Botanical Week The Great British Bake Off

It's week six and we feel like Snow White because there are seven bakers

-about to beaver away in that tent.

-We've got Flaky, Bakey,

Little-bit-shaky, Achy, Cakey, Awful-lot-at-stakey.

-And...

-And Andrew.

-Welcome to...

-BOTH:

-The Great British Bake Off.

Last time, it was pastry...

That was meant to happen.

I've only got 11 in there.

That's left over.

Oh, my word! The oven wasn't on.

..and, after getting herself into a fine filo mess...

This is why life is too short to make filo pastry. Buy it.

This really does look more like shortcrust pastry

than filo, I'm afraid.

..it was Val who was sent home.

I wasn't surprised, I reached my limit.

Despite Rav's miraculous comeback...

Beautifully proportioned, lovely and crispy.

..and Jane's best efforts...

-They taste amazing.

-It's absolutely delicious.

..it was Candice's pair of perfect amuse-bouche...

-Ten out of ten.

-Thank you very much.

..that earned her Star Baker for the second time.

Now, for the first time ever,

Bake Off is turning to nature in Botanical week.

A citrus meringue...

Mine is so wet.

..with a twist.

Looks horrendous.

A leafy bread Technical...

I've never been so stressed about dough in my life.

..and a blooming three-tiered Showstopper.

This is a complete mess.

I don't do pretty with my bakes.

This is my week, because it's Botanical week.

It could almost have been made for me. Because I'm a gardener!

And it will be crushing if I actually fail.

It's one of those things where you kind of have to be a neat baker

and I'm not the neatest of bakers, so we'll see how things go today.

Botanical week, for me, I think, means things that are aromatic.

It's not just about plants. Anything that grows goes.

Good morning, bakers.

Congratulations for making it thus far, all the way to Botanicals week.

So this morning Paul and Mary would love you to make a very large

citrus meringue pie big enough for us all to tuck in to.

Now, this impressive pie should have perfect pastry,

melt in the mouth meringue, and a citrusy filling.

You have two hours on this challenge.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake!

Not feeling nervous about this challenge.

I do like making meringue. I make it quite a bit.

It's quite a humid day today, so we don't want it, like, deflating.

We want it nice and stiff.

Do you like my Botanical week top?

Once every few years, this flower shirt comes out. This is the moment.

Citrus meringue pie is something that, to me, is sheer heaven.

Oranges, limes, lemons, grapefruit.

They can use any of those flavours.

I would like the meringue to be crisp.

For me, the perfect way is to have it in the oven,

you just set the top firm.

It's about balancing sweetness in the meringue down

with the sharpness from the actual curd -

and carried in a beautifully crisp base.

We're all familiar with a lemon meringue pie,

but this challenge is a step up.

The bakers can use anything that grows

to put their twist on this classic.

I've added some mandarin zest into the pastry

because I'm having a mandarin curd for my citrus meringue pie.

There's also going to be some tequila in there, as well!

Most of the bakers are making a sweet shortcrust pastry.

Some are even adding extra ingredients

for maximum botanical taste.

I just put some coconut flavouring in.

So, this is stem ginger, and I'm putting it in my base.

Sweet shortcrust pastry is made by rubbing together flour and butter

until it resembles breadcrumbs,

then adding eggs or water to bring the mixture together,

and sugar for sweetness.

Tom is trying something a little different.

Not making a sweet pastry

because I'm not a big fan of sweet pastry myself.

So I've used pecans to give it

an extra bit of savoury aromatic sweetness.

The dough is then left to chill before rolling out.

It rests, so the gluten relaxes, so it's not tough.

You want it to be nice and short and crumbly.

-Morning, Selasi.

-Morning.

-I love the botanical shirt.

-Thank you very much.

-It's great.

Tell us about your citrus Meringue.

I'm making a grapefruit, orange and mint meringue pie.

And French meringue on top.

Selasi is using a combination of red grapefruit and orange flavours

to achieve the perfect sharpness for his curd.

And he'll then decorate with fresh fruit on top of his French meringue.

-How are you going to put that meringue on?

-I'm piping it on top.

I'm making sort of sharp edged kisses on top.

-Sorry?

-Haven't you ever had a sharp edged kiss?

-What?

Like a meringue kiss.

I'm adding a bit of physalis.

Not to say syphilis.

-I call it phy-salis.

-What do you say, Bez?

-Cape gooseberries.

-Cape gooseberries?

Don't give too many sharp edged kisses, cos you will get physalis.

HE LAUGHS

Mary liked my shirt. I kind of like her top, actually, it's quite nice.

Paul should have worn a floral shirt.

Like one of those salsa dancer shirts.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Selasi's not the only baker using grapefruit.

Funny enough, I used to really hate grapefruit -

then I actually had a grapefruit meringue pie, without the ginger,

and it was, like, really, really good. I think that converted me.

Benjamina's adding ginger to spice up her pink,

red and white grapefruit curd, topped with an Italian meringue.

The meringue on the top, how are you going to be piping that?

-Are you going to be dumping it?

-No dumping, I'm going to pipe it nicely

with a nice nozzle, like little roses.

And then give it a good old blowtorch.

I can't believe you thought Benjamina would DUMP meringue, Paul.

-She's not a dumper.

-She's not a dumper.

-But good luck, Benjamina.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

My mum used to make a killer key lime pie. And I always remember

the flavour from that. I enjoy a good citrus tang.

Andrew's take on his mum's killer key lime pie

will use the juice and zest of four limes

and three different types of ginger,

finished with piped Italian meringue.

More ginger. Love the ginger.

This one's going to go into my curd.

Think it's time to roll.

