Original subtitles

- Hello, it's Chocolate Week!

Ooh, I love chocolate. Are you a chocolate man, Noel?

- No, I'm an actual man.

- Welcome to The Great British Bake Off.

- Last time...

It was Bread Week.

- Oh, crumbs.

- While Marc proved a worthy Star Baker...

APPLAUSE

..it was Rowan who unravelled...

- It looks just like a bit of a shambles.

- You've gone for all style and no substance.

- ..and became the latest baker to leave the tent.

- I'm glad. I didn't really want to do Chocolate Week!

- HE CHUCKLES

- But for the remaining Bakers... - Don't drop, don't drop, don't drop!

- ..Chocolate Week has arrived...

- Literally melting in my hands.

- ..with a back-to-basics signature...

- Brownies are one of the most basic things to bake.

If you can't get that right... - You're getting hammered! - Ruthless.

- A return to bread in the technical...

- What have we got to prove? Everything.

- Maybe if you stroke it, it'll get a bit bigger. - Might do!

- ..and the Show Stopper...

- At the moment, they're saying it's 25 degrees.

Not ideal for white chocolate.

- ..that gets them all hot under the collar.

- Don't forget - you only have to be not the worst.

- LAUGHTER What a great mantra that is!

"Just don't be the worst."

- Chocolate Week! - SHE LAUGHS

- Yeah, it's fun. Absolute fun, this one.

- Massive chocoholic!

A day without chocolate is a day wasted, in my opinion.

- Chocolate releases endorphins,

but that tent does not always release endorphins!

I think it is quite a stressful place, so um...

Maybe if I have some chocolate halfway through my bake,

I'll feel a bit better!

- Hello, Bakers. Welcome to the tent.

It is Chocolate Week and it's time for your signature challenge. OK...

- Their names are Paul and Prue.

- Yeah, I know. - You say that, but you always get them wrong. - No, I don't!

- All right. Paul and Prue. - I know!

Praul and Pue would like you each to make a batch of

18 chocolate brownies. You may use any type of chocolate you like.

- You can use as many additional flavours as you like,

but we will be looking for that nice fudgy texture.

And when I say we, I mean...

- Plaul and Plue. You have one hour and 30 minutes.

- On your marks... - Get set...

- Bake!

Brownies may be famously simple to make...

- Put anything in a brownie that you like. As long as you don't

overcook it and keep the middle of nice and gooey.

- But the Bakers have just 90 minutes to produce the perfect batch.

- It's the timing that I'm really worried about.

We're all up against it.

- To get them cooked, cooled and ready in an hour and a half

is going to be tough.

- The perfect chocolate brownie has a gooey centre

and it has a crackly crisp top. And that's it!

- The bake on the brownie is the most critical thing.

If you over-bake it, it will become very, very dry and cake-like.

- Although the Bakers can, of course, decorate their brownies,

all icings are very sweet and extra chocolate is more sweetness,

so I think they should try not to over-decorate the top.

- This, for me, is going back to basics.

If you can't produce a decent chocolate brownie...

..there's going to be problems.

Hello, Linda. - Good morning! - Linda, tell us about your brownies.

- These are my Christmas brownies, they remind me of when I was a kid

and we used to have all the nuts and Turkish delights

and dates that were a real treat.

- Linda's treats of Christmas past will be studded into a layer

of white chocolate on top of her date-filled brownie.

- What texture are we looking for when we cut into it? - Nice and gooey.

- Gooey? - Nice and gooey. - Good luck, thank you. - Thank you very much.

- Good luck. - Thank you. - I might just stay here... - OK.

- ..and wait till they're ready and then eat them. - Keep stirring that...

If you are going to... - Do you want me to? - ..be useful. - Oh, OK. -LINDA LAUGHS

- So, I'm making a rich chocolate brownie with roasted macadamia.

Surprisingly, I hadn't made brownies until a few years ago.

I wouldn't say they're my favourite cake.

- Perfecting the recipe for his praline buttercream brownies,

has given Marc sleepless nights.

- I'm tired! Really tired this morning. - Are you? I'm quite tired.

I woke up in the middle of the night, I was sleep-walking and driving around...

- As a vampire, though, that's what you're meant to do, isn't it? Get up at night... - I call it sl - eepwalking.

- You call it... - ..other people call it... - Being a vampire!

- Taking people into the bushes and sucking all their blood out.

I mean, people like to split hairs.

- The Bakers' quest for the perfect gooey centre starts

with their brownie mix.

- I think it's all about the ratios in your recipe.

So, how much fat you've got, how much flour you've got.

- If you add too much flour, you're going to start getting a cake.

- So, getting their calculations right...

- Little bit too much sugar. - ..is crucial.

- I like your purple calculator! - It's good, isn't it?

- I haven't seen calculators for a while because I have a calculator app on my phone.

- Yeah, unfortunately, we are not allowed are phones in here.

- Are you not? - No. - Why? Because you'd be ringing going,

"Mum, can you come and get me? I don't like it here.

"They make me bake all day and then, I bake all day,

"a horrible man with a beard comes along and says it isn't good."

- But this bake should be child's play for Dave,

as it is inspired by his favourite childhood sweets,

which will sit on top of his rich ganache-topped brownies.

- They'd better take my last cos they won't be able to eat any more after they've had min - e.

- Hoping for a slightly healthier brownie...

- These are some good looking figs. - ..is Peter.

- Peter, that looks amazing.

- So, I am making fig and pistachio upside-down brownies.

So, I've got a layer of figs underneath and that's going to

be flipped out and become the top and I've got some cinnamon

going into the brownie batter. It just tastes really good

alongside the chocolate. - It's very untraditional...

- It's certainly unusual. - It's risky.

- Peter's hoping for a riot of texture and flavour with his unusual fig-topped brown - ies.

- What did Paul say when you said "figs"? Did he go...

.. "Oo-o-o-oh!"?

Or did he just stare through you with his cold blue eyes?

- When I said most things, he just did that, yeah.

- You must have made brownies, right? Everyone's made brownies.

- Everyone's made brownies, surely. Have you made brownies? -I've made brownies...

I haven't made brownies. No, I have... never baked.

- You've never baked? Like... ever? Never ever? - Never.

Baking's for losers! - THEY LAUGH

- This is good inside knowledge.

