Here are all of the Sally’s Baking Challenge recipes in 1 place. This page makes it easy for you to see which recipes on my website have been previous baking challenges… just in case you want to try them all at some point!
What Is Sally’s Baking Challenge?
Sally’s Baking Challenge is a monthly series on my website that began in 2017 as a way to connect with readers, build a positive baking community, and encourage both myself and others to try something new in the kitchen. Since then, tens of thousands of home bakers from all over the world have joined in the fun.
Each month, participants who bake the featured challenge recipe and share a photo are entered into a drawing to win a prize. Think of it less as a competition and more as a group of bakers around the world learning, creating, and baking together.
On the first day of every month, I share a new Sally’s Baking Challenge recipe and invite you to bake along anytime during the month. The goal is to build confidence, learn new skills, get creative, and—most importantly—have fun. On the final day of the month, one winner is randomly selected using the entry application we use to collect submissions.
You can find full details and the current challenge recipe on the Sally’s Baking Challenge page.
All of the Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
Use this list to find all of the previous baking challenge recipes.
2026 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
January—Homemade Blueberry Bagels
These from-scratch bagels are chewy on the outside, soft and dense on the inside, and packed with real blueberries.
2025 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
January—Homemade Ciabatta Bread
Rustic-looking and flavorful, with a flour-dusted crusty exterior and extra-chewy interior pockmarked by air bubbles, this classic Italian-style bread is made from just 4 ingredients.
February—Chocolate Chip Cake with Ganache Drip
This towering chocolate chip layer cake combines a soft vanilla cake crumb, sweet vanilla buttercream with oodles of mini chocolate chips, and a decadent chocolate ganache drip.
March—Homemade Cruffins
Buttery and flaky croissant dough gets twisted up with a generous dose of cinnamon-sugar and baked in a muffin pan, combining two tasty treats into one incredible hybrid: croissants + muffins = cruffins.
April—Caramel Coconut Macaroon Thumbprints
This upgraded version of classic chewy coconut macaroons features a decadent pool of salted caramel in the center and a drizzle of chocolate to top it all off.
May—Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake
Two favorite indulgences (cheesecake and cinnamon rolls) come together to make one epic and seriously special dessert in this cinnamon swirl cheesecake.
June—Lemon Blueberry Babka
In this summery take on a bakery-favorite bread, a rich lemon-hinted dough is beautifully swirled with a homemade blueberry filling and topped with buttery lemon crumbles.
July—Fresh Fruit Tart with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream
With a sweet pastry crust, smooth mascarpone cream filling, and your favorite seasonal fruit, homemade fresh fruit tart is simply elegant yet easy to prepare.
August—Homemade Artisan Crackers (4 Flavors)
Crispy, salty, savory, and endlessly customizable, this simple cracker dough comes together quickly and easily in one bowl from basic pantry ingredients.
September—Apple Cider Spice Muffins
These apple cider spice muffins have deep apple flavor and a moist texture thanks to a triple-dose of apple: apple cider, applesauce, and shredded apple.
October—Crusty No-Knead Pizza Bread
This no-knead pizza bread delivers big flavor with barely any effort—the dough rests and rises overnight, so most of the process is completely hands-off with no kneading or tricky shaping required.
November—Nutella Cream Pie
With layers of rich chocolate-hazelnut ganache, an ultra-creamy Nutella filling, and an Oreo cookie crumb crust, this is a dream dessert for Nutella fanatics everywhere.
December—Icebox Slice & Bake Cookies (1 Dough, 5 Flavors)
Meet your forever recipe for icebox slice & bake cookies: a versatile, buttery base cookie dough ready for endless flavor adaptations.
2024 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
January—Whole Wheat Bread (Soft & Hearty)
With step-by-step pictures and plenty of helpful tips, learn how to make soft and hearty whole wheat sandwich bread with my easy-to-follow recipe.
February—Mille-Feuille (Napoleon Pastry)
From the thousand layers of delicate puff pastry, to the creamy clouds of vanilla pastry cream, to the decorative marbled icing, mille feuille is an indulgent dessert worthy of a special occasion.
March—Hummingbird Bundt Cake
With its signature flavors of banana, pineapple, pecans, and spice, this hummingbird Bundt cake will fly your tastebuds off to someplace warm and sunny.
April—Pesto Pull-Apart Bread
Buttery-soft and flaky, this pesto pull-apart bread is brimming with fresh flavor and cheesy goodness.
