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WILLMAN: All bakers need a second chance at "Cupcake Wars,"
and today these four bakers are getting another shot
at cupcake glory.
ERICA: We are gonna do it this time. I feel it in my bones.
WILLMAN: And one by one, they'll be eliminated
as they're judged on taste...
My cupcake was a nut-and-frosting wall.
...presentation...
I think you gave us a really solid performance here.
...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 featured
at a drum-smashing, guitar-thrashing, V.I.P. party
for the hit rock band All-American Rejects...
This is really good.
...and walks away with $10,000.
Aah!
These things are exploding everywhere.
[ Clatter ]
Oh, no. Every cupcake is destroyed.
Get ready to rock, 'cause this is "Cupcake Wars."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
What's up?
I'm Justin Willman, and tonight is all about second chances,
as four bakers return to duke it out again.
Overseeing this 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 looking for a comeback.
ANGIE: We're gonna win!
Hi. I'm Alisha Nuttal.
My bakery is Cravings -- Alisha's Cupcakes
in American Fork, Utah.
Cravings -- Alisha's Cupcakes. This is Alisha.
I'm a risky baker.
Our motto is "Imagine it and we'll create it."
ALISHA: I wonder if I should get a new assistant.
I quit.
My assistant today is my twin sister, Angie.
Angie listens to direction.
She'll do what I tell her to,
but she'll tell me what she likes and doesn't like.
Remember what Florian said, how bad your cupcakes were?
This is my second time on the show.
You saw me on the MLS episode,
and you saw me for about 10 minutes,
'cause I was cut first.
Oh, we've got to hurry! We're going to "Cupcake Wars"!
We're here for revenge, and we're here to win.
Oh, yeah!
Oh, yeah!
Whoo!
ANGELO: It's going to make somebody happy.
That's what I'm talking about.
My name is Angelo Sciortino.
My bakery is Swiss Chalet Bakery in Morristown, New Jersey.
My style is a combination of Italian, American,
and a European bakery.
ANGELO: We're gonna do the best cupcake
they ever saw on Food Network, okay?
My assistant is Lindsay.
She's a young girl with a tremendous talent,
and she's a great cake decorator.
What if they give us fish again?
No. I'm staying away from fish.
I've been on "Cupcake Wars" before.
I made a sushi cupcake.
Judges, they didn't like it,
and so I was eliminated in the first round.
I came back to show the world what Angelo can do,
so I'm staying away from fish.
There we go. All right. There we go.
Let's go! All right!
"Cupcake Wars." Smallcakes.
My name is Jeff Martin.
My bakery is Smallcakes, and I'm in Kansas City.
Smallcakes has been open for about four years now.
We have eight locations, and we specialize
in these gourmet, jumbo-size cupcakes.
My style is very crazy.
We come up with all these different crazy cupcakes,
like a cosmopolitan cupcake or a green-apple-martini cupcake.
My assistant today is Debbie.
She owns one of our franchises,
and she's gonna help us win this thing.
My strength is actually making the cupcake.
Debbie's really good at decorating
and making stuff out of fondant,
which we're definitely gonna need today.
I'm not being anyone's friend.
I'm gonna go in there and be hard.
This is my third time on "Cupcake Wars."
I was on Season 1 and 2,
and on Season 1, I forgot the pumpkin in the cupcake,
and in Season 2, Florian didn't like our potato-chip cupcake.
Kick some cupcake buttercream!
It's all business this time.
L.A., baby!
We are in it to win it.
My name is Erica Tucker, and I am the owner
of Sweet E's Bake Shop in Los Angeles.
Sweet E's has been open for two years now,
and we specialize in all things cupcake --
mini cupcakes, standard-size cupcakes,
cupcake poppers, cupcake cake pops.
Who knew you could make so many things out of a cupcake?
We did.
We're creative, we're fast.
We got this.
My assistant today is Bree,
and she has been working for me since the very beginning.
We are a great team in the kitchen.
I'm so excited to go on the show again.
I'm, like, ready to scream.
Last time I was here, I went out on the first round
because I did not take a big enough risk,
and I will not let that happen again today.
Here we go!
Welcome back, old friends.
Join me.
Hello again, bakers.
So, you have all been here before, and unfortunately...
you've all lost here before.
It is time for a second chance.
So tonight, one of you will redeem yourself
and walk out of here a winner.
To do that, you're gonna be battling
for the chance to showcase your cupcakes
at an exclusive concert party
for the multiplatinum hit band The All-American Rejects.
