Last time... No pressure. ..the heats reached their climax
across two chocolate challenges...
I know it's a pressure, I know.
..and while The Landmark made it a hat trick of wins...
The cake is amazeball!
..Glenapp Castle...
It's matcha infused with a little bit of seaweed.
..cast the flavour net too wide.
Do I want to eat a fishy chocolate? Not really. OK.
But it was Mustapha and Tracy's moulding mare...
Oh!
No, it's broken.
..that saw them exit the competition.
Mustapha and Tracy.
LIAM: This time... Be careful.
..the two heats collide...
This is exciting!
..to tackle a staggering secret challenge...
I love winging it. I love not having a recipe.
..and they'll reach for the heavens... Shaking.
..to create an incredible suspended showpiece.
Stop touching it with hot fingers.
Who will soar to new heights?
IMITATES RADIO STATIC.
Houston, we've got lift off.
And who will come crashing down to earth?
CRASHING.
Oh!
Having made it through the heats,
these final six teams are competing for
a place in the quarterfinal.
Happy to be back. Yeah, very happy.
He's happy as well.
Quite exciting, actually... Yeah, yeah.
..to meet the other three teams.
We have a secret challenge and it's a bit unsettling.
It's a bit weird I'm not stressed at all. Yet.
I hate surprises. Even for my birthday,
if anyone plans something surprise I'll be like, "No."
We're hoping for bread, then we can just make a dough
and then have an hour off. Have a cup of tea while it's...
And have a brew. ..While it's proving.
Good morning, chefs,
and congratulations on making it through to the final six.
Unfortunately Liam can't be with us this time,
but we wish him well and we'll see him soon.
Now to reward you all getting this far in
the competition, the judges have come up with
the mother of all secret challenges.
Due to the nature of this challenge,
each team will start at ten-minute intervals.
So can I ask everyone to leave the kitchen except Daniel
and Mauro because you are up first.
Mauro and Daniel, on your work station you'll find
the necessary ingredients
and equipment to make two identical plated desserts,
one for Benoit and one for Cherish.
The only requirements the judges have set are that your desserts
celebrate herbs and spices,
and feature a cooked cream or custard element.
Now, I would suggest that you set your timer
because in exactly two and a half hours Benoit and Cherish
will be tasting your dessert.
Best of luck. Time starts now.
OK. Fennel, coriander.
Plated desserts are made up of a number of components
with contrasting textures and temperatures.
One ice cream or a sorbet?
That are served at the very last minute to produce
a miniature culinary artwork on the plate.
Plated dessert, it's not just about one little petit gateau on
the plate and a bit of sauce.
It's all about a bit of the drama,
a bit of the fragility that
you cannot recreate in any other type of dessert.
Because you bring everything together at the last moment.
Herbs and spices are the hero in this challenge
and also they have to include a custard
and a cream based dessert, whether it is a mousse or
a creme brulee or a ice cream.
All the component need to come together
and when I eat it, it will put a big smile on my face.
For me, the biggest difficulty of a challenge like this one is trying
to remember every single recipe you need.
If it's been a while, you might just have forgotten
the right ratio and this becomes complicated.
To be honest, from us, we could have
been a bit easier on them. Probably.
Mauro and Daniel, good morning. Good morning.
How are you finding this so far? Have you decided
what you're going to do? No, not yet.
OK. Have you had a chance
to meet the other teams properly yet?
Yeah, we had a chitchat yesterday and they seem to know
what they want as well. Seem to know what they're doing? Yes.
Well, we'll see today, won't we, in the kitchen?
As teams enter at ten-minute intervals, they'll be given
the same information and time.
Annie and Subin, on your work station you will find
the necessary ingredients to make two identical plated desserts.
Good luck. Time starts now.
Wait a second, don't run. Let's think first.
I think it's very important that they identify what marries
with each other. The pairing is ever so important to bring out
the real flavour of spices and herbs.
The ice cream's going to be chocolate and rosemary.
Oh, we're stressed, cos normally when we work,
we have our recipe, so it's like we have instruction,
we know what to do.
Chefs, good morning. Good morning.
Now tell me what you have in mind.
The main element is going to be a strawberry and peppercorn mousse,
and that will set in a dome.
OK, you've done that before in any dessert? Mm.
That combination of flavour? No.
No, so you're trying that today and you think it's going to work?
That's what we find out.
Alongside their dome of strawberry
and pink peppercorn mousse, Mauro
and Daniel are planning to serve up
a rosemary and dark chocolate sorbet
and a vanilla and mango sauce.
I'm very interested in how you're going to dress it up.
Um... Me, too.
LAUGHTER.
He's still working it out.
Are you bringing in any coulis, any crispy element?
