GODFATHER THEME-STYLE MUSIC
Don Paul-eone.
Is it done?
I put a loaf of bread in his bed.
Good, he won't sleep for weeks.
Crumbs in the bed are a nightmare.
I have news. A new addition to the family.
Breadfather.
It's day one of series 14.
Why has it taken so long to come to see me?
I don't mean to brag, Breadfather,
but I've been very busy.
Daytime TV, hosting the Baftas
and I was in a Stormzy video.
He's a Grime artist. Ah!
The Breadfather often says that joining this family
is like making the perfect loaf of bread.
In order to rise, you first have to prove.
Someone call?
No, no, I said prove, not Prue.
My mistake.
What do you say, Breadfather, is she in?
Welcome to the family. Yes!
Do you want to do the honours?
Welcome to The Great British Bake Off.
Thank you.
Are you eating dough balls again?
MUFFLED: They're stuck to the inside of my cheeks!
BIRD KEENS
I don't really know how I got here?
Feel like I'm a bit lost.
You know you can do experience days?
It feels like I'm on one of them.
Oh, I'm really terrified.
Thousands of amateur bakers from across Britain applied.
I had success at my village show.
And that made me think, "Give it a shot".
You know, what's the worst that can happen?!
12 have made it to the Bake Off tent.
Is this really happening?
My little tum is going like a washing machine.
Over the next ten weeks, they'll face 30 brand-new challenges.
I'm thinking one week at a time, one bake at a time.
If it goes wrong, we'll just key Paul's car.
Every aspect of their baking skill will be tested.
SHE GASPS
I was not expecting my first technical to go like this!
And everything they bake will be judged by Prue Leith...
That is the cutest little cake.
..and Paul Hollywood.
It looks like it's been run over!
I feel like I'll just get lost in Paul's eyes, to be honest.
We'll have to keep it PG, unfortunately.
I can't see.
ALISON HAMMOND: Each week,
those that rise will be crowned Star Baker.
Can you believe it?! Yes. This is huge!
Stop ramping up the pressure!
Those that crumble...
Baking for my life.
..will leave the tent.
Ah, it's lovely out there.
But who will go on to win?
Why this is doing to me?
It's gonna take you ages to wash that off.
You're putting me off my stride!
The Great British Bake Off.
So, Nicky, tell us about your beaver.
CRESCENDO OF GIGGLES
It's cake week, and, after three challenges,
we'll crown our first Star Baker
but one baker will have to leave the tent.
Hello, bakers. Welcome, lovely to see you all.
Welcome to the tent.
Now, before we start, I know what you're thinking.
Things look a little bit different this year.
That's right - Paul's had his beard reshaped.
I think it's a triumph, personally.
Also, we have a new host,
so let's welcome to the tent Alison.
Ah, thanks, Noel. Hi, everyone!
I am so excited to be joining the show and,
I'm just thrilled to meet you bakers. It's lovely to see you all.
Also, can I introduce you to Daryl,
a BSL interpreter for one of the bakers?
BOTH: Welcome to the tent. Thank you.
It's time for your first-ever Signature Challenge.
The judges would like you to make a vertical layer cake.
Now, the judges are looking for perfectly baked sponge
which will be rolled with a filling so that, when sliced,
it will reveal neat, vertical layers.
You've got two hours.
This is the bit you're most looking forward to, isn't it?
I can't wait. Let me get ready.
Shall we hold hands? OK, let's do it together.
You wanna kick it off? Yeah.
On your marks...
..Get set...
..Bake!
That was amazing. THEY CHUCKLE
Hoo-hoo!
It's actually happening!
Just trying to process it all at the moment, to be honest.
It's just a mad experience.
I am baking for my life. Ha-ha!
How long have we got left?
I've only just started but I'm already panicking.
Vertical layered cake.
It's a bit like a Swiss roll standing up.
So, you cut into it, you see these very strong lines.
We want cleanly defined vertical layers of cake,
filling, cake, filling, cake.
We expect a bit of height to these cakes.
Colour, plenty of flavours.
Now if the bakers say "I've got apple in here,
"I've got pineapple in there,
"I've got lemon in there," I wanna taste it.
If the bakers don't get their cakes
into the oven in time, get them out, get them cool before they fill them
and decorate them, then they're going to be too warm.
They will lose shape, they'll slump
or we'll have a complete disaster.
Morning, Rowan. How are you doing?
Oh, my gosh! It's real. Hello.
What are you gonna be making?
I am making chocolate and raspberry vertical cake.
It's inspired by a birthday cake I made for my 21st
which was actually a wedding cake.
21-year-old Rowan from West Yorkshire
is this year's youngest baker
and is studying English at university.
Put it back in the right place or the librarian'll kill you.
His vertical wedding cake will see dark chocolate sponge wrap around
a raspberry Swiss buttercream.
You had a wedding cake for your 21st birthday? Yeah. I love you.
It's because you're worth it, isn't it, babes?
That's the thing. Self-love.
Whilst Rowan plans to tie the knot with himself...
Nervous as anything.
..Nicky's aiming to marry two classic flavours.
It's a orange and lemon cake
because myself and my sister used to play a skipping game to
"Oranges and lemons sing the bells of St Clement's."
Nicky grew up in Dundee
and after a career in the skies, she's landed in the West Midlands,
close to her granddaughters Edie and Matilda.
En garde! Hai!
She hopes to take off in the competition with
a blood orange Swiss roll sponge,
lemon curd and an orange and rosemary syrup.
Cabin crew.
Does that mean you're gonna present all your bakes
on a little rectangle tray?!
There you go, Paul. Drop it down.
Paul, put your seat belt on and try this!
NICKY GUFFAWS
Dan's also hoping to land a British classic.
I'm doing a rhubarb and custard cake today,
with rhubarb out of my garden.
Dan is a resources planner and lives in Cheshire
with his wife Natalie and sons Sam and Rory.
Oh, Rory.
As well as growing rhubarb
he's recently begun brewing his own beer.
Tastes absolutely awful.
He'll add fresh rhubarb compote to his filling
and cover his cake in cream cheese icing.
What about decoration?
I've poached some rhubarb slices
and they're just gonna go round the outside,
so it's very pink and very me.
Good luck, mate. Thank you very much.
I just wanna tell you one little thing.
I don't like rhubarb,
so please don't take offence if I don't eat it.
I'm gonna win you over. Honestly, I'll win you over!
It derives from Jaffa Cake
which I used to have all the time as a kid.
So the main stars are the dark chocolate and the blood orange.
Amos is a delicatessen manager from Nottingham
and still bakes with his mum, Antoinette.
His vertical Jaffa Cake features blood orange and dark chocolate
in two contrasting decorative drips.
There's blood orange flavour in the actual sponge, as well.
I think I'm going a bit ahead of myself
so I need to slow down, maybe.
That's what my mum always says - "Slow down."
