Bake Off is back tonight: Here's what you need to know and a cake to eat while you watch

There's a vegan contestant, a police person, a midwife and the youngest ever contestant on The Great British Bake Off, plus a nice coffee cake to make this evening

Mandatory credit: C4/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon Undated handout photo issued by C4/Love Productions of (left to right) judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith with presenters Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas in the first episode of The Great British Bake Off 2020.

The Great British Bake Off will return to screens on Tuesday night with another batch of amateur bakers.

Judges Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith, and presenters Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding, will be back in the show’s famous tent for another series of signature, technical and showstopper bakes.

The Tent Of Dreams reopens tonight! Please form an orderly queue... #GBBO https://t.co/Y5BmTiQtSf pic.twitter.com/OnspqoIuh8

— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) September 21, 2021

Twelve new contestants – including a Metropolitan Police detective, a retired nurse and an IT professional – will be competing for the title of star baker.

Lucas made his debut on the show last year and celebrated its imminent return on Instagram by sharing a picture of the judges and hosts imitating the Beatles on the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios in west London.

Among the contestants is Amanda, 56, who works for the Met in London and studied graphic design at college, working in advertising before training as a detective.

Her baking is heavily influenced by her Greek-Cypriot heritage.

(L-R) Elizabeth, George, Juergen, Crystelle, Jairzeno, Rochica, Giuseppe, Tom, Maggie, Chirag, Amanda and Freya from The Great British Bake Off 2021. Picture: PA

Quadrilingual Crystelle, 26, is a client relationship manager from London and began baking seriously three years ago.

She was born in north-west London to Kenyan-born Portuguese-Goan parents.

Vegan psychology student Freya, 19, from North Yorkshire, is the youngest baker in the tent this year.

Originally from the Black Forest in Germany, 56-year-old Jurgen, an IT professional, moved to the UK in 2003 and lives with his wife and son on the Sussex coast.

Dorset-based Maggie, 70, is a retired nurse and midwife and believes the excitement of delivering a baby offers good preparation for taking part in Bake Off.

The 11th series, which aired in late 2020, saw cast and crew move into Down Hall Hotel near Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, throughout the duration of filming, after being tested for the virus and self-isolating.

Peter Sawkins, an accounting and finance student from Edinburgh, was crowned the show’s youngest ever winner at 20.

He was also the first winner from Scotland in the show’s decade-long history.

The programme also saw its biggest-ever final on Channel 4, attracting a record average audience of 9.2 million viewers and a 39.7% share of the audience.

• The Great British Bake Off begins at 8pm on September 21 on Channel 4.

Coffee and walnut squares

recipe by:Darina Allen

For a mid-morning burst of energy, snack on these coffee squares with smooth buttercream and toasted walnut halves to decorate

Servings

20

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 35 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 225g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

• 100g caster sugar 

• 80g soft brown sugar 

• 300g self-raising flour 

• 2 tsp baking powder 

• 4 eggs 

• 2 tbsp whole milk 

• 1 tbsp Camp coffee essence 

• For the coffee buttercream:

• 100g butter, softened

• 300g icing sugar, sifted 

• 1 tbsp whole milk 

• 2 tsp Camp coffee essence 

• 20 walnut halves, toasted hazelnuts or whole pecans, to decorate

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C.

2. Grease and line your tin with a little butter and line with a sheet of parchment paper that comes up over each side.

3. Put all the cake ingredients into a food processor. Whizz just long enough to combine. Spread the cake mixture evenly over the lined tin and smooth the top with a palette knife. Bake for 20–25 minutes until well risen. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely in the tin.

4. To make the buttercream, cream the butter and beat in the icing sugar, followed by the milk and coffee extract.

5. As soon as the cake has cooled, use a palette knife to spread the coffee buttercream evenly over the top. Cut into squares and decorate each with a half walnut, toasted hazelnut or whole pecan. Alternatively, pipe a rosette of coffee buttercream on top of each square and top with a toasted nut.
   From One Pot Feeds All by Darina Allen, published by Kyle Books