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Oh, my God, they're perfect.
WILLMAN: In just a few moments, four bakers will face off
in a fight for cupcake superiority.
I'm doing the best I can.
Everybody else got it easy.
One by one, they'll be eliminated,
as they're judged on taste...
It literally just tasted like butter.
Oh, my God. You're out of your mind.
WILLMAN: ...presentation...
I'm tortured by your plate.
...and in the final round, the last two bakers standing
will each have to bring it all together
into one incredible fantasy cupcake display.
The winner gets to have their creation as the centerpiece
of an awards gala honoring the best and the brightest
at the renowned Chicago Toy & Game Fair...
Aah! Yes!
WILLMAN: ...and walks away with $10,000.
Wait! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
There's no going back from this.
Oh, my, it's catching on fire!
Boy, my heart is beating.
Get ready, 'cause this is "Cupcake Wars."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
[ Ding! ]
What's up, guys? I'm Justin Willman.
And the battle for who reigns cupcake supreme
is about to begin.
Overseeing today's war are our judges --
Candace Nelson,
founder of the world's first cupcake bakery,
Sprinkles Cupcakes,
and Florian Bellanger, owner of Mad Mac Macarons
and former executive pastry chef at the world-renowned Fauchon.
The kitchens are stocked. Our judges are ready.
Let's meet the bakers going into battle.
We're going to "Cupcake Wars," and I'm taking you.
My name is Catarah Hampshire,
and I'm the owner of Southern Girl Desserts
in Los Angeles, California.
Let's get these filled up.
We do everything Southern,
from hummingbird cake to a sweet-potato pie cupcake.
We do it all.
They say third time is a charm.
This is the third time I've been here on "Cupcake Wars."
Got to the final round, and we lost.
You're, like, my little good-luck charm.
My assistant today is Jonathan Wilson.
He's a baker at my dessert shop.
He's fast. He's great under pressure.
It's time to pack up.
We're here. Now we got to win this thing.
It's not just for me or my company.
It's for everybody who's rooted for us,
and I do not want to let any of these people down.
Aah! [ Laughs ]
We're like a 1950s motorcycle movie --
pure talent and nothing to lose.
ERIC: I am Eric Smith
of Sara Sara Cupcakes, Oklahoma City.
It's a family-owned business.
We do nostalgic flavors
presented in a way that you've never seen them before.
They're like a gourmet dessert in the form of a cupcake.
This ain't your grandma's cupcakes.
Oh, my gosh, I got a fruit cupcake.
My assistant is Avery Cannon. He's my cousin.
We've gone through lots of battles together,
and we communicate very well.
He gets it.
Our strategy is be ourselves and do what we do.
It would be great to win,
because I know everybody would be really proud of us
and we'd be sending a message
that we're the best at this and we try very hard at it.
Feel like we're like "The Beverly Hillbillies."
Ooh, they look good.
Beautiful.
I am Adie Sprague
from Treat Cupcake Bar in Needham, Massachusetts.
We have an interactive cupcake bar,
where you get to come and make your own cupcake.
People love the teddy bear.
We do pride ourselves on our custom designs,
making any concept into a cupcake.
Red sprinkles would not look right on this cupcake,
and you understand that at your core.
My assistant is Sarah Waters.
Sarah and I grew up together.
I tend to go a little too far
in terms of ideas and designs,
but she knows the right time to be like, "Let's bring it back."
Just have to do what we do best.
There's nothing more motivating
than somebody putting something in front of you
and wanting to prove that you can.
We don't need to win this competition.
We want to win.
Let's go!
We need to represent.
My name is Katie Meaux,
and I own Katie Bakes in Lafayette, Louisiana.
I think people aren't gonna know what to expect.
Our bakery focuses on the nostalgic flavors
that you remember when you were a kid.
Cookies and cream is still our most popular flavor.
Skylar is amazing. She's my head baker.
She really works quickly, but she's very precise.
Let's get ready to go!
$10,000 would make such a huge difference.
We could start to expand, buy new equipment.
Let's get on the road.
We've got to win "Cupcake Wars."
They're ready for the Southerners, I hope.
I feel like we're gonna kill it today.
Let's do this!
Hello, bakers. Come on up.
So, today, guys, "Cupcake Wars" is gonna be fun,
because tonight one of you is gonna serve your cupcakes
at the awards gala
for the amazing 10th annual Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
This is the biggest toy and game fair in the entire country.
Your cupcakes could be at the center of it all.
Of course, if having your creations
as the talked-about centerpiece for this huge event
isn't enough for you,
the winner also walks away with $10,000.
Today there are three rounds of competition.
After each round, one of you will be eliminated.
Now, first up is the Taste challenge.
The Chicago Toy & Game Fair is the mecca for kids' toys,
so naturally your cupcakes
should win over their taste buds.
Check out the inspiration table.
You will find kid-favorite ingredients,
such as chicken fingers,
peanut butter and jelly, and spaghetti.
