The Great British Baking Show Season-Finale Recap: The Perfect Ending

by

In the final moments of the episode, Alison stepped onto the wet grass carrying a cake stand and revealed Jasmine as the winner. Tom immediately embraced her, telling her, “It’s always been you,” which perfectly summed up the latter half of the season. From the opening credits—showing a young girl sneaking a raspberry—we pretty much knew Jasmine would win, and now it’s official! While the outcome was predictable, the episode was a sweet and satisfying way to end the season.

From the very beginning of the finale, the show heavily favored Jasmine, quickly reminding viewers of her consistently strong performance throughout the season. The recap highlighted her two Hollywood Handshakes and a record-tying five wins, showing no negative feedback whatsoever. In contrast, Tom’s recap acknowledged his early success but focused on his more recent struggles, repeatedly pointing out that his bakes were often visually appealing but lacked flavor. They even noted he barely made it through the semi-final. Aaron didn’t fare much better in the recap. While praised for his inventive flavors, the segment also showed instances where his bakes didn’t quite succeed, including a clip of Prue visibly reacting negatively to a taste.

This week’s big challenge is to bake two different kinds of iced buns. But first, the show started with sweet childhood photos of all the bakers – I always enjoy seeing that! I wasn’t thrilled to see Tom’s boyfriend, George, though – he seems a bit too perfect. (Just kidding, he seems lovely!) I also learned Jasmine is currently studying for medical exams, which is incredibly impressive. I apologize for any previous criticisms – she’s managing to ace her studies and compete on the show, something I definitely couldn’t do while I was busy worrying about trivial things on vacation!

Tom quickly noticed his dough wasn’t right – it was much drier and tougher than usual. He tasted it and realized he’d accidentally used citric acid instead of salt! It’s usually for cleaning, so that was a surprising mistake. While citric acid can add a sour taste, it definitely wasn’t what he needed. When the judges tasted his buns, Paul immediately said the bread was difficult to eat. It looked as tough as Jasmine during her medical exams while filming the Baking Show. Despite this, Tom’s buns still looked the best, particularly his peaches and cream bun, which amusingly resembled a hot dog with mustard. He also made a piña colada bun, and given Paul’s love for the drink, it seemed like a guaranteed hit.

Aaron’s bread was criticized for being too dense, and Paul described his buns as thick. There were a lot of suggestive comments made, honestly! Everyone did enjoy his strawberry rhubarb flavors, though. Jasmine’s creations, as usual, looked beautiful and colorful. Paul particularly loved her strawberry and lemon buns, while Prue raved about the apricot and white chocolate ones (though I personally didn’t care for them!). Paul called Jasmine’s work “decent,” which is high praise coming from a Brit.

The final technical challenge proved difficult, asking bakers to create a tower of madeleines covered in white chocolate. While madeleines are a classic bake most bakers should be familiar with – the key to their signature hump is chilling the dough before baking – none of them seemed to know this crucial step. The results were disastrous, with everyone needing to make two attempts, and the final towers had very few actual humps, resembling more of a flat surface than the intended shape.

Okay, so Tom did something completely different from everyone else – and honestly, a little baffling. The challenge was to decorate cookies with an ombre effect on the tree – you know, lighter shades on top fading to darker – but Tom decided each individual cookie needed to be ombre. I mean, who even does that? It’s 2023, you’d think everyone would know what ombre is and why you wouldn’t need it on every single cookie! But, classic Tom, he pulled it off and still won, with Aaron as usual supporting him. Poor Jasmine, though – her madeleines were seriously flat, flatter even than Selena Gomez’s delivery in Only Murders in the Building! It’s just… a lot. And it reinforces that ‘Perfect Tom’ isn’t as perfect as he seems.

The most impressive challenge of the season is simple: bake a really big cake. There are no requirements for its shape, design, or any special features – it just needs to taste delicious and look beautiful, while measuring 1.2 meters long (a little under four feet). This length prompted a funny discussion between the hosts, Noel and Aaron, about how that’s about the height Paul Hollywood would be if he were a meerkat. This joke stems from a series of popular British commercials featuring meerkats, which aren’t shown in the US. These meerkats are the mascots for a UK insurance company, similar to the Geico gecko, and seeing Paul Hollywood deliver their famous line, “Simples,” is a highlight.

Honestly, this last challenge feels like the perfect finale for the show! All the bakers are clearly talented – they can handle cakes, fillings, decorations, everything. But now they’re being asked to do it on a massive scale, which is just incredible. What I love is that it’s a tough challenge because it requires real skill and planning, not some silly, contrived task. Seriously, can we make this the standard final challenge every season? This is exactly what I tune in to see!

Aaron’s cake looks a bit small compared to the others. He attempted to show Tom how to create an ombre effect on the sides, but it ended up looking just green. While it has biscuit leaves and other decorations, the cake feels underdone for its large size. Paul pointed out that the piping looks hurried and doesn’t flow well, but Aaron insists it’s intentional. Paul isn’t convinced. The cake is flavored with Darjeeling tea – often called the ‘champagne of teas’ – but Paul quickly complained that it lacked a dominant flavor and was overbaked. He tried another piece, hoping for better results, noting it seemed like multiple cakes were combined. Despite a search for a perfectly baked section, it became clear Aaron’s chances of winning were over. However, he did win the award for best-dressed, thanks to his stylish sheer floral top.

Tom presented an incredible cake, easily the most impressive creation of the season. It was designed to resemble the path to the Baking Show tent, with a miniature raspberry cake as its centerpiece. The detail was so realistic, it looked like a real landscape or a complex Lego build. The cake was decorated with green moss, which raised the question: was it real, edible moss? While there were edible flowers, the moss remained a mystery – its taste and even its authenticity were never fully explained. The cake itself was a raspberry sponge soaked in raspberry and basil syrup, layered with mango and passionfruit ganache, and covered in buttercream, alongside the mysterious moss-like decoration. Both judges were highly impressed. Prue simply smiled and gave Tom a thumbs-up, declaring the cake flawless. Paul praised it for finally achieving both visual appeal and delicious flavor. For a moment, it seemed Tom might achieve a perfect win to share with his grandmother.

It was always going to be Jasmine, and honestly, I’m not even surprised. While she wasn’t the flashiest contestant, she consistently performed well and ultimately created the winning cake. It’s beautifully textured with ridges on the sides and decorated with large pink flowers, crunchy caramel pieces, and delicate meringue. The cake itself has layers of cardamom sponge – which the judges loved earlier in the competition – alongside almond and raspberry sponge, all held together with a smooth lemon mascarpone cream. The judges are impressed, praising the perfect balance of cardamom and the subtle lemon flavor, noting how well everything blends. They weren’t quite as enthusiastic as they were with Tom’s creations, but that’s always been Jasmine’s strength: consistent, reliable, and flawless. That kind of dependability is valuable in any profession, like baking or even medicine, and I think she’s set for a very successful future.

The best part of the show is always catching up with the bakers and seeing them spend time together. Hasan, you might recall him, made a huge cake for his mom. Nataliia sculpted the White Cliffs of Dover out of cake, and Jess created a drag king persona named Droll Hollywood. Iain proposed to Dervla, and she said yes – thankfully, he wasn’t hiding in a cake as Noel joked! Plus, Jasmine celebrated passing her medical exams with a trip alongside the other top six bakers. But I suspect people will always remember this season of Bake Off, at least until the next one comes around.

Read More

2025-11-07 14:55