The Great British Bake Off final – live

Dan is making a strawberries and summer fruit punch jelly eclair, and for his second one he is baking an eclair with salted caramel mascarpone cream.

This is … reasonably normal? I’m now worried for him.

Dan is wearing four pairs of underwear, because it gives him good luck.

And for the life of me, he does not make it obvious whether he is joking or not.

They need two different types and flavours.

“Remember guys this is the final. So the judges would like you to bake in the nude,” says Noel.

“I’m the underdog. Everyone likes an underdog, right?”

Matty, have you looked at gay Twitter?

I love how not dusting an eclair could be a dramatic cliffhanger.

That is why I will miss writing about this show.

The entire of Bake Off 2023 [according to that montage]:

Saku receives a hug and Prue says “so tell us about your beaver.”

Sounds about right.

I will never forget Rahul’s face during this.

Let's hope they really have listened to the audience.

I couldn't take another final with a firepit challenge - probably the worst 15 minutes in Bake Off history!

mred74

Also, can we talk about how there have been 10 weeks of Bake Off? It flew by.

Thank you for making it so much fun.

Before the finale kicks off let’s have a look at the final three.

Josh: There have been multiple times this series where I have simply wondered how Josh has managed to pull it off. I mean, did you see his Christmas buffet party display showstopper a couple of weeks ago? It was a thing of wonder, like window display in a Parisian bakery good. He is the one to beat in the final, I reckon.

Dan: Thai green curry crème caramel anyone? Some of Dan’s baking ideas have divided opinion, and the number of times he has dropped a wired rack while putting something into the oven has been impossible to count, but he’s such a bloody great baker you hardly care. Dan deserves to be in the final because his creativity is unmatched, but he’s also so encouraging and helpful to all the other bakers. Let’s all get him a pint after this.

Matty: He curdled his buttercream three times during cake week, and uttered the highly relatable line “I’m hiding the terror through the smiles.” There have been many times that we have all thought Matty was a goner, but not only has he sailed into each new week, he’s massively improved and could actually win this thing. He would have played an absolute blinder if he did.

⭐STAR BAKER⭐ WATCH: all of the bakers have won Star Baker twice and a technical at least once. Dan came first in the technical during cake, chocolate and pastry week. And Josh won patisserie week.

Even if you take into consideration the technical challenge standings, I’m splitting hairs, because the technicals don’t matter that much. There’s hardly anything between the final three.

Welcome babes to the Guardian’s Bake Off liveblog. And it’s the final!

And it’s an all-male final too, the first time that has happened since series three (when the show was on BBC Two.)

We sadly said goodbye to Tasha (and Darryl) during patisserie week, on her birthday no less, but it also felt like the right decision. The final three all happen to be the strongest bakers this year. That’s right, Prue and Paul haven’t kicked out the wrong people this year even though I would have paid good money for a Saku, Rowan and Dana final. I think we all would.

And credit where it is due. This has been a much better series of Bake Off than last year. The show has listened to its audience. Alison has been a delight in the tent, and the back to basics approach with the challenges have worked wonders. The only downside of this series have been some of the technicals. The less we say about that steamed buns challenge the better.