Tag: ultimate baking championship

Ultimate Baking Championship Season One Episode Five: Mith Reacts

April 8th, 2026
CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS for Ultimate Baking Championship!!

It’s like nothing surprises me anymore, in this show, after we lost Robert a couple weeks ago.

Casey, who was the only one with two wins, and has been consistently really strong, serving a “disaster” of a collapsed cake in the first challenge, and then getting sent home? Not a surprise.

Clement, who’s one of the absolute best, only scoring 11 points out of 20 in the skills challenge, even though his blueberry looked fantastic? Not really a surprise.

Adalberto, who’s been in the bottom consistently, having a great week and actually tieing with Juan and Molly in the Master Challenge? – Actually, this was a pleasant surprise! I was so glad to see Adalberto make a comeback. That black forest cake looked phenomenal! Keep it up, Adalberto, we’re cheering for you!

(I still miss Robert, though. This just isn’t right without him. He’s supposed to still be here.)

But, look at Christopher stepping into the spotlight! The first contestant on this show to get a PERFECT score on anything – okay, Chris! We see you. I was so pleased for him; that panna cotta dessert that he made was really a masterpiece. Watching Duff and Zac lavish praises upon it, was the most satisfying moment of the night. Wow. I was beginning to think maybe the judges just didn’t award perfect scores on principle. Even though Chris only placed fifth in the Master Challenge, this victory carried him through to win the whole night.

Florencia seems to have just scraped by again. I’m a bit worried about her. Both of her desserts were good (and her second one was jaw-droppingly beautiful, with that immaculate mirror glaze and chocolate ball on top, encircled in a rustic tart shell – “a study in dichotomy,” as Duff said), but, regarding the actual flavors and textures, she failed to really “innovate” either the gas station coffee cake or the Sachertorte. She’s clearly very good. I hope she has a great week next week.

And, Molly and Juan: they were amazing as usual, nothing new to report there.

Finally, just for lols: at the beginning of the show, when they were doing the recap of last week, my husband paused the TV to talk to me about something, and froze the screen on an image of poor Rochelle looking distressed; here’s a very silly, very unflattering little doodle that I did of her face while listening to my husband talk (sorry, Rochelle):

Anyway, HERE’S THE RECAP:

Skills Challenge: Innovating Gas Station Treats: contestants got to choose their item to innovate in order of last week’s leaderbord, so Molly went first. Points awarded out of 20.
- Molly: peanut butter pretzels → Peanut Butter Pretzel Petit Gateau w/ peanut butter mousse & cookie made w/ pretzel flour
- Florencia: coffee cake → Coffee Cake w/ Tiramisu Bombe
- Juan: oatmeal cream pie → Deconstructed Oatmeal Cream Pie w/ cookie crunch & cream cheese mousse
- Casey: chocolate cupcake → Seven-Layer Chocolate Cake w/ ganache & marshmallow cream
- Chris: toasted corn kernels → Toasted Corn Panna Cotta w/ candied corn, pickled corn, popped sorghum, & fried corn silk
- Clement: blueberry muffin → Blueberry Trompe L’oeil w/ muffin in the middle
- Adalberto: Snoball → Double Cappuccino Namelaka w/ chocolate butter cookies
SKILLS CHALLENGE STATS: Chris 20; Juan 16; Molly 13; Adalberto 12; Florencia 11; Clement 11; Casey 8.

Master Challenge: Innovataing International Favorites to uniquely reflect “you”: randomly assigned, points awarded out of 30. Blind judging.
- Chris: Tarte Tatin → Creme Fraiche Cake in Caramelized Puff Pastry w/ caramel mousse, caramelized apples, apples poached in cider and red wine, & apple gelee
- Casey: Opera Cake → Macaron Wreath w/ Hazelnut Joconde Sponge, coffee buttercream, mini macarons, & chocolate ganache
- Clement: Princess Cake → Princess Cake Layered Entremet w/ vanilla sponge, marzipan pastry cream, raspberry compote, whipped creame rose, & sugar dome
- Juan: Baklava → Phyllo Pudding w/ Pistachio Sponge, kataifi crumble, pistachio praline, & honey-yogurt mousse
- Molly: Banana Cream Pie → Banana Entremet w/ vanilla pastry cream, banana jam insert, feulletine base, blond chocolate mousse, & banana tuille
- Florencia: Sachertorte → Sachertorte in chocolate tart shell w/ peach & apricot jams, chocolate mousse, salty chocolate crumble, mirror glaze, & chocolate sphere décor
- Adalberto: Black Forest Cake → Pate a Choux Crown w/ cherry compote, chooclate buttercream, cherry liqueur ganache, & cherry chantilly
MASTER CHALLENGE STATS: Clement 27; Adalberto 26; Juan 26; Molly 26; Chris 24; Florencia 22; Casey 20.

