Halloween Baking Championship recap: Frightening scream puffs & scary masks
This week’s Halloween Baking Championship recap could frighten the biggest sweet tooth. Scream puffs and scary masks are less sweet and more frightening.
With only five bakers remaining, this week’s Halloween Baking Championship recap brought the fear to the bakers. Some of the previous challenges were a little light on the fright. But this week, the bakers had to make delicious, yet frightening treats. From scream puffs to scary masks, these Halloween treats proved a little too scary for one baker.
The pre-heat challenge had the bakers create scream puffs. Basically, the bakers had to make a cream puff with a scary theme. While none of these cream puffs were the gigantic, infamous Wisconsin State Fair cream puffs, some cream puffs were more successful than others.
The key to a great cream puff is the pate au choux. The cream puff pastry dough must be exact or the pastry won’t puff up. A good pastry can separate a good baker from a great baker. Unfortunately, Ray’s pastry failed because he didn’t add the butter at the right time. His cream puffs were scary, scary deflated puffs.
Halloween Baking Championship recap, photo from Food Network
But, Halloween Baking Championship isn’t just about good technical baking. The bakers needed to showcase their creativity in this scream puff challenge. Jasmin nailed the decorating portion. Her zombie inspired cream puffs were gory and great. Everything about these cream puffs were on point. From varied textures, from the cookie cream puff topper to the flavors, Jasmin was clearly the winner.
One scream puff was funny and innovative. Jonathon used his pate au choux as bat wings for his cream puff. The crunchy texture was a smart decision. But, his bat droppings (candied nuts) were debatable as funny or just weird.
Halloween Baking Championship recap, photo from Food Network
Still, most of the bakers did relatively well. Tyler and Ray both struggled. Ray’s pastry dough was a big a flop, because it was technically wrong. Tyler’s cream puff lacked cream. What’s a cream puff without cream? Send that baker to Wisconsin to try at state fair cream puff.
As the winner of the pre-heat, Jasmin received a huge advantage in the main heat. Her advantage was a 10 minute head start in the main heat. An extra 10 minutes is huge in Halloween Baking Championship. This advantage set her up as a potential winner.
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The main heat had bakers create a dessert based on a Halloween mask of their choosing. Since the majority of bakers had only 80 minutes to create a dessert, they needed to be smart about their dessert choices. Remember, Halloween Baking Championship is both taste and decoration. As the competition nears its end, you can’t just skate through the middle any more.
Of course, every Halloween Baking Championship recap has a twist or two. During the main heat, the bakers had to incorporate a sucky Halloween treat into their dessert. Isn’t there always a bad Halloween treat in every candy bag? The bakers had to use raisins, apples and a popcorn ball. Let’s be honest, the popcorn ball was hands down the worst. Raisins and apples are easy for bakers to use in a dessert.
With their masks picked and their twist incorporated, the challenge unfolded rather quickly. Even before judging, it was pretty clear which bakers would be in the top and which bakers might go home. Technical baking issues and poor decoration is not a winning combination.
Halloween Baking Championship recap, photo from Food Network
Jessica’s raven cupcake was clearly in the top. With the limited time, her choice to make a cupcake was smart. She was able to decorate it with a lot of detail. Plus, she incorporated the twist well. The added smoked salt with the raisins was genius. The innovative flavor combination was a huge hit. These cupcakes, while not super scary, played into her theme. These raven cupcakes would be perfect at any Halloween party.
Jasmin’s werewolf cake was also on top. She took full advantage of the extra time. Her cake has an awesome werewolf claw wrapping around it. The cake was creepy and scary. But, her cake was moist, a must when making a cake. While one judge didn’t like the apple and cookie butter filling, the other judges loved it. Really, who doesn’t like cookie butter? If I was there, I would have just eaten the cookie butter and apple filling.
Halloween Baking Championship recap, photo from Food Network
The winning baker was Jessica. Truthfully, I think that her smoked salt with the raisins gave her the win. The unlikely combination showed an innovative quality that endeared her to the judges. Either way, those two bakers were safe. Also, Jonathon was safe. Although his cake had a structural issue due to heavy decorations, the use of salt on the filo dough won him praise.
Halloween Baking Championship recap, photo from Food Network
The bottom two bakers were Ray and Tyler. Ray’s flavors were disjointed. When flavors don’t pair well, the dessert doesn’t work. A bigger issue was his use of fondant. Over and over, the judges have said not to use inedible decorations on the desserts. A big piece of fondant isn’t going to win any praise from the judges.
Also, his snake wasn’t scary. If this challenge was supposed to represent a scary snake, the snake wasn’t frightening. Ray had lots of options to make that snake look scary. Even a simple better color could would have been better.
Unfortunately, Tyler’s dessert was even worse. No dessert on Halloween Baking Championship recap should be sad. Sad is not an adjective for this baking show. But, hands down, Tyler’s dessert was sad. First, he had trouble with his cake. With one layer broken and in pieces, the cake’s concept was doomed.
But, even worse was his Day of the Dead decoration. A Day of Dead mask is intricate, sometimes colorful, but always visually stunning. Tyler’s decoration looked like a mess. The [tribute.
Halloween Baking Championship recap, photo from Food Network
Tyler, and his sad dessert, were sent home. With only four bakers remaining in Halloween Baking Championship, the challenges will get harder. Even a little mistake could send a baker home.
While it is still hard to pick a front runner, I’m guessing that Jessica and Jonathon make it to the final. These two bakers seem to be judges’ favorites. But, the challenges will dictate who wins. If the theme or the dessert isn’t something that either one like, they could be sent home in a flash.
Do you agree with our prediction? Share your comments on who you think will win it all.
What will happen next week? Check back for our next Halloween Baking Championship recap.