

The Great British Bake Off 2020 Cake Week showstopper round was one of the series’ highlights. The showstopper was once again a tribute to grand chaos.

Malt loaf is an excuse to provoke insufferable discourse about millennials not knowing what malt loaf is. Life summed up in mini rolls by British bake off /bINDuXEzwM- Rugbymum SeptemWhen is a Cake Week technical not a Cake Week technical? When it’s a loaf Karaoke subtitles on screen, it was just begging to be screencapped into meme form and/or savaged by the public. Instead, it baked one giant cheesecake, with Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, and those funny little boys dressing up in Billy Ray Cyrus garb and miming a rendition of ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ for the ages. In contrast to GBBO 2020, which sent up Boris Johnson’s COVID-19 press conferences, the intro made no nod to the ongoing, if much receded coronavirus pandemic. Great British Bake Off has plenty of form for kooky intros - particularly since Noel Fielding and then Matt Lucas joined as presenters. Paul Hollywood is a judge, but after the Billy Ray Cyrus intro, the world will judge him Here, now, is a recap of Great British Bake Off 2021’s debut. Contestant introductions were many, cutaways were rife, and cakes toppled to the floor. Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith judged a mini roll signature, a malt loaf technical, and an anti-gravity cake showstopper, as the first episode of GBBO kicked off.


Great British Bake Off 2021 Episode 1 was, as ever, Cake Week. Filmed again in a bio-secure coronavirus bubble, Paul Hollywood’s terrible handshake is here, sweaty as ever, and the tent stands on. Welcome to the Eater round-up of Great British Bake Off 2021, as Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Matt Lucas, and Noel Fielding return to Channel 4 with the 12th series of cakes, puddings, breads, and inevitable recourse to terrible baking puns.
