The rise and rise of Flora
New business, new book, another one in the pipeline – and she’s still only 21! The GBBO star spills the beans about her exciting ventures and reveals why, although she’s saddened by the show’s move to Channel 4, she still can’t wait to tune in ...
FORMER Bake Off star Flora Shedden is already planning a second book – in the week her first hit the shops.
And the Dunkeld girl has revealed it will be more of a baking affair than cookbook Gatherings.
“There have been chats about a second book and I’d love to do that,” Flora, 21, told The Sunday Post.
“My idea is to have recipes from the bakery I’m opening at the moment.”
Flora, who was the youngest GBBO semi-finalist, is about to embark on a major blitz of signing dates all over England, following a tour of Scotland last week.
But she’ll be spending every possible moment trying to get her bakery ready for opening in May.
She has bought a flat above a shop unit in Dunkeld and is in the process of doing both up with long-term boyfriend James.
“We’re tackling everything we can ourselves,” said Flora. “We’ve done the wallpaper stripping, we’ve exposed an old range and stone walls in the shop and it’s all pretty full-on.
“There have been lots of late nights and learning to open beer bottles with spanners, which is quite a change of lifestyle.
“It’s a 200-year-old building and being right above the shops means I’ll never escape my work.
“Dunkeld’s a great wee place for foodies and Perthshire has amazing produce, so a lot of the ingredients I’ll be using can be sourced locally.
“I don’t know whether it’ll be a success. It’s something I’ve wanted to try since I was tiny, a bit of a pipe dream really. It was a good chance to give it a go and I’m young and naive enough to say yes.”
We first revealed Flora was putting her university studies at St Andrews on hold, taking a break to pursue opportunities following her Bake Off success. And she admits it could be a long time before any return to academic life.
“Uni is definitely on the back burner,” she admitted. “I’d love to do it at a later point, but I love what I’m doing now and I want to continue that.
“You can go to university at any time in your life. I’ve got friends who’ve gone at 50, so we’ll see.”
Flora was one of the stars of the 2015 series won by Nadiya Hussain, who has gone on to front her own series and was tipped to be teamed up with Mary Berry, Mel and Sue in a new BBC show.
That GBBO was pinched by Channel 4 in the shock deal last year didn’t come totally out of the blue for Flora.
“It was controversial and I think it’s sad,” she added. “The show will change, there’s no way they can keep it as it was.
“It’s hard not to be a wee bit nostalgic after what we went through, but there was talk and rumours about it even when we were filming.
“Nothing lasts forever, so maybe it’ll be a good thing to shake it up. I’m kind of excited to see what they’ll do with it and I’ll definitely give it a watch.”