LONDON -- Nadiya Hussain, who was the odds on favourite to scoop the top spot, has won the 2015 Great British Bake Off.
The 30-year-old beat 41-year-old Ian Cumming and 29-year-old Tamal Ray in the final, which was broadcast Wednesday night on BBC One.
Ladies & gentleman... The #GreatBritishBakeoff winner 2015... my cousin #Nadiya #Wohoooooooooooooo #Nadiyators #TeamNadiya super proud... A photo posted by Amina Halim (@aminadaani) on Oct 7, 2015 at 1:24pm PDT
For the final, judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood asked the three to bake 16 filled iced buns, six raspberry millefeuilles and a classic British cake. Hussain came out top in the final technical challenge and baked a regal wedding cake for her "showstopper" bake.
After she was announced as the winner, Hussain gave an inspiring speech:
She CAN and she WILL. Nadiya, we salute you. #GBBOFinal pic.twitter.com/Ff59DqU06o— BBC One (@BBCOne) October 7, 2015
Born in Luton to a Bangladeshi family, Hussain lives in Leeds with her husband and three children. She began baking in school and was encouraged by her home economics teacher to develop her skills.
A viewer favourite, she was awarded star baker three times during the series, with judges particularly complimenting her ability to work with flavours. Her performance in the competition steadily improved with each week.
"My dad has loved the series and he goes up and down the street each Wednesday making sure everyone is going to watch it," she told the BBC about her experience on the show.
More than 13,000 people applied to appear on the baking show this year, from which 12 hopefuls made it into the tent with one baker being eliminated each week and the three remaining facing off in the final.
Twitter was flooded with congratulatory messages for Hussain:
Go Nadiya!! A brilliant Great British Bake Off final— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) October 7, 2015
Well done to all the finalists and a huge congratulations to @BegumNadiya ..2015 Bake off champion "happy Nadiya ?" pic.twitter.com/pSgGslsElk— Paul Hollywood (@PaulHollywood) October 7, 2015
@BritishBakeOff eeeeh am crying well done Nadiya petal! Xxjadexx— Little Mix (@LittleMix) October 7, 2015
OMG bake off has me in pieces! What a wonderfully sentimental ending! Well done Nadia! #blubbering— Gok Wan (@therealgokwan) October 7, 2015
Ahhhhh Nadiya! Congratulations! She'll be on the show tomorrow morning #GBBO— nick grimshaw (@grimmers) October 7, 2015
Last week's semi-final pulled in a whopping 10 million viewers, giving it a 40% share of all the people watching TV in the UK at the time.