Martha Collison (born 23 September 1996) is a British baker and food columnist. She rose to fame after competing as ''

The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, att ...

''s youngest ever contestant, reaching the quarter-final of the fifth series at age 17. She writes a weekly column for the

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

weekend newspaper, and has released two cookery books as well as running a successful baking blog.

Early life

Martha Collison grew up in Ascot, Berkshire. She has one younger sister, Hannah. She began baking at the age of eight, the result of her parents letting her loose in the kitchen.

Career

Television In 2014, at the age of 17, Collison took part in the fifth series of ''

'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

. She is the youngest ever contestant in the show's history, making it to the quarter finals before being knocked out of the competition. Martha has since appeared on '' Bake Off: An Extra Slice'', as a guest on ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

'' and has presented for ''

Saturday Kitchen ''Saturday Kitchen Live'' is a British cookery programme, that is broadcast live on BBC One every Saturday between 10.00am and 11.30am produced by Cactus TV. History 2002–2003 After a pilot hosted by Ainsley Harriott on 14 April 2001, th ...

''. Writing Collison has released two cookery books. The first, ''Twist'', was released on 14 July 2016, and took simple, everyday recipes, such as chocolate cake and adapted them into new ones, like Chocolate and

Passionfruit ''Passiflora edulis,'' commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy f ...

Layer Cake, or Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Cake. The second book, ''Crave'', was published on 13 July 2017, and split the recipes into chapters for various cravings, Chocolate, Caramel, Cheese, Citrus, Fruit, Nut, Spice and Alcohol. She writes a monthly column for the

weekend newspaper and runs a successful baking blog called "Baking Martha". Radio Collison currently holds the position of Show Chef on The Graham Norton Radio Show at Virgin Radio UK.

Personal life

Martha lives with her husband in Brighton, Sussex. They married in 2019, where several of the bakers from Collison's series of ''The Great British Bake Off'' were in attendance and baked cakes for a cake table. She is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

and has appeared at various faith-based festivals such as

Newday Newday is an annual Christian youth festival for Churches from all denominations, initially organised by the Newfrontiers family of churches. Established since August 2004, the event is aimed at young people between the ages of 12 and 18. Visi ...

, Big Church Day Out South & North and WestPoint. She is also a charity ambassador for the charity

Tearfund Tearfund is an international Christian relief and development agency based in Teddington, UK. It currently works in around 50 countries, with a primary focus on supporting those in poverty and providing disaster relief for disadvantaged communit ...

, and has spent time in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

teaching young girls to bake

funnel cake Funnel cake (Pennsylvania German: ''Drechderkuche'') is a regional sweet food popular in North America, found mainly at carnivals and amusement parks. It is made by deep-frying batter. History The concept of the funnel cake dates back to the ea ...

s. She has also been to refugee camps in Lebanon with the charity to see Tearfund's work with those displaced due to conflict.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collison, Martha British bakers British columnists Living people 1996 births The Great British Bake Off contestants People from Ascot, Berkshire British Christians