Hey, everyone! Welcome to the finals!
To show you how excited we are about this week's bake,
Ellie is going to jump out of this cake in three, two...
Hey, Zach, what are you doing?
I-- I was, I thought you were going to jump out of the cake.
Nobody ever told me anything about jumping out of a cake.
Great, well now what do we do?
- We'll have to improvise, Zach. - Okay, uh...
So, to show how excited we are about this week's bake,
Ellie is going to jump into the cake.
Yes, I am. I'm going to jump into the cake.
Just as we discussed.
- So, inside... - In three...
- I'm supposed to actually-- - Nope, left leg, in three...
I can't, I'm afraid this is going to collapse.
- ...two... - Is this going to hold me?
- ...and... - [groans] Okay! I'm in, I'm in!
Shut the door, Zach.
Welcome to The Great American Baking Show!
[Ellie] Did he say it?
- [knocking] - I can't hear anything.
Hooray!
I didn't have access to that.
It got on me.
[thunder rumbles]
[narrator] In the beginning, there were nine.
- Son of a biscuit... okay. - [moans]
My cakes are squashed.
[narrator] Now, only three remain.
- Here we go. - Last time.
[Paul] We've three-star bakers in the final.
I cannot call it, it's going to be really tight.
Dyana has been really good.
It's one of the best illusion cakes I've seen for a while.
- [sighs] - It has been a long, hard road.
I've seen better days.
[strained laughter] ...with Paul Hollywood, I can't.
[Paul] From the steamed buns to the fougasse, to the milk,
sorry, I've got to give you this.
[exclaims]
Sarah came from nowhere.
[Paul] Not quite strong enough, or too strong.
Or it needs more ginger,
or it needs to be thicker or thinner.
And she's now won Star Baker twice.
Pretty well a slam dunk.
I would say that was a slam dunk, yeah.
[laughs]
I think have earned my place in the final.
- [Prue] It's enchanting. - Oh, fantastic, oh, great.
I'm finally agreeing that I deserve to be here
and I'm in the right place.
Martin is very steady, he's been
the most consistent of our bakers.
I'm here.
I still can't believe it.
I was worried that I peaked early
getting Star Baker on the first challenge.
That's a beautiful cookie there.
My mouth's still watering because it wants another bite.
Did I believe in myself enough? Probably not.
It's simple. Too simple.
But, as the weeks went on I said,
I can do this.
I can do this, let's go.
[narrator] Only three challenges remain
before one is crowned the winner
of The Great American Baking Show.
It's going be very exciting.
I have no idea who's going to win.
Bakers! Welcome back to the tent.
Now I must say, it wouldn't be a finale
if there weren't heavy rain and flash flooding.
So we've brought that for today.
It seems like just yesterday
you guys were just amateur bakers
in the tent for the first time, and now look at you!
You're still amateur bakers,
but, you've made it to the finals.
You should all be really proud of yourselves,
and for today's signature challenge,
the judges are asking you to make
12 identical filled snack cakes.
Think of these as elevated versions
of your favorite snack cake as a kid.
Basically, fancy Twinkies.
The choice of flavors in your sponge
and filling is up to you,
but you must include a decorative element.
The judges will be looking for exquisite decoration
and perfectly balanced flavors and textures.
You have two hours.
On your marks...
Get set...
[both] Bake!
[Paul] I'm really excited about the final.
We've got three amazing bakers in the tent
and it's going to be a great day.
Son of a... [laughs]
Does anyone have a spare egg? Thanks.
The snack cake has to be based on a childhood favorite snack.
Now, Sarah, Martin and Dyana
have to produce an ultimate bake.
Their ultimate snack cake has to look amazing,
taste amazing, be the same throughout.
I really don't want to replicate the stuff you buy in a box.
I want it to be really special,
the sort of thing that you could see
in a French patisserie window.
Final signature, feeling good, I, uh, got all the nerves out
by breaking three eggs on my bench,
so feeling good,
just going to make it happen today.
Going to make it happen today.
Morning, Sarah.
Good morning, Paul, good morning, Prue.
- Welcome to the final. - Thank you.
- Nervous? - A little.
Tell us all about your snack cake.
So this is based off of Entenmann's pastries
which is a regional bakery in the States.
The favorites of my household were the cinnamon crumb cake
and for me, my favorite was the chocolate covered doughnuts.
Which was potentially controversial
because they don't taste very good.
[laughs]
Well, children tend to like rubbish.
[Sarah laughs]
[Ellie] Sarah is elevating her snack cakes
with a brown sugar genoise sponge
and a cinnamon mascarpone cream cheese
filling, which will double as icing.
She'll cover her cakes with a chocolate
mirror glaze and toasted pecans.
- Quite a lot of work. Yeah. - Yes.
- Good luck. Thank you. - Thanks.
- Good luck, Sarah. - Thanks, Ellie.
So this is based on a raspberry zinger
and a snowball.
I'm actually super excited about this recipe too because
my husband doesn't really have a sweet tooth,
which is strange living with me.
But, um, he does love this cake
and so I'm excited to be making it
on my last signature in the tent.
[Zach] Dyana's grown up version of her favorite snack cakes
will feature a coconut
and lime flavored sponge covered
with raspberry and white chocolate.
They'll be dusted with desiccated coconut
and topped with coconut rum, cream and fresh raspberries.
Now these snack cakes that you're basing them on...
Yes.
Tell me about them because
I didn't know anything about them.
Okay, so I'm going to do a play
on a raspberry coconut cake that is
rolled in raspberry jam
and then tossed in desiccated coconut.
I think it's similar to, uh, an Australian cake.
- A Lambert, uh... - Ye-- Yes.
