Great British Baking Show season 11 finale crowned its winner

The Great British Baking Show finale crowned best baker in Britain

The Great British Baking Show finale finally arrived! The bakers created some great desserts and the person who was supposed to win (and who I predicted to win!) actually won. But picking the winner was anything but easy. Laura, Dave, and Peter were the finalists and none of them had an easy time baking through the last three challenges.

For the signature challenge, the bakers had to make custard slices which is pretty much a set custard between layers of puff pastry. While Peter and Dave did quite well in this challenge, Laura’s custard slices were, once again, quite a mess and she had a bit of a breakdown in the freezer because of it. When she took her custard slices out of the pan, the filling spilled out.

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Onto the technical! For this challenge, they had to make walnut whirls which, honestly, I could have eaten all of them. They looked so good! The dessert consists of a walnut sable biscuit, coffee mousse, marshmallow, and then it’s all covered in chocolate. Yum!

Bakers made walnut whirls and  colossal dessert tower in Great British Baking Show finale

All the bakers did pretty well in this challenge, Laura came in last only because her whirls didn’t have enough time to set. Dave ended up getting first because his whirls had kept the swirly definition from the piping and tasted good.

The final showstopper challenge had the bakers make colossal dessert towers. The base had to be cake, but the other elements could be whatever they wanted as long as they represented three different baking disciplines (bread, choux, biscuit, etc.).

Laura didn’t finish on time so while she was able to make all her components, she didn’t have time to assemble them all. Dave decided to remake past challenges where he didn’t do well and ended up finishing early.

Peter, whose tower represented his experience with The Great British Baking Show from watching it as a kid to actually being a contestant, made a few mistakes while baking, but ended up getting his final product out just in time.

Since this was the final judging, the judges were much nicer with their critiques than usual. They definitely would have slammed Laura for not finishing her cake if this was any other challenge, but that didn’t happen here. They did tell Dave where he went wrong on a few of his bakes, but not in the semi-harsh way they normally do.

While the bakers waited for the final verdict, they brought out their cakes to the crowd waiting outside the tent. But, because of the pandemic, the crowd wasn’t their family like it usually is. It was the crew, the workers at the hotel they all stayed at, the medics on staff, and the cleaning crew who made sure everything was sanitized and safe for everyone. It was one of only a few times the show mentioned the pandemic this season.

So who won? Peter! Since Laura was pretty much out of the running based on how she did in all three final challenges, it was Peter vs Dave and it was a close call. The judges both agreed that this was the closest it’s ever been. But Peter secured the title of the best baker in Britain. He was also the first Scottish winner and the youngest baker to ever win the show.

The show will return for season 12 sometime in September 2021. (Hopefully, the pandemic will be over by then.)

What did you think of the finale of this season of The Great British Baking Show? Did your favorite win? Let us know in the comments below!