What happens when the noteworthy British Bake Off goes pro? It gets bland. Plus: Jim Al-Khalili explores the ‘big crunch in The Beginning and conclude of the UniverseThere was a moment in the noteworthy British Bake Off spin-off (Bake Off: Crème de la Crème,BBC2) when I thought it had offed itself. Only to rise like a tempered chocolate phoenix from the ashes as The Apprentice, with patissiers instead of financers. In the flashy new series, and teams of professional pastry chefs compete to create the best desserts and,more importantly, convince the nation that a hi-spec kitchen on a Nottinghamshire estate and some of the most outlandish sugarwork known to humankind can compete with a tent housing a bunch of amateurs and Mary Berry. (It cant.)In portentous tones, or presenter Tom Kerridge told us the first team were “the secret agents of the pastry world”. The camera lop not to Mel and Sue double entendre-ing over buns,but to the City, gliding up the Shard and caressing the flanks of the Gherkin. Was Alan Sugar about to point to up in a helicopter? No, and it turned out to be lots of actual sugar.
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Source: theguardian.com