Winner: Christopher

Sent Home: Casey

A dessert is called “sexy”: 0 times (running total: 3)

Superlatives from the judges: 0 (running total 1)

Dead family members mentioned: 1, Casey’s grandma (running total 2)

Duff’s gaping maw spotted: 2 times (running total 12)

The dessert that I would most have liked to eat: Molly’s peanut butter pretzel petit gateau

Wins so far: Christopher (1), Juan (1), Molly (1), Casey (2)
Ultimate Baking Championship Season One Episode Four: Mith Reacts

April 1st, 2026
CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS for Ultimate Baking Championship!!

Four weeks in, what do we think of the rotating guest judges, friends? Guest judge tonight was Bryan Ford, whom if you’re a baking show addict like me you may remember we saw as a judge on Sandra Lee’s Blue Ribbon Baking Championship a couple years ago – which, that was one of the best baking shows that’s come out recently! When are they going to do a second season? Bryan was an excellent judge on that show, and it was nice to see him back at it again. Since that show, he’s published a cookbook and he and his ridiculously-gorgeous wife have had a baby, hurray! I’m a fan of his.

Although personally, I do miss the familiar, regular panel of Duff, Nancy, and Kardea; but, I also kind of like seeing these illustrious guest judges come and go; it adds to the high-end, fast-paced feel of the show, and keeps things unpredictable.

Anyway, the highlights of tonight were Juan and Christopher being best bros, and Rochelle and Florencia being… the exact opposite.

Apparently, Juan and Christopher used to work together, so they’re already friends and really good teammates. The whole theme of their pastry display was the story of their friendship, which was so adorable I just about died, like, they even made a little chocolate clock with mini-croissants for the numbers and set it to three o’clock, because that was when Juan’s shift would begin on the days that they worked together in the restaurant, HOW CUTE IS THAT. 😭🥰 I just love friendship, I love seeing people who are friends – it’s just such a cool and fascinating thing when two people just like each other for who they are and enjoy each other’s company. To make things even cuter, they both scored exactly 38 points; #twinning.

Rochelle and Florencia, on the other hand… oof. As Adalberto observed while watching their judging, “this is torture. Torture.” It really was painful to watch them. And I’m sorry to say it, because I’m a fan of Rochelle, but it did kinda appear that Rochelle was the one being difficult to work with – the way she snapped at Florencia to “just worry about herself” when Florencia was trying to make sure their pastries would be approximately the same size. Ouch!

To her credit, Rochelle did apologize later. And I can certainly understand how she must have felt; it would suck, for me, if I were already in some high-stress, highly-demanding situation and then, to make matters worse, had to cooperate with a teammate on something creative, ugh. I’m not a good team player, and apparently Rochelle also prefers her independence. This challenge threw off her vibe; her sweet croissant came out “bready,” and her savory one tight, flat, and dense. Florencia did a bit better and managed to stay safe.

Meanwhile, “Girl Power” team Molly and Casey won the night – my girl Casey is now the only one with multiple victories! 🥳 She did a beautiful job, drawing inspiration from her Italian heritage; that raspberry cheesecake danish sounded dreamy.

And Clement was predictably amazing, being an expert of laminated dough – Duff said his looked like a machine had made it. It was kinda hilarious to me, though, that he made a hot dog croissant for his savory pastry, lol! All this talk about the Frenchman being so good at pastry because it’s so quintessentially French and French this and French that and how very French it all is — and then he decides to stick an all-American hot dog in it! I guess his idea was to show the blending of his native culture with his new life in America. In any case, he certainly made it work.

But I was disappointed that his teammate Adalberto didn’t do as well as he’d hoped. I keep wanting him to pull back into the lead! He was up there for a minute in a couple challenges in the first two episodes. Come on, Adalberto, we know you’ve got this!

