In the beginning...
# There may be trouble ahead... #
How far do you think you could go in this competition?
Maybe tomorrow? NOEL LAUGHS
..there were 12.
I keep telling myself nothing bad ever happens on Bake Off.
Oh!
Oh, I've had a mare.
This is ridiculous!
Especially not to me.
Now...
..there are three.
I don't know if I've ever worked this fast in my whole life.
The winner...
Can I do more tuiles? Maybe.
..of The Great British Bake Off...
It's gonna be so tight.
..is...
Wait. Oh, my God.
Oh, my God!
THUNDER CRASHES
The final. Last one. TOM SIGHS
Here we go.
After nine weeks and 27 challenges...
It's so empty.
It is so empty.
..just three more bakes stand between our finalists
and the Bake Off crown. Good luck, guys.
Hey! Where's mine? Oh!
From week one,
Jasmine's hardly put a foot wrong.
Well, I think they look neat as a pin.
Her command of classic flavours...
Milk chocolate and hazelnut.
They're delicious.
..flawless execution...
It's very neat, precise.
It's very Jasmine.
..and incredible work ethic
has seen her scoop two handshakes.
Oh, my goodness!Oh! APPLAUSE
And she's only the second in Bake Off history...
Jasmine! Jasmine.
..to score five Star Baker wins.
Jasmine.
It feels like all my hard work, it's all paid off.
I would really, really, really love to win.
Like, really love it.
Tom's creativity and eye for design...
It's unique. I've never seen anything quite like that before.
..impressed from the very beginning... It's faultless.
..earning him two Hollywood handshakes.
Well done. Stop it!
And he was the first of our finalists...
T to the O to the M. Yes, Tom!
..to become Star Baker.
But despite a strong start... Ugh!
..his path to the final has been bumpy.
The flavours and textures, for me, not there.
Sometimes struggling to achieve both style and substance...
It's more exciting to look at... Yeah. ..than it is to eat.
..he scraped through last week's semifinal.
There is zero chance I ever thought
I was gonna be standing here in the final, so I'm not even nervous.
I just feel so excited and lucky to be here.
I feel like everyone's slightly playing it safe apart from you.
I could die on that hill.
A risk-taker, Aaron's fondness for unusual flavours...
Grapefruit and mint. Yuzu with a bit of pear.
..hasn't always hit the mark.
Those flavours are absolutely delicious,
but I don't think they go very well together.
But when he gets it right... Yes, Aaron.
..the results are astonishing. That's pretty faultless.
Yeah!
And while he took the Star Baker crown in Chocolate Week...
Oh, my God! Yeah!
..there's another coveted Bake Off accolade that's eluded him.
For a long time, I was just daydreaming
about getting a handshake, but now the focus is on winning.
Jasmine is the one to beat,
but I also think everyone's got an equal chance today,
so it could be anyone's.
I hope it's mine.
Congratulations, bakers.
You have made it to the final of The Great British Bake Off.
Just enjoy yourselves.
Throw yourself into it and have a good time.
But try and win.
LAUGHTER
So, for your last ever signature bake,
the judges would like you
to bake 12 filled and iced finger buns.
You have to make two batches of six
that differ in flavours and decoration.
You have two hours and 45 minutes.
On your marks.
Get set. Bake!
Oh, my gosh. It's the final-ever signature bake.
Here we go. Buckle up. We're on our way!
I love iced buns.
They're just so nostalgic and simple.
The bakers' final signature challenge is an interesting one.
It's an iced bun. Classic bakery favourite.
The perfect iced finger is very even in shape.
It's extremely light,
soft dough with some very smooth, luxurious icing.
Now, that sounds incredibly simple,
but, actually, to make that bread in the time is really difficult.
They'll have to use every single minute
to rise and prove their iced fingers,
because that's the secret with a good bun.
Yes, we want all the beautiful toppings,
fantastic fillings, but more importantly,
the texture of that iced bun has to be spot-on.
Fail that and that'll be it.
Morning, Tom. Morning. How're we doing?
Welcome to the final. Thank you so much. Congratulations.
So, tell us all about your iced buns.
An iced finger bun,
it's like a hot dog bun, isn't it? It is, yeah.
With icing on it. Mm-hm.
So I thought I'd just make a hot dog.
So it's a peaches and cream cheese buttercream frankfurter,
and then some candied nuts instead of the crunchy onions. Nice.
Tom's hot dog finger buns will be topped with
a lemon icing mustard
and served alongside six pina colada-inspired buns,
topped with a boozy rum icing.
Have you practised this and done it well in the time?
Yeah, I've actually been super happy
with how the dough has been coming out.
Gorgeous crumb, really soft.
You press it, it bounces back.
Well, good luck, Tom. Thanks, guys.
Have a good time, Tom. Thank you, Prue.
While Tom spent his pre-final practices
perfecting bread for his finger buns...
A nice bun is nothing but dough,
so it's super important the dough goes right.
..Aaron spent it in A&E. I can't believe you broke your toe.
HE LAUGHS Don't break anything today.
No tumbles, no acrobatics.
To be honest, it's so much better than it was the other day.
I was sat there on the bed going...
HE MUMBLES
Throw the pain away. Speaking in tongues! Throw it.
While Aaron is a little tentative on his toes,
he's much more confident in his finger buns,
six of which he'll be flavouring
with strawberry and rhubarb,
while the rest will be filled with
a pear and yuzu compote
and a hazelnut cream mousseline.
If you have three good bakes now, you've done it. I know!
I'm just hoping to actually leave here with a handshake.
I might be able to organise that for you.
You reckon? Yeah, on the dark web.
There's a look-alike.
You meet him in an alley at midnight and he just goes...
In his bid for the elusive Hollywood handshake...
I live in hope. ..Aaron is aiming for buns with a light,
fluffy texture.
It's just a simple bread dough with an egg yolk and some butter.
It's like a really light brioche.
But Tom is having issues with his dough.
It's definitely feeling on the dry side.
First prove can do wonders, so let's hope and pray.
I'm going to prove for about 45 minutes.
I'm gonna prove that for as long as I can.