In addition to redemption, of course,
the winner also walks away with a prize of $10,000.
But first, to make sure you're all in tune with tonight's show
right off the bat, I'm gonna introduce you
to our very special guest judge today --
the lead singer of The All-American Rejects,
Tyson Ritter.
Ooh, hey.
How's it going?
ERICA: I love their music,
so to see Tyson as the guest judge was so cool.
I just want to taste the sweetest song
my mouth has ever had.
All right, bakers, let's get to it.
As you know, today there'll be three rounds of competition.
After each round, one of you will be eliminated.
First up, a taste challenge.
Now, the All-American Rejects are known
for their rocking anthems, like "Move Along,"
so our first challenge is also going to rock -- literally.
We want each of you to choose two rocking ingredients
from our inspiration table,
such as rock candy, rock shrimp, and rocky road ice cream,
and blend them together into a cupcake
worthy of partying with Tyson and the band.
You have 45 minutes. Good luck. Clock starts now.
ANGELO: Rock lobster, rock shrimp.
Oh, my God. I'm not doing fish today.
Okay. There's some crazy stuff up there.
I saw some candy up there, though.
Exploding rock candy in the batter, and then --
boom! -- it's gonna explode when you eat it.
And then maybe do caramel frosting, too.
I'm gonna make a chocolate cupcake
filled with exploding rock candy,
topped with a caramel frosting, garnished with rock candy.
I know I can take simple flavors
and make it really big in flavor and taste.
I'm gonna play it safe this first round. I'm not going home.
You've got to get the caramel frosting on now
Okay.
They have those, like, popping, explosion candies or something.
And then maybe that cheese that they have?
It's like a Roquefort cheese.
Today I'm going to make a chocolate cupcake
filled with explosion candy,
with a balsamic-strawberry filling
with a little bit of black pepper,
topped with a Roquefort-cheese frosting
and, of course, more explosion candy.
You make the strawberries. I'll make the batter.
I didn't come back to "Cupcake Wars" to lose.
I think all these flavors work well together.
There's no way I'm going home.
Do half of that. Okay.
All right.
I'm going to make a strawberry-champagne with
exploding candies encapsulated within the chocolate,
and I'm going to make a Roquefort frosting.
I'm going to use a little fig
because fig goes great with cheese
and decorate it with a nice, fresh strawberry and a guitar.
When they bite into these, it's gonna be a party in their mouth.
[ Cork pops ]
Whoa! Whoo!
I need at least a cup of fresh mangoes for the batter.
I'm going to make a mango cake filled with mango,
fried coconut shrimp, exploding rock candies, topped with
a coconut-cream-cheese- exploding-rock-candy frosting,
garnished with a fried coconut shrimp
and an exploding-rock-candy flame.
Angelo used a fish in his cupcake once
and he got sent home,
so I got to make sure that that doesn't happen.
Let's get the fryer out. Get it on the top.
You only get one chance to make a second impression.
30 minutes.
ERICA: 30 minutes. Come on, come on, come on.
ERICA: Cupcakes in the oven!
We are gonna do it this time. I know it.
I feel it in my bones.
LINDSAY: All right.
Okay.
I'm going to put those exploding candies on top of the cupcakes.
I want them to taste the exploding candy,
so I'm going to put it in my batter, on top of my batter.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know that if I don't take a risk
that they're going to kick me out.
I have no idea. How is this going to work?
ALISHA: Will you just go check on those little cupcakes?
Yeah.
ANGIE: They're popping.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I can hear it cracking, exploding everywhere.
I can see it popping, and I'm thinking,
"Oh, my gosh, this is a disaster.
Exploding candy was a very bad idea.
I don't know what else to use.
I'm gonna be devastated if I go home in round one again.
This can't happen.
Okay.
This exploding candy is ruining my cupcake.
I have to start over.
The exploding candy is the secret ingredient.
I need them to taste it, so I think I'm gonna change it
to just my regular chocolate cupcake,
but I'm going to just bake the cupcake
without the exploding candy and I'm just gonna place it on top.
Holy crap, Angela. We have to hurry.
Bakers, 15 minutes.
Oh, man, 15 minutes.
Our champagne cupcakes.
Great. Perfect.
LINDSAY: Will you try this frosting?
Oh, God! This is awful!
How much cheese should I put in here?
Oh, yeah, this is much better.
