Who are the winners of Bake Off: The Professionals 2018?

Emmanuel Bonneau and Sam Leatherby from London Hilton on Park Lane have been crowned the winners of Bake Off: The Professionals 2018.

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The chefs beat fellow finalists Darryl Collins and Bharat Chandegra from Resorts World in Birmingham and Hideko Kawa and Theo Beauchet, representing Sweet Art Lab in London. 

How does Bake Off: The Professionals work?

Contestants are judged by patisserie experts Benoit Blin, Chef Patissier at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, and Cherish Finden, Creative Development Chef at Godiva, whose withering glances and razor-sharp tongues have reduced many a pastry chef into quivering wrecks in the past.

Twelve teams of two from various hotels, restaurants and businesses around the country went head to head for the title.The teams faced a diverse range of tasks throughout the series, set by the judges. From miniatures to sugar work, live plating and even a couple of secret challenges! 

This year, the show was hosted by comedian Tom Allen and former The Great British Bake Off contestant Liam Charles.

Who were the finalists in Bake Off: The Professionals 2018?

Darryl and Bharat from Resorts World in Birmingham

Darryl Collins and his sous-chef Bharat Chandegra are from Resorts World in Birmingham. Self-taught Darryl started his career at the Tredragon Hotel in Newquay. 

Darryl says "We are taking part to put Birmingham on the map, to showcase our skills as pastry chefs in Birmingham and also Cornwall as that's where I live. I'm most looking forward to the challenge"

Emmanuel and Sam from The Hilton Hotel

Based at The Hilton Hotel on the prestigious Park Lane in London, chefs Emmanuel Bonneau and junior sous chef Sam Leatherby have teamed up to take part in the competition. Emmanuel is the hotel's chef patissier and was crowned Pastry Chef Of The Year by the Craft Guild Of Chefs in 2017. Sam has previously taken part in Bake Off’s Creme de la Creme in 2016 where he reached the finals. He also achieved second place in the UK Senior Sugar Championships 2017.

Hideko and Theo from London-based Sweet Art Lab

Hideko Kawa is from the London-based Sweet Art Lab and has previously worked as the head pastry chef at The Fat Duck and has also worked as a pastry chef for Gordon Ramsey and Helene Darroze.

She is originally from Japan and graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in London with distinction in 2005. She is teaming up with Theo Beauchet.

Who were the other contestants on Bake Off: The Professionals 2018?

Leanne and Romain from Hotel Café Royale

Leanne and Romain are chefs at the Hotel Café Royal, a luxury London hotel which is renowned for its incredible Afternoon Tea's. Leanne has worked at the Hotel Café Royal for two years, starting as a pastry demi. She has previously worked at The Grove (working her way up to the role of pastry chef de partie.)

Romain is head baker at Hotel Café Royal and has previously worked at The Savoy as CDP baker. He has also worked at the Honoré Le Boulanger, Foulon and Colas in France. 

Eddie and Mahshid from The Savoy

Eddie and Mahshid are from top London hotel The Savoy. Mahshid is pastry junior sous chef and joined in 2015 as a junior sous chef. She oversees the banqueting part of the pastry and she has studied at Le Cordon Bleu London for the Diplôme de Pâtisserie.

Ed has been at The Savoy for 5 years and oversees the pastry for our Kaspar’s restaurant.

They were excited to finally be able to be able to talk with their friends and family about their experience as they had to keep it a secret for a while. They organised a viewing session on the Sunday with the whole pastry team to celebrate their first appearance.

Kelly and Katie from the WI Cookery School

Drawing on the amazing range of skills and experience of the Women's Institute is a modern purpose-built cookery school located just outside Abingdon in Oxfordshire – the only one of its kind in the country. 

Kelly is the chef manager at the acclaimed cookery school and has been working at the WI cookery school for five years and Katie who is a freelance tutor for three years. Both have trained as pastry chefs and both teach one to two courses a month (most of which are residential courses for WI members, although anyone can go on a course) teaching patisserie and pastry)

Kelly says “We thought it would be really fun – we only ever get to spend time together when we are teaching and we are working. We thought it would be so nice to cook together and we get on really well and it’s an opportunity to learn from each other. The WI has been very supportive.”

