BIRDSONG
GOOSE HONKS
SQUIRREL SQUEAKS
AMERICAN ACCENT: Ahh, another delicious day in Bake Off Land.
Hi, Barbie Alison.
Hi, Barbie Noel.
Wait a minute,
I thought I was supposed to be Barbie?
No, we talked about this. I'm Barbie.
No, we said it's the person with the best legs is Barbie.
Exactly. Check out my chicken drummers, they're supreme.
ALISON SIGHS There's only one way to settle this.
You're right.
BOTH: Ken!
Oh, not this again.
You're really great at judging. Who's the best Barbie?
I'll tell you who the best Barbie is
and it's neither of you two.
ALISON GASPS
Ahh, another delicious day in Bake Off Land.
He's into weird Barbie.
NOEL AND ALISON: Welcome...
ALL: To the Great British Bake Off.
WHISPERS: There's a tent right over there and it's very scary.
I dunno how I got here. Like, what am I doing?
The last time I felt this nervous,
either before my A-level results
or when I was in the queue to get tickets
for the Taylor Swift concert.
They applied in their thousands.
When I came first in England,
this show was the first thing I ever saw.
My husband said, "You should go there."
He doesn't like my baking, but never mind.
Just 12 of Britain's best amateur bakers have made it to the tent.
This is an absolute dream. My mum told me not to cry.
Hmm, I cried three times yesterday, so...
Over the next ten weeks, they'll face 30 brand-new challenges.
Food is my love language.
If I can make people happy, it's always with feeding them.
I'm comfort-eating!
She actually bit me.
Every inch of their baking skill will be scrutinised...
The jam, it's too sticky.
What makes you say that?
THEY LAUGH
..under the ever-watchful eyes of Prue Leith...
One of the most interesting cakes I've ever eaten and delicious.
..and Paul Hollywood.
I might be a little bit more brutal.
If Paul don't like one of my bakes, then I'm gonna jack up his car,
take off his wheels, make a few quid, happy days.
Each week, the cream of the crop...
That's unbelievable!
..will be crowned Star Baker.
Lovely jubbly.
Those that falter...
CLATTERING
I'm sorry!
..will leave the tent.
And you know the old adage -
you know, it doesn't matter if you win or lose,
as long as you win.
But who will win the Great British Bake Off?
One wrong move and it's over.
HE EXHALES Gotta breathe.
# Carnage! #
Are you serious?
I've got nothing made. There's nothing here to show.
What?!
She's gonna get rid of me, I can see it!
No, I can't choose, but I do love him. He's my...
Oh, my God, it's the worst day of my life!
It's Cake Week,
and after three challenges,
one of our new batch of bakers
will be crowned Star Baker,
while one will have to leave the tent.
Welcome, new bakers, for your first-ever challenge.
Now, Noel and I have been up all night putting this tent up,
scrubbing out the ovens.
It's been tough, ain't it, bab?
Yeah, getting Paul and Prue out of the wooden boxes
that they're in when they're hibernating.
LAUGHTER
So, for your first-ever challenge,
the judges would like you to bake
an elevated version of your signature loaf cake.
And when we say elevated,
you can't just pop it on a top shelf.
You have two hours.
On your marks.
Get set. Bake!
Ooh!
OK.
Baking in the tent is just mad.
Like, what is happening?
I'm a bit nervous and shaky.
I still feel like it's not real,
like we're not on the real Bake Off, it's just like a fake version.
Oh, no. SHE CHUCKLES
What am I in for?
PRUE: The bakers' first-ever challenge is a loaf cake,
and a loaf cake just means a cake that's in the shape of a loaf.
PAUL: It's all about the sponge,
it's about the texture and it's about the flavour.
It's like the baking holy trinity.
To really impress me,
they need to have something that surprises.
They could put two kinds of sponge together
so it looks marbled,
or they could bury something interesting inside.
Time management is critical.
You don't want to put decoration on top of a warm cake,
it'll literally just melt and slide off.
It's gonna be tricky.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Illiyin.
Morning. Hi.
Hello. So, are you happy in this tent?
I'm very happy in this tent,
cos I don't have my kids here.
THEY LAUGH
So, tell us about your loaf cake.
This is a cinnamon roll loaf cake.
My younger sister loves a cinnamon roll.
One of eight siblings,
midwife Illiyin lives in Norfolk with husband Umar
and their two children, Ihsan and Talha.
Ha-ha! Good job!
She'll add a crunchy cinnamon pecan base
to her generously cinnamon-swirled sponge,
which she'll bake in a special tin.
Any troubles with it sticking?
Er... What can you do to stop it sticking?
I'm not gonna say that, am I? That's not really very fair, is it?
I think you're setting the bar for our friendship here.
THEY LAUGH
Gill's cake is also dedicated to a sibling with a sweet tooth.
I'm making a chocolate orange loaf cake.
This is for my sister, V.
She bullied me into applying,
so it's all her fault that I'm here.
Marketing manager Gill lives in Lancashire,
close to mum and bowls partner Jean.
Oh, OK, show-off.
She'll cover her chocolate
and orange marbled sponge
with chocolate and orange buttercream
and candied orange slices.
Gill, it sounds absolutely delicious. Yeah.
I mean, first of all you're starting with
two of the best flavours in the world. Classic.
So I don't think you can mess it up.
Oh, don't say that, Prue. Don't say that!
There's a myriad of ways we can mess things...
But that's all gone wrong now, hasn't it?
ALISON: When it comes to the tried and tested...
You can't beat the classics.
..John's joining the party.
I'm doing a cherry and chocolate cake today.
This is cherry paste to really get the cherry flavour in the cake.
So I just hope for the best and just keep putting it in.
West Midlands born and bred,
NHS manager John likes to let his hair down
with a cheeky margarita or two.
Now, this is where we get tequila all over the place.
Inspired by a family holiday
to the Bavarian Alps,
John will top his Black Forest loaf cake
with dark chocolate ganache
and cherry macarons.
My little West Midlands bunny. Hi, bab, you OK?
Hello, babs, how are you? I'm good.
So, what you doing? What's going on?
So, this is my chocolate and cherry cake.
What do people say when they eat this?
Not a lot, cos they're too busy eating it. Seriously?
Yeah. If not, it'll just stick their teeth together... Does it?
..and they can't say anything anyway. Can't speak.
Oh, hello.
NOEL: Andy's gone for a classic, too.
So, this is my lemon drizzle.
And his traditional British teatime treat is soaked in nostalgia.
I used to always bake with my mum
and then when I left home,
this was the first bake that I learnt to make
and it's been a firm family favourite, really.
Mechanic Andy lives in Essex with partner Nickie,
their daughter, Maisie, and dog Arthur.
Arthur!
And while family life is busy,
he always finds time to grab a bite with mum, Sheila.
Good cockney grub.
Good health. Lovely.
Inspired by Sheila's prize garden,
Andy will pipe lemon buttercream flowers
on top of his loaf cake,
which he'll wrap in a white chocolate collar.
Hello! Hello! How we doing?
The pencil's sort of come out a bit.
Like a sort of snail's antennae. I was pleased to see ya.
Is that what's happened? I was gonna wear a pink hat.
They said no. Yeah!
My missus said you're gonna go on there looking like Timmy Mallett!
It's your own fault for dressing like a 12-year-old.
THEY LAUGH
ALISON: Andy's isn't the only lemon loaf cake in the tent.
Ooh!
But Mike's breaking with tradition.
So, instead of a lemon and poppy seed
I'm going with lemon and linseed,
which are from our farm.
The eggs are all from the farm.
Everything... Well, not everything.
