Tap. Tap. Tap.
Ann? Whatcha doing?
It’s Maple Week.
I’m tapping for syrup, but it’s not working,
That’s not gonna work. Tap shoes.
Alan, that doesn’t make sense.
This is how you tap.
There’s no beeping.
Guys, please, you’re all wrong.
The only way to tap is to squeeze.
Give me a few more hours.
Is this even a maple tree?
Ann, I think I know what a maple tree looks like.
Last time...
There’s a rollercoaster arriving.
- Yeah? - Wee!
...the tent got festive...
I’m so excited.
...for Carnival Week.
We’re going showgirl.
And Dominic dazzled...
Absolutely stunning.
...earning him his first Star Baker.
What?
- Some... - Ah!
...had a rocky ride...
I dropped the mask.
...and Tamara had to say goodbye.
What are we gonna do for fun now?
- Now... - Let’s go!
...our most Canadian week yet.
It’s Maple Week!
We’re coming back home and it feels nice.
The bakers will slip into a sappy Signature...
I don’t know why it’s tricky,
I just know it’s gonna be tricky.
...get into the thick of the Technical...
No amount of push-ups could prepare me for this.
...then pour it all...
This is the hardest freaking part.
...into a maple soaked Showstopper.
I’ve lost count of all the doughs I have
going on, on here and there, over there, here.
Good morning.
So, I was Star Baker last week,
so that comes with some pressure,
but that’s nothing compared to the fact that
I’m from Quebec and it’s Maple Week.
I’m still here. I’m grateful and...
a little anxious.
Because I feel like it’s just gonna get harder.
I really wanted to be Star Baker last week,
but you know what? This might be my week.
It’s gonna be a tricky one.
But let go and let God.
Bakers, this week we’re gonna tap into a
quintessentially Canadian nectar, maple.
Today’s Signature Challenge
comes all the way from Quebec,
the pudding chômeur, also known as
poor man’s pudding.
That’s because it was invented during the
Great Depression when people had to manage
with limited ingredients.
In its simplest form, it’s a cake-y batter
that’s cooked in a pool of maple sauce.
Ooh! A pool I’d love to swim in.
Today you will take the traditional pudding recipe
and add your own unique flair
with maple playing a big part.
Bakers, you have two hours to make
eight identical puddings.
- On your marks! - Get set!
ALAN and ANN: Bake!
It’s Maple Week, baby!
I’m excited, I love maple syrup.
I love it on pancakes. I love it in my coffee.
I have four children.
We go through gallons of maple syrup
every weekend for breakfast, where I’m
on maple syrup watch, like, "That’s enough!"
Maple is so entrenched in Canadian culinary,
so I’m expecting the bakers to be daring, creative,
to push the boundaries of what you can do with maple.
I added a little bit of tequila.
Oh, this is the good stuff.
Pudding chômeur is a classic Québécois dessert.
Safe.
The bakers can’t play it safe with this challenge.
We want the bakers to bring us colour,
bring us flavours, incorporate toppings
and really showcase one of the
great Canadian traditions.
Pudding chômeur is home.
Every family in Québec has a recipe for this so...
we’re coming back home now, and it feels nice.
Dominic will celebrate his homecoming with a
raspberry chômeur soaked with miso maple cream.
Is miso a very traditional recipe from the family
or is that a Dominic spin on things?
No, I think it would be frowned upon.
Maple is the star...
Sticky, sticky.
...made brighter by bold flavour pairings.
I am making cranberry mini-bundt cakes.
I’ll be making a margarita chômeur today.
Ooh, I can smell the tequila.
Heh-heh-heh.
I’m making a spicy chômeur. Whoops.
So I’m starting right now with my cake batter.
The heart of pudding chômeur is the
dense, moist cake.
I’m using maple sugar to amp the maple up.
It should give it a good zip.
My cake batter is espresso flavoured.
I think it’s delicious,
even though I don’t actually drink coffee.
Kavi will layer up his latte chômeur with a
maple whip and a maple espresso caramel.
My wife, she’s very particular about her coffee.
She’s like, "I am going to give you the
right espresso beans for this."
Does it make an extra layer of pressure on you?
I think there’s a lot of layers of pressure.
It’s hard to keep track of how many layers there are.
Okay, so I need more maple.
Mm-mm.
The bakers must also get working on their sauce...
That’s what we’re gonna cook the pudding in.
...that will seep into the chômeur while it bakes.
It’s cake magic today.
