Great British Bake Off: John Whaite is surprise winner

He had been all but written off by most of The Great British Bake Off's 5 million‑plus fans – many presumed the final clash of wooden spoons would be between Brendan Lynch and James Morton. But underdog John Whaite defied expectations to sift, soften and stir his way to victory in the BBC2 baking show last night.

"People think bakers are dainty little housewives but they are not. They are quite controlling people who want to be told that they are loved," said the 23-year-old law student, wrangling with his rough puff during the all-male final. Later, shivering in shorts on a sodden lawn, he received TV baking's closest approximation to an emotional declaration: the Great British Bake Off trophy.

For fans, the final made for an eventful but perhaps curiously unsatisfying close to a 10-week competition that has dominated Tuesday night TV and made stars of both its competitors and the judges, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry.

Morton, the hipster medical student from Shetland, who has won bucketloads of admiring fans with his relaxed, laid-back approach and love of experimentation, began badly, and never seriously pulled things back, despite being much-fancied as a potential winner.

While Whaite and Lynch's pithiviers gleamed warmly like burnished sunflower heads, golden flakes of pastry giving way to soft, delicious filling, his suffered from the dreaded Bake Off affliction. Never before has a solemn "soggy bottom" cut so deeply.

After a semi-final that saw platters of immaculate choux swans, jewel-coloured macaroons and dainty sponges put before the judges, the technical challenge – a stand of sweet fondant fancies, nestled, pink and delicious as if awaiting a party of angelic children – was a reminder that even a GBBO finalist still needs the guidance of Berry.

The splodgy, chocolate-spattered cubes gloopily assembled were a reminder that this is a home-baking competition. "Mr Kipling would turn in his grave," said Whaite. Berry didn't look best pleased either.

Which left barely a slip of baking parchment between the three finalists as they entered the final, showstopper bake round. Their task: to create a perfect chiffon cake themed around their personal highlight of 2012.

Almost immediately it became clear that Morton was in trouble: having set himself another madly ambitious and likely impossible task – why bake one cake when you can bake five? – he promptly dropped one of the delicate sponges on the floor.

The result was a lesson in why brilliance will not always beat planning. And that cakes shouldn't really come on enormous groaning boards that one person strains to carry.

Lynch and Whaite, however, both put up cakes you would have trampled over the presenters, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, to reach first. Whaite's was a technically tricky gleaming mirror of chocolate, finished, beautifully, with a hairdryer. Lynch's was a classic raspberry and almond chiffon, with a charming story of family reunion behind it.

Lynch, a recruitment consultant, has had a rough ride with viewers for his matter-of-fact manner and sometimes apparently humourless approach: he has proved himself a perfectionist with a wide repertoire, but sometimes less-than-camera-friendly manner.

"The one who can keep their emotion in check is the one who will win," he said, somewhat hopefully, at the beginning of Tuesday night's show. Not only did Lynch not win, but we also, touchingly, glimpsed the emotions raging beneath that super-calm exterior.

Should it have been him grasping the trophy? If past performance had been taken into consideration in a battle between Lynch and Whaite, then probably – his truly sinister gingerbread birdhouse notwithstanding, Lynch's consistency has been incredible.

Even, maybe, on the basis of the final bakes. "That sponge is like a cloud," said Hollywood, as the interior of Lynch's chiffon was revealed. But he was missing that spark of invention that Whaite and Morton were able to conjure up, whether creating a gingerbread barn or a colosseum.

It's that same special something that has seen The Great British Bake Off become a massive hit for BBC2. That its finale featured former rivals complimenting each other while standing in a field, under an umbrella, determined to have a good time despite the freezing rain, says a great deal about its elusive appeal.