It?s gonna get messy! ?The Great Irish Bake Off? is back on TV3.

TV3 GROUP RELEASE

IMMEDIATE: Monday 12th May 2014

 

 

It’s gonna get messy!

‘The Great Irish Bake Off’ is back on TV3.

 

The search is on to find Ireland’s Best Amateur Baker 2014 as 12 new bakers are revealed.

 

Expect more tears, triumphs and disasters than ever before as the judges don’t hold back with criticism of the highly creative and competitive bunch of bakers.

 

Video link to view the first episode is available on request.

Please note that the result of the episode featured in the video link is strictly embargoed until Wednesday 21st May at 9pm.

 

Interviews with presenter, judges and contestants are available on request.

 

The brand new series of ‘The Great Irish Bake Off’ airs on Wednesday 21st May at 9pm on TV3.

 

TV3 launches its second series of the hugely successful The Great Irish Bake Off. The highly anticipated new series will be returning to Irish screens on Wednesday 21st May at 9pm on TV3, with 12 new passionate home bakers looking to test their skills to the limit as they battle it out to be crowned The Great Irish Bake Off's Best Amateur Baker 2014.

 

Presenter Anna Nolan will be back to showcase the rising talent, along with expert judges; top-selling cookery writer/baker Biddy White Lennon and world renowned executive pastry chef at The Merrion Hotel, Paul Kelly. From a brand new tent in Tinnakilly House, Co Wicklow, there are more tears, triumphs and disasters than ever before as the judges don’t hold back with criticism of the highly creative and competitive bunch of bakers.

 

Expect plenty more delectable and extravagant desserts along with the ups and downs of passionate baking. So get the whisks at the ready once again as the experts inspect, prod and sample the baked goodies and decide who gets to have their cake - and eat it!

 

The series premiere is all about ‘Cake’! The 12 bakers are challenged with baking a cake that shows their personality to the judges - it’s a “getting to know you” cake with three layers. What delightful flavours, textures and designs will the bakers bring to the table to impress the judges?  Also this week, contestants are faced with a dreaded technical challenge where they are given the ingredients of a bake, but with minimum instruction – this will be a real test of their baking skills!

 

The brand new series of The Great Irish Bake Off on TV3 is proudly sponsored by Odlums.

 

The Great Irish Bake Off airs on Wednesday 21st May at 9pm on TV3.

 

To follow the conversation on Twitter use the hashtag #GIBO and don’t forget to follow the Official Great Irish Bake Off page on Twitter - @IrishBakeOff. For more news on the brand new series visit www.tv3.ie/bakeoff 

 

Images have been sent to your picturedesk by Brian McEvoy.

 

ENDS

 

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Sharon McHugh – Head of Press & Publicity – 087 922 4143

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NOTES TO EDITOR:

 

Anna Nolan - Presenter

 

Anna’s interest in television started when she watched at least seven hours of television a day as a child. Her interest became a ‘reality’ when she found herself being watched by everybody else for seven hours a day, as a contestant on the original series of Big Brother for Channel 4, in 2000. From there, she worked at the BBC for 2 years, presenting series such as ‘Anna in Wonderland’ and ‘Closure’ with Davina McCall.

 

In 2003, her presenting saw her front the RTÉ flagship programme The Afternoon Show until 2006, when she left to become an award winning reporter on the documentary series Would You Believe. Anna went on to produce the health-based reality show Operation Transformation for 3 years, the Florida based kids reality show Mission Beach, and series produce the IFTA nominated series Room To Improve.

 

In 2012, she directed the one-hour documentary Perfect Heart, which followed a transplant patient for a year as he waited for a new heart. Anna writes a weekly opinion column for The Herald and is Development Executive for COCO Television.

 

In 2013, Anna was asked to present The Great Irish Bake Off, and she said “yes” quicker than you can say “Chantilly cream”.

