Hey, Alison, it's Party Bakes Week.
I know, I'm so excited. I love a good party.
Please say you ordered the bouncy castle.
Course I did. Feast your eyes on this beauty.
Yes, wicked. When can I bounce on it?
I've just got to inflate it.
Oh, OK.
How long's it gonna be?
It'll be ready imminently. OK.
Welcome to the Great British Bake Off.
I'll be back in an hour, Noel.
HE SIGHS
If only I hadn't lent my foot pump to Paul for his BMX.
Last time...
I've brought my own spoon.
..was Dessert Week. SAKU GASPS
And despite some steamed pudding catastrophes...
That is disgusting.
..Dan's Thai curry creme caramels
won him Star Baker for the second time.
APPLAUSE
Ahh!
But it was Saku whose time was up.
It's a privilege to be a part of this lovely family.
Now...
..the quarterfinals... Go, go, go.
..means Party Week.
# Let's all do the conga La-la-la-la... #
The bakers take on a classic celebration Signature...
I'm being generous with the sausage.
No-one wants a small sausage.
..tackle a much-loved multi-legged Technical...
I think you need to do it again. Shut up.
I'm never, ever going to get this done on time.
..and create a colossal show stopping spread...
This is the hardest I've had to work
and I thought Biscuit Week I had to do a fair bit.
..worthy of the glitziest celebration.
The ones underneath aren't getting cooked.
How long have we got?
So who will be this week's party-pooper?
Let's hope no-one goes too hard too soon.
# Woo-woo-woo, boop-boop, boop-boo... #
And who will be the tent's number one party animal?
Bakers, you've had four hours.
This is outrageous.
They're going to be soggy.
Choux didn't rise.
They're only making one cupcake.
Quarterfinals, Party Week.
DAN: Let's do it, team.
I am buzzing.
I'm so excited.
I don't know how I've got here.
I'm full-on thinking, like, impostor syndrome right now.
Like, it's hard to get my head around the fact that I'm still here.
To be in the quarterfinals is just such an honour.
I'm made up.
Quarterfinals, there's just no hiding place now, is there?
You make an error, they're gonna pounce on it.
Laser focus.
I felt anxious the previous weeks,
but this is the first time I've felt actually really nervous.
As soon as you say quarterfinal, it's a big 'un.
The pressure's definitely on for this week.
Good morning, bakers.
I hope you're all in the mood to celebrate
because it's Party Week today.
Come on Paul, let's do the conga.
No?
OK, your loss.
I think he's more of a sort of Oops Upside Your Head kind of guy.
I agree. So, for your Signature bake,
the judges would like you to make 12 delicious sausage rolls.
The sausage roll, an absolute staple for any party.
An essential, like pass-the-parcel, musical chairs,
or putting your keys into a bowl at the start of the evening.
You can use any pastry that you feel works,
and the filling and the flavour is completely open,
as long as it's shaped into a sausage wrapped in pastry before baking.
You have two hours.
We're gonna be Cake's Corner, doing the Agadoo.
On your marks. Get set. Bake!
I'm from up north. I love a pastry,
love a sausage roll, so I'm all over it.
I don't really eat 'em all that often, if I'm honest.
I don't think the ones from the shops are all that nice.
Can't really go wrong with a good sausage roll.
I mean, it can go wrong in many ways.
It's pastry. So many ways you can go wrong.
It's Party Week,
and the Signature challenge is my favourite challenge ever,
sausage rolls.
I've practised this quite a lot at home.
I don't want to say, "Yes, they've all been consistent,"
cos then that means today they're gonna be horrendous, aren't they?
We've said they can make any kind of pastry they like
but I think most of them will do a rough puff.
It's a shorter way of doing puff pastry,
cos puff pastry takes hours.
It's quite hot today in the tent, and obviously butter's going melt
very, very quickly.
They're going to have to use that fridge,
keep it chilled all the time,
up until the moment they actually put it in the oven,
and that will create the lamination, flake and butteriness
that you need on the exterior of a good sausage roll.
Next, we go onto the sausage filling.
When it comes to flavours, it's got to pack a punch.
You want that little bit of moisture in there as well.
You don't want it too dry or too claggy.
The pastry won't have much flavour to it,
so the filling needs to stand out.
You can't beat a good sausage roll.
I've baked millions and millions of sausage rolls in my time,
so this challenge is something I'm really looking forward to.
Hiya, Cristy. Morning, hello. Hello, Cristy.
Right, Cristy, tell us all about your sausage rolls.
My sausage roll is just a combination of all Paul's tutorials I've watched.
Oh, right.
Are they the videos where he's making a sausage roll
but he's wearing just Speedos?
Not seen that one, no.
Serving up her take on Paul's rough puff pastry,
Cristy's party sausage rolls will have a classic
pork and sage and onion filling,
with a layer of home-made cranberry sauce.
That looks like six cloves of garlic.
Lots of garlic, just because I've got lots of sausage meat.
I don't want it to taste bland, you know?
I think it sounds lovely.
It does sound a classic one, doesn't it, with the sage stuffing?
Sounds really good. Yeah, I like it.
Look forward to it. OK, great. Thank you, Cristy.
Thank you, guys.
Not everyone is staying true to the much-loved British classic.
My sausage rolls are inspired by my love of dim sums,
so I'm doing a siu mai sausage roll.
So, we're off to the Far East again.
We are. You love it, don't you?
Next you'll be saying there'll be a soy dip to go with it.
There is a soy dip to go with it, it's a dipping sauce. Unbelievable.
Mixing up food cultures,
Dan's dim sum-inspired sausage rolls will have
a punchy pork, prawn, ginger and garlic filling,
with Five Spice-flavoured rough puff pastry.
I do like siu mai. Yeah.
However, sausage roll, one of my all-time favourite foods... Well...
And then you blend them together.
This better be good, Dan.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Cheers.
"Don't let me down," I know.
I'm like his son, aren't I?
Josh is also adding ingredients not usually found in
the humble sausage roll.
I definitely haven't put sprouts in a sausage roll before.
It wouldn't be Christmas, would it, if you didn't have sprouts?
We're back in Christmas?
Yes. Oh...
We've got Christmas.