The judges are expecting a light, fluffy sponge
but it still needs to be flexible enough to roll.
I've gone for a classic Swiss roll recipe, really. Nothing fancy!
But not everyone's gone for a classic.
I'm making a genoise sponge
because I always see genoise on Bake Off.
It's just a Swiss roll on its end.
And I can't help but think...
..why?
Tasha lives in London
and, before working for a children's charity,
she was a ski instructor in Japan.
SHE LAUGHS
She'll attempt to roll her black sesame genoise sponge around
a sharp lime and yuzu curd.
Are you happy?
No. I'm looking round
and everyone else has gone for a more robust sponge.
Just don't look into Paul's eyes, that's all.
He's tried standing there, like, several times now
and I've just been a bit like...
What was his face like? I don't wanna do an impression,
but I kind of do. Yeah, go on - do an impression of Paul.
That's it! That's it! It's perfect.
The thin sponge for a vertical layer cake
bakes in a matter of minutes. Wish me luck.
A fraction too long in the oven
and it will crack as soon as it's rolled.
But for his giant wedding cake... Ugh!
..Rowan will need to perfectly bake three sponges at the same time.
We'll make it work.
Do you think that'll work?
And Cristy is aiming just as high.
Try and get 'em all in at the same time.
I'm making a lemon meringue, like, vertical cake
so sort of based on my mum's lemon meringue recipe.
Cristy grew up in East London with her dad Rod and her mum Michelle.
She now has four children of her own and works as a PA.
Her sponge, curd and buttercream will feature
three different types of lemon.
Limoncello, lemon juice, lemon zest.
If they don't taste the lemons
then I don't know what the hell I've done wrong.
Saku is also planning a family favourite.
I am making lemon and blueberry vertical layer cake.
Have you made it before?
Several times. This is my husband's favourite cake.
Saku is an intelligence analyst and lives in Hereford
where she plays for a local cricket team
started by her daughter, Therindi.
Shot. Shot.
Her cake will feature a sharp lemon cream cheese icing
and blueberry buttercream.
Blueberry often has very pale flavour.
Are you adding essence or anything to boost it up a bit?
I made a blueberry reduction
so I am using that to the buttercream.
I love the idea of the flavours. They do sound very good.
Are you a little bit nervous?
Lot nervous! Awww!
Here you are, come here, come here.
Ah, thank you very much.
Is that better? Is that better? That's really better. Yes.
Yeah? Much better. OK.
You'll be fine, then. Ah. Thank you, Paul. Thank you very much. Aww!
Good luck. Thank you!
Can you believe it?!
Yes! Made my day.
I am making chocolate orange cake
in honour of my father, really.
He served in the Second World War
and he was a prisoner of war.
Because he was on starvation rations
I think he became quite indulgent after that
so he'd be stocking up on Christmas chocolates
from about October onwards.
Keith is a chartered accountant and lives in Hampshire
with his partner Sue and their poodle, Maisie.
Maisie, give us the ball. HE LAUGHS
He's making a ganache by melting his dad's favourite chocolate
and he's adding a little extra touch
to his whipped cream filling for someone else.
I've put some orange liqueur in there.
And, normally, you put a bit less than the recipe suggests. Ah!
But I'm not sure that dialling down the booze
is gonna float Prue's boat, is it?
Should've gone way over!
It's time for your first-ever time call.
Oh, can I do it? Is that all right? Yes, of course.
You don't mind? I'll just support you while you do it. Thank you.
Bakers, you're halfway through. You have one hour left.
I don't even need to be here any more. You got this.
No, don't! Come back, come back!
Cake out time, no going back.
Time and heat are now the bakers' two biggest worries.
Can't see a thing! SHE GUFFAWS
I can't see.
The sooner they can begin cooling their sponges...
I think that's done.
..the less chance their vertical layer cakes
will collapse when filled.
OK, my top one's gonna come out. My other two aren't.
Really happy. So far!
Think my sponges aren't done.
One of them's done really well and then the bottom one has just sunk.
Tasha's gamble on a genoise sponge doesn't seem to be paying off.
It's all tipped over the...
Oh, I know why. SHE GASPS
Tasha, you're an idiot. OK.
Mm. I used the wrong rack,
so it's tilted all the mixture to one side.
It means that some of the layers won't be the same thickness.
But I'm not gonna tell them that!
So now I'm just rolling up my sponge
then I'm gonna quickly get it chilled,
so that whilst they're cooling they've got a nice rolled-up shape.
Result! Ha-ha! Get in. SHE CHUCKLES
So wonky. I can work around it.
I think.
The bakers need to use every minute
that their rolled sponges are cooling
to perfect the fillings that will sandwich their vertical layers.
Mm.
Blueberry buttercream.
Yes, lovely!
In with rhubarb creme pat, just putting some custard powder in it
to give it that proper, authentic retro rhubarb and custard flavour
cos we didn't really have creme pat when I was a kid. Sorry, Mum!
For their filling, one baker has gone
a little further than their back garden.
I'm using as much, like, foraged stuff as I can
so they're wild blackcurrants and wild poppy seeds.
Wild poppy seeds are unusual.
When Abbi isn't working at an organic farm in Cumbria
she forages for ingredients to add to her home baking.
Oh, and a little slug. Just give it a little wash before we use it.
As well as the poppy seeds and blackcurrants for her sponge
and buttercream, Abbi has also foraged for her decoration.
Those are gorse petals. Did you forage these as well? I did.
It must feel so nice when you forage your own fruit and veg.
Yeah, definitely. And then you make your own cakes.
It's lovely, isn't it? Absolutely, yeah.
When I hear some of the flavour combinations, I'm like, wow.
Where have you thought of that?
It's a take on a tiramisu,
so it's a coffee cake with coffee mascarpone cream.
Sports fanatic Matty is a PE teacher
and lives and works in Cambridgeshire.
The punchy coffee flavour in his sponge and mascarpone filling
should be balanced with a light vanilla buttercream.
The buttercream looks like someone's sick.
Don't zoom in on that.
Curdled my buttercream.
Matty will have to restart his buttercream...
But I'm hiding the terror through the smile.
..and he's not the only one attempting to balance a coffee kick.
I only drink caramel lattes
so I'm doing a coffee sponge with salted caramel buttercream.
Dana is a database administrator
and lives in Essex with her cockapoo, Gracie.
Her salted caramel buttercream will fill a coffee sponge
soaked with coffee syrup.
Because the caramel's quite sweet
so I wanna balance out the flavours.
Look at me getting all Mastercheffy. I love it!
MasterChef?! We don't want that here. We're on Bake Off now.
Look at me getting all Bake-Offy.
This isn't MasterChef here, all right? It's all about the Bake Off.
It's all the wrong programme!
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
This is buttercream take two.
Goes quick, don't it? Tell me about it.
The bakers' time and heat issues now get even harder.
