Bake Off: The Professionals

Ellie Taylor and Liam Charles welcome a fresh batch of professional pastry chefs to compete for the title. Judges Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin set the tasks, beginning with a secret challenge, which sees them working without a recipe to create one of Cherish's own creations, the Apple Tin. Then they serve up a food-and-drink-inspired showpiece with a hidden Victoria sandwich elevated to new heights, far from its humble beginnings.

The teams channel all their patisserie experience into creating 24 identical fruit tarts and 24 of the French dessert petit Antoine. They then have five hours to create a showpiece inspired by a Japanese garden, adorned with roll cakes full of flavour. Ellie Taylor and Liam Charles follow their progress, while Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden taste their efforts

Ellie Taylor and Liam Charles welcome the chefs as they create 24 savoury pâté en croûte and get creative with 24 modern religieuse - choux buns said to resemble nuns. For the showpiece, judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden ask them to come up with a five-tier mille-feuille that would not look out of place at the most glamorous of wedding celebrations.

The teams are challenged to recreate Benoit Blin's Le Café Crème, a dessert he has made at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons for the past 30 years. But to make it even harder, they have no recipe to follow. After this, they create a deceptive gardening-themed illusion showpiece that hides a vegetable cake-inspired dessert to serve 24. Liam Charles and Ellie Taylor follow their progress.

Ellie Taylor and Liam Charles welcome the teams back into the kitchen where they are challenged to produce 24 identical classic framboisier. For their second challenge, they let their creativity run wild as they reinvent American campfire favourite s'mores into a high-end patisserie. Judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden taste their efforts and decide which pair has reached the end of the road.

Ellie Taylor and Liam Charles present as the teams serve up 24 savoury Paris-Brest and 24 delectable savarin, before delivering a tiered celebration St Honoré to serve 150 people, hoping their efforts will win them a place in the final six. That decision lies with judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden.

Liam Charles and Ellie Taylor present as the best three teams from each set of heats come together. They start off with another secret challenge - six identical plant-based petit gâteaux that feature both chocolate and blood orange, with no recipe to hand. The baking wizards and witches then have to defy gravity as they produce hanging showpieces made entirely from chocolate, delicately suspended from the ceiling, and with two batches of macarons sitting within. Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden decide which pair have to go.

As the contest reaches the quarter-final, the teams create 24 savoury sweet desserts, harnessing all the natural sweetness their ingredients, alongside 24 desserts that feature one ingredient throughout their flavours and textures. In the second challenge, things get eerie as the pairs have just five hours to create extraterrestrial-themed showpieces with jelly art desserts.

The semi-final sees Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden joined by Gabriella Cugno - world-renowned official chocolatier for the movie, Wonka - as the contestants are challenged to produce two types of chocolate bars fit for the silver screen. After that, in what might be the toughest challenge ever set, the teams must create an entirely edible 'floating cities' showpiece that floats on water, embellished by 24 petit fours.

The finalists pour all their patisserie passion and expertise into two epic final challenges, where nothing less than brilliance is good enough. For their first challenge, the teams must hit the right trend with a viral patisserie window display. As they aim to get the judges to hit the 'like' button, their displays must include gourmet cookies, gateaux de voyage and filled laminated buns - 12 of each and all baked to perfection in just four hours. In a gruelling seven-hour challenge, the series' two top teams must create a banquet celebrating great train journeys, with a towering sugar and chocolate showpiece and enough desserts to feed 120. It's full steam ahead, but which team will be on track to be crowned the winners of Bake Off: The Professionals 2025?