Great British Bake Off 2020 final, live: Dave and Peter level pegging as showstopper round begins

His checkerboard biscuits are now stripy. He has the self-awareness to blame it on nervous brain-fuzz. 

Dave is making a Tower To Redemption, tackling the bakes he’s done badly throughout the contest. 

A Fraisier cake base, chocolate babkas, miniature brownies and raspberry profiteroles. A risky strategy but you’ve got to admire him, ahem, “cojones”. Apologies, I’ll never use that word again.

The normally sensible Mr Sawkins is throwing caution to the wind with a Bonkers Bake Off Bubble Cake. It’s his “most out there bake” yet, says the wild and crazy kid.  

A Victoria sponge base, then lemon and blackberry creme diplomat, chocolate and orange checkerboard biscuits, Christmas-spiced friand plum duffs and topped with a puffed rice Christmas tree.

He loves Christmas, bless him. Well, he is only about eight. He’s probably hoping Santa brings him an Action Man and some Toffos.

Quoting GK Chesterton, aka “prince of paradox”, Laura is making a rainbow cake. Let’s hope she doesn’t say it’s for the NHS and fail to mention the LGBT community, like Paul did earlier in the series with rainbow bagel-gate. 

A carrot cake base, her Star Baker-winning Key Lime tart, chocolate orange Chelsea buns, miniature macaroons, piped flower… Camp as Christmas but will it be just as tasty?

For their final bake, our trio must make a colossal dessert tower, reflecting their personal Bake Off experience. There must be a large cake at its base, then layers showing off different baking disciplines. 

Prue compares it to an “end-of-term exhibition”. She clearly didn’t go to my comprehensive school. 

They have four-and-half-hours. So for the last time this series, on your marks…. get set… Baaaaaake!

It would take a miraculous showstopper to haul Laura back into contention but stranger things have happened.

Looks like it’s between Peter and Dave at the moment. But still all to bake for. 

Laura’s in third place and surely out of the running now. But it’s tight between the boys. 

In a reversal of the signature round, Dave wins this one with Peter second. Dave looks endearingly chuffed and gives his trademark shoulder wiggle. He’d do a good samba on Strictly.

Laura’s aren’t quite set and she had timing issues, which sounds strangely familiar. Dave’s are “as neat as a pin”. Are pins notoriously neat?

Judgement time on the technical. Sit on your high stools and give it your best poker face, bakers.

I believe that’s the first time this has ever happened. 

And come back with an armful of Walnut Whips. Or is it Whirls? 

Nobody knows how thick the sablé biscuit base is supposed to be. Laura’s struggling with whisking her egg whites and sugar syrup. Peter’s meringue is melting.

Dave has opted for a dipping rather than pouring his chocolate. Bold, Man Friday, bold. But it seems to be working fine. 

It’s 35 degrees in the tent. The bakers are keeping cool by dabbing their sweaty brows, guzzling water and draping damp tea towels around their necks.

I don’t envy them, working with tempered chocolate in this heat. The August heatwave feels like a looooong time ago, doesn’t it?

Turns out she hates coffee so has no idea how to make the coffee-infused ganache. This isn’t going well, is it?

Is the last gingham-shrouded mystery of the series. The bakers have to make eight walnut whirls.

Or Walnut Whips, as they’re presumably not allowed to be called for copyright reasons. 

La Leith reassures Laura that she’s had a bad morning but could still have a good afternoon. Get your head out of your freezer and chin up, babez.

“Oh, Laura,” sighs the nation again. Her custard isn’t set so they’ve gone all sloppy and floppy. The pastry is more like a cracker. They look like somebody has sat on them. Lovely flavours, as always, but not finalist fodder. 

Beautiful pastry, gorgeous coffee flavour but wobbly icing lines and slightly stodgy custard. 

A professional look. Lovely flaky pastry. Perhaps a little thick but delicious flavour and crunchy oat topping.

It’s a thumbs up for Peter’s Cranachan Custard Slices but no Hollywood handshake. This is the final. He’s not mad. 

Stand by your custard slices, “Praul and Poo” are coming to taste them. 

Meanwhile, Noel Fielding gives Laura a sweet little pep talk about well-known baker Bjorn Borg. 

Laura ends up with her head in the freezer, a bit weepy, and waving away Dave’s well-meaning attempts to comfort her. It was somehow inevitable but it’s still hurty to see. 

Laura’s pastry is crumbling as she cuts it and her custard isn’t sett. She’s struggling with time and having “an absolute nightmare”. Again.

Peter’s honeycomb seems to be a breathing, sentient organism. It’s aliiiiive. 

Butter’s seeped out of her pastry and it’s too thick. “Oh, Laura,” sighs a nation in unison.

Her husband Matt sends a video message, mentioning her habit of leaving the kitchen looking like a scorched post-apocalyptic hellscape.

Somewhow reassuring that she doesn’t just do that when there’s crew members to clean up after her. 

Lamination, lamination, lamination. That should be the title of Bake Off’s Channel 4 stablemate, probably presented by Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer. 

Proud Scot Peter uses Scottish ingredients every chance he gets and here it’s no exception. Peter’s Cranachan Custard Slices will include raspberries, whisky, two different custards and probably some Irn-Bru. 

Dave’s opted for a Caramel Latté Custard Slice, even though he’s had trouble with caramel several times during the contest. Risky.

Those caramelised hazelnut spikes could have your eye out. Health & Safety nightmare. 

Laura going for a Yuzu custard slice, served vertically for reasons I don’t quite understand. Maybe she’s hoping the judges will fall over in delight. She’s aiming for “refinement”. Will she pull it off?

