-[exciting music playing] -[Nicole] Three, two, one!
-You're not done! -Wait, what?
You are not done.
What?
Wes!
[chuckles] Look at...
-What... -What in the...
Is this a joke?
-What in the world? -What is this?
[dramatic music building]
This is a joke.
[Richard groans]
[laughs]
Bakers, you just completed your Big Top cake.
Well, your next trick is bringing us this Really Big Top cake.
What?
-[chuckling] -[ominous music playing]
No, no.
[laughing]
[Angie] My mind has already went to sleep.
I think I'm done. I'm worn out.
But, listen, okay? There is good news! There is very good news.
You've already made the cake surrounding the center cake,
so that's done.
And to make the Really Big Top cake, you'll be putting it together as a group.
That definitely helps.
Each of you will be responsible for one of the tiers
and an accompanying circus cookie.
When you are finished, the last step is to work together
to assemble the central tower...
-Okay. -Ooh.
...and place all of your other cakes around it.
You need to use for this cake
everything that your coach teach you so far.
Leveling, stacking, filling, fondant, and piping.
Good luck.
Okay.
People are still struggling with stacking and leveling.
If your cake is not level and stacked correctly,
the tower can come falling down.
I don't want the top.
There's so much to do.
Each tier has its own difficulty of piping.
There's also more piping on the cookies.
We're going exponential in difficulty.
[chuckles]
Let's get this show on the road!
[enchanting music plays]
[Nicole] Okay, bakers, step right up.
Come. Come.
Wes! Wes!
Show off the tiers.
[chuckling]
-[game show music plays] -[all laughing]
-That's lovely. -Wow.
[music ends]
[Nicole] Bakers, you've all been assigned a tier
and a corresponding cookie at random.
You'll have three and a half hours to pull this off.
You'll be judged on your Big Top cake, your Really Big Top tier,
and the execution of your cookie.
And our dear pal Bobby Moynihan will be joining us as a guest judge.
-[cheering, applauding] -Yeah.
Bakers, coaches, best of luck on this tightrope walk that begins now.
[pleasant music playing]
-[bakers] Whoo. -[Emily] Oh boy.
[Nicole] Alrighty.
-[sighs] Alright, so which one is yours? -I'm... I'm up here.
Okay, mine is the balloon one.
Wait, guys, guys. Let's get some coordination going.
[Frank] Get some coordination.
Okay, because we have to make sure that they are all increasingly smaller.
Richard, what size is your bottom?
-It's a big cake. That a 12-incher? -[Emily] Looks like 12 inches.
It really requires every cake to be level because if it's leaning just a little,
it's gonna cause everything else to start leaning.
Alright, so if that one is 12, then I would say that these look like ten.
It's critical that everybody get their structure correct for this challenge.
All of our heads are hanging on it.
[all] Eight, eight, six, six.
-Okay, awesome. -Okay, all right, awesome.
-[Robert] Hustle, bakers! -Ding, ding, ding!
They got it!
-[Richard] Ooh, cherry extract. -[Frank] Oh.
[spraying]
[in sing-song] Crack that egg.
Measuring out all my ingredients right now,
which the French call mise en place.
My game plan is gonna be to make this cake as strong as possible.
My role is gonna be the foundation,
the concrete piece of this tier.
And that definitely will put me in a leadership position.
This is just like work.
You think you're gonna be able to do that big cake already?
I'll be fine. Don't worry.
Richard has been building fairly level cakes,
so I hope he can really be the support system for his team.
I'm thinking cherry chocolate.
I definitely gotta use a ganache for the middle, though.
This is gonna make the cake a lot stronger.
Ooh.
The first thing I'm trying to get done is get my... all of my cake in the oven.
Nice.
My intention is to make a lemon curd filling
and vanilla buttercream with a lemon cake.
My strategy for this bake is to make sure I really focus
on lessons from bakes past.
I am hoping my lemon cake will make me stand out.
And I want to create a filling that we learned from the coaches.
I hope this cake doesn't have too much lemon.
'Cause I'm doing lemon cake with lemon curd.
Fresh and summery. I like it.
I also want to make each layer of the cake a different color.
I want to bring the circus element to the inside of my cake
and make it look fun and fresh.
Let me get everything else I need. Ooh, I forgot to grab the lemon.
Putting this sour cream in here, and I'm going to beat it.
['90s hip hop music plays]
Let's get it going.
Come on. Come on. Come on.
-Oh, yay! [laughs] -I don't know what I just walked in on.
-[chuckling] Hey, how's it going? -It's going pretty good.
You're very excited.
Okay, so what's your plan? What's...
How are you gonna tackle this entire Big Cake Bake?
[Angie] Making my cake.
