Hi, welcome to the show. It's '70s week. I've had my hair done
specially in a '70s style. Now, it is '70s week but
it's a very serious, sophisticated show.
So we won't be doing any of those cliches like disco balls -
apart from Paul Hollywood's.
And we certainly won't be doing lava lamps.
As I said, this is a serious affair.
Yee-ha, baby!
Welcome to The Great British Bake Off.
Ride the pony, baby! Ride the pony!
That does look quite fun. Give us a go.
LAUGHTER
Last time... Ah! ..it was dessert week.
Spotted dick is very nice.
Dylan had a clean sweep...
It's original and it's delicious.
You've done something quite unique.
..with a handshake. Cheers, thank you.
..a win in the Technical and Star Baker.
Tinned fruit...
Paul, he's pure tinned peaches, isn't he? Yes!
..put Gill on the chopping block. It doesn't feel real.
But it was Sumayah... I forgot an ingredient.
..who ultimately carried the can.
It wasn't one specific event that let me down,
it was just kind of like a series.
This time... Ooh!
..we're going back to the '70s...
Do you want to do some '70s moves? No.
..with a towering Signature... Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.
..a retro Technical...
LAUGHS
Oh, my God, this is ridiculous.
..and show stopping vintage gateaux.
Who will revel in the past?
Took me straight back to the '70s, that did.
..and whose future...
I have to laugh cos I'll cry. ..is hanging in the balance?
I'm so stressed! Ah!
Let's go '70s! Let's have a fun week, guys. Yeah. Quarterfinal.
I definitely didn't think I'd make it this far but I feel like now,
if I go home, at least I can be, like, quarter finalist. Whatever.
We started out with 12 and now we're 5 and I'm still here
and it's just like, it just feels like a massive privilege but also
it's like, "Oh, OK, so I've done something right," you know?
Do you know, I feel really weird today cos I'm, like,
am I nervous about the baking or am I just nervous about how far we are?
I think that is absolutely insane that I am here in the quarterfinal
of The Great British Bake Off and now I'm like,
"Right, babes, get to the final."
Think I'm the only baker left that was alive in the '70s.
But unless we're doing, uh,
pineapple and cheese on sticks or jelly and ice cream,
I don't think it's going to do me a lot of good!
Welcome back to the tent, bakers, for 1970s week.
Pretty much every week's 1970s week for me. I love the '70s. Really?
Yeah, it's incredible. Sex Pistols, polyester,
James Hunt, Bruce Lee, power cuts.
They weren't so good, were they? No.
So, for this week's Signature Bake,
the judges would like you to bake that 1970s classic - profiteroles.
Now, the judges are looking for a decorative stack
of at least 30 profiteroles.
You can use any style of filling that you like
but when it comes to the flavours, think 1970s.
So prawn cocktail, coal.
You've got 2 hours and 30 minutes.
On your marks. Get set. Bake!
Right, here we go now. Oh, God.
I know nothing much about the '70s. I was 20 years off, so...
You don't remember the '70s, do you? You're too young.
Yeah, I wasn't there, hon.
When was you born? 2004. No! Yeah.
Oh, my God. Everyone's so young in here.
Food in the '70s gets a bad rap today
so our idea is that we should revive some of those classic '70s bakes
and see what the bakers make of them
and so our Signature Challenge is profiteroles, which were very '70s.
I do like a profiterole. I don't like stacking them up
with hot caramel but I do like a profiterole.
The key thing about this challenge is getting the choux right.
It's about that dropping consistency,
too much egg and it won't rise as much as it should
and they'll be like blinis at the end of it.
No pressure, be fine. Going to be fine.
A good-size profiterole is almost slightly larger than a...
I suppose a walnut.
If they have too big a profiterole
and fill it full of cream, which is soft, it will soften the profiterole
and if you're doing a stack, the chances are it will collapse.
Christiaan, good morning. Hello, Christiaan. How are you?
Christiaan, tell us about your profiterole.
I'm going to do, like, a black forest gateau.
So we've got a chocolate choux pastry
and then for the filling we've got a kirsch and cherry jam
and a kirsch and chocolate namelaka which is, like, in-between,
like a ganache and a mousse, basically.
Christiaan's towering croquembouche
will be decorated with fresh cherries and kirsch Chantilly cream.
I love the sound of that. I'm a big fan of black forest gateau,
so it's getting the blend of flavours all together,
otherwise it's a little bit too heavy.
Well, that's another thing I think because there is a lot of chocolate.
That looks like something my dog left in the garden.
Yeah, but you're not allowed to look at it yet.
It needs to go in the oven first. That's a very '70s thing, yeah.
All over our playground, that's what you'd see.
Gross!
ALISON: Christiaan might be inspired by seminal '70s flavours
but Dylan's channelling the decade's most famous film.
Whenever I think of the '70s I just think of Star Wars.
It's wick... It's, like, my favourite.
My dad basically indoctrinated me into it I don't complain
because it's just amazing.
Dylan's hoping the force will be with him today
as he'll be attempting to build a droid-inspired profiterole stack
supported with precision-engineered nougatine
and filled with banana creme patissiere and salted caramel.
Last week, handshake. Yeah. Won the Technical. Yeah.
Star Baker. Yeah. I think you could take over from Paul.
As what? Well, like, you know,
in Showgirls where she kicks that one down the stairs,
that's what we could do to Paul with the stairs over there.
As he's coming across with his thumbs in his belt holes,
we'll just... He always does that, doesn't he? He can't get 'em out.
He's like that. Yeah, he just does that.
That's cos he's always ready for a barn dance.
Hi, Georgie. Hello. Hello, Georgie. How are you?
Georgie, tell us about your profiterole.
So mine's going to be in a croquembouche shape.
And it's based on my favourite band Queen and Freddie Mercury.
A white chocolate Freddie Mercury will stand atop Georgie's tower
of profiteroles, which she will fill with white chocolate and coconut
and dark chocolate and salted caramel.
When you've practised this, how tall did it end up being?
My stand is about there, so it's about this. OK.
It's a decent size, then. Yeah.
Before any of the bakers can start to stack, they must first
get their choux pastry to the perfect piping consistency.
