Holiday Baking Championship - Season 12 Episode 8 - Naughty & Nice Christmas - video Dailymotion

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Holiday Baking Championship - Season 12 Episode 8 - Naughty & Nice Christmas

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00:00:00Finally.

00:00:01It's now every baker for themselves.

00:00:03I have a good feeling.

00:00:04I'm making it to the finale.

00:00:06The theme was retro Christmas desserts.

00:00:09Ruby cake.

00:00:10And Ashley earned an early ticket to the finale

00:00:13by winning back-to-back challenges.

00:00:14Stop.

00:00:15You killed it, baby.

00:00:17Tart took the main heat win.

00:00:18I love this.

00:00:21And it was Giancarlos who said his final goodbye

00:00:23to the village.

00:00:24Love you.

00:00:25Bye.

00:00:26Bye, village.

00:00:27Moments away, it all comes together

00:00:29in one nail-biter of a finale.

00:00:32I'm going to have a mental breakdown.

00:00:41Tonight, the final five fakers are going all out.

00:00:45You are the final five.

00:00:50Originally on the nice team, Chase has hovered near the top

00:00:52most of the competition.

00:00:54Chase.

00:00:55Yes.

00:00:56Chase, well done.

00:00:58Uh-huh.

00:00:59Chase.

00:01:00Yes.

00:01:01But he can struggle with decorating.

00:01:03I made a filling with forest green, and I had to throw it out

00:01:06because it was too green.

00:01:07So this is my third time.

00:01:08Can he bring it all together to win the big prize?

00:01:11This is mine, everybody.

00:01:13Hey, Charles.

00:01:14Yeah?

00:01:15She's also making a bun cake.

00:01:16Yeah.

00:01:17Wow.

00:01:18Let the best baker win.

00:01:20Charles started out on the Naughty team for a good reason.

00:01:23You should, like, do the...

00:01:24Yeah.

00:01:25Anne took a long time to break through with the win.

00:01:27I'm a little sick of being the bridesmaid, ready to be the bride.

00:01:30It brings tears to my eyes.

00:01:35Charles.

00:01:38But everyone thinks he's a contender.

00:01:39Everything comes down to this.

00:01:40No pressure.

00:01:41But you can make this Ashley's world.

00:01:42Yeah.

00:01:43This is my world.

00:01:44Ashley began on Team Naughty and carried them through several challenges.

00:01:47How does your back feel?

00:01:48From holding the weight of the team.

00:01:49No, I'm kidding.

00:01:50From carrying the Naughty team.

00:01:51I figured that was coming.

00:01:52From carrying the Naughty team.

00:01:53Ashley.

00:01:54Ashley.

00:01:55Good job, Ash.

00:01:56Nice.

00:01:57Will this self-described strong, independent woman take it all?

00:02:01I want to kind of steal the show, so...

00:02:04Okay, judges.

00:02:06Happy Haruka.

00:02:08Nico is the wildest wildcard in the Holiday Village.

00:02:11He's incredibly creative.

00:02:13Today, we are celebrating Christmas.

00:02:15I'm gonna make a pig eating some bacon.

00:02:17Oh, God.

00:02:18Food now, please don't cancel me.

00:02:20This 22-year-old culinary school graduate has overcome so much.

00:02:24Nico!

00:02:25I did not think I was going too loud.

00:02:30He wants to make his mark in his own way and win, win, win.

00:02:34That's why I'm on the Naughty team.

00:02:35I break the rules.

00:02:36I'm pretty nervous, because I was, like, on edge.

00:02:39College student Tarek, the youngest baker in the kitchen, he came in wanting redemption

00:02:43from his near-miss six years ago in another competition.

00:02:46He struggled early.

00:02:47That leaves Tarek and Daniel.

00:02:48Gentlemen, please step forward.

00:02:49But lately, he's been on the upswing.

00:02:52Tarek!

00:02:53I'm gone!

00:02:54Eating seasoned pastry chefs at their own game.

00:02:57Really?

00:02:58Who will become Holiday Baking Champion?

00:03:02Bye, you all.

00:03:05Oh, boy.

00:03:06Oh, my God.

00:03:07Oh.

00:03:08Oh, God.

00:03:09Stupid holiday elves.

00:03:11Just the worst.

00:03:13Oh, hey, bakers.

00:03:14Hi, Jesse.

00:03:15Hi, Jesse.

00:03:16Congratulations on making it to the finale.

00:03:19I'm so proud of you all.

00:03:20I'm so proud of us.

00:03:21You survived a lot to get here, but the road ahead is not easy, so let's get started.

00:03:26And just a fair warning, the Naughty Elf snuck in last night, and I'm inspired by the

00:03:30Little Mischief Makers to bring you some mischief of my own.

00:03:33Okay.

00:03:34What does that mean?

00:03:35For your pre-heat challenge, make any dessert you like with Naughty Elf-themed decorations

00:03:40and Naughty ingredients like red curry, avocado, jalapenos.

00:03:47Ooh.

00:03:48I'm into that.

00:03:49You can't have that one, Charles.

00:03:50Oh, what the hell?

00:03:51Black licorice or sauerkraut.

00:03:55Naughty Naughty.

00:03:57Well, then I bet you're wondering, how are we going to assign all these different ingredients?

00:04:01Well, the Naughty answer is you're going to be bidding with your own baking time for the

00:04:08right to assign these ingredients.

00:04:10Oh, my God.

00:04:12Whoa.

00:04:13So here's how it's going to work.

00:04:15There are two and a half hours on the clock.

00:04:17You may bid in five-minute increments of your own baking time for the ability to assign

00:04:21all the Naughty ingredients to everybody, including yourself.

00:04:24Oh.

00:04:25And just to be clear, if you are the winning bidder, everyone else gets two and a half

00:04:29hours for this bake, and whatever you bid gets taken off your clock.

00:04:33Now, you know you need to make a Naughty Elf dessert with one of these ingredients.

00:04:37But did I mention that you are baking to skip the next heat?

00:04:40Yeah.

00:04:41Which, by the way, is an elimination heat.

00:04:44Yeah.

00:04:45Okay.

00:04:46And win a free pass to the final bake.

00:04:48Yup.

00:04:49Where one of you will leave the Holiday Village with $25,000.

00:04:53A feature in Food Network Magazine.

00:04:56And, of course, the title of Holiday Baking Champion.

00:05:01Woo!

00:05:02So, the stakes could not be higher.

00:05:06So what's more important to you?

00:05:08Time or avoiding a tough, naughty ingredient?

00:05:12I think I understand the power that comes with giving out these assignments.

00:05:16You can really put people in a good spot or in a bad spot, and it's the finale.

00:05:20So, I want this power, and I don't really want to hold back because $25,000 is on the line.

00:05:26Okay.

00:05:27Let's kick this thing off.

00:05:28Show of hands.

00:05:29Who's ready to bid five minutes off their bake?

00:05:31Five minutes.

00:05:32Five minutes.

00:05:33Do I see ten minutes off of their own baking time?

00:05:34I'll do ten.

00:05:35Oh, the fighting.

00:05:36Fifteen minutes off of 150.

00:05:38That's a lot of time.

00:05:39Fifteen.

00:05:40I'll go.

00:05:41Oh!

00:05:42Nico joins in at 15.

00:05:43I love the confidence.

00:05:44Is anybody willing to go 20 minutes off of their baking?

00:05:48I'll do 20 minutes.

00:05:49All right.

00:05:50Charles gives 20 minutes.

00:05:51Nico.

00:05:52No, I'm good.

00:05:53Sold!

00:05:54To Charles.

00:05:55So, come on up here.

00:05:56Let's take a peek.

00:05:57Let's see what you want to do.

00:05:59Oh, God.

00:06:00What do you want to bake with?

00:06:02Uh, black licorice.

00:06:03Black licorice for Charles.

00:06:05Wow.

00:06:06Interesting.

00:06:07How come?

00:06:08Uh, I love black licorice, and it's the only sweet thing

00:06:13that's really on here, so.

00:06:14Well, that was the really fun and naughty part.

00:06:16You get to assign flavors.

00:06:18Who would you like to start with?

00:06:20Only because I'm feeling naughty.

00:06:22Tarek, come get sauerkraut.

00:06:23Oof.

00:06:24Oh, what a pity.

00:06:26Wow.

00:06:27Man.

00:06:28I'm actually okay with this.

00:06:30Happy Christmas.

00:06:31I make a bomb sauerkraut cake.

00:06:33You'll see.

00:06:34Next baker.

00:06:35I'm gonna do Chase with red curry.

00:06:38Chase, come on up.

00:06:39Red curry is yours.

00:06:41We'll give Nico jalapeno.

00:06:43Look.

00:06:44Nico looks very, very cheesy.

00:06:46I was gonna pick that for myself.

00:06:48I think Ashley, I want to give her avocado.

00:06:50Okay.

00:06:51Secretly wanted that one all along.

00:06:53Mm-hmm.

00:06:54Just kidding.

00:06:55That's what they all said somehow.

00:06:56Interesting.

00:06:57You did a good job with that.

00:06:58That was funny.

00:06:59That was funny, Charles.

00:07:00All right, Holiday Bakers, you got your naughty ingredients.

00:07:03Make sure the judges taste your assigned ingredient in the dessert.

00:07:06Everybody but Charles has two and a half hours on the clock.

00:07:10And your baking time starts.

00:07:13Now, Charles, you can come on up with me and hang out.

00:07:16No problem.

00:07:1720 minutes?

00:07:18We've got some time to kill.

00:07:19No, don't take it.

00:07:21Don't take the thing I need.

00:07:24I took Speculose.

00:07:25Perfect.

00:07:26I don't care.

00:07:27All right, Bakers, it's your last preheat Naughty Elf Desserts

00:07:29with naughty ingredients.

00:07:30It's like you and I got some time to just kind of hang.

00:07:32A little bit.

00:07:33You kind of jumped all over black licorice.

00:07:35Was there one that you absolutely were like,

00:07:37I do not want?

00:07:38The one I didn't want was sauerkraut.

00:07:40My favorite.

00:07:42You think Tarik's going to struggle with it?

00:07:44We'll see.

00:07:45I literally gave it to him because he said he didn't want it.

00:07:46So that was my whole thought process.

00:07:48Yeah, it's so naughty.

00:07:50Oh, God.

00:07:53There's nothing good about this.

00:07:55Sauerkraut's just not good.

00:07:57It's very acidic.

00:07:58It's not like a weird funk to it.

00:08:00And it definitely doesn't go well in a dessert,

00:08:03but I got to use it.

00:08:04Like, that's my ingredient.

00:08:05So I'm just going to try my best with this.

00:08:06I'm going to try to play into the funk

00:08:08with maybe like a cheesecake.

00:08:10My cheesecake will be layers of my

00:08:12speculose and coconut crust,

00:08:13sauerkraut cheesecake filling,

00:08:15my caramel,

00:08:16and I'll also add deep-fried sauerkraut on top.

00:08:19And I'm going to decorate the tops of them

00:08:21with little butt cracks

00:08:23because I feel like that's a pretty naughty.

00:08:25That's why.

00:08:26I thought it'd be funny.

00:08:27It's definitely like a big joke in my family, right?

00:08:30You know, butt humor.

00:08:31It's funny.

00:08:32And for a naughty elf,

00:08:33it felt pretty appropriate.

00:08:34I don't know why,

00:08:35but I'm a big proponent of making cheesecake with a hand mixer.

00:08:37I feel like you can get it more incorporated.

00:08:40So that's what I'm going to do.

00:08:42While my crust is in the oven,

00:08:43I can make my filling.

00:08:44So I started off by taking my sauerkraut drain

00:08:47and I cooked it with some apple juice,

00:08:49some brown sugar,

00:08:50some butter,

00:08:51some orange zest,

00:08:52and some salt

00:08:53until the sauerkraut lost its buggy taste

00:08:55and rather turned it more like caramelized.

