The Great British Baking Show (2010–…): Season 12, Episode 8 - Episode #12.8 - full transcript
I can't get my head round this week.
Explain it to me again?
-It's Free-From Week.
-What does that mean?
It means this week
we've got a vegan bake,
we've got a dairy-free bake
and a gluten-free bake.
-Like this stuff here.
-Has anyone told Paul yet?
I just told him a couple of minutes ago.
-And he was fine with that?
-Yeah, absolutely fine.
[growling]
Let's scarper.
[snarling]
Actually, that's really nice.
Welcome to The Great British Baking Show.
[snarling]
[Matt] Now it's the quarter finalâ¦
Oh, bloody hell.
â¦and Free-From Week.
[coughs]
Nightmare.
[Matt] With a series
of challenges free from dairyâ¦
This one's tough
'cause Paul's a proper pudding lad.
-â¦meatâ¦
-[Giuseppe] Ohâ¦
Why is mine disgusting?
â¦and gluten.
-Organised chaos. [chuckles]
-[Prue] That's fine.
[Matt] But in order
to reach the semi finalâ¦
[Giuseppe] How long have we got left?
I'm just breaking my freezer.
â¦the bakers
will need to be free from disaster.
[Jürgen exclaims]
-I expected better from you.
-[sighs]
[opening theme music playing]
Week eight, quarter final.
Why am I still here? [laughs]
This Free-From Week,
I'm actually quite excited about it.
I never made anything dairy-free
or gluten-free or anything like that,
so I don't really know how it all tastes.
My objective
for this week is to survive. [laughs]
Just gotta keep everything
as Lizzie as possible.
I'm gonna prove a point
that free-from has as little finesse
as all me other food. [chuckles]
Good morning, bakers.
Welcome back to the tent
for the quarter final.
-Whoo!
-And a celebration of free-from baking.
[laughs] Free from baking, no baking.
We can just go lie down in hammocks
and eat some loganberry jam.
-Let's go. Oh.
-No, I think you've misunderstood.
-There's still baking? That's a shame.
-Yeah.
For your Signature Challenge,
the judges would like you each
to make a batch of eight
identical dairy-free ice cream sandwiches.
The ice cream must be beautifully made
and sandwiched between
two perfectly baked biscuits.
Any flavour you like.
Remember, kids, they must be dairy-free.
-You have three hours.
-On your marks.
-Get set.
-Bake.
I've had ice cream sandwiches.
I've never made them at home before.
I don't think anyone is doing
a dairy-free ice cream on a regular basis.
The aim is to get an ice cream
that sets, but is still creamy.
It's quite tricky.
[Paul] In this challenge,
we've asked them to be dairy-free.
They can use eggs, but obviously
the use of cream and butter is out.
I imagine we'll see a lot
of coconut milk and oat milk.
[Jürgen] This is coconut cream.
It's a bit thicker.
It has more fat than coconut milk.
We've asked for an ice cream sandwich
because we want a baked element.
[Paul] It's all about textures.
The silky smooth with the ice cream,
and the crispy biscuit.
How are they gonna do it?
We wanna see their characters coming out
but, above all, it must taste amazing.
-[Paul] Hey.
-[Lizzie] Hello!
Hello, Lizzie.
Tell us all about
your sandwich ice creams.
Erm, my dairy replacement
is oat milk and, like, fake cream.
And my sandwich ice creams are just
vanilla with, erm, some almond brittle in.
Because it's all about, like,
when I take my dog on a walk,
I see the Mr Whippy van after,
so she's allowed vanilla ice cream.
-[Prue] Oh.
-[Lizzie chuckles]
[Noel] Lizzie's almond,
praline and vanilla ice cream
will be sandwiched
between dark chocolate biscuits
embossed with a pattern
in honour of her dog Prue.
Can you explain
the meaning of this? [laughs]
It's all dogs,
'cause it's about walking my dog.
Are you gonna get
a bit of finesse with the pattern?
-Yeah.
-How big are these gonna be, the biscuits?
Oh, this is my issue, isn't it?
So they are about, I'd say, that lid size.
[Noel laughs]
-I thinkâ¦
-That's okay.
-[Lizzie] You don't think that's good?
-Lizzie, don't you be put off by him.
I never am, Prue.
I just don't listen to him.
[all laugh]
[Chigs] When I did my research,
dairy-free ice cream sets
slightly harder than normal ice cream.
Just trying to get as close
to normal ice cream as possible.
[Matt] The fat, sugar,
protein and water content
of the bakers' chosen dairy substitutes
will all affect the crystal formation
of their ice creams.
Rather than using whole milk,
I've got a plant-based, erm,
kind of cream, and a cashew nut milk.
[Matt] So it's crucial
they've researched how their alternatives
will impact the taste and texture.
[Giuseppe] The hope is that
the tofu will give the creaminess.
[Matt] And Giuseppe is taking
his dairy-free ice cream one step further.
The dairy alternative
will be tofu and soymilk.
So, the ice cream itself
is vegan and virtually fat-free.
-Wow.
-Delicious.
[all laugh]
No, actually, it does sound good.
[Matt] Rustic ginger
and maple syrup cookies
will contain Giuseppe's orange ice cream
made with silken tofu and soya milk.
One of the biggest challenges
has been to get the ice cream
to taste of orange enough.
So I'm using orange juice, orange zest
and candied orange peel to go into it.
I'm also adding a drop of orange essence,
and that should be enough.
[Noel] Also hoping
to pack a punch with his flavoursâ¦
-[Chigs] In goes the coconut milk.
-â¦is Chigs.
Gotta chop up nearly 600 grams of mangoes.
I know my mum's probably watching me,
"Why are you wasting
all that mango in there?" [laughs]
Not getting the best yield out of
the mango, but I ain't got time, soz.
[Matt] Sat between two pistachio
and cardamom biscuits,
Chigs is hoping
his mum's favourite tropical flavours
of mango, lime and coconut shine through.
But taste isn't Chigs' only concern.
Need to make sure it's creamy enough.
'Cause in the practice tent,
mine turned into a sorbet
'cause of the water content,
'cause I used different mangoes.
A lot of things will impact this.
-How's the practice gone for this?
-I left the freezer door open.
-Good.
-So, they all melted in the freezer.
Great.
So, that's how practice went.
[Giuseppe] I've added
all the flavours to the ice cream mix.
But I think I'm ready to go in there.
[Matt] With the ice cream
elements in placeâ¦
-[exclaiming]
-â¦it's time to get churning.
-[chuckles]
-[Crystelle] All right. In she goes.
What this will do is keep churning
and bring down the temperature.
Because it's dairy-free, you ain't gonna
get that proper silky stuff.
You will get a slightly firmer ice cream,
It's getting that balance right,
that's gonna overcome that.
And now we wait.
Painful wait and hopefully
that will turn into ice cream.
[Matt] As their ice cream churns,
the bakers can turn their attentions
to the outer layer of their sandwiches.
I've got dairy-free butter in here.
[Matt] Jürgen has opted for a simple way
to ensure his biscuits are dairy-free.
[Jürgen] Macarons are,
by definition, dairy-free,
but it feels counterintuitive to pour
120-degree hot liquid into egg whites.
And then I need
to whisk it until it's cooled.
[Matt] Jürgen's macarons of egg whites
with ground pistachio and almond
will sandwich his banana
and coconut ice cream,
combining two of his
favourite childhood flavours.
Over the years, when I was
testing ice cream parlours in Germany,
I developed
my test case for the parlours,
and that was a mix
of pistachio and banana ice cream.
You used to test the ice cream parlours?
-[Jürgen] Yes.
-I mean, is this an official job? Orâ¦
-[all laugh]
-Just my internal one.
-Right.
-[all laugh]
Can't have it too big, 'cause obviously
the rolling pin's not massive,
so you've got to do two at a time.
This dough is so wet and sticky.
I'm just gonna bake them like this
and then I will re-cut them out.
It's like a safety net.
[Noel] And Crystelle has good reason
to be cautious about her biscuits.
I have only done these once
because I changed my recipe last minute,
so I am quite panicky about them.
[Noel] Crystelle is hoping
the earthiness of her cashew milk
and coffee ice cream
will complement the nutty flavours
of her tahini and miso
replacement biscuits.
I had a really nice cookie recipe
that was chewy,
but I just didn't think it froze well.
I've gone for one that you can take
a bite, the ice cream doesn't ooze out.
-Sounds good.
-What were you doing?
Miso and tahini frappuccino
ice cream sandwich.
-Yeah.
-[all laugh]
[hesitating] You know, very simple.
Bakers, you have
an amount of time remaining.
That wasn't very helpful.
Well, it's Free-From Week,
so I thought I would do a time call
that was free from
the relevant information.
Bakers, you're halfway through.
[Chigs] These are gonna
go in the oven now.
So, 12 minutes.
I'm gonna do six minutes on each side.
Fifteen minutes.
Then I'll swap them round
seven minutes in.
[Giuseppe] So, in we go.
[Noel] While the other bakers' biscuits
begin to increase in temperatureâ¦
It's still warm.
â¦Jürgen's meringue mix
has the opposite problem.
-Hello, Jürgen⦠[laughs]
-Hi, Noel.
-I've been there about half an hour.
-Ah, yes.
You look very interested
in what's going on in there.
[Jürgen] Yes,
I'm trying to cool this down.
I had some issues
with that in the practice tent.
-Oh, no.
-I don't want to repeat that here.
[Noel] You don't seem
to be under pressure, though.
How many Star Bakers have you won now?
-Three. Yes.
-Three?
Imagine if Crystelle
won three Star Bakers. [chuckles]
-Yeah, we would be deaf by now.
-[laughs]
They look okay.
The biscuits are looking good.
-Oh, there we go.
-[timer beeping]
Got a bit of colour round the edge,
which I'm happy with.
Oh, I forgot to sprinkle
sesame seeds on the top of these,
but it's fine
because these can go on the bottom.
There's some funky smells
coming from over here.
It's the dark cocoa.
-[Noel] What percentage is that?
-It's black. 100%.
-Hundred percent cocoa?
-Yeah.
Oh, my God. It's giving me a stitch.
-[coughs]
-Do you know what it reminds me of?
-When you--
-Inside of a coffin?
[both laugh]
No, I was gonna say Jaguar wee.
-Jaguar wee?
-Yeah.
Wow, you're weirder than me.
It's official. Jaguar wee. [laughs]
[Jürgen] Still doesn't
look like a meringue.
I'll give it a bit more.
But now the machine's blinking,
so the ice cream is essentially done.
At least I can start
shaping my sandwiches.
[Matt] The ice cream needs to be set
for sandwiching in the uniform shapes
Paul and Prue will be expecting.
[Lizzie] Oh, my God, that's so cold.
I use silicon moulds,
but the silicon moulds are a bit small,
so this is going to be
slightly interesting.
[Crystelle] So, I realise in practice
that my moulds are very thick,
so I'm only gonna fill them halfway.
And the best way to do that
is to use a piping bag.
[Matt] While Crystelle and Jürgen
have changed moulding methodsâ¦
I was gonna go for a rustic look.
[Matt] â¦Giuseppe has decided
to break the mould completely.
The ice cream is starting
to lose consistency,
so I'm going to have to be very quick.
Otherwise, I will lose this.
These are gonna go in the freezer.
[Matt] With the sandwich centres freezing,
it's time for top deck decoration.
[whispers] Disco time.
[Jürgen, normally]
I'll go for it now, I think.
[Matt] But without anything baked yet,
there's no time for Jürgen
or his meringue to rest.
In the practice, I didn't whisk
the Italian meringue long enough.
I was too impatient.
This has this nice, rough structure
that this mix should have.
[Giuseppe] I'm drizzling
my top biscuits with, uh,
tempered dairy-free white chocolate.
Then I'll add the candied orange peel
and crystallised ginger.
[Lizzie] On the wrong
Channel 4 programme here.
Should be on Grayson Perry's art show.
I'm going in.
I didn't dry them out in the practice
and they actually came out nice.
How much time do we have left?
-Bakers, you have 8,000 wobble mittensâ¦
-[snickers]
â¦in your tiger chop suey.
-What was that?
-That was free from logic.
[Matt] You have 15 minutes left.
Well, that just gives them
time to cool down, doesn't it? [chuckles]
[Lizzie] Paul doesn't like glitter.
Who cares what Paul thinks?
This one's tough, 'cause Paul's not
the biggest fan of free-from stuff, is he?
He's a proper pudding lad, innit?
[Crystelle] Sesame seeds for sprinkling
because I forgot
to sprinkle enough on them.
[Noel] How's it going? [chuckles]
-Oh, I don't know. I just--
-Yeah, whatever.
[laughs] I knew you didn't care.
[all chuckle]
[chuckling] Is it going all right?
-Oh, I don't know.
-[yawns]
-[both laughing]
-See you later.
I fall for this every single time.
[Jürgen] They're spreading
underneath and moving up.
Let's go for it.
Interesting shape, isn't it?
They shouldn't have this little fringe.
They will have enough time cool,
they cool very quickly.
You anxious?
I can see you're shaking your legs.
I got that weird feeling that I've got--
I've missed something.
-Well, the dairy.
-[laughs]
If that's the only thing I've missed,
-I'm⦠Yeah.