The lemons, I didn't grow them in Wiltshire.
Fourth generation farmer Mike lives with partner Matt
and their whippet, Todd.
Good boy.
Soaked in lemon and lime syrup
and covered in lemon buttercream,
Mike will marble his loaf cake
yellow and purple.
Purple for the flowers of the linseed
and then yellow for the lemon.
Is this giving you a panic attack, Paul? How messy this is?
Yeah. It'll be clean when it's over.
But you're judging us on our bake and not on our... No, no, no.
This is all part and parcel of it.
Don't tell me that now. I haven't practised that!
Good luck, Mike. Thank you. Sounds great.
Ah! HE LAUGHS
ALISON: While the judges might not demand a tidy bench,
they will expect a beautifully light, fluffy sponge.
It's quite a soft cake. I have practised a lot.
Best be precise for Paul and Prue.
I'm not actually gonna measure this, I'm just gonna go for it.
Let's just hope for the best. Let's just shove it all in.
I don't measure anything.
That's how, like, my grandmother taught me to cook, though. My nonna.
NOEL: Georgie's a paediatric nurse
who lives in the Welsh countryside with her husband,
their three children,
Blake, Aiden, and Imogen, and Fanny, her prized hen.
Come on, then. Fanny!
Fanny... Right, Fanny, submit.
S... Oh, she won't go!
Georgie will top her cake
with salted caramel macarons
and chocolate and vanilla ganache
to elevate a cake inspired
by her Italian grandmother.
Her cake, we call it a nonna cake,
and it's just the best cake ever.
Argh!
But she's forgotten one of Nonna's key ingredients.
I'm missing the BLEEP sunflower oil.
I thought it was dry.
Let's just add it in now. I'm sure it'll be fine.
ALISON: Not only must the bakers' sponge be delicious to eat...
It's stripey time.
..but look beautiful too.
When you cut into the cake,
you should be able to see stripes. That's the plan.
I'm marbling cinnamon cream in my very well-oiled tin.
And whilst some add
a surprise swirl inside their loaves...
It's about mixing the batters without mixing them too much.
I've done that in the past
and then it's just mixed all together.
..Sumayah...
..plans to hide an entire dessert.
My loaf cake is inspired by a carrot cake,
but using halwa, which is like a South Asian dessert.
My mum taught me how to make it.
Our youngest baker, 18-year-old dentistry student Sumayah,
lives in Lancashire with mum Samson and pet duck Pato.
SHE CHUCKLES He's had enough.
She'll balance her sweet carrot halwa centre
with cream cheese icing,
a combination approved by Mum.
She's tested this recipe. She likes it.
I thought it was too sweet, but I'll take her word.
Jeff's cake features a secret centre too.
This is the hidden bit in the middle,
the star, and it's a tribute to my wife.
She's a guiding light in the family.
Retired university lecturer Jeff grew up in the Bronx.
Married for over 40 years,
he and English wife Catherine live in Yorkshire with dog Josie.
Oh, yeah!
Celebrating his wife's favourite flavours,
Jeff's raspberry star
will be hidden inside
a zesty lemon and almond sponge.
My family love anyone from America. Oh, right.
Unfortunately, I start talking in an American accent.
AMERICAN ACCENT: How you doing? How you doing?
THEY LAUGH
As long as you're cool with me trying a Birmingham accent.
Yeah, go for it. All right, babs.
All right, babs.
Little cake, godspeed.
NOEL: The loaf cakes' deep sponge requires a long time in the oven.
I'm gonna bake it for 45 minutes and then check.
It's a long bake. 55 minutes.
Oh, no, I've gone all the way up now, look.
Crying out loud.
No, stop!
But every minute spent baking is one less to cool and decorate.
It's the cooling to put the icing on,
so it doesn't all just slide off.
That's the toughest part of this.
It should be about 50 minutes
to one hour, so I hope I'm just gonna manage it.
If it's gone wrong, that's special Slovakian loaf.
Care assistant Nelly moved to the UK from Slovakia 19 years ago.
She lives in Dorset with her husband, Chand,
and their two boys, Samir and Idris.
Oh, big one! Ahh! Ew, Mum!
A family favourite, Nelly will pipe pineapple jam
and coconut ganache
inside her coconut sponge.
Is this your book?
Well, nothing in there, to be quite honest.
Today I went into the Bake Off tent and I saw Noel.
I love him with all my heart. Did you write this?
You are the top. I'm the top?
Number one. You respect me the most?
No, I love you the most. I love your humour.
And half of the humour I don't understand.
Me neither. Perfect couple we are, you see.
I've got a good feeling about you.
You're gonna win. NELLY LAUGHS
Well, that didn't work.
ALISON: Dylan's hoping tropical flavours
are a hit with the judges too.
I'm making a sticky mango rice loaf cake.
I went to Thailand last year
and sticky mango rice was, like, one of my favourite things.
Dylan lives with his parents in Buckinghamshire.
A keen skateboarder,
he's a bit rusty after his gap year travelling around
South East Asia.
He's recreating his favourite Thai dessert,
with a mango compote-filled
coconut sponge.
But with his cake already in the oven...
Whoa, that's not good.
..Dylan's discovered a problem.
I've buggered up the cake a bit.
I didn't add the coconut yoghurt at the beginning,
so slightly worried that might have done something.
Bakers, you have half an h...
No, sorry. I don't know what you've got.
LAUGHTER
Anxiety now! How long have we got, then?
You are halfway through.
Ah! I know.
Right, Stormtrooper gloves on.
The bakers must now walk
the delicate tightrope between time and temperature.
That's fantastic. Wallop!
The quicker they can start cooling their cakes...
It looks a bit different than usual, but we'll, er, see.
..the better their chances of avoiding a melting mess
when they decorate.
Not quite.
That's not done, I can tell that from there.
Back in the oven. Cook, my baby.
But the bakers can't relax.
Come on. Hurry up.
To produce perfect toppings and decorations,
every minute counts.
I'm just making candied oranges.
Hopefully, they should stand up nice and proud on my cake.
These are the macarons.
Georgie's doing macarons as well,
so it's a battle of the macarons.
They're so temperamental.
They've only gone wrong a couple of times,
so hopefully today they won't go wrong.
This is apple miso fudge.
I love using miso in all my, like, cooking and stuff.
So there's miso in the batter as well.
It's like a proper miso overload.
Fashion designer Christiaan left the Netherlands
for London seven years ago,
where he wooed partner Nick
with the help of his mum's famous apple pie.
Christiaan will pipe a sweet and savoury
apple miso fudge filling
into his loaf cake
for maximum flavour.
Your accent, let's talk your accent.
Where is it from?
Because sometimes I hear up north... Yeah.
Sometimes I hear down south.
So I'm from the Netherlands, originally. Yes.
I travelled in Australia a little bit when I was, like, 18.
When I came to London, my first housemate was Scottish.
Then loads of my friends were Welsh
and my boyfriend is from South London.
And now you're with me. You are honora...honorary Brummie.
Can't even say it. Thank you, thank you.
Bakers, half an hour left.
Ah!
Honestly, this cold that's blowing in through the side of the tent,
well, I tell you what, I can't feel my face.
God Almighty! So cold.
NOEL: But the bakers who are still in the oven...
It's not behaving.
..are feeling the heat.
Ooh! Don't do that, Gill.
No, it's still not done.
It needs to go in a bit longer. Ooh, the jeopardy's building.
Oh, that's not good. It should be cooked by now.
But it's not, so we're not gonna panic.
And...yeah. HE LAUGHS
I'm gonna turn the oven up.
That's done.
Perfect.
I just want to get this cool.