And tbh I’m still over here reeling from the loss of Robert. It just feels wrong that he’s not on this show anymore. I almost want them to pull a Spring Baking Championship Season 8 and “resurrect” him (remember that? My husband and I still joke about how stupid that was, lol).

Vocab words I learned on tonight’s show: cacciatore, queso fundido, humita, duxelle-au-vent, flamiche, guajillo. It’s nice to still be surprised by a baking show, after all these years.

HERE’S THE RECAP:

Only One Challenge: Pastry Shop – Partners Challenge, teams randomly assigned: each team must create two dozen savory and two dozen sweet pastries with laminated dough, and a “pastry shop window” display to arrange them in. Flavors and theme must be cohesive. Points awarded out of 50.

Casey & Molly: European theme
- Casey: savory Italian ham and cheese croissant; sweet raspberry cheesecake danish
- Molly: savory sun-dried tomato-mushroom cacciatore danish; sweet cannoli croissant
Florencia & Rochelle: International theme
- Rochelle: savory queso fundido guajillo croissant; sweet matcha yuzu croissant
- Florencia: savory puff pastry mille foglie w/ caprese filling; sweet croissant w/ humita & blue cheese sauce
Clement & Adalberto: Immigrant theme
- Adalberto: savory open-face Cuban meat pie w/ picadillo filling; sweet croissant muffin w/ cream cheese & blueberry-lime filling
- Clement: savory hot dog croissant; sweet brownie croissant crown
Juan & Christopher: a testament to their bromance; as Juan said, “to honor the relationship that Chris & I have”
- Juan: savory flamiche roll w/ bacon & leek; sweet chocolate pretzel caramel danish
- Chris: savory mushroom duxelle-au-vent; sweet rice pudding-filled pastry w/ mango compote
STATS:
- Casey & Molly: 46/41
- Chris & Juan: 38/38
- Adalberto & Clement: 32/42
- Florencia & Rochelle: 32/30
Winner: Casey

Sent Home: Rochelle

A dessert is called “sexy”: 0 times (but we did get one “naughty”) (running total: 3)

Superlatives from the judges: 0 (running total 1)

Dead family members mentioned: 0 (running total 1)

Duff’s gaping maw spotted: 2 times (running total 10)

The dessert that I would most have liked to eat: Juan’s chocolate pretzel caramel danish! With that sponge and chocolate ganache.

Wins so far: Casey (2), Juan (1), Molly (1)
Ultimate Baking Championship Season One Episode Three: Mith Reacts

March 24th, 2026
CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS for Ultimate Baking Championship!!

“Go do the Boston skyline and mind your own business, okay?” – Robert to Juan, when Juan was casually checking in on the other team’s progress

What an intense week! They claim that these themes are “randomly assigned,” but is it just me, or did tonight really seem like the creators had deliberately assigned certain desserts to certain contestants in order to maximize the drama.

Like, in the Boston Cream Pie group: Christopher is literally from Boston, so this is personal for him and he has a lot of experience with it — but!, Juan’s boyfriend is also from Boston, and Juan makes him this cake all the time, and the couple even visited the famous hotel together recently – so, it’s a very personal dessert for him, too. Meanwhile, Adalberto made it personal by incorporating Cuban dark rum and a fierce determination to come back from his lackluster performance in the last two episodes.

And in the Coconut Cream Pie group: Florencia had literally never made a single pie before in her life! Not a one! Excuse me but what the helly? Why would you sign up to go on this huge American competition show and not even practice making an American pie crust once or twice before walking onto the set, lol? (I mean clearly she didn’t need to, though – she still made an amazing pie and nailed the textures!) Clement, also, is not a pie-maker; he’s French, and shamelessly asserted that the French do tarts instead, which are basically the same “but better.” And, since pie is unfamiliar to him, he seemed to actually be struggling to get his pie crust to work – it wasn’t looking good for him, for a few minutes there. Meanwhile, their competitor, Robert, has made zillions of pies, and not only that but hails from Miami and has grown up with coconut-flavored desserts — so he really seemed to have the edge here.