I’m gonna add a lot of rum to this.
Whoo.
I came out of the womb wanting jerk chicken,
so I love hot on everything.
So, I’m gonna put some gochujang
in my caramel sauce.
Agh! There goes my spoon.
Zoë will turn up the heat with gochujang
maple caramel enrobing her sesame chômeur.
There we go.
Make sure they’re all the same.
I can definitely smell the chilies. Hooh!
Pouring hot sauce over a cake before
going into the oven sounds wrong,
but that’s the secret to pudding chômeur.
It goes through the batter and makes its
own sauce at the bottom, self-saucing.
That’s good. That’s good.
Pouring my sauce over the batter and
we’re going in the oven right now.
Please bake well.
Okay, good night. Okay, now...
I gotta start my ice cream.
If chômeur wasn’t enough,
one baker is pulling out all the stops...
I’m gonna be making some cranberry ripple
ice cream to go with it.
...and she’s not alone.
Ice cream’s going, eh, Margaret?
Yeah, it’s going. Yours getting in there too?
Right now, yeah.
I’ve made my ice cream multiple times.
I feel okay about everything until I get in here
and then I’m like...
sweating, so fingers crossed.
Ryan’s vanilla ice cream will top his
butter pecan maple chômeur
nestled in cherry mousse.
Oh, and you’re adding a layer of mousse.
- Yes, yeah. - Okay, wow.
So quite complex technique.
- Yeah, I mean... - Ice cream, mousse.
I’m a sucker for pain so, yeah.
Ay, ay, ay.
As they reimagine the chômeur...
This is gonna be a weird one.
...the bakers are all adding extra layers of flavour.
I’m making a banana custard, which is gorgeous.
Look at that.
My arm...
My arm is dead.
Passionfruit gelée is on.
My mom loves passionfruit so much that my dad
asked a friend to find a passionfruit plant
to plant in our garden.
Yeah, not here though, in China.
Jennifer’s margarita chômeur shakes things up
with a passionfruit gelée and a zesty lime curd.
Oh my goodness, I juiced so many limes.
I can feel every single cut in my finger.
Ann, it’s been an honour...
and a privilege to go through this
baking show journey with you.
Oh jeez, Alan, you’re so sappy.
One hour, bakers?
Ice cream coming out, yeah.
Okay, so that’s just coarse pickling salt...
and it just goes in here and gets shaken around in here.
I learned this from a science experiment
I used to do with my kids when I was teaching,
just adding salt to ice
drops the freezing temperature
and it will chill my ice cream way faster.
Margaret’s cranberry maple chômeur will
have a cool sidecar of cranberry ripple ice cream.
Since you don’t look too stressed,
we’re gonna let you finish everything.
On the outside, you know, I’m underwater-
That thing.
Oh.
They’re pretty much ready.
I’m hoping and praying that my cake
cools quick enough...
or else it’ll melt the mousse and
I’ll have this one big pile of slop.
As time drips away...
- I’m making tuilles. - Yay!
...the bakers dash to decor.
Wow, that is so pretty.
Let’s hope they bake well.
I’m working on my Florentines.
This is to give it a bit of crunch for texture.
Jo’s maple rum chômeur will float on
banana crème légère clouds and be topped with
a crunchy peanut florentine.
They’re going to be very thin?
Yeah, hopefully.
That can be a big challenge, huh?
I haven’t had any problems with it so far,
so please don’t jinx me, Bruno.
Please work.
Okay.
I am candying some Bird’s Eye chilis.
So sticky.
This is tanghulu, and it’s just cranberries
dipped in a hard sugar coating.
They’re like adult lollipops.
- Excellent. - Yes, yes.
Good.
It can’t just be rustic in the tent, right?
Yeah, you gotta pinkies up on everything.
It has to be fancy, exactly.
Two pinkies up, actually.
Both of them.
Yeah, including my toes.
You can’t see them, but they’re up right now.
Oh, yo! Please be dry.
I think Bruno jinxed me.
They spread too much.
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
I’m a stressed-out bartender today.
Bakers, five minutes left.
Ah, what time?
Okay...
Oh great.
Alright, here we go. It is assembly time.
I think it’s gonna be down to
the last couple minutes.
Now I just need to work as fast as I can.
Don’t want a dry pudding.
A little pressed for time,
but there’s nothing I can do.
Let’s do it, we’re getting dirty.
No time for cleanliness now.
Gotta be perfect.
My final layer that hopefully I can slap on top.
