麻豆约拍

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.

To secure a place in the semi-finals, the teams must impress the formidable judging panel of Benoit Blin, chef patissier at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Claire Clark MBE, world-renowned pastry chef and consultant, and Cherish Finden, executive pastry chef at The Langham, London.

Eager to please the judges this week are two teams of chefs who work in upmarket patisserie shops, while the third team hails from the kitchens of an exclusive Scottish hotel.

In the Miniatures Challenge, the teams are asked to produce 36 petit antoine chocolate slices, 36 macaroons religious and 36 pyramid-shaped cakes invented specially for the competition. With just three hours to make them and sky-high expectations from the judges, teamwork, time management and calmness under pressure are essential.

In the Showpiece Challenge, the teams are asked to reinvent a popular British dessert as a fine-dining experience and present it as a dazzling showpiece display. This week, the dessert getting the five-star makeover is lemon meringue pie. There is no shortage of drama, with clouds of dry ice, a surprise hidden inside a lemon and a fragile swan made entirely of sugar. But which of the lavish desserts will get the highest score from the judges?