May—Dutch Baby Recipe (Pancake)
The result of this surprisingly easy recipe is a beautifully wrinkled, light and airy pancake, with the tender texture of a crepe that’s ready for all your favorite sweet or savory toppings.
June—Ice Cream Cake (Choose Your Flavor)
This crowd-pleasing summertime treat combines two of your favorite ice cream flavors, plus layers of Oreo cookies, homemade hot fudge, and whipped cream.
July—Triple Berry Pie
Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries mingle to make a jammy filling in this triple berry pie, layered between 2 buttery flaky pie crusts.
August—Zucchini Biscuits (Parmesan Herb)
These are my tender yet flaky zucchini biscuits, made drop-style without a mixer, rolling pin, or biscuit cutter needed.
September—The Best Apple Cobbler I’ve Ever Had
Sweet spiced apples are blanketed with a soft, fluffy topping in this comforting, homestyle cinnamon apple cobbler.
October—Pumpkin Oatmeal Cream Pies
Soft and chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies are sandwiched with tangy-sweet and spiced cream cheese filling for a fall twist on a nostalgic treat.
November—Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls
Fluffy, flaky, soft, and extra tall sweet potato dinner rolls are a wonderful accompaniment to a holiday meal—but you don’t have to wait for a holiday to enjoy them.
December—Cookie Decorating Buttercream (Video)
This 5-ingredient cookie decorating buttercream is deliciously creamy and sweet, can be piped or simply spread, and soft-sets on the cookies after a few hours.
Sally’s Baking Challenge took a break in 2023 so I could focus on writing my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
2022 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
January—Homemade English Muffins Recipe
These homemade honey wheat English muffins are delicious, soft, textured, and absolutely worth the effort if you follow the recipe closely.
February—Fudge Chocolate Pastry Tarts (Like Pop Tarts!)
Made with chocolate pie dough, fudge-like filling, and a chocolate icing that sets, these little hand pies are sure to satisfy any chocolate craving.
March—6 Inch Sunshine Citrus Cake
This 6 inch sunshine citrus cake cures any cold weather blues with bright flavor, a light and springy cake crumb, and creamy whipped frosting.
April—Croissant Bread (Loaf)
Bakers of any skill level can use this thoroughly detailed recipe to make a beautifully flaky and golden brown loaf of homemade croissant bread.
May—Brown Butter Berry Tea Cakes
These brown butter berry tea cakes are delicate miniature sponge cakes that use browned butter to give the batter its depth of flavor, which accents the juicy berry at its center.
June—Peanut Butter Filled Brownie Cookies
These dangerously decadent peanut butter filled brownie cookies are soft and fudge-like with a creamy peanut butter ripple swirled throughout.
July—Fruit Pizza
The combination of a soft, buttery sugar cookie crust with tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting and colorful fresh fruit is irresistible.
August—No-Yeast Cinnamon Roll Biscuits
This shortcut recipe for quick no yeast cinnamon rolls makes buttery, homestyle rolls that fluff up beautifully—and in record time.
September—Pizza Pull Apart Rolls
Here we have soft, buttery garlic herb yeast rolls topped AND stuffed with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni, and finished with garlic herb butter.
October—Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
These dreamy cupcakes start with a moist and deeply chocolatey cupcake, which is filled with fluffy whipped vanilla buttercream, and topped with a rich 2-ingredient chocolate ganache.
November—Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie
This seasonal treat is like apple crisp meets cheesecake, and you’ll be very glad that they did!
December—How to Make Pinwheel Cookies
Enjoy classic chocolate and vanilla pinwheel cookies using my tried-and-tested homemade recipe and video tutorial as your guide.
2021 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
January—How to Make Homemade Stromboli
Use my simple 6-ingredient pizza dough to make homemade stromboli filled with your favorite meats and/or cheeses.
February—How to Make Chocolate Soufflé
My recipe is heavily detailed to give beginner bakers the confidence to make impressive, fluffy, and totally rich chocolate soufflé from just 7 simple ingredients.
March—Beginner’s Guide to French Macarons
French macarons can be intimidating but my well-tested recipe includes plenty of success tips, overview of techniques, a list of tools, troubleshooting, a video, and step-by-step photos.
April—Lemon Blueberry Tart
This cool and creamy tart combines a buttery shortbread crust, a fresh lemon filling, and homemade blueberry sauce swirl.
