Meringue dress?15
Bake Off Kate’s mum reveals her girl’s been inundated with proposals Which of final three will be this year’s fortune cookie?
Paul and Prue with the host, Noel Fielding Only started rustling up tasty treats two years ago. Patchy performances led to calls from viewers for Liam to be given a place in the final instead of her.
“Hearing Prue say my cake was ‘the best cake she had ever tasted’. That was amazing. What a compliment! I need to print that out and frame it for my wall.”
“The other bakers became friends so it goes without saying that it was the hardest part.” BAKE Off finalist Kate Lyon is getting lots of proposals from admirers loving the look of her showstoppers.
Some have even offered to end their marriages for a slice of her kraken bread, says mum Anna.
Kate already has a boyfriend but won’t be serving up a meringue dress just yet.
Anna said: “Kate received tons of marriage proposals when she said she wasn’t married, some offering to divorce their wives.”
But it’s judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith that Kate is out to impress, against Sophie Faldo and Steven Carter-Bailey in Tuesday’s Bake Off final.
Anna calls her Superwoman for the way she manages a fulltime job, studying for a master’s degree and travelling to and from Merseyside for the show.
Mainly self-taught, Kate, 29, started baking two years ago. She was encouraged to sign up by a workmate, never dreaming she would make it this far.
“I would regularly take cakes into work and one of my friends, Fran, told me, ‘Look Kate, this is Early favourite Steven has produced one showstopping bake after another but some of his creations haven’t passed the taste test with the judges, like his rubbery trifle terrine. Tops the Star Baker leaderboard, winning the title three times.
“The first day. There was so much excitement in the group and we were finally able to talk freely about Bake Off after months of secrets and silence.”
“Every time a friend went home at the end of each week.” really lovely, if you don’t apply for the show, I will.’ So I decided to give it a go. I didn’t think any more of it and now here I am.”
But it hasn’t been easy for the health and safety inspector.
“I haven’t got a mixer at home and the first time I used one was in the Bake Off tent,” she said.
“I didn’t have a clue how to use the equipment and when I bake at home, I am just in my own little chill-out world.”
In week two she narrowly escaped the boot, but two weeks later she was Star Baker. Then she failed to impress in biscuit week with her coconut seashells.
In bread week she rose to the occasion with her Kraken Bread Sculpture, before tasting sweet victory in caramel week.
She said: “I’d never made caramel. I can’t tell you how many pans I ruined in practice.”
But Kate is hoping for no more foul-ups of any kind – especially of the soggy bottom variety.
“There will always be the odd innuendo,” she said. “I’ve probably let slip a couple.” Former Army officer Sophie has been quietly getting on with the business of reaching the final, with consistently solid bakes. Her military background means she stays cool and collected in the kitchen.
“Getting a handshake on my first challenge. It made me realise I might be good enough to be there after all!”
“Week 8, Forgotten Bakes. It was the first time I had to accept there was a good chance I’d be going home. But I pulled it out of the bag on the second day.”