-You're all right.
How long do we have?
Bakers, you have five minutes left.
Now is the time to add
some dairy, I would say.
[chuckles]
I'm just breaking my freezer.
[indistinct chatter]
We have a few air pockets,
but it'll have to do.
Press it down, because why not?
I've touched it enough.
What I'm actually gonna do
just for ease of assembly is, base in.
Oh!
Oh, that's so cute.
[Jürgen] That's pretty awful.
[Chigs exclaims]
[Jürgen] And they don't hold together.
Oh. Bloody hell.
[Jürgen] And macarons are not right.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
[sighs]
Oh, bugger, am I breaking this biscuit?
Didn't think this through, did I?
[Giuseppe] I haven't moulded
the ice cream. In hindsight, I could've.
But I think that this suits
the whole shape better.
[Lizzie] It just looks like
I've been playing in the mud.
I have washed my nails, people of Britain.
I'm a bit annoyed about the air pockets,
but otherwise, yeah, happy.
-Happy, happy, happy.
-[Crystelle] Last bugger.
Bakers, your time is up.
Done. Done, done, done.
Please place your ice cream sandwiches
at the end of your workstations.
There is an element of, erm,
[chuckling] church decor in there.
Well, there's always another Technical
to redeem myself. [laughing]
[birds chirping]
[Noel] It's judgment time
for the bakers'
dairy-free ice cream sandwiches.
They're a little uneven. Rather huge.
[Paul] You've lost
a bit of the definition in the cuts.
[Prue] I think you could've forgotten
about telling us about the dogs
because they've disappeared.
Actually, I love the texture.
It's very dry and very crumbly.
I didn't think I was going to like it.
[snickers] I do.
There is a chocolatey hint to it,
which is slightly bitter,
which marries it beautifully
with the ice cream.
It's got a nice vanilla kick in it,
but you've got that praline as well.
I would've blitzed that really small
and folded that through
so you'd have ended up
with a bit more praline in your mouth.
What you do get is very good,
it's just messy.
-Which is normal for you, isn't it?
-Yeah.
[all chuckle]
But I think your flavours
and consistency are good.
-Ta.
-Thanks, Lizzie.
Thanks, guys.
-They are beautiful, Chigs.
-Thank you.
[Prue] Really beautiful.
-Very professional looking.
-[Chigs] Thank you.
[Prue] Look at that. Neat as a pin.
-The mango. Needs lots more.
-[Chigs] Mmm-hmm?
I think canned mango pulp
would have been better.
Not a lot of flavour
coming from the biscuit.
-[Chigs] Okay.
-Ermâ¦
Great texture, though.
The ice cream,
you do get the mango very subtly.
You do get that coconut as well.
But it's not going to last long,
it is very sorbet-like.
But, over all, it is nice. The ice cream
just needs more of a punch.
Okay. Thank you, guys.
Did you rest them before you baked them?
I didn't, because the Italian meringue
took so long to cool down.
The whole thing about a macaron
is the resting that creates the skin
which creates the dome,
which you do not have.
-Therefore, you end up with that.
-Yes.
[Prue] But you might have invented
something which is very suitable.
This is very chewy.
I like it.
-Chewy and almondy.
-[Jürgen] Mmm-hmm.
The nuts, you do get beautifully,
but the ice cream's the star here.
-Thank you.
-It's fantastic.
-Intense flavour of bananas.
-[Prue] Mmm-hmm.
-I think that's lovely.
-Hmm.
-Really good, Jürgen.
-Thank you very much.
-[exhales]
-Well done.
[Prue] Delicious.
It's a nice-looking, very uniform set.
[Prue] I absolutely agree.
It looks tempting and I want one.
[Crystelle chuckles] Good.
I think the flavour is absolutely lovely.
The texture of the ice cream
is a bit light and wet.
-That--
-I actually really like it. Yeah.
I've never had anything like that before.
No, the tahini in the biscuit
is akin to a sort of shortbread.
And the sesame comes through quite nicely.
Coffee levels
are perfect in the ice cream.
It is very flavoursome
and it holds on the tongue as well
which blends quite well.
I think you've done a good job.
I think you've done a really nice job.
-Well done, Crystelle.
-[Paul] Hmm. Thank you.
What? [chuckles]
[Prue] I think they look lovely.
Very interesting. It's almost got a--
[Paul] Looks like a craquelin. Yeah.
I think you've managed
pretty consistent shapes.
Let's have a look.
You said this is made with tofu?
Yes, this is made with tofu and soymilk.
[Prue] It's definitely not
as creamy as I thought it would be.
But the flavour is lovely.
Mmm, texture's fantastic.
It's a very short crispy biscuit, which,
just on its own, would be delicious.
But the ice cream is great.
The orange comes through, cooked through.
You do get a hit of the ginger as well.
[Prue] Oh,
the whole thing is just delicious.
You've done a great job with that.
I would love that just bashed up
in a bowl with a spoon and eat the lot.
[Prue] It's lovely.
-[Paul] Very clever.
-Thank you.
I don't have any
past experience in free-from,
so, this is probably
the most pleased I've ever been.
[Lizzie] What's new?
It's too big, don't look neat,
but they liked the flavours.
I was very nervous about my macarons.
But Prue liked my⦠[chuckles] "invention."
[Chigs] I think the others got amazing
feedback on their flavours,
and I didn't, so I need to
come out swinging in the Technical.
[Matt] The bakers were able
to practise their dairy-free Signature,
but they have no idea
what the Technical will be free from.
You lucky things,
it's time for your Technical,
which today has been set by the Prue.
-The Prue, any words of advice?
-Yes.
Flavour always matters,
but in this recipe it's absolutely key.
Thank you. Well, as ever,
this task is judged blind,
so we ask the judges to leave the tent.
[Noel] Where do you think they've gone?
To the dogs, mate,
like the rest of this country.
It's got to the point you can't even
put meat in a vegan recipe.
Honestly, you couldn't make it up.
For your Technical Challenge,
Prue would love you to make
eight identical vegan sausage rolls.
[Matt] Your sausage rolls should comprise
of crisp, golden, vegan rough puff pastry,
surrounding a mushroom and walnut filling.
They should be accompanied by a sticky,
caramelised red onion chutney.
[Matt] You have two hours.
-On your marks.
-Get set.
-[Noel] Bake.
-[Crystelle] Oh, for God's sake.
[Lizzie] I've made vegan sausage rolls
but not with mushrooms and walnuts.
Who doesn't like a sausage roll?
Haven't made sausage rolls before.
I haven't made vegan rough puff pastry.
This is going to be really interesting.
And interesting in every bad
sense of the word.
So, Prue, tell us all about
your vegan sausage rolls.
We're looking for eight
perfectly identical vegan sausage rolls
with really well laminated, crisp
rough puff pastry.
What fat do you put in the pastry?
Because you can't use butter.
No, it's a vegan block.
It's got almond, coconut and rapeseed oil
and then you treat it just like butter
when you're making rough puff.
I'm really quite impressed because it
has made really nice little laminations.
[Paul] They'll struggle with this,
with the vegan block,
which tends to melt very quickly.
If they chill it enough,
they'll be all right.
You just have to keep chilling it.
Mmm! Together with the chutney,
it's delicious.
The pastry is beautifully light.
And it's really flaky.
You wouldn't know it was vegan pastry.
Well, it's the quarter finals.
And I think this is
a very challenging Challenge.
It's certainly more difficult than
a straightforward sausage roll.
So, "Number one:
Make the dough for the rough puff."
Uh, we got flour, vegan block,
salt and water.
I've never used vegan block before.
It's got a very odd appearance.
It's going to be interesting
to see what it looks like.
I'm worried about the puff pastry because
I can't remember the last time I made it.
I'm looking for
the whole thing to bind together.
There you go.
And you see now it's clumping up.
I don't want to overhydrate the flour
'cause it'll become too sticky
to work with.
[Jürgen] The dough needs to be firm
but a little bit pliable.
I feel like maybe I didn't put
enough water in my pastry.
Just gonna go with it
and hope that it works.
"Number two: Laminate the dough
using the frozen vegan block."
[Chigs] It looks like tofu, it's weird.
[Lizzie] It laminates,
so once you roll it out,
it creates layers, and then,
in the oven, the butter melts
and creates steam
which puffs the pastry up.
Do you like laminating?
-I like makin' a puff pastry. Yeah.
-Do ya?
-This is actually--
-That's why you're making me one?
[chuckling] Yeah.
"Complete four single turns."
[groaning] I have no idea what that means.
[Chigs] I'm gonna go
for a normal book fold.
A third of it over, another third over
and turn it. Gotta do that four times.
I don't know if it'll be the way they
want it to be, but it'll be laminated.
[Crystelle] That's fold number two.
Why is mine disgusting?
[Lizzie] Close the sides in
so nothing comes out.
Is this for the puff business?
This is for the puff business
and this is a bad thing here.
[Noel] Butter come through?
-[Jürgen] The butter leaked out.
-[Noel] Oh, no.
-What could that mean?
-Bad lamination.
[Noel] Bad lamination.
What could that mean?
-We want loose laminations.
-Eh, Star Baker?
What could that mean?
[chuckling] "Cross Paul." Paul be cross.
And now I'm going
to wrap this and chill it.
[Giuseppe] It needs to be
resting in between folding.
So I'm gonna be putting this
in the fridge for another ten minutes.
[Chigs] Let the butter solidify again.
If the butter melts,
it'll ooze out in the oven.
I wanna keep it chilled
so it stays in the pastry.
[Lizzie] What am I doing?
"Finely chop the mushrooms and walnuts,
fry the onions."
[sighs heavily]
I like a veggie sausage roll,
but I don't normally make the middle bit.
I get the veggie sausages
and smush them with a fork
and throw them in some puff pastry.
-Easier, isn't it, than all this faffing?
-Something savoury for a change.
-Yeah, exactly.
-[Noel] Paul loves savoury.
He won't be able to resist getting his
sausage roll fingers onto sausage rolls.
-[both chuckling]
-Onto the sausage rolls.
-That's how he measure out the sizes.
-[laughs]
He puts his index finger down.
[Giuseppe] I do a lot of cooking at home.
I usually do this at least once a week
'cause my son Georgio's favourite pizza
is mushroom pizza.
[Crystelle] Once I've got that in the pan,
I'll go back to my pastry.
"Four single turns."
I might be doing double turns.
I'm very confused with lamination.
[Chigs] That's it.
Turns done.
I will save this now until later.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
-What was that?
-That was free from comedy.
We're good at that.
Jeez, already?
"Number four: Add the lentils,
miso, flaxseed,
lemon juice, parsley, sage and thyme."
That's quite a complex recipe.
[Lizzie] Mmm! Tasty!
[Crystelle] Miso! Hello, old friend.
This is different from this morning's,
but I guess this is what
gives it the meaty flavour
that you miss from actual meat.
Parsley, sage and thyme.
Do they do sausage rolls much in Italy?
Ah, yes! They call them differently.
They're called rustici.
-Ru⦠rustici?
-Rustici.
-[Matt in Italian accent] Rustici.
-[Giuseppe] Rustici.
-Rustici.
-Good enough!
[operatically] Rustici! Rustici!
-Don't do the--
-Rustici!
-There you go.
-Rustici.
Everybody make your rustici!
Rustici!
[laughs] I love the voice.
That's my mixture done.
I'm happy with that.
Let's get this pastry out and rolled out.
We have to carve eight rectangles
10 centimetres by 15 out of this.
So it needs to be relatively thin.
Damn it! Is that not enough pastry?
[Lizzie] At this point, it's just getting
stuff done, isn't it?
It's dodgy as, but it's eight.
[Crystelle] I've got off-cuts.
See what I can do with this.
For God's sake, come on, Crystelle!
"Cut ten diagonal slits
through the top half
of the pastry rectangle."
[Chigs] Six⦠sevenâ¦
[Lizzie] Eight⦠nine⦠ten.
[Chigs] I'm gonna start
makin' the sausage rolls now.
Gross.
I was gonna measure this out,
but I don't have time.
This is not gonna look neat.
It is very rushed.
[Crystelle] And seal. I mean,
this is shoddy, isn't it?
[Lizzie] Paul's going to be, like,
"The crimp on that is awful."
[Noel] Have you made
vegan sausage rolls before?
Yeah, me little sister
is, like, a veggie vegan.
-[Noel] Is she?
-Yeah, she's dead cool.
[Noel] All the dead-cool kids are vegan,
aren't they?
-Yeah.
-Are you vegan?
-No.
-[Noel] Okay.
-I'll leave it there.
-[chuckles]
All right, glaze.
One tablespoon of almond milk,
and one tablespoon of agave,
which I'm gonna eyeball. There.
[Crystelle] Why do I always
end up rushing in this?
[Giuseppe] Ah⦠Ooh!
Goin' in.
[Crystelle] They'll have to go in.
-I mean, they're disgustingly ugly.
-[oven beeps]
[oven beeping]
I'll check after 20.
Until they're brown.
That's a bit of a rush. [exhales]
You have half an hour left.
[Lizzie] Half an hour.
Let's go, go, go, go.
"Make the caramelised red onion chutney."
More choppin'.
-[Chigs] Sizzle.