You going in the freezer or the fridge? Freezer.
Might not need the fridge. ANDY LAUGHS
I'm just gonna fill the cake. Ooh!
This is mango compote.
The fudge insert needs to go down.
I just fill it with pineapple jam and white chocolate cream.
This is more like cherry flavour. It's cherry sugar syrup.
But before Illiyin can glaze her cake,
she faces the delicate task
of removing her cinnamon sponge from its sticky tin.
The risk is I could lose some of my cake.
It came out!
I feel like I can breathe now.
I'm not happy with that.
Georgie's macarons haven't fared quite so well.
It's really thick.
My macarons have failed as well.
It's not whipping up.
I think it's the temperature in here. It's so cold.
The temperature in the tent isn't just affecting the macarons.
I'm just about to prepare the old chocolate collar now.
This is all setting. It is unbelievable.
It's so cold, it's setting without going in the fridge.
SHE LAUGHS
Sweet 16!
ALISON: Bingo fanatic and grandmother of ten,
Hazel's a retired nail technician from Kent.
Yes!
What's my prize? LAUGHTER
Hazel will decorate her raspberry
and white chocolate marbled sponge
with ruby chocolate shards.
How you doing, Hazel? I'm fine.
You're not too cold in here? I'm frozen.
Are you frozen? I'm abs... Do you need a little warm-up?
I've got a hot water bottle down me, look. Have you got a water...?
Got a water bottle! You've got a Hammond now!
I can warm you up. Oh, lovely. My little Hazel. Oh!
Come on, I'll even stir it for you as well.
We're macaroning.
Happy with them ones.
So she says!
That's just not working either. Oh, my God!
This has never happened before. What is going on?
Lovely. Lovely jubbly!
As Georgie's macarons begin baking...
OK, right, we're coming out of the oven.
..the last of the loaf cakes are finally done.
It's in the freezer, so...
Pray to the cold gods that it chills.
MIKE LAUGHS
Now I'm officially on Bake Off!
Bakers, you have 15 minutes remaining.
Ahh, help!
All the decorations are ready. The shards are ready.
I'm just waiting for it to cool and then I'll decorate.
This is my decoration.
Obviously, it's gonna end up the cake,
hopefully, if it cools in time.
Decoration, that's my weakest part. Weakest link.
This is the glaze. This is just vanilla, milk and icing sugar.
It's looking good.
Collar's there.
HE EXHALES Gotta breathe.
I'm just covering it with the white chocolate
and hopefully the chocolate shards will stand up.
Macarons are not good.
I'm just gonna put some in the oven.
If they're done, they're done.
They're ready.
Babes... Hello.
Have you just been... Have you been foraging in our forest?
I've given up. I've given up with baking,
I thought I'd just do some flower arranging instead.
What is going on here?
And here we have today... Look at this specimen.
Oh, it's still so warm. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Oh, God, it's gonna be so messy.
This is whipped white chocolate ganache.
Chocolate ganache is on the top
and then we're just gonna put the cherries on.
It's melting.
Oh! The vanilla ganache, it's not set. What is going on?
Oh... Oh, BLEEP!
WHISPERS: I've just cracked it open.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Is that it? GEORGIE GASPS
Oh, my God, I haven't filled the macarons!
The macarons are not gonna be done.
# Carnage! #
Flowers make everything better. I love flowers.
Argh! This is not good.
It's a mess.
Bakers, your time is up.
Please step away from your beautiful loaves.
Well done, mate. We did it. Yes! Yeah!
That is fantastic, sir.
Every fibre in my being's going, "Don't melt."
That's amazing!
It looks so sophisticated.
Everyone's looks ridiculously good
and mine is melted to hell.
GEORGIE SIGHS
For the very first time,
the bakers will now face
the judgement of Paul and Prue.
Hi! Hello, Sumayah.
Hi, Sumayah. Hi, Sumayah. Hello.
Well, I think it looks amazing. Thank you.
Looks like it's got a good strong bake as well.
But what does it taste like?
God, I'm so scared.
Oh, yay! Oh, she looks good.
Sorry! In my opinion.
Oh, it looks lovely. Yeah, it's a dessert in a dessert.
The halwa carries a beautiful punch.
The sponge itself, the coconut level is perfect,
but what I really like is the flake.
It falls apart, so it's not been overmixed.
It is so delicious.
Thank you so much.
It is one of the most interesting cakes I've ever eaten.
Wow. It's lovely.
I think the shards are too big.
They're like sharks' fins swimming through the...
Oh, wow.
It's very pink, isn't it? Yes.
It's very strongly raspberry.
Isn't the cake itself a bit dry?
You've slightly overbaked your cake.
It holds in the mouth just that couple of seconds too long.
Looks like a scrambled egg on the top.
Thanks, Paul. That's what I was going for.
And you have a big crack as well.
Yes, it did split in half. Hmm.
Ooh, this looks nice. Oh.
It certainly is swirly.
You would struggle to identify linseed in there,
but the lemon level is perfect.
It's quite strong.
It's strong in colour and it's strong in flavour.
It's a shame we've had a bit of melting,
but that comes down to timing.
That's straight from the 1970s, that.
Yeah. Wow.
It's very soft.
This is basically pudding.
It's absolutely delicious.
I could sit there and eat the whole cake.
Really? Mm. Oh!
It's not the most attractive-looking thing,
but flavour-wise and texture is delicious.
Well done.
Well, I quite like the top.
It's all over the place, but it works.
It's very lemony.
Love the flavour, but it's very heavy.
Oh. Goes down well with a cup of tea. Oh, yeah.
I wouldn't turn it down if someone offered it to me.
Oh, right! But I'm judging it.
It looks like a lava flow.
Looks like it's just been through a city
and it's picked up a couple of buildings on the way.
There's the star, Jeff. I can see it.
There it is, yeah, yeah.
That's quite impressive.
Very strong lemon.
And the almond comes through beautifully.
Your flavours are spot-on, but it looks such a mess. Yeah.
It took a little bit longer to cook, so I lost the cooling time.
And then the icing fell off. So you've got a...
You've got an extra bonus cheeky drip.
Oh, it looks lovely inside. Lovely marble.
That's a beautiful cake. Thank you.
It's nice and orangey.
Yeah, the only thing that lets you down is the overall look.
It doesn't look great, does it?
No. The vanilla ganache didn't set.
But the marbling's lovely.
I love the flavour.
Hmm.
It hasn't got the height that I wanted.
Yeah, I did actually add the oil in later than I usually would.
And it's sat on it. Yeah.
I don't dislike it, I just think it could be better.
One thing I do like about this is the height.
Proper loaf, isn't it?
Now, is there a swirl? That's the question.
Oh, let's have a look.
More of a splodge really, isn't it? Yeah.
What I love about that cake is cherries are sour
and you've imparted that into the sponge,
which is quite tricky to do. OK.
The texture's perfect. Flavour's lovely. It's very good.
Well done, John. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Doing the Midlands proud. Of course, bab.
It's very neat. You've got a good height to that cake. Cheers.
I love the little parcels on the top,
almost looks like meringue or... Boiled eggs.
Yeah.
I'm not super confident about the sponge.
Yes, it feels a bit doughy.
When I was mixing the ingredients at the beginning,
the yoghurt I've missed today. It's quite dense. Yeah.
Flavour-wise, the flavour's good, but the bake is...
..not.
I do like the decoration, I think it's clever.
You've got a bit of a drop in the middle of it, haven't you?
Yeah. I had to, like, shake the cake to get the apple
to go down, so it's not gone all the way through.
Miso's... Hm, I don't think it works for me.
