The Great British Baking Show Season 7 (Bake Off)

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Series seven spans ten weeks of cake, biscuits, bread, batter, pastry, botanical baking, desserts, Tudor food, patisserie, and a royal-picnic final. This guide preserves every challenge brief and offers one original home-kitchen adaptation for each episode, based on its documented technical bake.

1. Episode 1 · Cake

   Cake

   Aug 24, 2016

   The opening week moves from moist drizzle cakes to uniform chocolate-and-orange Jaffa cakes, then demands a flawless reflective finish on a genoise-based showpiece.

   • Signature

     Drizzle cake

     Bake a drizzle cake in two hours, ensuring the flavouring liquid permeates a moist sponge.

   • Technical

     12 Jaffa cakes

     Make 12 Jaffa cakes from Mary Berry's brief with fatless sponge, orange jelly, and patterned tempered chocolate.

   • Showstopper

     Mirror glaze cake

     Create a genoise cake fully covered by a bright, highly reflective mirror glaze in three hours.

   Make our home version →Episode source

2. Episode 2 · Biscuits

   Biscuits

   Aug 31, 2016

   Biscuit week balances detailed icing, piped Viennese whirls, and a large gingerbread scene that must combine height, structure, and multiple edible figures.

   • Signature

     24 iced biscuits

     Make 24 crisp, uniform iced biscuits in two and a half hours.

   • Technical

     12 Viennese whirls

     Pipe and bake 12 clearly defined Viennese whirls, sandwiching them with jam and buttercream in one and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     3D gingerbread scene

     Build a gingerbread scene at least 30 cm tall with at least eight characters or objects in four hours.

   Make our home version →Episode source

3. Episode 3 · Bread

   Bread

   Sep 7, 2016

   Chocolate-enriched loaves open bread week before steamed German buns and an elaborate savoury braided centerpiece test very different dough-handling skills.

   • Signature

     Chocolate loaf

     Bake a loaf containing chocolate in some form within two and a half hours.

   • Technical

     12 dampfnudel

     Make 12 steamed dampfnudel with two accompanying sauces in two hours.

   • Showstopper

     Savoury plaited bread centrepiece

     Construct a savoury braided centerpiece in four hours using at least three different flours.

   Episode source

4. Episode 4 · Batter

   Batter

   Sep 14, 2016

   The first batter week runs from filled Yorkshire puddings to one-chance lace pancakes and finally a large batch of sweet fried churros.

   • Signature

     24 filled Yorkshire puddings

     Bake 24 Yorkshire puddings with savoury fillings and flavours in two hours.

   • Technical

     12 heart-shaped lace pancakes

     Draw 12 heart-shaped lace pancakes in one hour, with only one practice pancake allowed.

   • Showstopper

     36 churros

     Make and present 36 sweet churros in three hours.

   Episode source

5. Episode 5 · Pastry

   Pastry

   Sep 21, 2016

   Laminated breakfast pastries lead into a precise feathered Bakewell tart, followed by dozens of tiny sweet and savoury filo bites.

   • Signature

     24 breakfast pastries

     Prepare 24 breakfast pastries from two different dough batches, 12 of each type, in three and a half hours.

   • Technical

     Feathered Bakewell tart

     Make a classic Bakewell tart with a feathered icing finish in two and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     48 filo amuse-bouche

     Create 24 savoury and 24 sweet filled filo amuse-bouche in four hours.

   Episode source

6. Episode 6 · Botanical baking

   Botanical

   Sep 28, 2016

   Citrus, herbs, and flowers shape the week through a meringue pie, leaf-shaped fougasse, and a large floral tiered cake.

   • Signature

     Citrus meringue pie

     Bake a meringue pie featuring citrus fruit in two hours.

   • Technical

     2 herb fougasse

     Make two leaf-shaped herb fougasse loaves in two hours.

   • Showstopper

     Three-tier flower cake

     Create a three-tier flower-themed cake in four hours, with floral decoration and either matching or distinct tier flavours.

   Episode source

7. Episode 7 · Desserts

   Desserts

   Oct 5, 2016

   Dessert week calls for a cleanly rolled family sponge, a layered nut-meringue marjolaine, and two flavours of miniature mousse cakes.