You must each choose two of these flavors
to create a fun-filled cupcake
that will have the young'uns begging for more.
You have 45 minutes.
Clock starts now.
I didn't even know where to begin with spaghetti,
and I love mac and cheese,
but I cannot even imagine that in a cupcake.
Ew!
Oh, my goodness.
They have a lot of really weird stuff on the table.
Marshmallows.
Spaghetti.
Gross.
Chicken and waffles.
But meat in the cupcake?
Meat in the cupcake, yeah.
I'm gonna make a vanilla cupcake with a cinnamon-and-sugar swirl,
topped with a maple cream-cheese frosting,
garnished with a waffle,
and it's going to have fried chicken in the cupcake.
Represent the South.
Chicken and waffles is a Southern classic,
and I believe we can bring that together in a cupcake
and wow the judges.
We're chefs.
We're gonna make everything that we use.
We're gonna do it right.
We are culinarily advanced
way more than anyone I've seen on the show.
Don't put too much in the middle,
'cause that's when it bunches up.
I'm gonna make a macaroni and strawberry-cream-cheese cupcake.
Strawberry cream-cheese frosting and fry some spaghetti,
toss it in powdered sugar as a crispy, crunchy ending to it.
So, I think if we do the soda,
it's gonna add one more element.
I also saw they have a soda maker,
so I'm gonna make the strawberry-vanilla soda pop.
That would be complementary for that.
This cupcake is gonna stand out immediately.
The judges aren't gonna think that we're insane
for, like, making soda pop.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
ADIE: Sarah, this pudding looks perfect.
We are making a maple-cinnamon-swirl waffle cupcake
with a marshmallow-cream frosting
and a peanut-butter buttercream,
topped off with a crispy cinnamon-swirl waffle.
So, I just put the pudding in.
We have a lot going on here.
We have two frostings and waffles to make.
We need to get these in the oven quick
and then start on the frosting.
Awesome. Let's get these started.
Hey, Sky, waffles are almost done.
We're gonna make maple-cinnamon-buttermilk cake
with a tart blueberry compote for the center
and a chocolate-milk buttercream,
with toasted blueberry waffle garnish.
Check the compote, because it was still really runny.
So, our plan is to get that blueberry compote
cooking as quickly as possible
because it has to have time to cool and set.
It's looking good.
I'm gonna need to add more blueberries, though.
Kids, 30 minutes.
We were supposed to have the cupcakes in the oven by now.
Just scoop them fast, Sky. Get them in the oven.
We're cookin' now. We're cookin'.
Okay. I'm gonna take like 2/3 of this batter
and I'm gonna make that the maple.
So, we decided to marbleize this batter
just because we didn't want something overly maple.
We're gonna swirl it, and then we'll scoop it from there.
It's like little stripes, just like marble.
It's just gonna be so good.
Okay, get those in. Get those in.
I'm going in with the cupcakes.
Cupcakes are going in the oven.
I don't know how these are gonna bake up.
I thought I would take a little risk
and do a piece of fried chicken,
but getting this chicken tender as a filling
is gonna be a challenge.
You scoop those.
My nervousness comes
as we're gonna bake this cupcake,
is it gonna dry out the chicken?
If the cupcakes turns out incorrect,
we won't have enough time to start over.
Oven.
Okay. These are all set.
Will you mix them together for the marble?
I'm gonna keep going on the waffles.
So, we get the batter made. It's just right.
Just, like, a good swirl.
So, I give the bowls back to Sarah.
I say, "Swirl and marbleize those back together,
and I'm gonna start to work on the waffles."
Wait! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
What? What? What?
All of a sudden, I hear the mixer on
and I whip my head around.
There's two batters. It's a vanilla.
There's a maple. You need to see both of them.
This is one batter now.
Oh, my God, I'm so sorry.
You can't unmix.
It's marble cake.
You have to see both cakes in there.
And it's not maple. It's not vanilla.
It's mush.
I'm so sorry.
There's no going back from this.
All of a sudden, I hear the mixer on.
Oh, my God, I'm so sorry.
You can't unmix.
It's marble cake, and it's now one batter.
It's not maple. It's not vanilla. It's mush.
I don't think we can.
Just dump it. We just have to start over.
We're just gonna move as fast as we can.
We're gonna start with the vanilla cake, separate it,
get the maple in there, and marbleize it
and get these in the oven as soon as possible.
I got these in.
This has wasted of a lot of time.
We just don't know.
I am going to measure out the powdered sugar for the frosting.
I think we should just replace our whole milk
with chocolate milk, and I think it'll work.
It'll be good.
So, Skylar is working on our buttercream.
We remembered that we see
a chocolate powdered-drink mix in the pantry,
so we decide if we dissolve this drink mix
into the chocolate milk,
it'll give it that nice, chocolaty taste.
Mmm! It's smooth.
This is the buttercream that we needed.
Man, if you don't think there's time for this,
I think we just nix the soda.
