CHAMP SOPH IS THE WRITE ONE

CHAMPION Sophie Faldo plans to cash-in on her Bake Off success by becoming an author.

Around eight million viewers saw her win last night’s final with her small breads, iced biscuits and Showstopper entremet.

In her first interview, Sophie, 33, said: “I never ever dreamed I would get to the final, let alone win, so I am not sure where I will go from here. “It would be wonderful to write a patisserie book, but let’s see what comes my way.

“I would like to try travelling the world for inspiration for starters!”

Sophie beat hot favourite Steven Carter-Bailey to snatch victory. She added: “It was very surreal, and I hadn’t allowed myself to think that I could win it up to that moment in time when they said my name, and then the enormity of it hit me. I rarely got nervous in the tent, but on the second day of the final, I felt it was a neck-and-neck race.

“Everything was riding on my Showstopper, so I knew how important it was that I got it right.” Sophie was an Army officer before taking on the TV cooking challenge.

She said: “It’s so good to be part of the big Bake Off family. Similarly with the Army there is always a kind of brotherhood of people who share that communality. “There is nothing like the Army for challenging you mentally and physically, and I really thrived on that… I enjoyed meeting so many different people and travelling.”

Sophie is on spin-off An Extra Slice tomorrow at 10pm on Channel 4.