Bakers vs. Fakers (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Doughnut Dilemma - full transcript
Doughnuts must be paired with potato chips; host Buddy Valastro and Damiano Carrara and Zac Young judge desserts made with yogurt.
I'm Molly from
Marblehead, Massachusetts,
and I am a professional baker.
I'm Keri from
Middletown, Connecticut,
and I am a professional baker.
I'm Harold from
Los Angeles, California,
and I am a professional baker.
I'm Cassie from
Northridge, California,
and I am a professional baker.
Hang on! The fun
is about to begin.
Four bakers are here
to do battle.
Golden-brown delicious.
Two are amazing amateurs.
Do I look like I need help?
Hey, have you got an
Easy-Bake Oven down there?
And two are professionals.
Lovely.
Out of this world.
But only they know
their true identities.
Their mission?
Just winnin' a bunch of money.
Outbake the competition.
If a professional baker wins,
they take home $10,000.
That sounds fancy.
But if an amateur is able
to fake out the judges...
I didn't wanna stop eating it.
You're a baker.
...and take down the pros...
- Pssh! Pssh!
...they walk away
with 15 grand!
- Wow!
- [Gasp]
Bada-bing, bada-boom.
Are you a baker
or a faker?
- I...
- Am...
A...
[ Suspenseful music climbs ]
- Seriously?
- I told you!
I told you both!
You're amazing.
Well, welcome to
"Bakers Vs. Fakers"
Ooh, yeah.
Here are the rules.
There are 2 rounds
of competition,
and we're hiding your identities
so that our judges will be
completely unbiased.
In Round 1,
you will be baking...
donuts!
- All right.
- Yay!
You go to a bakery,
you get a cupcake.
Go to a donut shop,
you get a donut.
What's the matter, Cassie?
You don't make donuts?
I'm a baker, Buddy,
not a donut maker.
Bakers don't make donuts.
I never met a donut
I didn't like.
[ Chuckles ]
But it takes a real pro
to make a first-class donut
using...
potato chips!
- Yay!
- Oh!
Putting together savory flavors
into a sweet dish
is something I do well,
and potato chips are
the perfect vessel to do that.
We got classic, kettle, cheddar,
maple bacon, and spicy barbecue.
I'm going to give you 45 minutes
to make amazing donuts
using one of these types
of potato chips.
I am ready.
45 minutes on the clock!
Get baking!
♪♪♪♪
Donuts.
What do you guys
think about donuts?
Every baker should be
able to make a donut.
Anybody who tries
a yeast-raised donut
in this amount of time,
I think, is the baker.
DAMIANO:
Doing in 45 minutes
a donut that would take
2 hours to do it
is the most risky thing to do.
You would stay away
from the yeast-raised.
I would stay away from it.
I would either go cake donut,
or I would go French cruller.
You could even do
a baked donut and glaze it.
You don't bake a donut!
I'm just saying,
someone might be trying
to make a healthier version
of a donut.
Oh, this guy -
He wants to bake a donuts.
What's wrong with you?
You bake the donut.
We fry it.
That's right.
That's right.
What's going to tell
the baker from the faker
is how they incorporate
the potato chips.
I want to be able
to taste the chip.
The faker's going to make
the donut that they know to make
and crumble some chips on top
and call it a day.
The baker, you know, will
actually take the potato chip
and crumble it inside
the actual mixture
to give some texture to it.
I agree.
Time to make the donuts.
CASSIE: All right!
What ingredients?
Most donuts require frying,
but I'm a leader.
I've never been a follower.
So I want to make a donut
that's going to stand out
from the crowd.
Okie dokie.
In my baking,
I like to relate back
to happy times in my childhood.
My dad used to take me
to the donut shop
when I was a little girl,
and I always picked
the maple-glazed donut.
I am going to make
the butter-maple-pecan
baked donut for my dad.
There we go.
I can't help but gravitate
towards the mini bundt pan.
I know it's going to look
like a mini bundt cake.
It's who I am.
It's going to make it more fun,
more fancy.
Chips.
