Original subtitles

Tonight, four old favourites are back in the tent...

Good luck.

..taking on a challenging Germanic signature.

Just going to scatter some nuts.

Just feel I've arrived at exactly the right moment.

Getting eggy with the technical...

This is hectic!

..and flaunting their New Year's resolutions with a 3-D Showstopper.

Not a big fan of innuendo, but what is that?

So, who will rise to the challenge?

I think it will be really tight for time.

And be crowned the first Star Baker of 2019.

It's very, very clever.

It jolly well better taste good.

What better way to welcome in 2019

than with four lovely bakers returning to the tent?

First to put on the apron is Candice.

I'm back!

She took the crown in 2016.

And is the first ever winner

to return to the tent to compete again.

I don't know what to say.

It would be a bit embarrassing if I was just absolutely rubbish.

Also returning is Dr Tamal.

Never thought I'd be back here.

Little bit of panic is setting in.

He excelled in Victorian week...

I got Star Baker!

..his hard graft in the final got him close to the crown.

Your timing has been an issue, but we're back to the same thing again.

But not quite there.

Everyone keeps saying to me don't get nervous,

don't get as nervous, there's no reason to be nervous

and I'm like, "Well, you come and do it, then."

He'll be joined by Kate.

It's been three years since I stepped inside the tent.

She made her mark back in 2014

when she took Star Baker in pie week.

Very good, I like the texture, I like the flavour, too.

Before a trio of bad pastry bakes...

I don't think that's right, I'll do that again.

Oh! It just looks a mess. Yeah.

..ended her time in the tent.

Now, I feel a bit more confident.

I hope I do justice to what I've learnt over the last few years.

Last but not least is Stephen.

It's good to be back.

The tent's still the tent and I still feel sick

when I look at it.

Stephen made an immediate impression in 2017,

with his show stopping illusion cake...

That is stunning.

You wouldn't think that wasn't bread.

..and amazed the judges again with an incredible handbag sculpture.

Stand next to Prue.

That is ridiculous.

He got as far as the final, but didn't quite manage

to grab victory.

This looks a little as if it's unfinished.

It would be lovely to win this round of Bake Off,

as a consolation prize for not taking that plate back in 2017.

But which of these bakers will get the New Year off to a flying start

and walk away with the coveted Star Baker crown?

Happy New Year, kids. Welcome back to the Bake Off tent.

And to help you celebrate we would like you to make a wreath.

Finally, a cake that plays up to my Gothic strengths.

Can't believe it. Black with a hint of cobweb?

No, no, no, a stollen wreath. You know, like an iced stollen wreath.

No black, at all? No. In fact, quite the reverse.

The judges would like you to make a vibrantly decorated,

iced stollen wreath.

It can be plaited or shaped in any way you choose

but it must form a complete circle.

I'm imagining the flavours have to be festive?

Absolutely and, of course, as with any stollen,

it needs to contain marzipan.

I knew that, I actually knew that. No, you totally didn't.

No. You need to make the marzipan yourselves and you have three hours

to bake your festive stollen.

On your marks... Get set... ..bake.

Does anyone else feel like they've forgotten what to do?

I don't know what I'm doing.

Suddenly, everything has just disappeared out of my brain.

But it'll be fine. I'll get it together.

I've got so much stuff.

Oh.

I'm really sorry.

Only you, Candice, only you.

I feel nervous.

I'm not sure if I really like stollen any more.

I've eaten a lot of it over the last few weeks.

Stollen is a German festive loaf.

It's an enriched dough filled with lots of fruit,

it has marzipan in it and it looks incredible.

It's a very heavy dough.

It takes a long time to prove.

It's a tough one, isn't it?

I think three hours is a little bit mean,

but Paul insisted that good bakers like this

must be able to do it in three hours.

There are a couple of bakers in there that failed in the tent

when it came to bread.

This time round, I, please, hope we get some fantastic bakes.

It's an enriched dough, so it's full of sugar, butter and eggs.

This mix of hot cross bun and festive fruit cake

can be made with baking powder,

but the superior bake gets its rise from fermented yeast.

If I can get this bit done in 15 minutes,

then I hopefully should be OK,

because it needs to prove for as long as possible.

Three hours to do an enriched dough is a short, short time.

I'm going to try and go fast, so that I can chill out at the end.

I think they'll like it.

Good morning, Tamar. Morning!

Good morning. Are you excited to be back in the tent?

I'm more nervous than I thought I'd be.

I think it's like being back at school.

That's my go to nightmare.

If I'm stressed about anything,

I have a dream about being back at school and I'm like, "Oh, God,

"I haven't revised for my A levels, cos I haven't been at school for the last ten years

."

For this bake, Tamal better have done his homework.

He's making an orange and rum stollen,

laced with pistachio marzipan,

with intricately constructed leaves of royal icing decoration.

How are you making your wreath? Is it going to be plaited?

So yeah, it's plaited, but it's just two strands.

It's a twist. It's not really a plait, is it?

I love the flavours, I think it's going to be fantastic.

It's all about the timing, really.

Enjoy. Good luck, mate. Cheers.

But Tamar's got competition in the festive foliage department.

I'm going for a real festive, but rustic look.

It's a sort of German woods.

Good morning, Candice. Good morning.

It's very brave of you, I think, to come back as the winner.

Brave, stupid, I don't know, but I just loved it so much.

You've struggled in the past when it comes to some plaiting wreathes.

I don't know what you're talking about, Paul.

I remember... It's called the past for a reason, Paul.

They said they weren't going to bring that up.

Stringy, raw dough is what happened.

With a chance to right past wrongs, Candice's cinnamon and apple stollen

must be perfectly baked.

It'll be decorated with old-school marzipan fruits.

Good luck, Candice. It's all about the marzipan, it's about that look

and it's about the baking. The baking! Come on, bread.

Come on! You can do this.

I can do it, you can do it.

Go, girl. Thank you.

Why is that so nerve-racking, still?

I feel like I was more nervous than I was last time.

Yes!

I really, really need to make sure my bread is baked.

We're all nervous, but to win on this New Year's

would be the ultimate start to 2019.

