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00:00Previously on Sweet Empire.
00:02You'll need to create a hyper-realistic holiday feast.
00:06The sugary confection battle waged on as our four empires feasted on their latest challenge.
00:12I've never worked so fast in my life.
00:14Tensions mounted to quite extraordinary heights.
00:18Everyone is stressed at this point and this is where things count.
00:20Hands up, bakers!
00:22When all was said and done, two rival empires found themselves up for elimination.
00:27I do feel that the turkey itself needs a little more glisten and shine.
00:32To me, it's like a little bit of garnish.
00:34I do not want to go home.
00:36This could be the end of my empire.
00:39Team Holly, Team Elizabeth, one of your teams will be eliminated.
00:43Who, pray tell, shall continue in the Winter Wars?
00:47This is Sweet Empire.
00:50Yours truly, Lord Gingerton.
00:54Sadly, one empire's journey comes to an end.
00:57Judges, who is our final safe empire?
01:03Holly and Elizabeth are in the bottom.
01:05This is very surprising because they're so talented.
01:09It's crazy.
01:10The final safe empire is...
01:18Team Elizabeth.
01:19Team Holly, unfortunately, today your empire has fallen.
01:32This was a very difficult decision for us and it's heartbreaking.
01:36All three of you are talented and together you're a true empire, a powerhouse.
01:41I love my teammates and, yeah, I'm disappointed that we're going home, but also for me to get this far, yeah, I'm super proud.
01:50I am good.
01:51I can do this.
01:52Like, this isn't the end for me.
01:54You are very talented, the three of you, so I wish you the best.
01:59I am heartbroken, but being in this competition gave me a confidence that I just never knew I had.
02:05Like, I am pretty resilient.
02:06When I go home, the game has changed.
02:08Thank you guys so much and good luck.
02:10Thanks, guys.
02:11Have fun, everyone!
02:13Love you!
02:14I mean, we're all disappointed, but at the end of the day, we're all talented artists.
02:18We'll be back.
02:19We might even be back doing something together.
02:21Just to be like, oh yeah, remember us?
02:23Remember that empire?
02:24It's not dead.
02:26The competition is getting stiff.
02:28Will your empire make it to the end?
02:31Rest easy.
02:33For now, get out of here.
02:40I wonder what they got in store for us this time.
02:44We've made it all the way to the semifinals.
02:47That's a pretty big deal in this competition.
02:49Everyone that's been here is amazingly talented.
02:53Amazing.
02:54Making it to the top three, that's when it starts to get really real.
02:58If this is one that we can win, I think that sets us up really nicely for the finale.
03:03That's amazing.
03:04Hey.
03:05I can't believe it.
03:06You know, we barely made it through, but we are here in the semifinal.
03:10All right.
03:11Let's get down to business.
03:12Today, I want you to make an iconic North Pole animal.
03:16Okay.
03:17These creatures aren't meant to be bite-sized.
03:21We want these animals to be huge and really test your construction skills.
03:26They should look like they just stepped out of the Arctic.
03:30So focus on the texture of your creation, fur, feathers, fluff.
03:35All of those help to make your creatures feel alive.
03:38For your flavors, make something that would warm us up on a frigid day.
03:44Something warm and cozy.
03:45Like this sweater.
03:47It's good, right?
03:50Not all at once, guys.
03:51It's fine.
03:52I love it.
03:53It's a beautiful sweater.
03:56For this challenge, the judges will be evaluating how you work together as a team.
04:03Now, this is important.
04:04Make sure everyone gets to showcase their talents.
04:08Our empire has struggled with teamwork.
04:10We have strong opinions, but if we just come together as a team, I think we could make magic.
04:15And finally, only the two strongest teams will make it to the finale.
04:19Okay.
04:20All right, we land in the North Pole in T minus 10 hours.
04:25Your time starts now.
04:28Just one.
04:33Okay.
04:34All right.
04:35I need this and this.
04:38We just came off a win from the last challenge, so we're hoping to continue that momentum
04:44by taking more of an ambitious approach with our bakes and definitely taking some risks with
04:48our flavors because that really impressed the judges, so we're hoping to do that again.
04:52How big of a circle do you want for the head?
04:54A 10-inch, I'd say.
04:56Our team is making a polar bear holding a present with a cute sign that says,
05:00I come bearing gifts.
05:02If we want our bear standing up on its two hind paws, it's going to be tall.
05:07It's not an easy thing to do this cake.
05:09This thing's going to be really big.
05:11You know what?
05:12Taller is fine.
05:13The judges will appreciate the risk we took in having our bear standing up, I think.
05:17Obviously, Tatiana is really going to take the largest undertaking with the bear in regards
05:22to sculpting its features.
05:23Dana and I are going to focus more on some of the details on our piece, like the gifts
05:28and the sign that our bear is going to be holding.
05:31I'm going to be focused on the tasting element, so this one's really going to be an all-hands-on-deck
05:36challenge.
05:38Here we go.
05:39Yes.
05:39All right, guys.
05:40North Pole.
05:41What's something that people don't normally do?
