Hello. It's Dessert Week.
I wonder where Matt is.
Welcome to The Great British Bake Off!
Hey, Cherry Bakewell, you haven't seen Matt Lucas, have you?
No, I haven't seen him.
Well, if you do, can you tell him I'm looking for him? Yeah, OK.
I love you a little bit. I don't mind you.
Last time...
This one doesn't play to my strengths.
...the heat was on as the bakers tackled ice cream.
Hermine kept her cool...
You're doing classical things beautifully.
...to win Star Baker for the first time.
Congratulations.
Cherry on the icing.
...while a silly mistake...
...threatened Laura's place in the competition.
Pretty embarrassed about this one.
But it was Lottie who had a meltdown...
It's game over.
...and had to say goodbye.
Lottie. just give me a minute.
Now, the quarterfinal...
Oh! Help, help, help, help-
...and it's all about desserts.
They're not set. Great.
The bakers hope cheesecakes...
"Don't leave them feeling cheesed off.
They're sinking back in on themselves.
That's slightly concerning.
They have to elevate jelly...
Wow, that's tremendous.
...to new heights of baking artistry...
I think it is completely beautiful.
...and they're taken back to the 17th century...
...in an old-school suet and citrus technical.
L...am...having...a...
...suet...break...down.
One step away from... MIMICS "PSYCHO" THEME
TOGETHER: One, two, three - quarterfinals!
I didn't think I would make it to this week
and I was telling the other bakers,
I left a few eggs in my fridge, thinking, "I'll come back to those."
Well, they won't be good now, will they?
Quarterfinals. That's cool, innit? Yeah.
All my family are super proud of me, that I've managed to get this far.
Yeah, madness, isn't it?
This week is kind of nerve-racking.
There's been some practice that hasn't gone so well.
So I think it's the week that I'm most unsure about so far.
Hello, bakers.
Today, the judges would love you to make 12 identical...
...baked mini cheesecakes.
Mini ones? I know. Oh...
Your disappointingly small cheesecakes
should have a baked filling.
Your virtually invisible cheesecakes
should have a base that is made from scratch.
Hardly worth it.
You have two-and-a-half hours.
On your marks... ..get set... ..bake!
LAURA: I think it's only my mum that doesn't like cheesecakes.
So, I don't eat many cheesecakes.
I have an aversion to cheese in general.
I've made a New York-style cheesecake,
but that did have that massive Grand Canyon crack down it.
Just stirring some oats in a pan, making a lovely oat-y crumble.
PRUE: The top should be very decorative
and it must be good flavour,
cos you're only getting a tiny one, you want a punch.
Got to do a lot of multitasking today.
We're asking for 12 of them, and they are to be very exquisite.
It has to look absolutely beautiful.
What could go wrong?
Good morning. Peter. Hello.
Yes.
I'm making ginger and lime cheesecakes.
Key lime pie vibes, yeah.
Oh, that's good.
You've just got to do it right, now.
Peter's tiny take on one of Paul's favourite desserts
will see baked lime cheesecakes on an oat and gingernut biscuit base,
delicately decorated with crystallised ginger
and dots of lime curd.
This is the first baked one that I've ever made.
I think I made a couple of set ones at school, I think,
in Home Ec, maybe.
Baby-faced disaster, come on.
If you're not in the final I'll be disappointed.
All great cheesecakes start with a delicious biscuit.
I never made the biscuits for my cheesecake before.
I don't know who does that, but...
...it's a challenge!
Right, what's next?
Oh, BLEEP.
Good job I made more, isn't it?
Whoopsie.
Laura's honey and oat biscuit
will form the base of her vanilla and passion fruit cheesecakes.
With a topping of firm-set passion fruit curd,
she's hoping to avoid a repeat of last week's meltdown.
I've been having nightmares about that ice cream cake,
to be honest with you. Like, loads!
I don't wanna make any more mistakes now.
Yeah. That's the plan.
Good luck. Thank you.
NOEL: While everyone's biscuits will be flavoured differently...
I'm getting the pulp out of the passion fruit.
...there's a common theme emerging to the bit that goes on top.
We're all doing our own interpretation of passion fruit.
Good morning. Hello, David.
Tell us about your mini cheesecakes.
I'm calling it a citrus cheesecake.
The filling will be a traditional, like, lemon cheesecake filling,
and then on the top there will be a passion fruit and orange glaze.
Dave's adding orange juice and zest to his shortbread biscuit,
topping each cheesecake with lime kisses
and setting his passion fruit and orange glaze with gelatine.
That's quite a lot of gelatine.
