The Great British Baking Show is finally back on Netflix! The brand new season of the coziest show on earth kicked things off with a delightful new co-host, Alison Hammond, a couple of brilliant challenges, and the introduction of the tent’s first ever deaf contestant and BSL interpreter. However the way we really know The Great British Baking Show is back with a vengeance is how quickly the show organically stumbled upon a naughty double entendre that brought the whole tent to hysterics. During the first Showstopper Challenge of the season — in The Great British Baking Show Season 11 Episode 1 “Cake Week” — Prue Leith bluntly asked Nicky about her beaver and immediately clocked her faux pas to everyone’s delight.

Let’s give it up for the first naughty joke made in the Great British Baking Show tent in 2023… Let’s applaud Nicky’s beaver (cake).

In the weeks leading up to the return of The Great British Baking Show this year, fans were told that there would be some changes made in the tent. Besides Alison Hammond swapping in for Matt Lucas, there would be no more of the controversial national theme weeks that produced last season’s “Mexican Week” disaster. In fact, in a preview piece for The Guardian, The Great British Baking Show EP Kieran Smith said they were going back to the traditional bakes that made the show so intoxicatingly sweet in the first place.

see also

‘The Great British Baking Show’ 2023 Cast: Meet The Bakers For Season 11 on Netflix

Get ready to fall in love with a new cast... By Meghan O'Keefe @megsokay

“We’re going very traditional,” Smith told The Guardian. “We’re doing all the regular weeks: Cakes, Biscuits, Bread, Patisserie, Chocolate, plus Party Cakes is a new theme. No spoilers, but it features challenges I think viewers will love.”

Paul Hollywood added: “We chose this year’s challenges very carefully to be approachable…In a way, we’ve returned to the philosophy of the first three series. There are some beautiful classic ones and they’ve been a big success.”

As it happens, fans can already see the positive effects of these changes in the very first episode of The Great British Baking Show Season 11 on Netflix. The first Technical Challenge was an absolute stroke of genius that got everyone in the tent — and me at home — excited: the iconic chocolate and raspberry cake in the show’s opening credits.

The first Showstopper Challenge was also a winner in my opinion. Sure, bakers were tasked with building an animal sculpture out of cake (and decorative additions of puffed rice), but the final effect was cute and rustic across the board…and not the sort of fondant-heavy masterpiece you’d find on Instagram influencers’ pages.

Case in point: Nicky’s beaver cake.

Throughout the Bake Off tent, our lovely bakers paid tribute to beloved dogs, woodland creatures, and even sheep and Highland cows. Amos struggled to make his orca the killer whale cake he envisioned. However, Nicky, a 52-year-old native Scot, inadvertently waltzed into a hilarious situation by baking a beaver cake. Specifically, what she baked was “Norman the Beaver,” an original character, yet to be gobbled up by Hollywood’s IP machine.

When she brought her Showstopper up to the judges, Prue Leith said, “So, Nicky, tell us about your beaver.” And that’s when beautiful chaos broke out in the tent.

Prue immediately covered her face, realizing her faux pas. Paul Hollywood had to look away from the cameras. The bakers disintegrated into laughter. It took all of Prue’s poise to collect herself and correct herself. “All right, I’ll try again. So, Nicky, tell us about your showstopper.”

As it happens, Nicky’s cake was aesthetically lovely, but the bake itself was overbaked. She used too much fondant on the outside for Paul’s liking and, overall, it was too solid and dry.

“It’s a real shame,” Paul Hollywood said, before Nicky took poor Norman back to her bench.

In the end, Dan — who had dominated each challenge in the episode — ran away with Star Baker, while Nicky found herself on the bottom next to the equally delightful Amos and Dana. Amos got the chop, meaning that Nicky will return next week to fight another day.

Nicky’s beaver cake might not have been Paul and Prue’s favorite showstopper, but it’s ironically already the most memorable of the season so far.

The Great British Baking Show will return with an all-new episode on Netflix on Friday, October 6.