Making a Swedish Princess Cake was one of the toughest baking challenges a Brighton culinary queen said she has ever had to face.

In her first interview since being asked to leave the Great British Bake Off tent on Wednesday, Kate Henry revealed the technical challenge weeks before was an “absolute joke”.

Although the enigmatic Breton Kouign-amann cake contributed to her being the seventh to leave series five of the BBC reality cooking contest, she said her previous battle with a Swedish delicacy was far worse.

She said: “Mine just did not rise and I had to make another. I had to put crème patisserie and strawberry jam on a hot sponge, which is just not good.

“We just didn’t know what we were doing with the Kouign-amann and it was just complete luck if it went well.”

The 41-year-old furniture restorer said she was “absolutely gutted” but also hugely relieved to leave.

She said: “I went into the Shakespeare’s Head pub once while the show was on in the hope no one would recognise me – but that didn’t work.

“The whole thing has been really overwhelming. I’ve gone from doing the school run to everyone knowing who I am.

“People have been really supportive, which is lovely. We were warned about ‘trolls’ but I feel very lucky that hasn’t happened to me. I seem to have escaped unscathed.”

Although seen shaking her head in this week’s show, woefully muttering “I’m a gonner”, Ms Henry said no one knew what was going to happen until the last minute.

She said: “It was such a close call. I do miss being in the tent with the other bakers but we’re all meeting up this weekend, which will be great.

“We have a WhatsApp group on our phones and we keep in touch constantly.

“Norman sends me an email every day with a cheeky joke and tells me what he’s up to.

“Richard is such a fantastic guy and he came to visit a few weeks ago and Luis and Nancy were also great.”

Ms Henry, who lives near Seven Dials with her daughter Eloise, is now taking time to focus on her business, Treacle Furniture, and hopes to write about cooking in the future.