00:08:57And then I add my sour cream,

00:08:59my mascarpone,

00:09:00my cream cheese,

00:09:01my eggs,

00:09:02my vanilla,

00:09:03my corn starch.

00:09:04All right.

00:09:07It's not fun.

00:09:11So strong smelling.

00:09:12Oh my God.

00:09:15And I was assigned red curry paste.

00:09:18For the most part, I like it.

00:09:19It's a bold, intense flavor.

00:09:20It's not like I have to worry about it disappearing.

00:09:23I just have to worry about it overtaking.

00:09:25There's some garlic.

00:09:26There's some like really savory things in it

00:09:28that I know I need to mask with a decent amount of sugar.

00:09:31I want the spice to come through

00:09:32and the punchiness to come through,

00:09:33but I don't want it to taste like curry curry.

00:09:36So I'm going to play with chocolate and caramel

00:09:38to really like balance out the spicy flavor.

00:09:41I'm not going anywhere from you, caramel,

00:09:44because I only have time to do you one time.

00:09:49So I'm going to do it right.

00:09:51I'm going to make a chocolate caramel mousse cake

00:09:54with a cake layer on the bottom.

00:09:56Every layer is going to have a little bit of curry in it.

00:09:58Then I'm going to candy some peanuts with curry on the top,

00:10:01pulverize it.

00:10:02And to decorate, I will make a mischievous little elf cookie

00:10:05that has taken a bite out of my cake.

00:10:07Nothing like red curry cream.

00:10:09Red cream.

00:10:10How are you feeling about your avocados, Ashley?

00:10:12I mean, I'm fine.

00:10:13They're ripe enough.

00:10:14I got avocado.

00:10:16So I'm making an avocado cheesecake

00:10:18and with a cinnamon graham crust.

00:10:21That's perfect.

00:10:23And then I'm going to do an avocado curd

00:10:25and a avocado whipped ganache.

00:10:27And to decorate, I'm going to make a naughty elf

00:10:31who is surrounded by cookies, a Christmas tree,

00:10:35and a not so sorry, sorry letter to Santa.

00:10:39Just blending all my avocados now.

00:10:41And I'm adding a little bit of the lime juice

00:10:43to brighten it, but also to keep it from turning brown.

00:10:47Working with avocado is the fact

00:10:48that it's very subtle in flavor.

00:10:50I'm just using a lot of cream and white chocolate

00:10:53to help enhance that creaminess that avocado gives.

00:10:57The baker that wins preheat gets to go straight to finale.

00:11:01I am ecstatic.

00:11:02And I mean, this is the motivator for me

00:11:04that's going to fast track me to the finale.

00:11:07And that's the spot I want to be in.

00:11:09Guys, less than one minute.

00:11:10Charles is entering the arena.

00:11:12Oh, you haven't started yet?

00:11:13That sucks.

00:11:14I think two hours and 10 minutes is enough time

00:11:17for me to have a successful dessert.

00:11:19Every minute counts, but we'll see what I can get done.

00:11:22Three, two, one.

00:11:24Off you go, Charles.

00:11:26It's time.

00:11:27Black licorice time.

00:11:28Black licorice.

00:11:29It's going to be a lot of fun being behind.

00:11:31I'm not behind.

00:11:33That's what he wants you to think.

00:11:36I assign myself black licorice,

00:11:38which I know is controversial,

00:11:40but I personally love it.

00:11:42The inspiration really for choosing black licorice

00:11:44is my mentor, Chef Melissa Root.

00:11:47She was the executive pastry chef I learned under,

00:11:50and after she left, I got promoted up.

00:11:53So she's been a huge influence on my career.

00:11:56So I kind of want to do a dessert inspired by her

00:11:59with some of a bunch of different dark black ingredients

00:12:02to tie into this black licorice theme.

00:12:04I'm making a black licorice butterscotch tart

00:12:07with black currants, black cocoa, black sesame

00:12:10to really make this very dark, knotty tart.

00:12:14To decorate my tart, I want to make

00:12:16a little black sesame whipped cream

00:12:18with a little licorice in there to pipe around the border,

00:12:21and then I want to make a wanted sign

00:12:23for the elf that vandalized the holiday village.

00:12:26All right, start of the show.

00:12:28Licorice, baby.

00:12:29I'm going to be putting the licorice

00:12:31in that main butterscotch layer.

00:12:33I'm going to steep the cream I'm going to use

00:12:36for the butterscotch with the licorice candy,

00:12:39let it kind of infuse, blend it up

00:12:41so it's fully kind of dissolved and mixed in.

00:12:44Delicious-looking licorice paste.

00:12:47And then cook that so it really has that licorice flavor

00:12:50and kind of a nod to the chewy texture of licorice.

00:12:54I am really excited to see your dessert, Charles.

00:12:57Me too.

00:12:58We're almost at the finish line,

00:13:00and you kind of have to just put it all out there

00:13:02to get that title.

00:13:04It is a little sad to come to the end of this journey.

00:13:07It's definitely missed my fellow bakers

00:13:09that I've really grown close to,

00:13:11but I'm definitely going to stay in cock with them

00:13:13after I beat them all and take the winning home.

00:13:17Tart dough is almost done.

00:13:18I'm going to get it in the oven.

00:13:20Anyone have heavy cream extra?

00:13:22I have some.

00:13:25You're so welcome, Charles.

00:13:27Oh.

00:13:28You're my favorite nice baker left.

00:13:29Wow.

00:13:30My naughty ingredient today was jalapenos.

00:13:33I love working with weird ingredients.

00:13:35I would have been happy with any of them, honestly,

00:13:36but jalapenos, I feel like, have a really lovely flavor profile,

00:13:39and to incorporate some spice into the sweet,

00:13:41I think it'll be fun.

00:13:42For my dessert, I will be making a jalapeno, lime, yogurt, and mint petit gateau.

00:13:46It'll include layers of a mint fouillotine crunch,

00:13:51a lime and yogurt sponge soaked with a jalapeno simple syrup,

00:13:56a jalapeno gelée, and a lime curd.

00:14:01It will all be encased with a yogurt and jalapeno syrup mousse.

00:14:05It will then be coated in a cocoa butter shell.

00:14:08And I'm going to decorate it to look like the naughty elephant itself.

00:14:11And I really want him to put out his little middle finger.

00:14:14Gelatin, we're going to make you set.

00:14:16Ta-da.

00:14:17This is a lot to do in two and a half hours.

00:14:20If just one of these elements don't work out,

00:14:23I don't know if I'll be able to get this all done in time.

00:14:26So that's really worrisome.

00:14:27I'm being really ambitious here.

00:14:29But, like, it's the finale.

00:14:30Go big or go home, right?

00:14:31Right now, I'm just making a jalapeno puree

00:14:34to put in my jalapeno gelée.

00:14:37Out of marshmallow.

00:14:39For this, I'm using just the flesh.

00:14:41So I want kind of like that, like,

00:14:43really, like, fruitiness of the jalapeno

00:14:45to come through in some aspects,

00:14:46and then I want that spice that the seeds provide in some aspects.

00:14:48I just want to celebrate in every way.

00:14:50Nico.

00:14:51Hey, yo.

00:14:52What's up?

00:14:53Dude, I feel like for the first time in a long time,

00:14:54you're working with an ingredient that you're excited about.

00:14:56These last few we-get-assigned ingredient challenges,

00:14:59I have not been thrilled with what I've been given,

00:15:01but it is very different this time.

00:15:03I love what I have.

00:15:04This could put you right into the main heat.

00:15:05Yeah, I really hope so.

00:15:06You could avoid the elimination round.

00:15:07Yeah, that would be really ideal.

00:15:09What would teenage Nico say to you,

00:15:12watching you right now and seeing the success you've had here?

00:15:15Honestly, if I'm being so real, this is a little sad.

00:15:18Teenage Nico wasn't even sure he was going to get to this age.

00:15:21Really?

00:15:22Yeah.

00:15:23It's real depressing, but that's part of my story.

00:15:25I thought it was always just going to be dominated by my disorder.

00:15:27I had a pretty deep, dark battle with anorexia for a lot of my childhood,

00:15:34through culinary school, the past eight years.

00:15:36And at a certain point, I was like, I can't keep living like this.

00:15:42Yeah, but I feel like if he saw me doing this, he would just be really proud that,

00:15:49not that I made it to this competition, but that I just made it here,

00:15:53and that I'm able to do this.

00:15:55Yeah.

00:15:56Yeah.

00:15:57He'd be really proud.

00:15:58I think there's a lot of people back home that are really proud of you,

00:16:00and they're going to be so proud when they see this, too.

00:16:01I'm proud.

00:16:02You're meant to be here.

00:16:03I hope you feel that.

00:16:04Yeah, I feel it.

00:16:05I think this is really my backlog.

00:16:08All right.

00:16:09Give me a hug.

00:16:10Come on in.

00:16:11Absolutely, brother.

00:16:12I'm so proud of you.

00:16:13This is the spice.

00:16:14I got my jalapeno.

00:16:15Jalapeno's making him cry.

00:16:16It's making everybody cry.

00:16:17Everyone knows that.

00:16:18It was the peppers.

00:16:19Good luck, man.

00:16:20To win this would be such an affirmation to myself of like,

00:16:23I'm actually worth the time and effort that I've put into this,

00:16:27that other people have put into me to get me here.

00:16:29I really want to use this money to travel, explore, and experience the world.

00:16:34One hour left, bakers.

00:16:36What I'm going for is like a circle, and I want like her butt.

00:16:43So my components are all made, so now I'm working on my deco.

00:16:45To make my elf butt decorations, I'm going to use coating chocolate

00:16:49and pipe like a little round that I can place on top of my cheesecake.

00:16:53I use a round piece of parchment paper, and I spread out the skin tone coating chocolate,

00:16:58and then I like chill it, and I come back, and I just do like clothes with like green and red,

00:17:01and then I pipe the cheeks themselves with black coating chocolates,

00:17:04and it looks really good.

00:17:05It looks funny.

00:17:06It's definitely an elf butt.

00:17:07Hi.

00:17:08My name is Tark.

00:17:09I'm five years old, and I made a butt.

00:17:18Cleaned my knife, and now I am going to get started on decoration.

00:17:21As my cheesecake is baking and my avocado curd is in the freezer,

00:17:25I now can get started on the decoration portion of my dessert.

00:17:29First, I start with the modeling chocolate elf that I'm trying to achieve,

00:17:33and decide to go for a little bit of a mischievous face because, you know,

00:17:39he doesn't care what Santa thinks about him eating his cookies.

00:17:42Now I'm trying to make a little toupee.

00:17:44I don't know.

00:17:45Works for me.

00:17:46Okay, I think I am going to have time to do this freaking cookie,

00:17:49so let's do it.

00:17:50To decorate, I want to make some elf-like sugar cookies.

00:17:53I used gingerbread men cutouts for the elves.

00:17:56Oh, they're so cute.

00:17:58To decorate my elves, I'm using coating chocolate.

00:18:01I'm going to pipe on little hats.

00:18:03I'm going to make them have a nice little smile,

00:18:05even though they have done something very naughty,

00:18:07and I'm so confident in my bake.

00:18:10Obviously, I know decorating isn't my strongest suit,

00:18:13but I know it's a taster.

00:18:16I'm so silly.

00:18:19It's so funny.

00:18:20All right, please don't break.

00:18:23What just happened?

00:18:26Hello?

00:18:28No.

00:18:30How did this happen?

00:18:31This is my entire decoration.

00:18:33If it doesn't look good, I have to start over.

00:18:35And I don't know if I have the time for that.

00:18:37This is not good.

00:18:38This is not good.

00:18:39This is not good.

00:18:4030 minutes left.

00:18:46You're making a naughty elf dessert

00:18:48with the mischievous ingredient

00:18:49that, of course, Charles assigned you.

00:18:52Oh, I'm sorry.

00:18:54I'll fix it on the back.

00:18:55You'll never know.