I've got some turkey mince in there, some sausage meat as well,
just cos the turkey can get a bit dry.
I think it's a nice idea.
It's Christmas in a sausage roll, which can't be a bad thing.
Josh's festive sausage rolls will be filled with pork,
turkey, Brussels sprouts, chestnuts and apricots,
along with a layer of cranberry sauce.
Josh is bringing the party with his top, look at this!
I know, we've gone all Christmassy.
How's your sausage rolls going? This is an easy one, innit?
There's quite a lot that can go wrong still.
What can go wrong?
And you've got quarterfinal nerves as well.
Oh, don't be nervous, that's why I'm here,
to calm you down a little bit. Have I calmed you?
Yeah, you have a lot. Job done.
If the bakers are to achieve
the flaky, laminated layers the judges expect...
Going to grate some more butter in, do a little turn.
..their dough must get multiple turns and oodles of butter.
So, this is frozen butter.
The key is keeping it cold,
otherwise the butter just melts and then you lose the lamination.
You can see the butter coming through.
You want it thick, but I've got very, very warm hands,
so you've just got to work nice and quickly with it.
Do you like making pastry?
Not as much as Paul.
It's such an odd skill.
"And you will be the fastest, and you will be the most powerful,
"and you will be good at pastry."
Such a weird thing, isn't it?
With the sun baking the tent,
it's crucial doughs go back in the fridge
while bakers crack on with fillings.
A lot of multitasking today,
because the pastry needs a lot of time to chill.
# Let's all do the conga
La-la-la-la
# La-la-la-la... #
It's Party Week!
Imagine the party if you win this Bake Off.
We'll have a party if I lose as well.
Inspired by picnicking in the park,
Tasha's sausage rolls will be filled with pork,
apple and moistened with a layer of cider,
apricot and apple sauce.
I'm looking forward to this.
This is going to taste amazing. I hope so.
So, how do you feel about the final now?
Do you think you're in reach?
Whatever happens now, I'm really proud.
Yeah, but you definitely want to win, right?
You're talented enough to get yourself through to the final,
but it's all about concentrating on each dish
and getting it absolutely correct,
so good luck.
Tasha's not the only quarterfinal baker opting for a fruity flavour.
The apples are quite good in getting some moisture
into the sausage rolls.
You can't have a dry sausage roll, can you? That'd be gross.
Matty's tweaking classic pork, sage and onion sausage roll flavours
by adding grated apple and a touch of chilli.
It's kind of like a play on pork and apple with stuffing. OK.
Sounds like a good idea. Where are the chilli going?
I've just put, like, half a teaspoon in the sausage meat.
A little added element. Hopefully it works.
Fingers crossed.
In addition to punchy flavours in their fillings...
There's some soy sauce, ginger, garlic...
Definitely not traditional, no.
..many of the bakers are adding a fruit sauce...
That is my cranberry sauce.
..to complement their meat and keep the bake moist.
So, we have apricot sauce,
just to give it a little bit of something different.
Give it a good squidge. Everything's banged in there now.
Hello, Dan.
Is this sausage roll going to bring the party today?
Hopefully so, yes.
What's the best party you've ever been to?
When I went to Ibiza when I was 20. I've finally recovered.
My party now, I'm in bed by about a good eight o'clock.
Me too, you're exactly like me, that is...
My party is in my bed. Yeah, I like...
Erm, yeah... HE LAUGHS
Bakers, you are halfway through.
WHISPERING: That was powerful. Thank you.
It's time to roll. Nice and chilled.
I'm looking for about 60 centimetres, and then 15 wide.
Then I've got enough pastry to fold it over then, hopefully.
It's so cold.
It's gone quite stiff.
I can't have it thick, cos it'll just be not nice.
I don't know about you,
but I like quite a thick pastry on a sausage roll.
The apricot sauce is going to go on.
This is still hot, so I'm going to have to work really quickly.
Go, go, go.
Good fun, isn't it?
Spread a bit of cranberry sauce to go on the inside.
A nice bit of sweetness round it
to cut through that really savoury filling.
We're being generous with the sausage.
No-one wants a small sausage.
You want a good mouthful, don't you? Yeah.
I've given myself enough filling to have absolutely no excuses.
So, this is the caramelised onions.
I like to make them all individually.
That helps me keep it uniform.
Just trying to get it sort of as equal as humanely possible.
I'm pleased with the pastry.
I think it looks really, really nice.
Right, egg wash, sesame seeds, sage leaf, sea salt,
and then hopefully it looks nice.
We're going in, yeah.
To prevent the carefully incorporated butter leaking out,
the sausage rolls must go into a piping hot oven
for the first blast of heat to set the pastry.
So, I'm doing them at half an hour at 200 degrees,
but we're going to flip 'em round after 15 minutes
so they get an even colour.
They're going to go in, well,
probably till pretty much near the end,
so 40 minutes. RAPID BEEPING
OK, that's my timer saying it's time to hurry up.
But not everyone's oven ready.
Going to have to work like the bloody clappers now.
These aren't done.
They are not neat sausages.
Oh, I hope they taste good.
Bakers, you have 30 minutes left.
Oh, flipping heck.
Yeah, they look good.
Yeah, you get a bit of, like, juices come out of it
but I personally love that colour
that you get around the edge and on the bottom.
How they looking? They're looking all right, pretty groovy.
I feel like Paul was quite frightened that you were putting prawn in.
He'll either dig his heels in and go, "No,"
or he'll go, "Yeah, you've actually surprised me there."
You're quite close to the final now.
Very, very weird. Yeah, yeah.
Who do you think? Josh.
Yeah, I've had my eye on him since about week three.
Yeah, your card's marked, sunshine. You know what it's like.
They're all your friends, but ultimately...
Ultimately, you wanna take 'em down. "Going to crush you." Yeah.
They're OK, they're puffing up.
I'm just debating when to change the racks round.
They're all right, to be fair.
Not far off being done.
One tray, one shelf now,
so that I can get a nice even colour on them.
The sausage meat's squeezing out.
They're all soggy at the bottom.
This part here's horrendous, cos you just second guess everything.
You don't look at them and think they look nice,
you look at them and think, "What are they going to say?"
