Spoilers ahead for Spring Baking Championship season 11 episode 2!

As much as I loved that it was another full hour and twenty-five minute episode (normally, only the premiere is this long), this episode was kind of a miss for me. I don’t care about Minecraft, much less the Minecraft movie; these promotional episodes are always a little cringe, for me. Both challenges, but especially the Main Heat, were pretty dumb; I mean, even a well-executed Minecraft cake isn’t going to look good! Even the best cakes in that challenge just looked like boxes. And, I hated all the gross ingredients that they had to use in the Main Heat. Bacon, jalapeno, prosciutto, chipotle, habanero, pancetta: gross, not for me. I don’t eat meat or spicy peppers, so, I was totally uninterested in these.

And I got so freaking sick of hearing the word “nether!” This word for me is like the word “moist” for other people. It just makes me think of private parts. Please, stop talking about “nether cakes.”

There were a couple of other pet peeves of mine that popped up in this episode, too. The first one has already happened once this season, but I heard it twice in this episode, and it’s like nails on a chalkboard: “marscapone.” The word is mascarpone. Ugh! Also, “expresso.” It’s 2025, espresso is not an exotic thing in America anymore; haven’t we moved past this? Lol.

Also, Nancy’s hair: cute effort on the stylists’ behalf, but this was not her best look, lol.

However, there were some things I liked about this episode. Specifically, that Corey won! He’s such a cool baker, that was well deserved! I’m sure if I could stand bacon I’d be drooling over that cake he made. Also that Lisa did so well (despite her saying “marscapone” lol). I’ve already named her as my pick for most likely winner based on last week, and it’s nice to see her keep on being awesome. That watermelon entremet was a work of art! And she even did well in the stupid Main Heat challenge – that cherry cake sounded phenomenal, and her bee cubes were adorable (although, I’m surprised they didn’t ding her for the almond sliver wings; if they can ding Kari for her 45 degree angles on the flame decorations, why didn’t they ding Lisa for the rounded wings on her bees?). She hasn’t missed once so far. She’s a force to be reckoned with!

Also, that Jamie went home. I really didn’t like her attitude in the Team challenge. Paul, as you know, is one of my favorites, and he seemed like a really gracious and cooperative teammate, while Jamie seemed to be acting like a major control freak; I dunno if it was just the way they edited the footage, but, they made it look like she was totally pushy and bossing him around! And then, of course, she was the one who screwed their team over and landed them in the bottom two – and even then, Paul was still so kind and supportive about it, sacrificing the quality of his own cake in a heroic attempt to help her salvage hers. To be fair, Jamie was at least apologetic about that. And, I feel bad complaining about her attitude right after she revealed that she’s a cancer survivor. To her credit, everything about this challenge, as I already said, was stupid, and I think it would be really really hard to do well. Still, given that she was in the bottom two last week as well, I think it was probably right that she went home.

My high point: Kareem has lived to see week three! After the Preheat, I was afraid he was going to bomb this week, too (although he was far from the only one who made a mess that challenge). But he pulled it out in the Main Heat! Aside from the “too cheerful,” pretty pastel decoration (which I actually liked and thought suited his cake better than the stupid “nether” theme they were trying to push on him), he did a beautiful job with the interior and flavors of his jalapeno cake! Brilliant! Love to see it. He finally refined his craziness to just the right degree. Also, he was absolutely the best at naming his team. “Pre-K, because we came to school ‘em” – oh my goodness, I laughed out loud, he’s so clever and funny! And he just pulled that one right off the top of his head, didn’t have to think about it. Rock on, Kareem!

My low point: Jon’Nae’s entremet not working out. It sounded so good! I actually kind of liked the “square fruits” entremet challenge – Minecraft aside, the ones that turned out well were really cute, and sounded really tasty. Watching bakers pour mirror glazes is one of my favorite things on a baking show. And based on her description of her plans, I thought Jon’Nae’s sounded the most delicious: strawberry and white chocolate mousse, yes please! That totally would have been my pick for Dessert I’d Most Like To Eat, had it worked out. But, sadly, her mirror glaze didn’t happen. She did the best she could without it, and made what looked like a fun little strawberry shortcake style thing, and the flavors still sounded great, but, alas. I really hope she has a better week next week!

The dessert I would most have liked to eat: I was really disappointed that the judges said that Raveena’s beet cake didn’t have enough flavor. Beets, goat cheese, honey, and walnut sounds like such a delightful combination! I’m sure if she had amped up the other flavors a bit, this would have been delicious. Given that it apparently just tasted like cheese, though, I’m going to have to go with: Jon’Nae’s cacao nib cake. I’m a chocoholic, and will almost always pick the chocolatiest thing on any dessert menu, so I love to see a chocolate dessert featured on the Spring championship, which is unusual; it’s heavily dominated by fresh seasonal fruit flavors. Sounds like she really killed it with candying the cacao nibs!

.