[eerie music playing]
I'm back.
Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures here
and this season on Halloween Wars,
you cannot escape the fright.
Nine teams of cake,
sugar and pumpkin artists are about to compete
in a series of challenges.
Pumpkin gourds, let's go.
[Zak] Inspired by the most profound
paranormal encounters my Ghost Adventures crew
has experienced at haunted locations
all over the world.
Last time, Team Whisk Craft was eliminated
while Ghostly Gals and Lollipop Lunatics moved on.
Tonight, it's the second qualifying episode
where three more teams try to fight their way
into the main competition.
- [together] Oh! - Hey, hey.
Man, you almost gave me a heart attack.
They say that once you've contacted the spirits,
they attach themselves to you.
- Whoa! - Which means,
I've now brought them to Halloween Wars.
Push, push, push.
- Oh, my God. - I'm scared.
[thunder rumbling]
Here we go again.
Wicked Delicious,
Eerie Eats
and Mixin Vixens.
Welcome.
I don't know what you got yourself into.
- [laughs] - Oh, we know.
- We'll find out. - [wolf howls]
[howling]
- [static on TV] - Well, teams,
let's do this.
London, England, has been the home
to countless secret societies.
One of the most mysterious of these groups
was known as the Hellfire Club.
In the 18th century,
the Hellfire Club claimed
several of the Royal Family as members.
Gathering in a series of intricately designed caves,
dug into the hillside, beneath the church.
And over the years, these caves became the site of pagan rituals,
and murder.
Now, while we were locked down in the pitch-black Hellfire caves,
we witnessed objects moving of their own accord.
And we even heard several beastly growls.
[growling]
- Was that your stomach? - What was that?
I heard a growl, that was not my stomach.
- [chuckles] - Ooh.
Now, your challenge today,
is to imagine classic Halloween monsters
or your own original spooky creature.
Dress to impress in Victorian garb,
as they rub elbows
with the royal secret society.
And, no matter how scary your club might be,
everyone in England, stops for tea.
So, run up here
and grab a tea box,
and find out what tea...
will inspire your flavors.
You got seven hours,
- so go. - Go.
- Go, go, go. - All right, let' see
what we got, let's see what we got.
What's in the box? What do we got? What do we got?
We got... Earl Grey.
- Mmm. - Can you work with it?
It's gonna taste like soap if I do too much,
- Yeah. - If I don't patool it
or you don't taze enough then...
We gotta get it just right, man.
- Oh, I love it. - English breakfast tea.
Okay, let's do like
a fresh fruit, like peaches?
- Peaches are good. - That's a good idea.
- [gasps] - [chuckles]
- Rose Congou. - Yeah,
yeah. I've made rose water cake before.
- Okay. - And I betcha this would work
really, really nice for it.
All right, Victorian monster theme.
- What do you guys think of? - Well, I mean,
when I think of London, I think of werewolves.
Okay, werewolves,
what's he doing, why is he there?
Well, I mean, they said something about royalty and so maybe...
Oh, wait, wait, wait. What if he...
What if he wants to take over the throne,
so he cuts off the king and prints his head of the time.
You guys like it?
I dig it.
Our team name is Eerie Eats.
We have the creative innovation,
the technical prowess and...
definitely the flavor profile to win.
And, we're gonna have his arm raised up, can we do that?
- Yeah, I think... - Can we have a scepter in his arm?
-Yeah we just gotta be careful -Yeah, definitely.
- about not making it too heavy. - Yeah.
[Anthony] The story of our piece is that a werewolf is envious
that Prince Albert and Queen Victoria have reigned for so long.
So, he decides, not only would he kill them,
he'd mount them as his prize in his ghastly lair.
Ugh, I didn't do well in gym class.
Let's go, it wasn't a far journey at all.
My name is Anthony Pater, I am 20 years old,
and, I'm a pumpkin carver.
I've been carving ever since I was a little kid.
I would describe my artistic style
as highly detail-oriented and just...
off the walls insane.
I'm starting the face
of Queen Victoria. I'm gonna have her
with a big mouth expression going, "Haa".
I need to make her look dead,
but I also have to make her look alive enough
so that the expression reads as petrified.
[Cesar] This will be my red velvet cake.
So, right now, I'm melting down some butter,
infusing it with Earl Grey.
Has to be moist.
[Anthony] We're going to be making an Earl Grey red velvet cake,
with Earl Grey Cream Cheese icing,
and grapefruit jam with matcha pistachios.
[Cesar] Red velvet and Cream Cheese,
so it gives that little southern hospitality.
In London.
[Anthony] The sugar artist on our team
is Cesar Barachina
Cesar is one of the most detail-oriented, precise,
and versatile sugar artists.
Cesar is going to be taking care of
our tasting element.
[Cesar] Then, to give it a little crunch factor,
I'm gonna make some matcha pistachios, this will complement...
the herbaceousness of the Earl Grey.
I'm going to use rice paper to make like a cravat for the werewolf.
[Anthony] Andrea Bosic is our cake artist.
She has an incredibly innovative and creative mind
with the technical and artistic skills to match.
All right.
Make sure all the elbows and the knees are in the right position
we need Wolfy's feet.
