Bake Off ’s return puts the icing on the biscuit
THIS year’s Great British Bake Off contestants immediately found themselves facing a tough challenge as the series returned last night – becoming artists.
In the first instalment of the Channel 4 show, the 12 bakers were asked to create a ‘biscuit selfie’ – a portrait of themselves in a memorable location made from layers of biscuits.
Manon Lagreve, an early favourite to be crowned winner, created a white chocolate and matcha ganache selfie biscuit of her visit to Japan, which judge Prue Leith described as ‘exquisite’.
Civil servant and DJ Luke Thompson, 30, created an image of himself at Las Vegas, while Karen Wright, 60, made an impressive portrait of herself on holiday. But stayat-home father Dan Beasley-Harling, 36, raised eyebrows with his depiction of himself holding his baby son wrapped in a pink blanket in Palm Springs, California.
Fellow baker Kim-Joy, 27, asked: ‘What are you holding?’ When he explained that it was a baby, she replied: ‘Oh, I thought it was something else.’ Judge Paul Hollywood, however, seemed to think it resembled a ‘massive prawn’.
After impressing with her hazelnut Cornish shortbread and wagon wheels, Miss Lagreve, 26, was named star baker.
But countryside officer Imelda McCarron, 33, failed to impress the judges with her ‘bland and dry’ selfie biscuit which showed her at the seaside. She was the first contestant to be sent home.