2020 has not turned out as anyone expected, and like everyone, The Great British Bake Off has had to make some changes.
This year, under exceptional circumstances, the twelve new bakers entered a bubble for seven weeks in order to make the competition happen.
The iconic tent remains the same, but there are 30 brand new challenges set by Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
Hosts Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas kick off the series with Cake Week. First, in the signature, the bakers get the opportunity to put their twist on the classic Battenberg.
Next, under the gingham cloth are the ingredients for the first technical; turning out a fruit sponge, that’s one of Paul’s favourites.
Finally, a showstopper that gives the bakers a chance to express their creativity, as they pay tribute to their heroes. An opportunity for the judges to see what inspires this year’s bakers, and whether they have the skills to translate it into cake.
Twelve bakers in the bubble. Three challenges. Only one will be crowned star baker, and sadly one will be going home.
Meet the bakers...
Dave, 30, Hampshire
Armoured Guard
As a child, Dave rarely ventured into the kitchen to cook, relying entirely on his mum’s cooking – he taught himself to bake only once he’d flown the nest. Now living with his girlfriend in their first home, he loves filling his kitchen with fancy, colourful gadgets and he even chooses his appliances with Bake Off in mind! Dave bakes at least once a week – and always while listening to his favourite punk rock bands. His baking style is innovative and imaginative and his strengths lie in bread (pretzels, brioche rolls, and baguettes are particular favourites) and decoration – he especially loves a mirror glaze to give his bakes a professional-looking finish. When he’s not baking, Dave can be found pursuing his other passions – cars, DIY, and taking his dog and cat for walks.
Hermine, 39, London
Accountant
Hermine was born and raised in Benin, West Africa, and moved to London in 2001 to pursue further education. Growing up, she used to love helping her mum bake for big family gatherings, and then at the age of eight decided to go about it on her own. She bought the ingredients for a Savarin cake and threw herself into the challenge. She has never looked back! The French influence in Benin has instilled in Hermine a love of high-end pâtissérie – she enjoys baking intricate millefeuille, éclairs and entremets. She is also a dab hand at sourdough – so much so that her nine-year-old son now refuses to eat any other bread! A notorious feeder with an infectious laugh, she’s creative at heart and loves cooking marmalades and jams to give as gifts, making beautiful labels as well as delicious fillings for the jars.
Laura, 31, Kent
Digital Manager
A Gravesend girl born and bred, Laura began baking at around the age of eight but realised her flair for it only a few years ago. She loves citrus and strong flavours, and enjoys putting a modern twist on old classics. Laura thrives working under pressure and thinks her organised nature is what particularly suited her to taking part in Bake Off. The perfectionist in her wants things to look faultlessly pretty and gorgeously dainty. She specialises in decoration and is proud to have mastered the art of piped buttercream flowers. Laura is happily married to a Police Community Support Officer, and she loves musical theatre (as a performer and audience member) and is a volunteer for the Samaritans.
Linda, 61, East Sussex
Retirement Living Team Leader
Linda discovered her passion for baking during her frequent childhood visits to her aunt’s dairy farm, just down the road from her own home. She’d help to milk the cows, then carry a bucket of milk into the kitchen, where her aunt taught her to bake cakes topped with rich, creamy icing. To this day Linda buys homegrown produce from another aunt’s fruit farm and uses it in her baking. Her strengths are in the classics and in home-comfort cooking, like her signature sausage rolls. A lover of the countryside and of being outdoors in general, Linda will frequently head with her partner to their local beach, to fish for mackerel and mullet. And she loves to spend time in her garden – cultivating its produce and for its positive effects on her well-being.
Loriea, 27, Durham
Diagnostic Radiographer
Born and raised in Jamaica, Loriea uses baking as a means to celebrate her Caribbean roots. She moved to the UK when she was 15 years old, but began baking at age five with her maternal grandmother, whose influence plays a big part in her cooking style. Loriea loves to include coconut, chillies and cinnamon in her food – and rarely follows a recipe exactly. In fact, from the moment she reads a recipe, she starts to think how she can tweak it to make it her own. Her husband, Peter, is (of course) the biggest fan of her cooking, and he especially loves her Jamaican patties. When Loriea isn’t baking or working long shifts at the hospital as a radiographer, she likes practising the craft of macramé. Growing up, Loriea was really into athletics – and has even met Usain Bolt.