I found because of the citrus-ness of the orange and passion fruit,
it sometimes doesn't set properly.
Yeah.
Cheesecake should offer a mouth-watering blend
of contrasting textures.
A nice crunch at the bottom.
Nice soft filling and hopefully a nice easy cut-able glaze on the top.
Everyone's using moulds to support these layers during baking...
...and reigning Star Baker Hermine
is making her mould part of her presentation.
I like anything to do with jars.
I make my own jam at home.
I quite like to decorate them cutely.
Hermine's hoping her mini jam jars
will produce perfect cheesecakes as well.
Her combination of a cinnamon biscuit base
and a curd decorated with meringue kisses and lime zest
will also be the third signature flavoured with passion fruit.
There's battle of the passion fruit in the tent, it seems.
No?
Really? He's lying-
Don't worry, Hermine, he loves it.
So you'll leave them in the jar, then, will you?
I will leave them in the jar.
So, it should be wonderful. Good.
Thank you! Good luck. Thanks!
NOEL: Bakers, you are halfway through.
Oh, that's not good.
Matthew. Yes? I'd like you to meet one of my friends. Ooh, yes, please.
Couple of series ago... Yes.
...there was a guy called Mr Spoon that was here...
Oh, yeah, I loved him! ..and he went missing.
Do you remember him? Yeah, I do! Well, this is his cousin. Oh, hello!
Would you like to touch him? Yes, what's his name?
His name is, er...
...Andre. Andre Spoon. Andre!
HERMINE: Well, I need to get down to business now.
Just filling up my cheesecakes with the topping.
NOEL: How the mini cheesecakes have baked...
Bain-marie helps get a better texture of cheesecake.
I didn't go down the bain-marie route. Might regret that.
...is critical in determining the silky smooth filling texture
that Paul and Prue are looking for.
Once in the oven...
...precision with temperature and timings is crucial.
Ten minutes and then I reduce it and another ten minutes.
They're very temperamental little things.
Mark is the only baker going citrus-free.
He's bringing pecans, apricots and almond
to a vanilla and mascarpone take
on the classic New York baked cheesecake.
MATT: Why don't we take this show and put in on Broadway
and turn it into a musical? A musical!
Do you sing? Well, don't let that stop you.
What's the first number in Bake Off: The Musical?
SNAPPING FINGERS # It's over-baked
# It's under-baked
# I'm never happy at all
# Impossible to please
# What a tease
# That's Paul
# That's Paul! #
Bakers, you have half an hour left!
How was that? I don't know what that means.
He's been in a lot of therapy. Difficult to tell.
There is a pretty fine line
between over and under-baked on the cheesecakes.
Under-baked and you're gonna get some weird, eggy mixture
that doesn't set and is gonna be gross.
They've got a bit of a dip in the middle.
NOEL: Oh, you could've warned me!
I've inhaled quite a lot of steam.
You just let off some kettles in my face.
They look all right. D0 they? How can you tell?
Can you put something in them?
MATT: The cooling of the cheesecakes is another baking balancing act.
Can't trust a cheesecake.
If rushed...
A few cracked.
...there's a risk of cracking and dipping.
So, they're sinking back in on themselves quite a lot.
Not exactly the sight that we were wanting to see.
If cooled too slowly...
I've just turned the oven off
and I'm gonna let them cool down a little in the oven.
...the mini cheesecakes won't set
in time to support the toppings and decorations.
And now we watch them.
Bakers, you have 15 minutes left!
HERMINE: They've just about set.
Now my passion fruit coulis.
The curd's pretty thin.
That's slightly concerning.
It's quite central to the decoration.
Do I just melt a tiny bit of butter and add that in?
Yeah, I'm gonna give that a shot.
I think they're set.
Any longer, I think they're gonna collapse anyways.
They look very neat. Thank you. I've got to release them yet.
Gotta release them! Yeah, release in the air. Fly, my pretties!
Turning out time.
No, they're not set.
How long have we got left?
NOEL: Bakers, you only have five minutes left!
LAURA GROANS
Can you ask Mr Spoon to get out of my chair please?
He's just relaxing. Yeah, I just don't trust him. All right!
The curd is not good,
and I shouldn't have added that butter so I think it's not usable.
Yeah, we're looking for taste on this, I think.
Mr Spoon didn't like how that last time call went.
I don't like Mr Spoon. He wants an apology.
Well, he's not getting one from me. Do you like him? Love Mr Spoon.
You do? Yeah. He wants to kiss you.
Mr Spoon says he wants to see Peter naked. OK.
NOEL GIGGLES
Even more reason to dislike Mr Spoon.
