The BEST episodes of Holiday Baking Championship
Every episode of Holiday Baking Championship ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Holiday Baking Championship!
The search to find the greatest holiday baker begins as eight amateur bakers enter the kitchen, where they show off their family traditions and superb baking skills. To survive the challenges from week to week, they must prove their abilities in front of our tough-love judges: Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller and Lorraine Pascale. Hosted by Bobby Deen, this baking championship is the sweetest way to celebrate this holiday season.
#1 - Ultimate Holiday Party
Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/20/2021
Host Jesse Palmer kicks things off with a swanky Christmas open house for judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall and asks the bakers to create dessert charcuterie boards. Then, the bottom two bakers face off in a sudden elimination challenge of dueling holiday pinata desserts. In the final main heat, the competitors take on holiday party theme cakes and incorporate lights into their designs. The most successful cake maker becomes the Holiday Baking Champion and walks away with $25,000!
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#2 - Dining Out for the Holidays
Season 9 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/28/2022
The holidays are a season for indulgence, so some families splurge on their festive celebrations at a steakhouse. In the Preheat, host Jesse Palmer asks the bakers to transform classic steakhouse desserts into holiday treats. For the Main Heat, the competitors turn one of the most-iconic steakhouse desserts into a baked Alaska Christmas tree. In the end, judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall will send one baker home.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#3 - Season's Best
Season 10 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/6/2023
Mmm … can you smell it? The sweet aroma of cinnamon rolls baking in the oven, or is it the pumpkin-spiced latte you're sipping? For the preheat, host Jesse Palmer asks the bakers to combine two of the fall season's best treats and make seasonal coffee drink cinnamon rolls. Then, the bakers roll right into the main heat with a fall-themed yule log that Jesse calls Thanksgiving Swiss Rolls. In the end, judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Nancy Fuller decide which baker is rolling home.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#4 - Make New Friends, but Keep the Old
Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/6/2021
For the exclusive holiday desserts preheat, the six remaining bakers try to impress judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall by making tasty treats for guests with a dietary restriction. In the main heat, host Jesse Palmer challenges the competitors to update an assigned vintage holiday dessert to create a new Christmas delight.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#5 - It's the Inside That Counts
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/30/2020
Host Jesse Palmer gives the seven bakers advent calendars filled with different types of chocolate to inspire them to make desserts with a surprise inside. Then, for the main heat, the competitors must bake one delicious cheesecake with three different flavors for judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#6 - Gettin' Gifty with It
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/2/2019
Jesse Palmer teaches the six bakers a lesson in repurposing holiday gifts in the first round, when they must turn panettone, the classic holiday Italian sweet bread, into an entirely new dessert. Then they're challenged to create a beautifully decorated cupcake mosaic inspired by a pair of holiday pajamas. Judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale send one baker packing.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#7 - North Pole Vaulting
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/9/2019
Jesse Palmer challenges the five bakers to create assigned desserts that are inspired by and look like Santa Claus. To secure their place in the final four, the bakers are tasked with creating impressive cakes made to look like another icy North Pole staple: an igloo. Judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale decide which bakers move on to the next round and which one goes home.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#9 - Christmas Windows in Time
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/21/2020
Dressed as a Christmas tree, host Jesse Palmer kicks things off by asking the final four competitors to honor the holiday tree in the form of a beautifully decorated macaron tower. In the Christmas past, present and future main heat, the bakers must feature an assigned icing style in a stunning cake that evokes their assigned time period -- marzipan from the past, buttercream from the present or mirror glaze from the future. In the end, judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall will decide the one baker who will be crowned Holiday Baking Champion and walk away $25,000 richer!
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#10 - Twelve Days of Christmas
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/18/2017
The final three bakers grab two last minute holiday gifts and combine them into one impressive dessert. Then in the main heat, bakers must create a show-stopping 12 Days of Christmas dessert that illustrates a line from the famous song. The winning baker walks away with $50,000 and the title of Holiday Baking Champion!