May—Rich & Fluffy Chocolate Sweet Rolls
These may look like cinnamon rolls, but make no mistake—they’re buttery, flaky, and filled with swirls of melty chocolate similar to chocolate babka.
June—Savory Quick Bread
This savory quick bread is a flavorful and cheesy herbed quick bread, which means it’s made without yeast.
July—Homemade Berry Turnovers
My homemade pastry dough comes together using a “rough puff” method to countless flaky layers, which serves as the perfect envelope for the jammy mixed berry filling.
August—Ice Cream Loaf Cake
This ice cream loaf cake features layers of buttery sprinkle cake and ice cream while chocolate ganache and sprinkles add a delicious and decorative finishing touch.
September—Soft Pretzel Knots (With Various Toppings)
These soft pretzel knots are like regular soft pretzels, but with more surface area for toppings like garlic parmesan, cinnamon sugar, and jalapeño cheddar.
October—Pumpkin Spice Roll Cookies
The assembly for these swirly spiced cookies starts with a 1 bowl pumpkin sugar cookie dough that you’ll roll out and top with brown sugar and plenty of pumpkin pie spice.
December—Shortbread Cookies Recipe
There’s no chilling necessary for these flavor-customizable shortbread cookies, and they will never over-spread, since they’re baked in round cake pans.
2020 Sally’s Baking Challenge
January—Artisan Bread Recipe (4 Ingredients)
This the perfect bread beginner recipe because it only requires 4 ingredients without any special pans or mixer and there’s no kneading or complicated shaping involved.
February—Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream
This frosting is creamy and thick, silky smooth, holds its shape beautifully, and the best part (and why everyone loves it!) is that it’s not overly sweet.
March—How to Make Crepes
Easy to make with just a blender and regular skillet, these 8-ingredient crepes are ready for your choice of sweet or savory fillings and toppings.
April—Homemade Flatbread Pizza Recipe
Quicker, easier, and thinner than pizza, this flatbread dough takes about 1 hour start to finish and is perfect for beginners.
May—Mini Fruit Galettes
These simple mini fruit galettes can be made with a variety of fillings for a fun and easy way to get your pie fix without the hassle of a full pie.
June—Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Use your favorite ice cream flavor to make decadent homemade brownie ice cream sandwiches.
July—Fresh Berry Cream Cake
This minimally decorated naked-style cake is layered between fresh and fluffy whipped cream and piled high with juicy seasonal berries.
August—Homemade Breakfast Danish Pastries
These breakfast pastries use a variation of classic pastry dough that bakes into a buttery and flaky treat with your choice of sweet fillings, plus a drizzle of vanilla icing.
September—Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread
This vanilla flavored cinnamon swirl quick bread is moist and soft with a thick ribbon of cinnamon sugar swirled inside—like cinnamon rolls but in a fraction of the time.
October—Baked Apples Recipe
Like individually portioned apple crisp, this dessert is great for a small family and you easily can halve or double the recipe as needed.
November—No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
This perfect make-ahead fall dessert is smooth and creamy with a crunchy gingersnap cookie crust that provides the best textural contrast to the fluffy mousse-like filling.
December—Stained Glass Window Cookies
These stained glass window cookies are made with my favorite sugar cookies, cut out in the center, and filled with crushed hard candies that melt as they bake, creating a gorgeous windowpane effect.
2019 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
January—Homemade Bagels Recipe
Make hot and fresh bagels in the comfort of your own kitchen with just a few basic ingredients and baking tools.
February—Homemade Chocolate Truffles Recipe
These homemade chocolate truffles are extra creamy with the addition of butter and they couldn’t be easier to make—after mixing the 4 ingredients together, let the mixture set in the refrigerator, then roll into balls.
March—Lemon Bars with Shortbread Crust
Everyone needs this recipe for how to make the BEST lemon bars with a buttery shortbread crust and creamy thick lemon curd filling (that conveniently doesn’t require a pre-cook on the stovetop).
April—Soft Dinner Rolls Recipe
These homemade dinner rolls are pillow soft with the most delicious flaky and buttery texture.
May—Master Scones Recipe
My master scone recipe is the start for 15 flavor options—including chocolate, blueberry, pumpkin, banana, savory herb, cheddar, and more—to make deliciously tender and crumbly American-style scones.
June—Angel Food Cake
Using only 6 basic ingredients, this angel food cake bakes up tall, light, and airy and is best enjoyed with whipped cream and fresh seasonal fruit on top.
