{"id":13967,"date":"2024-02-20T11:43:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T11:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/?p=13967"},"modified":"2024-02-20T11:43:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T11:43:04","slug":"rowan-claughton-great-british-bake-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2024\/02\/20\/rowan-claughton-great-british-bake-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Rowan Claughton: Great British Bake Off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Discover Rowan Claughton\u2019s journey from University of York student life to the famed Great British Bake Off tent. Rowan shares his best bakes, insights and memorable moments with Alumni Voices<\/em> that illustrate the power of pursuing passion and seizing unexpected opportunities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI graduated in June. I was in Derwent College, reppin\u2019 D block and studying English Literature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had that party lifestyle in Derwent; then I went to my lectures and seminars in English. It felt quite yin and yang having the evening to go wild and then reading books and being all literate in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rowan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I should say all the seminars and the reading and the books and the lectures but it wasn\u2019t \u2013 it was afterwards, in the house. My favourite memories were just getting back to our house in year two and three; sitting down after each seminar, watching telly and \u2013 it\u2019s so cliche and it does make me want to barf saying it but \u2013 having our little family time. After you\u2019ve had a stressful day, you sit down together and we\u2019d get ready for a night out or we\u2019d always be doing something in the evening. I think that day to day life spent with people you love, who I met at York was just the pinnacle. I spent the first two years in lockdown so it was hard to have a normal university experience without those by my side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d advise current students to say yes to things, (within reason, of course) but if there\u2019s something you want to do, if you\u2019ve been invited somewhere or you want to take an optional module out of curiosity \u2013 just do it. Life\u2019s too short to say no to these things. You\u2019re at university for three years \u2013 this isn\u2019t your life forever. I think York is a really great place for that because it has places you can go out to eat, there\u2019s classes out in your community like portrait painting or cooking, and it does break up the academic side of university because it can be quite intense to have all this workload put on you, so to break it up say yes to fun things as well as doing your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always baked. I\u2019ve never been a footballer or into sport so for me it began by learning different types of baking and it became my hobby. When I got to university it died down a bit. I got busy. You do think, \u2018Oh, I can\u2019t be bothered to make a 40 tier cake in this uni kitchen\u2019. But it was at university that I started picking up baking again for my friends that made me think I\u2019d apply to the Bake Off. I\u2019d already applied before and I just wanted to see what would happen because I was really getting back into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We used to do bits and bobs at home when I was young like every family but I used to go deeper into how to do different elements of baking. I started cooking by learning from YouTube \u2013 basically I\u2019m an annoying Gen Z who learned how to live on YouTube and social media; Cupcake Jemma<\/a> was the woman who taught me everything I know. Practice makes perfect and I didn\u2019t get it right the first time. I\u2019ve had some terrible baking faux pas as we\u2019ve seen on the big screen as well as in my kitchen privately but you just have to keep at it and if you do enjoy something, it doesn\u2019t matter if it does go completely wrong, because you\u2019ll do it again and it\u2019s still as fun as the last time you ruined it. Trial and error. You can\u2019t be afraid to fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to apply because I was doing English literature and I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to do after my degree. I don\u2019t want to be a teacher, or write novels, or go back to academia. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place of working in a shop or becoming a teacher; I didn\u2019t want to do either of those things. So I thought, \u2018You know what, I\u2019ll apply for a bake off and that can be my gap year after uni.\u2019 I never thought I\u2019d get it. I\u2019d applied to a journalist job actually with the BBC and on the same day I was declined from that (thank goodness! I did not want to do it, it was just what I felt like I should do) I was accepted by Bake Off. It was a real full circle moment. In the morning the BBC told me I\u2019m not good enough and then in the afternoon Channel Four told me I was going on the Bake Off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The application process lasts six months so I was at university doing what I needed to do to get my degree thinking I\u2019ll never get on Bake Off. The whole time I was saying to myself, \u2018Look, it\u2019s just a fluke. They can see straight through you. I\u2019m not good enough.\u2019\u00a0 You have to go to London and take different bakes and be filmed doing a technical live \u2013 I think it\u2019s just to tell if you\u2019ve got a personality.\u00a0 At the end of the day, they need to make a TV show and, well, apparently I\u2019ve got a personality and lord knows I can bake so there you are!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I feel like it’s reflective of the real world as well, because people are nice and people do get on. The Bake Off is a real life representation of different people from different backgrounds all getting on and that’s why I love it.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I think for the first week we had two months to send in our preliminary recipes to a food producer so it can be gone through to check that you\u2019ve actually written the recipes yourself and it can be done in the allocated time. That was the hardest part; not the going on telly, not the baking in a boiling tent. It was that I\u2019ve got a dissertation to write but I\u2019m going to bake four loaves of bread instead because I\u2019d rather do Bake Off than pass my dissertation.  It was an awful mindset but you only live once!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first memory of the show was standing on the bench on the first day \u2013 we had to do different shots of us just standing at the bench and you had to stare at the front of the tent. It\u2019s all very still and serious. And we just heard Alison\u2019s voice laughing and I just broke down and was like, \u2018Oh my god, it\u2019s Alison Hammond \u2013 my idol!