ERICA: I want to create this cool little decoration
for the cupcakes out of the exploding rock candies.
I'm gonna just whip out a blowtorch
and try to flame them up.
Aah!
BREE: Just hold it. Hold it, hold it, hold it.
ERICA: These things are exploding everywhere with my blowtorch.
Whatever it takes to win!
These look much better, Angie.
The cupcake looks great.
Now we're gonna top it off with the explosion candy.
JEFF: No.
The cupcakes are taking longer than I expected.
Season 1, I forgot the pumpkin.
Season 2, we missed something as well.
All I can think about right now is "Not again."
Five minutes.
ANGELO: It's good.
BREE: Yeah.
Okay. Let's get the --
[ Clatter ]
JEFF: I'm running back to our station to get them to cool,
and I run right into the mixer.
Did you see that?
Oh, that is so sad. All those cupcakes.
Every cupcake is destroyed. I can't salvage any.
One minute.
One minute. Let's hurry.
ERICA: Yeah.
Plate frosting so we have something.
I can't serve the judges nothing,
so I'm gonna give them our caramel frosting.
I don't know how we recover from this.
WILLMAN: 10, 9, 8,
7, 6, 5, 4,
3, 2, 1...
Time's up.
JEFF: This was a chance for redemption,
and I dropped all of our cupcakes.
What an idiot.
Bakers, you were asked to create a pulse-racing cupcake
in honor of All-American Rejects and their new album,
"Kids in the Street."
Let's see what our judges have to say.
Good.
Thank you.
Okay.
So, what you have is a mango cupcake
filled with fresh mangoes,
coconut fried shrimp, exploding candies,
and some white chocolate, and it's topped
with a coconut-cream-cheese- exploding-candy frosting
with a coconut fried shrimp and an exploding-candy flame.
So enjoy.
This cupcake just blew me away.
I mean, not only did you choose the ingredients well,
but you executed them flawlessly.
I mean, the shrimp was perfectly crisp and fried.
Thank you.
This cupcake, I'm kind of speechless in a good way.
I like pretty much all the ingredients all together.
I think your choice, like Candace said, was well done.
I felt like being on vacation on a tropical island.
Thank you.
I'm the kind of guy who wraps pancakes around his chicken,
and this was like a sweet little salty surprise.
So good, so good.
What's up, Angelo? Welcome back, buddy.
Thank you.
What'd you bring today?
It's a strawberry-champagne cupcake,
and I used rock exploding candies in the mix,
and I did a Roquefort-cheese frosting.
Your Roquefort-cheese frosting, I think, was really good,
and I could really taste the Roquefort.
Your champagne-strawberry cake was good.
I like the exploding candy. It was a good idea.
But they were kind of a rock right there in the middle,
so it was a little bit hard to cut the cupcake in half.
But I like your cupcake.
Thank you so much.
Candace, what do you think?
I think you have an explosion of flavors going on here.
I still don't love all of these flavors together,
but I think you worked it out really well.
Honestly, the cupcake itself was awesome.
I liked it.
Alisha, what's up?
What'd you bake?
So, it's a chocolate cupcake filled with the exploding candy
and balsamic strawberries,
and I've added a little bit of black pepper
just to give it a little kick,
and then I've used the Roquefort cheese
and made that into a frosting,
and then, of course, more exploding candies.
There were definitely elements of this cupcake I liked.
I thought the chocolate cake was delicious.
Your Roquefort frosting was delicious.
But I think you could've edited your ingredient choices
much more wisely.
I think there was too much going on.
This is one of the weirdest combinations
I have ever had on the show.
I think you took a lot of risk, and I think it did work.
Is it a cupcake that I would purchase? Probably not.
But considering the ingredients that you have on the table,
I'm kind of happy with this cupcake.
I like the sensory overload when it comes to, like, my sweets,
and the exploding candy helped it blow my mind a lot.
So, this is really a pleasant surprise.
What's going on?
Could be better.
Tell us what we got.
You were gonna have in front of you today
an exploding-rock-candy chocolate cake
with caramel frosting, topped with rock candy, as well,
and I dropped everything in the heat of the moment.
So instead of giving you nothing,
we gave you this awesome caramel frosting that you can try.
Jeff gave the judges a liner of frosting.
You can do better than that.
As you noticed, I didn't taste your frosting.
We're in "Cupcake Wars" and not in "Frosting Wars."
Right.
At Sprinkles, we have a frosting shot.
So clearly there's an audience for this
but just doesn't happen to be at the judges' table here today.
