The Great British Bake Off (2010) s09e04 Episode Script
Dessert Week
Last Time Sign of the Cross .
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Bakers were overstretched .
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with bread.
Paul's prowling around like a bear.
Whilst Dan came close again It's perfect.
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it was Rahul Oh, look at that.
You're a little genius.
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who was crowned Star Baker for the second time.
I'm going to kill him.
But for Antony, it was toast Not your best, Antony.
It's not my best.
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as he became the third baker to say goodbye.
Come on, ladies.
Come on.
Come on, let's bring it in.
Now Chop, chop.
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the bakers take on a trio of desserts Going to put some cherries on top.
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with a Signature that's all about the swirl Roll, baby, roll.
No! It's cracking.
Oh, what a mess.
It's not looking good.
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and attempt a mesmerising, melting chocolate masterpiece This is as nerve-racking as giving birth.
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that's never before been witnessed on Bake Off.
Ah, yes! Amazing.
Oh, no, it's cracked.
You've got to laugh about these things, haven't you, eh? And cry a little bit.
I'm all right.
I'm fine.
Noel, what are you doing? It's Dessert Week.
I've made a custard pie.
Are you kidding me? Do you remember last year when Paul accidentally got a custard pie in the face? We cannot risk having that happen again.
It was a disaster.
Give me that.
I'm going to throw it Sandi.
Noel.
Oh! Welcome to Dessert Week.
What should we do? Run! I've definitely been looking forward to this week, but that's probably mysigning my death warrant right there.
I think I've just about managed to scrape through every single week, so let's go for nailing a good Signature today.
So far, I haven't had a big baking disasterso, hopefully, it's going to continue? Week four.
It's getting quite into the competition now.
Dan's looking strong.
Rahul definitely.
He just seems to be, like, a conjuring magician, or something.
It's a mixture of everything, really.
Scary.
Exciting.
Nervous.
But, in the morning, what better way to start than a glass of milk? So, I just literally drink a glass of milk in the morning.
Hello, bakers.
Welcome back to the tent.
Now, as you all know, unfortunately Terry is not with us today because he is poorly but with the agreement of absolutely everybody, he is going to be allowed to come back next week.
Right, on with the challenge.
Today the judges would love you to make a meringue roulade.
It must be made from melt-in-the-mouth meringue.
The choice of filling, entirely up to you, but the filling must be enclosed in the roulade, which - when cut - must demonstrate a perfect swirl.
You have one hour and 45 minutes.
On your marks.
Get set.
Bake! It's too quiet.
It's making my nerves go weird.
Everyone's separating eggs.
It's the most bit that you need to concentrate on.
I've managed to get the egg whites in the bowl without getting any egg yolk in.
That was the first hurdle passed.
Oh, yeah, I messed it up.
Oh.
This is annoying.
What we're looking for in a great roulade - crack through the exterior, soft on the inside, and beautiful spiral into the middle.
One of the things the bakers really need to think about is the balance of flavours.
You need a bit of acidity, either a curd, or nice sharp fruits, because meringue is pure sugar.
But the beauty of this challenge is there's nowhere to hide.
Make a mistake and it shows up.
And there's four whites in there.
Meringue's the most important thing.
Just got to get that in the oven as quickly as possible.
You want just a nice, stiff, glossy meringue.
Like, no undissolved sugar in it.
So, how are you making your meringue? I heat the sugar in the oven.
Basically, just dissolves much quicker in the egg whites.
With everything I'm doing, I'm hopefully guaranteeing a good meringue.
Manon's relying on her heated sugar to perfect a meringue that and amarene cherries.
Amarene, this is like, Italian, sweet, almondy cherries and it's a flavour from my childhood.
- Do you want to smell? - Thought that was an urn.
Fantastic.
They smell like almond kernels, don't they? And you've done this before? Uh, never made a meringue roulade before.
So Slowly.
Slowly.
You don't want to dump it all in.
You don't want the egg whites to lose their air.
My husband's favourite dessert was treacle tart.
Basically, it's the filling that you would have in a treacle tart, but in a roulade.
In addition, Briony will add a layer of chopped fresh and dried pears and wrap it all up in a pecan meringue.
How many pears you going to be using? Um, three.
OK.
You carry on.
Love pears.
I love pears.
They're underrated.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Who's their press officer? They're getting nothing.
Yeah, that's the meringue nearly done.
I'm just making sure that it holds its own shape.
That, um, if I wanted to risk it over the top of my head, it wouldn't fall out off the bowl.
Yeah, that's fine.
Yeah, we're OK.
So, I think it's there.
Meringues are like clouds, aren't they? They make you think of dreams.
So we're doing like a dream-themed one of, like, moons and star biscuits on top.
Kim-Joy's bedtime roulade will be filled with whipped cream, fresh raspberries and a passion fruit curd.
Love that you always have a theme.
What do you dream about? Last night, I dreamt I woke up at 11:00 and I missed and I had like a serviette and we were doing bullfighting.
I'm just spreading my meringue.
I prefer the sheet to using the tins.
I find it's a more rustic edge to it.
Use the word rustic, you can get away with anything.
Jon's exotic roulade will be filled with passion fruit curd and white chocolate cream and topped with a decoration that requires scientific precision.
Need some mango spheres on the top.
What do you mean mango spheres? Mango spheres, spherification of mango juice.
It's like an egg yolk.
You burst 'em and then the sauce comes out of them.
Cute little extra to put on the top of your roulade.
Good luck, then, Jon.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Some meringue.
I think it's good.
When baking a roulade, there's no room for error.
So that's going in the oven.
Just a minute too long, I'm baking it for 160 for 30 minutes.
Under baked and it'll be too soft and the whole roulade will collapse.
I am slightly going to under bake it, only because I have past experiences of meringues breaking open.
I want it to be slightly rollable.
I hope.
I wish.
I don't know.
Oh.
Right, next step, next step, next step.
Making a roulade now gets even harder.
I'm just doing so many things at the same time.
I feel a little bit running around.
The bakers need to use every minute their meringue is in the oven I've actually just poured in way too much booze into that.
Whoops.
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to perfect their all-important fillings.
Did you learn knife skills? No, I just literally watch and learn from TV.
Oh! Or like YouTube and things like that.
Life hacks.
The texture of the filling is critical Passion fruit curd.
Just waiting for it to thicken a little bit more.
Too thick, it will be impossible to roll the meringue and create the perfect swirl.
This is the treacle tart filling.
It's just dried breadcrumbs in golden syrup.
Too runny Oops! .
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the filling will spill out, resulting in a soggy roulade.
You don't want liquid because then it just likemeh! It's not nice.
And they need to get the balance of flavours just right.
Meringue is, like, really sweet.
It's all sugar.
And I think you need something sharp.
I spent quite a lot of time in the Florida Keys and started thinking about the flavours that I've enjoyed.
Mainly cocktails, if I'm being completely honest with you.
Dan's fruity roulade will be filled with a coconut cream, topped with fresh mango, strawberries and lime curd.
The lime is really the star of this one.
I think I've got the balance of the sweetness and the sharpness right.
Let's all cross our fingers.
Dan's not the only baker to be studying the cocktail menu.
My roulade today is inspired by the years that I lived in Liverpool.
Had a lot of good times with my friends going out.
So I'm doing a pina colada.
That classic Liverpool cocktail.
Paul actually bought me a pina colada the other day.
True story.
Ruby's girls' night out roulade will have a boozy coconut cream filling, layered with roasted pineapple, all rolled up in a coconut meringue.
I'm making a pina colada on the side, as well.
Can you make four? Three for Prue and one for me.
All right, thank you.
Thank you very much.
I was introduced to rhubarb when I first came here.
I hated it because it's just so sharp.
But then I had rhubarb and custard.
So this is like one of the first British flavours that I've grown into liking.
Last week's Star Baker will roll a classic rich cream custard and rhubarb compote in a flaked almond decorated meringue.
Did you not win Star Baker twice in a row? Oh, my God.
Do you have to say that? I think you can get three in a row.
I'm not thinking that, you know.
If you get three in a row, I'm going to get on your shoulders and you carry me around the tent, yeah? Well, that's definitely not going to happen after you said that.
When you get a box of chocolates at Christmas and the family Coffee creams and hazelnut pralines always go first in our house.
So I've tried to base the flavours on that, really.
Karen's festive roulade will be flavoured with a hazelnut praline, coffee caramel, and a rich, creamy whisky filling.
This is a very thick custard.
If it's sloppy, it'll just ooze out.
That's fine.
Curd's done.
It's just going to go in the fridge.
Bakers, you are halfway through your Signature Challenge.
You have 52 and a half minutes left.
That's oddly specific.
I'm looking for a crispy coating with a nice creamy centre.
He's rising! Two or three minutes till the meringue comes out the oven.
I think I'm taking it out now.
Coming out in four minutes.
I just hope it's not going to crack too much.
I'm going to go for two minutes more and then he's coming out.
OK.
Are we ready? The whole tray's coming out.
I can't get that out.
Pretty good.
Quite pleased with it.
Definitely a meringue.
Look how lovely that looks.
What can I say? It's called talent.
There's a few holes, and that, but it's a roulade.
It'll roll up.
We're going to let this bad boy cool a little bit.
How are you? I'm all right.
But no Star Baker yet? Yeah, all right, don't rub it in.
But you must be Oh, no.
So close.
I'm Yeah, well, I'm not getting excited about it any more.
Yeah, I know.
That little guy.
I know.
He stands before you and a Star Baker.
But I think when people think of who's doing well, they think of you Do they? And they think of me.
Right! Bakers, you have .
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half an hour left.
Half an hour.
I'm just going to spread my custard.
Just got to be careful.
I don't want to overload it.
Just leaving a gap at the top cos it, inevitably, like, squidges out.
I like to use a lot of cream.
I want them to taste rhubarb.
Not too thick, though.
I want each bite to have some kirsch and some amarene.
Just got to do the dreaded roll.
Ah, that's the moment, isn't it? Where it suddenly might go That's the big Ugh! Yeah, urgh.
Urgh.
You want a nice, tight swirl.
Just like a little cut here, just to get things rolling.
I use the technique called hope.
Right, let's go for it.
This is the crucial moment to get it right.
It's so delicate.
Oh, my God, it's so important.
It's just not good.
I hope that's tight enough.
Roll, baby, roll.
It's cracking.
OK.
Boom.
Ooh.
Nice little roll.
Come on, you little beaut.
And breathe.
No.
It cracked.
Stop moving.
Bakers, you have ten minutes.
Just ten minutes.
Got a bit of leakage at the side but neaten it up a little bit with some nice pretty piping.
I'm terrible at piping.
Just cover up Yes.
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the crack.
OK.
Cool.
We're going to put some cherries on top.
This is total improvisation.
I just need to decorate it.
Ah, really shaky.
Finally, baking at my level.
It's the rhubarb compote.
Why are you down here? It's easier.
I've found that my whole life.
It's the runniest toffee sauce.
A few more for good luck.
Don't take this the wrong way Oh, for God's sake.
I saw a caterpillar in the zoo, an exotic one.
