How Edd Kimber went from debt collector for Yorkshire Bank to the first ever winner of the Great British Bake Off

It is 10 years since Edd Kimber became the winner of the 
first ever Great British Bake Off. As he publishes his fourth cookery book, he talks to Catherine Scott.
Edd Kimber Picture: Simon KimberEdd Kimber Picture: Simon Kimber
Edd Kimber Picture: Simon Kimber

When Edd Kimber became the first ever winner of The Great British Bake Off, he was immediately dubbed ‘‘the boy who bakes’’.

At the time Kimber was working in as a debt collector for the Yorkshire Bank in Leeds.

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But he was already planning how to leave the 9 to 5 treadmill and follow his passion of becoming a baker. “I’d always baked from a young age,” says the 35-year-old from Bradford.

“I remember making mince pies with my mum when I was very young. She was a great cook and learnt from her mum. It wasn’t something we ever really thought about, it was just something we always did which is why I don’t think it ever occurred to me that I could make a career out of it.”

And so baking remained a hobby during his time at university where he initially studied history and then moved to politics, although he had no intention of pursuing politics as a career.

“Initially I had wanted to be a journalist but I didn’t come from a family that could afford me to do the training. I also wanted to work in the charity sector but again a lot of those jobs are voluntary or low paid. So I ended up getting a corporate job.”

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He ended up in Leeds working for Yorkshire Bank, but it wasn’t long before he realised this wasn’t for him.

“I do feel bad when I am quoted as saying I hated it, it just wasn’t the job for me. It was just very repetitive and I like variety.

“I had come to the conclusion that what I really wanted to do was bake and started to work out how I could do it as a career, either having my own bakery or cafe, or both.”

He unsuccessfully applied to catering college and instead spent two years expanding his knowledge of baking by buying lots of cookery books and working his way through them. But fate took a hand before he could put his plan into action.

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“A friend spotted this tiny advert in a magazine looking for home bakers to take part in this new television programme and said I should apply. But it really took me a lot of courage to do so and even then I never thought I would get selected.”

He was selected and the show was The Great British Bake Off, which at the time was on BBC Two and pulled in viewing figures of just over two million, which Kimber went on to win.

“Even when I was selected to go on the show I didn’t think much of it, I still thought that I would end up opening a bakery in Leeds.

“No one knew what a huge phenomenon it was going to become but even then I knew that it would open doors for me.”

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Winning may have opened doors and offers did come in, but he still says it took a lot of hard graft to pursue his dream.

“I had some time between winning the show and it being aired to decide what I wanted to do. I did do some work in restaurants, but quite quickly realised that wasn’t for me. I liked the entire creative process, not just making elements of a dish again and again. I know that I would have found that very repetitive and would get bored – a bit like I did with my job at the bank.”

Winning Bake Off didn’t immediately turn into a life of fame and fortune. “Far from it,” he laughs. “I knew that it was my chance to make it in the world I loved and I had to make the most of some amazing opportunities, but it was still hard work and very much down to me. It meant moving to London and living in a friend’s spare room.

“After winning the show, I did get asked to do lots of press, TV and radio. I didn’t really have time to think about it but I decided to give myself a year.”

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It was during this period that he was asked to write a cookery book. He did and The Boy Who Bakes became a massive success and spawned a new career.

That was 10 years ago and Kimber is now a successful cookery writer: as well as writing four cookery books, he writes regular magazine and newspaper columns.

He also makes regular appearances on television shows like Sunday Brunch and was resident baker on The Alan Titchmarsh Show in 2014.

He writes an award-winning blog, The Boy Who Bakes, where he posts new recipes, and during lockdown he has tried to post a new recipe every week. But it is baking that is still very much his passion – and passing on his knowledge to others.

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“I realise that not everyone can afford an expensive cookery book so I post a new recipe a week on my website. My life is so varied, I am always doing something different. I feel fortunate to still be working in this way after ten years.”

Coronavirus has obviously brought things to a bit a halt. “I was supposed to be in America at the moment doing a book signing,” he explains. Instead he is at home in London with his partner of four years who is a lawyer.

“We work in very different ways and so both of us working from home has been challenging.”

The publication of his latest book One Tin Bakes was pushed back but as the nation turned to baking in lockdown it seemed the right time to go ahead: “I think people turn to baking in times of stress as a way of escape, but also they do have more time. I used baking when I was working for the bank as a way of relaxing and turning off my mind, I’d forget all my stress.

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“I did wonder whether to do a cookery book rather than a baking book this time around, but my publisher felt we should stick with baking and in the circumstances I’m really glad we did.”

Kimber has been baking sourdough, of course, and giving masterclasses to all who ask. “I kept getting asked about making sourdough and so I put a video out – it has been viewed 30,000 times and people have been sending me photographs of their loaves.”

The key to One Tin Bakes is very much what it says in the title.

“Not everyone has the money or the space to have loads of different tins and so I thought why not create a book where all the recipes use just one tin,” explains Kimber, who has spent a year testing, writing and even photographing the book.

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“Writing a cookery book is all about testing, testing and more testing. I put a lot of time and effort into it and I was anxious about releasing a book at this time but it seems to have gone down well.”

www.theboywhobakes.co.uk

One Tin Bakes by Edd Kimber, with photography by Edd Kimber, is published by Kyle Books, priced £17.99.

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