So the gelatine's just about set.
Just hope they turn out well.
So I've got a bit of lime syrup in here.
This is baking on the fly, definitely.
Come on!
The next layer is the meringue kisses.
Bakers, you have one minute left!
Gosh, one minute to go.
OK, let's just do what we can.
I'm filling them slightly more than planned
due to the rather cratering dip in the middle.
Bakers, your time is up.
SHE SIGHS
Please place your mini cheesecakes at the end of your work stations.
MATT: The baked cheesecakes will now face the scrutiny of Prue and Paul.
Hi, Dave. Hello.
Thank you.
Well, they cut neatly, don't they?
The custard middle I think is absolutely delicious,
and the texture's perfect. Thank you.
The jelly is surprisingly thick, and I like it.
Yeah.
I did put it all in, yeah.
OK.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Cheers. Well done. Thank you. Oh!
They do look really pretty.
They look amazing.
Mm.
It's not as silky as I'd hoped.
Or passion fruit.
OK.
Yeah.
You don't get any apricot at all until you hit the apricot.
Really? Oh, no.
Yeah, more vanilla. Sure, OK.
And the apricot should've been everywhere,
cos when you get a bit of apricot with it, it was truly delicious.
Sure, OK. Thank you. Thank you.
WHISPERS: Well done.
Oh.
I think the flavour is absolutely lovely,
but the shape of it's not perfect.
OK.
Sorry about that.
WHISPERS: Don't apologise to these people.
So, Laura, just remind us what's in your cheesecakes.
It's a vanilla cheesecake with an oat and honey base,
passion fruit curd and passion fruit and mango,
what's supposed to be a compote, on top, but it's a bit of a mudslide.
So sorry. It does look a bit of a mess.
I hope you like the taste. I think they're nice.
Mm.
It's delicious. Yay!
There's absolutely nothing the matter with this,
except it looks a mess. I'll take that. Thank you.
Thanks.
Bloody hell.
WHISPERS: Well done. Thank you.
I feel great after that.
I wasn't expecting that, to be honest,
I was expecting to get rinsed.
Oh...
When Prue and Paul say "lt's delicious,
"and you've got the textures right,"
that is like, yeah, box ticked.
I'm disappointed at that.
Quite a few mistakes in there.
I really did go into this pretty blind.
MATT: For the next challenge,
the bakers face a mystery wrapped in enigmatic gingham.
Hello, bakers. Welcome back to the tent.
It's time for your Technical Challenge.
And, today, it's been set for you by the lovely Prue.
Prue, any words of wisdom?
You are all excellent bakers,
so we haven't given you any extra ingredients.
Get it right the first time.
As ever, the Technical Challenge will be judged blind,
so we're going to have to ask these two poppets to leave the tent.
Off you go.
THICK ACCENT: just do it, will you? This is our park, we play here.
They've got their own park.
Prue has popped back to the 1700s for this technical.
She would like you each to make two Sussex pond puddings.
Pond puddings. I'm imagining frog spawn. Ew.
Your puddings should be made with suet pastry,
and when steamed, should be golden.
When cut into, the filling should ooze out,
creating a lemony, syrupy pond.
Mm. Yeah.
You should also serve a silky smooth creme anglaise.
You have two and a half hours. On your marks. Get set. Bake.
I've never heard of a Sussex pond pudding.
I think my nan would probably know what it was. Can I call her?
I think it's an encased pastry with...
...it sounds like a whole lemon inside.
PAUL:
This is not the prettiest pudding in the world,
but it's sort of surprising because there's a whole lemon inside.
Mm-hm.
Suet pastry is not the easiest pastry to deal with
because it's so pliable, and if it's too floppy, it will tear.
Squidge.
They should steam it for as long as they've got, really,
an hour and a half, two hours.
I think it's beautiful.
"Make the pastry."
The suet looks like cheese. I mean, what am I supposed to do with that?
Suet is the lovely protective fat from animals
that surrounds the livers, the kidneys.
Yum, yum. Never used suet.
I don't really eat meat.
I've made, like, suet dumplings a few times.
Suet dumplings?
Oh, they're good! Really?
Oh, yeah. Lighter than you think.
You can move after six hours.
LAURA: So it just says, "whole milk", which is really helpful.
So I'm just going to add it bit by bit
until it comes into a nice pliable, soft pastry.
She's trying to test you.
HE LAUGHS HEARTILY You're having a breakdown.
HE LAUGHS
The logical part of me just says make it like you would
a normal pastry, so don't overwork it, keep it cold.
So I'm going to let it rest a little bit.