Uh, Ryan, can you help me?
What do you need?
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Oh boy, let’s go!
Ah!
Oh my god, yummy.
There.
Thank you so much.
ALAN and ANN: Five! Four!
Three! Two! One!
You’re done, bakers!
Hands off your Signature bakes!
Great work!
Down to the wire! That was tight.
Bruno and Kyla will now taste the
baker’s pudding chômeurs.
Wow, Ryan.
It sparkles, it’s like party time,
good vibe in the Soo.
Something a steelworker would do, right?
- Yeah, yeah, exactly. - Exactly what I was thinking!
The pecans, the cherry mousse,
everything is just coming together with the maple...
and to come up with an ice cream that’s
rich in flavour and firmly set, nicely done.
Yeah, delish.
That mousse is like, you could
blow bubbles with it. So light.
- Hello. - Hello.
Hello.
Oh, this is such an elevated presentation.
Is this how you grew up eating it?
Seeing those raspberries inside,
beautiful pop of colour.
It’s really good.
Bringing that miso in, I think that
it’s something I wouldn’t have thought to put
with maple, and I think they work really well together.
This makes "miso" happy.
It looks like if we opened up a magazine
and there was an editorial,
Great Canadian Fall Treats, this is it.
Yeah, and some of them you can see the layers
a little bit clearer.
Some of them are a little more mushed down,
but we get the overall idea.
There is strong coffee flavour component.
It’s just like having a cappuccino.
Like a maple latte. Perfect fall treat.
If I was dreaming of pudding chômeurs,
it would look like that.
Thank you.
It’s like dripping a little.
The baking of your chômeurs,
I think, is really on point here.
The maple has a beautiful sweetness.
Yeah.
The banana cream is soft, very light.
Then you get a little kick of rum.
Wow. The cranberries,
I mean, the way that they’re just standing up,
just like an invitation in to say, eat me!
The texture of this is lip smacking.
It just melts in your mouth and your ice cream
is really well made.
And that amazing contrast of the sweetness
of the maple and the pop of cranberries.
- Ooh! - That’s so sour.
Every hair is curling on me.
This is such a bold statement on
how to make a pudding chômeur.
Like just look at the colour.
My god, that flavour, that’s so unique,
and I’m glad you dare to do it.
The way you played with the gochujang,
it makes you keep taking a bite.
It’s very tasty, it’s hot.
But there is that smokiness to it, that richness.
And you haven’t lost the effect of maple.
For me it’s magical.
Oh, thank you.
This is electric, Jennifer.
It’s such a creative interpretation.
And it does definitely evoke a margarita.
Thank you.
One drink, please, thank you.
Oh, Jennifer.
What have you done here?
Your lime curd just pops.
The maple brings the sweetness,
and then the passion fruit just brings it together.
Beautiful.
Perfect, thank you so much.
I’m so happy, oh my God!
I was so worried. I barely finished on time.
I’m also grateful for Ryan.
It was like such a roller coaster
of emotions right now.
Maple Week so far is pretty good, eh?
Bakers, welcome to your Maple Week
Technical Challenge.
Quite literally a sticky situation.
Judges, can you please give our bakers some advice?
Don’t stir the pot.
Mm, you’re right. That’s our job! Ha-ha.
All right, Judges, ta-ta for now.
Today for your Technical Challenge,
you will be making a maple mousse tart.
Specifically, your tart is a short crust pastry shell
with two different maple layers.
A maple syrup fudge.
The second, a maple butter mousse.
Basically, our most Canadian bake yet.
Mm-hm.
Bakers, you have two hours and 15 minutes.
- On your marks! - Get set!
ALAN and ANN: Bake!
So many pages.
Technical is this wicked maple mousse tart.
I understand all those words separately,
but not all together, you know?
I’m so excited about this challenge because
it is layer upon layer of maple deliciousness.
Well, I cannot wait to see what’s inside.
We start with a walnut short crust,
a raspberry jam to break up the sweetness.
On top is a maple mousse, and in the middle
is the best part, it’s a maple fudge.
So, you’re going to have the bakers
make fudge in the tent?
There’s a high risk of separating,
crystallizing, and seizing, ah?
Yep, and I know because I have done
all of those mistakes.
I love how smooth the mousse is,
and how it contrasts the buttery texture of the crust.
But tell the truth, it’s all about that
fudge in the centre, isn’t it?
It’s all about the fudge.
Right now, I’m a little overwhelmed.
It’s very complicated, surprisingly.
