Great British Baking Show season 14 finale: And the winner is…

Great British Baking Show season 14 has come to an end. It’s been a spectacular season filled with a bunch of lovely bakers. The final three were Matty, Dan, and Josh, and with their level of skill, it was a complete toss-up of who was going to win.

The episode started off with the final Signature Challenge. The bakers had to make two types of eclairs and they needed to be decorated as well. Dan made strawberries and cream eclairs with a fruit punch jelly and salted caramel mascarpone eclairs. Josh made tropical mango eclairs and coffee and chocolate eclairs. Matty made Black Forest and Banoffee eclairs (Yum!).

Paul and Prue thought Dan’s eclairs were overfilled and soggy. They liked Matty’s but thought he needed more caramel and cherry in his eclairs. They also liked Josh’s but Paul thought his tropical eclair was too sweet.

On to the Technical! They really threw the bakers for a loop this week. For this Technical Challenge, they had to make lardy cakes, which are cakes/breads they used to make and sell at fairs and festivals back in the day. And since they are made with lard, they were relatively cheap to make.

Great British Baking Show announces season 14 winner

Josh’s cake was very well done while Dan’s was overbaked and Matty’s cakes were, unfortunately, raw. As you can imagine, Josh won this challenge.

Finally, the Showstopper! They had to make a celebration cake based on their very first bake. Dan made a three-tiered cake inspired by a lemon drizzle cake, Josh created a cake inspired by a Victorian sponge and his love for his garden, and Matty’s cake was inspired by chocolate treats that got him into baking.

And then there was the judging. This was definitely one of the harshest judgings of the season. They almost called Josh’s cake boring and noted that Dan’s macarons were inedible and badly baked. On the positive side, Paul loved Matty’s chocolate cake and even said it was the best chocolate cake he’s had in a long time.

So who was the winner? It was Matty! As the judges stated, Matty has grown so much since episode one, and he has gotten better and better after each challenge. That’s what the Great British Baking Show is all about. And as he was the one I was rooting for, I’m so thrilled he won.

When we can expect the next season to begin is anyone’s guess, but based on this last season, we should expect it to start streaming on Netflix in September.