I think if you get a piece of cake by itself,
it's really not very nice. No, it's not.
Definitely needs the apple.
You need that sweetness, cos it's actually quite sour. Yeah.
And I like people working outside the box,
but I think it's a box I don't particularly like.
OK, no that's fair enough. It's a risk you take.
Thank you. Yeah, thank you very much, guys.
That's pretty, isn't it?
Do you know, the midwife in me was so happy,
at the release from the tin.
It was like a smooth delivery.
I suppose it's like cutting the cord. Exactly!
I'll think of it like that. There we go, then.
Go on, then, do the honour. LAUGHTER
Mm!
Tastes exactly like a cinnamon roll.
Good.
ALISON GASPS Stop it, stop it!
Really nice. Well done. Thank you!
Congratulations on the birth
of your beautiful cinnamon cake. Thank you.
You deserve it. Thank you so much.
Oh, well done. Thank you. That... That's delicious.
It's really soft inside.
It's the cinnamon levels I love.
It's gorgeous. I love the tin, love the colour.
Just lovely.
Yeah, well done. Just melts. Thank you so much. Well done.
Definitely trying that handshake one. I have to have another bit.
Go on. ILLIYIN CHUCKLES
What just happened?
I dunno.
What a way to start.
My heart broke a little bit,
because Paul was like, "Yeah, it's not my cup of tea."
It's not like you've got a second chance or anything.
Firm but fair, I'd say.
I won't take the wheels off his car just yet.
It went surprisingly well, like, I'm glad we're off to a good start.
It wasn't disastrous, but it wasn't amazing.
I need to know the technical when it comes out, to be able to smash it.
Each week, the bakers will face
a gingham-clad secret second challenge.
But this time, there's an extra surprise awaiting them.
Welcome back, bakers.
As you can see, Jeff is not with us at the moment,
because he's not feeling very well,
but hopefully he's gonna be back next week.
OK, it's time for your first-ever technical challenge.
And this one has been set for you by the one and only
Paul J Hollywood.
What's the J stand for?
Juicy.
LAUGHTER
Now, as ever, this challenge is judged blind,
so before our judges leave,
Paul, have you got any advice for our bakers?
You'll certainly know the cake,
but the majority of the recipe will rely on equal quantities. Ooh.
OK, off you pop, you two.
Prue, you can go back to your dressing room.
Paul, you go back to your underground kingdom.
LAUGHTER
OK, bakers,
Paul would like you to bake
a batch of eight perfectly symmetrical mini Battenburgs.
Now, the judges will be looking for a light sponge,
sandwiched in a silky buttercream,
coated in apricot jam and wrapped in marzipan.
Now, you have two hours and 15 minutes for this.
But in a change from the norm...
This is a taste and bake challenge.
Under your gingham cloth is the perfect mini Battenburg.
You'll have five minutes to inspect your Battenburg,
then you have to recreate that
with no recipe.
What?!
Your five minutes start now.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh!
That's not homemade.
Well, it tastes delicious, but I dunno.
I've never made a Battenburg before.
I've got no idea what I'm doing.
I'm happy. I looked at a Battenburg recipe last night.
I'm just trying to work out how much sponge I need.
I don't think it's anything complicated,
like a genoise or nothing like that,
so I'm just gonna go simple,
the same way I'd make almost like a Victoria sponge.
You use equal amounts.
Paul said equal quantities in the recipe,
so I'm just gonna go with that.
Marzipan. How do I do that marzipan?
I can taste, like, almond.
Yeah, so it's definitely almond extract, but not too much of it.
I've never made marzipan in my life.
I was hoping to just lift it up and it's in a packet.
This is the Bake Off. SHE CHUCKLES
I think of Battenburg as a tricky enough challenge as it is,
and you've not even given them a recipe.
But it is the first time we've given them an actual cake.
This is what you're aiming for.
Yeah. When I mentioned equal quantities,
the sponge, they should know that the weight of the eggs,
to the sugar, to the flour, etc, are all gonna be the same.
The jam - equal amounts of fruit to sugar,
and then you have icing sugar
and the ground almonds in your marzipan.
Now, where they could come unstuck,
we are looking for a marzipan that's not overworked,
because it'll go oily. Sticks to everything.
And it'll be sticky.
And, secondly, the colour - more pastel than radiant.
Enough talk, can we eat it?
Choose your Battenburg, Prue.
It is beautiful, look at that. Cuts lovely.
Soft sponge, the marzipan's not too thick.
The colour is good and the almond is spot-on.
Mm. Should be easy.
It'll sort the sheep from the goats. PAUL CHUCKLES
NOEL: OK, bakers, your time is up.
On your marks.
Get set.
Bake!
The bakers must now hand back their Battenburgs
and have just two and a quarter hours to complete the challenge.
This is mad.
I don't really know what I'm doing, actually.
I'm making the sponges first.
All the cake is equal, so I've weighed the eggs,
so whatever the eggs are, the same butter, flour and sugar.
Maybe I'm doing it completely wrong
and probably Paul gonna hold his head like, "Oh, my God."
Christiaan, you look in deep thought.
I don't know what you guys are doing to me
or what Paul is doing to me.
Well, I'm here now. You are a fashion designer.
Could you make me a dress with no pattern?
So if you would model for me, I could make it on you.
So just make the cake on... On you?
..me!
So, almond essence.
It's on the table, so it's going in.
I'm just gonna go in with half a teaspoon first,
cos it can be quite strong.
So I'm just putting one...
Maybe not enough almondy. Two, there we go.
Hello. You got a handshake.
I got a handshake. Oh, my God, what was that like?
It's week one! You've already won!
You should've just walked out the tent.
I mean, in my eyes I'm a winner. It feels good.
I know. It's a good start.
And then I saw Battenburg... Oh. ILLIYIN LAUGHS
So, I've just split the batter now.
I'm colouring one of them pink to get the classic two-tone style.
Half pink, half yellow.
Pink in one half, nothing in the other.
Right, let's get this in the oven.
This is a bit yellow, innit?
Middle shelf. Middle of the oven.
In about 20 minutes, I'll check on it.
So I'm gonna make the jam now, cos the jam does need to cool.
Weigh the fruit and the same amount of jam sugar.
And then let it simmer.
Is that how you make jam? That's it?
Well... You just put sugar and fruit in a saucepan?
I'm paying, like, 17 quid at the farmer's market!
Is that it? That's what you do? Oh, mate, yeah, that is it.
Right, that's that jam done. That can cool.
In meantime, I'm gonna do the buttercream.
The buttercream's two to one icing sugar to butter.
It's nice and smooth.
The jam, I forgot my jam! You OK?
No, I'll have to start again. What's going on?
The jam, it's too sticky.
What makes you say that? It won't... I won't be able to...
THEY LAUGH
Baby's asleep, so do it quietly.
Yes. Go on.
Bakers, you have...
Halfway through.
Thanks, guys. Great job.
GEORGIE SIGHS They're rising really well.
Oh, that's nice.
Smells good.
91 means cooked.
They feel all right, they look all right.
Right.
Gonna take that off now and leave it to cool.
So we're making the marzipan.
Ground almonds. Egg white.
How on earth do you make a marzipan?
I would say it's the same amount sugar, but what about the eggs?
I don't know how much egg whites to put in. I don't know either.
So I'm gonna put it all in and hope for the best.
This is not right. It's like liquid.
It's runny! Supposed to be a lump.
Oh, sh... Too much egg.
Think I've gotta start again.
Ah, it's doing something. That looks like marzipan.
I have no clue what I did, but I think it worked!
And a little bit of yellow.
What I've learnt with yellow is you can just never have enough.