I can’t even tell you right now I’m so flustered.
I know it has fudge,
and so that’s what I’m starting on right now.
Have you made fudge before?
No, but I don’t know,
I’m channeling my grandma.
So, your grandma likes fudge?
- No. - Ha!
Then why are you channeling your grandma?
It felt right.
Fudge is notoriously tricky.
I don’t know why it’s tricky,
I just know it’s gonna be tricky.
It takes a long time...
...and temperature control is key.
We have to keep a close eye on the fudge
while making all the other components.
Okay, I am getting started on
the short crust pastry. All right, let’s do this.
Coming together beautifully here.
Just keep my eye on the fudge over there.
I’m watching you.
You’re not falling over on my watch.
The bakers have to keep their eyes on
more than just the fudge.
I’m doing the jam.
The walnuts don’t take a lot of time.
I wish I had four pairs of eyes.
Oh, two pairs of eyes.
So many things to watch at once.
Woo!
How do I know if my walnuts are good?
This will give us a nice, hopefully shiny,
jewel-like jam at the bottom of our tart.
It’s good jam.
Next, short crust.
The tender crust must be rolled out
to quarter inch thick...
However, I do not know how thick that is so,
good thing we have a ruler.
It’s a bit crumbly.
...and then baked to perfection.
Golden brown. We’re looking for golden brown here.
I’m starting my mousse.
I’m still waiting for the fudge to get to temperature.
It’s kind of unnerving that it’s not there yet,
but just have to accept it and go with it.
I’m making the maple mousse.
Seems weird.
I feel like every Technical is an arm work out.
This part I’m not as worried about,
but I want this to hurry up and get to temperature
because I’ve got to cool it down.
Oh my gosh.
Like, few more degrees and we’re there.
Kyla said not to stir the pot.
There’s a little bit of crystallization and I just
want to fiddle with it, but can’t touch the pot.
Just gonna listen. Gonna listen,
I’m a good listener.
It’s time, thank goodness.
I’m gonna pour that in there.
Time to pour. I think I may have burnt it.
Yeah, it looks like it.
I think I’ve ruined this too.
I’m burning everything.
Bakers, you have 45 minutes left!
Okay.
Once the fudge has cooled...
This smells good.
...the bakers have to beat it, by hand...
...until it changes.
It’s supposed to get lighter in colour.
I think I burnt my fudge.
It’s a little darker than I think it should be so-
But we’re at the point in no return now,
so I gotta roll with it.
No amount of push-ups could prepare me for this.
I don’t know about this.
I don’t know if I should start over or what.
First time making fudge?
First time making fudge,
probably last time making fudge.
This is where I would call my husband.
Florian, mon amour, I have a job for you.
If the mixer can’t do it, I can’t do it.
We whip it. We whip it and we pray.
Twenty minutes ’til you let your mousse loose...
into my mouth.
Oh, god.
I’m folding my whipped cream into my pastry cream
to make the mousse.
I’m trying to keep it airy and mousse-y.
It’s just not smooth.
Eh!
That looks perfect.
But that’s the only thing that looks perfect.
Okay, I’m gonna take the pie crust out.
Are you okay?
Yeah, I just touched the hot pan.
Bakers, you have five minutes left!
Oh my god.
Starting to assemble in an unconventional way.
I don’t know.
A diagram would have been nice.
I don’t like this.
Decorating my favourite part.
Provided this doesn’t all melt.
I have to be fast and accurate.
I’m not too sure about the decoration,
so I’m just winging it.
Oh! Should we dust this in the middle,
or should we dust this all over?
- ALAN and ANN: Ten! - Ah!
ALAN and ANN: Nine! Eight! Seven!
Six! Five!
Four! Three!
Two! One!
You’re done, bakers! Hands off your tarts!
- Great job! - Woo!
Bakers, please bring your maple mousse tarts up to
the gingham altar and place them behind your photos.
The judges are looking for a golden tart
with airy maple fudge, smooth mousse,
and firm-set raspberry jam.
Let’s taste your maple mousse tarts.
Our first baker?
A lot of raspberries,
but they have a nice shine on them.
Oh, yes, and we have nice distinct layers.
The crust seems like it’s baked through.
The mousse is very smooth.
The texture of the fudge is also smooth.
It’s a very pleasant flavour.
Very nice.
Moving to our second baker.
The bake looks very nice.
Mousse is perfect. Very nice and light.
The fudge itself has that burnt taste,
and we can see the jam could have also been set
a little bit more.
