The Great British Baking Show Season 9 (Bake Off)

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Series nine opens with biscuits before moving through cakes, bread, desserts, spice, pastry, vegan baking, Danish baking, patisserie, and the final. This guide records the complete challenge brief for every episode and includes two original home-kitchen adaptations drawn from documented technical challenges.

1. Episode 1 · Biscuits

   Biscuits

   Aug 28, 2018

   The series begins with place-specific regional biscuits, a chocolate-coated childhood favorite, and upright self-portraits built entirely from biscuit layers.

   • Signature

     24 regional biscuits

     Bake 24 identical biscuits in two hours that represent the baker and a place in the British Isles.

   • Technical

     8 Wagon Wheels

     Make eight Wagon Wheels from Paul Hollywood's brief in two hours 15 minutes.

   • Showstopper

     3D biscuit self-portrait

     Construct a layered biscuit self-portrait in four hours that can be judged standing upright on an easel.

   Make our home version →Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Cakes

   Cakes

   Sep 4, 2018

   Cake week moves from precisely portioned traybakes to a pistachio-and-spinach French cake before finishing with tall chocolate-collar constructions.

   • Signature

     16 traybakes

     Create a traybake cut into 16 identical pieces in two hours.

   • Technical

     Le Gateau Vert

     Make Le Gateau Vert in two hours 15 minutes, combining pistachio genoise, pistachio creme au beurre, and spinach-coloured green fondant.

   • Showstopper

     Chocolate collar cake

     Build a technically demanding cake of at least two tiers enclosed by a chocolate collar in four hours.

   Episode source

3. Episode 3 · Bread

   Bread

   Sep 11, 2018

   Bread week covers enriched Chelsea buns, quickly grilled garlic naan, and a highly decorated three-tier celebratory korovai.

   • Signature

     12 Chelsea buns

     Bake 12 Chelsea buns in three hours.

   • Technical

     8 non-yeasted garlic naan

     Make eight non-yeasted garlic naan in one hour, grilling them and finishing with garlic ghee and coriander.

   • Showstopper

     Three-tiered korovai

     Create an elaborately decorated three-tier korovai for a celebration in five hours.

   Episode source

4. Episode 4 · Desserts

   Desserts

   Sep 18, 2018

   Dessert week combines a meringue roulade, raspberry blancmange with delicate biscuits, and a chocolate sphere designed to melt under hot sauce and reveal a hidden dessert.

   • Signature

     Meringue roulade

     Make a meringue roulade in one hour 45 minutes.

   • Technical

     Raspberry blancmange with 12 langues de chat

     Produce a raspberry blancmange served with 12 langues de chat biscuits from Prue Leith's brief in two and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     Melting chocolate ball dessert

     Create a chocolate sphere in three hours that melts under hot sauce to reveal a dessert inside.

   Episode source

5. Episode 5 · Spice

   Spice

   Sep 25, 2018

   Spice week starts with ginger cake, turns to molded and hand-pinched Middle Eastern pastries, and ends with suspended biscuit chandeliers.

   • Signature

     Ginger cake

     Bake a ginger cake in two hours.

   • Technical

     12 ma'amoul

     Make 12 ma'amoul in one and a half hours: six walnut-filled molded pastries and six date-filled pastries decorated with tongs.

   • Showstopper

     Spiced biscuit chandelier

     Construct a gravity-defying spiced biscuit chandelier in four hours.

   Episode source

6. Episode 6 · Pastry

   Pastry

   Oct 2, 2018

   Sweet and savoury samosas precede caramelised puff-pastry wells, followed by shaped banquet pies intended to command a Tudor table.

   • Signature

     12 samosas

     Make six savoury and six sweet samosas with a complementary dip in two hours.

   • Technical

     6 puits d'amour

     Produce six puits d'amour, or wells of love, from Prue Leith's brief in two hours.

   • Showstopper

     Shaped banquet pie

     Create a decoratively shaped centerpiece pie for a Tudor banquet in three and a half hours.

   Episode source

7. Episode 7 · Vegan baking

   Vegan

   Oct 9, 2018

   The show's first vegan week tests egg- and butter-free tartlets, aquafaba meringue, and fully plant-based celebration cakes.

   • Signature

     8 savoury vegan tartlets

     Make eight savoury vegan shortcrust tartlets in two hours, split between two fillings and using no butter or eggs.

   • Technical

     Vegan tropical fruit pavlova

     Make a tropical-fruit pavlova with aquafaba meringue from Prue Leith's brief in two and a half hours.

   • Showstopper

     Vegan celebratory cake

     Create a fully vegan celebration cake in four hours.