- I make brownies of the time at home. My husband does really like brownies.

But, you know, it's Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith judging it

and not my husband. He will eat anything!

- Her husband might not be fussy, but Sura is hoping

to win over the judges today with her ruby and dark chocolate marble brownies.

- It could be great... Or it could be...

We'll see what kind of disaster this turns out to be.

- Right, so, I'm going in.

170 for 20 minutes.

Getting their brownies baked

and cooled as quickly as possible is crucial, if the Bakers are to

leave themselves enough time to cut and decorate...

- That goes in at 180 for about 25 minutes.

- ..but Lottie's going to have to run the oven gauntlet twice.

- They're going to go for 25 minutes to start with and then,

another 25 minutes once they've got the toppings on.

- Lottie's ambitious double-baked brownies will have

a chocolate and pecan base and baked raspberry cheesecake topping.

- I have given myself a hellish pile of work to do. I think I can

get it done. Obviously, what will suffer is my decoration,

but that's always the case with me. As long as it tastes all right, I'm happy.

- Hermine, good morning. - Morning!

- Hermine, tell us about your brownies.

- So, I'm making raspberry, white chocolate and pistachio... - Wow.

- ..brownie. - How long are you going to cook them for?

- Ten minutes on one side, get it out,

and then ten minutes on the other side.

- How do you mean, "ten minutes on the other side"?

- Turn around. - Of the tray? - Yeah, it's a tray.

- The only problem is, when you do that, you drop the temperature of the oven.

- Well, isn't that a good thing for a brownie? - Is it?

- Hermine is also adding coffee to elevate the chocolate flavour

of her brownie, which she's hoping she can bake to perfection.

- If the baker says, "You're not supposed to turn it around",

maybe I'm not supposed to turn it around.

So, we're not going to turn it around!

- Bakers, you are halfway through!

- That was nice.

- 45 minutes...

- Now I'm going to make my Italian meringue.

- The Bakers' choice of toppings...

- Going to blitz the hazelnuts...

- ..should enhance the flavour of their brownies...

- On the top of the brownies is going to be tiny little cubed

Turkish delight and chopped nuts.

- ..without adding too much sweetness.

- On top of my brownies is going to be a milk chocolate ganache

with honeycomb. Yeah, they are a bit sweet.

- This is my cheesecake layer.

This goes back in the oven for 25 minutes or as long as I can spare, really.

- So, I am making the Italian meringue buttercream...

- There's a few Italian meringues I know in the tent today.

- It's like a sweet overload, but so worth it.

- It's like Donald Trump's hair, isn't it?

That's how you know your meringue is done.

You've got a Trump on your whisk!

- Mark's Italian meringue-topped brownies will sit on a cookie base

in his take on his favourite camping treat.

- A smore is usually something you have with marshmallows

and biscuits, sort of, over by a campfire,

so I thought I'd convert that into a brownie.

- Also hoping to score brownie points with her smores-inspired bake

is Laura. - Smores is quite an American term,

but it basically means melted marshmallow, I think.

But I'm doing a posh version with Italian meringue.

- Laura's Italian meringue will be piped on top of her decadent

chocolate and hazelnut brownies,

before being drizzled with a rich salted caramel sauce.

- The brownies are so, so sweet that I'm hoping the salt

and the caramel will just... cut through that

and then, you get that really nice balance.

- So, these are going back in for another 25 minutes.

- With Lottie just halfway through her bake time...

- I'm praying to the brownie gods. - Er... - ..the others...

- Brownie, cook! Brownie, cook!

- ..now face a game of nerves...

- It's never failed me to leave them in for 33 minutes.

It still stays all nice and fudgy.

- ..as they must judge when their brownies are perfectly underbaked.

- Ooh, yeah, they still need a bit longer.

Oh, come on!

Get them out too soon and they could fall apart.

- That's good, we've got a nice crack... on top.

- Leave them in too long...

- Just going to give them a couple of minutes, that's all. Just a couple.

- ..and they risk losing the fudgy centre.

- Oh, they're still a bit... Oh, gosh...

Got to give it another five minutes, that's not good!

- They're completely raw.

- Got to get these in the freezer, ASAP.

I just need it to cool quickly.

- I think I'm going to take mine out now.

- I'm going to get it out, I think.

Cos I really don't want to overdo it.

I do really want a nice, fudgy middle.

- That looks good to me!

Let's just hope they cool in time.

- Into the fridge - we've not got long.

- They're still a little bit raw in the middle.

The thicker they are, the longer they take to cook, so...

My fault, really.

- Gr-r-r!

- Yours in the oven?

- Yeah, mate, I've got another 15 minutes before they can come out.

It's not going to be pretty, the end of this.

- Bakers, you have... insert number of minutes here... minutes remaining.

- SHE GIGGLES

You've actually got half an hour left.

- That's not enough time.

- What are you doing? - I'm still baking. - Still in the oven?

- Yeah. - What? - Mm-hm...

- If you need any more time, I do do the time calls,

so I could cheat for us. SURA GIGGLES

OK? You know you're my favourite. Don't tell the others.

- I'm just going to take them out.

- Bakers, you have 15 minutes remaining.

- Yeah, what you going to do about it?!

Probably carry on baking and try your hardest.

- That's very hot. I'm going to defrost the freezer!

- Don't drop, don't drop, don't drop!

- Ideally, it'd be nice to leave them

a little bit longer before I cut them, but time's of the essence now.

- When I've not this is practice and it hasn't gone right,

it's just went... - HE WHISTLES

- ..splurge out the side.

Only now will the Bakers find out if they've judged

their bake times correctly.

- Oh, thank God for that. - HE GIGGLES GLEEFULLY

- That is perfect inside.

Very happy with that bake.

- A bit raw.

Unfortunately, Paul's going to say, probably, now that

they're not quite right. - Let's see how raw it is, shall we?

On a scale of one to raw... - Do you think it's still raw?

- Oh, yeah, I'm fairly confident it's raw, yeah.

- Have you got time to put it in the freezer?

- I did put it in the freezer... - Oh.

- ..and then the freezer melted on it because it was so hot and then,

now, this is all just wet freezer juice that... dripped onto it.

- "Wet freezer juice"?!

- Yeah. - So, what have you...?

"What's your topping again, Lottie? "It's wet freezer juice

"and then, also, I dipped it in bin juice because I wasn't..."