The ones underneath, the ones underneath aren't getting cooked.
How long have we got? Bakers, you have five minutes left.
TASHA: Oh, my God!
Right, I'm going to take them out now.
For Paul's most beloved bake,
the judges expect nothing less than mouth-watering, delicious fillings...
Could do with a bit more colour.
They look like they're cooked but I just want them to get dark.
..and delectably rich, tender pastry.
Holy mackerel. Nuclear, them.
Yeah, all good, look great.
Yeah, they look all right, to be fair.
I've actually done them for five minutes longer than normal.
Just thought, an extra bit of browning.
Going to take 'em out.
They're going to be soggy.
Not the prettiest things in the world.
They just don't look good.
They might taste amazing, just be ugly on the outside.
Oh, my gosh.
Bakers, that is your time on your Signature.
Step way from your sausage rolls.
And if you've got any scraps for me,
I love munching on a sausage!
Can't wait to get involved in Dan's sausage.
Ooh, me too.
LAUGHTER
The bakers' party sausage rolls
now face the judgment of Paul and Prue.
Hello, Tasha. Hi, Tash.
I do think they look good.
You can see the lamination, it's beautiful.
You obviously made some very good pastry dough
but you just ran out of time somewhere along the line
cos they needed longer in the oven.
Mm, I love that. Thank you.
Flavour is superb.
The apricot works beautifully well with it. Absolutely lovely.
The only issue is the bake.
It's too soggy.
It needed another ten minutes to make that flaky and beautiful.
But your filling is exceptional.
Pop them back in the oven for ten minutes, have 'em for lunch.
I'll switch it on now.
Like the colour,
they do look all right with those seeds on there as well.
They do look good.
Nice bit of flake there.
So, it's prawns and pork, isn't it? Yeah. Hmm.
It certainly tastes Chinese.
Um, I'm not keen on the flavour. OK.
It's not my favourite thing. Yeah. The flavours are delicious,
I'm just not used to them in a sausage roll.
Anything's allowed in pastry, surely?
But not a sausage roll!
Thank you very much. Ah, cheers. Thank you very much, nice one.
Win some, you lose some, don't you?
I can see a bit of lamination there.
I can see it, but with a laminated dough you expect that lamination
to grow so you don't end up with gaps.
These are very gappy.
It needed longer in the oven.
Does it taste like Christmas Day?
It's got the sharpness coming from the cranberry.
It's a bit dry, the sausage meat.
It's quite solid.
It is a tiny bit dry, but I think the flavour is terrific,
and I like the texture,
but if the pastry was a little more baked, I think it would be perfect.
Thank you. Well done. Thank you.
Happy with them? No, at home they got a lot darker.
They do look a bit pale.
Yeah, got a bit of a soggy bottom there.
Yeah, I'm so sorry.
They smell good. They are a little under-baked.
They are.
I quite like the flavour.
I think the flavour's good and it's well-balanced, well-seasoned.
The pastry is your weak link.
It comes down to the baking. Yeah.
I think that that filling is absolutely perfect.
The sharpness you get from the cranberry is delicious.
But I agree about the pastry, under-baked and too thick.
I love the shape of them, they're nice and round.
Couple of things I really like about them.
One, I like the colour.
You've got a nice strong bake underneath.
But you see the layers here, the lamination. Yeah.
That's a good sign, there.
They do look very nice.
Ooh, nice crisp.
Nice bit of kick there from the chilli.
Little bit of chilli flakes, yeah.
HE GASPS
TASHA: Aww!
Thank you for bringing me a sausage roll.
It's a very good sausage roll.
It's delicious.
The onions really work, the apple really works.
The chilli is great in there.
It's really good.
Thank you, Matthew.
That went well!
I never thought about getting a handshake.
It kind of took me by surprise.
I'm pretty happy with that, yeah.
Happy with that!
I fully expected worse.
I knew that they needed baking longer.
Bit of a mixed bag, but, you know,
I've taken a few risks.
Some pay off, some don't.
Prue liked 'em.
Next up,
the bakers have no idea what they'll be asked to make
in the mystery that is the Technical challenge.
Welcome back for your Technical challenge,
set by the life and soul of any good shindig, it's Paul Hollywood.
Paul, any trinkets, nuggets or words of wisdom?
You'll all know this for sure.
It's a very, very famous bake,
so just read the recipe carefully and enjoy it.
OK, Paul and Prue are going to take a little time out
before they get over-excitable and start showing off in front of their friends.
Thank you, guys. Bye-bye.
Paul would love you to make
a chocolate caterpillar cake.
So, your caterpillar should be made of a chocolate Swiss roll sponge,
filled with a chocolate meringue buttercream,
and then coated in a silky-smooth ganache.
Not forgetting the chocolate and meringue features
that will bring your caterpillar to life.
You only have two and a half hours for this.
We were going to give you three hours,
but we didn't want your caterpillars to metamorphosise into butterflies.
On your marks. Get set! Bake!
A staple of any birthday in our house.
Yes, even my own.
Never made one, though.
I've had a few varieties from a few different shops.
We've got 16 steps.
There's a lot of components to this one.
So, Paul, the famous caterpillar cake.
It's a terrific challenge.
It's a Swiss roll sponge, which they've all done many times.
The trick is getting the bake right.
Overbaking it by a minute, it's going to be bone dry.
What's important is to create the ridges.
We've explained how and where to cut the strips,
and it creates these bumps all the way along.
Inside, they have the Swiss meringue buttercream.
On top of that they've got to put a ganache.
The decoration, this is where they can have a little bit
of their artistic flair. Have a bit of fun with it.
All kids love that at a birthday party.
Well, I quite like it too, give me a bit.
There you go.
It's the right proportion of buttercream to cake
and that looks like really light cake.
The ganache, with the buttercream,
with that chocolate sponge, it's three hits of chocolate.
I think it's lovely.
On my birthday, Prue, you'll have to make me one of these.
I'll have a caterpillar cake. OK.
Step one, "Make a chocolate Swiss roll sponge."
Just whipped up my eggs and sugar
and I'm going to fold through the cocoa powder and flour
to try and keep as much air in as possible.