OK.
Looked a bit like that.
Think it was poisonous.
Good luck.
Thanks.
These are my mango spheres.
Calcium lactate and sodium alginate.
And, when they go in, they basically make, like, a jelly sweet.
It's called reverse spherification.
Try saying that when you've had a few.
One minute left.
60 seconds.
Uh-oh.
Are you all right, Rahul? I'm going to be terribly running out of time.
You're shaking.
If you're going to do tacky, go all in.
A bit of gold leaf.
I mean, that's my motto, too much is almost enough.
I'll just go and quickly stick my white chocolate on.
Have you still got stuff in the fridge? My hand is really shaking.
Voila.
Quick.
Bakers, your time is up.
Thank you.
That looks great.
Bakers, roll your roulades to the end of your stations.
Oh, my, my thingy.
The bakers' roulades will now face the judgment of Paul and Prue.
Hello, Ruby.
Hello.
It's really cylindrical.
The shape of it's even all the way down.
Pray.
I'm praying! You've sort of got a fold rather than a swirl.
Perhaps it should be just a bit tighter.
OK.
It's beautiful and light.
The flavours are stunning.
It is a pina colada.
The coconut and the pineapple is just there.
It's a fantastic roulade.
Your drink's good.
Nice as well.
Good.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The theme is dreams, but also passion.
So you go to sleep, wake up, and passion follows? Wow.
I have to go now, um It's a real mixture of absolutely exquisite piping and then really quite clumsy roulade.
It's very thick.
There is no spiral in there at all.
Yeah.
Flavours are lovely, and I'm really impressed with the passion fruit curd.
But I think the answer is to have a thinner meringue Right.
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and a tighter swirl.
Looks very busy.
It looks very neat.
Can't wait to see what the spiral's like.
It's broken up a lot.
That's a shame.
That's delicious.
I think your two types of cherries are a really good idea and you got a beautiful balance - tastes lovely, my mouth's still watering.
Ah, thank you.
It looks absolutely lovely.
Nice and even all the way down.
The kisses look amazing.
Thank you.
What you've got is a massive meringue with a little fold.
There is no spiral there.
Meringue's quite chewy.
You haven't baked it long enough.
It needed a little bit longer.
However, your interior is delicious.
Smooth, sharpness coming from the rhubarb.
It tastes lovely.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I think your roulade looks pretty sad.
It's flat.
Yeah.
Let's have a look at this, shall we? The actual swirl is there but the inside is so soft that it's all collapsed.
I think your meringue's slightly underdone.
Mmm.
Your outside is the only crispy bit in there.
Everything else in there is soft and marshmallowy.
I love the decoration.
It's so delicate and it does look as neat as a pin.
You do have a spiral! You have a really good one, too.
I think those flavours are wonderful.
Really fresh, lots of different fruit, the lime cuts right through the sweetness of the meringue, and you've got the balance perfectly.
Good.
Yes! Well, there you are.
The meringue is very, very good.
You need one hero and then everything else works around it.
Lime's the one in that, and I think it looks exquisite.
Well done, Dan.
No way.
Thank you very much.
Well done! Thank you.
What you've got is cylindrical.
You've just lost that spiral.
OK, sure.
Maybe less meringue.
OK.
What's all that? That's the golden syrup.
There's a little bit of seepage.
Mmm.
Certainly tastes like treacle tart.
You do get the pear.
It sits on your tongue and then just melts away.
You've ticked every box on your flavours, but the meringue's slightly too thick and you've lost the spiral.
It looks great.
I like the egg yolks on the top.
There is a bit of a spiral going on there.
I'm longing to see how the spherification works.
Wow.
Perfect.
It's a nice little touch, that.
I think it's delicious.
The passion fruit, you've really got that flavour coming through and it's about the sharpness, it's about celebrating the fruit, you know.
Wow.
Thank you so much.
Cheers.
Cheers, Manon.
I couldn't believe it - a handshake! And I was so, so pleased cos that is one of my most favourite desserts.
Couldn't really have gone much better.
I'm kinda nailing the Signatures right now.
Uh, not very happy.
I just need to take it on the chin and move on.
Probably five minutes more in the oven.
Ohh.
Still bottom of the class.
I need to do OK in this Technical Challenge.
If I perform like that again, then, as my dad would say, it's curtains.
Dessert Week isn't going to get any easier.
All right, bakers, time for your Technical Challenge, which today has been set for you by Prue, and it is a '70s classic.
Are they making Starsky and Hutch? No, no, they're still baking.
Oh.
But normally this would come in packet form, so Prue, any top tips? Follow the recipe really, really carefully.
Yeah, so that's helpful, right? Off you two go.
OK, Prue would love you to make that retro classic, the blancmange.
Oh, my God.
A raspberry blancmange, and must have a wobble.
And if that isn't enough to contend with, it also needs to be served with 12 identical langues de chat biscuits.
You have two and a half hours.
On your marks.
Get set.
Bake.
I've not got the foggiest about blancmange.
The bakers have the same ingredients Jelly tins.
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and Prue's pared-down recipe for the blancmange It's that retro, I've forgotten about it, you know? .
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and langues de chat, a light crunchy biscuit often served with creamy desserts.
It's my era, this.
I mean, I was a child in the '70s.
Now, when I used to have this at school, I thought it was absolutely disgusting.
Yes, it's blancmange, but it's not blancmange out of a packet.
This is more like a panna cotta.
All the colour and the flavour comes from fresh raspberry puree.
You are gonna love it.
I'll take a little scoop.
Whoa.
Mmm! That raspberry flavour is just bang, it hits you.
It's lovely.
That's nice.
They're using gelatine to set this so they really are under pressure because they've only got two and a half hours and they need at least two hours of freezing first and then chilling.
Now, you're going for langues de chat, the typical butter biscuits from France.
They'll be great with the blancmange because the biscuits will provide the crunch.
Crispy and buttery.
Very sweet.
That's a great biscuit.
What can go wrong with these? They have to be quick in the oven.
They burn in a flash because they've got a lot of sugar in them.
I think it's a great challenge.
If that's what it was like in school, I would have had that every day.
Quite a lot going on in this recipe, and it's not entirely clear.
Blitz the raspberries to a fine puree.
Pass through a sieve into a bowl.
Nice and smooth.
Getting all that flavour out of the fruit.
Oh, God.
Remember the bit at the bottom, that's where you get a lot of the puree.
I think I'll just leave this to drip and move on to the next element.
Stir in the raspberry liqueur.
Ooh, she likes it boozy.
Then we've got to make a custard.
Simmer until the mixture thickens.
It should start thickening any minute now.
It just has a moment when it's like, "Yeah, I'm gonna thicken now.
" I have to soak gelatine leaves.
We let them soak and it sort of activates it.
It's called blooming.
The gelatine is in there so got high hopes of it setting.
Almond extract is next.
Stir in 300mls of the double cream.
Here goes the raspberry puree.
It's lovely.
It's really bright.
Mmm, that smells so good.
Do you like blancmange? I've never tried it.
The only thing I know about it, Sandi, is that it looks like a brain.
Oh, OK.
That's quite interesting.
This is all I've got, I'm afraid.
Is that the look you're going for? A bit of cerebral cortex? Then pour into the mould.
Easy as that.
The concern is, how does it come out of the mould? But I'll worry about that later.
Here we go.
I'm scared.
Ah! Right, I need to get this bad boy in the freezer.
Where is my freezer? Do your thing.
One hour.
We've got to freeze the blancmange for an hour and then we've got to put it in the fridge for another hour before we turn it out.
Really cutting that fine for time.
Ummake the langues de chat.
I don't know what langues de chat means.
Manon.
Uh, it's a cat's tongue.
Do you know what a langues de chat is? Yeah, it's a cat's tongue.
Is it really? I've made langues de chat before.
I know what they're supposed to look like.
Tongues.
Why does everyone know what these are? It just says make the langues de chat mixture.
No method.
Just a list of ingredients.
Icing sugar, plain flour, salt, extract, egg whites.
Boom.
Just got to pipe it and bake it now.
I'm quite happy with this batter.
It's what I remember the batter looking like.
Don't look at me, Rubes.
No cheating.
You're such a little tell-tale.
No-one likes that.
Pipe 12 identical fingers.
I'm going five centimetres.
Ooh! I just want them to all be identical.
So does it say how long? No.
Just says bake.
All right, go.
Bake till Christmas? Bake till tomorrow morning? Thanks, Prue.
I think they're probably only gonna need a few minutes.
160.
I'll give about ten minutes.
Haven't got a clue.
Oh, that's the cat's tongue.
Yeah, that's the cat's tongue.
That's all you eat in France, isn't it? Cat's tongues and coffee.
Yeah.
So the next step, melt the white chocolate.
Add enough green cocoa butter to colour it mint green.
Mmm.
Do you like the colour? No.
I don't think food should be that colour.
It shouldn't, really.
Bakers, you are halfway through your Technical Challenge.
It's an important moment.
It's really hard to tell how the blancmange is looking.
The bakers need to choose the perfect moment to move the blancmange from the freezer to the fridge.
If they leave it too long in the freezer, then the binding agents in the gelatine won't set properly.
I think gelatine doesn't respond very well to being frozen, actually.
It tends to go sloppy.
My blancmange is still in the freezer because I don't think it's that set, and I'm just worried that when I'm gonna turn it over, it's gonna So I want it to be frozen.
So we're nearly there.
Just getting the biscuits out of the oven.
They're huge.
Yep.
That's about right.
Some of them are a bit pale but they're gonna be decorated as well.
Hide a multitude of sins.
So what do the instructions say again? Dip the cooled langues de chat into the chocolate lengthways on the diagonal.
It's not very diagonal.
It's more curved.
That's lengthways on the diagonal, innit? Innit?! That's not right.
It's like a banana.
Drizzle the white chocolate in lines, midways, from side to side, across the langoustines de chat.
I think maybe it's all right.
How much time gone? Bakers! 15 minutes till blancmange time.
Ah! I'm gonna take the thing out now.
Seems all right.
Seems how I want it to be.
Remove the mould from the fridge and dip it into a bowl of hot water.
Got some water, warm, there for a quick slip and slide out.
Three, two, one Ah! I don't really know how long.
Well, it's obviously softening around the edges.
I'm so scared to turn it out.
I really don't want to be the first one to do it.
This is awful to watch.
Yes! This is stressful, isn't it? It's coming.
OK, I'm going at three, two, one.
All right, is this gonna lift or not? Yikes.
Oh This isn't great.
It's out, but it's too soft.
Oh, no, he is melty as.
Come on, baby.
Aah! OK, fridge.
Oh, what a mess.
Briony's got hers out fine.
Karen's not got hers out fine.
Bakers, you have five minutes left.
It's not looking good.
It's not gonna be good, this.
OK.
Let's try to make this pretty.
Oh, God.
It's just trying to escape off the plate.
This is so rubbish.
Where did you slide down from?! Looks like a blancmange.
Oh, well.
Bakers, that is it.
Your time is up.
Ohhh.
Dear, dear, dear.