- Yeah, just for good measure. - "..wasn't pleased."

So, tuck in, Blue Eyes, see how that grabs you!

- NOEL CHUCKLES

THUD

SHE SIGHS

Bakers, you have five minutes left.

HE CHUFFS - You can do this, Bakers.

- Oh, the stress. Oh, the stress is too much.

- Just piping on the Italian meringue.

- I think these are looking darn, rootin'-tootin' good!

- Mine are a mess.

- Just going to pop some of this over there...

They look a treat. - Yummy, yummy, yummy.

- So, I'm just thinking if I can split one tin into 18 brownies...

- Oh, what a hot mess.

- No, I'm not going to try.

- I'm happy with that! God, to the wire...

- Bakers, your time is up.

Please put your bakes at the end of your bench.

- Oh, that was horrific. Mine are raw. They're not cooked. Look at them.

- HE SIGHS - Well, at least they're gooey!

- Looks like an actual car crash.

- The nine batches of chocolate brownies

now face the scrutiny of Paul and Prue.

- Hello, Peter. - Hi, Peter.

They look quite attractive on the top.

- They really look lovely.

It's got the chewiness, but it's coming from the dates, isn't it?

- Mm. - What spices did you put in there?

- There's cinnamon in there.

- Mm. - I think there's too much cinnamon.

Because, actually, the cinnamon is overtaking the chocolate.

It's different, it's risky.

It's OK.

That is brutal.

- Thank you. - OK, thank you.

- It's OK. - It's a bit disappointing.

Oh, dear God, here we go.

- Good luck, honey.

You'll be great.

- Mm. It looks as if they came out of the oven too early.

- Yeah, it does look a mess.

Let's have a look, shall we?

- I really think that's too much Italian meringue.

- OK.

- It's too sweet.

- Really? - Far too sweet. - OK.

- Cos you've got caramel, you've got the meringue on the top,

you've got the chocolate, you're going, "Mm, enough now."

- It's under baked. - Mm. - So, you've got a few problems here.

We need to get them out of there, don't we? - Yeah.

Initially I had two trays of brownies,

and one of them actually fell inside the oven.

So, I've just presented one.

- Very tough. - Mm.

- I don't like the flavours either.

- I do! What is it?

- Dark chocolate and ruby chocolate.

- Because I'm getting a sort of citrusy kick,

but I think that must be the ruby chocolate. - Yeah.

- Mm. - But...

..the bake's not right. - Mm-hm.

- And, obviously, you haven't got enough. - Yeah.

- Not your best work. - No.

- We're getting hammered.

- Ruthless.

- OK, well, they look neat.

- And they look pretty identical.

- So, I've got a cookie base, with a dark chocolate brownie,

with Italian meringue and some sugared cranberries.

- It tastes like a brownie.

I'm slightly avoiding the top

because I know that'll be very sweet.

But, overall, I think it's a really good job.

- Thank you.

- The biscuit base is too thick.

I like your flavour.

I just think your textures were wrong.

- OK, thank you.

- They're a little bit messy.

- I like the raspberry acidity.

But the white chocolate is just too much.

- There's a lot going on in that.

You've got coffee, you've got chocolate, you've got raspberry,

you've got pistachio...

- You've got a hell of a lot of sugar.

- It's very spongelike rather than brownie-like. See?

Looks like a chocolate sponge.

I like the flavour, though.

It's unusual, it's nice. It just came down to the bake itself.

- OK, thank you. - Thank you.

They're all pretty even. - Yeah.

- It's over baked. It's more like a sponge

than a brownie.

Tastes great! I like the flavour. - Yeah.

- But it lacks the two things that I think make a brownie,

that is the gooey middle and the crackly top.

- Yeah. - You made a good tray bake.

- Thank you.

- They don't look good at all. - No.

Yeah, I was running out of time, basically,

so it was a rush at the end of it. So, I apologise for that.

- It's quite dry. - OK.

- If you go right to the middle, it's nice and squidgy. - OK.

- Actually, I think the flavour's OK.

But it does look a mess. - It does, I know, I'm ashamed of it.

- That's a problem for me because... - Yeah.

- ..brownies are one of the most basic things to bake.

If you can't get that right...

- What are they going to say to me,

if that's what they're saying to Marc?

I'm going to get roasted.

- Well, they don't look great, do they? - They look a right mess.

It looks like they've been dropped. - Yeah.

- NOEL CHUCKLES

- Have you got a straw?

- Not on me. Would you like a spoon?

- Mm.

I love the sharpness of the raspberries.

But there's too much cheesecake mixture.

Sort of overpowers it.

- Flavour's OK.

Textures are all wrong. - Yeah. - The look of it's terrible.

- Yeah. - But besides that, brilliant. - Nailed it. Yeah. Thanks, guys.

If any of us had just presented like a standard chocolate brownie,

I think we'd be away, but none of us have,

we've all tried to make it harder than it needed to be.

- SHE SIGHS - Oh, God.

- We've all done a botched job of our brownies.

- That was brutal.

I mean, brownies, what are people watching this going to think of us?

Like, we're meant to be the best amateur bakers in the country

and cannot make brownies to please Paul and Prue?

- The bakers could practise their brownies,

but their next challenge, shrouded in gingham, is a complete mystery.

- Hello, bakers.

Welcome back to the tent. It's time for your Technical Challenge.

Today, it's been set for you by Paul.

Paul, any words of advice?

- The brownie challenge was easy, this isn't.

Concentrate on your textures.

- OK, as ever, this Technical Challenge

will be judged blind,

so we're going to have to ask these two to leave the tent and...

..have their eyes temporarily removed by Belgian robots.

Have they gone? - Not yet.

Can you go, please?

- Prue's lurking about at the entrance.

- OK, Judge Paul Hollywood would like you each

to make a chocolate babka,

which is a traditional Jewish loaf cake.

- Your babka must consist of an enriched dough

with layers of nuts and chocolate.

And it needs to be rolled, split and then twisted to create the shape.

- Once baked, it should be brushed with syrup to finish.

- You have two and half hours.

- On your marks. - Get set.

- Bake.

- Babka, here we come!

- Never heard of one.

If brownies are meant to be simple, then we've got no chance in this.

None of us have.

- I don't know what it is. I've never made one.

