Edinburgh student among this year’s Great British Bake Off contestants

Peter Sawkins, an accounting and finance student from the Capital, grew up on his mother’s home cooking and is the youngest contestant in this year’s series.

The line-up for the new series of The Great British Bake Off has been revealed – and among this year's hopefuls is a university student from Edinburgh.

The latest instalment of the hugely popular Channel 4 series will begin next week (Tuesday, September 22), after initially being delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Matt Lucas will replace Sandi Toksvig as host, joining the returning Noel Fielding.

Peter, 20, hopes to win this year's Great British Bake Off

This year's line-up consists of 12 contestants – one fewer than the baker's dozen who competed last year – and features 20-year-old Peter Sawkins, an accounting and finance student from the Capital who grew up on his mother’s home cooking and was inspired to start baking himself by Bake Off.

The youngest contestant in this year's show, Peter has watched every Bake Off series and has been baking seriously since he was 12.

Peter said he loves to honour his homeland in his cooking, using Scottish ingredients – including berries, whisky, oats and honey – whenever he can.

“My strengths are time management and planning,” said Peter. “My weaknesses are artistic decoration and bread baking.”

Another of this year's contestants with an Edinburgh connection is Mark, 32, a project manager from Liverpool.

Mark said he fell in love with baking at a pie shop in Edinburgh, visiting every day while at university for the shop’s Mac ’n’ Cheese pie.

He then started experimenting with making his own baked goods – including a lemon drizzle cake and multi-tiered wedding cakes.

His style is influenced by his Irish heritage, but also by the flavours of Africa and Asia, where he travels regularly for work.

Channel 4 executive Kelly Webb Lamb has previously said the programme will look the same as it normally does.

Speaking during this year’s virtual Edinburgh Television Festival, she said the cast and crew had been living and filming “in a bubble” and adhering to stringent health and safety measures.

The 2019 series of Bake Off was won by David Atherton.

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