Warning: Contains Cake-Filled Spoilers!
The time has come to name the winner of the Great British Bake Off 2025.
Last week, we saw the great man Toby leave the tent, moustache and all, after an incident of pistachio-filled pain. His departure left three striking finalists: Jasmine, Aaron, and Tom. The winner may have seemed obvious to some, but not to all. Have the underdogs taken it home?
The answer is: no…
Jasmine has taken home the Bake Off 2025 cake stand – and who’s surprised! A talent from week one, she aced every week, demonstrating incredible, consistent skills, flavours, and consistencies. Although she played it safe with her designs, she played the game cleverly. Little risk, high reward – we’re happy to see such a talented baker take home the crown.
The Final Cake-Down
The winner of series 16 became obvious from Alison and Noel’s introductory descriptions – the foreshadowing was not subtle with this one.
Edinburgh-born Jasmine “hardly put a foot wrong”, announced Alison Hammond. Jasmine holds the most impressive Bake Off set of achievements, becoming the second baker to ever be awarded Star Baker five times, and the first to win with this number.
Tom “impressed from the very beginning,” says Noel Fielding, “but his path to the final has been bumpy.” And bumpy indeed – he got into the final by the skin of his teeth (we miss you, Toby).
On the other hand, we have Aaron. A phenomenal baker, and yet not one handshake during the entire course of the series. “A risk taker” who “hasn’t always hit the mark”, my money (and heart!) was on Aaron to win – someone please give the man a handshake! Bless his heart, he deserved much more love from Paul and Prue.
The final signature challenge required twelve filled and iced finger buns, in two batches with varying flavours and designs, in 2 hours and 45 minutes. I felt it was a relatively chill task for a final, and yet both Aaron and Tom fumbled it! Could I do it, you ask? Yeah, probably not… And yet, I hoped for more of the lads. Easy mistakes were made, and the bread was simply not up to Paul’s ever-rising (unlike the buns) standard. Jasmine, naturally, nailed it.
Until the technical challenge, that is! A tower of madelines, with no recipe in sight and 2 hours and 15 minutes to work it out. There was not one hump in sight…not even from Jasmine. It felt unprecedented. New. Strange. Unheard of. I loved it.
And yet, still not one first place for Aaron in any technical challenge. Who else wants to egg Paul’s house? We rise at dawn.
Things were looking up for Tom, and things only went up (or more, along) with the showstopper. A 1.2-meter-long centrepiece cake, this showstopper saw the biggest cake ever baked on Bake Off. Exceptional, and headline worthy – but a showstopper to remember? I’m not so sure. It was all down to this final bake.
The showstoppers were beautiful, and huge, but they were just…cake. Another element would have elevated the challenge. Biscuits, more dreaded macaroons, homemade fondant – anything to add more to the challenge! I could have done it (maybe). This is an unusual claim to make after a Bake Off final.
All in all, watching this year’s final felt like drinking a cosy cup of tea on a cold evening, whilst being gently prodded with a spikey stick of stress. It was the perfect combination of emotions that I would expect from a Bake Off final, even if some moments felt a touch underwhelming.
Series 16 of The Great British Bake Off: On the Whole
Series 16 of The Great British Bake Off has been gripping, drawing viewers back to the series with a fabulous crew of witty, charming individuals. A warm, bubbly, cake-filled community has been birthed from the flaps of the famous tent. Paul Hollywood’s charm has aged like a fine wine – without him, Bake Off would lose a certain blue-eyed spark, becoming a soggy-bottomed shadow of the past.
Yet rejoice for now, as the good times have remained throughout this season. With handshakes galore (though surely they get sweaty in there?), upsetting disasters making for fantastic telly (sorry, Hassan and Toby…), and challenging yet not completely outrageous challenges, this series has maintained the heart of Bake Off that has been at risk in previous years. Challenges were becoming increasingly professional, out of reach for the at-home bakers who love to follow along. Yet this year, there’s a new spark, new challenges, and a fresh heart to the show.
I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to next year already (I miss you already, Paul).
Enjoyed Brig’s review of The Great British Bake Off 2025? You can read more of our TV reviews here.
Featured Image: Laura Palmer/Channel 4 via The Guardian
Journalism student at the University of Stirling & BRAW Magazine editor 24/25 and 25/26 🙂
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