And then, the Italian Rum Cake group: Casey, who comes from an Italian family and is very familiar with this dessert, was up against the adventurous Rochelle (and her chaotic evil alter-ego Shelly) and high-scoring Molly with her sleek modern design. Would Casey’s classic cake be too classic and old-school, or would her familiarity be an advantage?

I wasn’t too surprised with the results of the Italian Rum Cake contest; I was glad to see Casey win; she’s one of my favorites. Although, part of me also wants Rochelle to win the whole thing, because she’s geographically the closest to me so I feel kind of a natural affinity. However, when they were showing Rochelle assembling her layers, and she was commented on how the pastry cream may look loose now, but “relax, it’ll set up” – I had a feeling that one was going to come back to bite her.

I did take some issue with the results of the Boston Cream Pie contest, though. Why did they do that to Adalberto?! I don’t understand! He didn’t get any negative critiques (not that we got to see, anyway). Juan, on the other hand, was told that his cake actually had too much vanilla flavor (which, how the heck does something taste “too much” of vanilla? Is that even possible? Have you ever eaten something that tasted too strongly of vanilla?? That’s like water tasting too watery, or air smelling too airy), and also his marble cracked, and the judges seemed less than pleased with him. I really, 100% thought that, based on that, Juan was going to be in the bottom of his group! What happened here! And poor Adalberto – just as he was celebrating “I’m back, baby”, then he gets told he’s in the bottom three again? Not cool. At least he made it through, but still: not cool.

However, it was cool to see Christopher win, being a native Bostonian and kind of an underdog up against Juan and all.

But the wildest thing of all was the fate of the Coconut Cream Pies! First of all, it looked like Clement was not even going to make it through – it looked for a minute like he might not even have a pie to present – but then, he managed to whip out something flawless and beautiful, with a delicious crust, and place first in his group! What sorcery is this?!

And second of all, Robert! ROBERT! What happened, my guy!! You were supposed to be a shoe-in! You were one of the top three in this whole contest, alongside Clement and Juan! I literally gasped. I’m shook. This was just so unexpected. I mean, yeah, his crust was too thick and he didn’t have enough filling, so it was fair, but, dang! How could this happen? Are you as flabbergasted as I am? I need someone to talk to about this, lol I’m gonna go drink some water and lie down, but leave me your comments!

THE RECAP:

Only One Challenge: Pastry Cream Classics – themes randomly assigned; groups of three competing against each other – the losers from each group up for elimination, with the lowest-scoring one of those three going home

Italian Rum Cake
- Rochelle: festive cake with blown sugar cherry in a “splash” of molded chocolate
- Molly: tall, modernized cake with cherry jam truffles on top
- Casey: classic, rustic Chicago cake w/ toasted almonds, shaved chocolate, & maraschino cherries
Coconut Cream Pie
- Florencia: topped w/ coconuts filled with coconut-lime-white chocolate ganache
- Clement: topped w/ coconut diplomat and coconut macaroons inside chocolate coconuts
- Robert: w/ coconut milk pastry cream, coconut mousse & coconut rum gelee
Boston Cream Pie
- Adalberto: cake coated in chocolate rum ganache and gold Italienesque modeling chocolate décor, made w/ Cuban dark rum
- Juan: toasted “gold” almonds on the sides and chocolate marble “floor” décor on op
- Christopher: almond praline on bottom, chocolate mayflowers on top
SCORES & STATS:

Italian Rum: Casey (46), Molly (41), Rochelle (36)

Coconut Cream: Clement (44), Florencia (39), Robert (29)

Boston Cream: Christopher (45), Juan (43), Adalberto (41)

Winner: Casey

Sent Home: Robert

A dessert is called “sexy”: 0 times (running total: 3)

Superlatives from the judges: 1 “the fanciest Boston Cream Pie” Duff’s ever seen (running total 1)

Dead family members mentioned: 0 (running total 1)

Duff’s gaping maw spotted: 4 times (running total 8)

The dessert that I would most have liked to eat: Clement’s coconut cream pie topped with those little coconut macaroons hidden inside chocolate coconuts!

Wins so far: Juan (1), Molly (1), Casey (1)
Ultimate Baking Championship Season One Episode Two: Mith Reacts

March 18th, 2026
CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS for Ultimate Baking Championship!!

