During the season four run of The Great Canadian Baking Show, Canada fell in love with the witty winner, Raufikat Oyawoye-Salami. This week, we get to see her back on screen as she hosts Raufikat’s Better Bake Show, where she attempts to share her kitchen wisdom with the two Toronto comedians who co-hosted her winning season.
“After The Great Canadian Bake Show wrapped, I said I’d really like to share more about my culinary experiments and my baking with Canada,” says Oyawoye-Salami. When she was approached with the idea for Raufikat’s Better Bake Show, she couldn’t say no. “It’s a light, comedic, fun show and I loved the idea.”
Each 30-minute episode will follow Ann Pornel and Alan Shane Lewis as they try to recreate Raufikat’s favourite desserts using her step-by-step instructions. The beginners get the chance to bake—or try to bake—classic treats like lemon meringue cupcakes, cream-filled donuts, birthday cake and macaroons.
Ann and Alan duel it out but, in the end, Oyawoye-Salami can only award one as making the better dessert. While the dishes don’t always come out as planned, the competition does guarantee friendly rivalry, lots of laughter and some beautifully delicious baked goods.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Capj_psgutl/
Raufikat’s Better Bake Show proves that anyone can bake with the right ingredients. Though she grew up baking alongside her mother while growing up in Nigeria, Raufikat didn’t begin to really explore her talents until she was studying her Masters in the UK.
With a background in engineering and her current role as a business analyst, you may not peg Oyawoye-Salami as an obvious baker, but the skills she’s developed from these roles have only helped her in the kitchen.
“Baking requires so much patience, detail and precision and those are inherent in the engineering profession.” But, she says, the business analysis she does now encourages her to use creativity when dealing with stakeholders. “I have the accuracy and precision of engineering, but also the creativity and flexibility from the business analysis.”
While Oyawoye-Salami may have been baking up a storm on The Great Canadian Bake Show, were Alan and Ann learning anything while co-hosting the competition? Now, viewers get to see these skills put to the test as they fight to take home the cake.
“They genuinely want to learn how to bake,” says Oyawoye-Salami.
The comedians may not know the difference between a lime and a bergamot, but each episode does give them a chance to earn an advantage which could put them on top and help them bring home the cake. But can Alan and Ann handle the heat of the kitchen?
The best part, Oyawoye-Salami suggests, is that the show is a different format from most competition bake shows. This one’s all in friendly fun. “Just watch with an open mind and be ready to learn and ready to laugh.”
Viewers can follow along to see if they can make Raufikat Oyawoye-Salami’s masterpieces. All six episodes are produced by Proper Television and will be released on CBC Gem on March 25.