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In this the first week - cake week - the judges want to see what the contestants are all about in the three challenges issued. The signature challenge is to make a cake in the shape of their lucky number, with decorations to match the reason for considering it lucky. The contestants have two hours to complete the challenge. This challenge marks the first time the bakers will get a chance to get acquainted with their baking station. It also introduces the ten contestants to the viewing audience. The main technical issue with this challenge is not to cut the cake while it's too warm, otherwise the cake may break apart. For the technical challenge, the contestants are required to make in ninety minutes a strawberry roulade. They have to ensure a tight and round roll which doesn't crack with a good strawberry flavor and good cake to filling ratio. They also have to demonstrate their mastery in meringue as both the cake and the buttercream filling will require it. And for the showstopper challenge for which they are provided three hours, the contestants are required to make a cake representing any one of the Canadian provincial flags. This challenge will allow the contestants to let their imaginations run wild in how they represent their flags.

It's biscuit week. For the signature bake, the bakers are given ninety minutes to make thirty-six savory crackers and an accompanying dip. Beyond the bakers being told that the thirty-six have to be uniform in size and appearance, the primary technical issues are the baking time for the crackers, which could easily be over-baked in how thin they are, ensuring that they have the typical cracker "snap", and the dip being complimentary in flavor to the cracker itself. For the technical challenge, the bakers are required to make twelve identical marshmallow puff cookies in eighty minutes. The issues for the bakers are that they have to get each part of the cookies correct: the cookie base, the raspberry jam filling (which should be seedless), the marshmallow puff, and the chocolate topping, the chocolate which needs to be tempered properly. For the showstopper, the bakers have four hours to make a cookie sculpture using two different types of cookies, the sculpture representing their ultimate fantasy and which needs to be entirely edible meaning no non-edible supports such as dowels. The bakers have to choose cookies that are not only tasty, but can withstand the structural element. The judges will be looking for the sculptures to tell a story about the bakers themselves.

It's bread week, the bakers who face three different challenges concerning the combination of yeast and flour. For the signature challenge, the bakers are required to make an Eastern European loaf called a povatica in two and half hours. It can be sweet or savory, and can be baked in any shape they would like, but is must have the signature swirl when cut. Beyond taste and texture, the judges are looking for a good ratio of bread to filling, with the filling being distinctive in appearance from the bread itself. The technical challenge is for the bakers to make twelve brioche à tête in two hours forty-five minutes. The extra challenge will be that the dough must be made by hand i.e. no electric mixers. The technical issues with this challenge are gauging the texture of the dough especially when the butter is worked in, and that the "tête" (head) should be applied in a way that it does not separate from the base either in the rise or the bake. And for the showstopper, they will be making a bread sculpture in four and a half hours, using at least two types of yeast leavened bread. Beyond the appearance and taste, the bakers have to choose breads that will be sturdy enough to be presented in three-dimensions, while also being wary that any enrichments to the dough, for coloration for example, does not compromise the dough itself.

It's old school week, the phrase which may conjure different connotations depending on one's age, but which is meant to refer to what most would consider retro. The bakers have ninety minutes for their signature challenge which is to make a coffee cake with a streusel topping. The cake is to be both moist and dense which requires a longer bake than most cakes. For the technical challenge, the bakers will be making creme caramels in seventy-five minutes. Beyond perfecting both the caramel and custard components, the biggest issue may be the time, as they have to prepare the caramels, bake them then cool them before unmolding them, underbaking which will result in a loose custard which will have no structure when unmolded. And for the showstopper, the bakers will have three and a half hours to make an extra large celebration slab cake. The celebration component means that the cake must celebrate someone or something, generally meaning it must have at least an inspirational message. The biggest issue with this challenge may be the cake's size, which may require the bakers to make multiple cakes and piece them together in the construction.

This week, the bakers will have to contend with one of the most beloved yet temperamental of standard baking ingredients, namely chocolate. No matter the challenge, the bakers will have to create bakes that are chocolate forward with all other flavors only as complements to the chocolate. They will have two hours to complete their signature bake of twenty-four chocolate sandwich cookies. The twenty-four should be uniform from one to another, and there should be a correct ratio of cookie to filling. They will also have two hours for their technical challenge to make the chilled dessert called marquis au chocolat. The time may be the issue as the marquis has four separate and distinct components - an airy and light mousse, a rich ganache, a crunchy pistachio croquant and an equally light and airy sponge - each which must be prepared separately and each layer which must be chilled properly before the subsequent layer is added. And they will have three and a half hours to create their showstopper of three different varieties of eighteen total chocolate candies in a box. The three different varieties should be centered on a common theme of their choice tied together by a chocolate centerpiece. The biggest issues with this challenge are the tempering of the chocolate as it will dictate if what the judges first see and taste will be that shiny chocolate snap, and getting the correct ratio of chocolate coating to whatever the filling.

