Blood sweat and cake tiers — Tracy crowned Irish ‘Bake Off’ champ
After eight weeks of blood, sweat and cake-tiers, the Killarney native beat the competition from fellow finalists, Ali Mitter and Shane Murray.
Her technical bake, ‘A Tower of Rainbow Macaroons’ and her final show-stopper challenge, ‘Afternoon Tea’ impressed both judges, executive pastry chef at the Merrion Hotel, Paul Kelly and food writer and forager, Biddy White Lennon.
Paul Kelly said: “Tracy is a well-deserved winner. Her macaroons were close to perfect for me. That’s some achievement for an amateur baker.
“I’m absolutely delighted for Tracy, and I think she’s going to take this a stage further and continue to practise her baking and develop her skills. Someday I will meet Tracy and she will have her own little shop.”
#GIBO winner 2014 is @TracysKitchenIE amazing and so deserved 🎉🎉🍰🎂🍰🍪🍪
— Odlums (@Odlums_Ireland) July 3, 2014
The executive chef said the standard of the contestants this year had been extremely high. “The bar has most definitely been raised,” he said. Tracy said of her victory: “The Bake Off experience was the most exciting journey I’ve taken in life yet, and it has certainly given me a taste of a different life working with food and television. Who knew I would turn out to have a bit of a talent for both?
“I’m going to take a little while to enjoy the win and maybe explore some opportunities that have been floated over the last few weeks.”
Fans of Tracy and The Great Irish Bake Off can follow all of Tracy’s original recipes on her dedicated personal blog www.tracyskitchen.ie, while the recipes from last night’s Bake Off final can all be found on www.tv3.ie/bakeoff.