Ty, what do you say?
It's like the Guns 'N' Roses of cupcakes.
Axl didn't show up.
[ Laughter ]
All right, bakers, you know the deal.
We'll let them chat. We'll see you in a few. Thank you.
Judges weren't happy. It hurts. It does.
It stings 'cause I came back for redemption and I'm going home...
again.
Bakers, we asked you to give us a rock-inspired cupcake
worthy of owning the party with our buddies,
The All-American Rejects.
You have all been here before,
but none of you has been named the winner.
Three of you guys are about to have a chance
to rewrite history.
Jeff, as you know, to make it out of this round,
you have to present a delicious cupcake,
and you gave the judges something
that was neither delicious nor a cupcake.
Sorry. You're done in the cupcake war.
JEFF: This makes it three times in a row
that I've been sent home in the first round.
I came back to win $10,000, and I blew it today.
Second round, bakers. Congratulations. You made it.
But do not get too cocky, because the competition,
of course, only gets tougher from here on out.
Two of you are moving on to make your 1,000-cupcake display
that will be featured at a concert party
for The All-American Rejects.
You will also be competing for a chance at $10,000.
But first, got to prove yourself in this round.
The All-American Rejects play
their special brand of alternative rock
to packed crowds across the world,
and with the release of their new album, "Kids in the Street,"
the party is just getting started.
So in the spirit of the band and its music,
each of you must now create three cupcakes
bursting with awesome flavors and eye-popping decorations
worthy of sharing the spotlight with Ty and his bandmates.
Remember, in this challenge,
50% of the judges' decision is based on taste
and 50% is all about presentation.
You got 75 minutes...
...starting now.
That was so close. I knew it was going to be close.
Okay, so, what are we gonna do?
Oh, carrot cake with the cream-cheese frosting.
Okay.
The first cupcake will be a carrot cupcake
with coconut and pineapple in it,
topped with my creamy cream-cheese frosting,
with my candied pecans and a fondant star with a music note.
Let's do that caramel-toffee cupcake.
My second cupcake will be a chocolate cupcake,
and that will be filled with a gooey caramel,
topped with a whipped-cream frosting and homemade toffee,
and that will be topped off with a guitar.
Let's make our fruit-pizza cupcake.
My third cupcake will be a lemon cupcake
filled with fruit-dip frosting,
topped with a sugar cookie, fruit,
and the logo of The All-American Rejects.
I know they're going to love it.
So, you work on the fillings and the toppings,
Okay. Sounds good.
I feel so good that they loved our cupcake in the first round.
I feel good right now. I feel like we're on top.
I want to keep that momentum going.
I'm gonna start on the velvet batters --
the red velvet and the blue velvet.
Our first cupcake is the mixture
of a red velvet and blue velvet cake all in one
and then topped with a cream-cheese frosting,
set in a cone to look like a microphone.
Let's add the whiskey to it so we can taste it.
My second cupcake is our drunken cupcake,
a chocolate cake filled with chocolate-whiskey ganache,
topped with a whipped-rum frosting,
and garnished with a fondant rocker hand.
My third cupcake is a chocolate cake filled with
white-chocolate-peanut-butter- pretzel ganache,
topped with a peanut-butter frosting,
dipped in chocolate ganache, topped with pretzel pieces
and a fondant electric guitar.
We got this.
Listen, we're gonna make three cupcakes, okay?
What do we do on decoration? What do you think?
ANGELO: Getting out of Round 1, it was great,
because I have three good cupcakes
that I'm gonna show them.
We'll make a chocolate cupcake with a little secret inside.
My first cupcake is going to be
a chocolate cake with caramel frosting,
with a chocolate-caramel truffle inside
and decorated with a music note and a rock star.
How about a chocolate-espresso cupcake?
My second cupcake is an espresso cupcake
with a little bit of coffee liqueur inside
and espresso frosting,
and I'm gonna decorate this cupcake with hands-on rock.
All right.
Now, my third cupcake, I'm gonna do an orange-creamsicle cupcake
with an orange frosting, with whipped cream, orange zest.
For the decoration, I'm gonna try to spray with spray color
and resemble their logo.
Let's start with the chocolate cupcake, okay?
So, Ty, you need a new dude in the band?
Well, maybe. Can you play?
One hour.
ANGIE: One hour.
I'm starting to scoop out the red and blue velvets.