05:43Everyone's going to do a walrus.
05:44There's been yetis.
05:45There's been bears.
05:46What is something that we don't see?
05:48Birds.
05:49Birds?
05:50Birds in the pool.
05:51Like the puffins?
05:52They've got to be big.
05:53Those big old snowy owls.
05:55Ooh.
05:56I can make the feather.
05:57That for sure.
05:58And chocolate.
05:59Oh, yeah.
06:00We are doing a giant snowy owl.
06:04The main body can be cake with huge chocolate wings spreading out.
06:09We are so close to the finale, so we have to keep focusing and doing what we know best is how
06:16to take all three of our skill sets and combine them to create something spectacular.
06:21I think this sounds amazing.
06:23All right, you guys feel good about this?
06:24Feel good about it.
06:25I feel like everyone's going to go with the pretty animals, and we've been doing pretty.
06:29Maybe we go with something that isn't quite as pretty, so like the walrus.
06:33That would be cool.
06:34Yeah.
06:35We have chosen a walrus.
06:36Even though it seems like she's a big lump, they're cool and big and gnarly and lots of
06:41texture.
06:42There's a lot of ways we can use all of our skills to shine.
06:45At the end of this challenge, another empire is going home, and that is really stressful.
06:50We want to be in the finale.
06:53We want to win.
06:54I guess everybody's going to be just chipping in and really focusing on that character.
06:57Well, yeah.
06:58They said, you know, we have to work as a team.
07:00We've had some issues with teamwork and previous challenges.
07:03We see you.
07:04We see you struggling because you want to do so much, but, you know, time passed and then
07:09you get in trouble.
07:10Yeah.
07:11So, in the next one, divide the work.
07:13I'll do better.
07:14So, we're really going to focus on that, especially since we were in the bottom two, the last challenge.
07:19So, the first thing I'm going to start working on is going to be the head.
07:22After I'm done with the head, I'm going to go ahead and start stacking cake.
07:26It's a lot of cake.
07:27He's a big boy.
07:29Jonathan's going to be making sugar whiskers, as well as some sugar waves that are going to
07:34be splashing up from the tail.
07:36And Renu's going to be focusing on those really cool chocolate tusks.
07:40And also, we're going to have our little mollusk shell, which is going to be made out of a
07:44very thin, delicate sugar by Jonathan.
07:48And inside is going to be the truffle that Renu's going to make.
07:51It's really going to take the entire team to pull this one off.
07:55I'm getting started on the tasting element right now.
07:57The judges want something that's going to warm them up, something hot, something that
08:01they would drink if they were in the North Pole.
08:03And I immediately thought of, I love coffee.
08:05I'm a coffee fanatic.
08:06And I figured, what better way to do a pumpkin spice latte cake?
08:09Do you have alcohol in this one?
08:11Of course I do.
08:12I figured.
08:13What alcohol?
08:14Rum.
08:14Let's get this party started, shall we?
08:16Just saying.
08:17Here you go.
08:18All right.
08:19Cheers, top and bottom.
08:20All right.
08:21You guys drinking already?
08:23Jonathan!
08:24Team bonding experience.
08:26Yeah.
08:27I can't believe I got Elizabeth to drink at 9am, but you know what?
08:30It's festive.
08:31It's Christmas.
08:32In for a penny, in for a pound.
08:34What's best for the empire?
08:35I can feel it.
08:36With a little spice in it too?
08:37It's sitting right here.
08:38Salut.
08:45Do you guys need anything?
08:46No, I'm good.
08:47I'm very excited about this challenge because it's something I would never do on my own.
08:51I need a cake artist to make the body.
08:53And he is going to take a lot of chocolate.
08:55He's going to take a lot of technique, a lot of time.
08:57So it's a little stressful because we know we have to do like a perfect challenge.
09:01And each little mistake that we're going to make is going to count to the final.
09:04Francois, we need cozy warm flavors.
09:07My goals right now is to make a hazelnut cake with whipped white chocolate ganache with bourbon caramel.
09:15And then I will have some crunch inside like a chocolate hazelnut streusel.
09:20That sounds warm and toasty.
09:22Oh, the bourbon is going to give you, you know, these warm feelings.
09:25Extra warm.
09:26There's going to be two elements of tasting.
09:29One is going to be the cake inside the hole.
09:31The other one is going to be the snowball.
09:33So the snowball is going to be made with chocolate creme.
09:36So here we have a smoked chipotle chocolate creme.
09:39Then I'm going to put inside this mold.
09:42So that's going to give you like a heat on the back of the mouth after the tasting.
09:47These are the praline and pumpkin cake inserts.
09:50Warm and cozy.
09:52How do you two feel about soup?
09:54I love soup.
09:55I love soup.
09:56How about soup and a cake?
09:57Here we go.
09:58Soup and a cake?
09:59You trust?
10:00Complete trust.
10:01Yeah?
10:02Yes.
10:03Yes.
10:04Good luck.
10:07For our tasting element, we are going to be doing a sweet potato coconut curry soup inspired cake.
