Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing absolutely nobody can deny, it’s that Netflix’s ‘The Great British Baking Show’ lives up to its reputation with Collection 13 by prioritizing creativity above all else. This reality competition series actually follows home bakers from across the UK as they face off against one another, with their focus being purely on creating mouth-watering confections. All these contestants – among whom is Iain Ross – hope to achieve is a lifetime of bragging rights with the title of Star Baker and a much-coveted handshake by Paul Hollywood without any drama.
Iain Ross’ Passion for Baking Developed in an Unconventional Manner
While many individuals who have a serious passion for food or baking have some sort of nostalgic connection to it, that’s not at all the case for Iain Ross. Instead, this Coleraine, County Londonderry, native actually has an educational background in engineering and a personal background in powerlifting. His father was actually a decorated professional bodybuilder at one point in time, so Iain had initially decided to follow in his footsteps and himself became an amateur powerlifter. However, he gradually became more and more invested in his studies and earned a degree in Computer Science from Queen’s University of Belfast, Ireland. It was there that he started baking and fell head over heels in love with this form of creative expression.
In other words, Iain did not start whisking, beating, and icing till he was in his early 20s, only for him to actually bake his first loaf of bread the day he finished his final university exams. While others went out to celebrate the end of their time at school, he chose to stay in, bake, and find solace among yeast, dough, as well as crusts. Thus, Iain does not shy away from admitting that he got into baking “in a very weird way,” only to now be a self-proclaimed “Yeastie Boy.”
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Iain Ross is a Rising Influencer, Proud Partner, and Corporate Worker
Although baking is Iain’s love, he is currently also making use of his degree by serving as a Software Engineer and Senior UI Developer at iManage in Belfast, Northern Ireland. That’s where he is happily based alongside his long-term girlfriend Dervla and their beloved cat Viktor, who genuinely support his every ambition as well as endeavor. After all, he is a rising influencer too, often posting his every bake across social media platforms to have over 450,000 followers on TikTok and close to 250,000 followers on Instagram as of writing. All of them are an expression of who he is.
Iain’s speciality is breads, cookies, pastries, and scones, all of which have musicians’ faces, album covers, and different pop-culture references painted on top. He does not usually bake cakes, as mentioned above, but he does not shy away from intricate designs or patterns because he uses edible food colouring and activated charcoal powders for his own masterpieces. Whether it be Taylor Swift, Queen, Oasis, 21Pilots, or different underrated artists, he has depicted them all on his bakes – the most common of which is sourdough bread. “It’s a really fun hobby to have a clash of worlds,” Iain told BBC Radio Ulster. “I have my baking and my love of music, so I try to marry the two together the best I can.”
