At home with Sandro Farmhouse, where cakes are baked and abs are forged

The Great British Bake Off has an exacting formula and in 2022, Sandro Farmhouse fulfilled one of the show’s most important criteria: the hot contestant. While his hyper-ambitious bakes won him a place in the final alongside Abdul Rehman Sharif and winner Syabira Yusoff, he had already achieved popularity from the moment he shared his ‘Bitesize of Love’ mini sandwich cakes in week one. 

Like the hot contestants who have come before him (shout out Selasi Gbormittah and Tom Hetherington), Sandro is the full package: handsome, caring (his pre-Bake Off job was nannying) and, really, really nice. So nice that when we ask him for his ultimate essential, he opts for his “loved ones”. “They’re everything,” he told us over the phone. When he’s not hanging out with them, Sandro can be found in the gym, doing face masks and, of course, baking: though Bake Off may have ended, Sandro is still making cakes, with his latest creation for Google riffing on the Year in Search, being completed “within 24 hours.” To get just a smidgen of Sandro’s drive would be nice, wouldn’t it? Perhaps some will rub off on us if we look into buying his Home Essentials. One never knows…

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Sandro! Please tell us about your kitchen essentials, what can’t you live without?

“My new essential for the kitchen has to be the Panasonic bread maker: they just sent me one and it is sick. It’s so easy to use: you literally just pop in all of your ingredients, press the button and walk away. I was so shocked because I’ve obviously been practising making bread for years now so to have a machine…you don’t have to knead it, you don’t have to do anything except press play. I still like to bake bread by hand because of that sensory therapy but for quick bread, that is my go-to.”

“A silicone spatula is a must in my kitchen. I have a grey spatula, and also a red one, but I like neutral colours. A food stand mixer is a must: I have a Kitchen Aid in silver. My main kitchen is all white with chrome and silver. It’s very clean; very neat.”

And what cookbooks line the shelves of your sparkling kitchen?

“Giuseppe [Dell’Anno, former Bake Off contestant]’s new book, Italian Bakes, is great. I love that book. Raoul [Mandal, another former Bake Off contestant] ’s new book [Showstopping Cakes: Mastering the Art and Science of Baking], too, is amazing. And, of course, I have all of Paul Hollywood’s books: they’re a must in my kitchen.”

You’re very handsome: can you please drop the skincare routine?

“Let me just get my essentials because I literally carry them everywhere. One of my main essentials is a pore circulation vacuum cleaner, I use that on the weekly. And a face steamer, I love that as well. For my skin essentials I use a lot of masks: one of the masks I love to use is the clay mud mask from Rituals. I love exfoliating my skin with the St Ive’s scrub – it’s cheap and easy to get but it does the job.”

“I love to use the papaya and lemon clay mask from Bioré… I could go on! I love the ultra-smooth peeling gel from Lasidore: that is nice. The moisturiser sorbet from Caudalie, I love the eye contour from The Ordinary. The Ordinary is sick: I’ve got the serum from there too so I use that on the daily. And my cream that I use every day is called the Marine miracle cream: it’s amazing. It’s a small tub so it’s costly but it’s worth it.”

And you’re at the gym a lot. What are the things you always have with you for gym or home workouts?

“I do like to do some home workouts. I’ve set myself a challenge where I do 100 press-ups and 100 sit-ups every day at home, so regardless of if I go to the gym or not I’ve done a bit of a workout.”

“Gym essentials are resistance bands (just off Amazon!), and I’ve got this attachment thing that attaches to the cables at the gym for legs and glutes. My gym bag is from River Island and I love it: it’s just one of those black leather handbags but it’s now my gym bag. I also have to have a gym after-workout bag with all my skincare essentials, but gym-specific ones so I have a cream to wake up my skin, my supplements and energy stuff.”

“I take a fat cut supplement which helps you burn more when you’re working out, and I also take a water cut so it takes any excess water out of the body. I’ve lost a lot [of body fat] with that. I use MyProtein protein too.”

Finally, let’s hear what you’re wearing when you’re not overachieving in the gym and the kitchen!

“My whole wardrobe at the moment is practically River Island: they’ve been so kind by gifting me loads of clothes, but I normally shop at Asos. I love winter because you get to wear more clothes. A jacket and a jumper and something wooly on your head. As many clothes as possible! My go-to at the moment is that puffy black long jacket. From head to toe, I’m warm!”

All items here were recommended by Sandro. When a product wasn't available for purchase, we've provided an alternative. 

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