Bake Off favourite had ‘professional training’

“Reveal your cracks.” “I want to romp in your forest” – the Great British Bake Off is back: so ready, set…

This week the bakers are challenged to bake 24 biscotti, an Italian specialty that is baked twice and must be full of flavour and have a crisp crunch. Marie didn’t manage to turn her oven on properly!

Marie has reportedly said that it really isn’t a big deal – the producers of Bake Off knew about her baking past and the patisserie training, “was only for a week and was a long time ago”.

Though her walnut cake in the technical challenge wasn’t a top scorer, the grandmother’s other bakes were enough to earn her the title of Star Baker.

Simon Belsham, chief executive of Notonthehighstreet, said: ‘The Great British Bake Off is a great example of how much and how fast retail is changing.

To conclude, the judges demand from the contestants bespoke edible biscuit boxes which contain 36 different flavoured biscuits. Paul says he’s looking for good lamination and impressive architecture. And Mary was VERY impressed with his chocolate collar. Ugne clearly got the memo about baking native food, as she’s making traditional Lithuanian cookies, and a cookie jar out of Lithuanian honey cake. With week one firmly under their belts, the initial frontrunners had something to prove – but the curse of the star baker struck again. Because the small creative firms that sell through us largely make their products in the UK, they can respond quickly’.

This week’s technical challenge asked the bakers to come up with eight, Arlettes. She’s working against the clock and, just when it looks like she’s got it together, Sue Perkins appears out of nowhere and breaks the lid of her box.

We had an amusing pink-macaron standoff between Dalai Lama photographer Ian Cumming and prison guard Paul Jagger (an excellent Paul Hollywood Crimewatch e-fit should he ever be required) as they both used the French delicacy in their showstopper.