Are you going to bring some crispy element? Uh, we didn't decide yet.
Chantelle and Kasia from Glenapp Castle, please enter the kitchen.
Let's not waste time.
So we've got basil, chervil, coriander, dill, cardamom.
I'm just trying to think of recipes. Yeah.
Annie, Subin, tell us what you are making?
A coconut flan. Herbs and spice anywhere?
On our syrup, like sauce, we are going to put lemongrass,
coriander, ginger, mango, pineapple.
I told you they will go Asian.
He's going Italy, they're going Asia.
Everybody's going to go to their comfort zone!
I can't wait to taste your Asia touched dessert today.
Annie and Subin's creamy coconut panna cotta
will be complemented with their
coriander, ginger and lemongrass sauce,
and contrasted with a sharp
raspberry and mint sorbet.
You're using raspberry? Yeah.
We don't have raspberry in Asia.
I don't know, you're asking me. I'm from Normandy, France.
So it's a East meet West, or it's a...? I think it's a mix.
Yeah. All right, we're changing direction now.
When they said herbs and spices, especially spices,
I was quite excited. We've got the ginger, the lemongrass,
cardamom, coriander, and we've added a little bit of cinnamon as well.
To ensure their dessert packs a punch, Chantelle
and Kasia will flavour their white chocolate bavarois
with lemongrass and cardamom,
put ginger in their milk chocolate
sponge and feuilletine, and add coriander
to their mango salsa.
Is it too complicated? Is it too many?
I don't think so, I think the spices all kind of marry
very well together. Mm.
For some reason I thought it was going to be a souffle.
So I tried to remember my souffle recipe
and I do remember it, but wrong one!
For their cooked custard or cream element, all the teams
so far are using a setting agent.
Oh, 20g of gelatine.
But with no recipe, remembering exact quantities will be crucial if
they're to avoid it becoming either sloppy...
I'm using a pectin. I'll go a bit by eye.
..or rubbery. I'm working out the agar in my head.
If you put a lot it will be like very hard,
but at the same time I need it to be like set.
But Mayank and Dharma are avoiding the gelling agent gamble,
and sticking to one of Dharma's tried and tested recipes.
The baked custard element, for us, is orange
and thyme flavoured creme brulee. His choice.
I hate creme brulees. But...
But he's the boss.
Choosing thyme as their hero flavour, Mayank
and Dharma will use it to enhance their sea salted caramel ice cream,
their shard of pistachio and orange tuile,
and their centrepiece of an orange
and thyme creme brulee.
I love creme brulee. Really? I don't.
Oh, my God I love creme brulee! You're quite basic.
I'm a basic BLEEP. I know!
They'll beep that bit. It's fine.
As the final team enter the kitchen, Mauro and Daniel...
No.
..are almost an hour into the challenge.
Andrew and Raf, best of luck. Your time starts now.
There's definitely no recipes here, is there? No.
What else have we got?
Andy and Raf, how are you feeling? Um... Um...
PANICKED LAUGH "Everything's fine!"
Everything's all right. Yeah, I think that's the vibe in the room.
I love winging it. I love not having a recipe.
Mauro and Daniel, you are halfway through.
One hour, 15 minutes we have.
So we're going to go for a Tonka bean
and vanilla chocolate flan.
Mint and mango compotes,
and probably a sorbet.
You don't sound particularly confident, really, Caroline!
I haven't plated a dessert in a very long time.
As well as their yet undecided sorbet flavour, Caroline
and Martin's plated dessert will comprise of
a tuile basket filled with
mango and mint compote,
and a chocolate and Tonka bean flan.
Are you doing a French kind of pastry cream baked flan like we do?
Yes, yes. OK. Oh, you've gone very easy. Do you see?
Inspiration. Roots. They've all gone panna cotta, flan. Exactly.
And I'm sure the next table in Lancashire,
they will do a custard tart.
You will find out soon enough.
But the Lancashire-based boys...
I know a lemon mousse. I can infuse some thyme into it.
..are taking their inspiration from
the flavours of Raf's Brazilian childhood.
Lemon and thyme is something that our granny used to do
for us when you're a bit poorly, so why not? Herbal, boom.
Hoping that Granny knows best,
Andy and Raf will create a thyme mousse, wrapped in a citrus jelly,
along with lemon curd, yoghurt sorbet,
and a pink peppercorn crumble.
I thought you would've gone a custard tart. Yeah. Yeah.
We thought you were going to give us a custard tart, actually.
Are you confident with this challenge?
Um... Um... Yeah. Yeah, to a degree. Yeah.
We've tried to remember our recipes the best that we can.
That's the hard part. That's the hard part. Yeah.
I'm making a sorbet. Yeah, yeah, OK, cool. It's happening.
