A new BBC3 TV series airing this weekend will be looking to unearth the baking industry’s best young talent.

The first programme in the Young Baker of the Year series will broadcast this Sunday (29 January) at 8pm and feature hardworking 16- to 25-year-olds competing against each other to show their flair when it comes to pastry, breadmaking and cake decorating. Judges include cook and writer Gizzi Erskine and Gerhard Jenne, founder of London cake chain Konditor & Cook.

One of the contestants to be featured on the programme is Baking Industry Awards winner Amelia Nutting, from Wolverhampton-based Shuga Budz bakery. The 21-year-old, who won Celebration Cake Maker of the Year in 2010, will be one of four bakers in the series.

Speaking to British Baker back in September last year, Nutting said: “It’s really good to be through to the top four, but it’s not knowing what’s next that’s the really scary bit. When you enter something like this, you just think you might get somewhere, but I didn’t expect to get through to the final four.”

Around 100 applicants auditioned for the series, facing written tests and an interview with a panel of industry experts to ensure their knowledge of bakery is worthy of the national title. Twenty were then picked to complete in a hands-on skills test and judges then decided the final four to go forward for filming in September.

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