Great British Bake Off viewers will discover who will be crowned king or queen of the cakes – but what will the future hold for series seven’s winner?
Andrew Smyth, a 25-year-old aerospace engineer, Jane Beedle, a 61-year-old garden designer, and 31-year-old PE teacher Candice Brown will be hoping to beat each other to the title and be whisked off into a dream career of perfectly risen cakes, beautifully baked bread and expertly piped icing.
This year’s finalists (BBC)
First, they will need to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry with some showstopping bakes – something these six former contestants have already done.
Series one – Edd Kimber
Edd Kimber (BBC)
The first ever winner of Bake Off, former debt collector Edd has published three recipe books – The Boy Who Bakes, Say It With Cake and Patisserie Made Simple – as well as writing his own baking blog, also called The Boy Who Bakes.
He writes for various magazines and newspapers, and makes regular TV appearances to show off his baking prowess.
Series two – Jo Wheatley
Frances, Jo, John and Edd have all won (BBC)
Mother-of-three Jo stormed to victory in the second year of the show and launched a new career for herself on the back of her win.
She runs a cookery school from her home which offers classes in various types of cake-making and has published two books, A Passion For Baking and Home Baking.
Series three – John Whaite
John with his former mentors Paul and Mary (Ian West/PA)
John was just finishing his law degree when he took part in the show, but things took a very different direction for him when he won and swapped plans to become a lawyer for a life in the kitchen.
He has published two books – John Whaite Bakes At Home and Perfect Plates In 5 Ingredients – writes for The Telegraph, and is resident chef on ITV’s Lorraine.
John’s cookery school offers classes in cooking, baking, chocolate and patisserie, and he even has his own range of stylish mixing bowls and jugs.
Series four – Frances Quinn
Frances has baked for Quentin Blake (Lauren Hurley/PA)
Childrenswear designer Frances’s eye for style helped her to bag the title of series four winner, although the name many fans remember from that year is runner-up Ruby Tandoh.
Frances has published a recipe book, Quinntessential Baking, produced delicious treats for Quentin Blake, Clare Balding and the Tate’s Matisse exhibition, and regularly updates her blog with her latest creations.
Series five – Nancy Birtwhistle
Nancy on her winning day with Mary and Paul (BBC)
As a retired grandmother-of-eight, Nancy can be forgiven for wanting to take things a bit easier than her fellow winners after being crowned queen of 2014′s kitchen.
She has still found time to write about the programme for The Telegraph and shares tips and recipes on her own website, but has not become a career baker in the same way as some of the show’s elite contestants.
Series six – Nadiya Hussain
Nadiya presents her cake to the Queen (John Stilwell/PA)
Last year’s victor Nadiya was a full-time mother studying for an Open University course when she won her series, but now she has rocketed into the world of baking stardom with a recent TV series, The Chronicles Of Nadiya, and regular appearances on The One Show.
She has published two books – Nadiya’s Kitchen and Nadiya’s Bake Me A Story – and was even chosen by Buckingham Palace to bake the Queen’s 90th birthday cake.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here