

Yeah, I'm happy with them.

The sponges are very large.

Oh, you've gone for maxi-Jaffa.

Big boys. A sort of Jaffa muffin, a sort of Juffin.

I greased them, but obviously not enough,

so they're sticking a little bit.

I might cut off a bit of that side.

But that could prove to be a rogue strategy.

How is Mary's recipe looking? Have you stuck to it?

Is there anything you've done differently with it?

Well... Oh, hang on, hang on.

I added a little bit of orange juice to the jelly.

Fresh orange. Does it say add fresh orange juice?

No, but I was really worried because I added more water, didn't I?

Where did you get the orange juice from? The orange. Oh, I see...

THEY SNIGGER

Bakers, that's one hour to dip those Jaffa cakes. One hour!

There's no instructions about what size to cut the jelly.

It just says... "Place the jelly disc onto each sponge."

I don't know what size to use.

That one or that one.

On memory, I've eaten Jaffa cakes,

I'm sure they're not the whole size of the actual sponge.

They're sort of in the centre.

We'll go with the smaller one. Oh, I don't know, the bigger one.

It leaves just a centimetre around the edge, so you're going to get

that little bump which I think is classic Jaffa cake.

I'm just going to go big.

I don't know whether to do that way...

..or the other way.

That's more flying saucer

and that's a bit more fried egg, isn't it? Yeah.

And what are you going to go for? I'm not quite sure yet.

Who knows what's the right way round,

but I'm just going to go for it.

No, I think I should be turning them over, you know,

I think I was right the first time.

There seems to be some discussion as to whether the jelly disc

should go on that side or on that side.

Yep, that side. 100%.

I'm having one of those epiphanies.

I can make a better job of the chocolate that way round.

The instructions don't actually say how much chocolate to put on.

I'm controlling the spread. I don't want it dripping down the side.

I'm trying to get it right to the edges without going over the edge.

That is a really ugly shape.

I don't know whether just turning all the others over

and just have one odd one in there and hope they don't notice.

I think I'm the only one that's covering this side.

I overheard Jane was doing it this way

and I think she's abandoned ship.

The doubt is creeping up second by second.

Bakers, I've just heard from Paul's keeper.

He's due to be released in five minutes.

Five minutes, bakers.

Decorate with a classic criss-cross pattern.

I don't know what the cross looks like. How do you get the ridges?

Cos they got to be ridged, haven't they? I'll do it with a skewer.

Look at it, it's really misshapen.

Oh, no!

Argh!

He's going to say they're untidy again!

If I put my wonky one in the middle, is it hiding it?

He's got them upside down. Huh?

Put them the other way up. Yeah.

OK, bakers, time is up.

If you'd like to bring your Jaffa cakes

and pop them behind the photo of yourself on the gingham altar.

'Mary and Paul are expecting 12 identical Jaffa cakes

'with light sponge, set jelly and criss-cross chocolate.

'As this challenge is judged blind, they have no idea whose is whose.'

OK, starting with this one. That's a bit of a mess on the top, isn't it?

But they've made an attempt of the criss-cross.

That's a nice sponge. Tastes good, yeah.

This is quite dull, isn't it, the chocolate?

If the chocolate is dull, it means it's got a little bit too hot.

They are fairly uniform...ly bad.

A little bit of a shine, but I couldn't see much jelly in there.

Now, these all seem to be the right way

and then that one's the wrong way.

We'd like them all uniform.

And there's not much of a mark on the top,

they've just piped some chocolate onto the top.

The chocolate's not gone to the outside,

so you end up with a lump of chocolate in the middle.

It doesn't look like a Jaffa cake when you do that. No, it doesn't.

This one's quite neat, actually.

They've almost done feathering on this one. Yeah. The sponge is good.

It's a good size. Nice shine on that chocolate.

It holds together well.

The chocolate's quite thin as well on that one. Hm.

A nice amount of jelly compared with everything else. It's just perfect.

Mm. Good flavour.

Now, these are upside down. They are upside down.

It's meant to be that way as opposed to that way.

Moving on to the next one,

this looks quite thick with chocolate, doesn't it?

The actual sponge has risen more at one side than the other.