[Anthony] Andrea is taking care of the entire werewolf.
Head to toe.
[Cesar] Be good, baby.
I pair it behind.
[speaking foreign language]
I'm thinking more classical Halloween.
- Yeah. - Maybe we go with...
uh, vampiress.
- Yeah. - We could make some beautiful...
- lace elements and some other components. - Yeah.
- Absolutely. - What do you think?
We're Wicked Delicious.
Our piece is going to consist of a vampiress,
she's decided instead of toasting the king,
she'd have him for dessert.
And she's ripping out his heart and cleaning his bones.
I think this is the one.
[groans] Oh, yeah, it's heavy enough.
I'm William Wilson from Cincinnati, Ohio, I am...
the carver for our team.
I'm trying to get the light in here so, what I'm gonna do...
- [machine whirs] - I'm gonna take my speed bit,
we're just gonna run it right down the middle.
And, light 'em up.
It's my job to make it look like a candle.
Boo!
This is gonna be the head for the vampiress
and as soon as this starts to set up a little bit, I'll be able to
start sculpting the face.
Are you making a scary face?
This is Halloween Wars, you know that, right?
You want scary, I'll give you scary.
[William] Our cake artist is Judy Decker.
She hails from the great state of Wisconsin.
Her imagination knows no bounds.
She's gonna be scary but she's gonna be beautiful too.
The tea we got was Rose Congou.
And we're doing Rose Congou cake,
a citrus Cream Cheese filling,
with toasted pistachios
covered in a Rose Congou buttercream.
I'm adding some of the tea to the milk.
To steep it and really get the flavors out,
I'm gonna warm it up and then, lemon zest.
Definitely gonna help balance the rose.
Pistachios maintain their crunchy texture
while they're being baked in the cake and...
it goes really well with tea.
[William] Our sugar artist is Elizabeth Harkness.
She seems to have
deeper knowledge than you would think of,
for somebody who just came out of college.
Oh, yeah, you can smell the... this rose is really coming out.
All right, guys, our cake's going in the oven.
Nice, good job.
- Let's go wild. - Let's go big.
So, like, Hellfire cave demon?
- Okay, yeah, absolutely. - Great.
- Claws. - Just make him crazy like
- nothing that anyone's ever seen before. - Make him our own.
Our team name is Mixin Vixens.
Our creature is having a tea party.
No one shows up, he's very angry, he starts smashing plates.
His tea is spilling.
He's very upset.
For the face, I'm thinking something really creepy
who'll have animal features and maybe, some human features.
That sounds pretty awesome.
I'm Jennifer Hoskins,
I teach middle school art.
I got into pumpkin carving a few years ago.
I saw some realistic pumpkins that inspired me
to try to do my own version.
I think it would be really cool
we can do a ruffle collar maybe out of some wafer paper.
We gotta make him frilly, make him fancy.
- He's gotta be a dapper sir. - [laughs]
[Jennifer] Our cake artist is Brittney Weil from Hollister, California.
She decorates cakes with fondant beautifully.
She does some very creepy stuff.
I'mma throw in, like, four tea bags into here.
- Okay. - I just wanna get this
as infused with tea as I possibly can.
[Jennifer] Our sugar artist is Maryann Dicino.
She is a pastry instructor
in San Diego, California.
I'm gonna work on this streusel.
Some oats.
Pecan, it'll give it a little crunch and it'll,
like, tie in all those flavors together.
We decided to do an...
English breakfast infused cake,
with an oat pecan streusel, poached peaches
and English breakfast infused buttercream.
[Maryann] This streusel looks amazing.
It smells so good, you guys.
[Eddie] All right, so let's talk about flavors, right, we're talking about tea.
I think you have to pair it with something.
- Hmm. - Right? Whether it be with some type of citrus,
or some type of warm spice.
I think this is infused enough.
[Aarti] One of the great gifts about working with tea is that it's
naturally tannic,
- and it can go a little bitter. - Mmm-hmm.
I think with this challenge, it's really balancing
the tea and the bitter with the cake and the honey, the pistachio.
- Mmm-hmm. - All of that can really mask
the tea taste.
[Aarti] Right, so these teams
have to find that perfect spot
where they get that really assertive tea flavor,
and I think that's the hard thing.
[thunders]
- Hello. - Oh, my gosh.
Six hours.
- Oh, boy. - Okay.
It's not even an hour.
- Okay. - Oh, my gosh.
Where are you at on the head?
- I got almost all of her features done. - Awesome.
Vampires are known to have
those red fire eyes.
I think I went too thin on the marshmallows on the first leg.
[Cesar] It's okay.
[Aarti] I think that Andrea
over at Eerie Eats, was kinda concerned
about structure from the get-go.
We've got two out of three of the creations today, are massive.
- Mmm-hmm. - Which I think is pretty ambitious
- for your first design out the gate. - Yes.
Wolfy's butt keeps falling off.
- [Anthony] No. - [Cesar] No, no, no.
- Don't say that. - [Andrea] That's All right, we're gonna...
First, I'm gonna cry about it
- then I'm gonna find a solution. - [Cesar] No crying.
There's no crying in this game.
Argh!