I wish I knew what it looked like.

- So, Paul, why have you chosen this babka?

- Basically, it's an enriched dough with a chocolate filling.

You roll it out into a rectangle,

roll it up as if you were making a Chelsea bun.

- Mm-hm. - Cut that in half, and it's a case of a spiral twist.

It's a plait, basically. But you can't make it too long.

If you make it too long, it'll never fit in the tin.

- Not easy, rather typical of Paul Hollywood.

- Shall we have a look inside?

And there it is. You've got that crisp on the outside

and then that beautiful soft inside,

with this gorgeous chocolate mixture with the hazelnuts in it.

- It's lovely. It's much lighter than I thought it would be.

- Mm. - I've had it in New York, and it's not nearly as nice as this.

- I had it in Birkenhead.

- I'm reading and reading these instructions today

to make sure I'm not messing anything up.

- Make the dough.

Nothing else.

- No further instruction. - Thanks, Paul.

- I haven't made enriched that often. So just have to wing it, won't I?

- Enriched dough, it's got butter and milk in it,

and you mix it up with the eggs. Whereas a general dough,

I mean, it's just flour, yeast and water.

- That's the sound of enriched dough slopping about.

- You should be able to stretch it without the dough splitting.

Then you'll know that it's ready.

- I am happy with the dough. It's really nice and stretchy.

- Mate, this dough, now, is too wet.

There's no windowpane coming out of that.

- The dough's really nice, actually. It's quite sticky.

- Roll out the dough into a rectangle, measuring 40cm x 30cm.

- 30 would be, like, out there.

- Here we are again, trying to make rectangles out of circles.

OK, spread the cool chocolate mixture over the dough,

leaving a 1cm border around the edges.

- I'm just trying to go for a nice, even layer... ish.

- You're just doing that in such a liberal, sort of, free way.

- Do you think? - You're quite free, aren't you?

How free are you?

How free are any of us?

- No, well, exactly. - What's the freest thing you've ever done?

- Um... - Have you ever got naked in a public space?

HE LAUGHS - I haven't, no!

- Do you want to do it now? Me and you could do it now.

- In the Bake Off tent. - Could make Bake Off history. - We could!

- We could streak in the tent.

- Scatter the hazelnuts over the top.

Roll the dough into a tight roll.

- Pbbt! Lol...

- It's all about the shaping of the babka.

I'm trying to remember what exactly it looks like,

in terms of the twists in it.

- Crucial moment.

- "Cut through the middle of the dough,

"cutting it into two long pieces.

"Then lift the right half over the left half.

"Fold by the left half over the right half,

"repeating the process to make a two-stranded plait."

- That guy over that guy. - Yup.

And then that one over there. - And then seal.

- That can't be right.

Ha! That looks ridiculous.

What now?

"Carefully lift into the tin."

Absolute jokers.

- Mine is a bit too long.

- This is not 40 cm.

Going to go like this.

This is all extra, it's too long.

- I'm loving your work.

Oh, yeah!

Come on, high five. - There you go.

- From there...

Let me see, prove until doubled in size. OK.

- What have you got to prove?

Everything, everything to Paul Hollywood.

- SHE GASPS

Well, that can't be right.

Why doesn't mine fit?

Maybe it will, like, lift in the middle or something and take shape.

- Don't really know how long I need to prove it for.

- Half an hour, let's check it.

- I'm going to just set a timer for ten minutes.

- All right, let's just get it in, I think.

- I don't know what you're supposed to do, but you be good to me.

- Yeah, OK, I let them know.

Bakers, you're halfway through.

- Through. - Yeah, they know now.

- There's a lot of waiting around on proving things.

Slightly unnerving.

- To rise or not to rise. - That is the question. - Yes.

- # Carefully lift the loaf into the tin. #

- Mine wasn't carefully lifted.

- # Prove until it becomes double in size. #

- Good luck with that. - # Bake!

# Make the syrup, brush the babka with the syrup! #

That seems fairly straightforward.

- Well, it's got a little bit bigger. - It's got a bit bigger, hasn't it?

- Yes. Not as big as I would like it.

- Maybe if you stroke it, it'll get a bit bigger. - It might do.

Generally works. - HE CLEARS THROAT

I think mine is ready to go in the oven.

- I still wouldn't say it's doubled. I think it's like one and one half.

With the time that's left, it's going to be possible, shall we say.

I'm hoping.

- Right, so it's not doubled in size.

That's the shape that mine's going to be, and that's the end of it.

- Off we go.

- Just trying to work out how long it's going to take to bake it.

- So, I'm just going to do 25 minutes for now.

- Oh, I don't know about that. Maybe I should tuck the ends under.

- It's all in the bake.

- It's the waiting that's the worst.

Just waiting, waiting and hoping.

- How's it going?

- It's really brown on the ends, because the ends are the bits that

I left out, when clearly, I was supposed to tuck those in.

- Can you cut the ends off?

- Well, I was tempted, I was tempted, but then he'll see.

Do you know what I mean? He'll see that I then carved it.

- You should say to him, if he goes on, you know. - Yeah.

- "It's a bit burnt at the end, like." - Yeah.

- "It's a bit burnt at the end, like, you know, it's a bit over baked."

- Yeah. - If he does that, should go,

"Well I've never even seen one before.

"I didn't even know what one was." - Yeah.

Just like that.

- "Yeah, I didn't even know what one was." - Yeah.

- "Don't put it on me, it's on you!" - Yeah.

- I think that's what you should do. - Yeah. Winner-winner.

- Follow my advice.

- SHE CHUCKLES - I shall.

- Bakers, you have five minutes left!

- Coming out.

- Ready, steady...

..babka!

- We've got ourselves a babka.

- I'm happy with that. It's got a nice little zigzag design in it.

- Well, I quite like it, actually. Yes, it doesn't look too bad at all.

- There's no rise on that.

Really not convinced that that's cooked.

And I put all that messy chocolate stuff all down the side.

Oh, well.

- Going to spread some syrup.

- A bit of syrup to glaze it.

- Seamless.

- Bakers, your time is up.

- Please bring your chocolate babkas to the front of the tent

and place them behind your photographs.

- Mine looks like a Viking longboat.

Oh, my God, embarrassment.

- Paul and Prue are looking for a beautifully risen babka

with a gorgeous chocolate spiral all the way through,

crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

- Right.