The perfect pastry must be rolled out thin enough

so that it forms a light and crispy base...

..but not so thin that it runs the risk of the curd leaking.

I like a relatively thick pastry.

This has got quite a substantial filling in it.

-Approximately as thick as Selasi's, my pastry will be.

-Yeah.

All of the bakers are blind baking their pastry.

This ensures the base is evenly baked,

giving them time to tackle their fillings.

15 minutes that's going to blind bake for.

-Good morning, Rav.

-Good morning, guys.

-Morning, Ravvers.

Now, your pastry's still on there, not even in the oven yet.

It is, it's going into the oven in less than a couple of minutes.

Rav's flavoured his pastry with mandarin.

It's filled with a tequila and mandarin curd,

and he'll serve his finished pie

with mandarin margaritas on the side.

Tequila's going to be fascinating, to see how that comes through.

-And on the top?

-On the top I'm going to be making an Italian Meringue.

How are you going to be displaying that?

I'm just going to be using a spatula to make some waving pattern,

-then I'm going to be blowtorching.

-You're only blowtorching it?

-Yeah.

So, I'm making a blood orange pumpkin Halloween pie.

And it's inspired by my friend's Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Tom's pie will be covered by a smooth dome of pecan meringue,

and finished with a drizzle of blood orange syrup.

Pumpkins can be very, very sweet,

and actually quite a botanical sweetness.

It's not like, sugar sweet -

that's going to come from the meringue.

-So, who's copied who?

-Well, I mean, it was my idea. Doing grapefruit.

-What do you think he's been doing? Reading your e-mails?

-I think so.

-Do you think he's outside your house?

-He's hacked into my...

-Night-vision...

-..into my laptop.

-Night-vision goggles?

-I think so.

Jane and Candice are also going head-to-head

with their botanical flavours.

I'm cooking a lime and coconut meringue pie.

And the inspiration really comes from Harry Nilsson's song

called Coconut. My husband, when I met him,

it would be one of those things,

if you talk about lime or about coconut, we both go into

"put the lime in the coconut," so it just seemed an obvious choice.

Jane's striving for top spot by putting the lime in the filling,

and the coconut in the pastry,

and she'll finish with a coconut meringue.

-You're using Italian meringue or conventional?

-I'm doing Swiss.

-It's a Swiss one.

-Oh, right.

-It just crisps nicely in the oven.

-Which I like them in the oven.

-Well, good luck anyway, Jane.

Thank you.

Swiss meringue's quite stable,

and I wanted to then bake mine so it was crispy,

and Swiss meringue you can do that with.

Mine's got to be good to beat Candice.

I know where my rival is. She's right behind me today.

So, my bake is my lime and coconut meringue pie.

I'm using a little bit of... I've got some lemon grass and some sugar,

so hopefully it just gives it a sort of a real, sort of, background

that kind of goes together.

Candice is making sweet vanilla pastry

filled with a lime and lemon grass curd.

Her coconut meringue will be piped with a decorative twist.

I'm going to strip my piping bag with some green,

so you've got sort of a green swirl going through some of the roses.

It's a nice look, when you paint the inside of your bag and then pipe it.

-How are you finishing the meringue, In the oven?

-Yeah, going to finish

it in the oven. I have got a blowtorch. If there's not enough

colour on the white bits I might do, but I'm happy with the oven bake.

-Thank you, Candice.

-Thank you.

The thing that I'm not too happy about

is they're nearly all using blowtorches. And, to me,

meringue topping is best

put in the oven to get a crunchiness.

And not many of them have got that method.

I want that slight crack, you just drop your fork in there.

-It's delicious.

-Let's hope we get it.

Botanical bakers, you have an hour left on your citrus meringue.

My curd's looking quite nice. Had a little taste. It's really tart.

Which is good. Makes you go...

Getting the right consistency of their fillings is crucial.

It's taking so long to thicken.

Too thin and it won't set.

It's a bit slow, going to put some cornflour in there. We'll see.

Too thick and the curd could end up lumpy and solid.

I just need to be careful not to curdle it.

I can feel it thickening nicely, actually. You get this nice

silky, smooth, flavoured curd, but without all the bits.

It is beginning up now, so it's good. It's just, you've got to wait,

you've just got to wait for these things, can't rush it.

Take that off the heat for a minute. Just while I check the bottom.

I'm just taking it off for the blind bake.

Not quite as brown as I'd have liked, but...

I think I rolled it out slightly thicker than I normally do.

Just wait for it to go down a little bit.

Soggy bottom would ruin the whole thing.

This is now going back in.

While some have decided to bake their fillings...

Going into the fridge.

..Rav and Andrew are just chilling.

-Just going to dump this in the fridge.

-Yeah, do it.

-Bloomin' good.

-I'm chilling the pie because I want the curd to be set.

If it's not set, once you cut into it, it'll just be a gloopy mess

and I don't want that to happen when Mary and Paul cut into it.

45 minutes remaining.

Just got to crack on with my meringue.

To create the perfect meringue,

the bakers must whisk the egg whites and sugar into soft peaks.

So I'm just going to add in my sugar, bit by bit,

so it doesn't collapse on me.

If the meringue isn't robust enough, it won't hold its shape when piped.

It's not quite there,

so I'm just going to allow it to whisk some more.

I'm not happy. It needs to be nice and thick.

I wanted to get stiff peaks.

The bowl should be cold, and it's just a wee bit warm,

so I'll give it another minute.

Coming out.

Delighted with it. It's set really nicely.

Happy with that, looks good. We'll get some meringue on it.

I guess I would have liked it to be a bit stiffer.

It's not how it's intended to be.

I think I've under-whipped it.