It's international week, meaning that the bakers will go around in world in three bakes. For the signature challenge, the bakers will be making a tres leches cake, a Mexican favorite, in three hours, but they can incorporate their own international flavors above and beyond the milk. The sponge should be light and airy, and not oversoaked to be made leaden by the milk soaking liquid. The bakers also have to figure out how to infuse the sponge sufficiently with that soaking liquid, the process which is usually allowed to happen overnight. For the technical challenge, the bakers will have ninety minutes to make a kransekake, a Norwegian cookie tower made of stacked almond cookie rings "glued" together by royal icing, the kake which, by design, is gluten free as almond flour provides the structure. Kyla admits to the camera that the recipe provided makes just enough dough for the eighteen rings required, so that there is no room for error. For the showstopper challenge, the bakers will go wherever they want to in the world in making a cheesecake - most cultures and their cuisine which has its own take on the dessert - in four hours. Even if the bakers choose what North Americans see as the traditional cheesecake, they once again have the opportunity to go international by the flavor profile they choose. And being the showstopper, the judges are expecting elaborate decorations.

It's the semi-finals, arguably when elimination would be the most bitter. Some are concerned about it being pie week as the category is so diverse, and they always have to be cognizant of having a flaky crust which can be compromised by a filling with too much liquid. For the signature challenge, the bakers will have to create a pastry pie face in two and half hours. The options are endless, the only criterion beyond it being a pie being the need for an elaborately designed face on the surface. For the technical challenge, they will have two and a quarter hours to make a pithivier. The issues with this French dessert is making the puff pastry, having perfectly scalloped edges, demonstrating good knife skills in the design on top of the pie, and ensuring there is enough frangipane and cherry jam filling which doesn't leak out the pastry when baked. And for the showstopper, they have to make a tiered or stacked pie dessert in four hours. It has to have a minimum three pies and/or tarts and have a central theme in design. The judges will be looking for a combination of great flavor and look.

It's the finals, and three of the original ten bakers remain standing: Colin Asuncion, Jodi Robson and Nataliia Shevchenko. For the signature challenge, the three will have to make a fraisier, a strawberry dessert comprised of a mousse, sponge and cream, in three hours. They are free to incorporate any other flavors they would like but obviously has to complement the strawberry. The most important component may be the mousse, which has to be stable enough to hold together when the fraisier is sliced. The final technical challenge may be more stressful than any of the others in not even having a theme on which to guess what it may be to prepare. What they are asked to make in two and a half hours is a marjolaine, a hazelnut meringue, ganache filled, praline buttercream topped gateau. The final bake of the season, the showstopper, is apropos to cap off all the bakes: a pièce montée, which is an edible sculpture generally comprised of cake, cookies and the mandatory component of chou pastry. With this showstopper, which they have four and a half hours to complete, the bake must be in the design of a recognizable landmark. For the announcement of the Great Canadian Baking Show season 3 winner, the final three, Aurora and Carolyn, and Bruno and Kyla are joined by the final three's family and friends, plus some people who understand the pressure of being in the tent.

Four former contestants - James Hoyland and Vandana Jain from season 1, and Timothy Fu and Megan Stasiewich from season 2 - return to the tent for an all-holiday baking competition. For the signature challenge, the bakers will have to make twelve cookie Christmas tree ornaments in two and a half hours. Beyond the taste and the look, they will have to be cognizant of choosing a cookie that is sturdy enough to withstand hanging, while still being edible. For the technical challenge, the bakers will have three hours to make challah, a traditional Jewish egg bread. The braided loaf must have six strands, and the bakers must make their own butter and their own apple butter as accompaniments. And for the final bake of the weekend - the showstopper challenge - the bakers have to construct a holiday village in four hours. They have to use cookies, nougat and at least one confectionery of their choice. Some old friends from the baking tent are on hand for the announcement of the star baker for this holiday challenge.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a renewed focus on baking, something not lost on the season 4 batch of contestants. This, the first week, is cake week, as the judges believe cakes will provide a good initial test to gauge the bakers' overall skill level. The signature challenge is to make an elevated version of a traditional bundt cake with a drizzle or glaze, it most defined by the intricate pattern of the pan - the cake served inverted to show off that pattern - with the hole in the center. The contestants have an hour and forty-five minutes to complete the challenge. The seemingly easy challenge will be to see who actually understands what about baking, aside from the one issue of getting the cake out of the pan without the cake falling apart. For the technical challenge, the bakers are required to make in two hours a vertical striped red velvet cake on a cupid theme for Valentine's Day, the cake itself a roulade set on its side so that when cut in wedges it shows off the vertical stripes. The judges are looking to see if the bakers can make all the vastly different components, from the cake for the roulade, to the Swiss meringue butter cream filling and icing to the tempered ruby chocolate decorations, and if the final product has an appropriate ratio of cake to buttercream. And for the showstopper challenge which they are provided three and a half hours, the bakers are required to make a multi-tiered cascading mirror glaze cake. This challenge is not only to see if the bakers know the technicalities of the mirror glaze, in which they should indeed be able to see their reflection, but if they understand cake construction, as the bottom layers may compress if the top part of the cake is too heavy, and the top layers may collapse or tilt if they do not have the necessary supports.

