00:00Hey, Canada.
00:01It's that magical time of year
00:03where 10 amateur bakers from across the Great White North
00:05get their spatulas and battle it out in the Great White Tent.
00:08Over the next eight weeks, eggs will crack,
00:11dough will roll, and puns will be made.
00:13It's gonna be spankakular.
00:14We'll work on the puns.
00:15Yeah, we will.
00:16Are you ready? I'm ready.
00:17Are the bakers ready?
00:18Yep, they're ready.
00:20Welcome to the Great Canadian Baking Show!
00:27I am here. I have arrived.
00:30It's the tent!
00:34It's magical. It's amazing.
00:38Happy.
00:39Look at this!
00:41The tent is meters away from me and it's staring me down
00:43even though it has no eyes. Like, it's just...
00:47I've applied four times out of five seasons.
00:51I have trouble taking no for an answer.
00:54Ten new bakers have been chosen.
00:56When I got that call, I think I was shaking from head to toe.
00:59It still hasn't really hit me that I'm one of the bakers yet.
01:03I'm hoping that the reason that I'm chosen
01:05is not because I'm gonna be, like, the first one out.
01:08They're ready to test themselves in the tent.
01:10I have not seriously had my baking critique before
01:13because people are just too nice on the East Coast.
01:16I'm gonna ask the baking gods for their blessing
01:18and I'm just gonna go with it.
01:19I cannot wait to hear, ready, set, bake.
01:24Over the next eight weeks...
01:26It's not stupid if it works.
01:27They'll face 24 brand new challenges.
01:30Oh, this is so cool.
01:33I am speechless.
01:35This looks like the cover of a magazine.
01:37I don't know if it was your intention.
01:39Mm-hmm.
01:40They will overcome obstacles.
01:42Oh, I think I went over the maximum fill line.
01:46They'll pick each other up...
01:47I can't do anything about it.
01:49It'll taste okay.
01:50You are amazing.
01:51Believe in yourself.
01:52...and cheer each other on...
01:55...until one baker...
01:56Baking is my jam.
01:59...wins it all.
02:00What is happening?
02:01I created a monster.
02:04Look at it.
02:05Whee!
02:28We've returned to the Canadian Film Centre and the E.P. Taylor Estate, where over the next two days, our
02:35ten newest days will be available.
02:36These bakers will face three challenges.
02:39Good morning, bakers, and welcome to The Great Canadian Baking Show, The Sweetest Place on Earth.
02:45I'm Anne Pornell.
02:46And I'm Alan Shane Lewis.
02:48Let's welcome back your judges, Bruna Phil Dyson and Kyla Keneally.
02:51Hi.
02:52Hello.
02:53Bakers, for your first signature challenge, you'll be putting a twist on a classic, the pound cake.
02:59You will take this humble cake to the next level by adding your own signature flavors and decorations.
03:03You have two hours on the clock, on your marks...
03:06Get set...
03:07...and for the first time this season...
03:08Bake!
03:09Whoo!
03:10Good luck, guys!
03:13I'm really nervous.
03:16Maybe an 11 out of 10 is how nervous I am right now.
03:22Kunal, how does it feel to be in the tent right now?
03:24I can't believe it's happening. It feels like I'm in another world right now.
03:28I know.
03:29I am so excited to have ten new bakers in the tent.
03:32If people thought last year we were hard on our judging, this year, Kyla and I, we're gonna bring it
03:38up a notch.
03:40I mean, not a notch like this, a notch like that.
03:43Make a cake that does not fall apart and does not burn. That's the dream.
03:46We have chosen a pound cake because it's a little bit of back to the classics and we really want
03:53the bakers to be very bold and creative and give us lots of interesting flavor combinations.
03:59Do a bit of a squeaky squeak, nervous talking.
04:03They're the hugest carrots I've ever seen. Look at this thing. Size of my head.
04:10This is nuts. I feel like I've just forgotten how to zest a lime.
04:14A man of many hobbies, small business owner Steve likes to keep himself and his family grounded...
04:20Get out and then we'll do a triangle from that.
04:22...through meditation and yoga.
04:25His chai and chocolate pound cake will be surrounded by lime sugar cookies, a mango curd and candy melt butterflies.
04:33Do you think two hours is enough for your ambitious project?
04:37No. Not at all.
04:38Well, I just got really nervous for you on time, so I think we need to leave him alone and
04:42let him do his work.
04:43She got this, Steve.
04:44Pound cake gets its name because traditionally it included one pound each of butter, flour, eggs and sugar.
04:52What do I need to do next? Sugar. Sugar.