She's a beauty.
Fill and roll their sponges too late...
Chill out.
..they won't have time to perfect their decoration.
It's pretty much there. I think it's at room temperature.
But fill and roll a warm sponge...
If anything is remotely warm, it's game over.
..and their vertical layer cake will collapse.
What's the best thing to do?
It's a waiting game now, isn't it?
Let's try a bit of your ganache.
Oh, it's fab.
Oh, my gosh I need a drink.
I could do with a caramel latte, not gonna lie.
Quick slug of coffee.
Can I have a cup of tea, please?
All right, yeah. Do or die now.
I think my sponges are sufficiently cooled
that I can put the filling in now.
Unless the ratio of filling to sponge is completely even...
I've got my black sesame cream
and now I'm gonna add the yuzu curd.
..the bakers won't achieve the perfect vertical stripes
that the judges have demanded.
Blueberry reduction goes first,
then the blueberry buttercream.
It does come up lovely. I like it.
I can't give that to anyone.
Matty's second attempt at the buttercream
has gone about as well as his first.
I've just not been patient enough with making this warm enough.
How's it going?
I keep curdling my buttercream.
Just a baking competition, don't worry about it.
Cheers. NOEL LAUGHS
If it goes wrong we'll just key Paul's car.
Right, moment of truth.
The slightest crack in the sponge at this stage...
Oh, we've got a bit of naughtiness here.
..and once stood on its end, gravity will force it open...
I'm almost there.
..making the cake lean...
Behave.
..or worse.
Look at that. So clever.
I didn't realise it was like a roll like that.
Like a Russian doll.
I'm going to put them all in each other,
so it's gonna be huge and tall.
And whilst some are going for scale...
Just gonna wrap the other two sponges round that.
Have I got one more to do? Oh, yeah.
..Josh has focused on design.
So there's the two different coloured sponges.
And they should hopefully sort of alternate.
Josh is a chemical biology researcher living in Leicestershire.
He tests his bakes at his local rugby club.
No soggy bottoms here Josh!
He'll roll his alternating coloured sponges around passion fruit curd
and coconut buttercream.
Baking rugby player. Yeah.
Once a month, usually, I take them into the changing rooms...
Basically, 20 or 30 naked men try out your food.
Yeah! In the changing rooms, whilst covered in mud.
I'm in trouble. It's just all sticking to the paper.
This is the first time it's happened like this. Oh, how cliche.
And Amos isn't the only one struggling.
This is cracking.
I don't really know why I did a genoise.
Ah, don't do this for me.
Why this is doing to me?
Why? See it's sticking.
Oh, my god.
Look at that precious little...fella.
Very stressful.
The thing is, everyone wants a handshake from Paul
and you've already had a hug. Oh, exactly.
So you don't need a handshake now, do you? Yes!
Where can you go from a hug?
Home.
15 minutes left.
Time's against us a wee bit now.
I'm no longer using buttercream.
I never want to see it again.
And we're gonna use more coffee mascarpone cream.
I think we have enough.
It's not a circle so I'm piping tactically.
Thickest crumb coat you've ever seen in your life
to try and disguise what's going on.
I've got shaky hands.
Rhubarb slices, like trimming my hedge.
Try and make it look attractive.
So I've got some light pink, some dark pinks.
Oh, it's so messy.
I don't want to overdo it.
I wish I liked rhubarb. I'd be all over that, babes.
I've tried to raise my prettiness game in the last year or so.
Is it not your forte, prettiness? So I'm rather hoping...
No. It's one of the reasons it's taken me 14 years to apply.
It's a bit lopsided.
I think it's fair to say there's prettier drip cakes on display.
My chocolate drip is splitting.
One minute.
Oh, my God.
Just to make it look a little bit civilised.
It's not quite as I envisaged.
Oh, my God.
Bakers, your time is up.
Please step away from your vertical layer cakes.
Well done.
I feel like I've run a marathon.
That looks so good.
I could put my face in that.
Do you think I'll get away with that?
It's leaning.
The bakers will now face the judgement of Paul and Prue
for the very first time.
Hello, Rowan. Hello. Hi, Rowan.
It's tall, isn't it?
I don't go in halves.
I'm not quite sure I'm going to get it all out.
Oh, there you go. Oh, no! Oh, OK.
Now that is a perfect example of a vertical cake.
I like it. Do you? Yeah. Oh!
It's delicate. Yeah!
But the flavours are there.
Buttercream's terrific. Well done, Rowan. Thank you.
Just be aware of the strength of flavours that you're putting in.
Well, the colours work.
Vibrant, I think the cake looks amazing.
But I actually think you've overbaked your sponges.
But the flavour is sensational.
Obviously there's been issues with the drip effect.
Look at that.
The layers just aren't even enough.
The chocolate dominates. There's not a lot of orange.
OK.
I think it looks lovely.
It's good height to it as well. Wow.
Beautiful lines. Oh, thank you.
I think it's delicious.
Oh, do you?
I think, your flavour, you are 60% there,
don't be afraid to really punch us in the teeth with citrus flavours.
Looks like a barrel.
Bit like me actually.
But I don't think it's terrible. Well, that's good!
He's dabbing with faint praise.
He doesn't think it's terrible.
I quite like the layers, they're pretty even.
Yes, the layers are good.
The flavour is very subtle and it is delicious.
It's just not punchy enough.
Maybe it's one of these that kind of just grows on you.
Like a fungus.
Paul!
Doing well. Barrel, fungus... Like a beautiful fungus.
Can't take him anywhere.
I like that informal cornucopia look.
Very nice vertical stripes.
This is the wild poppy, isn't it?
Yeah, wild poppyseeds.
It's delicious.
I think the flavour's come through, they're nice and punchy.
The balance of the texture of the cake
and the buttercream is beautiful.
Thank you.
It's a bit messy. Yes.
The piping's not particularly good.
Well, those are pretty good stripes.
I must say, the flavour's lovely.
Not too salty.
Don't make a face like that. It is a bit wobbly.
I like the colours, I think it's stark.
Let's have a look at this wobbly tower. Wow.
Well, the stripes are there.
Ooh. What's happened?
I got the sharpness from the outside... Ah.
Ah, creme pattiss... ..which brings that sour and the sweet together.
Love the flavours.
Well, I think the real achievement is to get real flavour
out of blueberries, which are really not the easiest fruit
to make taste great.
It's coffee cake and a mascarpone cream that ended up being on
the outside as well as the inside
due to my inability to make a buttercream.
OK. LAUGHTER
That'd wake you up in the morning.
It certainly is strong.
That coffee level is perfect.
It's a muscular cake.
Yeah.
It's very nice.
You've made a hefty, muscular, powerful cake.
Dan, that is the cutest little cake.
Looks like a circus tent. Yeah, it does doesn't it? Yeah.
Beautiful stripes, Dan. Look at those lines.
