The Great American Baking Show Season 1

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

The first American holiday season compresses the familiar three-round format into four episodes devoted to cookies, cakes, pastry, and a final. This guide covers all twelve aired challenges from the 2015 run and includes one original home-kitchen adaptation inspired by the opening technical bake.

1. Episode 1 · Cookies

   Cookie Week

   Nov 30, 2015

   The season opens with paired cookie batches, a tightly timed brandy-snap technical, and a large gingerbread construction designed as a holiday scene.

   • Signature

     Two batches of ten cookies

     Make two distinct sets of ten cookies in two hours, with one of the two batches finished with icing.

   • Technical

     Sixteen brandy snaps

     Follow Mary Berry's brief to produce sixteen evenly baked, crisply rolled brandy snaps within one hour.

   • Showstopper

     Three-dimensional gingerbread scene

     Build a structured gingerbread display in five hours, using decorative details and additional cookies to complete the scene.

   Make our home version →Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Cakes

   Cake Week

   Dec 7, 2015

   Holiday cake week moves from filled yule logs to a tiramisu technical before asking each baker to interpret a verse of a familiar carol in fruitcake.

   • Signature

     Yule log

     Bake a rolled sponge yule log with a sweet filling of the baker's choice in two hours.

   • Technical

     Tiramisu cake with ladyfinger crisps

     Reproduce Johnny Iuzzini's tiramisu cake, including the crisp ladyfinger component and cleanly assembled layers.

   • Showstopper

     Twelve Days of Christmas fruitcake

     Create a decorated fruitcake inspired by one verse from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

3. Episode 3 · Pastry

   Pastry Week

   Dec 14, 2015

   The semifinal tests variety and construction through two holiday breakfast pastries, a Christmas fruit tart, and a freestanding choux centerpiece.

   • Signature

     Two varieties of breakfast pastry

     Prepare two different breakfast pastries, each carrying a holiday flavor chosen by the baker.

   • Technical

     Christmas fruit tart

     Make Mary Berry's Christmas fruit tart, balancing a properly baked pastry shell with the fruit filling and finish.

   • Showstopper

     Choux pastry centerpiece

     Construct a holiday centerpiece from cream puffs and other choux pastry pieces for a place in the final.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

4. Episode 4 · Final

   Final Week

   Dec 21, 2015

   The finalists bake a sauced holiday pie, shape an iced fruit bread like a candy cane, and finish with a large three-dimensional cake built around stacked presents.

   • Signature

     Holiday pie with sauce

     Bake a holiday pie and a complementary sauce in two and a half hours.

   • Technical

     Candy cane-shaped fruit bread

     Produce a fruit-filled bread formed into a candy cane and finished with a delicate icing.

   • Showstopper

     Three-dimensional presents cake

     Use five hours to build and decorate a three-dimensional cake composed as a stack of holiday presents.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

Inspired by the briefs

Bake it at home

These are original Baking Show Guide adaptations for a home kitchen. They are inspired by the challenge briefs, not the contestants' recipes or an official recipe from the show.

Inspired by Episode 1

Orange Brandy Snaps

Thin, lacy caramel cookies scented with orange and ginger, rolled while warm and filled with lightly sweetened cream just before serving.

Time

54 min

Makes

16 filled snaps

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 60 g unsalted butter
• 60 g light brown sugar
• 60 g golden syrup
• 60 g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Finely grated zest of 1 small orange
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 180 ml heavy cream, cold
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 C, or 160 C fan. Line two baking sheets with baking paper and lightly oil the handle of a wooden spoon for shaping.
2. Warm the butter, brown sugar, and golden syrup in a small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Do not let the mixture boil.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the flour, ginger, orange zest, and lemon juice until no dry streaks remain, then cool for 5 minutes.
4. Drop four level teaspoons of batter onto one prepared sheet, spacing them at least 10 cm apart. Bake for 6 to 7 minutes, until deeply golden and covered with an even network of bubbles.
5. Let the cookies stand for about 45 seconds, just until they can be lifted without tearing. Working quickly, wrap each warm cookie around the spoon handle and hold the seam underneath for a few seconds. Slide it off onto a rack. If a cookie hardens before shaping, return it to the oven for 20 seconds.
6. Repeat in batches of four until all sixteen snaps are baked and shaped. Cool completely.
7. Whip the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to medium peaks. Pipe the cream into both ends of each snap immediately before serving.

This is an original Baking Show Guide adaptation, not a contestant recipe or an official show recipe.

The cookies and baking sheet are hot during shaping; use a small offset spatula and work carefully.

Store unfilled snaps airtight for up to two days, then add the cream shortly before serving so they stay crisp.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

Challenge details verified 2026-07-14. en.wikipedia.org.

Season result

The winner stays hidden until you choose to reveal it.

See every Great American Baking Showwinner, season by season →

Full cast

Everyone recorded for Season 1, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

en.wikipedia.org.