The Great American Baking Show Season 8

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

The third Roku season spans six episodes and eighteen challenges. Cookies lead into cakes, bread, pastry, a dessert semifinal, and a final that combines chocolate tart, Swedish buns, and a spring landscape centerpiece.

1. Episode 1 · Cookies

   Cookie Week

   Apr 11, 2025

   Cookie Week opens the season with delicate filled tuiles, jam-and-marshmallow sandwich cookies, and a detailed cookie diorama depicting a day in each baker's life.

   • Signature

     Twenty-four filled tuiles

     Make twenty-four delicate tuiles with a consistent shape and a filling that does not soften them before judging.

   • Technical

     Sixteen jam mallow cookies

     Reproduce sixteen matching British-style biscuits layered with jam and marshmallow and finished with a neat coating.

   • Showstopper

     Day-in-the-life cookie diorama

     Construct a three-dimensional cookie scene that represents a day in the baker's life through stable pieces and edible detail.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Cakes

   Cake Week

   Apr 11, 2025

   Cake Week moves from fresh-fruit Bundts to a Brooklyn blackout cake and then to sculpted illusion cakes modeled on the bakers' strongest cravings.

   • Signature

     Family-size fresh-fruit Bundt cake

     Bake a large Bundt cake in which fresh fruit drives the flavor without creating a wet crumb or preventing a clean release.

   • Technical

     Brooklyn blackout cake

     Reproduce the chocolate sponge, pudding filling, frosting, and crumb coating of a rich Brooklyn blackout cake.

   • Showstopper

     Craving-inspired illusion cake

     Sculpt and decorate a cake to resemble the food or object associated with the baker's ultimate craving.

   Make our home version →Episode source 1Episode source 2

3. Episode 3 · Bread

   Bread Week

   Apr 11, 2025

   Bread Week pairs two soda loaves with custard-filled fried doughnuts before the bakers engineer four-legged animals entirely from bread.

   • Signature

     Two loaves of soda bread

     Produce two distinct soda-bread loaves, managing fast chemical leavening while giving each loaf a clear flavor identity.

   • Technical

     Six creme brulee doughnuts

     Fry six evenly risen doughnuts, fill them with smooth custard, and finish each with a thin caramelized sugar top.

   • Showstopper

     Four-legged animal bread sculpture

     Build a recognizable four-legged animal from bread, keeping the form stable and every substantial section properly baked.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

4. Episode 4 · Pastry

   Pastry Week

   Apr 11, 2025

   Pastry Week begins with caramelized tarte Tatin, tests miniature Paris-Brest, and ends with vertical pie centerpieces that combine engineering with a personal story.

   • Signature

     Tarte Tatin

     Bake an upside-down tarte Tatin with deeply caramelized fruit, crisp pastry, and a clean release.

   • Technical

     Four mini Paris-Brest

     Make four matching ring-shaped choux pastries with a well-risen shell and neatly piped praline cream.

   • Showstopper

     Vertical pie centerpiece

     Arrange decorated pies in a stable vertical structure whose flavors and design tell a coherent story.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

5. Episode 5 · Semi-final

   Semifinal

   Apr 11, 2025

   The semifinal demands controlled caramel custards, the many layers of an Esterhazy torte, and a clear jelly art cake that suspends decorative elements in three dimensions.

   • Signature

     Eight creme caramels

     Turn out eight smooth creme caramels with liquid caramel, a gentle wobble, and no bubbles or curdling.

   • Technical

     Esterhazy torte

     Reproduce an Esterhazy torte with thin nut-meringue layers, buttercream, and its characteristic feathered icing.

   • Showstopper

     Jelly art cake

     Create a flavored clear-jelly cake with an internally injected three-dimensional design and a clean outer finish.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

6. Episode 6 · Final

   Grand Finale

   Apr 11, 2025

   The finalists bake a rich chocolate tart, shape Swedish cinnamon buns, and close the season with a spring landscape centerpiece combining multiple baked forms.

   • Signature

     Chocolate tart

     Make a polished chocolate tart with crisp pastry and a filling that is rich, smooth, and cleanly set.

   • Technical

     Six kanelbullar

     Reproduce six Swedish cinnamon buns with laminated-looking twists, aromatic filling, and an even proof and bake.

   • Showstopper

     Spring landscape centerpiece

     Build an edible spring landscape from coordinated baked elements, using varied flavors, textures, and structural techniques.

   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 2

Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake

A fruit-forward sour-cream Bundt with lemon zest, blueberries, and a thin blueberry-lemon glaze.

Time

1 hr 20 min

Makes

One 2.4 liter Bundt cake, serving 12

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 285 g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 200 g unsalted butter, softened
• 240 g granulated sugar
• Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• 4 large eggs
• 180 g sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 180 g blueberries
• 120 g powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon crushed blueberries

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 C, or 155 C fan. Grease every ridge of a 2.4 liter Bundt pan and dust it lightly with flour.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest until very pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla.
4. Fold in the dry ingredients just until combined. Toss the blueberries with one teaspoon of flour and fold them through the batter.
5. Spoon the batter into the pan and level it. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn onto a rack and cool completely.
7. Whisk the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and crushed berries into a pourable glaze. Drizzle over the cake and let it set before serving.

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

A flour-and-oil baking spray helps the detailed Bundt surface release cleanly.

Pat thawed frozen blueberries dry before folding them into the batter.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

Challenge details verified 2026-07-14. therokuchannel.roku.com, anchor.fm, tvmaze.com.

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 8, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

en.wikipedia.org, dailyvoice.com.