Biscuit Week The Great British Bake Off

Welcome to week two in the Bake Off tent.

One baker's gone, they're not coming back,

Sue's also gone, but she will be back.

Last week was a piece of cake, now it's crunch time,

but who is going to...snap first?

Welcome to The Great British Bake Off.

Last time... The Bake Off began with cakes.

Coming to a bit of a clump at the moment.

What do you do when you need to relieve stress? I usually bake.

I love that design and it's a joy to eat.

Despite Selasi and Andrew's best efforts...

Absolutely stunning.

..it was Jane... No! ..who excelled, clinching Star Baker.

Thank you. And although Candice faltered...

It's very rubbery.

..it was Reverend Lee...

Texture's awful. ..who became the first baker to leave the tent.

'This week, it's biscuits.'

Everybody else is ready and I'm not.

They've got to look uniform.

But who can create the crunch...

Now that's crispy.

..and keep their cool...

God, I hate gingerbread. ..when everything around them...

SHE GASPS ..is falling apart.

CONTESTANTS GASP AND GROAN

Who wants to eat some carpet? I'll eat a bit of carpet.

Over the next two days, the bakers will face three challenges

to test their biscuit-making credentials.

Three chances to claim Star Baker and to avoid leaving the Bake Off.

Morning, bakers. Welcome back to the tent of dreams.

For your Signature Challenge this morning,

Paul and Mary would like you to make 24 iced biscuits.

They should be identical and the biscuits should be as crisp

as Paul Hollywood's hair.

You've got two and a half hours.

On your marks, get set, BAKE!

Being Star Baker last week does put a little bit of pressure on.

I've made loads and loads of the biscuits,

but I haven't iced that many, to be honest. I feel good today.

Just have to take each day as it comes and then just bake

and produce whatever is required.

The trickiest part is not being too ambitious.

24 biscuits, absolutely perfect, all the same thickness,

same crunchy texture - it's a really difficult challenge.

You've got to decide whether you want it to snap

or be a bit like shortbread.

But biscuits is one of my firm favourites.

I just hope and pray that they give me a mug of tea big enough

so I can dunk all the biscuits in.

Look at the colour of my tea.

Wow. That is seriously strong tea.

Why is it that colour?

Because I used about, I don't know... 500 teabags?

Yeah. Good morning, Louise.

Hi. Right, can you tell us about your biscuits, please?

Today, I'm making rich tea biscuits with a flavour of bara brith.

Can you remind me what is bara brith, Louise?

It's a Welsh fruitcake.

It's a very moist loaf and you put lots of butter on it.

When she's not practising for the Bake Off,

Louise is climbing in the Welsh hills with fiance Simon.

Her flock of sheep-shaped biscuits

will contain fruit soaked in tea,

bara brith style.

When we bite into it, is it going to break, is it going to crumble,

is it going to bend? It's not...

It's a softer biscuit, it's not too crunchy.

Well, good luck anyway. Thank you. See you in a bit.

My biggest challenge today is making sure that I'm not messy

and that I really work hard on my presentation.

Up until now, Val's harshest critic was one-year-old grandson Arthur.

Too big!

But it's from her own childhood that Val's drawn inspiration

for her shortbreads,

resembling Neapolitan ice creams.

When we were kids, we were quite poor.

Things like cornets,

we only ever had them as treats if we went to the seaside.

And for years we continued to go on the family holiday

and Dad always bought us ice creams to make up for the ones

he couldn't buy us when we were kids.

Most of the bakers are making biscuit dough by creaming together

the butter and sugar first...

So, I'm looking for a nice crunch

in the biscuit,

that's how I'm going to gauge it ultimately, the biscuit,

if you get that snap.

..but Kate, Val and Andrew are relying on rubbing in

to make their shortbread dough.

My Dad's got legendary shortbread.

He won a women's shortbread

competition in the '70s,

which is one of his proudest achievements.

When he's not engineering,

Andrew performs with the local musical theatre group.

He's creating a hive of

honey-flavoured shortbread biscuits,

adorned with iced bees.

It's not as snappy a biscuit as some other iced biscuits,

it should be like a kind of like an almond shortbread.

Kate's shortbread is a little more fragrant.

I've chosen to make a lavender

and bergamot biscuit.

You're using two flavours I'm not particularly fond of.

Smells a bit medicinal to me. Thanks, Bez.

Slightly skincare.

Back home in Norfolk...

Put your woggle on. ..Kate's a Brownie leader.

She's making shortbreads in the image of swallowtail butterflies

and she has her own secret

ingredient for biscuit success.

I want to be a happy baker, cos then I'll have happy biscuits.

I'm making my spiced Chai Frappelattecino Biscuits.

I'm putting quite a lot of spice into these biscuits

and coffee as well.

Tom loves experimenting with novel ingredients and intense flavours.

He's made 300 practice biscuits

to master his blend of four spices

and ground coffee

for a biscuit with a kick.

I'm not worried that it's going to be too much flavour.

If anything, I'm worried that I'll lose flavour.

Selasi is also hoping his flavours leave a lasting impression.

I've blended some Scotch bonnets. Wow. Sorry.

So, how is this being flavoured?

To your tolerance level or to mine and Mary's?

To yours.

Selasi has three hobbies - baking,

basketball, and his signature biscuits are in the shape

of his third - motorbiking.

I've tried it at home

and the feedback has been good.

Just saying it's the right amount of kick, so hopefully...

..I haven't added too much today.

Just a little bit...wet.

But I can always just roll in a bit more sugar.

How's it going?

