Want to cook like Bake Off stars? You’ll need £5,500 of high-tech kit before you crack the first egg!
FOR most amateur bakers, it is the stuff of dreams.
But state- of-the-art mixers, highend ovens and instant boiling water taps are a reality for contestants on The Great British Bake Off.
If you want a kitchen just like theirs, though, you’d better start saving. For each baker has their own work station with up to £5,500 worth of kit at hand.
Channel 4, which bought the show for £75million from the BBC, is not allowed to publicise the items because of TV product placement rules. But we can reveal they include a £549 KitchenAid mixer and a £419 Magimix food processor.
Some counters are also fitted with a £1,750 boiling water tap. The most crucial item – the oven – features a door that tucks away underneath, and a price tag of £699.
‘Surge in sales for baking equipment’
The bakers even have their own £499 proving drawer, which should come in handy for Tuesday’s bread episode. While some equipment is the same as when the show was on the BBC, there have been changes under Channel 4, including upgrading the hobs from ones with old-fashioned knobs to touch-screen induction models.
Viewers would have to be eagle-eyed to identify the brands as the production team has had to hide them. One firm said they thought their name had been ‘blurred out’ and a Channel 4 spokesman said: ‘There is no product placement on the show.’
But the series has still sparked a surge in sales of baking equipment. John Lewis said sales are up by 300 per cent for KitchenAid hand mixers, 18 per cent for stand mixers and 40 per cent for cupcake tools.