 

Biddy White Lennon - Judge

 

Biddy’s passion for food began in the kitchens of some of Dublin’s leading restaurants. She worked in kitchens whenever she was “resting” from acting, her main career. She became one of Ireland’s best known actresses, playing a leading role in The Riordans, the most popular drama series on Irish national television and radio for 21 years. She played regularly in every theatre in Ireland, as well as appearing in both films and on British television. Gradually her career changed through writing for television and radio drama.

 

For 30 years now Biddy has been a full time freelance journalist, specialising in food, hospitality and tourism. She has published 13 books - seven about Irish food culture, its history, recipes and ingredients, Irish artisan foods, and the development of a contemporary Irish food culture.

 

Biddy was a founding member of the Irish Food Writers Guild and has for many years been on the coordinating team for the Guild’s annual Food Awards. She is regularly on the judging panel for a number of other awards for restaurants and hotels. She is also an active member of Slow Food and is currently leader of the Slow Food Sugarloaf Club. She was part of the team that in 2011 and 2012 organised the hugely successful Wild & Slow - the first ever festival devoted entirely to wild food.

 

Her thirteenth book, Wild Food: How to Gather, Preserve and Cook (O’Brien Press) was well received, going straight into the list of bestsellers.

Paul Kelly - Judge

Paul Kelly has spent 20 years in the cooking industry. He started as a commi chef in The Sandhouse Hotel in Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal. He has worked in many of the five-star hotels and high quality restaurants in Ireland, including The Park Hotel in Kenmare. It was there that he started to find his true calling in the culinary world, pastry.

He later moved back to Dublin to work in L’Ecrivan as their first full-time pastry chef.  He finally found his place as Executive Pastry Chef at The Merrion Hotel in Dublin, where he has been working since the hotel opened in 1997. He is a creative risk taker, which has led him to develop many unique concepts such as The Merrion Art Afternoon Tea. This is a creative and inspiring new take on the classic afternoon tea, incorporating The Merrion's extensive art collection. Paul has also travelled the world in search of new ideas and inspirations to satisfy his insatiable curiosity.

For eight years, Paul was the pastry chef on the Irish Culinary Team, where he represented Ireland on the world culinary stage. He has won many competitions on the world stage and has come full circle - he is now a judge for the World Association of Chefs at international events.

Paul developed his passion for teaching over the last five years as a part-time teacher for Culinary Arts in DIT Cathal Brugha Street in Dublin, where he also helps to develop new pastry and baking programs. 

Paul is currently a judge on TV3’s The Great Irish Bake Off and has just been signed up by TV3 to present his very own show called Paul Kelly’s Masterclass.

 

Contestant Biogs

 

Alex Fitzpatrick

 

AGE:                                       17

OCCUPATION:                      Student 5th Year        

LOCATION:                            Rathfarnham, Dublin

NATIONALITY:                       Irish

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Chocolate fudge brownies – “I know they say chocolate is a drug, but

                                                my brownies really are addictive, just ask anyone who's tried them!”

 

 

Alex is an only child and grew up in his grand-parents’ (Margaret and Liam) house with his mum, Linda. Alex is extremely close to his grandparents and says they are like a surrogate mum and dad to him. Granny Margaret is one of his biggest inspirations both in life and in baking. His first memories are of her vanilla and diary milk butter cake. They loved to bake together when he was a child and she is very proud of him appearing on The Great Irish Bake Off.

 

However as he’s gotten older, he doesn’t bake with his granny that much anymore. This is because he is very opinionated and likes to tell her what to do in the kitchen! Alex has a cookbook of his granny’s which is 40 years old. It’s completely worn and torn and covered in chocolate and all sorts of other stuff, but it is his prize possession. There are no pictures in it, but it has recipes for things such as ‘Brain Cakes’, made out of lamb. He loves to take inspiration from the cookbook and put a modern twist on recipes he finds in there. Alex has turned the utility room at home into his ‘baking room’. He has filled all the presses with his equipment and ingredients and it’s where he spends hours decorating his bakes. When Alex finishes school, he wants to take a year out and work in a bakery. The plan is to then to save enough money to go to Paris and study at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School. Alex is determined this is his destiny and is not entertaining any other options. Alex’s life revolves around baking; “Baking really is my life.” His passion for baking started in earnest about five years ago, when he baked his own birthday cake. Since then, slowly but surely, food and baking have taken over his life.

