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 is a super exciting British TV show. It's a baking competition where teams of amazing professional pastry chefs battle it out! They face two different baking challenges in each episode.

This show is a spin-off from the popular The Great British Bake Off. It first aired on BBC Two on March 29, 2016. The first season had eight episodes. Tom Kerridge was the presenter, and the judges were Benoit Blin, Cherish Finden, and Claire Clark.

For the second season, Angus Deayton took over as presenter. Claire Clark didn't return as a judge. Later, the show moved to Channel 4 to join The Great British Bake Off. It was renamed Bake Off: The Professionals. Comedian Tom Allen and former Great British Bake Off contestant Liam Charles became the new presenters.

Many talented teams have won this competition. The Squires Kitchen Cookery School team won the first series. Other winners include military chefs, teams from famous hotels like London Hilton on Park Lane and Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel, and bakeries like Cocorico Patisserie and Gin and Bake.

How the Competition Works

This show is a competition for professional pastry chefs. They come from fancy hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, and even the armed forces! The goal is to find the best pastry chefs in the country. They need to create desserts that look amazing, taste delicious, and have interesting textures.

Teams of pastry chefs compete. In the first two seasons, each team had three chefs, with one as the captain. From the third season onwards, teams had two chefs.

In the early rounds, called "heats," teams face two challenges. Judges give them points for each of their creations. The team with the highest total score after both challenges gets a guaranteed spot in the semi-final. The team with the highest score across all heats also gets a spot.

Each episode usually has two main challenges:

Miniature Challenge

In this challenge, each team must make 108 tiny pastries. They need to create three different types of miniatures. All of them must look exactly the same and be made to a very high professional standard. Teams only have three hours to make all of them! Each miniature is scored out of 30 points, so a total of 90 points are available.

Sometimes, other challenges might replace the miniature challenge. For example, there might be a "secret recipe" challenge. For this, contestants don't know what they'll be baking until the day they start!

Showpiece Challenge

For this challenge, teams have to take a popular British dessert and make it fancy. They need to present it as a stunning display, like a piece of art! Each judge can give up to 50 points, making a total of 150 points available.

Changes Over the Years

The competition rules have changed a bit since the first season.

• Series 1: Started with 15 teams. Five heats had three teams each. The winner of each heat went to the semi-finals. One extra team with a high score also got in. Three teams from the semi-finals made it to the grand final.
• Series 2: Started with 10 teams, split into two groups of five. One team was eliminated in each episode over two sets of three heats. The two winners from the semi-finals then competed in the final.
• Series 3 onwards: Started with 12 teams, in two groups of six. Again, one team was eliminated in three sets of heats. The remaining six teams (three from each group) then competed in a quarter-final, then a semi-final, leaving three teams for the final.

Series Winners

Series 1 (2016)

The first series was filmed at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. Tom Kerridge was the presenter. Judges were Benoit Blin, Cherish Finden, and Claire Clark.

Fifteen teams of pastry chefs competed. Teams from Marks & Spencer, the British Armed Forces, London's Boulangerie Jade, London Hilton on Park Lane, and Leed's Lauden Chocolate won their heats. Squires Kitchen Cookery School from Surrey also made it through as a high-scoring runner-up.

Squires Kitchen and the Hilton teams won their semi-finals. Boulangerie Jade was chosen for the third spot in the final. The team from Squires Kitchen won the whole competition! It was led by Mark Tilling, with his former students Helen Vass and Samantha Rain.

Series 2 (2017)

The second series was filmed at Firle Place, East Sussex. Angus Deayton presented the show. Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden returned as judges.

Ten teams competed in this series. Some teams had even competed in the first series! The final was between the Military Chefs team and a team from Cocorico Patisserie in Cardiff. The Military Chefs won the competition! Their team captain was Liam Grime, along with two other RAF chefs, Ian Mark and Chris Morrell.

Series 3 (2018)

The third series moved to Channel 4 and was renamed Bake Off: The Professionals. Tom Allen and Liam Charles became the new presenters. It was still filmed at Firle Place, East Sussex. Judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden returned.

Twelve teams competed, with only two pastry chefs per team. The final had three pairs: Emmanuel Bonneau and Sam Leatherby from London Hilton on Park Lane, Darryl Collins and Bharat Chandegra from Resorts World in Birmingham, and Hideko Kawa and Theo Beauchet from Sweet Art Lab in London. Emmanuel and Sam from London Hilton on Park Lane won!

Series 4 (2019)

The fourth series was also filmed at Firle Place, East Sussex. The same presenters and judges returned. Again, 12 pairs of pastry chefs competed using the same rules as series 3. The winners were Thibault Marchand and Erica Sangiorgi from Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel. They beat teams from Pennyhill Park Hotel and South Place Hotel.

Series 5 (2020)

Bake Off: The Professionals came back for its fifth series on May 25, 2020, with 12 teams of pastry chefs. Laurian Veaudor and Thibault Courtoisier from Cocorico Patisserie in Cardiff won this competition. They beat Domenico and Alessandra from Park Plaza Westminster Bridge and Clanny and Ryan from The Ivy.

Series 6 (2021)

The show returned on May 25, 2021, with 12 teams of pastry chefs, and the same presenters and judges. Cardiff had another win! Michael Coggan and Andrew Minto from Gin & Bake took home the silver platter. They beat Julien Plumart from Brighton and The Lanesborough from London.

Series 7 (2022)

The seventh series started on May 24, 2022, with 12 pairs of pastry chefs and the same judges. However, Stacey Solomon replaced Tom Allen as a presenter. The competition was won by London-based French pastry chefs, Nathan Rave and Kevin Marmion. I Shan and Jojo from Hotel Café Royal and Jemima and Zack from Puddles Bespoke Patisserie came in second place.

Around the World

There's also a French version of the show! It's called Le Meilleur Patissier: Les Professionnels and it's shown on the M6 TV channel.