- [Dyana] What is the word? - Uh...
[Dyana giggles]
Uh-oh, did I stump you, Paul? [laugh]
Yeah.
- Historical moment here. - [Paul] La-- Lam...
Lamington. That's the one, yeah.
Lamington. Yes.
Well, that doesn't help me because
I didn't know about Australia.
[all laugh]
My sponge is pistachio.
So pistachio on pistachios, pistachio flour,
and roasted pistachio oil to give it really good flavor.
So it's triple pistachio, basically.
[Ellie] Alongside a pistachio sponge
and a coating of chopped pistachios,
Martin is adding a layer of Amarina cherry buttercream
and decorating his snack cakes
with cherry powder zebra stripes.
So going into the final, how are you feeling?
Nervous? Excited?
A little bit of both, you know?
I have so much fun in here, that I'm--
Well, we need to put a stop to all that.
[all laugh]
- That's ridiculous. - No fun.
You're not mean to be here to have fun.
You meant to be here to bake.
I need to be precise and exact.
- [Paul] Yeah. It's the final. - Yes, I know.
- Good luck, Martin. - Thank you.
I didn't do the best rolled cake in the cake technical,
um, but we're going to try and have a little redemption
on rolling cakes today.
And then we go into the oven.
So that's going to bake really quickly,
like eight to ten minutes.
[Zach] With their sponges taking so little time to bake,
our bakers must get onto their fillings straight away.
[Martin] My buttercream, it's a French buttercream
and part of it, I'm gonna put chopped Amarena cherries in it
to really give it that burst of flavor.
Is there anything you've always wanted to do
during a signature challenge but haven't had a chance yet?
I would love a handshake.
- Hey. - [laughs]
I'm going to move on to
the filling for the cake right now.
My mom was a great baker,
so she was always baking cake pies, whatever.
As soon as I was big enough
to get on the counter and crack the eggs,
that's where I started.
[Sarah] So I'm working on the filling
in here I've got cream cheese, ground cinnamon.
Have to have it in there
because it's a cinnamon crumb cake.
There is like loads of nostalgia connected to this,
these bakes that I'm basing mine off of.
You know, we had these snack cakes all the time
at like, after church every Sunday.
My husband also grew up with these cakes.
I mean, I do think we have
three amazing bakers in the tent.
I think the surprise has been Sarah,
who's really come forward.
I love to see Dyana because she works so fast,
always seems to be in a hurry,
whereas Martin, is so cool and relaxed.
But have we asked a lot of them, though, in two hours?
[Prue] I mean, of course, we want them
to be beautifully decorated
and we want this cake to be really beautifully made.
[Paul] Hmm.
But I'd rather have something that's absolutely perfectly made
and elegant and beautiful.
Than something was hugely complicated
and they don't manage to finish it nicely.
And I mean just judging them
on the quality of what they've baked.
I think that's the point of the final.
Our bakers are deep into their final signature challenge,
and it's time for their cakes to come out of the oven.
Little concerned about the cake.
Some of them felt really great and then some of them
felt different and I don't understand
why that is other than being cooked
on two different levels because I couldn't fit them all on one.
Some are really, really light and spongy
and then some were not as much.
Halfway through, 55 and a half minutes,
do you remember those old commercials
where the kid would say,
how do they get the filling inside?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Well, today we're going to find out.
[gasps]
You know, you want a little color
so that you're like, oh, this is cherry.
There have actually been studies
that have showed that the color of food
affects the way we perceive flavor.
So, sometimes it is helpful
to make things look pinker or greener,
and you'll be like that tastes better,
even if there's no change in flavor.
I'm just moving on for the coating for the cakes.
It's just raspberry chocolate and refined coconut oils.
So we're going to move on to the mirror glaze.
I'll put together cocoa powder, powdered sugar,
cream and we'll bring that to a boil.
Add the gelatin mix, mix, mix.
Yes, uh,
this monstrosity of a chocolate clump
will transform into a gorgeous smearing glaze.
- Last signature challenge. - I know. Can you believe it?
- It's wild. - Surreal.
Do you remember what the first one felt like?
Yes, it was really stressful.
Yeah?
Yeah, and I remember it was really hot.
- Yeah. - So...
[Dyana] Not like this rain that we're having today.
[Sarah] Beautiful. Oh it smells so nice.
[Zach] With their filling and icing finished,
our bakers can start assembling their snack cakes.
You think, "Oh, little cakes, two hours,
no problem." They do take a while.
Paul and Prue want precise exact cakes
with a lot of flavor and texture.
So I'm not skimping corners on those fronts at all.
[Sarah] Ooh, yes.
The last signature challenge. How does it feel?
- I really enjoyed baking here. - Yeah.
Um, so I'm a little sad that it's over.
Well, if you want... every six weeks or so,
I can call you up at a random time
and say you have to bake this and you only have 46 minutes
and you're not allowed to look online how to do it.
Sounds awesome. I'll hold you to that.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I can kind of set something
- like that up. - Perfect.
Um, so I'm going to dip them.
[Ellie] The judges have asked for 12 identical,
flawlessly executed snack cakes.
So precision is everything.
I don't know how you're measuring all this.
Trying to do it very carefully.
Because the very first challenge, Prue
was like you need to measure your things
and Prue pushed them together to...
- Illustrate her point? - Illustrate her point.
- You don't want that to happen. - No.
Oh, boy.
Slight size differential between
these two, so I'm trying to like...
figure out how to manage that a little bit.
You have 15 minutes left, bakers.
It's getting real now.
[Zach] Now the bakers have to apply
their frosting and decorations,
which is proving to be more difficult than expected.
[Dyana] Yeah, it's a little temperamental, honestly.
Ah! Like that. It's a little crazy.
It's so fiddly, what I'm doing. I hate this kind of stuff.
Oh, this is so annoying.
Okay, through four down,
25 million to go.
I mean, what have I walked into? Like, heaven?
That's nice of you to say. This is my version of hell.
Icing the sides a tiny cake, something I don't...
plan on doing much again.
At home, when I ice the sides,
they were a little rough and ready
and my husband said these need a crunchy element.
So I was like, oh, I can dip the sides in pistachios.
That'll add some of the flavor,
add some color and also hide... some sin.
I'm sorry to bake-splain
but you only have five minutes left.
Okay, this needs to cool down to 86 degrees.
Would love to do this faster.
I've got a pipe the rosettes,
and put the finishing touches on.
[Martin] I'm trying to recreate a zebra print on the outside,
so I'm going to dust it with some cherry powder.
It's not perfect, but pretty good.
Okay. I'll hit that there for now.
Got to move fast. Got to move fast.
Ooh, this is hot. Okay, taking it the way it is.
Oh, man, mother...
There's no time to change course now.
One minute it left, bakers!
Damn it.
No, that's going to have to be good.
Jesus.
Time is up.
[Ellie] Congratulations on your final signature challenge.
Please step away from your snack cakes.
[Ellie] Now the bakers anxiously await the judgment
of Paul and Prue.
Look, I'm going to cut myself some slack.
I'm in the tent and I'm happy with what I produced today.
I just hope they like it.
[Sarah] I never really know what's going
to happen before judging,
so I'm just trying to feel hopeful.
They have to nitpick every little thing.
We're at the finals, so they're
going to point out every little thing
that's either perfect or not.
- Hi, Prue. Hi, Paul. Hi, Zach. - Hi, Martin.
So it's cherry and pistachio.
It's cherry and pistachio.
[Prue] Well, they're really interesting.
[Paul] I like the detail
of the pistachio around the outside.
I think it looks quite attractive.
It's quite stark.
[Prue] That is very pretty.
What I do like about it. It's nice and soft.
The spongy piece you baked.
The combination of flavors between
the pistachio and the cherry is delicious.
It tastes great.
The only thing I think doesn't quite work
is the pistachios have lost their crunch.
Mm.
I think if you'd pralined them you'd have kept the crunch.
Yep.
But it was absolutely delicious and very unusual.
- Thank you, thank you. - [Paul] Thank you.
Great job, Martin.
I must say your mirror glaze,
I've never seen one quite so shiny
and quite so mirrorlike. Very good.
- Thank you. - [Paul] Um...
I will probably say they're not too consistent.
[Sarah] Yeah.
I'd say the fluctuation in size is quite dramatic.
Individually they sort of stand well,
but I think together it shows up the issues.
I think the sponge is well baked.
I think you've gone too much on the cinnamon.
You know when cinnamon's
too much because it warms you up.
Cinnamon should be a taste not an effect.
[Prue laughs]
Which is which is what's happening.
Got it.
I rather like the cinnamon, but it does dominate a bit.
[Sarah] Okay.
[Prue] And I would have liked a bit more filling.
Mm.
[Prue] It's a lot of cake and not
an awful lot of filling,
but it's pretty good.
- All right. - Thank you, Sarah, well done.
- Thanks. - Thank you, Sarah.
I think the top is split slightly.
Did you, um, overwhip the cream?
No. I think what happened, I actually set the bowl
on the stove that was warm
inadvertently was trying to make some space
a little bit at the very end as I was doing the final pipe.
- [Prue] Oh, all right, bad luck. - [Dyana] Yeah.
But I do like the overall look because they are consistent.
Thank you.
[Prue] And they're very delicately done.
I mean, that is lovely drizzling.
Thank you.
[Paul] Right. Material looks really nice.
You do get the lime, you do get the raspberry.
Yeah.
I think your sponge is probably slightly overbaked.
[Dyana] Okay.
It just makes it a little bit too crumbly.
- Okay. - [Prue] I agree.
I think the coating is nice and thin,
the flavors are great and I'm enjoying it.
Thank you.
But it could have been perfect.
I agree too. [laughs]
- Thank you. - Thank you.
It didn't go as well as I wanted it to,
but it didn't go
as horribly as it could have, so I'll take it.
You know what? It's just the first challenge.
I've got two more to do, so I'm okay.
Oye! [sighs]
[Sarah] Listening to the comments,
it's really hard to judge
where I'm at between the three of us.
You know, Martin got really good feedback.
I definitely think he's kind of the strongest going in
and it's kind of a toss up between me and Dyana.
So try to do my best for the technical.
Technical, you know, they're just getting harder.
They were never easy, but I have a feeling this one
is going to put us through the ringer.
So I just hope it's something that I've made before or I know
how to make it or at least know a little bit
because the directions are usually like,
make the-this thing, and if you don't know
how to make that thing,
then you're kind of up the creek.
[instrumental music playing]
[Ellie] It's the finals,
and our three remaining bakers have just two challenges left.
Bakers, welcome
to your final technical challenge.
This one has been set by Prue. Prue, any words of advice?
Yes, there are several elements to this challenge,
so don't get in a muddle.
[Ellie] Oh.
[Zach] Well, as always,
this challenge will be judged blind,
so we have to ask our judges to please leave the tent.
For your technical challenge, Prue has asked you to make
an elegant and elaborate afternoon tea display.
Oh, my God.
Your afternoon tea should consist
of six individual Victoria sandwiches,
six mini strawberry tarts,
and six savory scones filled
with smoked salmon and cream cheese.
You have two hours and 15 minutes.
[Ellie] Plenty of time.
- Oh, my gosh. - [Zach] On your marks...
Get set...
[both] Bake.
[instrumental music playing]
[sighs]
This is, this is madness.
It's a lot to do in a little bit of time.
There are almost no instructions.
It is make an afternoon tea display.
It's really up to us to figure out how that's done. Neat.
So, Prue, our final technical challenge
and you've chosen a blinder.
A British afternoon tea.
I mean, what could be nicer?
For me, this is the classic afternoon tea
because you have something savory.
You can't not have a Victoria sandwich
and strawberry tartlets.
You have to have something with a short crust pastry,
not just three elements.
There's creme pat in there.
There's raspberry jam they have to make
that goes in this Victoria sandwich
and they have to make the cream cheese mix.
So they're about eight elements all together.
[Paul] We need to start with savory then, Prue.
It's gone so delicate.
Really lightened, almost flaky.
[Paul] There you go.
Oh.
Victoria Sandwich is such a buttery,
beautiful taste in cake.
No wonder it's Britain's favorite cake.
And it's delicious.
And it's something which is pretty straightforward to do.
But you've got to get it perfect.
[Prue] How about the tartlet?
Mm. It's melt in the mouth.
We've asked three American bakers
to produce a British classic.
This could be the one that really
makes or breaks somebody.
- We'll see what they do. - Yeah.
I have had afternoon tea before.
It's lovely. There's so many different--
I mean, so many different elements.
I am making the Victoria sponge.
They want things to be perfectly portioned
because we're down to three
great bakers, so we have to stand out
from the crowd.
I don't think I've actually made
a official Victoria sponge before.
Is my Victoria sandwich is going to be finished the way
that the British prefer it? I hope so.
You know, I'm like, I remember kind of what it looks like.
That's it. Dame Prue, I mean, come on.
She's probably been to the most exquisite tea imaginable, right?
This is as close as I'm getting, honestly.
Okay, I'm going to go in the oven with these. Here we go.
I'm going to try to go for 15 minutes
on the Victoria sponge.
What I'm looking for is a nice
golden brown top and a rise, rise.
Sometimes it needs a little encouragement.
[whispers] It feels empty in the tent.
It's because there's nobody in here.
It's, there's no one here.
Yes, it's very strange.
I'm talking louder than usual at times,
just to fill the emptiness.
Right now I'm switching
over to the jam for a little bit.
My husband doesn't really like cake,
but he actually likes Victoria sponge.
You cut it down the middle
and you fill it with cream and jam.
[Dyana] Gonna toss it in the fridge
just to chill it.
[beeper beeps]
Just to double check that these are baked.
I think there's like six in here we can use.
[Martin] They look nice and golden,
but not overcooked.
They feel light and fluffy.
Really happy with these. Ooh, aah. Son of a biscuit.
Aah!
How much time do we have left?
- Bakers! Bakers! - Whoo-hoo!
You are halfway to tea time!
What time?
- Tea time! - Whose time?
[crosstalk] We time. Tea time.
Yeah!
- Pretty good. - [Ellie] Yeah.
Oh, my God.
[Zach] With time ticking away and so much left to do,
our finalists have to start the next tier
of their afternoon tea,
the strawberry tart.
First up is the short crust pastry.
[Dyana] You just want to cut the flour into the fat.
You don't want to overwork it,
and you want it to be nice and flaky.
Perfect.
I want the pastry to be nice and chilled,
so that it's easy to roll out.
This is for my creme patisserie, which goes in the tart.
[Ellie] It's only taken six episodes,
but Martin has finally found a purpose for Zach.
Can I get a small saucepan?
- I'm going to go get you one. - Thank you.
This is like the Olympic torch.
All right, saucepan. That's a frying pan.
Frying pan.
[giggles]
This is like that moment in the Olympics
where they were carrying the wrong thing.
- They thought it was a torch... - Oh, thank you.
...but it was like a candle or something.
Thank you, Zach. You are a hero.
[Zach] Now that I know what a saucepan is,
I'm excited to really get into the mind of a baker.
I'm trying to get your stance right, too.
Oh, yeah.
Slight bend in the knees, the hand control on the bowl.
I think I've hit on a new thing. It's called shadow baking.
- Uh-huh. Yep. - It's like shadow boxing.
[Ellie] While the creme pat is cooling in the fridge...
the bakers need to finish and shape their tartlets.
We have to roll these out really thin
because these are teeny tiny tartlets.
I don't do dainty very well.
I want to make sure it's thin but won't break.
I'm going to do it for five and then
I'm going to turn the temp down, I think.
[Zach] With their tartlets baking,
it's time to tackle the glaze for the top of the tart.
[Martin] I think that's good.
[Dyana] Oh, my timer, hold on, one second.
Attention, bakers.
[Elie] I just gotten word that Dame Prue Lee
will be requesting her afternoon tea
in exactly 30 minutes.
This did not puff up as much as I thought
it would at all.
[Dyana] Ah! Actually, they're nice.
[Martin] That looks good. I don't want to overcook them.
Oh, my God, it's so delicate.
Okay, I've got a few cracks.
Ah!
[sighs]
Oh, boy.
[crunching]
[sighs deeply]
I'm rerolling my pastry to make two new cases.
I think I have time.
I might cut some corners before I get the scones in.
[Martin] Now I'm going to get the scones together.
In America, scones are very different
from the British scones.
Your scones are like a dry biscuit.
I'm going to make them tiny.
[Ellie] While Martin and Dyana
can move on to their savory scones,
Sarah is stuck having to remake her tartlets.
The pastry didn't pop up quite as much,
but I will do a little bit of this stack the bottom.
Okay.
[Sarah] I have to make my scones.
There's a lot to do.
I am making the cream cheese filling
going to go in the middle of the scones.
These are hilarious.
I am not happy with them. It's going to work.
It's got to be the one.
[Zach] With her crumbling pastry forcing her into a redo,
Sarah is playing catch up.
And we're going to bake these scones.
They smell really good.
I don't like pale bakes and especially
on a savory scone, so these need to cool.
Oh, gosh, I'm going to lose my mind
a little bit.
How much time, please?
[Ellie] Bakers, you have 15 minutes left.
[groans]
[Sarah] The scones have to be done
and then I have to make the filling for the scones.
[Martin] I am whipping some cream
for my Victoria sponge.
[Ellie] Five minutes left, bakers.
Shoot.
[dramatic music playing]
[grunts]
[Martin] Well, the shakes,
there's worse than they've ever been.
[Dyana] Just nuts.
- [Zach] One minute left! - [whimpers]
Time is up.
[Dyana] Ah, beautiful.
Please bring your afternoon tea displays forward
and place them behind your photos.
Look at those strawberries. Oh, my God.
- [Dyana] They look good. - [Martin] I'm hungry.
[Ellie] Paul and Prue are expecting
a classic British afternoon tea display
consisting of six savory scones,
six Victoria sandwich sponge cakes
and six mini strawberry tarts with creme patisserie.
[Prue] Right, bakers, what we're hoping for
is a very British tea time spread.
That'd make us very happy.
Hmm. We start with this one.
Overall the symmetry's okay,
but should we start with the scones?
Unusual coloring on these.
And a little bit chewy,
slightly underbaked at the top as well.
Moving on to the Victoria sandwich,
it's a bit pale again.
It should be beautifully domed with a nice light brown.
[Prue] It's a little bit doughy.
I think the flavor is good. The texture is good.
[Prue] Strawberry tartlets look really pretty.
[Paul] I like the color of the pastry, it's nice.
Although the pastry is absolutely delicious,
it should be a little thicker.
Okay, in this one the scones are not all the same height.
There are good color.
The scone dough is a little doughy
in the middle, but it's a lovely flavor.
[Paul] It's a beautiful smooth dome.
That's what you wanted, a proper dome.
[Paul] The sponge is nice.
That is lovely Victoria sandwich.
- [Paul] It's very good. - On the other hand...
Let's move on to... sublime to the ridiculous.
No, this is not good.
It looks underbaked,
but you can see it's just falling to bits.
[Paul] Yeah. Need much longer in the oven.
Moving on to our last one, I like the scones on this.
They've got a nice strong color,
but are they overbaked or they too dry?
[Prue] Yeah, they are quite brown, aren't they?
The flavor of that scone is very good.
- Texture's nice - Hm. It's delicious.
How did they get on with the Victoria sandwich?
I think these look pretty good.
Well, they certainly got the dome.
[Paul] I think the sponge is good.
- [Paul] It's nice and smooth. - Lovely.
I like the color of these and there's
a little bit of boldness about it as well.
So it's neat, pastry's nice and short.
Everything about it's good,
the pastry's good, creme pat's good,
strawberries are lovely and that's really beautiful.
[Zach] Paul and Prue must now decide
whose classic afternoon
tea display is the best and whose is the worst.
So, bakers, you all did a pretty good job, but...
This one is number three.
Sarah. You know what the problem was?
Was your tartlets underbaked.
And second spot, we have this one, Dyana.
I mean, the sponges could
have been baked a little bit longer.
The texture of all of them were spot on.
- Thank you. - [Paul] Well done.
Which, Martin, means that you are in first place.
[Sarah] Good job, Martin!
And this was a really perfect afternoon tea.
Congratulations.
- Well done, guys. - Thank you.
I know today was exhausting on
many levels, so please get some rest.
Come back tomorrow for your final showstopper
and we can't wait to see you tomorrow.
Good job, bakers.
[instrumental music playing]
[Ellie] It's the final day in the tent,
and our three remaining bakers have just
one chance left to impress the judges.
Alright, guys, good luck.
- Have fun. - Good luck, Sarah.
[Dyana] I think it's anybody's game.
I think it's just going to come down
to what happens in the showstopper, literally.
Final day in the tent.
Woo, we're here.
I think anyone can win this today.
[Martin] I had a great day yesterday.
I finally won the technical challenge.
I'm coming in a really good place,
but as we know,
the showstopper can completely change the game.
Hello, bakers, welcome to your final
Great American Baking Show challenge.
- [Martin] Woo-hoo. - [Ellie] Congratulations.
[Zach] The judges are asking you for an intricately designed
pièce montée themed around
your journey to the baking show tent.
Now, pièce montée is a patisserie
centerpiece with architectural form.
It is the ultimate expression of a baker's
visual and culinary imagination and skill.
Judges will be looking for a large 12 inch cake base,
sculpted choux buns and nougatine work.
And just to take it to the next level,
they are also asking you
for an additional baked element.
You have four hours and thirty minutes
to complete the challenge.
So, on your marks...
Get set...
[both] Bake.
[Paul] Now a pièce montée is all about showing off.
We expect the bakers
to show off their skills in flavor,
texture, and overall appearance.
[Prue] We want it to be big. We want it to be impressive.
We wanted to be delicious, but we also want real finesse.
It must be very beautifully decorated.
Choux pastry and choux buns are pretty straightforward,
but it's how you bring them all together
to create these amazing shapes and flavors.
My strategy is I'm going to try
and stay organized today and stay calm.
It's going to be a rush, but we're going to do it.
It seems like a lot of time,
but for something this ambitious,
it is practically no time at all.
This is the final challenge.
This has to be the best bake
they've ever done in their lives.
Good morning, Martin.
- [Martin] Good morning. - Final day.
Showstopper.
I can't believe it.
Well, tell us about your pièce montée.
So the idea of like place is very important to me.
And like I was thinking what is like a seminal flavor
that brings me back to a certain place in time
and it is sweet corn in the summer.
[Prue] Well, you know I love, I, I love sweet corn.
This one's not quite so sure.
The barbecue love it, love it is a sweet corn relish on a burger.
I think it's fantastic.
[Ellie] Martin is planning to capture
the Midwestern cornfields
of his childhood with a cornbread cake
with nectarine jam,
corn sablay cookies filled with chocolate ganache
and choux puffs with cracklin and sweetcorn patisserie.
And it will all be made to look like an ear of corn.
[Paul] Wow.
[Martin] Corn on corn.
It's corn on corn on corn, isn't it?
- And you've practiced this? - I have practiced it.
Concentrate on your job.
- I will. - [Paul] Enjoy the last day.
- And good luck. - [Paul] Thank you, Martin.
My inspiration is where I began with my tryout.
When I auditioned for the show, I made a Flamingo cake.
Hence my love for Flamingo. Just bring it full circle. Phew.
[Zach] In a tropical explosion,
Dyana is making a chocolate cake filled with orange mocha moose
and passion fruit cream-filled choux,
decorated with meringue flamingos.
Well, this sounds quite elaborate.
Well, it's the final, showstopper,
- right? So... - It is, it is.
- Enjoy it. - I am, I am.
- Thank you, thank you both. - [Paul] Thank you, Dyana.
[Sarah] Okay, that looks good.
These cakes are huge.
So my final showpiece is called the solidarity pièce montée.
It's really inspired by the people
who have supported me
throughout this journey to get to this tent.
So we've got flavors used to celebrate people that I love.
Very personal, very emotional bake for me today.
[Ellie] Sarah's floral pièce montée is an homage
to the important people in her life.
It will have a pistachio cake with raspberry,
orange blossom and mascarpone filling,
lemon macarons with raspberry buttercream
and choux filled with a lemon verbena
and raspberry creme diplomat.
I found your journey particularly interesting.
I didn't expect it
because actually you started pretty slow
and then you just accelerated away.
Took off.
And it was amazing to watch because you're a very,
very good baker, so well done.
- Thanks, Paul. - And good luck for today.
- Have a good one. - Bye.
[Sarah] Okay, they're going in.
[Zach] The bakers are aiming to make
their pièce montées
architectural masterpieces
and the 12-inch cakes will be
the foundation for their pastry towers.
Known as Croquembouche,
these towers will be made-up
of dozens of cream-filled choux buns.
I'm going to start working here
to make my choux dough right here.
I was worried we would only see choux once in the in the show,
but now we're seeing it again for the finale.
I know. This is for the,
one of the feelings for the choux buns,
the passion fruit chocolate mousse,
it's really delicious if I can pull it off.
[Martin] I am making my sweet corn pastry cream.
- [Ellie] Martin, Martin, Martin. - [Martin] Hi, Ellie.
[Ellie] Paul sort of had a rejection of corn.
And what have you done?
I'm doing corn on corn on corn on corn.
Corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, corn.
Corn.
A pièce montée, Prue.
It's a classic.
They don't stray too far from a classic croquembouche,
which I love that choux pastry.
[Paul] They're bringing very three distinctive flavors.
Sarah bringing this sort of pistachio, raspberry.
[Prue] And lemon verbena.
It's got such a punch, such a flavor.
But too much of it is like, so--
[Paul] Is a killer.
Yeah. Martin, when I heard that corn
was in every element,
I was thinking, "Oh, no."
[Prue] The one whose flavors
are going to be the best are Dyana's.
I am really looking forward to seeing
how they're all gonna turn out.
They're all going to be good.
[Dyana] Ooh! Lots of things are beeping.
[Ellie] It's the final, and our three remaining bakers
are working on their towering showstoppers.
Their cake bases are baked,
but there's still a long way to go.
[Martin] I'm putting it in the fridge
to cool down as long as possible.
We are piping the choux. And making 40 total choux buns.
[Martin] This is the most pressure
- I have ever been under. - I'm piping actually into molds.
They're all uniform size. Fingers crossed.
Bake little buns, bake!
These choux, they need to be nice and brown.
How much time do we have?
Halfway through, bakers.
[groans] I would like another two hours and 14 minutes.
[Zach] With their final showstopper
halfway done,
the bakers are racing against time
as they put together
the bases for their pièce montées.
[Martin] This is my cake base. I need to fill my cake,
I need to pop it in the freezer to firm up
a little bit because it needs to be hard.
This is my nectarine jam.
So the cake is cornbread.
So I'm just hoping that it's a sturdy cake
that can hold a tower of choux buns.
Getting this off there
is going to be the difficult thing.
It's so big. [squeals]
Oh! Hold on a minute.
It's also sliding and probably hot,
so I need to get into the fridge like ASAP.
I'm happy with that.
[Ellie] With their cake bases safely
in the fridge, our bakers must now
get their choux buns out of the oven.
They looking great. Just don't,
drop them. Don't drop them, Martin.
Yes.
They're nice and crispy.
They're open on the inside. I'm very happy with these.
Pop them out.
[gasps]
Shoot, ah.
How many choux buns have you guys dropped?
I've dropped about five on the ground so far.
Uh-- I don't. I haven't dropped any yet...
- Not any yet. - Mine are a hot mess.
It's not making choux until you drop some.
Yeah, I know it.
[Zach] But the bakers don't have time
to cry over dropped choux.
They still have their additional baked element to make.
I am rolling out my corn sablet cookies.
For my additional baked element because you know,
it's not enough without these.
For me, this labor is comforting
and brings back a lot of memories.
Okay.
I'm going to start the meringue for the baked element.
Super, super simple. That's why I chose this one.
[Ellie] While Martin and Dyana are staying
within their comfort zones,
Sarah is taking a risk with her baked element.
There was worry about doing macrons
for this because they are tricky,
tricky bits that I don't make a lot
and I don't make well.
[Dyana] Flamingos, okay.
All right. That's flamingos for now, okay.
I just want to say that you have 60 minutes left
to finish your pièce montée,
and I also want to say that pièce montée
is one of my new favorite things to say.
I love that too.
[Sarah] Done, done, done, done, done.
All of the macs are in.
Meringues have to bake for a long time,
so I'm starting my caramel.
[Zach] The bakers must boil sugar
and water to make the caramel
that will stick their choux buns together.
[Martin] This is gonna be caramel at some point.
[Zach] But this seemingly simple task
is proving anything but simple.
[Sarah] So I want my caramel to be a nice amber color.
Right now it's crystallizing quite a bit,
so I think I'm going to get started on a new one.
We'll redo this, redo.
It takes some time. Once it starts
to get dark, it like ramps up.
It's like not dark enough,
not dark enough, not dark enough.
Oh, my gosh, it's too dark.
My caramel is taking really long time.
I made it last night, it took seven minutes.
It's been like 18 now.
I don't know what's happening.
It's taking forever.
Hi, Sarah.
- What's up? - What's going on?
Ugh! Just diving into caramel.
- Diving into caramel? - Diving into caramel.
That sounds like something that would happen in a dream.
[Dyana] Frickity frick nuggets.
It's not cooperating today in the least.
Okay, that looks a lot better.
Okay, we can all just, like,
take a collective sigh of relief.
Thirty minutes left, bakers.
I need to assemble. I need to fill
my choux buns.
I need to fill my cookies.
I need to decorate as fast as humanly possible.
It's filling time. I'm going to fill
them with my passion fruit cream.
My hands are so slippery
and this is actually not working very well.
Ohh, whoops.
We are definitely in the sprint mode.
I just want to get this thing assembled.
I'd love to get some decoration on there.
[Ellie] After the choux buns are filled,
our bakers need to use the caramel
to stick their choux buns together.
So we're going to very gently start
to dip my choux buns in some caramel.
[Ellie] But Dyana's caramel still hasn't
reached the required stickiness.
I'm just doing this with caramel
that's not quite caramel yet because I got
to start building and trying not to get burned in the process.
So messy.
[Sarah] Stop moving.
Oh, my God. Yeah. I'm having
a lot of trouble with it sticking.
I don't know.
[Martin] Don't fall, little guy.
Ten minutes left, bakers.
Oh, my gosh.
Ow! Ow, that hurt.
Five minutes left.
I'm just doing final decorations.
Blue caramel on top to look like water for the flamingos
I need to finish my decorations.
They have to be very gentle because they are fragile.
Now it's just a matter of getting
everything on there.
One minute left!
We'll just do that, oh shiza. Agh.
[Martin] Paul had said I was a neat baker.
Ohh, that's out the window right now.
This is like a hot, melty mess.
[Sarah] Dyana you're doing great.
Keep it up. You got this.
Time is up.
For the final time, please step away
from your pièce montées.
Oh, my God, oh, my God.
You did it!
Guys, we did it and they look amazing.
[Sarah] We did incredible!
- [Dyana] Oh, my God, Martin. - Come here!
Come here, you guys. We did it. We did it. We did it.
- You guys, you guys. - Nothing of that was impossible.
What just happened?
[Dyana] How many burns did you get?
[Sarah laughs]
[Martin] Five.
[Zach] With their final showstopper completed,
our bakers will now face the judgment of Paul and Prue,
who will decide the winner
of The Great American Baking Show.
It was so much work.
I don't think I have done enough to take the crown,
but I had a good day yesterday.
[Sarah] I am very proud of myself.
I think this bake can win this for me.
[Dyana] I have a piece that's standing upright.
And an hour ago I didn't think that was going to happen.
Martin, please bring up your pièce montée.
[Ellie] It's the finals and our three
remaining bakers are facing
the judgment of Paul and Prue one last time.
[Paul] You've managed to achieve
that sort of corn still in the cob look.
Really impressive. All your chouxs are very even.
I think it looks amazing.
So these are your sablay biscuits?
[Martin] Yes.
[Prue] I think you needed a bit more ganache in there.
Yeah, there's not enough flavor in there. It's quite bland.
This is your corn cake with the nectarine,
- with the... honey buttercream. - Honey buttercream.
The nectarines were really well with it,
thank goodness it overwhelms the corn.
It's a perfectly good cake,
but certainly not your best cake.
But let's have a look at these little choux.
I think the sweet corn creme pat is delicious.
The creme pat's got a back nose of sweet corn in there.
I'm not a massive fan.
I think the overall flavor is good,
but it needed a bigger punch.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
Dyana, could you please bring your showstopper to the front?
It feels unfinished and it feels rushed.
- Yes, I agree. - [Paul] Hm.
Let's have a quick look at the flamingos to start with.
Quite sharp, little taste
of raspberry that. Let's try this cake.
This is the mocha and chocolate.
[Prue] Mocha mousse inside the chocolate cake.
- That mocha moose is delicious. - Thank you.
The flavors and textures are very, very good.
I think you've done a very good job on the cake.
