Durban domestic worker semi-finalist in The Great SA Bake Off

Published Dec 8, 2016

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THE Great South African Bake Off semi-finalist, Avontalent Tanhera had to exit the competition on Tuesday night.

The 29 year old’s food dream started just four years ago.

“My passion for baking started four years ago. With me being so far away from home, I always miss my family a lot so baking is the only thing that distracts me and keeps me going."

She had also never baked most of the things that she was challenged with in the competition.

“I am an amateur baker and most of the cakes I had never baked before, but I trusted my gut and went with what I thought was right.

“Who would have thought a domestic worker from Durban would make it to the semi-finals?” she said.

As the race for the coveted spot in the final began, the Durbanite found herself sailing through the Signature Bake challenge where she had to assemble a tricky French delight, a mille-feuille, and the Technical Bake challenge where she had to pull-off a nostalgic mini-chocolate marshmallow tea-time pie.

But panic set in when she tried to change her original chocolate-mousse cake recipe in the Showstopper challenge and it all went downhill from there.

“The ingredients I included in the recipe didn’t work and I even forgot about the decoration in the fridge.

Now referring to her elimination as water under the bridge, Tanhera said the Bake-Off tent taught her many great lessons.

“The whole experience has shown me that I am a really good baker.I never fully trusted myself, but I’ve grown to now trust my instinct. I now realise my potential. I never thought I would get past the first three episodes, but look at how far I have come.The competition has taught me to be patient, to never give up, to be a go-getter, to be persistent and it has made me a great baker overall,” she said.

“My plan now is to open up my own bakery and supply Durban with an exquisite array of treats or work in a fine-dining restaurant where I will be taught more about the art of cooking. And become a great chef, as I love cooking just as much as baking.

“My favourite food is a leg of goat's meat with stuffing and mushrooms,” she said.

Catch all the action on Tuesday’s BBC Lifestyle channel 174 on DStv at 8pm.

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