The Great British Bake Off is back! We had a couple of new additions to the show, including Darryl who is a British Sign Language interpreter, and Alison Hammond as a new host – who is without a doubt a perfect fit! She was welcomed by Paul Hollywood “The Breadfather” in a mafia-style spoof.

This year’s bakers are:

• Abbi, 27, a vegetable grower and delivery driver from Yorkshire
• Amos, 43, a deli and grocery manager from North London
• Cristy, 33, a mum-of-four and PA from East London
• Dan, 42, a civil engineering resource planner from Cheshire
• Dana, 25, a database administrator from Essex
• Josh, 27, post-doctoral research associate from Leicestershire
• Keith, 60, a chartered accountant from Hampshire
• Matty, 28, a PE and science teacher from Cambridgeshire
• Nicky, 52, a retired cabin crew member and volunteer from West Midlands
• Rowan, 21, a student from West Yorkshire,
• Saku, 50, an intelligence analyst from Herefordshire
• Tasha, 27, a participation officer from Bristol

Here’s what happened in Week One:

Signature Bake – Layer Cakes

We’re kicking off with Cake Week, and the bakers were asked to create vertical layered cakes in the first Signature Bake challenge. We got to see them in action and get to know them a bit better. Whilst making her cake, Dana said she felt “Masterchef-y” (uh, wrong show?) – but Alison laughingly rebuked her comment and corrected her! Cristy brought all the zesty flavours with three different types of lemon in her lemon cake, and Keith made a beautiful chocolate orange ganache cake in honour of his father. To top it all off, Paul gave Saku a warm cuddle to soothe her nerves – and it looked like it did the trick!

Winners: Abbi, Keith, and Dan

Could do better: Tasha, and Nicky

Technical Challenge – The Bake Off Chocolate Cake

The bakers were asked to recreate the iconic Great British Bake Off chocolate cake! Yep, that’s the one – as seen in the intro, with the mysterious missing raspberry. All the cakes looked divine! The colour of the ganache and the density of the cake were some of the main criticisms, but to be honest – they all definitely looked good enough to devour!

Winners: Dan was in 1st place, followed by Amos in 2nd place, and Abbi in 3rd place.

Could do better: Dana came in last, followed by Tasha and Nicky.

Showstopper – Animal Sponges

From Tikiri the turtle, to Nicky’s beaver and Dan’s Bruno cake, we were nothing short of entertained! The first Showstopper challenge for the series was to create a cake shaped like an animal. Paul said Dana’s cake looked a bit flat, to which she replied with “I have a flat dog”. Ha! Rowan decided to make a lobster cake with Cosmopolitan flavours, and Josh baked an adorable Highland cow cake in honour of his mum. Tasha made an epic robin cake, and Cristy wowed us all with her mallard cake. We did see some wobbles – Amos’ cake tipped over during the process, and Saku’s cake was critiqued as “stodgy”.

Winners: Tasha, Dan, and Cristy

Could do better: Dana, Amos, and Nicky

Star Baker

In the words of Alison Hammond, “D to the A to the N, you know it” – yep, it’s Dan! And that was so well deserved, he absolutely smashed it in every single challenge. His rhubarb and custard vertical cake in the Signature Bake was highly praised for its presentation and flavours, he won the Technical challenge, and his Bruno cake in the Showstopper challenge looked (and apparently tasted) incredible!

Highlights

Prue’s innuendos were definitely a highlight! And so were Saku’s hilarious one liners throughout the show! And let’s not forget about Dana. Both have loveable qualities – even though they did have some faux-pas this week, it will be nice to see their progression. Keith brings a real sense of humility to the show and his passion for baking oozes. Tasha may not have had the best week, but it seems as though we haven’t seen all her talents just yet!

Going home

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Amos. Even though he performed fairly well in the Signature challenge and came 2nd in the Technical challenge, his Showstopper unfortunately let him down. In his own words, “it was the Showstopper that stopped my show.”

We hope you enjoyed our review for Week One of The Great British Bake Off! Leave a comment below to let us know what you thought of the episode.

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