I Rang Mary To Talk About Paul ...

Prue Leith on judging The Great British Bake Off, and the baking fiasco that almost cost her the job!

- Sarah Selwood

ENTERTAINMENT

The Great British Bake Off

TUESDAY / C4 / 8.00PM

It’s hard to believe that Prue Leith still suffers from baking disasters.

After all, the new Great British Bake Off judge’s impressive CV includes a Michelin starred restaurant, a successful events catering company and a prestigious cookery school that counts the Duchess of Cambridge among its past students, plus a heap of bestselling books.

‘I’m not sure I should tell you this,’ grins Prue, 77, leaning in conspiratorially. ‘But ahead of my second audition for Bake Off, they asked me what I thought the technical challenge for it should be and I suggested Gugelhupf. It’s Austrian and a cross between a bread and a cake; it’s very rich.

‘They took a recipe from one of my books, and I decided to make one as well, because by now my blood was up as I really wanted the job. I thought: “If I turn up with the perfect Gugelhupf and they will be so impressed that a) I have bothered to make a cake and b) it’s the best Gugelhupf they’ve ever seen.”

‘However, when I turned it out, my husband said: “You will never get that past Paul Hollywood” because around the side there was a little nick. So I never took it…’