-This gets ready, pop 'em in the oven. -Okay.
And I'll make some chocolate ganache...
-As a filling for your cake? Okay. -...as a filling.
-You think about the weight of your cake? -Right.
It has to have that structure and level because you have more cakes going on top.
I don't want to be the weakest link and cause the cakes to tumble.
I've had trouble in the past. I'm being honest with you.
[laughs]
But I also know that I've learned what not to do.
-Okay, good luck, okay? -Alright, thank you.
-Travis, what do you got going here? -I'm doing strawberry lemonade.
So it'll have a lemon outside, strawberry in the middle.
[Erin] I like that you have freeze-dried strawberries.
Freeze-dried strawberries have a ton of flavor,
but they're not gonna weigh your cake down with any moisture.
Winning the money would be great,
but I'm in it because I want to learn how to be a baker.
My real drive is I wanna go to culinary school.
My dream was deferred.
I can feel that pupil energy coming from you.
-Hey, Jedi Master. -[laughs]
[Travis] As I'm going through this competition,
I'm giving different flavors, bolder flavors.
So far, you did pretty well with flavor.
But this is a free course that I'm getting.
I need to make sure I stay here so that I can grow.
-Keep it up. -Thank you.
Just imagine, if y'all can imagine with me,
me owning my own bakery.
And it wouldn't be a hobby anymore.
It would actually be my career.
Something is burning.
[pleasant music playing]
[whirring]
All right, now we gonna see if this plan is gonna work out, Glamma.
It's gonna come together.
I'm actually tackling this the same way I just tackled the Big Top cake.
Going with my story from my first cake,
I want to, kind of, just weave the same thread.
So we're trying to do some cool designs inside,
and we wanna stick with this, like, berry-citrus flavor.
For the inside of this cake, I'm actually gonna do my batter
in like a different design.
-This is my little fashion show. -[Angie] There you go.
[Ignoisco] We're gonna stand out. We gonna do it. We gonna do it. [laughs]
[Angie] You're pushing the envelope a little bit.
I'm not making any backup cakes, so y'all gots to work.
Ooh, Emily, I love it.
I gathered inspiration from the balloons
-on the outside of my cake. -[Georgina] Whoo!
[Georgina] Some bakers are using different colors in their batter.
So to stand out,
I'm gonna be making a confetti vanilla cake
with a hazelnut chocolate ganache and sliced bananas in the middle.
Add a little more sprinkles to this.
I'm using the same filling that I did before on my last challenge.
I wanna keep in mind that the judges will be tasting both cakes
and the cookie at the same time, and I don't want many competing flavors.
All right.
[exciting music playing]
-[Georgina] Emily, how's your lemon curd? -Starting to thicken. Hallelujah.
Make this buttercream.
I have a lot of piping.
I just want to make sure that I get all my buttercream made, all my cake made...
-For sure. -...so I can get straight to the piping.
Emily, I saw you over here sketching or writing something before.
-What were you working on? -Oh, I wrote my production plan.
-I'm having trouble with time management. -[gasps]
-Be still my heart. -[laughs]
I'm very meticulous, so...
Having a plan feeds the perfectionist inside of me.
It makes me feel so much happier and more calm
for this elaborate challenge.
I am so proud.
[chuckles]
Cut up some strawberries now. Richard, what's your game plan?
I'm making a black cherry chocolate ganache.
Hopefully it has the flavor that Jacques wants.
-We missed the punch. -Yeah, give more of a pow.
Give me some raspberry, give me some passion fruit.
When I do it, I don't want to hear no complaints.
[all laughing]
He wants to get punched with flavor. You know, that's the game plan.
-Hello. -Oh, hello.
We're just here to see how our bakers are feeling.
[Erin] All right.
-[Nicole] My friend Frank. -Hello, hello.
-[Jacques] Figs? -Guava.
-Guava! Nice. -I want to do strawberry guava.
-I like guava a lot. -Yeah.
[Frank] With this guava buttercream, I hope my flavors will make me stand out.
[chuckling] I think it's on fleek, I guess, for flavor.
That's a lot of buttercream, but I guess you might need quite a bit.
-[Georgina] Yeah, just to be safe. -What filling are you doing?
I think I'm gonna do the same.
I did a dark chocolate, peanut butter ganache with bananas.
-Okay. -Oh, bananas.
You like bananas?
No.
[gasps] Oh my God. No, no, no. I knew it. I knew I shouldn't have done bananas.
Maybe I'll change the fruit for Nicole.
No, don't, don't. It might be delicious. He loves stuff like that.
The people who hate bananas, they hate bananas.
But I love a Runt. A Runt banana.
-You don't like those? -Okay. I don't.
-Yeah, nobody does. I love them. -Yeah.
