After setting a high bar in the first episode of the season, Spring Baking Championship Season 11 episode 2 is bringing some block magic to the Food Network kitchen. Minecraft’s blocky world inspired the challenges. Which baker stacked up a win and whose structure did not have the strong foundation?
The first couple episodes of Spring Baking Championship are always difficult. The bakers always want to do their best. Even though riding the middle is permissible in the first couple of challenges, no one wants to be in the bottom. Mistakes can happen, but no one wants to be the first person eliminated.
This episode is all about A Minecraft Movie. Since that world is all about choosing your own destiny, the bakers knew that they had to square up their desserts to earn high marks. Flavor is always the most important factor but the visuals set the better dessert apart in this episode.
For the Preheat, the bakers had to create square fruit entremets. While these bakers should be able to make an entremets, but the square element makes it much harder. The 90-degree angles and straight edges were paramount. Plus, that mirror glaze needed to be perfect to cover those sharp edges.
The entremets were either fabulous or failures. Some bakers had no possibilities of winning. Lacking mirror glazes, funky shapes, and other issues were not the foundation that would prove to be successful.
This challenge was much harder than the bakers assumed. Square fruits needed to still look like fruit. A yellow square is not a lemon. Just like Minecraft, the bakers needed to add their creativity to this square-fruit dessert.
Two bakers were clearly the top bakers. Priya, who was a top baker in the first episode, earned high praise from the judges. The structure was nearly perfect. More importantly, the dessert had lots of raspberry flavor. The judges described the flavor like eating raspberry sherbet.
The other top baker was Lisa. Her watermelon entremets made the judges smile. The variegated mirror glaze mimicked the fruit. The visual was outshined by the center, which looked like cutting into a watermelon. The judges appreciated that the watermelon flavor was not artificial. It was a wonderful representation of the fruit.
The Spring Baking Championship Season11 episode 2 Preheat winner was Lisa. For that win, she had $250 Little Shop dollars to use on special tools. She choose to purchase an extra stand mixer and molds to use in the Main Heat.
The Main Heat challenge was the first team challenge of Spring Baking Championship Season 11. A team challenge this early could see a favorite baker go home. The random pairing can be both a good and bad scenario. For the lower bakers, it could be their free pass to another challenge.
The team challenge required the bakers to make two Minecraft cakes, one over world and one nether world. In addition, there needed to be a portal to connect the two worlds.
The two cakes needed to taste and look cohesive. Given the unlikely flavor combinations, it was a tall task to accomplish.
Everyone seemed stressed in this challenge. From not having enough cake to making mistakes with elements, there were more errors than anyone would have imagined. It was a difficult challenge for everyone.
The top team had both a visual and flavor connection. Corey and Lisa were the only pair that truly accomplished the task. From a well made sandy cookie for the portal to the water element on both cakes, it showed that they worked together.
Since only one baker could be named the winner, the judges picked Corey. Whether it was the marmalade with the salty prosciutto or the balance in the chocolate, he earned the coveted win.
Jesse Palmer announced the two bottom teams, Priya and Kareem as well as Jaime and Paul. This team challenge showed how a top baker could go home due to a teammate’s error.
Priya and Kareem did not have two cohesive flavors. Additionally, the cakes looked like they were from the same world. It was clear that they did not work well as a team.
Jaime and Paul had major technical issues with their cakes. Jaime’s fondant even fell off during judging. Additionally, her cake was gummy.
Paul’s Mexican hot chocolate tasted good, but it was a mess visually. Still, it was better than Jaime’s cake.
After avoiding elimination in the first episode, Jaime could not be saved in this challenge. She was sent home.
What does the next episode hold for these bakers? Be sure to watch new episodes every Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on Food Network. Episodes can be streamed the next day on MAX.