Dude, I'm not nixing the soda.
I saw they have a soda maker back in the pantry.
As I'm making the strawberries, I'm gonna take a third.
I'm gonna make a soda base out of it
and make a soda pop to serve with my cupcake.
We're gonna go in there and execute
what we set out to execute.
We're not going to stray from that.
AVERY: Yep.
It's all fun and games until someone runs out of time.
Got 10 minutes.
10 minutes?!
SKYLAR: Katie, is it getting thicker?
It's getting there. It's still a little runny.
ADIE: Ooh! That's a lot.
We can make anything cute, right?
ERIC: We still have a lot to do.
AVERY: I know, man. I'm doing the best I can.
What?
CATARAH: Really looking like wood.
It came out exactly how I wanted it to come out.
Oh, my God, they're perfect. Pull them out.
Pull them out and put them in the fridge.
ERIC: Okay. Pull 'em.
They're looking good, but how much longer do you think?
So, I'm waiting, waiting, waiting for these to be ready,
'cause we don't have a lot of time.
I'm really worried that this is not gonna work out for us.
They're not even close to being done.
This could go down to the wire.
They're done. They're done. They're done.
So, the cupcakes come out of the oven
with fried chicken in the middle.
If the cupcakes turn out incorrect,
we won't have enough time to start over.
This is it. The moment of truth.
I hope the chicken went through.
It's in the middle! Yes!
Let's get them on a plate.
These are the ones we want right here.
It's gonna be an amazing cupcake.
Perfect! Ooh!
But now we got to wait for them to cool off.
We can do it.
One minute.
Really?
Yes. Go, go, go, go, go.
CATARAH: Yes. That's it.
Get some frosting on those. I'll come behind you.
I'm not 100% on the temperature.
Frost them.
It's go time.
The bag's too full. I can't get the frosting out.
All the same level, 'cause the pasta is the transition.
CATARAH: Looks good, Jonathan.
WILLMAN: 10...9...8...
7...6...5...
4...3...2...1...
Whoo!
Time's up!
Oh, my God.
Good job.
It's up to the judges now.
It is. It's out of our hands.
Bakers, we asked each of you to create a yummy cupcake
that kids and, of course, our judges would love.
We'll see what they think in a moment.
But first, you know Candace and Florian.
Let's meet our guest judge.
She is Nancy Zwiers, the C.E.O. of Funosophy,
one of the top toy-branding consulting firms in the world.
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
Happy to have you.
BAKERS: Hi.
Hi.
What did you bake?
What you have in front of you
is a buttermilk maple-cinnamon cake.
We filled that with a blueberry compote,
and then we topped it with a chocolate-milk buttercream
and a toasted blueberry waffle.
Well, both my little guys
would happily gobble up your breakfast cupcake.
The only thing is that chocolate-milk frosting
wouldn't pass the parent test.
It was so sugary sweet.
Well, my cupcake was definitely packed with blueberry,
and I like the texture of the cake
and the blueberry and everything.
My only note would be the sweetness of the frosting.
Okay.
As an adult, I found the frosting a little sweet,
but if I were a 5-year-old,
Thank you.
Up next, Adie. What did you bake?
The cupcake you have in front of you
is a vanilla cupcake marbleized with maple cake,
topped with a marshmallow-cream frosting
and a peanut-butter buttercream
and a little, crispy waffle on top.
The combination of peanut-butter buttercream
and the marshmallow just worked perfectly.
And on top of it, that little waffle was really crispy.
I just love this cupcake.
With this cupcake, you're tackling
that sort of classic breakfast conundrum --
Do I go sweet or do I go savory?
And you did both, and you did it beautifully.
I love the nuttiness of that peanut butter,
the sweet, pillowy nature of that marshmallow fluff.
ZWIERS: I agree.
The peanut butter mixed with the sweetness
was something kids would dream of.
Thank you.
Hi, Catarah. Welcome back.
What did you bake them?
CATARAH: You're eating a vanilla-based cupcake with pecans,
filled with a piece of fried chicken tender,
with a maple cream-cheese frosting,
topped with a fried-chicken waffle
and tile letter pieces that spell the word "toy."
What most struck me about your cake,
aside from those lovely flavors, was the texture.
The texture of your cake was so light and fluffy,
and I enjoyed it so much
that having that big, solid chunk of fried chicken
really just didn't sit right with me.
It reminded me a bit as a biscuit with chicken
that you can have in a restaurant.
I didn't get those big pieces of fried chicken.
They could've been chopped a bit and added in your butter.
I think it would've been better.
I'm not used to the savory chicken with the cupcake,
but I think as a kid, I would've really relished the surprise.
Thank you.
And last but not least, Eric. What did you bake?
I actually picked both noodles,
so I did a macaroni and strawberry cream-cheese cupcake
with a light cream-cheese frosting.
And then we took the spaghetti and we fried it.