-Ah. -And I hate a real banana.
That's my cross to bear.
[chuckles]
In my head, I just keep thinking of Nicole saying, "No, I don't like bananas."
And it just keeps echoing. And I'm like, "Did I make a horrible choice?"
And so now, I'm making a chocolate hazelnut ganache
and sliced strawberries on top.
Who doesn't love strawberries and chocolate together?
Mm! Very nice.
Erin and Robert.
So, what do you think is going to be the big difficulty of this bake?
[Erin] I'm concerned we're still seeing some of the cakes not being tall enough.
And structurally, that could be a problem.
It could also be a problem for some of the details of decoration.
-The structure is very, very important. -Yeah.
[Jacques] They have to remember to put the cardboard under the cake,
put the straw in the middle, be careful everything is very straight.
I think that'd be fun to have, like, circus-themed elements,
like, bringing circus into it.
-Popcorn, toffee. -Yes, yes, it's a good idea.
-A hot dog-flavored cake. Ew! -A hot dog-flavored cake!
-Yes. With hot dog slices... -[laughing] Ew!
...hot dog stick on the cake.
-Nicole, that would be great. -[laughing]
[exciting music playing]
Oh my God, that's perfect.
[Emily] Awesome.
[Ignoisco] Oh, this is gonna be good.
[in sing-song] Coming through.
[suspenseful music playing]
-[Travis] About to make my cookie batter. -Working on my cookie.
All right, bakers, since making cookies is a brand-new thing for you here,
we decided to give you a tutorial on how it's done.
[Georgina] Get this out of the way.
Perfect, cool.
I'm super excited to really hone down my royal icing and sugar cookie ability.
That'll make me a much better baker.
[Erin] Start by mixing our dry ingredients.
[Frank] My secret weapon is just to be Frank.
Frank the Tank.
[giggles]
[Angie] I've definitely never done a cookie from scratch.
I mean, I know how to pop that cookie dough open,
and just break it apart and throw it on a tray.
[Erin] So while that's mixing, I am going to just whisk together my wet ingredients.
[whimpering]
I've got my egg yolks and my cream. And I'm going to add my vanilla.
No, we don't have egg yolks. We gotta do them ourselves. Okay.
For cookie dough, you have to make sure that you keep the egg yolk
and don't get the egg whites in there.
Come on.
And that's a skill.
'Cause I think some people might have just cracked the eggs and threw the whites in.
[Angie] No, I think I got too much in. Yeah.
[Ignoisco] I'm worried about Angie.
Pushing the envelope a little bit.
Oh, you in danger, girl. [laughs]
Come on out, Cletus.
Immediately the dough come together, stop.
Don't overmix it.
[Erin] Once it comes together, that's a good indication that it's done.
And we're gonna try to roll it out to about a quarter-inch thick.
[Ignoisco] I don't know what a quarter looks like.
Is this a quarter-inch?
I think this is a quarter-inch.
No, no, no, this is a quarter-inch.
Emily, do you make sugar cookies at home?
For Christmas, I normally bake some so that my son can decorate them.
-Aw. -[Emily] They always look really crazy.
It's like Santa Claus' distant cousin.
I'm gonna use the tip of a paring knife and cut out the shape of my cookie.
Now, add the stick to the center and pop them into the oven.
Come on.
I like crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside.
-Yes. You bake them a little bit higher. -Yes.
So around and top going to become a little bit more crispy.
But because they cook faster, the inside going to stay soft.
-So that's the way to do it. -Oh!
[Angie] It should look a little thicker than this.
My dough, it's coming out soft.
-I can't even roll this out. -[tense music playing]
I'm going to make it work.
My cookie is messed up.
[Robert] It looks like she didn't separate her egg whites
and ended up with the wet dough.
My cookie is not going to be done. It's not mixed well.
Oh my gosh, this is bad.
My cookie is totally messed up.
[music ends]
Now we can move on to our royal icing.
So royal icing is made with powdered sugar and pasteurized egg whites.
And egg whites...
I'm also going to add cream of tartar and some salt.
And we're just gonna whip those
until we get a really nice, fluffy consistency.
[amusing music playing]
Wes, I'm hungry.
For what?
I want lasagna.
You get a bag of chips.
-Okay. -[Jacques laughs]
-What's going on, Nicole? -I don't know.
I think the longer you work with someone, the less they appreciate you.
-Oh no! Wow, Nicole! -[whimpers]
Wes, why would you do that?
I asked for lasagna.
Is it supposed to be thick like this?
Would you call this a stiff peak?
Yeah, that looks rather stiff to me.
It could use a little more time, Emily.
-Oh, thank you, coach. -Oh, just kidding.
Okay, so now that our royal icing is now made,
we're now going to add the colors.
