Photograph: Steve Meddle
Welsh amateur cake-maker Zoe Williams has hit the big time after winning a major TV dessert competition which will see her creation on the shelves of Tesco.
On Thursday Sept 15 1.2 million viewers around the UK watched Zoe beat two other finalists on ITV’s flagship daytime programme, This Morning.
And the prize of the This Morning Dessert Competition couldn’t be more prestigious – having her winning recipe sold across the UK at Tesco, with all profits going to charity.
Zoe, 25, will also get her picture put on packaging and have her home made rhubarb crumble cheesecake tasted by millions of shoppers across the UK.
“Winning the competition and getting my dessert sold in Tesco is beyond my wildest dreams as I only started properly baking eight months ago,” said a delighted Zoe.
“I think every amateur chef dreams about getting their recipes being tasted by millions of people.”
Although Zoe baked for fun as a little girl – inspired by her gran’s fairy cakes – her interest in developing her childhood hobby came about purely by accident, quite literally!
“I recently went world travelling and while I was in Australia I was involved in a car accident,” she added. “I’ve been off work recovering at home and in that time I borrowed a few cookery books from the local library and picked up on my old hobby.”
This Morning invited their viewers to bring their home-made desserts along to tasting roadshows in Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh during August.
“We tasted so many delicious treats and met some fantastic bakers up and down the country. We now look forward to championing Zoe’s fantastic cheesecake and making it for our customers,” said Tesco’s convenience food technical manager Dave Oliver, who joined This Morning chef, Gizzi Erskine, and celebrity foody and ex-Corrie star, Wendi Peters, on the judging panel.