Well done. Thank you.
That is rhubarb and custard.
It's a beautiful cake, it's very light.
And with the creme pat and the rhubarb, the slice is quite moreish.
Think you've done a good job. Oh, thanks, Paul. Cheers.
Tiny circus tent. I know, yeah. Loved it. Brilliant.
I think it looks so dramatic
and the colours are so strong contrasting,
and they look so wonderful.
Is this just cream, then?
It's whipped cream
with that orange liqueur I mentioned.
It's delicious.
Oh, my God. Absolutely delicious.
The cream is so light against the density of the chocolate
and then that orange liqueur... It is absolutely delicious.
I could happily eat all of that.
Well done, Keith. Thank you. Thank you, Keith.
Nailed it.
Boozy Prue.
Dear me.
Did you sit on it?
There were some problems.
But, you know what? Its flavour might save it.
Well you've certainly got the stripes.
I think you've got too much filling to cake, though.
That is very unusual.
And rather delicious.
Thank you.
But, if you'd used less of the filling and more of the sponge,
that would've been absolutely brilliant.
I think it looks terrible...
..but I love the flavours and the textures of it.
Well done. Thank you.
Hope you softened some of Paul's rudeness.
It was such a mixed bag
but it was definitely leaning on the side of bad.
I've learnt a lot today which I will bring
week after week after week, hopefully.
I'm flabbergasted.
I was worried that I wouldn't measure up.
The only way is probably that way now, isn't it, to be fair?
Each week, the bakers will face a second challenge
that's a gingham-clad mystery.
It's time for your technical challenge, which today has been set
for you by the big boss man, Paul Hollywood.
Bakers, this is the most iconic Bake Off cake.
It has to look amazing on the outside,
and inside it's got to taste and look good too.
Phew. As ever, the technical challenge will be judged blind
so we're gonna have to ask these two lovelies to pop outside the tent.
Bye. Paul's gonna go and look at some denim samples.
So, Paul would like you to make
the Great British Bake Off chocolate cake.
You know, the one with the famous missing raspberry.
EXCITED LAUGHTER Whatever happened to that raspberry?
I've got it right here in this golden box.
That's my pension.
I'll be selling that on eBay.
The judges are looking for two layers of moist... Moist.
..choc...
..chocolate sponge,
covered and filled with a silky smooth chocolate ganache...
Ganache. ..topped with the fresh raspberries.
You have two hours. On your marks.
Get set. Bake!
The bakers have all been given the same ingredients
and a pared-down recipe.
Straight away, I know what this cake looks like.
I mean, I've been watching the show since such a young age,
and that dreaded raspberry, so I can finally rectify it.
To be honest, I've never really clocked anything
other than the raspberry, so it's news to me that it was a cake.
It feels quite strange to be doing the iconic Bake Off cake
on Bake Off. It's very meta.
I recognise this cake.
It's probably one of the most famous cakes in the UK.
It is actually a chocolate fudge cake,
but it comes down to the ganache.
Got to cool your ganache down to a point, but not cold,
because it'll be solid.
When it comes into contact with the sponge,
if it's warm, it's just gonna run out.
They can use the fridges.
The issue when you use the fridge with ganache,
you can matte the chocolate.
And we want shiny.
Let's take a slice of this, Prue.
Straight away you see the ganache smack in the middle.
It's beautifully set, and it's soft and luscious,
but not pouring out like a volcano.
This is a chocoholic's dream.
Don't have any more, Prue. I can't help it.
We've gotta go in and have 12 of these in a minute.
Well, you've more discipline than I have.
"Melt and combine the chocolate, butter and hot water."
While that's going, I'm gonna make a start
on putting together all the wet ingredients.
We've got sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs and butter.
This is the iconic cake.
You see this cake every single time you watch Bake Off.
This is huge. Stop ramping up the pressure!
"Incorporate the melted chocolate mixture
"before combining with the dry ingredients."
Just using the spatula to fold it through.
Um, I feel like I've made a mistake.
I might have used twice as much chocolate for the actual cake,
but I'm just kind of hoping that it's fine.
Everyone loves a good chocolate cake, so...
In the oven.
You're going in, mate. Goodbye. See you laters.
It just says, "Bake," so it's very helpful.
Love that Paul, don't you?
I'll be baking the cakes for 35 minutes.
This is already set to 35. Do you think that's a sign?
I'll try 30 first.
Or 35?
35!
"Make the ganache filling slash icing."
Not much to say about ganache. really.
It's not afraid to be itself.
I feel like I'm slightly at an unfair advantage
as I made ganache this morning.
Feels like cheating.
That's why everyone was staring at you, Keith. Is it?
It's looking good, looking silky smooth.
That's lovely and glossy. Could have a bath in that, couldn't you?
I'm hesitant to put it in the fridge.
I want to keep it as shiny as possible,
but I think if I stick it in the fridge,
it might not be shiny anymore.
Pop that there for a sec.
I think it's gonna take a really long time to cool.
I'll be utilising the fridge.
Probably gonna go all wrong, but I'm chilling.
I've put the ganache in the freezer.
Otherwise all the ganache is gonna get a bit splodgy.
Bakers, you have one hour.
There's a good chocolate whiff in this area.
How many times have you checked? I'm up to 450 now.
How do you feel about things,
probably been up since about four, haven't you?
Yeah. Half three, I woke up.
Do you lie in bed sometimes thinking about what you're gonna do?
I'm like, "Oh, my God I can't switch off now," but...
Does it go better when you're imagining it? Yes, every time.
Paul starts crying.
Yeah, yeah. Prue faints.
Worship me! I know.
I think I'll give the top one a little poke.
Well, you want it, like, quite light and airy.
There was an emphasis on the word "moist."
It should come out with a few crumbs attached.
Aye-aye.
Coming out clean...
..and aye-aye.
Gonna get them out. I'm doing it.
Reasonably happy with them.
They're looking OK.
They look OK. I mean, they're baked.
SHE GASPS
It wouldn't be Bake Off without somebody wafting one of these.
The most important thing is to get chilled as quick as possible
so the ganache doesn't just run all out of it.
Come on wind. Now, yes. This way.
I just put it in the fridge.
The amount of time I have is very disconcerting.
I was not expecting my first technical to go like this.
Just sitting about, looking at bumblebees out the side of the tent.
Ah, it's lovely out there.
Alison, would you like a sign name?
I would love a sign name.
Like, Alison?
Alison? Yeah?
I love it.
Have you got a sign name for Paul Hollywood?
You have, haven't you?
What is it?
I have problems getting my words out sometimes. Yeah.
I tried to say, "Paul Hollywood," and I came out with, "Pollywood."
Pollywood? Ha!
So now I call him Polly,
so, like, it's Polly like a parrot.
Polly.
This is Paul?
Little Polly. Polly, Paul.
I love it! But you can't tell him!
I won't tell him, I promise.
