Interview with Patsy Palmer

16 March 2020

Can you bake? Rate yourself out of 10.

Out of ten. I’m going to rate myself a four or five. I’ve done three or four birthday cakes, and that’s not many over a number of years. And it’s always been from scratch, and not really knowing what I was doing. We didn’t have YouTube videos back then, so it was just from cook books.

Who taught you how to bake, if anyone?

It wasn’t until I met my husband that I learned. His mother is a really good baker, she’s a really good cook, and she makes all the kids’ birthday cakes.

Do you have a signature dish?

No, I don’t bake regularly enough to have one.

Are you a Bake Off fan?

Oh yeah, I love it. This is one of the best things I have ever done, I was really looking forward to doing this. And I am really enjoying it. I really enjoy it when I have baked, and I don’t get enough time to bake. I always want to do it more when I’ve done it. But I don’t ever get around to it, and I suppose you don’t want to do too much baking, or you’ll end up like a balloon. It’s so much sugar.

Is it something you’ve been nervous about doing?

I wasn’t really nervous about it, especially because we’re doing it for Stand Up to Cancer. It’s brilliant, I feel very privileged, I’m really grateful to do it, so I’m not nervous about it.

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

I don’t know. Maybe Prue?

Who do you see as your biggest competition?

I don’t know, I think we’re all pretty much in the same situation. None of us are bakers!

Have you had any baking disasters?

Yeah. Honestly, I tried to make a cake not so long ago with my little boy, and it was a disaster. It’s only because we watch that show Nailed It [a show featuring catastrophically bad bakers] that we were able to turn it into something positive and say, “We Nailed It!” He loved it that we got it all wrong. Honestly, it was the worst cake. I blame the cooker – I was round at a friend’s, and her oven wasn’t great, but the cake was a disaster.

What’s your strength in your baking?

I think what I’m good at is keeping calm and trying to do things bit by bit.

Why are you supporting Stand Up to Cancer?

I’ve had so many family members that have passed away from cancer. It’s horrendous. I’ve been through it with them, it’s horrendous going through it. There’s nothing worse. Just recently a friend died young. Even friends’ kids have had it. It is an epidemic. The greatest thing, though, is that more people are surviving.

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

Not really. I haven’t even had time to practice anything. I’ve just been watching YouTube obsessively for the last two days. And loving it, but in a trance, just watching people baking.

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

Of course, we all want ours to be the best – maybe if it wasn’t for Stand Up to Cancer there would be more at stake with the bakes. If it was the real thing, and you were going into it because you really wanted to be a baker, that would be amazing. But any one of us has got a chance.    

How do you feel about the technical challenge? 

I’m terrified of it. If I could look at the whole recipe and how to do it, I’d be fine. But it’s not complete. And that is scary. I’m not a natural baker. Some people just know instinctively how to do stuff. These guys might know instinctively how to make stuff, whereas I really have to follow a recipe.

What would be the worst possible thing you could be asked to make in the technical?

Anything where I have no idea what it is, and I don’t even recognise the name of it. That or bread, because I’ve never made bread.

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

I’m going to go for the obvious and say a gingerbread man.

Patsy, you live in Malibu – can you get decent baked goods out there, or is everything super healthy?

There’s a lot of vegan stuff, which is great. And actually a lot of it tastes exactly like the real thing. But even the flour is different over there. You don’t get the same quality of cake that you do here or in Europe. And the Americans have a different way of baking. I’d like to bring some English cakes back. The birthday cakes there are never as good. I do actually want to open a little English Tea Room with my husband. I’d like to go on a baking course. We’ll see. I’d love to do that.