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Dot Dicks crowned first SA Bake Off winner

Johannesburg - Dot Dicks has risen to the occasion to be crowned the winner of BBC Lifestyle’s Great South African Bake Off.

An admin manager from Johannesburg, Dot baked an extravagant two tiered carrot and vanilla wedding cake for the very last showstopper challenge. Also competing in the final were property manager Teddy Zaki and Michaela Tseun, a professional dancer.

On being crowned South Africa’s best amateur baker, Dot says: "It still has not sunk in. If I look back all those months ago when I first entered and got the first phone call that I was on a short list - I was so excited just to have gotten that far."

"Never in my wildest imagination did I think I was good enough to win and there were a few close calls. I feel honoured and humbled to be crowned South Africa's best amateur baker especially if I look at my fellow competitors all of whom are brilliant, passionate, talented bakers."

Dot says she will continue to bake now that the show is over: "I will always bake as it is my passion and hobby. My dream is to own a small guest house somewhere in the KZN midlands and serve high teas, with delicate cakes, cream scones and perhaps a glass or two of bubbly."

Judge Shirley Guy commented on Dot’s winning: "Dot has years of general experience in the kitchen and baking has a special place in her heart. She always followed the brief, was passionate, consistent and mostly well organised for all of her bakes. She deserved to come out triumphant."

Fellow judge Tjaart Walraven agrees: "Congratulations Dot, a deserved winner! Dot consistently baked her way to the top for us judges. She showed us that sometimes the nuttier you are when it comes to baking, the better. Dot folded classic flavours in to her baking that she not only liked, she loved. She also has a wealth of experience – a winning formula in our eyes."

(Photos: BBC)

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