Coffee Break With Baker Dan Beasley-Harling (Part 1) Gabija Coffee Break With Share: Link copy As the Great British Bake Off returns with it’s star-studded celebrity version for Stand Up To Cancer, each week we will be sitting down with a man who knows exactly what it’s like to face the rigours of the famous tent to dissect the action-packed episode. Dan Beasley-Harling was a contestant on Series 9 of The Great British Bake Off in 2018, where he was awarded Star Baker in Dessert Week and received a record-breaking THREE ‘Hollywood Handshakes’ for his signature bakes from the chief man himself, Paul Hollywood. A self taught baker, Dan loves creating classic flavours – often involving coffee – and meticulously decorating his bakes. But he loves nothing more than sinking his teeth into each baker’s performance for Coffee Friend, as well as the judges harsh critiques and much more as the A-listers do battle in the tent for a great cause… Dan Beasley-Harling: “Daisy Ridley was chaotic energy and made it so hard for herself – but I fell in love with her ambition” “Coming into it, I was very excited that Daisy Ridley was on it, it was quite a catch for the Bake Off team. I was quietly confident that she was going to be brilliant – and she was, but in her own special way. “Let’s be honest, she didn’t do particularly well in the baking, but she had brilliantly chaotic energy. The whole thing was a bit of a mess, but as a fan, when it goes wrong for the contestants, you do love them for it. Even though she was clearly last, she was still my favourite at the end of the episode. “Vegan baking is really hard, mainly due to the textures as not being able to use eggs is always a problem. I’ve made vegan Millionaires’ Shortbread before and it does set softer, so I am not surprised at all that Daisy’s caramel ran everywhere. Between that and not dividing her pan, she made it so hard for herself. “But I don’t think for one second Daisy did badly, she actually did brilliantly given how complex her attempts were. At least she tried something really enterprising. “Daisy was so chaotic, but it often happens that you fall in love with the person who didn’t do so well. Nobody on the show embarrassed themselves and everyone did brilliantly.” Dan Beasley-Harling: “Rob did brilliantly, but his wife should have got the handshake! I don’t think he had a clue what he was doing.” “Rob did fantastically, his Ferrero Rocher signature was amazing, I would’ve been proud to have made something like that. But here’s the thing – it’s clear his wife came up with it and also his showstopper cake recipe! “I’m kind of glad Rob didn’t win, because if he’d have won, the apron should have gone to his wife, not him. The signature and showstopper were great, because he was told the steps, but in the technical it was an absolute disaster – she’s clearly the brains of the operation! “”When Rob in the technical was moulding his ganache like a hamburger patty, it was one of most bizarre things I’ve ever seen and only confirmed my suspicion that he had no idea what he was doing – not that he denied it or tried to learn before he turned up! And that has to be respected. “Rob definitely did deserve the handshake. They weren’t perfect with his quantities, but for a celebrity baker, you couldn’t have expected much better.” Dan Beasley-Harling: “I’m maddened that the hilarious Tom Allen was SABOTAGED by Pru in her incorrect caramel advice.” “The judges’ critiques were fair on the whole, but I am a little bit mad at Pru actually – I think she sabotaged Tom! I’ve made Millionaires Shortbread hundreds of times and she told Tom to not stir the caramel too much, which is COMPLETELY wrong! You have to keep stirring it all the time, otherwise it burns – so I think Pru deliberately sabotaged him because that is simply incorrect advice. “Also when Tom noticed he’d put 75 grams of chocolate in his ganache as opposed to 175 grams, he easily could have gone back and corrected it. There was literally nothing stopping him adding more chocolate, but he just ploughed ahead and chose not to do it – don’t understand that at all, it’s an easy mistake to rectify. I wondered if he was throwing it! “Tom was at a slight advantage. You cannot hang around bakers for so long hosting Bake Off: The Professionals without picking lots of tips up – and a lot of his basics were very good because he probably listened to the pros for all these years. “While it wasn’t blown sugar, so Pru was right to not eat the whole cake as a challenge – it was an isomalt sail – it was still very impressive. Although to be fair, I had to tell Noel Fielding off-camera what a ganache was! “Another thing which made me howl was Tom saying the words ‘you’ll see that there’s a nicely tempered shine’. From the look on his face, I’m not sure he knew if it was wrong or not. I think he thought he was being smart, but Paul’s face was an absolute picture. Tom was so funny throughout the episode.” Dan Beasley-Harling: “I didn’t have high hopes for artistic Alexandra at the start, but she deservedly won – even I’d have been happy with her technical effort.” “I didn’t have high hopes for her in the signature at the start as it was just SO messy – but she clearly can bake. Her tarts in the technical, I’d have been happy if I’d have made them, they were brilliantly baked. “She played it smart in the showstopper – there’s a balance between doing something you can achieve, and doing something which looks amazing. It struck the right balance, looking good because of all the fondant work, but wasn’t crazy difficult either. Rob went too simple and Daisy went way, way too hard. “Taste and texture comes before anything else – but Alexandra’s decorative work, especially on the fondant with the little dog and the 3D bed, was really impressive. She’s clearly an artistic person.” Dan Beasley-Harling: “Celebs always have very high expectations of what is achievable… but I love watching them have fun for a great cause.” “It’s kind of wild watching this show both as a fan and as a former contestant. As is true in any reality TV, when you’re on your sofa, you believe you can pull it off. But when you get there, it’s very, very different. “I know Daisy Ridley is a big fan of Bake Off and she took on something very ambitious. But when you’re under time pressure, with 10 cameras pointed in your face and someone asking you what you’re doing every five minutes, it can go wrong very quickly. “People have way too high expectations of what is achievable in the time and when they get in the tent, they realise it’s a lot harder than they think. “But I think that the standard was pretty high, given how little time they had to do what they are doing. We are pretty spoiled with regular Bake Off with experienced bakers, so it’s good to see this celebrity version as a leveller. “It’s a different vibe with the celebrity one, because of course there is no real jeopardy – nobody is sent home and they do it for a wonderful cause raising loads of money. It’s great to see them all having so much fun, whereas on the normal one it’s your identity and a lot of your self-worth is based around being a good baker, so it’s far more tense and devastating when you leave.” Dan Beasley-Harling: “Whether you’re an A-lister or a regular person, you dive in without hesitation when Paul offers his musky, sausagey fingers.” “I thought it was really funny when Tom was joking around asking Paul for a handshake. He was joking but when Paul offered it, he DIVED in for it without hesitation – everyone who bakes, from contestants like me on the regular show to celebrities want that validation. Everybody wants Paul’s musky, sausagey fingers! For me, it’s the highest accolade in Bake Off, maybe second only to winning the show. “It was a nice balance – Rob got the handshake (albeit for his wife’s cooking), but Alexandra got deserved Star Baker. It was nice that the two standouts got accolades.” Dan Beasley-Harling: “James McAvoy is the show’s biggest ever booking – he looks determined and if his meringue is anything to go by, he’ll be brilliant.” “I can’t wait for next week’s episode. For me, James McAvoy just about trump’s Daisy Ridley in terms of booking, I think he’s the show’s biggest ever signing – he’s Hollywood royalty and it’s amazing to see Bake Off have this pull for people like that. It’s universally wholesome, nobody gets made to look foolish, there’s no risk and it’s for a fantastic cause. “I get a sense that McAvoy is very determined to be the best at anything he does, so I have a feeling he is going to be brilliant. And I saw a teaser of him making a meringue which looked top drawer. Meringue is a really easy thing to get wrong, so he must know something and I’m pinning my hopes on him.”