Thank you.
[Paul] Now the next layer is the choux, isn't it?
[Dyana] Yeah.
The passion fruit is really strong,
absolutely delicious.
Got a good acidic kick.
I love that filling because it's so sharp.
[Prue] Isn't it good?
And it's in your face. I like that.
Thank you. Okay.
I know, given more time, you could have made
this wonderful decoration a little finer.
[Dyana] Yeah.
It's a rough diamond at the moment, but well done.
Thank you so much. [sighs]
Sarah, please bring up your showstopper.
- It's like modern art. - Yes.
[Paul] I'm not quite sure what it is, but it is...
- Me either! - It's not what you set out.
I don't know it's going to be.
I don't know what a pièce montée is.
So I just gave you something wonderful and joyful.
[all laugh]
[Sarah] We have lemon macarons
with the raspberry buttercream filling.
- Macarons are delicious. - Thank you.
You've got smooth top, shine foot and nice flavor.
Okay, so we have a go at the choux.
- Now the inside of this is? - It's the lemon verbena
and raspberry creme diplomat.
- Choose one, don't use both. - Okay.
[Paul] One will fight with the other.
They are very, very similar
in the sense of, they're big hitters.
Once you've got that sort of flavor
in your mouth, you lose it.
[Sarah] So this is the pistachio cake
with a raspberry mascarpone filling.
- [Paul] Nice looking cake. - [Prue] Very nice looking.
[Prue] I like that.
- That's a nice flavor to have. - Thank you.
It's really lovely. It's moist but still light.
Mm.
Lovely cake.
- Thanks, Prue. Thank you. - [Paul] Thank you.
Now the judges have a really tough decision.
They have to decide who will be the winner
of The Great American Baking Show.
Come on, guys, come on.
[chattering]
Prue and Paul, you have
a difficult decision ahead of you.
I agree, the problem is, for me, when I look at all three,
Martin's did decent.
I thought the overall appearance was good,
but you only had to scratch the surface
to realize there was a few problems with this.
I think the polenske of the corn cake
that he had down at the bottom lacked
a bit of flavor.
To be fair to Martin, that nectarine
jam was absolutely delicious.
- [Paul] Needed more in it. - Oh!
Dyana's flavors. Beautiful. Beautiful
passion fruit. Beautiful pineapple.
Except it wasn't as neat as she should have been.
Sarah. I thought Sarah, you could see that,
the artist behind the baker.
Her biggest flaw for me was the filling--
[Paul] The filling was awful.
Everyone kind of struggled
with the classic showstopper balance of
making it look amazing, but then also the flavors.
There were some issues
on all fronts.
It's got to the point now where Prue
and I will have to sit here,
have an arm wrestle and decide who's won.
[Ellie laughs]
This is what I've been waiting for.
We've only done that once before.
[Prue] Yeah, I won.
[indistinct chattering]
[cheering]
[Nirali] I kind of think Sarah might have it.
She had Star Baker twice.
She's grown so much over the course of a few weeks.
[cheering]
I've been really, really impressed
by everything that Dyana has done.
She has so much style
and she really undersells herself,
and I think that she's incredible.
I'm team Martin.
- [Dyana] Oh, my God. - [cheering]
If I were crowned the winner
of The Great American Baking Show,
it would mean the world to me.
I think there might be a winner from Chicago today.
[Martin] I'm thrilled to be a finalist,
but to be on top would just be like...
oh, I've finally won something that I love.
[Zach] Thank you, everyone, for coming out.
And I want to thank all our wonderful
bakers for being a part of the show.
It's been an amazing season and so much of that has to do
with how wonderful and
charming all of you are. So thank you.
And now, will our remaining three bakers
please step forward?
[cheering]
[sighs] And now, some exciting news.
The winner of The Great American Baking Show is...
- Martin. - [cheering]
Thank you.
You got a handshake again.
Finally!
- Thank you, Prue. Thank you. - [Prue] Well done, well done.
I tell you what, you got in through the wire.
Oh, I know, I know. I know.
[Zach] Congratulations, Martin, there you go!
I cannot believe it.
I felt like I did well today,
I felt like I did well yesterday,
but it's like this that's up there that
you're like, I don't think I can get that,
but I got it.
It means so much to because baking
has always been my hobby.
And now it's like, oh, everybody knows
that I love it, and I'm really good at it!
Martin was named winner of The Great American Baking Show
based on the fact that his first day was so good,
on the other hand Dyana and Sarah
both really pushed him right to the end.
And it was really close, it came down
to like a texture there, a flavor there.
But in the end, Martin did an amazing job
throughout The Great American Baking Show.
You so deserve it, well done.
[Prue] Martin has been
the most consistent of the bakers.
He is the most technically accomplished,
he is the most neat at the end of it.
All of his decoration is always very good.
He finishes on time, he's extremely organized.
He's the best baker.
You two so nearly cracked the...
- Oh, so close! - Thank you.
So much.
I couldn't be more thrilled for Martin.
Because everybody in this tent that
I've met has been an incredible person,
I've made friends for life. They're my baking family.
And just to make it this far
is the icing on the cake, if you will.
It's been a real journey for me. I didn't
have a lot of confidence going in.
I didn't think that I would make it past week two, so,
I'm really proud of myself and I was able
to create some of the most
amazing things I've ever baked before in my life, so,
I'm so happy it happened.
Where are you going to put it?
Yeah, where are you going to put it?
I'm never letting it go.
It's going to follow me everywhere in my backpack.
[yells]
[Jason] What's going on how are you?
I am great, I am the winner of The Great American Baking Show.
Oh, my God!
- [laughing] - [chattering]
Woo!