Now, then, slowly and steadily with the egg.
Which means having to rely on their baking experience
to gauge just how much egg to add.
You want to add them really gradually
and just see when you have enough.
But add too much and the choux will collapse under its own weight.
So I picked it up and it creates a nice V,
it's nice and shiny. So that's perfect.
Yeah, that's OK to me.
I feel, at the moment,
it might actually benefit from slightly more eggs.
Right, Illiyin, tell us all about your profiteroles,
what are you doing? So I am doing two flavours.
So I have a white chocolate diplomat with raspberry jam
and then a brown butter caramel with hazelnut and amaretto diplomat.
It sounds great. Is there a theme to this?
So this is an ode to the afro, all in very bright '70s colours.
Oh, I love this, this is great.
It was a time when you could be authentically
sort of in your natural hair... Yeah. ..as a black woman
and I think I want to celebrate that.
NOEL: Illiyin will decorate her colourful croquembouche
with micro sponge afros,
edible flowers and isomalt afro silhouettes.
While you're here, look like you're chilling out, do you want to...
Do you want to do some '70s move?
No.
LAUGHTER
I'm never that chilled, never that chilled.
Before their profiteroles can be baked,
they must first be piped into the perfect portions.
I'm making loads so then I can pick the best ones.
So I'm just popping down the peaks, just keeps their shape a bit more.
So we've got a chocolate choux pastry topped with a craquelin,
it's a really thin biscuit that you put over the top
and it kind of melts over the whole choux pastry
and it just gives it a lovely crunch.
Right.
So these are going in now. I want to set a timer.
So they bake for 30 minutes.
So at 25 minutes I'll open them, poke them,
and then leave them for another five minutes.
Morning, Gill. Hello, Gill. Hello, there.
So, Gill, tell us all about your profiteroles, what are you doing?
So my most treasured possession in the world
is a 1970s Christmas tree that my parents bought
the first year they were married, in 1970, and I still have it.
Good condition? Slightly wonky now but I'm modelling this on it
so I've got an excuse if it goes wrong. Brilliant.
Filled with a chocolate and hazelnut creme patissiere
and coated with red and green craquelin,
Gill's choux will be stacked and secured with caramel
in tribute to her beloved Christmas tree.
The '70s was bonkers, weren't it? It was.
The clothes were bonkers, the colours were bonkers. Bonkers.
TV shows were bonkers, the kids' TV shows were even more bonkers.
Even more bonkers. But good music. We were lucky, weren't we?
We had it all, didn't we? We had sort of Slade. We had vinyl.
We had to go and buy vinyl and put them on with a needle.
Needle, and be really careful.
I mean, if you show that to children now, they'd go,
"Why would you bother with that?" "What's all this about?"
"What are you, Victorian?" All right, good luck. Oh, thank you.
Look, it's a little Paul Hollywood. Just about to give a handshake.
"It's a lovely bake. It's a lovely bake."
Bakers, you're halfway through.
While choux buns bake...
So I've just started the, uh, namelaka,
so I'm just pouring in the cold cream now.
..attention turns to fillings.
This is just my creme patissiere.
I want the filling to sort of have body,
so I've just got to make sure that the creams are thick enough.
But while most are focused on flavours...
My banana creme pat, that's just now chilling now,
so I'm going to get my nougatine going.
..Christiaan...
Oh.
..has other concerns.
They look as if they're not rising.
Yeah, no, no, they should be, like, puffing now. They look like macaron.
They're not as puffed as I want them to be.
You want them to be slightly higher
and also they've lost a bit of colour.
So I don't know if I should start them again.
Are you all right, Christiaan?
Oh, my choux's just, like, went all flat.
Are you going to do it again? Yeah. How long do they take to bake?
25 minutes. OK. And then they need to cool down
and you need to fill them. So, it's like... So it's tight.
It is a bit tight. Right. But it is what it is, so. You can do it.
Thank you. Thank you, Noel. I'll leave you, I'll leave you.
So I'm going to try to do them again but I'm not sure
if I'm going to make it so we'll see.
Bakers, you have one hour left.
Time to go.
Whilst Christiaan races to remake his profiteroles...
I added a bit more eggs than I normally do
and I think that's where I went wrong. I shouldn't have done that.
The rest of the bakers... Ooh! ..are already out and starting to fill.
This is my salted caramel sauce. I'm not using very much because, uh,
you have the caramel on the outside as well
and you don't want it to be caramel overload.
But while well-balanced flavours are important...
Think white chocolate brings out the flavour of coconut.
..managing the moisture inside the choux is crucial.
When you add this cream to them
that's going to soften them a little bit. And then when you're stacking
you don't want it flopping all over the place.
And the bigger the bun, the more it must be filled.
Very big ones, aren't they? They're really big. They're huge.
They're very big. Great big afros. Exactly. They need to be big.
So that's in.
But I just realised I've got a few choux buns that are all right
so I'm going to use those for the bottom layer
so I can already start filling them and, you know, start something.
While Christiaan tries to revive a few of his sunken choux...
It's just a little bit stressful, isn't it? The rest of the bakers
have made a start on their decorative elements.
So I need to make my Freddie Mercury now.
I'm making some isomalt afros, like, sort of women silhouettes.
Um, I've got an afro pick as well, which will go at the top.
This is my nougatine to make my, like, stand.
Christiaan, do you need a hand with anything?
Is there anything I can do? Oh, maybe in a bit. Oh, don't worry,
just carry on. Thank you. If you need hands then just shout.
Oh, thank you. How much time do we have?
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
So stressed! Ah! Right.
For those with their profiteroles filled...
Let's just go. ..construction can begin.
I'm sticking it with caramel and just hopefully that's strong enough.
Oh, steady, Illiyin, steady.
I'm doing filling and building at the same time.
But it's just getting it all in, in the time now.
Oh, it's so messy. And it's stressing me out
because I know how much of a perfectionist I am.
It's like Lego, isn't it? Yeah! Yeah, but Lego doesn't burn you.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.
It should be further but I just...
But that's basically done. Now it just might collapse,
that's, like, my main worry.
There we go. Oh, that's a big one, that's juicy.