Moving to our third baker.
Wow, it’s a lovely looking crust.
That mousse is just a little bit soft.
The raspberry jam is oozing out.
But the mousse does have a nice flavour.
And the texture of the fudge is quite nice here.
Moving to baker number four.
It does have a very rushed look to it.
We can see the raspberry jam is oozing out,
and the fudge itself is quite thick and dense.
Beautiful bake on the crust,
but unfortunately the fudge tastes a bit burnt
and the mousse is very waxy.
All right, moving to baker number five.
A very precise placement of the raspberries.
Very distinct layers here.
Nicely baked on the crust.
The mousse is not as aerated as we would like,
but that fudge...
is cooked properly.
And the raspberry jam is on point.
All right, moving to baker number six.
Beautiful piping. Very well-defined lines.
Nice clean layers.
Great flavour on the mousse.
Nice texture.
Maybe the base is rolled a bit too thick.
But lovely rich flavour to the fudge.
That jam just needed to be cooked a little bit longer.
And to our final baker.
Beautiful piping, a lot of control here.
Looks like everything is well set,
but the pastry is undercooked.
The fudge is close. Flavour’s there,
but I think it just needs to be a little lighter.
Kyla and Bruno will now rank the tarts
from bottom to top.
In seventh place...
Whose is this?
Kavi, good crust.
The other elements needed some work.
In sixth place...
Ryan, good mousse but the fudge was overcooked.
Zoë is fifth, Jo earns fourth,
and Jennifer takes third.
In second place...
Margaret, good work.
The mousse needed a bit more body.
And in first place...
Dominic!
You sure like raspberries.
I do.
Excellent work on a tough challenge.
I was very shocked that it was me.
It was difficult just because there were many things
happening at the same time.
But...
yeah, things seem to have gone alright.
Good job.
It was a diabolical Technical to have.
All I can do is focus on the bake that’s coming up.
There’s no fudge in that bake,
so I’m hopeful that it will go better.
Wow, Maple Week is bringing the drama.
Mm-hm, that Technical was fudging hard.
We need that kind of Technical to really
challenge the bakers to really start to separate
the great from the good.
Okay, well then, does the Signature
tell you anything?
Well, it told us how amazing they are.
Honestly, there was so much flavour, wasn’t there?
They all put their own signature spin
on the very classic dessert.
Truth be told, I really think that it puts us
in a position where the order of the Technical
is really the order that they’re coming into today.
But I don’t think anyone can hide behind that.
Everyone needs to bring it full on
if they want to stay in this competition.
Bakers, we’re closing out Maple Week
with your Showstopper Challenge.
The thing is, we can’t really talk about maple
without talking about breakfast.
Yes, nothing quite like adding liquid gold
to your morning meal. So to honour this tradition,
you will make a maple brunch platter.
The judges would like six servings of
- three different bakes. - One laminated.
Like a croissant or a danish.
One quick bread.
Like a scone or a muffin.
And one... dealer’s choice.
Like a, I don’t know, whatever you want.
I’m not the boss of you.
Your platter should be a combo of savoury and sweet
and feature maple in a big way.
Bakers, let’s start this morning off right.
You have four hours on the clock.
- On your marks! - Get set!
ALAN and ANN: Bake!
Oh my God.
Another Showstopper!
Got lots and lots and lots to do.
Brunch is not relaxing today.
It’s a Canadian homecoming to be invited
for a brunch where maple is the star.
My best friend made this for me,
and it’s my little treasure.
Oh my gosh.
So, I keep it for a special occasion.
How much more special can you get than the tent?
I know, right? Yeah.
We’re looking for an abundance of flavour
and texture profiles.
Oh, it smells so good.
We have seen that these bakers can bake,
but can they prepare multiple things
under the pressure of very limited time?
Four hours passes by like a blink of an eye.
I mean, I host for brunch all the time.
Usually, I take about a weekend to prepare
all of this.
We’re gonna, we’re gonna get ’er done today.
With a mountain of brunch ahead,
the bakers begin with the most time-consuming bake.
Get on my laminated door right away.
Ah!
Laminated dough is the flakey pastry part of brunch.
Laminated dough?
When it works well, it’s a very beautiful thing,
but it has to work.
It’s built with butter...
This is the best part. Whooph!
...folds...
As many as I can.
...and a whole lotta time.
Takes so dang long.
I’m going to go Danish style and in
the middle, there’s going to be maple cream.