Normally I'd want to do 45 minutes,
but I really need to leave time for the second prove.
I've just got to do the same as I did in Bread Week
and then it should be OK.
With a Bread Week win behind her,
Jasmine's hoping to impress again with finger buns flavoured
with strawberry and lemon,
and apricot and white chocolate.
The final, regardless of your five times Star Baker,
is actually a great leveller.
It's like the final at Wembley -
whichever team turns up's going to win.
I feel like I need to bring it this week. Yeah.
With the first prove well under way...
Bread is rising.
..the bakers' focus has turned to fillings.
This is gonna be a peach buttercream.
This is gonna be the frankfurter that sits inside of the bun.
And while a classic finger bun is a study of simplicity... Come on.
..Prue and Paul will be expecting flavours worthy of a final.
This is my apricot jam. I've looked over the last ten weeks
and seen what flavours that the judges have enjoyed,
and I'm bringing them back to the tent.
Have you got any surprises for us this week?
Cos you always go your own way, don't you?
Pear and hazelnut.
A splash of yuzu juice. That's bold.
I've got a good feeling about you. Don't get my hopes up, Noel.
Why not? In case it all goes... Dare to dream.
That is true, you should always dare to dream.
From a child,
he's always been determined to do everything.
Is that beans?
There's not one knife and fork in sight.
AARON LAUGHS You ate with your hands.
Well, I suppose I taught him resilience
and I always taught him that you follow your dreams,
and he has. He's gone for it.
So that's where he gets his determination from, his mum.
GRACE CHUCKLES
THEY CHEER
And Aaron has never given up on his dream
of entering the tent.
I first applied I think it was 2017
and I applied the year after.
And as the years went on, I just didn't think I had the skill,
but I always trusted that I had the tenacity to actually try.
Ah, I'm so proud, babe. Thank you.
I've had so much encouragement from my friends and family
who want me to succeed
and do well and follow something which I'm really passionate about.
Yes! Cheers!
What would it mean to him to win?
Everything.
Because it's been six, seven years in the making,
I think it would be everything.
Yeah, hopefully Aaron will believe in Aaron like we do... Yes.
..if he were to win. He'd finally be like, "Yes, I am good." Yes.
You never know.
We shall see. If you believe. I don't think believing's enough.
I think it's got to taste good, it's got to look good...
And a little bit of originality. Yeah, a little bit of you.
A little bit of you? Well, not you, bit of me.
If it shows a little bit of me, you've gone wrong somewhere.
AARON LAUGHS OK.
With the first prove pushed as far as they dare...
I don't know why I'm feeling nervous because I did well in Bread Week,
but it's just stressing me out this week.
..the bakers face a race to shape their buns.
It's definitely not going to be
the nicest dough in the world, but we just have to keep moving.
So I'm just folding them in to get the ball.
From here, I'll roll it out into fingers.
But with finger buns, size matters.
Too long and thin
and they won't have the height the judges expect.
Come on, let's go.
But short and fat and they'll lack that classic,
elegant finger shape.
Ooh, look at your little iced buns! Looking beautiful.
Thank you very much. But one baker...
What are you looking at?
I literally don't understand what has happened.
..has other concerns. Look at that.
Like, that should just be really soft.
Something else has happened there.
I think I know what one of the problems is.
I put citric acid instead of salt into the dough.
Oh, Alison, they just look really similar
and I just wasn't paying enough attention.
Oh, no, Tom. I just thought, "That's salt there, obviously."
Then I suddenly thought,
"Oh, do you think your family are proud of you?"
And then I was like, "No, don't say that now when I've made a mistake."
I need to keep on... But you've got to remember,
they're still proud of you no matter what the outcome. No, yes.
Look at you. Tom, look at you, man.
You are something to be proud of.
Stop it.
Growing up,
my relationship with food has been interesting
because I knew I was gay from a really young age,
which meant I had quite a lot of time to learn how to hide it.
Baking was the one thing that I would allow myself to indulge in
that felt I was able to be myself.
But what started as a form of escapism
soon became an obsession.
Once he's got a passion for something,
he gives it his full intensity and that's him,
and I think he's found a way to deal with issues in life.
Despite having quite extreme anxiety,
he has stuck at it and it's really showed me that our Tom,
he could do anything he turns his hand to now,
and that, as a mum,
just makes me prouder than anything I could possibly imagine.
Love you to death. Cheers.
- Love you, Tom! - Cheers!
Baking, for him, was like a solace
and Bake Off has definitely been
this opportunity to show his creativity
and be super proud of it.
I think he's so lucky that he's got a support network around him
just to help him on his way.
Yeah, I'm just so incredibly proud of him.
I think making such a rookie mistake,
I can, like, feel my impostor syndrome kicking in,
feeling like I shouldn't be here in the final,
and I've got to put that out of my head and just keep moving.
Bakers, you are halfway through your final signature.
While finger buns are left to rest for their second prove...
I'll leave them in for as long as I feasibly can.
They have to be in the oven in the next 30, 40 minutes.
..the bakers toil on... Right, next up.
..with their fillings and frostings.
Now I'm moving on to my cream pat.
What's happening? That looks like dog sick.
Noel, you have a way with words.
Have you ever been told that?
If they said to you, you can't win, but you've got to choose who wins...
Yeah. ..who would you choose? Who do you like best?
Well, it's like having kids. I feel like you can't have a favourite.
You definitely can.
Do you think you're the favourite in your family?
No, my brother. Actually, or my sister.
What, you're third?! I'm definitely...
You're the favourite. No, no, no.
Because I'm, like, middle child. I just get forgotten about a bit.
Now she's the star. I'm the first child.
That checks out. That checks out!
As the second child, you know, she was often ignored.
So I would literally lift her out of the pushchair, put her on the floor,
and she would go off and find things to do.
Always very determined.
And I guess part of that determination comes
from obstacles and challenges that she's faced.
Growing up with alopecia,
it's been really hard to see myself as good enough,
but my resilience to kind of get up and just keep going
has grown so much, because I don't want to ever not do something
because of my alopecia, because then it's almost won.
