In the fifth and final episode of The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off, Prue Leith, Paul Hollywood and Matt Lucas were joined by TV presenter Anneka Rice, actor and comedian John Bishop, presenter and Paralympian Ade Adepitan MBE and Girl's Aloud singer-songwriter Nadine Coyle. This week the celeb bakers were tasked with making decorative choux buns in the Signature Bake, financiers in the Technical Challenge and a chocolate cake representing their bucket list for the Showstopper.
Kicking off with the Signature Bake, all four bakers managed to whip up some choux buns but when it came to the fillings, both John Bishop and Nadine Coyle came unstuck with Nadine running out of time to make her fancy crème diplomat and John struggled as he tried to spoon something resembling yellow Play-Doh into a piping bag! There was some rare collaboration between the bakers as Anneka Rice helped Ade Adepitan fill his choux buns in the final moments before Matt Lucas called time up - true sportsmanship between the two competitive individuals. In the end it was Anneka's painter's palette choux buns that impressed the judges the most, but maybe it was actually the portrait of Paul Hollywood that she brought along that earned her the brownie points?
Prue Leith set this week's Technical Challenge and her parting words of "Don't burn anything!" before leaving the tent left the bakers looking worried as they lifted their gingham cloths to reveal the ingredients to make 12 identical coffee and walnut financiers. John Bishop struggled all the way through the challenge, at one point removing his partially-baked financiers from the oven to add his forgotten flour. However, he didn't fare too badly against Nadine, who dropped half of hers on the floor, and Ade, whose bakes were all different sizes. It was Anneka who came out on top to win the Technical despite some extremely thick, burnt caramel that sounded like it could have cracked the judges' teeth!
Despite having barely baked before, Nadine was very keen to take part in the show as she is very passionate about the Stand Up To Cancer cause. She told Matt Lucas "I have a very close friend at the minute who is suffering from cancer. It's terrifying if you look at the statistics but the more research there is and the more money and funding there is, the better people's odds are. You never know when the next big breakthrough is going to happen, hopefully very soon."
The amateur bakers had one last chance to impress the judges with their Showstopper chocolate cakes but once again John Bishop didn't get off to the best start as he somehow managed to smash the bowl of his mixer.When it came to the final judging, Paul Hollywood said Ade Adepitan did "a decent job" with his chocolate orange basketball stadium cake. Prue loved John Bishop's hilarious tennis cake design but Paul said it was a bit claggy and advised John to try it to which he replied "not with the face you're pulling!". Nadine's 'Trip to Venice' cake, while lacking on the design front, tasted beautiful according to Paul and Prue and they both loved the surprise filling. But it was Anneka's ambitious helicopter flight design that really wowed the judges and helped her clinch the title of Star Baker putting the cherry on top of the final episode of an action-packed series.
Fancy yourself a Star Baker like Anneka Rice? Sign up to take on your own baking fundraiser and help raise life-saving dough for Stand Up To Cancer.