Yeah, it's going all right. On time-ish.

I'm going to be a bit like your mum now, Michael, and say I need,

I'm sorry, but there's loads of flour in your ear.

Have you cleaned your ears, Michael? I have cleaned my ears, don't worry.

OK, good. My mum made me clean them before I came. Yeah, good.

Our youngest baker, Michael, captains his university hockey team,

but it's his other favourite

student pastime that's inspired

his pint-shaped biscuits.

I'm trying to ensure that all of the biscuits

are the same sort of height.

This challenge could be won or lost over the next few minutes.

I don't know how people get them all the same thickness.

Guided rolling pin, gives me a uniform kind of thickness of dough.

Their dough needs to be rolled thin enough

to create a good biscuit snap,

but thick enough to hold their shape.

I'm using a school ruler as my guide.

I'm trying to get to the thickness of a pound coin

and then we should get a nice snap on it.

I think I could make them a bit thinner.

There. I don't want them too thin,

because there's going to be so much icing on them,

you do need a good ratio of biscuit to icing.

If not, it's just all sugar.

Teaching Assistant Benjamina likes to be on trend

with her baking style.

She's icing a delicate bouquet of flowers

onto her chocolate

and orange biscuits.

They look like chicken drumsticks, but when they're iced,

they do actually look like flowers.

Doing some little flowerpot biscuits.

I work in the garden, so it kind of seemed like the thing to do.

Jane is hoping her artistic skills as a garden designer

will give her the edge when icing

her almond-flavour flowerpot biscuits.

These are going to be iced. How are you going to do that?

Yes, I'm going to do all the outlining in purple. Mm.

And then flood the different sections.

There's a lot of work for the time that you've got,

I hope you get it all finished.

Stop talking to her then! Fingers crossed. Good luck.

We need to stop talking to you. Thank you! Thank you, Jane.

So I've gone for little hexagons,

which will hopefully tessellate together quite nicely.

It just means any kind of shapes or patterns that fit together,

without any gaps. You want them all to look fairly consistent.

My shape is very intricate. It's taken me a long while to cut out.

Show me your home-made cutter, please, Rav. Um...

Show it to me.

That's very, very... It's effective.

Rav's travelled all over the world,

but it was his recent trip to Goa

that's inspired his coconut and lime flavoured bunting biscuits.

I'm now putting my biscuits into the oven.

With only one oven and 24 biscuits to bake, time is of the essence.

Six minutes, then twist. I'll bake them for about 15 minutes.

I think I'm a little bit concerned, there's quite a lot to get done.

It's the decorating that takes the time.

I've only got eight done so far.

First batch in.

SHE GASPS

Right.

Oh, Louise, are you all right? Yeah.

Sure? Yes.

Take a big, deep breath. Thank you, darling.

So I'll just start again.

Hopefully, I've got enough mixture.

I just need to crack on now.

OK, bakers, an hour has gone.

Oh, my goodness.

You have an hour and a half left.

Going in. To achieve biscuit perfection...

Come on, bake, bake, bake.

..the bakers must have an even bake across all their biscuits...

..with a consistent texture and colour.

They're nice, crumbly biscuits, so I don't want to break them.

I'm happy with these, they look like they're baked well.

Slightly brown on the edges...

I did actually make one extra, so I can get rid of that.

Is that allowed?

Well, I did it anyway. OK, I won't tell.

Please don't. Please don't. Paul and Mary, sorry...

No, no, no, come back!

Creating 24 identical biscuits is a mission,

but Candice has doubled her workload.

I've got to make 48,

24 bases and 24 tops.

It wouldn't be me if I hadn't made things just slightly difficult.

Candice has two major loves in her life - baking and her pug Dennis,

but he's not allowed anywhere near

her double-layered heart biscuits, filled with salted caramel.

Now, I need to ask you something. Yes? For each Bake Off you are in,

are you going to have a different shade of lipstick?

Do you know what, Mel, for you, I am. I am. Come on.

I'm loving the pink this week.

Thank you, I quite like this one as well.

So if you get through to Bread Week, what colour can we expect?

I might go red. Nice.

Red for bread. Red for bread. Yes!

Boom. Got it.

As well as ensuring an even bake on their next batch...

Timing is going to be tight on these.

..the bakers must start icing their first.

It's not tricky to do, it's just a bit time-consuming.

And I've got, I think, 40 done now,

so I'm just going to do another tray. Here we go.

Everybody else is ready and I'm not.

I've broken a couple trying to push them out.

I didn't really do a timed batch at home, which...

..in hindsight, was a real error.

Disaster. Uh-uh-uh-uh-oh.

Whether I can serve these, I'm not sure.

Have you iced any of them, Val? No!

I haven't. OK, so you've got

under half an hour to go.

Oh, what a nightmare.

Not enough time, not enough time.

Is it better to get some of them done fully

and then some of them empty

or is it better to get all of them done partly?

I don't know. What do you think?

They've got to look uniform.

Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12.

13, 14, 15, 16. One, two, three, four.

I don't know how many I've done.

13, 14, 15, 16, 17,

18, 19.

SHE GASPS

Not going to do it.

OK, bakers. We sing, you sing, icing...

# Ten minutes to go! #

Louise, breathe. Sorry? Breathe.

SHE EXHALES

My hands are shaking.

I've just got to finish flooding these.

As long as you sandwich them together and get them on a plate.

Yeah, that's what I want.

I think it's fair to say that this is going to be a messy batch.

(You can do this.)

SHE GASPS

Oh, it's hurting my back.