And I'm going to try to churn it as quick as possible.
What are you up to right now? I'm preparing the sorbet.
Just need to figure out how this machine works.
Just plug it in. Huh?
Plug it in, turn it on. DANIEL CHUCKLES.
Oh, my God, I made Daniel laugh! That has never happened before.
Made your day. It really has made my day.
How long do we have?
You're halfway through. Thank you.
Thanks, Ellie. You're welcome.
Mauro and Daniel, 30 minutes left.
Bit more stressed out now than I was.
So we're making tubes out of the acetate.
Set our mousse into this,
so that we get a sort of cannelloni shape.
I just call it a tube. I'm from Bolton, aren't I?
While the later teams are getting their creamy elements under way...
This is a set brulee.
..those who started earlier can begin demoulding...
So I'm making sure they're smooth.
..and discover if they've remembered their setting ratios correctly.
It's quite dense.
I need to redo the panna cotta.
Why? It's very set.
Oh, no. How much agar did you put?
Seven. Seven?!
I'm thinking to remelt it, and I'm adding like more liquid
so it's not that firm. Hopefully it works.
But with plating up time fast approaching...
Going to start to put the decorations around the dessert.
..Mauro and Daniel have no time to remake their mousse.
Mauro and Daniel, you have ten minutes left.
Cherish and Benoit are not only expecting exquisite desserts...
Sorry, guys. I'll just slip through you, cheers.
..but they must be accompanied by an array of sauces,
salsas and sorbets that will lift the entire plate.
Can you taste the coriander? Can you taste the lime?
Can you taste the mango? Andy, do you want me to feed you?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah!
The judges are also expecting contrasting textures.
I'm making a crumble with pink peppercorns on.
Let's go with the ice cream. Quickly, cos it's melting.
Come on. Come on, Mau! It's fine, it's fine.
Annie and Subin, you have ten minutes left.
Mauro and Daniel, your time is up.
Please present your plated desserts to the judges.
The teams have been given two and a half hours to create
and present exquisite plated desserts.
I'm happy with the panna cotta. Should be fine.
But while the rest rush to the finish...
Set brulee, going to the blast freezer. I'll put it in.
..for Mauro and Daniel, time is up.
OK, overall look, it is quite a simple plated dessert.
Visually there is a lot of techniques.
The dome itself looks elegantly presented, but it's a bit boring.
Shall we? Yes.
The sauce is mango and vanilla.
At the top, a strawberry and pink peppercorn mousse.
And then at the side there is a rosemary and dark chocolate sorbet.
The pink peppercorn really goes with your strawberry mousse,
but I expect the mousse to be a little bit lighter.
We haven't created the essence of a plated dessert, other than
the fact that you've put a quenelle of sorbet,
which is actually the nicest part because that combination of herbal
and the dark chocolate works very well.
The peppercorn is not overly powered.
But as far as texture, it's a moussey texture.
I was expecting custard.
You should've gone panna cotta all the way. And then you would have had
something a little bit texturally interesting. Yes, Chef.
Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for your hard work.
While Mauro and Daniel can finally relax...
I'm just trying to make it pretty.
..Annie and Subin have just a few minutes to assemble all
the components for their plated dessert.
Less, less, less, less.
You've got to think about all these different textures that are going to
bring it all together, so it doesn't become just like a petit gateau
on a plate.
Chantelle and Kasia, you've got ten minutes left.
Annie and Subin, your time is up.
Please present your plated desserts to the judges.
Well, visually, it's a beautiful dessert
and I'm excited about eating it.
So we have the coconut panna cotta,
raspberry sorbet with some mint.
For the sauce we have mango, pineapple with some coriander,
lemongrass and ginger.
That lovely little sauce with all the herbs you've put in there
and spices - beautiful.
My biggest problem is the panna cotta is super, super tight.
It's too set. But then that raspberry
and mint element there is beautiful,
but doesn't work with your coconut panna cotta.
I was a bit worried when you said that you want to incorporate
the raspberry, and this is what it shows on the plate.
Thank you. Thank you, Chef.
It's OK.
Next to face the judges...
I'm trying to get enough of this on.
..are Chantelle and Kasia.
What else do we need? We've got this, this, this. Mango salsa.
I'm scared with the creme brulee.
Let me check one.
It's still frozen.
Mayank and Dharma, you have ten minutes left.
Chantelle and Kasia... That's it.
..time is up, please serve your plated desserts to the judges.
I like the element on it, but I just feel that it's
a little bit distorted with the plating.
I hope when you eat everything together, that's where
the wow factor comes from.
So it's a lemongrass, cardamom and white chocolate bavarois,
a coconut and lime cream,
some flourless milk chocolate and ginger sponge,
with fresh mango salsa. A pineapple and coriander gel.