Please bring your blancmange and your biscuits Paul and Prue are expecting a raspberry blancmange full of flavour, with a perfect wobble, as well as 12 langues de chat biscuits.
But they don't know whose is whose.
Shall we start with that one? Bit of a wobble.
The definition has been lost a little bit on this.
Yeah.
But the colour's good.
Great consistency.
That blancmange is good.
Very good biscuit.
Not quite langues de chat shape, should be a little bit thinner.
We've lost a lot of colour on this one.
And definition.
I think it could have been a bit better set.
The biscuits They look as if they could have spent a little longer in the oven.
In the oven.
They could have spent a little longer in the oven.
Mmm.
The colour of this is really nice, actually.
Nice wobble.
Delicious.
Delicious.
The tartness that comes from the raspberry.
Onto the biscuits.
Bit under-baked.
actually.
This has lost a bit of height and a bit of colour.
It's not quite set, is it? Lovely and crisp.
Moving onto this, um, pool.
But that's soup.
It's not set.
Not set.
What a pity.
Great flavour, though.
Biscuits are very good.
This one's actually got a decent colour.
Just lost a bit of definition there.
Lovely.
Biscuits look pretty good as well.
That is a beautiful biscuit from a baking point of view.
Moving on, let's have a quick look inside, cos the colour's not bad.
It's a nice blancmange, that.
These biscuits do look good.
Beautifully piped.
They're great biscuits.
OK, last one.
Nice wobble on this one.
The colour is great.
Very nice.
Beautiful blancmange.
It's sharp.
It's smooth.
Biscuits are very skinny .
.
but very good.
Very nice.
Paul and Prue must now decide whose blancmange and biscuits are best.
In eighth place is this one.
Manon, it's not set.
Right, in seventh place, we have this one.
That's me.
You didn't get the raspberries through well enough and the langues de chat are undercooked.
Kim-Joy is in sixth, Briony's in fifth and Rahul is in fourth.
In third place, Jon.
The flavour was absolutely delicious.
Spoilt by rather uneven cat's tongues.
In second place is this one.
Pretty good.
You had a nice tartness, and the biscuits were nice too.
Thank you.
Which means this one in number one.
Dan, it really was the most delicious thing.
Well done.
Welcome to the club.
Shut up! It was one of my goals to get first in Technical.
Couldn't really have gone any better, could it? Never making a blancmange again.
Puddle.
I'm really disappointed with the result.
Do you want me to elaborate? Not a great day.
Plan for tonight? Go and have a few glasses of wine, early nighton it tomorrow.
I feel like the competition's getting tougher.
A big part of me just has this sense I'm going home.
Good luck, everybody.
Good luck! One more chance to be crowned Star Baker, and to avoid leaving the competition.
What's so interesting is that the sort of top four, which is, sort of, Rahul, Ruby, Jon and Dan Dan the Man.
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those four have been really good, and the other four have all been in trouble.
Briony possibly.
Yes, for sure.
Manon is down there as well.
Something very depressing about Manon's blancmange.
I know.
Could have done well.
All Kim-Joy's flavours are very subtle.
But neither Paul nor I are very subtle.
We just like big wallops of flavour! I would hesitate to comment.
Karen's in big trouble.
That roulade was not good.
I think, coming into the last challenge, there's a lot of people who've got to raise their game.
Hello, bakers! For your Showstopper Challenge today, the lovely Paul and Prue would love you to make a spectacular, mesmerising, melting chocolate ball dessert.
Sounds like a magic trick.
Well, in a way it is! So, the dessert of your choosing must be concealed and encased within a chocolate sphere, which, when topped with a hot sauce melts away to reveal the dessert within.
It can be any dessert, any chocolate, but the textures and the flavours must compliment each other.
You've got three hours.
On your marks Get set .
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bake! Pressure's on because it's such a complicated dessert.
Not feeling too thrilled about all of this.
I just need to do a lot to save myself, and I'm just worried.
And it's really hot.
Again.
With chocolate.
Oh, my word.
I'm working really quick because I want it in the fridge as soon as possible.
Thank you very much.
What we're asking for is the most delicious, original dessert inside a chocolate globe.
When you pour the sauce on top, you want the chocolate to melt away to show the perfect dessert underneath.
There lies the problem.
If it's too thick, it's not going to melt all the way through.
If it's too thin, the chances are it'll crack and fall apart anyway.
We'll be judging their dessert, yes, but it's got to blend well with the chocolate and the sauce.
So you've got to think on two levels.
One, the dessert's got to be fantastic.
But also, you've got to think of the flavours when that chocolate and sauce is added to it, that still has to work.
There's a few bakers in the tent in a bit of trouble.
This could be their last bake in The Great British Bake Off.
So, Briony, your chocolate ball dessert.
Yes.
So, I am doing a white chocolate ball.
The dessert encased is going to be an amaretto and blood orange sticky toffee pudding tart.
Oh, that sounds heaven! You've done treacle tart, and now sticky toffee? Yeah, they're my husband's favourites! And mine actually.
Yeah? Oh, good! Briony's tart will be enclosed inside an imposing marbled white chocolate sphere, which will be melted with a blood orange sticky toffee sauce.
Your choice of white chocolate as the dome, is that the right choice? Yeah, I think it works well because the dark chocolate, didn't compliment the flavours, it just completely Dominated? Yeah.
OK, thank you very much.
It's a pleasure.
Thank you.
Look forward to it.
Thank you! I know that Paul makes a sticky toffee pudding tart, so Briony's not the only baker putting her trust in a hidden tart.
I am doing basically a golden egg sitting in a bird's nest.
Inside you'll have sweet shortcrust pastry base, and then you'll have a pistachio crumb, a white chocolate coconut ganache, and a tart passion fruit curd, with a mango meringue on top.
Very sweet.
So, quite a complicated little tart in there.
Yes.
To reveal her tropical tart, Ruby will make a hot coconut and white chocolate sauce.
I go out for dinner with my girlfriends quite a lot.
this is something we'd definitely order.
You've seen a surprise, melting chocolate ball when you go out for a meal with the girls? Yes.
Yes.
Have you?! Yeah.
They're in restaurants now, Paul! Yeah, you spend too long in drive-throughs.
You need to get with the times a bit! Rather than a tart It's really good to get that in, actually.
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some bakers are banking on a more layered approach.
I'm making a joconde.
This is a toasted hazelnut version because it pairs quite well with the peach.
Basically, it's a peach and hazelnut layered mousse cake.
With alternating peach mousse layers, Dan's joconde will sit in a peach-shaped dark chocolate sphere, inspired by his daughter Constance's favourite bedtime story.
Why peach? I was struggling for inspiration, and then I saw James and the Giant Peach on the book shelf and I was like, "I'll do a peach"! That's basically the reason.
You have a little imp that speaks to you? Yeah, yeah! Have you made this before? I have.
Has it worked? Yeah Your voice is getting higher, Dan.
"Yeah!" I don't know.
Don't know why I'm doing this, but I've seen people do it.
The layered dessert that will be hidden inside Jon's chocolate ball is also inspired by his kids.
Making a version of an opera cake by calling it a ballet cake.
My three daughters did ballet and my two youngest still do ballet, this is my Lucy and Hannah ballet cake.
Ringed with white chocolate ballerinas, Jon's sphere will hide an 11-layered ballet cake, which he'll reveal with a hot raspberry and kirsch syrup.
I love the look of that.
Goth juice.
That's what I do for work, I deliver blood.
Oh, you do, don't you? I suck it out of peoples' veins and you deliver it.
I'm getting hungry.
Is it lunch yet? These pistachios will make my crumb.
Most of the bakers are making a single dessert designed for sharing.
The problem with peach is, either they're beautifully ripe, or they're a bit bland.
But, with 20 individual desserts to perfect And that will be their legs .
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Kim-Joy's boldly going where no baker has gone before.
I am doing a galaxy themed chocolate ball, filled with choux turtles.
Turtles? Yes, turtles.
Because? Because why not? No, that's exactly right.
Why not? Yes.
It's space turtles.
Space turtles, yeah.
Where do you come up with this stuff? I don't know! Featuring chocolate orange craquelin shells and orange liqueur cream filling, the turtles will sit inside a dark chocolate galaxy until they're revealed with a salted caramel sauce.
The choux, the caramel, the chocolate together should be amazing.
It's a great blend.
I really hope so.
Plus, turtles in space, what's not to love, right? And with little cocktail umbrellas as well.
Oh! Of course.
Of course! Obviously! Obviously.
Silly me.
Thank you very much indeed, Kim-Joy.
Oh, she's mad.
Oh, joconde! Preparing a delicious dessert is the least of the bakers' worries.
I'll give that another minute.
The judges have demanded that each one is hidden inside a highly decorative chocolate sphere.
So, this is going to be like the galaxy.
I've got a glove for my cocoa butter.
I usually use it to dye my hair.
Just seeing if there's any thin bits through the light.
If the walls of the sphere are too thin You've got to try and give it a fairly firm edge.
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it will crack and collapse.
Bit of back and forth.
Oh! Too thick, the chocolate won't melt, and the theatrical reveal of the dessert inside will be ruined.
Rather it be a bit too thick, than too thin.
Then the next thing on my list is to pray.
It's a challenge Ruby, Manon and Briony have made even harder for themselves.
With a lower melting point, white chocolate is less stable than dark.
I'm trying to work very quickly because this was just at the right temperature.
To produce a sphere that doesn't collapse Here comes the technical shaking part.
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they'll need thicker walls.
It's very graceful.
The technique is shake it out.
Oh, we have the same technique! Yeah! Manon's white chocolate ball will hide a French entremet dessert featuring layers of white chocolate mousse, raspberry curd, and a crunchy dark chocolate praline base.
Oh, I'm really hot.
I put quite a lot inside.
Whilst most of the bakers are using moulds Get off, get off.
Come on! .
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Rahul and Karen Chocolate festival.
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are gambling on a less rigid approach.
Too many cigarettes when I was a young lass.
My children's party days are long since gone.
Karen's pinning her future in the tent on a balloon-moulded dark chocolate sphere, concealing a raspberry liqueur chocolate brownie, layered with mascarpone and raspberry syllabub.
It's really important that this works for me today because I'm on the edge of the rankings.
I mean, I know in life it's only a chocolate ball, but today's it's important.
Rahul's taking his Showstopper so seriously, he needs more than one balloon.
Well, this one, the practice was different because when I was making the balloons this was not very successful, the balloons keep popping on my face.
It's a very tricky process.
He'll use his spheres to craft an ornate kalash, a Hindu symbol of abundance, said to contain the elixir of life, or, in this case, a seven-layered coffee and chocolate opera cake.
I'm five minutes behind the schedule already, so I've got to tell the bakers the time but I don't know where Noel's gone.
Um, I'll just get on with it.
Bakers! You are exactly halfway through your Showstopper Challenge.
My peach mousse needs quite a while to set.
I've got to get a hustle on! This is raspberry curd.
And then I'm going to make my chocolate collar.
This is the topping for my dome.
It's a pair of ballet shoes.
This is basically some traditional Indian pattern called madukani.