Then to tie everything together,
we made a strawberry-vanilla soda pop
to have with the cupcake.
What a surprising combination,
having macaroni inside a cupcake.
I was quite surprised.
I mean, in a good way.
Especially the strawberry soda pop.
I think it works very well together.
Really delicious.
This was definitely a really fun cupcake.
I was a little confused, however,
about the pairing between the macaroni and the strawberry.
Those flavors -- both kid favorites, absolutely --
but I don't know how successfully
they worked together.
And in terms of the texture of your cupcake,
the macaroni did make the texture a bit gummy.
Well, kids love silly, and this was a silly cupcake.
Thank you, judges. Thank you, Eric.
Bakers, we're gonna give them a moment to chat.
I'll see you in a few. Thank you.
KATIE: The judges loved our cupcake,
but the frosting was a little too sweet,
and I don't want to go home for buttercream.
Candace was confused by mine a little bit,
but I know mine tasted great.
We're the best at this.
This round, we asked for kid-friendly cupcakes
that would score big at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
All of you baked us cupcakes that kids would love,
so today it comes down to the smallest of details.
Katie, the judges all agree the kids would love your flavors,
but your overly sweet frosting
would be a game-ender for adults.
I'm sorry. You're done in cupcake wars.
Thank you.
It's so hard to work with these ingredients in the first round.
To be eliminated over something so tiny
is just heartbreaking.
Congratulations, guys.
You've made it to the next round,
but only two of you will get to compete
to have your 1,000-cupcake display
at the awards gala honoring the amazing Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
For this next challenge,
we want each of you to create three cupcakes
and celebrate the playfulness of toys and games
in both flavor and in decoration.
For this round, you will be judged 50% on taste
and 50% on presentation.
You have 75 short minutes.
The clock starts now.
All right. That was a big relief.
So, we barely made it through.
Thank you, God. Okay.
I think we should keep that kid theme going,
and I think the first cupcake we should start with
is the Neapolitan cupcake.
The first cupcake is gonna be a Neapolitan cupcake.
It is three flavors in one --
strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate --
topped with a chocolate frosting,
a strawberry cream cheese, and a buttercream.
The decoration is going to be a blinged-out die.
Peanut butter and jelly.
And we'll make it chocolate versus that regular vanilla.
My second cupcake is gonna be a chocolate-peanut-butter cake
filled with grape jelly,
topped with a light peanut-butter mousse
and a chocolate building block.
A strawberry rum for the adults.
There are gonna be parents there, too.
My third cupcake is gonna be a strawberry-rum cupcake
infused with strawberries in the middle,
a strawberry cream-cheese frosting,
topped with a tic-tac-toe fondant piece.
I know it's like five different flavors,
but I think we can do it.
If the judges feel like kids, then that's what we want.
Maybe do, like, a banana split version.
ADIE: We're doing a banana-coconut cake,
top it with a scoop of cream-cheese frosting,
dark-chocolate ganache to mimic hot fudge.
We're gonna decorate it
so the entire cupcake looks like a banana split.
Hazelnut cake.
Fudge in the middle. Really chocolaty.
Our second cupcake is Mr. Hazelnut Head.
It is a chocolate-hazelnut cupcake
filled with a dark-chocolate fudge,
rimmed with sprinkles.
And then Mr. Hazelnut Head
is a tall pouf of our hazelnut frosting.
His accessories are gonna be made out of white chocolate.
It's food you can play with.
There are so, so, so many kids that have food allergies.
Our third cupcake is a chocolate brownie
that is free of gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, and nuts.
A chocolate-chip cookie dough on top of that,
and then just a swirl of vanilla frosting
and a little chocolate toy man on top.
Let's just do coconut. Do coconut.
I got to get this cream going for the caramel sauce.
My first cupcake is
a caramel-cream-cheese-stuffed cupcake
with whipped caramel frosting and pink sea salt,
topped with the Chicago Toy & Game Fair logo
that I had seen back in the back.
What are you starting first, dude?
I'm gonna do the banana base.
My second cupcake is a banana-hazelnut cupcake,
vanilla frosting,
topped off with a banana lollipop
and hazelnut marshmallow.
I'm about to start getting the gelée down.
My third cupcake is peanut butter and gelée.
It's a white cake with peanut-butter frosting
and raspberry gelée.
You know, everyone likes peanut butter and jelly.
These cupcakes are gonna stand out immediately,
but I had 35% to 40% more work to do in this round
than the other contestants.
That's just what we do, man.
Whoo!
Yeah.
I think this is gonna be good.
We're doing a lot of steps
for a round we don't have a lot of time.
Heads up, guys. One hour left.
Where has the time gone?
Oh, my gosh.
I'm gonna add some rum to the strawberry batter
so that we can have our strawberry-rum cupcake.
I'm just going to put a little bit of the strawberry rum
into the strawberry batter,
and then I'm gonna really bring out the rum
in the strawberry filling.
We're not gonna use too much rum, are we?