10:14But then also a little bit of Thai chili to give some spicy heat to it as well.
10:19So there's different levels of warming you up.
10:21Beautiful.
10:22And I think it'll be a really nice base for all of these flavors.
10:25Stack, stack, stack.
10:26All right, I'm going to start carving the owl.
10:28Carve, carve, carve.
10:29What are you working on, Francois?
10:30I'm the feather.
10:31So how many of those are we going to need?
10:33One million.
10:34I don't know, 200 something?
10:37We have to build the wings of the snowy owl.
10:40So I'm making the feather by using a tool that is shaped like a feather.
10:44I dip it in the chocolate and then after pressing, I make sure that when I pull up,
10:48you make like the middle of the feather.
10:51One after one, each one.
10:53Making sure you don't break it.
10:55Very thin.
10:56Very delicate.
10:57That's very tedious.
11:00Very important.
11:01Very precise job.
11:02I don't have time to work on anything else.
11:05So I'm going to have to rely on my team with this one.
11:09Francois' team is really, really good.
11:12But they have a lot of feathers to stick on.
11:15And I think that doing the feathers out of chocolate was definitely more time consuming
11:19than maybe they thought.
11:21I'm going to be honest.
11:22Like if that was me, I would be a little bit panicky.
11:27Five hours left, bakers.
11:29You have five hours.
11:31Holy cow.
11:32What the?
11:33This is going to be big.
11:34This is going to be big.
11:35Guys, do me a favor.
11:36Let me have the front first.
11:37I got to lift it again.
11:38Yeah.
11:40I'm pretty nervous.
11:41Building life-size cakes isn't something that I would really consider to be within my wheelhouse.
11:46So I'm really going to lean on Tatiana, who does have more experience with that.
11:50And Dana, who is great with putting her armatures together to help bring this piece to life.
11:55I'm doing the leg and the arm first.
11:58Yeah.
11:59Since I am the cake sculptor, that's the most responsibility that falls on me.
12:03I have to make sure the proportion is right.
12:05Guys are really there to help me.
12:07But all the details, it really falls on me.
12:10Holy cow.
12:11This is going to be a lot of cake.
12:13Look at that.
12:14That's just one layer.
12:15He's huge.
12:16Let's do halfway for now.
12:18There are several challenges with making our polar bear vertical.
12:21One, the structure is really going to have to be strong to hold the weight of the cake
12:26and the mediums we use to bring our structure to life.
12:28We've got to put something in there so it doesn't fall out.
12:31We've got to put some buttercream or something to it.
12:33Secondly, with this bear standing up, that's going to be really important that we get the proportions correct.
12:38Three, because this is such a massive cake, it's going to take a lot of time to fill the cake, to sculpt the cake,
12:45and ultimately get it covered.
12:46So we're really going to have to manage our time well.
12:49And perfect.
12:52Do you want to try the pumpkin pie, Philly?
12:54Sure.
12:58That's good.
12:59Mmm.
13:01Do you like these little lines in here?
13:03What do you think of these?
13:04Oh, I love that.
13:05Tusks are imperfect.
13:06They have lots of ridges and little cracks, just like humans might in their teeth.
13:11I'm currently cutting some cake to fill in any gaps.
13:14It's a really big cake and we just need a lot of cake to kind of get it nice and rounded and smooth.
13:18You have some of that ganache, right, Elizabeth?
13:21Yep.
13:22Right here, buddy.
13:25Trying to get too much on there.
13:26Yeah, I'm done with it right now.
13:27Okay, good.
13:28Let's help me get the body put together.
13:31Okay, sure.
13:32I have another test still, but yeah, I'll help you as soon as I'm done.
13:35Elizabeth has listened to the judges.
13:38She knows she has to work on the teamwork aspect.
13:41It's hard to do these detailed things under pressure.
13:43Okay.
13:44Big team energy.
13:45I'll help you as soon as I'm done.
13:47I'm going to cut it in half here.
13:48You missed.
13:49This is the one thing you're being slower at, Jonathan.
13:53I think she's trying, but I think it's hard for her.
13:56She has improved a lot.
13:58As long as we make it to the finale, that's really what matters.
14:01We do need to keep going, keep going.
14:03Yep.
14:04You can listen and we'll work at the same time.
14:06This owl has really bright yellow eyes.
14:09I'm just painting eyeballs here.
14:10Whenever you're trying to make something to look alive, the eyes are one of the most important things.
14:15I'm doing the eyeballs out of icing sheets.
14:19I'm coloring them with edible markers.
14:22The eyes got to be right, so owls have piercing eyes.
14:25I hand paint mine.
14:26So I paint on top of the fondant or gum paste, and then we put the isomalt lens or sphere over the top.
14:33And it really does just help capture the light.
14:35I'm going to pour like a half-dome sugar and I'm going to back it with the icing sheet eyes.
14:39Let's go ahead and do this set.
14:43Here we go.
14:45I know they don't look good yet, but just give it a second.
14:49Watch this.
14:50Hit him with a torch.
14:51Oh, I see now.
14:54Ooh.
14:55Ah.
