NOEL: In the beginning...
Ah, thank you very much. Is that better?
..there were 12.
So, Nicky, tell us about your beaver?
LAUGHTER
ALISON: Now...
This is it, the storm is coming.
..there are three.
Let's see how I get on. No! Why's it doing that?
There can only be one winner.
To be honest I just, I don't know with it.
Patience!
Oh, no! I didn't dust them in icing sugar either, did I?
It's not your best shot.
BIRDS CHIRP
Oh, it's an empty tent now, isn't it?
NOEL: Just three challenges stand between the finalists
and the Bake Off title.
Best of luck. Go, go, go, Josh.
Josh's passion for precision was obvious from week one.
I love the way one of her eyes is completely gone with the fringe!
By week two, he already had the Hollywood handshake.
It's amazing.
But every week, he's delivered stunning Showstoppers.
It's beautiful.
Delivering him Star Baker not once, but twice.
Just want to be able to have three good last bakes
that I can be happy with, but we shall see.
ALISON: This year's first Star Baker, Dan,
has often made his life complicated.
So I am doing the aromatic flavours of a Thai green curry.
What're you thinking?!
And it hasn't always been successful.
It's a bit sandy and dry.
But he's fought back from disappointment.
These aren't baked.
Winning more technical challenges than any of his fellow finalists,
the Hollywood handshake... That's beautiful.
And was Star Baker again in dessert week.
I'd love to win it,
but I'm against these two little rug rats this weekend.
Such good lads, I'm going to have to really raise my game.
NOEL: Matty's time in the tent did not begin well.
Can't give that to anyone! But he's listened.
It looks like it's been run over.
And learned. The look of it is really very good.
Polishing decoration... Your box is beautifully engineered.
And perfecting flavours.
The chilli is great in there.
Oh!
But despite a handshake and winning Star Baker twice,
he's never won a Technical Challenge.
I would say that I'm the underdog.
Everyone likes the underdog, though, right? Please!
Welcome back to the tent, bakers,
for your last ever Signature Challenge.
The judges would like you
to bake eight exquisite, highly decorative eclairs.
You should choose two different types in terms of decoration
and flavour. Now remember guys, this is the final,
so the judges would like you to bake in the nude!
And when Noel says judges, he means Prue.
You have two hours and 15 minutes. On your marks.
Get set. Bake!
Can't believe this is the last signature I'm going to do.
I'm a bit nervous, I just hope these look all right.
There's a lot of personal pride for each one of us.
We all play sport, we're all competitive.
When I play football, I always had to wear two pairs of socks.
I've got four pairs of underpants on today!
Because I'm going to need 'em...
They've got to make two different types of eclairs,
and they've got to be perfect.
The pastry needs to be really puffed up, and crisp as anything.
But you want beautiful air holes in the inside which you can fill
with cream or custard.
But the problem is you can add too many creams and custards to it
and make it soggy.
They've all had two Star Bakers, they've all had a handshake,
so they are absolutely level pegging.
And I haven't a clue who's going to win.
And if they want to win The Great British Bake Off,
start now with the eclair.
Hello, Dan. Hi, good morning. Hello, Dan. Hiya, you all right?
Right tell us all about your eclairs. What are you doing?
So I'm doing strawberries and cream and a summer fruit punch jelly.
And for my second one I'm doing a salted caramel mascarpone cream
with a praline ganache on top. Sounds very nice.
Yeah, don't they sound good?
ALISON: Dan will top his salted caramel and praline eclairs
with crisp tempered chocolate.
His strawberries and cream eclairs will be decorated
with Chantilly cream and cubes of jelly.
Tell us about your choux.
Some of the first pastries I sort of learnt to make,
so I've got my set recipe and it never fails!
Good. So far! So far, yeah.
ALISON: Josh is also hoping to fill choux pastry
with a taste of summer.
Is this some of your own fruit from your own garden?
Well, actually it's not now because... No!
Because I've used it all up! You've used all your fruit!
There's nothing left out there. Now it's just like a barren garden.
I keep bringing it all in and it's all gone.
What flavours are you doing?
We're going to do coconut, mango and raspberry.
NOEL: Alongside his summery eclair, Josh plans another filled
with coffee pastry cream and topped with dark chocolate
and coffee icing.
That's for my brother cos he's not a huge fruit lover at all.
So most of the things that I've been making recently,
he's not really liked them.
What does he say? Does he go, "Yeah, that's all right"?
Yeah, he'll try a bit. Exactly like that!
Thanks for the encouragement!
So you need to melt the butter first then bring it to a boil.
Get your flour in and then beat the living daylights out of it!
ALISON: Unless the finalists combine butter,
milk and flour with the perfect amount of egg...
I'm a smidge under.
..their choux will be loose, creating flat, soggy eclairs.
I've avoided choux pastry like the plague up until this week.
NOEL: Matty's hoping to play it safe with two classics,
Black Forest Gateau eclairs,
topped with a Kirsch Chantilly cream,
and Banoffee eclairs featuring a walnut and pecan praline.
You all right? I'm so happy for you.
I'm so happy that you're here. So you feel like you could do this?
Yeah, no, I've not really given any of that a thought.
I never applied, so I never really had that as like a thought process.
So you didn't apply for this? No, Lara applied for me.
Oh, I love Lara!
He would never have applied for himself.
It's just not in his nature. He's not braggy.
I wanted him to be a part of something like this,
to show to him how amazing he is.
Because doesn't matter how much I tell him, he doesn't believe me.
I don't actually understand most of the things he's made.
