Holiday Baking Championship recap Season 5 episode 6: Fruitcake done right

In this Holiday Baking Championship recap, the four remaining bakers fight for a spot in the finale. But, does the infamous holiday fruitcake stop them just short of the finish line.

Holiday Baking Championship recap Season 5 episode 6 tackles two big issues during the holidays. First, the bakers must incorporate common pantry items into classic chocolate desserts. Second, the bakers are required to transform fruitcake ingredients into something that everyone would like to eat during the holidays. Which baker got a lump of coal instead of a spot in the finale?

This season of Holiday Baking Championship has seen some food trends incorporated into the various challenges. From exotic flavors to food mash-ups, this season is looking beyond the traditional holiday cakes, pies and desserts. This week’s episode was no different. The pre-heat challenge really focuses on an important topic.

During the holidays, everyone seems to have overflowing pantry. From the ingredient purchased for that one recipe to ensuring that there is plenty of food for guests, the shelves are filled. But, those additional purchases shouldn’t create food waste. Repurposing those ingredients into another recipe is vital. In the pre-heat, the challenge had this slight slant.

For the pre-heat, the bakers had to combine to pantry staples into a dessert that reimagined a classic chocolate dessert. From chocolate cake to chocolate chip cookies, those desserts can become a little commonplace. By reimagining them, these bakers, and home bakers, can bring some excitement to the holiday kitchen.

Looking at the pre-heat, the Chantal’s cake was the most visually impressive. Her pantry ingredients, strawberry jam and preserved apricots, seemed to work well with a chocolate cake. More importantly, her use of those ingredients made sense. From a strawberry jam soak to the apricot and mascarpone, this cake didn’t seem like a recipe mash-up. It seemed intentional.

Douglas’ take on a chocolate coconut cream tart was also a great idea. Using pulsed oats to create a flour for the tart is something that anyone can do at home. Oats don’t have to be just for oatmeal cookies. The same can be said for that bag of coconut in the pantry. There are many other uses. Unfortunately, his tart crust was slightly under baked.

Winning the pre-heat was Chantal. Her cake really delivered on this challenge. For her win, she was able to choose and assign the ingredients for the main heat. Since it is the holidays, at least one Holiday Baking Championship recap had to include the infamous, often underappreciated fruitcake. This episode is that one.

For the main heat, the bakers had to take two common fruitcake ingredients, one nut and one fruit, and create a dessert. While the dessert didn’t have to be a fruitcake, it did have to incorporate the flavors. Additionally, the mid-challenge twist had the bakers actually using pieces of fruitcake in their desserts.

Luckily, these dessert were way more appealing that that mass-produced, dense, hated fruitcake. These bakers were able to show that the fruitcake isn’t bad because of the ingredients. The unappreciated taste comes from a bad fruitcake recipe.

The most innovative use of fruitcake came from Sarah. Creating an ice cream from the fruitcake was smart. Although the twist wasn’t incorporated into her other dessert, the ice cream had the best part of the fruitcake flavor.

More from Food TV

• Holiday Baking Championship Season 10 episode 6: Holiday messages gone awry
• Holiday Baking Championship Season 10 episode 5: Wrapping up holiday designs
• Kitchen Nightmares Executive Producer shares the real impact of the show
• Hell’s Kitchen Season 22 tests the chefs’ business acumen in a new challenge
• Struggle Meals hits 100 episodes and simple solutions keep viewers engaged

Looking at her other dessert, there were a few flaws. The dessert looked stunning, but the cherry flavor was missing (a key to her dessert). Also, the almond flavor wasn’t strong. While the sliced almonds on top brought that flavor, the crust was lacking almond. Unfortunately, a beautiful dessert with subtle flavors won’t earn the win.

Douglas scored big with flavor. His ingredients of walnuts and pineapple were clear and well balanced. Additionally, the fruit cake cream was a smart choice. But, his dessert didn’t have the appearance of a holiday dessert. It was pastel and looked like it should be on Spring Baking Championship.

Still, Douglas’ flavors earned him the win. When looking at the dessert as a whole, his offering was the best of the four bakers. In next week’s finale, Douglas will be tough to beat. He has immense talent and attention to detail. Fans should expect a lot from him in the finale.

Chantal struggled in this challenge. Even though she was able to choose her ingredients, she had execution flaws. All of the judges commented about how difficult it was to eat her dessert. From sticky hands to flying bits of cookie, the dessert looked and ate like a hot mess.

While Chantal called this dessert a rustic Christmas ornament, it was more like the kids’ Christmas ornaments that they make at school. Mom will always treasure them because they kids made them, but those ornaments might be designated to one lower part of the tree. While Chantal’s fruitcake cookie was nice, the dessert, as a whole, probably should be designated to that lower part of the Christmas tree.

Lerome was given candied lemons and pecans. While his dessert looked festive, there were a few components that were technically off. His financier was a little too dense. Also, the candied lemons weren’t incorporated into the dessert smoothly.

More importantly, Lerome didn’t incorporate the fruitcake twist well. The big bite of fruitcake in the chocolate ornament was too overpowering. No one wants a fruitcake surprise inside a chocolate ornament.

The baker coming up just short of the Holiday Baking Championship finale was Chantal. Her dessert was just a little to “rustic” to earn her a shot at the title. It is too bad that she became overwhelmed after such a successful pre-heat win.

Looking at next week’s Holiday Baking Championship finale, it should be a strong competition. While the edge might go to Douglas, anything can happen in the finale. These bakers need to be technically strong as well as visually impressive. The baker who can accomplish both those qualities should earn the Holiday Baking Championship title.

What did you think of the challenges in this Holiday Baking Championship recap? Are you a fan or foe of fruitcake? Don’t forget to check back for next week’s finale on Food Network.