Slav and Maria from R Chocolate 

Slav (Slavcho) is the head pastry chef at R Chocolate London and has been working there for over two years. Slav was highly influenced by his brother-in-law who works as a patissier. Maria has been working at R Chocolate London since June 2017 as a chef de partie. Her baking influences have also come from family connections.

She says “I was influenced by my mother, she was always baking and a great inspiration to me as a youngster. That is where my passion started.”

Both Slav and Maria are excited with regards to the challenge of Bake Off: The Professionals. They were keen to see their potential, level of ability and capabilities of what they can achieve compared to other pastry chefs in the country.

Graham and Dean from Silverstone

Graham and Dean - IMAGE: MARK BOURDILLON / LOVE PRODUCTIONS

Graham and Dean are swapping the action of Silverstone for the action of the Bake Off kitchen. They have been at Silverstone for 2 years. Dean is head chef and Graham is senior sous chef but for the bake off they swapped roles and Graham became team captain.

Dean said: "We have both worked together on and off for about 7 years and before Silverstone we worked together for Jamie Oliver’s fabulous feasts that then became Mecco. We did many large events together, our biggest was the Ryder cup in 2014 in Scotland."

They entered Bake Off: The Professionals, because their late boss Ian Schofield put them up to taking part but unfortunately he past away earlier this year whilst they were filming.

Dean explained: "It was his influence which spurred us on to take part. More than anything “to see just how good we are” as Ian would say to us."  

Marta and Julie from Bom Bom Patisserie in Loughborough

 
From Bom Bom Patisserie in Loughborough, Marta Oliveira-Child and Julie are another pairing hoping to take the Bake Off crown. Marta developed her love of desserts from a young age while working in her mum's restaurant in native Brazil.

Marta and Julie were the second pair of bakers to leave the competition. 

Chris and Bjarni from The Warren restaurant in Tunbridge Wells

Chris Comer and Bjarni Muller are from The Warren restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Head pastry chef Chris has previously worked at the Buxted Park hotel in East Sussex as head pastry chef and lives in Tunbridge Wells with his girlfriend.

Sous chef Bjarni, or BJ as he is known, hails from North Queensland, Australia and has spent the past few years travelling and working all around the world. He has previously worked at The Larder in Wellington New Zealand. 

The Warren restaurant is renowned for its dessert menu which includes creme brulée and whiskey and almond cake.

When asked why he wanted to take part, Chris says "I'd never done anything like it before and probably wouldn't get another chance like that, how could I say no?"

Chris and Bjarni were the first pair to leave the competition. 

Michael and Rebekah from St. David’s Hotel in Cardiff

Michael Coggan and Rebekah Clash are pastry chefs from the St. David’s Hotel in Cardiff.  Head pastry chef Michael joined the team in 2017 and has previously worked at various five-star resorts such as Gleneagles Hotel in Perth, Scotland, the Hilton Cardiff and the Slieve Donard Resort.

While working in Scotland, chef Coggan won a HIT (Hospitality Industry Trust) Pastry Scholarship and a Silver Award at the ScotHot food and drink show.

Rebekah has previously worked at Hilton Cardiff as a pastry chef. She then opened her own business called Sweet Delights making wedding and celebration cakes but her passion for pastry brought her to the St Davids Hotel to work with Michael once again.

The pair wanted to take part in Bake Off: The Professionals to showcase their skills. Michael says “The main reason we entered the competition was to showcase our skills against the best pastry chefs in the country. The part we looked forward to the most was challenging ourselves and showcasing what we do on a daily basis, also we were looking forward to meeting other pastry chefs from the industry and getting the chance to learn from each other as the pastry world you can always learn more. We met so many amazing chefs through the competition and will continue to stay in touch."

Michael and Rebekah were eliminated in week three of the competition. 

Mustapha and Kevin from The Clink

Mustapha and Kevin are representing The Clink - a charity that helps rehabilitate ex-offenders by placing them in restaurants with over 800 prisoners participating in the programme. Each prisoner who works in a Clink Restaurant studies for accredited NVQs in food preparation, food service and cleaning.