The signature bake for cookie week has the bakers making eighteen linzer cookies apiece in ninety minutes. Beyond the uniformity between the eighteen and the bake itself, the bakers have to ensure the rolling of the dough is even, the flavors of the cookie and its filling are complimentary - they able to go outside the traditional - the filling is distributed right to the edge of the cookie without overflowing, and that the filling reaches just to the top of the cookie in its distinctive "window". They have to make another sandwich cookie for the technical, the Dutch stroopwafel which is caramel-filled. They have to make twelve uniform cookies apiece, be sure to pay attention to the timing as it is a matter of seconds between it being underdone and overdone, that the cookies are cut into perfect rounds, and that the caramel itself has a nice stretch when the cookie is pulled apart. The bakers have one and three-quarter hours for the challenge. And for the showstopper, the bakers have three and a half hours to make a two or three dimensional "family portrait" out of cookie. The term family is up to each baker to define, they must include two different types of cookies, and royal icing must be used.

It's bread week meaning all things yeast, with the signature challenge, making a Tarte Tropézienne, perhaps seeming outside of the nature of bread by its very name. Named by Brigitte Bardot, this tarte is actually a brioche "cake" sandwich filled with pastry cream. Beyond the basics identifying it as a Tarte Tropézienne, the bakers are given free reign as to flavors and other embellishments. The bakers are given two and a half hours to complete the challenge. For the technical challenge, the judges want the bakers to make twelve pretzels accompanied by a cheese spread. What the judges are looking for are a crispy brown salted exterior, a melt-in-your-mouth interior, and uniformity, not only between the twelve pretzels in the classic shape, but in the strands of the braid of each. The bakers are given two and a half hours to complete the challenge. And for the showstopper, the bakers are asked to make a two-tiered bread centerpiece. The two tiers must be made of different types of bread, each stuffed with a filling of the bakers' choice, and as a centerpiece be visually appealing as viewed from any side. The bakers are given four hours to complete the challenge.

For Italian week, the bakers will double the bake for their signature in having to make two dozen biscotti in two different flavors. Beyond the flavors, the judges are looking for a crispy exterior and an interior that is not rock hard. The bakers have ninety minutes for this challenge. For the technical challenge, the bakers are asked to make twelve cannoncini, better known in English as Italian cream horns. This challenge sets a record in the longest technical yet at three hours, fifteen minutes. The challenges with it are to make the puff pastry properly so that the butter does not leak out when baking, and to wrap the pastry properly around the mold in a way that it shows no cracks for the cream filling to leak out. And in honor of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the bakers will be making a tower structure using three types of Italian treats, their choice of sweet or savory, as the showstopper. They have four hours to complete the challenge.

The show does a first in having a Botanical Week, namely all things having to do with plants. For the signature, the bakers are required to make eight mini fruit tarts in two hours. Beyond the fact that the finished products need to be fruit forward and be tart sized, the bakers are given free reign on all other aspects. In Kyla's hint to keep green, the bakers learn that for the technical, they will each be making sixteen pan-fried herb garden dumplings - the dough and filling both with herbaceous elements - with a scallion sauce accompaniment in one and three-quarter hours. Outside most of the bakers' comfort zone, the challenge will be to cook the dumpling properly so that the dough and the filling are done at the same time. And for the showstopper which they will have four hours to complete, the bakers will each be making at least a two-tiered botanical cake in which the decorating theme needs to be floral and hand made in nature, and the cake itself have at least one botanical flavor.