00:18:56I'm just going to glue it together from the back,

00:18:58and I think it should be fine.

00:19:01It's not that bad.

00:19:02It's not great.

00:19:06Okay.

00:19:08Gorge-ina.

00:19:10Okay.

00:19:11I'm feeling great right now, Loki.

00:19:13Now that I have all the components of my petite gâteau,

00:19:15eventually, once they're frozen,

00:19:17I can combine the two halves together

00:19:19to make one sphere with four inserts.

00:19:21Okay.

00:19:22Back in the blast.

00:19:23You balls are gonna be ours.

00:19:25Just you wait.

00:19:26Next, I want to make my elf hat out of a twill

00:19:28because I feel like I'll be able to shape it

00:19:30into that cone elf hat shape that I want,

00:19:33and I think it's just more fun

00:19:34than using modeling chocolate as decor.

00:19:36I think having an actual taste component on top

00:19:39will just be more impressive to the judges.

00:19:41Okay, yeah.

00:19:42This works.

00:19:43Ha-ha.

00:19:44Oh, no.

00:19:47Gnar.

00:19:49Actually, wait, it's not that bad.

00:19:51It's salvageable.

00:19:54110, 30 degrees to go.

00:19:56Experimental butterscotch.

00:19:58Charles, how we doing?

00:19:59We're getting there.

00:20:00Was it a good idea to bid for the 20 minutes?

00:20:03TBD.

00:20:05TBD.

00:20:06I'll know when the judges say I'm the winner.

00:20:09I have all my components made, and they're in my tart,

00:20:12but this butterscotch is taking longer

00:20:14than I really expected.

00:20:17You can taste it.

00:20:18Once my butterscotch is ready,

00:20:19I pour that on top and have a nice flat layer

00:20:22of the black licorice butterscotch,

00:20:24and it's looking pretty good.

00:20:26I'm feeling okay on time.

00:20:28I think I'm kind of cutting into my decorating,

00:20:30but I just have to get this set

00:20:32because that's the priority,

00:20:33and then I will just quickly throw together

00:20:36a beautiful naughty elf.

00:20:38Time's running out, and I have to get

00:20:40some decoration made for this,

00:20:42so I quickly grab gum paste, roll it out,

00:20:44and start sketching out this elf face.

00:20:47Luckily, I have a little experience drawing,

00:20:49so I want to make a wanted sign

00:20:51for the elf that vandalized the holiday village

00:20:54just because I know it can be black and white,

00:20:56and just a, yeah, a naughty flair

00:20:59to tie into the whole challenge.

00:21:01All right, the hardest part.

00:21:03Wanted.

00:21:06Okay, bakers, it's that time.

00:21:08Fifteen minutes to go.

00:21:09There's barely any time left.

00:21:10I quickly pipe a border

00:21:12and get my wanted poster on the tart.

00:21:14I slice a few pieces of the real licorice candy

00:21:17and put it on this garnish.

00:21:18I have fingerprints everywhere.

00:21:20This can't be happening.

00:21:23This is not looking good.

00:21:24What do you think, tart? Cheeky?

00:21:27It's a butt.

00:21:28It's a butt.

00:21:29Ashley, that looks so good.

00:21:31I was going for that retro green carpet vibe.

00:21:33I'm also going for my third win in a row.

00:21:36Every man for himself.

00:21:38For the decoration, I'm going to put my naughty elf

00:21:40off to the side.

00:21:41I'm going to put my scroll letter to Santa in the back,

00:21:44and then I'm going to put my Christmas tree behind my elf.

00:21:47This is when you should be well into your decorating.

00:21:50All of my heads are ready.

00:21:52All of my hats are ready,

00:21:53but I don't have any other decor,

00:21:55but I need to get these heads with these hats on these plates.

00:21:59Nico, are they going to have eyes and a nose and a mouth?

00:22:02Yes, sir.

00:22:03Okay, hurry up.

00:22:05Hey, who has the black edible marker?

00:22:07With about 30 seconds left,

00:22:09I know I need to give these guys at the very least faces,

00:22:12so I take a black edible marker,

00:22:14give them some mean mugs, eyebrows, frowns,

00:22:17so at least give them nod to naughty.

00:22:19Whatever.

00:22:22I'm going to make this look so much better

00:22:24than it does right now.

00:22:25I'll fix it, I'll fix it.

00:22:27Five, four, three, two, one.

00:22:33Time's up, mischief makers.

00:22:35Let's see who's going straight to the main heat.

00:22:38That's unfortunate.

00:22:39Didn't get a finger on, though.

00:22:40Time is out,

00:22:41and I have no time to put middle fingers on my plate,

00:22:43which is a bummer,

00:22:44because that would have been hilarious.

00:22:45Like, this is the finale,

00:22:46so I really wanted to go ambitious.

00:22:48I really wanted to go for, like, a lot of elements,

00:22:50but I don't think this looks like a finale-worthy dish right now.

00:22:53Oh, that's so sad.

00:22:55This just looks a little boring.

00:22:57Hey, Ashley, come on in.

00:23:00Hi.

00:23:01Ashley, good to see you again.

00:23:03Good to see you as well.

00:23:04All right, of course, you know our judges.

00:23:05Nancy Fuller.

00:23:06How do you do?

00:23:07Cartier Brown.

00:23:09Duff's still feeling a little bit under the weather,

00:23:11so please welcome Zach Young, talented pastry chef.

00:23:14Yes, very.

00:23:15If you say naughty elf three times, I appear, apparently.

00:23:20Well, Ashley, why don't you tell us which naughty ingredient you got for this?

00:23:24I got avocado, so what I've prepared for you is a cinnamon graham cracker

00:23:29and avocado cheesecake with an avocado curd

00:23:32and just a plain vanilla whipped cream.

00:23:34And then for my decoration, my elf got a little naughty

00:23:37and decided to eat Santa's cookies.

00:23:39And then felt a little bit bad, so he decided to write a little love note

00:23:43and then took it back and said, no, I'm not really that sorry.

00:23:47I think that's pretty naughty, Ashley.

00:23:50And especially with the smirk on his face.

00:23:53It's so naughty, elf, and holiday.

00:23:55I love it.

00:23:56I'm not a fan of avocado and desserts,

00:23:59and so I'm so worried when I heard avocado.

00:24:01I'm like, oh, what is she going to do with this?

00:24:03You nailed it.

00:24:04You made it enjoyable.

00:24:06Oh, Lord.

00:24:08Why'd you prefer this?

00:24:10The textures are beautiful.

00:24:12I mean, that cheesecake, it's so silky.

00:24:15The curd is so creamy.

00:24:16Beautiful work.

00:24:17Ashley, thank you.

00:24:19Thank you, Ashley.

00:24:21It was safe, but it was technically spot on.

00:24:26Charles, welcome back.

00:24:27Hello, judges.

00:24:28Tell us what you made.

00:24:29I made a black licorice butterscotch tarts.

00:24:33Inside, I have some black currant jam and a black sesame praline.

00:24:38I really wanted to dive into kind of that color scheme.

00:24:41And then, yeah, I made a wanted poster of the naughty elf who kind of destroyed the holiday village.

00:24:47And kept it black and white, so it's really all kind of monochromatic.

00:24:50I think the tart itself looks great.

00:24:52The work is super clean.

00:24:54I get the wanted poster.

00:24:56Let's give it a taste.

00:24:58I hate black licorice.

00:24:59Same.

00:25:00Same.

00:25:01Thank you, Chef.

00:25:02And I love your outfit.

00:25:03Oh, thank you so much.

00:25:04Very cute.

00:25:05I get the licorice in all components.

00:25:14The butterscotch.

00:25:15I'm very impressed with how you've created that texture to emulate chewing on a piece of licorice.

00:25:22I don't know about that.

00:25:24For me, the butterscotch layer took over so much that technically it's kind of hard to eat because the jam isn't really stabilized.

00:25:32The licorice is heavy, and then you're trying to cut into this very hard crust.

00:25:37It was just a little sloppy and a little bitter.

00:25:41All right, Charles.

00:25:42Thanks so much.

00:25:43Thank you, Judge.

00:25:45I liked it.

00:25:46I thought it was different.

00:25:50Hello.

00:25:51Hi, Tari.

00:25:52Good to see you.

00:25:53Okay, so what naughty ingredient did you get?

00:25:55I got sauerkraut.

00:25:57I know.

00:25:58That's what I thought, too.

00:25:59So what did you make?

00:26:00I made a sauerkraut cheesecake with a speculose and coconut crust and a sauerkraut caramel.

00:26:07And on top of it is battered and fried sauerkraut that's like tossed in cinnamon sugar.

00:26:11Tell us about the decorating.

00:26:12Um, I've decided to go a little cheeky with it.

00:26:15Pun intended.

00:26:16What's that on the top of that cake?

00:26:18A butt.

00:26:19Is the elf mooning Charles for giving you sauerkraut?

00:26:30Perhaps.

00:26:31Perhaps.

00:26:34I've never been speechless.

00:26:39Oh, Nancy.

00:26:40Does the crack, I mean, crust look good?

00:26:45Oh, boy.

00:26:46Thank you, Tari.

00:26:52Well, I like this a lot more than I liked the look of it.

00:26:56Um, I think the sauerkraut in the cheesecake was a really brilliant idea.

00:27:00It plays with the cream cheese so well.

00:27:02And it gives you this kind of like farmer's cheese.

00:27:05So it's actually pretty tasty.

00:27:08I got sauerkraut all day long.

00:27:10It wasn't bad.

00:27:11It was creamy and it was light and fluffy.

00:27:14I didn't get enough of the sauerkraut caramel sauce.

00:27:18Okay.

00:27:19All right, Tariq.

00:27:21Thanks.

00:27:22I'm sorry.

00:27:23No, no apologies.

00:27:24Oh, my God.

00:27:25I have to say, I actually really like the cheesecake itself.

00:27:28Mm-hmm.

00:27:31Hello.

00:27:32Hi, Chase.

00:27:33Welcome, Chase.

00:27:34I got red curry paste.

00:27:36Ooh.

00:27:37I have a mousse cake.

00:27:39On the bottom is a chocolate cake.

00:27:41There is a red curry caramel, ganache, mousse.

00:27:44And then I made a cookie elf that has vandalized my cake.

00:27:48He took a bite here out of the front and has spray painted, walked all over the ganache, and left his tracks.

00:27:56I like the naughty aspect of it.

00:27:58I think the little elf is adorable, and I like that you could tell he'd been eating a little dirty on him.

00:28:04I just wish the presentation had been as refined as how you describe the dessert.

00:28:10I could eat this all day long.

00:28:12Yay!

00:28:13The flavor is almost savory, but there's enough sweetness to make me want to keep eating it.

00:28:21It's like pang nang curry in a dessert form.

00:28:25My goodness.

00:28:26You're great with flavor, but you've got to work on your decoration.

00:28:29Heard.

00:28:31Make this caramel again, cook it a hair longer, and then individually package it and sell it.

00:28:38Like, first customer.

00:28:40Like, that is, I ripped it all out.

00:28:43All right, Chase, way to go, man.

00:28:46Thank you all.

00:28:47Thanks, Chase.

00:28:48Wow.

00:28:49Yeah, I could eat this whole thing.

00:28:50I am going to.

00:28:53Hi, Nico.

00:28:54Hi, Nico.

00:28:55Hi.

00:28:56All right, what naughty ingredient did you get?

00:28:57I got jalapeno.

00:28:58What did you make?

00:28:59A jalapeno, lime, yogurt, and mint pettigato.

00:29:02And then I made a little elf hat on top of it.

00:29:05Nico, this is not holiday baking championship worthy.

00:29:13What is this?

00:29:15That was brutal.

00:29:16I would start crying.

00:29:18I guess it's the fringe.

00:29:23The fringe on your hat.

00:29:25Yeah.

00:29:26I have a lot more intentions with the core.

00:29:29That's a lot of elements packed into one little elf head.