“You can’t even stop Duff. Nine cake and he’s still at it.” – Amaury, watching Duff merrily chowing down during the judging of Oralia’s entremets

“He’s absolutely right, but, that’s the blue I gave him.” – Adalberto, with resignation, after hearing that the dark blue exterior of his dessert was unappetizing and off-putting

“I would like to not be the next one.” – Chris, immediately before getting called to go next after Florencia’s flawless reception in the second challenge

Week two. As tonight’s episode was starting, my husband observed: they’re eliminating contestants so fast, “tonight might be the finale!” Lol. Thankfully, it wasn’t.

Here we go! Caviar and calamansi, deconstructed this and modernized that. 🥱 I’ll take Molly’s simple, classic little red velvet cake, which received such negative criticism, over most of these bougie little frou-frou dishes, any day of the week! No offense to any of the chefs, of course – these people are all incredible to watch, truly next-level geniuses – but, I’m a simple person with simple tastes, and I’m still miffed that they took away my good old Spring Baking Championship this year. (Speaking of, that’s where I recognize Robert from!)

So, they have a clean slate each week? The leaderboard gets erased and starts over from scratch. What do we think about this, friends? I have mixed feelings. I kind of like it, but also, I think it’d be neat to do just one season where the scores were cumulative, building on progress from all of the prior challenges. In a way, that’d seem more fair, wouldn’t it? Everyone has bad luck at some point, and it seems like that shouldn’t be someone’s downfall if it’s a random one-off, and if they’ve been consistently really good.

However, I am happy that this format is giving Adalberto a fresh start… again. Yup, I hate to say it, because it probably means next week will be his last, but: he’s kinda become my favorite. I just really felt for him, when he was despondent after his disastrous second challenge, and was saying that, as an older contestant, he doesn’t have the time, like some of these younger contestants, to get better; this is it, for him. The end of the line. Adalberto! Come on! This is supposed to be my escapism! Baking Championship starting to get a little eschatological up in here. A little too real. I adore Adalberto, and I’m glad he pulled through by the skin of his teeth once again. After this week and the last, I seriously want to see him power through and rise to the top and win the whole thing! Wouldn’t that be so freaking satisfying?!

I am bummed for Oralia, though. At least she went out on a positive note: Amaury and Duff both genuinely enjoyed her dessert — it was just the presentation that was off. I hope she keeps in mind that, even though she technically went home in week two, she actually outlasted six other contestants, so she made it quite far; we mustn’t forget the absolute carnage that was week one.

Highlights this week included: watching Clement convert fellow Frenchman Amaury Guichon to a veggies-in-dessert appreciater; watching Rochelle “die and go to heaven” after receiving such glowing praises for her stunning raspberry entremets; Robert voluntarily choosing to work with matcha, when he could have chosen literally any other, less disgusting nutty flavor, and somehow nailing it (?!?!); Casey’s impressive comeback with a stunning geometric mousse cake in the second challenge after her first challenge was pretty weak (chocolate too dense); and, listening to Amaury pronounce “BAH-na-na” and “prah-LEE-na.” Delightful. Here’s the recap:

Skills Challenge: modernize a classic dessert; randomly assigned
- Robert: peach cobbler Paris-brest w/ caviar pearls & popping chocolate
- Florencia: lava cake w/ raspberry center
- Oralia: Italian rainbow cookie w/ almond sponge, Bavarian crème, vanilla chantilly
- Molly: red velvet cake
- Clement: carrot cake (cubed w/ cream cheese mousse, caramelized walnuts, & carrot juice caviar)
- Chris: bananas foster w/ caramel poached bananas, toasted macadamias, & whipped crème fraiche
- Juan: pecan pie w/ sablés, praline, & whipped mousse
- Rochelle: key lime pie w/ astronaut ice cream & toasted meringue
- Adalberto: strawberry shortcake: canapé w/ basil, strawberry crunch, white chocolate mousse
- Casey: s’mores molded namelaka, honey graham cracker, toasted marshmallow
Challenge Winner: Juan (18/20), followed by Clement (16/20) and Robert (14/20): these three are the ones to watch, imo