My secret is using some bread flour.
But it’s a secret.
Secret’s out on Margaret’s brunch with
pastry-wrapped baked apples,
banana bread French toast, and peppered sausage rolls.
How comfortable are you making a laminated dough?
I... pretty good, but never know.
In the freezer you go.
We’re good, we’re good.
In the meanwhile...
Next, quick bread.
Have to move quickly.
But fast can’t mean bland.
This is a matcha and earl grey scone,
because you can’t have brunch without tea.
This is my plums.
I’m gonna roast them in a little butter
and some maple,
and then they’re going on top of my financier.
So, this is my scone, and I’m trying to
make it in a maple leaf shape so it’ll add
a little extra fun to it.
Kavi’s bringing the fun with
maple croissant muffins, mushroom khachapuri,
and cinnamon layered scones.
It’s taking much longer for this to work.
Definitely more stressful than normal brunch.
There is so much to do today.
We have to work like little, I don’t know what.
This maple brunch is intense.
Time flies, eh, Dom?
Yeah, holy.
Ryan’s brunch will pack a punch with a spicy
fried chicken donut, cranberry morning bun,
and his wife’s beloved lemon lavender scone.
If you’re making the scones for your wife,
are they gluten-free?
You know what?
There’s gonna be a surprise coming down.
Ryan, you- RYAN: And I...
- Okay, I’ll tell you. - Thank you!
They’re gonna be gluten-free.
Big risk, but they’re banging, so...
- Okay! - We’re gonna give her.
-Don’t tell the judges. -I can keep a secret.
I’m gonna tell them after they eat it.
- Okay! - Hopefully it works out.
That’s my quick bread.
It’s an apple, crumble, and maple...
mini bread.
Nope, bacon.
How could I forget the bacon?
It’s bacon cornbread. I love bacon.
I made three extra pieces just to eat.
Bacon-scallion cornbread muffins
will cozy up to maple mascarpone éclairs
while plantain and goat cheese danishes
sneak in an island wink.
Any concerns with this bake?
Anything that’s gonna go on that you...?
Lots of concerns.
Time is running out very, very quickly...
but I only have one oven so that’s the tricky part.
You can steal one of these other extra ones over here.
I might, if you can’t see me, I’m back there.
Sweating now.
Banana bread in the oven...
but lots more to go.
- Say when. - Mm-hm.
Keep going, keep going, keep going
for another two hours! Keep going, keep going.
- Too much, I don’t want it. - Oh.
Already two hours?
I’m on my third dough. Yay!
I’ve lost count of all the doughs
I have going on, on here and there,
over there, here.
So, I’m just gonna move on to my choux.
Now I’m starting on my eclairs,
which is a choux pastry. I actually want...
- Hey, Dom? Dom, Dom. - Yeah?
More eggs?
- Yeah, a little bit. - Yeah, thank you.
- Just a little bit. - Okay, thank you.
Bah-dah, bah-dah-dah.
Cranberry maple danishes
and caramelized apple bread will flank
Dominic’s salmon mousse filled cream puffs.
I hosted brunch with these puffs.
Everybody wanted the recipe.
Wow.
Yeah, I do brunch a lot at home.
So, this is just a regular
weekend morning for you.
Yeah...
Yeah, yeah, a bit more stress.
But, yeah.
This is my donut, ah, dough.
Oh, who doesn’t love donuts?
For my third bake,
I’m making a mille crêpe cake.
And I’ve got some orange liqueur in there.
Ooh, nice. So we have mimosas?
No drinking on the job.
Agh, what type of job is that then?
I know.
Jo’s brunch has plum financiers nestled
next to pork and maple sausage rolls,
and a decadent chocolate orange crêpe cake.
This is the first one.
The first crêpe never works.
That needs to be hotter.
This is pastry, and I’m just wrapping
them up and gluing them with egg wash.
It holds all the juices in too.
So hopefully there’s no leaks.
This is my khachapuri dough,
and I’m just shaping it so that we can get baking soon.
I’m rolling out my stuffed bagels.
It took me a long time to learn
how to wrap bagels nicely.
They used to look really ugly.
Apple-stuffed bagels will complement
Jennifer’s barbecue pork puffs,
and matcha and earl grey scones.
- So, stuffed bagel, ah? - Exactly.
I love to eat it as breakfast for work and school.
You just heat it up and everything’s in there.
Oh... hm.
I think it’s kind of burnt.
Let’s do this again. Okay.