No, it's not gonna be too much. It's gonna be just enough.
I'm not trying to get anybody drunk.
I'm just gonna substitute like half of the flour
with the hazelnut meal.
So, tons and tons of, like, robust flavor.
For our chocolate-hazelnut cupcake,
I am substituting hazelnut meal for some of the flour
to get a really natural hazelnut flavor.
This is looking really chunky.
So, I'm looking at the batter.
It's really thick and a little bit grainy.
Yeah. Totally.
Tastes really good.
It does taste really good.
I taste it, and it's perfect.
It has a lot of flavor. I'm really excited about it.
Okay. I'm throwing this caramel in the freezer.
Just a heads-up, okay?
Yes. Peanut butter.
That's awesome. So good.
Hazelnut's in.
I got to make sure that the gelatin doesn't clump up on me.
I'm making the gelée for the peanut-butter cupcake.
Kids love jello.
I see kids and adults alike
pulling this whole cut-out daisy of gelée off
and leaning their heads back and eating the gelée.
I'm gonna put this gelée in the freezer so it can set up.
Word.
30 minutes.
Right behind. Super hot.
CATARAH: Oh, those are done.
The ganache is done.
We got to start on those lollipops
and all that stuff, okay?
The presentation and the garnish is challenging for me
because I don't want to junk up my cupcakes
and I don't want to go outside of my wheelhouse.
They're gonna look like an old-school yellow smiley face.
I'm putting these goofy eyes
and these really weird-looking mouths,
but they're taking more time than I thought they would.
Starting to hate these lollipops.
ADIE: Can you tell what this looks like?
Okay. Good.
Yo-yo. 10 minutes.
10 minutes, dude.
Oh, these are not close.
These Neapolitan cupcakes are not getting done.
Boy, my heart is beating.
ADIE: So, I look in the oven,
and I can tell that something's wrong.
Sarah, look at these. These are the hazelnut ones.
Oh, my gosh, they're sinking.
That does not look like a cupcake.
Normally, cupcakes rise, but they're just flat.
I don't know. Maybe we should try one.
Yeah. Absolutely.
They taste really good.
It's not as pretty, but it's delicious.
Let's just go for it. We'll cover it up with the ganache.
I mean, they might not know it's sunken. We'll hope for the best.
We're gonna cover it up as best as we can.
The judges don't need to know that it's sunken.
If it's delicious, it's delicious.
Oh, they're ready.
ADIE: I'm making it look like an ice-cream sundae.
So cute.
A little dab of buttercream.
CATARAH: Oh, those came out perfect.
WILLMAN: Here we go. One minute.
Oh! One minute. Oh, God.
Right here. Hurry, hurry.
I'm going in with the logos on top.
I don't have time to do a swirl. It's just gonna be a dollop.
That's fine.
Right on top.
Just make sure it's in one layer.
10...9...8...
Where's the -- Right here.
...7...6...5...
4...3...2...1...
Time is up.
ADIE: I'm looking at the plate,
and I'm just thinking it's awful.
And I knew what I wanted those cupcakes to look like,
and it's not even close.
It's just disappointing.
Bakers, for this round,
we wanted you each to create three cupcakes
that taste kid-delicious
and that look like they're ready to play.
Let's see how you did.
Adie, what did you bake?
ADIE: First cupcake is a banana split.
It's a banana cake with coconut baked in,
and it has a cream-cheese frosting to emulate ice cream,
dark-chocolate ganache as the hot fudge,
and then a cherry on top.
In the middle, our Mr. Hazelnut Head cupcake.
The cake is a chocolate-hazelnut cake.
The decoration is a fudge frosting.
And then Mr. Hazelnut is
a milk-chocolate-hazelnut buttercream.
There are pieces on your plate.
You can add additional accessories as you wish.
The last cupcake is free of gluten, dairy, eggs, and nuts.
It is a chocolate-brownie cake with cookie dough on top,
vanilla frosting, and then a chocolate toy man.
It was quite fun. Good job on the decoration.
Mr. Hazelnut Head was a really good idea.
Besides that, now, that cupcake, your recipe is not right.
The chocolate cake was entirely falling apart.
I understand why you're going with gluten-free
and egg-free and everything, but it still has to remain good.
Overall, it's a fine line
between creating decorations for a child
and not making it look like
a child actually created the plate of cupcakes.
Your hazelnut man --
super inventive but a little bit sloppy.
ZWIERS: I think this was a wow trio.
You really captured the flavor of playfulness in your cupcakes.
Thank you.
Eric, what did you bake?
ERIC: We started off with a banana-hazelnut cake
with vanilla frosting and a homemade marshmallow.
Then take a sucker and stick it in there.
The second is a vanilla cupcake
stuffed with caramel and cream cheese,
topped with whipped caramel frosting
and pink sea salt.
There's a little stuffing of caramel
underneath the Chicago Toy & Game Fair logo.