I'm not hugely happy with how stiff my meringue is.

I've got two layers of meringue going on.

I've mixed coconut in the bottom layer

cos I didn't want to pipe this cos it's hard to pipe.

The coconut's got stuck in the nozzle. So I think the coconut's

just a little bit bigger than what it was at home.

It all got stuck, so I've just swirled it altogether.

It just looks horrendous.

OK, you beautiful bouquet of bakers,

you've got ten minutes left on the citrus meringue challenge.

I'm making the blood orange syrup in the pan.

It's going in the oven for about five minutes.

I want a brown, but not blowtorched look on the meringue.

Are you blowtorching?

I think it just looks better, you can control where you brown it.

Are you saying the blowtorch could be the difference

-between you and Selasi?

-I think it could be.

-What's going on?

-It's horrendous.

Give it a bit of blowtorchery and then do a bit of zhuzh-ery,

then you'll be absolutely fine.

Bakers, you've got one minute left on this.

Mine is so wet.

I've put in a little bit of egg white, and then caster sugar on,

to frost my mint leaves for my decoration,

to try and make it not look as absolutely horrendous as it does.

All done.

There's nothing I can do.

OK, botanical bakers, the bake is over.

Is your meringue OK?

-Mine's awful.

-I couldn't get it to whip up.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Paul and Mary are looking for a large citrus meringue pie

with a well-baked pastry base, a zesty citrus filling,

topped with a layer of meringue.

The overall appearance is lovely.

It's a difficult flavour, grapefruit,

it's difficult to get any strength in it.

It'll be interesting to see how we've got on.

Ooh, that went straight through.

We've got a lovely proportion of pastry, filling and topping.

The grapefruit comes through beautifully.

Absolutely smashed that out of the park, the curd.

It is sharp. The grapefruit complements the topping.

-I think you've actually done a very, very good job.

-Thank you.

You've got good meringue, good piping, your pastry's a good colour.

-Looks good to me.

-Thank you.

Wow, that's really holding, isn't it?

No movement in that whatsoever.

The flavour is stunning, but it's the curd that's the problem on that,

-it's too dry.

-The filling, for me, is too stiff and cloying.

Too much thickening.

I wanted more volume from it,

a bit more height. It's falling down the sides.

It didn't whip up as much as I would have liked it to.

-No.

-But that's a little bit too soft.

-Yeah.

You can't even see the curd in there at all.

I'm just looking at the pastry underneath, if I can find it.

-Good luck with that, Mary.

-It looks good.

-Yeah, looks good.

The pastry tastes good and I like the little bit of mandarin

in the pastry, that was good.

I am getting a hint of tequila right at the end.

But the flavour's not strong enough.

OK.

Pastry looks a good colour,

we can see that you've piped your meringue.

We didn't quite get the volume,

and you ran out of meringue when you got to the middle.

-That is very thick. That's nearly the same thickness as your curd.

-Mm.

That curd is absolutely beautiful.

You've got it right.

Sharp underneath, which we expect from the curd,

sweet on top, which is the meringue.

Pastry too thick, not quite done in the middle.

-OK.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

What I'm concerned about is that line there.

That's underdone pastry.

The meringue is hugely sweet and it's very, very soft.

The pumpkin is sweet, the topping is sweet.

Tasting that, I wouldn't know citrus was there at all.

I like the idea of the coconut being on the top,

it does look quite attractive.

I'm fascinated to see what this base is going to be like, though.

And you've done it in the oven, and that's how I like my meringue done.

-Oh, yes.

-Holding well on the knife.

-Oh, yes.

There is just the right amount of lime with that.

And the coconut's coming through.

-I like it.

-Oh, thank you.

Overall, I'm not very happy with the appearance.

The colour looks a bit odd and more height would be good.

The pastry base looks all right, I'm just wondering about these wilted

leaves sort of sitting on the side.

It's a very wet meringue, that, isn't it, as well?

The actual curd itself is very good flavour.

-Thank you. Tart.

-It's delicious.

-It's excellent.

-Meringue tastes OK, just looks awful.

OK!

Wasn't supposed to be that green.

But it was very green. But close your eyes, it tastes really good,

actually, and I'm really happy with how it tastes.

I think some of the comments they made are absolutely fair.

But I think that was a citrus pie.

My curd came out quite well. And his, it's not even funny,

his came out a bit too thick after all that.

That didn't go that well. Makes me a bit anxious going back into the tent

to deal with the Technical. The pressure's kind of on a bit.

OK, bakers, it's time for your botanical Technical,

which today is set for you by the whimsical, yet maniacal uncle Paul.

Paul, any words of wisdom for the gang?

Be patient and remember the shaping.

A bit of a catchphrase, that, for Paul.

-Enigmatic. Paul and Mary, we don't need you for this bit.

-No.

Because you will be judging blind, so off you go, into the garden.

There are some messy bushes that need trimming.

Right, now they have disappeared, I can announce your Technical.

Of course, botanicals aren't just about citrus flavourings,

they're about herbal flavourings.

Paul would like you to make a French classic -

two herb fougasse.

You've got two hours on your Technical Challenge, bakers.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-BOTH:

-Bake.

I've heard of it but never made it before, so...

Yeah, we'll see.

I know what a fougasse should look like, I've eaten fougasse.

So that's a plus.

I've never made one before, that's the only thing.

Paul, why have you chosen fougasse as the Technical Challenge?

Because it's botanical week, fougasse is leaf-shaped in its cut.

Now, they have to be quite careful with this.

Just use your fingers, stretch it out

and then make two slashes down the middle and six diagonal slashes

on both sides, so it looks like a leaf,

so we're going to break this off... You can hear that straightaway.

