Winner Cake All episode 1 review: Vibrant, whimsical family birthday celebration

Did you watch Winner Cake All episode 1? In the premiere episode, the theme of these impressive cakes was definitely a family friendly affair.

Winner Cake All episode 1 offered a huge family theme celebration. This new Food Network baking competition set the bar high on the first episode. Did you wish that your family’s birthday celebration had one of these impressive cakes?

For Food Network baking competition show fans, this show might look and feel a little familiar. A few aspects seem similar to last summer’s Wedding Cake Championship. The look of the tent and the competition premise are somewhat alike.

In this Winner Cake All season, each episode stands on its own. The set of bakers changes per episode. Also, the winner for each episode receives a $10,000 prize (and Food Network glory).

For these bakers to create these massive, creative cakes in a matter of five hours is quite impressive (and overwhelming). Given the hot tent and time constraints, it is amazing that there wasn’t more cake disasters. Even though no one wants to have a falling cake, there is a little piece of schadenfreude when the cakes are set to be judged.

Before the big, themed cake challenge, the preliminary challenge sets the theme for the episode. For this episode, the preliminary cake topper challenge had to embody a family celebration. It is curious that all teams focused on food. Is food always part of a family celebration?

Host Giada De Laurentiis during the design challenge, as seen on Winner Cake All, Season 1. photo from Food Network

While four teams competed in the cake topper challenge, one team would be eliminated at the end of the preliminary challenge. Given the breadth of the theme, it was a little curious that everyone went with a food theme.

Looking at the cake toppers, there was a lot of detail in the designs. Unfortunately, the scale of the design wasn’t as impressive from a distance. It wasn’t clear if the cake designers were clear that the cake topper needed to be impressive from a distance or impressive up close.

Only one cake topper was vertically impressive. Still, that design had an issue with a stick poking out. Additionally, that design seemed a little jumbled and undefined.

The other bottom design had not elevation at all. While vibrant in color, no one could see the design unless they were looking down at the top. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a cake topper? Shouldn’t it draw people to it?

Even though Karen and Jose’s cake topper referenced their heritage and had bright colors, the topper had no height. That unfortunate choice caused this team to be eliminated.
Going into the main challenge, the three remaining teams had to create a birthday celebration cake for the Busby quintuplets. This cake had to be a celebration for all the girls’ birthdays. It was definitely a tall order.

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While the bakers had five hours to create the large cake, also, they had to create a tasting cake. The final decision would be made by the Busby family.

The bakers were give some decorative parameters and flavor preferences. The girls love chocolate and Oreos. That direction had all the bakers creating chocolate cakes.

For decorative elements, the girls like unicorns, puppies and rainbow colors. If you thought that these cakes would be sophisticated, monochromatic looks, you were sadly mistaken.

Putting all these elements into a single cake was a tall order. While kids love the myriad of design elements, it can be difficult to determine where to look first. These cakes would definitely be described as whimsical.

The tallest cake was clearly Juanita and Aaron’s creation. The topsy turvy cake had a ton of details. It incorporated many of the family’s wishes and a few unexpected items, too. The use of bows and confetti was a nice way to include lots of color.

The cake flavor was nice but it wasn’t too chocolate forward. A few comments were made that they wanted more chocolate. The salty element was lovely, but it needed a little more cookie crunch.
Unfortunately, this cake had a big oops factor. The unicorn head fell off. With everything else being so good, this mistake was definitely a big disappointment.

Kyong and Dien has the most cohesive cake scene. The elements looked like there were part of a whimsical scene. With lots of personal touches, this cake display was definitely a show stopper.
For the cake itself, the flavor was delightful. The cream cheese layer was smart. The added tang balanced the richness of the chocolate.

The biggest complaint about this display was the amount of cake. While the display was lovely, it might be difficult to feed 150 people with this amount of cake. Maybe someone could provide some additional cupcakes.

Elysia and Andrea made a magical kingdom. The cake design incorporated numerous techniques on the various layers. Unfortunately, this design confused the eye with so many different elements. It might have been better to have scaled down all the design elements.

As for their cake, itself, the cookie layer was different and offered good texture. Overall, the cake was very moist and wasn’t overly sweet.

The winning cake was from Kyong and Dien. This cake creation was the most cohesive scene and the cake itself was quite tasty. Maybe someone brought a few extra cupcakes to the party to ensure everyone got a sweet treat.

Truthfully, I think that Aaron and Juanita would have won if it wasn’t for the unicorn beheading. That mistake cost them the prize. Maybe they will appear in another Food Network baking competition.

What did you think of the Winner Cake All episode 1? Will you be watching the rest of the season?