Christiaan, do you need a hand? Would you be able to, like,
fill them with just a little bit of jam and then put in this namelaka?
Yeah. Oh, you're an angel, Dylan, honestly.
There's one more going on after this.
And then I need to get Freddie and everything done then.
Five minutes left.
Oh, that's not good. You know what we could do in five minutes?
We could dance.
I mean, I hope it's going to stay like that. Is it going?
Oh, don't fall on me.
The same paranoia I have at home, have I got my baubles evenly spaced?
LAUGHTER
He's on.
Afro there.
Is there anything else I can help you with? No, thank you. OK.
Bakers, you've got one minute left.
It, like, on the sqwonk, why?
Oh, hello.
Yeah, I think it's a bit messy but always is.
It's so annoying cos it goes on the wonk a little bit, doesn't it?
That's loking a bit '70s, innit?
Bakers, your time is up.
Please step away from your profiteroles.
Mate, I can't believe you managed to hustle that out.
That looks amazing.
That's going to collapse. It's going to go, isn't it?
I'm not going to move. I'm going to stay here with it.
The bakers' 1970s profiterole stacks
now face the judgment of Paul and Prue.
Illiyin, hello. Hello.
I love the colours. Thank you.
The colours look amazing. Obviously, structurally it's not sound.
I sat here and it just started going oh-oh-oh-oh. Yeah.
This one's the raspberry and white chocolate? Yes.
My goodness, that cream looks wonderful.
I think that's beautiful.
Cream is lovely, raspberry's nice and fresh.
Mm, sharp. It is nice and sharp. And the pastry's nice.
It's thin, it's baked through. Pretty good.
This is the brown butter, caramel and then the hazelnut and amaretto.
Mm.
I think it is absolutely delicious. This is so good.
Thank you. I think your amaretti, the flavours, again,
the nut flavour as well that comes through,
it's delicious, almost tastes like a praline
because you've got the caramel there as well.
I think what part of the problem is,
because the rolls are so big, you've filled them
with a very soft cream, uh, that's why it's collapsed.
But I like the flavours, I think the flavours are excellent.
Thank you so much.
I like the look of it. Bit of a lean to it. It's perfectly stable,
though. Yeah. There is a coconut creme pat,
there's an almond in there, whole almond as well.
I do like the coconut with the white chocolate with the nut inside,
it works beautifully well.
And then the yellow ones are chocolate creme pat
with a salted caramel centre.
The caramel is lovely. Mm. There's an indulgence to it
and that works beautifully as well with the chocolate on the outside.
So, overall, I think your flavours are excellent. Thank you.
Freddie would be proud. Oh, yay!
I like the look of these,
they're probably, I mean, the bake feels good.
I was just thinking it may need a little bit more colour. OK.
Overall, I think they look quite neat.
So it's filled with a chocolate hazelnut creme patisserie.
Mm-hm. Very hazelnutty.
Mm, the hazelnut comes through quite nicely with the chocolate.
It's not wildly exciting but it is really very competent.
Simple but effective.
Bit like myself. LAUGHTER
Thank you very much, Gill. Thank you.
Looks great. It does look nice. Looks very attractive.
And they're very uniform, they look really good. Thank you.
So we've got a chocolate choux pastry with a cocoa craquelin on top
and then inside we've got a kirsch and cherry jam
and a kirsch and chocolate namelaka.
And on the outside we have some, kirsch, uh, Chantilly cream.
It's quite boozy. It is quite boozy.
It is strong but you can get away with it with that,
and actually I tried it with some of the cream on the outside
and you do need that cream with the chocolate inside as well.
Yeah, I think so, yeah, definitely. Together it's beautiful.
And it really screams of black forest gateaux as well
so I think you've done really well. Really well. Thank you very much.
The nougatine works fantastic.
You could see this in a London department store, couldn't you,
for sale? Yeah, all right, yeah, I'll take that.
I'm going to see if we can get into it cos I think it looks ama... Oh,
wow, you can get into it really easily as well.
So mine is filled with a banana creme diplomat,
a little bit of salted caramel and then they're coated in caramel.
I love the salted caramel tone right at the top as well... Yeah.
..with the flavour, the banana comes through beautifully.
The choux is baked very well.
What I do like is the thin caramel
because you can get into it and take what you need. Oh, cheers.
Yeah.
Oh, sweet! I'm sick of giving them to you. Well done.
Oh, wicked, cheers. Thank you. Watch out, watch out, watch out.
It's going, it's going. Oh, it's dying now. It's going.
Well, we did take out its support.
Yeah. We did take out its support, yeah, but that, that is...
Beautiful. That's mighty impressive.
Cool. Wicked!
Well done, Dylan. Thank you. Very good. That's so cool. Lovely.
That went better than what I thought. 100%.
I didn't think I'd get a handshake.
Dylan obviously got another handshake. I love him so much
but, like, come on, cut us some slack. He's in another league.
He's very, very good. Annoyingly good. Bless him. Grr.
Yeah, I'm so happy that I decided
to go at it again with the choux buns
because I know I can do a good choux bun and, well,
obviously that showed in the second batch
so I'm really glad I took that chance. And I feel like it paid off.
Rule of thumb in this tent is don't be the worst and...
..unfortunately that's where I am.
While the bakers could plan for their profiteroles,
the next challenge is a gingham-guarded mystery.
Bakers, for your Technical Challenge
this has been set by the it girl of the 1970s - Paul.
LAUGHTER
Paul, any '70s wisdom for our lovely bakers?
You'll certainly know this bake but, remember,
this is all about the textures.
Ooh. Now, as always, this challenge is judged blind
so, Paul and Prue, you may now leave the tent.
Look at them, strutting out like a couple of John Travoltas
in Saturday Night Fever.
So for your Technical Challenge Paul would like you to bake
a banoffee pie.
Ah! Your banoffee pie should consist
of a buttery shortcrust pastry case
filled with perfectly set caramel and banana slices.
And the whole thing should be finished off
with a beautifully piped Chantilly cream.
You have 2 hours and 30 minutes.
On your marks. Get set. Bake!
LAUGHS
Oh, my God, this is ridiculous.
