Cherish Finden

Cherish Finden was born on 20 December 1967 in Singapore, the youngest of five siblings. Her passion for cooking was ignited early: when her father fell ill, eight-year-old Cherish began cooking for the family, finding that her brothers and sisters' delight in her food was a powerful motivator. By 14 she had taken a waitressing job, and quickly manoeuvred herself into the kitchen. She enrolled at the SHATEC Culinary School in Singapore, where she discovered a natural aptitude for patisserie - a craft she describes as inseparable from art, colour, and cultural storytelling.

Her early career took her through the top tier of Singapore's luxury hotel circuit, including a celebrated stint as sous chef at the six-star Raffles Hotel and roles at the Pan Pacific Singapore (where she made her professional debut in 1991) and the Sheraton Towers. In 2000 she led the Singapore Pastry Team to first place at the IKA Culinary Olympics in Germany - defeating teams from 32 nations - winning eight gold medals across categories including plated dessert and petit four.

Finden moved to London in 2001. In 2009 she was appointed Executive Pastry Chef at The Langham Hotel , one of the city's most prestigious establishments. Under her leadership, The Langham's Palm Court won the Tea Guild's Top London Afternoon Tea award in 2010 and earned Service of Excellence recognition for three consecutive years. Her creations ranged from a Windsor Castle cake for Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday to a gravity-defying edible hat for Royal Ascot. The Craft Guild of Chefs named her Pastry Chef of the Year in 2012, and in 2015 she received the Macallan Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Gourmet Summit.

After leaving The Langham in 2017, Finden joined GODIVA Chocolatier as Creative Development Chef, crafting elaborate chocolate pieces including a 25 kg Easter egg hailed as a masterpiece. She then joined Pan Pacific London as Executive Pastry Chef in 2020, and in 2021 launched her first standalone patisserie, SHIOK! - named for a Singaporean expression of emphatic delight. The menu at SHIOK! brought her signature fusion of Singaporean heritage and European technique to London, with creations like a coffee-flavoured Kopi Tarik and lemon-and-raspberry handbag pastry.

Since 2016, Finden has served as a judge on Bake Off: The Professionals (Channel 4), alongside French patissier Benoît Blin. Her reputation on screen is that of an exacting, ruler-carrying perfectionist - but one who tests every challenge herself in advance to ensure the timing is fair, and who brings a frank warmth beneath the rigour. She has also appeared on MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef, Junior Bake Off, and Heston's Great British Food.

In 2026, Finden joined the Celebrity Bake Off tent for the first time, replacing Prue Leith alongside Paul Hollywood for Series 9. Her delight was evident: she told Channel 4 that stepping into the tent 'felt like my first day of school - my heart was racing and I had butterflies.' She wasted no time, setting the Technical Challenge in Episode 1 and charming the tent with a string of jokes that left her fellow judges in hysterics.