For the light, delicate bake the judges expect...
Don't want to get any lumps, obviously,
but also you don't want to knock the air out.
..ingredients must be gently combined.
Over-mix, and the baker's sponge will be dense.
Happy with that.
Are you familiar with this cake?
Is there anyone who doesn't know this cake?
Do you know what? It's one of my favourite cakes ever.
Yeah. But the thing is,
can you believe you've got to the semifinals?
Sorry, it's not the semifinals, sorry.
That's a bit awks, ain't it?
Uh, I'm rushing the show on. That's really awkward.
Can you believe you won?
LAUGHTER
How does it feel? Thank you, everyone!
Get it in to bake.
See you in a bit.
It doesn't give us a bake time, as per usual.
They bake very quickly, Swiss rolls,
so not going to bake it for too long.
Try that for ten. See what it looks like.
12 minutes, going to check it.
Next one is to make the batch of Swiss meringue.
I've not done a Swiss meringue for a long time, so what I'll do is
look over my shoulder and copy what someone else is doing.
When you're making Swiss meringue, you are whisking sugar
and egg white together over a bain-marie.
# Piece of cake when someone else is doing it...
# ..and you can steal it off them. #
How'd it go before? Did they like yours?
No. Why, cos it had prawn in it?
It was a bit dry as well, so, yeah.
You've gotta make this one count. I have gotta make this one count.
Anything out of the top three, I think you're in trouble tomorrow.
# No room for er-ror
# There's not at a-all. #
I can see that it's starting to get a lot thicker now.
Must be done, cos it's got no sugar grains
and it's holding really stiff peaks.
Happy with that.
Add butter to meringue into the bowl.
Now I just need to fold in the chocolate.
Should be delicious, though.
That is flipping lovely.
Quickly just check my sponge.
Feel like that's done.
Yeah, I'm happy with that.
OK, that's looking all right.
Cake's all cracked.
Bit of a bummer.
Hopefully be all right.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
I'm going to colour the Swiss meringue.
"Divide between three small bowls. Colour one green, red and yellow."
That's a lovely red colour, that is.
How green are we going? Oh, it's a birthday party.
Really green.
"Pipe small seven meringue kisses of each colour."
So, I take it these are going to be for the top of the caterpillar?
And then you've got to pipe legs.
And then green antenna.
Swiss meringue, how long's that going to bake for?
Meringue takes a long time. Low and slow.
Get 'em in babes, get 'em in.
So, obviously you're familiar with caterpillar cakes, right?
I mean I've eaten 'em, but I've eaten loads of stuff
and couldn't tell you how to make most of it.
I am going to do the face.
"Melt white chocolate, pour into the lined cutter."
So, I'm going to let it set and then puts its little features on.
You could have it as me.
You could create my face... Shall I try? ..on your caterpillar.
I'd probably do you an injustice though.
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
Come on, guys, this is serious.
"To create the ridges on the caterpillar, you need to cut
"some strips out of a sponge."
"Make 13 cuts 1.5 centimetres apart."
I think we've just got to bite the bullet and go for it, I think.
Right.
There we go.
Isn't going to be that way, it's going to be that way, isn't it?
Like a flipping dog's dinner, this sponge.
Like that.
"Now remove seven of the fingers of the sponge."
Five...
"Spread the Swiss meringue buttercream over sponge
"and re-roll from the non-ridge end."
What's the non-ridge end?
Have I gone the right way here?
Should have gone that way, shouldn't I?
You doughnut.
I've done it wrong.
I'm re-making it.
I'm going to try.
OK, let's go.
OK, this is not fiddly in the slightest.
Now we roll.
Just do a bit at a time.
Not the prettiest of caterpillars.
Go on, my son.
Oh, yeah! OK.
So I might as well go with what I've done now.
Going in.
Going to try my best.
SHE SIGHS
Best thing I can do here is I'll cut that off.
A very small caterpillar, isn't it?
Got a swirl. I was expecting a better shape.
What will be, will be.
I think my cake might be a little bit dry, but we'll move on.
Cover it in chocolate and hope for the best.
Splodge a bit more on just in case, eh?
Bakers, you have 15 minutes left.
Flipping heck.
Not very long.
That's done.
"Make a chocolate ganache to coat the cake."
Heating the cream to the point where it should melt the chocolate.
I'm going to spread it with my palette knife for the control.
Fingers crossed we are hiding a world of sin.
"Create features for the face."
Rosy cheeks may look quite nice, ooh!
This'll be the best bit of the whole cake, I think.
This is Noel.
How big shall I make your sideburns? Massive. Massive.
How big do you want your pupils? This is going to be you. Massive.
Just surprise me.
Very excited.
It looks fairly cute.
MATTY: It was supposed to be a little cuter.
Roll it up. Still quite warm, you know.
Get it in that freezer.
Bakers, you have five minutes left.
I can't wait for a pint, let me tell you.
Just gotta let it chill for, like, a minute or something.
Also, there's a squirrel in this freezer. That's not funny.
I don't know who did that.
It's gotta stop, that sort of stuff.
Oh, come on. Ganache, ganache, come on.
Right, what do I do for the face?
Now, where shall I stick his face?
It's not quite the children's party I was hoping for.
God, that's terrifying.
And decorate.
Splodge them on everywhere, basically.
Legs.
I forgot to pipe antennas.
Idiot.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Right, come on, let's move it.
Get the meringues on.
I think you need to do it again. Shut up!
I need to put the soil round it now, don't I?
Soil, soil it all up.
Move, move, move, move.
Dan, can I use your crumbs? Go for it, do you need any more?
Do you wanna take some of this off mine? Oh, yeah, anything.
Yeah, let's just go for it. Just stick that there.
I'm not allowed to help you, sorry. OK.
I'm sorry, Noel, but you have been done dirty.
He's a bit weird, but we still love him.
DAN: He's a beauty!
Bakers, your time is up.
Please bring your caterpillars down to the gingham table
and place them behind your photographs.
If anyone buys me one of these for my birthday
I'm going to literally be fuming.
I think I made a mistake by doing Noel.
He's terrifying.
It's judgment time for the bakers' caterpillar cakes.
