Here at Clonabreany House, the new home of Irish baking.
Today we're going to find our Star Baker.
And the others, well, they've got to be worried,
because last week we sent home two, and today we might just do the same.
It's going to be intense in the tent.
This is The Great Irish Bake Off.
Last week our amateur bakers faced the dessert challenge.
We're crackers. Fun times.
Will was Star Baker.
That's lovely.
Then a double helping of eliminations.
Ah, it's so annoying. It was going well.
With Bridget and Steve leaving the Bake Off tent.
It's not really for me, Steve.
Now, the search for Ireland's best amateur baker continues.
The competition is getting tougher. That's just not on.
At this point in the competition, we're expecting the bakers to come out of themselves even more so.
♪ In a world of pure imagination... ♪
I like good flavours.
Finger-licking.
So anything off-key, my taste buds will tell me no.
They're a mess.
Seven amateur bakers now remain,
and today's challenge starts with the highly competitive signature bake.
Everyone's looking towards the final now, so everyone's upping their game. The competition's heating up.
I'd love to win, absolutely love to.
At first I thought people were very good, but now they're reaching a level where they're excellent.
Bakers, this week's signature challenge is all about our favourite guilty pleasure.
Chocolate.
Delicious, addictive, sensuous, and a little bit difficult to bake with.
We want you to create the perfect chocolate cake.
Fudge, mousse, marble or ripple, it really doesn't matter what
as long as it shows Paul and Biddy that you are the rightful heir to the Willy Wonka throne.
Bakers, for this signature challenge,
you have two hours and 15 minutes.
One your marks, get set, bake.
So the judges expect no less than a perfect chocolate cake,
and the bakers have just two hours and 15 minutes.
Everybody has a favourite chocolate cake.
We don't want just the same old chocolate Bundt cake,
we want something that excites our palate; And they have to look good.
I love working with chocolate. I work with it every single day.
Sometimes get into trouble because I have it in absolutely every single dish.
I love the feel of it, I love the smell of it, I love the result.
Chocolate's hard to work with,
and apart from chocolate cake and cookies
I haven't really worked a lot with chocolate.
Oonagh is opting for...
How layers are we going to be looking at? Three layers. Three.
And to moisten the layers? With Cointreau. Very nice.
Between the first two layers I'll have the orange butter cream,
between the second two the ganache and on top, and cream on the outside.
She's got this talent for really, really good flavours.
But what she needs to work on is her presentation.
It's very rough, it can be a bit sloppy.
From now on she has to marry the two, she's going to have to have the presentation
and the flavours in the one dish.
I dropped a bit of egg in, and you know that'd be the slice Paul would get.
And he'd get a bit of crunch, but not the kind he was looking for.
It's OK, I saved it.
Aoife hasn't done as well as I think Paul and myself would've expected at the beginning.
She has lovely presentation,
she's very artistic,
but she keeps making odd, curious and different mistakes every time.
Have your little mistakes. It's better than a big mistake.
Aoife's hoping there will be no mistake with her...
I'm going to have four levels. The bottom layer will be sandwiched
with chocolate ganache and almond praline.
Then I'm doing normal cream with raspberry ganache, and chocolate ganache on top,
then covered in chocolate ganache. I'll coat the outside with praline, fingers crossed.
I'll make some chocolate stars just to make life hard. I'm not a mad fan of chocolate cake.
I don't really like cake normally anyway.
A bit of a dirty secret in this competition.
I'm hoping the ganache sets. I'm going to give it as much time as humanly possible.
My mother claims she can taste it.
What's in it? Glucose, cream, chocolate. It's a risky manoeuvre. Oh, wow.
Normally it needs a lot of time to set.
I'm going to be drawing this tiger design onto the bottom of the tray
with this here, and then there's gonna be a chocolate layer of sponge that goes on top of that.
So that's going to go around the cake.
So you'll see the design of that on the outside of it.
Then the inside's going to have three layers of white chocolate sponge. That's the plan anyway.
Hopefully it goes to plan.
Stephen is a popular customer at his local cake and baking suppliers,
where he's constantly spending money on new utensils.