- Are you doing okay, Andrea? - I'm very nervous.
That's not good.
Our whole structure just bowed forward.
- Guys, I'm starting to panic. - Okay, don't panic.
[Andrea] I don't know what we're gonna do.
- This whole section started to fall forward so... - This part?
Counterbalance the tail.
- Okay. - Maybe that'll add
- the weight that's needed. - Okay, what are we doing, guys?
- Talk to me. - We're gonna counterbalance the tail.
Can't have good enough, we need to make sure that structure is standing.
[Andrea] He's starting to lean again.
So, the only thing I can think of
is if we take this arm and put a cane,
like he's got a cane and that'll act like a dowel.
Okay, do it.
We didn't do all this hard work just to go home.
[Andrea] Get the arm to bear some of the weight.
Okay, that's better.
Okay. Wolfy needs to be assembled.
- We're already running behind. - I'm starting to panic.
Andrea, I'll tell you what. If you need me to,
I will make the wolf head out of pumpkin.
- Okay? - Okay.
[Anthony] It's certainly not my intense to carve a werewolf head but...
having everyone's backs is what a team is for.
We'll make it happen, captain.
- [static from TV] - [scream on TV]
- Ooh. - My God.
We don't like that. [chuckles]
Four hours left, you guys.
I think all the details
- we should probably hold off on. - I agree.
We are the only team that hasn't put anything on our board.
Ah, I think we're running a little bit behind but we will catch up here.
I'm gonna start the skull right now.
That's probably gonna take me a little bit.
Our vampiress is in mid change.
She's actually half-bat.
So, her claw is gonna be...
right on top of this skull,
holding the kings heart in her hand.
So, it's definitely gonna be a good action shot.
Beautiful and golden.
All right, cakes are out of the oven.
The rice cereal treats are a little hard to work with,
because they are a little dry.
Was able to pop 'em in the microwave and soften them up a little bit.
So, hopefully I didn't soften them up too much.
I've made like a English tea simple syrup.
So, I'm gonna chop these peaches up,
I want the judges to have like a bite in the cake,
just little bite-size pieces.
The sweetness from the peach and then the subtleness in the tea,
it just goes really well and then, that's why I also did the oat pecan streusel.
A lot of people top their oatmeal with peaches.
And, so, I just felt like it would be a really good combination.
How are you doing on the face over there?
It's coming along but I'm getting a little bit nervous with
how much needs to be done and the amount of time we have.
Because I don't wanna just put it up there
and it looks like a pumpkin with a face on it.
It needs to look like a sculpture.
How's the face going, Judy?
[Judy] We're almost there, guys.
[Elizabeth] All right.
[Judy] Hey, guys, lookit.
- Check her out. - Oh,
she's perfect.
- Yeah. - [William] She's beautiful, I love her.
[all chuckle]
I'm scared. [laughs]
Now that I'm done with that, I'm...
making an edible lace component,
for the dress.
We use water and I'm going to rip up
a couple of sheets of wafer paper.
Pour it in a pan.
Move it around, move it quickly till it dries.
And, when it's done,
it's very delicate lace.
[vocalizes] Whoo-hoo!
That's some southern red velvet.
Hot! Coming down hot.
Beautiful, the old touch of English royalty.
I cannot beat it, just...
pure melted chocolate, what it's gonna do
is give it a little bit of crunch factor.
- Hello, Cesar. - Hello.
- You guys got Earl Grey, right? - Yes, Ma'am.
- How are you going to incorporate that? - So...
making a wonderful Earl Grey buttermilk [indistinct]
with any good red velvet cake,
you need that nice little twang of the buttermilk.
- You're making a red velvet cake with Earl Grey? - Yes, Ma'am.
I'mma put cocoa right in there, I'm gonna twang it all together
- with a little Cream Cheese, and then... - Okay.
A wonderful citrus note with the grapefruit jam that I'm making here.
And, I'm gonna put some matcha pistachios in there.
- Cesar. - Oh, you're gonna love it, I promise you.
I'm very concerned about how many flavors
- are in your cake, buddy. - Listen.
I wouldn't be here if I didn't know what I was doing.
All right, all right, that was very confident.
All right, bye.
So, the cake sprung back when I touched 'em.
They're kinda pulling away from the edges.
- So, I think they're ready to come out. - Ooh!
Hot pan, hot pan, hot pan
- behind you. - Oh, my gosh,
they smell so good.
So, I have the Rose Congou
lemon zest filling.
And then, I will be taping the filling
with toasted pistachio.
- Judy. - [Judy] Yeah.
Could you please turn your head and just make sure
- she's putting this cake on right before we dress it. - Yeah, is this okay?
- Are we good? - That's good.
We just need to do some carving after she gets it all stacked there.
Yeah, we need to get this top started, asap.
We're gonna be in trouble.
You think four plates will be good?
- Yeah. - Or do you want more?
I mean, to be fair, no one came to his tea party.
- Yeah. - [chuckles]
Mixin Vixens structure looks pretty solid.
[Maryann] I love scary stuff.
- I get scared easily. - Really?
I used to work at a corn maze
- and we used to scare people... - [Maryann] Did you really?
[Brittney] I did.
