Fringe 25: Talking Cakes with Peter Bakes

Rating: ★★★★

I wasn’t sure what to expect walking into Peter Sawkin’s debut Fringe Show. A bit of family-friendly fun from the youngest ever and sole Scottish winner of the Great British Bake Off? Well yes: Peter is an articulate presenter, who is proudly from Edinburgh, and possesses a charming ‘boy-next-door’ quality. His evident passion for baking is tempered only by his obvious humility. What I didn’t expect was to feel strangely emotional as I left the Cabaret Bar. Talking Cakes with Peter Bakes is genuinely funny, often introspective, and entirely wholesome. Take your friends, take your kids, or go alone: this show is a hidden gem of the festival!

The concept of Peter’s show is simple: he subjects his celebrity guest and audience members to hilarious baking challenges, offering tips and tricks here and there. His staging is minimal, with a few basic baking paraphernalia and sweet treats organised on a table in front of him. Joined on his penultimate show by Callum Beattie, Peter did sometimes blush when the Scottish singer-songwriter’s innuendos elicited childish giggles from the multi-generational audience (seasoned GBBO watchers know that double entendres are easily made in the kitchen). However, Peter’s cool approach to interviewing mainly encouraged Callum to be serious and reflective. He asked insightful questions about songwriting, youth, and Callum’s hopes for the future, professional or otherwise. What appears to be a relatively simple show in fact offers conversations about mental health and masculinity that are delightfully refreshing. Of course, I don’t know how this aspect differed with previous guests like Judy Murray, but it shows Peter’s remarkable potential and adaptability as a host. In fact, the 25-year-old University of Edinburgh graduate is so natural on stage I couldn’t help but think I had a future Blue Peter or Countryfile presenter before me.

Over sixty minutes, Peter offers plenty of technical baking advice to please us GBBO fanatics, but he primarily makes clear that you don’t have to be ‘good’ at something to get stuck in. He shows that baking, cooking, or whatever may bring you joy is integral to our mental wellbeing and interpersonal relationships. Quite simply, Talking Cakes with Peter Bakes is perfectly lovely and fun. I hope to see Peter (and friends) back at the Fringe next year.