Stephen has always interested me. He's always brought something current. I honestly think
the other bakers in the room as well are looking at Stephen for inspiration.
It's pushing up the standard, which is fantastic.
So you describe it as an opera cake. It's opera sort of style, yeah.
Cos it's the same - Because it sings? That remains to be seen.
Yeah, well, you'll have to see.
I had a really tough week last week.
I felt guilty not going home, because I think Steve and Bridget definitely out-performed me
last week, there was no doubt about it, but I'm still very happy to be here.
Maryanne's signature bake today is...
Can I ask you how you approached this week, because I know last week it was stressful. Meltdown.
Oh, it was a little stressful. That's like saying the Titanic hit an ice cube.
I'm trying to be much more positive now about things this week and see how they go.
(GASPS) I never added the sugar!
OK, I was wondering why the consistency didn't feel right.
I'm going have to start again. There we go.
I never added the sugar. To what? To my cake mix.
It's not going to phase me today.
I'm an awful twit.
The competition's heating up, and it'll be the first time since it started
I feel good about it, I'm good to go now, you know? More confident going into it.
She is just coasting along a little bit.
And we'll be keeping an eye just to see if she's got the potential to improve, or is that it?
So it's chocolate pistachio. A flourless sponge. Just one layer of sponge?
I tried to do it with two layers and it didn't work.
It's nicer just one solid cake and just a sliver of that.
Not done yet, not quite yet.
What is your cake? Just white chocolate ganache.
Just the pleasure of the white chocolate. So you're keeping it simple.
Is keeping it simple wise, Paul?
Maybe now it should be more adventurous.
I guarantee I'm going to be happy with my signature bake.
But you never know with him.
Nice.
Butter can be a baker's best friend. It's used in almost every bake.
But Aoife's mother has advised against using butter in her ganache,
even though it can enhance flavour and texture,
and plays a vital part in helping the cake to set.
What's the ingredients for that? Double cream, glucose, chocolate.
Yeah, mine is the same. I might add a couple of cubes of butter.
I'll put a bit of butter in and stick it in the freezer. The butter will set.
There's nothing else going to set that. No. It's too liquidy. Put butter into it, into the freezer.
You're supposed to make honeycomb. Basically you put bicarb of soda into boiling hot sugar,
and it foams up like a volcano.
I'm not using golden syrup, which most people use. I'm using orange-flavoured honey.
You melt the honey with the caramel together.
When they're melted and get to a more golden syrupy-type colour,
you add bicarb and it starts to foam.
As soon as it starts foaming, transfer it into the pan.
Since I read your recipe I've been thinking, "I wonder how that would work with honey?"
You can really smell the honey, actually. It's gorgeous.
You know that's a traditional Irish thing, don't you?
They call it "yellow man". Oh, right.
It's a speciality in the north of Ireland. OK.
At the Ballycastle fair.
Will's bake today is...
And he's a man with a plan.
Ganache on the outside. Sprinkle some crunched up honeycomb on the outside.
It'll look like the honeycomb and the chocolate is like lava coming down.
Will's girlfriend Joanne got so tired of
his constant critiques about food,
she encouraged him to put his energy into his own food blog.
His creative instincts are flowing now.
And as a result, the visual aspects of his presentation has much improved.
It's sitting up here, it's just bringing it out.
The cake I like because you can vary it. Usually I make it with a raspberry filling,
but today I'm going with the hazelnut and praline filling and see how that goes.
Are those sugar-glazed hazelnuts? Yep. Perfect. Thank you.
How do you suss out the competition? Sometimes I see you all walking around, "Oh, yeah, how's it going?"
That's it, we just go around. "Oh, very good." "Dammit!"
Yum, yum. Mmm...
Are you doing that on the cake? I'm going to crumb it up into bits. It's just sugar. I love sugar.
What's that one? Hazelnut, but there's a praline to go into it as well.
Ooh, such a fancy. (BOTH LAUGH)
Jarek spends most of his days in his kitchen baking,
and his evenings pulling pints in his local bar in Kilkenny.
How are you getting on? Good. Happy enough. Mm-hm.
