The perfect pavlova. A macadamia, aniseed myrtle and bush honey trifle. Bread sculptures baked into the shape of Australian mammals.
These are among the delights contestants are tasked with creating on the new season of The Great Australian Bake Off, which returns to screens on Thursday after a three-year absence. Bake Off is a global reality phenomenon that began in the UK and has since been adapted by 35 countries worldwide, travelling everywhere from Kenya to Morocco and Brazil. The format has remained more or less consistent around the world; what makes each version unique is the quirks of the local cuisine. Here in Australia, that means dishes created using native ingredients, classics ripped from the pages of the Australian Women’s Weekly Cake Book and, of course, the quest for the optimised pav.
“I like it crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside,” says Matt Moran, chef and judge on the show. “But somebody else might like it a little bit more brittle.”
Moran, together with fellow celebrity chef Maggie Beer, is tasked with assessing the creations dished up the show’s cast of amateur bakers each week. He believes Bake Off is so well loved because “it’s a show everyone can relate to, whether you’re a kid baking your first cookie or a retiree baking bread.”
This year, though, there’s another reason viewers might tune in: the Covid effect. The pandemic has transformed many of us from kitchen luddites into keen bakers intimately familiar with the fine art of sourdough starter.
For the TV executives behind Bake Off, renewed interest in kitchen creations has been a blessing.
“We are absolutely aware of the enthusiasm Australians have for baking at the moment,” says Kylie Washington, general manager and creative director of BBC Studios Productions, who helped bring Australian Bake Off back to Foxtel after a change in production partners, then the pandemic, forced its hiatus.
The baking craze also helped when it came time to cast this season. “It meant that we were really spoilt for choice,” Washington says. “We found a wonderfully diverse mix of people.”
That included “a lot of males” – something producers have really had to search for in the past. As well as striking a better gender balance, this year’s cast ranges in age from 19 to 62, and includes bakers born in Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Indonesia and Iran. Washington thinks the quintessentially “Australian flavour” of the cast is part of the show’s charm and what helps Great Australian Bake Off find an audience overseas. (It also airs in the UK, US, New Zealand and parts of Europe.)
The show was also relatively lucky when it came to filming, getting in before the Omicron variant hit. Cast and crew had to rapid test every day before they entered the site but managed to avoid any on-set outbreaks. “In comparison to a lot of other shows, we actually breezed through Covid really well,” Washington says.
But even if you’ve avoided the kitchen these last two years, Bake Off still scratches the pandemic itch for comfort viewing. Unlike the high stakes competition of cooking shows like MasterChef, Bake Off is friendly by nature. Contestants tackle three different baking challenges each week – first up is the signature, where bakers whip up tried and tested classics, then the technical, where more specialised skills are required. Last is the showstopper, home to incredulous feats of baking that this season will include everything from a hanging biscuit chandelier to a French choux pastry tower in the shape of a nun. One contestant is eliminated each week, but the show is never cruel in the way it goes about reaching its ultimate winner.
“It’s soft competition, but it’s very supportive and loving,” says Washington. “The contestants are friends and they’re beautiful people. When they’ve finished their own bake, sometimes they go and help each other out. It’s about helping people achieve their personal best and bring their creations to life.”
That means giving the right sort of feedback is something Moran is conscious of. “You can’t sugarcoat things but you’ve got to be constructive,” he says. “If you’re going to give criticism you’ve got to actually tell them why. You’ve got to be able to back it up as to why you didn’t like it and why it didn’t work. Otherwise they just think you’re a dick.”
“But it’s not a show where we try to create drama,” he adds. “It’s real.”
That’s not to say things never go wrong on Bake Off land – even if you’ve never seen the show, you’re likely familiar with a viral meme of British comedian James Acaster presenting his dish to the judges on the UK celebrity version, telling them that he “started making it, had a breakdown, bon appetit”.
“There’s always a couple of things that crash and burn – literally burn, sometimes,” Moran says. “And things fall apart. But that’s the beauty of the show. There’s always drama when it comes to the actual bake itself.”
While The Great Australian Bake Off is now in its fifth season, Washington doesn’t believe the core ingredients of the show have changed much over its run.
“Bake Off has remained consistent pretty much all the way through. You know the saying – if ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” she says. “People like the fact that it delivers on the same thing every time. It delivers this wonderful spirit and sense of camaraderie and family. There’s no need to change any of that; it’s a beautiful show in the way that it exists.”
And as we enter the third year of the pandemic, consistency is a valuable asset.
“People just want comfort,” Washington says. “They want to know what they’re turning on to because the world is so unknown and so unpredictable at the moment. So slipping into your jammies, sitting on your couch, tucking into a good old series of Bake Off is exactly the tonic that we need right now.”
The Great Australian Bake Off starts tonight at 8.30pm on Foxtel.