Cupcake three is a basic white cake
with whipped peanut-butter frosting,
raspberry gelée, and orange zest.
WILLMAN: Candace?
NELSON: You had the universe of toys and games
at your disposal,
and you overthought it a little bit.
Simplicity can be elevated to a sophisticated level
without having to push it too far and overthink it.
What bothered me most about the flavors --
not so much the texture of the cake,
but the consistency of the frosting.
It was kind of like butter spread on hot toast.
It literally just tasted like butter.
BELLANGER: In terms of decoration,
the homemade marshmallow, I think, was brilliant.
And besides the lollipop, which I think is very funny,
that red jelly on top of it,
I quite still don't understand it.
Now, regarding cupcakes,
you have an issue with the texture of each of your cakes.
They are quite dense.
I think your basic recipe should be revised.
From a lollipop-eye view,
I don't think this plate looked as fun as I would've liked.
WILLMAN: Thank you, Eric.
Oh, my God, this is a disaster.
Up next, Catarah. What did you bake?
CATARAH: To your left, we have a strawberry cake
with a bit of rum-infused strawberry filling
and then a strawberry-rum frosting,
topped with a classic tic-tac-toe.
In the middle, you have a chocolate-peanut-butter cake
with grape-jelly filling,
peanut-butter mousse,
and then a chocolate building block on top.
Finally, you have a Neapolitan cupcake.
The chocolate, the vanilla, and the strawberry
are baked all in the same liner
with a chocolate, strawberry, and a buttercream frosting,
topped with a sparkling dice.
BELLANGER: You kept your decoration pretty simple.
They were so well done and so iconic.
That fits perfectly with the event.
But I'm tortured by your plate.
They all have some technical issues.
The peanut butter and jelly. That frosting was quite heavy.
The strawberry daiquiri,
I don't know if it's really appropriate.
And your chocolate ganache right here is so strong.
I can taste the cocoa powder in it.
I think you should get rid of it.
NELSON: These are all instantly recognizable staples
from childhood, so well done.
In terms of your flavors, I was definitely mystified
by your choice of strawberry daiquiri.
The whole idea is to celebrate childhood innocence,
so I think this was sort of a misstep.
WILLMAN: Thank you, Catarah.
Bakers, we'll give our jury a moment to chat.
We'll bring you back in a few. Thanks.
ERIC: I don't know what to think.
They seemed to really hate
couple of the cupcakes that the other team made,
so I'm thinking one of us is getting crunched.
CATARAH: Did my rum really do that bad?
Because Eric didn't put no decorations on his cake,
so I don't know.
Bakers, the Chicago Toy & Game Fair
is a place where creativity and innovation
meet good old-fashioned fun,
and we were looking for the same in your cupcakes.
In the end, with dense textures and an overthought concept,
frankly, they just weren't any fun.
I'm sorry, Eric. You're done in the cupcake war.
ERIC: Win, lose, or draw,
I did it exactly the way that I wanted to.
It was just disappointing.
WILLMAN: Congratulations, ladies.
You've made it to the third and final round,
where you'll duke it out
to see who will have their cupcakes featured
at tonight's gala for the Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
You must each create an incredible 1,000-cupcake display
that celebrates the excitement of this awesome night.
Only one of you will win and walk away with $10,000.
Now, we all know it's not as fun to play games alone,
so we're giving each of you a master carpenter
to help you build.
What's up, guys?
You also get four baking assistants each
to help in any way you may need.
When your time is up,
our judges will rate your cupcakes' taste, presentation,
and based on how the whole thing comes together,
one of you will be named the winner of "Cupcake Wars."
You have two short hours.
Clock starts now.
Oh, my God. It's a mini miracle.
I can't believe it.
Oh, hey.
We're here. Now we got to win this thing.
Is that right?
We've been praised so far
that we've done things that are interactive,
so I want to stay doing that.
I'd like to have it be a giant toy.
My thought is gears.
I want giant platters for cupcakes that look like gears.
Ideally, a couple of them would move.
I want pipes, puzzle pieces,
and have it be bright and beautiful in two hours.
So, maybe filling some of these pipes with gumballs.
Maybe a giant "Chicago."
It's a little ambitious, but I'm gonna go get geared up.
Thank you, thank you.
Dominoes and life-size dice, like, all around the display.
No, life-size.
My idea was to bring all these iconic game pieces
and put them into one pyramid.
And then we're gonna have some shelves
that are gonna come out this way and shelves come out that way.
I also wanted to make sure
that the Toy & Game Fair logo was all over this display.
I want to make it interactive.
A little piece out here surrounded with some lights
to give it some, like, fun.
And then maybe have, like, some different guessing games here.
So, in the front of it, we had three different games
that the judges could play and have fun with the cupcakes.
Lots of dots, lots of color, interactive.
The last time we were on the show,
my display is what took us home,
and I didn't want to make the same mistake,
because I have no second chances.
You got it? I hope that was good enough.