Paul and Prue are looking for a light sponge
with a smooth chocolate buttercream filling,
coated with a shiny ganache, decorated with meringue features.
As always... OK.
..they have no idea whose bake is whose.
Shall we start with this strange-looking animal here?
This is unusual.
It's quite a scary-looking face, to be honest.
It is quite scary, but it's quite neat.
It's got lots of legs.
No antennae. It looks like a train.
The filling doesn't look too bad.
There's a little bit of a swirl there.
Lots of buttercream in there. Yeah, there is.
The chocolate in there's quite nice.
The sponge feels quite dry, though.
I think that's slightly overdone.
Moving on, this seems slightly all over the place.
Running out of time could have been a big problem.
The legs are there, no antennae.
This one feels a bit softer on the sponge.
Yeah, it does, and a little less buttercream, which is good.
A little less.
The Swiss meringue buttercream is delicious on that
and the ganache is pretty good. And the cake is good.
I don't think it's particularly neat, though.
Moving on to this one.
Legs are good, antenna is there.
It's got Noel's face on the front. LAUGHTER
With his tongue stuck out.
Yeah. But it's not scary.
Thanks, Prue. Mine or the cake?
I like the decoration on this, I think it's pretty good.
Yeah, I think it's good.
It's very light.
That is delicious. That's a kid's delight.
I mean, that's... It's gorgeous.
That's a kids' birthday party, that's amazing.
It's delicious. Moving on.
It's a bit short on legs, this caterpillar.
Very much so.
Everything's in place, it just looks a bit messy.
Oop...
Bit drier, that one.
Cake is bit drier, but it's still delicious.
It is lovely.
This looks a bit of a mess.
This is a very skinny caterpillar. It's a very small one, yeah.
Look at the size of those legs.
I don't think the baker understood about how to make the ridges.
Yeah, it's very, very small. At some kid's party,
they'd be a little bit disappointed with this one.
It seems to be all Swiss meringue buttercream than sponge.
Over-mixed, over-baked, either-either or both.
Very good face, though.
The caterpillar cakes will now be ranked from last to first place.
In fifth spot, we have this one.
That's me.
Dan, not quite sure what this is.
I cut my things the wrong way. Hence it's small.
In fourth place we have this one.
Josh. Tastes all right, but the cake's a bit tough.
And in third spot, we have this one.
Matty, the sponge was a little bit dry
but you managed to get all the elements pretty much there.
In second place we have this one.
Who's that?
Cristy, this tastes absolutely delicious
and it's a beautifully made sponge but it doesn't look great.
I had to remake it all and rush it. sorry.
And in first spot, we have this one.
Tasha, this is pretty good.
You have all the elements in place and it's beautifully round as well.
That's a decent cake, well done.
Even if it does look like Noel.
First in Technical.
Maybe I'll just base everything on Noel's face from now on.
I knew I was going to come last.
It's tough when you're working at the front,
you can't see what everyone else is doing behind you, can you?
That's the problem, you can't copy people.
I mean, it was an absolute nightmare.
Never want to do it again, but I can't believe it.
I'm so proud of myself.
Party Week, Matty's definitely bringing the party.
He got a handshake,
those sausage rolls were off the scale.
They were, but he was third in Technical,
so he let himself down a bit.
Tasha won the Technical.
Obviously, she slightly cheated by using my face on a caterpillar.
Obviously she was going to win with your face on it.
It's between Matty and Tash
who at the moment are in line for Star Baker.
That leaves Josh, Cristy and Dan in trouble.
I'm so surprised at Dan,
because Dan started off the Star Baker.
Is there anything in the fact that when you become Star Baker,
then the following week you're rubbish?
Oh, darling, it's the curse of Star Baker. It's well-known.
It's actually a real thing.
Also, if they win Star Baker, then next week I turn their ovens off.
Welcome back, bakers,
to your final challenge of Party Week.
Let's hope no-one goes too hard too soon.
That's true.
Now... SHE WHEEZES WITH LAUGHTER
That's my life mantra.
THEY SIGH
So, for your Showstopper challenge,
the judges would like you to create
an incredible anything-but-beige buffet.
We don't want beige,
so let's hope none of you are thinking
of serving up my Auntie June's living room,
which is a hell of a beige room.
Paul and Prue would love you to create a colourful
and highly decorative display of a mixture of sweet
and savoury party bakes.
You have a whopping four-and-a-half hours to complete this task.
So don't waste it, party people.
We wanna see you twerking.
On your marks. Get set. Bake!
Stacks of work, not enough time, living the dream,
what can go wrong? Everything.
Biggest challenge is just trying to get all the components made
and give myself enough time to get a nice decorative finish on everything, really.
It's like order of operations. I'm just gonna try and stay calm.
The bakers' tricky task is to reinvent
the buffet's stale image of beige,
bland bakes by creating colourful and highly decorative party food.
I am starting off with my bread.
I'm using beetroot just to colour, you can't taste it at all.
This is gonna be a, a couronne so a bread.
I've got the green colouring by using some pureed spinach.
We want a mixture of savoury and sweet.
At least 12 of each of them.
We're actually asking them to do quite a big catering job.
Four-and-a-half hours is long, isn't it?
I know. I, I did ask for six. I got politely turned down.
To do multiple baking, it's about your timetable.
While something's in the oven or cooling or in
the fridge you should be cracking on with something else.
If there's a dead time, you're doing something wrong.
I'm trying to multitask, which is far from my forte.
Getting close now,
it's semifinals next week
and I want to see the bakers really show off what they can do
but they don't wanna push themselves
too much that they fall off the cliff.
I do think that many great bakers slip up
because they're too ambitious.
You can have the most wonderful vision
but if you can't make it happen in
the time it's not gonna be worth anything.
In this gigantic challenge...
Is that your first book?
Yeah, my first book, yeah, there's only 26 things to do.
..Josh and Tasha are starting with savoury breads...
I'm gonna make a pesto, which I'm gonna mix into it.
So you've got some be beautiful flavours.
..while Dan, Matty and Cristy kick off with pastry.
I've got curry powder and turmeric going in there.
So it'll be bright yellow.
That's the shortcrust pastry for my curry pies.
Hello, Dan. Good morning. Hello, Dan.