-[Jürgen] Balsamic vinegar.
I haven't made a chutney.
Not so sure about the flavour.
-[Chigs] How much chilli does it say?
-[Crystelle] I did a whole chilli.
-One red chilli, finely chopped.
-I don't know how much to put in.
I'm gonna go with that much.
Oh! Ooh.
[clears throat] Spicy chutney.
It needs to get all gooey and sticky.
How long have we got?
Bakers, you have ten minutes left.
[oven beeps]
They're rising. That's a good sign
you've done something right. [chuckles]
My pastry looks like short crust pastry.
And I laminated it.
Get more colour! Get more colour!
[Jürgen] I'm just turning the tray.
-[tray clatters]
-[gasps]
This is bad. [sighs]
You didn't see it. [laughs]
Bakers, you have one minute left.
That's it. Coming out.
I'm doing it!
Yeah, looks done to me.
[sarcastically] Oh, yummy! Don't these
look appetising? Oh, dear, oh, dear.
They're done. So, another try.
These ones look better.
[Jürgen] Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!
[Giuseppe] It looks and tastes good.
I'd eat that.
Bakers, your time is up!
Nightmare.
Please bring your bakes to the table
and place them behind your photograph.
[Noel] Paul and Prue are looking for
eight crisp and beautifully laminated
vegan sausage rolls.
Made with vegan rough puff pastry,
and served with caramelised onion chutney.
-Bit of a mixed bag, isn't it?
-[Paul] Let's start with this one?
There should be a better glaze on the top.
[Paul] I'm happy with the colour.
It's very thin.
But they've sealed the edges
as well as the front.
-The flavour is okay. Good balance.
-[Prue] Mmm.
Actually, the um,
onion chutney is good as well.
I like the mixture inside because
it's crumbly and soft. Lovely!
[Paul] Okay, moving on to these pasties.
[Prue chuckles] I mean,
they're meant to look like sausage rolls.
[Paul] It's a bit rough and ready.
The flavour's not bad, actually.
Did get a mouthful of nuts.
The onion chutney looks good.
I think the vegan
shortening has run out of it.
So it's rather tough.
I know, there's a lot of
chilli in that. [chuckles]
[coughs]
[Prue] My nose is running
'cause of the chilli.
Wow! Milk, please!
You can have some oat milk.
[all laughing]
-Happy with the chilli.
-[both laugh]
[Prue] That's a lot of chilli. Right.
This one is a lot better looking.
I think these are flat,
but they all look pretty much the same.
[Paul] Problem is the seals are so big.
Good mushroom flavour.
[Paul] Mmm! Mushroom flavour is there.
I think they're a bit overbaked.
-[Paul] A bit dry.
-[Prue] Mmm.
[Paul] Moving on,
this one is definitely overbaked.
-[Prue] But the lamination is quite good.
-[Paul] Yeah, the lamination you can see.
It's definitely overbaked,
but the flakiness is excellent.
It's dried out the interior, so it's drawn
the moisture out from the mushroom.
On to the last one.
-[Prue] They're a bit big and clumsy.
-[Paul] They are.
-[Paul] The colour looks nice.
-[Prue] Mmm.
-[Paul] It's a bit dry.
-[Prue] I like the flavour.
-[Paul] It is okay.
-[Prue] It is herby, but I like it.
[Paul] Okay.
[speaking indistinctly]
[Matt] Paul and Prue will now rank
the vegan sausage rolls
from worst to first.
In fifth place, we have this one.
Crystelle, not good shape,
not good glaze, too much chilli.
-Crystelle, come here a minute.
-Oh, good God.
-You want me to try that chutney?
-[Prue] He'll give you a handful.
-I actually did, I--
-[Paul] Did you try it?
-I kept the seeds in.
-You want more than that.
-Oh.
-[all laughing]
I did try it.
I mean, I'm okay with spice but--
[clears throat]
[all laugh]
Oh, I wish I had your timing.
I apologise.
In fourth spot, we have this one.
It's a bit of a mess, Jürgen.
It's all over the place.
It's too thick and untidy.
Third place, we have this one.
Lizzie, they all look quite good.
But they are very overbaked.
Second, we've this one.
Giuseppe, it's not bad.
They're just too flat
and you've used too much seam.
It needs to be bolder and a thinner seam.
Which means,
this one is in the first place.
It looks good, it tastes good.
It's moist inside
and the chutney is lovely.
-[Crystelle] Bravo!
-[all applaud]
And the winner gets to eat
all of Crystelle's chilli.
[all laugh]
Oh, my God, first!
I feel like I've got a full house now.
I've got a handshake,
I've got a Star Baker,
first in the Technical.
I'm well happy.
I needed that after this morning.
[sighs] Not my finest hour.
I feel like I'm definitely in
the running to go home.
But I just hope and pray
tomorrow is a better day for me.
It's pretty level.
Even playing field, yet again.
So it all counts on tomorrow.
It's exciting, isn't it? [chuckles]
[Matt] That was a Technical
in which you weren't very happy
with anyone, were you?
This was the week we needed Freya, really.
She'd have loved doing that.
The Signature over all was good.
They all did well.
But, for me, at the front is,
of course, Giuseppe.
He's the one to beat.
I mean, the likes of Chigs, who did well
in the Technical, could catch up.
But Giuseppe, if he drops it,
they're all going to be on him.
The problem is, I can't see
Giuseppe taking his eye off the ball.
Who's in trouble?
[Paul] Both Lizzie and Crystelle,
coming into the Showstopper,
are the ones down at the bottom.
Crystelle is just so erratic.
She could be a bit more consistent
instead of genius or terrible.
[Prue] But Lizzie
is almost determined to not be neat.
And I want to strangle her
because she's a good baker,
-she's great--
-Be good TV.
-You must stop killing people.
-[chuckling] Strangling the baker.
[Matt] We've talked about this.
Hello, bakers. Welcome back to the tent.
It's time for your Showstopper Challenge.
For your Free-From Showstopper Challenge,
the judges would like you to create
a visually spectacular, gluten-free
celebration cake.
[Noel] It needs
to be beautifully decorated,
and your cake must have
at least two tiers.
[received pronunciation] Like the two
tears I shed for my gluten brothers
who've been cast aside
for the wants and vagaries of fashion.
You have four hours.
-On your marks.
-Get set.
Please do bake.
[Noel, normally] The gluten-free
revolution began in the 1950s,
when it was linked to
a host of medical conditions.
My sister-in-law,
she's intolerant to gluten,
so she avoids it as much as possible.
[Noel] Gluten can be found in all flour
made with barley, rye and wheat.
A sponge traditionally uses plain flour.
They haven't got that option,
so they've got to think,
"What flour am I going to use?"
[Prue] You can do all sorts of flours,
but because they don't have gluten,
they tend to make a cake
that easily breaks apart
and it's quite a good idea
to give it more solidity
by adding quite a lot of eggs and butter.
[Lizzie] There is a lot of eggs
on the go today.
Twenty-five? It's an omelette cake,
basically. [chuckling]
I expect the texture to be
the same as a traditional cake.
They really need to bring their A-game
to get through to that semi final
and get a chance
to get into the final this year.
-[Paul] Hi, Crystelle.
-Hi, good morning.
Tell us about your gluten-free
celebration cake.
It's dedicated to my grandma,
who's celebrating
a very big birthday this year.
Before my sister's engagement, she planned
out her dress for my sister's wedding,
and hanging on the back of her door.
So, I'm going to pipe
my grandma's cascading dress.
-Goodness.
-Wow.
Going all out, cause I'm on thin ice,
and I really want
to prove myself and stay.
[Matt] As well as an ambitious
full-length gown piped in buttercream,
Crystelle is sandwiching Jaggery creme pat
between her gluten-free sponges,
flavoured with coconut,
walnut and cardamom.
This is cardamom from home which has been
roasted and ground to a fine powder.
Here we've got rice flour.
I've found that rice flour,
funnily enough, works okay,
so I just went with rice flour in the end.
[Matt] To make their sponges,
most of the bakers
are using a gluten-free alternative
to traditional flour.
[Lizzie] Coconut flour
absorbs liquid like mental.
[Matt] And for fluffiness,
are mixing in a key additive.
[Crystelle] So this is Xanthum gum.
Clearly, I know loads about it.
I can't pronounce the stinking thing.
It's a natural product.
And it acts as a stabiliser and a binder.
Like gluten in wheat flour.
[Matt] But for his gluten-free creationâ¦
[Giuseppe] I've tried to stay away from
the additives and tricks you can use.
Mostly because I'm not familiar with them.
â¦Giuseppe has
a different strategy altogether.
I'm using a recipe
which is naturally gluten-free.
It doesn't include any flour.
But, by whipping the egg white separately,
I'm incorporating a bit more air
and giving it more fluffiness.
[Noel] His plan to go
flour-free is a risk,
but it's not just the sponge
that may fall flat
if he doesn't get the gluten-free version
of Black Forest Gateau just right.
[Giuseppe] As far as I know,
the Black Forest is Paul's favourite cake
and Prue doesn't really like itâ¦
Oh.
â¦so I've put myself
in a very awkward position.
You've split the judges,
which is definitely the right thing to do.
-[both laughing]
-On week eight.
-Good luck.
-Wedge them out.
-Yikes.
-[both chuckle]
[Matt] Like Giuseppeâ¦
[Chigs] I'm going to add
the apple cider vinegar now.
You won't get the acidity of the vinegar,
you'll get a background of it.
Won't be like
your fish and chips. [chuckles]
â¦Chigs is also pinning his hopes on a
gluten-free version of a popular classic.
[Chigs] I'm making
a two-tiered red velvet cake.
So, my cousin is gluten-free.
He's been gluten-free for,
I think, about two years now.
So, he was my guinea pig for this cake.
I got a good review from him.
So, it's all riding on him
for this to turn out well.
[Noel] Featuring an ornate
filigree chocolate collar,
his two-tier red velvet cake
will be filled with strawberry jam
and alternating layers of chocolate
and vanilla cream-cheese frosting.
-[Matt] Are you fan of free-from baking?
-I don't know how I feel about it.
-Really?
-It's all right.
I'd rather have the full-fat stuff.
[Crystelle] So, I'm doing two tiers,
and each tier
I've got three layers of sponge.
So, six layers
of sponge in total.
[Matt] With multiple spongesâ¦
So, these are all going to go in.
â¦each requiring a different bake timeâ¦
These should be done within 30 minutes.
That's going to take another 15 minutes
on top cause it's a thicker cake.
â¦anything less than total precision,
and they can kiss goodbye
to cakes with a uniform texture.
[Chigs] So, they're going at 160,
for 25 minutes.
I'm gonna have to rotate them.
[Matt] But for
his super-size Showstopperâ¦
I'm going for the three tiers.
[Matt] â¦it's even more
of a challenge for Jürgen.
[Jürgen] So, white chocolate,
milk chocolate and dark chocolate.
That means three sponges
of each colour for each tier.
Means nine sponges.
I calculated for 80 people.
It's going to be really big.
[Noel] To up the chocolate ante
even further,
Jürgen will be separating his sponges
with chocolate buttercream
and decorating with chocolate ombre,
and a chocolate ganache drip.
[Jürgen] My inspiration is my wife.
She loves chocolate cakes and she's
always screaming for the perfect
chocolate cake for her birthday.
So, this is inspired by that.
[Noel] While Jürgen's out to impress
his wife and the judges
with the sheer size of his Showstopper,
Lizzie is taking
a more philosophical approach.
I'm celebrating being different.
It'll be a representation of my brain.
Because I've got quite a few SEN issues.
SEN is special educational needs.
Dyslexic, dyspraxic, ADHD
and concentration disorder.
I think people who are
slightly different need to be celebrated,
and represented.
I just love the idea of it
all being your personality. It's great.
And the decorations also, you know,
like the '70s shag rugs that you get.
-Yeah.
-That's what it's going to look like.
[all laughing]
[Matt] Rice paper thins
covered with a jumble of letters
and numbers to represent Lizzie's dyslexia
will protrude from two tiers
of coconut flour sponge
filled with pineapple jam
and coated in a kaleidoscopic shag pile
of Italian Meringue Buttercream.
You know, like, brain force,
like I get a lot of brain force,
that's what that's meant to represent.
Concentrate on your decoration,
your finesse. All right?
It's gonna be my brain.
There's gonna be no finesse to it.
-Organised chaos.
-[Prue chuckling] That's fine.
Cake should be ready.
[Lizzie] I'm coming out.
[Noel] With numerous bakes to juggleâ¦
I think Cake Tetris.
For another two minutes.
â¦and a long list of fillings
and decorations to get readyâ¦
Cream cheese, 400 grams, come on.
There you are, that'll do.
â¦the bakers now face
a multitasking minefield.
[Giuseppe] Got the cake
baking in the oven,
so I'm also making the cherry jam.
You can't have a Black Forest
without some kirsch.
Coming out and going in.
[Matt] But nobody is feeling
the pressure more than Jürgenâ¦
One.
â¦who is yet to make all his cake batter.
[Jürgen] Two.
Three.
So, I need to keep my head together.
I'm going to whisk up my third sponge,
which is my chocolate sponge.
[Crystelle] This is jaggery,
which is from my grandma.