It's going to be too simple for Paul. I knew the second Paul said that he thought it was too simple,
I knew that would creep into Jarek's little mind. He don't like it, tough. His problem, not mine.
♪ Come with me and you'll be
(BOTH) ♪ In a world of pure imagination... ♪
Here, I could be an Oompa Loompa. Look at my green hands. They were orange, Barbara.
It's The Great Irish Bake Off, and seven amateur bakers are busy in the baking tent
with their signature chocolate bakes.
Chocolate's going to be quite hard for our bakers because it can go so easily wrong.
If you overheat the chocolate, it, in some ways, can be irreversible really. Come on!
You don't have enough chocolate flavour in there, we'll spot it straightaway.
Paul has a beady eye.
He will find the smallest flaw in the most perfect cake.
I think what the judges expect from us is of a higher standard this week.
Brush it with a little bit of the Cointreau to keep it moist. Now...
I'm not gonna pull out any major, magical thing from my hat,
but I've learned so much over the last couple of weeks, I'm gonna try and put them into what I'm doing.
I really feel I kind of deserve to be here now, you know?
Did you not ask for the blue gloves, no?
I never even thought of it.
I just like to keep things kind of natural, you know? (LAUGHS)
I'm happy with that cos it's nice and high.
Got a good rise cos there's no flour in it. It came up lovely and high.
That's the highest it's ever come up for me, so... it's good.
I experienced problems with dryness in my cupcakes and my genoise sponge.
I'm out to show them today I can produce a really moist yet dense chocolate cake
they'll really be able to enjoy rather than having a dry piece of chocolate cake.
I think I'll go with that one.
This is a vital decision. Oh, I don't know.
That's slightly too small. Maryanne, can I ask your expert opinion? Huh?
Square plate or a round plate?
The square plate looks pretty. I like it. I like it too. OK, good.
Someone else has made my decision for me now. Blame me. "Maryanne said..." Maryanne said, yep.
Time for the finishing touches.
On a signature bake, the cake needs to look as good as it tastes.
Bakers, there's ten minutes to go. Ten minutes remaining.
(GASPS)
I never put my praline in. I'll put it on the outside. Or will I?
I'm gonna try and rescue. Damn you!
And it looked so pretty before.
Well done, Maryanne. Distracted today.
When I first started, I thought, "Oh, great, I'll go in and I'll get straight to the final, but",
from day one, when I saw the competition,
that all went out of the window and I was like, no, I really need to take this really, really seriously
and go for it, because the competition is really hard.
Five minutes to go, bakers.
Five minutes to go.
This is a disaster.
The ganache wasn't as thick as it was supposed to be so it was falling off the side of the cake with
the crumb coating. But I'm hoping the flavours are still good, so we're hopeful, we're optimistic.
Bakers, you have one minute left for this challenge. 60 seconds to go.
Aoife, just help me for one second, will you?
I'm just trying to get this off.
That's it. Yeah, it's OK, I'll be able to clean around it. That's grand. Thank you so much.
Bakers, stop baking. This challenge is over.
Looks like a disaster from 1975.
It looks a bit messy. It looks like my little boy helped me ice it.
I probably shouldn't say that, but it is a bit messy but I know it tastes nice.
I want to see if they like the taste. They do at home,
so it'd be nice if Biddy and Paul were like, brilliant.
Usually I'm saying that I'm not really happy. But I actually have to say I'm happy with my cake.
So just waiting for his comments now.
Nice layer, Jarek. Thank you. That's nice.
That ganache is lovely. I'm not a fan of white chocolate,
but that's almost converted me. Do you know what would be lovely in that?
Some orange cutting across the white chocolate. It would be OK.
Do you not think? I don't like orange. You don't like orange?
The image of the tiger skin on the side, very brave. Yeah.
Of you to do that. Fantastic.
Shows a lot of technical skill in that.
For me, just looking a little bit unfinished.
Let's have a look at this. That looks nice down the centre. That looks lovely.
That's delicious. The flavours are just... That's delicious, isn't it?
It's packed with flavour,
and it's just so moist and soft and gentle in the mouth.