- Oh, my gosh. - Oh, gosh.
[Shinmin] The rice cereal in the knee is literally hanging by...
- a strand of marshmallow. - Oh, my God.
I'd be too afraid I'd get lost.
[both laugh]
We like to get people lost, that's the fun of it.
[Maryann] Yeah, that's the problem.
- Do they even know? - They don't know.
- Guys. - Look up.
[Aarti] Look up.
- [imitates werewolf] - [laughs]
Oh, my gosh, they gotta fix that
because it could pull even more
- with the rice cereal, right? - Yeah.
They don't even know.
- You guys. Psst. - Look up.
Look up.
[Brittney] Uh-oh, we have a breach.
Oh, no.
- Look. - Oh, I think she's fixing it.
That's great, well bound.
[groans]
[Chinmin] Rice cereal tends to have...
a "Muscle memory", if you will.
So, once it starts falling, it's gonna wanna keep
-drooping in that direction, -Ahh!
Because you can't remelt the marshmallow inside.
The more that I have to come over here and finesse with this,
the more time that I'm gonna lose on...
fondant work and details.
Brittney, what, like, could we do, like,
- if we have time to... - You're okay.
- It's okay, it's okay. - It's okay.
-When I get frustrated, -I know.
- Like, I cry. - I know.
Frustrates me even more.
Because then I can't, like, stop it.
And now, I'm just wasting time with this.
'Kay, you're fine.
We can make this work.
- Think about the solution, not the problem. - Yeah.
I feel like Zak...
took the kitchen today because these teams
are really feeling the spirit breathing down
their necks and things are falling apart.
I bit off a little bit more than I could chew, cake wise.
- [thundering] - Oh, boy.
Three hours.
Oh, my God.
Who's going home tonight?
[Judy] Here I have
gelatin, glycerin and water.
I'm gonna quickly brush this onto the wafer paper.
It's actually going to make the wafer paper pliable
and stretchy like fabric, like a bat wing.
We gotta get this dress on our lady.
She's naked.
We're making two different crowns.
Uh, one's gonna be the crown that the king wears,
the other one is gonna be the crown that our vampiress wear.
I cooked my isomalt but I added a little
yellow and gold luster dust.
I just do not wanna break it.
And, aah.
She's beautiful.
All right, going to the oven.
Now, we just wanna get it warm so it's pliable to curve it.
Ooh, it's starting to go.
All right.
It looks fantastic.
Guys, we have crowns.
[William] Awesome.
- Dope. - Amazing.
[Cesar] So, I'm making the blood-cherry eyeballs for Wolfy,
in a case of den isomalt,
so this will add a little bit of depth.
This is actually my first time I've ever carved a wolf head.
The muzzle...
is getting there, it doesn't have its teeth yet but...
I'm gonna get the hair on.
Scrape against the pumpkin, you're gonna get a little piece of a straw like this,
it looks like a French fry.
You poke it in and...
voila, you've got a little...
thing of fur sticking out.
[Cesar] So, I got a crown that's made.
I got diamonds made.
I'll make the flower for the lapel.
I'm kinda using an orchid as an inspiration to that flower.
Just giving it a nice white base
and then I'm gonna build on to that.
As we pivot, I'm trying to keep close to the original design.
And, we're just gonna make it happen.
Come hell or high water.
Or, in this case, Hellfire.
This isomalt, this is gonna be the puddle of spilt tea.
And then, I'm gonna pull the tea that's
coming out of the cup.
So, I have to make sure it's long enough.
But, it also looks like it's fluid and flowy,
so, that's what I'm trying to work on now.
I still have to cover the whole thing in fondant.
I'm just really concerned.
The legs keep falling off. As soon as I do the pants,
that's gonna fall faster.
[Maryann] So you're gonna airbrush 'em, from...?
- [Brittney] The legs, yeah. - Yeah.
Just do it and then let's get the coat going.
Because, as soon as I put fondant on it, it's gonna be heavier,
and so it's gonna start pulling... faster?
How's the head coming?
I'm not very happy with it, to be honest.
Right now, I'm adding some paint just to get rid of that orange color.
I'm pretty stressed out.
But, there's not really time to...
- address it. - [Maryann] Yeah, just try to...
do the best you can to get it done.
Cause I know how you're a perfectionist.
- [Jennifer] Yeah. - I'm a perfectionist too.
- But, we have to make sure we finish. - Yeah.
- [thundering] - Oh, no.
Ooh.
Two hours.
[William] Now I am blocking in the heart.
I'm gonna start it out here and then we're gonna get some live ventricles in here.
We're gonna put a light in it, so while she's squeezing it,
she's squeezing the life right out of him.
It's gonna have blood on it, it's gonna be pretty gross.
- [Judy] Coming All right? - Yeah.
[Judy] It's got a nice little...
badonk in the back here.
[William] That's what I'm talking about.
We just wanna add some texture to her dress.
This has a floral pattern to it.
This is gonna be her skirt.
She's coming together.
- Guys, are we going home today? - Yeah.
- Heck no. - Are we going home tonight?
I am so short for this. Oh!
You got it. I can do that.
- That's good right there. - Right there?
- Guys, she has clothes on. - Look at us.