How we doing, all right? Hello, hello.
Dan, we need to know about your buffet.
So I'm doing a prehistoric-themed anything but beige buffet today.
For my savoury element, I'm doing chicken curry dinosaur feet.
They'll be trotting up my presentation board.
For my sweet elements I'm doing some ankylosaurus tea cakes.
Tell us about them.
Apparently they had a brain the size of a walnut
so I'm putting a little walnut on top for decoration
cos they had like armour on as well.
Yeah. And two little fondant horns and a big grumpy face.
Clever.
Dan's giant Jurassic buffet features not only savoury dinosaur feet
curry pies but sweet, lemon shortbread fossils,
ankylosaurus head teacakes,
cake pop stones
and white chocolate dinosaur eggs in chocolate nests.
How many things are you doing, five, six?
Six. This is so ambitious. Maybe he'll pull it off.
To be honest it's simple elements done, hopefully, really well that's what I'm hoping today.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, cheers. Thank you.
I've got a lot to do it appears, doesn't it? Yeah!
While Dan's plan is quantity,
doing half as many bakes, Josh is prioritising precision.
A very, very meticulous schedule for today.
It's the quarterfinal so I've planned things down
to it, every single ingredient is thought through
and has a reason why I did it.
Creating his second Christmas-themed bake of the competition,
Josh's festive buffet will have sweet white chocolate
and coconut snowman macarons,
choux bun Christmas puddings with chocolate craquelin.
His savoury bake will be
a traditional French Christmas
couronne wreath with cheese,
spinach and pesto.
What do you love about Christmas?
I love doing the themed baking you see. So Christmas is an easy one
to do isn't it, cos there's so many Christmas bakes, isn't there?
There's something quite elf-like about you.
I've got elf socks I nearly wore today. It's too hot.
Have you? I was gonna have them up here with red and white.
Put 'em on for the judging.
When it comes to their savoury bakes...
It'll be spicy, a little bit of a kick to it.
..the bakers need to ensure they deliver not only on colour
but delicious flavour.
I'm just putting madras curry powder in it.
It goes really nice with coconut milk, I've found.
So more than one baker's embracing Indian flavours.
So we've got curry powder, fenugreek.
I guess it's like a take on a balti
but I don't wanna call it that in case I've, erm,
not quite hit the brief. If I call it curry, it's open-ended.
PE teacher Matty's going sporty
with curry-filled colourful cricket ball pies,
basketball creme brulee doughnuts,
green tennis ball macarons
and a golf course of chocolate and orange cupcakes.
Oh, this is the party I wanna be at.
Pies, cupcakes, doughnuts.
Is this the sort of buffet you'd put on for your kids at school?
No. No!
I'd have a buffet all day long, a Chinese buffet.
Oh, yeah. Oh, come on.
If the bakers are to deliver the kind of spread
the judges expect it means juggling both savoury bakes and sweet.
This is pistachio and raspberry Viennese biscuit.
Pretty strong flavours.
That is just fossil biscuits. Trilobites and ammonites.
The flavours are chocolate
and orange, which is hopefully gonna be quite nice.
Also going big on chocolate...
Making my Swiss roll.
..Cristy's celebrating a king of confectionery.
The theme's Willy Wonka.
When I was a child that was my favourite film so,
yeah, hopefully I'll do it justice.
Full of innovation,
Cristy's marvellous sweet factory buffet will have pink chocolate
Swiss roll lollipops
and lemon meringue cupcakes
topped with toadstools.
Her savoury bake continues the theme
with candy cane style cheese twists
and spiced beef and onion patties
shaped as sweets.
It's going to be one of those things that twists your brain.
It looks sweet. Yeah.
And it's going to be savoury. Yeah, that sort of thing, yeah.
I like the sound of this.
I've practised loads but God knows what'll happen in here.
Hopefully it'll be good. Yeah. Thank you, Cristy.
Thank you, guys.
With one hour gone, a batch of sweet bakes are the first
to hit the oven.
170 for 20 minutes.
And the bakers are on to assembling their savoury breads and pastries.
Just putting my dinosaur feet together now.
They're like canapes really. Just bitesize trinkets.
This is the beef and onion filling for the pastries.
The pies are red because they're gonna be cricket balls.
I'm hoping that it dies down a little bit,
it's quite vibrant at the moment.
Looks beautiful. Nice and green, very well proved. This is all good.
I'm actually just gonna stick it back in for
a bit longer. It's not quite stretchy enough.
All the bread dread. So I'm doing a farmyard party.
It's basically how I remember my parties.
I'm sure my parents remember them as being very stressful with a lot
of like six-year-olds running around, high on sugar.
But, erm, I remember them being great.
Tasha's farmyard buffet celebrates parties from her childhood
with sweet choux bun lambs filled
with blackberry creme diplomat,
raspberry and pistachio biscuit wagon wheels,
and after taking Star Baker in Bread Week, she hopes
to play to her strengths with za'atar and sumac milk bread pigs.
Bread Week was great week for me
but this is the Bake Off and I don't wanna get complacent.
Cupcakes are done.
We're onto the doughnuts, which I already regret deciding
to do cos they need to prove twice.
Biscuits are done. So I'm gonna move on to my ankylosaurus teacakes.
This is the candy cane twists.
When they're done, they'll look quite good cos they're twisted with
the white dough.
I've got pesto, fresh tomato,
sundried tomatoes and some cheese for the couronne.
Just gonna get these shaped
and then they just need to be proved and then baked.
Do you think you've learnt a lot from the tent?
Yeah, I've, I've learnt loads.
I've followed Paul for a long time.
When you say you've followed Paul for a long time, do you mean online?
I've followed him on the Bake Off and obviously with,
uh, with his books and things.
Yeah, sort of tailgating his car.
I sometimes get in his glove box.
He reaches in there for a Marlboro and I go, "Ah!"
and he's like, "Aaah!"
Bakers, you are halfway through.
I'm behind time. They needed to be proving ages ago.
Do you wanna feel?
I like the big one.
In you go, kidda.
Get my pies in.
Anything but beige, that's a hell of a title, isn't it, for a buffet?
Half an hour at 180.