No, exactly! If I'm absolutely honest. Especially you,
cos you're not a dessert person anyway, really. I'm not, no.
So it's all a bit over my head.
So his ability has obviously increased as he goes along.
He made our anniversary cake last year, didn't he? Did he?
Don't. It was a lemon cake. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah.
Sorry, it was very nice!
He'll go to school, he'll do all of his after school clubs. Perfect.
He'll get in, start baking straight away,
baking until we go to bed.
And there were times when he's been running around the kitchen
like a headless chicken that I've thought,
"Oops. Like this is all my fault."
I don't know when the penny's going to drop that he's good at baking,
I definitely think he can win it.
Good luck, Matty. Good luck, Matty. Cheers.
I want you to actually think about you actually winning.
Possibly winning it. All right. You've got to start visualising it.
Yeah, that's actually what Lara says. Visualise.
Start visualising like you winning.
But before any of the finalists can see themselves winning...
Come on, don't play games.
They'll need to take a long hard look at their choux.
This is the part where I said about trusting your instinct.
You need it to fall off in three seconds.
Do you know how many videos I've had to watch?
I'm going to start piping them out.
So I'm just looking for a bit of uniformity.
You can see my hands shaking, can't you, as well.
Choux has a mind of its own.
Without a dusting of icing sugar,
an eclair won't have its classic crisp shell.
I'm doing two different types of choux.
But Josh has decided to go even further.
I've gone for a chocolate craquelin topping.
Couple of millimetres thickness is all you need.
Do or die now.
They're going to go in for 40 minutes.
Half an hour, 175.
15 minutes at 200.
Take it down to 175 for another 15 minutes,
maybe 20. Maybe 25. I want them to be dry.
Ah, no, I didn't dust them in icing sugar either, did I?
Too late now, innit? Did you put icing sugar on yours, Matty?
Yes, mate, did you? Forgot, didn't I? Oh, no way.
It would be me not forgetting there was something,
would it? Josh, how you doing, mate? Yeah, I think OK.
Choux looking all right? Yeah.
Good lad. How are ya? Flipping all over the place like you.
I'm dreaming it's just like the most surreal week ever, isn't it?
And your kids don't know that you're in the final? I've told them.
You've told them? Told them yesterday.
My kids don't know that I do this. Don't they? No. No, it's probably
the best way, cos I tell you what, it went down like a lead balloon
yesterday when I told them.
What do you mean? What, nothing?
Gave you nothing? He just went, "You lied." And then he give me
the old father talk, like, "I'm very disappointed in you."
Oh, no. "I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed."
Disappointed.
From the top ropes.
This lie is the biggest burden
of my life, especially when I tell my children, never lie.
But obviously this is a slight exception.
My eldest wanders into the kitchen. He doesn't really question anything.
"Oh, what you doing today, Dad?" I'm just like,
"Yeah, I'm just making an electric guitar out of puff pastry,"
and he's like, "Cool." And just like wanders off with his iPad.
He just thinks I'm absolutely crackers, I think.
Mm-hm.
But there are some members of Dan's family that know what he's been up to.
It's been very difficult keeping it quiet
and not telling the world that my son's in Bake Off.
I'm so proud of him.
What was Dan like as a little lad?
He was a whirlwind. He was cheeky,
he was mischievous as well.
The trophies that he's won playing football.
They used to line his bedroom walls.
It never got to his head that he was man of the match
or Player of the Year. He's very critical of himself.
I want to make sure I put my kids in bed, you know, and try
and live that sort of normal life and help out,
doing all the family stuff as much as possible.
Soon as eight o'clock strikes it's in here until
I'm done, basically. So, yeah, it's totally covert,
door closed. Luckily they're good sleepers.
Whatever happens, I'll make sure that I leave
the tent as I came in,
with a big smile on my face, cos I've absolutely loved it.
Good luck, Dan. You'll absolutely smash it.
Cheers, thank you.
Do you think he can win?
Yes. I think he can.
They're not as dark as they normally are.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
As their choux bakes,
the finalists will need every minute to perfect two delicious fillings.
Creme pat. This is a chocolate one,
then I'll turn my attention to the banana one.
This is for my eldest lad, loves his salted caramel ice cream,
so I thought I'd pay homage to the wonderful boy that he is.
Whilst Dan and Matty race to create separate fillings
for each of their two eclairs...
Decent.
..Josh has perfected a short cut.
Just prepping pastry creams now.
I've been tweaking with the recipes
so I can have exactly the same base for both of them.
One's going to be a coffee one. This one has got coconut milk.
Just means I can do 'em a little bit quicker cos I know
it's a lot of pressure on today.
That's our VIP experience at Gardener's World.
Very clever lad. Yeah. He likes perfection.
Yeah. So he'll keep going
and doing something until he's got as best as he can get.
See, Nanny always has a smile on her face wherever we are.
And she's always got colourful necklaces on like Prue, hasn't she?
Oh, like Prue. Yes, she has.
His love of baking did stem from being with Nanny.
My mum always fetched him out of school.
And they'd go back to her house and then would be baking.
Josh's nan Frieda first encouraged him to apply
for Bake Off back in 2019.
Looking very smiley.
She died in 2021.
Nanny was a big part of him applying the second time around.
He really wanted to do it for her because...
It's OK darling.
She so wanted him to be on that show.
She'd loved all his baking. She says you go for it,
you go for it. And...
And he's gone and he's got to the final and I can't believe it.
Sorry. It's all right. Poor mum. I know.
Do you want it, Josh? I mean it'd be. Do you want it?
It would be lovely wouldn't it but. Come on Josh, you gotta...