Thank you.
And Jasmine's needed every bit of determination and grit
as she's juggled being in the tent while sitting her medical exams.
I have just been amazed at how hard she's worked,
because it has really been quite a sacrifice,
just absolutely focused on her baking and her medical exams.
- To Jasmine! - To Jasmine.
I am unbelievably proud of her, of how far she's come
and whatever happens in the final, she's triumphed.
Yeah. Yeah.
These are proved.
Need 50 minutes to bake, cool and decorate.
I feel like I'm on time.
They proved. Well, have fun so we can put stuff inside.
And versus where I was five minutes ago,
that feels like a real win.
There's just one hour left.
OK, I'm going in.
These are going to literally bake for, like, 10 to 12 minutes.
Great. They're going in.
Now I need icing.
This is the rum for the pina coladas.
This is the mustard.
I am going to make it a little bit thicker.
It just needs to hold the shape of, like, a mustard.
I'm making water icing, but I'm not doing water.
I'm doing lemon. It's just quite sweet.
The lemon takes the edge off it.
Oh, I wish they were taller.
Tom, are yours really flat?
Yeah, but that's because I've messed up my dough.
Mine feels so flat.
Oh, my gosh, they look amazing, Aaron.
I just think the way it's expanded here,
perhaps it needed proving longer.
I could just be being hypercritical.
Oh, that's so sad. They're nowhere near as domed as they should be.
But at least we've got something to put things in.
They're looking a bit flat,
but then making bread for Paul is just always scary.
Bakers, you've got 15 minutes left. Keep going.
OK. Icing. This is not my most glamorous work.
I tried every implement at home and it was the one that worked best.
This is the peaches and cream buttercream frankfurter.
Ah! Should have worked out a better way of doing this.
Mustard icing. Let's go.
And I know it's not a typical iced bun.
I just couldn't find a way to make them look neat.
This icing is just impossible to make it ever look good.
Trying to keep a steady hand in these last few minutes
is near impossible.
I think he will say they're slightly underproved.
Put these on top.
Tiny bits of mint transform a bake.
Bakers, your time is up.
Please step away from your iced buns.
Can't complain that much.
It's edible.
It's judgment time for the finalists
and their iced finger buns.
Hi, Tom. Hello, how are you doing? Hi, Tom.
The bread looks awful. Yeah, I'm really not happy with the bread.
But I love the decoration. OK.
We have the pina colada finger buns,
which are a pineapple gel with a coconut creme pat
and then some rum icing on the top.
I really like the flavour.
I think the rum is a little too dominant.
Bread is definitely tough. Your bread is awful.
I think instead of salt, I put citric acid in.
Do you know if that would have any impact?
Yeah, it would certainly slow it up, the activation of the yeast.
OK. And then we have hot dog finger buns,
which are a peach and cream cheese buttercream
with cream cheese icing on the top.
The peaches and cream are lovely.
The flavours in that are beautiful.
Stunning, but I'm really struggling with that bread.
Chunky little monkeys, aren't they? They really are.
OK. The green ones are pear and hazelnut.
I love the filling. The pear comes through nicely
and I like the bread because it's quite soft.
It's softish and it's too tight.
It needs to open up a little bit more.
I've got a nut. It's hazelnut in there. It is. Nice, though.
That's what makes the cream taste so good.
Yeah, a nice flavour. OK.
The pink ones are rhubarb and strawberry
with a vanilla creme mousseline.
Rhubarb's worked beautifully well in there,
and the creme pat works beautifully well.
The issue is the bread is just too hard.
OK. Nice flavours.
Appreciate it. Thank you, Aaron. Thank you. Yeah, very good.
The shapes look good, but look quite flat.
You've lost a bit of height on that.
You may have knocked some air out of it, but I like the toppings.
All right, let's have a look.
They have strawberry jam and then a lemon cream.
I love the soft dough. Yeah, got a mouthful of mint.
That works really nicely. Got strawberry.
Very strawberry. It's lovely.
Yeah, it is. It's really nice.
Shall we taste the apricot one?
Yeah, yeah.
The orange ones have an apricot jam
and a white chocolate creme diplomat.
That is absolutely delicious.
It's got a nice zing to the apricot,
but the creme diplomat is so luxurious and silky smooth.
It works really nicely with it.
Yeah, I think you've done a decent job with that, Jasmine.
Well done. Thank you.
I am proud that I managed to produce that in the time,
get it to where I wanted it to be.
It wasn't perfect,
but I'm just a perfectionist and I need to get over myself.
Of course, I would have loved to have smashed it out of the park,
but it's the last one and I'm not coming away
feeling like I've done terribly.
You know, I definitely feel like I've let myself down.
I know that when I've made those at home,
they're great, but that doesn't matter when you get into the tent.
Like, the only thing that matters
is being able to replicate it in there.
With their signature finished, the bakers now face
one last gingham-shrouded mystery challenge.
Hello, bakers. Welcome back to the tent.
It's time for your technical challenge.
And this one has been set for you
by the high priest of patisserie, Prue Leith.
Prue, have you got any words of advice for our finalists?
You guys have got the skill.
Have you got the delicacy?
As ever, this challenge will be judged blind.
So we're going to have to ask these two to do one.
So for your technical challenge,
Prue would love you to make a tower of exquisitely decorated
white chocolate and lemon madeleines.
Your madeleines should be made with a beurre noisette
and filled with lemon curd.
But they also have to have that characteristic hump.
You've got two hours and 15 minutes. On your marks.
Get set. Bake!
Final technical, baby. Oh, God, no!
Have you read the method?
There's no instructions.
The actual method just says to make a madeleine tower.
Oh, my goodness, I have to make a tower of madeleines.
I've never made a madeleine.
I see we brought the traditional British summertime weather today.
I know. But the final technical, Prue, and it's madeleines.
What I like about this is it's a kind of party twist
to make a celebration tower.
I think it looks great. Need 31 madeleines altogether
and they've got to stuff them with lemon curd.
And the icing is melted chocolate.
Got a lovely golden colour, hasn't it? Yes.