00:29:34So I feel like you probably bit off more than you could chew with what's inside the head.

00:29:40I hope that everything that you put into that blender is delicious.

00:29:44Let's give it a try, guys.

00:29:47Ooh.

00:29:48Nice little center.

00:29:51There is a lot going on.

00:29:52Separately, every layer is pretty delicious.

00:29:55First of all, jalapeno I think is excellent.

00:29:59You got a really nice punch from it, along with that kind of green pepper flavor.

00:30:04I loved it.

00:30:05I think it was absolutely delicious.

00:30:08And I could eat the whole thing.

00:30:10I love the mint.

00:30:11The mint brought a freshness.

00:30:12I think it's a great pairing with the jalapeno.

00:30:15You have redeemed yourself with the contents of the ugly elf.

00:30:20Nico, thank you.

00:30:21Thank you, Nico.

00:30:22I feel really hurt.

00:30:24I know the decorations were not what I wanted them to be.

00:30:27And I feel like it really, like, hit my soul.

00:30:30It hit me pretty heavy.

00:30:31I think it had too many components.

00:30:33But I really enjoyed it.

00:30:34And I really liked the mint.

00:30:39Well, bakers, I got to say, two of you made it particularly hard for the judges.

00:30:43Ashley.

00:30:44And Chase.

00:30:51But only one baker gets a trip straight to the main heap from here, competing for all the dough.

00:30:56And it all came down to masterful use of the naughty ingredient in an undeniable bite.

00:31:03And that came from...

00:31:09Chase.

00:31:10What?

00:31:11Okay.

00:31:12Oh, my gosh.

00:31:13Yeah.

00:31:14I mean, no cagots.

00:31:16Wow.

00:31:17Chase, congratulations.

00:31:19You are in the final main heat.

00:31:21I don't even know what to say.

00:31:23Oh, my gosh.

00:31:25I can't believe it.

00:31:26I get to skip the heat and go straight to the competition for $25,000.

00:31:32Now I just need to win it all.

00:31:34And for the rest of you, there's one last hurdle before you get a chance at all the money.

00:31:39Come on, everybody.

00:31:40Let's take a walk together.

00:31:42Following the lead-o.

00:31:43Oh, no.

00:31:44Oh, my God.

00:31:45I knew it.

00:31:48Ooh.

00:31:49See a stand.

00:31:50What do you guys think?

00:31:51Anybody want one?

00:31:52I would love one.

00:31:53Please.

00:31:54Please.

00:31:55Ladies first.

00:31:56Chase.

00:31:58Winner, winner.

00:31:59Nico.

00:32:00Spike, right?

00:32:01Only for you, Nico.

00:32:02Charles, Nico, sir.

00:32:03Thank you so much.

00:32:04Cheers, everyone.

00:32:05Cheers.

00:32:06Cheers.

00:32:07Mmm.

00:32:08Yum.

00:32:09I love a warm cup of hot cocoa this time here.

00:32:12Don't you?

00:32:13Oh, yeah.

00:32:14It's so nice.

00:32:17It is quite nice.

00:32:20We know that the preheat lean naughty with the elves.

00:32:22Now we want to embrace nice with a warm hug of hot cocoa.

00:32:26Love it.

00:32:27So for this final elimination challenge that we are calling the Hot Hot Heat, please create

00:32:32hot cocoa desserts with a Christmas theme.

00:32:35Remember, you're fighting to stay in the game.

00:32:39Whoever's the least successful is going to be leaving the Holiday Village just short of the chance to compete for it all.

00:32:46It would really suck to, like, go home right before the finish line.

00:32:50It would just be a huge blow, but I just have to put my best foot forward.

00:32:56So we want you to bake your best.

00:32:57There's no naughtiness, no tricks.

00:32:59It is a completely level playing field.

00:33:02And may the nice vibes help you make it through to this final bake.

00:33:06Cheers.

00:33:07May the nice be with you, honey.

00:33:09The four of you have only two hours to make the most impressive hot cocoa-flavored Christmas dessert you can

00:33:14to keep your place here and win a big advantage in the main heat.

00:33:19And your baking time starts.

00:33:21Now, good luck.

00:33:22Oh, good luck, everybody.

00:33:23How are you, sir?

00:33:24I'm better now.

00:33:27All right.

00:33:28Chocolate.

00:33:29Let's do this.

00:33:30Move.

00:33:31Move.

00:33:32Get out of the way.

00:33:33Whoa, aggressive.

00:33:35Corn syrup.

00:33:37Chocolate tin.

00:33:39Good luck, bakers.

00:33:42Hey, I'm turning this bottom oven to 400.

00:33:46There's four of us, so it doesn't matter, but you know.

00:33:48I'm a little nervy, right?

00:33:50This is the last challenge someone gets eliminated before the main heat.

00:33:53So it's like either do good here or you're not in that ass challenge.

00:33:57So the challenge is to make nice hot chocolate desserts.

00:34:01And I will be making a hot chocolate-inspired tiramisu.

00:34:07So for my dessert, I will be making a hot cocoa and espresso-soaked ladyfinger and a hot cocoa mascarpone cream.

00:34:14A ladyfinger sponge is super, super airy.

00:34:17The whole purpose of it is to soak up that liquid that you're soaking in it.

00:34:21So you want to make sure you're keeping all that air inside.

00:34:24That's why you're whipping both the whites and the yolks, to just keep it super airy and light.

00:34:28To decorate, I plan on making a white chocolate hot cocoa cup to resemble a literal paper cup that you would see hot cocoa in.

00:34:36This one is all for my mom.

00:34:38It is her number one dessert in the world.

00:34:41The critiques from the preheats just kind of took a toll on me.

00:34:45But that's really why I'm making a tiramisu.

00:34:47It's my mom's favorite.

00:34:48And after that, I just really need my mom's presence here.

00:34:52Especially in recent years with my recovery, I've put her through so many hard moments.

00:34:58She's had to watch her kid struggle so much.

00:35:01I just know she's so proud of me.

00:35:03And I've caused her so much fear.

00:35:05It's really hard for me.

00:35:07But no matter what happens, knowing that I'm pouring my love for her into this dessert,

00:35:13it's what's getting me through this.

00:35:16What's up?

00:35:17Hopefully that works.

00:35:19A little pea mint.

00:35:22That's code for peppermint for the kids at home.

00:35:26Working in this industry is not easy.

00:35:28It's long hours.

00:35:30It's very stressful, especially in the high-end restaurant world.

00:35:33You're held to such a high standard.

00:35:35I've sacrificed so much.

00:35:37And getting the title in this competition would make all that worth it.

00:35:43And prove that I'm doing what I'm meant to do.

00:35:46Hot cocoa dessert.

00:35:47What are you going to go with?

00:35:48I am doing a peppermint hot chocolate brownie.

00:35:52Ooh.

00:35:53Peppermint hot chocolate brownie.

00:35:54How's your brownie game?

00:35:55It's incredible.

00:35:56Is it gooey?

00:35:57It is.

00:35:58My belief is there's only fudgy brownies.

00:36:00If you like cakey brownies, you like cake, not brownies.

00:36:02I agree.

00:36:03To everybody out there listening, dry brownies, no bueno.

00:36:08Yeah.

00:36:09So I am going to make a peppermint hot chocolate brownie.

00:36:12I'm going to do peppermint milk chocolate brownie layer,

00:36:16make a hot chocolate ganache on top,

00:36:19and then make a peppermint buttercream to pipe on it.

00:36:22Ooh, and some rice treats I see.

00:36:24Yeah, I'm going to make marshmallow,

00:36:26and I'm going to make a rice cereal treat

00:36:28in the shape of a Christmas tree.

00:36:29So I'm going to do kind of that tree lighting ceremony.

00:36:31at the beginning of the holiday.

00:36:33I remember drinking peppermint hot chocolate

00:36:35at tree lighting ceremonies with my family as a kid,

00:36:38so just kind of tying it all together.

00:36:41Extra colorful lights to, you know,

00:36:45give the judges what they want.

00:36:46I just want to really prove that I deserve

00:36:48to be in that finale.

00:36:50Is this too thick?

00:36:51We'll find out.

00:36:52Man, I'm sweating a lot in this suit and tie.

00:36:56My mustache is drenched.

00:36:58It's giving hot cocoa.

00:37:01I'm going to make a hot cocoa pot de creme

00:37:03with some chocolate pearls.

00:37:05A pot de creme is usually, like, a baked custard.

00:37:08Think, like, a creme brulee.

00:37:10My version, however, is no-bake,

00:37:12because the way I make it is by basically making

00:37:15a creme anglaise and pouring it into chocolate

00:37:17so it sets up.

00:37:18It has a texture of, like, a very soft pudding,

00:37:20almost like a hybrid between a mousse and a pudding.

00:37:22So this figured, like, it was the best option

00:37:24for making a hot cocoa-based dessert

00:37:26because I feel like I'm essentially just making, like,

00:37:28fancier hot cocoa.

00:37:30And then I'm going to top it with my torched meringue

00:37:33and a graham cracker shortbread cookie

00:37:37decorated like a dog.

00:37:39Every Christmas, my grandparents and I

00:37:41will take a walk with their dog through the park

00:37:43and go get hot cocoa from this coffee shop in St. Louis.

00:37:46And I wanted to kind of emulate that experience

00:37:49through this dessert.

00:37:50So I'm playing with, like, s'mores

00:37:52because we roast s'mores in the fireplace every holiday.

00:37:54And I wanted to do something classic.

00:37:56And to me, hot cocoa and s'mores just makes sense.

00:37:59Like, that is my childhood.

00:38:01We did it.

00:38:02That is fabulous.

00:38:03I really, really, really want to make it

00:38:05to the final main heat because it's just one bake away

00:38:08from winning the entire thing.

00:38:10And I was so close when I was a kid

00:38:12that if I can redeem myself,

00:38:14that would be awesome.

00:38:16But right now,

00:38:17I need to focus on getting through this one

00:38:19because if I mess up,

00:38:20I could be going home.

00:38:24Okay.

00:38:29It's a little under, but I'm going to pull it

00:38:31because I know Cartier likes it.

00:38:35Any nice memories of hot cocoa growing up?

00:38:37Actually, not really,

00:38:39because I actually am not a chocolate fan.

00:38:42I know, I know.

00:38:44Who are you?

00:38:45I know.

00:38:46So then you have to make a hot cocoa dessert.

00:38:47What are you going to make?

00:38:48Yep.

00:38:49So today I am making a really good decadent brownie

00:38:51with a homemade marshmallow.

00:38:52Then I throw toffee bits in there

00:38:54and a molted milk chocolate sauce.

00:38:57You and Charles are both making brownies.

00:38:59I know.

00:39:00It's battle of the brownies.

00:39:01It's battle of the brownies.

00:39:02The brownie off.

00:39:03Yep.

00:39:04Okay, I asked him earlier.

00:39:05He said his brownie game is pretty amazing.

00:39:06Yeah.

00:39:07How's yours?

00:39:08I don't think I would have chosen it

00:39:09in this point in the competition

00:39:10because I don't believe in it.

00:39:11Yeah, I mean, you need it.

00:39:12Hopefully.

00:39:13It takes you into the final bake.

00:39:14Yeah.

00:39:15With all the moolah on the line.

00:39:16Yep, yep, yep, yep.

00:39:17Well, how's your brownie going to look?

00:39:18I'm going to make it look like

00:39:19a little cup of hot cocoa.

00:39:20So I've made a chocolate malted sauce

00:39:22for the top to make it look like

00:39:24a little hot cocoa cup,

00:39:26and I'm going to make a little handle.

00:39:27Got it figured out.

00:39:28Hope that's enough decoration.

00:39:29Sounds like it's going to be pretty good.

00:39:31That was smart.

00:39:32Well, I'm going to be enjoying this, I'm sure.

00:39:34Excellent.

00:39:35All right, Ashley, thank you.

00:39:36See you later.

00:39:37The liver system I have at home is incredible.