Master Challenge: geometric layered mousse cake; themes randomly assigned
- Casey: “Smokey & mysterious:” chocolate mousse, cherry compote, smoked caramel
- Rochelle: “Ombre & light:” raspberry, quinoa crunch, white chocolate mousse w/ raspberry-styled exterior
- Chris: “Floral & delicate:” elderflower, apricot, pistachio, financier
- Oralia: “Botanical & boozy:” raspberry-rose mousse, feulletine, elderflower
- Juan: “Earthy & elegant:” Roasted malted mousse, almond cake, tempered chocolate exterior
- Clement: “Bright & citrusy:” lemon-poppyseed, yuzu, white chocolate crunch, mousse-filled “lemon” décor
- Molly: “Citrus & celestial”: calamansi curd, lime, blood orange “citrus salad”, olive oil cake, chocolate planets
- Robert: “Earthy & nutty:” matcha, black sesame, blackberries
- Adalberto: “Boozy & tropical:” blueberry mojito gelee, mango mousse
- Florencia: “Dark & indulgent” brownie, gianduja mousse, caramel truffle
STATS:

Winner: Juan (28/30)

Sent Home: Oralia

A dessert is called “sexy”: 1 time (running total: 3)

Superlatives from the judges: 0 (running total 1)

Dead family members mentioned: 0 (running total 1)

Duff’s gaping maw spotted: 2 times (running total 4)

The dessert that I would most have liked to eat: Florencia’s “dark and indulgent” chocolate brownie entremets with gianduja mousse, caramel truffle, & milk chocolate. The chocolatiest!

Wins so far: Juan (1), Molly (1)

What did we think? Are you watching this too? What are your thoughts? Leave me your comments! I don’t care if you’re reading this three-plus years from now and the show is old news and you think I no longer care. I still do, I assure you. See you back here next week!
Ultimate Baking Championship Season One Episode One: Mith Reacts

March 11th, 2026
CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS for Ultimate Baking Championship!!

Where to even begin, with this show?! This was a whirwind. I dunno about you guys, but I felt kind of overloaded. Here are my thoughts, and a quick recap:

I’ll start with this: I miss Spring Baking Championship. I wish they’d just done another season of that instead. This show… the set is so sleek. The pastel colors, the contestants’ humble oohing and ahhing, their friendly banter, and Jesse’s corny jokes, are all missing. This is just all business, no frills. It’s not really the kind of baking show I like. But, neither was Next Gen, and that one managed to pleasantly surprise me, so we’ll see where this goes.

Also, starting with sixteen?! And sending home six in a single episode?! Whew! I get being cutthroat, but this was wild, wasn’t it?

The prize money is 50k, not just 25. So this is all professional, high-end stuff. No self-taught home bakers on this show. Food was described as “sexy” not once, but twice. All the desserts are these fancy, elaborate, highly technical little plated numbers with about twenty-seven elements in each – things you’d only find at places I could never afford to go, and honestly wouldn’t care to even if I could. (I’ve been watching these shows since like 2017, and even I have no clue what “pain de gênes” is.) Give me a good hearty slice of cake over any of these, any day. For me, it’s just kinda… blah.

One thing I do like about it though: best believe, no one on this show mispronounces “mascarpone.” Not a single time! (Although, I did catch Chris calling a cylinder a “sphere” one time. I can forgive that, because I too am a scatterbrain, and his blueberry lemon chiffon cake sounded delicoius.)

The other thing I like about this show: the leaderboard. I’ve been saying for some time that these shows really oughtta have a numerical ranking system, to make it a little more technical and less vague. I appreciated this move.

The Curse of Mith’s Favorite strikes again… three times. From the get-go, I was rooting for Steven and Cesar. And Julian, I liked him a lot because his flavor choices in both challenges sounded the most delicious (that campfire swiss roll tho!)! What is it about me?! Why is my support the kiss of death, for these contestants? I’m like the grim reaper disguised as a cheerleader! (Last season of Holiday was an anomaly.) If I had to guess in socionics terms, it’s because of my Ni base function. I have a strong intuition, purportedly, so I think I can kind of subconsciously sense which people are the underdogs, and my heart goes out to them.

And even weirder – both Steven and Cesar went home on eclairs! WTH! NO ONE else on this show better be making any eclairs for the REST OF THE SEASON! Especially my favorites (I’m not gonna say who they are now, lest I curse them too!).

