Back in the Bake Off tent, Mary and Paul roll up their sleeves, baking the challenges that they set the bakers in Bread and Desserts weeks of the Great British Bake Off. Paul is in his element as he shows how to make soda bread in under an hour and then bakes baguettes, perhaps the most iconic of all French breads. Mary makes cappuccino creme brulees without a blow torch and creates the classic meringue cake which foxed the bakers in week 4 - the Spanische windtorte. Paul shows us how to decorate a pie and Mary reveals her tip for making a checkerboard cake before going on to bake a tiered white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake.
The Great British Bake Off sees ten passionate home bakers take part in a bake-off to test every aspect of their baking skills as they battle to be crowned the Great British Bake Off's best amateur baker. Each week the nationwide tour sees keen bakers put through three challenges in a particular discipline.
The competition kicks off with cake in the Cotswolds, then moves to Scotland to tackle biscuit baking, then Sandwich in Kent for bread, Bakewell in Derbyshire for puddings, Mousehole in Cornwall for the pastry challenges, and London for the grand final.
Judging the baking are renowned baking writer Mary Berry and professional baker Paul Hollywood; presenting the show are Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, who trace the very particular history of British baking by visiting local baking landmarks and discovering why people bake what they bake today.