00:39:39If I won $25,000 in this competition,

00:39:41I have told my dad that I wanted to take him to Scotland,

00:39:44kind of go back to the motherland of where he's from.

00:39:46My dad is a liver transplant recipient

00:39:49and has not been able to travel a whole lot

00:39:51the last few years ever since he got sick,

00:39:54and he now has the clearance.

00:39:56So I have one more competition,

00:39:58and Scotland is calling our name.

00:40:0445 minutes to go.

00:40:06Everything is sticky.

00:40:11Oh, that's colder than I thought it was going to be.

00:40:13Praise Santa.

00:40:17Just a thin layer.

00:40:18I want it to be sexy and even.

00:40:20I put a ganache on this brownie just because

00:40:22if there's any unevenness with the top of the brownie,

00:40:24it can kind of create a nice level surface,

00:40:27and it's just another texture.

00:40:29I want it to be a little on the soft side,

00:40:31so it kind of adds this, like, gooey aspect.

00:40:37Oh, my God.

00:40:41I try to loosen it around the edge,

00:40:43flip it out of the pan,

00:40:44and it is, like, not coming out.

00:40:47Oh, my God.

00:40:50This could not be worse.

00:40:57As my brownie is breaking apart,

00:40:59I am just, like, seeing myself getting eliminated.

00:41:03Oh, my God.

00:41:04I can't believe this is happening.

00:41:12How many minutes?

00:41:1320 minutes left now.

00:41:14Only three of you are going to move on

00:41:15to the main heat with Chase.

00:41:16Sadly, we're going to be saying goodbye to one of you

00:41:19after this challenge,

00:41:20so come on.

00:41:21Bake your hearts out.

00:41:22We're so close to the end.

00:41:24I can't let this happen.

00:41:25I just go into, like, hyperdrive mode

00:41:28of how do I cover up this mistake as much as I can

00:41:31to still give a presentable dessert to the judges.

00:41:34I'm going to have to cover these sides.

00:41:36I really need to start my decorations.

00:41:41I am making a hot cocoa peppermint rice cereal tree

00:41:45that I'm shaping into a little Christmas tree.

00:41:47To decorate this Christmas tree,

00:41:48I am using a leaf tip,

00:41:51but I just actually cut it out of the piping bag

00:41:53instead of using a metal piping tip.

00:41:55All it is is just a V-shape cut into the plastic bag,

00:41:58and then I make some royal icing

00:42:00just because it'll be faster

00:42:02and I think it will look cleaner and better

00:42:05as the piping of the greenery on the tree.

00:42:07Oh, my poor carpal tunnel.

00:42:09Next, I melt some colored chocolate

00:42:11and quickly pipe some kind of light bulb shapes.

00:42:14I do a variety of colors

00:42:16because I want to really make a colorful Christmas experience.

00:42:19Are these going to stick?

00:42:21Yeah, good enough.

00:42:23Those are done.

00:42:25I'm going to do a little painting moment.

00:42:27I'm going to paint this on.

00:42:28I'm going to paint my dogs.

00:42:29I'm making my icing to decorate my cookies with.

00:42:32I'm going to dye it

00:42:33and then I'm going to use both, like,

00:42:35a little squeeze bottle for some designs,

00:42:36but for the most part,

00:42:37because I'm trying to emulate, like, fur on a dog,

00:42:39I'm going to paint my cookies with my royal icing

00:42:41and I'm thinking it'll look really cute

00:42:43when it's all said and done

00:42:44because I'm leaving myself with enough time to do that.

00:42:46Oh, this is her.

00:42:49Right now, I'm just making what I'm going to attempt

00:42:53to be my chocolate cup

00:42:54that I'm going to put my tiramisu in.

00:42:56I pull out the excess

00:42:57just so there's a very thin layer left

00:42:59and then I put them in the blast freezer to set up.

00:43:02Once they're set up, I take a knife

00:43:04and very delicately cut into the paper of the cup

00:43:07to take out my cup made out of chocolate from within.

00:43:11Got one.

00:43:12Now that my cups have come out cleanly,

00:43:14it's time for me to start assembling this tiramisu.

00:43:16I'm just starting with a layer of Ladyfingo

00:43:19soaked in the hot cocoa

00:43:20and then I'm going to pipe

00:43:21some of my hot chocolate mascarpone cream

00:43:25and then just layer it like that.

00:43:27Okay.

00:43:28Two out of five.

00:43:29On our way.

00:43:30Fifteen minutes left now.

00:43:33Time is crunching.

00:43:36So I get started on my tuile cookie straws for my decor.

00:43:41I then split my batter into two bowls and I color one red and one green

00:43:45because for my straws I want them to have a Christmas stripe to them.

00:43:49I'm flipping it upside down because I want to cut it, but I want it to stay on the hot board as long as I can while I cut it.

00:43:55And then that way I can roll it.

00:43:57All right.

00:43:58I set my cookies aside and start the handles for my coffee cups.

00:44:02All right, bakers, you got ten minutes.

00:44:04So nice.

00:44:06Ten minutes left in this elimination heat.

00:44:09Sadly, one of you will be going home.

00:44:12I'm making buttercream so I can hide my failures.

00:44:17The edges are so rough.

00:44:18I change plans and I make my peppermint buttercream and use that as edging to just kind of conceal the mistakes that I've made.

00:44:27I can't believe I'm putting buttercream on a brownie.

00:44:29Well, we got five minutes left.

00:44:31That's good.

00:44:32Now is the time.

00:44:33I ice the sides and press some peppermint candies into the edge to just hide as much of the rough state of my brownie as possible.

00:44:40Put my tree on there and by some miracle, it is actually not looking too bad.

00:44:47There's a breeze in this village.

00:44:49Can I do a little cocoa paddle dust?

00:44:51I think I will.

00:44:52Ten seconds left.

00:44:55Ah, perfect.

00:44:59Oh, they're so cute.

00:45:02All right.

00:45:04Done.

00:45:05That's it.

00:45:06Whose hot cocoa desserts will get them through.

00:45:09Judges, for the last elimination heat of the season, we're going nice with hot cocoa desserts.

00:45:20Mm.

00:45:21All right, so joining back up with his fellow bakers is, of course, Chase.

00:45:24Who enjoyed a nice little break after this NAS challenge after winning the last preheat.

00:45:29How are we feeling, Chase?

00:45:30I'm feeling pretty good.

00:45:31Not a care in the world.

00:45:33All right, first up is going to be Nico.

00:45:36Hi.

00:45:37Hi.

00:45:38All right, Nico.

00:45:39All right, tell us about this hot cocoa dessert.

00:45:40I've made for you a hot cocoa tiramisu, and this is a 100% love letter to my mom.

00:45:46She's my biggest supporter.

00:45:47She's like my absolute best friend, and tiramisu is her far and beyond favorite dessert.

00:45:52I like this.

00:45:53It's clean, it's tight, and it shows that you want to go to that finale.

00:45:58Yeah.

00:45:59We'll see how it tastes.

00:46:00Oh.

00:46:01Oh.

00:46:02All right, Zach, we'll start with you.

00:46:08I love that you made the ladyfingers.

00:46:11I think the sponge is perfect.

00:46:12It soaks up that cocoa liqueur beautifully.

00:46:16I think there's more chocolate in the ladyfinger than there is in the mousse.

00:46:20Yeah.

00:46:21But what a lovely bite of food.

00:46:22I mean, it's airy and light.

00:46:24And yes, there's a little hot chocolate, but it's a little watered down.

00:46:28I'm not getting a lot of hot cocoa.

00:46:30When I taste it separately, yes, but as one bite, mainly coffee.

00:46:34All right, Nico.

00:46:35Thank you, guys.

00:46:37All right, Charles.

00:46:42So I made a peppermint hot chocolate brownie with a gooey hot chocolate ganache on top.

00:46:48And I wanted to pay homage to the first time I had peppermint hot chocolate at a tree lighting ceremony.

00:46:54Your choice of piping on the tree is fantastic.

00:46:57It reminds me of those ceramic trees that have the little mini lights that I always wanted growing up.

00:47:02I never got that tree, so I just, I'm like obsessed with it.

00:47:10Peppermint hot cocoa, for sure.

00:47:12I love the flavor of it, but there's a little issue in the structure.

00:47:17I'm getting mainly ganache and about a half an inch or a quarter inch of brownie.

00:47:23So I don't know what happened.

00:47:26This is definitely the worst case scenario in this challenge because there's so much riding on this last bake before the real finale.

00:47:35How about you, Nancy?

00:47:36I don't know.

00:47:37I got all brownie, so I'm happy.

00:47:40This is a hot cocoa brownie with peppermint.

00:47:43Charles, thanks.

00:47:44Thanks, you judges.

00:47:45Good job, buddy.

00:47:54Hi, judges.

00:47:55Ashley, great to see you.

00:47:56Good to see you as well.

00:47:57Okay, so tell us about your hot cocoa dessert.

00:47:58My hot cocoa dessert is a toffee brownie with a malted chocolate sauce on the inside.

00:48:04And it has a hot cocoa, homemade marshmallow, whipped cream, and a tuile straw.

00:48:09The swirl that you got on the straw, the marshmallow, boink, boink, is perfect.

00:48:14Take a picture of this.

00:48:15This is a calendar.

00:48:16It tasted like a cup of hot chocolate.

00:48:20I like that the crunch is on the outside and your brownie is nice and soft on the inside.

00:48:26But the outside of your mug is a little too hard for me.

00:48:31It's a little hard to cut into, but the flavors are outstanding.

00:48:34All right, nice work, Ashley.

00:48:37Thank you, Ashley.

00:48:38Okay, Tarek, a hot cocoa dessert.

00:48:43What did you decide to make?

00:48:44Being here, I just missed my grandpa's 80th birthday.

00:48:47And so I really wanted to dedicate a dish to him.

00:48:50So I decided to really emulate that hot chocolate flavor, like the one I had growing up.

00:48:55And I made a pot de creme with a graham cracker shortbread cookie and a torched meringue.

00:49:00I absolutely love your dog and the dog's hat.

00:49:04I think he's well done, well created.

00:49:08Cookie is fantastic.

00:49:09It is buttery, it is crumbly and sandy, and it's really, really good.

00:49:14Maybe a little too much of the royal icing.

00:49:16I think because it was served in a dish, you're headed for that pudding concept.

00:49:21I might have used a cup.

00:49:23The texture of your pot de creme is superb.

00:49:27You know, it just kind of like wilts off of the spoon.

00:49:31I'm wondering about the hot chocolate of it all.

00:49:34And I feel like had you done peppermint in that meringue, that would have brought me more into a hot chocolate space.

00:49:41Okay.

00:49:42All right, Tarek.

00:49:44Thank you, Tarek.

00:49:48Bakers, I gotta say, you did not make this easy on our judges.

00:49:52No, you did not.

00:49:54Your hot cocoa desserts warmed our hearts, but one was more memorable than the rest.

00:49:59And it really said hot cocoa and delivered on decor.

00:50:03And it came from Ashley.

00:50:07Good job, Ash.

00:50:08Great job, Ashley.

00:50:10You are going to the main heat with an advantage in your pocket.

00:50:14And Charles, guess what?

00:50:16What?

00:50:19Your peppermint browning was also good enough to move you on to the main heat.

00:50:24You'll both see Chase there.

00:50:26That, of course, leaves Tarek and Nico.

00:50:29Please step forward, you two.

00:50:32I could still be going home.

00:50:33And it's between me and one other person that I'm really good friends with.

00:50:37This is a lose-lose situation.

00:50:42Only one of us can make it to this final challenge.

00:50:44It's heartbreaking.

00:50:45Because almost as much as I want to be there, I want him to be there, too.

00:50:49But I came here to win.

00:50:52Nico, we struggled to get hot cocoa flavor from your dessert.

00:50:59Tarek, your pot de creme was simple and, frankly, a little underwhelming for such an important challenge.

