Winner Cake All anniversary cakes celebrate world traveler Apolo Ohno

In this week’s episode, Winner Cake All anniversary cakes celebrate Apolo Ohno and his girlfriend’s anniversary and their love of travel.

Winner Cake All anniversary cakes took flight on this week’s Food Network episode. The baking teams had a long wish list of features for these anniversary cakes. With their client, Apolo Ohno, and his girlfriend too, these cakes needed to celebrate travel, exotic flavors and the couple’s adorable puppy. Can these bakers make a memorable globally inspired cake?

Before getting to the main challenge, the four baking teams needed to impress the judges with an anniversary cake decoration. While this cake topper could feature any type of anniversary, the cake topper needed to clearly portray that special milestone to the baking teams.

Given the breadth of this challenge, these cake toppers were all very different. From business anniversaries to buying a new house, the creativity in these cake toppers was impressive. Still, the precision and details need to support that creativity.

Crystal and Maddie had the most innovative cake topper. Creating a macaroon character to celebrate the anniversary of their store was smart. Even though there were a few technical issues, the character, itself, was sassy and cute. They had the most genius decoration, using colorful candy melts to create a bunch of balloons. This baking team easily advanced to the next round.

Another top choice was Stephanie and Danielle. Overall, this cake topper had lots of details. From the wood grain base to the feminine flowers, this cake was quite lovely. Although the scene was a little crowded, this team earned a spot in the second round.

The bottom two baking teams had technical issues with their cake decorations. Alexandra and Cathy missed crucial details to their little house. While some parts were charming, the mis-measured roof, unfinished edges and lines were distracting. The house needed more refinement.

Timmy and Chris had a very personal story, 10th anniversary of making cakes, but the design needed more finesse. The figurine was not proportionate to the design. He looked as if he was being smashed by the roof. While cute, the perspective and missing details were distracting.

The baking team sent home in the first round was Timmy and Chris. Their cake topper needed more attention to detail and wow factor.

Moving onto the main challenge, the baking teams needed to create an anniversary/birthday cake for Apolo Ohno and his girlfriend. The cake needed to emphasize their world travels, a nod to his girlfriend and their little puppy, Sesame. The cake’s flavor needed to focus on exotic tastes. While mango was suggested, incorporating moon cake flavors, like red bean paste, would also be appreciated.

The more exotic flavors is a nice twist for these Winner Cake All anniversary cakes. Moon cakes, and its red bean paste, are such a rich, savory flavor that could be used more often. Maybe this Food Network episode could inspire some people to explore the red bean paste flavor.

Looking at the three anniversary cakes, all the cakes had similar elements. From globes to planes, it was clear that these cakes focused on travel. Also, each cake included Sesame, although a few teams were more successful than others.

Stephanie and Danielle had the most sophisticated flavor profile. The vanilla cake with guava butter cream, mango lime curd and red bean paste was a flavor explosion. While at first blush, this combination might be overwhelming, it did work.

Similar to their cake, some very specific details on this cake shined. The passports were incredibly special. But, the cake needed more cohesion. It seemed that each element stood on its own, instead of working together.

Crystal and Maddie’s cake was visually impressive. Choosing a particular color scheme was smart. While their globe was a little wonky, their Sesame figure was so impressive. Overall, the visual presentation was a huge success.

This anniversary cake was the only cake not to include the prescribed flavors, mango and red bean paste. It seemed that the bakers had never used those flavors, so they avoided them. Instead, this cake consisted of a passionfruit cake with raspberry buttercream. The use of fresh raspberries in the filling was quite smart.

Lastly, Alexandra and Cathy planned a very ambitious cake. While they nailed the difficult flavor profile of a moon cake, the cake’s design was a little sloppy. The not too sweet cake played the salty/sweet element well. Unfortunately, the cake decoration wasn’t clean. Even though the sugar flowers were beautiful, it was clear that this cake wasn’t in the running for the win.

The winning cake for Winner Cake All anniversary cakes was from Crystal and Maddie. Even though they avoided the red bean paste, their combined flavor and decoration definitely earned them the win.

What did you think of this Winner Cake All anniversary cakes episode? Did it inspire you to try some red bean paste desserts?