And what's happened to the bottom? Looks like it's stuck

and they've been trimming them down a little bit.

Yeah, they've been trimming them down the side, look. Oh, it's stuck.

Right, the last one.

These actually look a bit like proper Jaffa cakes, don't they?

A really nice shine on this one, neat at the edges

and one of the few that has a THIN layer of chocolate on top.

Mm. They're pretty good. I like them.

'Paul and Mary will now rank the Jaffa cakes

'from their technical worst to best.'

In 12th place is this one. Whose is this?

It was upside down.

And in 11th place,

it's a thick layer of chocolate and it hasn't reached the edge.

'Val is tenth, Louise, ninth, Rav, eighth,

'Jane, seventh, Benjamina, sixth.

'Fifth is Candice and Kate is fourth.'

And in third place, these have got a nice shine on them,

a nice batch, very even.

In second place...

Well done. Small, dainty, nice bit of chocolate. Good flavour.

Well done.

And in first place...

Well done.

These look evenly baked,

they're well finished and they taste jolly good.

Well done. Thank you.

HE EXHALES AND LAUGHS

I-I don't know how that happened.

I can live with second. I feel like I've clawed back some credibility.

Argh!

Yeah, no...

Not where I wanted to be at this point.

Tomorrow I'm going to come back and, you know,

give it some more welly, really.

'One challenge remains before we discover

'who will be our first Star Baker

'and who will be the first to leave the Bake Off tent.'

Who would you say is in line for Star Baker?

I think that Selasi and Jane are right up there. Possibly Benjamina.

Who might be going? Lee's signature bake, the texture was like a...

It was tough. And Val's had no flavour, actually.

I think Louise. Andrew, he was last in technical.

So, today is obviously a big day.

It's their first Showstopper Challenge.

This is their chance to show off.

I'm doing it nude, that's my contribution.

I'm going to do it just naked from the waist down.

Morning, bakers. Welcome to your first Showstopper day.

Now, today, Mary and Paul would like you to make a mirror glaze cake.

It should be so shiny that Paul can look into it and say,

"You're looking gorgeous." SHE PURRS

The sponge should be a genoise and the mirror glaze should cover

the entirety of the cake. You've got three hours, so...

On your marks... Get set... BOTH: Bake.

It's really important for me to do well today.

Just trying to keep focused and everything will go fine.

I'm just not looking at the other bakers,

just pretending like I'm at home.

A mirror glaze is shiny,

like a polished, posh car.

The sort of thing that you see in a French patisserie

with that very high polish and glaze.

I'm looking for sheer perfection.

If it was me, I would go small and beautiful.

The first Showstopper, their chance to create something

that's going to stick in our minds,

thinking, "They know what they're doing."

Before this cake, I've never tried to make a mirror glaze.

I wasn't really 100% sure what it was.

Jane needs the juice and zest of five oranges

for her chocolate orange mirror glaze cake.

I'm making, in effect, a Jaffa cake cake.

My Jaffa cake yesterday, I got one upside down and I'm hoping

I'm going to do a little better today, at least the right way up.

Good morning. Hi, hi. Louise, tell us about your mirror glaze cake.

It's based on a white chocolate trifle,

so I've incorporated all the flavours from that.

Louise's cake will be filled with raspberry creme patissiere

and covered with white chocolate buttercream and mirror glaze.

So, you're having the sponge at the bottom,

where you're cutting it, filling it... Yes.

..then putting buttercream on the outside?

I'm putting the buttercream on the outside,

cos a white chocolate glaze is very unforgiving. Hmm.

OK.

Thank you.

The bakers must make a genoise, an incredibly light, fatless sponge.

This can only be achieved by whipping air into eggs and sugar

and keeping it there.

Even when they add their dry ingredients.

I don't enjoy making it.

It's a little bit temperamental, if I'm honest.

The secret to a good genoise is,

you want your eggs really whipped up,

because that's where all the raising comes from.

There's no baking powder.

Benjamina will fill her genoise

with salted praline Swiss meringue buttercream.

Her minimalist cake will be finished with a white chocolate mirror glaze.

It's a little bit sophisticated, so I think it'll go down well.

A pan of just barely simmering water.

I don't know what it does to it, but it helps the rise.