And it's got a proper hump on it.
Yeah, it has. The most important thing is to get the batter chilled.
What makes things rise well is the shock of the heat.
So if you cool your batter and it's going into a hot oven,
it accentuates that shock.
Ah, that is good.
The chocolate is enough to ice every mouthful, but it's not too thick.
You've got that lightness in the sponge,
then you get that zing from the curd itself.
It's going to be interesting to see how our bakers deal with this.
Get this right, this could win them the Bake Off.
I'm going to start the beurre noisswet... Noisette.
I should be able to say this.
This is why I'm not very good at speaking French.
It's basically just brown butter.
I want to make sure I don't burn this butter.
I just want it browned nicely.
I basically cook it until it smells nutty.
Looks good, smells good.
Right, I'm going to put the zest in here.
It's your last technical. It must feel good.
I actually like the technicals. Do you?
Even though I can be rubbish at them, I still enjoy doing them.
But these have got firsts, and I haven't had first yet.
Have you never had a first? Second.
Today's the day!
Today's the day.
Brown butter now is in the fridge to chill.
All right, I'm going to get my batter together as quick
as possible, because you need enough time to rest in the fridge.
A madeleine's light, fluffy texture comes from whisking air into eggs
and sugar before carefully folding in flour.
I'm using a metal spoon because apparently that deflates it less.
Delicious brown butter.
Knock out that air and the baker's madeleines
could end up flat as a pancake.
Everything is now in there.
I'm going to beat the batter for a while.
So I feel like there's a lot of sneaky little booby traps
in this technical.
I just don't want to be lost.
Get it into piping bags and into the freezer.
But I want it to be cool because that's how you get the hump.
While Tom and Aaron chill...
OK, I filled up my moulds.
I think I'm going to go in.
..Jasmine's wasting no time hitting the heat.
Let's start with ten minutes at 180. Right, lemon curd.
Juice of two large lemons, two large eggs beaten
and 75g of caster sugar.
Stopping this becoming scrambled eggs.
I'll add the butter at the end.
Oh, that's OK, it's curdy.
So I just want to get it cool.
OK, let's have a look.
I just have no idea what makes the hump.
I'm hoping the mould just magically creates it.
I think I should start baking the cake batter.
I really want to leave them to rest for longer,
but there's no more time.
What's this? This goes with my outfit.
It's lovely.
This is how I call Paul.
And he comes running out naked.
Bit thick.
Aaron doesn't have his madeleines in yet.
I don't know, it's freaking me out.
I'm like, why am I further ahead than Aaron?
Bakers, you are halfway through. You're doing so well. Keep going.
OK, let's take these out.
Oh, there's no hump. That's some flat madeleines.
I want my hump.
I'm going to try again.
Maybe I was meant to chill them before.
Oh! That's why.
Yeah, they look a bit messy,
but they're going in the oven now.
I'm going to bake them for 12 minutes.
I think my batter was right.
I think I just need to chill it before it goes in the oven.
Come on, you can do this. Yeah, OK. Come on.
You know what? These don't take that long to bake.
They only take, like, ten, 15. You can re-do them,
and you've always got them anyway, so you've got nothing to lose.
That's what I'm thinking.
I've got nothing to lose. Got to grab it by the pink horn!
No hump has made an appearance yet.
They're really, like, fluffy.
It's less hump and more A-cup bump. Let's have a look at
what's going on. There's nothing in the oven!
No, no, no. They're in the fridge.
I'm not saying we're competitive,
but I'm just waiting to see if he gets a hump.
No hump. OK. Come on, Jasmine. The adrenaline that is going through
my veins right now is excessive for baking.
Time to take them out.
That's so annoying. A dome, but not a hump.
I'm going in.
Go on, little bad boys. Go on. Hump!
Right. My next stage is to pipe them with lemon curd.
I'm just kind of going in and then coming out.
Hello there, we are the Hump Police,
and we've come to check out your humps.
There it is. There's the hump. I mean,
in an ideal world, I'd have a big, massive hump.
In an ideal world,
we'd all have a big, massive hump!
Not a single hump. That is really sad.
I feel demoralised.
Bakers, you've got half an hour left.
We love you. And your madeleines.
"Decorate your madeleines to form an ombre design."
How do we do an ombre design?
From the French word for shaded, ombre is a gradual blend of colour.
So I just want to get a good rose colour on this
and just adjust the colour as I put the chocolate into the mould.
With 31 madeleines, the bakers
must calculate how many of each shade they'll need.
Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. That's not enough.
Get the maths wrong... Maybe get eight around the bottom.
..and they can kiss their ombre goodbye.
Might just do two colours. Dark pink to light pink.
Oh, my gosh, I forgot to fill them. How long do I have left?
You have 15 minutes left. Oh, my days.
Gonna put both the shades of chocolate into
the mould and squish the madeleine in.
I don't think you need too much. Right,
switch to a different colour. Wait. Oh, my God,
oh, my God, I just realised.
Dark pink at the base to pale pink at the top.
They mean of the tower. They don't mean of the madeleine.
Oh, no! I'm gonna keep going.
This is a mess.
That's done. Put in the freezer to set hard.
So I've done seven dark pink. I need two more of these ones.
Come on, come on.
I'm going to cool them super quickly.
You know what? I'm just going to have to start now.
Oh, my God. Right, let's go, fast pace, baby.
Stop falling off.
Oh, come on.
That looks terrible.
I have no idea if this is what it's meant to look like.
I wanted them to be quite neat, but it's not going to happen.
Bakers, you've got one minute left.
Oh, my God, I thought this part would be quite easy.
I've lost track of which colour's which.
Do all 31 have to be on here?
Come on, Jasmine.
This is the most stress I've had in the technical.
I've finished. I mean, it's a tower of madeleines.
It's all right. Hope for the best.
"Finish the tower with a ribbon.!
Bakers, your time is up.
Oh, the ribbon.
Please bring your madeleine towers
and place them behind your photos.
Forgot the ribbon. I thought
the ombre was meant to be on the madeleine... Yours are beautiful.
It's like little presents.
