“On your marks, get set, bake!” Records to whip you into shape for Great British Bake Off
As autumn approaches, that can only mean one thing: The Great British Bake Off is preparing to return!
With season 17 due to begin on Tuesday 29 September, the tent is set for another round of baking fun! The judging line-up will see Paul Hollywood back for his 17th year, joined by food writer and TV cook Nigella Lawson for her first stint on the show.
Hosted by Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding, the show will air on Channel 4 in the UK with a new batch of contestants ready to dig into the upcoming challenges.
From left, Paul Hollywood, Alison Hammond, Nigella Lawson and Noel Fielding. Pic courtesy of Channel 4.
To get your sweet tooth going, we thought we would look back at some of the best baking Guinness World Records titles. So: “On your marks, get set, bake!”
Kicking off our list is Frances Quinn (UK), who won The Great British Bake Off in 2013. This Bake Off winner has two Guinness World Records titles that are sure to whisk you off your feet! The first came on 5 February 2017 when she partnered up with Hambleton Bakery (UK) to create the largest Jaffa cake.
The sponge base was created from 5.6 kg of eggs and 6.1 kg each of butter, caster sugar and self-raising flour. The mammoth sweet treat measured 124 cm (4 ft 0.8 in) wide, with a surface area of 1.207 m² (13 ft 2 in).
Frances’s next flavoursome feat came just months later, on 14 July 2017, when she created the largest jam filled biscuit. Accompanied once more by the staff at Hambleton Bakery, the team put together a biscuit that weighed in at 26.76 kg (58 lb 15 oz). The average jammy biscuit comes in at a tiny 0.67 oz, so this one was truly massive!
Created in celebration of the Wimbledon finals, the biscuit was moulded into the shape of a tennis racket and was nicknamed the “Grand Slammy Dodger”.
Hungry for more? Check out our dedicated Food and Drink section!
Up next is a dynamic duo who baked their way into the record books over and over again. Nick DiGiovanni (USA) and the late Lynn Davis (Japan), better known as Lynja, joined forces to break a series of supersized culinary records.
They created the largest cake pop on 23 November 2021, which required a long list of ingredients. The recipe included 32 boxes of cake mix, 16 blocks of cream cheese, and the equivalent of 99 liquid eggs. Once the 44.24 kg (97 lb 8.52 oz) colossal cake pop was weighed in, it was distributed to family and friends, along with local foodbanks.
Another title came on 3 April 2023, when the pair successfully made the largest doughnut cake, which weighed an incredible 102.50 kg (225 lb 15 oz) - that’s roughly the weight of a giant panda!
Fancy something a little more savoury? No one loves bread more than Paul Hollywood, so we thought we’d include a few records that would be right up his street.
On 5 May 2024, the Guinness World Records title for longest baguette was reclaimed by the French to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Nutella (Italy). The incredible baton of bread measured 140.53 m (461.05 ft) — longer than an American football field!
The record was achieved by the Municipality of Suresnes and Confédération Nationale de la Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Française (both France), alongside local bakers, who were keen to “bring the record home” to France. They baked the bread, served pieces with Nutella on top, then gave it out to the public and people experiencing homelessness.
So, how many different types of bread does it take to break a record? The answer: 493! On 22 December 2018, the record was broken for largest display of bread varieties. Chefs and organizers from the Culinary Academy of India (India) came together to bake and source bread from a range of different countries and cultures for the attempt.
So, what kind of bread will the contestants attempt during this year’s Bread Week? We’ll have to wait and see!
With a new batch of contestants and plenty of culinary challenges to come, we're already looking forward to seeing what the newest season of The Great British Bake Off has in store.
You can catch the first episode on 29 September on Channel 4, and get a first look in the trailer below!