I think, as a whole, it is quite an interesting dessert to eat,
but saying that, the mousse itself is not interesting.
Yeah, it's boring. For me, everything feels a bit dry.
You needed a sauce or a sorbet to moisten a little bit
your experience. But overall flavour combination - beautiful.
Thank you.
That was not so bad. Yeah.
Mayank and Dharma are up next.
Be careful.
Caroline and Martin, you have ten minutes left.
OK. Phew.
Let's go. It's perfect.
Mayank and Dharma, time is up,
Please take your plated desserts to the judges.
It does look like a plated dessert. I really like it,
I can see the beauty of all your dessert,
and also the height as well.
There's an orange and pine creme brulee,
allspice crumble. On top of it, you'll see
a sea salt caramel and thyme ice cream.
The creme brulee is frozen in the centre.
Having said that, I really like the creme brulee texture.
And also you caramelised it a la minute, which makes the top have
a little snap, I love that. I really, really like
the salted caramel and the thyme ice cream.
Oh, my goodness, when I eat it
with your allspice crumble, that is where I start to dance.
Well done, guys. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thanks, Chef.
Caroline and Martin are next to present their plated desserts.
This is why I stopped working in a hotel,
I do not like plated desserts!
How long's left?
Andrew and Raf, you have ten minutes left.
Ten minutes, Raf. Pardon? Ten minutes.
And that is not the sexiest quenelle, but...
Caroline and Martin, your time is up.
Please present your plated desserts to the judges.
The quenelle, it is not very nice.
What I do like, though, is what you've done
with that little trestle of chocolate.
Because you placed it on the warm chocolate floor,
and therefore it melts down
and creates a beautiful sheen on it.
And you create the goose bumps.
So we have a chocolate Tonka bean and vanilla flan,
a mango and mint compote,
with a raspberry and mint sorbet.
I really like the hot and the cold dessert element on your plate.
When I eat your flan with the raspberry
and mint, it actually make a very good combination.
The raspberry sorbet is beautiful. I've got warm,
I've got cold, I've got frozen,
so in terms of temperature you went to town with it. I love it.
Thank you, Chef. Thank you very much.
Last to face the judges are Andy and Raf.
They look good. It's like a lemon meringue pie on
steroids. Should I put the sorbet on? Yeah, yeah. Let's go.
Andrew and Raf, time is up.
Please take your plated desserts to the judges.
I love the colour contrast, the white and the yellow.
It's dainty, it's clean, it's elegant, it's sophisticated.
Simple but elegant. I like it.
So we have a thyme mousse with a pink peppercorn crumble,
lemon curd, and a yoghurt sorbet.
It's beautiful, it's elegant, it's fresh,
it's full of texture and emotions.
I eat your dessert and I feel happy.
Chef, your thyme mousse, it is light, it is fragrant.
Eating with the crumble, with your yoghurt sorbet,
plus your lemon curd - ooh, la-la-la-la-la-la!
I think I'm in heaven.
So you've got the herbs, the spice, and the texture we've asked for.
Oh! Beautiful, love it. Thank you very much.
Pleasure, thank you.
Really good comments.
It's so beautiful. I can eat it all day. All day.
Judging went well. They liked it, so...
No. I was sweating so much.
I was a little bit worried she'd maybe say too much with
the spices, whatever, but she didn't.
So, yeah, so it's all good.
Mistakes can happen.
You can't deliver always at the top.
Tomorrow is another day.
With an ambitious showpiece challenge ahead of them tomorrow,
the chefs have been given a golden hour this evening to prepare.
What a way to kick off the final six. An exciting morning.
Everybody did well, I think. Harwoods Patisserie,
they've nailed it today.
It was clean, it was sharp, it was beautiful.
And then Mayank and Dharma - wow!
I'm actually quite impressed with them
because I think that they balanced the taste perfectly for us today.
The Landmark and the Dorchester, both from massive hotels,
you'd think they'd have a lot of experience with plated desserts.
There was no emotion to it, it was just kind of
a cake on a plate.
But I would not write off anyone yet.
Tomorrow is going to be a big day.
They have to suspend the showpiece. Interesting. They have to suspend
their showpiece? Yes. From the air?
From the air.
Are you lot drunk when you come up with these challenges?
Well, we could be. We could be.
Just one more challenge stands between the teams
and a place in the quarterfinal. And it's a challenge...
Wow.
..that's never been attempted before in the Professionals kitchen.
Good morning, chefs, and welcome back.
We hope you've recovered from yesterday's excitement
because the judges have described today's showpiece challenge as
the most exciting challenge they've ever set in this kitchen
and I can't wait. I love drama. Benoit, tell us more.
