Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Great British Bake Off: Hipster Stu leaves first as Twitter reacts to his beetroot cake and trilby

Stu Henshall disappointed the judges with his 'soft' walnut cake too

Jess Denham
Thursday 06 August 2015 05:32 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

He was possibly the most hipster contestant the Great British Bake Off tent has ever seen, but sadly musician Stuart Henshall and his trilby were sent packing in the first new episode last night.

Mary Berry's disdain at Hipster Stu's edgy decision to use beetroot in his untraditional Black Forest Gateaux was a highlight, while his walnut cake earlier in the show also disappointed the judges, not least because he only managed to use a sole caramelised nut for decoration.

Stu runs his own food blog, aptly-named The Alternative Kitchen, where he posts about his passion for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food fused with English, and also brews his own beer. Of course he does.

Reactions to Stu's untimely departure were mixed, with many people swooning over his tats and artiness, while others denounced him as "an irritating t**t". We collated some of our favourites below:

The 35-year-old from Guildford follows last year's memorable baker and fellow beardy hipster, Iain Watters, who hailed from Hoxton and set Twitter alight with the #bingate scandal. More on that one here.

"Meeting other bakers was a joy, it's a whole family thing and they are a nice bunch of people," Stu said after leaving the Bake Off, which he thinks has "redefined him".

"It's made me think about what I want to do in life and look at what opportunities might come my way," he continued. "I felt disappointed in myself initially as I felt I didn't perform as well as I could, but it's onwards and upwards!"

As expected, there were plenty more innuendos being thrown around in the first show, with Sue Perkins kicking things off by asking the contestants to "reveal their cracks".

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in