Why do accountants make good bakers?
Because they never produce a soggy bottom line.
With the 2025 season of The Great British Bake Off back on our screens, one contestant in particular caught our eye. Nataliia’s not just baking for the Hollywood handshake, she’s also studying to become an accountant. We’ll all rooting for her – someday she’ll join the hallowed hall of accountingcpd users.
She’s not the first, though! Finance professionals have often graced the Bake Off tent, trading bean-counting for flour-measuring.
In fact, series 11 featured no fewer than three accountants – that’s a quarter of all the contestants that year or, if you’re accounting creatively, a third. Which raises the question: do accountants make secretly brilliant bakers?
Let’s start with some of Bake Off’s finest finance folk.
🏆 Peter Sawkins – Series 11 winner
An accounting and finance student when he won the show in 2020, Peter became the youngest-ever Bake Off champion at 20 years old.
Peter didn’t pursue accountancy in the end. Instead, he turned his love of baking into a full-time career. He juggled brand partnerships, TV appearances, published two books, and even trained at the prestigious Amaury Guichon Pastry Academy in Las Vegas, graduating in 2024. He now focuses on content creation, recipe development, and sharing his passion for baking online. But you’ve got to imagine that he sometimes lies awake at night thinking about all the month-ends he’s missed out on.
Follow his bakes at @peter_bakes
🍞 Hermine Dossou – Series 11
A qualified accountant who received the Hollywood handshake for her soda bread, Hermine made it to the semi-finals and became a fan favourite thanks to her incredible ability to chuckle her way out of pressure.
Unlike Peter, Hermine kept her day job. She still works full-time as an accountant while running her own food blog and releasing her debut cookbook, "The Thrifty Baker”, in 2023. She’s staying humble while making crumble.
Follow her culinary adventures at @bakealongwithhermine
🍪 Keith Barron – Series 14
Not all accountants have gone so far. Keith, described by The Guardian as a "deadpan accountant” (he includes this in his Instagram bio, so we assume he liked it), left the tent almost immediately. Maybe he just doesn’t like camping.
His Biscuit Week bakes didn’t rise to the occasion – his marshmallow biscuits fell flat, and he repeatedly called his own custard creams "embarrassingly awful” – which you must never say about your own custard creams. He was the second to leave the series, a decision he himself called "one of the easiest in GBBO history.”
Follow his post-GBBO creations (and deadpan energy) at @keithbarron6
🥧 Dorret Conway – Series 6
Dorret, a seasoned accountant, became part of Bake Off legend when Mary Berry accidentally revealed on live radio that she’d be going home before the episode had aired. It all kicked off on Twitter, but Dorret maintained a dignified silence.
Dorret continues to share her bakes at @dorret_conway
🍯 Mak Patel – Series 11
Mak, a management accountant and passionate beekeeper, was knocked out in Week 2 of Series 11 after he went off piste with a gingerbread teapot. Fans were shocked – many felt he’d been hard done by, especially compared to a contestant whose bakes included unfinished Florentines and a rubbery lighthouse.
Mak left graciously, saying, "I just felt it in my bones it was me. I know I gave it everything.” A stark reminder that when our time comes, we’ll know.
Follow his sweet creations – and his bees – at @makkers_ra_ra_ra
🍰 Nataliia Richardson – Series 15
Born in Ukraine and now living in East Yorkshire, Nataliia is accountingcpd’s pick.
She’s an office assistant by day, and she casually dropped that she’s training to become an accountant. Naturally, that caught our attention.
She learned baking from her grandmother using traditional Ukrainian recipes, and now brings those flavours into her own bakes – think honey, poppy seeds, nutmeg, and cinnamon, all wrapped in precise presentation and strong flavour balance. However, we’re more interested in her spreadsheets, although we’re losing hope that Prue will bring them up.
Follow her progress at @nataliia_richardson
👩🏻🍳 So, why do accountants make for good bakers?
Let’s break it down.
Naturally, precision is key. Adding a little bit too much sugar can ruin an otherwise perfect sponge cake, and failing to notice a stationary expense can ruin a financial statement. We look for the small things that can go wrong every day, so every crumb is accounted for.
In that vein, we know how to follow a process. An IFRS standard isn’t too different from a recipe, when you think of it. And sometimes it’s hard to know which results are more satisfying.
And think about it, how many numbers are there involved in baking? 120g of flour, 180 degrees, three teaspoons of nutmeg, it all adds up. Luckily, we live in numbers and, if needs be, have a function ready to convert gas marks into Celsius.
How did the bakery know their accountant was skimming off the top?
Their pound cakes were 99p cakes.
🧠 Final thoughts
That accountants are good at baking is a testament to how creative our work is. All too often maligned as boring, tedious busywork, accounting is a profession that leads to genuinely interesting places. We turn a mess of data into something digestible.
So, to all our secret bakers out there – may your batters be smooth, your biscuits be buttery, and your soufflés remain upright.
All Images: thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk
You need to sign in or register before you can add a contribution.