I have no idea if that's right.
DAVE: So I've made suet pastry before,
you need to knead it until really smooth.
"Prepare and line the pudding moulds,"
which I've interpreted as butter and lined with flour,
cos on the ingredients, it says self-raising flour
plus extra for dusting.
I've greased the sides,
and I'm putting a baking parchment circle at the bottom.
What went through your mind when you heard you've got to make a Sussex...
EMPHASISES Ps: ..pond pudding?
EMPHASISES Ps: You panicked about making the pond pudding?
EMPHASISES Ps: Is that what ha-ppened?
Is it? Fair enough.
PETER: "Step three, line the pudding moulds with pastry,
"reserving some for the lids."
It's not very even, is it?
And they want precision.
We'll do that one again.
PETER: It's like the most unhealthy dessert imaginable.
Fatty, "suety" pastry
and then a filling of butter and sugar.
I mean, it's going to taste good, isn't it?
Place some in the base of the pudding moulds.
It feels like it might be quite heavy in a medieval way.
Yes, definitely very medieval.
"Prick the lemons and place them in the pastry lined mould."
I think a lot of pricks.
LAURA: I don't really fancy a whole lemon in a bit of pastry, do you?
Sorry, Prue, but that's not how we do it in Gravesend.
One for you, one for me.
One other for you,
and one for me, there you go.
We're all done.
DAVE:
Put a bit of milk on just to try and get it to stick a bit better
to the top.
All right, so we crimp or do we not crimp?
Is he crimping?
It doesn't say to crimp it but Paul loves a crimp, doesn't he?
Don't know if it will look nice but
I was sort of thinking of pressing it down slightly with a fork,
like you do with a pie.
That's not quite a circle, is it?
The only thing I'm confused about is the next step now,
where it says, "Fold a pleat into the centre, then cover."
I don't understand this pleat business.
NOEL: It's quite minimal, I've seen the instructions. Very minimal.
Just words, aren't they? Just words. "Go, do, now, thanks."
"Prue...not...worth... ..the...calories"
Oh, the pleat.
Just crimp and done.
Yeah, so it's that, so that when the steam rises, it goes like that.
There's room for it to expand.
"Cover the pudding mould with the pleated paper and foil
"and secure with string, looping it first around the rim,
"then across the top to make a handle."
The string needs to hold the foil tightly in place
to prevent moisture getting into the pastry, making it soggy.
Marc's done a lot of climbing
so he's going to be good with these knots.
Could even go for a figure of eight.
Damn it.
MATT: I feel a bit un-gentlemanly not offering to help
but I think it wouldn't be in the spirit of the competition.
It worked.
Wait, now I've got to uncross.
I can't, because...
OK.
It just pushes off.
Bakers, you are halfway through your pond puddings!
"Place the moulds in the steamer and steam."
How long are you going to steam for?
An hour?
Don't ask me.
Probably about an hour 50 in the end.
Did you ever have dim sum?
They steam those, don't they, sometimes?
Well, I like dim SUM of them.
Yeah, it took me... Well, we workshopped it,
then I decided not to use it.
So, the only thing left to do is to make a creme anglaise.
NOEL: Creme anglaise is a combination of egg yolks
and sugar beaten together, tempered with warm cream and milk,
and delicately flavoured with vanilla.
It says half a vanilla pod,
and I put up full vanilla pod in there.
Let's remove a little bit. SHE CHUCKLES
MATT: While the rest of the bakers are making their creme anglaise,
Dave hasn't even started steaming.
I've got to try and get this knot in it.
I think it's ready cos it's thickened.
That one's not so great.
All done. Whether it's good or not, we shall find out.
Is everyone else finished apart from me?
All the bakers can do now is wait.
HE EXHALES HEAVI LY
What can we do? Surely there's something we can do.
We could tie up Peter and ruin his bake.
Bakers, you have half an hour left, half an hour!
Not that you seem that bothered, you're alljust sitting about.
PETER: Let's see what it looks like.
So I'm looking for it to be a little bit more brown
and a little bit, sort of, crispier.
Just going to neglect the string now.
That's going to be fine.
MATT: Last to go in...
Gosh. ..Dave is first to come out.
Ooh.
Bakers, you have five minutes left, five minutes!
I'm going to take out my pond puddings.
MARC: Well, I think it's looking OK.
It's a wet pond in the middle, so not much structure to it.
I'm going to turn mine now, I think.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Oh...
Got a leakage situation.
Pre-cut it already for them.
This one sunk a bit. I did my best.
NOEL: OK, bakers, your time is up.
There's a pond, there's a pudding.