   Make our home version →Episode source

8. Episode 8 · Danish baking

   Danish (Quarterfinals)

   Oct 16, 2018

   The quarterfinal uses homemade rye bread for open sandwiches, then turns to filled spherical pancakes and an elaborate person-shaped Danish birthday pastry.

   • Signature

     2 types of smorrebrod

     Bake a rye loaf and use it to make two styles of smorrebrod in three and a half hours.

   • Technical

     14 aebleskiver

     Make 14 aebleskiver with apple-cinnamon filling and strawberry jam dipping sauce in one hour.

   • Showstopper

     Kagemand or kagekone

     Create a person-shaped Danish-pastry birthday cake based on someone recognizable, using at least three confectionery skills, in four and a half hours.

   Episode source

9. Episode 9 · Patisserie

   Patisserie (Semi-final)

   Oct 23, 2018

   The semifinal progresses from two kinds of dipped madeleine to a seven-layer chocolate-hazelnut technical and a full Parisian pastry-window assortment.

   • Signature

     24 dipped madeleines

     Make 24 dipped madeleines in two designs and flavours within one and a half hours.

   • Technical

     Torta Setteveli

     Construct a seven-layer Torta Setteveli in three and a half hours with chocolate genoise, hazelnut bavarois, praline crunch, chocolate mousse, and mirror glaze.

   • Showstopper

     Parisian patisserie window

     Present 36 pastries in five hours across three types: choux pastry, pate sucree, and puff-pastry mille-feuille.

   Episode source

10. Episode 10 · Final

    Final

    Oct 30, 2018

    The final covers filled and ring doughnuts, pita baked over an outdoor fire with three dips, and expansive dessert landscapes combining several distinct elements.

    • Signature

      12 iced doughnuts

      Make 12 iced doughnuts in three hours, divided between filled doughnuts and ring doughnuts.

    • Technical

      6 campfire pita breads

      Bake six pita breads outdoors over a campfire in 90 minutes and serve them with baba ghanoush, smoked-garlic salsa verde, and burnt-pepper salsa.

    • Showstopper

      Landscape dessert

      Create an edible dessert landscape containing at least three different elements in four and a half 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

Homemade Wagon Wheels

Crisp round biscuits sandwiching raspberry jam and vanilla marshmallow, finished with a thin dark-chocolate coating.

Time

1 hr 4 min

Makes

8 sandwich biscuits

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 180 g plain flour
• 30 g icing sugar
• 100 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 80 g seedless raspberry jam
• 8 large vanilla marshmallows, halved
• 250 g dark chocolate
• 1 teaspoon neutral oil

Method

1. Rub the butter into the flour and icing sugar, add the yolk and 1 tablespoon cold water, and bring the dough together. Chill for 25 minutes.
2. Roll the dough to 4 mm thick, cut 16 rounds with a 7 cm cutter, and bake at 180 C, or 160 C fan, for 12 to 14 minutes. Cool completely.
3. Spread eight biscuits with jam. Arrange two marshmallow halves on each and warm under a low grill just until soft.
4. Press the remaining biscuits on top and chill the sandwiches for 15 minutes.
5. Melt the chocolate with the oil, coat each sandwich, drain on a rack, and leave to set on baking paper.

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

Watch the marshmallows continuously under the grill because they colour quickly.

Open the full recipe →

Inspired by Episode 7

Aquafaba Tropical Pavlova

A crisp vegan meringue shell topped with coconut cream, mango, passion fruit, and lime.

Time

2 hrs 15 min

Makes

One 20 cm pavlova, serving 8

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 150 ml aquafaba from unsalted canned chickpeas
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 250 g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 400 ml full-fat coconut cream, chilled
• 1 ripe mango, diced
• 2 passion fruits
• Finely grated zest of 1 lime

Method

1. Heat the oven to 130 C, or 110 C fan, and draw a 20 cm circle on baking paper.
2. Whisk the aquafaba and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Add the sugar one spoonful at a time and continue whisking until thick and glossy, then fold in the cornflour and vanilla.
3. Shape the meringue inside the circle with a shallow well in the center. Bake for one hour 45 minutes, switch off the oven, and cool inside with the door slightly open.
4. Scoop the firm coconut cream from the can and whip it until smooth and aerated.
5. Top the cooled shell with coconut cream, mango, passion-fruit pulp, and lime zest immediately before serving.

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

Use unsalted aquafaba and a scrupulously grease-free bowl for the strongest foam.

Assemble shortly before serving so the fruit does not soften the shell.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

Challenge details verified 2026-07-14. thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk, thegreatbritishbakeoff.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 9, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

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