Hopefully, they all look as near to identical as I can.

Ice creams are meant to be identical anyway.

So that's two minutes left on your icing. Two minutes left!

Is that to get them on your plate as well?

These are not high-end of the market.

Can you move that for me, please, love? Just fit this in.

Just hold it for me a second.

Chaos.

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

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

Oh, mine are horrendous.

We're going to have 24 iced biscuits.

This is an embarrassment.

Never mind. Just ran out of time.

OK, bakers. The bake is now finished.

Please put your biscuits at the end of your benches.

Everyone stop now, please.

Mary and Paul are looking for 24 identical biscuits,

beautifully iced with well-balanced flavours.

Hello, Michael. Hi there.

Right. They're uniform.

And you seem to have a decent bake all the way through.

They look very good. We need to taste them.

Now, that's crispy. You get the chocolate in there as well.

And you can see the consistency inside,

you can hear it, it's solid.

Well done. Thank you very much. Well done. Thank you.

Hang on, I haven't finished yet. HE CHUCKLES

The icing's lovely, but when you get into the actual biscuit, it's soft.

OK. What we're actually eating there is like a stale biscuit.

You've got massive consistency issues.

This one looks more like a scone than it does a biscuit. Yeah.

If you're going for soft, then it's really soft.

If you're going for biscuit, then you've failed.

I like the chocolate, like the orange.

I like the fact that you've got just the right proportion

of biscuit to icing. I think you've done really well.

My flowerpots and flour biscuits, they are half iced.

I'm sorry. But, Jane, they're a very similar thickness,

which is difficult to get.

Come on, Bill and Ben, try the biscuits.

Altogether a very nice biscuit. Oh, thank you.

You've made a very good shortbread biscuit.

It's just, when we ask for 24,

it's very important to have 24, and I'm sure you can pipe well,

but none of it's finished well.

I really do apologise that

some of them I only got the holes out of the middle.

They're a little bit of a mess... OK.

..but I admire the fact that you tried to make 48 biscuits

rather than 24.

The flavour of the salted caramel is coming through.

It's a nice biscuit.

They look hideous... Oh, OK! ..but they taste amazing.

SHE CHUCKLES

Now, this is the chilli. Chilli and lime, yeah.

Is that revving up your taste buds, Bezza?

They're quite different. Great fun.

I love the flavour - that cool lime hits you,

and then after a couple of bites, the heat just sits on your tongue.

I think they're wheely good.

The finish of them is a little bit clumsy.

Very nice coconut biscuit.

It reminds me of a Thai green curry.

That was not what I was going for.

We're looking for bergamot and... Lavender.

And there's a little citrus.

Two difficult flavours.

And you don't like lavender or bergamot, so...

I love the flavour. I think the flavour is delicate.

Right at the end, you've got that orange and lavender.

The actual icing's a little bit informal,

but the biscuit itself is a winner.

Lovely. Thank you. Thank you.

You're all about the flavours and you've failed in the past

with going overcomplicated.

I love your feather icing.

Oh, nice smell.

Nice sound when it hits the plate, too.

Good texture, not oversweet.

Great spices in there.

Coffee comes through at just the right level and a great crunch.

Thank you. Nice one, Tom, you nailed it. I think he likes it, Tom.

You nailed it. Oh, hello. Thank you. That's a worry. Well done.

I got a handshake! Yeah.

Uniformly...rubbish looking.

But good tasting, I'll have that.

I'll have that every day of the week.

I mean, I do think the stale biscuit comment was a bit harsh.

Oh, dear, I think I'm really in the bad books.

Every one should have been 3mm,

but then we all come in shapes and sizes, don't we?

We'd all want to be thinner.

Biscuits - to dunk or not to dunk?

That is the question.

Now, I love dunking almost as much as a 14th-century witch finder.

So I've come to this swanky hotel...

Good afternoon, my lovely. Thank you.

..to meet up with food writer Anastasia Edwards

and uncover the history of biscuit dipping.

I'm sat at a table full of brown, sweet food. Mm-hm.

I'm in heaven. So where do we start?

We're going to start at the beginning with the ancient Greeks.

These beauties are known as paximadia. See what you think.

Yeah. Austerity.

They were used by warring armies. To throw at each other?

Probably upon occasion. That could do some damage.

However, you've got some soup here. Give it a dip.

Much better. Better? Mmm. See, there you go.

Meanwhile, over in the Roman Empire,

biscotti were originally baked for army rations...

Hm, yes. Dentistry. Have a dunk.

..before becoming, in the Renaissance,

a fashionable way to end a meal when dipped in Vin Santo.

Mmm!

Yes, it's like a boulder soaked in Blue Nun. Right.

I mean, but it works for me. Mm-hm.

For centuries, biscuits were made for dunking into booze,

including the langue de chat...

Which means cat's tongue in French, exactly.

..which is just the right shape for a wine glass.

Because, obviously, cats often will drink wine. Indeed.

So that's where it came from.

Especially French cats. Oh, you can't keep them...

So sophistique.

You can't keep them away from a good Languedoc-Roussillon.

It's thought the Victorians first paired tea with biscuits,

but if you were posh, there was no dunking at the tea table.

But it wasn't until the arrival of mass-produced dry biscuits

in the mid-19th century that dunking became as British

as a nice cup of Rosie Lee.

Have you ever done this before? I come from a family of dunkers.

Boom, two, three.

Ah-ha.

One of the many pure joys of being a Brit.

Absolutely, in the culmination of a tradition that goes back

to the ancient Greeks.