My idea for the red-and-blue-velvet cupcake
was that it's a red-and-blue cupcake
with the cream-cheese frosting on top.
All-American Rejects.
We want them to stay separated and not marbled,
'cause if they marble,
I'm afraid they're gonna turn purple.
ANGIE: So, what's that fruit pizza again?
It's the sugar cookie with, like, a whipped frosting,
and then it's topped with seasonal fruit.
Chocolate batter going in.
I'm putting the chocolate cupcakes inside.
Coming in, coming in.
Going in the oven.
Okay. Done scooping.
30 minutes left.
How many?
Should I do teaspoons? Should I just pour it in?
Start with like 2 tablespoons or so,
'cause we want to, like, really taste it.
I want to put whiskey into my chocolate ganache
because that is a rocker drink.
What?
I think the whiskey is too strong of a flavor.
Oh, my God, it's awful.
It's awful.
We serve that and we're going home.
It's way too ***.
I'm trying to think of what to do,
and since we have rum frosting, I decide to try rum.
Oh, much nicer.
Perfect.
Oh, my gosh, I forgot the sugar cookie. Here. Just hold this.
All of a sudden, I remember I haven't made the sugar cookie.
You got to do it fast, though.
And I'm thinking, "How am I going to
get this in the oven and cooled?"
Okay. I'm gonna start on the frost.
I know.
WILLMAN: 10 minutes.
Just get the fruit done.
I'm dipping the cones for our microphones.
I fond this stamp in the closet.
I need a spoon. I need a spoon.
Grab the caramel out of the oven.
Positive.
Okay.
Hot cookies, hot cookies.
I'm just gonna stick those right in the fridge.
WILLMAN: One minute.
One minute. One minute.
ALISHA: Yeah, the sugar cookies.
Plates are dirty. Clean them, clean them, clean them, clean them.
BREE: Calm down, calm down.
WILLMAN: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6...
Perfect.
...5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Time is up.
[ Gasping ]
I don't know.
ALISHA: I feel like I'm in trouble right now.
Round 2 was such a disaster.
I don't know what they like, so I'm just hoping they like these.
Bakers, we asked for you to capture the free-wheeling spirit
of The All-American Rejects in three mouth-watering cupcakes.
Let's see what the judges think. Alisha, present away.
ALISHA: Our first cupcake is my classic carrot cupcake
topped with a mascarpone- cream-cheese frosting,
and then I candied some pecans and decorated
with a fondant star with a music note.
And then the second cupcake is actual lemon cupcake
topped with fruit-dip frosting,
an actual homemade sugar cookie, seasonal fruit,
and then I decorated it with The All-American Rejects logo.
The third cupcake is a chocolate cupcake,
caramel inside, whipped-cream frosting,
homemade toffee on top, and then that has a fondant guitar.
Well, I can tell you are back in your element here,
and what a delightful plate of cupcakes.
These decorations scream "rock 'n' roll" to me
and specifically All-American Rejects.
Well done on the branding.
In terms of your cupcakes, wow.
This carrot cake was so unique, so delicious.
Your cupcake in the middle, it was a good flavor,
but the big sugar cookie in the middle,
I mean, it was hard to eat.
It didn't add anything. It was kind of an odd texture.
I think you paid homage to All-American Rejects.
Love your decoration.
The chocolate-caramel- and-toffee-on-top,
it was like I could not stop eating this thing.
And your carrot cake was moist and the caramelized pecans.
Those two were unbelievable.
You totally nailed it. It's very rock 'n' roll.
Thank you, Alisha.
Angelo, my friend, tell us what you baked.
ANGELO: My first cupcake for you today
is the chocolate cake and caramel frosting,
and inside, there's a chocolate-caramel truffle.
Decorated with a rock star and a music note for you.
My second cupcake is an espresso cupcake with espresso frosting.
It has coffee liqueur, espresso custard.
It's decorated with hands on rock.
My third cupcake is an orange-creamsicle cupcake.
It has an orange frosting with a little whipped cream
and orange liqueur.
I see with your decoration you already pay homage
to rock 'n' roll.
I'm just quite surprised why you chose those colors.
It's more like techno music than rock 'n' roll to me.
Regarding your cupcakes, I really had some issue with it.
I think your flavors were a good choice,
but I think they are not present enough in the cupcake.
Well, I think you gave us a really solid performance here.
I loved this espresso one.
It reminded me of a tiramisu, and it really picked me up.
Unfortunately, that chocolate cake
was definitely baked too long.