Yeah. Good. It's just a pity with the look of it,
it takes it away, but the flavours and the textures are fantastic.
Wow, lots going on there. Yeah.
And you have the fruit glazed. Fruit glazed, marzipan leaves, yep.
Wow, that looks delicious, doesn't it? Look at that.
That's some moist-looking...
I love that kind of chocolate cake. That's lovely, isn't it?
Velvety, yes.
But, I mean, a sliver of it is, it's so - It's very rich.
It is rich but beautiful. A lovely combination. It's not too sweet with the glaze. Yes. Really nice.
It's not very clean-looking. No.
You can see the layers on the side of the cake.
It looks like it was melting, you put it into the fridge and stopped it.
It looks like it's coming running down. It was still quite liquid while I was putting it on. OK, yeah.
That's beautiful, isn't it? It's pretty. Oh, that's gorgeous.
The ganache, so important for the final finish. What d'you think of it, Biddy? The flavours are gorgeous.
It is only the finish, really, that lets it down. It's gorgeous.
It's meant to, I suppose, represent a volcano.
Do this is kind of volcanic ash, is it? Yeah, you could say that.
That's great imagination. I like that, I love that. It's still warm as well.
Ooh, Kahlua. Yeah. Is that good or bad?
No, it's good, cos at the beginning it gets you but then it fades away.
You can really taste it immediately. Finger-licking. That is quite nice.
This looks great. You've got a signature now on top.
This is my little signature that I put on top of cakes.
They're a lovely colour.
That looks nice. Even before I bite into this, I'm excited about it. That's important for me.
You can even feel the crunch of the praline there already.
I love the two icing texture. Thanks.
The top. I think it adds a bit of fun to it. But it tastes lovely.
Oonagh, a cake and a drink. I had to do something to bribe you.
Is that the idea of this? No, it wasn't, actually. It was to compliment it.
But it can be used as a bribe, that's fine by me. It's leaning.
Yeah, I mean visually, let's be honest, it looks rough, doesn't it? It's awful. I'd agree with you.
It's appalling. That looks really great, doesn't it?
It looks delicious, actually. Really soft and gentle.
So moist-looking.
That's beautiful. Good. That's really. Like I said before, it's what's on the inside that counts.
The flavours have been really good. It's just sometimes the presentation
lets you down a little bit. Yes.
I actually used to think my presentation skills were OK,
but it's just in comparison to the amazing presentation of some of the others.
Her cake just didn't look great. It was softer. She put the buttercream in when the sponge was warm.
It's a classic mistake but it showed in the result.
Some of the cakes look very messy.
We had everything, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to a sinking bog, really.
Overall, I wasn't impressed. The thing I remember most about this signature challenge was the flavours.
Jarek's cake, white chocolate, I mean it was very bland.
I'm in the running for being kicked out again.
I don't know about the others. I'd have to wait till after the technical bake.
My presentation generally lets me down a bit. I know I let the side down,
but I'll have to work hard in the technical,
hopefully to redeem myself.
Signature bake over, the bakers are back in the tent with no idea what lies in store.
Because this is the technical challenge.
I'm nervous for this challenge cos I've no idea what it'll be.
The group have been trying to suss out what's gonna be thrown at us.
We're terrified of the idea of a chocolate fondant or mousse.
It could be something simple like a chocolate biscuit. I'd love it if it was biscuits. That'd be good.
Some people go in and talk about it a lot, as to what might come up.
There's no point talking about it, in my head.
Hello, bakers. It's time once again for the technical challenge.
As you know by now, Paul and Biddy are crazy about chocolate,
and they have set you some challenge.
A trio of chocolate Bavarois with orange and mango jelly.
Cookie crumble accompanied by biscuit tuiles,
and quenelles of fresh cream.
(ALL LAUGH)
Paul, why's this so special?
Well, this challenge is going to take you even more away from your comfort zone.
All the layers in the glass have to be perfect, perfect height.
A quenelle has to be a perfect quenelle,
and the biscuit has to be crunchy
and the jelly has to be nice and fresh and well-set.
So no pressure there(!) (ALL LAUGH)
Maryanne, your face is hilarious.