Immediately you pick that up, it smells of those herbs

and using fresh herbs makes all the difference, doesn't it?

It's got that lovely crunchy outside

and as soon as you get in the middle,

-there's a little bit of spring.

-That's it.

That's a fougasse. If they're good, Mary,

and they're careful and they follow the recipe,

we should end up with 14 spectacular, flawless fougasse.

No problem.

So, the first line says, "Make the dough by mixing the flour, salt,

"yeast and oil and three quarters of the water."

I think that's pretty straightforward.

"As the dough starts to come together,

"slowly add the remaining water." Which I'm doing.

I don't know if it's supposed to be, like, super wet or not.

I'm just trying to knead it in a bit at a time.

I love fougasse, it's one of my favourite things.

It's actually my cinema snack.

And I like bread.

Bread makes me feel happy and comfortable.

I don't think it needs much working.

I've just stopped adding the water cos I think it will make it too wet.

It looks like a standard white bread recipe.

It says, "As the dough starts to come together, then add the herbs."

So, we've got two teaspoons of sage, two teaspoons of thyme,

and two teaspoons of rosemary.

Just doing this at speed, so we can get a nice prove on the dough.

I'm just going to leave it nice and wet -

because there wasn't a step that was like, "Knead the dough."

It's actually quite a nice-feeling dough.

It's coming together.

Yeah, that passes the window pane test. I'm going to get that in.

It says "prove".

Doesn't list how long we're supposed to prove it for.

I guess we have to kind of use our own baking instincts.

I just put my dough in my proving draw.

I'm going to leave it there for 40 minutes and then we'll take a view.

I can leave it for an hour.

I'm going to prove it for 45 minutes.

Don't want to over prove it.

So now we just wait.

Two leaf-shaped fougasse.

So...

It just says, "Slash each fougasse,

"with two consecutive cuts down the middle and six on either side."

Six on either side. One, two, three, four, five, six.

Consecutive could mean one, two.

Or it could mean one, two.

I'm from an engineering background, consecutive is one after the other.

It's supposed to look like a leaf

and I'm now erring towards one on top of the other.

Yeah.

OK, my rootin', tootin' gluten-shootin' bakers,

you've got one hour, that's it, one hour left.

Ooh! We've got a good rise.

It's doubled in size.

Probably tripled in size, actually.

It says, "Divide in half and shape into two leaf-shaped fougasse."

My, my. That's sticky.

Leaf, like that.

I'm just slashing my fougasse.

I've gone for the one after the other...

and I've committed now.

This is starting to look like what I've eaten. To be honest with you,

I can't remember exactly if the slits were in the middle like that.

My consecutive lines are one on top of the other.

I think two on either side wouldn't have given me much space

to do the slits on the side.

I've cut the lines in the middle, which doesn't look right.

I don't know. It'll be nice.

Let's not forget that in bread week, who was Star Baker?

I don't know, I can't remember.

-No, it was me.

-Tom!

-Yeah.

-So this is good territory for you.

-Yeah. I'm feeling that's quite pretty.

-Yeah, it looks lovely.

Are you going to prove those again now?

-Yeah.

-So these are your little proving sheaths.

-Yes, exactly!

-And you just leave them in there, do you?

Yeah, I think I'm going to prove these at room temperature...

-OK, love.

-..just because I won't get two of them in the proving drawer.

Get as much air as possible in there, and then it can go...

Start its second prove.

I'll give it 20 minutes' prove.

I'm probably just going to prove it on the side.

I won't stick it in the drawer.

I'm going to prove that for 25 minutes, maybe.

I'm going to probably prove it for...

..another 30 minutes or so.

Fingers crossed.

Oh, God! I've never been so stressed about dough in my life.

OK, bakers, 30 minutes till we need to see your fougasse-ious material

on the table.

Do you know what? I think I'm going to go in.

Proving is finished. It's not risen much.

All right, I'm going to go for it.

So I'm brushing it with olive oil

and then I'll sprinkle some oregano on -

that's what the instructions say.

I'm going to put it in for ten minutes.

They're both going in.

He said, "Be patient," didn't he?

I think Selasi thinks we've got more time than we do.

Because it's got to bake and it's got to cool.

I'm just going to take my time

and just do it the right time and not rush it.

20 minutes remaining.

Most French ovens are steam injected ovens, so it's a French bread,

my thought process goes, put some steam in there.

-Did you go for steam?

-No. Because I thought...

I mean, I know it's not a focaccia, but it feels like a focaccia.

And I wouldn't put steam in my focaccia.

-Mm.

-But I don't know.

OK, bakers, 15 minutes and we're all going to need fou-gastric bands

because they'll be so delicious.

OK, I'm running out of time now. Time to bake it.

Cook, cook, cook.

It's rising, which is good.

It's looking like I would expect a fougasse to...

I would buy this fougasse.

Doesn't look good. I think it might be underbaked...

-..which I don't want.

-You are so Zen.

It's looking really puffed up,

so maybe I should've stretched it out more.

Bakers, that's five minutes remaining on your bakes.

I mean, it feels hollow.

One minute for good luck.

Hopefully OK. It's supposed to be quite flat.

-Yeah. Good.

-I've got one more minute left in the oven

-and we've got three minutes left.

-So, two minutes for cooling.

Two minutes for cooling.

I think it's done. It's better than having it in the oven

and being worried that they're not.

That feels right to me.

A thing of beauty!

I get so excited by bread.

Happy with that.

That is not cooked.

I don't understand that.

I'm going to spend my remaining one minute wafting like a maniac.

I've got... Just got pale portions in the middle.

