Bernard O'Shea: My first apple tart turned out like asbestos

My dreams of becoming a contestant on Bake Off end along with my potential side hustle, 'Bernard’s Baking Company'. Both went in the bin and I still don’t know the difference between baking powder and baking soda.

Bernard O'Shea. 'I tried making an apple tart with my daughter, with Granny instructing via Zoom. It did not go well.' Photographs: Moya Nolan

Even with the help of my very own Mary Berry (my mum) over FaceTime I couldn’t get the pastry for a traditional Irish apple tart right. However, the fun my daughter had doing a virtual Bake Off with Granny made her day even if we couldn’t eat our disastrous efforts.

Home baking has gone through a glorious revolution in the last decade.  The Great British Bake Off has propelled Mary Berry into one of the most loved and recognisable faces this side of the Atlantic and who would have ever thought that a handshake from Paul Hollywood would have made fully grown adults cry with happiness?