DAVIDSON AVOIDS SOGGY BOTTOM
Alison Rowat’s verdict on Conservative leader’s Bake Off party piece
Channel 4, 8pm
COURAGE, brilliance, tenacity: prime ministers have been handed the keys to Downing Street for many reasons down the years.
Ruth Davidson might be the first to succeed via her meringues. Or her chocolate orange loaf, maybe even her tiramisu sandwich biscuits.
The leader of the Scottish Conservatives whipped up a storm last night when she won The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer.
Beat that, Nicola “Can’t
Cook, Won’t Cook” Sturgeon. Stick that in your mixer, Boris. She may not be the next Mary Berry, but Ms Davidson’s moreishness to Middle England went up tenfold last night.
As in Scottish politics, she was flattered by the chocolate teapot opposition of a reality TV star, a singer, and a musician. But there was more to her game besides this and her baking ability.
She blended humility (“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so outside my comfort zone”) with puppyish enthusiasm (“It feels mad we’re actually in the actual Bake Off tent!”) and humour.
This being Bake Off, world capital of soggy-bottomed innuendo, there was no shortage of Carry On-style lines, with Ms Davidson declaring at one point that “When they look quite golden I’m going to whip ‘em out”.
(She was talking about biscuits.) As for the shot of her covering a pyramid cake base with whipped cream, the only thing missing was a blast of “Je t’aime”.
Besides earning a coveted handshake from judge Paul Hollywood for her loaf, Ms Davidson was a hit with Prue Leith.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to watch you working. You make a mess and you just say, ‘Oh well, keep going’.” Who knew Prue, besides being a former Michelinstarred restaurateur, was a scholar of post-war Tory rule in Scotland?
Challenge after challenge followed, with the tension so high that at some points I almost cared.
By the time the hour was almost up, and having made an Irish tricolour themed cake to her partner Jen as a showstopper, Ms Davidson was so relaxed she was necking strawberry daiquiris.
Still, minutes before she won, she was keeping one eye on that Star Baker title.
“I’m just a bit worried I made it a bit early and it might fall apart,” she said of her showstopper.
Oh Ruth, in baking, as in Tory leadership contests, only time will tell.
As for the shot of her covering a pyramid cake base with whipped cream, the only thing missing was a blast of Je t’aime