I don't understand it, I'm just baking it.

Selasi is making a vanilla genoise,

which he'll fill with a set raspberry Bavarian cream

and his cake will be coated in a raspberry mirror glaze.

I do need to add my vanilla seeds, which I've forgotten to add.

This is sort of like a habit,

just forgetting to put stuff into recipes.

I think it will all be riding on the sponge today.

What I'm going to do now is mix in the butter

before folding in the flour.

I've lost count.

I'm trying to fold the flour in as gently as I can

whilst making sure it's properly incorporated.

I've had to practise this one quite a lot.

Andrew's orange genoise will be filled with salted caramel cream

and his chocolate orange mirror glaze will be decorated

with caramelised hazelnuts.

I wanted to make something quite indulgent.

This is a bit of an all-or-nothing bake. If this goes badly, I'm going.

There will be some deflation of the eggs.

This is the stage where it could go wrong. You just have to be gentle.

Rav's folding in Colombian chocolate for his mocha mirror glaze.

It's just the amount that I'm concerned about,

because I don't want to overpower the chocolate sponge

with the coffee flavour.

Coffee isn't the only hot beverage available

in the first Showstopper Challenge.

I'm doing a matcha tea sponge.

Did you say matcha tea sponge? Yeah.

I've never had a matcha tea sponge before, so this will be interesting.

Michael's folding in strong Japanese green tea

for his matcha mirror glaze cake.

That's going to be one of the most highly caffeinated sponges.

That's a sponge that'll wake you up in the morning. I know. It's herbal.

It smells a little like grass. Yeah, it's like a dried grass.

Start.

They're in. Fingers crossed!

A wing and a prayer.

They're in and hopefully they are good.

Two hours remaining.

Well, they're not pulling away yet.

I'm just watching for them pulling away.

Genoise sponges are so light...

Oh...

..that the difference between underbaked and overbaked...

Oh, I don't know, it might be ready.

..could be a matter of seconds.

If you take them out too soon, then they collapse.

If you take them out too late...

then they go really rubbery.

I'll say a little prayer!

OK, so I'm just going to take my genoise out the oven.

They look pretty light, so, fingers crossed, they're cooked.

I'm happy with them. I think they look right.

Mine haven't risen. What am I doing?

How did I get here when I can't do a sponge?

Candice plans to make a vanilla and chocolate genoise,

mango and passion fruit jelly,

coconut balls,

chocolate spheres

and a chocolate mirror glaze.

So you've got your two genoise here...

Yeah, which are going to go in the bin. Why? Cos they're like rubber.

Did this happen when you practised it at home? Once, yeah.

And they went out the window.

Went literally out the window?

There you go, then. Frisbee. Go on.

Shall I? Knock yourself out, go on. Pyewww!

Passer-by. OK. Good luck. Do you know what, I'll eat that later.

Don't even joke. Listen... You be careful! Pasty.

I'm starting again.

I'm panicking...

And Candice isn't alone...

Oh... No.

What happened to them?

I think I hadn't mixed in the flour properly into the genoise,

so bits of it were just souffle, and other bits were pancake.

OK. I know enough to know that's not good.

Guess who didn't put the right amount of sugar in?

Going to have to make a cake again.

MICHAEL: That's very dense.

Doing the sponges again. I'm starting again.

I'm going to go again...

That's quite a lot of people starting sponges again, isn't it?

That makes me feel a little bit better!

90 minutes left in the first Showstopper Challenge.

Right. Take two... Whew!

Definitely think this is a lighter mix.

Cake's going in...

Oh... Second time lucky...

(OK...)

BEEPING

I'm trying to make some creme pat now.

Might break a little bit of a sweat, but I'll get it done.

I've got my fresh raspberries here which I've pulsed,

and I'm going to sieve it and that's going to go into the Bavarian cream.

This is going to be my jelly. I've added some Seville marmalade,

because it just gives it a little bit more of an adult flavour.

Also aiming for an adults-only filling...

Tom's hitting the bottle again.

When I originally wrote this recipe

it had 200 millilitres of Kirsch in it,

which is this entire bottle.

His cherry jam with Kirsch

will provide the filling for his Black Forest mirror glaze cake.

