BAKE OFF: MEET THE BAKERS ENTERING THE TENT FOR 2023 SERIES

Bake Off is back! Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and Noel Fielding return to the tent. This year sees the addition of Alison Hammond as co-host.

Over 10 weeks, 12 of the best amateur bakers in Britain will whisk, knead, ice, beat and bake their way through classic British cakes, perfect patisserie, Italian delights, sticky caramel constructions and elaborate layered puddings.

All Twelve will be hoping to impress with their skill, creativity, knowledge and passion and clinch the Bake off Crown. Each of the 30 new challenges have been carefully designed by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith to reveal just who is a star baker.

MEET THE BAKERS

JOSH

27

Leicestershire

Post-doctoral research associate

Josh is a chemist by trade and brings his scientist’s precision and keenness to experiment into the kitchen, taking careful notes on each part of the baking process and perfecting all his techniques for gorgeous results.

DANA

25

Essex

Database administrator

Dana’s passion for baking started at the age of 16 when she identified a gap in her family’s traditionally Indian culinary repertoire. As a self-professed untidy baker, Dana would avoid stepping on her mum’s toes in the kitchen by catching the bus to her dad’s house to indulge her need to experiment with her bakes.

MATTY

28

Cambridgeshire

PE & science teacher

Matty is the type of baker who swats up on online patisserie videos before bed. No matter how good he gets, though, he strives to equal the impressiveness of the bake that first caught his imagination: a teddy-bear cake that his late nan made him for his fourth birthday.

TASHA

27

Bristol

Participation officer

The best thing Tasha remembers about baking as a child was licking the sugar icing from the tops of the fairy cakes she, her mum and her grandma used to make. At secondary school, she made cakes for her friends and was soon encouraged by her Food Technology teacher to develop her skills as a hobby.

AMOS

43

North London

Deli & grocery manager

Film and theatre enthusiast, theme-park lover and hospitality professional, Amos grew up in Nottingham with his mum and sister, but now lives and works in North London.

ABBI

27

Cumbria

Veg grower & delivery driver

Yorkshire-born Abbi first learned to bake alongside her mum, honing those early skills during her teens, when she became enthralled by the Victorian era and especially the traditional bakes of the time – steamed puddings, fruit cakes and more.

KEITH

60

Hampshire

Chartered accountant

Apple pies and fairy cakes – which he learned to bake with his mum – form the baking backdrop to Keith’s childhood, along with his mum’s love for traditional dishes from her home in Malta.

SAKU

50

Herefordshire

Intelligence analyst

Sri Lankan-born Saku places the traditional flavours of her heritage at the heart of her baking – particularly the curry spices, which she claims make for the best pie fillings, while liberal sprinklings of cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg find their way into her sweeter bakes.

ROWAN

21

West Yorkshire

Student

‘Go big, or go home’ is Rowan’s motto, and one that he has always applied to his bakes. His earliest baking memories are of scones, pork pies, shortbread and traditional jam tarts (which he claims as a Northern delicacy).

CRISTY

33

East London

Mum & PA

Life with four children means that, for Cristy, there always seems to be a birthday to bake for and an exciting party to plan. She describes her baking style as enchanted and pretty – bakes that conjure up a sense of childhood.

DAN

42

Cheshire

Civil engineering resource planner

Dan’s interest in cooking began when he went travelling in South America in 2007. His particular loves are pies and puddings: before he and his wife bought their first home, they lived with his in-laws, during which time his mother-in-law taught him how to make perfect shortcrust pastry.

NICKY

52

West Midlands

Retired cabin crew & volunteer

Nicky describes her baking as ‘like a pair of comfy old slippers; little traditional bakes that evoke fond memories’. For Nicky herself, those memories are of her Gran’s kitchen table where, as a little girl, she would roll out pastries and decorate cakes – which she says was as much fun then as all her baking is to her now.

The Great British Bake Off returns Tuesday 26th September at 8pm on Channel 4.