CUPPA LOAD OF THIS...
FORMER BAKE OFF PRESENTER MEL GIEDROYC SERVES UP SOME TASTY TEA PARTY IDEAS
MEL GIEDROYC says you can have your cake and eat it when it comes to raising money for charity. The former Great British Bake Off presenter is supporting the terminal illness charity Marie Curie, which is inviting everyone to join its Blooming Great Tea Party appeal next month.
Mel says: “I’ve always known about the extraordinary work that Marie Curie Nurses do. My mum was also a nurse but stopped to raise the family.
“Nursing is a big strand that runs through my family so it’s a joy to be linked with Marie Curie.”
The TV favourite, who lives in London with husband Ben Morris and their daughters Florence and Vita, says she enjoys a good tea party and cooking family meals, but admits: “It’s a weird thing when you’re a performer.
“Either you have so much time on your hands, or you have absolutely no time and nobody gets fed. It is feast or famine.”
She adds: “My mum sends me a recipe once a week.
“Her best one is a Portuguese vegetable soup, which has some pretty secret ingredients in it.
“It’s a bit like the Coca-Cola recipe. If I told you she’d kill me.”
Mel, who turns 50 next month, recently presented two Generation Game specials for the BBC with her old Bake Off partner-in-crime Sue Perkins, but her latest role will see her taking to the stage.
“I’m about to rehearse for a musical, Sondhiem’s Company,” she says. “It’s very exciting but I’m slightly bricking it as well.
“I’m probably going to be the only untrained singer up there on stage. Steven Sondhiem himself – the emperor, the god of musicals – is going to be there for the opening. I’ve really got to get my vocal chords into gear.”
She laughs: “Frankly we’re going to have to all plunge into this together as I don’t know myself as a singer either!
“Luckily the role I’m playing is more of a comedy role which is a relief. I do have a few lines singing on me tod but then,
You can either go totally mad or you can do something very small. Mel Giedroyc on the Blooming Great Tea Party in aid of Marie Curie
luckily, other people join in to make it sound good.”
So does she have a theme in mind for her own Blooming Great Tea Party this year?
“I’m thinking a big outdoor party with parasols and possibly a coconut shy, like an old fashioned fete.
“Either that, or six mates around a table with a packet of Custard Creams. And that’s the point, you can either go totally mad or you can do something very small.”
And her perfect tea party guests? “It has got to be Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He would look at the cakes and could say, ‘Yes. The bottom sponge will bear the load of the top sponge for the next 200 years’.
“Looking at it the way Brunel would, in pure engineering terms it goes against the laws of gravity and physics to put cream first and then jam on top. I don’t know what the mathematical equation for this is but jam equals heavy and cream equals light. It’s got to be jam first.
“And I would invite Basil Brush. When everyone has gone he would go round and eat all the leftovers. He’d hoover up all the lemon drizzle. He is surprisingly giving. I thought he’d have all his Mariah Careyesque demands but ‘Brush’ is keeping it pretty real.”
Mel says she would choose Leatherhead as her perfect tea party location – “All roads, all galaxies lead to Leatherhead” – and admits she is not above a little bit of cheating when it comes to serving up some sweet treats.
“Listen, to all the mums out there, get to Tesco, get the cakes, joggle them around, then do the Mary Berry trick – icing sugar through a tea strainer.
“Dust them with the Mary Berry, stick on a couple of raspberries then BOOM, pass them off as your own.”
Joining Mel supporting the Blooming Great Tea party in June, are new Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith, chefs Tom Kerridge and Ainsley Harriott.
Here they share their recipes.
Every pound raised helps Marie Curie care for more people living with a terminal illness to make the most of the time they have. Marie Curie is counting on your cuppa so sign up today at mariecurie.org.uk/teaparty for a tea party pack with everything you need to throw your party anytime in June.