It's the quarter-finals, the remaining bakers dealing with pastry this week, one of the generally more feared aspects of baking. For the signature for which they have two and half hours, they each have to make a strudel, sweet or savory, at least twelve inches in length. They have to be concerned about the lamination in the paper thin pastry and that the filling is not too moist to make the pastry soggy and that will set properly within the time restrictions. The next challenge, the technical, has the bakers each making a British classic, the bakewell tart, in two and a half hours. The bakers will have to work on instinct as Kyla, who set this challenge, has provided scant details in the instructions. They have an additional two and half hours for the their final bake of the weekend, the showstopper, for which they will have to make a vegetable tart. They are provided great leeway in the only stipulation being that it must include at least three different vegetables. And with all three challenges, the bakers have to be concerned with the dreaded soggy bottom.

It's the semi-finals, and one of the four remaining bakers will face the heartache of arguably the worst position of being eliminated at the conclusion of these three bakes, and thus not make it into the finals. For their fancy dessert signature, each baker will have three hours to make twelve entremets, which are all about getting each layer right, putting them all together right, with the final product coated professionally and neatly. In Bruno's parting words of "passionate but gentle", the bakers discover their fancy dessert technical is for each to make a passion chocolate charlotte cake in two and a quarter hours, the passion referring to a passion fruit chocolate ganache layer, and a passion fruit gelée decoration. Much like the signature, the mousse may be the key in ensuring that it sets in time so that it holds together when the charlotte is sliced. And the final bake of the fancy dessert semi-final is a meringue crunch cake, its preparation which may the longest three and a half hours the bakers have faced in the tent thus far before the announcement of the three finalists.

The finale has arrived with the last three bakers standing being Tanner Davies, Mahathi Mundluru and Raufikat Oyawoye. They have two and a half hours for their third to last bake, an ice cream bomb which must contain at least a layer of cake and two different layers of homemade ice cream. On this hot day, the set of the ice creams may be the biggest challenge. Their penultimate bake, for which they have two and three-quarter hours, may be the most stressful in not having any preconceived notion of what they would be asked to do. That ask is to make a St. Honoré cake, a French classic with puff pastry, choux, custard, and cream layers topped with a ring of filled choux buns, these ones with craquelin to provide additional texture. And the final bake of the season, for which they have four and a half hours, is a traditional treat trolley that must contain one picturesque pie, six mini cakes, six Viennoiserie pastries, and eight elegantly decorated cookies. After the three bakes, Bruno and Kyla will make their decision of this year's Great Canadian Baking Show winner, the announcement made in front of this season's eliminated bakers, and for the first time without family and friends due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The ten contestants for season 5 are walking into the unfamiliar, namely the tent for the first time, but have some aspects that should be familiar to them: the recognizable faces, at least on television, of the returning hosts and judges; that they, while on site, will need to maintain COVID-19 protocols as they do in everyday life; that this, the first week of any season, is cake week; and that they, as their first, challenge, are each asked to make something that is a classic, namely a pound cake, they allowed to put their own person spin on whatever they bake. They may be going back into the unfamiliar in each required to make twenty identical Lammingtons for the technical challenge, it an Australian favorite. Beyond the judges looking for perfectly decorated cubes, the bakers have to contend with the multiple components: the cake sponge, the mostly seedless raspberry jam filling, the chocolate glaze, and the coconut dusting which should not be discolored by the chocolate. And for their first showstopper, they are each to make a fault line cake, an illusion cake that has a "fault line" to reveal something different inside.

It's cookie week, where the bakers will have to put modern spins on classic cookies. For the signature, they are asked to make icebox sandwich cookies. Icebox cookies historically have been refrigerated dough in a log for those sweet treat emergencies to slice off and bake as needed. Beyond the time restriction limiting how long they can chill their dough, the bakers will have the challenge of having a multi-colored dough to exhibit a "picture" in the cookie. They also have to ensure their sandwich filling is firm enough so as not to ooze out when biting into the sandwich. For the technical, each baker is required to make twenty pirouette cookies. Because of how thin the cookies are and that they need to be rolled immediately after being baked, there is a fine line of minutes between the cookies being underbaked and overbaked. The bakers also have to ensure the hazelnut chocolate filling is thin enough to be able to pipe into the cookies, yet thick enough so that it does not drip out the ends of the cookies. And for the showstopper, each will make a mosaic out of cookies. There will be two cookie elements: a base upon which the mosaic tiles will be placed to display a picture. Most of the bakers will color their tiles using tinted royal icing.

