The First Winner of "The Great British Bake Off" Is Definitely Still Baking
Edd Kimber has written eight cookbooks since his big win—and he joins She's My Cherry Pie this week to talk all about it
Edd Kimber had one of the worst jobs in the world.
Every day, he was on the phone, getting yelled at, harangued, and even receiving death threats. He was “a glorified debt collector,” and he hated every minute of it.
To cope, he went home and baked. And he soon got very, very good at baking.
Someone passed along an email with details about auditions for a new BBC show, and the next thing he knew, Dame Mary Berry was loving his Bakewell tart. Fast forward a bit, and Edd won the very first season of the show in 2010, and then what was he supposed to do with his life? After a restaurant stint, he got into food publishing, and has since written eight cookbooks—eight! (You might know him by his handle: @theboywhobakes.) His latest book came out in March: Chocolate Baking: The Ultimate Guide to Cakes, Cookies, Desserts & Pastries.
This week on She’s My Cherry Pie, Edd takes host Jessie Sheehan back to his GBBO audition before walking us through his true showstopper of a recipe for Paris-Brest with sesame craquelin, tahini crème mousseline, and milk chocolate ganache. (Do you know Paris-Brest? Named after a bike race between the two French cities, it resembles a bicycle wheel made out of a ring of choux pastry, cut in half and filled with praline cream.) His recipe is written with such careful guidance that this is guaranteed Star Baker material.
Edd is also full of so many great baking tips that go beyond the obvious, such as:
Room temperature ingredients combine better, so let things warm or cool as needed to avoid splittage
Never microwave chocolate more than 30 seconds at a time, as it burns quickly; do short bursts, stirring every time
Split ganache is usually from using too much fat (such as “double cream” instead of heavy cream) or boiling milk too hard
Speaking of: British double cream has a much higher fat content than American heavy cream/whipping cream, FYI!
CATCH SHE’S MY CHERRY PIE ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, OR YOUTUBE
Shop the show & more
One of Edd’s most popular cookbooks, One Tin Bakes, is proof that Americans need to get into “traybakes”
You’re going to need some pastry bags and piping tips for the Paris-Brest, intrepid bakers
And some good tahini
And definitely a kitchen scale (we like one that wipes off easily)
“I wanted to write something that could hopefully outlast me.”
–Edd Kimber
Question for the class
Edd mentions Mary Berry telling him that one should only ever garnish with ingredients that are in the dish, so no random mint sprigs hither and thither. But do you agree with that rule?
Fresh baked news
The! World’s! Longest! Tiramisu!
Your last chance ever for an Aimee France cake class?
Pretty in pink panna cotta
Check out our cute videos with Ghirardelli + Hani’s and Levain. We love our baker friends!
Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily on book tour
A lovely butter yellow baking dish
Lucie Franc de Ferriere on Radio Cherry Bombe
The cherry on top
Thanks to everyone who joined us last week at Jubilee in NYC! Make sure to follow our IG for recaps of all the magic that happened.
Have you picked up a copy of our Cake Issue yet?
Members and paid Substack subscribers! Don’t miss our meeting with Big Night founder Katherine Lewin. It’s Wednesday, May 6th, at 3 p.m. EST. Check your inbox for the registration link!
Please note, some of our links may earn us a small commission.