Vegan Bake Off contestant apologises after making non-vegan cake in first week

"Sorry if this is disappointing to hear"

The Great British Bake Off's first ever vegan contestant has apologised for using animal products in the first episode of the new series. Freya Cox shared an image of a vegan cake she'd baked recently on Instagram, but explained that the technical challenge which aired last night couldn't be made vegan. "For obvious reasons I wasn’t able to change the technical challenge as it would mean the whole show was unfair," she wrote. "Sorry if this is disappointing to hear but once the show has finished I have plans to veganise the recipes for you all, so I hope this makes up for that." Freya went on to say she was "desperate to show the world vegan baking is just as exciting with the hope to inspire people to give it a go," and asked her 9,567 followers to let her know what they thought of her turn on the show. https://www.instagram.com/p/CUFoObvsBy8/ However, Freya is using plant-based recipes for the 'signature' and 'show stopper' recipes on the weekly show. According to The Times, Freya has recently deleted her Facebook page dedicated to horse riding after she received criticism over her love of horse riding and veganism. One commenter on the page wrote: "The problem people like myself are having is that, yes it’s great that someone is going onto a mainstream programme promoting vegan food. But please don’t say that you are passionate about ethics when you still ride horses." Aside from her passion for baking, 19-year-old Freya is a model and psychology student. Before she began on the series, she told producers Channel 4: “I am so passionate about ethics and feel completely blessed to have the opportunity to share this with the world. To say I am the first completely vegan baker on [the Great British Bake Off] feels like such an honour.” [caption id="attachment_290074" align="alignnone" width="1320"] Freya in the Bake Off tent with Paul Hollywood, Pru Leith and Matt Lucas (Mark Bourdillon/Love Productions)[/caption] Peter Sawkins, last year's Bake Off winner, was the youngest contestant to have won the show when he was aged 20. Twelve contestants are competing in the twelfth series of Bake Off. There have not been any changes to the presenting line-up, with Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding returning to the tent alongside pro judges Pru Leith and Paul Hollywood. Bake Off airs Tuesday nights at 8pm on Channel 4 and All4