For their first challenge, the bakers could practice,

but the Technical Challenge is a complete surprise.

Bakers, welcome back to an afternoon of misery and stress,

otherwise known as the Technical Challenge.

This is one of Mary's recipes.

Now, you judge this blind, Paul and Mary, so off you go.

There is a baking workshop happening, I think. Paul,

maybe your bread needs a bit of attention, so off you go.

So, Mary and Paul would like you to make 12...

..Viennese whirls. I'm slightly dizzy.

They should be filled with buttercream and jam

and you've got one and a half hours.

On your marks, get set, bake.

The bakers all have the same ingredients...

and a very basic version...

THEY MUMBLE TO THEMSELVES

..of Mary's recipe.

I'm probably going to shoot myself in the foot now

by saying I've made it before. I have made it before.

I had a guess, actually, it was going to be Viennese whirls.

I just wish I'd studied the recipe.

Viennese whirls, Mary.

Where do you think they can go wrong?

The actual biscuit itself has very simple ingredients,

but they've got to get that butter really soft

when they beat it with the sugar.

If they don't, it'll be far too stiff,

they'll get it in the piping bag and they won't get it out.

You do want to see that swirl in the top.

If the mixture is particularly soft,

they might have to fridge them before they actually bake them.

They're very, very short and crumbly,

with a nice proportion of jam,

then you have the buttercream.

It's buttery, it's crumbly, it almost dissolves in the mouth,

absolutely delicious.

I think it's a great challenge, Mary,

and you've only given them an hour and a half, too.

I think they should do well.

Just says make A jam.

I made raspberry jam a couple of weeks ago.

The reason I know about the temperature

is on the thermometer it just says jam.

I think I've got to have it pretty stiff, because if I don't,

it's going to squidge out of the sandwich.

Mmm!

So, make the biscuits, cream together butter and icing sugar.

Icing sugar.

They've got this kind of really light consistency,

so I think this is probably a very important step.

I'll be creaming it until it's really, really pale and fluffy.

Fingers crossed.

Nice, soft butter.

It's almost kind of white.

"Cream together butter and the icing sugar and then add the flour."

We've not got any baking powder, so we want quite a lot of air in there.

Not knowing exactly... It feels quite light and fluffy,

so I'm going to go with that.

It has to be a sort of consistency that you're able to pipe.

At the moment, it's still kind of quite hard and dry.

They want 24 whirls that are 5cm in diameter,

and they're a sandwich biscuit, so I want biscuits to be the same.

I've got to make sure I get the right number today.

"Pipe 24 whirls onto the baking trays."

It looks the right consistency, there are no lumps in it.

It's a very stiff mixture,

it's quite hard to get a nice, even whirl.

I think it's all right.

Looks quite big.

It's quite a thick consistency.

You need muscles like Selasi to pipe these.

I just need to give it a bit of a beat just to soften it up a bit.

The mixture's slightly too hard at the moment.

I'm going to try and put it in the microwave

and see if it loosens up slightly.

It's not working out. Mel.

My mixture is stiff. Right.

So I'm struggling to get it out of the piping bag.

Do you need a pair of warm hands...

Do you have warm hands? ..either on your bag or on you? Um...

The bag, please.

Why is it so stiff? I don't know.

45 minutes remain to finish their 12 Viennese whirls.

Three, six, nine, 12.

Two, four, six, eight.

It's nice and easy. Second piping attempt.

Softer than it was previously.

I've had the bag in my hand for some time now.

It's definitely coming out of the pipe a lot smoother.

I think I'm going to stick them in the fridge for a little bit.

I think I'm going to put these ones in the fridge so they gel

and hold their shape a bit better. Don't step back, Rav.

It just says bake.

It doesn't say chill. So I'm just going to bake.

I'm going in.

Gives us an oven temperature,

but doesn't tell us how long to cook it for.

I'm going to start them off at nine minutes.

It says bake until pale golden brown.

Just keeping an eye on them.

I don't know how long I have to cook them for.

I've been running out of time lately,

so I don't want to run out of time again.

AUSTRIAN ACCENT: All right, bakers? Half an hour on the Viennese whirls.

Half an hour on the Viennese whirls.

Let me start making the buttercream, actually. Soft and salted butter.

"200g of icing sugar...

"..and half a teaspoon of vanilla extract."

I'll deal with that in a bit,

otherwise I'll forget about the oven.

They're not looking too bad.

I'm going to take them out.

Give them another minute.

Viennese whirls are pale.

Must try not to drop them.

I'm happy with those.

They look all right, they kept their whirl.

Oh, God, are these even cooked?

Slightly flat. To be honest, most of them are.

They've collapsed. And very crumbly.

Flat.

Sandwich with jam and piped buttercream.

It's going to be messy. Oh, there's another one gone.

Not good, not good at all.

This has just crumbled.

Bakers, one minute.

OK, bakers. It's time, please,

to bring your Viennese whirls and place them behind the photograph

of yourself on the game altar.

Mary and Paul are looking for 12 perfectly-piped,

melt-in-the-mouth Viennese whirls,

filled with raspberry jam and buttercream.

They have no idea whose are whose.

We've got a few... I know what you're going to say - issues.

Yeah, there are a few issues, a few problems.

First one.

Now, there is no definition in the biscuit at all.

Beautifully delicate, melts in the mouth.

It tastes good, we don't have the definition.

Right, it almost looks raw, doesn't it?

Could have done with a longer bake. Literally minutes.

Moving on to number three.

Very flat, broken.

Little bit too long a bake.