Morning, Stephen. Hello. Hello, you.

So, good to be back in the tent?

Yes, yes. Back so soon.

I never really left. I got as far as the steps.

Can I just say, very familiar wrist action?

Are you enjoying that? I am.

Stephen, tell us about your stollen.

This is called stag night stollen.

I have a silver stag's head mounted on the wall.

Stanley. He will adorn my stollen

and he will be decorated with festive glitter.

True to form, Stephen's flavour-packed stollen will nestle

amid an amazing fondant sculpture, decorated with fondant holly sprigs,

glittered cherries and golden nuts.

Usually, you take on so much.

Looking at your recipe, I think that's exactly what you're going to do again.

Yes. I like the confidence, Stephen.

I wish I shared it.

So, proving drawer.

It's critical the bakers calculate the correct proving time,

as an enriched dough could collapse if over-prooved or result in a flat,

dry stollen if under-proved.

The dreaded timer.

I think it just needs as much time as possible.

Next is fruit.

This is the filling.

Freeze-dried raspberries.

Crystallised ginger.

Right.

Sorry!

Soaking fruit in a little bit of rum

just to, kind of, plump them up a little bit.

I mean, that technically is muesli, you could put milk in that.

That looks like it could be Stanley's droppings.

I am just making my marzipan.

Although traditionally made of almonds, other nuts can be used

to make this sweet paste.

This is hazelnut marizipan.

It's actually a really soft and delicate flavour.

So, these pistachios, they're quite posh pistachios.

They're, like, really bright, lurid green.

I'm making two types of marzipans.

This bit is a bit hectic.

Hello, Kate. Hello!

OK, first of all can you tell us what stollen are you making?

I'm making a classic krone shape.

You say that, I don't know what that is. Oh, it's like a crown.

OK. It looks a bit like an octopus.

It's not supposed to, but it, sort of, does.

Kate will accentuate the shape

of her ginger and almond stollen/dozing octopus,

with over 200 piped balls of Royal icing

and glittering spheres of marzipan.

Can I ask you a technical question? Of course.

Is that silver thing part of the shirt or is it separate?

It's separate. It's terrific. It's to keep my, to keep my...

They're called sleeve defenders. Yeah, I made them.

I think they're marvellous.

Well, I think they're lovely but I want your earrings, too.

So, the dough is proved for an hour. Good.

I'm happy...ish.

It's looking OK, it has risen.

It's risen, which is what you want.

This is the first prove of two, so I'm going to shape it.

All the fruit goes in.

So, I'm literally just kneading it in.

It doesn't look particularly elegant.

I'm going to lay the mixture on top, then the marzipan.

This is the main body of flavour.

What's this tube, here? That's my marzipan sausage.

That's going inside.

The sausage is going inside. The sausage is going inside.

OK.

So, you've made a sausage to go inside?

Uh-huh. We better end it here. Yeah, sure.

It's the only bit they'll use. Yeah. Good luck.

Marzipan there.

And then I'm going to start to roll.

Bakers, you are halfway through your signature challenge.

You've got an hour and a half left.

How does that time go so fast?

They now face the difficult and deft challenge of shaping and plaiting.

It looks like the one I made at home, so, that's good.

Right, there he is.

Quite a beast, isn't he?

He's going to go back into the proving drawer.

I'm just going to do 20 minutes,

before I shut him in a really hot oven.

I'm putting it in a bag to keep it humid, so it doesn't dry out.

Prove my pretty, prove.

Bye-bye.

Boom.

As the enriched stollen dough needs a long prove,

bakers can now get on with the decorations.

I think we need to make a stag.

I don't say that very often.

Very exciting this bit.

Lots of gold, glittery balls, which is what you need at New Year.

I'm carrying on making gold balls for a long time.

I'm going to make my apples up now.

They're going to go on and around my stollen.

These leaves are going to go top of the wreath.

Once it's all baked, I think it will be vibrant enough.

It's, just, I don't know if everyone else's is going to look better.

Uh, no, those aren't helpful thoughts, are they?

This is edible glitter, by the way. I'm not trying to kill everybody.

They're quite cute, aren't they?

This is a stag's horn.

I'm just using florist's wire inserted into the middle,

just to give it some strength and it will hold that horn shape.

Hello. Hello.

What are you doing? I'm making balls.

Golden balls. Golden balls.

Tiny golden balls.

How does it feel to be back in here?

I'm happy to be here

and I'm delighted that no-one's going to be sent home.

You can't live here. Me and Sandi live here.

Apparently, you do. I live in the cutlery drawer.

My girlfriend's a wooden spoon.

We have a great time.

We spoon each other.

Can't believe I said that.

What we need you to say is, "Bakers, you've got one hour left."

Bakers, you've got one hour left. Go.

Bakers, you have one hour left.

Shut up! Is that true?

Brilliant.

Really?

I need to start baking it soon.

The oven is on.

It is hot.

I'm going to get my dough out.

The dough's just not risen as much as I wanted it to.

But that's about ready now.

Ideally, it could prove a lot longer, but, yeah,

it's just all about the bake, really.

All about the bake.

It looks all right. The proof of the bread will be in the eating.

I think that's a saying, isn't it?

Right. Right.

I'm going in.

I'm giving this about 40 minutes.

Stollen dough bakes best with more time at a lower temperature.

However, the longer their stollen is in the oven,

the less time they have for decoration.

I think I'm OK for time.

It's just got to cook. It has to cook.

I have an hour. It shouldn't take any longer than that.

An hour would be the maximum. Set my timer.

Half an hour.

Right. Back to my balls, yeah.

Right, Stanley, let's pick up where we left off.

Hello. Hi!

Wow, look at this. Art world.

It's weird, like, watching everyone else's decoration, cos, to me,

I was like, "Oh, well, there's not much time, this was the only thing

"I can do and now I'm like, oh, why didn't I think of making

"tiny marzipan fruit?"

Or whatever that is.

That's a stag.

It's a silver stag. Oh.

Of course. Why didn't I think of that?

Right, I've had enough of making balls.