[upbeat music playing]
Ooh, I like this color.
-Richard, have you ever done this before? -I actually have.
-Oh. -I did this on the last time
I was on Nailed It!
Oh yeah! I watched that episode! I'm in the presence of a star.
-[scatting comedically] -[all laughing]
Being that I was on Nailed It!before...
[all cheering]
...after my win, I went out and I got the Nailed It!trophy tattooed on my calf.
So if I win this competition,
I'm gonna get a... a picture of Jacques and Nicole's face
right on my leg.
Rocking it.
[laughs]
This is like chocolate. I feel like eating it.
[Erin] Once you're done making all your icing and coloring it,
then you can decorate your cookie
to match the circus cookie character you were given.
[upbeat music playing]
We're just gonna have fun.
[Jacques] How excited are you to test cookies?
-Something different. -I'm very excited.
Let's do some hair.
-[Travis] She got no eyes. -[Frank] Oh my goodness, that's so funny.
[Georgina] I'm gonna do the body first.
The judges are gonna be looking at detail for this royal icing cookie.
So I just want to make sure that I'm getting all of the elements down.
Huh?
[laughing] It looks just like you.
Baking is definitely becoming a creative outlet for me.
I think at the beginning, I was a bit stressed out
because there was a lot of science behind, you know, the baking of it all.
Now that we're leaning into decorations, I'm able to have a bit more fun.
It's looking pretty good, actually.
-[Angie] Oh my gosh. -[tense music playing]
All these grandkids I have,
you would think I know how to make a cookie!
Oh goodness. That cookie is not a cookie at all.
I'm calling on you.
-Don't give up. Try again. -[chuckles]
[Angie] No, I can't.
I don't have time for this. Time is of the essence.
But I don't give up. I don't give in.
That's something. It looks like it's crying.
[music ends]
[Robert] Okay, bakers, cookie class is over.
Back to your cakes.
[Ignoisco] ♪ It's time To stack some cakes ♪
[Georgina] Ooh, ooh, ooh!
Whoo!
[Frank] Gotta add the moisture. Can't have a dry cake.
I ran out of filling.
-I can only do one more layer. -Don't want to make it too heavy.
[Erin] One hour left, guys!
Crumb coating time.
[Travis] That's right on the spot, on the level.
Just a little right there.
[whispering] Just a little bit.
Leveling my cake for the base is very important.
-[dramatic music playing] -Ganache, ganache, ganache.
I mean, if it's not level, it's going to cause it all to collapse.
If that's the case, I'm worried I'm going home.
Why does it look crooked?
Take a little bit off over here.
[Trevor] Nice and straight.
[Richard] Am I trippin'?
-[Robert] Richard. -Hey, Robert.
Are you trying to level it?
I mean, I'm like... like that much off.
I'm gonna turn it, and you step back. It's not there.
-Yeah. It's totally not there. -When you turn it, you can see.
This is the bottom tier. You have to support the whole cake.
You have to prove that you can do this.
I know I still need to get a lot of piping done,
but the leveling is time-consuming,
and I might have misjudged some timing here.
[groans uncertainly]
[suspenseful music playing]
-How do you feel about your level? -Oh, it's level.
-I leveled it. -Yeah, it looks really good too.
There's a ton of piping in this Really Big Top cake.
So I definitely want to work on my piping skills
because I tried that in the last challenge and it didn't come super easy to me.
I'm piping my balloons.
[Angie] I'm just glad I got the cake done.
You know, I took too long leveling my cake for the base,
but the good news is that it has the least amount of piping.
So, I think I can catch up.
-[Frank] Anything I can help with? -[Richard] This is the last of it.
[Georgina] Ugly. Ugly. That one is a little ugly.
They're not meant to be twins. They're cousins. Okay.
Oh no, it's going around that. Oh joinkers.
-[Richard] Ooh, two more spots left. -[Frank] Okay, cool.
-[Emily] Think I'm done. -[Ignoisco] I'm feeling good about this.
[Travis] That's it. That's all I can do.
Okay.
Bloop!
[Erin] Bakers, you have 15 minutes to assemble this cake.
What's the plan of attack here?
-Richard is number one. -All right.
[Travis] We need what? Seven pillars?
-It seems pretty level in the middle. -[Emily] Mine doesn't look level anymore.
It is super critical that my cakes are level.
I am tier number two, so that means everybody besides Richard
is riding on my shoulders.
No.
[clicks tongue]
The last thing I want is to see this entire structure topple over
and all of us lose our hard work.
[Ignoisco] Who's next?
-[Richard] Emily. -[Emily] It's not level.
I was just gonna smooth this out really quickly.
-Alright, we need Emily's. -Yeah.