We've got curries from Dan again.
He's doing about six things.
I'd rather he does three and smashes it out of
the park than six which are adequate.
These are gonna be my dinosaur eggs.
But some of them are more simple than others,
maybe he'll pull it off. He sometimes does.
I am making choux pastry now for my choux lambs.
Tasha and Dan are always the ones who are most ambitious.
I've gotta get an absolute wriggle on.
They're in at 180 for about 20 minutes.
Josh is back at Christmas.
Christmas. The couronne idea with the spinach,
it may look OK. I'm a bit concerned
about the flavour being a little bit bland.
This is snowmen macarons.
Just wanted to try and show some more skills today with these.
170 for 25 minutes.
I think when you look at Matty, fairly straightforward.
What's next? Um, macarons.
Matty looks quite organised.
He does actually, he does.
It's the meringue for the top of the little lemon meringue pies.
And Cristy, I love her Willy Wonka theme.
Yeah... Yeah.
I think she's got a good idea.
The only danger is over-complicating them and therefore messing them up.
I think at this stage in the quarterfinals,
starting to whittle it down and I think it's,
it's getting more and more complicated to judge this.
# Running round the tent Running round the tent
# Running round, running round Running round the tent. #
Bakers, you have one hour left of this party.
This is outrageous.
We're gonna kick you out in an hour.
We have to go to bed. We've gotta get some sleep.
We're getting a bit tighter on time now with everything.
Pig breads in the oven.
What am I doing now? Anybody know?
Oh, yeah, I'm now gonna get the ankylosaurus teacakes filled.
Pies are demoulded. Um, macarons are in.
They need 14 minutes. So we're onto the doughnuts.
Couple of minutes each side. I just go by sight.
Never used a deep fat fryer though.
Yeah, I'm really pleased with the bread,
looking nice and green. 15 minutes for the macarons.
Gonna quickly make the ganache and get the jam on now for those.
I just hope my twists are all right, they're in there.
I've just gotta not look, haven't I?
And just let 'em do their thing.
I'm just gonna roll up the Swiss roll now.
It's a big bake, isn't it? This is a big one.
It's too big for me. You decided to do a dinosaur.
I know, yeah. It was your idea.
I know it was. Yeah, and it was my idea to loads of things with it
as well, wasn't it? But I'm not... Oh, what's that, is that my two minutes up?
Yeah, that's your two minutes up.
Oh, my God, are these your dinosaur feet?
Look at this. Oh, they're the best.
I think I've done everything in terms of baking things.
I'm behind time, I really need to catch up.
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
You've had four hours. They're only making one cupcake.
There's a, a lot to do. Decorating snowman time now.
They're done and it's good cos the egg wash makes them look a bit
like scaly sort of, don't they? Yeah, it's pretty cool, isn't it?
The lemon meringues are in the oven so I'm just making
the little toadstool toppers.
Going in with the orange curd.
Conscious that they will say it's a cupcake
and this is the quarterfinal. So it's a cupcake with curd.
All my elements are done.
I just need to start rocking and rolling now.
I need to get a move on as I need to brulee them as well.
I want to fill the choux buns now,
which are gonna form Christmas puddings.
Bakers, you've got 15 minutes left.
OK, that's going in.
Just covering the back of the lollies.
It's a bit messy.
They're gonna be tennis balls.
This is just white chocolate this one.
I'm putting a walnut on top of the head so like
an ankylosaurus armour
and then just a couple of fondant horns.
This is the hardest I've had to work
and I thought Biscuit Week I had to do a fair bit.
I've never worked harder to make food
and I probably never will do once this chaos finishes.
My jam didn't set. My tractor wheels are gonna be rough.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Assemble.
OK, bakers, your time is up.
They don't look like cricket balls
but I'm happy that I got it done.
It all looks a bit beige. Tried my best.
Oh, my God, that was insane.
The bakers' anything but beige buffets
now face the judgment of Paul and Prue.
Cristy, tell us all about your non-beige buffet.
So I've got Swiss roll lollipop,
cheese and rosemary twists,
spicy beef and onion patties and then lemon meringue pies.
It's a bit rough and ready. I know.
Everything has got flaws. You look at the canes,
they are pretty rough.
It tastes OK, but it's not baked enough.
It's a pity because I love the flavour.
OK, shall we try the pies?
So they're meant to represent sweets?
Yeah, and they're spicy.
Hmm.
I love that, tastes great.
I think that's delicious.
Oh, OK, good.
So those are the savoury ones.
Yes. This is lemon meringue.
Proper lemon meringue pie taste.
It is, comes down to the look again.
It's not the best-looking thing I've seen.
Yeah, they're a little uneven.
It's Willy Wonka, guys, it's gotta be a bit uneven.
It's lovely soft cake, I like the flavour.
I think all your flavours are lovely.
OK, that's good.
Everything else, when it comes to the visual effect,
has fallen short of what we expect.
I agree.
Matty, tell us all about your Showstopper.
We've got a cricket ball curry pie,
a orange cupcake golf course,
lime curd macarons
and some creme brulee doughnut basketballs.
I like the colours, you've managed to achieve
a few different colours in there.
Your little pies look pretty good. They look pretty uniform.
Matty, I think that you've achieved something quite clever.
You've got a different-looking finish on every one of them.
OK, let's try doughnuts.
Very lovely shiny caramel, isn't it?
Yeah.
They taste of creme brulee so you can have that.
Oh, no.
Your oil's too hot. OK.
And because your oil's too hot, it's a little bit raw inside.
The flavours are good. The texture's not good.
Bit uneven, these.
Lovely colour. Nice shine there.
Nice flavour.
That curd is so delicious, really lovely.
Right, cricket balls.
Cricket ball pies, yes.
That's delicious. Really nice, yeah. Hmm. Oh, thank you.
Then you have a...
It's a chocolate orange cupcake.
There's a little bit of orange curd in there too.
It's a lovely flavour. It works quite well, there's a nice sharpness coming from that orange.
Quite a moist sponge that as well.
I think you've got your flavours right on most of the things.
I think your textures are slightly off. OK.
Certainly on your doughnuts.
But generally your flavours have been pretty good. Hmm.