We've got the jam beautifully to the edges.

There's a bit of definition in this one, Mary, and it's a good size

as well, aren't they? Total agreement.

There is definition on the top.

And you can see the cream there.

They look good.

It's baked well and it's delicate,

cos it crumbles in the mouth and melts, which is how it should.

We've got really good definition on these,

we can see a swirl of the pipe.

You can see the buttercream inside it as well.

They're very good. You can see

on this one how thin that is.

Lost all the definition.

This one's got nice definition.

Bold buttercream.

Everything is right there.

Now, this one's gone very slack.

This whole thing's collapsed.

And also, it affects the flavour, it's a little bit oily, isn't it?

It is.

We've got a little bit of definition on there.

Good whirls, as we say.

Could've done with a little bit longer in the oven, I think.

Moving on to the last one.

Very small, where did the rest of the mix go? Dinky.

They're lovely and short.

The only thing that's wrong is the size. The size.

Mary and Paul will now reveal

whose Viennese whirls were technically perfect.

In 11th place, who is this?

We've lost definition, it was a bit crumbly.

Tenth spot is this one.

It's gone really flat.

Michael is ninth. Candice, eighth. Tom is seventh.

Rav, sixth. Val is fifth. And Andrew is fourth.

And in third place here, we've got a good definition.

In second spot...

..is this one. Who's is this?

That's a nice Viennese whirl, well done.

And so in first place.

Absolutely beautiful.

Well piped, we've got a lovely definition.

Just the right amount of jam and cream.

Well done.

I'm thrilled to bits. I hoped I would be in the top half,

so once we got into the top half and they still hadn't said my name

I kept thinking, "Oh, maybe I've done better than I thought I had."

I'll happily take fourth this week, there were a lot of good whirls.

Tomorrow has to go better, otherwise...

Yeah. Um...

I don't know what to say. Just very embarrassing in there.

When you look at the whole pack coming into the Showstopper,

it's quite close. Good luck.

Good luck, good luck!

Now, Selasi, what happened in the technical?

He's suddenly last.

He's in a little bit of trouble

and I would put Louise down there as well.

I shall not forget those sheep.

They were different thicknesses.

And, dare I say it, Val?

I wasn't impressed with the ice cream biscuits.

It's really difficult to see who's going to go at the moment.

Likewise for Star Baker, I think Kate has to go up there,

I think she won the Technical.

Engineer Andrew did those precision bee biscuits.

They looked absolutely perfect.

It was such a sadness when you got into the biscuit - it was soft.

But he did come fourth in the technical.

He could have a blinding day today.

And Candice, actually, her biscuits tasted good.

She did make 48 biscuits rather than 24.

We'll just have to see how they do in the Showstopper.

SHE EXHALES

Bakers, welcome to your Showstopper day.

Now, Paul and Mary would love you

to make a 3-D gingerbread story.

Now, this gingerbread story should say something about you.

It should be at least 30cm high,

there should also be eight characters or objects,

but don't do you and Paul on a big night out with all his friends,

because that's only two characters. THEY LAUGH

You've got four hours on the clock.

On your marks, get set, bake.

I want to prove that I deserve my place here.

Everybody wants to do their best, and I'm going to do my best as well.

I think it is pretty wide open, so

I want to try and get this really, really right.

Creating a scene out of gingerbread,

it's got to be strong enough to stand up and we've got to enjoy

eating it, that's the main thing.

I've made gingerbread before at Christmas time - houses.

Now, to be honest, they're probably still there in February.

So if they start collapsing, they've got the recipe wrong.

I'm doing a traditional gingerbread.

I've been making it for more than 40 years,

but it's the one my children always loved and I still make it.

Val's trusted gingerbread recipe will celebrate her family's roots.

A pit for Yorkshire,

windmill for Holland and the

Empire State Building for New York,

plus a biscuit version

of her sister Susan.

You had a bit of a problem with those cones and you didn't finish.

Yes. So, you really got to finish this time.

I really want you to nail this one for us.

Let's stop talking then. She's only got four hours.

Thank you. Thank you.

Four hours sounds like a lot, but it goes by in a flash in the tent.

Louise, tell us all about your story.

Today, I'm making a gingerbread wedding.

I'm going to get married next year,

so I've chosen a church in West Wales which is very simple,

but very old and beautiful.

So I'm going to try and put that together today

with a bride and groom and five gravestones. Hang on...

Gravestones? Well, they're outside the church.

I'm having a couple of zombies as my bridesmaids. Brilliant.

Bride-to-be Louise will make gingerbread flavoured

with orange and spices.

Her church will be rendered with white icing

and have a liquorice roof,

a perfect place for her to get married.

It's my wedding day,

so it's got to come out, hasn't it? It's got to be right.

In a bid to stay in the tent, Louise isn't the only one going to church.

Growing up back in Ghana,

this is similar to the church I used to go to when I was a kid.

My mum would be proud.

Selasi's boyhood church will have stained-glass windows

made with melted boiled sweets.

He's the only baker not using

treacle or golden syrup

to make his gingerbread.

My recipe is honey, so it's very different from the rest.

Everyone else is making a more traditional gingerbread.

It's one of the oldest biscuits,

dating back hundreds of years with a basis of liquid and dry sugars,

butter, flour and ground ginger.

The key to my gingerbread is probably getting a good structure

to it, so it doesn't have any eggs in it.

Well, I'm not using eggs in this,

cos I just find when you're constructing gingerbread,

it doesn't hold as well.

I'm going to add eggs.

I just find that this works better for me, so...

