Baking cop aims to take cake

Rose Nesbit on New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker. Photo / Janna Dixon

Senior Constable Ian Coupe can bake a mean lemon meringue - just don't ask him about donuts.

The 47-year-old police officer from Silverdale, Auckland, was one of five male cops vying to be in New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker.

"As a policeman, there is an image of staunch and manly but we aren't always like that," Coupe said. "My colleagues don't complain when I take baking into the office."

Coupe and civil engineer Ben Baxter were among an increasing number of men taking part in the third series. On Tuesday, the pair waited nervously to find out if they had made it into the final.

Baxter, 30, transferred his eye for design to baking. His list of creations included replicas of diggers and bulldozers made exactly to 1:20 scale.

He's happy to bake for his friends at Fletcher Infrastructure and made a cake for his boss so he could get time off for the competition.

Baxter made an apple strudel and vanilla icecream with butterscotch sauce and said he had a poker-faced response from judges. "All they said was 'classic'."

Show producer Julie Christie said more men had entered this year and the standard was way higher than the 2011 batch. Of the 1000 applicants, about 120 had come from Christchurch, the best-represented city.

The show will be in production for a few more weeks at a commercial kitchen in Albany.

New judge, Otago University graduate Julia Crownshaw, who comes from a background of product development, joins host Colin Mathura-Jeffree and fellow judge, international baker and patissier Dean Brettschneider, who are returning for their third series. The show is to screen soon on TV3.

Hopefuls vying for a finals spot showed off their skills this week, including Rose Nesbit, of Christchurch.