This is going to be blind judged, so I'll ask the judges to leave.
The best of luck. We need it. (ALL LAUGH)
Bakers, you have two hours and 15 minutes for this challenge.
On your marks,
get set,
bake! Oh my God! This is mental.
Oh, my God!
Right.
The bakers are in a state of shock,
but Paul has supplied notes
and a set of instructions for them to follow.
I don't like the "continued overleaf".
Barbara, I can't even pronounce that.
This Bavarian classic dessert is the most technical of all the challenges the bakers have faced to date.
The trio of chocolate Bavarois, this is gonna be challenging. There's seven elements.
Imagine how they'll feel when they start reading through their list? Frightened. It'll be scary.
It'll be so important they execute it perfectly. Yes. The Bavarois starts with dark chocolate,
the heavier one on the bottom, then the milk chocolate, the white on top. At all the same height. Has to be.
Ah, how about that bit? That's nice.
Mm. It's so creamy.
I think mango and orange go very well together
and it's not too sweet. It has all the elements.
Extremely complicated. This is gonna really test the bakers. You're wicked.
He's an awful man, do you know that?
Step one in creating Paul's Bavarois is the creme anglaise,
which will form the basis of the three different coloured layers.
Just stirring the creme anglaise until it's ready.
Just wait until it starts to thicken up a bit.
I'm using this figure of eight movement.
Last week I whipped my custard using a whisk and it was very foamy,
so I'm just making sure I do what Paul says and use the wooden spoon,
and make sure I use the figure of eight movement as well.
Everybody's terrified about the custard, which is not technically baking.
You don't think this is a baking challenge? The Bavarois' aren't baked.
Are you going to tell Paul? No. This isn't a baking challenge. Don't tell him.
It's not about making bread or cakes anymore. This is almost bordering on patisserie,
but there's still a lot of baking involved.
What did you think when you heard "Bavarois"?
The same as everyone else. Just couldn't believe it. "No, we're going to have a lot to do today."
So pretty up against it today. It's gonna be tight.
Timing's crucial. They get the right jobs done at the start, allowing them to set,
but it's the Bavarois in the glass, they have to get that into the fridge and set.
Why does this keep turning off on me? This thing keeps turning off.
Maryanne, have you made your custard yet? I'm just doing it now.
You put the eggs back into the hot milk on the pan or what? Yeah.
I wasn't sure whether to do that.
Is everybody worried with this? I think so.
Judging by the silence, the giggling and then the silence that descended, yeah, everyone's the same.
Barbara, I've had to start mine again. Oh, did you?
How thick did you get it? Just, literally, put a dessert spoon in,
dip it in, because, don't forget, you're going to be putting gelatine in so it is gonna set. Oh dear.
I think I left it on too long so it curdled a little bit.
Again, it was only a little bit. I just thought, "No, I just wanna make it right."
Who's at the stage of weighing their chocolate? That's just not on.
Paul's trio of chocolate must follow a particular order.
First the dark layer, so dark chocolate is melted and added to the creme anglaise.
Doesn't that look lovely?
If the layers in the glass aren't nice and clean,
if the lines aren't distinct, they'll be penalised for that.
It's going to be white chocolate on top,
milk in the middle, and dark on the bottom.
When you look at this from the side or from the cross section,
you're gonna see a beautiful layering which, for me, needs to be perfect. Perfect lines, perfect thickness,
for this to be the result we're looking for.
I've decided to use my piping bag, maybe in a foolhardy moment. But Paul doesn't like stuff on
the plates so I imagine he doesn't like it on the side of the glass. Very good. What have you made here?
That's my dark chocolate... A word I can't pronounce. Bavarois. Sure.
Each layer must be even,
and needs to be set in the fridge before the next layer can be added.
Ohh!
Jimmy Mack, to do that twice more, that's stressful enough.
I forgot to put the cream into the chocolate. I wondered why it was so dark.
What would this competition be without me forgetting to put an ingredient in at some point?
Once the dark chocolate layer is setting in the fridge,
time for the milk chocolate Bavarois, which uses a different quantity of gelatine.
Put two layers of gelatine into the milk one. Don't forget. Yeah.
