As we near the final quarter of the year, another season of the Great Australian Bake Off has come and gone.
In what was its sixth season, 12 of the best amateur bakers competed against each other in a number of challenges for 10 weeks.
The show was shot in a shed, built just for the contest, in a parkland at the centre of Sydney.
The final saw three bakers remain, Adam Miller from Moe Victoria, Singapore born Melburnian Laura Foo and Cypriot Australian Ilona Nicola from Melbourne.
Foo would go on to win the competition but Nicola walked away feeling like a winner she shared at the end of the episode.
“I may not have won overall but I do feel like I’ve won so much,” Nicola said.
“I have grown and become stronger in not just my baking, but in my belief in myself that I can do anything.
“I think that’s a really important thing for me to remember and take away with me.”
Neos Kosmos spoke with Nicola about her time on the show and her baking journey.
The hobby baker, who works full-time for the health department in the Victorian Government looks back fondly on her experience with the show, mainly being around others like her.
“It was just sheer joy… we were all together all the time,” she told Neos Kosmos.
“Baking for long stretches of time on set, doing what we loved, having heaps of laughs and we’re all very similar because we’re all kind of nerd bakers and we all like technical things and enjoy learning and exchanging ideas about baking.
“It was just wonderful to be around 11 other people just like myself.”
Every week was “nerve wracking” for Nicola who says she was “terrified” at the start of every episode.
Reaching the finale was quite the achievement, and not something she thought was possible, in fact she thought she wouldn’t make it past the first week.
“If I’m being honest, I thought that from the very beginning… I’d be leaving in Week 1.”
Obviously, she didn’t, and amazingly, she was awarded the Star Baker for the first episode, an award for who the judges thought was the best baker of that day.
“I was just speechless. I really didn’t expect it at all, and I think from there I just grew in confidence and self-belief.”
Throughout the show Nicola would bake some Greek/Cypriot recipes, including eliopita (Cypriot olive cake) and halloumi filo pastries.
Something she always had growing up was Cypriot cooking from her mother, yiayias and aunties.
One food she remembers fondly is flaounas (Cypriot cheese filled bread) every Easter, which was made in enormous amounts to share with the whole family and stock the freezer.
“I think that’s the thing that I was instilled with from being around my family growing up. Food is the expression of love and not just food, but generous helpings with lots of different foods in abundance and always instilled with love, made with care and with treasured recipes,” Nicola said.
“That is absolutely something that is personally important for me and something that I did try and bring to the baking on the show.
“I love so many different cultures and being an Australian and having so many influences, I think my baking has quite an international flavour, but definitely my heart is in Greek and Greek Cypriot baking.”
Nicola, who got into baking right before COVID, had her passion grow immensely through lockdowns, with nothing else to do.
She would bake so much and with it being just her husband and herself, they would give it away to others.
With her newfound interest, so came another way to connect with her mum, who helped the amateur baker prior to the show, sharing family recipes and brainstorming ideas for each episode.
“Just over the years and as I’ve become more interested in baking, mum and I have talked more and more together about baking, and she shared so much of her knowledge with me.”
Now to address the elephant in the room, for those who watched the show, or take a look at Nicola’s website and social media a certain furry friend the same colour as an elephant can be seen throughout. Bernard the cat.
“I took some framed photos with me, and he sat on my bench in the shed when I was baking. He was in pretty much every episode; you can see his little face in his frame. I think he’s probably more well-known than I am,” Nicola laughed.