She's not nakey.
Ho!
[Andrea] Argh!
Oh, my God.
He's starting to lean again.
- [gasps] - No, what's happening.
- Eerie Eats. - Oh.
- God. - He's falling apart, guys, I'm...
so sorry, I'm so sorry.
The legs are giving out.
It's just not strong enough to hold all this weight.
Those legs are just so...
- skinny. It's swaying like this. - Yeah.
It's leaning back.
The structure's failing.
Oh, gosh, okay.
The only thing I can think to do is...
to pull everything from the waist up, off.
That's all we can do, that's all I can...
Do it.
'Cause he's going down.
[whispering] William, look in front of you, William.
I know, I know.
- [whispering] Oh, my God, it's about to fall over. - [whispering] Yeah.
I mean, he's just going down.
It's like, yeah, it's completely separated.
Okay, so, take this leg off.
Hold this leg off.
You see that?
- Oh, geez. - Oh, no.
- Oh, my gosh. - [Shinmin] What happened, what happened?
[Aarti] It's, they're just pulling the whole thing apart.
- Oh, shoot. - [gasps]
[gasps]
Oh, my God, that leg is on the ground.
- Damn. - Oh, my gosh.
This is giving out right now.
We don't have much time left with this guy.
This could be a disaster.
It looks like a disaster right now.
- Oh, shoot. [gasps] - [gasps]
I might just cut him, well, this leg's almost done though.
- I have an idea. - Uh-huh.
Because this isn't gonna last,
we take what we got,
we'll take the upper half of the body,
we'll have him just crawling out of the ground or something.
But, we gotta move forward.
- [sighs] - Modifying the design,
could serve to our benefits.
The story is still the same, it's just a little less...
structurally flimsy.
Strip 'em.
- [shrieks] - I got him.
- You have him. - I got him.
Support the cake, support the cake.
We're going to make this work.
We just move forward, there's nothing else we can do.
[Eddie] You know, a lot of times in these competitions when...
a team gets behind the ball,
we tell them to edit.
- Yeah. - Don't think I've ever seen a team
completely take the bottom half of their cake off.
[Aarti] It's interesting to me that...
- Anthony is showing a wisdom... - Yes.
- way beyond this years to say... - Absolutely.
"You guys, we gotta pivot
- hard right now or else... - Yeah.
- We're not gonna finish." - Yeah.
And then he went right back to crisscross applesauce,
and started carving pumpkins.
- [thundering] - [static on TV]
[Zak] The Hellfire clubs motto was...
Do what thou wilt.
And, according to history, that included black magic
and even satanic rituals,
including sacrifices to the gods,
Bacchus and Venus.
Eddie, let them know
what they can do with that little titbit, won't you?
Uh, leave.
[laughs]
Members of the Hellfire club
covered their faces with frightening animal masks.
- No. - Now, you must
pay tribute by including an animal mask
on your cake.
- An animal mask. - Animal mask.
- So, you have to put an animal... - Edible animal mask
on our cake.
What kind of mask do you guys wanna do?
Not that I wanna put any more on you guys,
but, I don't want to try to make it.
[Cesar] Okay, okay.
A mask of an animal, I don't know.
- Something light weight. - Okay.
[Anthony] What kind of mask are you thinking?
- Do we have any ideas... - Bird mask or something,
something with elongated nose.
- Maybe, yeah, that's... - One of those old doctors mask.
But we gotta get it done quick.
[Maryann] It's like masquerade party, it's just gotta be an animal.
So, I'm thinking of doing black...
like, cat eye mask,
and I'll pull some sugar whiskers.
And then, we'll just try and put some, like, jewels or something on it.
- Are you guys good with that? - [Brittney] Yes.
What we're gonna do is...
a butterfly mask.
So, I'm gonna take some sugar,
I'm gonna pull some wings a little bit,
doing this ribbon technique.
Since we're in the Hellfire caves,
I'm gonna get these butterfly wings a little bit of a flaming look.
So, I'm heating up this ring,
so it'll create eye holes.
Came on just perfect like a mask.
Have you ever seen the way that the bumps are,
-one of the old, plaid mask, -Yeah.
To keep the leather where it is.
I'mma take this melon baller,
I'mma take a small one out and I'm just gonna put it right back.
And, that'll give us a look.
I know how important it is to get the twist element right.
So, the original plan was to give him a full suit.
Textured buttercream fur is just a lot easier.
Right now, I am carving some teeth.
Then, I'm going to add the eyes.
And then, we're gonna put on the head.
Yeah, we need to get that thing up there.
Will, look.
That's dope.
Elizabeth went ahead and made some eye jewels.
I'm hoping the paint sticks and it doesn't bleed out.
Okay, she's just the right size.
Albert needs to be a little bit wider, a little rounder.
This is what's gonna win.
And then, we'll just throw all the rest of this
broken chocolate on the board as dirt.
So, painting will allow me to accentuate the contours.
If I wanted to add shadows in these creases, I definitely will.
They just look fantastic.
I don't think you could do anything to make 'em look wrong.
[Cesar] I got the wings made, the body's made.
- Butterfly. - [Andrea] Looks good.