All I'm visualising in my head is what my Showstopper should look
like tomorrow. Yeah. What's the one thing
you're going to miss from the tent? You, of course.
Is the right answer! Is the right answer.
See you in a bit, bub.
Apart from not putting my icing sugar on so they're not
as coloured as I'd like, they're looking all right. I'm quite happy.
Another five minutes just to make sure I finish those off.
Think I'm all right with how it looks.
Ah, let's give it a minute. Out of my depth.
Alison's just informed me that she went, "What you going to miss most
out of this tent?" and you said "you" to her.
Absolutely furious. Thought we had something, Josh.
Seven years I've been doing this, Josh, seven years.
I'm going to prick some holes in the top of 'em
to let that little steamies escape.
Chocolate creme pat is done,
the Chantilly cream is whipped. Trying to multitask.
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
Oh, you're joking me.
You having a tin bath?
THUNDER ROLLS
This is it, the storm is coming.
This is banana for the banoffee.
The choux are a minute off being done.
Really, really happy.
I can, I can just hear that they're hollow.
Just going to poke some holes in 'em to release steam.
Then I'm going to put 'em back in just for like five minutes.
This just hopefully completely dries them out.
I've left, I've left them on the bloody tray,
haven't I? Now they've gone soft.
This tent does strange things to me.
Fortunately I've got lots of really good ones,
so I can just pick my four favourites.
Cherry jam.
I'm just going to blitz this so it can fold through into
the cream. Yeah, that's cool.
These are going to be macerated with summer fruit punch.
See how I get on. Ah, why's it doing that?
This is the coffee pastry cream.
I'll pipe a bit in the first hole and then I go for
the second hole then
I'll stop once this first hole starts to ooze out again
so I sort of. I know that I've gone all the way through.
You have 15 minutes left.
I don't think I'm going to be able to do it, am I?
Creme pat first. I need to get as much in as I can.
Chantilly cream, voila.
Icing.
It's difficult to get the bananas to squeeze through.
This is my debut appearance of a transferring onto acetate.
Just do some very thin lines of chocolate.
This is my praline paste. This is going into my ganache.
You have five minutes left.
Just about OK, time wise.
I just want to finish off these other ones now.
I'm going to run out of filling I think.
Ah! BLEEP.
Sorry.
Bakers, you only have one minute left.
One minute?
I've done that the wrong way round, haven't I? BLEEP. You berk.
Oh, you flipper.
Ah!
Bakers, your time is up.
Please step away from your final Signature Challenge eclairs.
It's judgment time in the final Signature Challenge.
Hi, Josh. Hello. Hi, Josh. Hiya.
Like the look of them.
I think they're all pretty much the same size.
Pretty uniform across the board.
Well, that's perfectly filled.
I'm always so cross when I have an empty eclair.
The flavours are very delicate.
But they are absolutely delicious.
I think, for me, it's a little bit too sweet.
OK. It almost needs a sharpness to make that pop even more.
This is the chocolate coffee.
Yeah.
Now, that's clever. Chocolate's the right level.
It gives a lovely texture to it as well, the craquelin on the top.
The craquelin. Coffee level is absolutely spot-on, filled well.
Baked well. That's delicious.
I love coffee eclairs.
And it is perfect. Thank you very much. Thank you, Josh. Thank you.
Those cherry on the top look ridiculous.
OK. Um, if you're going to put cherry on
the top make sure it's all the same.
Shall we start with the banana first?
I like the flavour of the banana.
You're missing the caramel.
I know you tried to get it on the outside.
But for banana lovers, this is perfect.
Thank you.
Now that's the first one we've had that is properly firm.
I like the taste of the Black Forest gateau.
You could've done more cherry. OK.
But I think the chocolate is lovely.
Booze is good.
And most of all I like the crisp firm eclair.
Thank you, Matty. Thank you.
These look a bit messy.
These, it's the wrong shape for this. Ah, right, OK.
You can't have something that's too big that sits over the top.
Right. Shadowing underneath. Shadowing what's underneath.
Right, OK, got ya. I think you've attempted too much.
They do look very soggy.
The flavour is lovely, it's not too sweet.
It's really strawberries and cream but it's a bit soggy.
You've destroyed it by adding too much cream on top. On top.
This is the praline, isn't it?
Not convinced about the flavour on that.
Are you not? I think it's probably the grain.
I agree that the filling is not satin smooth
but I think the flavour's great.
I think it looks a mess.
Paul picked up on all my technical issues.
And again I've been guilty of overthinking it.
Nine weeks ago I would not have been able
to produce anything like that so, yeah.
Weird.
I think I had quite a strong signature, overall.
We've just got the technical now to get through.
And hopefully it isn't just step one,
make this and that's it.
I'm hoping for a little bit of help along the way.
The bakers' last Technical Challenge is as ever a total mystery.
It's time for your final Technical Challenge
and today it's been set for you by Mr Paul Hollywood.
What can we say about Paul Hollywood?
We've heard his poetry, we've seen his dance moves,
we've seen him strip down to trunks and wrestle a live bear.
I'm sure you've all fallen in love with him
and he loves you too, although he will destroy you one by one.
Paul, have you got any words
of advice for our incredible finalists?
For perfection, you're going to need patience.
As ever this Technical Challenge will be judged blind
so we're going to have to ask these two to leave the tent.
And it's the last Technical Challenge
so you know where they're going, don't you?
Where they going? To make sweet, sweet love.
For your final Technical Challenge Paul would like you
to bake a batch of nine lardy cake slices.