 

Ali Mitter

 

AGE:                                       31                   

OCCUPATION:                      IT Sales in Salesforce (On maternity leave)             

LOCATION:                            Bray Co. Wicklow                  

NATIONALITY:                       Czech             

SIGNATURE BAKES:                        Rye Sourdough Bread, Cinnamon Rolls, Black Forest Gateaux

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Married

 

Alena grew up in Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) near the border of Poland and Slovakia. Her mother was a Dentist and her father was an Engineer. Her older sister is a lawyer in Prague. Her father was hugely into healthy eating and his ideas were ahead of his time. He said no to red meat and all processed meat foods such as pate, salami, ham etc. They were not allowed eat from the school canteen growing up as it was too bad quality! So this is how Ali entered the world of baking at a young age.

 

Her first job in Ireland was with Lufthansa and later she got a job with IBM in IT. There she met her husband Michael who is German. They have two children, Yannick (4) and Jonas (7 months).  Alena describes herself as competitive!  She enjoys a good challenge and learning new skills and trying new things. At first Ali just wanted to get on to the show, now she wants to win the competition! Ali says she is slightly impatient, very spontaneous & smart but bordering on being a smart ass too!  . She was very artistic always painting and creating but baking was not seen as a career option for her then though, people didn’t do it unless they were less educated and she took a different path. For a long time now she has been watching all the different cooking and baking shows that have come out and how the likes of Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay have made it more mainstream and she feels that if she was 16 now it would be the path she would definitely take. 

 

David Murphy

 

AGE:                                                   28                   

OCCUPATION:                                  Petrol station attendant                      

LOCATION:                                        Dublin             

NATIONALITY:                                   Irish                

SIGNATURE BAKE:                          Banoffee Pie  

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:                Married

 

David is from Tallaght originally, now living in Rathfarnham, Dublin. He is married to Melissa. They have 2 boys, Cody (5) and Skyler (7 months). David started a new job in a petrol station before Christmas. His dream is to save towards a new baking business, he would love to set up one day.

 

David has been baking since a young age. His grandmother and mother taught him. He is a perfectionist in the kitchen and gets annoyed at himself when things don’t go right. He would above all like to do a bread challenge in the Great Irish Bake off tent.  He is most proud in general of his apple crumble and banoffee pie but his biggest bake has been the Christening cake and cupcakes for Skylers christening. His most difficult  bake was the minion cake which took 8-10 hours! He is in the competition to win!

 

Elaine Hartigan

 

AGE:                                       56                   

OCCUPATION:                      Currently between work to pursue her own ideas. Previously an Office

                                                Administrator

LOCATION:                            Dublin             

NATIONALITY:                       Irish                

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Chocolate Cake with layers of white and dark chocolate mousse covered

                                                with chocolate ganache with fresh raspberries filled raspberry puree.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Married

 

Elaine was born, raised and still lives in the Ranelagh area in Dublin 6. Elaine is married to Vincent and has two sons, Ben 31 and Sam 28. Her two boys are foodies so she says it obviously travels down through the family. Ben is absolutely gobsmacked she is on the show, he is home at Christmas – he lives in New Zealand,  so they will have a laugh showing him the show then. Sam has been helpful in critiquing her practice bakes, his comments have been good.

 

Elaine would like to put a book together as she is always plagued for her recipes. Elaine learnt to bake from her mother who she describes as a tough cookie and bakes two or three times weekly She has a lot of childhood memories that specifically relate to food.  She feels like food is part of her makeup.  Elaine has been baking for almost 50 years now.  Her mother would do the cooking and she would always do the desserts when she was growing up. Elaine would never compromise flavour for style. It goes without saying, she says, that she wants her baking to look nice but she would not consider it a success unless it was as tasty as possible. She has seen a lot of the American baking shows where it is all about decoration and show - that’s not her style.