I just remembered. It's mixed.
It's the big things I tend to forget.
Ah, I didn't read ahead.
"For the white and milk chocolate layers, add two leaves of gelatine to each mix instead of one."
I'm going to hope that this second leaf can go in now and work,
if not it won't set. It's probably a bit late.
Cos the mixture's gone cold now, so...
It's like doing an exam. Read the whole paper.
Maybe no-one will notice.
That looks like an old sock.
Famous last words. Crisis averted.
While Aoife refills her first layer of chocolate,
the other bakers start to fill the second layer,
which needs to be the exact same depth.
The big thing with this challenge is going to be the presentation of it,
clean lines, and how it's all going to look together, finished.
So I want to give myself enough time at the end
to be able to try and spend time doing the cream,
get the biscuits, you know, turned right. Just those finishing touches.
I think that's what they look for in technical challenges.
It's how you present it. I know the taste is a big thing,
but, with something like this, it's big into how it's gonna look.
I was doing the amounts by volume as opposed to by size of layers.
Because it's a cone shape, the bottom one is going to be bigger.
For aesthetics, and seeing as I'm not so good on aesthetics,
according to Paul, I need to get this right.
So I'm going to tip the milk chocolate one back out,
and take out some of the dark chocolate one,
and try and even everything up.
Did you empty it out and go back? I did, but the mixture's half set now.
It's not going to look as good at all. It doesn't pour the same way.
This is definitely no better than it was.
Disaster.
That's appalling.
I've made mousse and stuff before, which is kind of similar, but nothing like this.
Nothing like this for the pressure as well.
Bakers, you have 45 minutes remaining.
That's 45 minutes. Yes, so this is going to be really tight.
Time will be a bit tight, but surely he would not set an impossible challenge?
That would be kind of mean, wouldn't it?
To achieve perfectly uniformed layers,
the bakers must take care to avoid any air pockets in the mixture.
It's just not set...
...enough.
(BEEPS)
Well, Barbara, how are you getting on? I'm just gonna do the white chocolate one now.
White chocolate round. Ding-ding.
The final touch to this trio of chocolate Bavarois is the layer of white chocolate,
taking care to avoid any lapses of concentration that might catch the attention of Paul's eagle eye.
All I can say is, well-played, Mr Kelly, well-played.
This is a nasty one.
Welcome back to Clonabreany House. It's the technical challenge,
and the bakers are making a triple chocolate Bavarois.
Myself and Biddy have chosen this technical challenge,
and we've been careful. We wanted to push the bakers to their limits with this one.
We're taking them completely out of their comfort zone.
Ohh, pressure, pressure, pressure. I am trying to do 400 things at once.
It's got to be technically right - and they have to look good.
It can be quite difficult to make chocolate look good. Ooh.
The pressure is really, really on.
This is how the finished trio should look,
topped off with a chocolate crumble.
To make the crumble, add bicarbonate of soda,
butter, flour, cocoa powder, sugar and eggs.
Pains my hands from this carpel tunnel syndrome or something.
I'm only going to put in half of it cos I'm not going to need all of it.
Then, if I screw it up... That's a very good idea.
(BEEPS)
It's quite a possibility.
The quickest crumble ever. You have to make your jelly soon or it won't set.
As soon as I this get done I'm going to make it.
Paul's instructions are eight minutes and it's been in for nearly 12. I have a second batch.
I sneakily cooked half,
so if it went wrong I could cook the second half.
Another topping for the trio is bitter orange and mango jelly.
It's made from an orange and mango concentrate,
and a setting agent called agar-agar.
How are you getting on with your jelly? Pfff!
I don't even know, to be honest. I know. I don't think anyone knows. I've never used that agar stuff,
or whatever it's called.
I've never worked with agar, ever, before.
It's certainly not like a jelly you'd be used to at home.
It's different to what I'd envisaged in my head.
As far as icing a cake, I'd dip this in hot water to smooth it,
but I'm afraid to cos I don't know how it'll affect the texture. I don't even know when this is ready.
I don't know what it's supposed to look like. It looks like baby food.
