The Great British Baking Show: Holidays focuses on charm over polish for season three

The Great British Baking Show: Holidays Screenshot: Netflix

The Great British
Baking Show may have only just wrapped its most recent season, but thanks
to the magic of Netflix, there are already new baking adventures to follow back
in the tent. While U.K. fans had the opportunity to watch “The Great Christmas
Bake Off” and “The Great Festive Bake Off” on Channel Four during the 2019–2020
holiday season, American fans have had to wait all year. Netflix has finally dropped
the two specials as The Great British
Baking Show: Holidays season three and surprisingly enough, they’re a great
fit after the feel-good
finale of series 11.

“The Great Christmas Bake Off” (12/25/19)

First is “The Great Christmas Bake Off,” the 2019 Christmas
day special. Like the rest of the show’s holiday specials, it features four
returning favorites, each back to relive and perhaps redeem their previous
experience in the tent. Tom and Yan from series eight (collection five on Netflix)
and Briony and Terry from series nine (collection six on Netflix) are back to
duke it out, battling for holiday-themed baking supremacy. They aren’t the only
familiar faces—previous cohost Sandi Toksvig is back as well, along with
current cohost Noel Fielding and judges Paul and Prue. The format remains the
same: four bakers, three rounds, and one eventual winner.

After a few reintroductions, Sandi and Noel introduce the
signature challenge. The bakers have two and half hours to make 24 highly decorated,
Christmas-themed cake pops featuring at least four different designs. The
bakers dive in and right away, it’s clear some of them have forgotten how
quickly time slips away in the tent. While Briony, Yan, and Terry are making
one sponge and differentiating their cake pops with flavored frostings, Tom is
baking four different sponges. Almost immediately, he’s in the weeds and
frankly, out of contention. There just isn’t enough time for his undoubtedly
delicious, but overly bold concept. Everyone’s designs look adorable, and their
flavors sound tasty and appropriately festive. The round will come down to time
management.

Once the pops are shaped and dipped, the race is on to
finish decorating them. Even the more methodical Yan and Briony are rushing by
the end and the audience is with Briony when she reaches for the Christmas
pudding liqueur after time is called. Terry manages 22 pops and Tom only has
10, though the ones he’s completed are the clear standouts in the tent. Yan and
Briony’s look a bit slapdash, but they finish all 24 in the time and their
flavors are good.

Paul has set the technical this episode, a festive sausage
roll wreath with cranberry sauce. The bakers will have two hours to make their
pastry and sausage, roll, slice, shape, and bake it, and make their sauce. It’s
nice to have a savory technical after the sugar-soaked signature, and while the
round will likely be tricky, it’s at least a rather familiar challenge. That
leaves the bakers comfortable enough to banter as they work through the recipe,
making for far more entertaining viewing. After a few tense moments, debating
when to pull the wreaths from the ovens, the bakers plate them and present them
for judging. Briony winds up in fourth place, having under-baked her wreath.
Terry is third, having made shortcrust pastry rather than puff pastry. Yan’s
bake is delicious, putting her in second, but Tom takes the prize, having
nailed his flake, color, and design.

The bakers return to the tent the next day for the
showstopper round. They’ll have four hours to make a gingerbread structure
representing their favorite location for Christmas, and they’ll need to
incorporate at least two different confectionary skills as part of their
decoration. Four hours sounds like a lot, but making their candies and
decorating could easily take four hours on its own. Yan is making her home,
Terry’s making the Chrysler building in New York City, Briony’s making a train
station and train, and Tom’s making a particular bank-turned-bar in Edinburgh,
complete with sugar glass dome. Their designs are complicated, but the bakers
have planned and practiced their bakes and they’re raring to go.

Each of the bakers is making different confectionaries and
it’s neat to see them make toffee, marshmallow, marzipan, and more. The mood,
at first excited and optimistic, turns as time ticks down. Yan’s frustration is
palpable, as she runs out of time to complete her ambitious design. Terry has structural
issues with the iconic top of the Chrysler building, Tom’s first dome breaks,
and Briony forgets the front of her train, saving the day with some offcuts. When
it’s time for judging, Yan’s bake is delicious, but looks a mess. Tom’s Edinburg
Christmas looks neat as a pin and he nailed his components. It was a very good
round for him. Briony’s train is adorable and festive, and tastes good too.
Terry’s Chrysler building is last, and it’s easy to see why. He’s incorporated
a cracker into his design, blowing the roof off his building. He also has
animatronic Paul and Prue dolls which start dancing (flailing?), pulling genuine
belly laughs out of everyone in the tent. And again, everything tastes great.

These may not be the most professional looking showstoppers,
aside from Tom, but they’re charming and delicious, and that’s exactly what
both the bakers and the show are looking to celebrate. Had the signature gone
better for Tom and Terry, this may have been anyone’s game. However, looking
across the three rounds, the winner is clear: Briony takes the cake plate as
the bakers celebrate with friends and family, and a reindeer.