 

Hazel Ryan Sheehan

 

AGE:                                       31

OCCUPATION:                      Pre School Teacher for Children with special needs

LOCATION:                            Corbally, Limerick

NATIONALITY:                       Irish

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Married with two children

SIGNATURE BAKE:              “Concessions Stand Cake” – chocolate & peanut butter cake with  

chocolate buttercream frosting & caramel ganache topped with toffee

popcorn.

 

Mum of two, Hazel is extremely family orientated and has lived in her home town of Limerick all her life. she met her now husband, Mike, at the university and they have been together for ten years. They got married three years ago, they now have a one year old son, Oscar.

 

Hazel’s mum is a great baker, meaning that both Hazel and then Caitlin (Hazel’s daughter) grew up at her heels learning how to bake. Even now Hazel has strong memories of her mother’s baking, including helping her to make brown bread, apple tart and queen cakes. Her favourite memory is sitting with her brother and getting to spoon the raspberry onto the queen cakes.

 

Hazel has been baking all her life but it really took off for her when she moved in with her husband about five years ago. She realised that there was never anything nice in the house, like there had been in her parents’ house, so she started baking. Hazel bakes at least 3-4 times a week for her blog, but sometimes more. Pastry is Hazel’s weak point. She doesn’t have the patience, as she works full time and is a full time mum. She has tried filo, but failed miserably. She has a perfectionist streak in her, so she tries recipes over and over again until they are perfect. The most viewed post on her blog and the most requested cake she has made is her "Concessions Stand Cake": a chocolate, peanut butter cake, with a chocolate buttercream frosting, covered in a caramel ganache and topped with toffee popcorn. Hazel’s ultimate dream is for her blog to become a book and it is one of the main reasons she applied for the Bake Off. Hazel would describe herself as competitive so really does want to go far in the competition – she says she is there to win!

 

Jenny Donohoe

 

AGE:                                       30

OCCUPATION:                      Self-employed hand-crafter and craft teacher          

LOCATION:                            Ranelagh, Dublin

NATIONALITY:                       Irish

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Single, living with two best friends

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Gateau Diane or Lemon Meringue Pie

 

For as long as she can remember, Jenny has always wanted to work in the area of arts and crafts and to be her own boss. She’s always felt formal education was not for her and has never had any major aspirations to do anything outside of crafting. Jenny, who grew up in Ballinteer, studied construction studies for her Leaving Cert, which probably helped with her craft making skills. However she does comment that most of her time in class was spent breaking saws! Jenny’s mum, Hilary, is a seamstress and this is where she originally gets her love of crafting. 

 

After completing a ‘Start your own Business’ course, Jenny decided to set up her own craft company called ‘Delightful.’ She sells hand-crafted gifts, home wares and decorations such as cushions, aprons, wooden signs, and knitted stuffed animals. Jenny’s been baking since childhood but more seriously since the age of 18. Jenny’s mum very much feeds her baking habit. She’s mostly self-taught. Her mum taught her two signature bakes and she did home economics in school but she learned most of what she knows from cookbooks and TV. Jenny LOVES the decorating side of baking, as she is so arty. Savoury pies scare her, so she’s practicing them a lot. Jenny says that as much as Paul and Biddy’s critique scares her, it will be invaluable to get such feedback. She also says that she often wings it a bit with her baking, so it will be interesting to find out what professionals think of her flavour combinations.

