The Great Celebrity Bake Off 2021, episode 1 review: cow-pat tarts and Daisy Ridley's 'soggy bottom'

Ah, Bake Off, how we’ve missed thee. The tent, the tittering, the camaraderie and, of course, the cake. It might be a mere four months since “baby-faced assassin” Peter Hawkins became the flagship contest’s first ever Scottish winner but it somehow feels like several years ago. This run of five celebrity specials in aid of Stand Up To Cancer came as a welcome springtime treat.

The Great Celebrity Bake Off (Channel 4) found a quartet of famous types entering through the tent flaps to put their floury skills to the test. The first batch to don those familiar canvas aprons were Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley, singer Alexandra Burke, plus a pair of comedians in Rob Beckett and Tom Allen – who, it turned out, went to school together. Coopers Academy in Chislehurst, in case you were wondering.

With Noel Fielding on paternity leave – this series was filmed in September, shortly after the birth of his second daughter, Iggy – Matt Lucas took the host reins on his own and was on fine form. “Noel who?” asked judge Paul Hollywood. That’s showbiz.

For a Hollywood star, Ridley was refreshingly game, participating in an amusing opening skit which saw Lucas starstruck after recognising her from a 2013 episode of Casualty, rather than a certain cinematic sci-fi franchise. She used a rolling pin to demonstrate her lightsaber skills. She even tolerated the host’s Yoda impressions.

For the signature round, they tackled millionaire’s shortbread. “Created in 1988 in honour of MP Clare Short,” deadpanned Lucas. Burke’s were “a hot mess” but tasted good. Ridley’s rubbery offerings were, she admitted, “absolutely rancid”.

Dapper as always in suit and tie, Allen repeatedly reminded the judges that he presents the show’s Professionals spin-off. He still managed to get his shortbread stuck to the bottom of the freezer. “Nice crack,” said Hollywood, cutting into it. “Thank you, Paul, but what do you think about the shortbread?” replied Allen, quick as a flash. Mel and Sue would surely approve.

Beckett came out on top thanks to his surprisingly refined creations, inspired by his favourite Ferrero Rocher chocolates – or “nobbly hazelnut balls”, as he renamed them for copyright reasons. Fit for an ambassador’s party, they earned the episode’s only Hollywood handshake.

The technical challenge was vegan chocolate-and-raspberry tartlets. Ridley’s pastry suffered the dreaded “soggy bottom”. Beckett confessed that his looked like “cow pats”. Allen’s were more respectable but his ganache – sorry, “gay-nache” – was too runny. “It has a nicely tempered shine,” he told the judges. “You’d know about that if you were on a professional bakery show.” He was beaten by the endearingly thrilled Burke, who beamed that she was “over the moon” and celebrated by belting out a burst of Whitney Houston.

For the climactic showstopper round, the bakers had to create their biggest bugbear in 3D cake form. Conforming to gender stereotypes, both men went for a motoring theme, while both women chose a domestic one. How quaintly old-fashioned. They’ll be cracking mother-in-law jokes next.

Baking his first ever cake (“I’m losing my cake V-plates”), Beckett made a decent fist of his “On Diversion” motorway signage design but his sponge was dry. Allen’s “absolutely delicious” car horn cake featured some ambitious blown sugarwork but the icing looked like a ham-fisted toddler did it. Ridley decided to bake hers in the shape of a toilet (how appetising) but thankfully resisted Lucas’s request for a chocolate surprise inside. “I’m the dunce in the corner with the bad cake,” she shrugged.

Burke’s bed-shaped cake was inspired by her footballer boyfriend’s habit of ruining her clean sheets with sweat and mud. “Some people would kill for an unshowered footballer in their bed,” twinkled Leith. After admitting that her own pet hate was her husband leaving shoes all over the floor, she declared Burke’s light sponge to be “heaven”.

When Hollywood offered to taste the biscuit headboard too, Burke wisely cut her losses and snatched it away. She was duly crowned Star Baker, which felt like the reality TV gods making amends after she had such an unfairly torrid time on Strictly Come Dancing three years ago.

This celebrity edition was a different beast to the mothership series. Rather than nervous hopefuls dazzling us with their well-practised skills, this was a paean to pleasingly average amateur baking. A celebration of getting stuck in and having a go, all for a worthy cause. What could be greater or more British? “That was fun,” concluded Lucas. “Very giggly.” He wasn’t wrong.