00:51:07You are both such talented bakers, and I hope you know that.

00:51:13Look how far you've made it.

00:51:15And might I add, two of the youngest bakers we had this entire season.

00:51:20This is the hardest goodbye.

00:51:23We are genuinely going to miss you.

00:51:25Unfortunately, the baker leaving the Holiday Village right now is...

00:51:30Unfortunately, the baker leaving the Holiday Village right now, just short of the chance to compete for the cash, is...

00:51:45Nico.

00:51:47Nico, I'm so sorry.

00:51:51You made such wonderful desserts.

00:51:56You made this experience so much fun for us.

00:51:59Yes.

00:52:00You absolutely should hold your head high leaving the kitchen.

00:52:03Take as much time as you'd like.

00:52:05You can say your goodbyes, and when you're ready, you can exit.

00:52:10You guys show?

00:52:11You can change your mind.

00:52:13Nico!

00:52:14I'm not busy.

00:52:15I don't know what to be.

00:52:16I can hang out.

00:52:17It could be a final five.

00:52:19I would have loved to have been in that final bake and had a shot for the end.

00:52:23But I just feel really great about what I did, what I presented in this last challenge.

00:52:28Woo!

00:52:29I'm waiting for a call back for Holiday Baking Championship All-Stars.

00:52:32I'm going to just keep being me, keep having fun.

00:52:35That's how to live life.

00:52:36Yeah.

00:52:37Au revoir.

00:52:38All right.

00:52:39Thank you, judges.

00:52:40We'll see you at the main heat tasting.

00:52:41Okay.

00:52:46All right.

00:52:47You guys have been through a lot.

00:52:50All right.

00:52:51Great.

00:52:52All righty, then.

00:52:53Guys, just grab a coffee.

00:52:54Just take a second.

00:52:55Oh, thank you.

00:52:56Just let it sink in.

00:52:57Cheers.

00:52:58Cheers.

00:52:59Final four, baby.

00:53:00Final four.

00:53:01There is just one more challenge standing between one of you and $25,000.

00:53:07Oh, my gosh.

00:53:08And here's what it is.

00:53:09All season long, you've been naughty and you've been nice.

00:53:12And now it's the challenge you've been waiting for.

00:53:14It's really time to bring it all together into one large-scale, over-the-top naughty versus

00:53:20nice multi-tier cake.

00:53:23Oh, my gosh.

00:53:24Okay.

00:53:25Do it.

00:53:26Okay.

00:53:27Oh, my God.

00:53:28Okay.

00:53:29I'm excited.

00:53:30Best of both worlds.

00:53:31All right.

00:53:32Big themes are Scrooge versus Santa, Cole versus Holiday Gifts, Naughty Reindeer versus

00:53:40Nice Reindeer, and Naughty Nutcracker versus Sugar Plum Fairy.

00:53:44Wow.

00:53:45Okay.

00:53:46Those are all fun.

00:53:47I know.

00:53:48Now, whatever theme you receive, the judges really want to see both images clearly represented

00:53:53in your decorating.

00:53:54They're also looking for a moist cake with wow flavors and a big visual impact.

00:53:59Oh, and Ashley, as the winner of the Hot Hot Heat, you get to assign themes for everybody,

00:54:04so why don't you come on up here?

00:54:05Okay.

00:54:06Take a look at that beautiful board, and first off, why don't you pick your own theme?

00:54:10I'm going to go Naughty Nutcracker and Sugar Plum Fairy.

00:54:13Wow.

00:54:14How come?

00:54:15Wow.

00:54:16I wanted that one too.

00:54:17Because it's glittery for the Sugar Plum Fairy, and nutcrackers are kind of sacred to our

00:54:22family.

00:54:23Like, my aunt collects them.

00:54:25All right.

00:54:26You got your theme.

00:54:27Now, let's start giving some themes away.

00:54:29Scrooge versus Santa for Chase.

00:54:32Ooh.

00:54:33That's exciting.

00:54:34I'm going to go coal and holiday gifts for Charles.

00:54:38Okay.

00:54:39Because he kind of held us for that coal challenge with his lovely rock, and I want

00:54:44to see what he can do again.

00:54:46Oh, thank you so much.

00:54:47And then we're going Naughty Reindeer versus Nice Reindeer for Tarek, because I feel like

00:54:54with that dog cookie that you just made, you're going to kill a reindeer challenge.

00:54:58Aw.

00:54:59That's really sweet.

00:55:00Here we go, bakers, for all the sugar.

00:55:03Remember, nothing here is cumulative.

00:55:06It all comes down to this bake.

00:55:08You have five hours.

00:55:09Wow.

00:55:10To complete your Naughty versus Nice Cake.

00:55:13In hopes of being crowned the holiday baking champion.

00:55:17And your baking time starts now.

00:55:21Okay.

00:55:22It's too hot.

00:55:23All right.

00:55:24Whoa.

00:55:25I'm going to grab ingredients.

00:55:26Where is it?

00:55:27I can't find it.

00:55:28I need this pot.

00:55:29Seems like a good place to start.

00:55:30We have five hours to make a multi-tiered cake with a Naughty and Nice theme.

00:55:43And while it sounds like a lot of time, it's really just not enough time to make a perfect

00:55:48multi-tiered cake, because you have to make a lot of cake.

00:55:51You have to make a lot of frosting, a lot of your fillings.

00:55:53You have to really do a lot for your decorations.

00:55:55And since we only have five hours, you have to work at a very fast pace in order to get

00:55:59it all done.

00:56:00I can't believe there were 12 people that shared over this stuff.

00:56:02That's kind of insane.

00:56:03I've made plenty of multi-tiered cakes before.

00:56:05I even made a three-tiered cake in a college kitchen.

00:56:08This is the last bake we have, and I'm ready to, like, make this my best one yet.

00:56:12I was assigned the theme Naughty Reindeer versus Nice Reindeer.

00:56:15I'm kind of excited about it.

00:56:16I think there's a lot of creativity I can bring into it.

00:56:19So I'm going to make a chocolate cake with cherry and raspberry spiced compote, a mascarpone

00:56:25cream, some, like, pretzel, almond, fouillotine, chocolate crunch, a Swiss meringue buttercream.

00:56:31Awesome.

00:56:32Cake's in.

00:56:33To show Nice Reindeer, I'm going to use one tier of my cake and kind of do, like, a bunch

00:56:38of reindeer pulling a sleigh and, like, a very, like, festive, very classic holiday design.

00:56:43And then for the Naughty Reindeer, I'm going to pull some inspiration from my college experience

00:56:48and have a bunch of reindeer basically, like, having a frat party.

00:56:52Just go as naughty as I can because I feel like nobody else in this room can get away with doing something like that.

00:56:58And I feel like it feels very, like, me.

00:57:00Holy cow.

00:57:01Hello.

00:57:02Look who it is and look where we are.

00:57:04We did it.

00:57:06You, no, no.

00:57:07You did it.

00:57:08You now are officially the youngest baker to ever make it to the final bake.

00:57:13That's sick.

00:57:14Oh, my God.

00:57:15Look, you've made history.

00:57:16At least I did something.

00:57:1825.

00:57:1925K.

00:57:20Big ones.

00:57:21I think this cake could be a $25,000 cake.

00:57:23Really?

00:57:24I think so.

00:57:25I think it'll taste that way.

00:57:26This is going to be great.

00:57:27Thanks, Jesse.

00:57:28Cheers.

00:57:30Cart with a little evil elf.

00:57:33My theme is cold versus holiday gifts.

00:57:35So I get to incorporate both those into my tiered cake.

00:57:39I am making a maple pecan cake.

00:57:41So there's a brown butter pecan cake.

00:57:43I'm making a maple caramel.

00:57:45I'm making some spicy candied pecans to kind of do that sweet and spicy for the naughty and nice.

00:57:50And then a pecan praline.

00:57:52To make my spicy candied pecans, I grind down some whole pecans to kind of, like, crumble pieces.

00:57:58I cook it in a spicy simple syrup.

00:58:00So it's just water, sugar, cayenne pepper, and a whole jalapeno sliced in half to really infuse the spice into the nuts.

00:58:09Hopefully it gives them that salty, sweet, spicy, complex flavor that will impress the judges.

00:58:16For my decoration, I'm going to do the cake kind of split down the middle vertically instead of doing different tiers.

00:58:21One half is going to be a coal mine, and then the other side is going to be this mountain of gifts and kind of North Pole holiday village.

00:58:29I want to do a third tier, which is a whole other tier above the required two layers.

00:58:34One, because I like the height. I like the look of a three-tier cake.

00:58:38Hopefully that impact of a taller, kind of more statuesque cake can really set me above the other bakers.

00:58:44I need to toast it.

00:58:46I choose to do maple pecan because it was one of my favorite bonbons I made as a chocolatier in New York.

00:58:53And this was kind of a staple flavor at Per Se.

00:58:56Working at Per Se in New York City was a very formative part of my career.

00:59:00I am a perfectionist, and I hold myself to a very high standard.

00:59:03So it was very mentally challenging and physically demanding.

00:59:07And I've had to work on those holidays, so I haven't spent the actual days with my family.

00:59:12I would use that $25,000 to say thank you to my family and go on a trip.

00:59:19And I want to win this competition to prove that hard work and effort in this industry pays off.

00:59:27Baking 12 cakes is no joke.

00:59:29Literally.

00:59:30Well, overachiever making a three-tier.

00:59:33Yeah, I mean, you did it to yourself, you know.

00:59:35Yeah.

00:59:36I need more space for my decoration.

00:59:38Two is just holding me back.

00:59:40Two is holding me back.

00:59:41We'll see if I regret that decision.

00:59:44Ooh, girl.

00:59:51Perfect.

00:59:52I got the advantage in this last round.

00:59:55The advantage was I got to choose my theme for my multi-tiered cake, and then got to assign everybody else their theme.

01:00:01I wanted to choose the girliest of all of them and do Sugar Plum Fairies.

01:00:05I didn't really mind the nutcracker, but that actually plays into the family because my aunt collects nutcrackers.

01:00:11That's good going on some cannoli smelling.

01:00:14I am doing a chocolate cannoli cake with a chocolate mousse center with a cannoli crunch and pistachios.

01:00:21So I'm hoping that it screams family and Christmas because we used to wait in line for cannolis at a bakery when I was a kid.

01:00:29And cannoli just speaks to me.

01:00:31So next I get started on my cannoli filling, and this contains ricotta, mascarpone, and the secret ingredient is goat cheese.

01:00:39Because I like things to be a little bit more sour than sweet.

01:00:43So it's going to be a little bit tangy, so kind of on that naughty side.

01:00:47For my cake, I am doing a square bottom that looks like a Christmas present.

01:00:51And I'm going to do two nutcrackers, and then I'm going to make some beautiful glittery sugar plums,

01:00:56and then at the top do this big Christmas tree and just really scream Christmas.

01:01:00I spent a lot of my childhood being told I wasn't enough in a lot of different ways.

01:01:06And that kind of broke me down a little bit.

01:01:10Now I am the executive pastry chef at the world headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys,

01:01:15and we do a lot of public events, and we also feed the players and the coaches and headquarters.

01:01:20And, you know, I have been able to persevere through a lot.

01:01:23And I'm here to prove that the eight-year-old little girl that was quiet and not confident in herself

01:01:30has been able to persevere through a lot and go through all of the trials and tribulations,

01:01:35and that she was meant to be here.

01:01:37Perfect golden brown, just what I wanted.

01:01:41I'm in full-on panning.

01:01:44Oh, no.

01:01:45So I make my pastry cream, and I am adding just a little bit of cinnamon,

01:01:49and a lot of nutmeg.

01:01:50I am adding some dark rum.

01:01:52What's eggnog without just a little bit of booze?

01:01:55Hello.

01:01:56Hello, how are you?

01:01:57You made it.

01:01:58You're back baking again.

01:01:59And yeah, for my cake I got Scrooge versus Santa.