July—No-Bake Cheesecake Jars
Made with just a few ingredients in only 30 minutes, this is a fabulous and easy no-bake dessert that you can customize with your favorite toppings.
August—Vertical Cake (Lemon & Blueberry)
Assembled with vanilla sponge cake, lemon blueberry swirl whipped cream, and lemon cream cheese buttercream, this vertical cake is a beautiful masterpiece.
September—Homemade Cheese Bread (Extra Soft)
You only need a handful of simple ingredients to make this mesmerizing loaf, and the resulting bread is soft, tender, and filled with pockets of melted cheese.
October—Homemade Caramel Apples
Learn how to make real homemade caramel apples with my success tips, video tutorial, and carefully explained recipe for caramel that is buttery, sweet, and perfect for dipping.
November—Pecan Praline Pumpkin Pie
This make-ahead pie combines my tried-and-true flaky pie crust, smooth and spiced pumpkin pie filling, and a sweet/salty crunchy pecan topping.
December—Homemade Butter Cookies
These classic holiday cookies are soft in the center with irresistible buttery vanilla and almond flavors, and you can dip them in chocolate and sprinkles for a festive touch.
2018 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
January—Homemade Bread Bowls
These homemade bread bowls are crisp on the exterior and extra soft inside, and best of all, they’re made from a basic, yet versatile bread dough using everyday ingredients.
February—Chocolate Cake Pops (Recipe + Video)
Learn how to make homemade chocolate cake pops completely from scratch, with no box cake mix or canned frosting.
March—Vanilla Naked Cake
This naked cake is simply stunning with fresh berries, vanilla cake, and vanilla buttercream.
April—How to Make Croissants
My carefully tested recipe results in butter, flaky, and perfect homemade croissants made right in your own kitchen.
May—Classic Cheesecake Recipe
Look no further for a creamy and smooth classic cheesecake recipe paired with a buttery graham cracker crust and your toppings of choice.
June—Brownie Baked Alaska
This simplified brownie baked Alaska is made with a brownie base, mint chocolate ice cream, and a toasted marshmallow topping.
July—Apple Hand Pies
Using my buttery flaky pie crust, a juicy cinnamon apple pie filling, and a salted caramel topping, these mini apple pies are both delicious and adorable.
August—Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake
This chocolate chip cookie layer cake is literally a chocolate chip cookie skyscraper, with each layer featuring an extra thick, soft-baked, and chewy cookie and creamy peanut butter frosting.
September—Choux Pastry (Pâte à Choux)
This delicate French pastry takes about 10 minutes to prepare and can be used for a variety of pastries like cream puffs, profiteroles, eclairs, and much more.
October—Pumpkin Spice Toffee
Pumpkin spice toffee only requires a handful of basic ingredients and will be your new favorite fall treat.
November—Savory Vegetable Cheese Tart
This savory vegetable and cheese tart combines a thick buttery crust, a creamy herbed cheese filling, and a beautiful adornment of crisp roasted veggies.
December—Gingerbread House Recipe
My comprehensive post on how to make a completely from-scratch gingerbread house includes a video tutorial, gingerbread house template for the shapes, a full recipe, and all my decorating tips and advice.
2017 Sally’s Baking Challenge Recipes
I created Sally’s Baking Challenge at the end of January 2017, so there are only 11 challenge recipes in 2017.
February—How to Make Chocolate Lava Cakes
Chocolate lava cakes with their deliciously rich molten chocolate center come together in just 25 minutes with 6 simple ingredients.
March—Sky-High Chocolate Mousse Pie
Featuring an Oreo crust, smooth chocolate mousse, and fresh whipped cream, each bite of chocolate mousse pie is irresistible and decadent in all the best ways.
April—How to Pipe a Two-Toned Frosting Rose
Learn how to pipe two-toned frosting roses with my popular vanilla buttercream recipe and helpful video tutorial.
May—Strawberries ‘n’ Cream Cake Roll
A lightly sweet and delicate vanilla sponge cake gets rolled up with a pink fluffy strawberry cream cheese frosting, and it’s love at first bite!
June—Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake
Cool and refreshing blueberry lemon icebox cake is made with only 7 ingredients and is soft, sweet, and the perfect make-ahead dessert.
July—Homemade Cherry Pie (With Thick Filling)
My better-than-ever homemade cherry pie is perfectly sliceable with a thick almond-hinted cherry pie filling and a golden brown buttery flaky pie crust.
