Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Our tasty tales from the tent
As Bake Off returns, last year’s finalists Kate Lyon, Sophie Faldo and Steven Carter-Bailey tell of the pressure of baking for Prue and Paul – and share some of their showstopping recipes
Pity the poor soul charged with taking the most lavish of the winning showstoppers from The Great British Bake Off and turning them into achievable recipes for us mere mortals.
‘I got in a right pickle trying to explain my recipes in simple terms,’ admits Steven Carter-Bailey, one of last year’s two runners-up and the man most remembered for making a cake that looked like a loaf of bread, and bread that looked like a handbag. ‘The poor girl from the publishers kept saying, “How can we explain this in words?”, while I kept saying, “We can’t. You have to just show it.” But we got there in the end. I kept thinking of my sister, who can’t bake and doesn’t have all the gadgets I have. In my head I was thinking, “Would this freak her out?”’
Suffice to say, the recipes that appear in a stunning new book showcasing the best of Bake Off are, in several cases, simplified versions. Some of the show’s veterans are a bit bemused by this. Last year’s winner, ex-Army officer (turned trainee stuntwoman) Sophie Faldo, has her extravaganza – a seven-layer French concoction called an entremet – featured, but the book version is less elaborate. Less inducing of a nervous breakdown too, one might imagine.
‘It’s only got four layers,’ she says. ‘It’s a pity, but I realise the recipes have to be achievable.’ Steven, 35, agrees. ‘There’s no point in a cookery book where people don’t want to attempt the recipes.’
Mind you, even some of his simplest recipes sound difficult . Amarspressi biscuits anyone? (Mercifully, they’re quite straightforward little almond and coffee morsels.)
Kate Lyon, the other runner- up, points out that her final showstopper, a white chocolate, yuzu and lychee entremet (‘I hadn’t heard of an entremet before Bake Off’) took six hours to make – but a week to perfect. ‘Who in the real world has time for that?’ she says. Actually, it sounds like she didn’t have time for it either. What most fans won’t be aware of is that the run-up to the final coincided with a hectic time at work for Kate, 30, who is a health and safety inspector on Merseyside.
Like many Bake Off contestants, she had to fit filming around her job – no mean feat since participants are sworn to secrecy about their involvement. ‘The week before the final I was on a course in London,’ she recalls. ‘I hadn’t imagined I’d even get to the final, and I couldn’t cancel the course. And because it was a big secret that I was even on the show, I couldn’t tell my colleagues what I was doing. During that week I ended up booking an Airbnb in London, rather than staying in the hotel with them. Every night, when they were saying, “Shall we go for a meal?”, I was rushing back to the Airbnb to practise. Goodness knows what they thought I was up to!’
Sophie got into similar tangles trying to keep quiet. ‘I was due to go to a big reunion marking ten years since my officer training at Sandhurst,’ she remembers. ‘I had to pull out, but of course I couldn’t tell anyone why.’
The new Bake Off book, which takes in the ‘best of’ from last year’s show, as well as recipes from the new series, which starts on Tuesday, is delicious – and we’re featuring some of the bakes in Weekend today. Those whose recipes have been included seem thrilled to see themselves in print, although there is now rather a race for that. It’s almost de rigueur for Bake Off contestants to see who can bring out the first cookery book. For that, we can probably thank Nadiya Hussain, who owes an entire new career to the show. There’s now a small army who’ve made a career in recipe writing, television work and blogging – Jo Wheatley, John Whaite, Ruby Tandoh, Candice Brown and Frances Quinn among them.
Of last year’s batch, the fastest off the printing press in a standalone venture was ever-cheerful student Liam Charles, known by his friends as ‘Cake Boy’ before he entered the tent. Now aged 20, Liam didn’t reach the final but won over audiences with his smile and charisma. A career in the baking business now seems pretty inevitable for him.
Sophie, 34, says all the 2017 contestants are still in touch, and she has nothing but praise for Liam’s book. ‘His personality shines through.’
When we catch up with all three of last year’s finalists, they swap stories about the highs and lows. First off, the important questions: are Paul Hollywood’s eyes as blue as they appear on screen? Apparently so. ‘I wonder if he has blue contact lenses,’ ponders Kate, while Sophie says he reminds her of her mother. Eh? ‘He finds it amusing to interrogate people. He gives them the stare.’
What’s the verdict on Paul’s fellow judge Prue Leith, and the show’s presenters Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding – all themselves newbies last year? ‘I was nervous about meeting them,’ admits Kate. ‘I was disappointed it wasn’t going to be Mel and Sue presenting, because I was a big fan. But in the end, they were all brilliant. Noel was a hoot.’ ‘And Sandi mothered us all,’ says Steven. ‘We needed it too.’
Kate is quite a fan of Prue too – and it’s obviously a mutual thing, given that during the contest Prue declared her toffee apple caramel cake the best cake ever. ‘The ultimate accolade,’ she laughs. ‘And yes, I’m still making it.’ So is Prue, possibly, since she asked for the recipe.
All three talk of being surprised at how stressful they found it in the tent. ‘It sounds silly, because it’s only cake,’ admits Steven, ‘but there were a few times when I thought, “I’m losing it here.” The pressure gets to you.’ Kate’s low point was when she managed to almost slice a finger off, and then slumped to the floor. Dramatic indeed.