That was a lot, though.
I hate marzipan and if I'm gonna use marzipan, I'll just buy it.
Sorry, I got distracted by your blue eyes.
They are really blue, ain't they?
They are. Giving Paul a run for his money. I would actually...
No, it doesn't even give him a run for his money. They're amazing.
Thanks. Thank my mum. Thanks, Mum.
Thank you for these beautiful eyes.
I didn't put the yellow in till late,
so I'll have to give it a quick hand knead.
I'm gonna work it. Work it, you know.
I'm a bit worried I've kind of overworked it a bit.
Oh, my God, it's so sticky.
You have 30 minutes left.
Oh, gosh.
See, now is the hard bit.
Now I've got to do the calculations.
It's just careful cutting now.
And your brain's hurting already
and then you go, "Now do two add two." I can't do...
I've got nothing...
If you mess it up now, there's no going back.
When it's cut it's cut. I think I might have messed up, you know.
I'm comfort-eating.
I don't think I've got enough marzipan.
I've literally had to, like, scrape and scrap.
SHE SIGHS
Nelly, you've saved enough marzipan to build yourself a scarf.
ALISON LAUGHS
Nelly, you have to save one of us, who would you save?
Oh, no!
This is not a tough decision, just get rid of the dead wood.
She's gonna get rid of me, I can see it.
No, I can't choose, but I do love him. He's my...
Oh, my God, it's the worst day of my life.
My darling bakers, 15 minutes left.
It's basically just assembling everything now.
I quite enjoy this, it's like a puzzle
and I like to do puzzle.
This one is not neat.
Are you enjoying yourself?
No.
This is great.
See me as a sort of Gothic therapist. OK.
When did you start baking? Erm... Yesterday?
HAZEL CHUCKLES Looks like it, doesn't it?
So now it's just a question of the apricot jam.
Do I just wrap and roll?
I'm trying to kind of glue it together.
Oh, no, it's cracking.
This is just a mess now.
I guess you could recognise it as a Battenburg, so...
One more to go. Just need to make them look pretty.
Trim them off and tidy them up.
How long on the time?
You've got one minute left.
Oh, crying out loud!
Oh, my God!
Coat with sugar.
Look at that, that's ruined.
These are a disaster.
I need to hide this one.
They're more Battenburg cubes than bars.
Bakers, your time is up.
Well done.
Oh!
Thank goodness that's over.
Oh! Wrecking the place. CLATTERING
Please bring your Battenburgs and place them behind your photos.
Just don't drop them.
Look at Christiaan's, they're like Mr Kipling.
Oh, mine are awful.
MIKE SIGHS
Horrific!
It's judgement time for the bakers' first technical challenge.
It's time to welcome the judges back in. Hello, kids.
Paul and Prue are looking for eight identical Battenburgs
with a light, moist sponge,
silky buttercream,
encased in well-structured marzipan,
all baked to taste without a recipe.
All right, let's start here.
I quite like the colour of the marzipan.
Yes, I like that and it's nice and thin and even all round.
Mm, yeah. Pretty neat.
There's a good zing of apricot jam
and there's not too much almond essence.
Pretty decent, nice blend between the apricot and the almond.
OK, moving on. These haven't got enough yellow in there.
It's a bit too pale.
I've found it. PRUE LAUGHS
It's all in the cake. Wow, that's luminous.
The flavour's OK. Tastes nice.
Yeah, but it's the overall look.
This one on the other hand's very nicely shaped.
But the colour's really strong.
It's a bit violent.
But the inside looks really good.
I think all the elements are good.
What is this?
This is a bit untidy. That's terrible, that.
It's just the end of the sponge, they haven't trimmed it off.
This marzipan is not wrapped very well.
It's rather like loose packaging.
The flavour's all right, though.
OK, moving on. These are a little bit too small.
I don't know what happened to the rest of the ingredients.
No, the size is all wrong. The yellow's too bright.
Marzipan's too thick.
And, oddly, that needs more almond.
A few issues with this one.
OK, moving on these. These are more green than yellow.
I think the marzipan got overworked. It's tearing.
The apricot jam saves it.
It does, because the almond essence is quite strong.
Here's another one.
It needs to be worked a little bit more
to stop this cracking.
Bit thick, but not too bad.
Mm, good flavour.
Now, there's no colour in this at all.
But they're very neat. The marzipan's a bit thick.
That looks like not enough sponge cake. Yeah.
And too much marzipan.
It is just like having a marzipan... Yeah, marzipan sweet.
These look very nice.
Bit small, though. Almost petit four size, aren't they?
Don't get much almond. Hm.
But, nevertheless, they are neat. Moving on to these.
These are messy. They're clumsy. Huge, aren't they?
The colours are good. Yeah.
But needed a bit more colour on the actual Battenburg itself.
Good flavour. It's nice and thin. And that's very nice.
Moving on. It's a little bit yellow, but the inside looks quite neat.
The proportion of marzipan to sponge is pretty good.
And it's very delicious. Hm, it is.
Do you know, Battenburg used to be my favourite cake? Hm.
But I tell you what, after eating 11 of them,
I might never have another. LAUGHTER
Yeah.
Paul and Prue will now rank the Battenburgs
from worst to first.
OK, in 11th spot, we have this one.
Whose is this?
Mike. Me.
The marzipan was terrible. It really did fall apart.
OK, in tenth place, who's that?
Hazel, they're a bit clumsy,
but they tasted good.
In ninth spot, we have this one. That's mine.
Sumayah, they're a bit small. Yeah.
The flavour's OK, though. OK.
Andy is in eighth place,
Illiyin is in seventh,
Gill sixth,
Nelly is fifth and Dylan fourth.
In third spot, we have this one. Whose is this?
John, it's a little bit lairy with the colour on the marzipan,
but it is very neat. Thank you.
And this is number two. Who is number two?
Christiaan.
They're a tiny bit small, but otherwise they're perfect.
Thank you. Which means...
In first place, we have Georgie.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
They're all right.
Er, actually... You did really well.
Good sponge, buttercream,
and nice and thin on the marzipan, so well done.
Thank you so much.
Ah! I'm so happy.
Oh, my gosh, I'm number one!
I'm gonna find something to drink tonight.
Bit daunting, that was.
I'm used to following a recipe.
I'm happy I didn't come last.
Yeah. I feel like I was bottom middle with my loaf.
Obviously, last with technical,
so I feel like it's really riding on the Showstopper tomorrow
and just hope and pray
that it goes well.
Just one challenge remains before our first Star Baker's revealed
and someone has to leave the tent.
Back with a bang, eh?
The standard so far is on another level, I thought.
I mean, I gave a handshake out in the Signature. Exactly!
Which is... I know. I was a bit worried about that.
I was holding back, it took ten.
Are you... Is this how you're going to go on?
No. But there was a couple of people who have struggled.
Christiaan in the Signature didn't do very well.
I would say Mike,
and I think Hazel's in trouble, as well. Really? Yeah.
What about our youngest baker, Sumayah?
Yes, she did well in the Signature.
But she struggled in the technical. Georgie came first.
Yeah. Winning the technical catapulted her up.
I'll tell you who I think's doing really well, is John.
The problem is with John, he's got bluer eyes than you,
so he'll be gone next week.
Yeah, he will be. Certainly will never be Star Baker.
OK, guys, this is the big one,
your first ever Showstopper challenge.
Today, our lovely judges would love you to make
a hyper-realistic illusion cake.
Now, the fillings and flavours
and types of sponge is entirely up to you,
but your cakes must be identical to the item that you've chosen.
And that item cannot be a cake.