It's almost like
a really dark brown sugar.
I use it a lot when I'm cooking
just to sweeten curries and stuff.
-[Noel] Week 8, quarter finals.
-[Crystelle] Yeah.
You have a good Showstopper,
you're in the semi finals.
It is absolutely mad.
You can do it, as well. You've got skills.
Noel, this is the nicest
you've ever been to me.
I'm really shocked.
Usually it's, "Why are you here?"
-I know you respond to a bit of banter.
-I do. I am, my--
If I said to Jürgen, you know,
"Why are you here?"
[both laughing]
[Noel, mimicking] "Because I'm
an efficient, powerful scientific baker."
-[laughing]
-"Why are you here?"
And I'd go,
"Good point. I'd better get my coat."
[both laughing]
[Chigs] Right.
This is the last of my cakes now.
That's cooled.
Oh, so hot.
There's no more baking left to do.
So now it's all about stuff cooling down
and decorating.
[Jürgen] Last three.
It's about time.
Bakers, you have one hour left.
What's happening here?
Oh, we're free from the tent.
Oh.
-[Noel] It's nice out here. The nature.
-[Matt sighs happily]
Nice.
Shall we strip off?
[chuckles] Again?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Chigs] All right,
I'm gonna start building now.
[Giuseppe] It looks baked.
It is, uh, chewy inside,
which is what it's supposed to be.
There's another plate spinning.
I'm coming out.
Cooling times are usually
the limiting times.
Oh, it's going to be tight.
[Lizzie] Okay. That is pineapples,
jam and lime.
[Chigs] It is the chocolate cream cheese
and it's not runny,
which I'm really cool about.
So these are amarena, black sour cherries.
They're very flavoursome and powerful,
so if you put too many,
you might end up pushing
the balance of flavour a bit too far.
[Crystelle] Cake number two.
[Jürgen] This is whiskey and apricot.
Look at you go!
Whoops. Sorry.
No, it's all right.
I'm-- It's very refreshing.
It's not the worst thing
to be sploshed on.
No. No, I can definitely
think of worse things.
-Yeah?
-Yeah.
[Crystelle] Right.
I need to decorate the hell out of it,
which is going to take me about ten years.
[Giuseppe] It's going to be all covered up
in mirror glaze.
[Lizzie] I want to see loads of colour.
And then, like, very textured.
I love a good rose.
[Giuseppe] This is going to be
a messy exercise.
[chuckles] It is very satisfying,
isn't it?
[Chigs] So, this is the ganache
for the chocolate drips
on the bottom layer.
[Lizzie] It's all the things
going on in me brain.
Some people think, ADHD,
you gotta be crazy,
you know, loads of energy,
but it's like you've got
too many thoughts in your head
and you don't actually know
what to think about.
So it's all about colour
and, you know, like brain fuzz.
[Noel] Looks like a tricky stage.
Better for my presence.
Absolutely.
You might not believe it,
but you are a calming influence.
That's never been said before.
[Lizzie] Oh, that's a bit wonky, isn't it?
-And this is the second tier.
-Oh, it's the second-- Wow.
How big is your cake?
-It's big.
-[Noel] Big.
You can get inside it?
-Ah, not quite.
-[Noel] You're gonna ride it in?
Oh, I'm not gonna talk now,
'cause I don't wanna get blamed
for that when that goes⦠[laughing]
This is stressful territory,
but I'm just gonna⦠Oops.
â¦go on as quick as I can.
Bakers, you have 15 minutes left.
I feel like I need to hurry up a bit.
Wow. I'm feeling so nervous.
What's wrong with me? Stop it.
Pipe faster.
[Crystelle] Right.
So, that's the bodice.
[Chigs] This chocolate is for the colour.
That will get wrapped
around the top layer of the cake.
I have to tidy up the edges
with lots of Chantilly cream.
[Jürgen] You understand
why you see me move very fast?
Yeah? I'm on track.
[Crystelle] My grandma,
she hasn't had
many opportunities to wear a nice dress.
So I think this will be almost like
the dress that she never got to wear.
[Lizzie] Do you think
this counts as finesse?
[Jürgen] So, I need the ganache
to run down the sides of the cake.
[Chigs] Nerve-wracking bit now.
[Crystelle] Shall I just move it
from A to B? I'm gonna have to.
There's a breeze. I'll wait for it to go
because it's gonna
knock over my cake, I can just feel it.
[Jürgen] How much time left?
Bakers, you have one minute left.
[Chigs] Oh, come on.
-I've gotta peel this off now.
-[Crystelle] The breeze is still there.
Unfortunately, I can't move
until that breeze has gone.
Gotta put
the decorating strawberries on top.
Finished in a hurry, huh?
We are staying very still.
Bakers, your time is up.
Done. Drop mic.
Please step away from your bakes.
[sighs in relief]
I feel like I've done
a gymnastics routine.
[Chigs] It looks unbelievable.
Look how neat that is.
It's supposed to be my grandma's dress.
What! Your grandma's
got a dress like that?
-Well, not that⦠[laughing]
-Go on, Gran.
Well done, everybody.
[Lizzie] Who thought I could decorate
a cake like that? [laughs]
God, I'm getting emotional.
I'm so bloody proud of you.
-[Lizzie] Don't start crying, I'll cry.
-[Crystelle] I'm not gonna cry.
-I will cry. [sighs]
-[Chigs] Oh, bless you.
[Noel] After four hours
making gluten-free celebration cakes
with a place in the semi finals at stake,
the bakers now face the judgment
of Paul and Prue.
Crystelle, would you like to bring
your Showstopper up here?
[murmuring nervously] Gotta go for it.
Try not to walk like an idiot.
[Paul] It's a great-looking cake.
[Prue chuckles] It's quite witty, too.
I like the little bodice.
-Thank you.
-[Prue] Shall we see inside?
[Paul] Love the roses.
-Think you've done a great job with that.
-Thank you.
[Prue] Mmm. I love the texture.
-It's quite nutty and moist.
-Mmm-hmm.
[Paul] You wouldn't know
it's a gluten-free cake at all.
[Prue] No. The bake is beautiful.
It's the whole coating and the icing
go beautifully with the sponge.
If I have one criticism,
I think that it's very heavy
on the buttercream.
[Paul] But you need that
against the cardamom.
[Prue] If you get
a mouthful like that⦠[chuckles]
Oh, I don't know, I like that.
-[all laughing]
-You'd be perfectly happy with it.
[Paul] I think you've done a great job.
-Well done. Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
[Prue] Very neat. Very beautiful.
[whispering] I don't know.
It's the top, it's just
a little bit awkward for me.
It hides a lot when you pipe like this.
Oh, okay.
My cake is inspired to the flavours
of the Black Forest,
that is, cherry, chocolate and, uh, cream.
It's actually a bit gluey.
Kirsch and the cherries are very strong.
[Paul] The cherries are pretty sporadic.
The sponge is quite stodgy.
-Is this a Chantilly?
-[Giuseppe] Yes.
I would have done an Italian meringue.
That would've worked beautifully well.
Underwhelmed.
-[Prue] Mmm.
-Mmm.
I expected better from you.
I do think it looks great.
-Thank you.
-You got good drops
on your naked cake down at the bottom.
The colour's worked.
It's a nice job. It looks like a crown.
There's a lot of detail in it.
It's really impressive, isn't it?
[Paul] Let's see if we can chop
into this bad boy, shall we?
[Prue] The layers are lovely and distinct.
-I love it.
-[chuckles]
It's spot-on.
It's a great chocolate sponge.
And, actually, you've got
a lot of buttercream in there.
-[Prue] Mmm.
-But it works.
Cream-cheese frosting again,
that's, like, cooling on the tongue.
That's a nice cake.
I can't fault it. I think it's lovely.
-Thank you.
-[Paul] Great job, Chigs.
-Thank you very much.
-Well done.
Who knew right at the beginning
that you could produce that
in the quarter finals?
I know. Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
I would have never known
that was a chocolate cake.
[Prue laughs]
I think it looks absolutely beautiful.
[Paul] The whole effect
with the drips you've got
are all perfect and so is the piping.
-[Prue] Oh, that looks so beautiful.
-[Noel] Wow!
That apricot with the chocolate sponges
is beautiful. It's really nicely baked.
-It's not dry at all.
-[Jürgen] Mmm-Hmm.
I also think the buttercream
is beautifully light.
-Thank you very much.
-[Paul] Well done.
-[Matt] Well done.
-[Noel] Well done, Jürgs.
-[Paul] Matches his T-shirt.
-[Prue] Yeah. [chuckling]
-[laughing]
-[Prue] Ombre T-shirt.
[sighs, whispering]
Well done. Really good.
This is my celebration of being different.
I mean, that is just amazing.
And the rice paper offshoots
are just so beautifully done.
Look at the tiny little
letters and numbers.
I love it. It reminds me of something
from the cartoon The Yellow Submarine.
I've never seen a cake like it.
I don't think any of us have.
So, it's a lime Swiss meringue
and a coconut cake with pineapple jam.
You really need to eat
the buttercream with it
because the pineapple is very strong
and there's a lot of it.
I do get a hint of the lime.
And you need that in there.
You've got the coconut
in the sponge as well,
which you can taste.
-[Prue] Yes, the coconut's good.
-And you've got the pineapple.
I'd have that on my 40th any day.
When it eventually comes round.
-[laughing]
-[Lizzie] Okay. [chuckles]
-[Prue] I think it's wonderful.
-We asked for exquisite and finesse.
And we got it.
I knew you could do it.
-[Paul] Thank you.
-Ta.
[Matt] Well done.
It's just fantastic.
-[mouthing] Oh, my God!
-[mouthing] I know.
Oh, my God. Finesse!
I got finesse.
I've won Bake Off in my mind.
[Chigs] I don't know how I'm doing this.
Paul's comment was
that he couldn't fault it.
So, really overwhelming.
Happy, really happy.
Mine was a bit of a disaster. [chuckles]
I think that puts me,
you know, in an awkward position,
despite having done quite well yesterday.
I'm not sure what to expect, to be honest.
[Crystelle] I'm very happy that went well,
but I don't feel safe at all.
I'll cross my fingers, my toes,
say a prayer.
And, hopefully, my grandma,
who I dedicated my cake to,
is saying a prayer for me, too.
Wow. The world has turned upside down.
Four extraordinary Showstoppers
and Giuseppe didn't really impress you.
-The middle was no good at all.
-[Paul] It was stodgy.
But I think, ultimately,
Giuseppe was in a strong position anyway.
Giuseppe had done enough prior
to these two challenges to save himself.
-Yeah. I think Giuseppe's safe.
-What about Jürgen?
Those layers of the white,
milk and dark chocolate.
-Clever.
-And they were beautifully done.
-It was a delicious cake.
-So he's gotta be in line for Star Baker.
Absolutely. And I think Jürgen stepped up,
but he's not the only one.
Chigs. The cream cheese frosting,
the buttercream,
the sponge itself.
-Beautiful.
-[Prue] This was a faultless cake.
Well, let's talk about Lizzie's.
She made a cake and a pet
at the same time.
The time she spent, you know,
creating that bear rug,
we all knew she could come up
with something with finesse.
-I think she's done it.
-It's a complete triumph.
Now, Crystelle came into today in trouble.
Did she do enough with her Showstopper?
Problem is,
everybody else has done the same.
They've all done really well.
But Crystelle and Lizzie
are absolutely neck and neck.
I think you've got to look at it,
generally, as bakers,
which one deserves their place
in the semi final?
Well, bakers, you have made the judges'
lives quite difficult this week
because all five of you
are terrific bakers
and all five of you have had moments
of real excellence in the tent this week.
But we do have to separate you.
And I'm lucky in that
I have the job of telling you
which one of you
is going to be Star Baker.
I'm delighted to say
that Star Baker this week isâ¦
Chigs.
-Well done.
-[Crystelle] Well done!
I've got the horrible job of announcing
the person who's going home.
And, as Matt said, it was so close.
You've all been so fantastic.
The person who's leaving us isâ¦
Lizzie.
[voice breaking] No. No. No. No.
No, no, no, no, no, no!
[Crystelle sobbing]
[both sobbing]
I feel really proud of myself.
I'm really happy. Oh, God. [chuckles]
I was so overwhelmed to even get here
and now I'm, like, a quarter finalist.
And now I'm dead Scouse 'cause I'm crying.
-[Crystelle] Bloody Technical Challenges.
-You were so good.
Thanks. Oh, God. [chuckles]
[Lizzie] It's such an amazing experience,
oh, to, like, meet the people
that I've met and, like,
learn everything.
[sighs]
[Paul] You did really well.
It's really sad to see Lizzie go,
someone from my neck of the woods.
She's been a bit up and down
over the weeks,
but, actually, this week,
she did really well.
The problem was she came up with an ace
when everybody else did as well.
I am proud of myself.
It's, like, happy tears.
I can't wait to go and walk my dog,
to be honest.
[all laughing]
[Chigs] I can't believe
I got a Star Baker.
Getting one was brilliant,
but getting two? Wow!
It feels good
and I just get more
and more confident week on week.
[Crystelle] Semi final
of The Great British Bake Off.
I don't think
it's going to sink in for a while.
