This year’s Great British Bake off New Year special features eight returning bakers!
Selasi Gbormittah (S7 – 4th place)
Val Stones (S7 – 8th place)
Briony Williams (S9 – 4th place)
Rahul Mandal (S9 winner)
Giuseppe Dell’Anno (S12 winner)
Tasha Stones (S14 – 4th place)
Andy Ryan (S15 – 8th place)
Nelly Ghaffar (S15 – 7th place)
For this episode, the bakers worked in teams of two:
Briony/Tasha
Selasi/Val
Andy/Nelly
Giuseppe/Rahul
signature challenge: 12 shaped savory pies with hot water crust pastry
who made what: [Spoiler (click to open)]
Andy/Nelly – New Year’s Eve pies with venison & cognac filling, mashed potato fireworks
Briony/Tasha – wreath of pies with spiced pork, sausage, bacon, cranberry stuffing, & apple
Giuseppe/Rahul – vegetarian peacock pies with spinach, pinenut, olive, and gorgonzola filling
Selasi/Val – Christmas tree pies with nduja & gochujang spiced chicken / mushroom & chicken / 3 cheese & onion
tag team technical challenge: 6 entremets with hazelnut joconde, white chocolate bavarois, chocolate hazelnut praline mousse, chocolate mirror glaze, white chocolate clock face
rankings: [Spoiler (click to open)]
1 – Selasi/Val
2 – Giuseppe/Rahul
3 – Briony/Tasha
4 – Andy/Nelly
showstopper challenge: favorite Christmas movie scene in biscuits
who made what: [Spoiler (click to open)]
Andy/Nelly – remote controlled gingerbread & brandysnap Polar Express with pecan biscuit Christmas tree, macaron snowmen, raspberry shortbread lollipops, meringue field
Briony/Tasha – Whoville with almond orange biscotti mountain, gingerbread houses, isomalt ice skating rink, gingerbread skaters
Giuseppe/Rahul – Mary Poppins & Cherry Tree Lane with citrus & cardamom sugar biscuit, charcoal infused gingerbread, cinnamon gingerbread, buttercream, royal icing
Selasi/Val – Buddy the Elf at the gingerbread Empire State Building with hazelnut, chocolate & pear entremet base, orange & ginger truffles
2026 winners: [Spoiler (click to open)]Selasi & Val