I'm making a syllabub.
I wanted a bit of booze in here.
I've put loads in.
Probably too much! Going for strong flavours today, just because the dark chocolate is so strong.
Orange will be the main thing.
Oh, he looks good.
That's going to go in for 20 minutes.
My pastry's definitely looked better.
They won't see it.
It'll be drenched in chocolate.
I'm just going to start building the layers for the opera cake.
This is a layer of coffee buttercream.
There'll be three layers of sponge, four layers of ganache, two layers of raspberry buttercream.
It's like precision work.
Yes! I'm making my dessert directly into it.
I just think if it works, it's more impressive.
If it works.
I think they look good.
That's lush.
I'm pleased with that.
I just need to get on with the decoration of that ball.
Just going to get my chocolate sphere out the freezer.
Bakers, you have half an hour left! Sorry.
This is as nerve-racking as giving birth! Oh no, it's cracked! There.
Everywhere.
God, this is so, so delicate.
Just really hard to open.
It's good, yeah.
Phew! It's not cracked.
Ah! Yes! Amazing! OK I'm just going to punch some little peepholes.
Oh, it's cracked! Come on, please! That's one.
Oh, this is going to be a disaster, I can feel it.
It's going, it's going! It's going! Oh, no! It's just cracked.
Ah, you're joking?! Yeah.
It's died, it's died.
Too hot? Once it starts going underneath, it just goes.
Nothing you can do? No, not really.
It's all right, I'll put it on.
It might taste nice.
Don't worry.
No, I'm fine.
You've got to laugh about these things, haven't you? And cry a little bit.
I'm all right.
I'm fine.
Oh, no! Take your time.
I've got to make my chocolate sauce.
Ah! Tell me what to do with the chocolate sauce.
Ah! You got it? "Place cream into a heavy bottom pan.
" Jon, thank you.
Don't even say thanks, you haven't got time.
Angry.
Uh-oh.
That looks good.
It needs a bit of trimming.
Like some sort of Russian hat.
Jon's, I don't know what it tastes like, but his looks amazing.
So, um, yeah Unless you've got a chocolate sphere that I can put on my cake, I'm not sure I can give my attention.
Uh-oh, see? This is what happened.
OK Can you fix that? I will try if I can.
This looks like it's very precarious so I'll leave.
Good luck.
You know what? We're going to go with a dome.
That was close.
OK.
See what we can salvage.
It's just melting as we're watching.
It's carnage.
Panic, panic, panic.
You call it.
One minute.
Give them one minute.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Come on! You know what? Where is that shimmer spray? Oh, no! My nozzle's clogged.
It's going to be a very yellow peach.
I'm just adding a splash of gold leaf.
Argh, don't break now, don't break now! Bakers, time is up.
Oh, what a shocker! Please place your Showstoppers at the end of your benches.
That looks great.
Babe! Don't worry.
Did it melt away? Disaster.
Ohhh! It's judgment time for the Showstopping melting chocolate ball desserts.
Jon, please bring up your Showstopper.
Oh, yes.
Come on, people, give it up for the tutu.
The attention to detail, I'm in first position, as well.
I think the dome is spectacular.
The shine you've got on it, the tempering of the chocolate, the colour works, as well.
I think the design at the bottom scares the living daylights out of me.
It's a thing of beauty.
No, it is not.
Can we get your hot sauce, please? Here it goes.
Wow.
I think we need to get in there.
Clear and distinct layers.
Beautiful texture, too.
It's really rich.
It's delicious.
I think you've done a great job cos the flavour combinations really work, the raspberry and the chocolate together with the opera cake.
Thank you, Jon.
And extra points for the outfit.
Cheers.
Do you understand the word sphere? What happened was, it had shattered into so many pieces so I had to do a bit of a jigsaw to try and have something.
Nice reveal.
These are all my favourite flavours.
Pistachio, passion fruit.
It's very thick, the walls of that tart.
Too thick.
It's quite sickly.
There's too much pistachio, which dries everything out.
It's very difficult to eat, if I'm honest.
Right, OK.
We only wanted one, you've done two, and it's very elegant.
It's very Rahul.
Thank you.
It's beautiful.
Remind me what's in the sauce? Oh, it's coffee creme anglaise.
So you first put it on the top and then it's slowly going to melt the rest.
I hope.
I'm so sorry.
Probably needed more sauce.
It's quite strong, isn't it? You should have, like, seven-layer opera cake.
Oh, beautiful.
Yeah.
Wow.
Look at that.
Very neat.
I love that flavour.
Come on, Paul.
It's fantastic flavour.
The coffee chocolate that you put on the top works so well with the opera cake and the creme au beurre as well with the coffee in it, it's silky smooth, it's delicious.
You did a great job there, Rahul.
Thank you.
Again.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
You don't have to go backwards.
I'll do three steps and then I'll turn around.
You can turn around.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
No excuses - it melted.
It looks like it was too thin.
Particularly white chocolate, it has to be quite robust.
OK.
It's like a creature.
Elegant it's not.
But it is lovely, robust, family flavours.
Blood orange is just so great.
And the texture of it is beautiful.
The outside is a bit of a mess.
Yeah.
I'll take that.
I think I might be going home.
Let's not think about it now.
No, but it's OK.
I'm OK.
It's not finished.
It was supposed to look like a peach.
It looks like a planet.
It's a planet, then.
Go, Dan.
Nothing for it now.
Come on.
Come on.
I'm out of sauce.
It's going, it's going.
Oh.
It's going to go in Oh! Bravo.
Let's take a big scoop.
Oh, it is layered, I see.
Very good.
It's absolutely delicious.
The tang from the fresh peach married up with the sweetness of the mousse is very, very good.
And the caramel works well with it, as well.
Planet Delicious.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Very neat and pretty and I love the piping.
It's a beautiful thing.
I think what you've done is lovely.
Oh, God, this is not good.
Voila! Look at that.
That looks amazing.
The collar is so lovely and thin and the flavour's lovely.
You've got this smooth white chocolate that sits in the mousse, and the kick from the raspberries, it is stunning to eat.
I mean, really delicate, sophisticated.
I think that's a triumph.
Yeah.
Well done.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, I think it's wonderful.
Thank you very much.
I think the design is very good.
I think it's highly effective.
Come on, baby.
What's going to happen now is There we go.
Very good.
Let's have a look inside here.
We've got chocolate brownie, mascarpone cream with raspberry liqueur and raspberry syllabub.
It's absolutely delicious.
I wouldn't say it's elegant.
I think it's hugely decadent.
I do like the flavours.
Just a shame you've missed some of the key ones for me.
I'm not getting too much of the raspberry liqueur.
It could have been a bit stronger.
Well, never mind.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
The whole universe concept you've got here, I think it's fantastic.
You've got a lovely shine, as well.
I think it's wonderful.
This is the moment, Kim-Joy.
Come on now.
She talks to it, as well.
There we go.
Oh, look at that.
Oh, the umbrella inside.
Those turtles are just perfect.
I think it looks amazing.
What's the flavour inside these? Orange and orange liqueur.
That is very delicious.
And what's lovely is you thought about how the sauce was going to blend with the chocolate, which goes with the choux as well and the whole thing works together.
You've got the slight alcoholic kick at the back of it, as well, and I think the design is flawless.
Thank you so much.
I think you've done a great job.
Well done, Kim-Joy.
Well done, Kim-Joy.
Ah, thank you.
Well done.
The comments are, like, the best comments I've ever received.
I think Prue and Paul are sold on today's turtles.
It's rich, isn't it? It was a good one, and had I had a good day yesterday, I would have been confident.
I feel OK now, but now isn't when we're sitting on those stools and waiting, and I would be absolutely crushed.
Over the two days, I think I'm at the bottom but I'm quite of the opinion sometimes it's better to expect the worst because then if it happens, you're not as surprised and then if it doesn't happen, winner, you know.
Prue and Paul must now decide who will be our fourth Star Baker, and who will be leaving the competition.
I have to tell you, I never want to eat chocolate again.
Paul's fine, aren't you? Well, I don't know.
I think today, with the weather, was a bit tricky.
But what happened was, when they were pouring the hot sauce on, I think it worked, especially Kim-Joy's.
Kim-Joy, I think, saved herself.
She needed to.
Dan and Jon have got to be hovering up there.
I mean, the outside didn't look great for Dan.
But the interior was delicious with those peaches.
I know.
Dan's had a good week.
I've got to say, Rahul as well.
Yeah, again.
Rahul's there again.
The truth is it's Dan, Rahul and Jon.
And I want Jon to win on costume alone.
The person who went into the Showstopper with tears and tension was Karen.
She did a very good Showstopper.
But, frankly, I don't think she's necessarily saved herself.
Briony's looked the saddest.
Basically, what she spent three hours doing was making a tart.
But we have to say, this week is very unusual.
Terry is not here.
If Terry were here He might have been the one to go home.
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he might've been the one to go home.
Obviously Prue and I need to discuss this a little further.
Do you know what's the best thing about all of this? Noel and I have got no decision to make whatsoever.
We'll just go and play Frisbee, right? Shall we? Yeah.
My hand's getting clammy.
I'm sorry.
Don't worry.
Go for it.
Well done, bakers.
Another lovely week with you in the tent.
Now, I get the joy of announcing who is the Star Baker, and if I tell you that this week's Star Baker did a peach of a Showstopper, I don't think you'll be surprised to learn that the Star Baker is Well done! .
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Dan.
Well done! Planet Delicious.
Ah, that means I've got the horrible job of sending someone home.
The person who's going home this week is .
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nobody.
Ah! You Oh, man! The judges felt it wouldn't be fair to send someone home with Terry not being here, so But the downside to that means that next week, there is a strong possibility that two people might be going home.
OK.
Thank you.
And, on that note It feels weird sending no-one home so I'm gonna go.
See you later, guys.
Bye, Noel.
Take care.
It's been great, yeah.
Such a big fan.
Loving your work! Bye, Noel.
See you, mate.
Take care.
Thank you! I'll be better, I promise.
OK.
Oh, that's so good, isn't it? Do you know what the great thing about Bake Off is? It's that at the end of each show, you get a clean slate.
We're freed from the gallows.
Oh, my God! I'm so pleased I'm not going home.
My family, they will be giddier than I am.
They're so excited, my two girls.
The dog's not too keen.
Mate, you must have been close.
Eh? It must have been close.
If I was, all right, but well done.
You have to win it next week.
Debbie will be really happy I'm through to another week.
A lot more stress in the house again.
But, yeah, I know she'll be really pleased.
Hello, Daddy.
Hello, Constance.
How are you? Good.
Hey, guess what? I was Star Baker.
Because I made a cake.
Yeah, very good and very tasty.
Oh, I love you too! Next time Come on, come on, come on, come on.
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a Bake Off first with Spice Week.
It smells really good.
The remaining eight bakers start gingerly You always feel better after a bit of ginger.
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go east for the Technical It's a guessing game.
What the hell are they? .
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and hang their gravity-defying Showstoppers Oh, God, I'm shaking.
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as at least one baker Jesus.
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will leave the tent.