Thank you, Angelo. And Erica.
Showtime. Tell us what you got.
First, we have a chocolate- peanut-butter-pretzel cupcake,
a chocolate cupcake,
peanut-butter-white-chocolate- pretzel ganache,
peanut-butter frosting,
and decorated with a fondant electric guitar.
The middle cupcake is
a red-velvet-and-blue-velvet marbled cupcake,
blueberries folded into the cake,
cream-cheese frosting on top,
set into a dark-chocolate-dipped cone,
and The All-American Rejects logo on top.
And the third cupcake is our chocolate-rum cupcake,
whipped-rum frosting, and a fondant rock hand.
Your decorations are gorgeous.
I mean, the red and the dark color,
and these creams work in all, and the hand.
Everything is edible. I just love it.
Regarding your cupcakes, I'm sorry.
I just cannot dig in blue food. I think it's unappetizing.
I think it's not appealing. It's an American Reject to me.
Your decorations were stunning.
This microphone is just ingenious.
You took this to a whole nother level.
In terms of the cupcakes themselves,
chocolate-peanut-butter-pretzel, I love it all.
Because there was so much peanut-butter flavor on the top,
having a peanut-butter-flavored filling, as well,
was just a lot of peanut butter.
The rum guy. This was really good.
Like, it wasn't overpowering.
Just more like a little "Hey, guess what?
[ Laughter ]
Thank you, Erica. All right, bakers.
We will give these guys a moment to deliberate.
I'll see you in a few.
ANGELO: Second round is done.
I feel a little bad about my chocolate cupcake.
But other than that,
I think I'm going to make it to the next round.
I had this feeling about the red-and-blue-velvet cupcake,
and they said exactly what I feared.
If I got sent home now, I would be absolutely devastated.
Bakers, in this second round,
you were asked to create three cupcakes that capture
the essence and attitude that is The All-American Rejects.
Erica, your presentation was a smash.
Unfortunately, your peanut-butter flavor
left the judges with a bit too much feedback.
Angelo, the judges liked the way you designed your cupcakes,
but your colors were more disco than rock 'n' roll.
Erica, you're moving on to the next round.
Angelo, I'm sorry. You're done in the cupcake war.
It is frustrating.
I wanted to prove that we could really, really do it good
and we're good competitors.
WILLMAN: Final round, bakers.
So far, the two of you have delivered a stellar set,
but the fans, they want more, so you're about to give it to them.
In just a few hours,
The All-American Rejects will be hitting the stage
in another one of their blockbuster rock concerts,
and each of you are gonna create a 1,000-cupcake display
that will serve as the centerpiece for this event.
The best presentation wins.
You'll also have an extra $10,000 in your pocket.
Now, we know you can't accomplish this alone,
so we're giving each of you
a master carpenter/roadie to help you build
and four baking assistants
to assist in any way you may need.
Ladies?
When your time is up, our rockin' judges
will evaluate you based on how your cupcakes taste.
Most importantly, though,
how you incorporate everything into one amazing presentation.
You've got two hours. Good luck. Clock starts now.
Oh, my God!
Yay! I'm going to Round 3. I'm super excited.
This is real now. I could win $10,000.
I am.
Cool. Awesome. All-American Rejects.
Re-create a rock concert.
I want this stage for our display.
At the top of the display, I want some instruments --
drum set, a guitar.
That's my guitar.
I want tiers, as if the audience is staring up at you,
and a logo on top.
I just want it to scream "rock star."
A truss.
Yeah, the two things -- the frames on the side of the stage.
But I want, like, strobe lights and fog.
I want to feel like I'm at a rock concert.
Thank you.
Good luck.
All right.
So, what I'm going to do, I'm gonna have a front and back.
A wall. The album. I want that.
And I want a picture
of The All-American Rejects on there.
I want the front to be their new album, the Kids on the Street.
I want a drum there with the logo, a guitar there.
And it's going to be a stage,
Got you. Okay.
So, on the back, it's going to be a brick wall, backstage door,
and it's going to say "backstage."
So, it's kind of like two displays in one here.
I'm doing, like, the party in the front
Yep.
I want it to be screaming "All-American Rejects."
All right. Thank you so much. You can do it. Thank you.
We're doing it for the pumpkin. We're doing it for the mango.
ERICA: So, I have to make a few changes in my cupcakes for Round 3.
The all-American red-and-blue-velvet cupcake,
I'm gonna swap that out and do our pumpkin-spice cupcake.