Well done, team. Look fab, last technical!
Paul and Prue
are expecting three towers fit for a final.
Made with 31 lemon curd-filled madeleines,
iced in a pink to white chocolate ombre design.
OK, let's start with this one. Overall,
it's not bad. It's quite neat. I think the ribbon would have
been prettier on the top, really. Yeah, it's a bit sort of,
"Yeah, that'll do." I think all the madeleines are there.
And they look pretty good, but the whole point is ombre.
Interesting interpretation. Yeah,
some of the chocolate's broken through. Holes.
Yeah, there are a few holes in there.
It's very thin. Yeah, not enough chocolate.
The bake on the madeleine doesn't look too bad.
Does it have a hump? A slight hump.
I think it may have been overwhipped.
Yeah, they're all quite flat. There's a nice squeeze of curd.
A nice lemony flavour. Lemon comes through lovely.
Moving on to these.
There's been a serious issue with the chocolate.
Very thin, though, they have got the sort of ombre,
the style right?
It's just not necessarily in the right place!
The ribbon's...um. The ribbon seems to have defeated them all,
actually. Yeah, the easiest bit.
There's not much of a hump in there either,
but the bake looks good.
They've got the right degree of browning.
There's a lot of curd in this. Gosh, yes.
There's nothing but lemon curd. Moving on.
This is a bit of a mess. Yeah, the chocolate's pretty terrible.
And they haven't got the required number.
They all taste absolutely delicious, but there's no hump.
In fact, there's a depression. Is it underbaked?
Yeah, it is. OK.
Paul and Prue will now rank the madeleine towers
from worst to first.
In third place, we have this one.
Who is that? Jasmine.
You didn't have enough chocolate, you didn't have a hump.
It's a bit of a mess, but of course, they taste absolutely delicious!
In second spot, we have this one.
Whose is this?
Aaron. The actual shading was pretty good.
It's a shame they went the other way around.
The sponge was all right.
You had a decent amount of lemon curd in there.
Probably a little bit too much lemon curd.
OK. Which means, Tom, congratulations.
Your interpretation was really interesting.
They are all absolutely delicious.
And Tom, yours was particularly delicious.
Thank you so much. Well done, you.
Nice. Can't believe it. To have won that, I'm very happy.
I was a little bit sad
when they gave Aaron second - his looked incredible.
Why?!
Can't believe I've never once got a first in technical,
but tomorrow I'm coming to compete for that lovely little cake stand
that would look so good next to my gold fruit bowl at home.
Anyway,
that was not my finest moment in the tent, but I think
if I was going into tomorrow feeling comfortable,
I might have become complacent.
So actually it's a bit of a kick up the bum.
There's just one more challenge left in this year's Bake Off.
See you guys on the other side.
INDISTINCT BANTER
Would you say it's pretty even-stevens at the moment?
I would, yeah. Jasmine was considerably better than
the other two in the signature,
but in the technical, she was in third place.
Her lead has certainly diminished. A nose, nose in front.
She's got her nose in front. Great way of putting it, yeah.
Aaron, he wants this today, doesn't he?
He's always been good on flavour. He's adventurous.
Potentially he could upset the applecart
because Tom made an elementary mistake.
You need salt in a bread.
I mean, it's textbook error, isn't it? Bad mistake.
But then he won the technical.
What's crazy is it's going to be all down to this last bake.
If you look at the three of them and the style of their baking,
Tom to have the finish. When it comes to structure, then you'd put
it on Jasmine. And Aaron's had the flavour.
So... If we could create one person out of
the three of them, it would be the perfect baker.
You do have the perfect baker. It'd be Paul Hollywood!
Nice to meet you!
Welcome back to the tent, bakers. This is your last-ever challenge.
So for your showstopper challenge, the judges would love you to create
an elegant and sophisticated table cake.
There should be grand centrepiece cakes,
measuring at least 1.2m in length,
that's about twice the size of Paul Hollywood.
It's probably three times, actually. Maybe four! The judges are looking
for great flavour and exquisite decoration.
This is your last chance to impress the judges.
You can do this. Good luck.
You've got four hours and 30 minutes.
For the last time, on your marks.... Get set...
..Bake! Let's do it!
Ooh! Let's go! It's the final, babes!
Double mixer.
It's 100% necessary with the sheer volume of cake.
1.2m. I have never baked anything anywhere remotely on this scale.
Right now I feel really calm, like, I'm in the zone.
I know how to do this.
The bakers' final showstopper challenge -
I'm really looking forward to a tabletop centrepiece.
This is the biggest cake ever baked on Bake Off.
We're asking them to make a 1.2m cake.
It's a lot of sponge.
It's going to be a real challenge because they've got
to get all those cakes baked and cooled.
It's all about multitasking today.
We want great texture on the sponge,
fantastic fillings, and it's got to look good.
I want to see a proper tabletop masterpiece.
This is probably the most important challenge of
the entire ten weeks.
For the final to rest on one cake,
it's terrifying, really.
Good morning, Jasmine. Good morning! On your final challenge.
Describe to us your showstopper. It's a summer celebration cake.
I'm gonna have three layers.
The bottom and top layer will be a cardamom sponge.
And then the middle
one will be almond and raspberry. In between those two layers,
there'll be a lemon mascarpone cream.
I would recognise that as Jasmine. Yeah.
Hang on, there's no pistachio in it.
I was so tempted.
With the Bake Off crown within touching distance,
Jasmine's going all out with a cake
celebrating her favourite Bake Off flavours.
She'll recreate her cardamom sponge from week one,
with an almond and raspberry sponge filled
with lemon mascarpone cream
and covered in Swiss meringue buttercream.
I've looked back over the last ten weeks,
looked at different
things I've learned and really enjoyed doing.
The ones that got the best marks, the ones got the most comments.
"That's what I'm doing!"
As long as it's not a madeleine, I think you'll be all right.
I'm not making a madeleine any time soon.
While Jasmine's cake is packed with bold flavours...
I love using cardamom. I'm putting quite a lot in.
I want you to be able to taste the cardamom properly.
..Aaron's planning something a little more subtle.
