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Before stepping into the famous white tent on The Great British Bake Off, Matty Edgell was known to most as a P.E. and science teacher from Cambridgeshire, not a baker. In fact, it wasn’t until the show began airing that many of his friends even discovered his secret passion for cakes and pastry. “My best-kept secret,” he joked on social media after the first episode aired.
Many of his fellow contestants had more experience, but Matty brought something else: a quiet confidence shaped by his early years of baking with his Nan. Those moments sparked a lifelong love of baking, one he had quietly nurtured in between lesson plans and gym class.
By the end of the season, he wasn’t just a fan favorite, he was crowned the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2023. Today, Matty’s traded the classroom for the kitchen, blending baking, teaching, and a touch of sport to connect with a new generation of home bakers.
Where It All Began: Nan’s Kitchen and a Teddy Bear Cake
Matty’s love of baking goes back to one early, joy-filled memory: a chocolate teddy bear cake his Nan made for his birthday when he was about four years old. In old photos shared on his social media, he sits next to his Nan, beaming.
“When I think of my Nan, I think of that cake,” Matty said on an episode of The Ultimate Dish podcast. “Although she never really saw me in the kitchen, certainly never making much . . . but she’s who I attribute my passion for baking, and probably food as well. It all stems from her.”
Nan, who passed away when Matty was very young, made wedding cakes for friends and family as a hobby, and her creativity left a lasting impression. Years later, baking was something Matty would also do quietly, mostly for birthdays, gatherings, or just to unwind.
That is, until his fiancée decided to step in.
The Bake Off He Never Meant to Join
Matty’s fiancée, Lara, planned to submit an application to The Great British Bake Off on his behalf and without his knowledge. She started by snapping photos of him mid-bake and gradually revealed her plan when it became clear she needed more than just stealthy iPhone shots.
“I said, ‘No, you’re absolutely not doing that,’” Matty recalled. “And she said, ‘I absolutely am. What have you got to lose?’ And I couldn’t give an answer.”
He figured he wouldn’t get past the first round. But then one call led to another, and before long, Matty was in the tent.
“Every stage of the application, I thought, ‘This is where it ends,’” he said. “And then I got through. And then I got through again. And then I got on. And then I’m like, what have I done?”
Even when filming began, Matty kept things quiet. Only a few staff at his school knew why he needed the occasional Friday off. His students were none the wiser. Week after week, he quietly baked under pressure, and slowly shed the “underdog” label.
What helped him hold his nerve? Not just the long nights of recipe testing, but years of competitive sports—and a coach’s mindset that treated every setback as a chance to improve.
From Coach to Cake: How Sports Built His Baking Mindset
Before piping meringue or layering sponges, Matty was studying sports coaching and physical education at university. After a brief detour in aerospace sales (“not for me,” he admits), he returned to what felt natural and became a P.E. teacher.
It turns out, many of the qualities that helped him succeed in sports also carried over to baking: discipline, practice, working under pressure, and learning from feedback. He brought that same mindset into the Bake Off tent.
“Sport helped massively,” Matty said. “You’re used to being told how to improve, and then doing it again.”
Matty also knew he wouldn’t be the flashiest baker there, so he leaned into what he did well: classic flavors like chocolate, citrus, and nuts, paired with “rustic but neat” presentation.
A classic chocolate layer cake, designed and baked by Matty.
“You can’t get it wrong too many times in the tent,” he said. “I had to play to my strengths.”
Under time pressure, he approached feedback like an athlete taking notes from a coach. He stayed open, applied feedback quickly, and pushed himself to do better the next round.
One breakthrough moment came during a showstopper challenge requiring a meringue bombe, a delicate, high-risk bake that had only worked once in practice. When the dessert came together during filming, the success gave Matty a much-needed confidence boost.
Finding His Footing in the Final Bakes
Week by week, Matty’s technique sharpened and his flavors landed. It all came together during Party Week, the season’s eighth episode, where his sausage rolls earned him a coveted Hollywood handshake and his first Star Baker title.
“That handshake—it’s complete validation,” he said, referring to the rare stamp of approval judge Paul Hollywood gives when a bake is truly exceptional. That recognition gave him a boost of momentum heading into the final stretch.
For the show’s finale, Matty got to return to his comfort zone: cake. The challenge was to create a bake inspired by the first cake he ever made. Matty created a colorful, three-tiered cake inspired by a deeply personal connection to his earliest baking memories with his Nan and a more recent culinary experience. The bottom two tiers drew on those formative flavors and techniques learned in his early childhood in the kitchen. The inspiration for his top tier came from an olive oil cake he tasted at a restaurant run by a MasterChef winner. He adapted the concept with ground and chopped pistachios, a hint of citrus zest, and a pistachio whipped ganache filling for texture and bright, nutty flavor.