I'm assuming that's somewhere near what it's supposed to look like. But if it doesn't set, it's slop.
I've seen some of other people's jel. It just looks weird.
Not that they've done it wrong,
but just I kind of expected it to be, like, a clear kind of jel.
I don't know. Maybe it goes clear when it's, like, set.
I'm just doing the last mix of one cookie. I can't even pronounce it.
A tuile biscuit, that's a thin one, isn't it? Yeah.
It's kind of like a brandy snap, that kind of - Yeah.
Next, a tuile biscuit, which is to add texture and crunch.
That is not a tuile.
Bakers, you have 15 minutes to go. That's one-five.
15 minutes to go.
The bakers have never seen the finished trio,
so it's up to them to decide how to present it to the judges.
Argh! I'm glad Biddy and Paul can't see this.
The concentration on everybody.
Bakers, you have five minutes to go. OK? Five minutes remaining.
I have to whip the cream now and attempt to make some quenelles. Fun times.
That's a massive skill. That's not something you learn overnight. Dip the spoon in water. Hot water,
tap off the excess of water, and then you have to gently, and quickly,
because if you leave the hot spoon in the cream too long, it melts the cream.
So I'll be looking for a nice, white, firm cream.
That's a nice and clean quenelle, like a rugby ball almost.
Bakers, time is up.
Stop baking. I haven't finished.
There's no doubt that was the toughest technical challenge that's been set so far.
No room for error. It was a really tough challenge.
I don't know if I'm 100 percent happy with it, the presentation,
because I don't know how he wants it to look.
I was at the front. I turned round and everybody else has pretty ones
and arranged things differently. So you doubt yourself.
I'm happy. If I served that up to family and friends, I'd be thrilled.
I could be happy until the cows come home, it makes no difference, it's whether they are.
It might not be what Paul and Biddy have in their heads. You're hoping it's exactly what they want.
The elimination's a scary prospect. It's heartbreaking to go in the competition,
but it's also heartbreaking to lose the people.
Hello, bakers. We're here to judge your trio of chocolate Bavarois
and all the other beautiful bits that go along with it.
Very excited. (ALL LAUGH)
I love this dessert.
Some of my favourites.
Sounds a bit like a threat there.
Let's first of all look at the layers in this.
A couple of air bubbles in the side here.
The quenelles aren't really what I would consider quenelles.
More like - Blobs? Blobs, Biddy? Blobs.
Let's have a taste.
That's lovely and smooth there.
Very light. Oreo cookie. Yes. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's lovely. And the flavour is amazing.
The layers again. Oh, oh! A bit of a landslide going on there. Oh dear.
What do you think, Biddy? Do you know what it looks like?
It's a kind of a graph where your heartbeat is going up and down. Ah. If it's too set you get air bubbles
on the side and you don't get a nice, flat separation. The cookies as well, they're like chocolate chip cookies.
This looks like the thing you get in a garage shop.
A monster chocolate cookie.
It's set really, really, really hard here.
And the jelly is quite thick as well on top.
It's a little bit more set, this mousse. It's not as smooth as it should be.
It should be like almost set cream, really.
And the jelly on top, I just feel, is a bit thick. Nice idea to have
the layer of the orange on top - Yeah. But just a little bit too thick.
You do get the orange taste from that more, though. Yes. Cos it's thick. Nice kick.
You see that now? There's no air bubbles in that. No.
Straight away, to be ultra-critical, the dark chocolate is twice the size of the milk and white.
It should be more or less the same size.
Mm, that's a nice jelly. I'm getting the orange.
Oh dear, the cookies. They're a mess. Yes.
They're sponges. Yes.
This one looks fun. I like the cubes. I think that's a very nice idea.
Let's have a look at the layers here. Let's have a quick look.
Oh, you can see the lines aren't straight on that.
It's a nice hit from the orange cubes. That's such a nice dessert when it's done right.
So creamy and light, it's beautiful. But the cookies are - Sponge cakes.
They are. It's so thick. A tuile biscuit should be nice and crisp,
like a wafer. You can almost see through it.
Straight away, visually, this is consistent, very nice, structured.
