SWEET dreams

ELLIE TAYLOR on why she has the best job on TV

- REBECCA FLETCHER

BAKE OFF: THE PROFESSIONALS

MONDAY & TUESDAY, 8PM, C4 COOKERY

Ellie Taylor is pondering why she’s become so popular since she started working on much-loved patisserie contest Bake Off: The Professionals. Having joined the C4 show last year on hosting duties alongside returnee Liam Charles, there now seems a constant stream of family and friends wanting to drop in and say hi whenever she’s home and… ah, the penny drops!

‘CAKE! Anyone who comes round gets a bit of fancy cake,’ grins the comedian and Ted Lasso star, 40, adding that this time she’s better prepared for the perks of being surrounded by sweet treats. ‘I’ve bought new, big Tupperware! I used to wrap the cakes in foil, but it wasn’t cutting the mustard and things were getting squashed. So, this year, I’ve ramped things up. I take home quite a lot but I share the love around – honestly!’

We believe you, Ellie – although we’re not sure we’d be so generous, given the jaw-dropping delights that the contestants are serving up for pastry aficionados and judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden.

As the current series reaches its halfway point this week, the fifth episode sees the teams tasked with making 24 individual sticky toffee puddings and 24 charlottes à la russe before unleashing their inner fashionistas to create a haute couture-inspired Showpiece display.

Then, on the menu in the sixth episode are 18 buttery croissants and 24 perfectly-filled maritozzi, as well as a towering choux and nougatine Showpiece inspired by the theme Playtime.

Here, Ellie, who is married to Australian reporter Phil Black, tells us why this is the tastiest job on telly…

Firstly, congratulations on welcoming your second child, a baby boy, back in November! It must have been a busy time for you with you also filming this ninth series of Bake Off: The Professionals…