Plot

Bakers attempt three challenges each week trying to impress the judges enough to go through to the next round and eventually are crowned Britain's best amateur baker.

A group of British home bakers are convened for a baking competition. There is a theme to each week's competition, generally in the vein of the type of goods the competitors are to bake (i.e. cakes, cookies, pastry, etc.). Each week, they are given a set amount of time to complete each of three challenges, their finished products which are evaluated by expert judges. The first weekly challenge is the signature bake, the competitors to bake something from their home recipes which are to signify who they are as bakers within the category. The second weekly challenge is the technical challenge, where each of the competitors are provided the same recipe, in large part of something they may have never heard of let alone baked before in their lives. This challenge is to see how knowledgeable the competitors are about general baking concepts. Their finished products are evaluated blind in that the judges have no idea who baked what. The third weekly challenge is the showstopper challenge, in which the competitors are to pull out all the stops to produce a baked good which overall grand appearance is as important as taste. At the end of the week based solely on the three challenges, the judges will name the best competitor star baker, and will send one competitor home, that person whose competition has come to an end. The final three competitors enter into the finale, the winner of that week who will be crowned the overall competition winner.—Huggo

Cooking competition show in which contestants are challenged to bake different types of foods, including cakes, biscuits and pastries, which are then judged by famous food writer Mary Berry and TV chef Paul Hollywood. Over the course of the series, contestants, all of whom are amateur bakers, must bake a wide variety of common dishes, set out by Mary and Paul. Each episode fits with a certain theme, with the common ones being cakes, biscuits, bread, deserts, pastries and tarts. Within each episodes, 3 'challenges' are completed, all of which are timed. These challenges are: 'Signature Challenge', where contestants bake using their own recipes, 'Technical Challenge', where contestants must follow a recipe and ingredients set out by Mary and Paul, and finally the 'Showstopper Challenge', where contestants go all out to bake an extravagant and creative piece. Often, these include entire scenes made out of food. At the end of each show, one contestant is named 'Star Baker' - based on their performance during the episode - and one contestant is sent home. At the end of each series, a number of episodes are dedicated to quarter finals, semi finals and grand finales. In these episodes, the food contestants bake is often very specific, such as gluten free food or French pastry. Alongside this, presenters Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc talk with the contestants, as well as hosting a short film in the middle of each episode based on the episodes theme.