14:56It's coming together.
14:57It looks freaking amazing.
14:59Listen up, bakers.
15:00Four hours remaining.
15:02You have four hours.
15:04Dana, Tatiana, how are you two doing?
15:06Oh, we're busy.
15:07We are so busy.
15:08Choosing a bear is really bold.
15:11I think it's very ambitious, and I'm hoping that we can get it done.
15:16But the challenge is not easy.
15:18This body is so humongous.
15:19It's swallowing the cake.
15:21That's a huge cake.
15:23Like, how could you not go to the finals if you pull this thing off?
15:27Feeling good.
15:28All right, guys.
15:29That's my team.
15:30Let's go.
15:31Let's go.
15:32The owl is going to be up on its post.
15:34When you're doing posts and stuff, you have to make sure all the pieces fit together really
15:37nicely.
15:38So when you measure your stencils, they have to fit together.
15:41And in this case, we're going to be doing brushed chocolate so it looks like wood.
15:45So we have to get it together, but we're going to pour some chocolate down into the base to
15:49sort of stabilize it.
15:50Coins go in with the liquid, and it causes it to crystallize faster.
15:54So it's not going to have to cool as much.
15:56I believe we have made this post strong enough that it will hold the body of the owl since
16:01it's cereal, treats, and cake.
16:02It's not crazy heavy, but it's heavy enough to cause some concern.
16:06So it's a little bit of a roll of the dice.
16:09How's it going, guys?
16:10It's going good.
16:11That'll hold over here.
16:13Hey, guys.
16:14So I'm going to work on finishing up the sign that our bear is going to be holding.
16:17Uh-huh.
16:18I think it'll be a really nice touch, a little joke for the judges, if you will.
16:21You're going wood grain the top?
16:23Yeah.
16:24We got to go, go, go, go.
16:26We have to get this thing in shape.
16:29We're running out of time.
16:30We still have a lot of work to do.
16:33This one's definitely going to come down to the wire.
16:37As we continue to build on the piece, it's getting bigger and taller than we had envisioned
16:42just from the armature itself, which means more detail we have to add to it.
16:46This is way too much.
16:47Yeah, keep his shoulders down.
16:49Like, you're leaving me no neck now.
16:51You just go on the back there.
16:53The polar bear is bloody mahoosive.
16:55I mean, look at that thing.
16:57I wonder if they will be able to pull that off.
16:59Ooh!
17:00Guys, whoever's taller, help me out.
17:02Do you want me to put it in?
17:03Yeah.
17:04Oh, yeah, yeah.
17:05Oh, yeah, yeah.
17:06Oh, yeah.
17:07Go.
17:08Hold on.
17:09Hold on.
17:10Pull that out.
17:11Why, is something stuck?
17:12Yeah, I think so.
17:13Hey, did you guys see that bear?
17:14Nope.
17:15The bear head's going on.
17:17It's gigantic.
17:18The polar bear is so terrifying to watch.
17:22It looks like it's going to topple over.
17:24You okay?
17:25There's something stuck.
17:26Hold on.
17:27Give me.
17:28Don't drop it.
17:29Not today.
17:30I've been there.
17:31I've seen wobble come down.
17:33Oh, .
17:34This is definitely the most stressed I've felt in the entire competition.
17:38Hold on.
17:39Hold on.
17:40Hold on.
17:41Oh, .
17:42There's something stuck.
17:43Hold on.
17:44Bring me.
17:45Stop.
17:46You want to use that one?
17:48There is a huge level of additional pressure in executing our bake.
17:53Because we don't want to go home at this point.
17:55Don't drop it.
17:59Don't you look at me like that.
18:00It was just a joke.
18:01Getting further into this competition, there's becoming more of a us versus them dynamic.
18:07So I think we're really going to have to keep our eyes on everyone here.
18:14Time is ticking away and I know we're going to get this walrus done.
18:19However, there's a lot of sugar elements that I have to finish to really sell this off.
18:23One being the whiskers.
18:24Pulling whiskers, it's definitely difficult because if the temperature of the sugar is not correct,
18:28you're not going to be able to get these nice, nice strong strands.
18:31And if it's too cold, it's just going to break.
18:33So just finding that temperature to be able to really, really pull it correctly.
18:37Elizabeth, look at this.
18:38Boom.
18:39Look how many I can get.
18:40Stunning.
18:41Fabulous.
18:42I also am pulling some sugar splashes.
18:44Sugar lends itself to looking really nice and translucent, which looks like water.
18:47So I just got to pull some really long shapes just to kind of represent like a splash of water.
18:52And once I let them harden in that like curve shape, they look amazing.
18:55Elizabeth.
18:56Yes.
18:57Ta-da.
18:58That's fantastic.
19:01Uh-oh.
19:03Okay, so teamwork is a big component of today's bake.
19:08Who do you think is the strongest team and who do you think has the most to work on?
19:12I'd say they each have their own unique dynamic and specific areas to work on.
19:18Aaron is a great leader because he really lets his teammates play a huge part.
19:23Yeah.
19:24He plays to their role.