 

Khade Idogho

 

AGE:                                       25                   

OCCUPATION:                      Account Manager with Google (UK Sales Team)                 

LOCATION:                            Dublin             

NATIONALITY:                       Nigerian / Irish            

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Red Velvet     

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Co-habiting with girlfriend Rachelle   

 

Khade was born in Nigeria and lived in Lagos until he moved to Ireland in 2001 age 12. He described it as a huge culture shock moving here. Khade has 3 sisters and 1 brother. His mother is a social worker for the Eastern Health Board in Dundalk.

 

Khade has a business degree from Trinity and a Masters from Smurfit School of Business.  He loves his job and at the moment cannot imagine a place he would rather work in than Google. He does not know exactly what he wants to do but there are so many paths open to him there. Food is his main hobby. He loves finding and following cool baking blogs and he loves going out for a coffee and pastry or dessert. Khade got into baking about 5 years ago when his little sister and him were bored and decided to break out her 'baking for kids' book. It all came out pretty mediocre and since then he has been hooked on learning new techniques and challenging bakes.

 

One of Khade’s reasons for entering The Great Irish Bake Off is to get affirmation on his baking. Other people think he is good but they say things taste really good even when he is not totally happy himself with the bake. Therefore the opportunity to get objective feedback he feels is what it is all about.

 

Poppy O’Sullivan

 

AGE:                                       22

OCCUPATION:                      Student – History and Political Science

LOCATION:                            Dublin

NATIONALITY:                       Irish

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Single – living in a student flat share.

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Schnecken or Torta Alla Giandua

 

Poppy is in her final year of a History and Political Science degree at Trinity College. She hopes to start a law diploma this autumn at Kings Inn with a view to eventually becoming a barrister. Poppy’s grandmothers on both sides baked when she was growing up. In particular her granny on her mum’s side made an incredible chocolate cake, which they nicknamed “choccy stuff.” Her granny would often let her help with making the cake and they loved to bake shortbread together too.

 

Poppy says she really does not have many hobbies outside of baking! She’s not musical or sporty and uses baking to bring out her creative side. Poppy spends a lot of time doing baking research on the internet, particularly using Pinterest and Stumble. They are great for getting unusual recipe ideas. The bake Poppy is most proud of is a black forest gateau, inspired by Heston Blumenthal, which she baked for a friend’s birthday. It was made of lots of varied layers, encased with a chocolate collar and caramelised cherries. She feels what will make her stand out on the show is how she constructs her bakes and her precision when decorating. She likes modern, clean, precise bakes and is not into flowery piping. She thinks this is quite like her personality in a sense!

 

Shane Murray

 

AGE:                                       27

OCCUPATION:                      Masters Student in Creative Digital Media & full time waiter

LOCATION:                            Living in Liberties (grew up in Lusk, Dublin)

NATIONALITY:                       Irish

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Single

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Celebration Trifle

 

Growing up Shane loved to bake and these days if asked to a dinner party, he always bakes something to bring along. He began to get such a good reputation in his social circle for baking, that it was mainly his friends who suggested he entered The Great Irish Bake Off and pushed him to apply. Creativity runs in Shane’s family as his mum, Liz, is an interior designer and his dad, Andrew, designs and makes furniture. His dad is now retired but mainly worked with pine furniture making one of a kind bespoke pieces.

 

Shane has been baking since he was five and loves the satisfaction of presenting something to his family and friends and them enjoying what he baked. He likes challenging himself with new recipes and new things he has never baked before and has piles of baking and cookery books at home. As an avid traveller, Shane’s mind has been opened to all sorts of flavours, and he has been inspired by this. In particular he loves to cook Asian inspired food. He is still working on yeast and trying to get his bread less dense. He wants to become an expert in bread, and as such watches YouTube videos on bread making constantly.

