THE Great British Bake Off’s Andrew Smyth cooked up a storm at npower’s Swindon office on Tuesday when he judged the cakes at the company’s Macmillan coffee morning.

As a 2016 Great British Bake Off finalist, staff members in their droves flooded to the event to meet the Northern Irish baker. Funds were raised by the sale of the volunteers’ cakes; the total of which the company agreed to match penny for penny.

When announcing the winner, Andrew told his audience that he was looking at ‘taste, texture and decoration’ which drew him towards the chocolate passion fruit gateau baked by Sian Betts.

After the announcement, Andrew told the Advertiser about why he has been attending npower’s coffee mornings.

He said: “Cancer is something that affects one in two of us in any point in our lives. npower has been partnered with Macmillan for over 13 years now, and because of my connection with cake it was natural for me to get involved.”

Jaime Davies, npower’s consumer media executive, added: “Andrew has been such an important part of our Coffee Morning’s – he’s been sampling cakes, having lots of photos and talking all things baking with our employees. We’re really happy to have him and there’s been lots of excitement to meet him.”

npower is aiming to raise £12,000 across all of its coffee mornings with the help of the Bake Off star.

Andrew said: “Everybody loves Bake Off. A lot of people come up and say ‘my wife loves the programme, can I get a selfie with you for her?’ I am not sure that I entirely believe them when they say that. But to be able to use the fame I’ve got from Bake Off to go towards a good cause is really important to me.

“It had stressful moments, especially with all the practice you have to dedicate your spare time to.

"I was working full time, so as soon as I got home in the evening and for eight hours a day on weekends I’d be baking.”

Andrew went on to talk about the 2016 Bake Off judges, saying: “Paul Hollywood is a big teddy bear behind the scenes. He’s very direct and if he doesn’t like something he will tell you but he’ll try and help you work out where it’s gone wrong.

"Generally it is hard to disagree with his judgements on things because he knows what he’s talking about.

“I totally respect Mary Berry deciding to go. Nobody likes change. But the main thing about Bake Off is the bakers. She will forever be a national legend.”

He also revealed his favourite baked treat to make is macarons.

But when asked about who he’d tip to win the current series he, unsurprisingly, kept his cards close to his chest.