Halloween Baking Championship recap: Play time has a creepy twist

In this Halloween Baking Championship episode, these dolls are not playtime ready.

As Halloween Baking Championship journeys into another haunted room, the bakers better be prepared for more spooky twists and turns. While playtime should be filled with laughter and smiles, these dolls have a hidden secret. These 3-D cakes are definitely not child’s play.

Looking at the first part of the Halloween Baking Championship season, the challenges have been difficult. While the flavors might be somewhat approachable, the decorative aspects have been challenging. From moving doors to edible fences, these bakers need to be strong decorators, too.

For this week’s Halloween Baking Championship challenge, the bakers had to create a 3-D doll cake based on a fall flavor. With just three hours to create these cakes, the bakers needed to have a strong plan. Even the best cake artists would find this challenge difficult.

Of course, a couple of twists were thrown into the mix. The bakers had to include a baby food and that flavor needed to be tasted in the cake.

The aspect of actually having to taste the baby food was quite curious. Often with the flavor twists, the bakers try to hide the ingredients. Now, that chocolate cake really needed to have a strong carrot note. Could that flavor combination really be a new food trend?

Lastly, the second twist included a baby doll accessory. Truthfully, this final twist was a little unnecessary. It seemed that the addition was just to frazzle the bakers and cut into their decorating time. Given the enormity of the challenge, it was a little cruel to make them do another decoration.

Overall, these 3-D doll cakes were quite impressive. Given the three hour time frame, the bakers really delivered impressive cakes.

Even with the baby food flavor twist, any of these cakes would have been a welcome part of any Halloween celebration. If dolls give you the creeps, it is best to look away or close your eyes before you take a bite.

For this Halloween Baking Championship episode, the two top bakers had the same baby food ingredient, prunes. While many people might avoid this flavor, prunes actually worked to these two bakers’ favor advantage. That dried plum flavor can work well in a dessert.

With the most unusual flavor twist, Michelle combined the prunes with a lemon poppyseed cake and yuzu cream. The prunes added a lovely balance to the pucker from the lemon. While no one would have ever thought that these ingredients would play well, they were the surprise of the episode.

Renee took a more traditional approach to the prunes by using it in a custard. That flavor with the vanilla pecan cake was delicious. It earned her a coveted Carla Hall “dude” this week.

While the judges did think that maybe a touch of acid would have brightened the bite, the cake was amazing. Between the moist crumb and the impressive visual of a frilly doll, it was clear that Renee was this week’s winner.

With her second win, Renee is proving to be a front runner. Although she has had a few missteps, her desserts have won high praise.

Unfortunately, the two bottom bakers seemed to be cursed by these demon dolls. From missteps with the baby food flavors to missing the theme, the bottom bakers might have wished that play time ended a while ago.

Tamara had a good marbled vanilla pound cake, but the carrot frosting didn’t really work. The buttercream was all sugar and no carrot. If she had added some ginger or another flavor to bring out the carrot, she would have done better.

Since this challenge was about highlighting that baby food flavor, the cake needed to be bolder. Anyone can hide carrot into a cake. The idea was to show how carrot could work in a pound cake.

The other bottom baker was Aaron. Visually, his cake was the most impressive. The fondant work was superb, but the cake looked like a demon, not a doll. The idea was to give the doll a demonic twist. The doll was consumed into another creature.

Aaron’s cake was a peanut butter cake. While the cake was lovely, his butternut squash secret ingredient was hidden. The butternut squash simple syrup didn’t bring enough of the butternut squash flavor.

In the end, Tamara’s cake was a little too simple for the judges and they couldn’t find the carrot flavor. She was eliminated.

Looking ahead, it is hard to predict who could be the next baker to go. The next episode is all about pies. Everyone knows that a soggy bottom will spell doom for these Halloween Baking Championship bakers.

Who is your favorite baker this season? Do you think that you can predict the winner yet?