The bakers are moving away from a theme centered around a bakery item, to a more general theme as it is the first ever Celebration Week, meaning everything they produce must be in celebration of something. For the signature challenge, they are each to make a dozen éclairs in celebration of an event of their choosing using flavors of their choosing. The celebration is more defined in the technical, where they are each asked to make a Halloween spider web cake. The challenge with the technical is the multi-component nature of the product, which includes a cake sponge, a candy-like base, a mousse, a frosting, a fried tuile, and not only one but two mirror glazes, the second which is to produce the spider web effect. And for the signature, they or someone they know will be getting married in they each making a meringue centerpiece for a wedding. While they can use other edible items, the piece must consist primarily of meringue-based items, such as macarons, pavlovas, dacquoises and meringue kisses.

It's bread week, and for the signature, the bakers are going to have to impress especially Kyla who grew up eating what they are asked to make, namely babka. They can use whatever flavors they want for their babka, but should incorporate the braids and twists revealing the filling, this look for which babka is known. The bakers are figuratively traveling further east in each being asked to make twelve bolo baos - six sandwiched with a homemade butter - for the technical. In being told that the Chinese to English translation is pineapple buns, they may be perplexed if they have never seen or eaten one in that it contains no pineapple, but rather the top of the bun is to evoke the look of the exterior of a pineapple. And for the showstopper, they are each asked literally to make a bread basket - a vessel of some sort made of bread - the vessel which will be filled with at least two other different types of bread.

For the signature in this, pie and tart week, the bakers are each asked to make a sweet pie representing some aspect of one of the Canadian provinces. The judges want to see the provincial representation not only in the flavors, but also the design and even the type of crust. The bakers, for the technical, are moving to the smaller tarts in being asked to make fourteen pastéis de nata, more commonly known in English as Portuguese egg tarts. The challenge as with any custard based tart or pie is that the already finicky crust, which in this case is a laminated dough, prefers a high temperature, whereas the custard itself prefers a lower temperature. Additionally, the judges will be looking for the signature swirled bottom of the pastry, and the charred filling top without the custard being turned to scrambled eggs in being overbaked. And for the showstopper, they are figuratively going to olde England in making classic hand raised pies using hot water crust pastry. They need to make two different pies, each with at least two distinct layers of filling, and baked in the traditional method without any external supports.

It's the quarter-finals, and the five remaining bakers will be partaking in the show's first ever Caramel Week, with the bakes either inherently caramel or a caramel version of what is requested. Regardless, the caramel must shine through respective of what other flavors the they choose to incorporate. They are each asked to make twelve each of two different versions, both in flavor and design, of Florentine cookies, which use caramel as their structural base. Beyond the finicky baking times, the challenge may be to make a version that stands out from the crowd while retaining those characteristics standard to the cookies. Moving to the technical, they are each asked to make a baker's dozen yeast raised doughnuts that are caramel forward in being filled with a praline infused pastry cream, covered with a caramel glaze and topped with praline pieces. And they are given free reign in their showstopper. which is for each to make a caramel layer cake.

It's the semi-finals, when the four remaining bakers will have to demonstrate that they can be delicate in making patisseries worthy of a French pastry shop window. For the signature, they each will be making sixteen vol-au-vonts with two different fillings. The difficulty with the signature may be adapting their recipe, especially the puff pastry, to complete it within the short time given for the challenge. For the technical, they will each be making a baba au rhum, a yeast risen cake. In addition to not being given a mixer in needing to make all the components by hand, including kneading the very sticky dough and whipping the Chantilly cream, they have the added pressure in Bruno admitting this was his favorite dessert as a child. And for the showstopper, they will each be making twelve each of three different styles of petit fours, one a "sec", the second a "frais", and the third a "glacé". This week's star baker will be guaranteed a place in next week's finale, while another baker will face the heartbreak of being sent home not to make it to the proverbial finish line of the finale.

The finale has arrived, and the final three standing are Vincent Chan, Aimee DeCruyenaere, and Steve Levitt. They realize that as the finale, the judges could throw anything at them, but whatever they produce has to be spectacular in every way. They are each asked to make a mousse tart for the signature, the multi-component bake which should also include a gelée. The tart's layers should be distinctive with the flavors combining into a cohesive whole. The technical is another multi-component bake in they each being asked to make ten delizia al limone apiece, the domed desserts which include a sponge, a lemon flavored pastry cream filling, a lemon syrup, and a lemon glaze, all topped with an icing and candied lemon. The twenty-fourth and final bake of the season, the finale showstopper, will be a culmination of their baking lives in they each being asked to make what the judges are calling a journey cake: a representation of how they arrived to this point of their baking, from childhood memories, to what may have got them started to bake to begin with, to who they are as a baker today. The story behind their cake may be as important as the product itself. Following Bruno and Kyla's deliberation, Alan and Ann announce this season's winner in front of the three finalists and some other familiar faces to the tent.