Home baker falls at swiss roll

What inspires a Martinborough mum to try out for a national baking show?

Chelsea New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker contestant Alice Arndell said it was her friends who put the pressure on.

The baking enthusiast and stay-at-home mum whipped up a batch of scones to share with the girls over a cuppa, which happened to be the day 2-year-old Isobel had decided to sleep-in.

This left Mrs Arndell "wrangling" around the kitchen trying to put everything together, and, amazed at her ability to multi-task, her friends encouraged her to enter the show.

"They said 'you need to enter New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker'," Mrs Arndell said. "I didn't really expect to go through."

Mrs Arndell made the final three, but was eliminated from the TV3 show on Thursday night.

"It was my time to go. It was no surprise that I was the one going," she said.

"It wasn't a shock when I got my name called out, that's for sure."

The latest episode was a rolling challenge, and the contestants had to bake swiss rolls, biscuits, slice and sweet and savoury scones.

"I sort of focused on the time and didn't put enough effort and concentration into the baking," said Mrs Arndell said.

"It was pretty full-on."

Although her time on the show has come to an end, Mrs Arndell said it was a great experience. "I learned a lot and met some wonderful people and I had fun ... we learned more from each other than we did from the judges."

Mrs Arndell has kept in contact with some of the other contestants, and even gets recognised in the street.

She was in Wellington last week having dinner with fellow contestants Esme Dawson and Hayley Eaton.

"We ordered cake and coffee at the end and the server said 'it must be nice to have somebody else bake the cake for a change'," she said.

Mrs Arndell is now an ambassador for Chelsea, writes a blog, aliceinbakingland.com, and plans to put out a cookbook in future.