Jane is building...Hastings -

where she was born

and her grandad owned a bakery.

To recreate the seaside town,

she'll make a boat, net sheds,

fishing towers and a beach.

It's a damp day, who knows, we could have the Leaning Tower of Hastings.

Do you know that somebody else in the room is also doing a church?

Oh, they are, are they? Yes. What church are they doing? OK, so,

eyes left.

He's doing a church as well? He's doing a church as well.

Does that worry you? No. Good girl.

While some of the bakers are off to church...

I am making a gingerbread pub.

It is because I was brought up in a pub.

This is going to be my sticky ginger cake for my sticky ginger carpet.

Excellent. Because the carpet was always sticky in the pub. Always.

Candice will use three types of gingerbread to build

her replica King William pub.

A traditional biscuit

for the walls and roof,

sticky ginger for the carpet

and ginger thins to make her bar,

dartboard and locals.

I'm going to do a pool table...

Are you going to have an old guy sitting at the bar?

Yeah, well... Propping. ..potentially, potentially. Got to.

Dog? Pub dog? Our dog, yeah, he's going to be in the pub as well.

Pork scratchings? You're being very ambitious again. I know.

Just try and get it all finished.

I will do. I'm on it.

I've got this. I've got this today.

So, I've got 11 pieces on the house, two reindeers,

a sleigh which has two parts and two parts in the middle,

two trees, Santa.

Now I am thinking about it, it sounds quite a bit, actually.

Through the medium of traditional gingerbread,

Michael is aiming to relive

a childhood dream that came true -

the day he met Santa in Lapland.

Oh, Michael, look, and you saw a real reindeer.

Yeah. That's me making gingerbread.

Little were you to know, Michael... Exactly.

..as you made gingerbread there...

How old were you, nine? Nine.

..that you'd be here, 19... Making gingerbread.

..making gingerbread. Do you still believe in Santa Claus?

Of course. Who doesn't?

Most of the bakers have opted for a single flavour of gingerbread,

but not Kate.

This one's made with dark muscovado sugar and cloves.

This one's just ginger and this one's got some cardamom

and lemon in it. Sounds fun.

Kate will use her three gingerbreads to build a Brownie camp,

featuring her daughters Rebecca

and Lucy and their troop, watched

over by a swooping brown owl.

What is the promise badge?

Oh, I promise... Hang on.

BOTH: I promise on my honour to do my best...

To do my duty to God and the Queen.

And to make a really good gingerbread construction

in the Bake Off. Absolutely! THEY LAUGH

Were you a Brownie, Paul? No.

Were you ever a Beaver, Paul? No.

I think you'll be awarded the baker's badge for this.

The baker's badge, absolutely. I've got a good feeling.

The bakers face an epic task...

..creating a multifaceted gingerbread flat pack.

Got all the tools. They need to work efficiently...

Oops! Short.

..otherwise they won't have enough time to bake, cool,

assemble and ice their stories.

My main concern is getting all the large bits done.

Candice has a few added extras to finish

before opening time at the pub.

I'm making a lime green jelly to go on top of my pool table.

My little brother used to play pool all the time and, like,

even when he could barely see over the top.

I'm doing quite a high structure and I think it needs, therefore,

to be able to hold a lot of weight.

Tom's peak of gingerbread tells a tale of him

and his best mate, Pod, getting

dangerously lost up a mountain.

He's hoping his maths

is better than his geography.

If it falls over, you can blame my Year Nine maths teacher...

..cos I've worked out the angles and they should stand up

as a perfect pyramid.

Hello, Andrew. Morning!

Right, can you tell us all about your gingerbread, please?

Yes. The structural bit of it, hopefully, plays to my strengths.

Yeah. Where are your schematics then for this?

So, this was an original... I was only joking.

I've had to simplify it to just 37 elements. 37?

37 elements? For the scene, yeah.

Andrew's student days punting on the river at Cambridge University

are brought to live in biscuit form.

He'll build a boat, bike, swans

and biscuit bridge which will be

a feat of gingerbread engineering.

Can I just ask, how is the platypus going to feature?

Well, you say that,

but that's the outline which is then going to have the bike piped on.

Oh, it's a bicycle. I'm sorry.

I did get attacked once... We'll leave you to it.

Good luck, mate. OK, cheers, yeah, lots to do. 37 pieces!

I'm fine with the flavours and the way it tastes,

it's just the look that I'm really concerned about.

Is it going to stand up, is it going to fall down?

Remembering a family holiday in the Big Apple,

Benjamina is going downtown.

Heated with stem ginger,

her centrepiece will be the world-famous Chrysler Building.

There's more than three stages on the actual building,

but I couldn't do that many, so I've scaled it down a bit.

I'm making the Empire State.

This is an insane thing to do,

to try and get the right number of windows and floors.

Three bakers have taken to a spot of window glazing.

I'm using boiled sweets, cos I'm going for a stained-glass effect.

I'm just filling in my windows.

I want a nice effect on the windows to give it a bit extra.

Each individual gingerbread piece must now be baked to perfection.

This is it.

And with so many pieces to go in and out of the oven,

the bakers have to get a move-on.

I'm going to start with nine minutes.

So I've baked them for about 12 minutes

and I want them to be quite crisp,

not too soft. If not, when I'm putting it together,

it'll all just fall apart.

I don't want to overdo it.

There we go. My first building.

So, the inspiration is a time when my grandad took me

to a Christmas fairground.

Rav's made a dark gingerbread with a base of molasses, and

nestled amid his gingerbread forest will be the star attraction.