Ha! Uh-oh Unbelievable!
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Bakers were overstretched .
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with bread.
Paul's prowling around like a bear.
Whilst Dan came close again It's perfect.
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it was Rahul Oh, look at that.
You're a little genius.
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who was crowned Star Baker for the second time.
I'm going to kill him.
But for Antony, it was toast Not your best, Antony.
It's not my best.
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as he became the third baker to say goodbye.
Come on, ladies.
Come on.
Come on, let's bring it in.
Now Chop, chop.
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the bakers take on a trio of desserts Going to put some cherries on top.
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with a Signature that's all about the swirl Roll, baby, roll.
No! It's cracking.
Oh, what a mess.
It's not looking good.
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and attempt a mesmerising, melting chocolate masterpiece This is as nerve-racking as giving birth.
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that's never before been witnessed on Bake Off.
Ah, yes! Amazing.
Oh, no, it's cracked.
You've got to laugh about these things, haven't you, eh? And cry a little bit.
I'm all right.
I'm fine.
Noel, what are you doing? It's Dessert Week.
I've made a custard pie.
Are you kidding me? Do you remember last year when Paul accidentally got a custard pie in the face? We cannot risk having that happen again.
It was a disaster.
Give me that.
I'm going to throw it Sandi.
Noel.
Oh! Welcome to Dessert Week.
What should we do? Run! I've definitely been looking forward to this week, but that's probably mysigning my death warrant right there.
I think I've just about managed to scrape through every single week, so let's go for nailing a good Signature today.
So far, I haven't had a big baking disasterso, hopefully, it's going to continue? Week four.
It's getting quite into the competition now.
Dan's looking strong.
Rahul definitely.
He just seems to be, like, a conjuring magician, or something.
It's a mixture of everything, really.
Scary.
Exciting.
Nervous.
But, in the morning, what better way to start than a glass of milk? So, I just literally drink a glass of milk in the morning.
Hello, bakers.
Welcome back to the tent.
Now, as you all know, unfortunately Terry is not with us today because he is poorly but with the agreement of absolutely everybody, he is going to be allowed to come back next week.
Right, on with the challenge.
Today the judges would love you to make a meringue roulade.
It must be made from melt-in-the-mouth meringue.
The choice of filling, entirely up to you, but the filling must be enclosed in the roulade, which - when cut - must demonstrate a perfect swirl.
You have one hour and 45 minutes.
On your marks.
Get set.
Bake! It's too quiet.
It's making my nerves go weird.
Everyone's separating eggs.
It's the most bit that you need to concentrate on.
I've managed to get the egg whites in the bowl without getting any egg yolk in.
That was the first hurdle passed.
Oh, yeah, I messed it up.
Oh.
This is annoying.
What we're looking for in a great roulade - crack through the exterior, soft on the inside, and beautiful spiral into the middle.
One of the things the bakers really need to think about is the balance of flavours.
You need a bit of acidity, either a curd, or nice sharp fruits, because meringue is pure sugar.
But the beauty of this challenge is there's nowhere to hide.
Make a mistake and it shows up.
And there's four whites in there.
Meringue's the most important thing.
Just got to get that in the oven as quickly as possible.
You want just a nice, stiff, glossy meringue.
Like, no undissolved sugar in it.
So, how are you making your meringue? I heat the sugar in the oven.
Basically, just dissolves much quicker in the egg whites.
With everything I'm doing, I'm hopefully guaranteeing a good meringue.
Manon's relying on her heated sugar to perfect a meringue that and amarene cherries.
Amarene, this is like, Italian, sweet, almondy cherries and it's a flavour from my childhood.
- Do you want to smell? - Thought that was an urn.
Fantastic.
They smell like almond kernels, don't they? And you've done this before? Uh, never made a meringue roulade before.
So Slowly.
Slowly.
You don't want to dump it all in.
You don't want the egg whites to lose their air.
My husband's favourite dessert was treacle tart.
Basically, it's the filling that you would have in a treacle tart, but in a roulade.
In addition, Briony will add a layer of chopped fresh and dried pears and wrap it all up in a pecan meringue.
How many pears you going to be using? Um, three.
OK.
You carry on.
Love pears.
I love pears.
They're underrated.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Who's their press officer? They're getting nothing.
Yeah, that's the meringue nearly done.
I'm just making sure that it holds its own shape.
That, um, if I wanted to risk it over the top of my head, it wouldn't fall out off the bowl.
Yeah, that's fine.
Yeah, we're OK.
So, I think it's there.
Meringues are like clouds, aren't they? They make you think of dreams.
So we're doing like a dream-themed one of, like, moons and star biscuits on top.
Kim-Joy's bedtime roulade will be filled with whipped cream, fresh raspberries and a passion fruit curd.
Love that you always have a theme.
What do you dream about? Last night, I dreamt I woke up at 11:00 and I missed and I had like a serviette and we were doing bullfighting.
I'm just spreading my meringue.
I prefer the sheet to using the tins.
I find it's a more rustic edge to it.
Use the word rustic, you can get away with anything.
Jon's exotic roulade will be filled with passion fruit curd and white chocolate cream and topped with a decoration that requires scientific precision.
Need some mango spheres on the top.
What do you mean mango spheres? Mango spheres, spherification of mango juice.
It's like an egg yolk.
You burst 'em and then the sauce comes out of them.
Cute little extra to put on the top of your roulade.
Good luck, then, Jon.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Some meringue.
I think it's good.
When baking a roulade, there's no room for error.
So that's going in the oven.
Just a minute too long, I'm baking it for 160 for 30 minutes.
Under baked and it'll be too soft and the whole roulade will collapse.
I am slightly going to under bake it, only because I have past experiences of meringues breaking open.
I want it to be slightly rollable.
I hope.
I wish.
I don't know.
Oh.
Right, next step, next step, next step.
Making a roulade now gets even harder.
I'm just doing so many things at the same time.
I feel a little bit running around.
The bakers need to use every minute their meringue is in the oven I've actually just poured in way too much booze into that.
Whoops.
.
.
to perfect their all-important fillings.
Did you learn knife skills? No, I just literally watch and learn from TV.
Oh! Or like YouTube and things like that.
Life hacks.
The texture of the filling is critical Passion fruit curd.
Just waiting for it to thicken a little bit more.
Too thick, it will be impossible to roll the meringue and create the perfect swirl.
This is the treacle tart filling.
It's just dried breadcrumbs in golden syrup.
Too runny Oops! .
.
the filling will spill out, resulting in a soggy roulade.
You don't want liquid because then it just likemeh! It's not nice.
And they need to get the balance of flavours just right.
Meringue is, like, really sweet.
It's all sugar.
And I think you need something sharp.
I spent quite a lot of time in the Florida Keys and started thinking about the flavours that I've enjoyed.
Mainly cocktails, if I'm being completely honest with you.
Dan's fruity roulade will be filled with a coconut cream, topped with fresh mango, strawberries and lime curd.
The lime is really the star of this one.
I think I've got the balance of the sweetness and the sharpness right.
Let's all cross our fingers.
Dan's not the only baker to be studying the cocktail menu.
My roulade today is inspired by the years that I lived in Liverpool.
Had a lot of good times with my friends going out.
So I'm doing a pina colada.
That classic Liverpool cocktail.
Paul actually bought me a pina colada the other day.
True story.
Ruby's girls' night out roulade will have a boozy coconut cream filling, layered with roasted pineapple, all rolled up in a coconut meringue.
I'm making a pina colada on the side, as well.
Can you make four? Three for Prue and one for me.
All right, thank you.
Thank you very much.
I was introduced to rhubarb when I first came here.
I hated it because it's just so sharp.
But then I had rhubarb and custard.
So this is like one of the first British flavours that I've grown into liking.
Last week's Star Baker will roll a classic rich cream custard and rhubarb compote in a flaked almond decorated meringue.
Did you not win Star Baker twice in a row? Oh, my God.
Do you have to say that? I think you can get three in a row.
I'm not thinking that, you know.
If you get three in a row, I'm going to get on your shoulders and you carry me around the tent, yeah? Well, that's definitely not going to happen after you said that.
When you get a box of chocolates at Christmas and the family Coffee creams and hazelnut pralines always go first in our house.
So I've tried to base the flavours on that, really.
Karen's festive roulade will be flavoured with a hazelnut praline, coffee caramel, and a rich, creamy whisky filling.
This is a very thick custard.
If it's sloppy, it'll just ooze out.
That's fine.
Curd's done.
It's just going to go in the fridge.
Bakers, you are halfway through your Signature Challenge.
You have 52 and a half minutes left.
That's oddly specific.
I'm looking for a crispy coating with a nice creamy centre.
He's rising! Two or three minutes till the meringue comes out the oven.
I think I'm taking it out now.
Coming out in four minutes.
I just hope it's not going to crack too much.
I'm going to go for two minutes more and then he's coming out.
OK.
Are we ready? The whole tray's coming out.
I can't get that out.
Pretty good.
Quite pleased with it.
Definitely a meringue.
Look how lovely that looks.
What can I say? It's called talent.
There's a few holes, and that, but it's a roulade.
It'll roll up.
We're going to let this bad boy cool a little bit.
How are you? I'm all right.
But no Star Baker yet? Yeah, all right, don't rub it in.
But you must be Oh, no.
So close.
I'm Yeah, well, I'm not getting excited about it any more.
Yeah, I know.
That little guy.
I know.
He stands before you and a Star Baker.
But I think when people think of who's doing well, they think of you Do they? And they think of me.
Right! Bakers, you have .
.
half an hour left.
Half an hour.
I'm just going to spread my custard.
Just got to be careful.
I don't want to overload it.
Just leaving a gap at the top cos it, inevitably, like, squidges out.
I like to use a lot of cream.
I want them to taste rhubarb.
Not too thick, though.
I want each bite to have some kirsch and some amarene.
Just got to do the dreaded roll.
Ah, that's the moment, isn't it? Where it suddenly might go That's the big Ugh! Yeah, urgh.
Urgh.
You want a nice, tight swirl.
Just like a little cut here, just to get things rolling.
I use the technique called hope.
Right, let's go for it.
This is the crucial moment to get it right.
It's so delicate.
Oh, my God, it's so important.
It's just not good.
I hope that's tight enough.
Roll, baby, roll.
It's cracking.
OK.
Boom.
Ooh.
Nice little roll.
Come on, you little beaut.
And breathe.
No.
It cracked.
Stop moving.
Bakers, you have ten minutes.
Just ten minutes.
Got a bit of leakage at the side but neaten it up a little bit with some nice pretty piping.
I'm terrible at piping.
Just cover up Yes.
.
.
the crack.
OK.
Cool.
We're going to put some cherries on top.
This is total improvisation.
I just need to decorate it.
Ah, really shaky.
Finally, baking at my level.
It's the rhubarb compote.
Why are you down here? It's easier.
I've found that my whole life.
It's the runniest toffee sauce.
A few more for good luck.
Don't take this the wrong way Oh, for God's sake.
I saw a caterpillar in the zoo, an exotic one.
OK.
Looked a bit like that.
Think it was poisonous.