19:25I like Aaron's style of leading.
19:27Yes.
19:28Yeah.
19:29He's really dedicating work.
19:30And this is the way to grow.
19:31If you don't do that, you know, you get limited.
19:34With Elizabeth's team, she's a very clear leader.
19:38And you can tell she likes control.
19:40And I'm not sure if she's doing that because she's thinking, okay, we have three different skill sets.
19:44Let's utilize them all.
19:46Or if it's because she just wants total control over the cake making.
19:51The Francois team play where everybody's playing together.
19:54I think that's obvious.
19:56They also work harmoniously.
19:58Yeah.
19:59And they've been working that way and it's worked out for them.
20:02Let's talk about flavor.
20:03It's almost as important as how it looks.
20:05Yes.
20:06And I've seen you guys change your votes based on flavor.
20:10It's the perfect tiebreaker.
20:12There's never been a challenge more important than this one.
20:16And getting through to the next round.
20:18You know, you can't win a Super Bowl unless you get a Super Bowl.
20:21So everything's on the line for these guys.
20:24Mm-hmm.
20:25So we're not supposed to have two tasting on this one.
20:28But I was like, if I have the time, I'll make one.
20:31I did a double tasting too.
20:32Well, we did.
20:33Yeah, we did.
20:34I cannot control myself and I want to show up everything I can make.
20:39I'm very motivated.
20:40I want to win this competition and I want to do more than what was asked.
20:46Looks great.
20:47Oh.
20:48So my number one role is to get the cake perfect.
20:52All the details make it hard to make a realistic animal.
20:56So I feel a ton of pressure knowing that if I mess up this cake,
21:01we might not make it to the finale.
21:04Don't freak out, but you have two hours left.
21:07We gotta move.
21:08We gotta move.
21:09We gotta move.
21:10Once we get him on, he can start the wings and then literally it's just spray and finish.
21:15He's cute.
21:16Hello, little pop-it.
21:17My little pop-it pop-it.
21:19With the walrus, in order to make it look convincing and hopefully impress the judges,
21:24we need to make sure we get all the textures right.
21:26We're gonna be rolling lots of little balls and lumps,
21:29and we're gonna be putting them underneath the fondant.
21:31So when we lay the fondant over the top, we actually get this natural-looking bump.
21:36The walrus has a lot of texture.
21:38They do have a lot of lumps and bumps on them.
21:41You're seriously doing really, really good.
21:42Thanks!
21:43Elizabeth keeps Jonathan and I moving.
21:46It's really helpful for both of us so that we can make sure we get all of the elements completed in time.
21:51Good job, guys. You're doing awesome.
21:53She is a great leader that way.
21:54Is it good? Is it good?
21:56It's delicious.
21:58I love my team.
22:00I think we work fairly well together.
22:02I mean, we're all so different, but we have this strong common goal,
22:07and that is we love what we do, we're passionate, and we want to just do good work.
22:11Great. That looks fantastic.
22:13Renu's placing her tusks, and they look bloody beautiful.
22:18I mean, they look pretty real.
22:19Sick!
22:21This whole thing is not covered yet. Let's get these big pieces out.
22:25Don't make me wait for pieces, guys. Let's make it move.
22:27We know. I can tell you're stressed. You're getting a little intense.
22:31We can't fall apart or lose our team dynamic now.
22:34No, I'm not falling apart.
22:35We have to go very fast, and when I get nervous, my tone changes.
22:40Too many holes because I gotta cover what's underneath.
22:43If you leave me this, I have a problem.
22:45Not a pretty tone, but the guy's never done a fur texture, and it's not easy.
22:50We might be in trouble.
22:52You're gonna have to jump in or help in with this, okay?
22:55Okay, don't be mad at me, but one hour.
22:59Just dip and paint, dip and paint.
23:01Ready, ready?
23:02Yeah, we're ready. Go.
23:04Just hold it there. You gotta go down.
23:07Perfect. All right, ready? Here we go.
23:11We're good. We're in.
23:14So the big risk that we took in this challenge is making a smaller animal.
23:18Obviously, everyone else is making these massive structures.
23:22So every single detail will matter, especially the wings.
23:26These wings have to be huge.
23:29Damn, I did only one wing.
23:30You're good.
23:31You're fine. You're fine.
23:32Just focus on that, and then we'll see where we're at for that second tasting element,
23:35and we'll make a judgment call, all right?
23:37Okay.
23:38You're fine.
23:39Just focus on this.
23:42Francois is very nervous about finishing up these feathers.
23:45I don't know if he knew that these feathers were gonna take forever.
23:48It looks real good.
23:50I know what he can do, but I'm worried about how many feathers that Francois is gonna have.
23:57Are we gonna be able to pull it off? Like, I'm not sure.
24:00This feather taking forever.
24:01That's okay.
24:02But it's gonna be worth it.
24:04Those little tiny details will make or break this build.
24:09You've got 30 minutes remaining.
24:16What's the texture?
24:18Dana went in the zone.
24:20The fondant's home.
24:22This could send us home.
24:24Not enough texture.
24:25This could be our make and break between $50,000 and I'll see you later.
24:30Oh, okay.
24:32He looks so good.
24:33To really finish off this walrus, to make him look really, really cool,
24:37we obviously are gonna do some airbrushing.
24:40So I'm really gonna add, like, a darker grey airbrush on top
24:43and really bring out, like, those creases and wrinkles
24:46to really break up the brown.
24:48Cool.
24:49That's fantastic.
24:50That's great.
24:53Each challenge is just a little bit closer to that $50,000.
24:58Beak.
24:59Talent.
25:02We do not wanna go home.
25:04We wanna win this whole thing.
25:07Bakers, you have five minutes.
25:09Five minutes left.
25:10Dane, I'm gonna need help to put this on, okay?
25:13Okay.
25:14You got it?
25:15Good.
25:16Yes.
25:17Okay.
25:19I made a bunch of these, like she asked.
25:21Got them all very fast.
25:23Okay, we're gonna eat them covered, guys.
25:25What's going on to the thing?
25:29Oh, sweet.
25:32Corner.
25:33Do not run right here.
25:34Stress level's pretty high.
25:35You know you have to deliver.
25:37And if you don't deliver, man, goodbye.
25:39You don't make the finale.
25:44Did it rip out the front?
25:45It sure did.
25:47Of course, the sign topples out of the bear's hand.
25:51An absolute nightmare.
25:53Sticks.
25:54Sticks, sticks, sticks.
25:55You have got to be kidding me right now.
25:59How the hell are we gonna fix this?
26:01Oh, my God.
26:02Oh, my God.
26:05Help me with the board.
26:06Please, please, please.
26:07Of course, this is when everything that can go wrong starts happening.
26:11I quickly have to jump in and re-texture the piece to make it look like it's still one solid sign again.
26:18We have to get that reattached.
26:20One minute remaining, bakers.
26:21Oh, my God.
26:23If we're missing this detail, we're missing part of our story.
26:26So this has to get back onto our piece.
26:30Okay, we need chocolate or something.
26:3310, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
26:43Hands up, bakers.
26:45I can't believe we did it.
26:46Girl, you and me both.
26:48All right, guys.
26:49He looks like a she, though.
26:51I finally get a chance to look around the room, and I'm like, oh, man, this is gonna be close.
26:56It's just a question of detail.
26:58Did we do enough?
26:59That was a lot.
27:07Bakers, we asked you to work as a team to create North Pole animals with flavors that would warm us up on the chilliest of days.
27:15We can see that those animals are quite large, and I'm anxious to see all the details.
27:21In addition to design, we'll be judging you on your teamwork.
27:26Team Elizabeth, we'll start with you.
27:29Even though he's pretty hefty, he has a kind of rather delicate name.
27:32His name is Poppet.
27:33He is made of cake, modeling chocolate, fondant, chocolate tusks, sugar whiskers, sugar eyes.
27:41We also have sugar waves for our splash because we obviously wanted to bring a little bit of movement to him with his clams slash mollusks because they eat a lot of those, apparently.
27:52Hey, judges. I brought you some mollusks. Please don't eat me.
27:58I think Poppet looks phenomenal. The texture, specifically, on the skin is beautiful. I mean, as beautiful as it would be on a walrus, I suppose.
28:11I love his facial expression, the nose, the eyes.
28:15His eyes are very lifelike. The tusks really steal the show from me.
28:20They look real.
28:21They're gorgeous. I watched you make them, Renu. They're the perfect finishing touch for the walrus.
28:27Can we taste him?
28:29Absolutely.
28:30I went for a pumpkin spice latte. That was my inspiration.
28:33I did an espresso and hazelnut cake with a coffee liqueur soap, a pumpkin pie espresso filling, and a chocolate fruillotine, pumpkin seed, hazelnut crumble, and then a coffee buttercream.
28:44For our second tasting element, Renu made a rum and habanero truffle, and they are encased in the mollusk, so you have to crack them open like you would crack open the mollusk.
28:52The flavor works very well. The buttercream is excellent. The cake is a little bit on the drier side, but for a cake like that to hold, you have to make it not too wet, because everything will collapse, so I get it.
29:06The truffle is good.
29:07Delicious.
29:09I like the little heat at the end, and the flavor are good.
29:12It has literally warmed me up.
29:15Yeah.
29:16Slowly.
29:17Yeah.
29:18Regarding teamwork.
29:22Today is the best that I have seen you work as a team.
29:26You were really all hands on walrus, as they say.
29:29You were working harmoniously, and you seem to be having fun despite the stress level.
29:35Whatever you drink during the competition or before the competition, keep doing the same because it's working.
29:42It was rum.
29:44Well done.
29:45Thank you so much.
29:49I'm so thrilled.
29:50The judges really appreciated all the detail and work we put into, and I think they really did see us come together as this unified empire.
29:59I feel pretty good about our walrus, but there's still two more pieces to judge, so we'll see.
30:05Team Francois, you're up.
30:08Who wants to tell us about the owl?
30:12We do the snowy owl, and he is standing on the post that's saying, no spore.