Now, looking at this, it looks good, it's small,

but you can see the lines all the way through it.

Let's have a look inside.

- That swirl is good.

Mm.

Even though it hasn't risen as much, it's very tender. - Mm.

It's got a nice bake on it,

and the combination of the chocolate to the dough is good.

Moving onto number two, a few issues.

- Sunk in the middle.

- Yeah, not the best-looking babka I've seen.

- It's not over baked, though. - No. The flavour's OK.

It's the way it's twisted,

and the way the chocolate's been put into it,

that's created that drop in the middle.

Moving on to this one. This is a nice one, this.

- This looks like a model babka.

- Colour's good.

Stripes are good, it's a nice bake all the way around.

It's a good height as well.

- Shine's good.

So all it has to do now is taste good.

Mm! - Good flavour.

- Excellent. - Now, this one...

..big issues with the plaiting side of things. It's very, very small.

- Looks a bit heavy, too. - Yeah.

- Yeah. - Feels much, much tighter, doesn't it?

- A bit heavy, generally. - Mm.

OK, moving on.

- It does look like a babka, doesn't it?

- It does.

- It is amazing, isn't it,

how much chocolate you can get into the dough?

- Mm. It's got a very cakey feel to it. - It's lovely.

- Moving on. Big gaps in this.

- It doesn't look so attractive, does it?

- No, it doesn't.

It needed more proving. It's very dense, this.

- Mm.

Yeah, it's odd.

- Moving on. Now, the size of this isn't bad.

A few holes in there, but, actually, it's quite a nice sized loaf.

- A bit dry.

- Mm. Now, moving on.

Neat, but again, the plait's not the entire way through.

There's one on the other side. - Yeah.

- Wow, it's heavy. It's really under proved.

Tastes good, though.

- Funnily enough, this has got very few plaits,

and yet, the height is there. - Mm.

And you can see there, it's fairly open.

It could do with being a little bit more.

- Tastes delicious.

- Prue and Paul will now rank the babkas from worst to best.

- OK, in ninth spot, we have this one.

A lot of you struggled a little bit with the shaping into the tin.

It seemed to be really high.

- And then in eighth place, we have this one.

Dave, didn't get much rise on it.

So it was a little bit heavy.

- Sarah is seventh.

Mark is sixth.

Hermine, fifth.

Peter is fourth.

- In third, we have this one.

Very neat, just could've done with being a little bit higher.

- Right. Now, number two...

..is this one.

Laura, the only thing wrong with it

was that it sank a little bit in the middle,

but it is a really nice babka.

- Thank you. - So, in first...

..we have this one.

- Well done.

- Have you made one before? - No.

- Very, very good. I think you did a good job on that.

The swirl was good, the height, I couldn't fault it.

Well done.

- I know.

I know, I am so...

- SHE LAUGHS DELIGHTEDLY

- ..I'm so shocked myself!

I just followed my instincts, and there you go.

- That's the first time I've had good, obviously, praise

and come second and

it's a confidence boost that I really needed.

- That was horrific.

And that was two challenges pretty much failed.

So tomorrow, I have to pull it out the bag

and hope that the weather is on our side.

It's going to be hard.

- Just one challenge remains before the Star Baker is crowned

and one baker will be asked... - Oh, God.

- ..to leave the tent.

- Hello, bakers. Welcome back to the tent.

It's time for your Showstopper Challenge.

Today, the judges would love you to make a spectacular

white chocolate celebration cake.

- Now, your cake should be made with a particular celebration in mind.

For instance, it could be the first time you went to the toilet

all by yourself.

- For Paul, that was last Thursday. Well done, Paul.

We're all very proud.

- Well done, Paul.

There's your gold star.

No more nappy.

- You get three of those, you get a book token, little man.

- Mm. Your cake should have a minimum of two layers,

and the decoration needs to display an expert use of white chocolate.

- You have four hours.

- On your marks. - Get set.

- B. - A. - K. - E.

- White chocolate's a bit of a crowd pleaser,

so hopefully it's going to be a good, yummy bake

that the judges like.

- I love white chocolate, which is why it's so dangerous

having massive jars of these around.

- I'm blitzing it because it does incorporate a bit better.

Also, though, let's be honest,

I don't know what I'm doing with this one.

It's a gamble.

- The Showstopper Challenge is to make a white chocolate tiered cake.

One of the big challenges for the bakers, actually,

is introducing the white chocolate into the sponge.

White chocolate has a higher fat content,

which means, if they've got butter in the sponge as well,

they need to reduce that so they're not really upping that fat content

in the sponge, which will disrupt the texture of the cake itself.

- I think it's a really tricky challenge.

Because white chocolate is frankly a nightmare to work with.

It splits at the drop of a hat,

it seizes if you get it too hot,

and I think the bakers will have their work cut out.

- With the weather being so warm today,

the bakers are going to have to be extremely careful

how they introduce the white tempered chocolate

or ganaches on the outside.

They're going to have to compensate for the fact that

they may start to melt.

- Hopefully the ambient temperature in here doesn't go above 20,

otherwise we're all in for a bit of a worry.

- I'm not a massive fan of white chocolate,

because, although I have got a sweet tooth, it's very sweet.

And it's very one-note, white chocolate.

But I think, in a cake, you can kind of celebrate it

with other things, which is hopefully

what I'm going to do today.

- Laura's white chocolate sponges will be sandwiched

with Italian meringue buttercream and a sharp blackcurrant jam.

And, for a touch of romance, she'll be decorating

with a chocolate bouquet

to celebrate her two-year wedding anniversary.

- It was your wedding anniversary yesterday? - Yeah.

- How exciting. - Yeah.

- What did you do to celebrate?

- I was here, making brownies. - You were here in a tent.

- And getting absolutely rinsed by Paul Hollywood.

- Getting told off by a grumpy man with a beard.

- Yeah, basically. Yeah.

- That's a great way to spend your anniversary. - Do you think?

- Romance is also in the air for Lottie.

- It is a celebration cake for my grandparents,

because they are celebrating their Sapphire wedding anniversary

in January. - What is Sapphire?

- 65 years.

- That's incredible. - Yeah.

- Lottie's ambitious design will feature

a sapphire geode effect

and an array of tempered white chocolate decorations.

