SINGAPORE – Singapore-born Australian management consultant Laura Foo has won Season 6 of famed baking reality competition The Great Australian Bake Off.
The finale aired in August in Australia, with news of her win reported in the country’s local media.
The 10-episode show premieres in Singapore on Sept 30 at 9.30pm. It airs every Saturday and Sunday on BBC Lifestyle (StarHub TV Channel 432 or Singtel TV Channel 255) and is available on BBC Player.
On her Instagram page (@lozfozbakes), Ms Foo, 27, also has several posts chronicling her elaborate creations for the popular competition for home bakers, which is a spin-off of the popular The Great British Bake Off series (2010 to present).
Second time proved to be the charm for Ms Foo, who told The Straits Times via Zoom that she had first applied “for fun” to join the show in 2021. She sailed through the casting process then, but failed to make the final cut.
The Melbourne-based self-taught baker – who learnt from “mum, grandma and YouTube” – made it to the show set in 2022, after spending a year during the pandemic honing her baking skills and refining techniques.
Over six weeks of filming, she faced off 11 other contestants to emerge the champion – winning kitchen equipment from home appliances company Smeg.
Her finale Showstopper 3D cake – called Kopitiam – was a homage to Singapore’s quintessential coffee-shop breakfast of eggs and coffee, with the beverage represented by cups and a takeaway plastic bag.
Taking more than four hours to make, it included two coffee sponge cake “coffee cups” topped with Irish cream liqueur jelly and a takeaway bag of kopi made with rice paper to resemble plastic, along with hazelnut liqueur jelly “ice cubes”.
The eggs were made with vanilla brown butter sponge cake and vanilla buttercream covered in tempered gold chocolate.
Other highlights that showcased her Singapore origins included a Singapore Sponge Signature of pandan sponge cake, salted gula melaka caramel and coconut buttercream; a mahjong board she made out of biscuits; and Por Por’s Pineapple Tarts, a tribute to her grandmother.
One of the show’s judges, British cook-author Rachel Khoo, whose father is Chinese Malaysian, acknowledged a connection to Ms Foo because of the familiar homespun flavours featured in her bakes.
Ms Foo, whose father is Hainanese and mother Foochow, also took top spot in a technical challenge set by Khoo, in which the bakers had to make steamed rainbow-coloured kueh lapis.
Khoo added approvingly: “It meant a little bit more that Laura won – it was great that she has her Singapore connection. But, ultimately, she won because she was the best baker this year. The competition was very stiff.”
Khoo, along with Australian chef Darren Purchese, were the new judges for The Great Australian Bake Off, taking over from Australian chefs Matt Moran and Maggie Beer from the previous seasons.
This season also featured new hosts – comedians Cal Wilson from New Zealand and Natalie Tran from Australia.
Although Ms Foo moved to Melbourne at the age of six – due to her father’s job – she says she has always stayed connected to her roots. She would return annually to visit family and friends during school holidays, and was last in Singapore in April.
Her “ritual” upon arrival is to head to Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre for kopi-o kosong, white fried carrot cake and chwee kueh.
In the show, she made the deliberate decision to highlight lesser-known South-east Asian and Singaporean flavours in her dessert concepts.
“What I’m most proud of is to represent my version of authenticity on the show. Hopefully, everybody is proud of me for using Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay, and a mix of languages in the way that I presented my food,” she said.
The Great Australian Bake Off premieres on Sept 30 at 9.30pm. It airs every Saturday and Sunday on BBC Lifestyle (StarHub TV Channel 432 or Singtel TV Channel 255) and is available on BBC Player.
