Liam Charles

CTL-E-6085 · Person · other · 1997–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07306 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6085.

Liam Charles, born 28 August 1997 in Hackney, London, is a British baker, television presenter and author of Caribbean background. A drama student at Goldsmiths, University of London, who began baking at sixteen and was nicknamed 'Cake Boy' at school, he came to national attention as a contestant on series eight of The Great British Bake Off in 2017, finishing fifth. Channel 4 built a presenting career on that run: he has co-presented Bake Off: The Professionals since 2018, fronted his own series Liam Bakes that year, and judged Junior Bake Off since 2019. His two cookbooks, Cheeky Treats (2018) and Second Helpings (2019), fold the food of his upbringing — his grandmother's curried goat, jerk chicken, ackee and salt fish — into contemporary baking, and he has spoken in interviews about baking while Black and about the shortage of high-profile Caribbean bakers, saying he hopes to change that. He also writes a baking column for The Guardian and appeared on The Masked Dancer in 2022; roundups of Bake Off's most successful contestants published in 2026 still list him in his Professionals and Junior Bake Off roles.

The record

• Also known as: Cake Boy

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Census Intake Wave 5 — 747 Program, Wave 11; 40-record packet). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Liam Charles entity in the live graph at 3,763 entities (exact / normalized / alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-6085 assigned at assembly. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 3 — Famous Birthdays ABSENT census, readiness rank 1593 (Chefs list). The census supplied the NAME ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — Black British baker and presenter of Caribbean background; Black self-identification and Caribbean foundation stated in his own words in a Press Association interview. Vital status: LIVING — listed as a serving Junior Bake Off judge and Bake Off: The Professionals presenter in a Newsquest roundup of Bake Off's most successful contestants published in September 2026. STATISTICS (sourced, dated): Fifth place, The Great British Bake Off series 8, 2017 (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-10-16); co-presenter of Bake Off: The Professionals from 2018 and Junior Bake Off judge from 2019 (Wikipedia; Newsquest, Sep 2026); cookbooks Cheeky Treats (2018) and Second Helpings (2019). MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate: Press / Channel 4 publicity photograph of Liam Charles presenting Bake Off: The Professionals; no file page was read at file-page level in this pass, so no image is cleared — CTL-PHOTO-001; a CTL-created graphic is the standing alternative); chart FILLED (charts/chart-temp-1593-liam-charles.svg); video HELD (Shorts Link Map checked by name and variants — no matching-entity CTL Short); audio HELD (no rights basis). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot under the media-layer rule; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created SVG (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced facts) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map catalog (checked by name and variants), and no official/em) | audio = HELD (No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio at staging.)

Sources

• Press Association via Glasgow Times, 'Chef Liam Charles is back with new book Second Helpings' (2019) — PA interview: Charles, Hackney-born, describes 'my foundation of being Caribbean', his grandmother's curried goat, jerk chicken and ackee and salt fish, and says, of baking, 'being 22 now, being black… if you mix that with baking it's like, woah!'; notes there are few high-profile Caribbean bakers and that he hopes to change that — https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/food_drink/17944031.chef-liam-charles-back-new-book-second-helpings/ (primary source · build store)
• Wikipedia, 'Liam Charles' — born 28 August 1997, Hackney, London; contestant on series 8 of The Great British Bake Off (2017), eliminated in week eight, finishing fifth; co-presenter of Bake Off: The Professionals from 2018; judge on Junior Bake Off from 2019; author of Cheeky Treats (12 Jul 2018) and Second Helpings (19 Sep 2019); writes for The Guardian — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Charles (build store)
• Newsquest via Clacton and Frinton Gazette, 'The most successful Great British Bake Off contestants ever' (Sep 2026) — Charles finished fifth in 2017 and has since become a regular face of baking television, co-presenting Bake Off: The Professionals and serving as a Junior Bake Off judge since 2019, with two cookbooks — http://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/26567652.successful-great-british-bake-off-contestants-ever/ (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6085 · Combined Graph record U-07306 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources.
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