This is my Darjeeling tea, which I'm going to grind.
The champagne of teas, they call it. It is delicate.
A lot of the things I've made have featured tea.
And what better way to use tea than the champagne of tea
for the final of the Great British Bake Off?
Aaron will add delicate Darjeeling
to both his sponge and apricot compote filling,
and he'll cover his cake in American buttercream to create
a green pastel ombre effect,
with green leaf tuiles,
chocolate and sugar paste flowers and decorative piping
to finish.
I feel like you're staying true to your brand. Botanical... And tea.
It's also going to be sweet, biscuity, caramely.
Sometimes you need lots
of different components to make something tasty.
But you do need a hero flavour, otherwise
Paul cries. I don't know what my hero flavour is today.
He loves saying "hero flavour", doesn't he?
Maybe he sees himself as a hero. He is a hero.
Have you seen the meerkat adverts? I have!
I don't think I've ever seen him
as happy as when he goes, "Simples!"
Put him in the room with meerkats and a cape on,
he's dreaming. Maybe I should have made a meerkat cake!
Oh, my God, he would have loved that!
BELL DINGS
OK, so, fold, fold.
It might be too late for a meerkat redesign,
but the bakers must wow the judges with perfect sponge.
This is a cardamom sponge.
They are going to bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.
Jazz, your cardamom smells gorgeous.
And to successfully make and bake enough for a 1.2m cake...
It's about 42 litres of sponge. ..will require perfect planning
and the ability to manage two ovens simultaneously.
Altogether, I'll need 12 tins,
so I'm gonna bake it in two batches of six.
Got two more cardamom to do.
There's just so much to keep a track of.
That's the challenge today. Can we get it cooked?
Can we get it cooled? This requires pace.
I believe I'm... Oh! Oh, my God.
It also requires precision
because I don't have time to be redoing anything.
GASPS
Oh, God, I've broken the bowl.
BLEEP!
I need to do another batch.
I've lost about 30 minutes. So it's not great.
Right now, I'm on to making cake 2. It's my almond and raspberry cake.
While Jasmine makes a start
on another of her Bake Off success stories...
I loved doing Chocolate Week and making my financiers.
I'm making my almond and raspberry cake in tribute to that.
..Tom's going in search of redemption.
In week six, I did a raspberry white chocolate and basil tart.
It was one other element away from being really delicious.
Today we are revisiting those flavours and doing them justice.
Tom will soak layers of delicate chiffon sponge
with raspberry and basil syrup, sandwiching a tropical mango
and passionfruit ganache packed with fresh raspberries,
and he'll bring his cake to life with bright green moss
to create his path to the tent, lined with a chocolate beehive,
edible flowers and a raspberry and basil jelly recreation
of the iconic Bake Off chocolate cake.
Now, the big statement that we've had with you
over the last few weeks is style and substance.
You need to nail both. Absolutely. You certainly have the skills.
It's just if you manage not to screw it up.
THEY LAUGH
Good luck, mate. Thanks, guys. See you later.
You can do it! Come on.
It's like having a facial. That is all the cardamom cakes out.
These are going in. As Jasmine's final batch
of sponge enters the oven and the last of Tom's exit...
Sponges look lovely. Risen nicely.
I have to just keep up the pace now and not slow.
..Aaron's remade his batter, but he's on the back foot.
How are you, darling? Broke a bowl.
What? A glass one? Full of cake mix. Oh, gosh.
This is the biggest cake you've ever made, right? Yes, and I'm behind.
Throw it off. That's what I do.
I throw that off, and then we continue.
Just keep going.
Make curd. This is the biggest curd I've ever made by quite a long way.
White chocolate tropical ganache, mango, passionfruit and lemon.
I can't believe I'm still making sponges.
Oh, my God, I am your cake!
I'm one big lemon.
The next sponges are in. I'm just gonna prepare my apricots.
I've created a brew of Darjeeling tea
so they rehydrate with some of that flavour and aroma.
All the cakes are baked. Raspberry ones are looking good.
I'm happy with them. OK. This is my buttercream.
I'm doing American buttercream. # American buttercream! #
It's just butter and sugar. Very simple buttercream.
But there's nothing simple about Jasmine's.
I'm doing Swiss meringue buttercream.
It gives a really nice smooth finish.
But the thing is, these buttercreams take ages to make.
These are the last two batches.
While Aaron waits for his final cakes to bake...
..Tom and Jasmine push on with decorations.
I'm gonna make some caramel shards, some meringue kisses.
Oh, God, those look delicious. Have you made your jelly?
Yeah, I have, and I've started my green sponges.
My green moss.
You could win this by simply walking over there and...
And just assembling. Oven off. Over there.
Over there and kick his toe. Kick his toe!
Is that your gear over there? That's my gear.
So I'm about to start assembling my cakes,
and I'm just getting these ready for my moss sponges.
And breathe. And breathe.
Big time "and breathe".
Bakers, we are halfway through. Oh, we're halfway through, darlings.
If you do well, you'll get a handshake.
If you don't do well, it won't be worth the calories.
Mwah!
Come on, team. This is my American buttercream.
It's whipped up really nicely.
Let's actually just start assembling these.
As Tom starts building...
That sponge is moist.
..Aaron's still baking. I'm gonna give it five more minutes.
Struggling. Oh, I don't know what to do now. I'm gonna put this in.
And Jasmine's Swiss meringue buttercream...
Come on. ..is missing the butter.
It's gonna be so tight.
This is the cake soak. Raspberry and basil syrup.
The speed of you, Tom. Just need to keep moving now.
I'm not stopping you, babes.
Great. I'm moving all around you. You're flowing.
That's all of the sponges done.
The only thing I have to bake other than this is tuiles.
I do, however, want these cakes cool ASAP.
I need to get these cakes assembled.
Cake 1 done. Three more to go.
If I can stack them in ten minutes, ice them in ten minutes...
This feels completely impossible.
Hello, Jasmine. Would you like another handshake?
He's got no hand, look. He's lost his hand from all your handshakes.
Now I'm going to start filling my cakes.