01:02:02Which I love for you.

01:02:03I do too.

01:02:04It's really funny.

01:02:05My boyfriend played Scrooge in a modern rap, Christmas Carol.

01:02:09So yeah, it was hilarious.

01:02:10I chose a spice cake.

01:02:12And then I'm doing a spiked eggnog pastry cream, praline in there as well.

01:02:17That'll be nice and salty.

01:02:18I am going to do the bottom half is going to be Scrooge.

01:02:21Okay.

01:02:22The top half is going to be Santa.

01:02:23His beard's overflowing.

01:02:25Scrooge is in his pajamas.

01:02:26He's going to have chains all around him.

01:02:28Kind of giving like Ghost of Christmas past a little bit.

01:02:31Yeah, yeah.

01:02:32This has been a crazy journey.

01:02:33Yeah.

01:02:34What have you learned about yourself?

01:02:35I'm just walking away from this, no matter what happens,

01:02:37with a ton of new friends, with a lot more confidence in myself,

01:02:41with this spark in me again, that I can do anything that I put my mind to.

01:02:45I can dream.

01:02:46Okay.

01:02:47Whew.

01:02:48Yeah, I'm not going to cry.

01:02:49When I was 24, I had a really successful bakery and it burnt me out.

01:02:54And now I'm in this competition and throughout my time in the Holiday Village,

01:02:57I feel like I've reignited my spark.

01:03:00I really want to win this money because I want to put it towards another bakery or a bed and breakfast,

01:03:05but I really want to just do it right this time.

01:03:07Mm-hmm.

01:03:08Okay.

01:03:09There's only one thing left to do.

01:03:10Holiday Baking Championship yoga pose.

01:03:12Oh.

01:03:13Let's do warrior two.

01:03:14How about a warrior?

01:03:15Warrior two, yeah.

01:03:16That's what we want.

01:03:17Chest is turned to the side, but your gaze is forward towards your hand.

01:03:20Awesome.

01:03:21Oh, yeah.

01:03:22Strong warrior, baby.

01:03:23Strong warrior.

01:03:24Rich warrior, I call that.

01:03:25Rich warrior, hopefully.

01:03:26Give me $2,000 in my bank account, warrior.

01:03:27Give me that money, warrior.

01:03:29Awesome, man.

01:03:30Thanks, man.

01:03:31Good luck, brother.

01:03:33Three hours to go.

01:03:34It's your last chance to impress the judges and walk out of here and champion.

01:03:38Oh.

01:03:39Oh.

01:03:40What did this oven do?

01:03:42All right.

01:03:43Those are burnt.

01:03:44I burnt my pecans that I'm turning into praline and I don't want to serve bitter nuts to the judges.

01:03:49I can't stack my cake until I get this praline made and cooled.

01:03:53I have a lot of things to make and this is a helping.

01:03:56A single mistake could cost me this competition, so I need to make sure it's perfect.

01:03:59Sorry, that's expensive pecans.

01:04:01I apologize.

01:04:02Take two.

01:04:03Two and a half hours left.

01:04:05You are making naughty versus nice cakes.

01:04:08It's time to lay it all on the line.

01:04:10Okay, filling's done.

01:04:12I'm on a roll.

01:04:13So far, so good.

01:04:15All right, to build my cakes, I'm going to start with my cherry and raspberry cake soak.

01:04:20This will keep it moist, add some nice, like, flavor.

01:04:23Then I'm going to pipe my border.

01:04:25A border's important because it helps prevent fillings from, like, going out.

01:04:29And since I have so many of them, I don't want to, like, risk my cakes collapsing at all.

01:04:34Then I'm going to put some of my crunch layer.

01:04:37Then I'm going to do some of my cherry and raspberry compote.

01:04:42Then I'll do my moxcarpone with, kind of use it to, like, glue everything in.

01:04:48And that's, like, the filling.

01:04:49So I'm going to do my same, just kind of keep doing that.

01:04:52But, yeah, this is looking so good.

01:04:54Nice.

01:04:57This main heat is designed for everyone to really play up to their strengths.

01:05:00And everyone's very good at what they do when they do what they know.

01:05:04I've already beaten all of them before.

01:05:06So, like, I kind of, like, checked that box, but I just need to do it again.

01:05:10And I'll win.

01:05:11If I won, I feel like I should give back to my parents because they're my biggest supporters.

01:05:14They've supported literally anything I put my mind to.

01:05:17And I can't think of a better use of $25,000.

01:05:21When I was nine years old, like, I had no idea how to do this.

01:05:24If I can, if I, like, told myself that I knew how to, like, make cakes just like this casually, crazy.

01:05:29Never would have believed you.

01:05:31Okay.

01:05:32You assemble these cakes.

01:05:34My biggest competition right now, I think Charles will be my biggest competition.

01:05:38Ooh.

01:05:39That was gutsy.

01:05:42He and I have done plenty of wedding cakes in our lifetime.

01:05:45Charles is very much an equal to me as well.

01:05:48He has been second for a lot of these competitions.

01:05:51And whether it be against me or someone else, I think my goal every week is just to beat out Charles.

01:05:57Moment of truth.

01:05:58Ashley, I was surprised myself with the speed with which I decorated my cakes.

01:06:05Amazing.

01:06:06I'm so proud of you.

01:06:08I mean, making cakes is really fun, but am I that great at it?

01:06:14Oh, I don't know.

01:06:15Stir my nuts again.

01:06:17I think they're done.

01:06:18Finally, I get my nuts toasted to perfection.

01:06:21I make my praline.

01:06:22It's cooled.

01:06:23It tastes delicious.

01:06:24I'm very stressed.

01:06:25I wanted to have a full two hours to decorate, but I am building cakes.

01:06:30But these were at that point.

01:06:32Oh, Charles is just now frosting his cake.

01:06:36Homeboy.

01:06:37What's going on?

01:06:39You need to start decorating unless you can decorate like the Dickens.

01:06:43Talk about crumb coat.

01:06:44The acres, you got 90 minutes.

01:06:47Charles, have you started decorating yet?

01:06:49Uh, right now.

01:06:50Kind of got to get going.

01:06:52I got a whole hour and a half.

01:06:53Okay.

01:06:54Let us see what I have done.

01:06:56Oh, those are beautiful.

01:06:58Look how golden they are.

01:07:00I'm trying to leave myself with a lot of time so I can really focus on my decoration because

01:07:04I really want the theme to come across in the way I have it in mind.

01:07:07To make my nice and naughty deer, I'm going to decorate them with royal icing.

01:07:12So for the nice reindeer, I paint like a very cutesy like little face on it.

01:07:17But for the naughty reindeer, I go a little more cheeky and I have like their neck bent

01:07:20down and then I have like a little mischievous face on it and the naughty reindeer are going

01:07:25to be drinking out of little plastic cups.

01:07:27Delta Alpha Slema.

01:07:28It doesn't matter.

01:07:29It's giving frat.

01:07:30It works.

01:07:31Foundations are there.

01:07:32Foundations there.

01:07:33It's a very fat reindeer, but I don't care.

01:07:36He's got a beer belly.

01:07:38Pink and purple.

01:07:39This is coating chocolate.

01:07:41I'm going to make all of my little figurines for my cake out of coating chocolate and

01:07:46different variants of sprinkles.

01:07:48I originally had gum paste and all the things in mind, but building and baking and all the

01:07:53stuff of a cake in five hours happens a lot faster than you think.

01:07:58Using different colored coating chocolate and different textures of sprinkles, I make nutcrackers.

01:08:03And then for my sugar plum decorations, all I wanted to do was some candy theme and some glittery snowflakes and some sugar plums here and there, as well as a pastel tree as a little bit of a topper to add extra height to my cake.

01:08:18Doing some extra chocolate deco for my naughty side.

01:08:21It's fine.

01:08:22It's fine.

01:08:23We're going to figure it out.

01:08:24I need to make some chains.

01:08:25I need to make some coins and I need to make my bah humbug.

01:08:28To make Santa's face, I am going to add some ivory food coloring to white fondant and cut out about a half circle just to frame his face so I can then work on his beard.

01:08:40For Scrooge, I am thinking v-neck pajamas and I am piping on his crossover button-up collar.

01:08:48I am drawing on some chest hairs.

01:08:51I don't normally do faces so this has got to be simple and it's a big deal for me.

01:08:56Scrooge has got to look like Scrooge.

01:08:5830 minutes to go, bakers.

01:09:00Less than an hour and I don't have a single decoration on my cake.

01:09:03I am stressed.

01:09:05Jesse is calling out times and the clock just keeps ticking down.

01:09:09Freaking out.

01:09:10I am definitely feeling the pressure.

01:09:12I am minutes behind everyone else.

01:09:14I need to get something on this cake or it's going to be disastrous.

01:09:17Moving fast.

01:09:18Oh, Charles is running.

01:09:20I've never seen Charles jog.

01:09:22Rude.

01:09:23I roll out some white gum paste to punch out some snowflakes that I am going to use as the kind of transition border between the cull and presents.

01:09:31I use different colored chocolates to put into a square silicone mold and let that set so I can pop them out.

01:09:38And that will be some of my 3D presents.

01:09:40Then I roll out some marbled white and black fondant to make the entrance of my coal mine.

01:09:46My final minutes, I'm trying to just get as much as I can on there, give some final details to really tie it together.

01:09:52All right, bakers.

01:09:53Ten minutes left.

01:09:54Oh, my gosh.

01:09:55Whoa.

01:09:56Sorry.

01:09:57That was crazy.

01:09:59This is crazy.

01:10:02How are you doing, Tar?

01:10:04Good.

01:10:05I just need to get, like, final touches on, stuff like that.

01:10:07In these final minutes, I'm trying to bring the greed to Scrooge.

01:10:10Who's going home with $25,000 today?

01:10:13Me.

01:10:14Me.

01:10:15Nobody else answered, so it's between me and Ashley.

01:10:18I'm freaking out.

01:10:20Final touches.

01:10:21Here we go.

01:10:22Ten seconds.

01:10:33That's it.

01:10:34Now it's all up to the judges.

01:10:36Whoo!

01:10:37Good job, everybody.

01:10:39My hands are hella sticky.

01:10:42Good job.

01:10:43We did it.

01:10:44We're done.

01:10:50Hey, Zach, thank you for coming in on short notice and being such an outstanding and phenomenal

01:10:55judge on the biggest, most important day.

01:10:57Yes.

01:10:59I mean, anything for my ladies.

01:11:02Aw, thanks, Zach.

01:11:04Judges, naughty versus nice cakes for everything.

01:11:08Chase, welcome back.

01:11:10Okay, so which theme were you assigned?

01:11:12I was assigned Scrooge versus Santa.

01:11:15So I made a spice cake with eggnog custard and almond praline and an orange buttercream.

01:11:21To decorate Scrooge, I represented the bah humbug and the ho-ho-ho contrast of Santa and Scrooge,

01:11:27and I gave him his chains, decorated with coins and money signs to represent him.

01:11:32And then in contrast, Santa is a jolly little face in his beard and his hat.

01:11:37He's brighter, bolder in color.

01:11:39I just want to know if the little V in the neckline is hair on his chest.

01:11:44Yes.

01:11:45Yeah, that's his hair.

01:11:47Kudos to the humor, to your workmanship.

01:11:50I get bah humbug, obviously, which is naughty.

01:11:55And then you have this wonderful Santa whose eyes have such personality that's nice.

01:12:02Santa does seem to be leaning forward, probably from the hefty weight of his beard.

01:12:07So there's a little leveling issue on the top cake.

01:12:10All right, it's the moment of truth.

01:12:12Whenever you're ready, Chase, thank you.

01:12:14Ooh.

01:12:15Thank you so much, Chase.

01:12:22Oh, wow.

01:12:25Zach.

01:12:26This is absolutely delicious.

01:12:28The spice cake, it's warm.

01:12:30It has that perfect moisture content that's somewhere between a cake and a muffin.

