Spring Baking Championship Season 9 episode 6: Soda jerks and shagadelic baby

Even though love rings eternal, the judges might have lost that loving feeling for some of the bakers on Spring Baking Championship Season 9 episode 6. With the 50s and 60s themes crossing over to the outfits at the judge’s table, some Food Network fans might have confused the episode with Halloween Baking Championship. Still, love blooms eternal and some bakers are rising to the top of the leader board.

Even though each baker seems to have their niche, the baker who can create impeccable desserts and visually impressive cakes will eventually earn the Spring Baking Championship title. Even if Clement prefers making pretty plated desserts to cupcakes, he cannot avoid a challenge. There is no immunity in this food competition.

The preheat in Spring Baking Championship Season 9 episode 6 stepped into the vintage soda shop. While Jesse might have made a great soda jerk behind the counter, this baking challenge was not as easy as pouring the perfect beverage from the fountain.

The challenge had the bakers incorporating a specific soda flavor into their cupcakes. This challenge was more complicated than it seemed. Getting root beer or lemon lime into a cake batter is not easy. Even though Nancy Fuller might look for more liquor flavor in a dessert, soda flavor is even more tenuous.

Overall, the bakers captured décor of the 50s vibe. Even if some visuals were a little abstract, the colors fit the theme.

Although Christian has yet to win a challenge, he keeps pushing the envelope with his concepts. The grape soda inspired cupcakes baked into an ice cream cone was a cute idea. But, it had too many ideas jumbled into one dessert. He needs to learn to edit.

Overall, most of the bakers did well. Although Luke and Jai had missteps in their execution, there were no total failures.

Winning the pre-heat was Clement. The baker who would prefer to not make cupcakes captured the best flavors with his black cherry red velvet cake cupcakes. Plus, his décor was simple, yet clean.

For winning the pre-heat, Clement was able to choose his flavor in the main heat. Given that Spring Baking Championship is starting to approach the finale, any advantage can be a game changer for a baker.

The main heat challenge required the chefs to make ombre cakes with a shag pipping technique icing décor. While the icing method is meant to mimic those 60s shag carpets, some bakers captured that shagadelic vibe better than others. Although the visual was either on point or not, the bold flavor might have needed to be amplified.

After a few too many times skirting elimination, Molly excelled with her Spring of Love cake. While her car décor was cute, Molly had the best ombre effect of any cake. In addition, her macadamia nut flavor with the white chocolate really popped.

Another top baker was Luke. While Duff Goldman commented that the cake needed more layers for the ombre effect, the décor captured that family room love-in vibe. In addition, his flavors were good. It was another top cake for Luke.

But, no one could beat the top baker, Christian. Finally winning a challenge, Christian impressed with his 60s pool party approach. The visual was unique, more importantly his flavors popped. The mango filling was great, and the bananas made the cake very moist.

Whether or not this win gives Christian the boost as the finale nears remains to be seen. But, Spring Baking Championship Season 9 episode 6 had an outcome that no one could have predicted.

The two bottom bakers were Josh and Jai. Josh has not won a challenge this season. While some of his bakes were good, they were never quite good enough. He has been skirting the middle most of the season. With only a handful of bakers remaining, the middle is not a place to hide.

While Josh’s chocolate work was impressive, his cake’s texture was off. There was plenty of orange flavor, but the cake was really dry. Even though the visual was very enticing, the forkful did not live up to that promise.

Seeing Jai in the bottom was a huge drop. After having won so many challenges, it was hard to see her struggle in this episode. Jai remade her cakes, but she was frazzled the entire time.

Overall, her cake read more Mardi Gras than 60s love vibe. The icing did not stand up to the shag pipping technique. In addition, her cake was missing coconut and her pecans were bitter.

Unfortunately, Jai was eliminated in Spring Baking Championship Season 9 episode 6. It goes to show that winning earlier challenges does not guarantee a spot in the later rounds.

Will a new baker rise to the top in the next Spring Baking Championship episode? Be sure to tune into next week’s episode on Food Network Monday nights at 8 p.m. EST or stream episodes on discovery+.