This is my apricot.
I'm just a little concerned about how sweet the ganache is.
Actually, you know what? Lemon juice.
This is lemon cake. Cream. All the elements are good.
I want lots of raspberries.
Hello. Hello. Such luscious hair.
Beautiful hair. Oh, Tom. How's it going, my darling?
Yeah, yeah. Good.
This is like a really key stage now where I love that you guys are here.
I don't know if I've ever worked this fast in my whole life.
Oh, I need the gel.
It's actually nuts.
It's the added pressure of all of the people,
not just Paul and Prue, are going to try this cake.
And it's only just occurred to me.
Bakers, you've got one hour left.
An hour?! Into the freezer.
Final cake. OK, let's go.
I'm not there yet, but I'm getting there.
You got it, Tom. Come on, baby. Oh, that is coming on gorgeous.
Go on, Aaron. This is my last cake.
But I need to do decorations.
Oh, do you know what? My moss... That's a good colour.
Oh!
That's little meringue kisses. This is caramel.
I'll break this up and then I'll stick it in.
Now we turn four little cakes into one long cake.
That's straight, that's straight. Just want to be able to ice it.
Yeah. I'm going for an ombre effect.
Beige to beige.
This is when the Swiss meringue buttercream comes into play
because it's so easy to get on.
My dad's a plasterer, so maybe he would be proud of this.
Maybe that's where I get my cake-making skills from.
I feel like a construction worker.
What do I need now? What do I need now?
Can I have a blowtorch, please? Let's go, baby.
There's something lovely about ending where I started,
just shoving green moss into a cake.
This is the texture going on.
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
Half an hour to impress. I'm gonna impress you.
Now I'm moving on to my tuiles very, very quickly.
Path is almost there. Come on.
Yes, bro.
That looks amazing! Thank you.
Gotta break this.
THUNDER CRASHES
Oh, my God.
- That's not good. - It is raining.
The thunder is happening.
It's kind of like, "Who's gonna win?" Who is gonna win?
MIMICS THUNDER
Once I finish this, I'm gonna make some flowers.
Oh, my days. Look at these decorations!
I mean, that says Jasmine to me.
That's what I wanted. I want a little bit of me on a cake.
You've surpassed yourself, I think.
I'm gonna try and make a chocolate flower,
but I don't know if it will set in time.
Oh, no. Beehives.
Oh, God. I don't have time for this.
Bakers, you've got ten minutes left.
Right. Come on. Flowers.
These are all edible flowers. All delicious.
Just keep adding and adding and adding
and then it comes to life.
They're so fragile. Can I do more tuiles, maybe?
They're lilies. My mum's favourite flower is lilies.
I'm almost there. Come on.
I have really got to move now.
Breathe, Jasmine.
Come on, keep moving.
Bakers, you've got one minute left.
OK, what have I forgotten? Strawberries.
I'm just going to put a few chopped apricots on top, just for colour.
One beehive is there.
I'm feeling happy. This is how I hoped it would look.
Tom, that looks epic.
OK, bakers, your time is up.
Please step away from your Showstopper.
It's done! It's done!
Oh, my God, I could cry.
CHEERING
Oh!
They love each other. Aww. Just like me and you. I know.
The winner of this year's Bake Off
will be announced at a very special garden party.
And despite the inclement weather, the field is full of friends,
family, and their new-found baking besties.
I'm just happy to see everyone.
I'm happy to see all the bakers again.
It's been really nice to be reunited.
So yeah, we can actually properly celebrate, which is great.
It feels nice to come back again.
It's weird because you're so used to seeing just a few people here
and now there's all this.
It's so nice to come back and not having stress of baking.
I'm really happy right now.
So hard to say who I'd want to win
because I love them so much, all three of them.
Since day one, my favourite, and I think is the winner, is Tom.
Aaron always has something surprise.
So he maybe surprises, he may win.
Tom and Aaron are just something else.
But Jasmine has been consistently fabulous.
I think it'll be Jasmine.
Jasmine, it's time for your showstopper.
I might need some help. We've got ya.
Yikes! I'm not strong enough for this. Me too!
It's a lot of cake. It's a lot of cake.
OK.
Well, I have to say, I think it looks really beautiful.
Your little meringue kisses are all lovely with their pastel colours.
I do like the way you've used the curve in there
to give it that natural texture as well.
OK, let's see what it looks like inside.
The top and bottom layer are cardamom sponge
and then the middle one is raspberry and almond.
It's a lemon mascarpone cream with some more fresh raspberries inside.
Flavour of the cake is absolutely lovely.
Definitely cardamom, but it's not overwhelming.
The cardamom works really well with
the almond and raspberry in the middle, and the lemon is subtle.
Overall, you've got a very delicate cake.
I think it's absolutely beautiful. Great job, Jasmine. Well done.
Thank you. Big sigh of relief. Such a big sigh.
I feel like I could cry. Well done.
Yes, Jasi.
You deserved it.
Aaron, would you like to bring up your showstopper, please?
Team effort. Got it? Oh, my gosh, it's so heavy.
It's so heavy. You all right? Yeah, I'm good.
I like the size of it.
I like the component parts.
These little parts look lovely on
the top, but it looks a little bit rushed.
And that's down to the piping.
This slightly unusual piping around it.
That was my design choice.
So it's quite interesting that you said that. Right.
Do you know, I really like the design and I like the colours.
I agree that there are bits that are not quite perfect,
but it's really interesting.
This Darjeeling I'm looking forward to.
The flavours of the sponge is Darjeeling,
and then the filling is a jammy apricot compote
with Darjeeling tea and a toasted milk buttercream.
The Darjeeling does come through,
but I'm struggling to find a proper hero flavour.
The apricot is just not strong enough.
I actually like the flavour very much.
It's quite delicate, but the cake is a little dry.
It's overbaked sponge.
Thank you.
You got it, guys? Yeah, I've got it.
There you go. Thank you. I love the way it looks. We love you.
Tom, are you ready for your Showstopper?
I'm ready. Shall I come help? Is it a three-man operation?
I've got this. Alison's been in the gym.