- Have you practice this?

- I have practised this cake between 15 and 18 times.

- Oh, Lottie!

- Yeah, this is a really tricky one for me.

- Don't forget, you only have to be not the worst.

- What a great mantra that is.

"Just don't be the worst." - "Don't be the worst."

- Well, good luck, then. - Thank you very much.

Oh, well, that spurs you on, doesn't it?

- Making a tiered cake requires perfect light sponges.

- If you're trying to stack it, you need it to be light,

otherwise it will collapse on itself.

- So it's crucial the bakers gets the ratio of white chocolate

to butter spot on.

- Because white chocolate has such a high cocoa butter content,

I've used a little bit less butter than I would normally.

- Too much white chocolate will just...

So, essentially, I'm using a small amount that I will incorporate

very gently in.

- It's very temperamental.

It's like the worst chocolate to work with.

- Sura, good morning. - Good morning.

- Hello, Sura.

- How are you feeling today? Yesterday wasn't your best day.

- No, it wasn't. It was horrific.

But today I'm optimistic and hoping for the best.

- From horrific to optimistic.

- Celebrating her parents' 36th wedding anniversary,

Sura's elaborately decorated cake will feature

tempered chocolate truffles and piped buttercream flowers

that will encase layers of strawberry and lemon jam

and white chocolate sponges.

- How are you getting the chocolate into your cake?

- I've watered it down. So it's going to make it a looser texture,

but, also, it's still going to have the flavour,

without the heaviness of white chocolate.

- Good luck, Sura. - Thank you so much. Thank you.

- Good luck. - Thank you.

While Sura is banking on diluted white chocolate,

Peter is going for an altogether different texture.

- I'm just adding chunks of white chocolate.

I really like it when you come across that hunk

of white chocolate in a bit of cake,

so that's what I'm going to be doing in this one.

- Peter's chocolate-studded sponges will be sandwiched

with a mango curd and whipped cream,

and surrounded with a chocolate collar

painted with complex equations.

It's the celebration of his brother Andrew's recent graduation

from a degree in mathematics.

- He graduated this year, but he hasn't had a full ceremony

because of Covid. - Yeah.

- So I'm celebrating that through this cake.

- Celebrate it in the tent where he can't eat it, and we can.

- I've practised one at home, and he's been able to enjoy it.

- All right, OK.

Hermine is building her cake from Genoese sponges,

where whisked eggs and flour are traditionally combined

with melted butter.

- I'm replacing the butter with the white chocolate, here.

That reminds me of the wedding cakes at my parents' wedding.

Not that I was there, because I was still really young.

But I've seen pictures of it.

- Her throwback wedding cake will be decorated

with a white chocolate collar and piped ganache roses.

Inside, she will layer her delicate sponges with lemon curd

and Italian meringue buttercream.

- Well, I love Genoese.

I think it's beautiful.

- It's a nice combination of flavours as well with the lemon.

- Thank you. - Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

- So, if Paul Hollywood is not complementary,

are you going to take one of the cakes

and smush it into his face?

Say, "Well, now see how you like it?"

- Could you do that? - I'll do it.

- You'll get away with it. I wouldn't.

- You would get away with it.

You'd be a national treasure for doing that.

- But Mark is hoping to keep all three tiers of his cake intact.

Dedicated to his daughters, Rosie and Jasmine,

it will be decorated with their namesake flowers

and sandwiched with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream.

- I'm nervous because the comments weren't particularly good

yesterday and I know cakes aren't particularly my strong point.

So, yeah...

In my perspective, I'm feeling I'm close to the bottom.

- There's also a lot riding on this bake for Linda.

- This really means a lot to me, this cake, you know?

It's a tribute to my daughter, actually.

Melissa had special needs.

She's no longer with us.

You know, she passed away when she was 18.

But this is just a celebration of her life, really.

And she was just a sweet little English rose.

- Linda will craft a chocolate rose to sit atop

an all-white three-tiered sponge

filled with Amaretto, raspberry jam and mascarpone cream.

- You had a little triumph yesterday. - I did, didn't I?

I really enjoyed it. - Looked like you were really enjoying yourself.

- In actual fact, the directions were really brilliant.

- Yeah, thank you very much. - Don't give him any credit!

- No, they was really good. - Have you got one of my books, then?

- I have. - I think you're going to do really well.

- THEY LAUGH

- OK, here we go.

Attempt number one.

Please. Please bake.

- With their sponges in the ovens...

- I'm going to check it after about 26 minutes, to be precise.

- ..the bakers now turn their attention to the fillings...

- God, I love multitasking!

- ..which means even more white chocolate.

- This is going to be white chocolate overload, but, you know,

that's what they asked for.

- What they do in this show is,

they make tell you to make really sweet cakes,

and then they tell you off.

Yeah, Prue will just go, "It's too sweet."

"Actually, it's just a little sweet.

And you go, "Yeah, because you told us to make a cake

"full of white chocolate!"

"I've always thought, maybe, to balance out the sweetness,

"you could have put some mud in there."

- Luckily, Mark's wife, Laura, is a big fan of this cake,

as it's in honour of her birthday.

Covered in tempered chocolate shards and geometric shapes,

the interior is full of her favourite flavours -

white chocolate, pistachio, lemon,

and a South African marula fruit cream liqueur.

- This is Laura's favourite drink.

And elephants get drunk on this.

Elephants eat fermented marula fruit and get drunk.

Yeah.

So I quite like it, yeah.

I thought I'd fire it in here, yeah.

- I'm not happy with the cakes.

It just looks really bumpy and uneven.

It's either start again or hold out.

I think I might need to do them again.

- Just three hours of the bake remain.

- That goes so quickly. That's one hour gone.

- Yeah, they're not right.

No, they're really not right.

I'm going to stick to what I know.

Equal quantities of everything.

- Who would you most be upset if someone went?

Got a few? - I'm not going to say that.

- You always say that. - No, I'm not going to say.

Cos we're all really good people in here.

- This will come out much later, and by then you won't care.

Paul? Would you like to get rid of Paul? - Yeah, let's get rid of Paul.

- This batch really does need to behave,

because otherwise I am definitely screwed.

- As Laura plays catch up,

it's a critical point in the bake for the others.

- I know by the colour, that's not ready.

So I'm going to actually leave it a little bit longer.

