Tebay’s Abbi Lawson, who is starring in the latest series of the Great British Bake Off, is no stranger to baking success.
Last year, 27-year-old Abbi wowed the judges with a cake in the shape of a marquee celebrating the 70th anniversary of Greenholme show, which also picked up the prize for best confectionery exhibit at the event.
Channel 4 viewers now have the chance to watch Abbi as she attempts to impress another set of judges in perhaps the most famous marquee of all.
Jackie Taylor, one of the secretaries of Greenholme show, told the Herald: “We are thrilled and we wish her all the best of luck in the world. Hopefully, she will do very well and we expect bigger and better things at next year’s show.”
In the first week of the TV competition, Abbi impressed celebrity judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith with her showstopper, which she called her Herbert the Herdwick cake.
Made of a ginger sponge, with salted caramel buttercream, it also featured rhubarb jam, a hazelnut brittle and black sesame buttercream.
Paul said the cake had real character, while Prue said the rhubarb jam and the cake were both excellent.
Paul added: “You’ve got a sharpness from that rhubarb, so the ginger and the rhubarb marry and then you have that hazelnut, which is delicious.”
Abbi, who is a member of the Crosby Ravensworth-based Home Grown Here team — a co-operative of vegetable growers for local veg box schemes – said: “I have always watched bake off with the thought in the back of my head of ‘what if I was there,’ but it has always been a very far-off dream!
“When I was going through the application process I kept forcing my expectations down saying to myself that I wouldn’t get on, that getting to this stage of the auditions was enough, but I tried to stay hopeful.
“I definitely emitted a high pitched noise when I found out, I hope I didn’t scare the neighbours! I think being inside the tent for the first time—seeing the benches and mixers and ovens —is something I will always remember.
“I loved getting to know the other bakers and finding out stuff we had in common outside of baking. It was all so exciting and a little overwhelming but in a really good way, and I remember feeling so looked after by the crew!”
On meeting presenters, Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding for the first time, Abbi said: “It was so cool! They are both so lovely and you could instantly tell that they were going to make you laugh.”
And she said that seeing the big white tent for the first time and walking in towards her workstation completely surreal.
“It’s exactly like it is on TV,” she said. “I was super impressed and amazed by how many crew can fit into the tent and yet are never in shot once the series is edited together—the central aisle between the benches was basically full of crew the whole time!
“It was really nice because at any moment you could look up and ask for another spatula and someone would produce one from their back pocket in under 20 seconds. I could do with a system like that at home!”
- Abbi will be in the Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 today at 8pm.