Damn it! Maybe I shouldn't have steamed.

Coming out.

It looks underbaked.

OK, bakers, time is up on the fougasse.

Please bring them up.

Paul and Mary are looking for 14 leaf-shaped herb fougasse.

As they're judging blind, they have no idea whose bread is whose.

Start from this side, Mary.

Now, the idea of a fougasse, when you cut the diagonal lines,

it's to make it look like a leaf.

The lines are meant to go one, two.

It's not a bad bake, actually. You can see the herbs on the top.

They look nice.

Nice and crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.

This is exactly how I wanted to see it.

Two down the middle. Six, each side.

That's a nice one, that one.

-Nice flavour.

-It is baked.

That's the key thing, it is baked, and it does taste good.

This is a little bit smaller and the cuts are in the wrong place again.

It's very spongy, isn't it, in the middle?

Could have flattened that one out a bit.

It's a bit small. You can fill the tray right to the edge.

The bake's good, though. This one needed a bit more in the oven.

See by the colour underneath, how pale that is?

-You want it to be crispy.

-It's spongy, isn't it?

Yeah. More like a flowery bap.

The cuts are wrong.

-It isn't crisp at all.

-No.

Moving on, again, cuts in the wrong place.

Should've been more leaf-like.

But they are opened up a bit more, so it's filled the tray.

Needed a little bit longer.

Again, it's not crisp on the outside.

That's not bad. It just needed longer in the oven.

It's got a stronger bake. You can see the brown underneath.

It's crispy all the way round, which I like.

-Mmm, it's good.

-With a bit of cheese.

-Cheese.

-Ooh, cheese.

-Wine.

-Wine!

-That's nice.

Moving on to the last one, cuts in the right place.

Could've done with another five minutes in the oven.

It's a bit soft here and crispy on the outside.

Your flavour's there. The bake isn't.

Mary and Paul will now reveal whose herb fougasse

is technically perfect.

In seventh place is this one, Selasi.

Too soft. Cuts in the wrong place.

In sixth place, this one was slightly underbaked.

In fifth place is this one.

The cuts are in the wrong place and, actually,

-could've done with a little bit longer, as well.

-In fourth place...

The cuts aren't in the right place.

In third place is this one.

You could've done with opening those up a bit,

but the crispiness of that was delicious. Well done.

In second place, a very nice bake.

Lovely and crispy.

So, first place, this one.

Brilliant.

THEY CLAP

That's a good fougasse, Tom.

-Well done.

-Yes!

I think that's the closest I've come to crying in the tent, yet,

out of just sheer relief and joy.

Sometimes things don't go your way,

so I need to pull something out of the bag again.

Out of the hat? Bag?

I want, tomorrow, to have an absolutely amazing cake,

and I want them to go, "Wow, now that's what I call a Showstopper."

If tomorrow's average or worse, I could be going home.

The bakers have one final botanical challenge to impress Mary and Paul -

the Showstopper. One more chance to keep their place in the tent.

Now, Mary and Paul, it seems to me that this weekend,

we're seeing the triumph of girls and the slow wilting of the boys.

The girls are coming through with flying colours

-and the boys are sinking back.

-Mmm. A little like the meringues.

Let's start at the top.

Benjamina's had a good weekend so far, hasn't she?

Benjamina's flown away.

I mean, she's been consistent, actually, over the weeks, now.

Doing pretty well, we've got Candice.

A good tasting meringue.

Oh, it was a beautiful curd, and good pastry.

I mean, Jane is strong again.

And she had made a very good meringue and she was one of the few

that, when she piped it, it kept its shape.

Andrew, up to now, has been, sort of, pretty consistent, hasn't he?

Should we be worrying about him now?

I think Selasi and Andrew and, dare I say it, Rav.

-Oh, dear.

-I need to bring Tom in, as well.

The pumpkin, it didn't taste very good.

Very stodgy. He did come first in technical.

-Yeah.

-But that was quite tight, anyway, in technical,

so I wouldn't discount Tom at this stage.

I would say, at the moment,

all the lads are in trouble coming into the Showstopper.

-Every single male baker is in trouble?

-Yes.

Welcome back, bakers, to your botanical Showstopper day.

Now, Paul and Mary would love you, please,

to make a spectacular floral cake,

and here is the floral dance to go with that cake.

I can hear her hips when they move.

Good. They'd like it, please, to have at least three tiers.

You can use flowers in it.

You can use flowers on it, in the icing.

You can decorate with flowers. You can fill with flowers.

You've got four hours, so...

-On your marks...

-Get set... BOTH:

-Bake.

I think everyone's, kind of, on edge a bit,

because there's a lot riding on the Showstopper.

And I certainly don't want to go home yet!

I'm just really nervous.

I have got quite a lot going on today.

However, they are all cakes that I enjoy making, so, hopefully,

as long as I can get them in the oven,

then let the decorating commence.

I'm worried that the judges might think

it's just not got enough of a wow factor,

so I'm going to try and make it look as beautiful

and finessed as possible.

We've asked them to make a three-tier floral cake.

I think of roses, elderflower, lavender...

To get that light, floral flavour coming through is very tricky,

and, in some cases, can be very overpowering.

-They'll have to be careful.

-The other thing, of course,

is all about the decoration. It's got to look exceptional.

I hope they're inspired to do something very special.

I'm doing, erm, a Mary classic in that I am doing all-in-ones, so,

basically, you don't cream the butter and the sugar separately.

For speed, you just shove it all in.

-Good morning, Andrew.

-Morning!

-Tell us about your floral cake.

So, I'm making a fruity spring elderflower cake.