04:55Each baker can put their own spin on this classic recipe, but the goal is the same, a moist, rich
05:01texture.
05:02Hi Vincent.
05:03Hi, how are you?
05:04Good, how are you?
05:05I'm okay.
05:06Did you stay true to the traditional recipe?
05:09You did put butter inside, huh?
05:11No.
05:11No.
05:12Oh, that was nice.
05:14What did you substitute butter with?
05:16Buttermilk.
05:16Oh, okay.
05:17Yeah, it's buttermilk.
05:18Yeah.
05:19Vincent's buttermilk and thyme pound cake will be topped by candied lemons and an elegant lemon glaze.
05:26When he's not baking, graphic designer Vincent loves nothing more than to get outside with his partner
05:32and their two dogs.
05:33Good girl.
05:35My partner, Phil, he loves this cake, so I wanted to make it for him.
05:38It's gonna be great.
05:44Did I put sugar in it?
05:47That's why it's not creamy.
05:50Already, that's a million times better.
05:53A lifelong Prince Edward Islander, paralegal Amanda hopes to inspire the same provincial
05:59pride in her children.
06:01Do you see where Noah's grandmother lives?
06:03Her double-decker marble pound cake will feature a sugar bowl topper and truffle acorns.
06:10We have an oak tree in our yard with all the little acorns and the kids do crafts with them.
06:16So you're bringing a little bit of home into the tent today.
06:18Absolutely.
06:18That's amazing.
06:19Chaos, everything.
06:22Some of the bakers are adding beauty inside their cakes as well.
06:26I'm making the rhubarb swirl in my pound cake.
06:33Oh, gosh.
06:34We have some burnage.
06:38Amy is hoping to burn bright for the judges with her rhubarb and earl grey pound cake topped
06:43with curled rhubarb ribbons.
06:46Raised in Ottawa, university student Amy is an avid runner.
06:50You better pick up the pace if you want to work off all the desserts.
06:53Who inherited her love of baking from her mom and grandma.
06:57And you did a lot of practice?
06:59I did this one, I think, six times.
07:01I feel bad for my family.
07:02Like, it was one of my friends' birthdays, and I was like, you're getting a pound cake.
07:07I just put some piece-colored food coloring to make it look like grapefruit.
07:10It's a grapefruit and blackberry cake, and my sisters love it, so I might as well make it for the
07:15first thing.
07:16An artist at heart, Marian's design background inspires playful and elegant bakes for her large family.
07:23Hey, look what I made for you guys.
07:27Her vibrant grapefruit and blackberry pound cake will showcase a river of jam at its center.
07:33This is your jam that you make yourself?
07:35Oh yeah, that's just a jam, yeah.
07:36Oh yeah, I make it myself.
07:39Hugs and kisses.
07:41Bake well, baby, bake well.
07:44Total around 65 minutes.
07:45It's a big cake.
07:47Alrighty.
07:50Oh, oh.
07:53I totally forgot about the topping, so it had to come out.
07:56Now it's going back in, so it's fine, it's fine.
07:59Everything is fine.
08:02All life surrounded by food, helping out at his parents' restaurant in Regina.
08:07Enjoy.
08:08His sesame and caramel brittle will provide the perfect crunch for his pound cake,
08:14flavored with extract from the Southeast Asian pandan plant.
08:21Yes.
08:22It has a warm smell, doesn't it?
08:25Yes.
08:25It has a warm smell, doesn't it?
08:25This is exciting right now, Steven.
08:29Yes.
08:29And, pound it.
08:31Bakers, one hour left.
08:33Ah!
08:35The cake is in the oven, I'm making the glaze.
08:38Lots of stuff to do, no breaks.
08:40Each baker will finish their pound cake with a unique glaze or icing.
08:45I am making maple boiled icing.
08:48It's very East Coast.
08:49Basically just a meringue.
08:51Is that something you do a lot?
08:52It's something I've done before.
08:55Dartmouth native Dougal is a self-professed baking nerd who rarely misses a chance for study...
09:00Okay, going in.
09:02...or experimentation in the kitchen.
09:05Today he's tackling a maple cinnamon pecan pound cake topped with his boiled icing and another crunchy confection.
09:13And this is going to be a sponge toffee for the top of my pound cake.
09:16We'll see how it turns out.
09:21This is for decoration.
09:22There will be like a golden rice paper seal that will be on the side.
09:25Nobody needs fingers, right?
09:27Now an orthodontic specialist in Toronto, Alina grew up in Romania where she was a chess champion.
09:34Checkmate.
