The Great British Baking Show Season 14 Episode 10 Recap: The Final

Three bakers have made it to the last three challenges on The Great British Baking Show Season 14 Episode 10, “The Final.” 

The time has come for someone to take the crown. 

Not only are the bakers judged on their final bakes, but there’s also a fair amount of celebration for how far they’ve come. 

Prelude to the Bakes

Each baker has earned two Star Baker awards and a Hollywood handshake, but they each have different strengths in the competition.

Josh has been quietly precise, honoring his nan at every turn and bringing his love of gardening into the tent each week. He’s delivered fantastic showstoppers that have dazzled the judges.

Meanwhile, Dan received the first Star Baker on The Great British Baking Show Season 14 Episode 1, “Cake Week.” In the weeks that proceeded he consistently overthought his showstoppers but has won four technical challenges.

Last is Matty, who admits that he may be the underdog today. While he had a rough start in the competition, constant practice has led to him receiving critical praise. However, he has never won a technical challenge.

Signature Challenge: Eclairs

For their final signature challenge, the bakers have been asked to make eight highly decorated eclairs in two flavors.

Josh and Dan divided their two flavors into two camps: fruity and sweet. 

Dan’s eclairs will be strawberries and cream and salted caramel praline. Josh’s will be a mix of summer fruits, but with a twist because he’s officially picked his garden clean of berries. His second flavor is coffee flavored.

Matty on the other hand with two classic flavors: black forest and banoffee. 

Making the choux pastry for the eclairs is the biggest hurdle for this challenge.

Dan is confident in his go-to choux recipe but fails to put icing sugar on it before it goes into the oven.

Matty, on the other hand, has been avoiding choux for the duration of the series and jokes about the “number of videos” he had to watch so he could understand what good choux pastry looks like in a raw form. 

Meanwhile, Josh, as prepared as ever, has engineered his recipes to be as efficient as possible. 

But even though each baker delivers eight beautiful eclairs, they still have to face the judgment of Paul and Prue. 

First up is Josh. While his technique is praised by both judges the two disagree on his fruity eclair.  Paul thinks that Josh needed to bring a dash of tartness into it so that the flavors really popped. Prue however, thought it was lovely. 

Next is Matty, who gets some criticism for his decoration. His black forest gateau eclairs look sloppy. The back forest eclair has some good flavor but the banoffee one is missing a punch of caramel. Prue however, says that it’s a “banana lover’s dream.” Matty is also the only baker that delivered a very structured eclair. 

Last is Dan, whose eclairs look rough. The strawberries and creme eclair is overloaded with creme causing the choux to lose its shape. Meanwhile, the decoration on the salted caramel eclair is too large, overshadowing the pastry. 

Technical Challenge: Lardy Cake

Going back to the vein of technical challenges based on classic desserts, the final technical asks each baker to deliver nine lardy cake slices.

Of course, there’s one problem: no one has any clue what lardy cake is. 

As viewers, we get a peek at the lardy cake when Paul and Prue sit down to discuss where the bakers could go wrong with this challenge.

The biggest tip Paul gives them before they leave the tent is that the bakers need to be patient. This largely applies to the second prove because attempts to speed up the process with heat could melt the lard and mess with the lamination.  

Turns out a lardy cake is a cross between a bead and a danish and was a way to use up pig fat. The dough is layered with sugar and candied fruit peel to get its classic flavor. (Who knew?) 

So, all the bakers spend the time for this technical challenge not sure what their final bake is supposed to look like. 

However, unlike the unfortunate treacle disaster from “Desserts Week” all the bakers deliver something edible with varying degrees of success. 

When Prue and Paul rank the lardy cakes Matty is in third place due to problems with his lamination and underbaked dough. Dan takes second place for overbaked and very dark lardy cakes. 

Meaning, Josh wins this technical with delicious flavor and a perfect bake. 

This leaves the three bakers in a close race going into the showstopper challenge. 

Showstopper: Three-Tiered Celebration Cake

When Noel, Alison, Prue, and Paul break down the competition so far. They say that Josh is just a nose ahead from the others. Matty is surprisingly in second place, and it shows in his growth. 

On the offset, the final bake for this season may seem simple. We’ve had cakes in the shape of animals, giant chocolate boxes, and illusion cookies in the shape of food. However, in true Great British Baking Show fashion they have to elevate it by making something reminiscent of one of their first bakes.

The test here is not only if they’ll deliver a spectacular showstopper, but can the bakers deliver what they say they will. 

So the bakers have their plans and they’re diving into their 3-tier celebration cakes with massive to-do lists. 

