Holiday Baking Championship Season 2

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Season two expands to eight episodes and repeatedly adds assigned ingredients or tools during the main heat. Its sixteen challenges cover nuts, candy canes, stuffed bakes, Thanksgiving produce, ginger, Hanukkah pastries, gift baskets, and a cake-centered finale. One original home adaptation draws on the canned-cranberry challenge.

1. Episode 1 · Nuts, chocolate, and pie

   We're Nuts for the Holidays

   Nov 1, 2015

   A nutcracker draw pairs each baker with a nut for a chocolate confection before the field turns to decorated holiday pies.

   • Preliminary

     Nut and chocolate confection

     Use 90 minutes to make a chocolate confection featuring the nut drawn from a tagged nutcracker: pecan, almond, Brazil nut, hazelnut, or walnut.

   • Main

     Decorated holiday pie

     Bake and decorate a holiday pie in two hours; the preliminary winner received additional decorating tools, cutters, and stencils.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Candy canes and wreaths

   Holiday Craftiness

   Nov 8, 2015

   The bakers first feature candy canes in a baked dessert, then construct edible wreaths that must absorb an orange twist without losing their decorative impact.

   • Preliminary

     Candy cane baked dessert

     Create a baked dessert centered on candy canes in one hour.

   • Main

     Edible holiday wreath dessert

     Build an edible wreath dessert in 90 minutes and incorporate orange when it is introduced as the mid-round ingredient.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

3. Episode 3 · Filled holiday bakes

   Stuffing Is the Best Part

   Nov 15, 2015

   Holiday whoopie pies take on assigned Thanksgiving decorations before cakes conceal a candy-filled center revealed only when sliced.

   • Preliminary

     Themed holiday whoopie pies

     Make holiday whoopie pies in one hour and decorate them for an assigned theme: turkey, pumpkin, Pilgrim, or fall foliage.

   • Main

     Candy-stuffed cake

     Bake a cake with a hidden candy center in two hours, choosing from the supplied candies so the filling is exposed when the cake is cut.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

4. Episode 4 · Thanksgiving ingredients

   Thanksgiving's Just Around the Corner

   Nov 22, 2015

   Canned cranberry sauce drives the first dessert, followed by assigned harvest produce and a flavored-marshmallow interruption in the main heat.

   • Preliminary

     Canned cranberry sauce dessert

     Use canned cranberry sauce as a featured component in a dessert completed within one hour.

   • Main

     Assigned harvest-ingredient dessert

     Make a dessert in 90 minutes using an assigned apple, butternut squash, pomegranate, carrot, sweet potato, corn, or fig, then incorporate a coconut, chocolate, coffee, or salted-caramel marshmallow.

   Make our home version →Episode source 1Episode source 2

5. Episode 5 · Ginger and family cookies

   Ginger and Spice and Everything Nice

   Nov 29, 2015

   Ginger anchors a dozen miniature desserts, then family cookie traditions are translated into three large batches with an unexpected tool requirement.

   • Preliminary

     Twelve ginger mini desserts

     Make twelve miniature desserts in one hour with ginger as the leading ingredient.

   • Main

     Three dozen family-tradition cookies

     Bake three different cookie varieties, one dozen of each, in 90 minutes and use an assigned meat crusher, muffin tin, or candy thermometer on one variety.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

6. Episode 6 · Hanukkah and French pastry

   World Class Classics

   Dec 6, 2015

   Two Hanukkah standards receive updates in the preliminary heat, while the main heat demands a freestanding holiday croquembouche.

   • Preliminary

     Updated rugelach and coconut macaroons

     Bake updated versions of both rugelach and coconut macaroons in 75 minutes.

   • Main

     Holiday croquembouche

     Create a holiday croquembouche from filled choux pastries in two hours.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

7. Episode 7 · Candy apples and gift baskets

   Re-Gifting

   Dec 13, 2015

   The semifinal transforms decorated candy apples into new desserts, then limits each baker to the same three gift-basket foods plus an assigned liqueur.

   • Preliminary

     Candy apple transformation dessert

     Turn an assigned chocolate-coated candy apple with coconut, cinnamon chips, dried cherries, or almonds into a new dessert in 75 minutes.

   • Main

     Pear, pretzel, and chocolate-caramel confection

     In 90 minutes, make one confection using pears, pretzels, and chocolate caramels, then add the assigned brandy, coffee liqueur, orange liqueur, or raspberry liqueur.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

8. Episode 8 · Cookie trees and holiday activity cakes

   Holiday Hoopla

   Dec 20, 2015

   The finalists decorate a tree from two dozen cookies before building a five-hour cake around sleigh riding, caroling, or tree trimming.

   • Preliminary

     Two-dozen-cookie holiday tree

     Bake two dozen holiday cookies and use them to decorate a cookie tree in three hours.

   • Main

     Holiday activity cake

     Create a festive cake in five hours based on the assigned activity of taking a sleigh ride, singing carols, or trimming a tree.

   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 4

Cranberry Orange Crumble Bars

Buttery oat bars layered with a bright filling made from whole-berry cranberry sauce, fresh orange, and tart apple.

Time

1 hr 7 min

Makes

16 bars

Level

Easy

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 210 g all-purpose flour
• 90 g rolled oats
• 140 g light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 170 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 340 g canned whole-berry cranberry sauce
• 1 small tart apple, peeled and coarsely grated
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 30 g sliced almonds

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 C, or 160 C fan. Line a 20 cm square pan with baking paper.
2. Whisk the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour in the melted butter and vanilla, then stir until the mixture forms damp clumps.
3. Press two-thirds of the crumble firmly and evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes, until the surface looks dry but is not browned.
4. Meanwhile, stir the cranberry sauce, grated apple, orange zest, orange juice, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until glossy and slightly thickened.
5. Spread the warm cranberry filling over the base, leaving a narrow border at the edge.
6. Mix the sliced almonds into the reserved crumble and scatter it over the filling without pressing it down.
7. Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, until the top is golden and the filling bubbles at the edges.
8. Cool completely in the pan, then chill for 30 minutes before lifting out and cutting into 16 bars.

This is an original Baking Show Guide home adaptation inspired by the episode brief. It is not a contestant recipe and not an official Food Network recipe.

Use whole-berry rather than jellied cranberry sauce so the filling retains texture.

The bars keep airtight in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

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

Season result

The winner stays hidden until you choose to reveal it.

See every Holiday Baking Championshipwinner, season by season →

Full cast

Everyone recorded for Season 2, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

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