What?! There's no instructions whatsoever.
He's literally just given us the quantity. Oh, you're joking.
He's so out of order. He's so out of order.
"Make the banoffee pie, decorate with cream piped as petals,"
and that is it. Wow.
This is... This is cruel.
So, Paul, I'm in two minds about banoffee pie. Really? Why?
Because it's so sweet. That's the point.
Well, I don't think it needs to be that sweet but we'll see.
Anyway, it looks very beautiful, tell me about it.
It's a classic 1970s cake, essentially,
but it's all about the textures. The shortcrust pastry,
the caramel and the cream.
Now, we haven't actually given them a recipe. At all?
No, they've got all the ingredients.
But we haven't given them the method.
They should know how to make a shortcrust pastry.
But if you overdo your water, it'll end up being like rubber.
You want that crack.
Yeah, that's good pastry.
The second part is the caramel itself.
If you take your caramel too far, it goes very bitter
and you're not going to get the flavour of a caramel
which is what you want, and that's the point of a banoffee pie.
I'm sold now. You've told me that it's delicious. I'll believe it.
That's really nice, you know. I have to admit, it's delicious.
It's a real treat. That and going to Anfield in the '70s.
THEY LAUGH
I'm going to make the pastry dough first. This is a shortcrust pastry.
So I've just got my salt, butter and sugar in here.
Just got to make sure I don't add too much water to it.
This might need a little bit more water.
It's probably too much now, honest to God.
It is tricky cos at the moment it looks really dry, like,
you feel like, "Oh, I want to add more water,"
but then you risk it becoming a bit too tough.
See, I've used the amount of water he said
but it still looks quite crumbly, but it needs more.
Feel like you know your way around a banoffee easy.
I've never made a banoffee before. Stop it, come on.
You've baked banoffee. I've never baked banoffee.
I've been round your house when you've made banoffee.
It's all you ever serve. Every dinner party I've gone to...
I don't believe you've ever been to Bolton. ..banoffee again.
The key is to kind of not work it too much.
I'm doing it by hand. Otherwise it'll go quite tough.
Yeah, that's it. Hopefully it's nice and short.
I'm going to roll it, think it's going to be...
Need to be quite thin cos it's...
This is the quantity they've given us for that size tin.
Well, pastry's going in the tin.
You want it to be thin but you want it to hold.
I like the look of this, it's still crumbling on the edges.
How you doing? Come on, you must be feeling good, handshake. Yeah.
Handshake Dylan. But this has thrown me off a lot more
than I thought it would. Why? Because I've never made this before.
Well, it looks like a nice pastry to me.
OK, you haven't got a method
but who needs a method when you're Dylan?
OK, it's going in, with the baking beans.
I'm going to give it 15 minutes like that and see how we're doing.
I honestly have no clue how long to bake this for.
I think it takes about half an hour, I'm not too sure.
Are we at the stage now when we're so competitive with each other,
could you ask anybody? Oh, no, no-one would say.
Is it one of those situations? Yeah, yeah. You can't ask
cos they'd be like... It's like, before you were friends.
Yeah, yeah. Now we're enemies.
So now I'm starting the caramel.
Oh, it's not always my strong point, I guess.
The one thing I said before I came in, I said please don't let it be
caramel again. I'm just melting my sugar.
I just don't want it to catch. You want to take it far enough
but not too far cos in an instant it just goes burnt.
Can you see the sweat dripping down my forehead? Are you really hot?
I've got a vest on under here. What is this, velvet? Velvet, yeah.
Velvet! Who wears velvet on the hottest day of the year?
I know, I know, mate. What are you... It's a bad idea.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
That's been 15 minutes.
I'm going to get my pastry out, take the beans off
and I'll put it back in to bake.
It doesn't get a colour, like, it's just pale.
Beans out. Back in it goes. It's going in.
You've made a banoffee, come on.
I don't like banoffee, I don't like bananas. What?
Don't like bananas? The texture of them. They're just slimy.
Have you ever had a straight banana?
No, I've had one that's, like, long and straight
and then curved at the end. Pow, go away!
I'm so gullible, Noel, I'll just answer to anything
so don't do it to me.
Right, so the sugar's melted nicely.
We're going to get the cream in
and then we're going to get it up to temperature.
If you go too far you can get it too chewy, like a toffee.
Take it off too soon, it'll be just like a pouring sauce.
I just took it to a, like, caramel. I didn't take it too dark.
This isn't the kind of thing you want dark caramel for,
I don't think.
This always seems to take forever.
See, it's going thick there. Yeah, fingers crossed.
You can see it on the sides that it does set nicely. So that's good.
I'm just going to add a little bit of happiness in here.
GASPING
She fell off?
Don't come over here! Leave me! Leave me in my shame!
LAUGHTER
Oh, Alison.
It's the best thing I've ever seen, ever.
I missed my footing.
Wow.
This is what I meant to do. Don't do it again!
What did I do wrong? Did I just... What did I do?
I don't know I wouldn't do it again.
No, I went to... Oh, forget it. I'll do it tomorrow.
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
I think the pastry's ready, to be honest.
It's been in there 45 minutes.
Can't procrastinate any longer.
To me, that looks quite good.
It would just be gutting to have a soggy bottom.
There is just a part of me that wants to bake this a bit longer.
Split there, but there's nothing I can do about that now.
Yeah, it's just cooling times now.
So, let's get onto the cream.
My extensive instructions says for the Chantilly cream
I whip up some double cream, some vanilla extract and icing sugar.
There we go, Chantilly cream.
Bakers, you have 15 minutes left.
I'm going to get my caramel in, I haven't got enough time.
It's a lot thinner than I would've thought
but it's now going to sit in the case and hopefully just set.
I had a little crack at the bottom which I thought I'd bunged
but we'll see. I just don't know what I'm doing.
My caramel might not even set, I don't know.
I would just eat it like that. I would not mind.
No, bananas. The good news is, so far the banana is not sinking.
Scales of banana is what I'm doing.
I love bananas. So, yeah, I'm just going to do, like, a little circle.
Oh!
Let's get onto the cream. So we're just going to, like,
yeah, do little petals, basically.