Well done, Matty. Thank you.
Tasha, tell us all about your buffet, please.
So this is my farmyard party.
I've made milk bread,
uh, pigs and blackberry creme diplomat choux
and pistachio and raspberry flavoured Viennese
whirls with a raspberry and peach jam.
I think some of these things look quite nice.
I love the little pigs.
The Viennese whirls are underbaked.
As soon as you pick 'em up they, they just fall apart.
They're falling to pieces. Yeah.
But the flavour is absolutely perfect.
Oh, OK.
Hmm, that's quite disappointing.
Oh.
Yeah, underwhelming. Let's have a look at these pigs.
Nice, uh, structure inside.
The pigs are lovely. I like the texture,
I like the crust on them, you are such a good bread maker.
Thank you.
Overall, a little underwhelmed.
And they are a bit beige, which was banned.
Dan, tell us about your Showstopper.
So this is my prehistoric buffet
with chicken curry dinosaur feet, lemon biscuit fossils,
strawberry marshmallow ankylosaurus
and then some dinosaur eggs with vanilla mousse.
I do like the theme and everything looks pretty neat and tidy.
It's ambitious, there's a lot of stuff going on.
Shall we try the... Dinosaur feet. ..the feet?
The curry is lovely.
The pastry is very crumbly
and actually delicious, but it's very dry.
Love the flavour, love the idea.
Shall we try fossil lemon biscuits?
Very nice biscuit. Um, it is beige.
Right, let's have a look at these little chocolate fellas.
The flavour's overwhelmingly chocolate, you hardly get the middle
because the chocolate's quite thick.
This is an authentic egg.
That's very good. Very clever, you did six things.
Perhaps if you'd done four things, you could've got them perfect.
Josh, tell us all about your non-beige buffet.
We have got some Christmas wreath couronnes,
then you've got choux buns as my Christmas puddings
and then the snowmen macarons.
They're neat as a pin, they're uniform. Aren't they?
Your little snowmen are perfectly piped. They're absolutely lovely.
The couronne look nice, even,
quite tricky to do so small.
Delicious actually,
really soft, it's well baked.
It's got a crust to it and soft in the middle. Very delicious.
Hmm, I think they work in looks and in flavour.
So we've had the savoury.
They've got a caramel-like pasty creme custard going through those.
That is absolutely delicious.
The vanilla level in there is lovely.
Very, very silky filling.
Right, these are the coconut?
Yes, those are coconut and white chocolate ganache,
and there should be a jam right in the centre.
Hmm, well, I love 'em...
Josh I think you've done really well. It's hard to fault anything.
I think you've done really well with the flavours.
It's something I would go back for. I think these are a triumph.
Aren't they? These are particularly good.
Thank you. Well done, Josh. Thank you.
That was amazing, really chuffed.
My favourite comment was Paul with the couronne.
To hear any comment like that from Paul, king of bread,
that's, amazing. So I will take that with me forever.
I'd say this is the most positive I've felt after
any Showstopper so I'm pretty happy.
If I hadn't come first in
the technical, I would be really anxious right now.
I'm pleased they liked all the flavours
so I'm just gonna focus on that.
General feeling is I think I'm bouncing around between third
and fifth.
It could be any one of three of us, to be honest.
So how do you think the Showstopper went, Prue?
Who's gonna be reaching the semifinals?
If you look at that whole display,
they did get the idea of colour
and some of the things were so delicious
and some were so disappointing.
Let's look at Cristy cos those patties, you really liked those.
The problem with Cristy's is the way that it looks.
It's just not polished enough.
I thought Josh did very well.
His couronne were delicious.
So actually there's a couple of people I think in line
for Star Baker. I think Matty... Matty. ..is in line.
Matty. I do think Josh is there.
What, for Star Baker, Josh? Yeah.
But he had a particularly bad day yesterday, didn't he?
Whereas Matty got a handshake. Hmm, Matty had a, Matty had a great.
Had a really great day. Yeah, he had a decent day yesterday.
He could be one to watch.
But Josh had the good sense to just do three things
and do them exquisitely, whereas Dan on the other hand...
Dan did everything.
Has he done enough to survive?
I think Cristy is also another one that could go
so I think it's between those two.
It's so sad I can't believe we've actually got to that stage where
two really good bakers are here. Two Star Bakers.
Well, we've gotta send a Star Baker home...
Hmm. ..because they've all been Star Baker.
Well done, bakers, you really did bring the party to the tent.
I've got the great job of announcing this week's Star Baker.
And the Star Baker is...
DRUM ROLL
..Matty.
Unfortunately, I've got the horrible job of announcing
who's leaving the tent today.
The baker needs to know that when you get to this stage,
you have done so, so well.
And we're really, really sad to see them go.
The baker leaving the tent today is..
..Cristy.
So sorry. It's OK.
Oh, Cristy, you've done so well, honestly.
I'm so sorry to see Cristy go
because she cares so much and she is a really, really good baker.
Well done, Cristy. Thank you.
It's been such a crazy, fast-paced experience.
So now, I can sit back
and reflect on what an amazing time I've had.
I'm really proud to have got this far, I'm really proud.
Well done, Matty. Thank you, Prue.
I wasn't expecting that.
I had a pretty perfect week, the handshake, the Star Baker.
I am happy for Matty.
He just, just pipped Josh to take Star Baker.
It was really because he did fantastic sausage rolls yesterday.
Lara. Yeah? I won Star Baker.
SQUEALS: Oh, my God!
I hope this gives me the confidence that maybe I needed,
knowing what I'm up against next week and hopefully beyond.
Semifinal!
Paul said lucky!
But I'll take lucky! Come on, group hug.
Bring the party, yeah!
Next time our four semifinalists... Ooh!
..face off over patisserie... Don't know what's going on.
..with a signature full of finesse...
It has to look like it's from a Parisienne shop, don't it?
Which isn't easy. Oh, it's so curdled.
Certainly not for me!
..an apple tart technical... CLATTERING
..that demands a delicate touch...
My God, I can't watch.
..and a beautifully buttery puff pastry Showstopper.
Is that moving? Set!
Oh, my God.
There's no layers in my pastry.
I just want to go to the pub.
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