I've learned a few lessons since yesterday,

so it now has 15 millilitres of Kirsch in it.

It's a new thing for me, learning how to be subtle.

But a subtle approach isn't for everyone.

On the top of the first one will be a ganache,

with strawberries laid on top.

Then the next sponge will go on

and that will have a strawberry jam on top.

Then another sponge on top with a ganache

and fresh strawberries, and another sponge on top.

It'll be the size of a small European country!

Lee's huge chocolate and strawberry Showstopper

will be covered in a dark chocolate mirror glaze.

Have you got any cream in it or will it be just ganache and strawberries?

It's just the ganache. Do you think I should change it and put...?

I don't think anything, my friend, it's entirely up to you. Yeah!

Thanks.

For her fillings...

SHE LAUGHS Green goo.

..Kate's raided the family farm again.

I'm doing my gooseberry fool cake,

filled with a gooseberry fool mousse and a gooseberry gelee.

Her gooseberry Showstopper

will be decorated with a sky-blue mirror glaze

and two chocolate swallows.

We got married in my parents' barn,

and there was a pair of swallows nesting in the barn.

Swallows remind me of our wedding, so that's why I've chosen it.

Oh, and I'm completely coordinated with my cake, so I've got

my swallow dress on and my swallow earrings, I really do like swallows.

Hello, Val. Good morning. Right, what you up to?

I'm making a frosting. So I've just got to add the icing.

Making sure I get icing sugar rather than flour!

That'll be handy. Yes.

So, you've got your buttercream here...

Caster sugar, granulated... Am I disturbing you?

No, you're not. And in here you've got which?

Elderberry, rosehip, blackberry, and then lemon juice.

You've got a four-fruits frosting.

A four-fruits frosting. That's not easy to say!

Val's four-fruit cream cheese frosting

will fill her chocolate genoise.

And her cake will be covered with a chocolate mirror glaze

and forest fruits.

When my children were little, we used to go pick blackberries,

and it's the cake we used to make together. Good luck.

Look forward to it. Thank you.

I'm going to taste this...

That's cornflour! Not putting that in.

They're definitely cooked, these ones.

Oh... OK.

It's all right, that can go on the bottom.

This is my second lot of... MOCKING VOICE: ..genoise.

I'm not happy with them.

Ohhhh!

One hour remaining...

I had a bit of a disaster with my creme pat.

So I'm starting...again.

Before they can add their showstopping mirror glazes...

the bakers will need to cover their filled sponges

with a crumb coat of ganache...

It's me ganache.

It's gone, hasn't it? I can't do anything with it. Oh...

..or buttercream. Meringue buttercream.

It just split. It looks like scrabbled egg.

Disgusting. Going to do another one.

Could just about have time, I don't know. Maybe.

I'm a little bit behind now, so I'm having a bit of a 'mare...

CANDICE: Should I put my jelly in the freezer?

It's done, isn't it? Why isn't it setting?

I've literally done everything twice.

It looks like it's a concertina.

The smoother I can get this,

the shinier the glaze will look.

Is this is more stressful than cutting someone's hair, Louise?

Yes, I suppose so.

It's murder! What do you do when you need to relieve stress?

I usually bake! Oh... That's difficult, then, isn't it? Yeah.

How's it going, Lee?

I've got to get this in the fridge and chilled for 15 minutes,

then I can pour the glaze over the top.

Oh, Lee... I think YOU'VE gone a bit glazed.

Please don't split!

It's not set.

I need a freezer.

Unless their crumb coat is chilled until it's firm...

Oh, there's one in there.

..the mirror glaze will melt into it.

Five minutes, I've got to put another layer on.

..and their Showstopper will be ruined.

Oh...

Not good, not good, not good.

30 minutes left on your mirror finish glazes, bakers!

On reflection...29.

I'm trying to get my ganache to fill in all the gaps...

That's incredibly neat, Kate.

It needs to go in the freezer. OK, off you go.

You all right, Benjamina?

It's so runny!

SHE SNIFFS

Now, come on...

Breathe.

It's just so runny.

It'll be all right.

Yeah? Yeah.

Every second spent crying is a second less... Is wasted.