-[Richard] Careful. Got it? -Yeah.
[Ignoisco] When it comes to us coming together and stacking, I'm ready.
[chuckling] Ooh, I'm getting so nervous.
[Richard] To the left.
Because I also do some handiwork.
I love just being creative in any way possible.
I am really good at building furniture from Ikea.
[laughs]
-[dramatic synth music playing] -[groans]
Good, good. That looks pretty centered to me.
-[Angie] You got me? -[Emily] Yeah.
-[Georgina] It looks good to me. -[Emily] That looks pretty good.
[Frank chuckling] Starting to lean.
[Georgina] Guys, we have five minutes left.
You need to move towards you, Frank. It's a little wobbly.
It's... It's way leaning that way.
Let's all step back, like, right here.
And then look at it. And then what do y'all see?
-[Ignoisco] I see... -[Georgina] Oh!
...literally both of these two are leaning in.
Y'all are only adding more and more weight.
-[amusing music playing] -It's really leaning, though, in there.
It might be best to take it apart and stack without the pillars.
[Ignoisco] Well then, let's start disassembling.
I really liked it with the pillars.
[Richard] I spent so much time leveling.
It sucks that we have to remove the pillars.
-Go, go, go. -[Frank] Um...
But at this point it's not worth the risk.
Go down, straight down, straight down.
It's better to see the cakes at least stacked on each other.
We got tier five.
I'm hoping it would impress the judges.
-Come on down. -[Emily] Okay.
[Ignoisco] Down. Down, down.
Oh Jesus.
[suspenseful music playing]
All right. The final one! [gasps]
-[whimpers] -[Travis] That's it. That's it.
-All right. -Good job, girlfriend.
[Georgina] Whoo!
-[Travis] Good job, everyone. -Go team! Go!
[all cheering]
Okay, bring in the other pieces for them to put their Big Top cakes on.
[Emily] Let's do it.
[suspenseful music playing]
[coaches] Five, four, three, two, one.
That's good enough.
-[chuckles] -[all cheering]
Wes, we're ready for that curtain to drop.
[intriguing music playing]
-They're in for a surprise. [chuckles] -Mm-hmm.
-Oh. Huh. -[bakers whispering] Shh.
-[Nicole] There's no bakers. -[Jacques] So sad.
-[drumroll] -Oh!
[bakers] Nailed it!
[Nicole] Okay.
-All right! Let's look... -That's where they were.
-Yes, that's exactly where they... -They were back behind the curtain.
[Nicole] This is delightful.
-[Bobby] These are phenomenal. Hi, guys. -Yes!
-That's Bobby. -Hi.
[bakers] Hi, Bobby.
And we're allowed to immediately start eating, right?
-[bakers chuckling] -[Nicole] Yes. Immediately just dive in.
[Bobby] Thank you. I kind of want to.
I feel like I was expecting so much worse.
[bakers laughing]
I don't know why.
[Jacques] It's leaning a bit.
So if one of the bakers wants to hold it, that'd be great.
[Erin and Jacques laugh]
-[Nicole] There. -[Ignoisco] Yes.
-He's the tallest. -[chuckles]
So tell us why we don't have the columns. What... What happened here?
So we started stacking them, and then we got to about tier five
and we noticed that there was a significant lean happening.
We felt it was better to just take the columns out
and get it stacked rather than lose all the cakes.
-[Jacques] That's great. -I'm excited. Should we do it?
[bakers] Yes.
Take your top cake
and just hold the top of your cake as well if you need to.
I'm so relieved that we can finally take apart this cake
and there won't be cake splatter everywhere.
There you go. Somebody go underneath it. Go underneath it. Go underneath it.
But also a little nervous since, I mean, everyone is so close.
Everyone's tiers look so good. Their Big Top cake looks good.
Cookies look good too. I mean...
I'm really hoping my growth on flavors will make me stand out.
-[Richard] I got this one. Thank you. -[coaches] Good job.
Ignoisco, come on up.
-That's a lot to look at. -[Ignoisco] A lot.
[Nicole] Alright, let's take a closer look
at your Big Top cake from the last challenge.
I do think your little figurines could have used a little bit more work.
They look unfinished when the cake looks very well finished.
[Nicole] But for the cake you made today, the piping looks delightful.
I don't know why, but it's a very tasty-looking color scheme.
I want to taste that orange.
-[chuckling] -You did a nice job with your cookie.
It looks really similar to the original.
[Ignoisco] Thank you.
-Yum-yum in my tum-tum. -[laughs]
-Slice up that cake. -[Ignoisco] Awesome.
[Nicole] Give us your Big Top cake from the last challenge first.
[gasps]
-Oh, wow! -[Jacques] Good cut.
[Ignoisco laughs] Yes!