I think this is what they want. Could be horrifically wrong.
It's like a flower.
I'm not piping a flower. I don't know how to do it,
I'm just going to do this.
They're going to want it neat. I like piping with cream.
It's soothing. Feels like therapy.
This cream's completely splitting in the bag.
So it's not the best flower.
Bakers, you've got one minute left.
I'm just going to cover the whole thing in chocolate.
Oh! Just have to hope and pray that it's right.
Ah, Technicals, Technicals. They're a bugger, aren't they?
I mean, it's not bad but it's not perfect.
Bakers, your time is up.
Please bring your banoffee pies down to the gingham table
and place them behind your photographs.
I think they all look really good.
It looks so '70s is it unreal.
It's judgment time for the bakers' banoffee pies.
Let's welcome back our disco divas. It's Paul and Prue, everyone.
WHOOPING
Paul and Prue are looking for crisp short pastry
filled with perfectly set caramel,
topped with bananas and delicately piped Chantilly cream.
OK. Start with this one. I quite like this.
Yeah, it's beautiful isn't it? The top's lovely.
Nice and crisp.
The caramel is not quite there.
It probably needed a little bit of cooking out more.
That pastry's really crispy. Mm, lovely. The caramel
is nearly there, actually, but the overall flavour is lovely.
Very good.
OK, moving on to number two. Interesting pipework.
It's sort of all over the place but it's a nice decoration.
Bit of a soggy bottom.
Yeah. Not quite cooked.
Pastry's a bit tough as well. It's been worked a little bit too much.
Yeah, caramel's perfect. Yeah, it is. OK.
This looks like a classic 1970s banoffee, actually. Doesn't it?
Sounds good.
It's a bit tough again. Yeah, the pastry's definitely a bit hard.
It's been overworked again. The whole thing is a little bit clumsy.
Though it tastes delicious. And the caramel is perfect.
Right, that pastry looks a bit sad, doesn't it?
Nice and neat.
It's quite dark that caramel, isn't it?
But it's the right texture, I think. Mm.
Weirdly, the pastry's undermixed
because it literally just crumbles like an apple crumble
and that caramel is treacley.
It's gone too far.
Mm, OK. I like this.
That's the classic petal. Yeah.
Oh, that was a good sound. That sounded right, yeah.
Held well as well.
Very crumbly pastry. Mm.
It's lovely.
Nice flavour on the caramel. It's very good. OK.
The banoffee pies will now be ranked from last to first place.
OK, in fifth spot we have this one.
Whose is this? Gill. Uh, you messed up with the caramel
and in fact your pastry was underworked. OK.
And then in fourth spot we've got this one.
Illiyin, it's a bit clumsy and the pastry's a bit overworked. Yeah.
In third spot we have this one,
Dylan. The pastry's a little bit tough. Yeah.
And then we have, in second place...
..this one.
Christiaan, this was really delicious.
The caramel needed to be taken a little bit further
but otherwise it was lovely and the pastry was excellent.
Which means in first place we have this one.
Georgie, well done.
Your pastry is nearly perfect, well done. Thank you.
Well done, babes. Well done.
Yay! I'm really happy.
I didn't realise how much I wanted to be first today
until it happened.
I think this is, like, my fourth or fifth time coming second
in Technicals. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Now, if there were 12 of us, 4th would be fine.
But when there are five, fourth is a bit pants.
I've got to be the bottom of the pile.
I don't think my Signature set the world alight
and obviously last in Technical so, as per usual,
it's all to do on Showstopper day again.
Good luck, Illiyin. Good luck.
I think coming in to the Showstopper
we have Dylan, Georgie and Christiaan who are doing quite well.
But I do think Gill and Illiyin are in a bit of trouble.
Illiyin obviously had the issue with the profiteroles
and fourth in the Technical.
Automatically puts her in a precarious position today.
Gill's profiteroles, they weren't bad. Yeah.
It was just a little bit bland. Yes, exactly.
It needed more pop to it.
And, actually, when it came to the Technical, she was last.
You look at Dylan... When I first walked in
and saw everybody's profiteroles,
Dylan's was standing there looking like a professional bake. Yeah.
Christiaan did well on the Signature
and of course he was second in the technical as well.
He's one to watch this week
and I would put Georgie in there as well. Yeah. I almost think that
Georgie's strength is that she is a classic baker.
But whereas Christiaan will take much more risks.
Where we sit at the moment, we have Georgie, Christiaan and Dylan
in line for Star Baker. Yeah.
And I think we have Illiyin and Gill down at the bottom. Yeah.
Scrapping it out to stay.
Oh, my gosh, this is so exciting. So tense.
Hello, bakers, welcome back to the tent.
It's time for your 1970s Showstopper Challenge.
So for this challenge the judges would like you to bake
a beautifully decorated gateau with at least two tiers.
The judges would love you to create a Showstopper
with delicious sponges,
feather light fillings and intricately piped decoration.
You've got four hours for this Showstopper.
On your marks. Get set. Bake!
Getting to the final is, like, on the mind.
Yeah, it's scary.
Oh, I'm at the bottom of the pile so, yeah, a big bake today.
For me, a gateau is all about softness,
a nice soft sponge, lots of cream.
Almost trifle-like but without being a trifle.
If the bakers are after a really light gateau
they should go for a genoise.
A genoise sponge is made by whipping the eggs,
to incorporate as much air as I can. Cos that's the only thing
that it relies on for the raising in the oven.
This isn't my favourite cake to make cos it can be very temperamental.
I think the piped decoration is the most difficult thing
that we've asked them to do because it takes ages
to do really good piping. We want to see lots of sort of
little loops and rosettes and all that stuff.
Do you know what the difference between a cake and a gateau is?
I believe it's the cream. What in-between the cake? Yeah.
I did not know. So that means it might, uh, deteriorate quicker.
It could collapse, yeah. Ah!
When you're making a tiered cake with fresh cream
you need to keep that quite central and using dowels and boards.
If you go slightly to the side or get that wrong,
the whole thing could come tumbling down
and, believe me, after all that work, that's going to be painful.
Hello, Illiyin. Hello.