Well, chefs, today you must take to the sky
and create a gravity-defying, suspended showpiece.
And nothing, but absolutely nothing, must be set on
your presentation table below.
Incorporated into your showpiece must be 30 petits fours.
The design and flavour is up to you.
But it must be identical
and it must be suspended within your showpiece.
Be very careful, chefs, one false move
and your hope might come crashing down to earth.
Get ready, chefs. It's time for lift-off.
You've already had one and a half hours to prep.
You now have a further four hours
to complete this challenge. Best of luck. Time starts now.
This is exciting.
The last five minutes, I promise you, will be a nail-biting
kind of moment because they're going to go, "Click".
They'll be underneath like, "Ah!"
I'm scared of heights, so even a ladder would be challenging
for me today.
I think it's insane to hang chocolates.
We are a bit nervous today because it's the first time we've asked for
our team to create a suspended showpiece,
and for this our team can choose whatever medium they want.
It could be chocolate, sugar,
but if you decide to work with sugar, the risk factor is enormous.
Chocolate, you can fix when it break. But sugar, you just
need to do it again because it break and shatter.
We are testing them on their engineering skill.
On top of that, they need to produce for us
a bite-size petits fours, so, Chef, no time to hang around!
Morning!
So what is it like when you get this challenge,
what is ticking on your brain?
How are we going to suspend it from the ceiling?
So we are doing a pride balloon. My sister is trans,
and Raf has a partner as well. OK. So it's going to be
a hot-air balloon and then we've got some graffiti on it saying, "Love."
So it's a love balloon. We like spreading the love.
Made entirely from chocolate, Andy and Raf's colourful pride balloon
will hopefully float through the air, carrying with it
a basket of 30 hand-painted
passion fruit martini inspired macarons.
What are you painting on?
So we're painting flowers.
Andy just suggested we'd hand paint it and I was... Elated.
Elated at the task.
Do you think that is too big for a petit four,
because petits fours are supposed to be bite-sized.
Well, it depends how big your mouth is.
For me, it's going to be tiny.
LAUGHTER.
Traditionally served after dinner, petits fours are bite-sized pasties
usually containing at least one baked element.
I don't really like petits fours, it's a bit small for me.
There's nothing to eat.
They might be small, but Benoit
and Cherish are expecting flavours that pack a punch.
We're going to make madeleines, so the flavour will be
a lime and shiso.
Is there any reason why you choose shiso?
It's just for a bit sourness.
Wow, I'm in for a treat, I hope.
Filled with sharp lime shiso gel
and soaked in passion fruit syrup,
Annie and Subin's madeleines will be flying up,
up and away in a chocolate house
carried by 40 blown sugar balloons.
Oh! That must be extremely fragile, no? Yeah.
Well, that's taking a massive amount of risk. You're confident about it?
I mean, I think two time it broke, two time it was fine.
50-50 chance of success. Yeah.
Oh, la-la-la-la.
If attempting 40 fragile blown
balloons wasn't enough of a tall order...
I will say it will be worth it if it comes out nice.
..two teams have their sights set even higher.
Well, we're making a planet. Oh, brilliant!
And we're going to have a rocket flying towards that planet.
The Landmark, they're doing a rocket as well.
They don't have a story, we'll have a story. Oh, you have a story.
I like that.
Blasting off towards a planet inhabited
with white chocolate, yuzu and pistachio petits fours,
Mayank and Dharma's space shuttle will tell
the story of Dharma's childhood dream of becoming
the next Neil Armstrong.
Did you really want to be an astronaut? Yes. When I was small,
I have seen the newspaper with like the costume, helmet. Yeah.
"I want to be like that." Oh!
But there's no man on the moon in Mauro
and Daniel's entry in this particular space race.
So Daniel is preparing an alien.
A little alien is to make it more funky.
Oh, does the rocket have a name, by the way?
Rocket man.
It could be rocket woman, cos it's 2023, so...
Propelled through a mini solar system by sugar work flames,
Mauro and Daniel's alien space craft will transport
a precious cargo of intricate petits fours.
So the petits fours are going to be chocolate. Inside there will be
a gel of kalamansi and lime. A ganache of hazelnut and caramel.
So it's going to be like a bonbon, like a chocolate bonbon? The shell
is like a chocolate bonbon, but there is something more around.
But the most important thing, is it going to be bite-sized?
Two centimetres and a half diameter.
OK. I hope you're reaching for star today.
I really hope so, too. Our fate depends on this.
Eeh! Ah!
The fate of all the teams' showpieces will depend on
the weight of their structures.
We're fairly confident with the engineering.
Our balloon is hollow,
so actually it only weighs just over a kilo.