The glasses are straight. The raspberries are on the right side of the cream,
the cream's on the right side of the raspberries. There's one nearly quenelle. This one's awful.
This is the most even-layered one so far. Yeah, I think so.
It looks like a lot of crumble on top.
I mean, that can sometimes catch in your throat and cause you to almost choke, so be careful. (LAUGHS)
Right, Biddy? Yes. (ALL LAUGH)
It's slightly stronger tasting than some of the others, but I like that.
That's well-executed as well. Yeah.
Bavarois is nice. Mm. The orange jelly on top, a bit too thick.
See the layers are just nice and even? Yeah.
And there's no air pockets, see that? It's gorgeous.
The Bavarois is lovely and creamy. It's such a nice flavour.
Even the presentation, straightaway, the quenelles, they're not really quenelles,
but whoever's done this has made an effort to keep these straight. This is the closest attempt at a tuile.
Let's have a look.
They're a bit uneven. The dark chocolate is a fraction too thick. And that's a fraction too thin.
The tuile biscuits are completely wrong as well.
That's nice. Very good.
Very creamy, and the jelly is nice and tart as well. It comes through really, really well.
Now it is time for the judges to mark the bakers in reverse order,
from seventh to first place.
Well, bakers, they have tasted and talked about your desserts,
and now the judges are going to give you your marks.
Who made this one?
The cookie's a mess, there's way too much crumble on this,
and there was an attempt at the old quenelle but it didn't come off.
You are in seventh place.
Who made this one? Me.
Jarek, when you see the cookie like this, it's just, it's too thick,
too spongy. Your Bavarois was nice, nice flavour,
just a little bit chaotic on top with the jelly.
Having said that, you're in sixth place.
Who made this one?
This one? Aoife. And who made this one?
Oonagh. Sometimes I look at desserts in a practical way.
You've almost got the tuile biscuit right.
I mean, you've got them nice and thin. But having said that, we've decided this one is the winner.
Yeah, I'm absolutely thrilled.
I can't believe first place. It's amazing, yeah.
I'm really gobsmacked after that. It's...
I thought I'd really messed up.
I feel confident and I think my dessert was nicer.
My dessert looked more nice than the other people.
I think I could be in trouble for the eliminations cos I think, building on last week,
I dodged a serious bullet and went through by the skin of my teeth.
And coming last in the technical challenge today, you just don't know.
I'd love Star Baker, but I think Barbara really has deserved it this week,
so I hope she gets it. I think, out of all of us, she's really, really done the best this week.
Bakers, this week you've made me very happy.
Locked in a tent with tons of chocolate
and with Ireland's greatest bakers.
So thank you very much for that.
Before I give the results, Paul has a few words to say.
Today was a very tough challenge. It's really nice to see every baker here is listening
to what myself and Biddy have to offer, in advice.
We are looking for Ireland's best amateur baker. And, at this point, it really is down to a game of inches.
This week we have found our Star Baker,
and that is somebody who has really improved, technically, and who the judges feel has blossomed.
Our Star Baker this week is...
...Aoife.
This is the bad bit of the show that we all hate.
And, unfortunately, one of you is going to leave us now.
The next person to leave The Great Irish Bake Off is...
...Jarek. (ALL) Ahh.
That's fair. I knew that anyway.
I knew I'd be going home.
Sad enough, but I'm proud of myself.
Jarek's great fun. He's the life and soul,
and he's hilarious - and I'm just going to miss him. He was my buddy.
Delighted to get Star Baker.
Absolutely brilliant just to get some form of approval from Paul and Biddy.
I can't wait to tell them all at home.
If that technical challenge was anything to go by,
I can just imagine what next week's gonna bring.
One more week before we're in the semi-finals so, at this point now,
it's going to be unforgiving on myself and Biddy's behalf. We're gonna be looking for details.
Next week I'll be watching for technique. It must be perfect.
(SIGHS)
No quarter given next week on silly mistakes.
Ah, no!
Next week on The Great Irish Bake Off.
One minute on the clock.
Oh, my arm.
It's very wet. I'm not happy with this at all.
Oh, could I cock up any more?
By Deluxe