Great British Bake Off: Nadiya Hussain's tear-jerking victory

Nadiya Hussain has been crowned the winner of Great British Bake Off 2015. The mum-of-three from Leeds had the backing of Prime Minister David Cameron and much of the nation as she prepared to battle it out with the other two finalists, trainee anaesthetist Tamal Ray, and travel photographer Ian Cummings, for the highly anticipated final episode of this season.

The British-Bangladeshi baker had much of the nation in tears – as was Mary Berry for the first time in the history of the show – with her emotional victory speech. "I'm never going to put boundaries on myself ever again. I'm never going to say I can't do it," she said as her husband Abdal and her three children surrounded her.

She pulled out all the stops for the showstopper challenge – for which the bakers were asked to create a classic British cake with at least three tiers – baking a "big fat British wedding cake" adorned with jewels.

She said: "Bizarrely, I found the final was one of the least scariest [rounds] and I really enjoyed the experience the most out of all the filming days.

"I felt at that stage that I could do really well or really badly, I had nothing to lose, so I went into the tent and gave it everything I could. "The showstopper was a celebration cake, and as I never had my own wedding cake I wanted a proper iced wedding cake."

Nadiya, now loved for her facial expressions as much as for her baking, said: "At the very end of the filming I took the cake out to my family's table and we all had a slice. So my husband and I did get our wedding cake after all."

Her masterpiece was her husband's favourite – lemon drizzle – and was presented in a stand decorated in red, white and blue sari material. She herself did not have a wedding cake because she got married in Bangladesh.

Up against Nadiya's wedding cake was Tamal's sticky toffee cake and Ian's "colossal carrot cake".The technical challenge saw the trio try their hand at raspberry millefeuille.

Nadiya has become the sixth winner in the show's history.

The three finalists were asked to make iced buns for the signature bake. Nadiya opted for cardamom and almond buns and nutmeg and sour cherry fingers, while Tamal set his sights on cinnamon and apple iced buns and toffee and marmalade iced buns. Ian went for an elderflower and lemon buns recipe and spiced buns.