We have divided the weight into three different segments,
so even if my rocket falls, you'll have planet hanging.
If the planet falls, the rocket is hanging.
It will not collapse completely.
But one team...
..are doubling down on their attempt to avoid disaster.
We made enough parts to basically make two showpieces.
Oh, so you've got backups? We've got a back up.
That's smart, but also doubling your workload.
Chantelle and Kasia are hoping that they will blow
the judges away with their whimsical wind chime,
featuring candyfloss clouds,
cast chocolate aeroplanes and hot air balloons,
and a parliament of owls who will stand guard over
their passion fruit and mango petits fours.
I have an owl wind chime at home. I love owls,
they're a little bit mysterious.
And I thought that's probably not something
the other teams are going to be going for.
Also taking a cue from nature are Caroline and Martin...
We're doing a beehive.
The bee is actually Manchester's symbol.
We both live in Manchester,
so we thought that we'll honour
the city where we met and make it fly.
Complete with a queen bee and her workers,
Caroline and Martin's showpiece will display their petits fours
made from honey, mascarpone and matcha green tea powder.
They'll all sit in their hanging honeycomb structure,
which is made up of 40 individually
moulded chocolate hexagons.
So how many times have you practised this?
Uh, we've practised every single part
a couple of times. But we haven't hanged it. Ah!
Are you saying that your life in this competition is hanging by
a thread? Yes. Ooh! Literally.
Chefs, you're halfway through! Time is really flying by, isn't it?
While Caroline has a mammoth beehive
to construct from her 40 individual hexagons...
We cannot hang around.
..Subin has the nerve-racking task of building her enormous bunch
of sugar work balloons.
So I'm guessing the inspiration for this is the film Up?
Yeah, it's one of my favourites, yeah. I love that!
Oh, it is lovely, isn't it? Yeah.
If that works, it's going to look fantastic. So that's all sugar work?
Yeah. And sugar work, as I understand it, can be a bit risky?
It's very fragile, so I need to make sure that
I glue it well, so it doesn't fall down.
Ensuring that the showpieces can hold their own weight is crucial.
A lot of the stability is coming from this,
so we were most worried about these two pieces coming apart.
We've got to make sure that everything's really secure.
That's it, next one.
But each join possesses the potential for collapse.
Come on, I don't have a lot of time.
And Caroline's beehive has more joins than most.
OK, I'm feeling stressed for the connections, right?
Cos that's where... Any weak point is going to be
a connection. Exactly.
And with a backlog of hexagons waiting to be released...
Yeah, it is a little time-consuming
to actually unmould them all.
..they can't afford any delays.
Ah-oh!
Oh, that is not a good start at all.
Nope. Urgh!
If this doesn't work, we'll have no showpiece.
Right now I'm a little stressed.
Few more, few more, few more, and then it's ready for a bit of colour.
No panic. No pressure at all.
While Caroline races to complete her hanging honeycomb...
Oh, it's so messy!
..Martin and the rest of the teams' attention has turned back
to their petits fours.
Are you ready for the petits fours? Yeah.
I'm dipping our petits fours into our matcha chocolate glaze.
You've got two hands, use two hands.
And while all 30 must be identical and immaculate...
I'm going to make it look like a mini galaxy.
..it's crucial both taste and texture are perfectly poised.
There's a passion fruit curd and there's just buttercream
with a bit of vanilla. Andy, do you think that's enough?
No, that'll be enough.
So this is the madeleines.
We're going to soak it in the passion fruit and lime.
So it's a passion fruit chocolate mousse with a mango
and passion fruit gel.
Oh, my God. That is delicious. Can you be our judge?
Yes. Please. You win!
Chefs, you have one hour left.
Are you ready to do the holes? I'm going to do the holes. Yeah. Yes.
Before their gravity-defying showpieces can begin their ascent...
Right, do you want me to lift it and you go through? I'll go through.
Do you remember? Yeah, I remember.
..the chefs must tackle the perilous process of threading metres
of cable through their brittle chocolate creations.
What stage of flight prep are we at?
We've finished all of our pieces,
we're just going to start assembling it now.
Oh, crikey. Construction begins.
Just feeding some wire through the bottom.
Keep going. I'm going to have to put it down.
Hold up, hold up. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, watch it.
Yeah, I've got it. Hold steady.
We're just making sure that when we make
the holes in this, that it's lined up with the holes in this.
We have asked ourselves the question -
is the showpiece challenging enough?
Um, but I think with the aspect of having
to hang it from the ceiling as well,
we didn't know if we could complete it
and then end up with everything on the floor.
But while some concern themselves with the potential
for things to fall apart...
Not ready for gravity yet.
..Caroline's honeycomb is only just coming together.
Careful. Your jacket! Your jacket is pushing it!
