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As a trained accountant and a long-time baking enthusiast, Hermine Dossou knows a thing or two about saving money in the kitchen. “My first breadmaker was from Panasonic – I bought it from Gumtree,” the former Great British Bake Off contestant says. “It was basically somebody’s wedding present that they didn’t want and they sold it half price.” A devotee of Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert website, the 42-year-old, who was born in Benin, West Africa, and moved to the UK for university aged 20, tries to avoid ever paying full price for a big ticket item. “If I wanted to buy, let’s say, a mixer, I would go online, and type ‘Kenwood discount vouchers’ and then something always comes up,” says Dossou, who lives in Kettering and came fourth on the 2020 series of Bake Off. But the mum-of-one – whose son Steven is 13 – wasn’t always such a frugal foodie. “That came from that period where I became a single mum on a reduced income,” she says. “I couldn’t work full-time because I had to look after my son, and also I didn’t want him to have the processed kind of bakes.” Whipping up cakes and cookies filled her “empty afternoons” as a new mum and was a lot cheaper than buying ready-made baked goods. “I would cook from scratch and prep my vegetables when I could get them on offer,” she continues. “Same for fruits – they are often very discounted when they become a bit soft, and that’s the best time to make jam.” Even post-Bake Off and her book deal (she works full-time as an accountant), Dossou remains a savvy shopper, knowing that a higher price doesn’t always mean a better product. “Like a bar of chocolate, if it’s the same quantity of cocoa, why are you paying three times the price? Especially if you’re going to bake with it. “Wonky onions at half the price is the same… they all come from the same farm.” Her accountancy skills came in handy, too, and she still uses a spreadsheet to track her income and outgoings every month. “I think generally in life it is important to budget and know where your money goes, because I think it allows you to achieve a lot more than if you were just living freestyle,” Dossou says. “It’s a nightmare trying to get on the housing ladder here in the UK – that’s something I’ve been able to do through being thrifty in every area of my life.” That’s why she decided to call her first cookbook The Thrifty Baker: “I just really wanted to bring that awareness of how we choose what we eat, and how we can save through making little changes here and there.” “Now, more than ever, when people are struggling with the cost of living, I think it’s even more important to go back to those values of cooking from scratch, trying to cook at home, and making meals from, you know, not much.” With lots of advice for beginners, the book focuses on affordable dishes, from basic breads and simple biscuits to special occasion puds and impressive-looking desserts. There’s a distinct Gallic influence (Benin, where Dossou learned to bake as a child, is a former French colony) felt with recipes such as pain de campagne, orange and brown butter madeleinesm and pear frangipane tart. The author points out when a recipe can be cooked in an air fryer – a recent Black Friday bargain she loves because it allows her to enjoy fried Benin delicacies using less oil and without turning on the oven. “Because we have a really small family, just me and my son, you don’t always want to put the oven on just to bake something for two. “With an oven you’ll need to preheat it for a good 15 to 20 minutes before you can even bake in it. With the air fryer you just put the cake in and 15 minutes later it’s out – easy and convenient.” There’s also a section devoted to microwaveable mug cakes, with peanut butter and jam, speculoos (aka Biscoff) and chocolate hazelnut flavours of the cheap and easy-to-make single-serve puds. “In the microwave you can make a cake in five minutes from weighing, mixing and baking,” says Dossou, who loves how kid-friendly they are. “With my son I feel more inclined to let him make a mug cake than maybe something bigger. “Even if it goes wrong he’s not wasting a lot of ingredients and, you know, he’s not turning the kitchen into a bonfire.” ‘The Thrifty Baker’ by Hermine Dossou (White Lion, £18.99).