Without naming any favorites: I’m thrilled that Adalberto pulled through after his napoleon fell apart. My little heart was breaking for him. He seems so genuine, and also, his pastry shop back home is the coolest! I’m also glad to see Clement back – he was one of my favs on his season of Spring Baking, and I remember the last time he made that fraisier. (“I didn’t sleep for three years” after not winning that show, he said, lol – but now he’s back, and out for blood!) And Robert – where do I recognize him from?! I know I’ve seen him on one of these shows before.

I did think it was a bit of a cruel dig when Duff referred to Molly’s gateau as “the work of a cold, calculating assassin” – right after sending Cesar, the eponymous Pastry Assassin, home! Come on now! And sending the “Flavor Queen” Lasheeda home on flavor?! And he told Julian that his Swiss roll needed “lube”?! OUCH! Merciless! The judging was harsh! I got a bit of whiplash going straight into this after the soft and gentle Next Gen, didn’t you?! Whew!

Anyway, here’s the recap:

Skills Challenge – four basic tastes, four basic textures; randomly assigned

Sour & Smooth
- Robert: deconstructed key lime pie (“you ain’t sending me home on a key lime pie!”)
- Adalberto: date pudding cake w/ passionfruit curd
Bitter & Toasty
- Clement: chocolate hazelnut tart with coffee mascarpone cream
- Rochelle: chocolate mousse w/ liquid pecan praline center & toasted marshmallow
Salty & Sticky
- Casey: chocolate peanut caramelized tart
- Steven: praline eclair
Sweet & Crunchy
- Florencia: ricotta-pear deconstructed tart
- Sarah: honey mascarpone almond mousse w/ caramel tuile
Salty & Smooth
- Molly: miso caramel namelaka
- Juan: coffee chocolate mousse cake w/ arequipe
Sour & Sticky
- Lasheeda: deconstructed rocky road w/ raspberry
- Chris: lemon almond cake w/ cinnamon-vanilla milk jam & yuzu
Bitter & Crunchy
- Arlety: chocolate orange hazelnut financier w/ kumquat
- Cesar: meyer lemon eclair w/ honeycomb brittle
Sweet & Toasty
- Julian: chocolate toasted hazelnut petit gateau w/ brownie
- Oralia: toasted sesame crème brulee w/ toasted sesame shortbread
Challenge Winners: Molly (18/20), Juan (17/20), Clement (16/20), Adalberto (15/20)

Sent Home: Steven, Sarah, Lasheeda, Cesar

Master Challenge: a dessert that represents a defining event in your life
- Casey: key lime pie w/ honey meringue
- Juan: tropical coconut fruit tart w/ mongo mongo
- Florencia: almond genoise w/ cherries, chocolate mousse, & espresso liqueur
- Clement: his signature fraisier
- Julian: s’mores devil’s food cake swiss roll
- Oralia: caramelized apple charlottte
- Rochelle: bananas foster torte
- Robert: milk chocolate hazelnut bar w/ cherry chantilly
- Molly: white chocolate pistachio gateau w/ raspberry
- Arlety: tropical tart
- Adalberto: guava & coconut napoleon w/ figs
- Chris: blueberry lemon chiffon cake
Challenge Winner: Molly (27/30)

Sent Home: Arlety & Julian

.

Episode One Winner: Molly

Superlatives from the judges: 1 (“best group of bakers I have ever seen” – Duff)

Dead family members mentioned: 1 (Florencia’s mom 🙏😔) – very sad, but it’s also kind of a trope that these contestants have a dead family member inspiring them, so I thought I’d keep a tally this season

Duff’s gaping maw spotted: 2 times (have y’all noticed how the camera loves to zoom in on his face when he’s taking a big bite and his eyes are wide open? As someone who hates to be seen eating, I’m always so painfully embarrassed for him, lol – they do this to him all the time, so I thought I’d keep a tally of this this season as well)

The dessert that I would most have liked to eat: there were SO many to choose from, but probably Robert’s from the second challenge: milk chocolate hazelnut “bar” with that “sexy,” “ethereal” cherry chantilly

Mith’s official prediction for the finalists and winner: Clement, Juan, and Robert, with Juan being the champion

What were your thoughts?! Who are your favs? Which desserts did you want to eat?! Leave me your comments! I’m sending this to the internet in hopes of reaching fellow fans. I want to hear from you!

Tag: ultimate baking championship

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