Lottie, 31, West Sussex
Pantomime Producer
Lottie’s Lancastrian great-grandmother was a fervent cake-baker – and for this reason Lottie believes that baking is in her blood. She has always had a fascination with cooking: when she was little, she watched cooking shows rather than playing with her toys and was often to be found making notes from cookery books. She calls herself a ‘perpetually frustrated perfectionist’ and, while her baking has become more refined over time, she hopes it retains an element of her dark sense of humour. When she’s not baking or busy with her job producing pantomime, Lottie will be playing computer games with her young cousins, or practising yoga.
Makbul, 51, Greater Manchester
Accountant
Self-taught baker Makbul first took on cooking at home as a means to help support his mum. He has honed those early skills through watching TV shows, reading books and drawing inspiration from famous chefs. He has a remarkable ability to measure out ingredients just by eye. Mak’s strengths lie in pastry (he says he’s better at puff than shortcrust); and, for celebrations such as Eid, he enjoys making traditional Asian nankhatai biscuits. He thinks baking has made him generally more patient, but woe betide anyone (even his wife) who tries to take control in his kitchen! Their three grown-up children are his harshest baking critics. Mak has recently taken up beekeeping – he produces his own honey, which he loves to use as often as possible in his bakes.
Marc, 51, Cornwall
Bronze Resin Sculptor
Marc decided to enter Bake Off in a bid to show his daughters that even when life throws obstacles at you, you can rise to new challenges and develop new passions. Born and raised in Leicester, fervent climber Marc spent his youth travelling the world and conquering mountains, before settling back in the UK and becoming a landscape photographer. Personal tragedy, including losing his leg in a motorbike accident in 2016, led him to baking bread as a form of therapy, and from there he came to baking cakes and pastries. From palmiers and chausson aux pommes to opera cakes and millefeuille, his bakes now show true finesse. He’s a support worker and single parent, and, with his daughters cheer him on, he’s taken up climbing again.
Mark, 32, Liverpool
Project Manager
Northern Irish Mark fell in love with baking at a pie shop in Edinburgh – he visited every day while he was at university for the shop’s delicious Mac ’n’ Cheese pie. Following that early inspiration, he began to experiment: first attempting (and perfecting) a lemon drizzle cake and eventually taking on multi-tiered wedding cakes, each time looking at the science of the bake in order to perfect it. His style is hugely influenced by his Irish heritage, but also by the flavours of Africa and Asia, where he travels regularly for his work as a project manager for public health research programmes. When he isn’t baking, you can find Mark walking in the Lake District, indulging his passion for wildlife, or with his wife, travelling and exploring new places.
Peter, 20, Edinburgh
Accounting & Finance Student
With his parents and brother, Edinburgh-born Peter grew up feasting on his mum’s home cooking. But it was Bake Off that inspired him to start baking for himself – he has watched every series since the first and has been baking seriously since he was only 12 years old. He loves to honour his homeland in his cooking, using Scottish ingredients – including berries, whisky, oats and honey – whenever he can. When he’s not baking, he is either upholding the family’s love of numbers by studying Accounting and Finance at university, or demonstrating his competitive streak on the badminton court – he has been playing badminton for a decade and has represented his county in the sport since 2012.
Rowan, 55, Worcestershire
Music Teacher
Entirely self-taught, Rowan calls his baking style ostentatious – but, he hopes, tasteful. French pâtissérie is his absolute passion – he loves the subtlety of flavour, and the style and sophistication of French baking, and he is drawn to fine, complex, layered cakes. His love of the Georgian era encourages him to reinvent 18th-century recipes whenever he can. He enjoys decorating his bakes with flowers, preferably edible ones, using what is in bloom in his garden. A fitness enthusiast, Rowan swims a mile most mornings and is a keen cyclist and occasional horse-rider. He lives in Worcestershire with his partner, who shares his passion for music, the arts and theatre, and he can often be found in the British Library researching all things 1700s.
Sura, 31, London
Pharmacy Dispenser
Sura grew up surrounded by family who offered food as a means to show affection, love and respect. The many Middle Eastern and Asian influences in her heritage – including Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and India – mean she enjoys experimenting with ingredients and flavours from all over the world. Never one to stick to a recipe, Sura loves to improvise in the kitchen and inject her bakes with as much personality as possible. She loves to work with fragrant and floral flavours such as cardamom, rose and orange blossom. She now lives in London with her husband and elderly grandmother. When she’s not baking or working, she can be found indulging her passions for travel, architecture and design.