ALISON EXHALES
Oh, it's quite heavy! Whoa!
What a cake.
OK.
Wow.
Well, I have to say,
I think it looks absolutely stunning.
I love the famous Bake Off cake.
Is there a missing raspberry?
Take it off. There we go. Perfect. That's how it should be.
I really like it. I like the moss. I like the whole thing.
The way it's been designed is impeccable.
Looks absolutely wonderful. It's a question of how it tastes.
Yes. So we've got three layers of raspberry chiffon sponge.
They are soaked in basil and raspberry soaking syrup with
a little bit of lemon juice as well. And then we have the passion
fruit mango and lemon ganache.
And there's some fresh raspberries inside of that ganache as well.
Tom, that tastes amazing.
You get the raspberry, you get mango. It's just wonderful.
Great job, Tom. Oh!
The chiffon is particularly nice,
but it has concertinaed down at the bottom. OK.
Because of the weight of all the sponges.
Flavour-wise, it's fantastic. It's light on the palate.
The American buttercream works really nicely as well.
And then the tropical fruits and then the raspberry.
So there's a lot going on in there.
But you've managed to balance it all as well.
Tom, I don't think you could have improved on this cake.
Oh!
You have the style. And finally you have the substance as well. Ah!
Great job. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you.
Phowar, phew.
Well done, mate. Cheers, guys.
You can't do any better than that, can you?
Smashed that so much. Oh!
That was like the worst feedback,
because it's just enough to give me that little bit of hope.
Prue saying she doesn't know how
she would possibly improve that cake,
it's like a tease. It's just enough to make me think...
.."Maybe."
I know that I won't win.
Today evidently was not my day, but it was theirs.
And they've both worked so hard.
Whichever one has it really, really deserve it.
I have no idea what's going to happen now.
I just have this feeling
that they liked it, but they didn't love it.
Tom's, they loved it.
To be honest, I have no idea, so I don't know what to think!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna go.
Oh, my God.
As the bakers are reunited with their loved ones.
Oh!
I'm so proud of you!
You've just gone straight for the cake!
..Paul and Prue have a massive decision to make.
Three huge cakes, three incredible bakers.
Yeah, I've never seen bigger cakes than that in my life.
I thought Iain was going to jump out of one of them. Yeah.
I think overall the standard was pretty good.
Yeah. But Aaron struggled a little.
I felt for Aaron, because as soon
as you said his sponge was a bit dry, he knew.
Yeah. But we are nit-picking here. It's a great cake.
It's still an amazing cake.
It's just unfortunate he's in a tent with the other two. Yes.
Well done, mate. Oh!
Tom's garden. That was fantastic.
Beautiful. Conceptually, it was so clever.
He aced it, didn't he? You know, the path to Bake Off.
The flavour from his cake was stunning.
And, of course, the look of it.
Style and substance came hand in hand.
Would you say Tom and Jasmine's cake were on a par?
I think they were. I mean, Jasmine's cake was cardamon.
That's a punchy thing to do in a final.
Yeah. She managed to get the level of cardamom smack on the nose.
This is going to be really, really difficult.
Both did pretty well faultless cakes.
Yeah. To pick the winner is...
You know, there's a lot of onus on us now
to pick the right person.
Prue and I will sit and have another cup of tea
and we'll sit down... And another slice of cake.
And another slice of cake.
Guys, it's been so real.
The dream team.
Come on, let's go. I'm going to the fair.
And have they decided? Yeah. They've decided.
Oh, my God.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Hello. Firstly, thank you all for coming.
And can we now ask our three finalists to step forward?
Big round of applause for Tom, Jasmine and Aaron.
APPLAUSE Hello, Jassy!
What a final it has been.
All three of you should be very proud of yourselves.
However, there can only be one winner around here.
The winner of The Great British Bake Off 2025 is...
..Jasmine!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Oh, my God.
It was always you!
Congratulations.
SQUEALING AND CHEERING
There you go, my darling. Congratulations.
SHE SQUEALS
Oh, my goodness.
I am so... I'm just overjoyed.
CHEERING
When I was in the middle of exams and trying to bake
while I was trying to learn all my stuff,
and it's been so much,
but I've done it and I'm just, like, so unbelievably happy.
Honestly, mate. Oh, you are so amazing.
And to have done it with such an awesome group of people.
Every single thing, you've really deserved it. Incredible. Yeah!
When it comes to Jasmine, you don't want anything but the best
for her, because she does what she does
so well, and she literally deserved it.
I can't feel bad for not winning against
that powerhouse of a pocket-sized baker.
Ten out of ten, 12 out of ten happy.
She's just been so flawless throughout.
There was no other way that could have gone today.
Oh, Prue, thank you so much.
The thing about Jasmine
is she has been steady the whole way through.
Almost unheard of to be so consistent and so good.
She's an extraordinary girl.
There was not one week we thought, "She could go this week."
Not once. That's unusual.
And to win five Star Bakers and then win overall,
that's never happened before.
She's done an incredible job all the way through the Bake Off this year.
And she is a worthy winner.
And she is the best one we've seen for quite a while, actually.
I want to say to myself, when I don't think I'm going
to be able to do something, when I don't have faith in myself,
that I just should give it a try
and try and try again and something great might happen.
You never know.
# When we walk down the street
# We don't care who we see or who we meet... #
Where's Kyiv?
There. With a heart. With a heart.
# Cos we've got something burning inside
# We've got love
# Power
It's the greatest power of them all
# We got love, power
We've got a new client today. Hi. All the way from Essex.
# Sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down
# But our feet are always on the ground
# We always laugh, don't have to cry
# And this is the reason why
# We got love
# Power
# It's the greatest power of them all
# Hey, hey, hey
# We got love, power... #
Dervla.
Will you marry me?
Oh, that's such a lovely ring!
# It's the greatest power in the world
# We got love
# Power
# It's the greatest power in the world
# We got love, power
# And together we can't fall. #
Are you a star baker in the making?
If you'd like to apply for the next series of Bake Off,
visit channel4.com/takepart
Subtitles by Red Bee Media