HANGON... THEY’RE ALL STAR BAKERS ALREADY!

The new series hasn’t even begun, but as these incredible pictures show, this year’s Bake Off contestants are real showstoppers

AN ILLUSION cake which resembles a McDonald’s take-away. Another which looks like a full English breakfast. A pale pink pavlova meringue wreath smothered in edible flowers and spiked with shards of honeycomb.

And — most staggering of all — a three-dimensional church made out of nothing more than simple white piped icing.

These are just some of the culinary feats achieved by this year’s Great British Bake Off contestants — and that’s before they have even stepped into the famous white tent.

The 13 bakers, most of them young, appear to be extremely accomplished, not to say borderline professional. Several have Instagram accounts which are dedicated to their culinary skills. A decent handful are so skilled that they have already been enlisted to bake wedding cakes for friends.

Forget the soggy doughnuts and collapsing gingerbread houses of yesteryear (although, of course, onthe-day nerves can usually be counted on to produce a few disasters). This year’s hopefuls seem to be the best crop ever to be asked to place a bake on the gingham altar.

As GBBO judge Prue Leith said, the production team focus solely on the quality of the contenders: ‘What’s so interesting is when they’re choosing the bakers, the main thing they want to know is that they’re getting the 13 best bakers in the country. They’re not set up to find somebody who’s the right ethnic mix, or the right height, or the right age or anything.’

But what, you wonder, can any of these superbakers have to learn from Prue and fellow judge Paul Hollywood? According to Hollywood, they still have plenty of tips to take from him. He said: ‘There were times when there was a bit of a disaster on one of the technicals. I walked in and saw it and sort of had a go at them, which caused a little bit of emotion.

‘Yes, I made them cry. They’re more pack animals now. Upset one and they all get upset.’

Not to mention their devoted Instagram followers.

Here, ALISON BOSHOFF reports on how the GBBO class of 2019 have perfected their showstoppers before they’ve even appeared on screen... Great British Bake Off starts tuesday, august 27, at 8pm on Channel 4.