MATT:
The bakers' Sussex pond puddings now face
the exacting judgment of Prue and Paul.
Right, bakers,
we were asking for some well-steamed suet pastry pudding
filled with a whole lemon and a butter and sugar filling
and some silky creme anglaise. So, what have we got?
The pastry would've been really good
if it had had a little longer in the steamer,
because you can see it's beginning to flake.
Yeah.
Well, that looks like a good custard.
Nice and "vanilla-y".
But at least it's shaped nicely.
This one is a little more cooked, but it's still not enough.
That lemon is bullet hard.
Mm-hm.
Yeah, it is a shame.
It's just raw.
In another hour, that pastry would've been flaky and lovely.
And the problem with under steaming is the lemon doesn't soften enough.
The juice doesn't come out of it,
and the sauce becomes more sugar and butter.
MATT: Prue and Paul will now rank the puddings from worst to best.
In fifth place...
...is this one.
David, this was very under steamed. The custard was nice.
In third place, Hermine, the flavour was good,
but it needed two hours' steaming.
Mine.
Which means that in first place is this one.
Laura, I wish I could say it was wonderful,
but it really wasn't much better than the rest.
I'm sorry. It was under-steamed, would've been great.
Custard too thin.
And at this point, we still normally have a round of applause
for the winner, don't we?
Came first in a Technical. Can you believe that?
I'm notjumping up forjoy, but I'll take that. I'm still happy.
I didn't think I'd get second.
I was hoping to be last, I'm usually last!
It's still not an unmitigated disaster
because the creme anglaise was good, so we'll take that as a win.
MATT: Well, good luck, everybody.
We talk every week now
about the margins getting slimmer and slimmer and slimmer.
There wasn't that much in it in the signature,
and we've just had a Technical where everyone pretty much did the same.
PRUE: My favourite pudding in the whole world is a Sussex pond,
and I tell you what,
they made a complete mess of it.
But it does occur to me that I'm 80 years old,
and steamed pudding, I grew up with them and I absolutely love them.
That's weird. Your hair, then, is quite a lot older than you are.
In line for Star Baker.
Yes, she has.
Peter is at the bottom,
which isn't something we've really seen very often.
Good morning, bakers.
Welcome back to the tent for your Showstopper Challenge.
Now, today, the judges would like you each to make
a jelly art design cake.
This layered dessert needs to have a visually spectacular
jelly art topping or coating.
At least one element of your cake should include a baked sponge.
Noel, what jelly art would you make?
Nude sculpture of Paul Hollywood. Oh.
What flavour would the nipples be? Lime.
Oh. Authentic. Exactly.
You have four and a half hours.
On your marks... Get set... Bake!
I didn't grow up eating jelly.
It's an Anglo-Saxon thing.
# I don't think you're ready for this jelly! #
I'm ready for the jelly, yeah.
The setting of the jelly is really critical.
Most of the bakers, I'm sure, will use gelatine.
They may use agar-agar.
Gelatine is a bit of a scary beast, because you don't know
if it's going to be enough until you've completed it
and it's set in the fridge.
35 leaves of gelatine.
35 leaves of pig hide.
If you don't have your nail and your hair growing after this,
you've got a problem.
In my last practice, I had a bit of a collapse.
PRUE: To make the jelly art,
the bakers need to inject liquid jelly into set jelly.
It really takes a lot of skill.
You bet I'm worried!
Calm, cool, collected Laura is what you're going to see today.
Need a bit of skill, a bit of luck.
I'm hoping that they all come together today.
Hi, Paul. Hi, Prue. Morning, Marc.
OK, so I'm making, effectively, a mousse cake
with a panna cotta insert in the centre,
dacquoise top, and then two layers of apple jelly on top.
Two layers of apple jelly.
Yeah, two-tier jelly.
As usual, you're doing an enormous amount.
Oh, no, not again!
I did, I did.
Marc's chocolate and strawberry mousses will be sandwiched
between two layers of ground hazelnut meringue.
His two tiers of jelly
will be flavoured with apple
and display jelly-art roses and jasmine flowers.
So you're injecting your flowers, are you? Yes, yeah.
And have you done this a lot before?
I wouldn't say I've done it a lot.
OK, I'll try my best.
Did that help, by the way? No, that didn't help at all, Paul.
Marc, it's very ambitious. Thank you.
I have some confidence that you'll do it.
It's time to be ambitious. It's time. Yeah, I will try my best.
PETER: So we've got a little bit of orange and cranberry flavour.
They're mainly clear in colour and very concentrated,
so that it doesn't affect the texture or the look of the jelly.
All of the bakers are adding artificial flavourings
to their main jelly features,
before setting them in the fridge.
MARC: I was originally going to go for elderflower,
but realised it tasted a little bit of smelly feet.
Did it? Yeah.
Well, how often have you eaten feet? How would you know?
Well, I've already eaten one, haven't I! Now, that's answered a lot of questions!
Getting quite firm,
which is a really good sign.
HERMINE:
With the large elements setting, most of the bakers are making
the coloured jelly they'll use to make the jelly art.
This is becoming more and more blood like, isn't it?
Do you know any vampires?
Hey, come on, that's a rumour!
You have got quite a lot of neck exposed, though, right now!
SHE LAUGHS
They're not as set as they normally are.
I'm actually going to do the fish again.
Bye, little fishy.
I wouldn't do that to one at home, promise!
Inspired by the real one in her garden, Laura's jelly art
will be a koi pond, complete with fish and injected aquatic plants.
It will sit atop layers of genoise sponge, raspberry mousse
and white chocolate bavarois.
Agar-agar, which I imported from Australia,
which I think is like, professional use for, like, this kind of thing.
And will it be clear enough? Yeah, it does set clear.
Who's that gLIY?
Oh, wow. Oh, look at him, isn't he sweet?
He's going to be in the actual pond. Yeah.
Very good luck.
Going to need it!
Just wait and see what these ones do.
While Laura needs her fish to set before filling her pond,
Dave's opted for a paint-as-you-go approach
to his aquatic-themed jelly art.
My jelly art is layered.
Each layer will build up an image of, like,
a 3D perspective of a beach scene.
That goes in the fridge to set,
then I'll put another clear layer on,
then I've got to do another colour layer, and so forth.
MATT: Dave's jelly incarnation of surfers' paradise Newquay
will taste of apple and guava,
riding a wave of fudge cake and clotted cream mousse.
NOEL: Do you surf?
I try to surf. It's a thing that you go, "Oh, I want to be good at surfing,"
and then you go, "Oh, it's quite hard."
Yeah, you're like, "Oh... It looked easier."
On Point Break, it looks easy. Yeah! What a great film.
If they remade it with me and you,
you'd have to be Keanu... You reckon?
...and I'd have to be Swayze. Yeah, you reckon?
Yeah, not I reckon, that's a fact!
My dad's dog's called Swayze.
After Patrick Swayze? After Patrick Swayze. Wow!
Swayze, if you're watching this, respect!
Good luck.
While I'm waiting for it to set, I'm going to start my cake.
For the foundations of their jelly constructions,
most of the bakers have chosen a type of sponge.
Does it annoy me when people say "gen-oh-ese"?
Well, if you're going to speak a language,
you've got to make the effort, and that's about all I'm going to say!
They'll be in at 170 for about 20 to 30 minutes.
It's quite a broad window that I've given myself there.
But Marc's two-tiered creation will be underpinned
with airy meringue...
This is a hazelnut dacquoise,
basically, French meringue with folded nuts.
...while Hermine's risking possible subsidence
by adding a cherry liqueur drizzle to her genoise sponge.
Who can possibly hate a cake with a bit of alcohol in it?
Her sponge needs to hold up two mousse layers
and a domed jelly decorated with a giant poppy flower.
She's wrapping the whole cake in a chocolate collar
and finishing with a white chocolate ganache.
Well, I hope it does.
Has it held up in practice? I've practised them separately,
and I've never put one on top of the other.
So it's going to be a first!
And have you done injecting jelly before, to make flowers?
A couple of times. It is a bit tricky cos the jelly can split.
Thank you. Thanks.
Going to need it!
While Hermine's gambling with a soggy sponge...
Shall we name them as we put them in?
...Laura's Showstopper is taking solid shape.
Which one's got evil eyes?
Sorry, Paul. In you go!
As well as the baked element and melt-in-the-mouth jelly,
Prue and Paul want to see a perfectly-set mousse.
PETER: I've got orange juice and cranberry juice to reduce down,
and this is going to be part of the base for my mousses.
Clotted cream, going in. Gelatine will be added to this.
It did say, "Stir in the egg yolks," but it's gone kind of gloopy.
Peter's also trying to make his mousse less loose.
I'm just adding in a little bit of cornflour to make
the custard base for the mousses slightly thicker.
But he's the only baker whose use of custard extends to his jelly art.
Now I'm making the panna cotta for my moulded panna cotta shapes.
Just wanted to make sure that I get every step right.
Can't be doing with easy slip-ups today.
His panna cotta will form Christmas decorations
to fit to the inside of his clear snow globe jelly.
The extra sturdy cranberry and orange juice mousses
will hopefully add stability
and fill the cut-out centre of his sandwich cake.
Hopefully so.
How long did it take to set in practice?
I don't know. I didn't really time it completely.
No.
We'll do it today, though. I've got faith. All right, well, good luck.
Got faith in you. Thank you. Good luck!
Fakey cakey bakers, you have one hour left.
Righty ho, rinky dink, okey dokey.
I need to stay at a nice, fast lick.
The bakers need their mousses to start setting
and their baked elements cooling...
I'd better get my prick.
...before they return their attention
to the star of this week's Showstopper.
Sideways swimming fishes.
I think with the flowers above it, it should look OK.
Here we go.
When you insert it in the cut, as you press and draw back,
that fills it with colour. It's a crazy technique.
LAURA: Just doing lots of petals.
It's got a ragged edge to emulate a peony, really.
Oh, you bugger. Didn't want that to happen.
Come on... I've got a blockage.
It's kind of baking.
Baking, but not as we know it.
It's like a surgical operation, isn't it?
Hopefully the jelly won't feel any pain afterwards!
I might get some jelly flowers put into my liver. Yeah.
Will you do it? Yeah.
I don't want to be out, though. I want to see it all.
Wow, look at that! Yeah, getting there. Come on, that's tremendous.
I like the look of it. I didn't know I had it in me!
I'm heating up the inside bowl here to melt the edge of the jelly.
And then I'll be able to add in the panna cotta figures now.
This is so annoying, look. You've got a bit sort of hanging off,
and you don't know where to start it.
This looks tricky.
We're just talking about opening foil, so we're going to leave you.
Matt, you stay there until you've worked it out.
I've got to figure this out.
This is going to be the bottom of the jelly.
When you look through it, you see, like,
a green background on the bottom, and then the flowers should lift.
I think I've figured it out, Laura.
I'm notorious for my mess, aren't I? You'd be disappointed if I wasn't.
Bakers, you have 30 minutes left.
Just need it to set.
And then I need it to release from the bowl perfectly.
With his cake setting in the fridge, all Dave has to do is wait.
For the rest of the bakers, it's time to build.
You all right?
How do I do this?
Oh, help, help, help, help, help.
It's OK. It's OK. Why is this so stressful?
Bakers, you have 15 minutes left.
I'm going to attempt to put the jelly on the cake.
Then the jelly on the jelly.
Held too briefly in the water,
the bakers risk tearing the jelly when they flip it over.
It all hangs on this.
It's hot, as well, this water.
Leave it too long and they risk melting it.
That is very melty. Too melty, probably.
Releasing now.
Come on...
Come on, release!
Doing it...
Jeepers creepers.
That's not awful.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Gosh...
Bakers, your time is up.
Done it! Yeah!
Please step away from your jelly art desserts.
I'm so happy with that. I think it looks really cool.
Look at what happened, I've done a jelly cake!
After four and a half hours of jelly artistry
and with a place in the semifinal at stake,
the bakers have to face the judges.
Laura, would you like to bring up your Showstopper, please?
You can see it. It reminds you of a pond, doesn't it? Yeah.
I love the way you've put the flowers in there,
I think they look great. And it's got bubbles in it.
That's the koi bubbling. Well, it's brilliant.
I'd like to have seen the sponge covered with something.
So it looks...neater.
That jelly looks quite nice and soft too.
Mm! The raspberry mousse is particularly good.
Really lovely. It's perfect, actually. Lovely.
Every layer is excellent.
The jelly melts in the mouth, the elderflower works really well.
Every single texture, every single flavour is spot-on for me.
Well done.
Smashed it, well done.
David, I think it is absolutely astonishing.
It is completely beautiful.
They are my colours exactly.
Yeah, Prue as a jelly design cake, that would be it. Very clever.
I've given you a massive piece there, Prue. David, that is so neat.
Your jelly is fantastic.
It's nice and light and it melts in the mouth,
but your downfall is the bit underneath.
Is that clotted cream mousse?
Well, you've probably put too much gelatine in it.
It's too stodgy.
Your sponge itself, I'm not getting chocolate and I'm certainly
not getting fudge, though when you eat that with that,
it feels dry.
I wouldn't be quite so harsh.
My only quarrel is with the mousse, which isn't as silky
soft as you expect, but do you know what?
I think it's quite an achievement, David, really.
And I think it's beautiful. Well done.
It does look phenomenal.
It's very abstract, isn't it? So, that's a reindeer
and that's a snowman and that's a Christmas tree
and then it's repeated.
I don't think it looks very like a snow globe.
Probably needed bolder colours. When you think of a Christmas tree,
you don't think of something as pale as that. You needed more vibrancy
to it because it's a bit pastel. Let's have a look inside.
Not the easiest cake to cut.
I question whether those mousses are actually set properly yet.
They're very, very soft.
I think your sponge is slightly over baked
and you can tell by the colour.
It shouldn't be quite as dark as that.
The flavours, though, are beautiful.
I think the main problem is with the size,
because it's really difficult to get a huge slice out.
And because the mousses are only just set,
it's just like a good trifle
and I'm going to have the other mouthful.
Well done. Well done, Peter.
The strawberry mousse looks curdled... ..and not set.
This is going to be an interesting cut.
The jelly's on the top of a board?
Oh, dear. It's slightly overdone, this. It's like concrete.
Oh, dear.
THEY LAUGH
Excuse me, Prue.
Is that meant to be mousse, that chocolate?
Is it?! That's more like a ganache.
Your chocolate is too hard.
The mousse has split, the dacquoise is over baked.
The jelly's too rubbery.
But besides that, brilliant. I like the design.
You're the only one, sort of, to do a two-tier design.
I just don't think you've organised the whole cake as a one-piece.
No.
Beautiful. Straight out of a Parisian patisserie.
And I'll tell you what, I'm a hot-stuff gardener
and that is the most perfect Japanese poppy.
Right.
It's absolutely gorgeous.
The raspberry, the chocolate mousse work beautifully well together
and then you've got that almost aromatic flavour
coming from the jelly. Fantastic.
All the layers are interesting.
The poppy top is fantastic and you know how to make genoise
and you've made a perfect one. So it's a real triumph. Lovely.
Well done, Hermine.
Oh, the white chocolate ganache is delicious too. It is.
Take it away. Quickly!
Go away before we find something to complain about.
Well done.
LAUGHING: That went great, didn't it?
Er...it could have gone better.
Wow! That was incredible.
It was good, wasn't it?
I think it was the most amazing day, today.
What about Hermine?
And then I thought Laura's was really good.
It was a bit untidy round the edges, but the cake was great,
the two mousses were good, the topping was lovely.
You said it was too big, as well, so it was hard to cut a slice.
When you cut a slice,
you want to be taking that around to show people, don't you?
Poor Marc. I felt so sorry for him.
Nothing went right in that.
Bakers, I have got the great job of announcing
who is Star Baker this week.
Before I do that, I just want to say that Showstopper was off the hook.
It really was amazing, so well done, all of you.
Now, this week's Star Baker is...
...Hermine.
SHE EXHALES
Well done, Hermine.
SHE MOUTHS
Well, it falls to me, then, to tell you who's leaving us this week.
It's someone who's been on an incredible journey
and I know that this journey will continue after this show.
And the person who is leaving us this week is...
I'm so sorry, It's Marc.
It's OK.
Cheers, guys.
Cheers, mate.
Yep.
Thank you, Prue.
I'm sorry, Marc. No, no, I knew I'd reached my limit this week.
I'm feelingmsurprisingly OK, actually.
Yeah, miss you too.
I mean, I came to the Bake Off to kind of face my anxieties,
to face failure, to face all those things that, as people,
we're quite uncomfortable about dealing with.
I've definitely learnt a bit more about myself,
and maybe, from what a lot of people have said,
it's to give myself a bit more credit, as well, which I, I don't.
Cheers, Paul. Thank you.
Marc's been great. And actually he's been on probably
the biggest journey out of all the bakers in the tent this year.
He started off pretty badly,
and then, as each week has passed by, he's got better
and better and better, and it's a shame to see him go.
Bittersweet, sort of happy,
but the shine has definitely been taken off of it,
especially when you lose someone that you're close to,
and then I think Marc was...a real gent.
Aren't you a clever girl?
Hermine, her second Star Baker in a row. She is an amazing baker.
In the past, she's done really well because she's kept it quite safe,
but this time, she made this amazing Japanese poppy.
It was just beautiful.
I don't think it's sunk in yet that the semifinal is coming up.
It doesn't feel real.
HE EXHALES Like, mind blown.
Next time,
the semifinal.
Don't make mistakes!
And temperatures rise again...
So warm in here.
...as the bakers meet the challenge...
...with a mind-bending technical.
This is like rocket science.
Who will turn it up in the Showstopper...
...and who will be left wooing the judges...
Ooh-ho!
...as they fight for a place in the final of The Great British Bake Off?
How's it going?
Are you a Star Baker in the making?
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