Bake Off Crème de la Crème

Angus Deayton hosts the search for Britain's best team of pastry chefs. The pastry competition returns in a revamped knockout format, as five teams battle to stay in the competition and make it through to the next heat in their half of the draw. The teams are put through two testing challenges in just 36 hours, presided over by returning judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden. The first challenge demands that the teams make 36 identical moka au cafe slices and 36 identical napoleons, in just three hours. The second challenge demands that they each make an extraordinary showpiece dessert by reinventing the classic peach melba in just four hours. The team with the lowest total score at the end of the final challenge leaves the competition.

It is the second heat of the first leg of the competition and judges Benoit and Cherish want more miniatures - 36 uniform eclairs and 36 identical mont blancs. For their showpiece, the teams are tasked with making arguably the most important cake of one's life - a gateau de mariage. But when the final points are tallied, one team will have to leave.

Angus Deayton hosts the search for Britain's best team of pastry chefs. Three teams face the juggling act of making 72 perfectly baked viennoiseries.

This time, it is the pavlova, the iconic dish inspired by a legendary ballerina, which see the teams strive to create meringue-based masterpieces, as elegant as they are delicious. But at the end of the two days, who will win enough points to progress to the next heat and which team must deal with the disappointment of exiting the competition at this early stage?

The four remaining teams of professional pastry chefs must master petit gateau, creating 36 identical petite charlottes and 36 shaped macarons in just two hours. For their final challenge, the teams must put an innovative spin on the classic towering French celebration cake, the croquembouche. Who can reach new heights and create a skyscraping choux bun showpiece in just four hours and who will face a dramatic fall from grace and the disappointment of leaving the competition?

The heats draw to a close as two teams battle it out for the last two semi-final places. For the miniature challenge, judges Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin ask the teams to create not only 72 designer viennoiserie, putting their own creative spin on breakfast classics, but also 72 exquisite, flavour-filled rolled petits fours. For their second challenge, the judges ask the teams to construct towering chocolate showpieces, along with 108 moulded chocolate bonbons, using the theme of the sky at night as their inspiration. Who will have the imagination and technical flair to master moulding chocolate on a grand scale and the delicate finesse required to craft delicate flavour-filled bonbons? The two top scorers will make it through to the semi-final.

In the first semi-final, the teams must create six identical and multi-layered crown entremet - large circular sharing desserts comprising of many complimentary flavours and textures. At the same time, they have to prepare all the elements needed to perform a spectacular piece of gourmet theatre known as live table plating, creating a dessert drawing on the theme of tropical fruits. At the end of the challenge, the teams are given three minutes to transform their table into a gastronomic work of art, under the unwavering gaze of judges Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin. For their next challenge the teams are required to display their mastery of one of the most highly regarded skills in patisserie, sugar craft. Over four hours, they must produce a jaw-dropping sugar showpiece, along with three types of delicious confectionery, all reflecting the theme of an English country garden.

In the second semi-final, the teams must each create six perfectly uniform buche entremet - large log-shaped sharing desserts comprising multiple layers of flavours and textures. At the same time, all the elements required for their live table plated dessert must be prepared. At the end of the challenge, the teams are asked to perform a three-minute piece of gastronomic theatre in front of judges Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin, evoking the theme of orchard fruits. For the showpiece, the teams must build an incredible centrepiece made entirely from sugar, based on the theme of a jungle paradise. They must also create three types of mouthwatering confectionary - 240 sweets in total. After all that, the points are added up and one team has to bid farewell, whilst the other wins the remaining place in the grand final.

Hosted by Angus Deayton in the sumptuous setting of Firle Place, Sussex, television's toughest bake off reaches its dramatic conclusion, as two teams of professional pastry chefs lock horns over the most demanding assignment yet. This monumental task takes the form of a single, epic eight-hour challenge, which is judged and then served to over 100 assembled guests in the Great Hall, including friends, family and familiar faces from across the series, in a party hosted by Lord and Lady Gage. Judges Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin are demanding a spectacular display, comprising of an awe-inspiring sculptural centrepiece and eight batches of immaculately presented, mouthwatering desserts, all based around a theme of the teams' choosing. But who will impress the judges the most with their command of flavour and texture and who will have the edge when it comes to audacious originality and eye-popping artistry? At the end of it all, one team is crowned Creme De La Creme champions 2017.