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
"Assemble the cake, sandwich in the sponges,
"and icing the cake with a smooth coating of ganache."
The thing with ganache is that if you put it on a warm cake...
..it will melt.
They're a little, tiniest little bit warm.
If I was at home, I'd have left them for an hour.
But I haven't got an hour, so gonna have to roll with them, I think.
Wait till it's cold.
Five more minutes.
It would just be too warm.
This is the ganache to sandwich the cake.
The ganache has set a bit too much in the fridge.
Feel like I might even put my ganache in the microwave.
It's curdling all of a sudden and I don't know why.
It was fine and now it's split, and I've been putting in
and out of the fridge and maybe it's just not liked it.
I'm getting really impatient.
Especially when everyone else is, like, cracking on as well.
PLANE WHIRRS Guys, time is ticking. You've got 15 minutes.
Can you hear that plane circling? That's Paul Hollywood.
They're, like, room temperature.
Just going for it.
Silky smooth.
My beautiful ganache, which has been perfect, has slightly split,
so I'm just gonna add in a little bit of butter
and that should bring it back into emulsion.
I can't remember if the finish is straight-edged
or if it's got, like, a full ripple to it.
It needs to be really, really good because it's so iconic.
Yeah, you've gotta do the cake justice, haven't you?
So determined for it not to look like someone's sat on it.
OK, you've got five minutes left, bakers.
Five minutes left? OK...
Onto the iconic raspberry.
Am I adding the missing raspberry?
SHE GASPS
It doesn't say whether to include the raspberry or not.
Raspberry, on or off? On. Yeah.
You're gonna replace the missing raspberry? It needs to be done.
How many sleepless nights I've had over that missing raspberry...
Really? Terrible. Like, "Why did they do that?"
I know it's got one missing, so I've left the perfect gap.
Got my one raspberry missing as well in the middle.
I can't let myself miss out a raspberry.
I've watched it for so many years.
Why? Where's that missing raspberry?
It's here.
It's here, you can put it on if you want.
I'm not gonna do it for you.
OK bakers, one minute.
I've got wobbles.
Finito.
Quite pleased with it. It's like on t'picture.
Oh, God.
Quick, shove it off.
It's broken.
I am happy with it, but it's just my ganache.
Quick, we can do this. Mend it.
Bakers, your time is up.
We're good. We're good. We're done.
Please bring your cakes down to the front
and place them behind your own photograph.
God, they look grand. God, everyone's is beautiful.
Did you do a missing raspberry?
Yeah, did you? Yeah!
This is looking good, isn't it?
Yeah, they're good, aren't they? So good.
How dare they be this good this quickly? I know!
Time to welcome the judges back in.
We've missed you, Prue. We have.
Paul and Prue are looking for moist and light chocolate sponges,
coated in a perfectly set, smooth and shiny ganache.
And they have no idea whose is whose.
PAUL: It's going to be difficult, I'm telling you now.
We will be nit picking.
Right, we'll start with this one.
Straight off, no shine.
It's messy round there as well.
But let's have a look inside.
Wow.
I can't believe we're going to have to taste
12 of these chocolate cakes.
LAUGHTER
That's a nice flavour. It's a shame about the colour.
Moving on to number two. Now, I like this.
The sharpness across the top.
That ganache, it has got a shine and it is neat on the bottom.
It's a good-looking cake. It's very clean. Let's have a look.
It's really good chocolate fudge cake.
Wrong colour ganache.
The colour's too milky.
And messy.
Mm. Yeah, nicely made.
Moving on, they've taken the wrong raspberry out.
That's the one. The missing raspberry's at the edge. It is.
It's really beautiful cake.
Moving on to the next one, you can see the crease.
It shouldn't look as if there are two cakes in there. Should be one.
That ganache inside is still very liquid.
This is a bit messy.
It's not bad, though, cos it's a nice shine.
Nice sponge again.
The ganache is nearly there.
It's beautifully neat. It has got a shine to it. Yeah.
That's a beautiful cake. It is.
This is the right colour.
But it's a bit matte, isn't it?
Mm, it's not as shiny as some.
Still a bit warm, that ganache. Still liquid. Mm.
OK, moving on to this one.
You can definitely see it's two cakes stacked.
It's got a waistband round it.
The ganache inside is still liquid.
I like the neatness of this.
Yeah, very clean, the sides are absolutely straight.
Oh, hello. Ah, that looks good.
Good amount of ganache, and it's solid as well. And it's set.
Moving on to the next one,
it's a little bit light, a little bit matte.
Not quite set.
No, timing again. Great taste though.
Doesn't look totally smooth, the ganache. It's not light enough.
Looks a bit dense, doesn't it?
I know it is a fudge cake but it's too fudgy.
Paul and Prue will now rank the cakes from 12th to 1st place.
You can all obviously make a good, big chocolate cake.
It's going to be tight.
In 12th place, we have this one.
Who is this?
It's me. Dana, the texture's a little bit dense.
In 11th spot, we have this one.
Tasha, the fat rim of chocolate running around the middle
is the big problem.
And then in 10th place, we have this one.
Nicky, it's a nice cake but the colour's not right.
NOEL: Rowan is 9th, Josh 8th, Matty is 7th,
Cristy 6th, Saku is 5th, Keith is 4th and Abbi takes 3rd.
And then runner-up, in second place...
..is this one. Who's that?
Amos, it's nice and shiny, the cake is light,
ganache is set.
Don't have any complaints about it at all.
The winner is Dan.
APPLAUSE
That's a great looking cake. Well done. Thank you very much.
Nice. Amazing. Really good.
I am pretty much on cloud nine, to be honest.
So, so happy. I really am, yeah.
I don't really compare, you know, having babies
to, uh, baking a good cake...
It's not disastrous. I'll take better than last.
Coming last is not the nicest.
Oh, it's silly getting emotional over it.
It's just cake, at the end of the day.
My signature looked like someone sat on it
and, coming 11th in the technical, I'm not safe.
Just one challenge remains before we learn who will be
our first Star Baker and who will be leaving the tent.
Class of 2023
are brilliant, aren't they?
Paul giving people hugs - what the hell? What's happened? I know.
What's happened to you? I don't know.
Did you have a breakdown?
Bit worrying, isn't it?
There's quite a few of them in line for Star Baker.
Especially the lads. Keith. Dan. Dan. They're strong.
Abbi's in that realm as well. Cristy.
To be honest it's difficult to rate them
because those technicals were all beautiful.
Is that the closest technical we've ever had?
There's almost nothing to choose between them.
Dana, who was last in technical, is always in a precarious position.
Tasha struggled a little bit as well in both challenges.
I don't think Amos did massively well in the signature.
But there's a huge bunch that could possibly leave
after the Showstopper. I'm really...
How many are you going to get rid of, Paul?
You know we're only allowed to send one. Ten.