So, on my base layer, I'm going to have a cherry and almond sponge,

my middle one is going to be a lemon and elderflower drizzle,

and then the top is going to be a hidden strawberry vanilla cake.

Andrew's floral Showstopper will use fresh strawberries,

chopped glace cherries and Kirsch liqueur.

He'll then decorate his three tiers of sponge with real flowers.

What are you covering the whole thing with?

So, I'm making a Swiss buttercream,

which I'm going to flavour with a bit of elderflower cordial

and mainly this elderflower extract,

-which is very strong, so I'll use it sparingly...

-Sparingly.

..just give it a nice fragrant... But not overpower it.

-Get a good...

-Good luck, Andrew.

-OK.

-Thank you.

-Cheers. Thank you.

I'm not much of a floral guy at all, if I'm honest with you,

so the fact that I've chosen to pipe my own buttercream flowers,

I've really set myself a challenge here today.

Hiding beneath Rav's piped flowers will be three tiers

of orange blossom, almond and vanilla flavour sponge,

covered in a Swiss meringue buttercream.

I've only gone for one flavour for all three of my tiers,

because I thought that would, kind of, make it slightly easier

than worrying about having to make different flavours for each tier.

These are camomile flowers

which I'm just crushing up into a fine powder,

and I'm going to steep in the hot butter

to go into the genoise sponge.

As soon as I heard that we were making a floral cake,

I immediately started thinking about, like, floral teas.

I really like jasmine tea, camomile tea, all those sorts of things.

Tom is piping elderflower buttercream rosettes

to entirely cover his trio

of tea-infused genoise sponges.

What worries me is some of the flavours you've come up with

have been out there, and is tea really going to blow our mind

-in a Showstopper, in a sponge?

-It does come through, you know.

It doesn't just taste like it's not there.

I'm hoping to convince you that tea in a dessert actually works.

-Good on you.

-Well, we'll see.

-Thank you, Tom.

OK, that's one out.

I am making a four-tier...

..changing of the seasons...

..floral cake.

The seasons are all very, very different, so I'm, kind of,

going for showing that through cake form.

Candice's four seasons cake

begins with a chocolate and orange blossom

layer for spring, a lemon, raspberry and rose for summer,

spiced carrot for autumn, and a fruitcake for winter.

I'm going for all different sizes, all different shapes.

-Wow.

-And my top tier, which I'm just finishing off,

is my nan's boiled fruitcake, and the only...

-That is it.

-Is that your nan's writing?

-That is my nan's writing.

-That makes me so very happy.

That is what baking is all about.

-Yeah.

-Just in one little, tiny sheet of paper.

-Yeah.

-You've got a mammoth task ahead of you.

-OK. Good luck.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you, Candice.

I'm not using any real flowers, which, actually, in hindsight,

possibly is an error, because it would be so much quicker.

So, there's a lot to get done,

but I think I've got my timings in my head.

Garden designer Jane is going all out with her floral decoration,

making her own sugar-paste flowers and floral chocolate collars

to wrap around each of her three tiers of orange-flavoured sponges.

To go down a floral challenge and do a floral decoration

-rather than flavours is...

-Rather than floral flavours?

-Yeah.

-I thought, I'll do a lovely orange,

which is a flowery flavour anyway,

and just shove as much flower on the outside as I can.

Let's hope that your flowers on the top excel.

I hope so. I've practised them an awful lot.

You've got to gamble a bit at this, week six of Bake Off.

I just hope I haven't made a wrong choice, really, today.

This is the cherry and almond. I'm happy with the consistency.

I think I've got my cherries dispersed pretty evenly

throughout the mix.

20 minutes, that's going in for.

-Good.

-Speed, to me, today, is huge, because I'm doing chocolate collars

and a chocolate ganache underneath.

It's all got to be dead cold, so getting these in and chilled

is really, really important.

I'm on cake number two, now - the lemon and strawberry layer cake.

I'm making a three-tiered cake and they're going to be stacked up

and I'll be piping round it to the top,

add some glitter and some flowers.

Selasi is making three tiers of different flavoured sponge -

carrot,

strawberry and vanilla, and lemon and poppy seed.

He'll decorate each layer with pink and white piped rosettes.

The girls have definitely been very, very strong,

whereas the guys are almost going through...

I'm going to represent the boys, the flag for the lads.

Three...

I'm doing a camomile, honey and poppy seed cake for two of my tiers,

and I'm just infusing my milk with some dried camomile flowers,

and then a little bit of honey. So, it's very floral.

Benjamina is sandwiching an orange blossom and almond cake

between two camomile-infused sponges,

which she'll only partially cover in frosting.

It's going to be, like, semi-naked iced.

-Semi-naked?

-Yeah.

So it's not completely frosted.

I've never heard that... I've never heard those terms.

So you see a bit of the cake peeping through.

And then I've just got some fresh flowers. It's quite simple.

-Good luck. Thank you, Benjamina.

-Thank you.

Six tablespoons of poppy seeds.

A little bit too much mix.

It may take a bit long to bake, but, you know, too late now.

I'm just worried about the timing.

Ideally would've liked this to have been in the oven

within half an hour of us starting - so, way behind time.

Bakers, two hours gone, two hours to go.

I'm going to put them in now.

All right, I'm going into the oven.

This is browning very quickly, actually - I don't know why.

The mixture doesn't look right.

The oven looks as though it was a bit too hot, so rather than risk it,

I'm going to take it out and chuck it away.

It's probably put me 20 minutes where I didn't want to be.

I'm really pleased with my chocolate cake, actually.

It's looking quite nice.

I've just put my second lot in. We shall see.

All right, that's me done.

All done. All seem good.

That smells of elderflower.