I'm done with the balls.

It's cooking, a nice colour on it, which is good.

Looks nice.

How long does it take?

It doesn't take that long, actually, only takes half an hour.

Yours is big, as well, you need a long time.

That takes nearly an hour.

Yeah, I think it's going to be all right.

It's starting to brown. Right, how much time have I got left?

Bakers, you have half an hour.

Half an hour.

Oh, good.

I'm ready to come out.

I just don't want to overbake it.

Is Kate...oh, my God.

She's already got hers out of the oven.

OK, I'm not there yet.

This is going to be more of a photo finish.

Good, all good.

I just need to decorate it.

Piping starts now.

This takes ages and ages and ages.

In practice, this takes 45 minutes to do what I'm doing,

so that's why I'm going quick.

Um, yeah, I'm definitely feeling pressured.

Definitely needs more time to bake.

If you don't do enough, it definitely doesn't look as good.

It's making me very nervous looking over at that.

The perfection over there. I don't know about perfection.

Oh, God, it really is. It's quite hypnotic, actually.

Look into the stollen.

Bakers, you have ten minutes left.

It's coming out.

I'm going to take it out the oven now.

Looks like stollen.

It's a good size, it's a good shape.

I think it looks good.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting that.

I think it's baked.

I think it's OK.

I just need to decorate.

Right, let's roll my nuts in dust.

It's a festive time of year.

Why not roll your nuts in dust?

There's still some to go.

I used to really like piping.

I don't think I do any more.

I'm just glazing it with loads of butter.

I think it looks quite neat for something I've baked.

I've just piped holes in the join and now I'm just drizzling

some maple syrup.

That's the sticky cinnamon bun side of things.

Bakers, you have five minutes.

Five minutes.

Five minutes. I think we need to put Stanley on.

Although he's a stag, we've got to be very careful with him.

My hands are shaking, it's really, really delicate.

This is my almond liquor icing, just going through the joins.

It's definitely not simple to decorate.

I made a rod for my back here, didn't I?

Oh, God. Just going to scatter some nuts.

I just feel I've arrived at exactly the right moment.

Why, as I scatter my nuts and glitter my cherries?

Don't want to overdo it, you know me.

I'm just going to place some holly leaves on top.

I stop when the clock stops, I suppose.

Bakers, you have two minutes left.

These are just, sort of, decoration, these are, like, little apple chips.

There's a little bit of grated orange zest to go on top.

You can never cram too many nuts on these things.

It's, kind of, done.

I'm happy with that, we're all happy with that.

Just a bunch of happy people.

Bakers, that is the end of your signature challenge.

Will you please place your iced stollen wreathes at the end

of your work stations.

Everyone's looks amazing.

Well done, team.

The New Year bakers must now face the judgment of Paul and Prue.

Candice.

Hello.

The bread looks absolutely beautiful.

The little apple marzipan looks very good. They're cool.

I just can't wait to see what the actual bread tastes like.

So, my stollen is a cinnamon bun stollen, drizzled with maple syrup,

marzipan apples, apple crisps.

Looks like I...

This is raw.

No, it's not.

Don't do this to me again.

It's not raw. You've done this to me!

I haven't. That's not raw!

Stollen's supposed to be stodgy.

Is it? Stodgy stollen, yes.

I don't think it's meant to be quite that stodgy.

Oh, man.

The issue is the bake. Lower temperature for longer.

You get more of a rounded bake inside.

You have lots of flavour in there.

The nuts come through beautifully, the marzipan tastes gorgeous.

Yeah, I just think it needed longer.

It needed to open up that little bit more.

Are you pleased with it?

Yes. He looks like a stag.

Looks very proud and masculine and solid.

Solid Stanley. And what about the bread, never mind Stanley,

how about the stollen?

Inside is hazelnut marzipan along with chocolate raspberries,

cherries and some mixed peel, as well.

Wow, that's packed, isn't it? But it looks good.

The bread looks good, too.

That dough's perfectly baked.

Oh, good. The hazelnut is stunning.

It's the king of the flavours in there.

It's probably one of the nicest stollens I've had in a while.

It ticks all my boxes.

Ooh, you get a handshake.

Missed those. That's a lovely hand.

Thank you.

Yes! You're back.

I think the bread looks good. OK.

I would have covered it with a water icing,

drizzle it round and then stuck those onto the top.

They're supposed to be like leaves falling. Falling.

Let's have a look.

That does look good inside, doesn't it?

Yum yum.

It's quite heavy.

Oh.

Oh, no.

It's not quite baked.

I think the temperature of your oven was maybe a little bit too high.

Longer in the oven, less temperature and that would have allowed

that to rise that little bit more.

That pistachio marzipan is a revelation.

Revelation, I'd take that.

Yeah. Revelatory.

Absolutely. I will take that, thank you.

Thank you very much, Tamar.

It looks amazing.

It's like a beautiful sea creature.

Thank you.

I think it looks a bit like an octopus.

Yeah, like a Bollywood octopus.

A Bollywood... A boctopus. ..yeah, a glittery octopus, yes.

Let's have a look inside, shall we?

Mr Hollywood, I don't think you're going to have any

complaints about that dough.

The marzipan is really good, but then you have this ginger

which comes from the dough, which is really quite refreshing

inside, but the texture is well baked.

That is a very, very nice stollen. Do I get a handshake?

Well done. I'll take that, thank you very much.

I think they liked it.

It's an excellent start to the New Year, may this continue.

Oh, it could have gone better, couldn't it?

It's not ideal to serve undercooked bread.

I think it was all right.

I think he's doing it to wind me up.

Yay. Handshake!

It's a good start for me.

It means my hard work has paid off.

There's loads to play for now.

Does he give out handshakes on the technicals?

The bakers now have another chance to demonstrate

their festive baking skills.

Hello, bakers, it's time for your Technical Challenge.

Today set for you by the lovely Prue.

Prue, I know you're determined to go into 2019 making your advice

to the technical challenges a little bit more useful.

Off you go. Don't be fooled!

It's much harder than you think.

Wow, imagine if she didn't want to be useful.

