From Rising Star to Judge: Emily Anderson’s Journey at Cooplands Bakery

In 2025, Emily Anderson was named Rising Star at the Baking Industry Awards. Less than a year later, she has been invited to sit on the judging panel at Britain’s Best Cake, one of the most respected competitions in the industry. It is a remarkable step for someone still early in her career, and it reflects the pace at which she has made her mark.

Emily joined Cooplands Bakery in 2023 as Product Development Manager. Her route into baking started aged 15, when a school work experience placement with the R&D team at Warburtons sparked a fascination with the science behind food. She went on to study Food Science at the University of Leeds, completing a placement year as a Food Technologist at Marks & Spencer.

Her early career took her to Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery, where she learned hand piping and decorative finishing, followed by three years in the meat industry before joining Cooplands.

Since arriving, she has worked across cakes, biscuits, sweet and savoury pastries, bread, sandwiches and drinks, taking more than 65 products through the development process in the first half of 2025 alone. Her work spans the full journey from concept to bakery floor, collaborating with suppliers, internal teams, and production sites in Scarborough and Durham to make sure new products can be scaled consistently.

Some of that work has been visible to customers. She led the redevelopment of Cooplands’ pies in partnership with local brewery Wold Top, and has driven the nostalgic launches including cornflake tart, Maids of Honour and school cake. Less visible but no less significant, she oversaw the move to natural food colourings across all Cooplands products, a project she described as a significant challenge, with some colours fading and causing quality issues before being successfully resolved.

When asked about her ambitions, she said she wanted to play a key part in making sure every product sold in a Cooplands bakery is the very best it can be, while also reducing food waste and improving efficiency.

The Baking Industry Awards judges described her as someone who brings passion, potential and practical skills to the table, and who embodies what the baking industry truly needs right now.

Britain’s Best Cake 2026, hosted by British Baker at the UK Food & Drink Shows at the NEC Birmingham on 13 April, sees Emily invited to judge for the first time. The competition brings together professional cake makers from across the country, assessed across nine categories by a panel of industry experts.

Being invited to judge, for the first time, at that level is recognition that goes beyond a single award. It marks Emily as someone the industry is watching.

“We could not be prouder to see Emily recognised at this level.”