The Great British Bake Off series 16: what are the challenges in week 1?

• The Great British Bake Off will finally start this week.
• Channel 4 will be welcoming 12 new amateurs into the famous tent.
• But what challenges will they face in the first episode?

It is almost time for a new season of The Great British Bake Off to be served up. Channel 4 will be dishing up a slice of TV goodness in just a matter of hours.

The iconic cooking show will be welcoming 12 new amateur bakers into the famous tent. Meet them all here - and find out how one wants to make series history by securing a “show first”.

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Channel 4 has also confirmed the judges and hosts who will be part of the line-up this year. It includes the return of Prue Leith after she missed the Celebrity version in the spring.

But what challenge will await the bakers when they step into the tent? Here’s all you need to know:

When does GBBO start on Channel 4?

The 16th series is set to begin on The Great British Bake Off tonight (September 2). It is starting earlier than in past years, which is a real treat.

GBBO will start at 8pm on Tuesdays with ten episodes in total. It is expected to run until November.

What are the challenges on GBBO in week 1?

For the brand new season, Bake Off will be starting with a firm old favourite. It is Cake Week, Channel 4 has confirmed.

The amateurs will face three tasks as usual: the signature bake, the technical bake, and the showstopper. One baker will be sent home at the conclusion of the episode.

The preview for tonight’s episode, via Radio Times, reads: “The bunting has been hung and the tent is up, which can only mean one thing - Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding are back to guide a new batch of amateur bakers through 10 weeks of challenges set by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.

“First up is cake week, in which the hopefuls must produce a Swiss roll with an inlay design, work out how to make fondant fancies in the technical and serve up a stunning landscape cake in the showstopper round.”

GBBO gets a new week for series 16

The bakers will face a fresh challenge this year in the form of ‘back to school’ week. It comes after the show starts earlier than usual, at least since it moved to Channel 4.

Prue Leith explained: “Paul got terribly excited, because his favourite thing in the whole world is cake and custard, and we had lots of cake and custard. In fact, for one of the challenges, I think we actually required custard.

“It’s funny, because I was at school in South Africa, and you would have thought that would have been very different, but because the whole education system had come from Britain, our school was just like any private school in England. So we had treacle tart and brownies and school cake – not very well-made, but we had the same things.”

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