30:17So all the stand is made of chocolate, the owl.
30:20He is cake, and all the wings and feathers are made of chocolate, too.
30:25It's very well done.
30:26I love the chocolate that you scrape and try to make it not shiny.
30:30Jacques is right.
30:31The wooden beam is gorgeous.
30:33It's obviously not more magnificent than the owl itself, but it's the perfect perch for the owl.
30:39The owl has a lot of details. Those feathers, that take time.
30:44The feathers are all in slightly different directions.
30:47You can see them separate as well, so there's a lot of life to them.
30:51The face and the expression, the eyes, the beak, they look good.
30:55I do wish his talons were a little stronger or a little thicker.
31:00Let's talk about teamwork.
31:02Cami, she did the body, and she did all the texture of the feather and all.
31:06I make the tasting elements, and I work on all the feathers, and Nils work on the paw.
31:11And Nils also did all the sugar details, the bean and the eyes.
31:15So we devised very well all the work.
31:18I think that was a very nice teamwork.
31:21We have a lot of fun together.
31:22Oh, yes.
31:23I don't know how we eat this bird.
31:26Don't hurt him.
31:27We have an hazelnut cake, caramelized white chocolate whipped ganache, some bourbon caramel, and some crunchy hazelnuts covered with dark chocolate.
31:37So this one, we got chocolate cremeux with smoked chipotle, then a pumpkin cake, and a praline with pecan and pumpkin seed.
31:48As usual, both of these tastings are delicious.
31:52The bourbon caramel with the chocolate-covered walnuts and the hazelnut cake, it's so rich and indulgent.
31:59The type of dessert I want to eat during the winter when I'm hibernating.
32:03The outside of the snowball is so white and crisp and sparkly, and then the inside is pure warmth.
32:10I love the ratio cake and cream.
32:14Chipotle also has a smoky flavor.
32:16Yes.
32:17I can also feel that.
32:19Delicious.
32:21It warms you up on a chilly day.
32:23Well done.
32:24Thank you so much.
32:26I'm very happy about the reaction.
32:27We work so well together.
32:29We have a beautiful choppies, a beautiful cake.
32:32The most important is not to be eliminated, of course, but I feel confident that we can win this one.
32:39Team Aaron, tell us about your bear.
32:44So we have our polar bear here.
32:46They've come bearing a gift for you with our little sign.
32:50We love to incorporate a little humor into our piece with opportunity.
32:53I love that he brought us a gift.
32:55I really appreciate that.
32:57I think this was a very ambitious build.
33:00Very.
33:01The structure of the bear is fantastic.
33:03He's standing there, proud.
33:05Making him stand on two legs with his size, it's not an easy task.
33:11I do like what you did with his face.
33:13It's a little bit more hair-like.
33:15And then when you look at his body, it's different.
33:17It's almost not the same animal between the body, the face and the arms.
33:22The texture on his face is really well done.
33:26But like Jacques said, it's drastically different on the body.
33:29And you had to nail that texture from head to toe, front to back.
33:35Tell us about your teamwork.
33:36How exactly did you divvy up the tasks?
33:39The bear itself was all hands on deck.
33:43That was very much a team endeavor.
33:45And because Tatiana, our lovely cake artist here, brought the face to life,
33:50Dana and I focused on the present and the sign that the bear has
33:54and kind of a team effort getting those paneled, covered, textured,
33:58and decorated onto the piece.
34:00Great teamwork.
34:01All right, let's dig into this bear.
34:06Taking that theme of something that keeps you warm and cozy during the holidays,
34:09my brain immediately went soup.
34:11So we have a sweet potato coconut curry soup-inspired cake.
34:15Very strange choice, but per usual Aaron style,
34:18he goes for some really, really outlandish, crazy flavor profile
34:22that I would never do.
34:23It's wild.
34:24So we have a brown sugar and sweet potato cake
34:28with a sweet potato butter, and both of those contain a garam masala.
34:31And then we have a coconut tres de chees soak
34:35with a little bit of Thai chili and lime in there.
34:37We have a golden milk custard.
34:39It's a turmeric latte with milk, and it has a little bit of cinnamon,
34:43a little bit of black pepper and ginger in it.
34:45And then to add some texture, we have some curried cashews and coconut in there.
34:50Have you made a cake like this before?
34:52I have not.
34:53Man, this is risky.
35:00You have guts to do something like that.
35:03It's very interesting, very savory-like.
35:05Strangely, it's sweet enough that it go.
35:10I have never had a cake like this.
35:12It's fantastic, dude.
35:14This is one of the most interesting pieces of cake I've ever had.
35:17Yeah.
35:18Yeah.
35:19And I can taste all the flavors.
35:20The texture of the cake is wonderful.
35:22It's extremely moist, and because of that moisture,
35:24it's carrying the flavor perfectly.
35:26I always ask you for bold flavor.
35:29You get it.
35:30Yeah.
35:31I don't think you guys got here because you've been playing it safe.
35:34This was a risk, but it paid.
35:36Mm-hmm.