Good luck.
Thanks.
These are my mango spheres.
Calcium lactate and sodium alginate.
And, when they go in, they basically make, like, a jelly sweet.
It's called reverse spherification.
Try saying that when you've had a few.
One minute left.
60 seconds.
Uh-oh.
Are you all right, Rahul? I'm going to be terribly running out of time.
You're shaking.
If you're going to do tacky, go all in.
A bit of gold leaf.
I mean, that's my motto, too much is almost enough.
I'll just go and quickly stick my white chocolate on.
Have you still got stuff in the fridge? My hand is really shaking.
Voila.
Quick.
Bakers, your time is up.
Thank you.
That looks great.
Bakers, roll your roulades to the end of your stations.
Oh, my, my thingy.
The bakers' roulades will now face the judgment of Paul and Prue.
Hello, Ruby.
Hello.
It's really cylindrical.
The shape of it's even all the way down.
Pray.
I'm praying! You've sort of got a fold rather than a swirl.
Perhaps it should be just a bit tighter.
OK.
It's beautiful and light.
The flavours are stunning.
It is a pina colada.
The coconut and the pineapple is just there.
It's a fantastic roulade.
Your drink's good.
Nice as well.
Good.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The theme is dreams, but also passion.
So you go to sleep, wake up, and passion follows? Wow.
I have to go now, um It's a real mixture of absolutely exquisite piping and then really quite clumsy roulade.
It's very thick.
There is no spiral in there at all.
Yeah.
Flavours are lovely, and I'm really impressed with the passion fruit curd.
But I think the answer is to have a thinner meringue Right.
.
.
and a tighter swirl.
Looks very busy.
It looks very neat.
Can't wait to see what the spiral's like.
It's broken up a lot.
That's a shame.
That's delicious.
I think your two types of cherries are a really good idea and you got a beautiful balance - tastes lovely, my mouth's still watering.
Ah, thank you.
It looks absolutely lovely.
Nice and even all the way down.
The kisses look amazing.
Thank you.
What you've got is a massive meringue with a little fold.
There is no spiral there.
Meringue's quite chewy.
You haven't baked it long enough.
It needed a little bit longer.
However, your interior is delicious.
Smooth, sharpness coming from the rhubarb.
It tastes lovely.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I think your roulade looks pretty sad.
It's flat.
Yeah.
Let's have a look at this, shall we? The actual swirl is there but the inside is so soft that it's all collapsed.
I think your meringue's slightly underdone.
Mmm.
Your outside is the only crispy bit in there.
Everything else in there is soft and marshmallowy.
I love the decoration.
It's so delicate and it does look as neat as a pin.
You do have a spiral! You have a really good one, too.
I think those flavours are wonderful.
Really fresh, lots of different fruit, the lime cuts right through the sweetness of the meringue, and you've got the balance perfectly.
Good.
Yes! Well, there you are.
The meringue is very, very good.
You need one hero and then everything else works around it.
Lime's the one in that, and I think it looks exquisite.
Well done, Dan.
No way.
Thank you very much.
Well done! Thank you.
What you've got is cylindrical.
You've just lost that spiral.
OK, sure.
Maybe less meringue.
OK.
What's all that? That's the golden syrup.
There's a little bit of seepage.
Mmm.
Certainly tastes like treacle tart.
You do get the pear.
It sits on your tongue and then just melts away.
You've ticked every box on your flavours, but the meringue's slightly too thick and you've lost the spiral.
It looks great.
I like the egg yolks on the top.
There is a bit of a spiral going on there.
I'm longing to see how the spherification works.
Wow.
Perfect.
It's a nice little touch, that.
I think it's delicious.
The passion fruit, you've really got that flavour coming through and it's about the sharpness, it's about celebrating the fruit, you know.
Wow.
Thank you so much.
Cheers.
Cheers, Manon.
I couldn't believe it - a handshake! And I was so, so pleased cos that is one of my most favourite desserts.
Couldn't really have gone much better.
I'm kinda nailing the Signatures right now.
Uh, not very happy.
I just need to take it on the chin and move on.
Probably five minutes more in the oven.
Ohh.
Still bottom of the class.
I need to do OK in this Technical Challenge.
If I perform like that again, then, as my dad would say, it's curtains.
Dessert Week isn't going to get any easier.
All right, bakers, time for your Technical Challenge, which today has been set for you by Prue, and it is a '70s classic.
Are they making Starsky and Hutch? No, no, they're still baking.
Oh.
But normally this would come in packet form, so Prue, any top tips? Follow the recipe really, really carefully.
Yeah, so that's helpful, right? Off you two go.
OK, Prue would love you to make that retro classic, the blancmange.
Oh, my God.
A raspberry blancmange, and must have a wobble.
And if that isn't enough to contend with, it also needs to be served with 12 identical langues de chat biscuits.
You have two and a half hours.
On your marks.
Get set.
Bake.
I've not got the foggiest about blancmange.
The bakers have the same ingredients Jelly tins.
.
.
and Prue's pared-down recipe for the blancmange It's that retro, I've forgotten about it, you know? .
.
and langues de chat, a light crunchy biscuit often served with creamy desserts.
It's my era, this.
I mean, I was a child in the '70s.
Now, when I used to have this at school, I thought it was absolutely disgusting.
Yes, it's blancmange, but it's not blancmange out of a packet.
This is more like a panna cotta.
All the colour and the flavour comes from fresh raspberry puree.
You are gonna love it.
I'll take a little scoop.
Whoa.
Mmm! That raspberry flavour is just bang, it hits you.
It's lovely.
That's nice.
They're using gelatine to set this so they really are under pressure because they've only got two and a half hours and they need at least two hours of freezing first and then chilling.
Now, you're going for langues de chat, the typical butter biscuits from France.
They'll be great with the blancmange because the biscuits will provide the crunch.
Crispy and buttery.
Very sweet.
That's a great biscuit.
What can go wrong with these? They have to be quick in the oven.
They burn in a flash because they've got a lot of sugar in them.
I think it's a great challenge.
If that's what it was like in school, I would have had that every day.
Quite a lot going on in this recipe, and it's not entirely clear.
Blitz the raspberries to a fine puree.
Pass through a sieve into a bowl.
Nice and smooth.
Getting all that flavour out of the fruit.
Oh, God.
Remember the bit at the bottom, that's where you get a lot of the puree.
I think I'll just leave this to drip and move on to the next element.
Stir in the raspberry liqueur.
Ooh, she likes it boozy.
Then we've got to make a custard.
Simmer until the mixture thickens.
It should start thickening any minute now.
It just has a moment when it's like, "Yeah, I'm gonna thicken now.
" I have to soak gelatine leaves.
We let them soak and it sort of activates it.
It's called blooming.
The gelatine is in there so got high hopes of it setting.
Almond extract is next.
Stir in 300mls of the double cream.
Here goes the raspberry puree.
It's lovely.
It's really bright.
Mmm, that smells so good.
Do you like blancmange? I've never tried it.
The only thing I know about it, Sandi, is that it looks like a brain.
Oh, OK.
That's quite interesting.
This is all I've got, I'm afraid.
Is that the look you're going for? A bit of cerebral cortex? Then pour into the mould.
Easy as that.
The concern is, how does it come out of the mould? But I'll worry about that later.
Here we go.
I'm scared.
Ah! Right, I need to get this bad boy in the freezer.
Where is my freezer? Do your thing.
One hour.
We've got to freeze the blancmange for an hour and then we've got to put it in the fridge for another hour before we turn it out.
Really cutting that fine for time.
Ummake the langues de chat.
I don't know what langues de chat means.
Manon.
Uh, it's a cat's tongue.
Do you know what a langues de chat is? Yeah, it's a cat's tongue.
Is it really? I've made langues de chat before.
I know what they're supposed to look like.
Tongues.
Why does everyone know what these are? It just says make the langues de chat mixture.
No method.
Just a list of ingredients.
Icing sugar, plain flour, salt, extract, egg whites.
Boom.
Just got to pipe it and bake it now.
I'm quite happy with this batter.
It's what I remember the batter looking like.
Don't look at me, Rubes.
No cheating.
You're such a little tell-tale.
No-one likes that.
Pipe 12 identical fingers.
I'm going five centimetres.
Ooh! I just want them to all be identical.
So does it say how long? No.
Just says bake.
All right, go.
Bake till Christmas? Bake till tomorrow morning? Thanks, Prue.
I think they're probably only gonna need a few minutes.
160.
I'll give about ten minutes.
Haven't got a clue.
Oh, that's the cat's tongue.
Yeah, that's the cat's tongue.
That's all you eat in France, isn't it? Cat's tongues and coffee.
Yeah.
So the next step, melt the white chocolate.
Add enough green cocoa butter to colour it mint green.
Mmm.
Do you like the colour? No.
I don't think food should be that colour.
It shouldn't, really.
Bakers, you are halfway through your Technical Challenge.
It's an important moment.
It's really hard to tell how the blancmange is looking.
The bakers need to choose the perfect moment to move the blancmange from the freezer to the fridge.
If they leave it too long in the freezer, then the binding agents in the gelatine won't set properly.
I think gelatine doesn't respond very well to being frozen, actually.
It tends to go sloppy.
My blancmange is still in the freezer because I don't think it's that set, and I'm just worried that when I'm gonna turn it over, it's gonna So I want it to be frozen.
So we're nearly there.
Just getting the biscuits out of the oven.
They're huge.
Yep.
That's about right.
Some of them are a bit pale but they're gonna be decorated as well.
Hide a multitude of sins.
So what do the instructions say again? Dip the cooled langues de chat into the chocolate lengthways on the diagonal.
It's not very diagonal.
It's more curved.
That's lengthways on the diagonal, innit? Innit?! That's not right.
It's like a banana.
Drizzle the white chocolate in lines, midways, from side to side, across the langoustines de chat.
I think maybe it's all right.
How much time gone? Bakers! 15 minutes till blancmange time.
Ah! I'm gonna take the thing out now.
Seems all right.
Seems how I want it to be.
Remove the mould from the fridge and dip it into a bowl of hot water.
Got some water, warm, there for a quick slip and slide out.
Three, two, one Ah! I don't really know how long.
Well, it's obviously softening around the edges.
I'm so scared to turn it out.
I really don't want to be the first one to do it.
This is awful to watch.
Yes! This is stressful, isn't it? It's coming.
OK, I'm going at three, two, one.
All right, is this gonna lift or not? Yikes.
Oh This isn't great.
It's out, but it's too soft.
Oh, no, he is melty as.
Come on, baby.
Aah! OK, fridge.
Oh, what a mess.
Briony's got hers out fine.
Karen's not got hers out fine.
Bakers, you have five minutes left.
It's not looking good.
It's not gonna be good, this.
OK.
Let's try to make this pretty.
Oh, God.
It's just trying to escape off the plate.
This is so rubbish.
Where did you slide down from?! Looks like a blancmange.
Oh, well.
Bakers, that is it.
Your time is up.
Ohhh.
Dear, dear, dear.
Please bring your blancmange and your biscuits Paul and Prue are expecting a raspberry blancmange full of flavour, with a perfect wobble, as well as 12 langues de chat biscuits.