- The high sugar content in white chocolate means the sponges

will brown very quickly...

- Five minutes.

- ..which could deceive the bakers into thinking

they're baked through.

- They're a lovely colour.

They need just maybe a minute or two.

- Oh, I don't know.

- I'm actually going to put them in for another two minutes.

I listen to my cakes to hear how bubbly they are.

If they're very, very bubbly

then there's a lot of liquid left in them.

You don't want a wet cake.

- It is definitely ready.

- Yep, I think they're coming out.

- Really happy with them. They look great.

Yeah, nice and golden.

- I'm just trying to play catch up, really.

But I've got my cakes in the oven, so fingers crossed.

- Hi, David.

- Good morning. - Hello, David.

Tell us about your cake.

- So, today, my cake's going to be called

a Strawberry Splash White Chocolate Frasier Cake.

- Oh, Frasier cake. Nice.

You put the strawberries all round the outside?

- Round the outsides, yeah.

I've got white chocolate creme mousseline in the middle.

It's going to be decorated with tempered white chocolate splashes.

- Dave's splashes will sit on top of his Amaretto-soaked sponges.

This is a cake he loves to bake for his girlfriend Stacy's birthday,

and no birthday is complete without balloons.

- What's happening here with these little guys?

- So, look, there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

- I can count. - Yeah, there's one for each baker.

- And what are they going to be?

- They're going to be chocolate splashes.

- Splashes? - Mm.

- You're doing one for everyone? - Yeah.

- Aw, that's so sweet. - And...

- And then you're going to burst them one by one

as you rise through the ranks.

- Bakers, you are through-way half.

Is that right? - Yeah.

- I think everyone's pretty focused today. There's no chat.

Not as much fun as I thought it was going to be, I'll be honest.

No chat from Mark. Everyone's taking it really seriously,

like it's some sort of competition, or whatever.

- You join us in the middle of a very important bake.

It's all happening.

Laura is checking the temperature of her sponges.

Laura, what do we think?

- Right, these two are done.

- Yeah. Talk into the microphone, please.

- Oh, sorry. These two are done. - Excellent.

- I think the others just need...

Actually, no, they're not done.

- These two are NOT done. - False alarm.

False alarm, everybody. - Newsflash.

Breaking news - they are not done.

- One more minute. - We will come back to you later.

In the meantime, we'll go to the weather.

- The thermometer's saying it's 25 degrees.

Not ideal for white chocolate.

- And not ideal conditions for stacking layers of sponge

with delicate, creamy fillings.

- This is all feeling a little bit warm at the moment,

so I'm going to have to try and work as quick as I can.

- I have to go like the clappers.

- The assembly shouldn't take too long.

It's the chilling part that I need the most amount of time on,

to really firm up the mousseline.

- As the layers build...

- So hot.

- ..the bakers will need to make full use of the fridges

to stop them melting and sinking in the ever-warming intent.

- Really glad I remade them.

They're looking really good. Much better, yeah.

Panic averted.

Hot.

- Bakers, you have one hour left.

- NOEL WHISTLES

- That's not long.

- If dealing with white chocolate in their sponges wasn't hard enough,

the bakers also need to temper it to make their decorative elements.

- I'm just hoping they don't pop.

- Now I'm making my white chocolate collar.

I'm going to just spread it out on the acetate

and then put it around the cake.

- This is the messy bit.

- This is just a lacy sort of collar thing

that I'm putting around the outside of it.

- It kind of partially sets on the acetate,

and then it's easier to pick up and lift onto and around the cake.

- LAURA SIGHS - It's a mess, isn't it?

- Too hot.

Literally melting in my hands.

Too, too hot.

I'm just going to do some chocolate drips down the side.

That's all I can do now.

Bakers, you've got ten minutes left.

Don't mess it up.

- It's pretty satisfying.

- Ah, it's not coming off.

I may not get the rows done, but I'm hoping to.

I'm going to just smooth this off.

- Guys, you have about nine minutes left.

You need to start making your cakes round about now.

- Do speed up, Lottie.

- I wanted much longer to be able to do this.

- Looks good, doesn't it?

- It's just not working.

- I'm painting on some maths symbols and equations,

and all that kind of jazz.

- I'm making roses.

- This is my rose. Going to do her proud.

- That is not going to stay.

- Just got to finish the ruffles.

I would actually really love to make something Paul likes today.

- Rough and ready, isn't it?

- But the rose looks amazing.

- Bakers, you have one minute left.

SURA SIGHS

- Ooh, that's scary canary.

- Yeah, really happy. Yeah.

It couldn't have gone better for me, I don't think.

- They're breaking!

- Going for the less is more. - Less is not more.

Have you seen mine?

- Whatever, I'm done. - OK.

- I'm done.

Bakers, your time is up.

Please step away from your bakes.

- Looks awesome, Lottie.

- It looks OK. It looks fine.

- But I'm not happy with OK and fine.

- Nine white chocolate celebration cakes

now face the judgement of Paul and Prue.

- I love the way it looks. - Oh, thank you.

- I think it looks original, it looks modern. I'd buy that. - Thank you.

Thank you. - It's a great looking cake.

The naked element of it looks nice. It's neat.

I love the drips are all equal as well.

- And so I've got white chocolate cake with a pistachio

and lemon Genoise and then a white chocolate sponge with

a marula fruit liquor

and white chocolate Italian meringue buttercream.

- All the flavours are there, but they're quite... delicate.

- OK. - It needs more of a hero flavour.

I don't think pistachio's going to be strong enough.

- It's a beautifully made cake.

The flavour just needs a bit more oomph.

- A bit more oomph. OK.

- I love that. It's very cool.

I like what you've done with the sapphire as well.

- I think it's imaginative, I think it's exciting. - Oh, thank you.

- Beautiful. - Thank you. - Well done, Lottie.

- It is three white chocolate sponges

with a passion fruit curd and a lime kind of syrup.

- The flavour's good.

The textures aren't, though. It's overbaked.

- Mm-hm. - Cos it is bone dry inside.

- Yeah.

- I think, actually, the work and the chocolate looks fine.

My issue is... - It's leaning. - ..the shape of the cakes. - Yeah.

- I mean, they're all over the place, aren't they? - They are.

- Mm.

- You have raw dough. - It looks like marzipan.

