Bake Off: The Professionals 2026 finalists: who they were and who won

Ashish and Loki emerged victorious in the final of Bake Off: The Professionals 2026 on Channel 4.

Ashish and Loki from Edwardian Hotels, Aubin and Avneet from The Stafford London, and Italian duo Valentina and Aurora reached the final of the professional pastry competition.

Emma and Flore from Lexington Catering were eliminated in the semi-final.

• Read more: 'Closest final in history' - Ashish and Loki win Bake Off: The Professionals 2026

The final aired on Wednesday, July 22 at 8pm on Channel 4.

The finalists faced the longest challenge ever set on Bake Off: The Professionals: a 12-hour Masquerade Ball Banquet, with one team eliminated halfway through.

Here is everything you need to know about the three finalists and the final itself.

Who were the Bake Off: The Professionals 2026 finalists?

The three teams competing in the final were:

1 - Ashish and Loki from Edwardian Hotels

2 - Aubin and Avneet from The Stafford London

3 - Valentina and Aurora

Emma and Flore finished first in the quarter-final, with Ashish and Loki taking second place.

Emma and Flore were eliminated in the semi-final, leaving Ashish and Loki, Aubin and Avneet, and Valentina and Aurora to compete for the title.

Who left Bake Off: The Professionals in the semi-final?

Emma and Flore represent Lexington Catering, a contract catering business providing food and hospitality across a range of workplace locations.

Flore Kubaku is a chef de partie specialising in pastry. She developed her career through Lexington’s apprenticeship programme, working across five different kitchens before deciding to focus on pâtisserie.

Speaking about her development at Lexington, Flore said the programme had taught her to work with different people and operate as part of a wider kitchen team. She has also said she would eventually like to own her own bakery.

Flore has represented Lexington at professional competitions, including events held as part of the Hotel, Restaurant and Catering show.

At the 2025 International Salon Culinaire, she received bronze in the Association of Pastry Chefs Dessert of the Year competition and was also awarded the competition’s hygiene prize.

Emma competed alongside Flore as part of the Lexington Catering team.

Their place in the final four continued Lexington’s association with the programme. The catering company has previously fielded other teams on Bake Off: The Professionals, including Margo and Ally in 2023.

Emma and Flore entered the semi-final after finishing first in the quarter-final, but were eliminated before the final three teams were confirmed.

Who are Ashish and Loki?

Ashish and Loki both work for Edwardian Hotels, although Bake Off: The Professionals marked the first time they had worked together in the same kitchen.

Ashish is the team captain. He grew up in northern India and began his career in a small cake shop before building his experience across luxury five-star hotels.

Before moving to the UK in 2022, he spent five years working in Dubai and developing his pastry skills within high-end hotel operations.

He now lives in Manchester with his wife and works for Edwardian Hotels.

Loki was born and raised in southern India and is now a pâtissière chef in London.

Away from the kitchen, she has a strong interest in art, music and karaoke, bringing a creative background to her work as a pastry chef.

The pair began the competition strongly, finishing first in the opening episode, and have remained in contention throughout the series. They finished second behind Emma and Flore in the quarter-final.

Their backgrounds combine experience of luxury hotel pastry, large professional kitchens and creative presentation, while their run to the final has also required them to build a working partnership during the competition itself.

Who are Aubin and Avneet?

Aubin Farges and Avneet Kaur represent The Stafford London, the five-star hotel in St James’s.

The pair work within the hotel’s pastry operation and have been credited together with creating cakes and pastries for The Stafford’s afternoon tea offering.

Their work in 2026 included a floral afternoon tea produced for the Chelsea Flower Show season, featuring cakes developed to complement a collection of Jo Malone London fragrances.

Aubin previously worked as pastry sous chef at Marcus Belgravia, the former Michelin-starred restaurant at The Berkeley.

In 2023, he became an achiever of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts’ Annual Awards of Excellence in pastry.

The award requires candidates to demonstrate a range of professional skills under examination conditions and achieve a score of at least 70 per cent. Aubin was among the pastry chefs recognised at that year’s presentation dinner at Claridge’s.

Together, Aubin and Avneet bring experience of luxury hotel pâtisserie, afternoon tea production and classical pastry to the competition.

The Stafford is one of London’s best-known five-star hotels, located in St James’s close to Green Park and Buckingham Palace.

Aubin and Avneet finished as runners-up in the final.

Who are Valentina and Aurora?

Valentina and Aurora are an Italian pastry duo who first met more than seven years ago while working together at EL&N London.

Soon after joining the business, they were thrown in at the deep end when they were tasked with creating the menu.

Although they no longer work together, the close friends reunited for Bake Off: The Professionals to demonstrate what their combined talents could achieve.

Team captain Valentina grew up in southern Italy and originally studied mathematics before swapping equations for éclairs.

She trained in Rome and Chieri before working across Italy and in Barcelona. Valentina later settled in London, where she now develops desserts for high-end luxury brands.

Aurora works at a luxury retirement living complex in London, where she has embraced a gentler pace of life.

Away from the kitchen, she enjoys pole dancing, ecstatic dancing, painting and drawing.

Their progression to the final places them among the last three teams from an original field of 12 drawn from hotels, restaurants, bakeries, patisseries, cafés and catering operations.

They were eliminated during the final episode, to finish third overall.