Cherish Finden is a highly decorated pastry chef, best known for her role as a formidable judge on Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals. Cherish’s style of patisserie marries food with art, pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with a dessert. Her attention to detail is famously second to none.
With over 25 years of international experience, Cherish has earned a plethora of awards over the course of her career. Most notably, she won the prestigious Top London Afternoon Tea Award at the Tea Guild Awards, as well as Pastry Chef of the Year at the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards. In her earlier years, Cherish led the Singapore pastry team to win the 2000 IKA Culinary Olympics. In 2015, she received the Macallan Lifetime Achievement. Cherish is the Chair of Judges for the Young and National Chef of the Year Awards.
Professionally, Cherish was the Executive Pastry Chef at the Langham, followed by the Pan Pacific Hotel in London, where she opened her first patisserie, SHIOK!
Since 2016, Cherish Finden has been delivering her trademark sharp critiques on Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals alongside French patissier Benoit Blin. Drawing on her skill and experience, Cherish judges teams of professional pastry chefs competing to an extremely high standard.
Cherish’s fiery TV personality, perfectionism and style have been a hugely popular part of Bake Off: The Professionals. Cherish quickly gained a reputation on the series as a meticulous, no-nonsense judge, unafraid to get her ruler out! Her high standards set The Professionals apart from the amateur baking show The Great British Bake Off, illustrating perfectly the difference between professional patisserie and home baking.
In 2026, Cherish was the judge alongside Paul Hollywood on The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), showcasing her fun and caring side whilst supporting the celebrities.
Cherish was also featured as a mentor on BBC 1’s Celebrity MasterChef and in 2026, she was invited to set the Grand Finale Pressure Test on MasterChef Australia. Cherish developed a Chinese Afternoon Tea collection that was deeply personal to her heritage and the challenge was a true test of precision, technique and consistency. She has appeared on many other popular British TV shows and beyond, including Channel 4’s Heston’s Great British Food, BBC 1’s MasterChef, BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, C4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch, Channel 4’s Junior Bake Off, Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice and ITV’s James Martin’s Saturday Morning. Cherish is proud to be one of only a handful of Asian chefs on TV, representing her Singaporean heritage whenever she can.
Before her TV career, Cherish was already a famous chef in the world of patisserie. During her time as Executive Pastry Chef at The Langham Hotel in London, she became famed for her highly innovative afternoon teas. During this time, she created a cake replica of Windsor Castle for the Queen’s 90th Birthday, as well as a gravity-defying edible hat for Royal Ascot.
Following her passion for the art of chocolate, Cherish next took on the role of Creative Development Chef at GODIVA Chocolatier between 2017 and 2019. Her spectacular Easter egg display was hailed as a ‘masterpiece’, with a giant, intricately crafted centrepiece egg weighing 25kg.
Cherish believes in breaking boundaries, constantly striving to redefine the art of patisserie. With her Singaporean upbringing always evident in her work, Cherish’s passion for pastry leads her to create truly memorable dining experiences. Never one to follow the crowd, she aims to innovate with each and every creation.
Cherish was born in Singapore, the youngest of five children. To help support her family, she began cooking at home at the age of eight and was a waitress from the age of 14. When Cherish voluntarily began helping out in the restaurant’s kitchen, she started to develop a real love of cookery.
With encouragement from her family and friends, Cherish joined the SHATEC Culinary School in Singapore, where she developed her skills. Here, she discovered a natural talent for making creative patisserie with an artistic flare, inspired by the world around her. Cherish went on to work in several luxury hotels in Singapore, before moving to London in 2001.
Throughout her remarkable career, Cherish has continued to challenge herself through training courses and culinary competitions – and has judged many of them, too. This has resulted in over 25 medals from international events around the world, 18 of which were Gold. Most notably, Cherish led the Singapore pastry team to come first out of 32 national teams and win 8 gold medals at the 2000 IKA Culinary Olympics.
