Mary Berry’s Great British Vogue Bake Off

[mouth crunches]

It's very strange.

[bright music]

Well, this is a baking competition.

The British editors of Vogue

have all been busy for my 90th birthday.

Well, they should know all about style and perfection.

[egg cracks]

It looks terrible.

It failed, so I had to redo everything.

It's been the worst 12 hours of my life.

For me, they've got to look good,

but they've got to taste even better.

So we've certainly got a variety here.

Now let's have a look at this one.

[Eoghan] It's going to be a vanilla sponge cake.

The cake itself kind of takes inspiration

from the fact that we're entering a new season.

Spring is here, florals are all around us.

Everything is green.

Baby signals Mary's unbridled joy and her youthfulness.

I wonder if that's supposed to be me?

It's very pretty, it's bright green.

These are sort of synthetic flowers,

so I'll make sure I don't eat them.

Let's see how the knife, gosh, that couldn't be fresher.

It's going in beautifully.

So looking at that, it looks a perfect sponge.

It's quite informal with these flowers,

and they didn't have much time to make it.

So to actually make flowers would've been difficult.

But the actual cake looks very good.

It's beautifully baked.

Let's see, the icing has a little vanilla in, I think.

Good sponge, that's a good all round cake.

Not too ambitious.

They haven't had to make anything.

Everything is bought,

but the actual cake is really rather good.

Let's move on.

So we are celebrating Mary Berry's birthday.

This is what I'm after.

Happy birthday Mary.

This is what we need.

Do you know that looks remarkably familiar.

It looks to me as though it could be Colin the caterpillar,

and I think maybe this person had no time to do it,

nipped into the shops and brought it.

Shall I see?

I will recognize it when I cut it.

Look how hard it is.

It's gotta be able to travel

even though a caterpillar never moves far.

Let's see, that is certainly a bought caterpillar cake.

Is it a cake?

It's a bake, but it's not really a cake.

Does it relate to my 90th birthday, not really.

I'm going to attempt to make some beignets.

Okay, so we're back a few hours later.

I'm not going to stand here and lie

and say that this is the dough that went into the oven.

It failed, so I had to redo everything, ooh.

It isn't the sort of cake that you cut a piece, is it?

You would give each one one of these, whatever they are.

Let's have a look.

I'll tell you what, that was heavy.

I'm not too sure.

That almost looks as though it's been cooked in deep fat.

I dunno what I'm expecting.

Let's have a go.

It is very strange.

It's a bit like an oblong donut.

The flavors that are standing out

are really not noticeable of anything.

It's just sort of bready.

[Daniel] I'll just make a perfect beignet, I think I did.

Dry as a bone.

Not very exciting,

but at least whoever's made this

has thought, I'll do something utterly different.

And that's what they've achieved.

Onto a very classic looking walnut cake.

Looks beautifully baked,

nicely decorated with a little bit of style.

And just as you would expect

from an editor from Vogue, absolute precision.

Those are placed exactly in the right position.

Let's have a go.

Now that's gone down just like butter.

That looks to me without tasting, beautifully moist.

It's got some chopped walnuts.

This person knows what they're doing.

The walnuts haven't all dropped to the bottom of the cake.

It looks well proportioned.

There's a nice big sludge of that icing in the middle

as well and on top.

And let's have a taste.

I like the crunch of the walnut in the,

just the right amount of icing, tastes very good.

It would be a perfect cake for a 90th birthday

or any birthday cake.

And now onto the next cake.

All ingredients measured out for?

The cake!

The butter needs to be smooth.

[Dee] How's it looking now?

Bumpy! Bumpy.

[Dee] All mixed up, and in three cake pans

ready to go into the oven.

Just putting on the butter cream icing on top.

Finishing touches, finished.

The first thing that catches your eye

is Happy Easter, Mary.

Don't mind that.

I rather like Easter eggs, but it's quite jolly.

It's pleasing to look at.

It looks as though it's for a celebration.