\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the first challenge on day one, it all went very well and I was shocked. I didn\u2019t understand how it had gone so well because two days ago I was at a party (steaming) \u2013 I shouldn\u2019t say that \u2013 but now I\u2019m in the Bake Off with celebs and producers and really important people and I\u2019m just winging it. That was a moment for me which I\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chocolate torte was my favourite signature bake \u2013 it had a very Ritz or Claridges vibe and was really well received. It\u2019s bad to say but everybody else didn\u2019t do as well from that challenge  \u2013 it was the only standout one which is the only time that ever happened for me. Again it was a fluke. But it was quite nice to be recognized for that by Paul and Prue and it did look beautiful. It\u2019s on my Extra Slice Cake; forever immortalised in sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Rowan<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Rowan<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I think the bread was the most challenging bake. Let\u2019s be honest, it was monstrous. I didn\u2019t want to do a normal cottage loaf, like a white or wholemeal bread and make it look perfect. I wanted something different. I did a very awkward dough which was quite wet and loose, more of a focaccia dough which isn\u2019t meant to be stacked on top of each other, so that was a bit of a letdown for me. I was good at the signatures and all of a sudden I\u2019ve got this huge monstrous loaf looming over everybody else\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned a lot from Paul about how to make bread when mine didn\u2019t go too well. In  biscuit week somebody had used marzipan and I overheard that Prue loves a bit of marzipan. I thought, \u2018Right, I\u2019m going to put marzipan in my bread next week.\u2019 So I did my final tweaks, got the recipe into the producer and the only redeeming quality for my bread showstopper was the fact I put marzipan in a challah loaf, and Prue loved it so that\u2019s probably what kept me in \u2013  making that last minute decision to put marzipan in the bread.  I don\u2019t really like marzipan to be honest, but in bread it adds a bit of flavour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chocolate week was the most difficult technical challenge. We had to make caramelised white chocolate cheesecakes and I approached it with fear and anger and came third. So if that tells you anything about the world, be an awful person and you will get far! I remember saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to set up a charity for anybody who\u2019s worked with caramelised white chocolate,\u2019 and I stand by it because it was a horrendous task; in the heat of chocolate week, bending over a microwave with the caramelised white chocolate slowly melting away and cracking at the seams. It was horrible. I\u2019ve never done anything like that. Because it\u2019s a technical, I couldn\u2019t turn to whoever was behind me and say \u2018Look, I need help,\u2019 because everybody can hear you \u2013 it\u2019s proper serious. You can\u2019t speak to people during a technical. I thought it was fake and all for TV but you really can\u2019t speak to anyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cEvery first draft that goes wrong that doesn\u2019t dishearten you, just means you get better and learn from those mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We all forgot we were in a competition. We knew we were on telly but we just helped each other. We guessed what the different technicals were going to be and how to make them. It was that camaraderie and wanting to help each other, which trumped any sign of competition. I\u2019m sure towards the end people wanted to boot each other out, but I didn\u2019t get that far. So what I felt for my 5 weeks was pure joy and actual friendships being formed. I\u2019d rather have left myself than booted somebody out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like it\u2019s reflective of the real world as well, because people are nice and people do get on. The Bake Off is a real life representation of different people from different backgrounds all getting on and that\u2019s why I love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favourite showstopper has to be the lobster cake in week one.  I mean, why would I choose a lobster? It was the weirdest split decision I\u2019ve ever made in my life. But I thought it\u2019s different, it\u2019s unique. I could toy around with different flavours and make it look as good as possible. We had to make a 3D animal and I made it as flat as possible to get the upper hand and it worked. I was proud of that one. It was my first as well so it will always be dear to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rowan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hardest ones were every single showstopper after the first week. You just don\u2019t get enough time and the pressure gets to you. You\u2019re tired, you\u2019ve just done a 16 hour day before and before you even start the showstopper you\u2019d been awake for four hours at five o\u2019clock in the morning so they were tricky. I remember chocolate week was particularly grotesque. It was boiling hot. Tasha just passed out for God\u2019s sake! It was so dramatic and I\u2019m just flailing about with chocolate. Honestly, I was losing it. I\u2019d gone a bit hyper manic laughing with people. I find the ones that go wrong the funniest and most enjoyable ones because when everything goes right it is so boring. Nothing really went wrong with the lobster.  It was great and it is my favourite but it was just \u2018cake\u2019; put some icing on, looks great \u2013 Bon appetit. I want some drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing goes to waste. All the crew have forks or spoons in their back pockets and we\u2019ll be sent back to our dressing room in between bakes and the producers will bring in a big tray of bakes so we can try them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We used to go back to the hotel and get slightly merry in the bar. After a 16 hour day it was necessary, having a little drink together and just feeling that relief of the day and supporting the person who had left as well was always nice. It brought us together even more because over that weekend we did spend every second with each other which is why we\u2019re so close. Similar to my favourite memory of university, just having that close, chilled out bonding time with people rather than the actual thing itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a learning curve and I think now I\u2019d bake more to have fun. I\u2019m not too serious about it. Whereas before Bake Off everything had to be perfect, I\u2019ve realised now after going on telly and it not being perfect it still tastes good. It can look good but there\u2019s no point putting so much time and effort into something which is going to be gone in seconds. Unless I\u2019m going to sell it to someone then it\u2019s going to look incredible and be perfect but baking for four hours frantically teaches you to slow down and just enjoy it rather than be so intense about how good how spot on it\u2019s got to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alison came into our dressing room and told us that she was second to leave Big Brother and look at her now so we\u2019ve got every hope in the world to do something afterwards. She\u2019s just the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n