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Microwave cakes will never replace an oven-baked cake, in my opinion, because good things take time to create,” says former Great British Bake Off contestant, Hermine Dossou. “That said, when you don’t have an oven, when you’re not in your own kitchen with your own equipment, when you’re limited by time, or even have just a few bits of ingredients here and there, microwave mug cakes make a great substitute. And they’ll help you get rid of that sugar craving!” Speculoos mug cake Serves: 1 Ingredients: 30g salted butter 1 tsp speculoos spread 40g sugar 25g whole milk 1 small egg 40g self-raising flour 1 tsp vanilla extract For the topping: 1 tbsp speculoos spread 1 scoop vanilla ice cream 1 speculoos or other biscuit, for crumbling Method: 1. Put the butter and speculoos spread in a large mug and microwave on medium–high power (600 watts) for 10-20 seconds. Stir until smooth. 2. Add the sugar and milk and stir until combined. Then add the egg and mix vigorously with a whisk or small spatula to avoid streaks of egg white in your cake. 3. Finally, add the flour and vanilla, mixing thoroughly to ensure there are no lumps. 4. Microwave on medium–high (600 watts) for one minute. Keep an eye on the cake as each microwave cooks differently. You want the batter to be only just cooked; when you lightly touch the top, it should feel slightly sticky. If it feels completely dry, you have overcooked your cake. Remove from the microwave and allow to cool. 5. To serve, melt the one tablespoon of speculoos spread in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Top the cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzle with the melted speculoos spread and sprinkle with the crumbled biscuit. Enjoy. ‘The Thrifty Baker’ by Hermine Dossou (White Lion, £18.99).

It’s often said that quiche is old-fashioned, but there is nothing old-fashioned about this one,” says former Great British Bake Off contestant Hermine Dossou. “It’s a crumbly, super-short, melt-in-your-mouth pastry filled with buttery spinach and creamy custard. “Gruyère is the perfect cheese for quiche and a little goes a long way, but if it’s not available, you can substitute with Emmental, Comté, Jarlsberg or Beaufort.” Spinach and mushroom quiche Serves: 8 Ingredients: For the shortcrust pastry: 210g plain flour (gf plus 1 tsp xanthan gum), plus extra for dusting 130g cold butter 1 large egg (55g) 1 tbsp cold water ¼ tsp salt For the custard: 15g butterLeaves from 3 thyme sprigs 1 small yellow onion (about 50g), finely chopped 2 eggs 120g double cream 1 chicken or vegetable stock cube, crumbled 1 tsp Dijon mustard ¼ tsp salt Pinch of black pepper For the filling: 30g butter 250g mushrooms, sliced ½ tsp garlic powder A pinch of salt 250g baby spinach leaves 80g grated Gruyére cheese Method: 1. To make the shortcrust pastry, in a large bowl rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips until sandy in texture. (You can use a food processor to speed up this process.) Add the egg, water and salt and bring together into a dough without overworking it. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge – you always want to work with cold pastry as it’s much easier to handle. 2. When ready, lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to a circle about 30cm in diameter and 3mm thick. Use your rolling pin to lift it up and lay it over a 23cm tart tin, so there is an overhang of pastry at the top. Using a straight-sided glass, ease the pastry into the corners of the tin by rolling the glass around the edge in circular motion. Chill for 20 minutes. 3. Preheat your oven at 200C/180C fan/400F/Gas 6. Line your chilled pastry case with parchment paper, fill it with baking beans or cheap pulses, and blind bake for 15 minutes. Lift out the baking beans and parchment paper and continue baking for a further 10 minutes to dry out the base. 4. Meanwhile, make the custard. Put the butter, thyme and onion in a small frying pan over medium heat and cook until the onion is soft and transparent. Set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, stock cube, mustard, salt and pepper, adding the cooked onions. Set aside. 5. Prepare the filling using the same pan you used to cook the onions. Heat the butter, add the mushrooms, garlic and salt, and cook over a high heat until the mushrooms are soft and most of the water has evaporated. Add the spinach and cook until it has wilted and the mixture is thick. 6. Tip the spinach mixture into the pre-baked tart case and spread it around evenly. Sprinkle over the grated cheese, then pour in the custard, making sure it’s distributed evenly. Bake at 200C/180C fan/400F/Gas 6 for 20–25 minutes, or until the middle of the quiche looks set and the top is slightly golden. Enjoy warm. ‘The Thrifty Baker’ by Hermine Dossou (White Lion, £18.99).

