Star baker isn’t such an amateur after all...
He WAs named star baker this week for his extraordinary ‘Blt sandwich’ cake.
But it appears great British Bake Off star steven Carter-Bailey has had plenty of practice when it comes to ‘illusion cakes’.
the 34-year-old has been showing off a variety of creations he rustled up long before appearing on the hit amateur baking competition.
Carter-Bailey’s instagram account features shots of various illusion cakes made by the marketing boss prior to his appearance on the show.
they included a black and gold Chanel handbag, a plant pot and flowers, and a Minion – an animated children’s character.
Carter-Bailey was crowned the first ‘star baker’ after creating his ‘bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich’ cake in tuesday’s episode. However, his obvious past experience in making illusion cakes has caused controversy for seemingly giving him an advantage over his rivals.
And his previous elaborate designs have helped to install Carter-Bailey as the early favourite to win, as users commented on the pictures with messages of support such as, ‘You’re definitely the one to beat on Bake Off’ and ‘You’re definitely a potential winner’.
the amateur baker from Watford is one of 12 contestants bidding to be crowned Bake Off champion in the first series since the programme moved from the BBC to Channel 4.
the first episode saw the bakers tasked with creating their own illusion cakes, a challenge billed as the ‘hardest first showstopper’.
Among the most impressive efforts were cakes made to look like a watermelon, a stack of pancakes and a bowl of noodles.
A representative for Channel 4 said: ‘the different challenges each week test a huge range of skills over the series and were in place before the bakers identities were known’
in his first episode, Carter-Bailey said: ‘My mum, Judi, has been such a massive influence on me.
‘When she had children, she wanted to provide a warm environment where the oven was always on. toad in the hole, pies, cakes, she always had something on the go.’
the opening episode on tuesday gave Channel 4 its highest ratings in five years. However, it wasn’t just a sweet success for the commercial channel – as last year’s opener on the BBC had 4.6million more viewers.
An average of 5.8million tuned in to watch tuesday’s episode of the eighth series, while 10.4million watched last year’s first episode on BBC1. some decline had been considered inevitable, given that Channel 4 typically draws smaller audiences. Millions shunned the new 75minute programme, which had 17 minutes of adverts, and had two new presenters and had lost popular judge Mary Berry. each episode of the great British Bake Off involves three challenges – a signature bake, a technical challenge, and a showstopper. the signature bake is always something traditional, and involved each contestant making a fruit cake in the latest episode. the technical challenge this week required each baker to make chocolate mini rolls. And then the showstopper was the illusion cake. the challenges were too much for it manager Peter, 52, who was chosen as the first baker ‘to leave the tent’. He had scored badly on the technical challenge when piping the wrong type of chocolate on his mini- rolls and was doomed after his decorative bread knife ( made of sugar) broke during the showstopper round.