Whip it up.
Start rolling it, and I'll show you first.
We need to get that in the oven. Time's flying.
ADIE: The most nerve-racking part of this round
is having so many things to fix.
We need to tone down the sugar in this a little bit.
It was so grainy.
The judges weren't a huge fan of the allergen-free cupcake.
Our raw cookie dough is a little bit grainy.
Our first guess is the sugar, so we're gonna dissolve that
so it's got a little bit of a softer texture.
No, it's good. It's good.
And I really want to take some time
making Hazelnut Head decorations right.
I'm gonna go check on the decorations.
The first time, we left in the decoration round.
The second time, we made it to the finals.
But this time, we have to win. So much pressure.
CATARAH: First thing that we have to do
if we want to even be considered to win
is to listen to the judges.
We got to get that strawberry perfect,
because it has to be good just as a strawberry
even though it doesn't have the rum in it.
They all wanted me to 86 that rum,
and I'm gonna do that.
We're just gonna make a classic strawberry cupcake.
Delicious!
Just as good as the first time.
And then this time around,
we're taking the fried-chicken chunk
out of the chicken-and-waffle cupcake.
Florian, I am chopping this chicken up just for you.
We're just gonna chop it up in fine pieces
and add it to the batter.
We can't lose this time.
ADIE: I'm finishing up the allergen one here
so we can get that in the oven ASAP.
How y'all doing over there?
Good, good, good.
We came here to win. Here we go.
CATARAH: Here we go again.
We're trying to knock this Neapolitan out.
It's three cupcakes in one.
Absolutely crazy.
Neapolitans are going in.
Get those cupcakes in, guys, get them in.
90 minutes.
90 minutes?! Ohh!
How are you, guys? Oh, my gosh!
Everything matters in this competition --
the taste, the design, the concept.
We're gonna go big or go home.
I wonder how Jake is doing with our display.
One down and like 12 to go.
Man!
And that's the final piece of the puzzle.
Catarah wanted a game, but this is a war.
God, these look good!
One hour.
Oh, my gosh.
This one's ready.
All righty. Our sunky cupcakes.
These are the cinnamon swirl.
It's crazy right now. Everybody's running everywhere.
The assistants getting the decorations done.
Cupcakes coming out of the oven.
Aah!
Jonathan, I just dropped all the Neapolitan cupcakes.
And I drop the cupcakes.
I can't believe I made that mistake.
I've been here three times, and I make a mistake like that?!
This is a rookie mistake.
It is the cupcake batter that has three different batters.
I just want to throw my hands up,
and I just want to go home.
I can't believe I did that.
Jonathan, I just dropped all the Neapolitan cupcakes.
We're almost done, and I drop the cupcakes.
I can't believe I made that mistake.
I've been here three times, and I make a mistake like that?!
This is my third time here. This is a rookie mistake.
We have to make more batter.
But one thing my mama told me is not to give up.
We'll start over. We'll just start over.
Nothing else we can do.
Okay. Strawberry is about to be done.
One more to go.
Okay, this is the chocolate,
and the chocolate is done -- the redo.
It's a miracle, and it's not on 34th Street.
Even though we had to start over,
the batters are getting done.
I think we may be back in the running.
The Neapolitan's in.
30 minutes?!
Oh, my God, we got to go, we got to go.
CATARAH: Let's get to frosting, ladies.
ADIE: We need to make these perfect.
I'm ganaching. Sarah is *** with sprinkles.
The girls are putting the decorations on.
Time is crunching,
and the more the clock ticks, the faster we have to go.
That's it. 1,000 cupcakes done.
I'm getting nervous!
Oh! Aah!
Justin did an amazing job with my display.
That's exactly what I was looking for.
JUSTIN: We got some games, too, by the way.
Awesome!
It's kind of awesome.
No problem.
SARAH: Oh, my gosh, it looks so good!
ADIE: It was colorful. The gears work.
It was everything that I could have hoped for.
I want to look at it from every side.
Thank you, thank you! Yay!
Hmm.
WILLMAN: 10 minutes.
Let's start loading! We don't have much time!
I'm gonna start putting them on the table.
ADIE: It is so intense.
I'm trying to keep going and stay focused
and get all of these things done.
Get them on there.
Yeah, I have four trays over here.
Get them close to the edge as possible.
I'm carrying three and four cupcakes at a time.
I'm telling everybody, just grab what they can
and get those cupcakes on the display.
We have no time to waste.
One minute!
CATARAH: We got to get all these on.
ADIE: Put them on your head if you have to.
Help me, Catarah, help me.
ADIE: 20 seconds, 20 seconds, 20 seconds! Go, go, go!
CATARAH: We got room back here, guys.
Yep, yep, yep. I'm coming with them.
10...9...8...
7...6...5...
4...3...2...1...
Your time is up!
[ Applause ]
Bakers, for this final challenge,
you were asked to create a 1,000-cupcake display
for the exciting gala honoring
the renowned Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
One of you is about to win $10,000
and jet off to The Windy City.
