Bake Off: The Professionals facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bake Off: The Professionals
Genre	Cookery Reality
Directed by	Emma Reynolds
Presented by	Tom Kerridge Angus Deayton Tom Allen Liam Charles Stacey Solomon
Judges	Benoit Blin Cherish Finden Claire Clark (2016)
Theme music composer	Tom Howe
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	47
Production
Executive producer(s)	Anna Beattie Richard Bowron Richard McKerrow
Producer(s)	Kate Baller, Laura Smith
Production location(s)	Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, UK (2016) Firle Place, East Sussex, UK (2017–21)
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Love Productions
Distributor	Channel 4
Release
Original network	BBC Two (2016–17) Channel 4 (2018–)
Picture format	16:9
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	29 March 2016 (2016-03-29) – present
Chronology
Related shows	The Great British Bake Off

Bake Off: The Professionals (previously Bake Off: Crème de la Crème from 2016–2017) is a British television baking competition featuring teams of professional pastry chefs pit against one another through two different challenges. It is a spin-off from The Great British Bake Off, and its first episode was screened on BBC Two on 29 March 2016. The eight-episode first series of the programme was presented by Tom Kerridge, with Benoit Blin, Cherish Finden and Claire Clark serving as judges. The second series was presented by Angus Deayton, but Claire Clark did not return as a judge. The third series moved to Channel 4 to join The Great British Bake Off after the BBC declined to renew the series. The Channel 4 series has been renamed Bake Off: The Professionals, and is presented by comedian Tom Allen and former contestant on the main series, Liam Charles.

The first series was won by the Squires Kitchen Cookery School team led by Mark Tilling, followed by a team of military chefs led by Liam Grime, a team from London Hilton Park Lane with Emmanuel Bonneau, Thibault Marchand and Erica Sangiorgi from Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel, and Laurian Veaudor and Thibault Courtoisier from Cocorico Patisserie. Andrew Minto and Michael Coggan from Gin and Bake in Cardiff won in 2021.

Format

The series is a competition between teams of professional pastry chefs from high-end hotels and restaurants, as well as supermarkets, armed forces and other companies and organisations. The competition aims to find the finest pastry chefs in the country, who can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary and can create desserts that have "stunning visual impact, phenomenal flavour, and texture". Teams of pastry chefs are chosen for the competition, with three pastry chefs in each team in the first two series, one of them the team captain. From the third series onwards, teams of two competed. In the heats, the three teams are given two challenges and are awarded marks from the three judges for each of their creations, the team with the best total score after both challenges is guaranteed a place in the semifinal. The team with the highest total score throughout the whole of the heats is also guaranteed a place within the semifinal. Each episode consists of two challenges:

Miniature Challenge

In this challenge each team have to create a batch of 3 different types of miniatures. All must be uniform in appearance, finished to the very highest professional standards and will only have three hours to make all 108 pastries. Each miniature is marked out of 30 with a total of 90 points available.:Other challenges may replace the miniature challenge. For example, there may be a secret recipe challenge for one of the heat rounds where the contestants are not given information beforehand on the bakes they have to do, and only given a recipe on the day before they start baking.

Showpiece Challenge

In this challenge each team are asked to reinvent a popular British dessert and present it as a fine-dining showpiece display. Each judge has 50 points they can award with a total of 150 points available.

The format changed from the first series to the third. The first series started with 15 teams, three teams in each of the five heats, with the winning team each episode guaranteed a place in the semifinals, with one additional wild card from the heats. Three teams were selected from the two semifinals to compete in the final. The second series started with ten teams separated into two groups of five, with one team eliminated each episode over two sets of three heats before the semifinal. The two winners from the two semifinal then compete in the final. From the third series onward, the competition started with twelve teams, in two groups of six, again with one team eliminated in three sets of heats. The remaining six teams, three from each group, then competed for a place in the quarterfinal, followed by the semifinal, leaving three teams in the final.

Series overview

Series 1

The first series of the competition was filmed at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, It was presented by Tom Kerridge, and the competition was judged by Benoit Blin, Cherish Finden and Claire Clark.

There were fifteen teams of pastry chefs in the first round. The team from Marks & Spencer, British Armed Forces, London's Boulangerie Jade, London Hilton on Park Lane, and Leed's Lauden Chocolate winning their respective heats to reach the semifinal, while Squires Kitchen Cookery School from Surrey also went through as the best scoring runners-up. The Squires Kitchen and Hilton teams won their semifinals, with Boulangerie Jade chosen for the third spot in the final. The competition was won by the team from Squires Kitchen led by Mark Tilling with his former pupils Helen Vass and Samantha Rain.

Series 2

The second series was filmed at Firle Place, East Sussex. It was presented by Angus Deayton, with Blin and Finden as the two returning judges.

Ten teams competed in this series, some of whom also competed in the first series. Two teams competed in the final, which was between a returning team, the Military Chefs, and a team from Cocorico Patisserie of Cardiff. The competition was won by the Military Chefs with Liam Grime the team captain and two other RAF chefs, Ian Mark and Chris Morrell.

Series 3

The third series was moved to Channel 4 and retitled Bake Off: The Professionals, with Tom Allen and Liam Charles taking over as presenters. It was again filmed at Firle Place, East Sussex, and Blin and Finden returned as judges. Twelve teams, with only two pastry chefs in a team, competed in this series. The final was between three pairs: Emmanuel Bonneau and returning contestant Sam Leatherby from London Hilton on Park Lane, Darryl Collins and Bharat Chandegra from Resorts World in Birmingham and Hideko Kawa and Theo Beauchet, representing Sweet Art Lab in London. The competition was won by Emmanuel and Sam from London Hilton on Park Lane.

Series 4

The fourth series was filmed at Firle Place, East Sussex The same presenters and judges returned for series 4, and again with 12 pairs of pastry chefs competing using the same format as series 3. The competition was won by Thibault Marchand and Erica Sangiorgi from Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel, beating teams from Pennyhill Park Hotel and South Place Hotel.

Series 5

Bake Off: The Professionals returned for a fifth series on 25 May 2020 with 12 teams of pastry chefs. The competition for 2020 was won by Laurian Veaudor and Thibault Courtoisier from Cocorico Patisserie, in Cardiff, beating Domenico and Alessandra from Park Plaza Westminster Bridge and Clanny and Ryan from The Ivy.

Series 6

The show returned on 25 May 2021 with 12 teams of pastry chefs with the same presenters and judges. Cardiff produced a second consecutive win as Michael Coggan and Andrew Minto from Gin & Bake took the silver platter, beating Julien Plumart from Brighton and The Lanesborough from London.

Series 7

The 7th series premiered on 24 May 2022 with 12 pairs of pastry chefs, the same judges and Stacey Solomon replacing Tom Allen. The competition was won by London-based French pastry chefs, Nathan Rave and Kevin Marmion, with I Shan and Jojo from Hotel Café Royal and Jemima and Zack from Puddles Bespoke Patisserie taking 2nd place.

International versions

The French version Le Meilleur Patissier: Les Professionnels is broadcast on M6.

Ratings

The ratings figures are from BARB.

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Viewing figures for Channel 4 are total numbers including +1.

Series 4

Viewing figures given since September 2018 are total figures from multiple-screen viewings that include other viewing platforms in addition to television, such as computers and smartphones.

Series 5

Series 6

Series 7

Ratings from this series onward are 7-day consolidated and exclude viewership on devices.