“The Great Festive Baking Show” (1/1/20)

“The Great Festive Baking Show,” the 2020 New Year’s Day
special, has a different energy than the previous Baking Show holiday specials. Instead of returning bakers, the cast
of Derry Girls are recruited to
compete in the special. Derry Girls
is a sitcom set in the 1990s following teens in Derry, Northern Ireland as they
navigate school, teen life, and the Troubles. Stars Saoirse-Monica Jackson,
Nicola Coughlan, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Dylan Llewellyn, and Siobhán McSweeney
are on hand to compete, and they have very mixed experience levels. Nicola, for
example, is an avid home baker while Saoirse has literally never made a cake
before. It would be easy to grumble at the rare opportunity of competing in Bake Off going to the undeserving, but
the cast is incredibly charismatic and will quickly win over skeptical viewers.

The judges have taken these bakers’ limited experience into
consideration and are rather kind with their challenges. For the signature, the
bakers have two and a half hours to make a large sharing trifle of at least
three layers, including either a biscuit or cake base and a custard. There’s a flurry
of action as the bakers get to work and in the context of a one-off special,
their tizzy of nerves and confusion is incredibly charming. There’s the air of
anxious teens being set an exam they haven’t prepared for as the judges walk
between the stations to interview the bakers. That, combined with several of
the bakers’ performative confidence and everyone’s tongue-in-cheek good humor,
makes for an incredibly entertaining energy in the tent.

Nicola is the early favorite, as she’s the most experienced
baker of the group, but her excitement over being in the tent and meeting Prue
leads to some rookie errors. She winds up making her sponge three times, which means
she doesn’t have enough time to cool it before assembling her bake. Her time
management issues result in a texturally off trifle, but it’s still the
tastiest in the tent. Dylan and Siobhán have some trouble, but both Jamie-Lee
and Saoirse do better than expected, given how rough theirs look. With trifle, though,
it’s easy to have a messy heap of a bake that tastes delicious, and that’s
still a win, for this special at least.

Prue has set the technical, and it sounds a bit daunting.
The bakers have one hour to make 12 salmon and beetroot blinis, finished with
horseradish and garnished with caviar and dill. That’s a lot to do in one hour,
but it quickly becomes clear that the producers have provided most of the
components. The bakers just need to make the blinis, mix together the cream
cheese, beetroot, and horseradish, and assemble the canapes. The shots of the
instructions are telling. Unlike usual episodes, they have clear, step-by-step
instructions laying out everything they need to do. As Prue tells them at the beginning
of the round, just follow the instructions. Nicola doesn’t trust them and winds
up in third place, having fried her blinis in oil. James is in last place,
somehow both under and over cooking his blinis. Jamie-Lee is in fourth, due to
slightly under cooking the blinis and the size discrepancy between her blinis.
Saoirse is thrilled to take second place, only knocked down because a couple
blinis were inconsistent and because Siobhán came right back after her slime
issues in the signature to take first, nailing the technical.

For the showstopper, the bakers have another thankfully
straightforward challenge. They have three and a half hours to make a two-tier at
least partially sculpted cake celebrating their favorite decade. Dylan chooses
the 1960s, making a camper van on a hill. Jamie-Lee chooses the 1930s, making
Amelia Earhart’s plane to celebrate her emergency landing in Derry. Nicola also
goes for the 1930s, inspired by Cabaret
and Sally Bowles’ bowler hat specifically. Saoirse, like Dylan, has chosen the
1960s, making a peace sign on top of a heart. Siobhán chooses the 1980s, a tent
on a hill to represent her family camping trips. While Dylan, Jamie-Lee, and
Saoirse are sticking with two-tier cakes, both Nicola and Siobhán opt to do
three, two base layers as well as their sculpted toppers.

As Noel reports to Dylan, the round is more or less a series
of mini-catastrophes, though at least it’s a fun journey. Jamie-Lee’s cake is a
mess, though her concept does come through clearly. Unfortunately, she confused
tablespoons with teaspoons for her baking powder, taking her out of contention.
Saoirse’s grey tie-dye cake doesn’t look how she imagined, but it’s tasty and
flavorful. Nicola’s cake looks nice, if not quite Liza Minnelli-worthy. Her cake
looks okay when cut into as well, but for some reason, it tastes musty. That’s
not what you want. Dylan has the most successful visual, but only one of his
two cakes turned out, the other having been massively under baked. Siobhán’s showstopper
is also a mixed bag, with one tasty cake and one slightly overdone and a clear,
if messy design. Had her custard cooled more before she put it into her trifle,
she might have taken the whole thing. However, with all the rounds taken into
consideration, it’s Saoirse who is the most consistent and winds up the winner.

This is undoubtedly the least impressive showing in a Baking Show special, and it should not
be a template for specials moving forward. However, as a one-off, it’s
delightful and cheery, and a lovely way to celebrate the holidays. It’s also a
great message to viewers at home. You may not be an experienced baker, but
with a decent recipe and plenty of confidence, you can make something delicious
and beautiful, so why not give it a go. The kitchen, and future baking glory,
awaits.

Stray observations

• Yan has published a few papers since her Bake Off appearance. Way to go, Yan! I
  would have liked similar updates from the other bakers, to find out what they’ve
  been up to over the past couple years.
• It’s hard to pick a favorite moment from “The Great Festive
  Baking Show,” but Siobhán’s plaintive “It looks so weird!” is absolutely delightful.
• If you’re at all charmed by the Derry
  Girls special, please seek out the series on Netflix. It’s an easy,
  enjoyable watch—two seasons, only six episodes each—that’s perfect for a
  holiday binge.