- Yeah? - Yeah
[Cesar] Okay, nobody knock me, please, this is very frageelay.
[Anthony] Oh, that must be Italian.
[thundering]
[Zak] The Hellfire club demands a sacrifice.
Who will it be?
- Me. Just kidding. - [Zak] One hour left.
- Oh, my gosh. - One hour!
Oh, man, you gotta warn me before that guy comes on, man.
It almost gave me a heart attack.
- [Judy] Okay. - Please don't lean on her.
Lean on me.
[William] Like a glove.
[Elizabeth] Yeah.
Right here, that's where the foot is.
[Judy] What's our ETA on those claws?
- Just gotta paint them, right? - Yeah, I gotta paint them.
These final details are what's gonna sell it, guys.
[Elizabeth] For sure.
Wowie!
- Yeah. - That looks...
- Baller. - [chuckles]
I absolutely love it.
Picking up corn silk, we're gonna put some...
for one of the royals.
As her hair.
Eyes are done for Wolfy,
I just need you to put him on there so I can stick his eyes in.
- Okay. - You got it?
- Yeah, I got it. - Wolfs head.
It's going on now.
All right, I'm going to put this...
down here.
We'll see.
Okay, I'm gonna attach the tea spill.
Looks like his hands are shorter than I thought.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and have to melt this down a little.
[Maryann] Oh, yeah, look at the red.
- [Brittney] Yeah, he's crying blood. - He's creepy.
- Are you almost ready to put the head on? - Yeah.
Scary...
- Careful. - We're good, we're good.
Hmm. Okay.
His head is small.
- His head is way small. - Yeah, a little.
It is...
too small for the platform.
And so, the platform made for it is completely exposed.
I can't cut the board down any more.
We just have to make it work somehow.
- [thundering] - Oh, gosh,
- now what? - [static on TV]
30 minutes.
Ah!
- What's our fix? - I think ruffles are gonna be the easiest thing.
- I think so too. - We're gonna have to put
- huge ruffles. - If we can make him a high collar
wafer paper 'cause it's gonna stand out better.
[Maryann] Come on, Mixin Vixen power.
We'll attach it to the base here.
-So, it looks like a really big high -Ah, yes, yes.
- Victorian collar. - Yes, yes.
- Okay. - Okay.
We gotta hustle.
We're almost at the point where we can start putting the wings on.
I don't know if this is gonna work.
[William] It's gonna work.
[Cesar] Now is the time to hustle now, boy.
Andrea, where am I going to put Wolfy's flower?
- Right here? - [Andrea] Yup.
[Anthony] And Cesar, be double, triple, quadruple sure
that mask...
gets on that display.
I'm not going home because of it.
[speaking foreign language]
- [static on TV] - Ten minutes, teams, come on,
- Ten minutes. - Let's work, let's go.
Come on, come on, come on, push, push, push.
- Push, everybody push. - Okay.
Crown's going on now.
Why don't you hook his ear on the inside.
- I don't wanna rush... - [gasps]
Oh, my God.
- What's that sound? - No.
- Is it the crown that's breaking? - Oh, yeah.
We're gonna just go without it?
- Skip it. - Cesar, get the mask.
So, should pop the jewels off and let her arm around the thing.
- They have less than ten minutes. - So, less than ten... yeah.
Mask going on.
He's spray painting fractures in the wings.
No too many though, this has gotta be on point.
This uh, that...
- Oh. - Ooh.
[Eddie] That was the mask.
- No. - No.
That was the mask.
- That was the twist. - [gasps]
Oh, my God.
- Okay. - Can you save the body?
Save the body.
That was the mask.
- Dammit. - Here.
[Cesar] Take it off.
- Oh, my gosh. - There's no way.
We wanna just roll out some mild chocolate fondant.
I'm making something out of pumpkin right now.
[Cesar] All right, come on.
Two minutes.
[Maryann] We just need to be careful cause I'm afraid things are gonna fall off.
- Good? Is it perfect? - Yup.
It's pretty perfect.
Yesir, let's go.
- Let's go, guys, let's go. - Whoo.
'Kay, I'm gonna take it over there.
- 'Kay. - Definitely a butterfly.
- Okay. - [Cesar] I got citrus.
[Anthony] All right, this is the backup.
Ooh, even better.
- Did you hear that? - How can he just
- carve that butterfly. - He just saved the day again.
That's crazy, dude.
He saved the day again is what he did.
- [gasps] - [Eddie] One minute.
What just fell?
You have one minute left.
[Cesar] The flower. Skip it.
- Okay. - Skip it.
[Andrea] Here. Cesar.
It's a big jewel, stick it in there.
[Aarti] This team...
is giving me heart palpitations.
That looks great, it's a big royal badge.
Let's go.
It's crunch time.
We gotta get the jewels on.
- [Eddie] Time's up. - [thundering]
- Oh, God. - Whoo!
- Oh, God.
God, I think we did it.
[Zak] Time to check out your Victorian monster bash.
Oh, my gosh.
That was intense.
I gotta lean over and breathe.
[Andrea] It's All right.
I would say Anthony needs a drink but he's not old enough.
- He's not. - [laughs]
I'm proud of the piece, no matter what.