But they don't know whose is whose.
Shall we start with that one? Bit of a wobble.
The definition has been lost a little bit on this.
Yeah.
But the colour's good.
Great consistency.
That blancmange is good.
Very good biscuit.
Not quite langues de chat shape, should be a little bit thinner.
We've lost a lot of colour on this one.
And definition.
I think it could have been a bit better set.
The biscuits They look as if they could have spent a little longer in the oven.
In the oven.
They could have spent a little longer in the oven.
Mmm.
The colour of this is really nice, actually.
Nice wobble.
Delicious.
Delicious.
The tartness that comes from the raspberry.
Onto the biscuits.
Bit under-baked.
actually.
This has lost a bit of height and a bit of colour.
It's not quite set, is it? Lovely and crisp.
Moving onto this, um, pool.
But that's soup.
It's not set.
Not set.
What a pity.
Great flavour, though.
Biscuits are very good.
This one's actually got a decent colour.
Just lost a bit of definition there.
Lovely.
Biscuits look pretty good as well.
That is a beautiful biscuit from a baking point of view.
Moving on, let's have a quick look inside, cos the colour's not bad.
It's a nice blancmange, that.
These biscuits do look good.
Beautifully piped.
They're great biscuits.
OK, last one.
Nice wobble on this one.
The colour is great.
Very nice.
Beautiful blancmange.
It's sharp.
It's smooth.
Biscuits are very skinny .
.
but very good.
Very nice.
Paul and Prue must now decide whose blancmange and biscuits are best.
In eighth place is this one.
Manon, it's not set.
Right, in seventh place, we have this one.
That's me.
You didn't get the raspberries through well enough and the langues de chat are undercooked.
Kim-Joy is in sixth, Briony's in fifth and Rahul is in fourth.
In third place, Jon.
The flavour was absolutely delicious.
Spoilt by rather uneven cat's tongues.
In second place is this one.
Pretty good.
You had a nice tartness, and the biscuits were nice too.
Thank you.
Which means this one in number one.
Dan, it really was the most delicious thing.
Well done.
Welcome to the club.
Shut up! It was one of my goals to get first in Technical.
Couldn't really have gone any better, could it? Never making a blancmange again.
Puddle.
I'm really disappointed with the result.
Do you want me to elaborate? Not a great day.
Plan for tonight? Go and have a few glasses of wine, early nighton it tomorrow.
I feel like the competition's getting tougher.
A big part of me just has this sense I'm going home.
Good luck, everybody.
Good luck! One more chance to be crowned Star Baker, and to avoid leaving the competition.
What's so interesting is that the sort of top four, which is, sort of, Rahul, Ruby, Jon and Dan Dan the Man.
.
.
those four have been really good, and the other four have all been in trouble.
Briony possibly.
Yes, for sure.
Manon is down there as well.
Something very depressing about Manon's blancmange.
I know.
Could have done well.
All Kim-Joy's flavours are very subtle.
But neither Paul nor I are very subtle.
We just like big wallops of flavour! I would hesitate to comment.
Karen's in big trouble.
That roulade was not good.
I think, coming into the last challenge, there's a lot of people who've got to raise their game.
Hello, bakers! For your Showstopper Challenge today, the lovely Paul and Prue would love you to make a spectacular, mesmerising, melting chocolate ball dessert.
Sounds like a magic trick.
Well, in a way it is! So, the dessert of your choosing must be concealed and encased within a chocolate sphere, which, when topped with a hot sauce melts away to reveal the dessert within.
It can be any dessert, any chocolate, but the textures and the flavours must compliment each other.
You've got three hours.
On your marks Get set .
.
bake! Pressure's on because it's such a complicated dessert.
Not feeling too thrilled about all of this.
I just need to do a lot to save myself, and I'm just worried.
And it's really hot.
Again.
With chocolate.
Oh, my word.
I'm working really quick because I want it in the fridge as soon as possible.
Thank you very much.
What we're asking for is the most delicious, original dessert inside a chocolate globe.
When you pour the sauce on top, you want the chocolate to melt away to show the perfect dessert underneath.
There lies the problem.
If it's too thick, it's not going to melt all the way through.
If it's too thin, the chances are it'll crack and fall apart anyway.
We'll be judging their dessert, yes, but it's got to blend well with the chocolate and the sauce.
So you've got to think on two levels.
One, the dessert's got to be fantastic.
But also, you've got to think of the flavours when that chocolate and sauce is added to it, that still has to work.
There's a few bakers in the tent in a bit of trouble.
This could be their last bake in The Great British Bake Off.
So, Briony, your chocolate ball dessert.
Yes.
So, I am doing a white chocolate ball.
The dessert encased is going to be an amaretto and blood orange sticky toffee pudding tart.
Oh, that sounds heaven! You've done treacle tart, and now sticky toffee? Yeah, they're my husband's favourites! And mine actually.
Yeah? Oh, good! Briony's tart will be enclosed inside an imposing marbled white chocolate sphere, which will be melted with a blood orange sticky toffee sauce.
Your choice of white chocolate as the dome, is that the right choice? Yeah, I think it works well because the dark chocolate, didn't compliment the flavours, it just completely Dominated? Yeah.
OK, thank you very much.
It's a pleasure.
Thank you.
Look forward to it.
Thank you! I know that Paul makes a sticky toffee pudding tart, so Briony's not the only baker putting her trust in a hidden tart.
I am doing basically a golden egg sitting in a bird's nest.
Inside you'll have sweet shortcrust pastry base, and then you'll have a pistachio crumb, a white chocolate coconut ganache, and a tart passion fruit curd, with a mango meringue on top.
Very sweet.
So, quite a complicated little tart in there.
Yes.
To reveal her tropical tart, Ruby will make a hot coconut and white chocolate sauce.
I go out for dinner with my girlfriends quite a lot.
this is something we'd definitely order.
You've seen a surprise, melting chocolate ball when you go out for a meal with the girls? Yes.
Yes.
Have you?! Yeah.
They're in restaurants now, Paul! Yeah, you spend too long in drive-throughs.
You need to get with the times a bit! Rather than a tart It's really good to get that in, actually.
.
.
some bakers are banking on a more layered approach.
I'm making a joconde.
This is a toasted hazelnut version because it pairs quite well with the peach.
Basically, it's a peach and hazelnut layered mousse cake.
With alternating peach mousse layers, Dan's joconde will sit in a peach-shaped dark chocolate sphere, inspired by his daughter Constance's favourite bedtime story.
Why peach? I was struggling for inspiration, and then I saw James and the Giant Peach on the book shelf and I was like, "I'll do a peach"! That's basically the reason.
You have a little imp that speaks to you? Yeah, yeah! Have you made this before? I have.
Has it worked? Yeah Your voice is getting higher, Dan.
"Yeah!" I don't know.
Don't know why I'm doing this, but I've seen people do it.
The layered dessert that will be hidden inside Jon's chocolate ball is also inspired by his kids.
Making a version of an opera cake by calling it a ballet cake.
My three daughters did ballet and my two youngest still do ballet, this is my Lucy and Hannah ballet cake.
Ringed with white chocolate ballerinas, Jon's sphere will hide an 11-layered ballet cake, which he'll reveal with a hot raspberry and kirsch syrup.
I love the look of that.
Goth juice.
That's what I do for work, I deliver blood.
Oh, you do, don't you? I suck it out of peoples' veins and you deliver it.
I'm getting hungry.
Is it lunch yet? These pistachios will make my crumb.
Most of the bakers are making a single dessert designed for sharing.
The problem with peach is, either they're beautifully ripe, or they're a bit bland.
But, with 20 individual desserts to perfect And that will be their legs .
.
Kim-Joy's boldly going where no baker has gone before.
I am doing a galaxy themed chocolate ball, filled with choux turtles.
Turtles? Yes, turtles.
Because? Because why not? No, that's exactly right.
Why not? Yes.
It's space turtles.
Space turtles, yeah.
Where do you come up with this stuff? I don't know! Featuring chocolate orange craquelin shells and orange liqueur cream filling, the turtles will sit inside a dark chocolate galaxy until they're revealed with a salted caramel sauce.
The choux, the caramel, the chocolate together should be amazing.
It's a great blend.
I really hope so.
Plus, turtles in space, what's not to love, right? And with little cocktail umbrellas as well.
Oh! Of course.
Of course! Obviously! Obviously.
Silly me.
Thank you very much indeed, Kim-Joy.
Oh, she's mad.
Oh, joconde! Preparing a delicious dessert is the least of the bakers' worries.
I'll give that another minute.
The judges have demanded that each one is hidden inside a highly decorative chocolate sphere.
So, this is going to be like the galaxy.
I've got a glove for my cocoa butter.
I usually use it to dye my hair.
Just seeing if there's any thin bits through the light.
If the walls of the sphere are too thin You've got to try and give it a fairly firm edge.
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it will crack and collapse.
Bit of back and forth.
Oh! Too thick, the chocolate won't melt, and the theatrical reveal of the dessert inside will be ruined.
Rather it be a bit too thick, than too thin.
Then the next thing on my list is to pray.
It's a challenge Ruby, Manon and Briony have made even harder for themselves.
With a lower melting point, white chocolate is less stable than dark.
I'm trying to work very quickly because this was just at the right temperature.
To produce a sphere that doesn't collapse Here comes the technical shaking part.
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they'll need thicker walls.
It's very graceful.
The technique is shake it out.
Oh, we have the same technique! Yeah! Manon's white chocolate ball will hide a French entremet dessert featuring layers of white chocolate mousse, raspberry curd, and a crunchy dark chocolate praline base.
Oh, I'm really hot.
I put quite a lot inside.
Whilst most of the bakers are using moulds Get off, get off.
Come on! .
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Rahul and Karen Chocolate festival.
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are gambling on a less rigid approach.
Too many cigarettes when I was a young lass.
My children's party days are long since gone.
Karen's pinning her future in the tent on a balloon-moulded dark chocolate sphere, concealing a raspberry liqueur chocolate brownie, layered with mascarpone and raspberry syllabub.
It's really important that this works for me today because I'm on the edge of the rankings.
I mean, I know in life it's only a chocolate ball, but today's it's important.
Rahul's taking his Showstopper so seriously, he needs more than one balloon.
Well, this one, the practice was different because when I was making the balloons this was not very successful, the balloons keep popping on my face.
It's a very tricky process.
He'll use his spheres to craft an ornate kalash, a Hindu symbol of abundance, said to contain the elixir of life, or, in this case, a seven-layered coffee and chocolate opera cake.
I'm five minutes behind the schedule already, so I've got to tell the bakers the time but I don't know where Noel's gone.
Um, I'll just get on with it.
Bakers! You are exactly halfway through your Showstopper Challenge.
My peach mousse needs quite a while to set.
I've got to get a hustle on! This is raspberry curd.
And then I'm going to make my chocolate collar.
This is the topping for my dome.
It's a pair of ballet shoes.
This is basically some traditional Indian pattern called madukani.
I'm making a syllabub.
