Great British Menu ™
Baker:
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Roll Up, Roll Up
Ashleigh kicks off her dessert with donut batter.
Ashleigh: "Time critical is getting the donut proved."
Ashleigh: "So while the donut dough is finishing up. I'm going to get the ice cream mix ready. Got pasteurized egg yolks. The eggs are not getting cooked out, so it's important to use pasteurized ones. Demarara sugar, caster sugar."
Ashleigh's ice cream mixture is blended with buttered popcorn before sieving to remove any corn kernel residue.
Ashleigh: "It's more inspired by a gelato base. So just going to get that churned ice cream."
Ashleigh starts on the apples for apple caramel sauce for her dessert.
Ashleigh: "My dessert is inspired by a lovely lady called Nell Gifford who was co founder of Gifford Circus. She and her partner set it up and they wanted a white top, village green ty[e of old fashioned circus and there was dogs and horses as a main part of it, but obviously, ethically, yes, early 2000s this was founded and the first time they set up was actually in Cheltenham. So my dish is inspired by the flavour of the circus. So we've got a toffee apple donut, butter, popcorn ice cream, caramelized white chocolate crumb. And then a pate de feuille, but I'm covering it in a citric acid coating so it's a bit like a sour jelly sweet. So it should hopefully bring all the lovely memories of when you go to the circus in your mouth."
Later ...
Ashleigh adds sugar and pectin to blackberry puree for pâte de fruits jelly-like sweets.
Ashleigh: "I'm going to get some more caster sugar with some glucose.
It will bubble at 106 degrees to give it a jammy texture. She moves on to apple caramel sauce.
Ashleigh: "A liter of apple juice has been reduced down by 20% until that's golden brown and delicious."
She checks on her horse shaped chocolate biscuits that will top her circus inspired dessert.
Later still ...
Ashleigh's butter popcorn ice cream has churned set and is sieved to smooth.
Ashleigh: "So there's just a few little bits of popcorn which I didn't want in there. So we're going again on the ice cream, but I'm going to strain it though a muslin this time.
Ashleigh, talking to Simon Rogan: "So I've got some apple caramel here for you to try. The caramel is going to go in the center of the donut. I'm going to mix the compressed apple through it. So that's going to let down the texture a little bit and it is quite sharp, but there's a lot of sweetness on the dish."
Simon Rogan, talking to the camera
"Ashleigh has, extraordinarily, extracted a real flavor of Granny Smith into that caramel. It was absolutely delicious. And I can't wait to see that on the plate."
While Ashleigh's toffee apple donuts are cut out and proved for a second time, she adds citric acid to give her pâte de fruits a sour kick.
Ashleigh: "I've got a bit more sugar just to lessen the citric acid because that was not a pleasant eating experience."
Plating
Ashley is next to plate.
Popping candy crumb is added. BlackBerry pate de fruits. Blackberries, and a deep fried donut. Now donut centers are filled with apple caramel sauce. Compressed diced apple, a rocher of butter, popcorn ice cream finished with a chocolate biscuit horse.
Simon Rogan: "Happy with the texture of the donut?"
Ashleigh: "I'm very happy with how light it's turned out."
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"I love the apple, actually. And then sat on top of the very sweet toffee. Just great."
Back in the judging room
Simon Rogan: The popcorn ice cream?"
Ashleigh: "It's not quite as smooth as I wanted."
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"The ice cream looks a touch grainy, but actually on the palette, it's absolutely lovely."
Back in the judging room
Simon Rogan: And the crumb?"
Ashleigh: "I think with the popping candy, it gives it quite a nostalgic feel."
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"The pâtes de fruits texture? I like it."
"It's just very softly set. That's really, really lovely."
Back in the judging room
Simon Rogan: And the tuille, does that add anything to it, do you think?
Ashleigh: "I think the horse added a nice texture to the dish and it really helped with the storytelling of the dish."
Simon Rogan: So what would you score this dish?"
Ashleigh: "I think I'd give it an 8 or a 9. I think the ice cream let it down a little bit."
Final Judging
"Ashley, for your dish. Roll up, roll up. The presentation was spectacular. Felt as though the circus was happening right in front of me. The donut was super light. I could have eaten a whole bag of them. The ice cream, as you mentioned, the texture was a little bit off, but that's easily rectified. And the blackberry pates de fruit were fun. A nice sourness to them. A very successful dessert."
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