   • Signature

     Family-sized roulade

     Make a family-sized roulade in one and a half hours with a light sponge, even filling, and clean spiral.

   • Technical

     Marjolaine

     Construct a marjolaine in three hours from nut meringue layers, ganache, and nuts.

   • Showstopper

     24 mini mousse cakes

     Produce 24 miniature mousse cakes in four hours, split evenly between two flavours.

   Episode source

8. Episode 8 · Tudor baking

   Tudor (Quarterfinals)

   Oct 12, 2016

   The quarterfinal looks to Tudor food with shaped savoury pies, two traditional forms of spiced jumble, and a sculptural marchpane centerpiece.

   • Signature

     Shaped savoury pies

     Make shaped savoury pies with Tudor-inspired flavours in three hours, using any pastry and filling.

   • Technical

     12 jumbles

     Bake 12 jumbles in one and a half hours: six knot balls and six Celtic knots.

   • Showstopper

     3D marchpane cake

     Create a Tudor-themed three-dimensional marchpane, or marzipan, cake in three and a half hours.

   Episode source

9. Episode 9 · Patisserie

   Patisserie (Semi-final)

   Oct 19, 2016

   The semifinal combines savoury laminated palmiers, a syrup-soaked yeasted savarin, and 36 meticulously covered fondant fancies.

   • Signature

     24 savoury palmiers

     Bake 24 palmiers in three hours using two different savoury fillings and shapes.

   • Technical

     Savarin

     Make a liqueur-soaked yeasted savarin in two and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     36 fondant fancies

     Produce 36 neat fondant fancies in four and a half hours.

   Episode source

10. Episode 10 · Royal picnic

    Royal Picnic (Final)

    Oct 26, 2016

    The final opens with layered meringue crowns, strips a Victoria sandwich back to pure baking memory, and closes with a five-part picnic spread fit for the Queen.

    • Signature

      Filled meringue crown

      Make a filled crown with at least three meringue layers in three hours.

    • Technical

      Victoria sandwich

      Bake a Victoria sandwich without a supplied recipe or method in one and a half hours.

    • Showstopper

      Picnic fit for the Queen

      In five hours, make one chocolate celebration cake plus 12 sausage rolls, 12 mini quiches, 12 savoury scones, and 12 fruit-and-custard tarts.

    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

Orange Jaffa Cakes

Small fatless sponges topped with bright orange jelly and a thin dark-chocolate cap.

Time

45 min

Makes

12 cakes

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 1 small orange jelly tablet, about 135 g
• 150 ml boiling water
• 2 large eggs
• 50 g caster sugar
• 50 g plain flour
• 150 g dark chocolate

Method

1. Dissolve the jelly in the boiling water, pour into a shallow lined tray, and chill until firm.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and pale, fold in the flour, and spoon into 12 greased shallow bun-tin wells.
3. Bake at 190 C, or 170 C fan, for 8 to 10 minutes, then cool and turn out.
4. Cut 12 jelly rounds slightly smaller than the cakes and place one on each sponge.
5. Melt and cool the chocolate until barely fluid. Spoon it over the jelly, mark each top with a fork, and leave to set.

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

Cool chocolate will sit on the jelly instead of melting it.

Open the full recipe →

Inspired by Episode 2

Raspberry Viennese Whirls

Tender piped butter biscuits paired with raspberry jam and light vanilla buttercream.

Time

44 min

Makes

12 sandwich biscuits

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 200 g unsalted butter, very soft
• 50 g icing sugar
• 200 g plain flour
• 40 g cornflour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 75 g seedless raspberry jam
• 75 g icing sugar and 35 g butter, for filling

Method

1. Beat the butter, 50 g icing sugar, and vanilla until smooth, then mix in the flour and cornflour.
2. Pipe 24 equal rosettes onto lined trays with a large star nozzle and chill for 20 minutes.
3. Bake at 190 C, or 170 C fan, for 12 to 14 minutes until lightly golden. Cool fully.
4. Beat the filling butter with 75 g icing sugar until fluffy.
5. Pair the biscuits by size and sandwich each pair with buttercream and a small spoonful of jam.

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

The dough must be soft enough to pipe but cold enough to retain ridges.

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 7, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

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