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Winner of GBBO announced after tearful and dramatic final

Updated / Wednesday, 30 Oct 2019 10:36
Who won this year's Bake Off?
Who won this year's Bake Off?

With The Great British Bake Off back on our screens, the evenings have been brighter, as our favourite bakers and hosts delighted us with innuendos, soggy bottoms, and outlandishly colourful shirts. 

However, last night saw the tenth season come to an end as a winner was announced, with David walking away with the coveted glass cake stand and clearly overwhelmed with emotion after what was an intense and stressful final. 

Final

Heading into the final, it seemed clear to many that Steph - the four-time Star Baker - would emerge victorious, as she had proven time and again that she had the baking skills to back up her daring imagination. However, the tide quickly turned as the three bakers faced their Signature Challenge: chocolate cake. 

Bakers must turn in their version of "the ultimate chocolate cake", a task that sounds deceptively simple but pushes each contestant to wow the judges. David bakes a chocolate Armagnac and prune cake with a mirror glaze, Steph goes classic with a Black Forest gateau and Alice creates a chocolate, pear, maple and ginger cake. 

Steph's retro bake wins top marks for its rich cocoa flavour and striking design, despite being slightly overbaked, meaning she seems to be in the lead. But things take a turn for the wobbly in the Technical Challenge. 

Paul Hollywood tasks the bakers with serving up mini Stilton soufflés with snappy biscuits on the side, but with the added challenge of serving them out of the dishes they bake in – an unusual move. 

David tackles the bake with aplomb, while Alice and Steph struggle with nerves and lack of self-confidence. In one of the worst upsets in the otherwise – soothingly – boring series, Steph's soufflés emerge watery and undercooked, due to a cold bain marie. In floods of tears, Steph presents her bakes for judging and comes in last, behind Alice and David. 

In another bonkers and upsetting twist, Alice's parents' flight to the final is cancelled, leaving her extremely upset and more nervous than before. 

The Showstopper Challenge is one the most difficult of the series, a trompe l'oeil picnic basket including bakes that look like fruits and picnic basket staples. Steph creates a cake burger and strawberry macarons, Alice turns out a carrot cake scotch egg dainty ice cream cones, and David crafts lemon cakes that look like cheese and a basket made of sweet brittle. 

In the end, after many tears and hugs from Noel, David is named the winner, despite never winning Star Baker during the series. Calling himself the "underdog", he said: "Just getting to the final was a win for me, so this is just unreal". 

So that's it for another year. Who knows what stark reality season 11 of GBBO might find us in when it returns – for all we know, it may still be giving us a nice distraction from Brexit in a year's time – but we wait, baking dishes buttered and ready, until then!

All along the way, one of our favourite parts of GBBO night was catching up on Twitter, getting all the hot takes about the hot bakes, and we'll miss this enormously. Here's the best Tweets about the final:

The common denominator 

Hosts with the most 

A twist on a twist

Our Wonderwalls 

The rules 

Psychopathically calm

A simple request 

Impressive 

Michael... 

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