We don't want to see a hyper-realistic Victoria sponge.
No, we don't.
You have four hyper-realistic hours.
On your marks.
Get set. Bake!
I'm really looking forward to this one.
This is, like, really showing off something totally different
in our skills.
I like decorating cakes, but not in four hours.
Quite a lot of elements, so it's quite nerve-racking.
CLATTERING
I'm sorry!
For the bakers' first-ever Show Stopper challenge,
we have set them a real corker.
I feel quite sorry for them.
We want a hyper-realistic illusion cake.
And not just a cake that has a passing resemblance
to something,
it's got to look exactly like
the object they're trying to replicate.
But also taste unbelievable.
This is the Bake Off tent.
Pass the sauce.
I would advise them to choose a cake that is not too soft.
I mean, not a chiffon.
If you don't use a strong sponge,
it's gonna concertina down
and ultimately collapse.
We're not gonna look for half measures
or somebody that'll go, "Oh, it looks a bit like an iron,
"tastes awful, but it'll do."
It'll do will not work in the tent.
Morning Georgie. Hello.
Hello, Georgie. Hi. Hi, Georgie.
Right, Georgie tell us all about your Showstopper.
I'm actually making my chicken, who's called Fanny.
What? Fanny. Oh, I love that.
Yeah, yeah, she's my favourite chicken.
Covered in over 300 fondant feathers,
Fanny will be filled with lemon curd,
made using her own special eggs.
Oh, they're beautiful eggs. Yeah. They're really creamy.
Can I put an order in? GEORGIE GASPS
And I've got ducks. Oh, yes, please. I've got lots of duck eggs.
Oh, I'll have a duck. Bring the duck in. Ah...
Yeah, oh, what, oh, no... Not the duck.
Oh. Just the eggs. Yeah.
Shredded. Paul. Oh.
In a pancake, delicious. No.
SUMAYAH: My cake is my pet duck.
We hatched him from an egg in, like, 2018.
He goes missing sometimes.
So if he's ever missing, contact me.
Built from orange sponge,
Sumayah's feathered friend will contain layers
of orange buttercream
and balsamic strawberries.
You've got a pet duck? Yeah. What's he called?
Pato. It's Spanish for duck.
Is he Spanish? I don't think so.
Does he speak Spanish? No.
Does he quack Spanish? SHE LAUGHS
What's your favourite duck? Is it the mallard?
No, mallards are really basic. I like Runner ducks.
It's weird, innit? You ever think about your life
and think you'd be in a tent
creating the body of a duck out of cake?
THEY LAUGH I've had nightmares.
ALISON: Whilst the judges expect soft, delicious sponge,
the bakers' cakes must be strong enough
to make sure they don't collapse when carved.
It's not a light cake.
I know they don't like dense, but dense in a good way.
NOEL: Desperate to avoid the dreaded D-word,
Dylan's risking one of the softest sponges in baking.
That's chiffon. Chiffon's really airy.
And, to be honest, that's, like, the worst possible thing
you could pick for this type of cake.
Inspired by his love
of ancient Egypt,
Dylan's Canopic jar, used to store the organs after mummification,
will be made using discs
of sesame dacquoise
to support his spiced chiffon sponge.
It's based off an Egyptian cookie.
They have sesame seeds round the outside,
so I wanted to bring sesame in it,
so I have tahini buttercream in between the layers.
You've got very much
the Middle Eastern flavours in there.
Very original. Love it.
ALISON: Christiaan's also hoping
to impress with a unique flavour combination.
It's gonna be a chocolate orange sponge cake
with olive oil and thyme.
Olive oil? Yeah. Interesting.
He'll pipe zesty orange curd and buttercream
between layers of olive oil sponge
to create a life-size replica
of his vintage sewing machine.
It's ambitious, but I think it's so imaginative
and I'm rather excited about it,
because I think you are making
the sewing machine that I still use.
Is it? I've got a bobbin with yarn,
so you can actually thread the machine. So, yeah.
I think we'd better leave you. I'm worried about the time.
Looking forward to this.
Yeah, I've got to get on, yeah, yeah, yeah. But...
Good luck, Christiaan. Thank you.
Now it's time for cake Jenga.
NOEL: To ensure every one of their sponge building blocks
is baked to perfection...
That's the chiffon and the dacquoise.
..managing both oven time and temperature is key.
75 minutes, but I think they're gonna need an extra 15.
But I just don't want to overbake them.
This mix doesn't look right to me.
But it's not the heat that's worrying Georgie.
It's so cold, the butter keeps setting everywhere
and then you're gonna overwork.
I'm gonna have to just remake these sponges,
but I've made this now,
so they're gonna go in the oven anyway.
Whilst Georgie starts a second batch of sponge...
Ah, this is really stressing me out.
..the rest of the bakers push on with the fillings
that will help glue their illusion cakes together.
I really like strawberries and balsamic.
It sounds weird,
but the vinegar really makes the strawberry flavour enhanced.
This is tequila and lime curd.
Me and my best friends always go for brunch out in the city.
We end up having a few too many margaritas,
end up spending so much money
that we haven't got buying clothes,
so I am making a pair of jeans.
ALISON: John's jeans will be made from coconut sponge,
filled with coconut buttercream and lime curd,
and to recreate the bottomless brunch experience,
he's hitting the booze.
There's tequila in the syrup in the cake and in the curd.
You want to be able to taste the tequila.
It sounds absolutely delicious. Yeah.
She's happy. I thought you might... I thought you might like it.
Sounds like a margarita.
NOEL: Gill also plans to woo Prue
with the help of her mum's favourite festive tipple.
She doesn't drink a lot,
but she does like some Irish cream at Christmas,
so it's in the cake,
it's in the buttercream, and the caramel as well.
She'll sandwich her filling
with rich dark chocolate sponge
to form a replica set of bowls,
her and mum Jean's favourite sport.
How are you? What's this? Fine, thank you. Can I touch that?
Yeah, it's polystyrene.
NOEL LAUGHS
So what are you gonna do with that?
I'm going to try and ganache my bowling balls.
Ganache your bowling bowls. I am.
That is not a sentence you hear every day, is it? No, no. So...
What are you up to, Gill?
"I'm just ganaching my bowling balls." Bowling balls.
ALISON: Check this out.
I've just made an illusion cake of Noel Fielding!
I absolutely love it.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
I'm gonna take a bite.
She actually bit me.
Let's do it. Let's do it.
Oh, BLEEP!
As the first of the sponges emerge from the oven...
Oh, yes.
..ready to be cooled, then cut...
There we go. Cake done.
Ah, no.
..Georgie's first batch...
This has been in there for, like, an hour.
..have fallen flat.
These two are actually cooking a lot better.
There's a better rise on them,
but I really need to get on to my buttercream now,
cos I'm really behind.
Hiya, Mike. Hello, Mike. Hello.
Tell us all about your Showstopper.
I am making a stack of books.
Or if it goes badly, book.
OK, right.
NOEL: Built from his favourite cake,
a rich chocolate sponge with a kick of coffee
and filled with butterscotch,
Mike's stack is dedicated
to his favourite pastime.
How many books do you reckon you've read in your lifetime?
Oh, God. Hundreds. I read 50 books last year. Erm...
Have you read my book, just out of interest?
Yes, I have, and it was fabulous.
No, I haven't, darling.
We'll cut around that. It's on my TBR.
"Yes, I have, and it was fabulous," and then we cut there. Yeah?
I mean, it's a bit dark on the edges,
so I'm gonna have to cut that off, but is what it is now, innit?
This is my tequila syrup.
Really get that margarita flavour.
I mean, who doesn't like a marg or a tequila?