My Big Top cake here is a strawberry cake with a lime buttercream.
The strawberry's nice. I'm not getting lime.
Are you getting lime?
-You know, it's a faint citrus in it. -[Nicole] Yeah.
Now let's talk about your Really Big Top cake.
[Ignoisco] It's a lemon cake with a raspberry buttercream
and I threw some fresh raspberries in it.
-[Nicole] I'm impressed with the swirls. -[Bobby] Yeah.
[Jacques] The raspberry layers are very flavorful.
I want to eat more and more and more, and I can't,
because I have to eat another 30 cakes.
[laughing]
[Ignoisco] Great.
-Thank you. -Next, we'd like to see Georgina.
Okay.
Ah.
[Nicole] We'll first look at your Big Top cake from the last challenge.
I like your figurines.
This, to me, has like the most carnival vibe to it.
-I'm waiting for it to start spinning. -[laughs]
[Nicole] And for your cake from today, I think you did a marvelous job piping.
I do wish we had stayed in, like, uh, more bold rather than, like, pastels.
But the cake is well-decorated, so congratulations.
And I love that little man and his surprised look on his face.
He looks like he's very surprised you made that cake.
[dramatic sting]
[Nicole] Yeah, let's taste your cake from the last challenge now,
the Big Top cake.
[Georgina] This cake is a confetti cake with a chocolate peanut butter ganache
and bananas on top.
-I hate bananas. -[woman chuckles]
They're bad.
But I don't mind it in this cake.
I don't mind it covered in chocolate with the buttercream.
-It's good. -Yeah.
-[enchanting music plays] -Amazing.
I was really hoping the bananas wouldn't be a problem.
And I'm glad that they weren't. I am so, so relieved to hear that.
This one is confetti cake with a chocolate hazelnut ganache
and freshly sliced strawberries.
[Jacques] I love that when you cut your cake, we have a little surprise.
-It's a confetti cake. -[Bobby] Cookie's great.
I got one of the eyes. And he's still got that look in his eye.
-He's still... -[all laughing]
[Jacques] Erin and Robert,
the two first cakes that Georgina baked was a little bit dry.
I'm kind of, like, more of like a drier cake lover,
um, because I have a very wet mouth, so...
-What? -[all laughing]
[Jacques] And here, we have something pleasant.
[Erin] She was really wanting to make sure that cake
had a lot of flavor for all you judges, so...
[chuckles softly] Aw.
Thank you, Georgina. Next we want to see Angie.
Okay, Jacques, what do you think about her Big Top cake?
[Jacques] Your piping doesn't look right.
It's high on one side, low on the other one,
because certainly you keep moving this way before you turn.
The colors, they seem almost tie-dye.
-I don't know what the word is. -Double color.
-Double color? -I think so.
And then all your figurines look haunted. And I like it.
[Jacques laughs in surprise]
The one with the black truly is like, "I'm coming."
And the one on the top is like, "Me too, from a different angle."
[laughs]
[Nicole] I think the cake tier you made today looks really nice,
but that cookie, let me get a closer look.
[Angie and Jacques laughing]
It was supposed to be the mime.
[Nicole] Okay, I see it now.
-[laughing] Yeah, yeah. -[Nicole] Thank you.
I just needed a little help, but that's the mime.
-[Angie] Oh God. -[Jacques] Okay, let's do it.
-[Nicole] Let's taste your cake. -[Angie] In this cake,
I flavored the buttercream with a little bit of coconut.
[Bobby] I... I don't taste the coconut.
-Okay. -[Jacques] Or the lemon.
[Nicole] But I did love the blackberries.
But I do think you could have cut them up a little bit.
[Jacques] Okay. And the other cake, tell us.
[Angie] In this cake, I layered it with the chocolate ganache,
and then I added some strawberries in there.
I love it.
[Nicole] I like the ganache and the strawberry.
The cookie has truly a consistency that I've never had before.
Unfortunately, you didn't bake it enough, so we don't have that crunchiness.
It is not cooked, but I did eat it.
-[comical sting] -[Nicole chuckles]
But it is still the best experience I've ever had with a mime.
[all laughing]
-Get out of here. -[laughing]
This challenge, it was hard.
My cookie didn't mush out right.
[laughing] It just didn't. But I... I accept it.
This is what happened.
There is nothing that I would have done differently.
What you guys could have done differently was given me more time.
Come on, Frank. Come on down.
I can already see that you did Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story.
-[Frank] Oh yeah. -I love a paper jet pack.
[Nicole laughs] Mm-hmm.
That's how I used to make my jet packs. That's how I still make my jet packs.
-[laughs] -[Nicole] Okay, I like it.
I love your laugh.