..to show how good you are at baking. Yeah?

OK, Bakers... 15 minutes left of your Showstopper.

I'm just going to use it however it is.

This is for my mirror glaze. I've got water, sugar, cream, cocoa.

Get this mirror glaze on...

Once this is all lovely and smooth, it comes off the heat

and I dissolve some chocolate in it.

Once it gets down to 60 degrees,

it's cool enough for me to add my gelatine.

I need it to be really quite cool, about 33 to 37 degrees

before I pour it on, cos otherwise it's going to run straight off.

Still at 40-odd degrees.

OK. That's bold...

I don't mind going one shade bluer.

Sure?

(Oh... Come on.)

HE EXHALES

Oh, you...Mother Hubbard!

I'm really nervous to do this!

Bakers, you've got one minute left.

Just got to go on there...

BLEEP

What a mess.

Time is up. Move our bakes to the end of your benches.

You did it.

I can't believe I cried!

Oh, mine's...just the worst.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Jane, if you'd like to bring your cake up, thank you.

Jane, tell us about your mirror glaze cake.

It's chocolate and orange cake

covered in chocolate orange ganache, and then the mirror glaze.

Less is more when it comes to mirror glaze cakes,

and the whole thing looks beautiful.

You have got a good shine,

and you've made the sides beautifully smooth.

I like it. It's a good genoise, good filling,

and it is simple.

Your jelly is gorgeous - set great, and it really sets it off.

It's a bit like eating the Technical Challenge again.

It's a Jaffa cake, but a very elegant one. Well done.

You've got a smashing shine on your glaze.

The actual genoise is too dry. Yeah.

You've got the flavour spot on, but the texture's all wrong.

There's no real flavour, there's nothing lingering in the mouth.

Ironically, you needed more kirsch in it. Mm.

I don't really like flavour. It is grassy, to me. Mm.

It looks as though you have a good-shaped cake underneath,

but blue is not usually a good colour for icing.

I think it actually looks a bit like penguins on the sea.

I like the flavour of the gooseberries, it's nice and sharp.

You've made a good genoise,

but the mirror glaze is really letting you down.

Selasi, please bring your cake up.

I have got a vanilla raspberry cream mousse and white chocolate

mirror glaze cake.

Happy with it? So-and-so.

I think you were very brave to do something

that nobody else has done, with a fruit glaze,

but it doesn't have a shine on top, which we're expecting.

I love that design, with the fresh raspberries.

I like the clear lines.

That cuts through, it's not dripping down, it's beautifully set.

Um...

I'd love to have seen that perfect, that mirror,

but that is simple, it's elegant,

and beautifully flavoured.

Thank you. And it's a joy to eat. Cheers.

You've got a beautiful shine on there.

It looks very appealing.

Is that buttercream inside?

It's a kind of buttercream-cum-cream cheese.

It's as though it's been creamed with caster sugar.

That would be classed as a "see me".

See me later, then!

Sometimes, simplicity is the way forward...

That's taking it a little bit too far.

Your chocolate genoise is too dry.

I can't see the point in having fresh fruit

just running through the middle, with a very dry ganache.

What it needs is a lift of some cream.

There is no mirror glaze there, really. No.

Let's have a look inside.

That is delicious. Really good. Thank you.

Raspberries and cream and creme patissiere,

all blends well together, it's beautifully moist.

Great inside, terrible outside.

That was a good result. Yeah.

Benjamina, if you'd like to bring your cake up.

You've got a smashing shine on that white chocolate.

You've gone for simplicity, but I think you've executed it well.

Thank you! It looks good.

Looks a pretty good genoise from here.

That's lovely. Really nice.

The praline with white chocolate's always going to be a winner,

but you've got a beautiful genoise there, as well.

A true flavour of white chocolate,

and all the flavours and textures go together.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well done!

Candice, if you'd like to bring your cake up.

Candice, tell us all about your cake.

I have made a vanilla genoise,

and in the middle is a chocolate genoise sponge,

and there is a mango and passion fruit jelly,

and the idea is sort of mirror-mirror,

with the mirror blending into a mirror.

You have got a lovely shine on your mirror glaze on the top.

The sides needed a little bit more preparation.

Mm!