Morning, bakers. This is your first Showstopper Challenge.
Prue and Paul would like you to create an incredible cake,
shaped and decorated in the form of an animal of your choosing.
Now, it could be anything from a cat-tenberg to a...
Snake-well tart.
Now, you've got four hours for this.
On your marks. Get set. Bake!
I am so nervous. I can't even cope right now.
So many elements going on here. So many.
I'm concerned that the cake itself could collapse.
I need to get this right. I don't want to go home.
Now the bakers get their first chance
to show off, to make a cake that resembles an animal.
Because the animals are going to be probably quite big,
they can use puffed rice to create certain elements
but the main body has to be sponge.
I think there's a real danger the bakers get so obsessed
with how their animal looks that they'll forget
that it has to taste amazing.
If I was going to do an animal cake...
Silverback gorilla.
Hello, Keith. Hello, Keith. Morning, Paul. Morning, Prue.
How you doing, you all right? Morning, Noel.
Tell us about your animal cake.
My animal cake is
a small poodle that I'm a kind of step-father to.
ALISON: Keith's 13-year-old poodle, Maisie,
will be built from lemon and orange sponges
and her ageing coat will be made
with charcoal coloured orange buttercream.
She's not a thing of rare beauty.
Are you trying to tell us if your cake looks terrible,
it's just because she's old? Get out clause.
You've seen straight through me, Prue. Yes.
I am baking my dog, Gracie.
My little angel.
And it's going to be made out of her favourite flavours -
banana and peanut butter.
I tell a lie - her favourite flavours is chicken and beef
but I can't really put that in a cake.
After a difficult first day, Dana is hoping to avoid
the doghouse by adding a cinnamon crumble
to her Gracie banana cake
filled with peanut buttercream.
I've practised this.
Let's just say it's a good thing dogs love you unconditionally
cos she did not look herself.
Dana and Keith aren't the only ones putting their faith
in a four-legged friend.
Is that your dog? Well, it was. He went to sleep last month.
Aw. He was nearly 18, so he's 17, so... Oh, wow. He did really well.
This is actually quite a lot of pressure, really, to get this right.
It is a bit, yeah, yeah.
Dan's planning to immortalise his dog, Bruno,
by decorating rich chocolate sponges, layered with ganache
in a two-tone chocolate French buttercream.
And his family have no idea.
So I practised the first one at home and I put him in the fridge,
cos obviously I was trying to hide it from everybody.
Unbeknown to my mum, she opened the fridge door and went,
"What's Bruno doing in the fridge?"
So obviously my eldest then's like, "What you on about?"
Charged over to the fridge,
obviously the dog's sat in the fridge, isn't he?
Whilst the judges will expect animal cakes
that are light and delicious...
Whoo. Ah.
..to avoid collapse, the bakers will
need to create sponge that's just robust enough
to survive being carved into a lifelike shape.
This is my very dense sponge
which is great for carving.
Dense sponge?
Yes.
Dense sponge is not really appetising.
But with the caramel, that changes everything.
ALISON: Amos aims to carve this sturdy caramel sponges,
sandwiched with apple buttercream,
into a killer whale.
Have you ever seen one in real life?
Yes, I went to go and see one
and the weather was too bad so it got cancelled.
No. So I've still yet to see them.
We're going to see one today though. You're going to see one today.
Cristy's making a sponge for an aquatic species
that's a little easier to spot.
I'm making a duck because, when my eldest daughter, Ava,
was younger, that's something we used to do,
always go to the pond to feed the ducks.
Cristy's sponges, made with fresh and frozen raspberries,
will be sandwiched with raspberry
and almond liqueur jam
and then carved and decorated
to look like a mallard.
Who's tasted this at home? Oh, all of them.
And what did they say? All the kids?
Yeah, they... Did they love it? It's my daughter's favourite sponge
so they like it anyway but they've seen the duck, yeah,
I think they think I'm losing my mind, to be honest.
Cristy's duck won't be alone on the river.
My animal cake is a beaver.
NOEL AND PRUE: A beaver?! A beaver.
Why did you choose a beaver?
I dressed up once as a beaver.
I'm not even sure I know what a beaver looks like so...
LAUGHTER
Stop it!
Quite sort of shapely.
Nicky's future in the competition rests on a chocolate and rum sponge
sandwiched with a blackberry jam.
And she's even given her beaver a name.
The lovely Norman.
Norman the beaver? Norman the beaver.
You've won already.
Congratulations. Well done.
You got the shake.
Thank you!
Right they're going in.
With multiple sponges needed to create
the building blocks for their animals...
Get in there. ..the bakers will need to juggle batch baking...
Bake well, little cakes.
..as well as varying oven times.
I'm baking them for...30 minutes.
But Tasha has more to juggle than anyone else.
Six sponges. Just a lot to deal with.
They'll have to be OK - I haven't got time to remake them.
Tasha's six-sponge giant robin
will have a dark chocolate and ginger filling
featuring another of her unusual ingredients.
Tahini?
Tahini. Tahini. Love tahini.
Tahini in a cake - I've never had that.
How big is it? Is it going to be bigger than a robin, I presume?
It's about that tall.
Oh, big. Standing up or flying?
It'll only be flying if it falls.
To prevent their animal cakes from falling,
the bakers will need a filling
that not only holds their construction together...
Got quite a thick ganache so I can sort of set it
and it stays quite rigid when I carve it.
..but that also complements the flavours in their sponge.
450g of peanut butter went in my peanut butter frosting.
Well, in my opinion, I think it's quite subtle, the taste.
This is my filling, buttercream.
But it's just not tasting right so I keep adding more tahini.
Norman's coming to life with a vanilla buttercream
with some vanilla rum thrown in.
A boozy beaver! That is the best.
And Nicky's not the only one hitting the bottle.
I'm making a lobster.
Flavours are inspired by my favourite cocktail.
Rowan's memories of seaside trips when he was a boy
will be recreated with a lobster
that has the grown-up taste
of a Cosmopolitan,
with Valencian orange sponge,
sharp lime curd
and a cherry coulis.
Paul and Prue yesterday said my flavours were good,
but intensify them, don't be scared.
So I'm not.
This just makes me want to put vodka in it, to be honest.
Bakers, you are halfway through. You have two hours left.
Hey, I'm happy.
Boom.
Oh, not ready.
While some sponges are ready to cool and then carve...
They're browning in spots on the top
which is not what they've ever done before.
..Nicky and Amos could be falling behind.
And they're not alone.
Tad bit under. Hurry up, cake.
Saku needs to bake two huge orange and poppy seed sponges
for a sea turtle that she's given a Sri Lankan name.
Tikiri the turtle. Tikiri is "little" in my language,
as well as it is my husband and my son's middle name.
But they are very big people for me.
Just take these edges off...
..before Paul sees.
They are what they are.
Lovely.
Just need to start to build up the body of the dog.