Illiyin, tell us all about your 1970s gateau.
So I am making a two-tiered peach melba, vintage-style gateau.
Oh, wow, OK.
ALISON: Eight layers of delicate Genoise sponge will be sandwiched
with peach Chantilly cream,
a peach and champagne compote and a raspberry compote.
All held together with a white chocolate whipped ganache.
Are you using, uh, dowels... Yes. You are using dowels.
Yeah, because of, uh, the Genoise and the lightness of it
and then the cream. Yeah. Without the dowels, it was just collapsing.
Concertinaed. But this is why I chose white chocolate ganache
for the outside. The thing about the ganache is that it's so stable,
so once it's on the outside it doesn't really budge.
Acts as a sealant as well. Exactly.
OK, well, we'll be expecting the moon, then, won't we?
Thank you, Illiyin, good luck. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck.
Thank you. There we go. Pale and fluffy.
It's a bit tricky, this one,
because there's a lot of flour to fold in
so you want to be careful
cos you might knock out some air otherwise
and it might just collapse in the oven.
But in pursuit of ever more exciting flavours,
Christiaan's giving his a twist.
So I'm just adding in the hazelnuts now as well and fold them in.
I'm doing a cake that's inspired by a cake that my grandma
would always bring around.
And we call it snow star, or sneeuwster, it's, like,
it's a proper '70s staple in, like, the Dutch tradition.
Christiaan's hazelnut-crowned Genoise will be sandwiched
with a boozy advocaat curd
and coated in a psychedelic buttercream.
So I've got, brown, pink, yellow and orange buttercream,
like, proper '70s colours. Sort of like your shirt.
A little bit like my shirt, yeah. If you pull this off,
this sounds like a proper Showstopper.
It's... I think it's... It's, like, a risk.
It could go really great... We love that you take risks.
Good luck, Christiaan. Thank you so much. Thank you very much.
Right. I've not got time to mess about today.
If the bakers are to leave themselves enough time
to decorate their gateaux...
It's going to look very '70s-ish.
Lots of, like, piping and, you know, stuff that I don't normally do.
..they need to get their sponges baked and cooled
as quickly as possible. I've got to bake eight sponges.
You can't do it in less than two batches
but the good thing about a Genoise is that it does bake quite quickly.
I'm starting with 25 minutes at 180.
Right, the next one now.
We've got two monster sponges to go.
It has to be at least ten inches,
so there's some monster cakes happening.
Hello, Gill. Hello, there.
Right, Gill, 1970s gateau. What are you doing?
Has to be a black forest, doesn't it? Course you are.
Got to be a black forest. Classic.
Is this something you enjoy making, you enjoy eating? I enjoy eating.
I used to go to dance classes, believe it or not,
on a Saturday morning and my dad used to be in charge of lunches
so we used to have Geoff's Cafe lunches. And a treat was for him
to go and get some black forest gateau for pudding. Wow.
ALISON: Constructed from three tiers
of cherry-and-mascarpone-filled black cocoa sponges,
Gill's tribute to her treasured Saturday lunchtime treat
will also feature a buttercream shagpile rug.
We've got a black forest gateau coming out of a shagpile carpet.
It's amazing. I mean, it is crazy. But it is very '70s.
The colours are going to be absolutely hideous
but they sound great. It's an absolutely gawping cake.
It'll look pretty hideous
but it's going to taste great, is that right? That's the plan.
Gill isn't the only baker navigating the black forest
with the aid of soft furnishings.
Um, so it's two tiers and it's going to be, like, a vintage design.
It's like my auntie's bathroom.
She used to have a bathroom with carpets and curtains in it.
I loved it but, like, thinking back now it's like, "Hmm."
Georgie's black forest tribute to her auntie's bathroom
will be constructed from layers of chocolate sponge,
mascarpone cream and cherry jam.
They feel light so I need to get these new ones in now, though.
They're done. Just got to let them cool in the tins for a little while.
Let's get the next lots done.
Four down. Four to go.
With their second batch of sponges in the oven...
So these are my tiers two and three,
or one and two, however you look at it. These are smaller,
so I'm going to put these in for 20 minutes.
..focus turns to fillings.
I've got a lot of jam to make cos they're big tiers so, yeah,
there's a lot of cherries going on here.
I'm just mushing down my peaches
and then I'll let them cook for, like, another ten minutes.
Um, and then start testing for flavour,
seeing if it's what I want it to be.
So I'm just starting to combine the ingredients for the advocaat.
It's meant to be, like, really, like, creamy
but quite light, hopefully, still.
People call it, like, a Dutch eggnog.
And while Christiaan attempts to capture winter warming flavours,
Dylan's dicing with a controversial summer combo.
So mine is a mint choc chip flavour.
How's the mint choc chip...
So are they chocolate sponge with, erm, toothpaste on it?
How are you doing it? Yeah, basically.
ALISON: Dylan's mammoth mint chocolate gateau
will see four tiers of chocolate sponge
filled and coated with a peppermint buttercream.
But balancing these two tricky flavours isn't his only goal.
The main thing I'm worried about is decoration. I'm really bad
at decorating cakes. Oh, leave it out, will you, I mean, I think
some of your bakes have been pretty good for decoration. You know what?
You don't have too much pressure today. You do.
Yeah. Oh, you do. Oh, you do.
Done. As the final batch of sponges come out...
Oh, thank God that's over. Right.
..the bakers can check for signs of sinking.
It's all right. Thankfully.
Yeah, they came out all right, didn't they?
And as you can see around the outside, it's really nice and flat.
If the sponges aren't level, they won't stack evenly.
I'm going to have to be very careful trying to get three layers
out of that. I can't mess up when I'm cutting it.
So you see that fold there?
Sometimes it's when it rises and if there's, like, a gap or anything
in the tins you might get it.
It's not anything worth stressing myself about.
It's the benefit of covering the sides of a cake.
You can hide a magnitude of sins.
Halfway through, bakers. You are halfway through.
Right, I just need to get it done.
With their cakes baked... Sponge, sponge, sponge, sponge, sponge,
sponge, it's like practice pads. Yeah.
This is like Phil Collins' house.