That was great. OK, off you go, you two. Keep the volume down.

Honestly, I cannot listen to Paul singing My Way one more time.

Bakers, for your Technical Challenge,

Pru would love you to lay four snow eggs.

Bake, not lay.

Your snow eggs should be made of a light and delicate French

meringue floating on a sea of creme anglaise

and crowned with a delicate spun sugar cage.

Your ingredients are underneath your gingham cloths

and your instructions are in your drawers.

If you're not wearing any they're in your socks.

You have one and a half hours.

On your marks... Get set. ..bake!

Oh!

I've never seen snow eggs, but I can picture them.

I did this sketch to, sort of, help me visualise,

which makes sense to my mind.

I have done this before, once.

I'm certainly not full of dread.

Stephen's saying he's made them before.

This is a tough one.

What a beautiful, festive Technical Challenge.

Tell us about it, Prue. These are snow eggs.

Or floating islands, because you have an island

of meringue floating in a custard lake.

And they will think, "Oh, that's not too bad.

"Custard, we know how to make custard,

"we know how to make meringue, we know how to make caramel."

But having to do it like this is really hard,

because we've not allowed them any cornflour to cheat

with the custard. So, they've got to thicken the milk with eggs

and if they get the mixture too hot, it will curdle.

If they don't get it warm enough, it will be too thin

and then the floating islands, we've asked them to steam it.

Which none of them will have ever done before.

It needs to be steamed very, sort of, accurately for something like 12

minutes, because, if they steam it too long, it will become

really rubbery and hard.

It should be a marshmallow texture.

It's a devious challenge. I know!

It's that meringue that'll catch them out.

It looks stunning.

Isn't that perfect?

Oh, it's gorgeous.

It's so silky and soft and the caramel is perfect.

More than worth the calories. New Year's diet starts tomorrow.

In classic Bake Off style the instructions are really helpful,

so we've got "make a creme anglaise" as instruction one.

You know, this is Bake Off Allstars basically, so we know the game.

Right, I can make a creme anglaise, I'm sure I can make a creme anglaise.

I've got my cream, vanilla and milk

coming to sort of, like, a simmer.

I'm going to take that off altogether.

I'm gradually adding in the cream, vanilla and milk mixture

to the eggs and the sugar bit by bit, so it doesn't sort of cook it

and scramble it, then I add it back into the pan.

It should start thickening.

It should be thick,

but, like pourable, it's not like a set custard.

You, basically, have to stir it a lot.

I'm not sure you're doing that right.

You looked horrified, can I just say, totally horrified

when we said what it was.

Like, snow eggs? Yeah, have you not had one?

No! So, if you were doing a party for New Year's Day,

what would you make?

For New Year's Day, to be honest, it would probably be a packet

of Hula Hoops.

Yeah, anything that the petrol station's got. Yeah.

I think it's getting there.

I just thought I'd maybe try and thicken it up ever so slightly,

because otherwise it's going to be like a drink.

I think this is done.

I'm happy with that.

I'm just passing this through the finest sieve.

See, I wouldn't have it any thicker than that.

I wouldn't, but then I'm me.

So, it says "make a meringue".

A lot of detail there, that's what you want.

It's a French meringue, so it's whisked egg whites

with cream of tartare, salt, sugar.

What's your favourite meringue? Swiss?

Have you ever had Australian meringue?

Zimbabwean... Welsh. ..meringue, is the best meringue.

Looks pretty good, yeah. I'm pretty pleased with that.

Pipe the meringue into the dome moulds, level.

Apparently, you can't take meringue on an aeroplane.

It goes weird, it explodes.

It's a dangerous controlled substance.

You won't get it through security.

They do look like meringue, which is good.

Just got to carefully pour boiling water into the roasting tin,

place the mould on a rack, set in a roasting tin,

transfer to the oven and bake.

It doesn't say how long to bake it for.

I'm trying to work out the timing for this meringue.

I don't know. I don't know.

I have no idea how long for, like, a steamed meringue.

I just want to get them into the oven quickly.

They're going in the oven.

The meringues need just 12 minutes,

but the bakers don't have this information.

And they'll need to use their expertise to figure out

the length of the bake.

The oven's on at 130, which is a relatively low temperature.

I had in my head ten minutes, but I'm not sure about that.

I don't know.

Sneaky Prue.

This challenge is giving me proper anxiety.

Bakers, you've got one hour left.

One hour to do...

I don't know.

The creme anglaise took 15 minutes. The meringue took ten minutes.

We have an hour in which to bake them.

So, maybe, yeah, maybe they do need an hour.

Not happy about this situation.

No, I know. I'm thinking the meringue needs a lot longer.

It's quite a lot of time, then.

Yes, but not much time to do the caramel cages.

You need the silicon moulds.

To get the right shaped caramel cages,

the bakers must make them on the back of the silicone moulds.

Currently in the oven.

Sneaky Prue! So sneaky.

I might get the caramel going, take it off

and then finish it right at the end.

It says for the caramel cage, "make a caramel".

Caramel's a bit like bread dough.

Don't annoy it, because it will bite back.

Making caramel itself is fine, it's the timings.

Those pesky timings.

Caramel doesn't feature heavily in my day to day life.

It's very 1970s.

Making sure I don't burn this caramel, it's gone a really lovely colour.

But I'm going to turn the heat off in a minute.

And let it cool.

I really just want to take the meringues out of the oven.

Are yours rising out of the moulds?

Yeah. Are they?

Yeah. It is a bit like making a souffle.

I can't remember how long you cook a souffle for.

Oh, man!

They are tinged with brown around the edges and I'm not sure

whether that is right or wrong.

The meringues have had 45 minutes,

which seems ages for something that is not very big.

Has anyone else got theirs out?

They're going to need to come out soon, maybe not right now.

I'm going to psych myself up for it.

How much time have we got left?

Bakers... You... ..have. ..ten... ..minutes... ..left.

Right, now is the time.

Yeah, I'm going to take them out.

Coming out!

They look like nothing I've ever seen before.

I'm, kind of, just assuming that they look all right.

Oh!