That smells of camomile.

That smells of jasmine. I'm happy.

Grr!

This one's a tad overdone.

I don't know why it's still so moist in the middle.

It's just that's the leftover elderflower cordial.

With three tiers to bake...

It's not cooked, man.

..and decorate, timing is crucial.

Ideally, I'd wait until this was totally cool before cutting it.

I'm going to give myself an hour for icing and decorating.

Because I'll be piping a lot of roses outside,

I need to make a lot of mix.

I need to start making flowers.

I've just put some food colouring into my buttercream,

which is going to be used to pipe my buttercream flowers.

It tastes like elderflowers.

I just can't tell any more.

Oh. Oh. I got it that time.

Because I haven't got flowers in my cake,

my decoration is absolutely crucial.

I don't know why I've chosen to pipe my own flowers.

It's good. It shows a skill.

-I hope so.

-Do you like doing this sort of careful...

-I hate it.

-Oh.

-Oh, Rav.

-I know that this cake has to look good,

and I don't do pretty with my bakes, so I'm really, really worried.

It's cooked. Yeah. Fortunately.

OK, they caught on the side, though. It'll have to do.

Oh, that looks good. Look at that.

That was supposed to be done half an hour ago.

I think I just put, probably, a bit too much mix, but...

Listen, you'll just have to slightly speed up.

OK.

Come on, bakers. We've not got all daisy!

Half an hour, in fact.

-Just half an hour left.

-Oh, no!

I was thinking, like, the pictures you see of Japanese blossom gardens.

I'm basically just wanting a really clean finish on it,

so I'm just crumb-coating each of these at the moment.

I hope they understand that seeing the cake come through a little bit

-is intentional.

-I'm trying to fill in all the holes.

I don't think I'm doing a very good job, though.

Personal taste, personal taste.

Looking at everybody else's, I've got no chance.

Look at Candice's in front of me.

Selasi has got some good decorations going on. Oh, God!

These are my chocolate wraps.

What I've done, is just melted white chocolate and coloured it up.

So, the positioning of the cake

is supposed to be a little bit higgledy-piggledy,

just like the seasons.

That's going to have to do. Next, putting on the flowers.

I wish I'd chosen fresh flowers now.

Just as well this is an abstract cake wrap.

Oh, gosh, they're all soft.

I'm going to have to put them in the freezer for a bit.

Chuck the flowers on.

I just want it to look very, kind of, clean and elegant,

and I'm going to have some tumbling down one side.

My piping skills are pretty good, actually.

I need it to be good enough and taste good enough, so, let's see.

You fill in the gaps and then, hopefully,

once it's all set and wrapped round the cake,

it'll cover a multitude of sins.

I've got the most difficult thing to do at the end,

which is to try and pipe some roses in the middle.

You've got five minutes left.

I'm just getting my chocolate wraps on.

I would normally not put them on quite so wet, but needs must...

That will have to do.

This is a complete mess.

That's looking a lot better than the practice one I made.

It's just piping on some...

some of my ganache.

OK, bakers, that's time.

So, bakers, to the end of your benches, please.

That looks absolutely terrible.

Paul and Mary are looking for three tiers of cake,

inspired by botanical flavours

and finished with elaborate floral decorations.

Candice, I'm amazed that you did those four tiers.

The overall appearance is fun.

-It's like you, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-You like to do things over the top.

Right, we'll start with your...

-Winter is coming!

-..Nan's boiled fruit.

-Nice flavour.

-Thank you.

-Well done, Gran.

-So, there's winter.

-Coming into autumn.

-This is autumn.

-The nut's come through.

-OK.

-The texture's OK.

-It's a little bit rubbery.

-OK.

-But the flavour is OK.

-OK.

-Right, moving onto the next one.

Summer's here.

Often, when you put rose in, it overpowers it.

-It doesn't. That's a good cake.

-Thank you.

-Lastly, with spring...

Chocolate orange and almond, and it's gluten-free, as well.

-It's a good chocolate cake.

-Thank you.

That's a good example because it's difficult to get a good cake

gluten-free, and it is good.

So, overall, I like your chocolate cake.

I like the fruitcake on the top. Summer was pretty good.

-Your carrot cake let you down a bit.

-OK.

I'd like to have seen a different decoration

other than just that you can pipe single blobs all the way around.

Right, so the top one is vanilla sponge.

Interesting strawberry in the middle.

And that's just cream, is it?

No, that's the elderflower Swiss buttercream.

I'm looking for the flavour. I can't...

It should be quite subtle. I didn't want it to...

-It's quite easy to go...

-It's so subtle, I can't find it.

Right, let's have a look at the next layer.

This is the lemon and elderflower drizzle.

It's over-baked, that one. It's dry as a bone.

-And this bottom one again?

-It is a cherry and almond.

They've all gathered in one little area.

Well, what's happened is the mixture was too slack.

The cake is quite dry, again. Quite close.

That's not good. That's a shame.

I like the look of the cake.

I... It just, for me, feels a bit unfinished.

OK. The bottom and the top one are the camomile-honey

and the middle one is orange.

It's not quite done.

-Mmm.

-There is a layer, here, of rather close mixture.

It was taken out of the oven a little bit too soon.

I can't get that tea coming through.

Let's go for the second layer.

The orange is coming through strongly and well.

That is absolutely spot on.

It's a shame about the top one and probably the bottom one.

Try the bottom one. It might be better.

Again, I can't taste the tea.

It's a bit of a mess when it comes to the icing.

When you go for a classic look, make sure it's really smooth.

The flowers, I think they could've been a bit bolder in their colour.

One, two, three.

I think it is slightly over-baked. That's a shame.

