The Great British Bake Off: The Fifth Baker Leaves The Tent

20 October 2021

In Tuesday’s night’s episode of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4,  Jurgen  got a Hollywood Handshake and  Giuseppe was named Star Baker for the second time.   Freya, 19 from North Yorkshire was the fifth baker to leave the tent.

 

German week on The Great British Bake Off was Freya’s downfall, and sadly she had to say Auf Wiedersehen to the tent.     The bakers had to perfect traditional German biscuits in the signature challenge,  followed by a technical torte fit for a prince, the Prinzeregententorte.    Finally, they had to rise to the challenge of creating a tiered showstopping cake using yeast.  

 

On the show Freya said:  ‘Genuinely I think it’s been the best experience of my life.  I was feeling the lack of experience quite a lot, I am 19 and I feel very proud to have kept up.   To get to Week 5 and do it vegan, I really feel that I have done what I wanted to.’

 

Paul added:  ‘Freya has done an amazing job.  She is 19 years old, vegan baking and she came half way through.’   He then said to Freya: ‘You should be really proud of yourself.’

 

Here she talks about her experience:  ‘I was the youngest baker in the tent and I am so pleased that I managed  to get through 5 weeks, that’s halfway through after all!   My baking expertise has really improved and I feel  I brought the world of vegan baking if not to the forefront of everyone’s minds,  to have made some kind of impact.  Look I have had a ball and at my age it’s one of the most amazing experiences in my life so far.  

 

‘Bake Off has started so many crazy new ambitions and dreams for me. I’m so passionate about vegan baking that I’d love to write recipe books and really focus on vegan patisserie too. I hope to share all my recipes with the world and inspire other bakers to give vegan baking a go.

 

‘I have learnt so much from the whole experience, but most of all that baking is such a personal thing. It is a way for people to share their different tips and tricks and also their different flavour ideas whilst being a way for people to come together with a shared passion. I’ve learnt so many new flavour ideas from the bakers!  

 

‘I’d have to say my best memory was the technical in week 1. I had no idea what to expect being in the tent with 11 incredible bakers, so to come 2nd with a bake I had never made before just put me on cloud 9. My worst moment was the judging of the pavlova! I felt almost like I had let myself down and was genuinely really disappointed.

 

‘ My favourite challenge was the week 2 biscuit toy. I genuinely just felt so proud of what I put forward, and thought the brief was so clever and interesting to share our own different stories. I felt like we were all making the impossible possible that day, and I remember looking round the tent and just being genuinely shocked by how talented everyone was.

 

‘My worst challenge by far was the pavlova. It was just a challenge I knew wasn’t going to play to my advantage from the start.

 

 

 

‘Coming from North Yorkshire I do have an accent and I found it very funny how social media exploded at my pronounciation of cappuccino.   I don’t think I can ever order one again!  Coming from a smaller town like Scarborough I feel I have been given a great opportunity and I hope I have done them proud.

 

‘I have had lovely positive comments on social media about being vegan, and It’s A Bit of a Faff did become a bit of a catchphrase that people liked.  It’s something that I do say every day!

 

‘I have taken a year out of my psychology course at University as I wanted to explore some avenues after my time on Bake Off.  I would love to write a Vegan cookery book and bring that to the world.  I am now going to concentrate on developing vegan recipes.

 

‘I have learned so much from Paul and Prue’s comments throughout the show.   Noel and I hit it off from the start, I loved his zany humour especially when he turned into ‘Where’s Wally’ that made me laugh, and I had a really good time with Matt, they are great to have around to break up the tension.

 

‘I feel so lucky to have such a supportive family and friends.  We watch the show together each week,  I make a bake each week which everyone shares, and I will continue to do that.  I can’t wait to watch the rest of the series and see how the bakers do.

 

‘I can’t possibly list everything I will take away from this experience as they genuinely were the best weeks of my life. Most of all I am taking away friends for life, and skills that I hope to share with the world in the near future. 

 

‘Another Bake Off bonus for me is going on An Extra Slice, I am really excited for that.’

 

Freya will join Jo Brand and Tom Allen on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice on Friday 22 October on Channel 4 at 8.00 pm.