It’s a little hot. Moving on to éclairs.
Bakers, you have one hour left!
Oh yeah, she’s hot, she’s hot, that’s okay.
I’m frying my donuts for my fried chicken
donut sandwich. Who doesn’t love donuts?
It is quite repetitive.
It’s crêpe, cream, crêpe, cream, crêpe, cream.
Thirty-four times.
Go big or go home, quite literally.
The clock is running, but brunch isn’t ready...
So much to do still.
...and laminated dough still looms.
In this moment I wish it was anything
but laminated dough. It’s kind of like, blegh.
Good god! Maple Week is a doozy.
I am sweat-ting.
I’m working on my puff pastry.
The trick is don’t fill it too much
or else they will explode.
But it’s so yummy,
so I just want to fill as much as I can.
A muffin and a croissant had a baby.
That’s what this is like.
This is the sausage filling for the sausage rolls.
I’m feeling very rushed, extremely rushed.
We’re under a little bit of a time crunch today.
I could do with one or two more hands.
All right, buddy. Bake properly.
Okay, now what?
Bakers, you’ve got 20 minutes left.
Getting stressed,
I’m getting really stressed.
Just got so many other things
on the go here that it’s a rush.
As any Jamaican would know,
plantain is a staple.
Whoops, sticky little guys.
I’m trying to redo my scones.
My previous batch came out burnt.
Scones round two.
Now this is the part my kids would normally get.
The bit I cut off.
They are done, okay.
Look at those layers, baby.
Crispy, crunchy, lovely.
Happiness is having fully cooked buns.
Bakers, you’re down to your last 10 minutes.
Whoa, oh my god.
- Let’s go. - Mama mia.
Yeah, I think that’s good.
It’s really hard to say though.
Okay, let’s go, go, go.
As fast as I can. Oh my god.
This is the hardest freaking part.
Sriracha glaze to my chicken.
It’s gonna be a race to the end here.
It’s tight, of course,
considering I baked the scones twice.
Trying to get it on the plate.
I’m missing something.
It’s all about the details
in these final moments.
Ah, they’re so messy, whatever.
- Um... - Okay.
Gotta work really fast.
Gosh, here we go.
ALAN and ANN: Ten! Nine!
Eight! Seven!
Six! Five!
Four! Three!
Two! One!
You’re done, bakers! Hands off your brunch bars!
- Great work, everybody! - Oh my god!
This was happening behind me?
Now, Bruno and Kyla will ’tuck-in’
to the maple brunch platters.
There’s so much to take in here.
It gives me that feeling of a sugar shack.
Should we start savoury?
Let’s do savoury.
Look at that baking. Beautiful golden colour.
Mm! Dill and maple together?
It’s really good.
Yeah.
Oh, there’s only six on here?
Should we move into the apple and maple cakes?
That screams maple all over.
And it has a nice apple in those, it’s a bit tart.
Yes.
Beautiful shape on the pinwheels.
Yeah, and gorgeous colour.
The sound of good baking when you bite into it.
Oh, it’s just one of life’s pleasures, isn’t it?
Mm, very well done.
Very, very well done.
Thank you very much.
Jo, these sausage rolls, wow.
Your lamination is so perfect.
Lots and lots of layers in there.
Amazing display of flavours,
but I do find the sausage itself a bit dry.
- Financiers time. - Financier.
There is a lot of brown butter inside
and it shows here.
The maple and plum,
they play so beautifully off of each other,
and then you’re right about the brown butter,
it really just completes the whole thing.
And, of course, a crêpe cake!
Of course.
It takes so much effort to make something
look so effortless. It’s actually very light
in texture and fresh in flavour.
Thank you.
Jennifer, I am in disbelief that you were
able to make bagels and fill them.
Like it’s gorgeous.
And look at that softness.
Ah. Great apple flavour in there.
And bagels are baked exactly the way
a bagel should be.
So, on the leaf scones, nice two-tone.
We don’t see that often.
Great flavour for the matcha, but I would have
used a bit more fat content.
- It is a bit on the dry side. - Mm-hm.
And then when you look at your puff pastry here,
you can just see how well laminated it is.
The pork filling, beautiful spices.
It’s just beautiful flavour.
But we can see inside we do have raw dough.
Kavi, your khachapuri is really
the centrepiece of this platter.
So voluminous and appetizing.
That filling, you made a mornay sauce?
Wonderful flavours for that.
But we can see in the centre, it’s underbaked.
- Scone time. - Okay.