35:37Yeah.
35:39Fantastic job.
35:43After hearing the critiques from the judges across the three pieces,
35:46I'm really hoping that our flavors and our choice to be so ambitious
35:50will really carry us into the finale.
35:52It does taste like soup.
35:54It does.
35:55It's wild.
35:56It is.
35:57Yeah.
35:58It's amazing.
35:59My flavors have kept us around once.
36:00Who's to say it won't do it again?
36:01Bakers, once again, you've absolutely blown us away.
36:04It's literally going to be.
36:06Two teams make it through to the final.
36:08Whoever doesn't, they're off.
36:11They're gone.
36:12I'm feeling so confident.
36:13But this is pretty intense.
36:15Yeah, I want to throw up.
36:17I'm nervous.
36:18The sheer size and magnitude of what we did.
36:21It is amazing.
36:23Is it enough?
36:24I don't know.
36:31Bakers, I got to say, you really captured the magic of the North Pole.
36:40While you all made incredible creations, only two teams will be going to the finale
36:46and one team will be going home.
36:48So the first team that's going to go to the finale is a team that show us presentation that tell us a story.
36:59Just looking at it.
37:01Beautiful facial expression.
37:04Beautiful texture.
37:06Delicious cake.
37:08And I think that all things really tell us a story of the North Pole.
37:15And that team is...
37:23Team Elizabeth.
37:24We have come pretty far.
37:30Even the judges could see the work and effort and the growth that our empire has had.
37:35It's a little bit hard relinquishing that control and trying not to step in all the time to help people.
37:41But it works.
37:43How do we feel?
37:44Lucky.
37:45Relieved.
37:46And now I'm stressing.
37:52I'm like, oh my God.
37:53It's 50-50.
37:55We have 50% chance of going home.
37:57I'm stressing, stressing, stressing, stressing.
38:01Team Francois.
38:03Team Aaron.
38:04That means one of your empires will fall and one of your teams will be eliminated.
38:11Yolanda, who's the next team coming to the finale?
38:14Boy, oh boy.
38:15You guys haven't made our jobs easy.
38:17This is really difficult.
38:19And to be clear, you're all worthy of making it to the finale.
38:24Both were spectacular in very different ways.
38:27Erin, you took a huge risk as usual, but it paid off.
38:31And we all tasted something we never expected to taste and have never tasted before.
38:36And Francois, you always bring it with the flavour.
38:39Different every time, but equally delicious each time.
38:43In terms of design, your cakes are completely different, but superb in their own unique way.
38:51And in the end, what this boiled down to was execution.
38:55My heart is beating out of my chest.
38:58We created something so beautiful, we just cannot go home right now.
39:03I've been in this exact same spot before, making it to the semi-finals and not being quite enough to make it into the finale.
39:12So I'm really, really hoping that things are different this time.
39:15And the second team that will be headed to the finale is...
39:18Team Francois.
39:28First show, first time on final.
39:35First show, first time on final.
39:37First show, first time on final.
39:38First show, first time on final.
39:39First show, first time on final.
39:40Congratulations, you guys.
39:41You're headed to the finale and you are one step closer to $50,000.
39:46It pains me to say this, because your cake was so freaking good today.
39:52But unfortunately, Team Erin, your empire has fallen.
39:56That doesn't mean that you didn't impress us.
40:00From the beginning, we have our eyes on you guys.
40:03You are amazing bakers.
40:05All three of you are incredible, on your own and even better together.
40:10And that was the best part of watching you work as a team.
40:13I'm pretty disappointed.
40:14But at the end of the day, I've learned a lot.
40:16I've been able to teach some old school bakers a few new tricks.
40:21And some of the bakers have even pushed me outside of my comfort zones and helped me to grow.
40:25I wouldn't have had anyone else on my empire and wouldn't have had it any other way.
40:29I don't have any regrets.
40:31We did what we can do.
40:32We showed our skills.
40:33I think we did very good.
40:37When they bring me back for Sweet Empire All-Stars, I'm going to come fast and furious.
40:44Just want to put that in the hat right now, if any executives are watching.
40:51Well, we have our final two empires.
40:54The win feels good for this challenge.
40:57But Francois' team, I know that they are going to be hard to beat.
41:01It is now all the pressure.
41:03Everybody's going to do everything they can to possibly win.
41:06Congratulations.
41:07You've built and maintained amazing empires.
41:11But the real battle lies ahead.
41:13Oh, God.
41:15Elizabeth, we're coming for you.
41:21Next time on Sweet Empire.
41:24May the best team win.
41:25We will.
41:26This is the finale.
41:27So you're meant to go big.
41:29We're making this huge Christmas tree.
41:32It's the finale.
41:35If this tree falls apart, we're toast.
41:38You're good.
41:39Keep going.
41:40Spread buttercream.
41:41Jonathan, cover the backboard.
41:42Oh, my God.
41:43I need you to get this done in eight to ten minutes.
41:47Ah, well.
41:48Get the body done.
41:49Ah.
41:50Are you serious?
41:53And the winner of Sweet Empire is...
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