Martin Sorge: Where Are They Now?

Spoiler note: this post confirms that Martin Sorge won his season of The Great American Baking Show.

Martin Sorge won season 6 of The Great American Baking Show in 2023, the season that relaunched the whole American franchise on The Roku Channel with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith finally judging together and Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry hosting. Of the streaming-era champions, Sorge is the one who has built the most complete food-writing career from the win. Here is where he has taken it.

The first streaming champion

Sorge, a Midwestern baker originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, took the title from Hollywood and Leith in the May 2023 season, the first civilian season after the show's long broadcast hiatus. That gave his win a particular weight: he was the proof of concept that the American tent still worked, three years and one network after its last champion. He is the sixth name in the full list of Great American Baking Show winners.

Great Bakes, in every format

Where most winners pick one lane, Sorge built a small ecosystem under one name. He writes Great Bakes, a recipe newsletter, and in 2024 published Great Bakes: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest, a debut cookbook of breads, cookies, crisps, cakes, pies, and pastries built on wholesome ingredients and Midwestern tradition, with photography by Kevin Miyazaki. His work as a writer and recipe developer has appeared in Food & Wine, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago magazine, and WBEZ Chicago, and he has done the podcast circuit, including Pastry Arts magazine's show.

Where things stand now

Sorge lives in Chicago, and part-time in what he charmingly calls Michigan's pinky finger, with his husband and two cats. He remains a working food writer: newsletter, cookbook promotion, freelance recipe development, and an active Instagram presence at martinsorge. Among American champions, only Vallery Lomas has converted the title into a more established food-media career, and Sorge did it the patient way, one recipe at a time.

The takeaway for fans

Season 6 is the best entry point to the modern American show: classic judges, a tight field, and a champion whose subsequent work you can actually cook from. Start with the season, then subscribe to the newsletter; it is the closest thing the American franchise has to a winner's ongoing masterclass.