-Aw, thank you. -[Nicole] Frank is the best.
And I think you did pretty well on your Really Big Top cake tier
and the cookie.
[Jacques] The piping, you get the movements,
but not always the definition of what you want to do.
Your cookies, I love it,
but I really wish you would have thinned your royal icing a little more.
[Frank] I did a chocolate, peanut butter, and pretzel cake.
[Bobby] I'm a big pretzel guy, and I really like pretzels in dessert.
[Nicole] I gotta say, it is hard to keep pretzels crispy.
Yeah.
[Jacques] The cake with the guava and the strawberry
has a bit too much sweetness.
-Okay. -But your first cake
was leaning over and almost falling.
Starting to look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. [giggles]
Here, we have cakes that stand, so your structure's a lot better.
[Nicole] Thank you, Frank.
Travis!
The top of your cake has a very different look
because you use buttercream instead of fondant.
Correct. Yeah.
[Nicole] But for the cake you made today, your piping looks really good.
And I think your cookie's fun.
It looks like a lady without a body, riding a rubber ducky.
-[quacking] -[Bobby laughing]
You're right.
[laughs]
The cake is well-baked, the flavor come through.
Travis has done a really good job.
-Like flavors and the flavor combination. -Mm-hmm.
Where do you get your inspiration for the flavor?
I'm the flavor king. That's my name. I'm the king. I'm gonna give you flavor.
-[laughs] -I think this is a very big improvement.
-Thank you. -[Nicole] Come on, Emily.
-I just wanna see someone push it. -[chuckles] Goodbye.
For your piping, use the turning table to be able to pipe
in a more consistent way.
[Nicole] But I really like the piping you did today.
I like your cookie. It looks really good. Can't wait to try him out.
Thank you.
-I feel insane. I've had so much sugar. -[Bobby laughs]
It's not even noon.
[Emily] This one, I was inspired by my son 'cause I miss him very much.
So I tried to make it Neapolitan.
The shout-out to your son is very sweet. Literally.
[Nicole] Yeah. Aw.
-You see what I did there? -I... Yes.
[laughs]
The last Big Cake Bake...
-Mm-hmm. -...your flavor was lacking.
You see here, the cake is a little bit pasty
and something is a little bit oversweet.
It's the buttercream. Blows my wig back.
[chuckles]
This is a huge improvement.
She's using here two of the filling that you teach, and they are really good.
Emily!
[squeals happily]
I feel insane too.
I feel like I want to punch everybody in the room
-and then run around fast as I can. -Uh-huh.
We've had so much sugar.
[laughs]
[Nicole] Richard.
[Jacques] For the cake you did last challenge,
your fondant work at the top could use some more work.
-But you did a pretty good job piping. -[Richard] Awesome.
The cake you made today, it's massive. It is huge.
-[Bobby] It looks like a wheel of cheese. -[Nicole] Yes.
-[laughing] -Like, it... it's so... it's so large.
It's a very geometrical, uh, decoration. I can see that's somehow a little bit off.
Yes, piping was last-minute.
-[Nicole] And then your cookie. -[Richard laughs]
[Nicole] Her eyes make me think that the future might not be that great.
[laughing]
See, she has a splitting headache.
-[Nicole] Oh, she did crack a little bit. -[chuckling] Mm-hmm.
It's time to taste your cakes and cookie.
[Bobby] The blue-marbled section is... is my favorite.
It just makes it a little more interesting and wonderful.
-[Jacques] Show us your tongue. -Sorry?
-Show us your tongue. -Show us my tongue?
-I'm a little afraid to on television. -[Jacques] Is it blue? It's blue!
-[laughs] -Let's give you a quick one. Mm!
-[Nicole] That was very adorable. -Mm.
[Jacques laughs]
That's it. Mm. That's all you get.
[laughs]
[Richard] This one is a cherry cake with a black cherry,
dark chocolate ganache and a chocolate buttercream.
I find some bitter elements into the dark chocolate ganache,
but it's not, that's the cherry.
Because I used a dark cherry puree.
-[Jacques] Did you use some flavoring? -No.
-No? -I do think I know what you mean, Jacques.
Did you use more of an extract in the cake?
-Yes. -[Erin] You used puree with the ganache?
Richard, I asked you if you used extract, you said no.
I thought you said... meant an extract in the ganache.
That's what. Okay.
Wow.
Jacques's truly treating you like a hostile witness.
-Yeah. -That's what it was!
-[all laughing] -I asked you if it was extract!
Richard!
[laughing]
[inhales, sighs]
-All right, Richard, thank you so much. -Thank you.
Bakers, we have a very tough decision ahead of us,
but we are going to make it.
We legally have to.
-[Nicole] We do. -[Jacques] Richard! You lied to me!
