Meet the Blogger and GBBO Contestant: Jason White

Those of you who were following The Great British Bake Off may now feel a food-inspiration gap in your week nights now that the series has come to an end. Hopefully today’s post will provide a little entertainment that helps to fill that gap. Today, I’m interviewing the Great British Bake Off contestant, Jason White. I really admired Jason’s enthusiasm and creativity on the show. Thanks to Jason’s blog, I can continue to admire, and be inspired by, his creativity – why not pop over there (after reading this interview) and have a little look at it yourself? And you can also find Jason on Twitter, where he tweets as @officialchefjae.

Although the Great British Bake Off* has disappeared not only from television but also from BBC iPlayer, there’s a whole new series next year to look forward to. If you’re interested, head over to the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off website, where there is a section with further details. If you managed to catch this year’s series, which of Jason’s bakes was your favourite and what did you like most about the show? Leave a comment below this post and let me know!

Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed, Jason, and welcome to my little blog!

We’ll start with some quick-fire questions...

Cheese or chocolate?

Chocolate!

Hand mixer or standing mixer?

Hand mixer!

Savoury pie or sweet tart?

Sweet tart!

Steak or cake?

Cake!

Engineering or baking ... you don’t have to answer that one if you don’t want to!

Hehe it's actually baking!

Congratulations on getting on to the Great British Bake Off this year. You always seemed pretty cheerful and upbeat even when the pressure was on. What was it like and how has it changed you as a baker?

Why thank you. It was great fun in that tent, I love baking so I was always happy to be in there. The pressure didn't really get to me but when it did I'd just try and laugh it off! Being in the Bake Off has changed me massively as a baker, I'm challenging myself a lot more and also baking my way through the 'classics' to improve my skills set from the foundations up to the... umm... penthouse? Lol

Where did you find inspiration for your recipes on the Great British Bake Off?

I am inspired by all sorts and for me once we had the brief it was just trying to come up ideas would (hopefully) be different from the rest and have my name all over them!

What was your favourite/best bake on the show?

My favourite bake is and always will be my macaroon mocktails! [Editor’s note – if you’re lucky enough to own the Bake Off book that accompanies the TV series, Jason’s macaroon recipe can be found on page 84].

You have a great blog with some very tasty treats on it. How did you get into blogging, and what is your favourite recipe on your blog?

Thanks again. It was after looking at many other blogs and thinking it would be an excuse for me to be more creative with my baking and put it out there for others to see (and judge!). My favourite recipe is my Honeycomb Layer Cake - I made it for my sister's birthday and she loved it!

Apart from your own (!), which blog (or blogs) are your favourite or particularly inspire you?

Hehe Donal Skehan's blog/site http://www.donalskehan.com/was a huge inspiration to start my own as he has some great ideas - and he's a young guy like me too!

And finally, what advice would you give an aspiring blogger?

Go for it! Come up with an idea that you want to theme your recipes around, brainstorm it and make it happen!

* Disclaimer: I’ve chosen to interview Jason White, and to talk about The Great British Bake Off, because I love the programme. I’ve not received any kind of compensation for this interview. All of Jason’s answers are copyright to him, and you will need to contact him if you want to replicate them in any way.