This is my engineering background hopefully coming into effect today.
Never built many dogs - that's the problem.
So these need to cool down the quickest they ever can.
Whilst Amos could finally be on his way
to constructing a killer whale,
Abbi has chosen to build on dry land.
I'm making a Herdwick sheep. In fact, here he is.
Herbet the Herdwick sheep will be carved from ginger sponge,
sandwiched with salted caramel Italian meringue buttercream,
rhubarb jam and a hazelnut praline crunch.
It's a very easy template compared to some of
the other bakers, cos it's just a fat, round sheep.
I'm just going to cut out some ovals
and then stack them up on top of each other.
Grazing in the next field will be
something a little more complicated.
That was just my little plan.
I like precision with all the weighing everything out.
I said I'd do a cake for my mum. This year she's 60.
She said she'd like a highland cow cos it's her favourite animal.
We've got fluffy toys and cushion covers
and she's got mugs with it on.
Josh's mum's highland cow will be made with coffee,
date and walnut sponges,
filled with maple syrup caramel
and cream cheese icing.
I've got quite a stiff filling for it
because the head of the cow is heavier
and I didn't want to do any sort of supports in there,
I want to have it as a free-standing cake.
Amos is also hoping to build his killer whale
without any supports.
# Be brave, Amos
# As my mum would say. #
But without support,
the taller animal cakes run the risk of extinction.
We'll start to hold them together with some dowels.
I think it works.
Today is no time to be scared.
Oh, the buttercream's too soft.
WHISPERS: The whole thing is just moving.
Stay, Bruno.
Never did what he's told.
BLEEP
Amos' killer whale cake is drowning in dense sponge
and melting buttercream.
I'm just trying to prop it up so it stays stiff in the fridge
so then eventually I'll be able to carve it.
Otherwise there's no whale.
How's Free Willy going?
It's all going wrong.
If you want, I've got a black and white sweatshirt -
I'll be your killer whale. Perfect. Please.
I'll just sit cross-legged on the wave.
We can winch me in.
Some bakers have planned to build animal cakes
with more than just carved sponge and buttercream.
I'm just making the head out of modelling chocolate.
It's a bit soft.
Then I'm going to mix in puffed rice to sculpt the sheep's head.
This is for the turtle head. It's very sticky.
It is the stickiest substance known to man.
It's going to take you ages to wash that off.
June, I expect.
Making Gracie's tennis ball.
She doesn't know how to do catch,
so I'll throw the ball, she'll take it, won't bring it back.
She'll just play with it and then expect me to go get it.
She's high status.
She's a diva.
This is the head and the legs.
SNORT-LAUGHING
Can't you tell?
There's just one hour remaining.
Going to be tight.
I should be assembling by now.
Gee whizz, we'd better get cracking.
I'm going to give it five minutes,
and hopefully it will stiffen up.
This is Herbert's head.
Even if the bakers have completed their basic animal structures...
Just worried about my cake leaning.
..Prue and Paul will be looking for impressive decoration.
I don't know if that's going to freak out the judges.
"Hi, Rowan, what have you made?" A dead lobster.
He's alive. Norman lives.
This part's pretty difficult.
Milk chocolate and dark chocolate buttercream.
Looks a bit like a rogue animal at the moment.
There'll be some tahini in the buttercream as well,
to pipe the feathers.
ALISON: But before he can pipe his finish...
It's bad times, innit? Cos everyone's already on their way.
..Matty has had another issue with buttercream.
Oh, let me guess what you're making.
For that colour, are you making an elephant?
It's supposed to be a black dog.
Oh.
Matty is attempting to recreate
his family's cocker spaniel, Marty,
with lemon sponges filled with lemon curd and fresh raspberries
and a black coat made from Swiss meringue buttercream.
What you going to do? It's grey!
We'll pretend he's not black.
Have you got no more food colouring that's black? Yeah, there is
but, like, I don't want to spend half an hour trying to get black.
There are grey dogs out there.
Thankfully.
These are legs. And that will be the head.
I'll have to cover his head in fondant.
Not very thin, not very thick.
SHE LAUGHS
ALISON: Fondant is heavy.
This is always the nervy bit for me just because
once it's on you, you're pretty much committed.
Its weight can press down on the sponge beneath...
So, come in nice and tight.
..making the cake dense and heavy.
I'm just moulding in with my fingers just the detail of her eyes.
Something that Amos is yet to worry about.
Got carving to do then I've got assembly.
It's not going to be ready.
I've run out of red buttercream...
..which makes the front look messy
and I know that's going to annoy them.
Come on, Norman. We can do this.
Still got to buttercream the whole thing.
Painting bit is the hardest part.
These are indentations, I need to put green.
Bakers, you have half an hour left.
OK.
So many wonderful creatures out there.
It's like Noel's Ark.
I've got more like that.
So I'm going to do, like, an isomalt pond.
So I've got a photograph of her eyes, and then blown it up
and then got it transferred into edible paper.
I just can't.
Absolutely nothing that can be done now.
I'll just do some texture.
I just need to keep on going.
Several coats to go.
Oh, God better get a shift on.
Try and get some black on there
but that's probably going to weigh it down.
Oh, my word.
He does have a little face coming.
I'm not done. I just need... I need...
I don't know what I need.
I'd like to neaten him up a lot but we are where we are.
Try and make it look somewhat pretty.
Oh, he's so cute.
Then the teeth.
I'm now really worried. Time?
Bakers, you have five minutes left.
SHE GASPS
Got a dog over here.
We're getting there.
White chocolate spaghetti.
Just got to try... get the head done for her.
One minute left.
Come on, you can do this.
We can give him a tail.
Go on, Norms. Got it.
Your time is up.
This is awesome.
Look at that robin.
HEAVY SIGH
Piece of poo.
It's judgment time for the show-stopping animal cakes.
Cristy, would you like to bring up your Showstopper?
It's beautifully conceived.
PAUL: I love the colours of it
and I love that river the duck's sitting on.
This is isomalt lake.
LOUD CRACK Oh.
You've broken his lake.
Oh, that's beautiful.
That is a raspberry cake. Isn't that lovely?
Oh, that's gorgeous, yeah.
And the raspberry's really tart.
It cuts through the sweetness of the white chocolate.
It hits the side of your... Yeah.
It's lovely. I must not eat any more of it.
This is Maisie. And she's
bursting with excitement.
Look at her little face.
LAUGHTER
Rough and ready.
She'd take that.
She's made from lemon and orange sponge cake with lemon buttercream.
Far more elegant inside than it is outside.
Yes.
Delicious.
It's a straightforward cake and you've got the right level
of flavours running through each layer.
Not oversweet, just full of flavour, so well done, Keith. Well done.
It looks like it's been run over.
LAUGHTER
Really nice cake. I like the flavour of the filling.
I've never seen a spaniel that colour though.