 

Tala Zilberman

 

AGE:                                       29                   

OCCUPATION:                      Legal Assistant Google                      

LOCATION:                            Dublin             

NATIONALITY:                       Israel              

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Banoffee Cupcakes   

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Married

 

Tala grew up in a Kibbutz in Israel, she said there are controversies reported about them but she feels she had a great & very privileged upbringing. Tala went to Tel Aviv University where she studied Law. She met her husband Liron there. They are together for 6 years. They married in 2009. She was about 12 years old when she attempted baking for the first time, using an old recipe book that was gathering dust in her parents' kitchen cabinet. Her first bake was a birthday surprise for her older sister - cream puffs. She says she is mostly self-taught, but had inspiration in the kitchen from her father and grandmother.  She bakes mostly on special occasions, 2-4 times a month. She is baking more now since making the show and bringing a lot more cakes to work now. She laughs saying that every time one is spotted, her colleagues think they have missed or forgotten a birthday and she can’t tell them why she is baking so much.

 

Tala loves trying new recipes and experimenting with old ones. Macaroons scare her! Tala would definitely describe herself as a perfectionist!! Timing will be her issue because she would normally spend forever making something perfect and decorating it perfectly rather than leaving herself stuck for time to have something done.

 

Tracy Coyne

 

AGE:                                       41                   

OCCUPATION:                      Banker           

LOCATION:                            Kerry              

NATIONALITY:                       Irish                

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Chocolate Fudge (aka millionaires’ shortcake)         

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Separated with 3 kids

 

Tracy is born and bred in Killarney and she says she is a Kerry woman through and through. She is one of 4 girls (second youngest) and she is  extremely close to her sisters. Tracy works for Ulster Bank in Foreign Exchange. She is on the road constantly or she logs in from home. She is part of a team based around the country that monitor and consult on anything that crosses the border. Tracy bakes several times a week. Her mother and grandmother taught her. Her grandmother had magic hands and reigned supreme in the kitchen. Her fondest family memory is baking with her grandmother. Tracy always cooked a lot, baking came after. Cooking goes back to her childhood. She has been baking for about 5 years. She describes it as therapy and stress relief.

 

Tracy describes her baking as kid friendly, healthy and lunch boxable. She has a tendency to bore herself so always wants to move on with baking. Her children love novelty cakes so this culminated in a cake she made at Christmas complete with flashing lights. She is over novelty cakes now and likes more challenging bakes. Her greatest baking disaster was making chocolate pots for a friend’s birthday. She accidentally doused them with salt instead of sugar! She describes herself as cocky enough to think she can do anything but humble enough to accept that she can’t.

 

Treasa Walsh

 

AGE:                                       58

OCCUPATION:                      Palliative Care Nurse  - in Blackrock Hospice

LOCATION:                            Irishtown, Dublin

NATIONALITY:                       Irish

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:    Widow. Living with her fiancé.

SIGNATURE BAKE:              Blue cheese and pecan loaf – it’s a staple at dinner parties

 

Treasa comes from a big family and is one of six children. Treasa’s mum, who died at the age of 59 from an asthma attack, never worked and was a stay-at-home mum. She was a great home maker and baked all the time. Every day when they came home from school at lunch, her mum would have fig rolls and custard for them to eat. Treasa is using this as her inspiration for the biscuit challenge and is doing it in her memory. Treasa says her mum was ahead of her time with baking and was making quiches when no-one else knew what they were! Treasa’s dad, who died two years after her mum passed away, was a tailor, working in Cassidy’s most of his life.

 

Treasa has been baking for over 50 years.  Treasa has done a few wedding cakes for friends and says she is happiest when she’s baking. She can’t think of anything else she enjoys more. Treasa bakes for the pure enjoyment of it. She says she is not technical at all and flavour means more to her than anything. Her worst habit in the kitchen is that she never turns the oven off!  Her inspiration in the baking world is Mary Berry and she also absolutely loves Nigella Lawson. Treasa says things go wrong in baking all the time, but she has the knowledge to rectify most things. She is most looking forward to bread week – “Not because I’m great, but because I love doing it so much.”

 

Production Details:

Production company: Sideline

Executive Producer - Billy McGrath 

Series Producer - Gráinne O'Carroll

Line Producer - Ciara Bresnihan

Director - Maurice Linnane