The Great British Baking Show Season 14 (Bake Off)

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Series 14 moves through ten weeks of cake, biscuits, bread, chocolate, pastry, botanical baking, desserts, party food, patisserie, and a final. This guide records every challenge brief and includes one original home-kitchen biscuit adaptation inspired by the series.

1. Episode 1 · Cake

   Cake

   Sep 26, 2023

   Cake Week opens with an upright striped sponge, recreates the chocolate-and-raspberry cake from the programme titles, and finishes with sculpted animal cakes.

   • Signature

     Vertical layer cake

     Make a vertical layer cake from sponge and icing in two hours, revealing upright stripes when sliced.

   • Technical

     The Great British Bake Off chocolate cake

     Recreate the cake from the programme titles in two hours: two moist chocolate sponge layers finished with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries.

   • Showstopper

     3D animal cake

     Build a three-dimensional replica of an animal in four hours, with the structure made predominantly from sponge.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Biscuits

   Biscuits

   Oct 3, 2023

   Biscuit Week combines marshmallow-filled favourites, an exacting custard-cream technical, and illusion displays modelled on favourite meals.

   • Signature

     12 marshmallow biscuits

     Produce twelve marshmallow biscuits in any form in two and a half hours, balancing crisp biscuit with a clean marshmallow filling or topping.

   • Technical

     12 custard creams

     Make twelve matching custard-cream sandwich biscuits in 90 minutes, including patterned biscuits and a smooth custard-flavoured filling.

   • Showstopper

     Illusion biscuit display

     Create an edible biscuit illusion of a favourite meal in four hours, using biscuit work to disguise the display as savoury food.

   Make our home version →Episode source 1Episode source 2Episode source 3

3. Episode 3 · Bread

   Bread

   Oct 10, 2023

   Bread Week starts with a traditional cottage loaf, moves to cream-filled Devonshire splits, and culminates in a two-flour plaited centrepiece.

   • Signature

     Cottage loaf

     Bake a classic two-tier cottage loaf in two hours and 45 minutes, joining the stacked rounds securely while preserving a well-risen crumb.

   • Technical

     8 Devonshire splits

     Make eight soft split buns in two and a half hours, filling each with jam, clotted cream, and strawberries.

   • Showstopper

     Plaited centrepiece loaf

     Create a sweet or savoury plaited bread centrepiece in four hours, incorporating two different types of flour.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

4. Episode 4 · Chocolate

   Chocolate

   Oct 17, 2023

   Chocolate Week tests flourless tortes, small caramelised-white-chocolate cheesecakes, and boxes made from chocolate that must also hold chocolates and cake.

   • Signature

     Flourless chocolate torte

     Make a luxurious chocolate torte without wheat flour in two and a half hours.

   • Technical

     6 caramelised white chocolate and blackcurrant cheesecakes

     Produce six individual baked cheesecakes pairing caramelised white chocolate with blackcurrant in two hours.

   • Showstopper

     Edible chocolate box cake

     Construct an edible chocolate box in four hours that contains a chocolate cake and filled moulded chocolates.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

5. Episode 5 · Pastry

   Pastry

   Oct 24, 2023

   Pastry Week moves from hot-water-crust picnic pies to a rough-puff potato pithivier and a decorative collection of sweet pies.

   • Signature

     12 savoury picnic pies

     Bake twelve individual savoury picnic pies with hot-water-crust pastry in two hours.

   • Technical

     Dauphinoise pithivier with blue cheese sauce

     Enclose layered dauphinoise potatoes in rough-puff pastry and serve the pithivier with blue cheese sauce in two hours and 45 minutes.

   • Showstopper

     Decorative sweet pie display

     Present at least three decorative sweet pies in four hours, each built with a sweet pastry case.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

6. Episode 6 · Botanical

   Botanical

   Oct 31, 2023

   The first Botanical Week uses aromatic spices, herbs, fruit, and flowers across enriched buns, a drizzle cake, and elaborate floral desserts.

   • Signature

     12 spiced buns

     Make twelve individual enriched buns featuring spices in two hours and 45 minutes.

   • Technical

     Lemon and thyme drizzle cake

     Bake a lemon-and-thyme drizzle cake in 90 minutes, finishing it with crystallised lemon peel and thyme.

