Holiday Baking Championship Season 4

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

The fourth season runs seven competition episodes and fourteen challenges, beginning with party sweets and moving through team bakes, Thanksgiving mashups, holiday makeovers, unusual cheesecakes, jelly doughnuts, fruitcake, and a Twelve Days of Christmas finale. One original home adaptation is based on the documented apricot-and-citrus doughnut pairing.

1. Episode 1 · Candy canes and holiday cocktails

   Holiday Party Delights

   Nov 6, 2017

   Unusual candy cane flavors open the season, followed by cocktail-inspired desserts that must also make room for salted peanuts.

   • Preliminary

     Unusual-flavor candy cane dessert

     Make a candy cane dessert in 90 minutes using an assigned green apple, salted caramel, raspberry, caramel macchiato, cherry, orange, blueberry, hot cocoa, or pineapple candy cane.

   • Main

     Holiday cocktail-inspired dessert

     Create a dessert in two hours based on an assigned holiday cocktail, then incorporate salted peanuts when they are introduced during the heat.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Team hand pies and dessert duos

   Season of Sharing

   Nov 13, 2017

   The bakers share both heats with partners, first shaping a dozen hand pies and then creating two complementary desserts from a classic flavor pairing plus eggnog.

   • Preliminary

     Twelve seasonally shaped hand pies

     Working in pairs, bake twelve hand pies in 90 minutes in an assigned maple-leaf, turkey, pumpkin, or acorn shape.

   • Main

     Holiday dessert duo

     In newly selected pairs, make two desserts in 90 minutes around pecan and caramel, chocolate and orange, cranberry and ginger, or peppermint and chocolate, then incorporate eggnog.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

3. Episode 3 · Canned fruit and dessert mashups

   Thanksgiving Genius

   Nov 20, 2017

   Mystery canned fruit drives a quick Thanksgiving sweet before each baker combines two familiar desserts and adds sweet potato.

   • Preliminary

     Mystery canned-fruit Thanksgiving dessert

     Make a Thanksgiving dessert in one hour using an assigned canned plum, pumpkin, apricot, cranberry, peach, mandarin orange, or pineapple.

   • Main

     Thanksgiving dessert mashup

     Fuse two assigned desserts into one new sweet in 90 minutes, with combinations including pumpkin pie and brownies or lemon bars and pecan pie, then incorporate sweet potato.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

4. Episode 4 · Unexpected holiday makeovers

   A New Holiday Spin

   Nov 27, 2017

   Yellow cake mix must become anything except cake, after which a familiar non-holiday dessert receives festive flavors, decoration, and fresh cherries.

   • Preliminary

     Anything-but-cake dessert from cake mix

     Use boxed yellow cake mix to create any dessert other than cake in one hour.

   • Main

     Holiday makeover of a non-holiday dessert

     Give an assigned coconut cream pie, strawberry shortcake, fruit tart, birthday cake, banana pudding, or red-white-and-blue trifle a holiday transformation in 90 minutes, then add fresh cherries.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

5. Episode 5 · Flambe and cheese-board desserts

   Comfort and Joy

   Dec 4, 2017

   Fire supplies drama in the preliminary heat, while the main heat turns assertive cheese-board ingredients and accompaniments into cheesecakes.

   • Preliminary

     Holiday flambe dessert

     Create a holiday dessert with a flambeed component in one hour.

   • Main

     Cheese-board cheesecake

     Make a cheesecake in two hours with assigned goat cheese, feta, blue cheese, cheddar, or Brie, then add a selected cheese-board accompaniment such as nuts, balsamic vinegar, dates, or fig jam.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

6. Episode 6 · Hanukkah doughnuts and fruitcake

   Tradition! Tradition!

   Dec 11, 2017

   Jelly doughnuts combine paired sweet and savory flavors before the semifinalists reinvent fruitcake and make butterscotch from scratch.

   • Preliminary

     Twelve paired-flavor Hanukkah jelly doughnuts

     Make twelve jelly doughnuts in 90 minutes using an assigned blueberry and chile, pear and basil, strawberry and ginger, or apricot and citrus pairing.

   • Main

     Reinvented fruitcake dessert

     Reinvent fruitcake as a new dessert in two hours and make butterscotch from scratch to incorporate after the mid-round requirement is announced.

   Make our home version →Episode source 1Episode source 2

7. Episode 7 · Last-minute gifts and Christmas carol showpieces

   Twelve Days of Christmas

   Dec 18, 2017

   Pairs of last-minute gifts become unified desserts before the finalists interpret lines from The Twelve Days of Christmas as showpieces and add a dozen petit-four presents.

   • Preliminary

     Two-gift holiday dessert

     In 90 minutes, combine an assigned pair of gifts into one dessert: butter cookies and popcorn, Irish cream and peppermint bark, or Pinot Noir and chocolate-caramel-pecan clusters.

   • Main

     Twelve Days of Christmas showpiece dessert

     Create a five-hour showpiece based on twelve drummers drumming, six geese a-laying, or eight maids a-milking, then add twelve petit fours decorated as presents.

   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 6

Apricot Citrus Jelly Doughnuts

Soft yeast doughnuts filled with apricot-orange jam and rolled in lemon-scented sugar.

Time

1 hr 5 min

Makes

12 doughnuts

Level

Medium

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 180 ml whole milk, lukewarm
• 7 g instant yeast
• 45 g granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 45 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 360 g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• Neutral oil, for frying
• 180 g smooth apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 100 g granulated sugar, for coating
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Method

1. Whisk the milk, yeast, and 45 g sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg, yolk, melted butter, vanilla, and orange zest.
2. Stir in the flour and salt to form a soft dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
3. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place for 60 to 75 minutes, until doubled.
4. Roll the dough to about 1.5 cm thick. Cut twelve 6 cm rounds, rerolling the scraps once, and arrange them on small squares of baking paper.
5. Cover the rounds loosely and proof for 30 to 40 minutes, until visibly puffy. Meanwhile, stir the apricot jam and orange juice until smooth and transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a filling tip.
6. Mix the 100 g sugar and lemon zest in a shallow bowl, rubbing the zest into the sugar with your fingertips.
7. Heat 5 cm of neutral oil in a heavy pan to 175 C. Fry the doughnuts in batches for about 90 seconds per side, maintaining the oil temperature between batches.
8. Drain briefly on a rack, then roll the warm doughnuts in the lemon sugar.
9. When cool enough to handle, pierce the side of each doughnut and pipe in apricot filling until the doughnut feels slightly heavy. Serve the same day.

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 a thermometer and a deep, stable pan for frying; keep water away from the hot oil and never leave it unattended.

The schema uses bake_minutes for active cooking time even though these doughnuts are fried.

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 4, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

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