I wanted a bit of booze in here.
I've put loads in.
Probably too much! Going for strong flavours today, just because the dark chocolate is so strong.
Orange will be the main thing.
Oh, he looks good.
That's going to go in for 20 minutes.
My pastry's definitely looked better.
They won't see it.
It'll be drenched in chocolate.
I'm just going to start building the layers for the opera cake.
This is a layer of coffee buttercream.
There'll be three layers of sponge, four layers of ganache, two layers of raspberry buttercream.
It's like precision work.
Yes! I'm making my dessert directly into it.
I just think if it works, it's more impressive.
If it works.
I think they look good.
That's lush.
I'm pleased with that.
I just need to get on with the decoration of that ball.
Just going to get my chocolate sphere out the freezer.
Bakers, you have half an hour left! Sorry.
This is as nerve-racking as giving birth! Oh no, it's cracked! There.
Everywhere.
God, this is so, so delicate.
Just really hard to open.
It's good, yeah.
Phew! It's not cracked.
Ah! Yes! Amazing! OK I'm just going to punch some little peepholes.
Oh, it's cracked! Come on, please! That's one.
Oh, this is going to be a disaster, I can feel it.
It's going, it's going! It's going! Oh, no! It's just cracked.
Ah, you're joking?! Yeah.
It's died, it's died.
Too hot? Once it starts going underneath, it just goes.
Nothing you can do? No, not really.
It's all right, I'll put it on.
It might taste nice.
Don't worry.
No, I'm fine.
You've got to laugh about these things, haven't you? And cry a little bit.
I'm all right.
I'm fine.
Oh, no! Take your time.
I've got to make my chocolate sauce.
Ah! Tell me what to do with the chocolate sauce.
Ah! You got it? "Place cream into a heavy bottom pan.
" Jon, thank you.
Don't even say thanks, you haven't got time.
Angry.
Uh-oh.
That looks good.
It needs a bit of trimming.
Like some sort of Russian hat.
Jon's, I don't know what it tastes like, but his looks amazing.
So, um, yeah Unless you've got a chocolate sphere that I can put on my cake, I'm not sure I can give my attention.
Uh-oh, see? This is what happened.
OK Can you fix that? I will try if I can.
This looks like it's very precarious so I'll leave.
Good luck.
You know what? We're going to go with a dome.
That was close.
OK.
See what we can salvage.
It's just melting as we're watching.
It's carnage.
Panic, panic, panic.
You call it.
One minute.
Give them one minute.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Come on! You know what? Where is that shimmer spray? Oh, no! My nozzle's clogged.
It's going to be a very yellow peach.
I'm just adding a splash of gold leaf.
Argh, don't break now, don't break now! Bakers, time is up.
Oh, what a shocker! Please place your Showstoppers at the end of your benches.
That looks great.
Babe! Don't worry.
Did it melt away? Disaster.
Ohhh! It's judgment time for the Showstopping melting chocolate ball desserts.
Jon, please bring up your Showstopper.
Oh, yes.
Come on, people, give it up for the tutu.
The attention to detail, I'm in first position, as well.
I think the dome is spectacular.
The shine you've got on it, the tempering of the chocolate, the colour works, as well.
I think the design at the bottom scares the living daylights out of me.
It's a thing of beauty.
No, it is not.
Can we get your hot sauce, please? Here it goes.
Wow.
I think we need to get in there.
Clear and distinct layers.
Beautiful texture, too.
It's really rich.
It's delicious.
I think you've done a great job cos the flavour combinations really work, the raspberry and the chocolate together with the opera cake.
Thank you, Jon.
And extra points for the outfit.
Cheers.
Do you understand the word sphere? What happened was, it had shattered into so many pieces so I had to do a bit of a jigsaw to try and have something.
Nice reveal.
These are all my favourite flavours.
Pistachio, passion fruit.
It's very thick, the walls of that tart.
Too thick.
It's quite sickly.
There's too much pistachio, which dries everything out.
It's very difficult to eat, if I'm honest.
Right, OK.
We only wanted one, you've done two, and it's very elegant.
It's very Rahul.
Thank you.
It's beautiful.
Remind me what's in the sauce? Oh, it's coffee creme anglaise.
So you first put it on the top and then it's slowly going to melt the rest.
I hope.
I'm so sorry.
Probably needed more sauce.
It's quite strong, isn't it? You should have, like, seven-layer opera cake.
Oh, beautiful.
Yeah.
Wow.
Look at that.
Very neat.
I love that flavour.
Come on, Paul.
It's fantastic flavour.
The coffee chocolate that you put on the top works so well with the opera cake and the creme au beurre as well with the coffee in it, it's silky smooth, it's delicious.
You did a great job there, Rahul.
Thank you.
Again.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
You don't have to go backwards.
I'll do three steps and then I'll turn around.
You can turn around.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
No excuses - it melted.
It looks like it was too thin.
Particularly white chocolate, it has to be quite robust.
OK.
It's like a creature.
Elegant it's not.
But it is lovely, robust, family flavours.
Blood orange is just so great.
And the texture of it is beautiful.
The outside is a bit of a mess.
Yeah.
I'll take that.
I think I might be going home.
Let's not think about it now.
No, but it's OK.
I'm OK.
It's not finished.
It was supposed to look like a peach.
It looks like a planet.
It's a planet, then.
Go, Dan.
Nothing for it now.
Come on.
Come on.
I'm out of sauce.
It's going, it's going.
Oh.
It's going to go in Oh! Bravo.
Let's take a big scoop.
Oh, it is layered, I see.
Very good.
It's absolutely delicious.
The tang from the fresh peach married up with the sweetness of the mousse is very, very good.
And the caramel works well with it, as well.
Planet Delicious.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Very neat and pretty and I love the piping.
It's a beautiful thing.
I think what you've done is lovely.
Oh, God, this is not good.
Voila! Look at that.
That looks amazing.
The collar is so lovely and thin and the flavour's lovely.
You've got this smooth white chocolate that sits in the mousse, and the kick from the raspberries, it is stunning to eat.
I mean, really delicate, sophisticated.
I think that's a triumph.
Yeah.
Well done.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, I think it's wonderful.
Thank you very much.
I think the design is very good.
I think it's highly effective.
Come on, baby.
What's going to happen now is There we go.
Very good.
Let's have a look inside here.
We've got chocolate brownie, mascarpone cream with raspberry liqueur and raspberry syllabub.
It's absolutely delicious.
I wouldn't say it's elegant.
I think it's hugely decadent.
I do like the flavours.
Just a shame you've missed some of the key ones for me.
I'm not getting too much of the raspberry liqueur.
It could have been a bit stronger.
Well, never mind.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
The whole universe concept you've got here, I think it's fantastic.
You've got a lovely shine, as well.
I think it's wonderful.
This is the moment, Kim-Joy.
Come on now.
She talks to it, as well.
There we go.
Oh, look at that.
Oh, the umbrella inside.
Those turtles are just perfect.
I think it looks amazing.
What's the flavour inside these? Orange and orange liqueur.
That is very delicious.
And what's lovely is you thought about how the sauce was going to blend with the chocolate, which goes with the choux as well and the whole thing works together.
You've got the slight alcoholic kick at the back of it, as well, and I think the design is flawless.
Thank you so much.
I think you've done a great job.
Well done, Kim-Joy.
Well done, Kim-Joy.
Ah, thank you.
Well done.
The comments are, like, the best comments I've ever received.
I think Prue and Paul are sold on today's turtles.
It's rich, isn't it? It was a good one, and had I had a good day yesterday, I would have been confident.
I feel OK now, but now isn't when we're sitting on those stools and waiting, and I would be absolutely crushed.
Over the two days, I think I'm at the bottom but I'm quite of the opinion sometimes it's better to expect the worst because then if it happens, you're not as surprised and then if it doesn't happen, winner, you know.
Prue and Paul must now decide who will be our fourth Star Baker, and who will be leaving the competition.
I have to tell you, I never want to eat chocolate again.
Paul's fine, aren't you? Well, I don't know.
I think today, with the weather, was a bit tricky.
But what happened was, when they were pouring the hot sauce on, I think it worked, especially Kim-Joy's.
Kim-Joy, I think, saved herself.
She needed to.
Dan and Jon have got to be hovering up there.
I mean, the outside didn't look great for Dan.
But the interior was delicious with those peaches.
I know.
Dan's had a good week.
I've got to say, Rahul as well.
Yeah, again.
Rahul's there again.
The truth is it's Dan, Rahul and Jon.
And I want Jon to win on costume alone.
The person who went into the Showstopper with tears and tension was Karen.
She did a very good Showstopper.
But, frankly, I don't think she's necessarily saved herself.
Briony's looked the saddest.
Basically, what she spent three hours doing was making a tart.
But we have to say, this week is very unusual.
Terry is not here.
If Terry were here He might have been the one to go home.
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he might've been the one to go home.
Obviously Prue and I need to discuss this a little further.
Do you know what's the best thing about all of this? Noel and I have got no decision to make whatsoever.
We'll just go and play Frisbee, right? Shall we? Yeah.
My hand's getting clammy.
I'm sorry.
Don't worry.
Go for it.
Well done, bakers.
Another lovely week with you in the tent.
Now, I get the joy of announcing who is the Star Baker, and if I tell you that this week's Star Baker did a peach of a Showstopper, I don't think you'll be surprised to learn that the Star Baker is Well done! .
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Dan.
Well done! Planet Delicious.
Ah, that means I've got the horrible job of sending someone home.
The person who's going home this week is .
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nobody.
Ah! You Oh, man! The judges felt it wouldn't be fair to send someone home with Terry not being here, so But the downside to that means that next week, there is a strong possibility that two people might be going home.
OK.
Thank you.
And, on that note It feels weird sending no-one home so I'm gonna go.
See you later, guys.
Bye, Noel.
Take care.
It's been great, yeah.
Such a big fan.
Loving your work! Bye, Noel.
See you, mate.
Take care.
Thank you! I'll be better, I promise.
OK.
Oh, that's so good, isn't it? Do you know what the great thing about Bake Off is? It's that at the end of each show, you get a clean slate.
We're freed from the gallows.
Oh, my God! I'm so pleased I'm not going home.
My family, they will be giddier than I am.
They're so excited, my two girls.
The dog's not too keen.
Mate, you must have been close.
Eh? It must have been close.
If I was, all right, but well done.
You have to win it next week.
Debbie will be really happy I'm through to another week.
A lot more stress in the house again.
But, yeah, I know she'll be really pleased.
Hello, Daddy.
Hello, Constance.
How are you? Good.
Hey, guess what? I was Star Baker.
Because I made a cake.
Yeah, very good and very tasty.
Oh, I love you too! Next time Come on, come on, come on, come on.
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a Bake Off first with Spice Week.
It smells really good.
The remaining eight bakers start gingerly You always feel better after a bit of ginger.
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go east for the Technical It's a guessing game.
What the hell are they? .
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and hang their gravity-defying Showstoppers Oh, God, I'm shaking.
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as at least one baker Jesus.
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will leave the tent.
Ha! Uh-oh Unbelievable!