It's got these hundreds and thousands on the top.

Children would love this cake as well.

And after all, when you have a birthday,

there are lots of people on my birthday sharing it.

It's got, which is often referred to as a naked side to it.

And there it is.

It's a deep cake.

It's got three layers of filling.

You need three layers of filling when it's such a deep cake.

Well, if you're very hungry

and you've worked very hard in the office,

I dare say you might eat a slice as big as this one.

Now this has had a very even bake.

You can see at the bottom of each piece,

I think it's been done in three lots.

The whole thing looks evenly based.

We haven't got one layer

a little bit thicker than the other.

Although it looks absolutely beautiful,

it's a little on the dry side.

As you can see, it's a little bit crumbly.

The icing is good and the whole visual side of it.

You definitely know there's a celebration there.

The flavor that comes through is just a sweet flavor.

Well, here we have the only cake

that says Happy birthday on.

The icing is not the right consistency.

It looks terrible.

It looks awful.

Oh my God.

[Zee grunts]

I mean, it looks hideous,

but okay, I've got some chocolate lettering

and I'm going to write happy birthday with this.

I dunno quite why the reason

of jumbling up the actual happy and the birthday.

Was it to make it a bit of a puzzle

so I could work out whether all the letters were there?

This looks as though it's a Victoria sandwich mixture,

but let's see how it cuts.

Also, I think there's a little bit of gold glitter here

so this person obviously thinks

this is a very important birthday

in order to put a bit of gold on it.

The knife's going down quite slowly into the cake

because it's slightly been in the oven a little too long.

You can see that by the front there where it's turned out,

the top there has just caught in the oven.

[Zee] That just does not look normal to me.

Whatever is going on there, it does not look cake-like.

Such an easy thing to do.

Next time, make it a little bit lower temperature.

It's got a generous filling in the center, which I like.

It's a good sponge, but as I say, a little bit over baked.

Let's see how it tastes.

Hmm, it's got that little bit crispy filling,

which is rather nice.

And the sponge itself, a little on the dry side.

And lastly, a chocolate cake.

Everybody loves the chocolate cake.

[Naomi] It's only just occurred to me,

I probably should have cut that butter up.

You can tell this is my first rodeo

because this is taking ages.

The kitchen is a shit show.

I dunno what I'm doing.

I have a sort of feeling that the person

who made this cake had no time to ice it.

It looks as though it's a sort of a good mixture from here.

It looks a good chocolate cake, I can tell you.

Look how the mixtures,

it's a little bit like a chocolate brownie cake.

When you cut a chocolate brownie, it's sort of like that.

It sticks to the knife, but it's certainly cooked.

Now that looks a good chocolate cake.

What a pity it's not iced

because it doesn't tell me it's happy birthday.

But as you can see, like a brownie,

the actual mixture stuck to the knife,

which a brownie often does.

And let's taste it.

That is dark, rich, indulgent,

perfect for a birthday cake.

But what a sadness.

We have no icing, no finish, no Vogue presentation with it.

If that had had a night,

undoubtedly it's the best flavored cake,

but it's not quite right for a 90th birthday.

I've looked at all the British Vogue editors' cakes.

I've tasted them all.

We've had a great variety.

I think it's jolly good of them to enter

when you have a very busy job

and you go home and make them in the evening.

If I go home in the evening,

it's a glass of wine and my supper.

But they fitted in to make all these cakes

and they're all different.

I have chosen the winner that I would like on my birthday.

[bright music]

[phone rings]

Hello?

Hello, hi.

Now who am I talking to?

You are talking to Honey.

Honey, now Honey, I hope I've got a surprise for you.

I've had seven cakes here

and you were the star amongst them all.

[Honey] Oh, it's one of my favorite cakes to bake.

Well, congratulations, rest on your laurels,

and I know I will have a happy birthday, thank you.

Thank you, happy birthday, Mary, thank you.

I thank you, congratulations.

[bright music]

[bright music continues]