They just sort of plop out, I guess.

They're looking as expected.

They're actually quite sweet looking, aren't they?

These look good. Do you think? Got to be pleased with those, right?

But I feel like I just want to like open my mouth and swallow

one whole like...like that and it would go.

Yeah, they look fine.

I don't know if they're a bit overdone now.

Bakers, you have five minutes left.

Right, now, five minutes. Shoot.

It's going to be a mad dash.

Come on, caramel.

So, that, kind of, drizzling consistency I'm looking for, really.

Kind of, like the consistency of runny honey.

Do you know what? I'm going to use a spoon.

This is hectic!

God, what a mess.

So, I need to assemble.

Assemble for the creme anglaise, half of the glass is filled with

meringue in each glass and topped with a sugar cage.

They've got to be even.

I don't want someone to get annoyed that they've not had enough custard.

Paul might throw a tantrum.

I don't think I've got as much creme anglaise as everybody else,

but I don't really know why.

Yours looks a bit more solid. Do you think?

His was a bit more liquidy.

Right, let's get these on.

The caramel is being really annoying.

No!

These little nests aren't very keen to come off neatly.

That's not going to work! It's too hot.

Bakers, you have one minute, just one minute left.

They look OK, I think.

They're not ideal, but I just need to have something to put on them.

I've just got to improvise, get something on there.

Right, last one on this one.

Bakers, your time is up. No, it's not!

No, it isn't! Time is...

No, it isn't. ..up, as soon as I finish this sentence.

No, no, keep talking.

Time is...

Up. Oh, dear!

Please bring your snow eggs down to the table

and place them in front of your very regal looking photographs.

That's a big frown. It really is.

We have all the component parts.

How they taste is going to be interesting.

OK, we'll start with this one.

There are some pretty decent cages there.

And they're the right colour.

Shall I give it a crack? Yeah, go on.

The meringue was pretty decent, actually. It is.

But that creme anglaise is a little bit too thin.

It's very difficult to make a good creme anglaise.

Interesting.

OK. Right, well, there's an obvious problem with the caramel cage.

It's a little bit too thick.

It's like modern art.

What's unusual about the meringue is part of it's good

and part of it's quite rubbery.

I don't know how they managed to achieve that.

I think that's a very good custard.

The caramel is a slight disaster.

Right.

This has got some form of a cage.

The custard is beautifully thickened.

That's really clever to get custard like that with only egg yolks.

The meringue is slightly overdone again.

Very overdone. It's very rubbery.

Number four.

Thin, lovely, crackly caramel

and very beautiful custard.

It's again overcooked.

I think the meringue's not bad.

I do think the creme anglaise is very, very good.

Interesting. We're going to have to judge these,

which is going to be quite tricky.

In fourth place is this one. No!

Whose is this? Mine.

Kate, the caramel is far too thick, the meringue is slightly overcooked,

but your creme anglaise wasn't too bad, a little bit thin there.

In third place, we have this one.

Tamal, beautiful custard, overcooked meringue, slightly lumpy caramel.

In second place is this one.

It's getting better.

The caramel cage was OK.

Your creme anglaise was actually pretty good,

but your meringue was slightly overdone.

Which means that this is our winner, number one.

Steven, well done.

Thank you. You shouldn't be too pleased with yourself.

I'm not, I'm not!

Because you made the worst custard, but you did make the best meringue

which is the difficult, tricky bit and your caramel was the best cage.

That was out of the blue, but I did come first, which is nice.

I don't think I'll be making that for my next dinner party.

That's for sure.

I think I cooked them for, like, five times longer

than they were meant to be cooked.

My cage was the thing that let me down,

but, I have to say, I haven't made a '70s caramel cage in a while.

Showstopper tomorrow, I think Steven's edging it slightly.

I really hope I don't have a repeat of 2017,

where I lose it at the final hurdle.

It's day two...

Good luck! Good luck!

..and just one challenge remains before Paul and Prue decide

who they'll crowned the winner of the Great Festive Bake Off.

Hello, bakers, welcome back.

It's time for your final festive challenge -

The Showstopper.

Paul and Prue would love you to make a 3D New Year's resolution cake.

Now, we all like to go into the New Year with a goal or ambition

for the next 12 months, and we would like to see that in 3D form.

Your New Year's resolution can be anything.

Maybe you want to learn a new language or get fit or, like me,

just chill out a bit more.

Oh, I can help you with that. Really? Yeah, you just stand there.

OK. OK, so, your cake must be assembled from the sponge

and filling of your choice.

The outside of your cake, showing your New Year's resolution,

can be decorated in any way you see fit, but it must be edible.

You have...

Noel? Hmm? Yeah?

I'm trying to chill out a bit. Oh, sorry, OK, great.

You have four and a half hours to bring your dream to life.

On your marks, get set...

Still nothing?

OK. Bake!

This is quite a long challenge, four and a half hours.

There's a list. A list that has to be followed, in that order.

Otherwise it doesn't work!

HE CHUCKLES

Ah!

I'm just preparing my cake.

To build a 3D Showstopper will take vast amounts of sponge.

This cake has got some weight to it, it's a really big cake.

16 eggs.

The Showstopper challenge today

is a New Year's resolution cake in 3D.

They have the chance to really show us what they've learnt

over the years.

I expect to see something that's going to look pretty impressive.

I'll be astonished if we don't have fantastic Showstoppers.

Time is not great.

So, normally, you wouldn't attempt this cake in an afternoon.

SHE LAUGHS

But here we go. This is Bake Off!

Got to do these crazy things.

I'm doing two cakes.

In here, I've got an orange and raspberry sponge.

Perfect for a New Year's diet.

It's pretty much one of your five a day.

Good morning, Candice! Good morning.

Hello, Candice. Hello. Hi!

Right, would you like to tell us all about your resolution cake?

So, I struggle with New Year's resolutions, because I just break

them, so I don't make them.

But I don't really wear much lipstick, so...

What?

I thought I would make a New Year's resolution to wear more lipstick.

How do you wear more lipstick than you're currently wearing?

It's always possible, Paul. How?

