How do you spend a day in the presence of baking royalty? You eat, thats what you do.
Not a lot, you don’t eat a lot, but you eat enough to know that what has been put in front of you is worthy of winners.
Monsieur Eric Landlard is an award winning baker, artist, and generally fabulous Frenchman.
He told us the story of when he first appeared on GFL. New to telly and the pressure of time limits, he didn’t have the confidence to tell us that the fridge door had opened between his legs. He did the whole segment whilst standing astride a cool box, although he never, ever lost his cool.
Today he had the confidence that only ‘The Cakeman’ can have.
Eric gave us Chocolate and Orange Christmas cake, Bouche de Noel and Souffle.
Not any old souffle but hot gingerbread souffle. Always a terror for the telly cook, in case the whole thing sinks, this gingerbread confection held no fear for the learned Landlard.
In fact whilst the souffle was rising Monsieur E made vanilla custard, or to be more accurate Eggnog Custard. I kid you not, however stuffed we were, and we as a team were stuffed to the gills, however pogged we were after the Chocolate and Orange Cake, after the Gingerbread man met the Queen of Custard, after the white chocolate Bouche de Noel, there wasn’t an Ouvert Bouche dans la maison.
Then it was a hello to Show Ten with John Whaite who won the ‘Great British Bake Off’ two years ago. Since then he has written books, appeared hundreds and thousands of times everywhere and had his own telly box series. He graced the studio with his Bundt Cake, not a typo for ‘burnt’ but a German swirl of ridiculous chewiness.
He built a savory Moroccan Vegetable Strudel that curled round the table and was perfect for picking at, all followed by White Chocolate and Ginger nut Truffles with a Dessert Cocktail.
Can you see why doing a job like this piles on the pounds, plays havoc with your metabolism and leaves you wanting more. Can you see just how dangerous a job like this. if you are what you eat after filming ‘The Twelve Chefs of Christmas’ I had transmogrified into a Christmas Pudding
We had Bubbly. we had Sauvignon Blanc, we had ‘Mocktails’ courtesy of Susie Barrie, who though a mother of two has the body of an athlete. Well she gets a lot of exercise opening them bottles and picking up flagons of fizz, but with the panache of an old bar lady she got us to drink the drink, more and more…..
By the end of Friday I was saturated.
I slept through the night, took a morning sunflower shower, packed me bits and left The HDV for the last time.
Two more shows and then it was homeward bound….