..and their fillings and frostings waiting in the wings...
That's about two kilos of buttercream, almost.
..construction can finally commence.
So I've got cherry compote then we've got the Chantilly
and then we've got some amarena cherries.
All the cherries and chocolate in the world. Right, the next one now.
So I've just put the cream in. And then my peaches.
And now I'm adding the raspberry.
What you putting in there, is that lemon? It's the advocaat.
It's like an alcoholic curd.
I just need to work really quickly.
If I don't have half an hour to decorate, it's a bit tight.
But with a bake on this scale... That looks pretty good.
..one mis-stacked sponge could spell disaster.
The small one's not great. I just built it when it was a bit too warm
so it's slanted at a bit of an angle and, yeah, it doesn't look great.
So these dowels will keep the whole thing steady
so it stops any kind of structural
hopefully slipping and sliding.
We've had that already this week, haven't we?
What you going to do now?
Decorate, decorate, decorate. Decorate, decorate. Pipe? Pipework?
There's some pipework. You're good at piping, aren't you?
I like piping. I've tried to talk to you when you're piping
and it's like you're not there. You're like...
That's 23 years of marriage, Noel. I can just block it out.
LAUGHTER
Bakers, you have one hour left.
CLATTERING Easy.Sorry, guys.
Dylan's just fallen in his own cutlery drawer.
So the bottom cake is covered in ganache.
This will now go in the fridge
and then I'll be able to put the final coat on the top cake.
If the bakers want to transport their gateaux back to the '70s...
Going to colour up some buttercream.
..they can't be cautious with colour. Pinks and browns.
I'm making, like, a pink, yellow, brown and orange.
It's like a lot going on but it's, like, yeah, it'll be nice.
Full blown '70s this week.
Do you know where he got his inspiration from, Noel? Yeah?
My outfit.
He was cleaning his teeth when he had this idea.
So I'm just going to start making my buttercream collar.
So I've got a template and I'm just going to pipe on top of that.
I love these vintage cakes. They're just so effective.
Oh.
I've split it. I've just split my ganache.
Got no decoration round the outside of my cake.
How long do we have left? Bakers, you've got half an hour left.
I desperately need to get that other cake coated.
And I've just got nothing to coat it with.
So I've just got to make some buttercream
and hopefully it'll be fine.
On the big cake now.
This is the last one now.
I'm worried it's going to be tight for decoration which is a shame
because I really wanted to do well on that. Um...
But I think I can still do it.
I'm going to wrap my collar around the cake.
Just the buttercream going on the outside of this cake.
And it wasn't what I wanted but it is what it's going to be.
It's annoying cos it's slightly lopsided.
We've got some shagpile-effect icing.
Yeah, I can't pipe the bottom until I've moved it.
The cake Olympics, yeah!
So I need to get this onto this.
It's so wonky.
I can see what it's trying to do.
It's trying to, like, slant. Why is it doing that?
I mean, it looks massively messy.
But, yeah, the other one is not setting yet
so that's really annoying but...
Right, I need to get this on now.
Make sure it's central cos I never get it damn central.
All right, let's get on. How much time do we have?
You have ten minutes left.
It's not as much time as I'd like but it's fine, I can work with it,
I can do it. Annoying that I'm going to have to start the piping work
in the fridge.
It's not set. Ice spray.
Just a bit more. Oh, my hand is cramping up as well.
Um, so I've got to just do these connection pieces now.
And then just some little lines.
I'm not happy with it.
I don't know why it's like that.
I've got the dowels, I've got heavy set cream.
Got no idea why it's doing this.
We're nearly there.
OK, bakers, your time is up.
Please step away from your gateaux.
I have to laugh cos I'll cry.
I'm so proud of you from that swan...
Whatever the BLEEP it was. That mess. You've done well. Thanks.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to present it like that.
Cos that side looks a little bit straighter.
It's judgment time.
And the bakers are retrieving their cakes...
Oh! ..ready for Paul and Prue.
Oh, God. That's completely fallen.
Oh, my God, no.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God, do you want a bigger plate?
Are you OK? Hold your nerve, my love.
Everything else looks beautiful.
You can really see what it looked like... Yeah.
Just hold your nerve. Queen face. OK?
Five '70s-style gateaux made in just four hours.
Well, I must say it's very impressive and it's extremely '70s.
Thank you. I love that colour. I'm sort of dreading this in a way
cos I'm just concerned about the peppermint,
but let's have a look. Let's have a look.
So it has a peppermint buttercream with a chocolate sponge.
The peppermint definitely dominates. Yeah.
I like it but it is very strong. And it's stronger than the chocolate.
Yeah, I would like to have seen more, a little bit more towards
the chocolate side cos your chocolate cake is beautifully smooth
and it's got such an elegant flavour. Yeah.
I do like it, I think your textures are spot-on.
It's just that the dominance is the peppermint. But having said that,
it's a great-looking cake and you've ticked all the boxes, so well done.
Hideous, innit? It is, and it's beautifully done.
It's great, though. Oh. That's the point.
It's 1970s and you've got it to a T. Nice little bit of piping work
as well. I mean, you've done the wraps, the coils, the rolls,
the shells. It's a demonstration of your piping skills.
Let's have a look, shall we?
So mine is a black forest gateau,
which in the layers it is chocolate genoise,
soaked in kirsch with a morello cherry reduction on that
and then a buttercream on the outside,
there is a bit of the cherry syrup in that
and a bit of almond extract just to give it a bit of flavour. Mm.
The morello cherries, did you soak them in some booze as well?
Uh, no, but there's kirsch soaked into the sponge.
Um, lovely. OK.
Great flavour. Lovely soft sponge there.
Beautiful sponge. And the mascarpone and cream works well
cos it just lightens it up. It's a sort of trifle, basically.
Yeah. But it tastes delicious. Very boozy. It is.
A whole bottle of kirsch went into that cake. Really? You're joking.
No. Yeah, I can taste it.
I'll be walking home, then.
LAUGHTER
I like the design of it. It is very '70s, for sure.
I think your pipework is... It's OK.
It is flawed but I like the colours. I think that's...
The most gregarious colour I think we've ever had in the tent.