09:35Her strategy today is to impress the judges with her dramatic decorations and a pineapple, coconut, and carrot pound cake.
09:44Honestly, just put this giant carrot on top of that cake and be like, what do you want?
09:49Enjoy.
09:52I'm just grabbing things and pouring caramel over them.
09:55Oh, look at that. Isn't that pretty?
09:57Don't you burn on me.
09:59I am working on my mango curd.
10:01It is dotting the actual cake itself.
10:06Those look so cool.
10:07Oh, thank you. Thank you.
10:09It's like little ribbons.
10:12What is that?
10:14It's buttercream.
10:15What's the middle?
10:16It's all buttercream.
10:18It's just a big buttercream ball.
10:19Cool.
10:21A choreographer and ballet dancer from Montreal.
10:24Good. We'll do a little plie.
10:26Kunal is hoping to make a dramatic debut by placing his life-size buttercream decorations atop a blueberry lemon cream
10:34cheese pound cake.
10:35You look very relaxed and no concern.
10:38On the inside I'm going crazy, but on the outside you'll see like calm Kunal all the time.
10:41Yeah.
10:42Okay.
10:43We're going pink.
10:45I am making a Chinese puff pastry.
10:49It's going to be the decoration.
10:50If I do it right, it's going to look like some really nice lotus flowers.
10:53From Richmond, BC, Karen loves the great outdoors, her dog, and unwinding in front of the piano.
11:03Her lemon tea pound cake will feature a vibrant blue glaze to offset her pink puff pastry lotuses.
11:10I am deep frying these lotus pastries.
11:14We made ten and hoped for five, so we got it.
11:20Just hoping that it's cooked.
11:23When you're watching the show, there's this thing that happens where they open the oven and you're yelling at them,
11:27you're like,
11:27don't open the oven and that cools everything down. All I want to do is open the oven.
11:31I don't know. I don't know what the trick is, you pray.
11:36Oh, no. No, I get it.
11:38Just kidding.
11:40How are we for time? 15?
11:4217.
11:43Because 17 is so much better than 15.
11:45So much better.
11:46Whether you are ready or not, you're coming out.
11:53Okay.
11:56Uh-oh.
11:58It doesn't look right.
11:59So I'm a little concerned.
12:01The bakers must find a quick way of cooling their cakes.
12:05My arms are going to be ripped after this.
12:07If they don't, they'll have a mess on their hands when it comes time to decorate.
12:11Everything is made of buttercream, so if I put it on a hot thing, it's going to melt.
12:14It's going to melt.
12:15Bakers, you have five minutes left.
12:19Go, go, go team, go!
12:20Go, go!
12:25We got a blob going.
12:27We got another blob.
12:28Is that the technical term for these?
12:30Yeah.
12:32Listen to my daughter. Don't over-decorate.
12:35If I fiddle with it more, I will mess it up.
12:39We're doing it.
12:41One minute left for your pound cakes!
12:50Five, four, three, two, one!
12:54Yay!
12:55Hands up!
12:56You're done, bakers!
12:57Everyone is beautiful.
12:59All right.
13:01Moving along.
13:02Now, the bakers will have their cakes tasted by the judges for the very first time.
13:07Hi, Marian!
13:08You're a designer, aren't you?
13:09Yeah.
13:10Yeah, it shows.
13:10It shows.
13:14The grapefruit really brings that brightness to the pound cake.
13:18I think the jam is a rock star overall here.
13:23Typically, I wouldn't stack a pound cake myself.
13:26This gets a little distracting.
13:28It's very pleasant.
13:29It has a nice chocolatey flavor, but the vanilla is a bit too subtle.
13:33Okay.
13:36I love your choice of piping tip right out of the gate.
13:39You almost look like a seascape to me.
13:44It's like tasting a cloud when you taste the icing, but this is on the drier side.
13:48Okay.
13:50So we know there was some issue with the baking.
13:52I may have over-mixed the batter, so the leavening may have gotten knocked out of it.
13:57Please be edible.
14:03You know, overall, there is good flavor.
14:06We know you know what you're doing, and we can see by your face that you know what went wrong.
14:11Hello, Karen.
14:12Hello.
14:13You've given us something really unique.
14:15I want to wear the flowers in my hair, so.
14:17It's good to match your dress.
14:21It's definitely on the dry side.
14:23You spend too much time in the oven.
14:27Amy, it's so perfectly glazed and not to be outdone by these curls.
14:32Spectacular.
14:34In the star, it's the rhubarb.
14:38Wow.
14:39Visually, it's very appealing, very light and elegant.
14:42Mm-hmm.
14:43You know, could I use maybe a bit more time?
