The Great British Baking Show Season 16 (Bake Off)

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Series 16 runs from Cake Week through biscuits, bread, school baking, chocolate, pastry, meringue, desserts, patisserie, and the final. This guide documents every round and adds one original, streamlined chocolate-oat biscuit adaptation for home bakers.

1. Episode 1 · Cake

   Cake

   Sep 2, 2025

   Cake Week begins with patterned Swiss rolls, removes the recipe entirely for fondant fancies, and scales up to four-hour edible landscapes.

   • Signature

     Inlay-design Swiss roll

     Make a Swiss roll in two hours with a decorative inlay baked into the outer sponge.

   • Technical

     9 raspberry and almond fondant fancies

     After five minutes to inspect and taste an example, make nine fondant fancies in two hours and 15 minutes without a recipe, identifying the intended ingredients among decoys.

   • Showstopper

     Landscape cake

     Create an edible landscape cake in four hours, combining convincing scenery with stable cake construction.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2Episode source 3

2. Episode 2 · Biscuits

   Biscuits

   Sep 9, 2025

   Biscuit Week tests patterned slice-and-bake dough, caramel-layered chocolate oat biscuits, and personal time capsules containing edible keepsakes.

   • Signature

     12 slice-and-bake biscuits

     Produce twelve slice-and-bake biscuits in two hours, designing the chilled dough so a pattern appears consistently in every slice.

   • Technical

     12 chocolate caramel hobnobs

     Make twelve oat biscuits in two hours with a caramel layer and two different feathered chocolate finishes.

   • Showstopper

     Biscuit time capsule

     Build a biscuit time capsule in four hours and fill it with five edible biscuit mementos.

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

3. Episode 3 · Bread

   Bread

   Sep 16, 2025

   Bread Week moves from pull-apart savoury monkey bread to glazed ring doughnuts and tall celebratory breads made from enriched dough.

   • Signature

     Savoury monkey bread

     Produce a savoury pull-apart monkey bread in two hours, baking the individual pieces into one cohesive loaf.

   • Technical

     12 glazed ring doughnuts

     Make twelve fried ring doughnuts in two hours, glazing six with strawberry glaze and finishing the other six as directed.

   • Showstopper

     Celebratory tiered sweet bread

     Create a celebratory sweet bread of at least three tiers in five hours, using enriched dough and a stable stacked design.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

4. Episode 4 · Back to School

   Back to School

   Sep 23, 2025

   The new school-themed week revisits flapjacks, iced sponge with custard, and crowded summer-fete displays containing both a centrepiece and small bakes.

   • Signature

     12 flapjacks

     Make twelve flapjacks in two hours, giving the canteen favourite a personal flavour and decorative finish.

   • Technical

     16 school cakes with custard

     Bake sixteen portions of vanilla school cake in two hours, top them with white glace icing and homemade sprinkles, and serve them with a jug of custard.

   • Showstopper

     Summer fete school display

     Create a summer-fete display in four and a half hours containing one large bake and two separate batches of twelve small bakes.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

5. Episode 5 · Chocolate

   Chocolate

   Sep 30, 2025

   Chocolate Week starts with edible mousse cups, removes both recipe and prescribed flavour from a white-chocolate tart, and ends with interactive fondue displays.

   • Signature

     6 chocolate mousse cups

     Make six decorated chocolate cups in two and a half hours, each holding mousse and including at least one baked element.

   • Technical

     White chocolate tart

     Make a shortcrust tart with set white-chocolate ganache in two and a half hours without a recipe, selecting the needed ingredients and flavourings from a larger choice.

   • Showstopper

     Chocolate fondue display

     Create a decorated chocolate centrepiece in four and a half hours with an edible dipping pot, chocolate sauce, and items suitable for dipping.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

6. Episode 6 · Pastry

   Pastry

   Oct 7, 2025

   Pastry Week requires laminated savoury plaits, a traditional raised gala pie and piccalilli, and sculptural sweet tarts designed to stand out visually.

   • Signature

     Savoury pastry plait

     Produce a laminated pastry plait with a savoury filling in two and a half hours.

   • Technical

     Gala pie with piccalilli

     Make a traditional gala pie and accompanying piccalilli in two and a half hours, enclosing the patterned filling in a well-baked pastry case.

