Two School of Culinary Arts lecturers show off their skills on Bake Off: The Professionals

A pair of lecturers from CCC’s culinary courses took their places in front of the camera as part of the popular Channel 4 show.

Two culinary lecturers from Capital City College (CCC)’s Westminster campus temporarily swapped students for the studio as they participated in Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals. The popular show, which is now in its tenth series, tests Britain’s best pastry chefs as they take on challenges set by world-class pâtissier experts Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden.

Ian Sutton, who is a Culinary Arts Lecturer, and Steve James, a Patisserie and Confectionary Lecturer are friends as well as colleagues. After joking about taking part in the competition, they decided to give it a go and entered this year’s show which aired this summer.

Ian said: “Once we got on-site with all the other teams, it was brilliant. Everyone was really open-minded and there was a good atmosphere with a broad spectrum of people.”

Ian and Steve maintained a relaxed approach to the competition as they balanced full-time jobs and their planning and preparations for the show. They performed well during the series, and made it all the way to the semi-finals before retiring from the show due to illness.

Their favourite challenges? The savoury sweet desserts and extraterrestrial showpiece in the quarter final. For this part of the competition, Ian created a cheese sable base topped with goat’s cheese mousse featuring an apple insert with curry chutney gel – all shaped to look like a small wedge of cheese which “triggers a smile” according to judge Benoit Blin.

Ian said: “I had a beautiful goat’s cheese that I’d purposely picked from the local area in Sussex. Even though their assessment was that it could have been a little sweeter, the feedback was very positive and they liked it.” While constructive criticism was given, the presentation, texture and combination of flavour of the dish were praised by the judges.

For his sweet and savoury offering, Steve created a pistachio dessert featuring a sable base, feuilletine, caramel, mousse and glaze – all using pistachio. Despite issues with the caramel, judge Cherish said: “I really like the mousse, I think it’s really creamy, the sable just crumbles in my mouth beautifully.”

For the showpiece part of the quarter-final, the chefs were challenged to create a fantastical sugar showpiece celebrating all things extraterrestrial while also incorporating enough jelly art to serve 24 people. Ian and Steve created an impressive cast sugar space portal surrounded by asteroids and pistachio microwave sponge. At the centre of the piece, a blown sugar alien stood guard over painstakingly crafted jelly deserts injected with different flavours such as fruits of the forest, orange and strawberry.

Ian said: “I hadn’t done much jelly art before so I practised it the night before at home – it was a bit last minute. On the day, I was really pleased with the jelly art that I produced. Trying to replicate the design 24 times and make each one the same is almost impossible, but they came out okay.”

The team’s years of experience clearly came through in their final creation, and the judges were impressed by their creativity and technical abilities.

Judge Benoit said: “What makes your showpiece work is the little jellies. You nailed the idea of jelly art.”

Judge Cherish added: “You can see that the flower is beautifully injected into it – it’s sharp, it’s clean. I think this is by far the best that I’ve seen in this room.”

For the chefs, swapping college kitchens for the TV studio was a real shift. Ian said: “For me, it was a real flip. Even though you can just see us working away, there were at least 40 other people in the kitchen with all sorts of different cameras and people running around with GoPros – and you don’t see any of that on TV. You’d be working away and you’d turn around and have to almost tuck yourself under a camera, so it was unexpectedly busy.”

Steve added: “There were some really tough bits, but there were also some really memorable bits. And I think meeting the other pastry chefs was probably the best part of it. It was quite an eclectic group of people so that made it quite interesting.”

So, would they do it all again? Steve said: “Definitely. I like competitions. As a lecturer, I think you need to put yourself out there. Have your work assessed by your peers, judged by your peers. I could make my life a lot easier if I didn’t change things, but where’s the fun in that? Go for the challenge, even if it means baking 24 petit gateaux and a centrepiece on TV. It’s great fun and you learn more about yourself as a chef, and a professional.”

Despite having to leave the competition early, the chefs were invited to attend the final, where Steve proudly watched one of his former students celebrate victory as part of the winning team from The Ned, a luxury hotel, bar, spa and restaurant venue situated in a former banking hall in the City of London.

When asked for their advice for people looking to join them in the world of culinary professionals, Steve said: “Be prepared to work hard and treat it seriously. It’s a lot of hard work, but the rewards are brilliant. Network, don’t be afraid to start small. You need to surround yourself with people that can help, to help develop your career.”

Want to learn more about our culinary classes? Have a look at our range of expert-led Hospitality and Culinary Arts Courses.

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