It was an absolutely amazing experience – intense and exhausting but so much fun at the same time. My family and my twin sister were thrilled that I got to the quarter finals, and they are really really proud of me. I didn’t want to leave in Week 1 and I also really wanted to get Star Baker somewhere along the line, so I feel I have achieved those two things!
Funnily enough my twin doesn’t bake at all, and basically enjoys eating what I make. There aren’t really any bakers in my family, I was the first one to start making desserts and cakes. Me and my mum cook the dinners at home, but these days I am doing more of the cooking and she is doing less. I will be thinking about what to make for dinner throughout the day, so it’s something to look forward to when I get home, and I find cooking fairly therapeutic.
I finished my teaching assisting this summer and I have put the teacher training on hold for the moment, as I want to explore baking and different things that might come up. I think it is because Bake Off has given me new confidence to take my baking to a different level, and I just want to go for it now. I would so love to have my own coffee shop one day with my own bakes – that would be my ultimate dream.
My best moment in the tent I think has to be getting star baker in Week 4, when Mary praised my churros, that was my highlight. My worst moment was the marzipan centrepiece in the showstopper. I just hate marzipan, I think the taste is horrible and so I didn’t enjoy that bake at all, it was my least favourite bake of the whole show. I will never ever be making a marzipan cake again.
Cakes are always my first go to over bread, and my preference would be a semi-naked cake, it’s a real trend at the moment when the cake is semi-iced so you can still see the cake peaking through the icing.
The bakers get on so well, and if we saw someone struggling we would jump in and give a helping hand if we could.
Social media seems to have gone so well for this series, with all comments pretty positive and very encouraging. You don’t know how you are going to be perceived by the public, so it’s great to get that support from so many people. My twitter account originally had 50 followers and now this week it’s up to 10,000 so that feels surreal and exciting at the same time.
As the weeks have gone by people have spotted me on the street much quicker and they call out your name, that’s different but fun too. They always have something nice to say about how much they enjoy watching you, so it’s always been a good experience.
I can’t wait for the remaining two episodes knowing that I was so close to the end. I want to see how it all went down in the tent, it’s really exciting and I am really looking forward to it.
I’m gonna keep on baking, no marzipan, no Tudor ever in my life. But it’s so much fun being in there and it’s so much fun baking with everyone, so I think that is the part I am going to miss the most. It’s been really special.