Eight custard slices in two-and-a-half hours is the first challenge

Noel cracks a “General Custard/Battle Of Little Cream Horn” gag. Tumbleweed blows and he pretends to leave the tent in disgrace.

Into the tent of doughy dreams come co-presenters Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas, and judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. They’re a veritable feast of printed tops. Except Paul, obviously. 

He’s watched every episode of Bake Off since series three and has wanted to get here since he was 12. Now he’s the youngest ever finalist and is the bookies’ favourite. 

He’s listened and learned over the past nine weeks and is one of the most improved bakers in Bake Off history. He also likes mangoes and has been on holiday to Mexico. Did he mention that? 

Introductory VTs on each finalist. It traces Laura’s journey from that Freddie Mercury cake bust (or was it the guy off the Pringles tube?) to this final. She’s struggled with confidence and presentation but she’s a survivor. 

That little girl must be in her 20s by now. There’s still a raspberry missing off that chocolate cake and all.

Cue tension-building montage. In the beginning, there were 12. Ah, Sura! Rowan! Lottie! Hermine! Various men called Mak/Marc/Mark! How we miss thee.

We’re about to go over to that wondrous white marquee…

Hampshire armoured security guard Dave Friday, 31, is the contest’s most improved baker. After a shaky start, he’s snuck up on the rails to become a serious contender – despite struggling with the technical round in recent weeks. 

With his unblinking stare, naked competitiveness and shoulder wiggle of pleasure when praised, determined Dave has proved a divisive figure among fans. But he’s steadily become stronger as the contest has gone on and would become the second consecutive David to win.

A mere five minutes left on the apron-clad countdown…

Gravesend born-and-bred digital manager Laura Adlington, 31, bakes from the heart but admits refinement isn’t her strong suit. She ain’t kidding. The only female finalist has become known as the flavour queen, with a  penchant for citrus and summer fruits. However, her presentation is erratic, to put it politely. The recurring pattern has been that Laura drops her bakes or decorates them messily, but their flavours narrowly save her skin.  

She was reduced to tears by last week’s complicated Danish cornucopia technical and has come perilously close to elimination three times in the past four weeks. Paul Hollywood took to Instagram to defend poor Laura from trolls when she survived over fan favourite Hermine. 

She’s the rank outsider but if Laura can cut out the mistakes, her flavours might just clinch it. Ten minutes to cake o’clock…

Let’s limber up with a quick rundown of our three contenders.

Wholesome Edinburgh University student Peter Sawkins is the youngest ever finalist at 20. He’d also become the first winner from north of the border.

Pastry prodigy Peter marked himself out as a contender straight away, being crowned Star Baker in week one after his Sir Chris Hoy cake bust. With highly honed planning and time management skills, often using rulers or templates for extra precision, he’s been unerringly consistent ever since, acquiring the nicknames “Perfect Peter” and “baby-faced assassin”.

Earning his second Star Baker accolade in last week’s semi meant Peter was the first to go through to the final. He’s also the only two-time winner among the last trio.

But will he justify his status as favourite? Fifteen minutes to wait now, Peter-ites…

Our three courses of cake-based competition tonight? I’m glad you asked. There’s a deceptively simple signature bake, combining set custard and puff pastry.

The oft-dreaded technical challenge celebrates the classic combination of chocolate and nuts. Sadly, it isn’t “buy a bar of Cadbury’s Whole Nut from the local garage”.

Finally, the bakers have free rein to demonstrate to the judges why they deserve to be crowned winner with multi-layered dessert tower showstoppers. Let’s hope nobody drops theirs or falls face-first into it. 

Mouth watering yet? Twenty minutes until cakey kick-off…

We’ve had six female and four male Bake Off champions since the show started in 2010.

Can Laura make it 7-4 to the women? Will Peter or Dave pull it back to a nearly-gender-balanced 6-5?

It’s 25 minutes to tent time…

Remember three years ago, when Bake Off judge Prue Leith accidentally tweeted her congratulations to the winner 12 hours in advance? Ah, happy days. Except perhaps at Channel 4 HQ.

Half an hour until he head tentwards…

Will it Perfect Peter, Messy Laura or Starey ‘n’ Slightly Scary Dave? Yes, gluten fiends, it’s time for the gala grand final of The Great British Bake Off 2020 and our bakers are about to enter the fabled tent for the last time.

This has been a series like no other, with cast and crew packing up the marquee, shipping out of Welford Park and forming a Covid-secure environment at an Essex hotel to ensure the nations’ favourite foodie contest could be safely staged during lockdown. 

Across nine weeks of swatted flies, dropped cakes, melted ice cream and controversial eliminations (Mak! Lottie! Hermine!), a dozen apron-clad hopefuls have been whittled down to just three – but only one can be crowned winner tonight and it’s all to bake for.

Expect pastry pressure, a towering showstopper and the tightest decision ever. But who will succeed reigning champion David Atherton (no, we barely remember him either) and become the 11th owner of that coveted glass cake-stand trophy? 

I’m Michael, your sous chef for tonight’s grand finale. It’s showtime at 8pm on Channel 4. I’ll be liveblogging from 7.30pm, providing build-up, rolling coverage, social media reaction and sarky asides.

Please join me – and join in, too. You can email me on [email protected],  tweet me on @michaelhogan or leave comments at the bottom of this blog. I’ll keep an eye on them all and report the highlights here. 

On your marks. Get set. And for one last time in the bio-bubble… bake!