[sighs]
Semi finals! [laughing]
[closing theme music playing]
Explain it to me again?
-It's Free-From Week.
-What does that mean?
It means this week
we've got a vegan bake,
we've got a dairy-free bake
and a gluten-free bake.
-Like this stuff here.
-Has anyone told Paul yet?
I just told him a couple of minutes ago.
-And he was fine with that?
-Yeah, absolutely fine.
[growling]
Let's scarper.
[snarling]
Actually, that's really nice.
Welcome to The Great British Baking Show.
[snarling]
[Matt] Now it's the quarter finalâ¦
Oh, bloody hell.
â¦and Free-From Week.
[coughs]
Nightmare.
[Matt] With a series
of challenges free from dairyâ¦
This one's tough
'cause Paul's a proper pudding lad.
-â¦meatâ¦
-[Giuseppe] Ohâ¦
Why is mine disgusting?
â¦and gluten.
-Organised chaos. [chuckles]
-[Prue] That's fine.
[Matt] But in order
to reach the semi finalâ¦
[Giuseppe] How long have we got left?
I'm just breaking my freezer.
â¦the bakers
will need to be free from disaster.
[Jürgen exclaims]
-I expected better from you.
-[sighs]
[opening theme music playing]
Week eight, quarter final.
Why am I still here? [laughs]
This Free-From Week,
I'm actually quite excited about it.
I never made anything dairy-free
or gluten-free or anything like that,
so I don't really know how it all tastes.
My objective
for this week is to survive. [laughs]
Just gotta keep everything
as Lizzie as possible.
I'm gonna prove a point
that free-from has as little finesse
as all me other food. [chuckles]
Good morning, bakers.
Welcome back to the tent
for the quarter final.
-Whoo!
-And a celebration of free-from baking.
[laughs] Free from baking, no baking.
We can just go lie down in hammocks
and eat some loganberry jam.
-Let's go. Oh.
-No, I think you've misunderstood.
-There's still baking? That's a shame.
-Yeah.
For your Signature Challenge,
the judges would like you each
to make a batch of eight
identical dairy-free ice cream sandwiches.
The ice cream must be beautifully made
and sandwiched between
two perfectly baked biscuits.
Any flavour you like.
Remember, kids, they must be dairy-free.
-You have three hours.
-On your marks.
-Get set.
-Bake.
I've had ice cream sandwiches.
I've never made them at home before.
I don't think anyone is doing
a dairy-free ice cream on a regular basis.
The aim is to get an ice cream
that sets, but is still creamy.
It's quite tricky.
[Paul] In this challenge,
we've asked them to be dairy-free.
They can use eggs, but obviously
the use of cream and butter is out.
I imagine we'll see a lot
of coconut milk and oat milk.
[Jürgen] This is coconut cream.
It's a bit thicker.
It has more fat than coconut milk.
We've asked for an ice cream sandwich
because we want a baked element.
[Paul] It's all about textures.
The silky smooth with the ice cream,
and the crispy biscuit.
How are they gonna do it?
We wanna see their characters coming out
but, above all, it must taste amazing.
-[Paul] Hey.
-[Lizzie] Hello!
Hello, Lizzie.
Tell us all about
your sandwich ice creams.
Erm, my dairy replacement
is oat milk and, like, fake cream.
And my sandwich ice creams are just
vanilla with, erm, some almond brittle in.
Because it's all about, like,
when I take my dog on a walk,
I see the Mr Whippy van after,
so she's allowed vanilla ice cream.
-[Prue] Oh.
-[Lizzie chuckles]
[Noel] Lizzie's almond,
praline and vanilla ice cream
will be sandwiched
between dark chocolate biscuits
embossed with a pattern
in honour of her dog Prue.
Can you explain
the meaning of this? [laughs]
It's all dogs,
'cause it's about walking my dog.
Are you gonna get
a bit of finesse with the pattern?
-Yeah.
-How big are these gonna be, the biscuits?
Oh, this is my issue, isn't it?
So they are about, I'd say, that lid size.
[Noel laughs]
-I thinkâ¦
-That's okay.
-[Lizzie] You don't think that's good?
-Lizzie, don't you be put off by him.
I never am, Prue.
I just don't listen to him.
[all laugh]
[Chigs] When I did my research,
dairy-free ice cream sets
slightly harder than normal ice cream.
Just trying to get as close
to normal ice cream as possible.
[Matt] The fat, sugar,
protein and water content
of the bakers' chosen dairy substitutes
will all affect the crystal formation
of their ice creams.
Rather than using whole milk,
I've got a plant-based, erm,
kind of cream, and a cashew nut milk.
[Matt] So it's crucial
they've researched how their alternatives
will impact the taste and texture.
[Giuseppe] The hope is that
the tofu will give the creaminess.
[Matt] And Giuseppe is taking
his dairy-free ice cream one step further.
The dairy alternative
will be tofu and soymilk.
So, the ice cream itself
is vegan and virtually fat-free.
-Wow.
-Delicious.
[all laugh]
No, actually, it does sound good.
[Matt] Rustic ginger
and maple syrup cookies
will contain Giuseppe's orange ice cream
made with silken tofu and soya milk.
One of the biggest challenges
has been to get the ice cream
to taste of orange enough.
So I'm using orange juice, orange zest
and candied orange peel to go into it.
I'm also adding a drop of orange essence,
and that should be enough.
[Noel] Also hoping
to pack a punch with his flavoursâ¦
-[Chigs] In goes the coconut milk.
-â¦is Chigs.
Gotta chop up nearly 600 grams of mangoes.
I know my mum's probably watching me,
"Why are you wasting
all that mango in there?" [laughs]
Not getting the best yield out of
the mango, but I ain't got time, soz.
[Matt] Sat between two pistachio
and cardamom biscuits,
Chigs is hoping
his mum's favourite tropical flavours
of mango, lime and coconut shine through.
But taste isn't Chigs' only concern.
Need to make sure it's creamy enough.
'Cause in the practice tent,
mine turned into a sorbet
'cause of the water content,
'cause I used different mangoes.
A lot of things will impact this.
-How's the practice gone for this?
-I left the freezer door open.
-Good.
-So, they all melted in the freezer.
Great.
So, that's how practice went.
[Giuseppe] I've added
all the flavours to the ice cream mix.
But I think I'm ready to go in there.
[Matt] With the ice cream
elements in placeâ¦
-[exclaiming]
-â¦it's time to get churning.
-[chuckles]
-[Crystelle] All right. In she goes.
What this will do is keep churning
and bring down the temperature.
Because it's dairy-free, you ain't gonna
get that proper silky stuff.
You will get a slightly firmer ice cream,
It's getting that balance right,
that's gonna overcome that.
And now we wait.
Painful wait and hopefully
that will turn into ice cream.
[Matt] As their ice cream churns,
the bakers can turn their attentions
to the outer layer of their sandwiches.
I've got dairy-free butter in here.
[Matt] Jürgen has opted for a simple way
to ensure his biscuits are dairy-free.
[Jürgen] Macarons are,
by definition, dairy-free,
but it feels counterintuitive to pour
120-degree hot liquid into egg whites.
And then I need
to whisk it until it's cooled.
[Matt] Jürgen's macarons of egg whites
with ground pistachio and almond
will sandwich his banana
and coconut ice cream,
combining two of his
favourite childhood flavours.
Over the years, when I was
testing ice cream parlours in Germany,
I developed
my test case for the parlours,
and that was a mix
of pistachio and banana ice cream.
You used to test the ice cream parlours?
-[Jürgen] Yes.
-I mean, is this an official job? Orâ¦
-[all laugh]
-Just my internal one.
-Right.
-[all laugh]
Can't have it too big, 'cause obviously
the rolling pin's not massive,
so you've got to do two at a time.
This dough is so wet and sticky.
I'm just gonna bake them like this
and then I will re-cut them out.
It's like a safety net.
[Noel] And Crystelle has good reason
to be cautious about her biscuits.
I have only done these once
because I changed my recipe last minute,
so I am quite panicky about them.
[Noel] Crystelle is hoping
the earthiness of her cashew milk
and coffee ice cream
will complement the nutty flavours
of her tahini and miso
replacement biscuits.
I had a really nice cookie recipe
that was chewy,
but I just didn't think it froze well.
I've gone for one that you can take
a bite, the ice cream doesn't ooze out.
-Sounds good.
-What were you doing?
Miso and tahini frappuccino
ice cream sandwich.
-Yeah.
-[all laugh]
[hesitating] You know, very simple.
Bakers, you have
an amount of time remaining.
That wasn't very helpful.
Well, it's Free-From Week,
so I thought I would do a time call
that was free from
the relevant information.
Bakers, you're halfway through.
[Chigs] These are gonna
go in the oven now.
So, 12 minutes.
I'm gonna do six minutes on each side.
Fifteen minutes.
Then I'll swap them round
seven minutes in.
[Giuseppe] So, in we go.
[Noel] While the other bakers' biscuits
begin to increase in temperatureâ¦
It's still warm.
â¦Jürgen's meringue mix
has the opposite problem.
-Hello, Jürgen⦠[laughs]
-Hi, Noel.
-I've been there about half an hour.
-Ah, yes.
You look very interested
in what's going on in there.
[Jürgen] Yes,
I'm trying to cool this down.
I had some issues
with that in the practice tent.
-Oh, no.
-I don't want to repeat that here.
[Noel] You don't seem
to be under pressure, though.
How many Star Bakers have you won now?
-Three. Yes.
-Three?
Imagine if Crystelle
won three Star Bakers. [chuckles]
-Yeah, we would be deaf by now.
-[laughs]
They look okay.
The biscuits are looking good.
-Oh, there we go.
-[timer beeping]
Got a bit of colour round the edge,
which I'm happy with.
Oh, I forgot to sprinkle
sesame seeds on the top of these,
but it's fine
because these can go on the bottom.
There's some funky smells
coming from over here.
It's the dark cocoa.
-[Noel] What percentage is that?
-It's black. 100%.
-Hundred percent cocoa?
-Yeah.
Oh, my God. It's giving me a stitch.
-[coughs]
-Do you know what it reminds me of?
-When you--
-Inside of a coffin?
[both laugh]
No, I was gonna say Jaguar wee.
-Jaguar wee?
-Yeah.
Wow, you're weirder than me.
It's official. Jaguar wee. [laughs]
[Jürgen] Still doesn't
look like a meringue.
I'll give it a bit more.
But now the machine's blinking,
so the ice cream is essentially done.
At least I can start
shaping my sandwiches.
[Matt] The ice cream needs to be set
for sandwiching in the uniform shapes
Paul and Prue will be expecting.
[Lizzie] Oh, my God, that's so cold.
I use silicon moulds,
but the silicon moulds are a bit small,
so this is going to be
slightly interesting.
[Crystelle] So, I realise in practice
that my moulds are very thick,
so I'm only gonna fill them halfway.
And the best way to do that
is to use a piping bag.
[Matt] While Crystelle and Jürgen
have changed moulding methodsâ¦
I was gonna go for a rustic look.
[Matt] â¦Giuseppe has decided
to break the mould completely.
The ice cream is starting
to lose consistency,
so I'm going to have to be very quick.
Otherwise, I will lose this.
These are gonna go in the freezer.
[Matt] With the sandwich centres freezing,
it's time for top deck decoration.
[whispers] Disco time.
[Jürgen, normally]
I'll go for it now, I think.
[Matt] But without anything baked yet,
there's no time for Jürgen
or his meringue to rest.
In the practice, I didn't whisk
the Italian meringue long enough.
I was too impatient.
This has this nice, rough structure
that this mix should have.
[Giuseppe] I'm drizzling
my top biscuits with, uh,
tempered dairy-free white chocolate.
Then I'll add the candied orange peel
and crystallised ginger.
[Lizzie] On the wrong
Channel 4 programme here.
Should be on Grayson Perry's art show.
I'm going in.
I didn't dry them out in the practice
and they actually came out nice.
How much time do we have left?
-Bakers, you have 8,000 wobble mittensâ¦
-[snickers]
â¦in your tiger chop suey.
-What was that?
-That was free from logic.
[Matt] You have 15 minutes left.
Well, that just gives them
time to cool down, doesn't it? [chuckles]
[Lizzie] Paul doesn't like glitter.
Who cares what Paul thinks?
This one's tough, 'cause Paul's not
the biggest fan of free-from stuff, is he?
He's a proper pudding lad, innit?
[Crystelle] Sesame seeds for sprinkling
because I forgot
to sprinkle enough on them.
[Noel] How's it going? [chuckles]
-Oh, I don't know. I just--
-Yeah, whatever.
[laughs] I knew you didn't care.
[all chuckle]
[chuckling] Is it going all right?
-Oh, I don't know.
-[yawns]
-[both laughing]
-See you later.
I fall for this every single time.
[Jürgen] They're spreading
underneath and moving up.
Let's go for it.
Interesting shape, isn't it?
They shouldn't have this little fringe.
They will have enough time cool,
they cool very quickly.
You anxious?
I can see you're shaking your legs.
I got that weird feeling that I've got--
I've missed something.
-Well, the dairy.
-[laughs]
If that's the only thing I've missed,
-I'm⦠Yeah.
-You're all right.
How long do we have?