It looks rushed with the icing on the top.
I think you have an amazing scone recipe,
but being rolled so thin, you know,
it just makes them dry.
Yeah.
And now the croissant muffin.
That’s how you unroll happiness, isn’t it?
That’s a rock star of a bake.
Thank you.
Margaret, I love how your French toasts
are more of a family presentation,
where everybody can dig into it.
For me, it is a bit on the dry side.
- Okay. - What’s next?
Sausage time.
Yeah, there’s a commitment here
that I appreciate.
Very buttery, and it’s a moist sausage.
I think the quality of your lamination
is excellent here. Crispy all around.
Ah, thank you.
And now the apple.
That apple is cooked perfectly.
Mm, this is actually something my family
used to make a lot growing up,
and it’s just bringing back
such great memories right now.
Ryan, I love how it looks a bit like comfort food
with a touch of sophistication.
There’s so much to see.
I’m starting with that fried chicken sandwich.
- Okay. - Ha-ha.
I love that balance of sweetness from the maple.
That little kick of spice from the sriracha.
Oh, mm. Oh, that’s a really lovely,
well-baked maple glaze donut.
All right, so let’s try this morning bun.
Yeah, and look at that bake, mm!
And I love the way the raspberries
play into the maple.
Lavender blueberry lemon scone.
And that’s to an homage to your wife?
Yes, these are my wife’s favourite.
I think you put a little dust of semolina
or something on the bottom?
- Uh, no. - No?
There is this nice texture.
You’re probably tasting the gluten-free flour.
So...
You’ve done well because you could have fooled me.
So, great job for that.
Phew!
I make a lot of scones, and I eat a lot of scones.
- This is a good scone. - Thank you.
Zoë, this is such an elegant presentation.
Look at your laminated pastry.
You have so many layers.
Excellent quality work.
This is so unique using plantain.
It has this sweet, meaty, vegetable texture
that goes so well together.
- It’s a nice job here. - Thank you.
- Cornbread muffin? - Absolutely.
Cornbread are so risky. Often, it’s too dry.
- Yours have nice complexity. - Thank you.
And now for the éclair.
Great baking.
You get that typical break at the base of
a choux paste, that’s so beautiful.
It’s a beautifully made choux
and an absolutely delicious filling.
- I’m in heaven. - Woo!
Good.
Well, after that Showstopper,
what are you two going to do?
Well, first we’re gonna take a break
to digest everything.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
That was an incredible day of baking today.
How do you even figure out
who’s in the running for Star Baker?
Three bakers nailed their three bakes:
Zoë, Dominic, and Ryan.
With Zoë, she took a lot of risk this week
and I think they paid off.
And Dominic, he did an amazing
sugar shack display. All bakes were fantastic.
And this donut from Ryan,
it just puts him in the conversation for Star Baker.
What about who’s leaving this week?
We have to talk about Kavi and Jennifer.
Kavi always brings so many flavours,
but he had a lot of struggles in the Technical,
and today with two of his bakes.
Jennifer always brings so much creativity and skill,
but she struggled with some of the techniques
in her bake today.
Like I said, what are you gonna do?
So much to consider.
Bakers, this week you made Canada proud.
And one person not only honoured Maple,
but gave us gold.
This week’s Star Baker is...
Dominic, congratulations.
Woohoo! Again!
Wow!
And now the hard part.
One baker will be leaving us today.
The person going home is...
Kavi. We’re gonna miss you.
Thanks, guys, it was a lot of fun.
We’re gonna miss you like mad.
I think the thing that I will remember the most
is the friendships I made.
And I think the only thing I regret is that I won’t
be able to continue to grow with them.
You’re not getting rid of us like that.
Nice try.
I’m really missing my daughter.
So I’m really looking forward to seeing her again.
Thanks, I’m so gonna miss you guys too.
Give me something that Star power over here, eh?
Wow.
What just happened?
I feel like I’m walking on clouds.
I don’t even feel the ground anymore.
Yeah, yeah, it is crazy.
The Québecer getting Star Baker
on Maple Week, it’s perfection.
- Next time... - Whoo!
...more is more...
So much chocolate!
There’s chocolate in my shoe!
...for the first ever Indulgence Week.
Get ready for a spectacle.
It’s gonna be like...
Who will indulge the judges?
That’s bang-on.
A perfect indulgence here.
And who will wrap up their time in the tent?
Oh my god, oh my god!
Ho-ly!
It’s a little over the top, but I love it.