- Your recipe was at fault or you've weighed something up wrong.

It could have been the white chocolate with the water.

- Mm. - Yeah, maybe.

- Such a pity it's not edible.

- SHE SIGHS

- It looks wonderful. - Thank you.

- The colour of the sponge worries me a lot. - OK. - It's very dark.

Let's have a look inside.

- Well, I don't think it's overbaked. - It does taste really good.

Strawberries work well with it. - Thank you.

- It's just the colour of that sponge I don't like.

But overall, I think it's a decent cake.

- Thank you. - I love it. - Cool, thank you.

- I really like it. Buttery, white chocolate, a bit of zest in there.

My issue is the decoration.

The piping work is not good.

At any level. - I think Paul is right.

It's a really delicious cake.

A little dense. Piping not perfect.

- No. - But thank you.

It's really neat. - I think it's a great looking cake.

- Thank you. - Very pastel. - Yeah.

- Let's have a look, shall we?

- Sponge is a little dense. - OK. - It is. It's weighed heavy on that. - Yeah.

- But I like the flavour of it and I love the raspberry

through it as well. - I think you've done a really good job.

- Thank you. - And it's taste of white chocolate. - Good. - Yeah, well done.

Thank you. - Thank you very much.

- The colour is beautiful and smooth

and all the way around,

it just looks really neat.

- It's a coconut cake with mango curd cream in the centre.

Oh, that'll be a chocolate chunk.

- It's like toffee. It's gluing my teeth together.

- I think it's well baked.

Coconut flavour really comes through. Mango lightens it up.

You've come up with something that is very, very neat too. Clever.

- Thanks. - Yeah, well done. Thank you.

It's a little bit messy down at the bottom. - Yes.

- The top bit's quite cute.

Quite like that. Just don't seem to go together.

- No, they don't. - It's like two different cakes, isn't it?

- Mm! Delicious. - THEY LAUGH

- Delicious.

- So, we call it a Prue-gasm.

"Mm!"

- The lemon works beautifully with the sponge.

It's got that citrus kick that you want. - Well done, Hermine.

It's just delicious. - Thank you. - Thank you very much.

- Sometimes less is more.

That sort of let it down a little bit. - OK.

- Blackcurrant is beautiful.

I can't really get the white chocolate, but then,

since there's such a mass of white chocolate everywhere else,

perhaps that doesn't matter. - Yeah.

- I think your sponges are dried out slightly

and you probably slightly overbaked it. - OK.

- But I love the blackcurrant.

- Thank you. - It works beautifully, actually, with the white chocolate.

You put a lot of thought into it.

- Well, well done, Laura. - Thank you.

I'm a tiny bit disappointed, I think,

cos I just really wanted to, like, nail it this week.

- SHE SIGHS

- But the comment that I really loved was

when Paul said that a lot of thought had gone into it.

Like, that meant a lot to me.

- Yet! I had a Prue roar!

It's a thing, apparently, now.

She goes, "Mm!"

- SHE LAUGHS

- Went horrific.

I can't believe the cake was, like,

pretty much raw inside.

I honestly don't know to say.

- So, kids, that was a tough week.

But we should talk first about who could be Star Baker.

- I think Peter. Again, Mr Consistent.

Very clever, very neat.

The colour was very good. I liked the mango as well.

- Can I talk about Mark L?

Because I think his cake was just beautiful.

- He's been up there constantly, Mark L.

- Well, he was third in Technical, did pretty well in Signature,

and I think he's done pretty good today.

So I think I would put one of those two in line for Star Baker.

- Who's in trouble?

- Sura, I think.

- I think based on her Showstopper being raw.

She made a big mistake with that.

- And probably Lottie. - She was bottom in the Technical.

Didn't do fantastically in the Signature.

She did well in the Showstopper, but has she done enough to stay in

the competition and has Sura really failed that much that she has to go?

- I really like Lottie and Sura,

so I will go instead of them if you want.

I'm happy. - Oh, yes. We'll have that.

- See you, mate. - Prue!

I thought I was your favourite!

See how easily they forget once the new kid's in town?

- The novelty of me will wear off.

I wouldn't get rid of him.

THEY LAUGH

- Hello, Bakers.

I've got the great job of announcing Star Baker.

So, the Star Baker is...

..Mark L.

- THEY APPLAUD - Oh, thank you. - Well done, Mark.

- Thank you. - Smashed it. - Well done!

- So, it's up to me to announce who' is going home,

and it is someone who we are really fond of,

but who had a bad week.

And so the baker who will be leaving us this week is...

..Sura.

- I was expecting that.

- You are honestly amazing.

You're so good.

- Never mind. You're a good baker.

- I'm gutted, but what's done is done.

I'm not going to be bitter about it.

I've had a great time.

- Sorry. - That's OK.

- You just had a bad week.

- I hate white chocolate.

I hate chocolate. End of.

I don't think I'll ever eat chocolate ever again.

- SHE LAUGHS

- I'm really sad to see Sura go.

Now, that's the classic case of you cannot have a weakness

in your baking if you're going to win The Great British Bake Off.

And unfortunately we found Sura's this week,

and it was that that actually saved Lottie.

- THEY GIGGLE

- Just pick it up for the next one, yeah? - I will try my best.

- SHE SIGHS

- The sadness that I feel at losing Sura is at least part way made

up by Mark getting Star Baker. That... I'll take that.

That'll cheer me up. Yeah, well done, mate. - Thank you.

I'm quite emotional. - Are you? - Yeah.

- You're hiding it really well. - Am I? - No.

- HE LAUGHS - How did that happen?

I can't believe it.

Yeah, I just didn't expect it.

I think consistency pays off, doesn't it?

Thank you very much. Thank you.

- Yeah, well done. - What a surprise. - Really good.

- I'm delighted that we're going...

..we're down to the final seven bakers, you know?

Like... Seven? Eight.

Eight. Is it eight?

Eight bakers.

- HE LAUGHS

Next time... - It's pastry week!

- ..the bakers feel the heat at the halfway point.

- Halfway to paradise.

- With a strenuous signature...

..a perplexing Technical.

- Hashtag winging it.

- And an astonishing Showstopper...

- It's bonkers.

- ..that will leave one baker feeling fragile.

- I don't know what to do.

It's just breaking as I'm trying to get it.

- HE SIGHS

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