Now the judges will be looking
for perfectly laminated dough,
packed with soaked fruit and home-made candied peel.
You have three hours.
On your marks. Get set.
Bake!
Right, let's have a look at ya.
A lardy cake?
I've heard the name but I don't have a clue what one looks like.
No-one makes lardy cake, do they?
No. Not since the War.
No, it s it, it sounds like one from that era, doesn't it?
Do you not know what a lardy cake is? No.
Oh, dear.
What a lovely nostalgic bake for a final. Lardy cake.
We've revisited a British classic.
It's been around for hundreds of years
and it was a way of using up predominantly pig fat.
But don't forget fat is flavour.
Yeah. So I'm really flavoursome.
PRUE LAUGHS MILDLY
It's a cross between a Danish pastry and a bread.
This is all about getting your timing right.
Get the dough done as quickly as possible
to get it in that prover and then you're layering it with sugar...
Folding it. ..lard, butter and fruit.
On the second prove, be patient.
The longer the better.
That opens the whole thing up
but it'll condense if they don't bake it properly
and it'll look and taste quite raw.
You can see the layers. It's lovely.
And you can see all the fruit in there evenly distributed.
Lard, sugar and a bit of fruit. Heaven.
Line the roasting tin with baking paper then grease
with lard and sprinkle with sugar.
I assume this is going to help colour up the lardy cakes.
Obviously, you are the oldest of the bakers.
I am, yes. So you must know what a lardy cake is.
Make the bread dough.
50g of lard.
So I'm going to bread crumb it then add yeast and water.
I'll just add a little bit at a time.
Add the water and then I think once it comes together I'm going to put
the lard in. I don't know.
Don't know if I should be doing it like this.
Sounds really healthy, lardy cake.
That's the problem with baking, innit?
HE SQUEAKS
Yeah, I've got to do plenty of runs once this has finished.
The kneading.
How many times have we made a variation of bread?
Is this even bloody bread? What is this?
I'm going to lob it in the proving drawer.
Probably go for half an hour but we'll just see how we're doing.
I'm not happy with that but I'm just going to go with it.
Bye-bye, my little cherub.
I'm going to go for about 30 mins.
See how it looks.
Patience is the key.
Step five, make diced candied orange boiling twice in fresh water
and then a third time in sugar syrup.
Using the microwave for speed, infuse the dried fruit with the tea.
Smells lovely. Do you put any rum in it?
No. Cos I'm from Jamaica I soak my fruits in rum.
In rum. There's none.
Any vodka?
No. Gin? Nothing unfortunately, just water.
Oh. Just water. Dry. Yeah. I know.
With a, with a... BOTH: ..with a teabag!
Finalists, you are halfway through.
Brrr-uuupppp.
That's been in for about 35 minutes.
That's been in for 45 minutes.
Laminate the dough with lard, butter and filling mixture.
Doesn't say what to do with the lard?
Do you reckon I smear the lard?
Let's get rocking and rolling.
I think I might actually just make sure I've got this evenly spread.
Maybe I brush the lard on.
Have you had a breakdown? What's happening here?
NOEL LAUGHS
Look at you just brushing lard.
It's a bit strange...
I think me and you might as well just grease ourselves up in lard.
Just go the whole hog. I'm in if you are.
I'd never turn something like that down.
Right lamination let's make some space for t'lamination.
Perform three single letter folds.
Which is that.
Or is it that?
Going to do it carefully cos I want them to see those layers.
Spin it round 90 degrees.
Obviously everything's a bit warm, unfortunately.
But that's one letter fold so.
I want the layers to be even.
Butter's getting a bit warm.
That's two. Stay with me, bread.
Need to give it one more fold.
I'm not liking the look of this.
Pleased with that.
And then it just says prove in tin.
The second prove needs to be as long as possible.
But any attempt to speed it up in the heat of
the proving drawer could melt the lard,
ruining the rise and the lamination.
No, maybe I just leave it on the side.
Oh, no, yeah, put it in the drawer.
I, I really want to give it half an hour prove.
Half an hour.
Um...
I don't know how long to bake for.
If I can work out bake time.
So, bake 40?
Bakers, you have an hour left.
That means prove only two minutes, uh, 20 minutes.
BEEPING
THUNDER RUMBLES
I'm going in.
It's feeling very, very springy so that's what you want.
So I'm going to put that in.
I'm going to start with half an hour.
Look at that.This is looking great. Look at that. The worst thing is,
Dan, you don't... NOEL WHISTLES
..know whether that is what it's supposed to look like, do ya?
Uh, not a clue, no. And it doesn't look brilliant.
Bake, I'm thinking 200... 200's my go-to temperature for bread.
30? Maybe 40, maybe 30.
Patience.
It's like painful.
You have 15 minutes left.
Just don't, I don't know with it.
It's had half an hour now. I shall give it another.
35's what I had in my head.
I've just cranked it up to 220 just to...
HE WHISTLES
..give it a wiggle.
Maybe another five?
Wants you to leave it in the tin for ten minutes before turning out.
OK start that now.
I'm bringing it out.
It's dark, mine. Looks like it's been cremated.
Brush the lardy cake with the reserved orange syrup.
Cool completely upside down then cut to nine rectangles.
There's no chance of me cooling it completely.
How long do we have left?
Bakers, you've got five minutes left.
Right.
CLATTERING
Looks pretty tasty, doesn't it?
This is very hot still
and I'll be lucky to cut it in any way, shape or form.
I can smell the orange.
Oh! Looks a bit dense in places.
Well, you can see the layers, can't you?
Baked anyway.
Bakers, your time is up.
