Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets: Cakes and Pastries

Celebrated chef Raymond Blanc welcomes the cameras back into his working Oxfordshire kitchen to share the culinary secrets he has collected and cherished over the past 35 years. The programme features a variety of recipes for cooks of all abilities that are inspiring and achievable. In this episode Raymond pays tribute to the sweetly satisfying extravagance of cakes and pastries. To kick off, a feather-light lemon tea cake, generously coated in sticky apricot jam and a tangy lemon glaze. Next pure chocolate indulgence - crisp, fluffy choux pastry filled with a cooling chocolate cream and covered with a glossy chocolate icing. The secrets of the perfect macarons - the fashionable and delectable almond based pastries - are shared and used to decorate a flourless chocolate cake. For the finale, Piece Montee Croquembouche: the quintessential French celebration cakes that stand a metre tall. Raymond also goes to Paris to visit protege and world famous patissiere Laurent Duchene