Bake Off Creme de la Creme

Battling it out in the first heat of this intense bake off are three young chefs from a five-star hotel, a team which invents desserts for a leading supermarket and a trio of chefs who work in secret restaurants hidden away in the city of London.

In the second heat of this incredible bake off, a team from the British Armed Forces meet the only all-women team in the competition and a team from a world-famous London hotel.

The search for the creme de la creme of British pastry continues with Tom Kerridge welcoming three more teams of expert chefs to the competition for the third heat out of five.

Competing in this episode are a cookery school teacher with two of his former star pupils, a trio of pastry chefs from a five-star London hotel and the only all-French outfit in the competition who work in a high-end patisserie.

Tom Kerridge welcomes a team from a fine-dining restaurant in Liverpool, a team from Leeds led by a self-taught chocolatier and three pastry chefs from south Wales who are representing their country in this year's culinary Olympics.

The search for the creme de la creme of British pastry has reached the semi-finals. Fifteen teams started the competition, but now just six remain. And things are about to get even tougher.

The teams are put through two testing challenges in just 36 hours. 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.

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.

For their miniatures challenge, they face the juggling act of making 72 perfectly baked viennoiseries with an added bicolour element as well as 72 tantalising cup petits fours. For their next challenge, they're given four hours to produce a magnificent under-the-sea themed chocolate showpiece accompanied by three types of chocolate bon bons, 108 in total.

The toughest bake off on television welcomes five new teams who, over the next three heats, battle it out for the last two semi-final places. The first challenge requires the teams to finely craft two batches of perfectly uniform miniatures - 36 fraisiers and 36 verrines - in just two and a half hours. For the final challenge, the teams are required to reinvent the pavlova, the iconic dish inspired by a legendary ballerina.

In the first challenge, the four remaining teams of professional pastry chefs must create 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.

The heats draw to a close as two teams battle it out for the last two semi-final places. For the miniature challenge, the teams are asked to create 72 designer viennoiserie, and 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.