Newark's Stephen Harrison on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice star baker award

A cake tower earned a man the title of Star Baker on the spin-off show to television’s The Great British Bake Off.

Stephen Harrison, of Newark, appeared on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice last week.

The 25-year-old, who works as head baker at Newark Artisan Gluten Free Bakery and Café, made a 12ins Danish kransekake using bake-off judge Paul Hollywood’s recipe.

A kransekake is a Scandinavian tower cake, which is usually seen at weddings and birthdays.

Along with 25 other audience members, Stephen was invited behind the screens to submit his cake for judging.

The cake, inspired by the show, had ten tiered rings representing the themes for each week.

The star baker was chosen based on a mixture of design and taste.

Stephen said: “One of the producers contacted me on Instagram about being on the show.

“I was given brief instructions for the cake but there was a lot of freedom.

“I found out less than a week before filming so I didn’t have much time to plan, prepare and bake.”

Stephen baked on the Wednesday and Thursday evening before travelling to London on Friday in preparation for filming on Saturday.

In total, it took him 10 hours to bake.

“I was cringing because the celebrity panel had to try it and it had been baked on the Wednesday, but they seemed to like it,” he said.

“I’m just glad it got to London in one piece because it is a 12-inch cake and I had to take it on the train and the underground.”

Stephen, who has coeliac disease, enjoys making the show’s technical bake each week at work.

He said: “I had seen it on Instagram. A lot of people seemed to attempt it in their spare time but I wanted to do it for work.

“Obviously I have had to make adjustments so that it’s gluten free, and pastry week is usually the hardest.”

Stephen said that he would consider applying for Bake Off in the future and wants Kim Joy to win in this year’s final.