Queer Bake Off star bakes Heartstopper into his showstopper
Great British Bake Off had an adorable Heartstopper shoutout in week one (Channel 4)
The new series of The Great British Bake Off has kicked off, and week one included a showstopper with a nod to queer graphic novel Heartstopper.
During the first episode, hosted by Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding on Tuesday (24 September), the new hopeful bakers were given the task of creating illusion cakes – cakes that looked like something other than a cake.
Although queer farmer Mike’s signature loaf cake failed to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith in the earlier technical challenge, his ‘My Favourite Books’ turned the tide.
Designed to resemble a stack of four of Mike’s, well, favourite books, the tomes (made of chocolate sponge, butterscotch Swiss meringue buttercream and a buttrscotch sauce) had titles on their spines – including Alice Oseman’s LGBTQ+ favourite, Heartstopper.
“A beautiful cake and a fantastic idea, executed very well,” Hollywood said.
His other “books” were Song of Achilles, a queer retelling of the tale of the Greek hero of the Trojan War and Patroclus, Stephen Fry’s Mythos, and Maurice, E M Forster’s tale of queer love set in early 20th-century England.
Mike, a 29-year-old farm manager from Wiltshire, is an advocate for LGBTQ+ people in farming, and is engaged to his partner.
No one was eliminated from the first episode because former university lecturer Jeff was taken ill following the signature challenge, and did not complete the in the technical or showstopper tasks.
The Great British Bake Off airs on 8pm Tuesdays on Channel 4.
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