Sorry, sorry, OK.
Jeez!
And she's not alone.
I'm sticking the balloons.
Until all of her brittle balloons have been secured,
Subin's house will remain firmly grounded.
We just worry about the balloons. Only the balloons.
The chocolate you can fix when it break,
but if the sugar break there's no way of fixing.
Chefs, you have 30 minutes left.
Should I hang this? Hang, then I can start to make spun sugar.
With all pre flight checks complete,
the chefs' culinary engineering is about to be put to the test.
So which side do you want to be on?
I want to be on here. Yeah? OK.
So I'm not getting on that.
So you can get up, and lift and you'll clip. Easy.
As simple as that. Yeah. As simple as that.
And if even one of their joins isn't completely secure...
Daniel, go on the other side. Maybe I need a hand, eh?
..their entire showpiece could come crashing down to earth.
BLEEP.
Dharma. What do you want?
It's heavy. So just to put it there...
You all right there?
Yeah. Is it on? Yeah.
Please don't fall.
Take your fingers off.
Yeah, I'm holding it. I'm holding it. Fingers off.
Why are you moving? Stop moving.
Stick one more and then stop.
How do we level that basket? We just tilt it. It'll level itself.
Stop touching it with your hot fingers.
Why is it spinning? Wait. Tsh-tsh-tsh!
CRASHING AND A GASP.
That's not a noise that I like.
Was that the balloons? Ah!
BLEEP.
What happened?
Aw. You can do something, you can do something!
You've got time. You've got balloons. It's salvageable.
Right, just need to put the macarons on.
Let's get this done.
Chefs, you have ten minutes left.
We need to start putting these guys on. OK.
Get the best ones. I've got plenty.
I'm shaking.
Just stick as much as you can.
Do you want to do it? Switch job.
We're missing the petits fours. Where is it?
Go, go, go.
Candyfloss clouds. Do we think that's too much?
White chocolate, white chocolate.
OK, put it down, put it down,
put it down, I've got it. Put it down, slowly.
Chefs, that's it. Your time is up.
Please step away from your showpieces.
Ah, look! They've got a little alien on top. I didn't see him.
Six suspended showpieces and accompanying petits fours
made in just five hours.
Andrew and Raf from Harwoods Patisserie, come on up.
Well, I have to say, it's very effective.
It's floating in the air and you've made a hot-air balloon.
I liked that connection.
Chef, I really like the texture of the basket you've put in.
Overall it's a very good effort.
OK, let's see if you've got some decent petits fours.
So what have we got?
So we've got a passion fruit cocktail inspired macaroon,
passion fruit buttercream, and we've got some prosecco
and passion fruit gel.
As far as the painting is concerned, I commend you, Raf,
with the fact that you've done it by hand.
Having said that, it's a bit on
the large size for a petits fours, yeah?
We're hungry in the north.
Overall it's a very good effort.
I think the cream is really smooth and silky.
The textures are lovely, the flavours are also lovely.
Ultimately it's a balance of size,
and you haven't quite achieved it. Thank you. Thank you.
It's ever so clever that you just use
a little mould that you make yourself
and turn it into a honeycomb.
But if I look a little bit closer, I think you
need to be a bit neater.
If the showpiece lacks neatness, your petits fours are very neat
and I like it. Shall we taste?
Yeah. So we have a honey
and mascarpone mousse with
a matcha cremeux insert.
On top, you have strawberry
and ginger pearls with some pure bee pollen.
And the base is a pecan sable.
Well, I think the overall combination is really beautiful.
I taste the matcha. It's not overpowering.
Again the honey just come in beautifully.
It's a very enjoyable petits fours.
Thank you. Well, it eats very well,
and as you probably know I'm not a great fan of matcha,
but this is very well balanced so now I enjoy matcha. So well done.
Thank you. Thank you, chefs.
You can buzz off now. Bzz! Thank you.
IMITATES RADIO STATIC.
Houston, we've got lift off.
LAUGHTER.
Love it.
Well, to be honest with you, guys, there is a hell of
a lot of work in there.
Your showpiece is really impressive to look at.
OK, so we've got some petits fours to taste.
Please tell us what we've got. So at the bottom we have pistachio
and raspberry sponge. On top of it, it's a yuzu curd
and it has a little bit of pistachio and raspberry crunch in it.
And it's all encased in white chocolate mousse.
Well, you've got some good things in there.
The yuzu element is very fresh,
the pistachio sponge gives you a lovely texture.
But you've got a fair amount of that white chocolate mousse.
Everything feels a bit rich.
Damn, how I wish that you put
a little bit more yuzu in it
because it's a little bit sweet side for my liking.
But I see great potential.