Please bring your lardy cakes and place them behind your photos.
They're varying degrees of weirdness, aren't they?
Paul and Prue are expecting golden brown lardy cakes
with clearly defined layers
and evenly packed with plump sweet fruit.
Obviously they've been struggling with proving.
OK.
We start with this one.
We have got nine and they are sort of square.
That one feels a little bit light, which is good.
The lamination, you can see the lines going across.
Mm. The flavour's there.
But what's so lovely about this is the mixed peel.
I think that's really delicious.
THEY LAUGH
Now, moving on to this, um...King Alfred, um...
Now, it's only slightly King Alfred, come on.
It's... Slightly?
Well, it's caramelised a lot.
It is caramelised a lot. It's overbaked.
So you can see the layers. They're sort of not very even.
It's a nice flavour. It's just a little bit dry.
Hmm, it's too dry. It is too dry.
Moving on. This isn't properly baked, is it?
No. Got lots of fruit in it, but it's a bit raw.
It has got lots of fruit in it. Yeah.
It needed more proving as well, but it is quite dense, this.
You see how quite raw that is? Hmm.
Because that hasn't been laminated properly. It's a shame.
Paul and Prue will now rank the lardy cakes from worst to first.
OK, in third spot, we have...
..this one. Whose is this?
Matty. Lamination is really bad.
It needed more proving and more baking. Right. No problem.
Number two, we have this one.
Dan. Stayed in the oven a bit too long, didn't it?
Which means in first place, we have this one, Josh.
It's pretty decent. It's the right colour
and it's certainly the right flavour, so well done.
Well done, mate. APPLAUSE
I'm buzzing after that. Really, really pleased.
I would say Josh has probably got his nose in front
and then, yeah, me and Matty are scrapping at the bottom.
Oh!
Bloomin' hell.
I'm glad I had a good Signature,
cos otherwise I'd probably be a bit deflated.
There's just one challenge remaining in this year's Bake Off.
Very quiet walk this time, isn't it? Yeah, very quiet.
In the zone.
Well, guys, we've made it to the final. I just hope
the sunshine comes out. I'm sure it will. I'm gutted.
So who do you think's bringing the sunshine right now? Are they even at the moment?
I think it is pretty even. I think Josh has got a slight edge.
Yeah, I think he's slightly ahead.
Weirdly, Matty is sitting in second place, I would say.
If he wins it, he would've played an absolute blinder. A blinder,
absolutely. Cos he's always just underneath the top.
Can we talk a little bit about Dan?
I think he's going to struggle against the other two at the moment,
but I think what often happens in the final bake is
the pressure gets to them. Any one of them could win.
What about Amos?
Outsider. Great.
So I've just put £20,000 on Amos to win.
THEY LAUGH
It's good odds.
I bet.
Bakers, it's your final ever Showstopper Challenge.
The judges would like you to create an elegant tiered celebration cake
inspired by your very first bake.
They would like you to take your first bake
and elevate it into something incredible,
something that could win the entire competition.
You have four and a half hours for this.
On your marks. Get set.
Bake!
Come on, Dan, flour power is needed.
There's lots of elements to do so timing is definitely the thing I'm most worried about.
I just know how I want it to look.
I will spend the time to make it, and that will be my downfall.
They have to make a minimum three-tier cake
to celebrate their very first bake.
But we're looking for that to be the inspiration
for something completely new and different and wonderful.
We want it highly decorated, we want tartness,
we want sweetness, we want textures.
This is the biggest bake they will ever do.
If it was me, I'm a big fan of the lemon drizzle.
That would be my favourite.
But sometimes the bakers tell us that this is
going to be a lemon cake and it doesn't have enough lemon flavour.
You have to deliver what you say you're going to deliver.
DAN: My first footstep into baking was a lemon drizzle cake.
A lemon meringue pie as well,
so my three-tiered cake today is celebrating both of those
two absolute beauties of the baking world.
Dan's final tilt at the title
is a towering triple-tiered love letter to lemon drizzle,
layered with lemon curd,
limoncello creme mousseline and raspberry compote.
His Showstopper will be finished with torched Italian meringue,
shiny white chocolate collars, and one final citrus flourish.
And I'm also going to make some macarons as well
to decorate round the outside. Lemon macarons?
Yeah, lemon macarons with lemon curd and raspberry compote filling.
I mean, he's obviously been doing his homework. He knows that we like lemon.
It's something... Which is fine, because it was your first bake...
Yeah, I love lemon. ..which is lucky! Oh, OK. Well, yeah.
I hope... Well, I need to do it right.
You know, Rahul made me a lemon drizzle cake for my 50th birthday.
Oh, did he? Lovely. Ten years ago.
THEY LAUGH
ALISON: But one finalist is going even more traditional
than a lemon drizzle.
The bake that it stems from is a Victoria sponge.
It's the first one I remember doing with my nan.
Josh will combine his first bakes with his other passion
in a seasonal celebration of his garden,
with a spring and summer-inspired rhubarb and strawberry jam
and autumnal apple in his Victoria sponges.
It's quite tricky to put apple in sponge, to get the flavour to come through.
Yeah. For decoration, what's the whole thing going to look like?
So the three tiers are decorated for spring, summer and autumn.
And then I'm going to do a biscuit greenhouse on top.
With boiled sweet windows?
Yeah, with little panels. Yeah, like that.
Oh, my goodness, Josh, this is quite a lot.
Sounds like a Showstopper! Keep your cool.
Yeah, I'll try. Thank you, Josh.
I have gone for a bit of a stronger batter
so it doesn't lose its shape when it gets put together.
