What It Takes To Become A Master Holiday Baker, According To Prue Leith - Exclusive Interview

When the holiday season rolls around, it means one thing: It's time to preheat the oven and break out those cookie sheets for some holiday baking. However, it can also be nice to sit back, relax, and let others do the work for a while. That's part of the appeal of hit series like "The Great American Baking Show." This year, the show returned with a special festive one-off, "Celebrity Holiday."  Our fearless judges, Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood, return to the tent to taste the creations of celebrities such as Joel McHale, Ego Nwodim, and DeAndre Jordan. 

There's a great feeling of comfort when we're not the ones stressing out in the kitchen, giving us a chance to watch famous people laugh and struggle through holiday baking. We got the opportunity to speak with baking expert Prue Leith in an exclusive interview to discuss the upcoming special and her tips on how to become a master baker at home.

What is the difference is between judging on "Celebrity Holiday" versus a regular season episode?

The difference is the bakers. The celebrity bakers tend not to be any good at baking broadly. They're there for very good reasons. They want to help raise money for a charity, or they're there because they're fans of "Bake Off" and they think it'll be huge fun to do it. They're not generally there because they think that they're the greatest bakers on God's good earth. What is lovely about it on the celebrity ones, the holiday specials and things, is it's so much more relaxed, because nobody really thinks they're going to win.

Halfway through, they begin to realize that they might win, and so then they get more competitive and start to get a bit more serious about it. At the beginning, they're mostly camping around and being full of joie de vivre and excited to be there. They're on a jaunt, really. They're having fun, and I like that, because it is much less serious and jollier really. 

Celebrities, just like the rest of us, absolutely love meeting other celebrities. When you get six of them in a room together, it's like a party. They're all so keen to make their number with their hero, who might be DeAndre or somebody who they've admired, or they know them because they've met them before. It's like an old pals reunion.

What was your first impression of this year's celebrity contestants?

They were lovely fun. I had read up about them and I realized they were quite a famous bunch. I didn't know they were that famous because I don't follow — they're American stars and we don't see much of them. DeAndre Jordan — we don't follow basketball, but even I knew who he was, and he was terrific fun because he was lovely and friendly and excited, and I absolutely fell in love with him. I thought, "This is the most beautiful man, and he's the only man I've met for a very long time, who's at least a foot taller than me, probably more so, that was lovely." 

I loved them all, and I was very impressed with [Ego Nwodim]. She was so lovely and such fun, but they were all very friendly. None of them were standoffish or grand or too important to talk to you. That was nice.

Was there a favorite or most surprising bake that came from this year's competition?

I can't remember. I spent my life judging "Bake Off" one way or another. I can't remember anything that anybody's baked. I should be able to, but I can't.

A common comment that you make during "Bake Off" is that bakes will taste great, but they'll look a bit of a mess.

That is particularly true with celebrities because if they follow the recipe, they'll probably turn out something that tastes nice, because it's a good recipe. We don't ever let them have a recipe that's not going to work. Even if they bring their own recipes, we tend to check them through, because it is no fun if somebody is humiliated because they've produced a recipe that's not going to work. We try very hard to make sure that the recipe is good, and if they follow the instructions, the chances are it's going to taste great. If they're not trained chefs, they might not quite know how to make it look amazing. It's more likely to be a bit of a mess on the plate.

Do you have any simple tips for making baked goods look a little nicer?

One tip is not to do too much. A common fault is over decorating. They'll get lots of jelly pops or sweeties and put so much on it and they can't stop — chocolate and little bits of biscuit and a bit of this and a bit of that, lots of icing and so on. Very often, it will look cooler and better and more delicious if there's less stuff on top and it looks more elegant and neat and clean. Most people, especially if they're not really experienced, will try to cover up stuff with more stuff and make a mess.

This year's technical was sufganiyot, so what mistakes did you see that people were making with these jelly donuts?

The thing about a [deep-fried] jelly donut is ... the most common fault with any donut is putting it into the fryer before the fat is hot. If you do that, the oil soaks into the dough and sogs it up and you never get rid of it. It's very greasy and heavy. If you lower the donut into the fat when the fat is absolutely at the right temperature, very hot, it'll immediately make a crust. The fat doesn't penetrate it, and then the donut grows in the heat, because it expands with the reaction to the heat. You get something which is really light and not greasy. We had one or two of them that were a bit greasy. I remember that.

What's one of the most common mistakes you see in the tent, and how can people avoid it?

The most common mistake is running out of time, because when you practice something at home ... the celebrities tend not to, because they haven't had time. To them, it's not quite so important that they win. They're there for all sorts of other reasons, like be fun or one thing or another. It's a very common fault with both celebrities and bakers to not plan properly so that they keep to time. Nearly everything, a good three quarters of our problems, are that somebody hasn't been able to finish properly.

They either had to take something out of the oven too soon and it's not properly baked, or they're having to skimp on the decoration. Most often, they're having to put chocolate or icing or buttercream on top of a hot cake, which means that the decoration slides off or it melts or it makes a mess. It's [almost always] not sticking to time. You need to have a time plan.

What is your favorite thing to bake around the holidays?

Funnily enough, this morning I baked my favorite thing, which is a Normandy tart, a sweet pastry flan filled with frangipane, which is that almond cream, and apples on top, baked and then with apricot jam on the top. It's so delicious and it looks good. It's easy to do. It's fairly quick. It's great with a dollop of ice cream for a dessert or just a little slice for tea eat it with a fork and it's a very festive sort of thing. I always put some brandy in it. I put booze in almost everything.

"The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday" is available for streaming on the Roku channel.

This interview has been edited for clarity.