What I like about your team is that you're getting stronger
and stronger. Well done.
Thanks. See you later. Thank you.
This is amazing!
Pow! Boom.
I'm impressed, yeah. With you, when it comes to showpiece
so far, you will come up always with something impressive
to look at. And it is.
OK, let's talk about petits fours, then. What have we got?
The disc at the bottom is chocolate,
and in the cup there is a gel of kalamansi and lime.
In the middle a ganache of caramel and hazelnut,
and on the top are a gel of vanilla and mango.
I love it. First I thought that it's too much chocolate,
but when you bite the full pack of explosive flavour keep on coming.
And it is a firework of texture that is on my palate.
There's a lot going on in your petits fours,
but what's important is - does it work together very well?
And, yes, it does.
Having said that, it's more of a chocolate bonbon than
a petits fours. So the real question for us is -
is that a petits fours or not?
Thank you, chefs.
I think it's a bit bare for my liking.
I like the hot-air balloon,
but at the moment I can see that everything is quite flat.
At the beginning of the competition a piece like this one can work.
But look around the kitchen today.
You have potentially a design which do not showcase all
the skills you've got, and it shows.
Could you please take us through your petits fours, please? Yeah, so
the petits fours are passion fruit creme fraiche mousse,
mango and passion fruit gel,
and a crunchy layer of praline and passion fruit feuilletine.
I really like the acidity of
the passion. It just comes in beautifully.
The mousse itself is beautifully done. It's full pack of flavour.
For me, I'm struggling to feel everything you've put in there.
I feel only one thing - passion fruit.
And a bit of a crunch. It's a little bit on the small side to be able
to appreciate every little bit of work you've put inside, OK?
Oh! Ballsy,
I would say because blown sugar ever so fragile,
but that's also what the competition is all about, is you take some risk
and you show to Cherish and I what you are capable of.
Shall we taste?
I hope it tastes better than it look. At the moment,
it looks super simple.
So it's a lime and shiso madeleine,
and also there is lime and shiso gel inside.
And the madeleine, we soaked it in passion fruit syrup.
OK, first taste for me is super,
super tasty. And then with the lime it's very subtle.
What I really don't enjoy eating is the gel that you put in.
It's so sharp that it's like, "Whoa!"
You didn't make it easy on yourself choosing a madeleine.
It's hard to do well.
And you didn't execute it at the level we were hoping for.
But the showpiece, I can see this being full
and this showpiece would've been right up there with
a showpiece I would remember forever.
So it's not all bad. Thank you, Chef. See you later.
Yeah.
Based on both challenges,
Benoit and Cherish will now rank the teams
and decide who will go through to the quarterfinal.
I think the execution could have been a little bit better.
It's everything but neat.
Quietly confident. I think we're quietly confident. Are you?
OK, I'm quietly confident.
They've gone really, really safe with this. Mm.
Overall it doesn't stand out, does it?
We feel like we've done the best we could,
but compared with other people, you can't really compete.
Imagine this piece with the 20 original balloons.
That would've been blowing every other piece out of the water.
I had like nightmare of breaking it.
And it happened. It's OK. I just wasted like two hours.
They commented on the size, but we love a big portion
in the north, don't we? So, you know...
Benoit and Cherish have made their decision.
The judges thought the team in first place had
a really strong first day and a great showpiece.
Andrew and Raf, congratulations,
you are through to the quarterfinal.
Mayank and Dharma are second,
Mauro and Daniel take third,
and Caroline and Martin are fourth.
Which leaves us with Chantelle and Kasia from Glenapp Castle,
and Annie and Subin from the Dorchester.
After much deliberation, the judges have decided that
the team leaving the competition is...
..Chantelle and Kasia.
We're so sorry to see you go.
To everyone else, congratulations. We will see you next week.
We'd never made a showpiece before this.
Never worked with sugar.
You know, so we knew going in that it would be a challenge.
We've worked hard and we should be proud of ourselves.
Well done. Thank you.
We survived.
You guys, you should have won today.
The next week is sugar and chocolate so we need to try to...
Finish the showpiece. Yeah.
Congratulations. Congratulations!
Another win. I think coming into the final six
and then obviously getting a win just puts us in
a positive mood going into the next one.
But if we have a bad day, or we break something,
or something doesn't go right, it's game over.
Next time...
Don't do that, man. That's so sad!
..it's the quarterfinal...
Faster, faster, Chef. I need the oven so you have to finish your baking now.
..where the teams tackle a sweet and sour viennoiserie challenge...
It doesn't look good.
..and the notorious sugar and chocolate showpiece...
This is the one you've all been dreading.
..whose reptiles and amphibians will make it through to judging...
Are you going to hang for me?
..and whose will become extinct?
CRASHING.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media