SPOILER ALERT: Please do not read the following article if you have not seen this week’s episode of Bake Off!
I think I squealed down the phone when my mum told me they’d released the details for this year’s Great Comic Relief Bake Off. I think it’s safe to say that I’m a relatively big fan of the original show (read: a bit nutty about it. I watch every series live in the summer, then re-watch it when it’s repeated the following January, and will sometimes watch the odd episode if I’m going through a bout of separation anxiety). I love all things baking, but the Bake Off really is the pinnacle.
This year’s series, to raise funds for Comic Relief, features 16 celebrities who have taken up the apron to prove their baking skills and battle it out to become Star Baker. There are four episodes with four competitors in each, and this week was an all-female affair, starring the amazing Ab Fab duo Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders, singer Lulu, and celebrity personality Dame Edna. With an average age of 68, you’d think they would have experience on their side, but this was not to be. From the get-go there were cookie-related mishaps and cake mayhem in the bake off tent.
For the first challenge, the four contestants were asked to make a giant cookie or biscuit, topped with decorative writing icing. Things seemed to be going well for all, until the cameras revealed the first faux pas of the evening: Dame Edna’s cookie was completely welded to the tin, and she resorted to cutting the tin off with metal cutters. I think this was perhaps a Bake Off first.
The dreaded technical challenge was next, and the bakers were asked to create Mary Berry’s own recipe for 12 miniature raspberry tarts. The humour picked up at this point, as three of the bakers had serious trouble with various aspects of making and baking the pastry cases. All that can be said is that Mary and Paul tasted all four batches, despite their appearance.
Finally, viewers prepared themselves for the showstopper challenge, whereby the contestants had to create a tiered chocolate cake decorated to represent a memorable occasion. This is when the chuckles really do become uncontrollable. Jennifer’s cake mix has curdled, Joanna puts coffee in her cake instead of chocolate, Lulu saws her cake in two and it caves in, and Dame Edna’s meringues are soggy and flat, not to mention her cake doesn’t even feature chocolate as an ingredient.
In the end, Jennifer’s Ab Fab themed showstopper wins her the coveted prize of Star Baker, and allows her to gloat in front of Lulu. I’m already looking forward to next week’s bake off tent banter!
Don’t forget that the show aims to raise money for Comic Relief, so if you have a few spare pounds or pennies lying around, do think about donating.