   • Showstopper

     Floral dessert

     Create a dessert celebrating flowers in both flavour and design in four and a half hours, including at least one substantial baked element.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

7. Episode 7 · Desserts

   Desserts

   Nov 7, 2023

   Dessert Week revisits creme caramel and steamed treacle pudding before asking the bakers to hide a composed dessert inside a meringue shell.

   • Signature

     8 creme caramels

     Make eight individual creme caramels in two hours and 45 minutes, with set custard and fluid caramel.

   • Technical

     6 orange and ginger treacle puddings

     Produce six individual steamed treacle puddings flavoured with orange and ginger in 90 minutes.

   • Showstopper

     Meringue bombe

     Build a meringue bombe in four hours around a dessert of the baker's choice, keeping the outer shell intact and the filling distinct.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

8. Episode 8 · Party

   Party (Quarterfinal)

   Nov 14, 2023

   Party Week covers sausage rolls and a nostalgic chocolate caterpillar before a large, colourful buffet mixing sweet and savoury party food.

   • Signature

     12 sausage rolls

     Make twelve sausage rolls in two hours, choosing the pastry and filling while delivering even, well-baked rolls.

   • Technical

     Chocolate caterpillar cake

     Recreate a chocolate caterpillar celebration cake in two and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     Anything But Beige buffet

     Create a colourful decorative buffet in four and a half hours with a mixture of sweet and savoury party foods and at least twelve of each item.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

9. Episode 9 · Patisserie

   Patisserie (Semifinal)

   Nov 21, 2023

   The semifinal demands matching financiers, a precise apple-and-frangipane tart, and a tall Italian celebration pastry built from many layers of puff pastry.

   • Signature

     24 decorated financiers

     Make two batches of twelve decorated financiers in two hours, keeping the small almond cakes uniform.

   • Technical

     Tarte aux pommes

     Bake a tarte aux pommes in two and a half hours with buttery pastry, almond frangipane, apple puree, and neatly glazed apple slices.

   • Showstopper

     Millefoglie

     Produce a highly decorated Italian celebration cake in four hours with at least four crisp, flaky layers of puff pastry.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

10. Episode 10 · Final

    Final

    Nov 28, 2023

    The finalists make two flavours of eclair, tackle laminated lardy cake, and reinterpret the first cake they ever baked as a polished tiered celebration cake.

    • Signature

      8 eclairs in 2 flavours

      Make eight highly decorated eclairs across two flavours in two hours and 15 minutes.

    • Technical

      9 lardy cake slices

      Bake and portion nine slices of laminated lardy cake in three hours.

    • Showstopper

      First-bake celebration cake

      Create an elegant celebration cake of at least three tiers in four and a half hours, reimagining the first cake the baker remembers making.

    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

Vanilla Custard Sandwich Biscuits

Crisp custard-powder biscuits paired with a simple vanilla buttercream for an approachable home version of the week's technical idea.

Time

49 min

Makes

12 sandwich biscuits

Level

Easy

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 175 g plain flour
• 40 g custard powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 140 g unsalted butter, softened
• 70 g caster sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 75 g unsalted butter, softened, for the filling
• 130 g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tablespoon whole milk

Method

1. Whisk the flour, custard powder, and salt together. In a second bowl, beat 140 g butter and the caster sugar until smooth, then beat in the egg yolk and half the vanilla.
2. Mix in the dry ingredients just until a dough forms. Flatten into a disc, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Heat the oven to 180 C, or 160 C fan, and line two baking sheets. Roll the dough to 4 mm thick and cut 24 rounds with a 5 cm cutter.
4. Arrange the rounds on the sheets, prick each once with a fork, and chill for 10 minutes. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges are pale gold, then cool completely.
5. Beat the filling butter with the icing sugar, milk, and remaining vanilla until light. Pipe or spread the filling over 12 biscuits and top with the remaining biscuits.

This is an original Baking Show Guide home adaptation inspired by the challenge brief, not a contestant recipe or an official show recipe.

The straightforward buttercream avoids the hot-syrup filling used in the televised technical and is better suited to a casual home bake.

Keep the unfilled biscuits airtight for up to four days; fill them on the day they will be served for the crispest texture.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

Challenge details verified 2026-07-14. channel4.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Season result

The winner stays hidden until you choose to reveal it.

See every Great British Baking Showwinner, season by season →

Full cast

Everyone recorded for Season 14, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org.