Over the past five years The Great British Bake Off has inspired a passion for baking within many of us. As a nation it has undoubtedly tantalised our taste buds and captivated our curiosity.

Great British Bake Off 2015
(Mark Bourdillon/PA)

From the traditional Victoria sponge to a quaint French macaroon, baking has transcended the old stigma as a fruitless granny hobby to an almost hipster activity encouraging young people everywhere to get their oven mitts on (as an overwhelming increase in the sales of bakery books and independent bakeries would suggest).

In each series for the past four years there has been a contestant aged 21 or under. Although there hasn’t been a young winner yet, we have had two runners up and a few star bakers in the mix.

This year’s youngest contestant is 19-year-old history student Flora Sheddon, and we’ve decided to see what she needs to do to compete with previous young competitors.

Series Two: Jason White

Age: 19

Eliminated: Week 5

Star Baker: Twice

Strength: Mint chocolate tarts / Macaroons

Weakness: Pies

Jason was the first under 21-year-old to appear on The Great British Bake Off. He is a South London teenager whose nickname is Chef Jae. Before the competition he had been baking for about seven years and is entirely self taught.

During his time on the show he impressed judges repeatedly, but was eventually let down by a soggy “brown down chicken pie” in Week 5.

Series Three: James Morton

Age: 21

Eliminated: Runner Up

Star Baker: Three times

Strength: Rose, lychee and raspberry fruit tart

Weakness: Sweet dough

James started baking with his granny from a young age. He studied medicine and enjoys the scientific element of cooking, bringing this to his baking methodology.

He was awarded star baker three times and wowed the judges with his advanced technical abilities consecutively in the last three weeks.

Since the competition he has released two successful books, Brilliant Bread and How Baking Works. In both he gives tips to help budding bakers to master the art of technicality.

Series 4: Ruby Tandoh

Age: 20

Eliminated: Runner Up

Star Baker: Three times

Strength: White chocolate / Orange peacock bread

Weakness: Biscuits / Tray bakes

As a student Ruby used to experiment with different recipes to find the perfect formula. She bought this level of curiosity and adventure to her baking on the show.

Ruby remained a brave baker never afraid to try new flavours, although most of the time it worked she did have a few rocky weeks in the middle.

Despite this she made it all the way to the final and like James, Ruby has published a cook book – called crumb – where she discusses her favourite simple recipes.

Series 5: Martha Collison

Martha Bake Off
(Mark Bourdillon/PA)

Age: 17

Eliminated: Week 8

Star Baker: 0

Strength: Tiramisu Swiss roll

Weakness: Pastries and Pies

Martha was The Great British Bake Off’s youngest baker at just 17 years old and was fascinated by the science of baking, constantly asking questions like why cakes rise. Although she was not named Star Baker, she impressed the judges in week one with her Swiss roll cake, but was let down by her lack of technical ability in the later challenges.

Series 5: Flora Sheddon

Flora Sheddon
(Mark Bourdillon/PA)

This year’s youngest competitor Flora describes herself as an old head on young shoulders, but lets hope she brings a youthful flavour to her creations and uses her unique perspective to set herself apart from the other contestants.

We believe Flora has as good a chance as anyone to be crowned The Best British Baker, so long as she ensures her technical abilities are as well practised as the other contestants.

Here’s wishing Flora the best of luck, we’re looking forward to watching how she does.