Bakers, you have five minutes left.
Now is the time to add
some dairy, I would say.
[chuckles]
I'm just breaking my freezer.
[indistinct chatter]
We have a few air pockets,
but it'll have to do.
Press it down, because why not?
I've touched it enough.
What I'm actually gonna do
just for ease of assembly is, base in.
Oh!
Oh, that's so cute.
[Jürgen] That's pretty awful.
[Chigs exclaims]
[Jürgen] And they don't hold together.
Oh. Bloody hell.
[Jürgen] And macarons are not right.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
[sighs]
Oh, bugger, am I breaking this biscuit?
Didn't think this through, did I?
[Giuseppe] I haven't moulded
the ice cream. In hindsight, I could've.
But I think that this suits
the whole shape better.
[Lizzie] It just looks like
I've been playing in the mud.
I have washed my nails, people of Britain.
I'm a bit annoyed about the air pockets,
but otherwise, yeah, happy.
-Happy, happy, happy.
-[Crystelle] Last bugger.
Bakers, your time is up.
Done. Done, done, done.
Please place your ice cream sandwiches
at the end of your workstations.
There is an element of, erm,
[chuckling] church decor in there.
Well, there's always another Technical
to redeem myself. [laughing]
[birds chirping]
[Noel] It's judgment time
for the bakers'
dairy-free ice cream sandwiches.
They're a little uneven. Rather huge.
[Paul] You've lost
a bit of the definition in the cuts.
[Prue] I think you could've forgotten
about telling us about the dogs
because they've disappeared.
Actually, I love the texture.
It's very dry and very crumbly.
I didn't think I was going to like it.
[snickers] I do.
There is a chocolatey hint to it,
which is slightly bitter,
which marries it beautifully
with the ice cream.
It's got a nice vanilla kick in it,
but you've got that praline as well.
I would've blitzed that really small
and folded that through
so you'd have ended up
with a bit more praline in your mouth.
What you do get is very good,
it's just messy.
-Which is normal for you, isn't it?
-Yeah.
[all chuckle]
But I think your flavours
and consistency are good.
-Ta.
-Thanks, Lizzie.
Thanks, guys.
-They are beautiful, Chigs.
-Thank you.
[Prue] Really beautiful.
-Very professional looking.
-[Chigs] Thank you.
[Prue] Look at that. Neat as a pin.
-The mango. Needs lots more.
-[Chigs] Mmm-hmm?
I think canned mango pulp
would have been better.
Not a lot of flavour
coming from the biscuit.
-[Chigs] Okay.
-Ermâ¦
Great texture, though.
The ice cream,
you do get the mango very subtly.
You do get that coconut as well.
But it's not going to last long,
it is very sorbet-like.
But, over all, it is nice. The ice cream
just needs more of a punch.
Okay. Thank you, guys.
Did you rest them before you baked them?
I didn't, because the Italian meringue
took so long to cool down.
The whole thing about a macaron
is the resting that creates the skin
which creates the dome,
which you do not have.
-Therefore, you end up with that.
-Yes.
[Prue] But you might have invented
something which is very suitable.
This is very chewy.
I like it.
-Chewy and almondy.
-[Jürgen] Mmm-hmm.
The nuts, you do get beautifully,
but the ice cream's the star here.
-Thank you.
-It's fantastic.
-Intense flavour of bananas.
-[Prue] Mmm-hmm.
-I think that's lovely.
-Hmm.
-Really good, Jürgen.
-Thank you very much.
-[exhales]
-Well done.
[Prue] Delicious.
It's a nice-looking, very uniform set.
[Prue] I absolutely agree.
It looks tempting and I want one.
[Crystelle chuckles] Good.
I think the flavour is absolutely lovely.
The texture of the ice cream
is a bit light and wet.
-That--
-I actually really like it. Yeah.
I've never had anything like that before.
No, the tahini in the biscuit
is akin to a sort of shortbread.
And the sesame comes through quite nicely.
Coffee levels
are perfect in the ice cream.
It is very flavoursome
and it holds on the tongue as well
which blends quite well.
I think you've done a good job.
I think you've done a really nice job.
-Well done, Crystelle.
-[Paul] Hmm. Thank you.
What? [chuckles]
[Prue] I think they look lovely.
Very interesting. It's almost got a--
[Paul] Looks like a craquelin. Yeah.
I think you've managed
pretty consistent shapes.
Let's have a look.
You said this is made with tofu?
Yes, this is made with tofu and soymilk.
[Prue] It's definitely not
as creamy as I thought it would be.
But the flavour is lovely.
Mmm, texture's fantastic.
It's a very short crispy biscuit, which,
just on its own, would be delicious.
But the ice cream is great.
The orange comes through, cooked through.
You do get a hit of the ginger as well.
[Prue] Oh,
the whole thing is just delicious.
You've done a great job with that.
I would love that just bashed up
in a bowl with a spoon and eat the lot.
[Prue] It's lovely.
-[Paul] Very clever.
-Thank you.
I don't have any
past experience in free-from,
so, this is probably
the most pleased I've ever been.
[Lizzie] What's new?
It's too big, don't look neat,
but they liked the flavours.
I was very nervous about my macarons.
But Prue liked my⦠[chuckles] "invention."
[Chigs] I think the others got amazing
feedback on their flavours,
and I didn't, so I need to
come out swinging in the Technical.
[Matt] The bakers were able
to practise their dairy-free Signature,
but they have no idea
what the Technical will be free from.
You lucky things,
it's time for your Technical,
which today has been set by the Prue.
-The Prue, any words of advice?
-Yes.
Flavour always matters,
but in this recipe it's absolutely key.
Thank you. Well, as ever,
this task is judged blind,
so we ask the judges to leave the tent.
[Noel] Where do you think they've gone?
To the dogs, mate,
like the rest of this country.
It's got to the point you can't even
put meat in a vegan recipe.
Honestly, you couldn't make it up.
For your Technical Challenge,
Prue would love you to make
eight identical vegan sausage rolls.
[Matt] Your sausage rolls should comprise
of crisp, golden, vegan rough puff pastry,
surrounding a mushroom and walnut filling.
They should be accompanied by a sticky,
caramelised red onion chutney.
[Matt] You have two hours.
-On your marks.
-Get set.
-[Noel] Bake.
-[Crystelle] Oh, for God's sake.
[Lizzie] I've made vegan sausage rolls
but not with mushrooms and walnuts.
Who doesn't like a sausage roll?
Haven't made sausage rolls before.
I haven't made vegan rough puff pastry.
This is going to be really interesting.
And interesting in every bad
sense of the word.
So, Prue, tell us all about
your vegan sausage rolls.
We're looking for eight
perfectly identical vegan sausage rolls
with really well laminated, crisp
rough puff pastry.
What fat do you put in the pastry?
Because you can't use butter.
No, it's a vegan block.
It's got almond, coconut and rapeseed oil
and then you treat it just like butter
when you're making rough puff.
I'm really quite impressed because it
has made really nice little laminations.
[Paul] They'll struggle with this,
with the vegan block,
which tends to melt very quickly.
If they chill it enough,
they'll be all right.
You just have to keep chilling it.
Mmm! Together with the chutney,
it's delicious.
The pastry is beautifully light.
And it's really flaky.
You wouldn't know it was vegan pastry.
Well, it's the quarter finals.
And I think this is
a very challenging Challenge.
It's certainly more difficult than
a straightforward sausage roll.
So, "Number one:
Make the dough for the rough puff."
Uh, we got flour, vegan block,
salt and water.
I've never used vegan block before.
It's got a very odd appearance.
It's going to be interesting
to see what it looks like.
I'm worried about the puff pastry because
I can't remember the last time I made it.
I'm looking for
the whole thing to bind together.
There you go.
And you see now it's clumping up.
I don't want to overhydrate the flour
'cause it'll become too sticky
to work with.
[Jürgen] The dough needs to be firm
but a little bit pliable.
I feel like maybe I didn't put
enough water in my pastry.
Just gonna go with it
and hope that it works.
"Number two: Laminate the dough
using the frozen vegan block."
[Chigs] It looks like tofu, it's weird.
[Lizzie] It laminates,
so once you roll it out,
it creates layers, and then,
in the oven, the butter melts
and creates steam
which puffs the pastry up.
Do you like laminating?
-I like makin' a puff pastry. Yeah.
-Do ya?
-This is actually--
-That's why you're making me one?
[chuckling] Yeah.
"Complete four single turns."
[groaning] I have no idea what that means.
[Chigs] I'm gonna go
for a normal book fold.
A third of it over, another third over
and turn it. Gotta do that four times.
I don't know if it'll be the way they
want it to be, but it'll be laminated.
[Crystelle] That's fold number two.
Why is mine disgusting?
[Lizzie] Close the sides in
so nothing comes out.
Is this for the puff business?
This is for the puff business
and this is a bad thing here.
[Noel] Butter come through?
-[Jürgen] The butter leaked out.
-[Noel] Oh, no.
-What could that mean?
-Bad lamination.
[Noel] Bad lamination.
What could that mean?
-We want loose laminations.
-Eh, Star Baker?
What could that mean?
[chuckling] "Cross Paul." Paul be cross.
And now I'm going
to wrap this and chill it.
[Giuseppe] It needs to be
resting in between folding.
So I'm gonna be putting this
in the fridge for another ten minutes.
[Chigs] Let the butter solidify again.
If the butter melts,
it'll ooze out in the oven.
I wanna keep it chilled
so it stays in the pastry.
[Lizzie] What am I doing?
"Finely chop the mushrooms and walnuts,
fry the onions."
[sighs heavily]
I like a veggie sausage roll,
but I don't normally make the middle bit.
I get the veggie sausages
and smush them with a fork
and throw them in some puff pastry.
-Easier, isn't it, than all this faffing?
-Something savoury for a change.
-Yeah, exactly.
-[Noel] Paul loves savoury.
He won't be able to resist getting his
sausage roll fingers onto sausage rolls.
-[both chuckling]
-Onto the sausage rolls.
-That's how he measure out the sizes.
-[laughs]
He puts his index finger down.
[Giuseppe] I do a lot of cooking at home.
I usually do this at least once a week
'cause my son Georgio's favourite pizza
is mushroom pizza.
[Crystelle] Once I've got that in the pan,
I'll go back to my pastry.
"Four single turns."
I might be doing double turns.
I'm very confused with lamination.
[Chigs] That's it.
Turns done.
I will save this now until later.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
-What was that?
-That was free from comedy.
We're good at that.
Jeez, already?
"Number four: Add the lentils,
miso, flaxseed,
lemon juice, parsley, sage and thyme."
That's quite a complex recipe.
[Lizzie] Mmm! Tasty!
[Crystelle] Miso! Hello, old friend.
This is different from this morning's,
but I guess this is what
gives it the meaty flavour
that you miss from actual meat.
Parsley, sage and thyme.
Do they do sausage rolls much in Italy?
Ah, yes! They call them differently.
They're called rustici.
-Ru⦠rustici?
-Rustici.
-[Matt in Italian accent] Rustici.
-[Giuseppe] Rustici.
-Rustici.
-Good enough!
[operatically] Rustici! Rustici!
-Don't do the--
-Rustici!
-There you go.
-Rustici.
Everybody make your rustici!
Rustici!
[laughs] I love the voice.
That's my mixture done.
I'm happy with that.
Let's get this pastry out and rolled out.
We have to carve eight rectangles
10 centimetres by 15 out of this.
So it needs to be relatively thin.
Damn it! Is that not enough pastry?
[Lizzie] At this point, it's just getting
stuff done, isn't it?
It's dodgy as, but it's eight.
[Crystelle] I've got off-cuts.
See what I can do with this.
For God's sake, come on, Crystelle!
"Cut ten diagonal slits
through the top half
of the pastry rectangle."
[Chigs] Six⦠sevenâ¦
[Lizzie] Eight⦠nine⦠ten.
[Chigs] I'm gonna start
makin' the sausage rolls now.
Gross.
I was gonna measure this out,
but I don't have time.
This is not gonna look neat.
It is very rushed.
[Crystelle] And seal. I mean,
this is shoddy, isn't it?
[Lizzie] Paul's going to be, like,
"The crimp on that is awful."
[Noel] Have you made
vegan sausage rolls before?
Yeah, me little sister
is, like, a veggie vegan.
-[Noel] Is she?
-Yeah, she's dead cool.
[Noel] All the dead-cool kids are vegan,
aren't they?
-Yeah.
-Are you vegan?
-No.
-[Noel] Okay.
-I'll leave it there.
-[chuckles]
All right, glaze.
One tablespoon of almond milk,
and one tablespoon of agave,
which I'm gonna eyeball. There.
[Crystelle] Why do I always
end up rushing in this?
[Giuseppe] Ah⦠Ooh!
Goin' in.
[Crystelle] They'll have to go in.
-I mean, they're disgustingly ugly.
-[oven beeps]
[oven beeping]
I'll check after 20.
Until they're brown.
That's a bit of a rush. [exhales]
You have half an hour left.
[Lizzie] Half an hour.
Let's go, go, go, go.
"Make the caramelised red onion chutney."
More choppin'.
-[Chigs] Sizzle.
-[Jürgen] Balsamic vinegar.