This Ferris wheel, I've practised twice.

The first time, it just kind of all collapsed,

which is not what I want to happen today.

I need to have a look in the oven.

Timing the bake for structural gingerbread

couldn't be more crucial.

Another minute.

If it's removed too soon,

the biscuit will not hold its shape.

And no-one wants a gingerbread story with an unhappy ending.

HE SIGHS

Another minute. It's coming out in 17 seconds.

It is an old church so the render's not completely smooth on it.

I'm happy with this piece.

It's good so far. I need it to come out the oven.

It's quite difficult, cos you've got lots of different batches

and you're trying to keep track of them all,

"Has it been in for five minutes or four minutes or three minutes?"

You've got to use your eye.

That's my pool table top.

My fixtures and my people are just about done.

I need to do...

..two more big trees.

There is going to be a tourist with a camera on the bridge

and then there's going to be three swans.

I think I can smell burning.

Can you smell burning?

Look how burnt it is. All looks a mess.

I'm actually going to dust it with icing sugar

to cover some of the sins.

Bakers, you've got two hours until we feast

on your gingerbread structures.

I've never seen so much gingerbread in my life. In my life.

Having found out what the bakers are doing...

I mean, they're out there, aren't they?

From Andrew with his bridge to Louise with her church...

Every one is different.

The children are cooked now.

And some of them are doing a little bit too much. Yeah, I agree.

I mean, Candice, she's done the carpet, the pool table,

there's so many elements in that.

The one I'm a little bit worried about is Val.

A little bit? I'm extremely worried about Val.

She's been so ambitious.

I don't think she'll get completed.

I hope so. I hope so, it would be nice.

I'm really up against time at the moment.

You can see what this scenario is going to be, can't you?

Large arch - tick. Mini arch - double tick.

Walkway - no tick.

Handrail... Oh, no, there should be a tick on the walkway.

Give me the pencil. Am I allowed to? On the walkway? Yeah, the walkway's

just come out, actually. Oh, that feels good.

That's all the ticks done. So now it's the construction.

Yeah, now the construction.

Just one hour to go.

I'm making caramel to make glue. I'm using royal icing for my glue.

It's not actually holding any weight, it's more just there

to prevent the bits falling away from each other.

Now, Val, I don't in any way want to put the wind up you...

I know. ..but you've got considerably less than an hour...

Yeah. ..and quite a lot to do, I'm thinking. Yeah.

OK, tell me what you've got to do. She's gone.

I've got to make some icing... OK, good. Icing, yeah.

..which is to glue the house together.

Shepherding you, Val, shepherding you. Thank you.

And then I have got to pipe on here.

Remember, time waits for no lady or man. No.

ALARM BEEPS Exactly. Yeah.

Fear is the mind killer.

You've just got to go for it and trust.

You can practice as much as you like, but one little slip can,

like, your structure can just collapse.

I could do with a few more things to prop it up with, really.

SHE GASPS

Just don't want to touch that now.

It normally works first time in practice,

but this hasn't worked at all here, which I'm really annoyed about.

VAL GASPS She's broken. No!

She's kind of holding.

But she's not.

I can't believe this has happened to me.

I've had a complete and utter disaster.

OK, builders, bakers, candlestick makers,

you've got ten minutes left on this Showstopper.

Ten minutes to go. I'm just trying to get stuff out.

I don't care what they look like.

I am not giving in.

Santa hasn't gone as well as I wanted.

Oh, bother it.

Oops.

My pool table top.

This is me.

Oh, you're kidding me!

At least the bikes are all right.

Gosh, I hate gingerbread.

So not happy.

It's actually quite shameful, what I've done.

Bakers, time is very much up.

Please stop whatever you're doing.

Step away from your creations.

CANDICE: Louise, I'm so sorry.

I can't believe that's just happened to me. That's amazing.

Any supports that you're using, please take them away.

I'm so sorry to have... It's going to fall.

SHE GASPS ..to tell you that, bakers.

It's collapsed, it's just collapsed this minute.

Have I got to leave it? I'm afraid you have to leave it, Val.

It's not as bad as mine, Val. Damn it.

OK, bakers, if you'd like to leave the tent.

Andrew, can you bring up your gingerbread story, please?

I'm just going to come up very slowly cos it's got

some wobbly bits on the top.

This is my Punting In Cambridge gingerbread story.

So quite often, especially after we finished exam season,

it was quite nice to go punting.

So that's me, asleep in the punt.

The overall effect is absolutely brilliant.

I love the detail.

You know, you've added colour, it's sharp, it's clean, it's neat.

Height-wise...

Yes, absolutely.

And it does crumble.

Hm.

(Flavour.)

It reminds me of my mum's ginger biscuits.

In a good way? That's a good thing.

Oh, great. Tastes lovely. Tastes really good.

I think you should be very proud of that.

It's all very enchanting and I think you've executed it very well.

Thank you very much. Well done, Andrew.

So is this your family? It's in a bit of a mess. Yes, it is. OK.

Oh, Is that the Statue of Liberty hanging out the side? Yes, yes.

Bless her, she gave up. I love it. BAKERS LAUGH

I can see that.

I love the relief work on the Empire State.

Thank you. I think that's very clever.

It would have been nice, a little bit of piping,

it just needs a bit more finish.

We've had a problem with finishing before, haven't we?

So, who's this? That's Susan, my sister. Susan.

The spice is coming through,

little warming effect from the ginger

and I think your sister tastes lovely.

Yeah, your sister's absolutely scrumptious.

