Paul Hollywood's £4 cake hack is 'easiest thing to make to impress guests'

Great British Bake Off star and celebrity chef Paul Hollywood says his easy hack on to make a French classic, the Fraisier cake, only costs around £4, instead of £40

The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood has shared a sneaky hack to give you a professional quality cake for just £4.

The TV personality, 58, isn't an easy man to impress when it comes to baking, but he says his cheap method of making a Fraisier cake will "impress all your guests". Traditionally, a Fraisier cake is a classic French sweet, made with two layers of Genoise sponge, simple syrup, Crème Mousseline and fresh strawberries. But, for Paul's twist on the classic, all you need is cream, strawberry puree, sponge cakes and some fresh fruit.

The celebrity chef posted on TikTok to share his easy method - although the recipe (and shop-bought sponge) would probably not fly on GBBO. Paul explained: "One of the easiest things to make that will impress all your guests is a Fraisier cake. You can buy one of the sponges if you don’t want to bake it.

"Then whip up cream, fold through some strawberry puree and then put a sponge on the top of that and you’ll end up with all the strawberries on the outside with a sponge base, sponge top, loads of icing sugar on the top. It looks like a 35, £40 cake, when actually it’s probably cost you about £4."

Admittedly, the trickiest part of this would be the assembly of the structure, which Paul doesn't go into. But fans were more bothered with his calculations, slamming him for suggesting you could buy the ingredients with £4.

One TikTok user wrote: "Think he’s a bit out of touch with his £4 assessment," with another echoing: "£4? That MIGHT cover the cost of the strawberries." Another thought the same, replying: "Where’s he getting cream, strawberries, sugar, and two sponge cakes for £4?" A fourth follower wasn't having any of it, adding: "£4 my a** - strawberryies cost you that, never mind the rest of it."

But others were keen on Paul's idea, with one writing: "Looks delicious! going to have to try baking one!" Another replied: "I'm going to need to see the video directions....sounds yummy!!!!" A third simply exclaimed: "Yummy!"

If the hack has Paul's blessing, not even Prue Leith could argue, after recently admitting the veteran baker still learns from him. Prue, 84, has been in the business since 1960, but insists Paul still teaches her a thing or two about cookery. She told the Mirror: "I've learnt a lot from Paul.

"Mostly from listening to him judging. I mean, it’s easy for me because I’m there, too. What always surprised me is he would often say of a soggy cake: ‘This is overbaked…’ And I’d say: ‘But it’s not, it’s underbaked, because it’s soft. It’s too soft.’ And he’d say: ‘No, it’s got too much liquid in it and it hasn't been able to escape, but it’s actually overbaked.’

"And I’d say: ‘How do you tell?’ He’d say: ‘Well, the cake is not crumbling as it should.’ You know how he scratches it with a fork? If it's well-baked, it will still crumble like that even if it’s too wet. I do learn stuff all the time from him. And to watch Paul kneading something or plaiting bread, for example, is absolute magic. It's like watching a Chinese noodle chef knitting noodles. It’s magic to watch because he's so fast and he's so good. So, yeah, I’ve learned a lot."

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