With giant lips of orange and raspberry sponge, of course!

Sandwiched with rhubarb gin jam and hiding a sweetie surprise.

Along with an oversized lipstick flavoured with mint and chocolate,

it means Candice is the only baker making two types of sponge.

So, it's one big set of lips.

THEY LAUGH

I have a sofa in the shape of some lips.

Do you? Yeah.

And if, like, you roll around, does it look like you're being swallowed by it?

Yeah, you'd love that, wouldn't you? I really would! I'll send it to you.

Well... Good luck, Candice. Thanks!

THEY LAUGH

Candice is doing a massive pair of lips.

Um...

HE CHUCKLES

Such an idiot.

When it comes to his Showstopper, Steven is hoping the cake

will do the talking.

My New Year's resolution is to communicate more.

To communicate more? To communicate more.

I'm very bad at losing track of time and I don't ring my mother,

I don't ring my sister.

So I am recreating my grandmother's telephone table,

because every week, she would sit at her table with her cup of tea

and her old rotary telephone, and she would ring her sister,

or ring her daughters or ring her mother.

Steven's Showstopper will have an address book, a cup of tea,

an edible doily and an old-fashioned telephone.

You see, I think this is something which you're always good at,

something a little bit special,

and I think this plays to your strengths.

I'm just looking forward to all the little kids looking at a telephone,

going, "Oh, my days, what's that?"

THEY LAUGH

Thank you, Steven. Good luck.

That's well mixed.

That goes in.

I think the mix is pretty good.

I'm going to put them in the oven now.

So, these go for 20 minutes at 160.

I'm baking them at 180.

It'll take about 40 minutes.

These are going to go in for about 30 minutes.

As the only baker ambitiously making two types of sponge,

Candice is back to square one.

It's one of my favourite cakes.

Like, really good, chocolaty mint coconut, which I love.

Right, onto ganache.

While other bakers turn their attention to the fillings

needed to sandwich their sponges, there's also a chance to layer

in another flavour.

This is salted cinnamon caramel buttercream.

HE INHALES

Oh, it's just like...

HE GROWLS

It makes me want to strip naked, quite frankly,

and use it like shower gel.

I am making blackcurrant ganache.

If the judges do not like this bake,

I will be questioning their taste buds, frankly.

It's delicious!

Hello, Kate. Hello, Kate. Hello! Hello. Hi.

Tell us about your New Year's resolution cake.

I would love, one day, to have my own restaurant.

So I'm building that.

A whole restaurant? It's the outside - it's a building.

A sort of Regency, Georgian...

It's got curved front windows.

Kate's New Year grand design will have a green pistachio sponge,

with an unusual blackcurrant ganache.

The building will be constructed from sugar pastillage,

a type of icing that sets firm.

So, the flavours are blackcurrant...

And pistachio. And pistachio. Yeah.

That's quite an odd combination.

Is there pistachio in the sponge? Yeah.

So you've got green sponge?

Yeah, with a vibrantly purple blackcurrant ganache.

And it works with the pistachio? Beautifully. I'm astonished.

Well, this is going to be interesting.

You've practised this and you can do it in the time? Just about.

OK, good luck. Thank you very much. I think I'm going to need it.

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, my cakes!

It's critical the bakers get the sponges out on time.

If overbaked, they'll be crumbly and their 3D structures

could easily topple over.

SHE GIGGLES

It's a good job I weren't holding a hot cake or anything, hey?

What a prat!

SHE LAUGHS

Yeah, it's good.

A little bit sunken, but it won't matter cos I'm layering it up.

That's fine.

I'm pleased with them. They look and smell like cake.

Yeah, really happy.

They're definitely all baked, which is good. No raw cake!

Morning, Tamal. Hello.

Right, tell us all about your New Year's resolution cake.

My New Year's resolution is that I want to make my own clothes.

Where did that come from?

I can never find clothes that fit me properly,

cos I'm not that tall but I have massive hips.

So, the thing that I'd really want to do is make my own suit.

OK. So, this is kind of what it's going to look like,

like, a dressmaker's dummy.

Tamal's fashioning his cake from a dense, dark chocolate brownie mix.

It will be sandwiched with a praline filling.

The cakes are stacked on top of each other and I'm going to use a knife

to kind of carve it into the shape of a torso.

The classic way of producing a 3D cake is that carving.

It's really easy to be a bit too enthusiastic with the knife

and be, like, hacking bits off.

Yeah, you can't put them back on.

It's about taking little bits off at a time.

Thank you very much indeed. Fashion cake! I'm in.

Good luck.

It'll be fine.

I feel like I should get that tattooed across my forehead.

It's pouring in and then it's going in the oven.

With her second lot of sponges made, Candice is playing catch-up.

Bakers, you are halfway through.

Halfway through, kids, halfway through.

There's a lot to do.

Er, right, what's next?

It's fondant time now.

This is the pastillage.

It's a bit like a fondant icing but you roll it very thinly

and it sets really hard.

The bakers are allowed to bring in ready-made fondant.

This is over a kilo of fondant, this is for the lips.

But, determined to go for gold, one of them is making his own...

..combining sugar, gelatine, glucose and glycerine.

If I were to bring in shop-bought fondant,

it's not really showcasing skill.

I mean, I'm regretting it now, because it does take

a really long time.

Next is colouring up the pastillage.

This is supposed to be a nice olive green.

It's for the signage on the front of the building, which,

at the moment, I just feel like, how am I ever going to do that?

It feels like I'm a million miles away from that.

Just working the colour through it.

Jeez!

It's a lovely colour, look at that.

That is the colour I want, that rich, deep red colour.

I'm sure, when I looked at this colour at home,

it was a lot less lurid.

Blue windows.

Roof done.

Back door.

The detail's on the front but you've got to have a little bit

of back-door action.

I had to put it in the warming drawer,

otherwise it won't dry in time.

I'm getting this one out.

I love this cake.

I am happy - so far.

But I think it will be really tight for time.

The whole thing is a mad rush.

The entire thing is totally crazy today.

Bakers, you have one hour left.

I'm just trying to get these cut.