It's a hazelnut and lemon genoise sponge
with a lemon and hazelnut liqueur soaking syrup.
Then we've got a mascarpone Chantilly cream
and an advocaat filling.
That's one boozy...
Mm. That's.. The filling is almost too boozy, even for me.
It's too boozy. That doesn't work. The flavour's too strong.
Right. I rely on you sometimes to test us for flavours.
And for me I think you're slightly off the mark on this one. OK, OK.
The glory of a genoise sponge is that it's light and soft.
But if you absolutely stuff it full of hazelnuts it becomes something...
Sort of defeats the object.
You know, you don't have that same texture.
I just think, for me, your flavours are slightly off. OK.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Illiyin, would you like to bring up your showstopper?
I'm having a bit of a wobbly week.
I can see that. Um, it just collapsed in the fridge.
OK. Let's have a look.
So, yeah, it's filled with a peach Chantilly,
a champagne and peach compote, a raspberry compote
and then white ganache on the outside of the bottom.
I love those flavours and it looks as if it was going to be lovely.
It tastes like heaven. And the acidity of the peach is perfect.
That's a celebration of the tinned peach.
It's delicious. No, it works and the champagne as well. Mm.
Little bit of a lift.
But that sponge is so dense
but the flavour of the sponge is excellent.
Good colour combination as well. Very '70s.
Um, it's a shame what's happened structurally.
It's a real shame and I'm... I'm sorry to present that
cos it's not what I would want to have done.
Tastes great, though. Thanks. Tastes really good.
The whole thing is really a Showstopper.
I mean, you wouldn't walk past that cake and not stop and look at it,
would you? No. I even like the shagpile carpet as well.
Let's have a look, shall we? So it's a dark chocolate sponge,
a kirsch and cherry buttercream
filled with amaretto cherries and the mascarpone cream.
It's very chocolaty, I'm glad to say.
That's delicious. It's really nice.
Cos the texture's quite open and light. Yeah.
I tell you what's a stroke of genius is those cherries.
They're an explosion of flavour.
I think, yeah, it took me straight back to the '70s, that did.
Thank you very much, Gill. Mission accomplished. Well done, Gill.
Thank you.
I did it as well as I could do it. Am I still at risk? Very probably.
I think it's going to come down to the smallest of margins again now.
Right now I feel really disappointed in myself. Um...yeah.
I don't even know how I feel to be honest. I was more worried about
the look. Actually, I should've been worried about the taste, I guess.
The feedback is confusing to take
because it was like, "Wow, you made a really good cake.
"But you can't taste it." Which is fair enough.
I'm over the moon with how that went.
Getting to the semifinals would mean everything.
I'd rejoice. I'd be rolling round the fields.
Well, that was a dramatic Showstopper.
It was. It was a bit sad about Illiyin's cake.
Is there any saving Illiyin?
Yeah, listen, we've had people who've messed up a bake in the past
and have thrown things in bins. Illiyin, she didn't throw it away.
Yeah. And she brought it to the table which is what you should do.
It's such a shame, though, cos, Prue, her flavours are bang-on
most of the time, aren't they? If this had been a trifle competition
she'd have won it. Really? Oh, yeah. But I was a bit worried about
the sponge quality. Does it keep you up at night
worrying about sponge quality? All the time.
Gill really pulled it out, didn't she? I mean, she absolutely... Yeah.
It was a neat little cake, that.
You've got to look over the three challenges,
don't forget Gill was bottom in Technical.
Could Christiaan be in trouble today?
Christiaan was a little bit of a let-down, if I'm honest.
It's a shame, it looked so good.
It was such a pity because I didn't realise there was half a ton
of chopped hazelnuts in his sponge. And three litres of alcohol.
It was just so potent.
It wasn't nice to eat. Was it not?
That's the first time that I can say that about Christiaan's food.
What about the peppermint cowboy?
The problem was there wasn't enough choc in the mint choc chip.
If you just tasted the chocolate cake by itself it was perfect.
I thought Georgie's black forest gateau was particularly good.
You know, I thought I'd never say this, but it was too boozy.
I wouldn't like more than a teacup of it.
I mean, Georgie's had a good week, right?
She must be in line for Star Baker.
I would say Dylan and Georgie in line for Star Baker. Yeah.
And Christiaan, Gill or Illiyin to go home.
Well done, bakers. We got through 1970s week.
Now, I've got the great job of announcing this week's Star Baker.
And Star Baker this week is...
..Georgie.
Well done. Thank you.
Unfortunately, I've got the job of announcing
which baker's going to be leaving the tent today.
So here we go. The baker leaving the tent today is...
..Illiyin.
It's OK. Love you. It's all right.
It's-it's-it's the only thing I feel like I can drop my shoulders
a little bit and be like,
"Well, at least you don't have to go and practice patisserie."
Even all these feelings of sadness, underneath all of that is,
I think, an immense sense of pride.
And I'm glad to have that.
Honestly, you are a very good baker
and you're a wonderful woman and you should be very proud of yourself.
This is an exceptional competition with exceptional bakers.
And to have been part of it, that's quite special.
But, yeah, over and out, Bake Off. It's done.
You pulled yourself... I know.
Pulled off the great escape once again.
How am I a semifinalist in Bake Off?
Semifinals, like...
That's insane!
It's really good. I mean, I didn't think I'd make it this far.
My prediction is that next week is going to be very tense.
I think it'll be everyone pulling out really good recipes.
Oh, God. That was mad.
You beat him. No, he's had two...
Have you had three? No, I've had two.
LAUGHTER
To have it twice is... I'm... I'm blown away.
Cos once was enough for me but we're at the final hurdle,
there's literally two left.
I'm going to be practising morning, noon and night.
Yeah, I'm raring to go now.
Next time... This is gonna be very, very tricky.
What the hell? ..it's the semifinal.
Oh! Ah!
Crunch time.
But who can perfect patisserie...
It's gonna be intense. Why are you making us do this?
I don't understand!
Oh, my God. Come on!
..and who will fall...
Ah!
You will kick yourself if you lose this.
..at the final hurdle?
I'm going. I've had enough. I'm going.
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