Let's see if I can whip this pumpkin-spice recipe out.
The chocolate-peanut-butter- pretzel cupcake,
I'm gonna make a white-chocolate filling
instead of a peanut-butter filling.
I am so close to winning $10,000!
I'm so excited.
I am about to be scooping our first cupcake.
ALISHA: I'm so excited that we don't have to do the sugar cookie anymore.
ALISHA: I've got to make some changes in this round.
They didn't like Round 1's cupcake.
They said too much was going on,
so I'm taking the balsamic and the pepper out.
Cutting this fruit is taking forever, Alisha.
For the fruit-pizza cupcake, I'm taking the sugar cookie out.
I came for revenge. Erica is going down.
You guys are awesome. I love you, guys.
10,000 bucks on the line, ladies.
You got 90 minutes.
BREE: We have so much to do. We need to get these batters in.
Putting the shrimp in the fryer.
Cupcakes going in the oven. Perfect.
Cupcakes going in.
I wonder how Justin's doing with our display.
I just went to the prop shop, and I found this fog machine,
this microphone, couple of guitars.
I think Erica is gonna be pretty happy.
The band e-mailed me a picture,
and I'm gonna print these up and put them on the display.
[ Oven dings ]
WILLMAN: Bakers...
You got one hour!
Yeah!
Oh, my gosh. One hour, one hour.
We have one hour left.
I am done.
How we doing on the cones?
Pretty good. I only have about 14, 15 so far.
We have 250 to do.
Our Round 1 and Round 2 cupcakes are so complicated,
I'm afraid we took on more than we can handle.
Move fast, move fast.
I'm doing a million things at one time.
Oh, God!
The next thing I know,
I realize I left the exploding rock candies in the oven.
ERICA: Oh!
It's ruined. It's awful.
This whole tray of exploding rock candies are burned.
I can't use any of it.
I am ready to lose it.
This is my third time here.
I came here not just to go through Round 1 and 2.
I came here to win this thing.
First, the cones are taking the assistants 10 years to dip.
It's ruined. It's awful.
Now the exploding rock candies are completely ruined.
Things aren't looking so good.
All right. I'm doing the same thing with the rest of these.
But I'm thinning it out this time.
Our Round 1 cupcakes and Round 2 cupcakes are so complicated,
we better work faster and hope that it works.
Who wants their first taste of glory?
You got 45 minutes.
Oh, my gosh, 45 minutes. I've got to get these going.
How we doing? Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry.
I'm scrambling. I'm running around.
I still have people putting decorations and frosting
on the cupcakes.
This is insane.
Bree, I'm taking the exploding candies out of the oven,
and we'll see what happened.
BREE: Okay.
I think this is gonna work.
Ah! It worked. Okay.
BREE: Ooh! That looks awesome.
It looks awesome. I love it.
I see my display, and it looks amazing
and exactly what I wanted.
Oh! It looks awesome.
You like it?
Yes, it looks awesome.
That's awesome.
It's like a real stage.
ALISHA: Angie, look.
Oh, my gosh, he did such a good job.
Oh, my gosh.
That's, like, exactly what I wanted.
Oh, my gosh! My display. It looks awesome.
It's exactly what I was envisioning.
Justin did such a good job.
It's pretty cool.
WILLMAN: 10 minutes.
10 minutes.
10 minutes. There's no way we can do this in 10 minutes.
Time to start praying.
Stand.
Okay.
ALISHA: Okay. Put those in the back.
Right behind you.
Right behind you, right behind you,
right behind you, right behind you.
You guys are doing awesome. Thank you so much.
ERICA: Let's go, let's go.
I want to win the $10,000. Please don't blow it for me.
These cones are the worst idea ever.
Angie, I really want to go to this party.
WILLMAN: One minute.
Come start grabbing the microphones from me.
You guys are doing awesome. Awesome.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5...
...4, 3, 2, 1...
Time is up.
[ Applause ]
Whoo!
You did so awesome!
Bakers, in this final round, we asked you to deliver
a 1,000-cupcake display
that captures the rocking essence
of The All-American Rejects.
Alisha, present your display.
This is the V.I.P. party for your new album,
"Kids in the Street."
I wanted to make sure
that everyone knew what your album looked like,
so there's no hiding who this display is for.
It's All-American Rejects. You've got your guitars, drum.
And then after, you're gonna go to the backstage,
and there's more cupcakes,
where you're gonna have your V.I.P. party,
and you're just gonna get to party back there
and party up front.
