Bristol’s secret Bake Off ingredient

Bristol artist Tom Hovey will once again be providing the secret ingredient as The Great British Bake Off returns to our screens tonight.

Tom, who lives in Totterdown and has a studio in Stokes Croft, provides all of the sketches of food for the hit BBC One show.

Tom gets up to two weeks to provide his familiar pen and ink drawings for each episode and does about five or six drawings for each bake.

“I think with every kind of long term project there should be a visible progression in technique and skill,” Tom said.

“And I think as the contestants skills have improved year on year so have mine and in turn my ability to display their creations in the best possible way.”

We asked him to pick his favourite bakes from previous seasons:

Series 1 – 2010 – Edd Kimber’s tower of petite fours

“This was created for the series finale and it was the first really outstanding showstopper I was asked to illustrate. It was a real step up from what had been baked previously and really set the tone for what was to come in Series 2. Notice how we were still in black and white in those days too!”

Series 2 – 2011 – Jo Wheatley’s mille feuille

“I loved using colour in Series 2 and Jo created some beautiful bakes. These mille feuilles were my favourite example of this. You could see that the skill level of the bakers had risen (pun intended), so it provided a lot of new challenges for me but also I think I produced better results.”

Series 3 – 2012 – John Whaite’s gingerbread coliseum

“This is John’s amazing gingerbread replica of the Coliseum. It’s no surprise that he went on to win this series. It was at this point in the series when I knew that this one was going to be different and the public were really going to get behind the show. And the viewing figures reflected that with seven million viewers watching the final. We won our first Bafta that year in the Best Features category, which we also won again the next year.”

Series 4 – 2013 – Frances Quinn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream wedding cake

“This was Frances’ final bake. It epitomised her creativity and skill and it also helped her win the series. I really enjoyed her eye for detail and ingenuity. With Series 4’s graphics I really felt like I had figured out the keys to unlocking the style I had been striving for in the previous three series.”

Series 5 – 2014 – Luis Troyano’s stars and stripes eclairs

“There were a lot of incredible bakers last year but I enjoyed Illustrating Luis’ bakes more than anyone’s last year. I loved his use of bold colours and flamboyant designs. I think it helps that I saw them with my own eyes on set, although I wasn’t around long enough to eat them. Damn shame!”

Read Tom’s top-five Bristol favourites.

For more from Tom, visit www.tomhovey.co.uk, or follow him via twitter.com/twistedloaf or instagram.com/twistedloaf.