Prue Leith shares 'shameful confession' that will surprise Bake Off fans

Prue Leith made shockwaves ripple among her fans when she recently divulged the details of her 13-year affair with her first husband, and the incredible forgiveness she was later offered from his wife.

She's now made another confession, and some fans - especially those who love watching Prue on Bake Off - are going to be quite shocked.

If you'd expect the star to be able to walk into any kitchen and immediately whip up the perfect light and fluffy Victoria sponge, or a zesty lemon drizzle, you'd better sit down.

"Contrary to popular conception, I’m not a great baker," Prue tells The Spectator, adding, "I was hired by Bake Off for my judging experience, not my baking skill."

Although she's confident in her cooking skills, the presenter also admits that while she knows "what’s right and wrong about a cake" when it comes to tasting, anything she ever made herself "would not often get Paul Hollywood’s nod of approval."

Over Easter, Prue decided to have a go at making some hot cross buns. "They were a total disaster," she says, candidly. Afterwards, she decided to try and break down what had gone wrong.

"No flavour," she says, before explaining how she looked at how long the spices she used had been in the cupboard and when she actually bought the yeast.

"You do know you should chuck out spices every year and that instant yeast does not last for ever?" she eventually berated herself after the hot cross bun fiasco.

Determined to have another go at the Easter baking, Prue shares, "We went to Tesco and bought new spices and yeast." While round two came out "much better," she says the second batch of hot cross buns were "still not wonderful."

Still not wanting to eat her own baking efforts but also wanting some buns, Prue makes yet another confession: "We went late-night shopping and happily the Co-op still had hot cross buns," adding, "Shaming, really."

Although we now know Prue isn't very good at baking, at least we're safe in the knowledge that she remains an expert at judging how good it is to taste - but even that came with many challenges.

During an appearance on Katherine Ryan's What's My Age Again? podcast, Prue reveals that as a Bake Off judge, eating a lot of cake meant putting effort into making sure her calories were balanced.

"I'd have to do two mouthfuls times 12, or 40 teaspoons of cake," she says, adding "that would be about 1500 calories." This would be in just one day of judging.

To avoid consuming excess calories, Prue says she would be left with 500 calories for her dinner. But on some days, she'd also quite like a glass of wine at the end of a long day in the Bake Off tent.

"Some days I'd rather have wine than dinner," she explains, continuing, "So my diet for two days a week, 10 days of the year would be cake and wine," she says in another brutally honest admission.