Despite a slight lean to the cake, judge Prue Leith called it “really perfect” in every other way, while Hollywood praised the chocolate tier as “one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve had for a long time.”
When his name was announced as the winner of The Great British Bake Off, Matty didn’t look for the cameras, he looked for his family. He wanted to share the moment with the people who’d made it possible, especially his fiancée Lara.
“You can become quite self-absorbed to be on this,” he said. “For ten weeks, I didn’t make dinner. For ten weeks, Lara made them. Everyone else picked up my slack massively, most of all Lara. I’ve done the baking; they’ve done everything to facilitate me getting the practice in.”
Life After the Tent: Teaching, Baking, and Building a Community
Although the finale aired in November 2023, the show had actually been filmed months earlier in the spring. So for a time, Matty returned quietly to his P.E. and science classroom, his win still under wraps.
Once the finale was aired and the public learned the outcome, all the excitement and press led to more opportunities for Matty and a momentum that kept pulling him toward something new. Between brand collaborations, event invites, and recipe requests, baking was quickly becoming more than a hobby.
Matty with co-hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on the talk show This Morning.
By July 2024, Matty had made the decision to step away from the school gym. Teaching full-time while traveling to London for evening events had become unsustainable, and he was ready to craft a life where his love of baking and teaching could finally merge.
He began by launching the Matty Baking Academy, designed to help others embrace the joy of baking. On his website and his social media channels, he shares free recipes like lush Brown Sugar Sponge topped with whipped cream and rich, chewy brownies. Each recipe includes step-by-step instructions, clear photos, and suggested variations, inviting bakers of all levels to jump in. His Matty Edgell x Silverwood bakeware collection complements that mission, offering tools designed to support new bakers as they practice fundamentals at home.
Earlier in 2025, he appeared at the Stone Food and Drink Festival in England, where he demoed a chocolate genoise cake filled with whipped mascarpone-hazelnut cream and finished with a crisp hazelnut praline. He also judged the event’s cake competition, blending showmanship with education in a way that felt true to his roots.
Since then, you can catch him teaching small-group baking classes, whether online or in person. This autumn (2025), he’ll lead masterclasses at venues like the Season Cookery School in Hampshire, where students can learn to make flaky sausage rolls, silky chocolate tarts, and the impressive Paris-Brest.
Off-screen, Matty continues to bake for others. He now offers bespoke luxury cakes, including custom orders for weddings, events, and team-building sessions. And when Matty and Lara tied the knot in 2024, he designed and baked his own three-tier wedding cake, complete with chocolate brownies, olive oil-orange sponge with pistachio ganache, and lemon-rosemary cake layered with summer fruits jam.
Through all his baking endeavors, Matty remains active on Instagram and TikTok, where his audience continues to grow. He shares approachable recipes, baking tips, and behind-the-scenes moments, all while supporting aspiring bakers to learn by doing. No longer a teacher who bakes, he’s now a baker who teaches.
Matty’s Teaching Philosophy for Bakers
From classroom to kitchen, these lessons from GBBO winner and PE teacher Matty Edgell speak directly to hands-on learners.
1. Learn by doing.
“You can talk to someone about how to bake until they’re blue in the face—but they’ll ultimately have to give it a go.”
Whether it’s shaping dough, building cakes, or shooting free throws, repetition builds confidence.
2. Stay resilient.
“Had I not had just one more go, I would’ve turned up to the final with flat pastry.”
Success often comes down to that final try—especially when the stakes feel high.
3. Treat feedback like coaching.
“You’re used to being told how to improve… I was hanging onto that second sentence.”
Take what helps you grow, let the rest go, and keep improving bake by bake.
Matty designed this orange and chocolate cake, complete with a surprise swirl inside.
Lessons for Your Next Bake
One of Matty’s favorite takeaways for aspiring bakers? Don’t give up too soon. Just days before the finale, Matty’s eclairs kept collapsing. No matter what he tried, they wouldn’t hold their shape and he was nearly ready to give up. Then, in one last attempt, he switched from a silicone mat to a plain metal tray, and it worked. The choux held. That small adjustment gave him the confidence he needed heading into the final challenge.
“Give it one more go,” he now tells aspiring bakers when their bakes don’t go to plan. Sometimes, it just takes one more try, and a willingness to tweak your approach.
Thinking about diving deeper into baking? If you want to level up your knowledge and experience, Escoffier’s Baking & Pastry Arts program may be just what you’re looking for. With support from professional chef instructors and plenty of hands-on practice, you can strengthen your fundamentals, build confidence, and start applying your skills, whether at home or in a professional kitchen.