Genoise is a little bit of a risk, I guess,
to go on the bottom tier because it's such a light cake,
but I feel like the pros outweigh the cons on this one.
I've gone for it because it's quick to make,
quick to bake, quick to cool.
But I've never stacked a cake until this week.
Inspired by the chocolate treats that got him into baking,
Matty's first-ever tiered cake will see chocolate genoise sandwiched
with French buttercream and crumbled brownie,
and a lemon and rosemary Victoria sandwich
with a fresh summer fruit jam.
ALISON: Now that you're a baker, do you think you'll bring baking into the school?
What bake would you bring to your kids?
Probably the brownies. I've already brought them in to 'em once,
but they think Lara made 'em. Really?
Yeah. So you just lied and said, "My girlfriend's brought them."
Yeah. Why, though? What is so embarrassing about people knowing that you're a baker?
No, I don't know, really. I've never told anyone.
You don't have to lie any more because your bakes taste amazing.
HE LAUGHS
How these final Showstopper taste could prove even more important
than the spectacular look.
DAN: I want my cake to be strong with lemon,
but not too sort of like bleurgh!
I want to have the essence of Victoria sandwich but I also want to sort of elevate it.
So this is my rhubarb. They're not my strawberries, because I ran out.
They've been ravaged from all of the past weeks that I've done.
ALISON: But past weeks may not bode well for Matty's chosen flavours.
In week one, I had a stinker with the buttercream,
so I've changed the recipe slightly.
I kind of need to learn in my own way.
It takes me a few mistakes to...to learn.
I am slightly worried about time already.
ALISON: For three tiers, the finalists will need to bake at least six sponges...
Seven minutes left.
..which will require batch baking...
Have a little look at that brownie in a second an' all.
..and a constant eye on the clock. TIMER BEEPS
CLATTER HE STIFLES LAUGHTER
There you go, I've stopped it. Cheers, mate.
Imagine if that hit Josh in the eye and he had to go to hospital and the whole thing was cancelled.
One way to stop him winning it, wouldn't it?
What we onto now?
Done. Happy with that.
I can start to make the next batter.
Now I'm going to go on my second mix now.
Four and a half hours - do you think it's enough time?
I mean, so, I think it's ample, right?
No? SHE LAUGHS
See how they get on.
Pretty happy with that.
These are going in. It's now all on me getting the bakes done
quick enough that I can have enough time.
But Dan will need to find the time to bake more than just sponges.
I'm only on step four. Ridiculous!
The idea of a macaron is to get a nice skin on them,
so once I've piped them, I'm going to leave 'em for a good hour.
Let's get these in.
This is the Swiss meringue buttercream now.
So I've got two on the go, plus a bit of cake.
That's got about eight minutes to go.
Whilst they're in the tin, whilst they're still warm,
make some holes in it and then just soak lemon juice on.
"Too much lemon in that, Dan." Sorry, Paul!
Bakers, you're halfway through.
DAN: What?!
I know!
Love these ovens.
I think they're done. They're a bit, like, not straight
but I'll have to trim that.
Just tasted the curd. That tastes beautiful.
I've done that, that, that, that.
NOEL: You've just got a big list you're working through.
Yeah, look. The buttercreams are made. The jam's made.
Not too bad. Yeah, but this part is where it gets, like, hard. Crazy?
Is that assembly? Yeah.
ALISON: If constructing a three-tiered cake wasn't hard enough...
It's the assembly and making it look pretty is where I'm pants.
..whilst building, Dan still has baking to do.
Well behind. It's all right, I'll do it.
But he's not alone.
What's going down here?
This is my, um, greenhouse on top.
You're like Da Vinci. Have you got enough time to do everything you want to do?
I'm never going to have enough time to do everything that I would love to do, but...
Have you factored that in? Course you have.
Yeah. I've got a couple of backups of what I can do in terms of...
That's why I love you. NOEL LAUGHS
Just in case things don't go to plan.
Plan B and a plan C in your back pocket.
Matty could be in need of his own plan B.
That one's a little bit not too done.
The sponges for his middle tier are underbaked.
That's a bummer. How long do we have?
Bakers, you have one hour left.
BLEEP.
Can I go home now, please?
Come on, Josh, come on.
Five minutes at really high,
and then I'll put 'em straight in the freezer.
Probably will affect the bake slightly, um...
..but it is what it is.
Oh, I've got my meringue to do as well, haven't I? Flipping heck.
I don't think I'm going to do it. I don't think I'm going to do it. Help.
Once I've got these out the oven,
we'll start straight away doing the assembly.
So we've got chocolate genoise, Swiss meringue,
and then a chocolate French buttercream and then brownie.
Let's have a little gander.
I'd say them two are done.
I don't know, but I haven't got that much time left.
Whose stupid idea was this?
That's the last lot of panels.
Beautiful. Right.
That can go off now.
I'm inserting dowels.
Oh, I need to put the dowels in, actually, as well.
This is the white chocolate buttercream.
We need to get going with cake.
And then freezer.
That's the first one of those done.
Right, come on.
40 minutes.
Bit of summer fruit jam.
I just need to get it in the fridge for as long as it takes.
It's nearly there.
Right, macarons.
I've just done the middle layer with strawberry and rhubarb jam,
and now I'm doing the final layer.
Just swapping the tiers.
So how long do we have left?
Bakers, you only have half an hour left.
Yeah, I'm happy with that. Right.
Oh, you're joking me.
These should just basically peel off perfectly.
Come on, you stupid thing!
BLEEP. It's cracking.
Let's see how much I learnt from Lara's art lesson.
