The Great British Baking Show Season 6 (Bake Off)

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Series six runs through ten themed weeks, moving from foundational cakes, biscuits, and bread into alternative ingredients, Victorian baking, patisserie, chocolate, and the final. This guide records all three challenge briefs for every episode and pairs each week with an original home-kitchen adaptation inspired by its technical challenge.

1. Episode 1 · Cakes

   Cakes

   Aug 5, 2015

   Cake week begins with a restrained Madeira cake, raises the precision level with a layered walnut technical, and finishes with an extravagant Black Forest gateau.

   • Signature

     Madeira cake

     Bake a Madeira cake in two hours, keeping the classic domed shape and characteristic crack while adding only a measured personal variation.

   • Technical

     Walnut cake

     Produce Mary Berry's three-layer walnut cake in one hour 45 minutes, finished with meringue coating and caramelised walnuts.

   • Showstopper

     Black Forest gateau

     Create an extravagant Black Forest gateau in three and a half hours with the scale and finish expected of a showpiece.

   Make our home version →Episode source

2. Episode 2 · Biscuits

   Biscuits

   Aug 12, 2015

   The bakers move from uniform twice-baked biscotti to delicate cinnamon arlettes before engineering a presentation box and its entire biscuit collection.

   • Signature

     24 biscotti

     Make 24 identical biscotti in two hours, with freedom over their shape, size, and flavour.

   • Technical

     8 arlettes

     Bake eight thin, crisp cinnamon arlettes in two and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     36 biscuits and an edible biscuit box

     Present 36 biscuits inside a box made from a different biscuit dough, completing the construction in four hours.

   Make our home version →Episode source

3. Episode 3 · Bread

   Bread

   Aug 19, 2015

   Bread week contrasts quick, free-form loaves with carefully fermented baguettes, then asks for a large edible sculpture built from several doughs.

   • Signature

     2 quick breads

     Make two free-form quick breads without loaf tins in one and a half hours.

   • Technical

     4 baguettes

     Bake four identical crusty baguettes from Paul Hollywood's brief in two and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     3D bread sculpture

     Build a three-dimensional bread sculpture in five hours using three dough types, including at least one filled dough.

   Episode source

4. Episode 4 · Desserts

   Desserts

   Aug 26, 2015

   Dessert week tests gently set custards, a structured Austrian meringue torte, and tall self-supporting stacks of three differently flavoured cheesecakes.

   • Signature

     12 creme brulees

     Make 12 set creme brulees in two hours and caramelise their tops without using a blowtorch.

   • Technical

     Spanische Windtorte

     Construct a Spanische Windtorte in four hours from French and Swiss meringue, forming a round shell filled with cream and fruit.

   • Showstopper

     Three-tiered cheesecake

     Create a self-standing three-tier tower of sweet cheesecakes with distinct flavours in four and a half hours.

   Episode source

5. Episode 5 · Alternative ingredients

   Alternative Ingredients

   Sep 2, 2015

   Each round removes a familiar baking staple: refined sugar from cake, gluten from pita, and dairy from the ice cream inside a rolled frozen dessert.

   • Signature

     Sugar-free cake

     Bake a cake without sugar in two and a half hours, finding sweetness and structure through alternative ingredients.

   • Technical

     12 gluten-free pita breads

     Make 12 identical gluten-free pita breads in two hours, aiming for evenly inflated pockets.

   • Showstopper

     Dairy-free ice-cream roll

     Create a rolled sponge dessert around dairy-free ice cream in four and a half hours.

   Episode source

6. Episode 6 · Pastry

   Pastry

   Sep 9, 2015

   Pastry week moves from open shortcrust frangipane tarts to Cypriot cheese pastries and finally a large assortment of sweet and savoury vol-au-vents made with homemade puff pastry.

   • Signature

     Frangipane tart

     Bake an open-topped frangipane tart with shortcrust pastry in two hours.

   • Technical

     12 flaounes

     Make 12 Cypriot cheese-filled flaounes in two hours.

   • Showstopper

     48 vol-au-vents

     Produce two varieties of vol-au-vent using homemade puff pastry in three hours 45 minutes, for 48 pieces overall.

   Episode source

7. Episode 7 · Victorian baking

   Victorian

   Sep 16, 2015

   The historical week demands ornate hot-water-crust pies, a decorated tennis fruit cake, and a grand Charlotte Russe enclosed by ladyfingers.

   • Signature

     Raised game pie

     Make an ornate raised game pie with a thin hot-water-crust shell in three hours.