- We rock. - All right.
[Maryann] So, this is Thomas.
And Thomas was supposed to have this lovely tea party.
It was gonna be a little mischievous, a little bit of fun.
But, he got really upset because no one showed up for his tea party
So, he went into a fit of rage,
and broke his dishes,
spilt his tea and just...
got so angry, he tore the sleeves off his jacket.
[all laugh]
- And lost his pants. - And lost his pants.
Lost his pants, this is the crazy part.
That happens to me when I'm angry, too.
Your cake...
strikes a very imposing figure.
So, good job in terms of making it mysterious.
I love his face.
I think there's so much texture in there.
It's kind of grotesque.
Um, I love the addition of the blood
and I love that there's so much opening in it.
It sort of, draws you in.
- I wish that that head was tilted down. - Yeah.
So, I could see all of the hard work that you put into it.
The color break up, you did that really well.
Even just adding that sugar lace in white
against the grain, they really, really stand out.
Yeah, you ladies really rocked the texture of this piece.
I love how you hold that buttercream
because, to me, it looks like kinda, matted fur.
But as I look at the character himself,
he seems a little bit boxy.
It's kinda throwing me off, I would rather see
more like, muscular.
- He ripped the sleeves off, right? - Yeah, yeah.
So, let's see some muscles on there.
Yeah.
- Straight into the heart. - Oh, wow.
- The heart. - There you go, look, look, look.
I took a Vanilla cake and infused it with English breakfast tea.
I poached some peaches with cardamom and tea,
that's sitting in a Cream Cheese cream with vanilla bean paste.
And then, the buttercream is an entire meringue
and I used honey instead of sugar.
And, there's also a pecan oat streusel inside.
There is something very light and refreshing
about this cake.
I love how you've kept the integrity of the peaches
because they still have texture.
You didn't cook 'em all the way down to where they're mushy.
For me though, I wish that I had more of that streusel in here
because I'm searching for like, that nuttiness and that crunch.
And I feel like that's the one thing that's missing.
- All right. - [Shinmin] I don't think
I get the English breakfast flavor in here.
It's a very subtle flavor so it's
pretty difficult to work with.
Especially if you don't want to take it overboard,
which we don't want you to do.
[Aarti] If this was...
just a cake that you handed me, I would love it.
But, since it's supposed to be a tea-cake,
that's where I'm struggling.
I just think that your tea...
um, you didn't make a strong cup of tea.
[all laugh]
All right, Mixin Vixens, thank you.
[together] Thank you.
[Maryann] Okay.
I really thought there was enough tea
- in the cake, in the flavors but... - Me, too.
Maybe we don't have as refined of a palate.
Our palates are sophisticated.
- We did good, guys. - Good job.
- We did. - Good job.
[Anthony] Our envious, tyrannical,
aristocratic werewolf has decided that the reign
of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria
should come to an end, so...
why settle for just hunting them,
when he can make them his prized mounted possession
in his ghastly cavernous lair.
[Aarti] Don't mess with Anthony.
The faces on the plaque of wood stand out to me.
The expression that they have,
the wrinkles, the hair,
everything is done very precisely.
My guy up top looks like he has the Elvis mouth but I don't think he's saying,
"Thank you, thank you very much."
[all laugh]
[Shinmin] All right, I don't know if you guys thought
that you were gonna have to carry this...
baby member Anthony here,
- so the challenge but... - No, ma'am.
He stepped up.
- [Cesar] Yes, he did. - Thank you.
The carving work is really just what captures me immediately.
The faces are so expressive, they're so great.
The texture that you used for the ruffles,
the wafer paper?
You heated them up a little too much
so they look very deflated.
Even if you used thin layers of fondant,
which dries pretty quickly when it's that thin,
you'll have a lot more texture in the movement of the ruffles.
You guys scrambled to get that mask
on the board, you did not give up.
You know, is it the most successful mask?
No. Did you make it?
- Yes. - And satisfy the challenge? Yes.
- Well done. - [together] Thank you.
- All right. - Okay.
I did an Earl Grey
red velvet cake with an Earl Grey Cream Cheese icing,
with a grapefruit jam with matcha pistachios
and the cake is soaked in Earl Grey simple syrup.
And on the very bottom layer is just a little thin layer of 65 percent chocolate.
This cake is crazy.
It's a lot going on on this cake, but I gotta tell you,
personally, I love it.
I do think you need a little bit of self-editing though.
The white chocolate, the chocolate is not needed.
'Cause the red velvet itself already
has notes of chocolate in it.
I think this cake is more successful
than I had anticipated.
I definitely get the Earl Grey.
The cake to me, is a bit of a disappointment because
it's quite dry.
[Shinmin] I think we all three have very
strong, different opinions about this cake.
I think this cake is so good, it tastes illegal.
I would duck into a dark, dank London alley to buy this cake.
Did you say dank?
- Yeah. - [all laugh]
I think it was just actually named incorrectly.
I would call it a cheesecake.
Your cheesecake layers are twice as thick as the actual red velvet.
Um, but, I don't mind it because the cheese part is so good.
Eerie Eats, thank you.
[together] Thank you.
- Hey, it's just a naming thing. - That's...