TIMER BEEPS
Is that mine?
BEEPING CONTINUES
I didn't hear the timer go off.
Oh, crikey, yep.
Seems that little bit over.
Hopefully, get away with it.
Hopefully, Paul won't notice.
Celebrating his favourite childhood flavours,
Andy's coconut sponge will sandwich raspberry Chantilly
to build an exact replica of his leather overnight bag.
Is that all the sponge you've got? Yeah.
For the whole bag?
You know what you're doing, you've done this before...
Yeah, I mean, I've... Don't let him psych you out.
How do you fit all your clothes in a bag that big?
My mum said as long as you've got a nice clean pair of pants... Yeah.
..and a clean pair of socks. I'm with your mum.
You're never gonna be able to fit a pair of pants in there.
I've only got small pants.
But Andy's modestly-sized bag faces a foe
from the world of high fashion.
I've got ten Louis, couple of Burberrys,
couple of Fendis.
They're my guilty pleasure.
Made from zesty lemon sponge,
filled with lemon mascarpone cream,
Hazel's designer handbag
contains a surprise.
Oh, my God, you've got a real handle!
Will it take the weight?
Yes. I've got a structure underneath, look.
So you're gonna carry it like this up there? Yeah.
I love it.
NOEL: Nelly's also taking a step into the world of fashion.
I'm making a retro shoe.
When I was young, I was always a very big girl,
so I always have to wear boys' shoes,
but I always wish for these girlie shoes.
That's the top. That's the heel.
Wow, it's gonna be a hell of a big shoe. Size eight.
Nelly's dream shoe, complete with fondant laces,
will be built from chocolate sponge,
chocolate ganache and raspberry curd.
The raspberry curd, it just complements so nicely.
I just hope I will get enough in that they can taste it, so...
But first I like to set everything
and then I'm gonna carve it more.
Carving soft sponge into hyper-realistic replicas
of their chosen objects will test the bakers' skill
and creativity to the limit.
My sewing machine's, like, massive. It's gonna take a while.
While the rest of the bakers' illusion cakes take shape...
How's your duck coming along? It's all right.
I'm just shoving a stick up its bum. Lovely.
Are you serious?
Argh!
Georgie, you good?
..Georgie's second batch of sponge is still in the oven.
I'm, like, an hour behind.
Come on. You'll be all right.
I haven't got enough time. There's no way.
Like, I've got nothing made.
There's nothing here to show.
The sponge for Fanny, Georgie's favourite chicken,
is finally out of the oven.
We have the rise.
You can see the colour difference cos I've used my eggs as well
and they're really bright yellow, but I'm really behind.
I was hoping to finish her feathers by now.
How many do you need?
300. I've just got to keep going.
You know there's a duck in here as well.
Yeah, cos she's got a duck. I've got ducks as well.
Have you? Yeah. You got a horse? No.
What about a goat? I love goats.
When I was on my own in the house once
a goat came into my house on its hind legs.
No way. Really?
Never left. Ah.
We live together now in bunk beds.
Oh, my God!
This is a well weird conversation, innit? Yeah.
Is it helping you make 300 of these?
For the rest of the bakers,
construction's well under way as they finish refining
their illusion cakes' final shape.
So, my bowling balls they are sort of sphere like.
Just trying to get as many lumps and bumps out
before I put the fondant on.
Fitting fondant takes patience and skill.
Any mistakes or messy joins
and the bakers' illusions will go up in smoke.
I'm making a vase of flowers.
Because it's a rectangular vase, it needs to be very neat.
But I'm not an artistic baker...
..so might not!
Filled with layers of rich chocolate sponge,
peanut buttercream and caramel,
Illiyin's vase will contain a bunch of edible flowers.
My flowers are made from fried rice paper.
So, you see how it comes up?
And there you have a very pretty flower.
My mum had an obsession with having fresh flowers.
So, I was like, I'm gonna bake 'em.
There are just 60 minutes left.
I'm gonna just start carving now.
Oh, my God, it's all running out.
Oh! This is all falling out.
I've got to really get a shifty on cos it's the detail
that's gonna take the time.
I probably am about 20 minutes behind,
but the original goal was five books.
If I can do four, I'll be happy.
I'm gonna like melt this fondant
and when it crackles, it kind of looks like old wood.
God.
BLOWS RASPBERRY This is a mess.
Oh, yeah, it's actually doing something. Looks good.
This is my cake board.
It's a little DIY project.
I've gotta be so careful now.
Got to get my handle on it yet.
I'm starting to see the shape now.
I'm just making pages.
Is this what you're making?
Yeah, the Egyptian god of the underworld, yeah.
Anubius or something? Yeah, yeah.
Is it? Anubis, yeah.
I'm the only presenter in here that would know
who the Egyptian god of the underworld is.
I'm just adding on the pocket cos I want the detail in there
before I start air brushing.
Oh, that beak's a bit big.
Oh, my God.
That's my bowling mat and that's my bowling cloth.
Happy with those.
It's the bowls - I just want them to look halfway round.
Bakers, you have 30 minutes left.
This is when things get serious.
I'm attaching my details to my bake now.
Brushing some brown lustre on just to give some tone into the leather.
God. How's Fanny?
She's looking a bit demented and deformed.
Let's have a look with the eyes.
That is brilliant! Oh, God.
I'm putting on my book titles.
Got to get that zip on.
So, we're going like a summery light blue,
sunglasses on.
When it dries a bit I can go over it again if I need to
but I wanna get the label and stuff done first.
Bakers, you've got five minutes left. Just five minutes.
Just got a few last bits to do.
This is the difficult bit - this takes me forever to do.
Need to tidy it up now. She looks a mess.
That's unbelievable.
Oh, thank you. Ooh. That's so cool.
Just brush it with oil is gonna give this very shiny shoes.
One wrong move and it's over. Uh...
Whoa, that looks mad. Thanks.
That's crazy.
This is sick, it looks like a real bag. Is it that big roughly?
More or less.
You literally could only get a few things in. That's all I need.
I mean, with these hands everything looks small. Yeah.
And also...
I don't know what to say to that.
I really don't know what to say to that, Andy.
Bakers, you have one hyper-realistic minute left.
Oh, plenty time, even for a cup of tea.
Just make it like an exhibition case.
Oh, this is coming off here.
He sits amongst the forget me nots from my garden.
Bakers,
that is the end of your Showstopper.
Step away from your bakes.
With pleasure.
Happy, first Showstopper...done.
Lovely.
That looks literally like a duck.
Insane.
It's time to judge the show stopping hyper illusion cakes.
Sumayah, bring your Showstopper to the judges.
Exceptional.
Thank you.
It is so cute.
I almost feel that he could flutter off at any minute.
The detail on it, the feathers, the eyes,
the beak, it's just fantastic.
And also the wood round here - beautiful. Very good.
It's an orange cake with a Swiss meringue buttercream
which I put a bit of orange zest in.
And then a balsamic strawberry filling.
It's a beautifully baked cake. I love the flavours.
The Swiss buttercream, smooth.
Strawberries, delicious. Nice kick.
Terrific job. Really wonderful.
Thank you so much.
It's really clever.
You can see exactly what they are.
And they do look actual size.
It would be nice if you could've got the bowls completely spherical
but I can see it's really hard.
They are Irish cream sponge,
Irish cream buttercream and Irish cream caramel.
That really works. I was a bit worried cos it was gonna be
in everything and just overwhelm,
but that is actually very, very good.
It could easily have been a quite boring chocolate cake
and it's really interesting.
It's very dense in flavour, I love it.
I think it's so impressive.
