Cherish Finden

Cherish Finden (born 20 December 1967) is a Singaporean-born pastry chef. Born in Singapore, she trained to become a pastry chef and after moving to the United Kingdom, has worked as an executive chef at various hotels and restaurants and has won a plethora of awards for her work. Since 2016, she has served as a judge on Bake Off: The Professionals.

Life and career Early life and culinary career Finden was born on 20 December 1967 in Singapore. The youngest of her siblings, she began cooking for them when she was eight years old after her father became sick and her mother had to work. In 2000, Finden led a team of pastry chefs to win the IKA Culinary Olympics. Finden is married to a financial director and they have a daughter together; they moved to London in 2001. During her first year, she won "Dessert of the Year" and in 2010, under Finden's leadership, The Langham's Palm Court won Tea Guild's "Top London Afternoon Tea" award. In 2018, Finden was appointed creative development chef at luxury chocolatier Godiva and the following year created the world's most expensive easter egg, made entirely of Belgian chocolate that cost £10,000. In 2020, Finden became the executive pastry chef at the Pan Pacific London, which opened in September 2021. Whilst there, she opened her own pâtisserie Shiok! which launched in May 2022. She left her role at Pan Pacific in April 2023. Cherish parted ways with the Pan Pacific Hotel London to concentrate on other ventures.

Television In 2010, Finden appeared as a guest chef on MasterChef Australia and MasterChef: The Professionals. After two series on the BBC, the show moved to Channel 4 in 2018 and was renamed Bake Off: The Professionals, and Finden has remained with show since. In 2017, Finden appeared as a mentor on Celebrity MasterChef, during an episode in which she led a team of contestants who had to re-create her pastry dishes. In 2020, Finden appeared as a celebrity expert on an episode of the BBC game show The Wheel. She has also made appearances on Heston's Great British Food, Junior Bake Off, The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice and Saturday Kitchen.

Filmography + As herself Year Title Notes 2010 MasterChef Australia Guest chef