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Season 7 of The Great British Baking Show: Holidays released a new episode on Netflix on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. The episode saw four former contestants try to create a variety of desserts that required skills and creativity. They returned hoping to outperform their previous run on the show, wishing to leave a lasting impression on the judges.
In the episode, the bakers had to ace three rounds of critical dessert-making. In the first round, they had to create a religieuse, stacking airy choux buns with a delicious filling of choice. The second round challenged the bakers as they struggled to master making a King's cake. Lastly, the third round allowed the bakers to show their creativity with a smashable New Year-themed cake.
The synopsis of The Great British Baking Show: Holidays Episode 2 reads:
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"Four former contestants kick off the new year with a sweetly stacked religieuse, a fiendish galette des rois, and a creatively decorated smash cake."
What happened in The Great British Baking Show: Holidays Episode 2?
Mark, who competed in 2020's version of The Great British Bake Off, was the first contestant to make his return. Jurgen, a contestant from Season 12 of the same show, joined Mark inside the tent. A fellow Season 12 baker, Maggie, returned excited to bake holiday treats. The last participant to join the cast was Maxy from Season 13.
The judges tasked bakers to make 12 religieuse, essentially two choux buns stacked on each other, for the festive signature challenge, decorated to represent the New Year. They expected the cooks to create airy buns with a "luxurious, satiny, smooth" filling.
Jurgen aimed to create "Lucky Chimney Sweeps" that would have two fillings, tea and rum, and coffee and kirsch, and decorated with broomsticks, ladders, and hats.
Meanwhile, The Great British Baking Show: Holidays contestant Maxy wanted to bake a religieuse named "Away in a Manger," showcasing the birth of Jesus. It would have a coffee creme filling, a cinnamon caramel latte center, and a Marzipan halo. In contrast, Mark's chocolate choux buns would be filled with an orange liqueur creme patisserie.
On the other hand, Maggie prepared choux buns filled with cranberry and port cream and chestnut and brandy cream, decorated with sparkles.
During the judging round, Paul Hollywood called Maggie's choux buns "terrible," but was pleasantly surprised by the balanced flavor of Maxy's buns' caramel filling. Although unimpressed by Jurgen's unrisen choux, they were satisfied by its flavors. However, Mark was the sole baker whose dish garnered praise for both presentation and taste.
For the technical round, The Great British Baking Show: Holidays judge Paul challenged the bakers to create a Galette des Rois, also known as king's cake, with an almond frangipane filling.
Since none of the bakers had ever baked a Galette des Rois, they struggled to follow the recipe. Jurgen skipped a crucial step asking the bakers to chill the pastry before baking it. Although Maxy prompted him, he seemed oblivious about it.
"I'll judge it by the color," he said.
However, towards the end of the bake, Jurgen noticed that the decorative patterns at the top of his dessert had disappeared due to his mistake.
After a blind taste test, judges Paul and Prue ranked the pastries, giving Jurgen the last place and Maxy the first. Meanwhile, Mark finished second, and Maggie third. While praising Maxy's bake, Paul said:
"Good height to it, good color, nice decoration. Butteriness and flakiness were spot on. Fantastic."
Although Maggie and Mark's frangipanes garnered compliments, the lack of height in their Galette Des Rois stole their chances of acing the challenge.
Before the final round, the judges debated the contestants' performances. Paul and Prue were surprised to see someone like Jurgen make mistakes from not turning on the oven in the first round to misreading the recipe in the second. However, they hoped he would redeem himself in the next challenge.
For the showstopper round, The Great British Baking Show: Holidays bakers were asked to create a New Year-inspired smash cake that had to be topped with on encased within a smashable chocolate shell. However, the cake type and its flavor were left for the contestants to decide.
Maggie decided to make a "Winter Fun Smash Cake" infused with chocolate, orange, and chili flavors, and topped with a dark chocolate dome. She planned to use a balloon to create the dome, hoping it would not shatter. Meanwhile, Mark wished to bake a rum and ginger cake laced with lime buttercream and topped with white chocolate snowmen.
The Great British Baking Show: Holidays participant Jurgen aimed to impress the judges with his Mount Fuji smash cake made from three types of chocolate. He also planned to create a "monk face cake" with genoise and joconde sponges and two flavors of bavarois.
Meanwhile, Maxy wanted to present a lemon joconde sponge layered with mango and passionfruit coulis. Her cake would then be covered with a white chocolate dome portraying a brightly colored phoenix.
As the bakers rushed to complete last-minute preparations, Maggie found herself in a difficult situation with a broken dome. Nonetheless, she completed baking and decorated her cake with whatever was left of the dome.
While tasting Mark's cake, the judges complimented its presentation but were unhappy with the toned-down taste of the lime. Next up was Maggie, whose presentation failed to wow the judges. Moreover, the dry sponge added to its criticism.
Maxy's smash cake left a lasting impression on the judges, who complimented its appearance and taste.
"I can't fault it, I think it's wonderful," Prue said.
The Great British Baking Show: Holidays mentors were equally amazed by Jurgen's cake. They praised the lightness of the sponge and filling and were pleased by its balanced flavors.
However, after much deliberation, the judges announced Maxy as the winner.
"This is definitely an amazing ending to my Bake Off story. I came in here and I didn't think I was gonna win. And I was so nervous about all of my bakes," she said.
The Great British Baking Show: Holidays episode ended with a trombone performance by Jurgen. Although the other three contestants did not win, the judges were impressed by their growth inside the tent.
The Great British Baking Show: Holidays is available to stream on Netflix.