Now, that looks an interesting finish to it.

The plain genoise, it's not quite cooked.

It's a very nice flavour, but what's letting this down...

I know. ..is an essential part of this challenge... Yeah.

..was the genoise. The genoise, yeah.

If I could have thrown that one, I'd have thrown that one as well!

Well, I don't think you'd be able to throw it,

cos I think it would bounce back.

I think it looks great, but your plain genoise is awful.

Sorry.

It was horrendous.

You're not going home.

They won't do that. You'll be fine.

Looks excellent. Looks elegant.

Caramel work's very good, and you've got a nice sheen on there as well.

It looks stunning, but we want to know what's inside.

Right...

Great layers, distinct.

You can see the salted caramel cream that you've got in there.

Looks like very soft layers of genoise.

Mm! All those flavours are a perfect marriage. Absolutely stunning.

Wow, thank you! Genoise is perfect,

and the overall look is fantastic and beautifully simple.

Thank you very much. Well done, Andrew. Well done.

Thank you very much.

Well done!

Mary and Paul must now decide who will be our first Star Baker,

and who will be the first to be heading home.

Let's start with a positive. Did anybody really surprise you?

Andrew. Last in Technical - but that is absolutely beautiful.

Has that redeemed him? It's certainly redeemed him.

I thought Jane's had a wonderful mirror glaze.

I think, when you're looking for Star Baker, Jane is up there.

I think Selasi's up there, as well.

Benjamina, her Showstopper was delicious.

Mary, put us out of our misery. Who do you think's in danger?

When it comes to down the bottom, Lee's was so dry.

Val's had an issue - and, dare I say it,

people like Candice were doing quite well,

then that genoise was not good. The challenges we set,

you'd look at them and say they're quite simple,

and that's part of the problem.

When it is simple, there's nowhere to hide -

you've got to come up with the goods straightaway.

Simple but fiendish. Yeah. That's how you like it, you two.

That's how I describe Paul. Yeah. Mm.

Well done, bakers, one and all -

you've all worked so incredibly hard.

I get the nice job this week,

cos I get to announce who is going to be the first Star Baker of 2016.

This person produces drizzle as fine as a summer holiday in Frinton.

This person can also look into the elegant sheen

of their beautiful mirror glaze and say to themselves,

"Yeah, I'm a pretty skilled baker."

The Star Baker this week goes to...

..Jane. No!

APPLAUSE Oh, yes!

Good for you! Well done, Jane! Well done, Jane!

Thank you!

I've got the slightly more onerous task,

and so it's with real sadness

that the person leaving us today is...

..Lee. Oh...

Oh!

Come on, come on! Come into the Mel-Sue sandwich.

Oh, well done. Thank you!

'I'm disappointed to be the first off,'

but I've always enjoyed baking,

and at church I do baking demonstrations.

I won't show them a Jaffa.

I'll buy them a pack.

Unlucky, my friend. No problem.

Very sad, but as I've just been saying to him now,

"You are one of the 12 best amateur bakers in the country.

"You should be very proud of yourself."

Buck up your ideas. Thank you!

'Val was really lucky.'

She's really going to have to pull her socks up for the next one.

I promise I'll dance with you next week!

'When I leave here,'

I'll give my husband a call, and say, "I'm through,"

and he'll probably say, "Well done.

"Will I get any tea when you get in?"!

I don't how I survived that.

'Oh, my goodness!'

Right, come on, Candice - sort yourself out. Smash it next week!

Please, no more crying!

Phew!

I'm in.

Well, I'm STILL in.

Well done. Thank you so much.

Can you believe it?!

SHE SIGHS I don't believe it.

Next time - it's biscuits...

Louise, breathe.

..with a Signature Bake...

SHE GASPS

Ooh... Oh, oh, oh... Disaster.

..that's all about the finish.

Don't stress, don't stress, don't stress.

A twisted Technical Challenge...

My mixture is stiff.

Do you need a pair of warm hands - either on your bag, or on you?

Um...

..and a Showstopper...

Gosh, I hate gingerbread.

..featuring the largest gingerbread structures...

Fear is the mind-killer.

..ever attempted on the Bake Off.

It's going to fall!

Aah!