Adie, present your display.
So, our display is essentially a giant toy.
We took inspiration from classic toys,
things that are bright, colorful.
We wanted it to be approachable from all angles,
so anyone of any size could come up to it
and actually play with it.
It actually does spin, which is kind of exciting.
A lot of the gears do work together.
WILLMAN: Did you make any modifications?
ADIE: We did have a little bit more time to spend
on the pieces itself,
so it looked a little bit more professional.
For the allergen-free one,
we tried to work on that cookie dough
and make it a little bit less grainy,
and I think we did an okay job at fixing that.
Hi.
Tell us about your display.
We wanted to keep our display
as classic as our cupcake decorations were.
We also wanted to make sure that our display was interactive.
You can play dice.
You can guess what block represents what game or toy.
And then you can also spin the wheel,
and if you spin it on the color, that's the one you take it from.
We made a few alterations to our cupcakes.
The chicken-and-waffle,
we took that big chunk of fried chicken out of the middle
and we just shredded the chicken throughout the cupcake.
With our strawberry rum,
we nixed the rum out of the strawberry.
Now everyone can enjoy it and have fun with it, as well.
WILLMAN: All right, ladies, nice work.
We're going to give our judges a chance
to check out your displays, have a chat.
We'll bring you back in a few for the final decision.
Thank you.
ADIE: We both had so many things go wrong,
and we both had things that the judges complained about.
My heart, it's just pounding. It's anybody's game.
CATARAH: Right now, I could cry, I could faint.
Adie has a really nice display,
and I'm concerned
that that's more of what the judges are looking for.
WILLMAN: So, Nancy, with all these toys and games,
did you feel at home today?
Yeah?
Let's get down to business.
Well, our old friend Catarah gave us a lot to play with.
In Round 1, I was curious
why she gave us those wooden-tile decorations,
but she's clearly had a grand vision,
and now I can see this colorful, interactive display
highlighting all the toy classics
that we've all grown up with.
We always complain sometimes about the height and the lows,
and those cupcakes are pretty low to the floor.
It's not that clean to have the food so close to the floor.
She did revise her strawberry-daiquiri cupcake.
It's actually quite good.
It's really -- Yeah, it talks by itself.
One of the things I think was really fun
is that she made a game out of her display.
We advised her it would be more successful
to really do smaller pieces of chicken,
and, you know, she did do that throughout the cupcake.
But quite frankly, that huge chunk of chicken
that's still on top of the cupcake
isn't really all that appetizing.
Candace, what do you think
about what Adie has put together for us?
I think Adie has created
a really fun, colorful, and interactive display,
using those gears as shelves for the cupcakes.
But I have to say as soon
as she started putting those cupcakes on,
the overall effect of the display
is a little bit busy.
BELLANGER: It's colorful.
The gears and the puzzle pieces and everything was a great idea.
Well, I applaud Adie's focus on interactivity,
because that's what play is all about.
Well, Adie gave us our best Round 1 cupcake
that we had today.
I was actually quite pleased
to see the Hazelnut Head cupcake executed flawlessly --
That ear and the big, white mitt.
I mean, it was just undeniable what she was going for.
When I saw that raw cookie dough on the brownie cupcake,
I was really excited to taste it.
The grittiness was still there,
but I really appreciate her vision
to the allergen-free cupcake.
All right, judges, let's wrap it up.
Do we have a winner?
Okay. Let's bring them back.
All day long, you were asked to make kid-tested cupcakes
that embodied the whimsical spirit
of the Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
Only one of you can have your creations
as the centerpiece for their exclusive gala
and, of course, win $10,000.
Adie, the judges loved
your perfect breakfast cupcake in Round 1,
calling it the best of the day.
And while you let your imagination run wild
with your display, cupcakes, and decorations,
the judges thought the execution was a bit sloppy.
Catarah, the judges were impressed
with your simple but iconic decorations.
However, despite the revision,
the chunk of chicken on your chicken-and-waffle cupcake
was still a little tough to swallow.
You have both played a great game,
but only one of you can win the prize.
The winner of "Cupcake Wars" is...
Ah!
[ Applause ]
CATARAH: I cannot believe it.
I did it. I won "Cupcake Wars."
After being on here three times, I actually won!
ADIE: We took on a huge project.
We tried to go all-out,
and I'm definitely disappointed that we didn't win.
Yes?
We're on our way to Chicago to the Toy & Game Fair!
Let's go!
[ Laughter ]
This win is huge for Southern Girl Desserts.
It's great for our staff.
It's great for our neighborhood. I'm thrilled.
This is good.
CATARAH: All the stars lined up,
and we were given an opportunity,
and we ran with it, and we won.
I am gonna Twister.
Now that the world knows
that Southern Girl Desserts is a winner
and that we bake amazing cupcakes,
we're gonna continue to grow.
I couldn't be happier.