-[laughing] -[Nicole] Oh, that was funny.
-Everybody, I feel like, did a great job. -Everyone did really great.
-Hey, bakers. -Hey, bakers.
How's everyone feeling now that your two big bakes are done?
[bakers] Good.
[Frank] It's been a long day.
What was the hardest part about this challenge?
-The fact that it was two challenges? -The stacking!
Cooking a 12-inch cake.
[Richard] I've never made a cake that big.
Granted, the flavor was a little overpowering.
I know that I need to take risks and try other flavors,
but sometimes taking risks could be my downfall.
The challenge, I conquered it.
-[Robert] Mm-hmm. -And that was important for me.
And I'm excited.
Yeah, your structure has improved so much, Angie.
-This was... These were both hard cakes... -Whoa.
-Yeah. -...you were doing.
It was really awesome to see how much you've all progressed and grown.
-We're two very happy coaches today. -Yes.
-[Richard] Thank you too. -Thank you, guys.
Keep it up, guys. We're so proud. Keep it up.
-Good luck, y'all. -[Georgina] Bye.
-All right, guys. -[bakers] All right.
[suspenseful music playing]
Phew.
Congratulations, bakers.
With all your creations, the circus truly came to town.
Now, Emily, Georgina, Richard, Angie and Ignoisco,
please come forward.
[music building]
-[music fades] -The bakers who put on a show today are...
Emily.
Your flavors stood out and your cake had a lovely, moist texture.
Georgina.
We love your thoughtful flavor combination and your piping was beautiful.
And Ignoisco.
Your cake brought us so much joy.
And your design was very well-executed.
There was one baker who was our top performer.
Bobby, tell us who won.
The baker who won this week
not only blew us away with their cake and cookie designs,
but the flavors really delivered a jaw-dropping performance.
The winning baker is...
[upbeat music building]
[music fades]
...Georgina!
-[music continues] -[squealing happily]
Yay!
-Whoo! -[exclaims]
-Georgina, you have won yourself $1,000! -[Georgina squealing happily]
Thank you.
Nailed it. Nailed it. Nailed it. Whoo!
I'm pretty proud of myself.
Like, I didn't think I'd make it this far, but winning at this halfway point,
you know, I really feel like I am on an upwards spiral.
I don't really know where I'm going, but I'm definitely going up.
Now I only need to win 59 more challenges to pay off my student loans.
Thank you guys so much.
[Nicole] One step closer to the big $100,000 prize.
Georgina, congratulations.
You, Emily and Ignoisco can go back to your stations.
Thank you for delighting us today.
Hi, Glamma.
[Nicole] The couple of you had a rough go of it today.
Angie, your cake has a lot of character,
but it was too dense and your cookie didn't come together.
Yeah.
Richard, you did a great job supporting your team,
but your piping looked rushed and your flavor was too overwhelming.
The baker packing up their piping bags is...
[suspenseful music building]
Angie.
Thank you.
-The smile that came across your face. -[Angie] Oh, I... [laughing]
-[all laughing] -Okay, it's been good. Thank you, goodbye.
-[Bobby] I'm out! -[Nicole] See you later.
-[Bobby] Angie's out! -[laughing]
Glam-mom's time is up.
My experience here has been awesome.
I want all of you guys to succeed, make sure you do.
-We love you, Glamma. -Mwah, mwah, mwah.
But Glam-mom has other things to do.
[all laughing]
[Nicole] You want to know what it's time for?
-What? -The pantry raid!
-[all cheering] -[dance music playing]
[Nicole] Wes!
[Angie] Got the glam cart? Oh man.
Okay, your time starts now!
-[Ignoisco] All right, come on, Glam! -[bakers cheering]
[Bobby and Nicole] Aw.
Are you kidding me?
[Angie] I couldn't keep up. I accept it.
I did not even think I would be here this far.
Truly this is a milestone for me.
When I bring my cake to the family reunion,
they will forever talk about it and say, "Angie nailed this."
[screams excitedly]
[laughs excitedly]
I am going to go home and I'm gonna sit with my grandchildren
and teach them buttercream, leveling, how to stack, adding different flavors.
[Robert chuckles]
-[Ignoisco] Come on now! Come on! -Ah!
[all] Five, four, three, two...
[Bobby] Can I help?
...one!
You're done!
[all cheering]
Glam-mom's off to the races.
Bye!
-We love you, Angie! Mwah! -Love you more!
Bakers, congrats on surviving the first half of our experiment.
[chuckles]
Man, that was humbling. I didn't expect to be at the bottom.
This competition's getting really tight.
I can't make a mistake like that ever again.
I'm trying to win this thing.
[chuckling villainously]
Okay, bye.
[closing theme music playing]