As Maggie Beer potters around her kitchen in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, there are often a thousand and one things jostling for her attention. She’s constantly on the go, with a busy family life, TV cooking shows, videos to film for the Maggie Beer Foundation – which aims to improve food experiences for those in aged care – Maggie Beer’s Farmshop and more. So it’s lucky, she laughs, that she enjoys her baked goods on the verge of incineration.
“My main baking disaster is that I get distracted and burn things,” Australia’s favourite cook tells The Weekly. “I use the word ‘burn-ish’ because I like pastries and bread really taken to a past-golden stage. So my family are very funny. They always say that I made up that word to disguise burning everything because I forgot about it.”
With a career in food that has spanned more than four decades, Maggie has always relied on instinct over vigilant recipe-following to fuel her cooking adventures. Mistakes, she says, both in the kitchen and in life, have taught her how to fix them. And an eagerness to learn continues to offer horizons she never knew existed. Her passion for making food fun, easy and effortless is ongoing, as is her determination to leave the world a better place than she found it.
As she returns to judge her fifth season – and the sixth overall – of The Great Australian Bake Off, we sit down with Maggie to find out what makes her tick … and what really ticks her off.
This story is from the February 2022 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 2022 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