01:12:35The eggnog pastry cream you have in here?

01:12:38Wow.

01:12:39So many spices.

01:12:40And it's so luscious and velvety and just has a really great mouthfeel.

01:12:45You really get every flavor, every spice.

01:12:49I would have liked just a tad bit of brandy or rum or bourbon with the nutmeg.

01:12:56Well, Chase, really memorable work.

01:12:58Certainly is no exception.

01:13:00All right, Chase, thank you so much.

01:13:01Thank you, Chase.

01:13:02It's been so much fun.

01:13:03Thanks, Chase.

01:13:04Bye.

01:13:05Oh, my goodness.

01:13:06Great bite of food.

01:13:08Hello, judges.

01:13:09Hi, Charles.

01:13:10All right, Charles, what naughty versus nice theme were you assigned?

01:13:12I had Cole versus holiday gifts.

01:13:14I've made a maple pecan cake for you, a pecan sponge, a maple caramel, some spicy candied

01:13:22pecan, and a pecan praline.

01:13:24I just kind of went half and half down vertically to do it a little different.

01:13:28And I wanted the height of three tiers.

01:13:30So I did kind of the coal mine where the naughty coal gets made.

01:13:34And then I have the gifts on the nice side.

01:13:37I love what you did.

01:13:38Your tiers are flawless.

01:13:40So clean.

01:13:41Laser level.

01:13:42And I think because everything is so clean, including the presents, the ribbons end up

01:13:48looking sloppy because they're not as precise as those presents.

01:13:53I think you've done a good job with showing us the theme.

01:13:56There's a coal side.

01:13:57There's a holiday gifts.

01:13:58We see that.

01:13:59But I think you could have gotten a little bit more grungier on the coal side.

01:14:02I think it's time to dive in to this mine.

01:14:07Ooh.

01:14:08Ooh.

01:14:12Well, that's where you got naughty.

01:14:19It's like breakfast and a cake.

01:14:22There's so much maple everywhere.

01:14:24I think this is the best flavor combination you have given us this entire season.

01:14:27In the words of my dear friend, Carla Hall.

01:14:30Dude.

01:14:35What?

01:14:36It's soft and supple, but it still has the heartiness and chew of the nut.

01:14:40It's a really great balancing act.

01:14:43The pecans are so crisp and toasted with just the right amount of sugar.

01:14:48so you get that wonderful crunch.

01:14:50All right, Charles.

01:14:51Great work, man.

01:14:53Thank you, Charles.

01:14:54Thank you, Charles.

01:14:56Bye.

01:15:01My God, that was good.

01:15:05Hi, Judges.

01:15:06Hi, Ash.

01:15:07Jesse.

01:15:08Good to see you, Ashley.

01:15:09Hi, Jesse.

01:15:10What did you pick?

01:15:11So I chose Naughty Nutcracker and Sugar Plum Fairies.

01:15:15I have some nutcrackers and tangled lights and broken Christmas presents, and that's the

01:15:20Naughty theme of the nutcracker.

01:15:22And then the sweet side being the Sugar Plum Fairies.

01:15:26The flavor of this cake is a chocolate cannoli cake.

01:15:29There's a cannoli filling that has candied pistachios, orange zest, and the secret ingredient

01:15:35is goat cheese.

01:15:36This is spectacular.

01:15:38I see the Naughty in the nutcracker's face.

01:15:40Like, they look really mischievous and, like, they're doing things they shouldn't be doing.

01:15:45I love the Christmas tree up top, all of your little decor, and it does read Sugar Plum Fairy.

01:15:51And it does read Nutcracker at the bottom.

01:15:53I think you've met the challenge as far as the visual aspect of it.

01:15:58Your buttercream is delicious, just the right amount of sugar.

01:16:02The cake is moist, it's tender, and your chocolate cake isn't too sweet.

01:16:07It was really an enjoyable bite.

01:16:09I love goat cheese in desserts.

01:16:12This is, like, so smooth, appropriately tangy.

01:16:16It's, like, cream cheese elevated.

01:16:19The pistachio goes really well with it.

01:16:21I do get cannoli.

01:16:22I didn't get any of the flea team, though.

01:16:25I don't think I got any in my slice.

01:16:27Okay.

01:16:28And goat cheese is a new twist for me, but I think I'm gonna start filling my cannolis

01:16:31with goat cheese now.

01:16:33It's been a pleasure.

01:16:34Thank you, guys.

01:16:35Appreciate you all.

01:16:36As always, Ashley, great work.

01:16:37Thank you so much.

01:16:40It was absolutely divine to me.

01:16:43I loved it.

01:16:44I am gonna eat some more.

01:16:46Tarek, welcome back.

01:16:48Hello.

01:16:49Hi, Tarek.

01:16:50Okay, so which naughty versus nice theme were you assigned?

01:16:52I was assigned naughty reindeer versus nice reindeer.

01:16:55For the naughty theme, I decided to embrace my, like, college roots since I just got done

01:17:00with my first year at Yale and decided to have a bunch of reindeer at a little frat party.

01:17:05So some of them are, like, drinking out of little red plastic cups.

01:17:09There's, like, the frat stable as opposed to, like, a frat house.

01:17:12And then there's, like, a passed out reindeer on top from having a little too much eggnog.

01:17:16And then for the nice side, I had a bunch of reindeer all reined up ready to go help,

01:17:21like, deliver presents for Santa.

01:17:23So it's a chocolate cake with a spiced raspberry and cherry filling,

01:17:27a chocolate almond butter and pretzel crunch, a mascarpone cream,

01:17:31a Swiss meringue buttercream, and a shortbread cookie.

01:17:34I think it's hysterical.

01:17:35I got the story right away.

01:17:37I think your, uh, overindulged reindeer is really funny and really cute.

01:17:43I love your stars.

01:17:44I love your dark sky.

01:17:46And I get naughty and nice.

01:17:48All right, let's give it a try, Tarek.

01:17:50All right.

01:17:51Oh, nice.

01:17:52Oh, wow.

01:17:57Cartier.

01:17:58Yeah, your chocolate cake is moist.

01:18:00It is spot on.

01:18:02Your sponge is just absolutely beautiful.

01:18:04My only problem is I am not the biggest fan of eating whole berries,

01:18:10especially, like, a raspberry that's sort of a little tart.

01:18:13And I'm chewing that and I'm chewing the seeds.

01:18:16So it wasn't as pleasurable for me.

01:18:18But all in all, good bite in that cookie.

01:18:20You know your way around a cookie.

01:18:22I think you could have extracted the raspberry.

01:18:24I don't think it's necessary.

01:18:25And I think if you could have edited to be just cherry pretzel crunch and cake.

01:18:29Boom, boom, boom.

01:18:30Okay.

01:18:31Done.

01:18:32Your pretzel almond crunch is delicious and really adds a lot to the cake because the buttercream is soft.

01:18:39The cake is soft.

01:18:40But a nice bite of food.

01:18:42I'm pleased that you've done so well.

01:18:46You're welcome.

01:18:47Tarek, great stuff all the way around.

01:18:48Way to go.

01:18:50Thank you, Tarek.

01:18:51Keep up that sense of humor, please.

01:18:53I will try.

01:18:54And don't be drinking too much.

01:18:55I don't drink.

01:19:01Neither do I.

01:19:06All right, well judges, it's finally that time for our beloved holiday village to name a new holiday baking champion.

01:19:13It's so exciting.

01:19:15It is exciting.

01:19:16And it's also easily the biggest decision of the season.

01:19:19Yeah.

01:19:20Let's check our list twice, just like Santa does.

01:19:22Yeah.

01:19:23Let's talk about these cakes you just saw.

01:19:24Yeah, I think Chase, out of the gate, did an exceptional job.

01:19:28I think Chase also kept it clean, didn't overdo it.

01:19:32Yes.

01:19:33I thought also really showed the naughty versus nice.

01:19:36Yes, it did.

01:19:37The sponge was beautiful.

01:19:39And the eggnog pastry cream.

01:19:41Ooh.

01:19:42It was a delicious cake.

01:19:45But the structure.

01:19:46Santa was a little askew.

01:19:48I kind of feel that Ashley played it a little too safe.

01:19:51We just had chocolate cake.

01:19:53The chocolate cake was just the foundation for that goat cheese cream.

01:19:59It was so good.

01:20:00She's really great at cake decorating.

01:20:03But I think she spends so much time with every minute detail that she did not get to the back of that cake,

01:20:10which for me was her biggest mistake.

01:20:12I'll say, Charles, in terms of decorating, I think it was the hardest theme.

01:20:17And I really loved the split cake of the coal and the presents.

01:20:20And I think Charles' downfall is his perfectionism.

01:20:24Yes.

01:20:25You could see every little flaw.

01:20:27Those ribbons just screamed.

01:20:30You all hated those ribbons.

01:20:31Just screamed.

01:20:32Because everything else was so perfect.

01:20:34Mm-hmm.

01:20:35And for Charles, his focus was the taste of the cake.

01:20:39So he had to sacrifice those ribbons for us to thoroughly enjoy the inside of that cake.

01:20:47Well, I'm glad he did.

01:20:48That pecan cake, the nuttiness, the kind of sturdiness of it, getting soaked in that maple syrup and then the spicy, crunchy pecan.

01:20:57Oh.

01:20:58Okay.

01:20:59I loved Tarek's Nutty vs. Nice Reindeer.

01:21:03I loved that reindeer that was sleeping it off.

01:21:06I just, I think Tarek really, you know, wanted to show everything he could do.

01:21:10I thought his dark sky.

01:21:12I thought he did a great job with the second tier.

01:21:14No doubt in my mind he knows flavor.

01:21:16He's extremely talented.

01:21:18Okay, so judges, this is your final big decision you have to make, but it's also obviously the most important one.

01:21:23Mm-hmm.

01:21:24Which of these cakes do you think was worthy of earning that baker $25,000 and the title of Holiday Baking Champion?

01:21:31Do you feel like you know?

01:21:33I do.

01:21:35Yeah?

01:21:36Yes.

01:21:37Yes.

01:21:39Bakers, what a holiday season it's been.

01:21:43So just take a moment and let it sink in.

01:21:48You've persevered through a gauntlet of naughty and nice mischief, and the whole time you've been baking against each other relentlessly and joyfully to get to this exact moment.

01:21:57But now, everything comes down to this one final bake.

01:22:02Chase, your eggnog filling was luscious and the sponge was tender and filled with spice.

01:22:09Ashley, you had the audacity to put goat cheese filling in your chocolate cannoli cake, and we absolutely could not get enough of it.

01:22:19Charles, you brought spice pecan and maple together in a delicious bite.

01:22:28And Tarek, your chocolate sponge was tender and tasty with a satisfying pretzel crunch.

01:22:35You baked up some of the most magical mouthwatering cakes this place has ever seen.

01:22:42Yes.

01:22:43Yes.

01:22:44And now, one of you is about to become a hometown hero with $25,000, a feature in Food Network magazine, and the title, the toast of our holiday town, the best cake maker in the village, and the holiday baking champion is...

01:23:02Charles, congratulations!

01:23:09I can't believe it.

01:23:22Congrats, Charles.

01:23:23Way to go, man.

01:23:24I put everything I had into this cake, and I did it.

01:23:29Congratulations.

01:23:30It's so great to be here.

01:23:31It's so great to see you.

01:23:32It's so great to meet you.

01:23:33It's so great to meet you.

01:23:34It's nice to meet you.

01:23:35Hi, honey.

01:23:36Congratulations.

01:23:37Man, you did it.

01:23:38Way to go.

01:23:39Great job.

01:23:40That was awesome.

01:23:41I feel on top of the world, and I'm just thrilled that I got that win at the end.

01:23:52All of it was worth it.

01:23:53How do you feel?

01:23:54It's amazing.

01:23:56How did you feel everything to get out of the world now?

Holiday Baking Championship - Season 12 Episode 8 - Naughty & Nice Christmas

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