Cherish Finden Wiki, Biography
Judge Cherish Finden is set to appear in the next installment of the Netflix series, The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals. The renewed series of the popular UK-based reality show Bake Off: The Professionals will feature 12 professional pastry duos competing against each other for the title of the best pastry team in all of Great Britain.
The baking series will also feature judge Benoit Blin along with hosts Tom Allen and Liam Charles. A total of 10 episodes of the baking competition show will be released at a time. The series is specifically aimed at American viewers.
The official synopsis for the show reads:
“Teams of the UK’s most talented pastry chefs compete to be crowned the crème de la crème, but only a duo can rise to the top.”
Cherish Finden of the Great British Baking Show is an Executive Pastry Chef at Pan Pacific London
Chef Cherish Finden, a grande dame of the British pastry industry, multi-award winning pastry chef and professional judge, currently working as an executive pastry chef at Pan Pacific London, hails from Singapore. When she was 14 years old, she started working as a waitress, but quickly switched to cooking, where she discovered her passion for cooking.
Cherish Finden enrolled in cooking school when she was 16 years old. She quickly developed her skills at some of Singapore’s best hotels, such as the renowned six-star Raffles Hotel and The Sheraton.
Cherish Finden moved to London in 2001 to work at the Langham Hotel, which is credited as the origin of the British custom of tea. According to The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals judge, Peter A. Knipp, who she collaborated with in Singapore, is her greatest teacher. In an interview with Cacao Barry, she stated:
“He always pushed me to the max saying I wasn’t really good enough so I was doing more and more and better and better. I also entered many competitions but he didn’t care about the certificates, he only cared about what he saw.” . and tried on the plate. Another great teacher was Martin Chiffers: he guided me on the culinary side.”
The reality star, who joined the Bake Off: The Professionals franchise in 2016, gained international recognition after being hired as an executive pastry chef at London’s prestigious Langham Hotel from 2009 to 2017.
The memory of Cherish Finden’s favorite food has nothing to do with her many awards or mixing with famous people. Speaking about it in an interview with CNA Luxury, she said:
“My Ah Ma (grandmother) would take me to the Teochew outdoor opera performance, a tradition I enjoyed with her every year. She would always take me to an exquisite Teochew fish ball noodle stall for Singaporean street food. The fish ball was cooked to perfection with just the right amount of sambal chilli, and the mee poh was cooked al dente and drizzled with fragrant garlic oil, scallions and shallots…. I get hungry just thinking about it.”
Cherish Finden has won over 25 awards at various international culinary events and has baked cakes for Lady Gaga’s and Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthdays.
During her professional years, she has won numerous awards, including the Macalcan Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 and the Tea Guild’s famed “Top London Afternoon Tea” award in 2010. She was also named “Pastry Chef of the Year” by the Craft Guild of Cooks. in 2012.
Cherish Finden has also appeared on well-known TV shows such as Junior Bake-off, Heston’s Great British Food on Channel 4, BBC MasterChef, Australian MasterChef, and MasterChef on BBC2.
Finden’s relationship with Pan Pacific began prior to the opening of the London location in September 2021, where she was employed in 1991. Some of her notable achievements over the years include FHA INTERNATIONAL CULINAIRE (Gold for Praline) and FHA INTERNATIONAL CULINAIRE (Gold for Confectionery) in 1992, the Global Chef Award, the Macalcan Lifetime Achievement, and the JUDGE ‘DESSERT OF THE YEAR’ ASSOCIATION OF PASTRY CHEF in 2015, among others.
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