The Great British Bake Off series 2

The Great British Bake Off
Series 2
Photo of Sue and Mel and contestants of the second series
Starring	Mel Giedroyc Sue Perkins Mary Berry Paul Hollywood
No. of episodes	8
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Original release	14 August (2011-08-14) – 4 October 2011 (2011-10-04)
Series chronology
← Previous Series 1 Next → Series 3

The second series of The Great British Bake Off started 14 August 2011 with twelve amateur bakers. Unlike series one, the competition was held in a single location – the grounds of Valentines Mansion, a 17th-century mansion house in Redbridge.^[1] In addition to their on-screen presenting, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins also took over the narration, which had been done by Stephen Noonan for the previous series. Series two also introduced the "star baker" award for the most impressive performer each week.

Three and a half thousand people applied for the competition, and twelve were selected. Each episode was filmed over two fourteen-hour days.^[2] The competition was won by Joanne Wheatley.^[3]

^[1] There was no Star Baker this week, as Paul and Mary felt it wouldn't be right to single out one baker when the results were incredibly close.

Colour key:

For their first challenge, the bakers were asked to bake 24 cupcakes in two hours. They were allowed to make two different types of cupcakes. For the technical challenge, the bakers were asked to bake a Coffee and Walnut Battenburg cake using Mary Berry's recipe in two hours. The cake needed to have the perfect sponge which held its form (perfect symmetry), distinguish flavours, and a smooth exterior. For the showstopper, the bakers were asked to bake a chocolate tiered celebration cake with elaborate, multi-layer design in five hours.

For the signature bake, the bakers were asked to bake a savoury quiche in 2 hours. For the technical challenge, the bakers were asked to bake a Tarte au Citron using Mary Berry's recipe in 1+1⁄2 hours. For the showstopper, the bakers were asked to bake 24 mini sweet tartlets, in two different flavour combinations.

For their signature bake, the bakers were asked to bake a free form flavored loaf (not using a tin) in 3+1⁄4 hours. The technical challenge gave the bakers 3+1⁄2 hours to bake a Focaccia, using Paul Hollywood's recipe. The showstopper required the bakers to produce a 2 part display: a basket made of bread, then filled with 12 sweet and 12 savory rolls, in the space of 5 hours.

In this episode, two bakers were eliminated rather than one baker.

For the signature bake, the bakers were give 1+1⁄2 hours to make 12 biscuits of their choice; the biscuits should not be too soft, too hard or too crumbly. The technical challenge gave the bakers 1+1⁄2 hours to bake 24 brandy snaps. For the showstopper, the bakers were asked to produce a macaron display, consisting of 120 macarons in 3 different flavors; they had 5 hours to complete it.

The signature challenge asked the bakers to produce a hearty family pie using either a rough puff or flaky pastry, in 2+1⁄2 hours. For the technical challenge, the bakers were asked to bake a batch of 6 miniature pork pies (using a hot water crust pastry) in 2+1⁄2 hours, using Paul Hollywood's recipe. It was a 2-day bake challenge — to give the filling time to set overnight the pies were judged the next day. For the showstopper, the bakers were asked to bake a meringue pie — a fruit and/or custard pie topped with meringue — in 3+1⁄2 hours.

Once again, in this episode, two bakers were eliminated instead of one baker.

For their signature bake, the quarterfinalists were tasked to produce a cheesecake in 2¹⁄₂ hours. For the technical challenge, the bakers were asked to bake a chocolate roulade in 1+3⁄4 hours using Mary Berry's recipe. For the showstopper, the bakers were asked to create a Croquembouche-inspired bake in 5 hours.

For the signature bake, the semi-finalists were given 2 hours to bake a layered mousse cake, with the judges seeking a light sponge and a rich mousse. In the technical challenge, the bakers were asked to bake 12 identical Iced Fingers to be filled with cream and jam, using Paul Hollywood's recipe. For the showstopper, the bakers were asked to produce a selection of three different pastries using the same laminated pastry dough — which must be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside — for all three.

For their final signature bake, the finalists were asked to bake 12 mille-feuille in 2+1⁄2 hours. For the technical challenge, the bakers were asked to bake a sachertorte in 2 hours and 40 minutes. For their final showstopper, the bakers were asked to bake 3 different types of petits fours: meringue, sweet pastry, and sponge-based, on the theme of British Summertime, within 4 hours.

Both episodes nine and ten were masterclasses by Paul and Mary, where they demonstrated how to make the Technical Challenges that they had set throughout the series. Episode nine showed the first four of the series; Coffee and walnut Battenberg, Tarte au Citron, Focaccia and Brandy Snaps. Episode ten showed the last four of the series; Pork pies, Chocolate roulade, Iced fingers and Sachertorte. Episode eleven went back and revisited the bakers from series one to catch up with the contestants.

Some of the contestants went on to a career in baking or had a change of career after appearing on the show.

Joanne Wheatley has written two bestselling books on baking, A Passion for Baking published on 16 May 2013,^[2] and Home Baking initially as a Sainsbury's exclusive. She writes a monthly column for Sainsbury's magazine and is a regular guest columnist for The Sun newspaper.^[4][5] She runs cookery courses from her home in Essex,^[6][7] and has appeared in various television programmes such as The Alan Titchmarsh Show and What's Cooking.^[8]

Holly Bell teaches baking classes and for a time worked as an occasional radio presenter on BBC Radio Leicester.^[9] She also appeared as a guest presenter on QVC shopping channel.^[10] She wrote an eBook called Ready, Steady, Bake! which was published on 5 July 2012,^[11] and published a book Recipes from a Normal Mum on 17 July 2014.^[12]

Mary-Anne Boermans wrote a book on baking, Great British Bakes: Forgotten Treasures for Modern Bakers, which was published on 7 November 2013.^[13]

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[14]

• The Great British Bake Off series 2 at BBC Online