I think, really, that the cake itself is not very creative.

Same filling, same colouring.

It's just a bit samey.

Things didn't go completely to plan.

No, they didn't. I ran out of time at the end

and I had to take the acetates off quickly,

so I haven't got the lovely shine.

It does look a mess.

And it looks like mashed potato in between those cakes.

Some of the flowers look good but the rest of it...

-Yes, I was really dis...

-That's not up to your normal standards.

Sorry, I was really disappointed.

-It's over-baked.

-Oh, is it?

-Oh.

-Mmm.

-Only just over-baked.

I don't know why I had such trouble with cake today.

-I don't know why.

-Now, this is a totally different mix.

-Yeah.

-Now, the bottom one's a little bit better.

-Yeah, I don't know.

-Not much, though.

-I'm so sorry.

-So am I.

-Yeah.

-It's certainly a Showstopper.

-That is impressive.

You've shown us that you're a very good at piping buttercream.

And, underneath that, I know you've got three different flavours.

-Yes.

-We'll start from the top, and this is the lemon.

-Yeah.

It's baked well. Still got a bit of moisture in there, which is good.

-Thank you.

-Right, next one.

-And this one is...

-Carrot cake.

It's very, very moist.

-It's good.

-The texture of the cake is good.

And our bottom layer is...

Vanilla and strawberry.

It's a nice-looking cake, too.

I like the flavour and that sponge is baked beautifully.

-Thank you.

-You've done every single layer perfect.

The icing's been good. Well done, Selasi.

-Makes him even more lovable. Look at him.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

You've done a very simple finish,

but it does look very neat.

-Let's try this top one.

-The top one is an elderflower tea.

Looking at it, you've got a good genoise.

I am definitely getting elderflower,

and it is coming through in the cake, as well.

Quite tricky to do. Well done.

This is the camomile.

Again, you've got a very good sponge.

-And what have we got on the bottom?

-This is a green tea and jasmine.

It's very moist. And I'm getting a very pleasant flavour.

I'm really impressed that you've managed to get those flavours

through, especially the jasmine. It's beautiful. Really good.

-Thank you.

-You've absolutely cracked it with brilliant genoise sponges.

-Thank you, Tom.

-Well done, Tom.

I'm just disappointed with the appearance of it,

because I think it was very important.

Particularly now, in week six, things need to look good.

It's a bit of a disaster.

I didn't think the cakes would be that bad.

It was pretty damning on all angles.

Yeah, I really want to stay. I really do want to stay. Oh!

This has been the hardest judging that we've ever had.

-It's so hard.

-I think at the moment

-we're looking for the people in trouble.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-I think, for me, it's Rav.

-It was just a little bit boring.

And I also have to bring Andrew into that, as well.

It was very, very simple, and he only showed us one lot of piping.

Jane, maybe, didn't have so much success today.

What a sadness with Jane.

She was the only person that moulded flowers herself.

She's got the skill - but she had an off day.

And who is in line for Star Baker?

Selasi was last in technical.

Just based on that cake, I've got to put him into the fold,

because that was very special.

And he got the flavours inside perfectly.

I would say Candice was up there, as well.

We got four different flavours. That's one more than everybody else.

Could Tom inch into Star Baker?

Possibly. I think he's had two good challenges, and, today,

he should feel very proud of himself because that is very, very good.

Can I just say? Before we leave the table,

I will need to cover Benjamina's cake,

because we are pre-watershed and that is semi-nude.

That doesn't need to be seen.

-Not on British television.

-If you'd like to see it,

press the red button now.

Paul and Mary have decided that the award for Star Baker

goes to a person who, it's fair to say, didn't start off very well,

but who came back with real grit.

They put their foot hard on the fougasse pedal,

and on Showstopper day, it was all about the tea.

Star Baker is Mr Tea.

He is Tom Baker.

-He is Star Baker. Tom, well done.

-APPLAUSE

Well done, mate. I'm bad cop.

This week's was a very, very hard-fought

and difficult, difficult decision.

And so, with a very heavy heart, the person leaving us this week is...

..Rav.

-Yeah.

-Just, I want to lean into you and then never leave.

-I'll miss your face, Rav.

-I'm going to miss you all, too.

I'm really, really proud of myself

and I'm glad that I've made it this far.

Week six, I mean, that's an achievement for me.

I'm leaving here with a smile on my face and I couldn't be happier.

-Well done, Rav.

-Thank you. Thank you so much, Paul.

Rav's a great baker, but I think, at the end of the day,

Andrew did better than Rav in the Showstopper,

and, unfortunately, Rav had to go.

I can't believe it. I'm a lucky duck.

I've got to really show them what I'm made of next week,

and put awful botanicals behind us.

Well done, Tom.

Tom was a bit of a wild one, wasn't he, this week?

He started really badly,

but to get those flavours of the tea to come through

at just the right level, proper Star Baker.

You've pulled it right back.

Now, carry that through into the next week.

Tom surprised us all. He did brilliantly.

Yes, yes, yes!

I am very surprised.

Not a brilliant first day, and to come back and be Star Baker,

it makes me feel like I'm supposed to be here.

Next time, it's desserts.

This is week seven of Bake Off.

Good enough is not good enough any more.

As we roll out...

Damn it. Damn it!

..a cracking signature...

Oh, it's cracked. It's cracked.

A technical that's driving the bakers nuts...

It's just crystallised.

Start again.

Argh!

..and a mini Showstopper...

They're going to collapse.

..with massive expectations.

They are just sliding everywhere.

-Oh, no.

-Will you ever ride a big dipper again after this, Andrew?

-Probably not.

-OK. Good man.