Tim Key and Jessica Hynes talk Bake Off

Tim Key and Jessica Hynes are taking part in the next episode of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer on Channel 4. Here they talk about their experiences on the show, starting with Key…

Can you bake? 

I thought I could. But that’s one of the first things you find out when you get into that tent. I found out several times that no, I can’t bake. 

Describe your baking style in one word. 

Limited. 

What’s your favourite baked good? 

Are flapjacks baked? I just had one with toffee on from Costcutter. 

Do you cook much in everyday life? 

I thought I did, but when you actually sit down and analyse a week, it’s very difficult to find examples where I would genuinely say I’ve cooked. 

What’s been your biggest culinary triumph? 

I cooked Christmas dinner for 60 people in St Petersburg once. Not on my own, and I think my bit was being part of a team of people who bought roast chickens that were turning on spits in the meat shop. So again, not cooking per se. But certainly, I was involved. 

And your biggest disaster? 

I’d say some of the stuff in the tent is in the conversation. I also ignited a goose one Christmas, but when you Google it you do find that that can happen. And in my case, it did. And it was Christmas day and, realistically, that goose should have been nowhere near my menu. 

Are you a fan of Bake Off? 

I haven’t watched it, and I don’t think that helped. I like Dragon’s Den and White Lotus. 

What’s it like, walking into the tent for the first time? 

Awkward. You have to chat as you walk and that’s all on camera. I’ve definitely had less stilted conversations over the years. Ad-libbing about what cake we might be about to make is much harder than being in a play or performing poetry in a comedy club, say. 

What aspect of the show were you most nervous about? 

Creating something that was neither an amazing piece of baking or so bad that it was funny. But I think most of my efforts fell in that sort of area. 

Have you sought advice from anyone ahead of the show? 

Oh yeah, I had some lessons from a friend of mine. She was very patient, but I think she realised fairly early on that there wasn’t much she could do with me. It’d be like trying to teach people the basics of pole-vaulting in two evenings. Not enough time. And in a way an insult to the craft of pole-vaulting. 

Have you done any practice? 

I practised. But I think the really good ones have kind of practised for 30 years, as in it’s a part of their lives. When you rattle around your kitchen a couple of weeks before the event it’s less ‘practice’ and more ‘trying to do it’ 

What are the strengths and weaknesses you brought with you into the tent? 

I didn’t tend to panic, that’s a positive. But I did make bad decisions. When you get into areas like ‘borrowing another actor’s icing’ you’re on thin ice. There are lots of different styles of icing, and you can’t always mix two together.

I guess it’s like mixing half a pint of beer with half a pint of coffee and hoping you get a pint of something drinkable. You don’t basically. So, my icing was slimy and got marked down. 

Jessica Hynes 

Can you bake?

Yeak, I can bake, but I’ve got the mentality of a novice, because I started very late. I only started baking in my 30s, so in my mind I’m always learning, and there’s a lot of things that I don’t know how to bake and I haven’t tried to bake. I’m always ready to have a go, if I have time. I’m always willing to make a cake for a birthday, or if people are coming over. I like to bake for other people, but I always feel like I’m learning.

Describe your baking style in one word.
I don’t know what my baking style is… Determined, maybe?

What’s your favourite baked good?
Chocolate éclair.

Do you cook much in everyday life?
All the time. I’m always cooking.

What’s been your biggest culinary triumph?
Home-made pasta with lovely home-made pesto. I got a pasta-maker ages ago and never used it, and then I got it out and it was really fun and delicious.

And your biggest disaster?
I once tried to make ginger beer, because I was thinking I might try and sell it, and I don’t know what went wrong, but it just went really badly wrong. I was left with a lot of watery, disgusting flavoured water that didn’t taste very gingery. I had to pour it all down the sink. It was when I lived in Ladbroke Grove, and I was going to capitalise on my proximity to the carnival by selling ginger beer.

What are the strengths and weaknesses you’ll bring with you into the tent?
When you’re making something for a birthday party or something where there’s a time limit, which I’ve done a lot over the years, you can’t lose heart, and so I try to not lose heart. Even really good cooks and chefs and bakers make mistakes sometimes, and you just have to not be hard on yourself. If you’ve got time, and you’ve got the ingredients, just start again. It’s not the end of the world. So I always try to remember not to lose heart or give up on myself. And don’t take it too seriously. Keep it light.

And your weakness?
Maybe just sometimes not reading the recipe properly and checking all the measurements. My style of cooking, I cook all kinds of savoury food, and I experiment with flavours and make all kinds of things. I made pumpkin gnocchi over lockdown, with white miso lime butter, and all kinds of amazing things, and looked at different recipes.

But you worry less about the measurements in savoury cooking. A lot of it is common sense once you know your flavours, and you can adjust accordingly. But with baking, if you put the wrong amount of ingredients in, it really can go wrong.

What’s it like being faced by Paul and Prue?
To say they’re judgey is pretty obvious. They’ve got a lot of gravitas. I think they take the judging quite seriously, and I think they’re really genuinely judging it. I don’t think they’re doing it for the cameras, I think they’re genuinely trying to be as accurate and honest as they can be.

And they’ve both got a lot of experience, and they know what they’re talking about. They really anchor the show in seriousness and gravitas. I wouldn’t describe them as intimidating at all, but they’re very keen and they’re very sober.

Are you competitive? How badly do you want to win?

Being in the tent with everyone, seeing how hard everyone tries, how much everyone is taking part to raise awareness and money for Stand Up to Cancer, I would feel like any competitiveness is just for the cameras.

• The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer, which also features television presenter AJ Odudu, reality star Gemma Collins, is on Channel 4 at 7.40pm on Sunday

Published: 22 Mar 2023