The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 2 – Biscuit Week 2025

After a rough Cake Week, we are back in the tent for Biscuit Week!

In case you missed this: Waitrose Weekend’s September 4th edition has a two page article (p. 6-7) about the two women who organize all the logistics for the Bake-off Tent.

Signature challenge: Slice and bake biscuits with a design in two hours.

How to make slice and bake cookie designs

I thought the bakers did a great job overall in this challenge and most of them received positive feedback. There were a few underbaked, light on flavor and they lost definition comments. Pui Man was the recipient of some harsh comments her Year of the Ox cookies were labeled Pokémon by Paul and a creature by Prue.

Aaron’s cookies – a nod to a friend’s new baby – were lovely but I especially loved his “extra” cookie decorated to look like Noel. Jessika’s toast with egg and bacon were beautiful and tasted great.

Darcie: Biscuit week is one of my favorites, which is strange because I don’t really like cookies. Nevertheless, seeing the bakers’ creativity always inspires me to make a batch of cookies for my coworkers. A few contestants spent gobs of time on intricate designs that didn’t pay off in the end. Leighton’s orange slice was clever, and Jessika’s simple boat was also well received. Most of the biscuits were underbaked, which is understandable due to the time constraints. Thinner slices may have helped but they are tricky to do. I thought Aaron’s design was cute and well-executed, and the judges liked his flavors too.

Technical challenge: Set by Prue Leith. Twelve chocolate Hobnobs – six chocolate and six with caramel chocolate, all with delicate feathering, in two hours.

Chocolate caramel Hobnobs

This time the bakers all received the same ingredients with pared down instructions from Prue. Toby’s Hobnobs were deemed perfect! The judging went as follows: In last place Pui Man, followed by Leighton (who received a comment from Paul that they required a machete to cut). Nadia took second place with Toby, of course, getting first.

Darcie: I am not sure why bakers use dry caramel when wet is much more consistent (the purists may scoff but I prefer a wet caramel). It was a cavalcade of disasters for most of the contestants – too much caramel, crumbly biscuits, and sloppy decorating. Nadia and Toby were miles above the remaining contestants in this challenge. The rest of them were a hot mess – really hot, because it was blazing inside the tent. For once that could work to the bakers’ advantage because it would allow the chocolate to remain malleable longer to complete the feathering. Alas, that was not the issue that faced most bakers.

Showstopper challenge: A biscuit time capsule filled with five decorated edible mementos in four hours.

Again, the bakers, in my humble opinion, did amazing work. Jessika made a stellar stained-glass box filled with beautiful cookies – one being an articulated moving cookie of herself to represent her time in the tent. Aaron’s cherry blossom design was called clumsy and as Paul pulled the cookies out he exclaimed a few times “what is that?” and he was told they looked awful. Apparently, however, Aaron’s Earl Grey flavored cookie tasted great.

Jasmine’s offering was exquisite and her cookies beautifully iced. Her gingerbread biscuit was perfect and baked to perfection. Prue called it a “blinder” – informal slang for an outstanding performance or achievement. Pui Man’s jumbo boat restaurant was beautiful with a crisp beautiful gingerbread. Her cookies were also delicious. Tom’s cottage was outstanding. He received high praise – and a Paul Hollywood handshake – the first of the season.

Darcie: This challenge is bonkers – four hours is hardly any time to mix, bake, cool, assemble, and decorate the box alone, much less five different biscuits inside of it. I bet the tent smelled great with all that gingerbread baking, but you could also tell that it was uncomfortably hot.

Tom and Jasmine hit home runs with their boxes and contents – especially Tom. The level of detail was exquisite, and the judges said his flavors were spot on. Lesley did well too, with perfectly baked Viennese cookies. Pui Man pulled off a masterpiece that saved her from elimination. Leighton’s black gingerbread piano was clumsy and didn’t hit the right note for the judges. Poor Toby earned his nickname of “Techie Toby” with his domination in the technical challenges but he continues to struggle with the signature and the showstopper. If he doesn’t find his footing he will not remain much longer. Aaron is uneven and will need to be more consistent to stay as well.

Results: Star baker was Tom and rightfully so and Leighton was sent home.