   • Technical

     Tennis cake

     Complete a Victorian tennis fruit cake in three hours, using royal icing, sugar paste, and gelatine decoration.

   • Showstopper

     Charlotte Russe

     Build and decorate a Charlotte Russe in five and a half hours, enclosing sponge, jelly, and cream with ladyfingers.

   Episode source

8. Episode 8 · Patisserie

   Patisserie (Quarterfinals)

   Sep 23, 2015

   The quarterfinal compresses three pastry-shop disciplines into cream horns, coffee-finished miniature genoise cakes, and a freestanding tower of oversized eclairs.

   • Signature

     24 cream horns

     Make 24 cream horns in two flavours using puff, rough-puff, or flaky pastry in three and a half hours.

   • Technical

     9 mokatines

     Produce nine neat mokatines in two hours: small genoise cakes filled with coffee buttercream and finished to patisserie-window standard.

   • Showstopper

     Religieuse a l'ancienne

     Construct a freestanding religieuse a l'ancienne from upright oversized eclairs and buttercream in four hours, without dowels.

   Episode source

9. Episode 9 · Chocolate

   Chocolate (Semifinals)

   Sep 30, 2015

   The semifinal centers chocolate in an ornate tart, a staggered technical souffle, and a freestanding centerpiece that must also include white chocolate and biscuit work.

   • Signature

     Chocolate tart

     Make an ornate, intricate, strongly flavoured chocolate tart in two and a half hours.

   • Technical

     Chocolate souffle

     Bake a chocolate souffle in one hour 15 minutes under staggered-start judging.

   • Showstopper

     Chocolate centrepiece

     Create a freestanding chocolate centerpiece in four hours, incorporating both white chocolate and a biscuit element.

   Episode source

10. Episode 10 · Final

    Final

    Oct 7, 2015

    The finalists revisit enriched buns, laminated pastry, and classic British cake, with exacting quantities and presentation standards across all three rounds.

    • Signature

      16 iced buns

      Make 16 iced buns in two distinct varieties within three hours.

    • Technical

      6 raspberry mille-feuille

      Produce six raspberry mille-feuille with puff pastry and fondant icing from Paul Hollywood's brief in two hours.

    • Showstopper

      Classic British cake

      Present a classic British cake with at least three layers in four hours.

    Episode source

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

Coffee-Walnut Layer Cake

A manageable two-layer walnut sponge with coffee buttercream and crisp caramel walnut pieces, inspired by the opening technical.

Time

1 hr 5 min

Makes

One 20 cm cake, serving 10

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 180 g unsalted butter, softened
• 180 g light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 160 g self-raising flour
• 80 g walnuts, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 150 g icing sugar
• 75 g unsalted butter, softened, for the frosting
• 40 g caster sugar and 8 walnut halves, for the garnish

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 C, or 160 C fan. Grease and line two 20 cm round pans.
2. Beat the butter and brown sugar until pale. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then fold in the flour, chopped walnuts, and half the espresso dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water.
3. Divide between the pans and bake for 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.
4. Beat the frosting butter with the icing sugar and remaining dissolved espresso until smooth, then use half to sandwich the cakes and half on top.
5. Melt the caster sugar in a small pan to amber. Add the walnut halves, turn them onto baking paper to cool, then arrange them on the cake.

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

The caramel is extremely hot; move the coated nuts with utensils and let them cool fully.

Open the full recipe →

Inspired by Episode 2

Cinnamon Arlettes

Paper-thin spirals of puff pastry and cinnamon sugar, baked between trays for an even, glassy crispness.

Time

43 min

Makes

12 biscuits

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 320 g ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
• 70 g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 20 g icing sugar, for rolling
• 1 pinch fine salt

Method

1. Mix the caster sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Unroll the pastry, scatter it evenly with the mixture, and roll it tightly from a short edge.
2. Chill the log for 25 minutes, then cut it into 12 equal rounds.
3. Dust the worktop with icing sugar and roll each round into a very thin oval, turning often to prevent sticking.
4. Place the biscuits between two sheets of baking paper and sandwich them between two flat baking trays.
5. Bake at 200 C, or 180 C fan, for 15 minutes. Remove the top tray and paper and bake 2 to 3 minutes more until caramelised, then cool flat.

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

Keep the pastry cold between rolling batches so its layers remain distinct.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

Challenge details verified 2026-07-14. bbc.co.uk, thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk, 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 6, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

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