Durban - Take one South African location, one marquee fitted out with kitchen units, 12 contestants, three challenges an episode, two judges and two presenters.
Mix them all together, sprinkle with a light dusting of tension, turn the heat up high and you get the seemingly flop-proof recipe for a new television series headed for DStv next month.
It’s the eagerly anticipated The Great South African Bake Off, a local version of the hit British reality series, and it is scheduled to start on BBC Lifestyle (channel 174) at 8pm on Tuesday, October 6.
Much fun and some delicious recipes are promised in a 10-part series that will feature baking experts Tjaart Walraven and Shirley Guy as judges, and comedian Donovan Goliath and actress and radio personality Anne Hirsch as presenters.
Walraven is a respected private chef for local and international celebrities, corporate functions and A-list clients.
His extensive baking experience includes working in the pastry kitchen at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, and at The Raymond Blanc Cookery School, under the directorship of Michelin-trained chef Stephen Bulmer.
He has been a weekly guest chef for three years on TV’s Expresso and has also featured on Top Billing.
Walraven has also made TV appearances on the BBC shows The Apprentice and The Restaurant. He has extensive experience presenting at food and drink festivals, running live demos and presenting baking and food workshops.
Guy has been teaching South Africans to bake and cook for more than 30 years and has her own cookery school called the Dough Hook. Over the course of her career she has run baking classes for pastry work, breads, grand desserts and chocolate.
She studied at the Cordon Bleu school in London, and La Verenne in Paris, and has taken three separate courses at the Oriental Cooking School in Bangkok.
She has also attended courses in different regions of Italy and has worked with chefs in the kitchens of five-star hotel restaurants in Singapore, India and the US.
The Cordon Bleu College in Cape Town awarded her an Honorary Grand Diploma in recognition of her contribution to food and food knowledge in South Africa.
She has written more than a dozen food and cookery books.
In the first episode of the new series, the 12 contestants enter the pressurised environment of the Bake Off tent for the first time and go whisk-to-whisk in their quest for glory.
The show’s opening episode will be about cakes – from the Signature Bake challenge of 12 perfect and identical fruit cupcakes, to the daunting challenge of the mystery Technical Bake.
“The final challenge of the first week, the Showstopper, requires bakers to pull out all the stops to wow the judges with their version of an Inside Surprise Chocolate Cake. There are surprises aplenty – some expected, some not.”
The contestants are:
* Cape Town painter and creative consultant Alice Toich, 24;
* Andrew Dore, a 25-year-old actuary from Parkview;
* Dot Dicks, an admin manager, 55, from Johannesburg;
* Gavin Roland Huxley Boyd, a 52-year-old from Sandton;
* Johan Botes, 44, an attorney from Johannesburg;
* Lauren Morrison, a vet, 42, from Johannesburg;
* Michaela Tsuen, a 22-year-old professional dancer from Cape Town;
* Wits University student Raeesa Manjoo, 23, from Johannesburg;
* Client care representative Shainaaz Kariem, 42, from Cape Town;
* Design and production manager Shawn Govender, 39, of Benoni;
* Mmala Motsepe, 20, a Pretoria psychology student;
* and Teddy Zaki, 42, a property manager from Johannesburg.
The Mercury