Dan is working on a lemon cake inspired by his first bake, a lemon drizzle cake. His ambitious plan involves decorating the cake with lemon macaroons. It’s not as out there as his plans for The Great British Baking Show Season 14 Episode 8, “Party Week,” but there’s still a large margin for error. 

Josh is celebrating one of the first things he baked with his nan with Victoria sandwich inspired cake. This is a fitting tribute when his parents say earlier in the episode that Josh’s love of baking came from his nan picking him up from school and taking her home where they’d bake together.

She first convinced him to apply for the bake off in 2019 and passed away in 2021. Josh’s parents say she’d be proud to see him in the finals now. 

He’s elevating it with elements from his garden and decorating the exterior based on the seasons. Sitting on top, he plans to make a biscuit greenhouse. 

Matty’s cake is inspired by the chocolate treats that got him into baking, and presents an added challenge because he had never staked cake before this week. He also demonstrates growth from his mistakes during “Cake Week” and revisiting buttercream. 

The showstopper creation is tense, as the bakers move through their to-do lists. There’s batch baking, decorating, and engineering all happening at the same time. 

Dan slowly starts running behind behind with his macarons. 

Time flies though and soon the bakers are halfway through their final bake checking items off their list. 

Matty: Buttercreams are made. Jam’s made. 
Noel: Not too bad.
Matty: But this part right here is where it gets…hard.
Noel: Is that assembly? 
Matty: Yes.

Josh is moving through his list as well but has multiple backup plans just in case, while Matty is working out how to assemble his cake and make it look nice. 

There’s a lot happening all at once as the assembly begins and the timer counts down.

Dan’s macarons aren’t done enough. Matty is channeling Lara’s art lesson. Josh is working through his assembly and decoration as best he can. Dan’s white chocolate collars aren’t long enough. 

And soon there’s ten minutes late. Josh is rushing decoration. Dan is making a meringue toping, and Matty is fancying up his edges. 

And then time is called, and it’s time to face the judgment of Paul and Prue. 

Showstopper Judging

First up in the final showstopper judging is Dan. Immediately, the white and raspberry is praised by Paul, but his macarons look terrible. And then they taste it: and…the cake needs more lemon, and the macarons are a letdown. 

Matty is up next with a leaning cake with artistic swirls of pink and yellow. Matty passes it off as “dramatic effect” and when Paul presses, Matty admits that it was likely his dowel placement. But Prue loves the color combination. 

Cutting into the chocolate layer of Matty’s case, Paul remarks about how light his chocolate sponge is. Prue does a little dance and goes in for a second bite, just because she’s got to, and Paul agrees. 

The middle tier is also praised as having a great sponge and amazing flavors. Paul says that the cake takes him back to some of the cakes he would have as a kid. 

Prue: All the flavors are perfect…Really perfect Matty…You know what, there’s nothing wrong with the cake except it’s on the lean. That’s such a pity because it’s only one mistake…Everything else is absolutely perfect.

Last is Josh. His final showstopper is disappointing. It fails to wow the judges like some of his other showstoppers have in previous weeks. While he has a strong concept, the flavors are adequate. 

While his greenhouse gets some high praise, the cake itself needed something more and Paul even remarks that one layer seems overbaked.

Paul: I think your flavors are adequate, but for me, I wanted to see much more of your journey in the tent, in that cake…I think boring is too strong a word, but it’s on its way. 

Crowning the Winning Baker

With the final judging over, the bakers are dismissed to the garden party while Prue and Paul deliberate. Outside the bakers reunite with their families and see all the previous contestants from the series. 

It becomes very clear that Matty and Josh are the contenders to win. The technical seems to be the toss-up. 

But soon, Prue, Paul, Alison, and Noel emerge from the tent to announce the winner. 

With some fanfare, they announce that Matty is the winner. 

There are hugs and celebrations, and Matty has the cutest reaction ever and the judges all celebrate both his baking skills and his cheerful demeanor, which is only accentuated by him walking through a shot of Paul’s interview. 

Prue: I never met a more cheerful, smiling, uncomplaining and willing baker. He just, was having a good time, learning as much as he could, taking on board anything that either of us said. 

Paul: …and he just got better, and better, and better. And if you’re gonna smash it, you do it in the last challenge. That chocolate cake was one of the best chocolate cake’s I’ve had for a long long time. 

While Matty says that the moment doesn’t feel real, when asked about the thing that got him here: he says, “Lara.”

In the last moments of the episode, the show plays a slideshow of “where-are-they-now” updates framed around Saku and Nicky’s Bake Off Road trip. 

The final photo announces that Lara and Matty are getting married in June 2024 before Saku and Nicky say, “Bye.” 

What did you think of this episode of The Great British Baking Show? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Great British Baking Show Season 14 is now available to stream on Netflix. 

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