August—Checkerboard Cake + Video
Checkerboard cake features homemade vanilla layer cake and vanilla buttercream in a checkerboard design that always impresses.
September—Sunflower Cupcakes
Use your favorite cupcake flavor as the base and learn how to pipe the most beautiful sunflower design using a leaf piping tip.
October—Pumpkin Roll Recipe
This homemade pumpkin roll recipe yields a moist spiced pumpkin cake with a thick layer of tightly packed cream cheese frosting inside.
November—Pie Crust Designs Tutorial (Video)
Learn how to make fun and festive pie crust designs that will take your homemade pies to the next level with this easy-to-follow tutorial and video and my go-to pie crust recipes.
December—Snowman Sugar Cookies
Christmas sugar cookies are so much fun to decorate, especially these adorable snowmen that will steal the show on your holiday cookie platters.
As you see, the 1st baking challenge recipe was published in February 2017, and at that time, I had a few dozen readers participate. Now my team and I see around 1,000 entries every month! It’s thrilling to know that bakers from all over the world are making the same recipe each month. Maybe we’re not physically together, but we’re certainly having a collective experience in the kitchen.
Q: How many baking challenge recipes have you tried?
Reader Comments and Reviews
Has anyone won by entering the alternate recipe for the challenge?
Hi Lori, it has happened 2 or 3 times. If that is the case, we usually select 2 winners. 🙂 I think the most recent was Pesto Bread in April 2024!
I was wondering where I could find the challenge winner from last month, I looked on the challenge page, but couldn’t find it.
Hi Annie, you can find it on the Sally’s Baking Challenge page—scroll down a bit to the orange box titled “Past Winners.” Hope this helps!
Do you think you will start up the monthly challenges again in 2024? I know you’re still working hard on your new cookbook, so I wasn’t sure if you’d be taking another year off 🙂
Hi Jess, I sure am! Stay tuned. 🙂
Thank you for keeping your baking challenges available even while taking a break from making new ones. A friend of mine told be about them and I want to try and make one or two a month starting from the first. 🙂
Hope you find some you love, Katie! Happy baking 🙂
Hi Sally,
One of my absolute favorite recipes is your checkerboard cake recipe. It’s SO DELICIOUS & pretty! I also love that you give alternative ingredients to use in a recipe, along with the noted changes in results, if any. I am always looking for new recipes to try & inspiration. I always look forward to seeing your emails. So thanks to you & your team for sharing lots of wonderful recipes, ideas, & inspiration.
Will miss the monthly challenges! Best wishes on the next cookbook!
Are going to continue the monthly challenges?
Hi Kristina! As Sally makes time to work on her 4th cookbook this year, we’re taking a pause on the monthly challenges. You can read more in this post!
I really appreciate this post! Thank you for having all of these recipes in one place. Congratulations on your new book,!I am looking forward to it!
I just started the baking challenges this year! I made the pizza rolls and cream filled chocolate cupcakes. Both were huge hits! I’m really excited to see your new cookbook come out soon! Thank you for all these awesome recipes! Whenever I make one of your recipes, I’m always filled with anticipation before I take a bite, because I know it’ll be good! Thank you for making me a better baker, especially with yeast bread!:)
So glad you’ve been enjoying the challenge recipes, Kim!
I finally made the delicious chocolate October challenge cupcakes for my sister in laws birthday. She loved them and I sent 4 home with her. They were fun to make thank you again for a fun challenge
Challenge sounds like fun can you start at any time? Can I start this month?
Yes! You can start any time! Join us this month. We are making these pizza rolls.
I love this website! I want to make the monthly recipe in June 2022! Hope its something good!
Congratulations on the up coming book. I look forward to getting it. I have the others. I will miss the challenges.
Thank you for this great page!! I’ve done 3 so far and hope to do more this year.
Congrats on the successful series and on the new book!
Is it crazy that I kinda wish it was just a “Best of Sally’s” so I can have all my favorites in one spot. No testing required. Just the best of the best from your site and other cookbooks.
Best of luck!
My plan is to include a handful of the most popular recipes on the site in the book!
I will do some of the past challenges next yearthat
I didn’t do. I look forward to your new cookbook!
Thanks Diane!
I’ve been doing the challenges consecutively since 2020 so it looks like I’ll go back and do years past in 2023.
What a great idea!
Looking forward to the new cookbook! I hoping to get more baking challenges completed by the time the cookbook comes out!
Love this page and Sally’s Baking Recipes! Yay! a new cookbook.