Ah, it's not getting through!

My cake's much more crumbly than normal.

I'm just trimming the cakes and I'm going to put a layer

of buttercream on them.

I'm just going to start constructing this lip cake.

I'm really, really pleased with the jam,

and I'm leaving a little space in the middle for my surprise.

They're not the best layers I've ever done,

but they'll look nice when it's cut into.

It's starting to take on the shape of a phone.

This is high! You're getting some height.

Paul likes height in a cake.

Looks delish, though.

Wow, you've used a lot of eggs - there's about 7,000 shells

in your sink!

The pastillage is going to stick to the ganache, but...

..it works as detail icing and also it glues things together.

The buttercream adds a layer to the cake,

but it'll also help the fondant to stick to the cake.

I feel sexy. Do you? I do, yeah.

Now, we have to look at the camera and you do that thing

that Victoria Beckham does of going...

I'm really nervous about this carving.

Everything else can be a rush, this bit I just want to be calm

and be happy with the shape that I make.

I'm now starting to carve my lips shape.

These are nice, these little marbled panels. Yes.

Where do you want your shop? Wherever...

..wherever somebody will give me one.

You're very calm. Am I? I don't feel very calm.

I wish I could help you, but... Ooh! Don't touch me! Ah!

Sorry!

HE LAUGHS

Bye!

It's stressful, just because there's so many different elements

to this cake, like, little tiny bits and pieces.

For me, the devil is in the detail.

Like, the phone receiver, the bit where you listen and you talk,

is solid sugar paste.

I've studied anatomy, I know all about, like, the curvature

of the spine and the body and, like, the proportions of it.

I'm really setting myself up for a fail

when this just looks like a brick!

OK, now I'm going to do this seriously.

So don't upstage me with any of your antics. OK. OK.

Bakers, you have half an hour.

Just half an hour.

Wonderful.

Well done.

Right.

That is pretty secure.

The thing is, you can't push it too hard, because it snaps.

Fondant doesn't like to be extruded.

HE EXHALES

This is a telephone handle, held with a wire.

I've just got to put in the receiver and then the electronics and then...

And then it'll ring? Imagine if it did, it will blow Paul's mind.

No, it wouldn't. It would.

The eyebrow would just go up.

HE LAUGHS

This could be a small child.

Yeah, it's pretty tall, isn't it?

The surprise is in the middle, so when they cut in,

the surprise kind of pours out.

That is extruded fondant.

I've wrapped it around a knife sharpener, to create the coil effect

of a phone.

Side panels.

I need to do this quickly cos I am going to run out of time.

Not much time left, but I'm putting these things on first.

It's meant to be the white of the dummy.

I am now going to cut out my lipsticks.

Steven's going to make a little teacup.

I really need to be quick now.

It's just making sure that it fits.

To get into the cake, you have to smash it.

I'd like to smash it right now. Would you?

SHE LAUGHS

No offence, Kate!

No offence?! That's brilliant.

Once the blue is on, I feel like it'll really look like

what it's meant to look like.

It's tricky to know what they're going to think,

but I think I've got the elements of something good here.

This is like the barrel where the lipstick goes in.

And then on top is where, obviously, the lipstick comes out.

Oh, God!

Oh, I am going to have to do the roof.

The roof is the bit where I need it most solid.

I'm not feeling very calm, for the first time.

Ah! It's broken!

It has actually broken.

If it was going to happen, it was going to happen with the roof bit.

Bakers, you have 15 minutes, 15 minutes.

Honestly, I fancy you now. Yeah, I think it's the KD Lang look.

HE LAUGHS

I think it's going to be tight - in true Bake Off style!

Right, finish one thing at a time, Steven.

This is a little address book.

There was always an address book by the phone, and a pencil.

Oh, yeah, shoot, I've got to do the pencil still, haven't I?!

Not a big fan of innuendo, but...

I don't know what you're talking about.

What is that? It's lipstick.

OK, just checking.

I was very happy, then I turned round and saw what Kate had done

and just died inside.

Oh, Kate, can't you break something?

I have! I've broken my roof!

Oh...

Actually, I'm really sorry! Yes, it's not good.

I didn't mean that - I said that as a joke!

So your wish has come true!

Wow! I don't even know where to begin.

Will you stop it?

It's like the Kama Sutra in here!

HE LAUGHS

Ah, that looks nice.

I'm hoping that the white lines will draw their eye away

from the general lameness of it.

SHE EXHALES

Right, I am going to have to do the roof. In fact

I'm going to do it the other way, just in case it breaks again.

You made a house my size! I can live in it!

Architectural feat!

The roof has cracked a little bit, but that's OK!

I'll come back and move in. OK. I'll just get my bag.

It's only about that big. You'll be fine. You could actually do that.

Tiny little bag.

This is the doily. No matter how cool she was, she was a grandmother,

so she had doilies.

Right, let's bake that.

Bakers, you have five minutes.

I'm quite happy with it, actually.

Now it's just kind of getting, sort of, the curves

and everything smoothed out.

I'm roof-tiling it.

The devil's in the detail with this one.

This is a pencil. I haven't got a lot of time left,

and this is a really fiddly part of the operation,

lots and lots of little bits and pieces.

I feel pretty zen.

I only have to serve it to Paul's icy eyes one more time.

Right, super, super quick.

This is glaze spray, this makes it nice and shiny.

This is vodka. It adds a nice shine.

Down to the last little bit now.

I would like to do more decoration but I'm not going to.

I haven't got time.

Bakers, you have one minute left.

They're never going to make it!

I know.

Oh, my God! It weighs an absolute tonne!

OK.

Time is such a killer.

It's been a really tough challenge, getting it done in the time.

Wow, it's definitely a work in progress.

I would've liked it to be a little bit neater but we'll go with it.

Bakers, your time is up!

Please step away from your Showstoppers.

In fact, go and have yourselves a cup of tea and maybe,

I don't know, a piece of cake.

Candice, I don't think your lips are big enough.

Well done, gang!

The bakers' New Year's resolution cakes now face the judgment

of Paul and Prue.