Obviously Sophie, with her military background, was at an advantage. ‘Many of the skills are transferrable to the tent. Being in the Army is all about
‘There were times when I thought, “I’m losing it here”’ STEVEN CARTER-BAILEY
being thrown in at the deep end, assuming responsibility, stepping up to the mark and staying cool under pressure.’
Of course, Sophie had already left the Army by the time she signed up for Bake Off. It was during a stint in the French Alps that she was convinced to apply. ‘I was working in a ski chalet and it involved baking a cake every day.’ She set her heart on doing a baking course, but missed the deadline, so her boyfriend, himself a trained chef, suggested she give Bake Off a go.
When she secured a famous ‘Holly- wood handshake’ on the very first show (the edited footage made it look as if it was Steven who was first, but she reveals it was actually her), she marked herself out as one to watch.
If the trajectory from Army officer to cake queen seems odd, it’s now become even more convoluted. Since Bake Off, she’s thrown herself into a very different arena – competitive cycling, while continuing her training as a stuntwoman. Is she one of the most competitive people on the planet? ‘Only against myself,’ she says. ‘But on the cycle track it’s easier to gauge whether you have a chance of winning. With Bake Off, it’s down to the judges, and it’s subjective.’
Sophie and Steven struck up quite a friendship during the filming, calling themselves BBFFs ( Best Baking Friends Forever). Afterwards they said they planned to go on holiday together, to Scandinavia ‘to visit bakeries and see the Northern Lights’. Alas it hasn’t (yet) happened, though they say they’d be interested if a TV company wanted to film a follow-up.
Interestingly, none of the three finalists from last year has hurtled straight into a baking career, though Sophie has come the closest. She’s just been to Kenya with a TV crew for a top-secret project, which involves celebrities and, we guess, cake? ‘I can’t say what it is, but yes it’s food-based,’ she admits.
Since winning, she’s also chalked up quite a few appearances at big food shows and festivals, and was alarmed to see her presence at one advertised on the side of a bus. ‘That was a pinch-me moment,’ she says. Another was when she learned she’d been nominated in the television chef category for next month’s National Reality TV Awards. Her opponents? Step forward Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson, among others. ‘That was incredible. I mean it was mad, but incredible.’
Rather than rush out her own recipe book, Sophie has used her Bake Off experience to gain a foothold in the real-life food industry. She’s completed an internship at the Michelinstarred Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons restaurant – and credits her Bake Off triumph with s e cu r i ng t he place. ‘I wrote to them and I think without Bake Off, they wouldn’t have taken me seriously, because I have no qualifications. I’m selftaught. Bake Off does open doors.’
To where, though? One of the challenges for ‘graduates’ is to decide how far to take their baking. For Kate, who’d only been baking for a couple of years beforehand, and had never even used a mixer, it was a big decision: would she attempt to bake for a living, or just keep it as a hobby? ‘A lot of contestants gave up their jobs. I was one of the few who still had hers towards the final stages, and I haven’t wanted to jeopardise that. I already have a career.’
One imagines she doesn’t troop onto building sites brandishing cake – hard hat or not. ‘I’m often on site in not the best circumstances,’ she admits. ‘And no, I’m not there to talk cake.’ Nor does she want to throw herself into the ‘celeb’ world either. ‘I have no interest in that side of things. I don’t want fame for fame’s sake. At the minute I’m happy just creating recipes as a hobby and running a website.’ No appearance on Strictly soon, then? ‘Definitely not.’
Alas for the fans who reportedly bombarded her with offers of marriage while she was on Bake Off (some of them already married themselves, it seems), she found a new boyfriend soon after filming. Now she also has a golden retriever pup, who makes more appearances on her Instagram feed than even her cakes.
Steven has also kept his ‘day job’, in marketing, though it does sound like he’s spending all his days off either baking for himself, or teaching others the tricks of the trade at food shows. ‘It’s a tricky one, but bills still have to be paid,’ he says. Actually he confesses that Bake Off has cost him money. Riches are not guaranteed by taking part in the show (the actual prize is a cake stand and a bunch of flowers), and he reckons he shelled out ‘hundreds of pounds, maybe thousands’ on ingredients and equipment during the furious practice. ‘It’s really expensive,’ he mock- complains. ‘And I’m the worst for having to have all the latest gadgets and tins. I need an entire room for all my cake-decorating gear.’ Of course it was Steven who caused controversy last year when fans of the show decided he was so good – he was declared Star Baker in weeks one and two – he must be a professional. Certainly the pictures of cakes he posted on his social media accounts looked professional. ‘It caused a real stir. My mum said, “Oh Steven, they’re saying terrible things”, but it wasn’t that terrible for people to think I was a professional. It was funny, but quite flattering.’
Obviously a new batch of contestants are about to don their aprons for this year’s contest. Are last year’s finalists envious? ‘I am a little,’ says Steven. ‘And there’s an element of, “But that’s my tent. Those are our judges.” You do get very possessive of those things.’
Kate is juggling different emotions though. ‘Oh God no, I’m not envious. I feel sorry for them,’ she says. ‘With the stress of it, I mean. I have great empathy for them, because no one can prepare you for what’s about to hit you.’
Do they have any advice for the newbies? ‘ Hold your nerve,’ says Sophie, ever the Army officer. ‘But don’t be afraid if you feel like crying,’ says Kate. ‘The tent does that to you. It’s most odd.’
‘Seeing my name on the side of a bus was mad’ SOPHIE FALDO
The Great British Bake Off returns on Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 4.