I have listened to you guys very carefully.
The balsamic one, the balsamic's out, the pepper's out.
And then the fruit pizza, the cookie's gone.
So, I hope you guys like the revised ones.
Erica, present your display.
So, when I think of All-American Rejects,
I think of an awesome rock concert,
and that's exactly what I wanted to replicate in my display.
The cupcakes are your audience, looking up at the stage.
"All-American Rejects" is spelled out
on the tiers of the display.
And on top of that, what is any rock concert
without some awesome special effects.
So, for you, some...
...awesome special effects.
Motley Crue. Awesome. Nice.
I completely redid the velvet cupcake,
and we did a pumpkin-spice cupcake
with a cream-cheese frosting instead.
And for the peanut-butter- chocolate-pretzel cupcake,
we did a white-chocolate-pretzel ganache inside the filling
rather than the peanut butter.
All right, Alisha, Erica,
the judges have a very big decision to make.
We'll give them a moment. See you in a few.
ERICA: I feel like I gave it my all, and I made
some incredible cupcakes and a fantastic display.
This is my third time here. I'm ready to finally win.
ALISHA: I didn't come back to "Cupcake Wars"
to lose in Round 3,
because I have put so much heart and soul.
I'm here to win.
You've got two displays here immortalizing the band.
What do you think of Alisha's, Candace?
In the front here, she's got the concert atmosphere,
and in the back, she's got the backstage atmosphere.
Both very relevant to the theme today.
Cupcakes, obviously, on both sides.
Easy to reach and grasp. I think she did a great job.
It's a really clever display.
It's like two displays in one.
Yeah, and going for, like, what is relevant to me right now
is the fact that I just put out my new record,
"Kids in the Street," and this has this front and center.
Florian, how is her cupcake revision?
Well, she took out that cookie from that fruit pizza,
and it made it way lighter.
She revised her decorations. She took our advice.
She did a great job all day.
So, let's talk about Erica's display.
Well, I like it.
The All-American Rejects are really the stars
and the cupcakes are the spectators.
The towering microphones and the KISS riser
with the "All-American Rejects" in house lettering,
it is a little messy and rough around the edges,
but, like, that's what rock 'n' roll is.
Her decorations just really nailed the whole attitude
of The All-American Rejects.
That microphone was unlike anything we've seen
on this show.
Totally.
You know, Erica has been here not just once before,
so she should know how you feel
about red-velvet cupcakes, Florian.
That red velvet was not only red.
It was blue, too.
But she did make a huge improvement on that cupcake.
She changed it altogether to a pumpkin cupcake
that was really quite tasty.
I'm torn because this is, like, where I started
and then this is sort of, like, where we are today.
So, I don't know. This is a tough one.
Judges, do you have a decision?
Mm-hmm.
Okay. I'm gonna bring them back.
Bakers, we asked you both for awesome, jaw-dropping,
rock 'n' roll displays that would feel right at home
at a sold-out All-American Rejects concert.
Today, one of you will no longer be a second-chancer.
Instead, you'll be a first-time winner.
Alisha, your presentation tells
the modern All-American Rejects story
by displaying their newest album and taking the fans backstage
at one of their concerts.
And, Erica, with a stage and drum kit,
your display is clearly ready to rock.
It's a little rough around the edges,
but that's why the judges loved it,
because being loud and in your face
is exactly what rock 'n' roll is all about.
But at the end of the day, they felt that one display
had cupcakes whose flavors were undeniably rock stars.
Congratulations...
[ Screaming happily ]
You're the winner of "Cupcake Wars."
ERICA: This is my third time here.
This was supposed to be the time I won, and somehow it slipped.
It just wasn't supposed to end like this.
[ Applause ]
ALISHA: Last time I was here, it was so hard to go in Round 1.
It was so devastating.
But to come back and redeem myself
is the best feeling of my life.
Whoo!
You got a concert to get to,
so pack up your display and let's go.
Let's go rock some Orange County.
We are your All-American Rejects.
[ Cheers and applause ]
ALISHA: I'm so excited right now.
I can't believe this. It's like a dream come true.
I'm so blessed that I got a second opportunity
to come here and that I got to win.
Whoo!
This is really good.
This came out so cool.
ALISHA: This is definitely a life-changing moment for me.
I will get my storefront.
So many people will get to try my cupcakes.
I know this is life-changing.
Sister success!