I think it was delicious.
I'm just really happy that...
we didn't get a comment about...
we can't taste the tea.
[Brittney] Dressed to impress at the royal elegant ball,
our vampiress,
instead of toasting to our king,
she decided to eat his heart for dessert.
She seems nice.
[all laugh]
All right, so I'm really intrigued by the floor that you have right there.
And the mask itself that you have,
I think is the best thing on the whole design.
The sugar work with the eyes, it's really nice.
The candles are great.
The candles are flickering, really atmospheric.
Just such a great touch.
But, this black on black lacing,
it's really lost right now.
You could have easily just brushed a little bit of silver,
over the lace before applying it on there.
And, all of those details would have come out.
This vampiress is everything you expect
from that kind of character.
There's beauty and there's brutality in her face.
- Thank you. - The other thing that I really love
- are those pools of blood. - Mmm-hmm.
Not a phrase I ever thought I would say.
I love you, pools of blood.
I love the positioning of her body,
there's something kind of victorious about it.
Her monstrous foot, really sort of...
is a great juxtaposition
with, like, the beauty of the rest of her.
[Eddie] That's her foot?
- Yeah. - Yeah, so she...
She need to go straight from that party and get a pedicure.
[all laugh]
The toenails is a little long.
There's a lot of wisdom
in choosing a design for your first time out,
that you know that you can get done.
But, you guys need to push yourselves.
It's finished, but it's not complete.
This vampiress
is finished, but it's not complete.
For her to be the only big character here,
she needed to be bigger.
I want a gown, you know how we dress.
- Yeah. - You see how we do.
- Yeah. - Make it bigger.
- Go for it. - Absolutely.
- Let's taste your cake. - Okay.
Whoa!
Our cake is a Rose Congou and pistachio sponge
soaked with a Rose Congou syrup.
It also has saffron in it.
Our filling is a Cream Cheese citrus filling.
We tossed in some toasted pistachios.
And then, we finished it with a Rose Congou Italian meringue buttercream.
And we added a few tablespoons of really concentrated
Rose Congou tea.
I gotta tell you, the Rose Congou really...
comes through, it's very aromatic and very floral.
Where I think this cake kind of, flaws,
is that the crumb itself is just a little bit dry...
- Okay. - For me,
so, I wish you would have found a way to...
add a little bit more fat in there.
Kinda, moisten it up a little bit.
Is it a butter cake or...
- an oil-based cake? - Butter.
Okay.
Butter cakes tend to definitely bake on the slightly drier side,
although, it is better for absorbing flavor
so I understand why you did that.
But, the cake itself is...
definitely super dry.
The flavors in this cake
remind me of my childhood in the Middle East.
The strong saffron,
the strong rose,
the pistachios.
Like, I'm this many, again.
So, I love the flavors here and I think that you...
cracked the whip on that rose tea and you told it who was boss.
And that is Elizabeth,
- so, good job there. - Thank you.
But I agree.
The cake is really dry.
- So watch that. - Okay.
Thank you very much.
- Thank you. - Thank you, judges.
I think the next thing we can work on is our cake, but...
hey, the flavors were all there and she's got a...
What worries me is if we do get
the opportunity to go into the next round,
we're obviously gonna have to go bigger.
Your challenge today
was to bring the creepy animal growl
that Zak heard, down in the Hellfire tunnel, to life.
And for some of you, it proved to be a real beast.
But you all kept fighting and that's the kind of spirit we like here.
There's one team that brought the fire of the Hellfire caves.
Talk about a comeback.
Eerie Eats.
Congratulations.
[all clapping]
Aww.
Oh, my God, you guys.
We'll make this structure out of metal next time, I promise.
[all laugh]
That means that Wicked Delicious and Mixin Vixens,
one of you is going home.
Wicked Delicious.
Your pumpkin candles were lit.
Literally.
And you nailed the twist.
But, we wished that your vampiress
had come more dressed to impress.
And, your cake was dry.
Mixin Vixens.
You created an imposing monster
with amazing textures.
You spilt the tea on your display.
But unfortunately, we couldn't find it in the cake.
Mixin Vixens,
your cake was bold
but unfortunately,
your time is up on Halloween Wars.
Thank you.
[Jennifer] Coming away from this experience,
we really didn't get a chance to show our skill level and I'm disappointed with that.
Good luck, guys.
[Maryann] Thank you, ladies.
But, I'm really happy to have met all the people that I've met here.
Congratulations, Wicked Delicious and Eerie Eats.
You are all moving on to the main competition.
We'll see you back here.
- Soon. - Absolutely.
[Eddie] Next time on Halloween Wars...
[thunder rumbling]
- Oh. - [Eddie] Zak inspires
the last three qualifying teams
with his travels to the most haunted prison in history.
[wolf howls]
- Alcatraz. - I'm a little scared.
He's in prison, you gotta stay strong.
I might have to drink some bat blood.
Gotta go fast, gotta go hard.
Kinda scary looking already, huh?
The cake is falling.
When in doubt, carve it out.
Anything can happen when it comes to cake.
- It gets better. - Does it?
I'm about to bring him to life, call me Frankenstein.
"It's alive!"