A National Bakery School graduate will compete in the London Lord Mayor’s Great Guildhall Cupcake Bake Off.

The hopeful contestant, Clay Niccum, created a ‘healthy’ wheat and dairy-free peanut butter cupcake to be entered for the competition, which will be judged by 2013 Great British Bake Off champion Frances Quinn. She will be assisting Lord Mayor of the City of London Fiona Woolf.

The former baking technology management student from London Southbank University (LSBU), will win the title of Champion City Baker should his alternative cakes succeed.

Niccum has already opened a baking business, called ‘Cheeky by Nature’, with the ethos that healthy eating does not have to be dull.

He said: “If I were to be given the title of Champion City Baker it would be fantastic proof that the growing craze for nutritious, delicious choices is here to stay.

“It would not have been possible for me to open Cheeky by Nature without the practical, industry-specific skills I developed through LSBU’s National Bakery School and the subsequent support I have had from the university’s Enterprise team.”

He also hopes to expand his business by opening another bakery in California.

Founded in 1894, LSBU’s National Bakery School is the oldest bakery school in the world.