Interview with Kelly Brook

7 April 2020

Can you bake? Rate yourself out of 10.

Oh gosh! I always give myself a hard time, but I would probably rate myself a six out of ten. A bit better than average, but I’m not amazing.

Who taught you how to bake?

I taught myself really. My grandma used to bake cakes, but she never taught me. So I just make things I like to eat, I’ll give stuff a try. I never really follow a recipe. Like, I’ll get a recipe, but then I’ll add to it or take stuff away or change it a bit. I adapt stuff according to my tastes.

Do you have a signature dish?

We basically have banana bread at home all the time. I just do banana bread all the time.

Are you a Bake Off fan?

Yes I am! I think it’s amazing, I love it!

Does that make it more nerve-wracking, that you’re a fan of the show?

I’ve watched a lot of the Celebrity Bake Offs, and some people are brilliant, and some are not so great. Sometimes it’s more entertaining watching people who have never baked before. So in the back of my mind, I’m always thinking “If it’s a disaster, it’ll be really worth watching.” So that makes me less nervous. I’m really pushing myself, I’m really put of my comfort zone, so I’m doing stuff I’ve never baked before, I’m really going to throw myself in the deep end. I think that’s the most entertaining thing for viewers. I think with telly, you don’t just want to bake a nice cake. It’s got to be triumph or disaster.

Who do you want to impress the most? Paul or Prue?

Prue is very sweet and generous, and she’s always trying to give you sneaky little tips, but Paul is always there to stop her. Whenever I’ve said to anyone that I’m doing Bake Off, they always talk about the Hollywood Handshake. That’s been drummed into me, so the pressure is really on. They can say it’s good, but unless you get the handshake, you don’t really know.

Who do you see as your biggest competition?

I think Carol Vorderman, being a mathematician, is probably my biggest competition. With the technical challenge, she’ll just smash that. She’ll read the instructions, get in the zone, be focussed, work it all out, she’ll be fine.

Have you had any baking disasters?

Oh all the time. Only this morning I used a KitchenAid, so I put all the icing sugar in it and it exploded everywhere. I just made a mess, really. All my cooking is pretty much a disaster, in terms of the state of the kitchen.

What’s your strength in your baking?

I’d like to say the creativity. The vision. Maybe not so much the taste!

Why are you supporting Stand Up to Cancer?

My father passed away from cancer in 2007. Whenever there’s an opportunity to do anything to raise awareness, and to help families go through what we went through as a family, that’s always something I will really go out of my way to be a part of. This was one of those things, it’s really fun, people enjoy watching it, and it will get seen by a lot of people. For me it was obviously something that I really wanted to do.

Have you practised your bakes for today? How did they go?

I did one run-through of my bakes. I never quite mastered anything, and I just left it there. It’s much more fun to try and figure it out on the day. But there are a couple of little tips I learned for my biscuits: Cut them before they go in the oven, and then cut them again when they come out and they’re still warm, so that they’re uniform.

 Did you get any advice when you were preparing for this show?

Yeah, it was my friend who told me about cutting the biscuits when they came out of the oven. That was it. In terms of the recipes and putting it all together, that was my idea. I feel like, if it’s someone else’s ideas, there’s no point in you doing it.

Are you competitive? Do you want to be star baker?

I don’t think I’m competitive, because I want everyone to do well. But I want mine to be good. I don’t want them to be better than anyone else’s, I just want them to be good. I don’t care about beating anyone.

How do you feel about the technical challenge?

That is really nerve-wracking. If it’s pastry, or something like that, it’s going to be so difficult. If something goes wrong, it’s really difficult to come back from.

If you were a baked good, what would you be?

Hmmm. A Bakewell Tart. Or maybe a Fondant Fancy. Decisions…

You’re a keen gardener – have you brought along any of your produce to use in your bakes?

I haven’t. I could have done some jam. But I’m doing a Peach Bellini Champagne Cake, so I’ve got to use peaches, and I don’t grow peaches. I should have done that, though, that would have been great.