Look a bit underdone, actually. Too soft.
I just don't think I've probably made the batter well enough, to be honest, but deal with it.
I need to just collect my thoughts for a second, I think.
Number two.
Lara said you have to build up the colour.
Be patient and always go in the same direction.
You OK? No.
But you need it all to go smoothly today, don't you?
Yeah. Dig deep.
You can do this. I can do it.
ALISON: Where did you get this design from?
It's kind of, like, cos I'm not very good at doing it any other way.
No, but it works, though. It looks really arty, doesn't it?
This is going to be spring at the top.
Hard to quickly temper chocolate.
This is going to look very rushed, this.
Bakers, you have 15 minutes left.
Come on. There we go.
Don't swear, Dan.
We're getting to kind of like
the critical point where I need to stack it.
Don't want it to lean.
Dog's dinner!
I want to put the greenhouse on now and then I can finish - any time
I've got spare I'll just do some decoration.
How's long's left?
Looking good, bakers, you have ten minutes left.
I'm going to have to rush a lot of decoration now.
I need a blowtorch.
Don't know why I'm even bothering.
Gold leaf BLEEP out of it.
These are my giant marrows that I harvest in the autumn.
I'll hide it with a macaron - Paul and Prue will never notice.
I want to do some piping round the outside of it just
to make it look a little bit fancier.
How long we got left now?
One minute left.
It's messy, too messy.
Don't look behind you and look at Josh's whatever you do.
Bakers, your time is now up.
Walk away rapidly!
Please step away from your bakes.
We love you! Well done!
Come on bring it in mate, bring it in. Well done boys.
Woo. Well done. I just got Swiss meringue buttercream all over your back now!
It's all right don't worry about it.
Oh, no my mistake you've got four minutes left!
HE LAUGHS
The winner of this year's Bake Off will be announced at
a very special garden party in front of
the bakers' families and some old friends.
I'm back at the tent. It's so exciting.
Just like one wee family all together again.
We've got like a group chat and we all talk on there
and post pictures of what we've been doing and that's really lovely.
It's so nice to be here and not be baking
and just feel like you can enjoy all the wonderful cakes
and that that have been made.
In my mind I think Dan's going to win,
but I think it's going to be so close.
I think they're all incredible, they're all good at different things.
I don't, I literally can't call it.
If I had to say someone maybe Josh.
Either Dan or Josh or Matty.
One of those.
I think Matty could surprise everyone.
It's probably like asking a parent to pick their favourite child,
it's a very difficult call - Josh!
Dan, for one last time bring up your Showstopper.
Dan tell us all about your final Showstopper.
So, this is my lemon drizzle
and meringue cake with a lemon curd
and raspberry compote,
topped with Italian meringue and decorated with some
macarons filled with the lemon curd and raspberry compote.
I quite like the white chocolate against the raspberry.
I like the meringue as well. Those macarons are terrible.
I know, I don't know what's gone on with them. I wouldn't even bother putting them on... Yeah.
Cos it sort of ruins it.
I did think it was quite ambitious to do three chocolate collars.
It's cracked quite a bit. Yeah.
Looks a lovely sponge though. Does look really nice?
Doesn't it? Doesn't it? Yeah.
You know, it needs more lemon.
Does it?
The drizzle only comes in to so far and then it stops so.
Ah, OK. But the flavour is delicious
and I think the bake is lovely as well.
Macarons let it down dramatically. Yeah.
And the bake's not right either.
No, I don't know what's gone on. It's really pasty.
Is it? Have I not, have I not cooked them for long enough?
No, you've definitely not cooked them for long enough. No I've not, have I? No.
It's just a little bit flawed for me.
Work to be done for next week, then.
PRUE AND PAUL LAUGH
Thanks, buddy! Thanks very much.
Matty, would you like to bring up your Showstopper, please?
Matty, tell us about your Showstopper.
The top and bottom tier are inspired by a chocolate cake.
So, it's a chocolate genoise sponge, with
a French chocolate buttercream
and chocolate brownie coated in
a Swiss meringue buttercream.
Middle tier is a Victoria sponge, so it's lemon
and rosemary
with summer fruit jam and an American buttercream.
It's leaning a bit. Dramatic effect!
What happened then?
Well, I mustn't have done much of a job with the dowels.
I must say, Matty, I love the colour combinations.
And the way you've done it.
I like the decoration, I like the piping,
I like the fruit, the drop for me is the big problem.
Yeah, it's done me.
But let's have a look and see what it's like inside.
Wow, that's one light sponge.
Oh! That looks beautiful, doesn't it? Wow.
I mean I'm surprised it weighs enough to cause the lean.
What a great cake. Thank you.
Now you're getting the chocolate coming in.
And it's a really light chocolaty moreish sponge.
It's absolutely delicious. Hmm.
I have no good reason to having another bite, but I've got to.
I love the jam. I like the cake.
It reminds me of some of the nice birthday cakes I had when I was a kid.
It's a beautiful sponge.
All the flavours are perfect.
Thank you. Really perfect, Matty.
You know what, there's nothing wrong with this cake,
except it's on the lean.
That's such a pity, because it's only one mistake.
Yeah. Everything else is absolutely perfect.
Thank you, Matty. Thank you very much.
Well done, Matty, lad. Thank you. Awesome well done, mate.
Good luck, mate.
Josh do you need a hand getting it off the table?
I think I'll be OK. We'll see.
Josh, it's time for your Showstopper.
Josh tell us all about your final Showstopper.
So I've called this Showstopper A Slice For All Seasons.