I haven't made a chutney.
Not so sure about the flavour.
-[Chigs] How much chilli does it say?
-[Crystelle] I did a whole chilli.
-One red chilli, finely chopped.
-I don't know how much to put in.
I'm gonna go with that much.
Oh! Ooh.
[clears throat] Spicy chutney.
It needs to get all gooey and sticky.
How long have we got?
Bakers, you have ten minutes left.
[oven beeps]
They're rising. That's a good sign
you've done something right. [chuckles]
My pastry looks like short crust pastry.
And I laminated it.
Get more colour! Get more colour!
[Jürgen] I'm just turning the tray.
-[tray clatters]
-[gasps]
This is bad. [sighs]
You didn't see it. [laughs]
Bakers, you have one minute left.
That's it. Coming out.
I'm doing it!
Yeah, looks done to me.
[sarcastically] Oh, yummy! Don't these
look appetising? Oh, dear, oh, dear.
They're done. So, another try.
These ones look better.
[Jürgen] Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!
[Giuseppe] It looks and tastes good.
I'd eat that.
Bakers, your time is up!
Nightmare.
Please bring your bakes to the table
and place them behind your photograph.
[Noel] Paul and Prue are looking for
eight crisp and beautifully laminated
vegan sausage rolls.
Made with vegan rough puff pastry,
and served with caramelised onion chutney.
-Bit of a mixed bag, isn't it?
-[Paul] Let's start with this one?
There should be a better glaze on the top.
[Paul] I'm happy with the colour.
It's very thin.
But they've sealed the edges
as well as the front.
-The flavour is okay. Good balance.
-[Prue] Mmm.
Actually, the um,
onion chutney is good as well.
I like the mixture inside because
it's crumbly and soft. Lovely!
[Paul] Okay, moving on to these pasties.
[Prue chuckles] I mean,
they're meant to look like sausage rolls.
[Paul] It's a bit rough and ready.
The flavour's not bad, actually.
Did get a mouthful of nuts.
The onion chutney looks good.
I think the vegan
shortening has run out of it.
So it's rather tough.
I know, there's a lot of
chilli in that. [chuckles]
[coughs]
[Prue] My nose is running
'cause of the chilli.
Wow! Milk, please!
You can have some oat milk.
[all laughing]
-Happy with the chilli.
-[both laugh]
[Prue] That's a lot of chilli. Right.
This one is a lot better looking.
I think these are flat,
but they all look pretty much the same.
[Paul] Problem is the seals are so big.
Good mushroom flavour.
[Paul] Mmm! Mushroom flavour is there.
I think they're a bit overbaked.
-[Paul] A bit dry.
-[Prue] Mmm.
[Paul] Moving on,
this one is definitely overbaked.
-[Prue] But the lamination is quite good.
-[Paul] Yeah, the lamination you can see.
It's definitely overbaked,
but the flakiness is excellent.
It's dried out the interior, so it's drawn
the moisture out from the mushroom.
On to the last one.
-[Prue] They're a bit big and clumsy.
-[Paul] They are.
-[Paul] The colour looks nice.
-[Prue] Mmm.
-[Paul] It's a bit dry.
-[Prue] I like the flavour.
-[Paul] It is okay.
-[Prue] It is herby, but I like it.
[Paul] Okay.
[speaking indistinctly]
[Matt] Paul and Prue will now rank
the vegan sausage rolls
from worst to first.
In fifth place, we have this one.
Crystelle, not good shape,
not good glaze, too much chilli.
-Crystelle, come here a minute.
-Oh, good God.
-You want me to try that chutney?
-[Prue] He'll give you a handful.
-I actually did, I--
-[Paul] Did you try it?
-I kept the seeds in.
-You want more than that.
-Oh.
-[all laughing]
I did try it.
I mean, I'm okay with spice but--
[clears throat]
[all laugh]
Oh, I wish I had your timing.
I apologise.
In fourth spot, we have this one.
It's a bit of a mess, Jürgen.
It's all over the place.
It's too thick and untidy.
Third place, we have this one.
Lizzie, they all look quite good.
But they are very overbaked.
Second, we've this one.
Giuseppe, it's not bad.
They're just too flat
and you've used too much seam.
It needs to be bolder and a thinner seam.
Which means,
this one is in the first place.
It looks good, it tastes good.
It's moist inside
and the chutney is lovely.
-[Crystelle] Bravo!
-[all applaud]
And the winner gets to eat
all of Crystelle's chilli.
[all laugh]
Oh, my God, first!
I feel like I've got a full house now.
I've got a handshake,
I've got a Star Baker,
first in the Technical.
I'm well happy.
I needed that after this morning.
[sighs] Not my finest hour.
I feel like I'm definitely in
the running to go home.
But I just hope and pray
tomorrow is a better day for me.
It's pretty level.
Even playing field, yet again.
So it all counts on tomorrow.
It's exciting, isn't it? [chuckles]
[Matt] That was a Technical
in which you weren't very happy
with anyone, were you?
This was the week we needed Freya, really.
She'd have loved doing that.
The Signature over all was good.
They all did well.
But, for me, at the front is,
of course, Giuseppe.
He's the one to beat.
I mean, the likes of Chigs, who did well
in the Technical, could catch up.
But Giuseppe, if he drops it,
they're all going to be on him.
The problem is, I can't see
Giuseppe taking his eye off the ball.
Who's in trouble?
[Paul] Both Lizzie and Crystelle,
coming into the Showstopper,
are the ones down at the bottom.
Crystelle is just so erratic.
She could be a bit more consistent
instead of genius or terrible.
[Prue] But Lizzie
is almost determined to not be neat.
And I want to strangle her
because she's a good baker,
-she's great--
-Be good TV.
-You must stop killing people.
-[chuckling] Strangling the baker.
[Matt] We've talked about this.
Hello, bakers. Welcome back to the tent.
It's time for your Showstopper Challenge.
For your Free-From Showstopper Challenge,
the judges would like you to create
a visually spectacular, gluten-free
celebration cake.
[Noel] It needs
to be beautifully decorated,
and your cake must have
at least two tiers.
[received pronunciation] Like the two
tears I shed for my gluten brothers
who've been cast aside
for the wants and vagaries of fashion.
You have four hours.
-On your marks.
-Get set.
Please do bake.
[Noel, normally] The gluten-free
revolution began in the 1950s,
when it was linked to
a host of medical conditions.
My sister-in-law,
she's intolerant to gluten,
so she avoids it as much as possible.
[Noel] Gluten can be found in all flour
made with barley, rye and wheat.
A sponge traditionally uses plain flour.
They haven't got that option,
so they've got to think,
"What flour am I going to use?"
[Prue] You can do all sorts of flours,
but because they don't have gluten,
they tend to make a cake
that easily breaks apart
and it's quite a good idea
to give it more solidity
by adding quite a lot of eggs and butter.
[Lizzie] There is a lot of eggs
on the go today.
Twenty-five? It's an omelette cake,
basically. [chuckling]
I expect the texture to be
the same as a traditional cake.
They really need to bring their A-game
to get through to that semi final
and get a chance
to get into the final this year.
-[Paul] Hi, Crystelle.
-Hi, good morning.
Tell us about your gluten-free
celebration cake.
It's dedicated to my grandma,
who's celebrating
a very big birthday this year.
Before my sister's engagement, she planned
out her dress for my sister's wedding,
and hanging on the back of her door.
So, I'm going to pipe
my grandma's cascading dress.
-Goodness.
-Wow.
Going all out, cause I'm on thin ice,
and I really want
to prove myself and stay.
[Matt] As well as an ambitious
full-length gown piped in buttercream,
Crystelle is sandwiching Jaggery creme pat
between her gluten-free sponges,
flavoured with coconut,
walnut and cardamom.
This is cardamom from home which has been
roasted and ground to a fine powder.
Here we've got rice flour.
I've found that rice flour,
funnily enough, works okay,
so I just went with rice flour in the end.
[Matt] To make their sponges,
most of the bakers
are using a gluten-free alternative
to traditional flour.
[Lizzie] Coconut flour
absorbs liquid like mental.
[Matt] And for fluffiness,
are mixing in a key additive.
[Crystelle] So this is Xanthum gum.
Clearly, I know loads about it.
I can't pronounce the stinking thing.
It's a natural product.
And it acts as a stabiliser and a binder.
Like gluten in wheat flour.
[Matt] But for his gluten-free creationâ¦
[Giuseppe] I've tried to stay away from
the additives and tricks you can use.
Mostly because I'm not familiar with them.
â¦Giuseppe has
a different strategy altogether.
I'm using a recipe
which is naturally gluten-free.
It doesn't include any flour.
But, by whipping the egg white separately,
I'm incorporating a bit more air
and giving it more fluffiness.
[Noel] His plan to go
flour-free is a risk,
but it's not just the sponge
that may fall flat
if he doesn't get the gluten-free version
of Black Forest Gateau just right.
[Giuseppe] As far as I know,
the Black Forest is Paul's favourite cake
and Prue doesn't really like itâ¦
Oh.
â¦so I've put myself
in a very awkward position.
You've split the judges,
which is definitely the right thing to do.
-[both laughing]
-On week eight.
-Good luck.
-Wedge them out.
-Yikes.
-[both chuckle]
[Matt] Like Giuseppeâ¦
[Chigs] I'm going to add
the apple cider vinegar now.
You won't get the acidity of the vinegar,
you'll get a background of it.
Won't be like
your fish and chips. [chuckles]
â¦Chigs is also pinning his hopes on a
gluten-free version of a popular classic.
[Chigs] I'm making
a two-tiered red velvet cake.
So, my cousin is gluten-free.
He's been gluten-free for,
I think, about two years now.
So, he was my guinea pig for this cake.
I got a good review from him.
So, it's all riding on him
for this to turn out well.
[Noel] Featuring an ornate
filigree chocolate collar,
his two-tier red velvet cake
will be filled with strawberry jam
and alternating layers of chocolate
and vanilla cream-cheese frosting.
-[Matt] Are you fan of free-from baking?
-I don't know how I feel about it.
-Really?
-It's all right.
I'd rather have the full-fat stuff.
[Crystelle] So, I'm doing two tiers,
and each tier
I've got three layers of sponge.
So, six layers
of sponge in total.
[Matt] With multiple spongesâ¦
So, these are all going to go in.
â¦each requiring a different bake timeâ¦
These should be done within 30 minutes.
That's going to take another 15 minutes
on top cause it's a thicker cake.
â¦anything less than total precision,
and they can kiss goodbye
to cakes with a uniform texture.
[Chigs] So, they're going at 160,
for 25 minutes.
I'm gonna have to rotate them.
[Matt] But for
his super-size Showstopperâ¦
I'm going for the three tiers.
[Matt] â¦it's even more
of a challenge for Jürgen.
[Jürgen] So, white chocolate,
milk chocolate and dark chocolate.
That means three sponges
of each colour for each tier.
Means nine sponges.
I calculated for 80 people.
It's going to be really big.
[Noel] To up the chocolate ante
even further,
Jürgen will be separating his sponges
with chocolate buttercream
and decorating with chocolate ombre,
and a chocolate ganache drip.
[Jürgen] My inspiration is my wife.
She loves chocolate cakes and she's
always screaming for the perfect
chocolate cake for her birthday.
So, this is inspired by that.
[Noel] While Jürgen's out to impress
his wife and the judges
with the sheer size of his Showstopper,
Lizzie is taking
a more philosophical approach.
I'm celebrating being different.
It'll be a representation of my brain.
Because I've got quite a few SEN issues.
SEN is special educational needs.
Dyslexic, dyspraxic, ADHD
and concentration disorder.
I think people who are
slightly different need to be celebrated,
and represented.
I just love the idea of it
all being your personality. It's great.
And the decorations also, you know,
like the '70s shag rugs that you get.
-Yeah.
-That's what it's going to look like.
[all laughing]
[Matt] Rice paper thins
covered with a jumble of letters
and numbers to represent Lizzie's dyslexia
will protrude from two tiers
of coconut flour sponge
filled with pineapple jam
and coated in a kaleidoscopic shag pile
of Italian Meringue Buttercream.
You know, like, brain force,
like I get a lot of brain force,
that's what that's meant to represent.
Concentrate on your decoration,
your finesse. All right?
It's gonna be my brain.
There's gonna be no finesse to it.
-Organised chaos.
-[Prue chuckling] That's fine.
Cake should be ready.
[Lizzie] I'm coming out.
[Noel] With numerous bakes to juggleâ¦
I think Cake Tetris.
For another two minutes.
â¦and a long list of fillings
and decorations to get readyâ¦
Cream cheese, 400 grams, come on.
There you are, that'll do.
â¦the bakers now face
a multitasking minefield.
[Giuseppe] Got the cake
baking in the oven,
so I'm also making the cherry jam.
You can't have a Black Forest
without some kirsch.
Coming out and going in.
[Matt] But nobody is feeling
the pressure more than Jürgenâ¦
One.
â¦who is yet to make all his cake batter.
[Jürgen] Two.
Three.
So, I need to keep my head together.
I'm going to whisk up my third sponge,
which is my chocolate sponge.
[Crystelle] This is jaggery,
which is from my grandma.
It's almost like
a really dark brown sugar.