14:45It's a bit spongy.
14:46Well, and there's a lot of moisture.
14:47I mean, you've got pineapple and you've got carrots in there.
14:49But great work on the flavors.
14:50Thank you very much.
14:52I appreciate it.
14:54Very playful.
14:55Very animated.
14:56Yeah.
14:57Lot of details, beautiful color pattern.
15:00On its own, it's really good.
15:02But with the mango, it's finished.
15:07Lot of work and details how you made that lemon looks almost real.
15:12The bottom part, it's a bit translucent, so it's lacking baking time.
15:16That's too bad.
15:20Well, Stephen, it looks very messy but generous.
15:23Messy like my life.
15:25Yes.
15:26Oh, wow.
15:27Oh, my gosh.
15:28Wow.
15:29The green is purely from the pandan.
15:30That's amazing.
15:32It's so delicious, and it has all of the components of pound cake we're looking for.
15:37Yeah.
15:37It feels surreal having a professional.
15:41See, the flavors are really good.
15:42I'm like, okay, like, doing something right, so...
15:45Baking in the tent is very different than baking at home.
15:49That's what happens when you bake sometimes.
15:52Sometimes there's a bit of a raw cake.
15:58It is now time for the bake that you've all been dreaming of.
16:01It's the technical challenge.
16:03You will be given the exact same ingredients and the exact same recipe, but that recipe may have a few
16:09teeny-weeny little holes in it.
16:10Mm-hmm.
16:11So you'll have to trust your gut and your taste buds in order to complete it.
16:14Now, since this challenge is judge-blind, we kindly ask our judges to exit the premises, but please do return.
16:20Bye!
16:20Bye!
16:22Now that the judges are out back, we are all going to the outback.
16:27That's right.
16:28Today, you will be making lamingtons, the widely popular spongy jammy Australian cake.
16:35Bakers, you have one hour and 45 minutes to make 20 identical lamingtons.
16:40On your marks...
16:41Get set, bake!
16:45Okay, well...
16:50We are making lamingtons.
16:52I know what they look like, but that's as good as it gets.
16:55Never seen one, never made one.
16:57A true technical for me.
17:01Well, Kyla, it looks like you went on a long journey to find our first technical challenge.
17:06Lamingtons are such a popular treat down under.
17:09The reveal looks beautiful.
17:10The sponge itself is light and fluffy, and that's so important to get that nice height and even texture.
17:17The next layer is that raspberry jam in the middle.
17:19That will give it the tackiness it needs to stick together.
17:23The chocolate glaze, if they aren't careful, it could be really clumpy.
17:28It's delicious.
17:30Our Australian friends are really allowed to make a delicious cake.
17:34How's it going?
17:36I'm trying enough stress out.
17:37You are or you're not?
17:39I'm stressed out and trying not to.
17:42Oh, this is not the right pan, actually.
17:44Is this the right pan?
17:46Is there anything you need from me?
17:47Can I help you in any way?
17:48Praise and love, Heidi. Praise and love.
17:50Praise and love?
17:50Praise and love.
17:50You got it.
17:51Thank you, man.
17:51Go, Vincent. Go, Vincent. Go.
17:53Hey.
17:53Go, Vincent. Go, Vincent. Go.
17:57Step one is the cake.
17:59A fluffy, airy sponge is essential to achieving the proper size and shape for the lamingtons.
18:07Fold in the flour. Careful not to deflate.
18:11Is it right? We don't know.
18:14You should not fold your batter in your pan. Not good.
18:19Fire bubbles.
18:25Until cake springs back when lightly touched and ketchup cake pulls away from pan, so no idea.
18:30Perfect.
18:32Seven minutes. I'm going to check and then I'll see if it springs back.
18:37Next up, a perfectly set raspberry jam.
18:41Have you made jam before?
18:43Um, no.
18:44Yes. Say yes.
18:45Oh, sorry.
18:46Yes.
18:47Huge jammers.
18:47That's me.
18:49How do I mash it?
18:51I'm going to use a knife.
18:53It's not the most elegant, but it's not stupid if it works.
18:56It says six minutes, but it's been way more than six minutes.
18:59I'm just going to keep cooking it because it doesn't seem jammy.
19:04This is going better. This looks more like, you know, the jam I've seen.
19:07The line that is catching my eye is make a partially strained raspberry jam.
19:12That could mean anything.
19:13I'm straining it and then putting some goop back in.
19:17It feels wrong.
19:22Bakers, you have one hour left.
19:52It's all being felt right.
19:53It was all I knew right, when a reflection writes about this investigate,
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