Holiday Baking Championship season 5 episode 4 recap: Can you see holiday inspiration?

In Holiday Baking Championship season 5 episode 4 recap, the bakers saw that the holiday inspiration may not always translate into a realistic holiday display.

Holiday Baking Championship season 5 episode 4 recap starts with a lovely festive, holiday scene, but the bakers’ interpretation of that scene looked a little less realistic. While the bakers should find a balance between delicious holiday flavor and impeccable designs, occasionally the kitchen gets a little overwhelming. In this week’s episode, the bakers’ desserts needed a little more explanation to see that holiday inspiration.

After last week’s unusual coffee and flavored syrup pairings, the bakers were hoping for a straight-forward, holiday baking challenge. For the pre-heat, the challenge might have sounded daunting, religieuse, but the dessert was doable. Unfortunately, the visual for this classic dessert looked more like abstract holiday art versus the classic visual display.

The religieuse is a traditional French stacked cream puff, but it is a cream puff. All of the bakers in this competition should be able to make a good cream puff. It was curious that some of the bakers struggled with the pate a choux dough. Shouldn’t all the bakers be able to present a decent cream puff?

The key to this pre-heat challenge wasn’t just a delicious cream puff. The cream puff needed to look life a traditional holiday character and its family. The characters were straightforward, Santa, elves, reindeer, etc. Unfortunately, these characters seemed to appear a little less literal, which seemed to miss the mark.

Host Jesse Palmer announces the pre-heat challenge, as seen on Holiday Baking Championship, Season 5. photo provided by Food Network

Truthfully only one baker nailed this challenge. It was clear that Douglas was going to win the pre-heat. His cream puffs looked like Santa. Plus, his peppermint diplomat cream was delicious. He easily won.

More from Food TV

Since the baking don’ts aren’t common on Holiday Baking Championship, this week’s pre-heat looked like a slideshow of Food Network fail files. From Chantal’s rein-dogs to Dan’s fallen penguins, this pre-heat challenge caused everyone to chuckle.

Truthfully, I really enjoyed seeing these less than perfect holiday desserts. To be honest, what home baker has a few holiday baking fails? While the dessert is quite tasty, the design, color or shape could make you want to eat it blindfolded. It was good to see that professional bakers aren’t always perfect.

Going into the main heat challenge, Douglas’ pre-heat win earned him a big advantage, an extra 10 minutes in the kitchen. When a baker gets extra time, these advantages are quite helpful. Even with Douglas being a top baker throughout the competition, this advantage should serve him well.

For the main heat challenge, the bakers had to create a hand painted cake that featured eggnog flavor. A painted cake is a lovely idea, but not a typical choice. Usually cakes feature fondant, pipped icing and other decorations. This challenge showcases a baker’s artistic side by asking them to paint a design on the cake.

Beyond the cake decoration, each cake needs to feature eggnog. This flavor can be quite bold, but the bakers often have difficulty in highlighting eggnog. Sometimes it seems like the bakers are scared to go bold with the eggnog.

Of course, each challenge always has a twist. Luckily this week’s twist wasn’t overly difficult. The bakers had to include an edible holly decoration, and the bakers couldn’t use fondant or modeling chocolate. Luckily, the bakers didn’t go straight to the marzipan. Still, the decorations weren’t necessarily too over the top.

In my opinion, the most creative holly decoration came from Douglas. His combination of candied cranberries and textured chocolate was visually pretty and innovative. Unfortunately, the judges didn’t seem to give him a lot of credit for this decorative element.

Host Jesse Palmer announces the main heat twist, as seen on Holiday Baking Championship, Season 5. photo provided by Food Network

This week’s main heat had quite a few mistakes. Lerone has been a top baker, but this week he fell hard. The mistake with his Bavarian cream caused his cake to look a little amateur, like a fallen cake created in my kitchen. Also, the painting was a little haphazard.

Julia seemed to miss the mark this week. Her cake looked more like a sunny, Spring day versus a wintery wonderland. While the cake was pretty, it didn’t really apply to the challenge. Truthfully, I didn’t think that this cake was that bad. Sure, the colors were a little non-traditional, but it was pretty.

Unfortunately, Lerone and Julia were the bottom two bakers. While Lerone’s cake’s appearance was rather sad, his flavors saved the day. Julia’s eggnog flavor was overpowered by dulce de leche. That flavor issue combined with the decoration had her eliminated from the Holiday Baking Championship.

As a home baker, it would have been nice to see Julia go further in the competition. Her flavor combinations were a little more adventurous than some of the other bakers. It is unfortunate that she is leaving the competition.

Host Jesse Palmer and judges Lorraine Pascale, Duff Goldman, and Nancy Fuller pose for a photo, as seen on Holiday Baking Championship, Season 5. photo provided by Food Network

Another surprising item from Holiday Baking Championship season 5 episode 4 recap was the judges’ reaction to Douglas’ cake. The tree stump idea was quite lovely. It was a composed cake (with delicious flavor), but Nancy Fuller commented that it didn’t look holiday.

Personally, I don’t think that holiday has to be a sea of greens and reds. The tree, with its carved initials in the bark, offered a sweet memory. Aren’t the holidays about reminiscing and family memories? Those thoughts don’t necessarily come in a particular color.

The biggest surprise of this episode came from the winning baker, Dan. Previously, Dan has been on the brink of elimination. His mistakes in the kitchen have been many.

In this week’s main challenge, he was smart. Using the eggnog in a custard was the best decision. It brought the flavor that was a huge component of the challenge.

Additionally, his design was simple, yet clear. The window scape showed a holiday scene that everyone could understand. Hopefully, he can channel this win into future successes in the kitchen.

light. Related Story. Upgrade your hot cocoa with this secret ingredient

Holiday Baking Championship season 5 episode 4 recap has come to a close. Did you agree with the judges’ decision on the baker sent home? Could Douglas continue to be a top baker? Or, did this week’s holiday treats create some baking inspiration in your kitchen?

Home/Food TV