He lit up the tent with his warmth and laughter, but we bid a sad pud-bye to Dan in Cake Week. The 32 year old Support Worker from Rotherham chatted about his time in the tent:
‘Well it wasn’t a piece of cake at all! I love fruit cake and it hasn’t put me off making one, but next time I won’t make it in three hours. I love the long process of making a Christmas cake and I feed it over the weeks and it always turns out a beautiful cake. I get lots of compliments from the family at Christmas! Paul said my fruitcake was raw in the first challenge but the flavour of the booze was good. He loved the design of my Pirate Island cake with the dry ice waterfall.
‘I did apply a few times before and I think I would have kept applying if I hadn’t got in. This time I had a good feeling that I would get in and I was right! It felt like a really lucky day when I heard that I got in.
‘My best moment overall was meeting the other bakers, and that was one of the reasons I was sad to leave. I knew I was going to miss talking to people that felt like I did about baking, and we bonded instantly, it was very strange but very lovely at the same time. Even though I was the first, it felt like I had been part of the family for a long time. If I can make people smile or laugh then I am happy, because it makes me laugh, and I was a bit like that in the tent. I do like to joke around but I did take the baking seriously.’
Dan will join Jo Brand and Tom Allen on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice. Friday 30th August at 8pm on Channel 4.