She'll be very pleased to know that.

It's a bit messy, if I'm honest.

Quite messy.

It's a very nice gingerbread.

It's a shame about the decoration. Yeah, it is.

Yeah, it's quite artistic.

I'm fascinated to see what it's going to taste like.

It's a very nice gingerbread. It's nicely spiced.

It's a good biscuit, thank you.

You have done beautiful piping round

and you've done it exceedingly well.

I think it's absolutely lovely. Thank you.

It better taste good. Fingers crossed.

Right, you've got three types of gingerbread.

I'm struggling to find the ginger.

Yeah. And it's quite soft as well.

It doesn't have that snap that I would expect from a gingerbread.

It's spicy, the ginger's coming through, it's absolutely fine.

The problem is that it is a soft gingerbread.

Yeah, sorry. Thank you.

Did it go to plan? Absolutely not.

Clove, it's quite strong. OK.

What that does, it kids you into thinking it's burnt.

Is it burnt? It may be.

The story is my trip to Lapland

for Santa's workshop.

This is Father Christmas? Yeah.

Didn't really turn out as Santa's workshop, in the end.

Probably Santa's workshop from hell.

HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

I wouldn't give top marks to the actual piping. No.

CRUNCHING Crispy.

It's a very good flavour, it's nice and spicy,

the ginger's coming through.

That's the best gingerbread so far.

That is absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you. Fantastic flavours,

warmth coming through from the ginger.

I just think the overall effect is too simplistic for me. Yeah.

But the biscuit is beautiful.

It is quite crisp.

Not a lot of ginger coming through.

I think overall the design is excellent.

For me, being the Gingerbread Challenge,

I'd like to taste the ginger. Yeah.

Louise, please bring up your gingerbread story.

I'll give you a hand.

It was my gingerbread wedding,

but it's turned into an absolute disaster.

I didn't want to bring it up, but I have to. I'm so sorry for you

and your future husband. I know. It doesn't bode well, does it?

Maybe don't get married in that church, Louise,

just in case. No, no.

It's unfortunate, but I think we need to try the biscuit.

You certainly know it's ginger.

The balance is there, it's nice

and crispy in there as well which is good.

It's just unfortunate that we've had a bit of a turmoil.

Very unfortunate, Mary. Sorry.

Candice, will you bring up your gingerbread story, please?

Do you need a hand, love? Yeah, can you come and grab my jugs, please?

I think the overall effect is beautiful.

You've showed us so many skills,

good piping and I'm dying to know what's inside. OK.

Look! There's my brother at the pool table,

my mum and dad behind the bar.

Aw!

I think the idea is fantastic and

even down to the sticky ginger cake carpet.

Who wants to eat some carpet?

I'll eat a bit of carpet.

Oh, yeah.

Great ginger cake that one, actually. Great.

Very, very good. Thank you.

Now we're into the structure of the whole pub.

Got a little bit of crisp, a little bit of bite to it.

The spices are coming through and they're ginger.

I think it's superb. Thank you.

I think it's smashing. Thank you. Well done.

Now, we had some issues in this Showstopper.

Who's in trouble, do you think?

Well, I think Val, she struggled on the Signature

with her ice cream cone, she was fifth, however,

in the Technical, which lifted her up. Yeah.

But then in the Showstopper, it's all come home to roost again.

But the whole thing's collapsed and, likewise, talking about collapsing,

Louise. Struggled with her sheep in the Signature. Yeah.

She was tenth in the Technical. And then the Showstopper,

there was huge problems with. Everything went wrong for Louise.

So who do you think's in contention for Star Baker?

I think one of them is Candice.

I think she's done phenomenally well.

I really didn't think that she'd get anywhere near finished.

I think Andrew, the flavour that he got, how neat it was.

I thought he did really well.

So, decisions have to be made. Are you in agreement?

I've got my idea, but I need to talk to Paul about it.

Go to your tent, my loves, and see if you concur.

Now, this week, I've got to play good cop and bad cop.

Let's start with the positive side of things.

Now, Paul and Mary have decided that the award of Star Baker this week

goes to somebody who proved to us all that a tacky,

old pub carpet could taste simply divine.

Candice, you are this week's Star Baker, huge congratulations.

Well done.

Which leads me onto the difficult bit.

We're really, truly sad and sorry to say goodbye this week to...

..Louise. We'll be so sad not to have you with us next week,

but well done. Thank you.

MEL WHISPERS

'Biscuits aren't my thing.'

I came, I tried, I've had a disaster,

I'm accepting it, I'm going home.

Poor Louise, she had a disastrous day,

but full marks for carrying it off with a big smile.

I really did think I was heading for home.

In fact, I nearly went and said, "Are you sure?"

Well done!

I think Candice has done phenomenally well,

she stepped so far ahead of the pack in the Showstopper,

there was only one winner and when I spoke to Mary at the end,

we both said it at the same time - Candice.

Thank you so much.

That pub was brilliant.

We'll remember it forever.

Mum and Dad are going to be really proud because that was them,

that was my childhood and there it was in a little box that apparently

looked and tasted Star Baker-worthy.

Next time... SHE FAKE CRIES

..can anyone survive...

the toughest Bread Week Challenges...

I could really do with another oven. ..Paul has ever put together...

You're making a right pig's ear, though, aren't you?

..with a Signature... It's like wallpaper paste.

..that should be sweet... I'm not going to eat it.

..a steamy Technical... They've gone huge.

..and the closest Showstopper ever.

There's a lot riding on this for many people in this tent.

Disaster.