I use it a lot when I'm cooking
just to sweeten curries and stuff.
-[Noel] Week 8, quarter finals.
-[Crystelle] Yeah.
You have a good Showstopper,
you're in the semi finals.
It is absolutely mad.
You can do it, as well. You've got skills.
Noel, this is the nicest
you've ever been to me.
I'm really shocked.
Usually it's, "Why are you here?"
-I know you respond to a bit of banter.
-I do. I am, my--
If I said to Jürgen, you know,
"Why are you here?"
[both laughing]
[Noel, mimicking] "Because I'm
an efficient, powerful scientific baker."
-[laughing]
-"Why are you here?"
And I'd go,
"Good point. I'd better get my coat."
[both laughing]
[Chigs] Right.
This is the last of my cakes now.
That's cooled.
Oh, so hot.
There's no more baking left to do.
So now it's all about stuff cooling down
and decorating.
[Jürgen] Last three.
It's about time.
Bakers, you have one hour left.
What's happening here?
Oh, we're free from the tent.
Oh.
-[Noel] It's nice out here. The nature.
-[Matt sighs happily]
Nice.
Shall we strip off?
[chuckles] Again?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Chigs] All right,
I'm gonna start building now.
[Giuseppe] It looks baked.
It is, uh, chewy inside,
which is what it's supposed to be.
There's another plate spinning.
I'm coming out.
Cooling times are usually
the limiting times.
Oh, it's going to be tight.
[Lizzie] Okay. That is pineapples,
jam and lime.
[Chigs] It is the chocolate cream cheese
and it's not runny,
which I'm really cool about.
So these are amarena, black sour cherries.
They're very flavoursome and powerful,
so if you put too many,
you might end up pushing
the balance of flavour a bit too far.
[Crystelle] Cake number two.
[Jürgen] This is whiskey and apricot.
Look at you go!
Whoops. Sorry.
No, it's all right.
I'm-- It's very refreshing.
It's not the worst thing
to be sploshed on.
No. No, I can definitely
think of worse things.
-Yeah?
-Yeah.
[Crystelle] Right.
I need to decorate the hell out of it,
which is going to take me about ten years.
[Giuseppe] It's going to be all covered up
in mirror glaze.
[Lizzie] I want to see loads of colour.
And then, like, very textured.
I love a good rose.
[Giuseppe] This is going to be
a messy exercise.
[chuckles] It is very satisfying,
isn't it?
[Chigs] So, this is the ganache
for the chocolate drips
on the bottom layer.
[Lizzie] It's all the things
going on in me brain.
Some people think, ADHD,
you gotta be crazy,
you know, loads of energy,
but it's like you've got
too many thoughts in your head
and you don't actually know
what to think about.
So it's all about colour
and, you know, like brain fuzz.
[Noel] Looks like a tricky stage.
Better for my presence.
Absolutely.
You might not believe it,
but you are a calming influence.
That's never been said before.
[Lizzie] Oh, that's a bit wonky, isn't it?
-And this is the second tier.
-Oh, it's the second-- Wow.
How big is your cake?
-It's big.
-[Noel] Big.
You can get inside it?
-Ah, not quite.
-[Noel] You're gonna ride it in?
Oh, I'm not gonna talk now,
'cause I don't wanna get blamed
for that when that goes⦠[laughing]
This is stressful territory,
but I'm just gonna⦠Oops.
â¦go on as quick as I can.
Bakers, you have 15 minutes left.
I feel like I need to hurry up a bit.
Wow. I'm feeling so nervous.
What's wrong with me? Stop it.
Pipe faster.
[Crystelle] Right.
So, that's the bodice.
[Chigs] This chocolate is for the colour.
That will get wrapped
around the top layer of the cake.
I have to tidy up the edges
with lots of Chantilly cream.
[Jürgen] You understand
why you see me move very fast?
Yeah? I'm on track.
[Crystelle] My grandma,
she hasn't had
many opportunities to wear a nice dress.
So I think this will be almost like
the dress that she never got to wear.
[Lizzie] Do you think
this counts as finesse?
[Jürgen] So, I need the ganache
to run down the sides of the cake.
[Chigs] Nerve-wracking bit now.
[Crystelle] Shall I just move it
from A to B? I'm gonna have to.
There's a breeze. I'll wait for it to go
because it's gonna
knock over my cake, I can just feel it.
[Jürgen] How much time left?
Bakers, you have one minute left.
[Chigs] Oh, come on.
-I've gotta peel this off now.
-[Crystelle] The breeze is still there.
Unfortunately, I can't move
until that breeze has gone.
Gotta put
the decorating strawberries on top.
Finished in a hurry, huh?
We are staying very still.
Bakers, your time is up.
Done. Drop mic.
Please step away from your bakes.
[sighs in relief]
I feel like I've done
a gymnastics routine.
[Chigs] It looks unbelievable.
Look how neat that is.
It's supposed to be my grandma's dress.
What! Your grandma's
got a dress like that?
-Well, not that⦠[laughing]
-Go on, Gran.
Well done, everybody.
[Lizzie] Who thought I could decorate
a cake like that? [laughs]
God, I'm getting emotional.
I'm so bloody proud of you.
-[Lizzie] Don't start crying, I'll cry.
-[Crystelle] I'm not gonna cry.
-I will cry. [sighs]
-[Chigs] Oh, bless you.
[Noel] After four hours
making gluten-free celebration cakes
with a place in the semi finals at stake,
the bakers now face the judgment
of Paul and Prue.
Crystelle, would you like to bring
your Showstopper up here?
[murmuring nervously] Gotta go for it.
Try not to walk like an idiot.
[Paul] It's a great-looking cake.
[Prue chuckles] It's quite witty, too.
I like the little bodice.
-Thank you.
-[Prue] Shall we see inside?
[Paul] Love the roses.
-Think you've done a great job with that.
-Thank you.
[Prue] Mmm. I love the texture.
-It's quite nutty and moist.
-Mmm-hmm.
[Paul] You wouldn't know
it's a gluten-free cake at all.
[Prue] No. The bake is beautiful.
It's the whole coating and the icing
go beautifully with the sponge.
If I have one criticism,
I think that it's very heavy
on the buttercream.
[Paul] But you need that
against the cardamom.
[Prue] If you get
a mouthful like that⦠[chuckles]
Oh, I don't know, I like that.
-[all laughing]
-You'd be perfectly happy with it.
[Paul] I think you've done a great job.
-Well done. Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
[Prue] Very neat. Very beautiful.
[whispering] I don't know.
It's the top, it's just
a little bit awkward for me.
It hides a lot when you pipe like this.
Oh, okay.
My cake is inspired to the flavours
of the Black Forest,
that is, cherry, chocolate and, uh, cream.
It's actually a bit gluey.
Kirsch and the cherries are very strong.
[Paul] The cherries are pretty sporadic.
The sponge is quite stodgy.
-Is this a Chantilly?
-[Giuseppe] Yes.
I would have done an Italian meringue.
That would've worked beautifully well.
Underwhelmed.
-[Prue] Mmm.
-Mmm.
I expected better from you.
I do think it looks great.
-Thank you.
-You got good drops
on your naked cake down at the bottom.
The colour's worked.
It's a nice job. It looks like a crown.
There's a lot of detail in it.
It's really impressive, isn't it?
[Paul] Let's see if we can chop
into this bad boy, shall we?
[Prue] The layers are lovely and distinct.
-I love it.
-[chuckles]
It's spot-on.
It's a great chocolate sponge.
And, actually, you've got
a lot of buttercream in there.
-[Prue] Mmm.
-But it works.
Cream-cheese frosting again,
that's, like, cooling on the tongue.
That's a nice cake.
I can't fault it. I think it's lovely.
-Thank you.
-[Paul] Great job, Chigs.
-Thank you very much.
-Well done.
Who knew right at the beginning
that you could produce that
in the quarter finals?
I know. Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
I would have never known
that was a chocolate cake.
[Prue laughs]
I think it looks absolutely beautiful.
[Paul] The whole effect
with the drips you've got
are all perfect and so is the piping.
-[Prue] Oh, that looks so beautiful.
-[Noel] Wow!
That apricot with the chocolate sponges
is beautiful. It's really nicely baked.
-It's not dry at all.
-[Jürgen] Mmm-Hmm.
I also think the buttercream
is beautifully light.
-Thank you very much.
-[Paul] Well done.
-[Matt] Well done.
-[Noel] Well done, Jürgs.
-[Paul] Matches his T-shirt.
-[Prue] Yeah. [chuckling]
-[laughing]
-[Prue] Ombre T-shirt.
[sighs, whispering]
Well done. Really good.
This is my celebration of being different.
I mean, that is just amazing.
And the rice paper offshoots
are just so beautifully done.
Look at the tiny little
letters and numbers.
I love it. It reminds me of something
from the cartoon The Yellow Submarine.
I've never seen a cake like it.
I don't think any of us have.
So, it's a lime Swiss meringue
and a coconut cake with pineapple jam.
You really need to eat
the buttercream with it
because the pineapple is very strong
and there's a lot of it.
I do get a hint of the lime.
And you need that in there.
You've got the coconut
in the sponge as well,
which you can taste.
-[Prue] Yes, the coconut's good.
-And you've got the pineapple.
I'd have that on my 40th any day.
When it eventually comes round.
-[laughing]
-[Lizzie] Okay. [chuckles]
-[Prue] I think it's wonderful.
-We asked for exquisite and finesse.
And we got it.
I knew you could do it.
-[Paul] Thank you.
-Ta.
[Matt] Well done.
It's just fantastic.
-[mouthing] Oh, my God!
-[mouthing] I know.
Oh, my God. Finesse!
I got finesse.
I've won Bake Off in my mind.
[Chigs] I don't know how I'm doing this.
Paul's comment was
that he couldn't fault it.
So, really overwhelming.
Happy, really happy.
Mine was a bit of a disaster. [chuckles]
I think that puts me,
you know, in an awkward position,
despite having done quite well yesterday.
I'm not sure what to expect, to be honest.
[Crystelle] I'm very happy that went well,
but I don't feel safe at all.
I'll cross my fingers, my toes,
say a prayer.
And, hopefully, my grandma,
who I dedicated my cake to,
is saying a prayer for me, too.
Wow. The world has turned upside down.
Four extraordinary Showstoppers
and Giuseppe didn't really impress you.
-The middle was no good at all.
-[Paul] It was stodgy.
But I think, ultimately,
Giuseppe was in a strong position anyway.
Giuseppe had done enough prior
to these two challenges to save himself.
-Yeah. I think Giuseppe's safe.
-What about Jürgen?
Those layers of the white,
milk and dark chocolate.
-Clever.
-And they were beautifully done.
-It was a delicious cake.
-So he's gotta be in line for Star Baker.
Absolutely. And I think Jürgen stepped up,
but he's not the only one.
Chigs. The cream cheese frosting,
the buttercream,
the sponge itself.
-Beautiful.
-[Prue] This was a faultless cake.
Well, let's talk about Lizzie's.
She made a cake and a pet
at the same time.
The time she spent, you know,
creating that bear rug,
we all knew she could come up
with something with finesse.
-I think she's done it.
-It's a complete triumph.
Now, Crystelle came into today in trouble.
Did she do enough with her Showstopper?
Problem is,
everybody else has done the same.
They've all done really well.
But Crystelle and Lizzie
are absolutely neck and neck.
I think you've got to look at it,
generally, as bakers,
which one deserves their place
in the semi final?
Well, bakers, you have made the judges'
lives quite difficult this week
because all five of you
are terrific bakers
and all five of you have had moments
of real excellence in the tent this week.
But we do have to separate you.
And I'm lucky in that
I have the job of telling you
which one of you
is going to be Star Baker.
I'm delighted to say
that Star Baker this week isâ¦
Chigs.
-Well done.
-[Crystelle] Well done!
I've got the horrible job of announcing
the person who's going home.
And, as Matt said, it was so close.
You've all been so fantastic.
The person who's leaving us isâ¦
Lizzie.
[voice breaking] No. No. No. No.
No, no, no, no, no, no!
[Crystelle sobbing]
[both sobbing]
I feel really proud of myself.
I'm really happy. Oh, God. [chuckles]
I was so overwhelmed to even get here
and now I'm, like, a quarter finalist.
And now I'm dead Scouse 'cause I'm crying.
-[Crystelle] Bloody Technical Challenges.
-You were so good.
Thanks. Oh, God. [chuckles]
[Lizzie] It's such an amazing experience,
oh, to, like, meet the people
that I've met and, like,
learn everything.
[sighs]
[Paul] You did really well.
It's really sad to see Lizzie go,
someone from my neck of the woods.
She's been a bit up and down
over the weeks,
but, actually, this week,
she did really well.
The problem was she came up with an ace
when everybody else did as well.
I am proud of myself.
It's, like, happy tears.
I can't wait to go and walk my dog,
to be honest.
[all laughing]
[Chigs] I can't believe
I got a Star Baker.
Getting one was brilliant,
but getting two? Wow!
It feels good
and I just get more
and more confident week on week.
[Crystelle] Semi final
of The Great British Bake Off.
I don't think
it's going to sink in for a while.
[sighs]
Semi finals! [laughing]
[closing theme music playing]