   • Showstopper

     Sculpted tart

     Create a visually striking sculpted sweet tart in four hours, making the pastry and fillings part of a stable three-dimensional design.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

7. Episode 7 · Meringue

   Meringue

   Oct 14, 2025

   The first dedicated Meringue Week covers small filled pies, staggered raspberry souffles, and frozen vacherin desserts enclosed by decorative meringue.

   • Signature

     12 mini meringue pies

     Make twelve miniature pastry pies in two hours, filling them and finishing each with a meringue topping.

   • Technical

     4 raspberry souffles

     Bake four raspberry souffles with leaf-shaped tuiles on staggered start and finish times, aiming to present each one fully risen.

   • Showstopper

     Vacherin glace

     Create a decorated vacherin glace in four and a half hours, enclosing ice cream within a shaped meringue shell.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

8. Episode 8 · Desserts

   Desserts (Quarterfinal)

   Oct 21, 2025

   The quarterfinal moves from burnt-top Basque cheesecake to gluten-free steamed puddings and an engineered trifle that must stand without a bowl.

   • Signature

     Decorated Basque cheesecake

     Bake a Basque-style cheesecake with a highly decorated finish, preserving the characteristic dark top and softly set centre.

   • Technical

     6 gluten-free orange and cardamom puddings

     Make six gluten-free steamed orange-and-cardamom upside-down puddings, drizzle them with golden syrup, and serve with creme anglaise.

   • Showstopper

     Free-standing celebratory trifle

     Construct an elaborate celebratory trifle in four and a half hours that stands independently without a conventional trifle bowl.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

9. Episode 9 · Patisserie

   Patisserie (Semifinal)

   Oct 28, 2025

   The semifinal demands laminated cream horns, a framboisier under a fragile sugar dome, and high edible structures carrying dozens of macarons.

   • Signature

     12 cream horns in 2 flavours

     Bake twelve laminated cream horns across two flavours in two hours and 45 minutes, filling and finishing them to patisserie standard.

   • Technical

     Framboisier with sugar dome

     Make a layered raspberry framboisier, top it with a fondant rose, and enclose it beneath a clear sugar-glass dome.

   • Showstopper

     Macaron centrepiece

     Build an edible structure at least 45 cm high depicting something meaningful, and display at least thirty filled macarons on it.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

10. Episode 10 · Final

    Final

    Nov 4, 2025

    The final revisits British iced buns, assembles an ombre tower of filled madeleines, and concludes with the longest cakes yet attempted in the tent.

    • Signature

      12 iced finger buns

      Make twelve classic British iced finger buns across two flavours, demonstrating enriched dough, even shaping, and neat filling and icing.

    • Technical

      31 white chocolate and lemon madeleines

      Bake thirty-one lemon madeleines, fill them with lemon curd, coat them in five shades of white chocolate, and assemble them as an ombre tower.

    • Showstopper

      1.2 metre table cake

      Create an elegant table-runner cake at least 1.2 metres long in four and a half hours, making the largest cake format used in the competition.

    Episode source 1Episode source 2Episode source 3

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

Quick Chocolate Oat Biscuits

Crisp-edged oat biscuits with a simple dark-chocolate cap, keeping the familiar oat-and-chocolate idea while leaving the technical's caramel and feathered tempering for another day.

Time

34 min

Makes

12 biscuits

Level

Easy

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 100 g rolled oats
• 90 g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 55 g light brown sugar
• 35 g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 120 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 15 g white chocolate, chopped

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 C, or 160 C fan, and line two baking sheets. Pulse half the oats briefly so they are coarse rather than powdery, then combine them with the remaining oats, flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt.
2. Beat the butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in the golden syrup and milk, then stir in the dry mixture until no flour remains.
3. Divide the dough into twelve equal balls. Space them well apart on the sheets and flatten each to a disc about 7 mm thick.
4. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the sheets once, until the edges are golden and the centres are set. Leave on the sheets for 5 minutes, then cool on a rack.
5. Melt the dark chocolate and spoon a thin cap over each cooled biscuit. Melt the white chocolate, drizzle narrow lines over the dark chocolate, and drag a cocktail stick through the lines for a loose feathered finish. Leave to set.

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

The adaptation intentionally omits caramel and formal chocolate tempering, reducing the equipment and time needed at home.

For crisper biscuits, return them to the switched-off oven for five minutes after the main bake, then cool completely before adding chocolate.

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 16, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

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