So it's all representing the seasons in the garden.
It's all inspired by a Victoria sandwich,
so the bottom tier is an apple
and lemon sponge with a lemon curd
and a white chocolate buttercream.
Then the top two tiers are the same - they're an apple
and vanilla sponge, with a strawberry and rhubarb jam
and a white chocolate, buttercream in as well.
And it's all got a Swiss meringue buttercream around the outside.
And my biscuit greenhouse on top.
I think the greenhouse is great
and I think the colours are beautiful.
It is straight and it is level.
The pipework is not very neat.
You could've spent another half an hour on that
to create a much more polished image.
Do you want to keep this intact or can I taste the biscuit?
You can taste it if you want.
There's just some strawberry in the biscuit
and they're mints used for the panels.
Very clever that.
It's a sugar biscuit, isn't it? Yeah, just, yeah, bound together with some egg white.
Really minty, isn't it? Mm, it is minty. Incredible, yeah. It is minty.
Thank you, I really like that.
Well, let's have a look and see if we can try this spring.
Mm, jam is perfect.
I like the sponge.
I'm not getting any apple. It hasn't showed up to the party.
No, you can't taste the apple. No.
You've gone with the rhubarb
and strawberry on this one.
It needs something more.
OK.
This one's got a little compressed with the weight of the others.
Yeah, it ha. Mm.
Lovely lemon curd.
The lemon curd's nice. Got a nice flavour.
I think you need another layer of lemon curd.
I question whether that sponge is actually overbaked as well.
I think your flavours are adequate
and for me I wanted to see much more of your journey in
the tent in that cake.
I think boring is too strong a word, but it's on its way.
It's not your best shot.
Thanks Josh. Thank you very much, Josh.
I think he was probably being a bit harsher
because I've set my own standards on my Showstoppers
and I and I know that was not
the finesse wasn't probably quite there as I'd like.
I don't know who's going to win.
I think it might be between me and Matty, maybe?
Hopefully I've done enough with yesterday as well.
Maybe.
I've got absolutely no idea to be...
..honestly I don't feel like I'm going to win it.
So, I think it's between them two, personally.
Blimey!
That could be enough.
CHEERING AN APPLAUSE
Hey. Hello, you come here!
Whilst the bakers are reunited with their families,
Prue and Paul have a huge decision to make.
That's it, we've done the last Showstopper.
Pretty good cakes.
Just stick your fingers in all of 'em you'll be all right, Sammy.
You guys are always telling Dan to simplify.
Today he definitely did simplify.
Yeah. But he didn't get all the elements right.
But with Josh you've never told him to simplify
and usually his Showstoppers are, they're a bit more clever.
I don't think that the decoration was defined enough
and it wasn't up to his usual standard.
But he's still in line
for winning because he had a good day yesterday.
Yeah, he did. And I think Matty has also pushed himself into that
possibility of winning as well,
because of what he's done today and because of his flavours.
The only thing that was wrong with Matty's was there was...
It was on the wonk. ..on the wonk.
But then you look at yesterday, in the signature they were very close.
Josh won the technical and Matty came third in the technical.
Matty was bottom.
Technical yesterday was really good. Really pleased with that.
It is tight.
I wouldn't want to be in your shoes!
I want a cup of tea and another slice.
OK. Can I be the person who actually announce the winner?
That's all I want?
You should do it, cos it's probably your last year!
LAUGHTER
You all right, mate? Yeah, I just need another nervous wee!
You do, yeah? I'm getting that way as well.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
First we'd like to thank everyone
for coming on this beautiful sunny day.
And I'd like to invite up the three finalists.
Round of applause for Dan!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Josh!
And Matty!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Obviously, we'd want every single one of you to win,
but there can only be one winner.
So, it gives me great pleasure to announce
that the winner of the Great British Bake Off
2023 goes to...
..Matty!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Well done, darling! Thank you. Well done!
Congratulations. Well done, mate! Well done.
Thank you. Congratulations.
Bloody hell! Do you believe that? What do you think, Matty?
You won, mate!
Bloody hell! Thank you!
I don't know what to say!
I don't know what to say.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Well done!
People say you should go on Bake Off and I just thought it
was like a throw away comment - never really listened to it.
I never thought that I would be on this.
Let alone win it.
Where are we going to put this?
I can't even have it on show for a while, can I?
Well done! Oh. my God!
So chuffed for Matty.
When it always comes to the cake, he has been fantastic,
so he's just a worthy winner and such a lovely chap as well.
You're only the winner! How amazing is that?
He was going home six times!
I had a feeling Matty was going to win.
He's done it on the date counted and I am honestly so happy for him.
What a kid, I absolutely love him!
I never met a more cheerful,
smiling, uncomplaining and willing baker.
He just was having a good time, learning as much as he could,
taking on board anything either of us said.
And he's just got better and better and better.
And if you're going to smash it you do it in the last challenge
and that's exactly what he did.
That chocolate cake was one of the best chocolate cakes
I've had for a long, long time.
Lara, Lara I need you.
There's been so many ups, there's been so many downs,
there's been so many times when I've been pulled through
by the people closest around me.
Certainly Lara,
I can't imagine I have been too much fun to live with the last ten weeks.
I'm happy for them as much as I am for me with this one.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
It still doesn't really feel real.
I don't really know.
What do you think it was got you here?
Lara!
Look at him!
Sorry! Get out the camera, will you?!
MUSIC: We Are Going To Be Friends by The White Stripes.
Bye!
Are you a Star Baker in the making?
If you'd like to apply for the next series of Bake Off,
visit channel4.com/takepart.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media