The combination here tastes wonderful whether you’re using fresh raspberries in season (when they’re cheaper) or frozen raspberries,” says former Great British Bake Off contestant Hermine Dossou. “To enhance the flavour of your desiccated coconut, you could toast it lightly (for five minutes or so) while preheating the oven – but keep an eye on it as it does turn brown very quickly.” Coconut, raspberry and chocolate muffins Makes: 12 Ingredients: 180g milk 2 large eggs 60g vegetable oil 60g unsalted butter, melted 230g sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp ground nutmeg 5g salt 250g plain (all-purpose) flour (gf plus ½ tsp xanthan gum) 80g desiccated (dried shredded) coconut 10g baking powder (gf) 150g raspberries 150g milk chocolate, chopped into chunks Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/gas 6 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. 2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the milk, eggs, oil, butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt for about a minute, until well combined. Add the flour, coconut and baking powder and stir until fully incorporated. Fold in half the raspberries and all the chocolate chunks. 3. Divide the batter equally between the muffin cases. Top each muffin with a couple of the remaining raspberries. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until the muffins have risen and are golden brown. You can keep these for a few days in an airtight container, or, once cooled, freeze them for up to 3 months. They are lovely served warm – either out the oven or reheated for a few seconds in the microwave. ‘The Thrifty Baker’ by Hermine Dossou (White Lion, £18.99).

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Seal has spoken about his close relationship with his and his ex-wife Heidi Klum’s 19-year-old daughter, Leni Olum Klum. The musician, 60, took to Instagram on 4 September to share a snap of him and his daughter in New York City together. In the caption, he described how Leni has ultimately shaped his life, and pointed out how grateful he was for her. “In NY with the young woman who changed my life for the better 19yrs ago. Thank you Leni for making me a better person,” he wrote, before signing the tribute with: “Love you, - papa.” In the comments, Leni expressed her love for her father’s post, writing: “So cute! I love you papa,” along with a red heart emoji. Many fans of the singer went to the comments to praise his sweet relationship with Leni. “So much love in this photo! Have a wonderful time together!” one wrote, while another added: “Daddy and Daughter. Beautiful!!” The young model was born in May 2004, right after Klum split from Leni’s biological father, Italian businessman Flavio Briatore. In December 2009, Seal legally adopted Leni when she was five years old, while the singer and supermodel were still married. The former couple went on to have three more children: sons Henry, 17, and Johan, 16; and daughter Lou, 13. Klum filed for divorce in April 2012. This isn’t the first time that Seal has shown his support for the 19-year-old. During an interview with E! News in March, he spoke out about Leni’s career, as she has followed in her mother’s footsteps by becoming a model. While he noted that he’s “so proud of everything that Leni has done”, he’s “more proud of everything that she is”. “She walks through life with this type of humility that allows her to move so gracefully through it all and she has an innate understanding of people in general and people’s feelings,” the singer explained. “So I’m kind of more impressed with everything that she is.” Seal - whose real name is Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel - also spoke candidly about co-parenting with his ex-wife, adding: “I’d like to think, as a parent, that we have - between her mother and myself - that we’ve instilled some of that in her. But she can do no wrong in my eyes and she’s quite wonderful.” Earlier this year, Klum applauded her daughter for working on her mode;ling career while studying in college. “I’m very proud of my daughter and her modelling. And she’s studying at the same time, she’s juggling already,” the America’s Got Talent judge said during an interview with People in March. Meanwhile, Leni has also spoken out about working in the modelling industry as the child of two famous parents. During an interview with People in October 2022, she acknowledged that she “got a lift into” the modelling world due to her upbringing. “It’s just a fact. My parents are famous,” she said. However, when she was asked about the infamous “nepotism baby” label given to children of celebrities, Leni said it’s her own work ethic that has helped build her career thus far. “I did get help starting off, and I know that people would dream to start off with what I had,” the college student explained. “I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to take what was gifted to me by my mom. But I am doing the work and putting in the time. Now I’m working on my own, travelling alone, going to school. My mom and I just have the same love for the same thing.” Although she said that her own ambition has led her to success in her career, she still credited her parents for instilling a strong work ethic in her at a young age. “They have both taught me to be myself, and to do what makes me feel comfortable,” she said. “You can tell if you’re not comfortable and then the best of you isn’t brought out. I just think you should be open and honest with what makes you comfortable, be yourself, do what you love.” Read More Heidi Klum opens up about her and husband Tom Kaulitz’s 16-year age gap Heidi Klum’s model daughter Leni shows off grisly burn after admitting she ‘didn’t use enough sunscreen’ Heidi Klum gushes with pride over daughter Leni for ‘juggling’ modelling and college Heidi Klum denies she counts calories after report she eats 900 calories a day Sleeping pill could reduce levels of Alzheimer’s proteins Marathon runners on why autumn is the best time to start running

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