Me either. LAUGHTER
Oh, right, yeah.
That's really impressive. It's really good.
It's orange sponge,
lime curd and a cherry Swiss meringue buttercream.
It's almost tutti frutti,
where you've got several flavours all in one
and you can't identify any of them.
Mm, yeah, I know, I was struggling with what it was.
But it is delicious. It is nice.
It's astonishing to look at.
It's just beautiful. It's so accurate. It's amazing.
That could be turtle shell.
This is orange and poppy seed cake
with orange buttercream.
It's quite stodgy.
Mm. And it's overbaked quite dramatically.
I think this is a classic case of style over substance.
He's totally adorable.
Let's see how he tastes.
Sorry. Oh! Aw!
Cake looks great.
Rich chocolate with milk chocolate ganache
and milk chocolate and dark chocolate buttercream.
Buttercream on the outside goes beautifully with the chocolate,
so the whole thing is very moreish.
Mm, and very, very intense.
I think you've done Bruno very proud.
Oh, brilliant. Yeah, I think so. Amazing. Thank you.
It's charming,
and I love the way one of her eyes is completely gone with the fringe.
The coffee and the date work well
but there's quite a lot of buttercream in this.
Quite flat here. What happened?
Um, she's quite a flat dog. LAUGHTER
She is - she doesn't have much body to her.
I need to feed her a bit more.
It's banana cake topped with a cinnamon crumble
and with peanut butter frosting in between.
That's a strong peanut, that.
The peanut's quite dominant.
I'm not getting any banana.
I think less peanut would've been better.
Go on, Gracie.
She'll love you!
You can eat that now, Dan.
Straight off, it looks great.
It's got real character to it in the face.
Paul is now going to cut his head off I dare say.
I'll go into its rear quarter.
He is a ginger sponge, salted caramel buttercream,
rhubarb jam, a hazelnut brittle
and then black sesame buttercream.
The rhubarb jam is excellent and so is the cake.
You've got a sharpness from that rhubarb,
so the ginger and the rhubarb marry,
and then you have that hazelnut which is delicious.
With a bit of crunch. You've done a really good job, Abbi.
Thank you very much.
Amos, would you like to bring up your Showstopper, please?
PAUL: You can see what it is.
It's a shame everything's sort of slipped slightly.
Caramel sponge and then we have an apple buttercream.
Your cake looks a little doughy, as if it's become compressed.
It's tough as old boots.
And on top of that, you've got the weight of everything going round it
so it's concertinaed up.
It's bone dry as well.
Because you've kept it in the oven.
Very stodgy, oversweet.
Not your best day.
Not in the slightest.
Nicky, can you bring your Showstopper up, please?
Here we go, Norman.
So, Nicky, tell us about your beaver.
LAUGHTER
All right, I'll try again.
So, Nicky, tell us about your Showstopper.
Norman is made out of chocolate cake.
He's got a blackberry jam
and he's got a chocolate ganache
that's got some rum in it.
Straight out of a cartoon, isn't he? Yes, it's beautiful.
Very heavy on the fondant on the outside, really thick.
It's quite a solid cake, Nicky.
Do you think you overbaked it?
A little, but... A lot. A lot.
Texture's all wrong, unfortunately.
It is solid
and it shouldn't be bone dry. It's a real shame.
Tasha, would you like to bring up your Showstopper, please?
That is incredible.
Thank you.
It's sensational.
The pipework, the colour, the stance,
you know instantly what it is.
This robin has personality.
So I've made a tahini sponge
with a chocolate, ginger and tahini buttercream.
I think of tahini as a savoury flavour
and this is a cake,
and it's not too savoury and it's not too sweet -
it's just very delicious.
I don't like that, Tasha.
I love it.
PRUE LAUGHS God, what a relief.
I thought I was going to have my first big battle
with Paul Hollywood on Bake Off
because I would've gone to the wall to defend you if he meant it.
I love the flavour of the tahini.
And actually, the tahini with the chocolate,
you've got a nice balance between the two.
And it's such a big cake.
That's a lot of work in that.
I think you've done a fantastic job.
Thank you so much.
Wow! That was so much better than I could've ever imagined.
It's a complete disaster.
Where do I rank?
Bottom?
Literally praying to all the gods out there,
fingers and toes crossed.
I would be over the moon if I was here next week.
But it would also be a shock.
So it's been Alison's first week in the tent.
It's been lovely. Slotted right in. I love our bakers as well.
I really don't want to see anyone go today.
Dan's done very well again.
And Cristy. And I think Abbi has as well.
Abbi's done really well.
But it is going to be tricky to decide who's going to go home.
For instance, Amos. Yeah.
When you looked at his orca, the problem was it was so dense.
So I think it automatically puts Amos in a very difficult position.
I have to put Dana into that position.
The peanut overwhelmed everything.
There is somebody else who struggled over the last couple of days.
Which would be Nicky. Was Nicky.
Her beaver looked amazing but it was bone dry.
Yeah. I don't like dry beavers, do you?
Hate dry beavers. Am I in a Carry On film?
Look, stop this.
Congratulations, Bakers -
you've got to the end of Cake Week.
Now, I've got the lovely job of announcing Star Baker of the week.
The first Star Baker is...
..D to the A to the N, you know it's Dan!
Congratulations.
Unfortunately, that leaves me with such a horrible job
cos it's the first week, and we're just getting to know you,
but sadly someone does have to go.
And that person is...
..Amos. I'm sorry.
INDISTINCT
Sorry, mate. You did a good job.
It was obviously the Showstopper that stopped my show.
As soon as I heard my name, I came out of my body.
Sorry. I'm fine. Sorry.
You were amazing. Thank you. Thanks very much.
NICKY: I'm shocked that I'm here
and I'm really, really sad for Amos.
What a warm-hearted, lovely man he is.
Tomorrow, what you'll remember is you got into Bake Off.
It's been amazing being in that group of people, walking in
that tent on that first day and it's softening the blow a little bit.
Well done, Dan. Oh, thank you so much. You were so good.
Just surreal. Surreal, honestly. The dog did us proud.
And he won me Star Baker, so nice one, Bruno.
ABBI: I'm really pleased for Dan.
They say that you're going to be like a family and I was like,
"No," but actually, like, you are.
The thought of losing just one of these people is devastating.
The thought that we're all going to, one by one,
drop off is like, oh, my goodness.
Next time...
Oh, hurry up.
..the bakers brace for biscuits.
Very concerned about this.
With a sticky signature...
I don't think it would be this messy.
..a tricky technical...
I don't know when they're going to be ready.
..and a mind-bending illusion biscuit Showstopper...
Chuffing heck. This is so realistic.
..who will take the biscuit..
It's absolutely delicious. It is.
..and whose cookie... Cristy?
..will finally crumble?
Have you used my biscuit dough?
SHE GASPS You have!
Are you a Star Baker in the making?
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