It does look exactly like something out of an Egyptian museum.
Oh, thanks.
It's clever and it is about the size of the ones
that I've seen in the past.
He's that old! THEY LAUGH
When you said you were going to do a chiffon cake I really thought
that won't work because it'll be too soft. But it does work.
Your spiced blend is good.
Tahini side of things, that's got a lovely flavour.
That is so unusual and delicious.
Surprise! No, it's a shoe.
Shall we take your toes off?
Ouch.
Your cake's beautifully baked. Good chocolate flavour.
Where is the raspberry? Inside.
You need more.
Love the flavour - you're just not getting the raspberry.
I think it's wonderful.
It's my sewing machine,
I still have my 1970s sewing machine.
Looks like that, and I'm glad to see it's correctly threaded.
Yes. Very important.
You know, very few people can thread a sewing machine any more.
It is a bit of an art, isn't it? Yeah.
And the flavour again?
It's a chocolate and orange sponge with olive oil and thyme,
orange curd and orange buttercream.
Hmm. Certainly get the thyme.
The cake's very, very firm so it's not the best to eat.
OK. I might be a little bit more brutal.
It is massively overbaked.
It's bone dry and I don't particularly like the flavour.
It's too sour, it's a bit like the miso one.
I think the design is exceptional.
It's a shame about the flavour.
I think it's really amusing
and I think you've got some of the detail really beautifully.
The label and the stitching. Yeah, that's great.
I think you could've done a little bit more work on the fold.
Cuts well.
This is coconut sponge filled with a margarita curd,
a coconut Swiss meringue buttercream.
That is lovely sponge.
Hmm.
Yeah, lovely, really nice.
You've managed to get that margarita flavour through there
which is delicious.
That's a really well executed cake.
The actual flowers are beautifully done.
I like the flowers.
The vase itself, it's the joins I can see too easily
and it's the top that's untidy. Yeah.
The cake is double chocolate fudge,
peanut butter buttercream,
Caramel and salted peanuts.
I think the cake's well baked. Your flavours are amazing.
But I think the design's slightly flawed.
Hazel, would you like to bring up your Showstopper, please?
Wow.
Oh, my goodness. Look at that.
APPLAUSE
Wow.
You can see it's a bag.
It's a bag that's sort of been used for many,
many years and has been kicked around a little bit.
It's not very neat.
The cake's a little disappointing. It's a bit solid.
Beautiful lemon flavour.
But sadly overbaked.
I think it's exceptional.
I think the proper look of leather, love the zip.
Looks so real,
where you've got the stitching and the zip.
You could just open it.
It's just brilliant. It just has to taste good now, Andy.
I hope so.
It's flavours from my childhood,
coconut sponge, raspberry jam.
And it's coconut buttercream with a raspberry Chantilly.
Before I've even tasted this, it's overbaked.
Didn't hear my timer go off, I was too busy talking.
No, not you? Yeah.
And it's really quiet, them little timers. "Dee-dee-dee-dee."
And I thought it was tintunitus.
And it wasn't, it was that timer going off.
LAUGHTER
It's a bit firmer than it should be.
But I'll tell you what, because the filling is so good,
it's a lovely mouthful anyway.
The sharpness from the raspberry, I love the flavour of that cake.
It's an absolute triumph.
Yeah, well done, Andy.
Thank you.
She's a slightly odd shape. Yeah.
But I think she's lovely. She's got a real personality.
Yeah. It does look good.
The detail on the feathers has paid off, I think.
What's in it?
Lemon curd and there's elderflower buttercream.
Look at that. That looks pretty good.
Wow.
How does Fanny taste, guys?
LAUGHTER
Um...
I think it's absolutely lovely.
I prefer the sponge in the middle.
The others are too dense, too heavy.
The one in the middle's perfect. That's the remade sponge.
The flavour I really like, that lemon lightness to it.
Yes, she's not quite the right shape.
But I think she's great.
Thank you.
Well done.
Oh...
Mike. It's time for your Showstopper.
WHISPER: Don't drop it.
You can pick them up if you want to.
That's so good. It's incredible.
Aren't they beautiful?
I feel I ought to be able to flap through the pages.
It's a bit bare. Haven't written them yet.
They look so like leather.
They are very good. Neat, rectangular.
Beautiful.
It's a chocolate sponge
with butterscotch Swiss meringue, buttercream
and a butterscotch sauce.
That looks like really nice, light cake.
Did you add coffee to that?
Yeah, it's just meant to make the chocolate a bit richer.
It does, it does exactly what it says on the tin.
The butterscotch works beautifully well as well.
That's a beautiful cake, actually.
And a fantastic idea, executed very well.
Ditto.
Thanks, Prue. Lovely.
It's brilliant, well done. Thank you very much.
I'm over the moon.
I don't think, in the time, I could've done much better
than what I've just done.
But I think, last in technical,
they have to be considering me to go home.
Fair judging, yes. But I could be leaving.
I hope not.
I can definitely say that Paul
and me do not have the same taste palate.
I definitely think that I'm in danger.
Our first Showstopper. I think they did really well.
They all did a great job. Who's in line for Star Baker?
I think Sumayah's put herself in there. The duck!
The skill was exceptional.
I think maybe John. His flavours are just terrific.
Georgie won the technical. Georgie did do really well.
That chicken, it was amazing. Shape was a little odd.
But I thought it was otherwise terrific.
She did the individual feathers. I know.
What's weird was Mike came in in trouble
but Mike's books were incredible.
But I think there was a couple of people who have struggled overall.
Hazel and Christiaan. And Christiaan.
I was disappointed in Christiaan's sewing machine.
The flavour was too sour. It was very overbaked.
What about Hazel's bag?
Yeah. Again it was overbaked. Oh, no!
It's too early to send someone home.
What will happen if we don't?
Will you go into a dark room and weep?
LAUGHTER
Hello, there, Bakers. What a great week we've had.
And I'm so happy, because I got the best job of announcing Star Baker.
This week's Star Baker is...
It's only John!
Oh, my God.
Unfortunately, that leaves me with the terrible job
of announcing who is going home.
And it's difficult, because it's the first week,
we're just getting to know you. So it's awful.
But the person who's leaving is...
No-one.
Ahh!
No?
It's OK, Mike. No-one's going to know. You're not going anywhere.
But, I have to say,
there is a possibility that two people
will be going home next time.
APPLAUSE
Well done, guys. You're not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere!
I genuinely thought I was going. I'm so happy.
I'm so happy that everyone is still here.
Unbelievable.
I feel like we already just click so well, and everyone is so lovely.
So, I'm absolutely over the moon.
Because Jeff couldn't be here, we decided not to send anybody home.
There's also the fact that I've never seen such a bunch
of great bakers.
I mean, I didn't want to lose any of them.
Star Baker! Well done!
Star Baker in week one.
I don't want to cry, but I'm so proud of myself.
They're good tears, they're happy tears.
Watch your flavours. A lot of sourness in your baking.
I think I'm lucky. My flavours have survived.
Your duck was insane. Thank you.
I mean, I would love to get Star Baker one week.
But I'm so happy for John.
There will be lots of margaritas to celebrate this one. Yeah.
Next time... It'll be all right on the night.
..biscuits beckon. Let's go in the zone.
Who will waltz through a Viennese signature?
I'm literally shaking!
Peak in a mint top technical?
Positively anaemic.
Get a standing ovation... GASP
Ahh!
..for their biscuit puppet theatre?
That's one of the best things I've ever seen in the tent.
And will anyone make it through biscuit week...
Have we got a medic? Just felt dizzy.
..without crumbling?
THUD They're dropping like bloody flies!
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