Candice, would you bring up your showstopper, please?

Oh, my God, it is really heavy.

I don't know what to say, Candice.

I've never seen anything like it.

It's quite simplistic. I'd like to see more of a curvature,

to really accentuate that's what it is, rather than just

a little crease down the top. He wanted Botox lips.

Let's have a look inside.

Have you filled this with those sweets? She has.

OK, you have, haven't you?

Oh, that's fantastic! Wow.

There's a lot of lips in there.

Not the easiest cake to cut.

I think your sponge is baked well. Thank you.

And I do like the flavours in there as well, but it's not neat.

There's nothing neat about it.

So, we've got chocolate in this one.

Yes. Chocolate, mint and coconut.

That looks very gooey.

It does, doesn't it?

Very minty, slightly toothpaste-y. Oh, OK.

You lose a lot because of that mint, unfortunately, so just drop

the mint, and that would have been perfect.

Cos it's a well-baked cake inside.

I think you've done a good job with the flavours,

and the textures that you managed to achieve are pretty good.

That is amazing. Very fine.

What you've got here is exquisite. Your piping work is very good.

I'm dying to see what the cake actually tastes like.

Right, this is pastillage, isn't it?

Yes, I don't mind if you destroy the whole thing.

Go on, do it!

Cakes are meant to be eaten.

This is rather fun, destroying things.

Take the roof off, and in the attic you'll find a very, very nice

picture of Paul as a young man.

Oh, look at those layers. Wow, very neat, very even.

That looks a really good sponge, too.

It tastes amazing.

The sponges are delicious. I was worried about the flavour,

but the best thing about it is that blackcurrant.

It just ticks all the boxes.

That is a fine-looking cake. Thank you.

I think that the combination of the pistachio and the blackcurrant

is just astonishing, because you would not think that would work. No.

I think, now, you should go ahead and start your business. Good luck.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Well, you'd know exactly what it was. Even if you'd never

seen a tailor's dummy, you'd know that was a tailor's dummy.

I...

Go on.

Is it too simplistic?

Yes. I think it might be.

Let's have a look.

My goodness, that smells wonderful. Wow.

It's quite heavy.

I'm struggling to get the hazelnut.

It's chocolate, you get that straight away.

You get that silkiness as well from the buttercream,

but it's like a dry brownie.

Then you've got the denseness of a badly baked cake, if you know

what I mean, so between the two, you've not got the best of either.

I absolutely agree.

You set out to do something, and I think you've accomplished it,

but it probably needed a little bit more finesse.

That is amazing.

It's very, very clever.

I love the colour that you've managed to achieve.

Is this a cake or is this just...?

The handset's fondant, and the coil.

And that's fondant? And this? Yes.

Fondant lace. It's exquisite.

It's astonishing. This is almost an illusion cake

and a New Year's resolution all together.

It's a great-looking cake.

It jolly well better taste good.

Right, let's have a look. Oh, I can't bear it.

Sorry.

Great-looking sponge.

Those flavours are fantastic, they just follow, one after another,

they hit your taste buds.

You've got that bitterness coming from the chocolate, the hazelnut

in there, the silkiness coming from the buttercream, as well.

You produced something that tastes as good as it looks.

Very, very rare thing. Excellent.

It's amazing, Stephen, well done.

I think you've done an exceptional job... Get your hand out.

The fact that you've made your own fondant as well, what can you say?

Exceptional. Well done. Come on, put your hand out.

I'll give you a hug.

I think I landed the world's first Hollywood hug.

They said it smelled amazing, and smell is, like, 70% of taste,

so, you know...

..I basically won.

I think, on comedy value, I've probably got it in the bag.

We have sat at this table with a lot of cakes over the weeks.

This one is the most surreal display I have ever seen.

Some of them I think overstretch themselves.

The one I was a little bit disappointed with was Tamal.

He's let himself down a little bit. I think his stollen

was slightly underbaked.

And, ironically, his show stopper is slightly overbaked, a bit dry.

But in both cases, the flavours are fantastic.

I thought Kate's cake was exquisite.

I thought the decoration was good, it's very neat, it's very tidy

and I love that blackcurrant ganache.

But you liked the flavours of Candice's cake, didn't you?

I did. The lips are a bit crass, to be honest,

but I thought the cake itself was absolutely beautifully made.

What about the Hollywood hug? What do you say about Steve?

All right, it's a New Year's resolution cake,

but as I said, it's an illusion cake and the flavour of that sponge

was just divine.

So, who's in line for Star Baker, then?

It's got to be Kate or Steven, surely.

Has anybody got a New Year's resolution?

I don't really bother with them. What have you got?

Well, next year I'm going to have a New Year's resolution.

That's my resolution for this year.

Bakers, congratulations and thanks for joining us.

You have been amazing.

The winner communicated great design and flavour, although they got

a little hung up on the custard.

I am delighted to tell you that the winner

of the Great New Year Bake Off is...

..Steven.

That felt really, really good.

It was a real challenge to walk back into that tent.

To do it and then win, it's an immense feeling.

What a start to 2019.

Couldn't be better.

Steven won the festive Bake Off because his designs were unbelievable.

Hello, my sweetheart...

Steven has had a really great Bake Off

and he is a great baker, Steven.

Faultless. He's a machine. Apart from...his custard.

You know, if you can't make custard...

I've learned that Steven is unstoppable when it comes to fondant.

And I have learnt that I still love The Great British Bake Off.

I think we've earned a glass of something.

# Should old acquaintance be forgot

# And never brought to mind... #

So, I came here as a winner,

of course it would have been nice to do the double.

But it was really good fun, it's been great to be back.

Hit it! Oh, yeah, here we go!

# It's the most wonderful time of the year

# It's the most wonderful time of the year... #

It's been really nice to meet, like, a whole different bunch of people,

who I, kind of, seen, that I knew

and I was already a fan of but never quite met.

So, yeah, it's been good.

I'm going to walk away and start 2019 with three new friends and...

..a new plate.

I have had the best time.

Happy New Year.

# It's the most wonderful time of the year. #

Happy New Year! Happy New Year!

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