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#11 - Holiday Goodie Games
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/9/2020
Host Jesse Palmer asks the 10 bakers to highlight a nut or seed in a holiday dessert. Then, the competitors spin a wheel to determine which fundamental holiday ingredient -- holiday spice, dried fruit or holiday spirits -- they must add to unseasonable desserts, like icebox cakes or fruit tarts. Judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall make the call on which bakers pull it off.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#12 - Filling Grateful
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/11/2019
The popularity of holiday spiced nuts inspires Jesse Palmer's challenge to the nine bakers: Use the crowd-pleasing holiday gift to create holiday spiced nut desserts. In the main heat, each baker must make three pies using an assigned harvest ingredient and decorate each pie crust differently. Judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale send one baker packing.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#13 - Holiday Movie Magic
Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/5/2022
With the popularity of English period dramas at an all-time high, host Jesse Palmer dons a Regency-era waistcoat and challenges the bakers to create a splendid holiday high tea. In the Main Heat, it's all about the rom-com as bakers use an ingredient inspired by a holiday movie trope to create a dessert that's dripping with festive decorations. After all the desserts are tasted by judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall, one baker will be sent out the door as the credits roll.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#14 - Gifts That Keep on Giving
Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/29/2021
In honor of the Hanukkah oil that kept burning, host Jesse Palmer asks the seven remaining bakers to create festive Hanukkah olive oil cakes. In the main heat, it's all about gift exchange desserts as the competitors randomly choose a dreaded holiday dessert and attempt to spin it into holiday happiness to please judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#16 - Plenty of Gratitude
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/12/2018
For the pre-heat, the eight bakers work in teams to make four different kinds of pies on the same sheet pan; in the main heat, the bakers embrace the stuffed feeling after the Thanksgiving meal by making stuffed cakes featuring seasonal ingredients.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#17 - Topsy-Turvy Holidays
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/7/2020
Host Jesse Palmer is turning things on their heads as he challenges the six competitors to work in teams to create jelly doughnut-inspired desserts, a twist on traditional Hanukkah jelly doughnuts. Then, the bakers get creative with the yummiest, gooiest holiday decorated upside-down cakes to satisfy judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#19 - Feeling Sweet and Thankful
Season 9 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/21/2022
These days, holiday turkeys can be smoked, fried, brined, roasted and bacon-wrapped, so host Jesse Palmer uses the five-way turkey as inspiration for the bakers' Preheat challenge. Then, the competitors divide into teams to create a flight of pies that takes judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall on a flavor progression journey, just like a flight of bourbon. Bottom crusts up, everyone! In the end, one baker goes home.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#20 - Trendsetting Turkey Day
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/25/2019
In the first challenge, Jesse Palmer tasks the seven bakers with taking a beloved holiday appetizer to a whole new level with baked Brie and jam mini pies. The main heat is all about being prepared for greatness as the bakers take a prepared ingredient and use it to make a crowd-pleasing Thanksgiving dessert. In the end, judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale send one competitor home.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#21 - Take Holiday Pies by Surprise
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/16/2020
Host Jesse Palmer loves both cookies and pies, so he asks the nine bakers to make holiday cookie-topped mini pies. Then, Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall judge the pie pandemonium as the competitors celebrate fall with flavor combos such as pumpkin-cider and chestnut-chocolate in double crust, cream pies, slab pies, lattice pies and custard pies.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#22 - Hosting the Holidays
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/23/2020
Host Jesse Palmer challenges the eight remaining bakers to turn breakfast items, like French toast, into amazing Thanksgiving breakfast desserts. Then, the competitors take common Friendsgiving potluck dishes, such as glazed carrots, and use them in a dessert to impress judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall. Plus, since Friendsgiving is all about community, they're doing it in teams.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#23 - Gifts of Greatness
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/17/2018
Three bakers remain in the competition, and in the pre-heat, they have to create a beautiful edible holiday ornament display. For the final main heat, the bakers channel holiday gift shopping by creating a cake that is decorated like a gift on the outside and reveals a surprise inside when sliced. For one talented baker, the ultimate gift will be $25,000 and the title of Holiday Baking Champion!
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#24 - Comfort and Joy
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/4/2017
Winter is here and it's time to cozy up inside. The five remaining bakers 'ignite' the holiday spirit with a fiery, pre-heat dessert. Then in the main heat, they take a traditional holiday cheese board and turn it into an unusual cheesecake.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#25 - Thanksgiving It My All
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/18/2019
Apple cider doughnuts are a sure sign of fall, so in the first round, Jesse Palmer asks the eight bakers to create a dozen kicked-up apple cider doughnuts decorated with seasonal themes. Then the bakers must transform a classic holiday yule log into a festive Thanksgiving roll cake, and judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale decide which competitor's cake falls short.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV