The first Bake Off boy
Edd Kimber on the very first series, how baking’s helped us all through lockdown – and his new book of one-tray recipes
Edd Kimber sounds bemused that he gets emails from PhD students hoping he can help with their theses on the cultural significance of The Great British Bake
Off. His qualification, of course, is that he was the very first winner.
Ten years ago the unassuming bank debt collector signed up for a new, low-key show on BBC2. He won, ditched the debt collecting and has just finished his fourth recipe book.
It’s fitting that we catch up with Edd just as the Covid crisis has had us all dashing to our ovens. And, he says, you don’t need a PhD to understand why. ‘It’s about the joy of making something yourself, of transforming butter, sugar and flour into a million different recipes.
‘Plus, it’s an escape. You can almost turn your mind off. And you can do it with kids.’
Much of his own work (he contributes to several foodie magazines and is a regular at food shows) dried up during lockdown, and he wasn’t sure it was the right time to bring out a new book about baking. I’d suggest his timing is unintentionally brilliant. The new book,
One Tin Bakes, is out now – cleverly, every recipe is baked in a 23cm x 33cm pan, which he says is the most versatile one you’ll find. ‘People always tell me they get put off because they don’t have a particular tin. I wanted to show you can do 70 recipes in the same tin.’
The bakes range from a simple vanilla sheet cake to an ambitious pistachio crème brûlée tart with honey-roasted apricots. ‘Some of the recipes are very easy,’ he says. ‘Others are for the more adventurous.’ It’s interesting how this Bake
Off winner managed to create a career for himself when there was no blueprint. ‘If you win now it’s almost inevitable you’ll do a book,’ he says. ‘But I had no expectations beyond wanting a career in baking.’
Edd was rather adrift when he signed up for a show no one had heard of. Aged 24, he had a politics degree but drifted into working in a bank’s legal department — a job he hated. Baking was his passion, but he’d been rejected for a place on a catering course. Then along came this show about baking.
Life flipped for him after Bake
Off. He had a stint working at Raymond Blanc’s Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and he’s found personal happiness. For the past four years he’s been with his partner, a lawyer, and in lockdown they’ve both been eating more of Edd’s baking. The staff of a local restaurant have benefited, and friends and neighbours have found treats on their doorstep. ‘When someone has taken the time and the effort to make something, it feels special,’ he says.