I think I'm just going to go
with the classic potato chips
because the bundt cake donut
is taking a huge risk.
So I want to stick
to what I know.
There we go.
The bundt goes upside down.
So, when I turn
my donut bundts out,
they're going to have the salty,
savory potato crust
on the bottom.
Cassie is just
crumbling those chips
on top of her donut batter,
but she hasn't done
anything else with the chips.
That's a faker move.
It's definitely a faker's move.
About to go in convection.
How's everybody doing?
Everybody doing good?
I'm a talker in general.
I talk all the time.
Smells delightful in here.
What are you making?
A apple fritter with a cheddar-
and-thyme-crunch topping.
Everything else in my donut
is pretty sweet.
- Okay.
- So going with the Granny Smith
because I don't want
too sweet going in
with the apple, as well.
And also, with the moisture,
there're a little less moisture
than some of your other choices,
and I don't want that to affect
my donut consistency.
All right.
A donut is basically
a fried batter.
My fritter is
a deep-fried, sweet batter
and a topping and a glaze.
This is a donut 100%.
Our chips are gonna be
salt in here.
Cheddar makes it better.
The savory cheddar chips
and the sweet tang of the apple
is a perfect combo.
I want to make sure
my apples are nicely diced.
Throughout my childhood,
baking was something
constant in my life.
And my little brother's
favorite donut in the world
is an apple fritter,
so I'm dedicating
this donut to him.
This is going to be awesome.
Come on. Look at Molly.
While she was talking to me,
and I said, "Oh, Granny Smiths?"
And she's like, "Yeah."
And she's like,
"They're more tart.
They're not oversweet."
She knows her apples.
She could be a teacher,
all right.
She knows an apple.
- She knows her apples.
She's got good knife skills.
She's the baker, buddy.
Guys, I just tasted my batter,
and it is on point!
Here we go.
Here we go.
As far as baking style goes,
I will say I have no style.
There is no style
that can confine me.
I'm kind of like Bruce Lee.
I'm a master.
- Harold.
- Yes?
Do you bake donuts or fry them?
You can bake them or fry them,
whatever you want to do.
Oh.
HAROLD: I'm making
an orange-glazed,
cheddar-chip-filled,
whipped-cream-covered donut.
The only word that I keep
in my vocabulary is winning.
I don't even use
the opposite word.
Winning here today would just
validate what I already know,
which is that I'm the best.
[ Chuckles ]
Yeast.
Harold has a bowl lined
with plastic wrap.
He's going yeast. He's going yeast!
Yeah, he's going...
Harold is a baker.
He...
He's going yeast.
He's not understanding
the timing.
He's not thinking straight.
I'm telling you.
When it comes to baking,
I never limit myself
because the sky is the limit,
if you will,
and nobody can reach the sky,
so that's what I'm going for.
Trying to do a yeast donut
in 45 minutes
is the most risky thing to do.
He is playing with fryer.
[ Both laughing ]
You can hate if like,
but I know what I'm doing.
In my book, the real donuts
are made with yeast.
Part of the process is
putting yeast in the mixture
in order to leaven the dough,
which, you know, can take time.
I'm almost done.
I'm almost done
with the hard part.
So I placed the donut dough
in the oven
to get the donuts
to rise quicker.
Harold is
using hot boiling water
inside a pan, inside the oven,
to create some sort of moisture.
It's smart.
He's making a proof box.
Exactly. That's going to
give humidity into the oven,
and it makes the dough
rise faster.
- It is a good move.
- He's a baker.
Who thinks about a proof box?
Who does that?
Just need a little quick rise.
[ Chuckles ]
When I'm in the kitchen,
it's organized chaos.
Aah, just dropped everything.
But, in the end, I pull together
to create
a beautiful masterpiece.
Good to go, good to go.
My style of baking is
trendy comfort food.
So today, I'm going to make
a peanut-butter-maple-
bacon-crunch donut.
Have bacon going.
The very first thing
I need to do is,
get that bacon cooking
for my crunchy
caramel-bacon topping.
Get it going.
Keri - look over there.
See, she's got bacon.
That's an interest choice.
Well, maybe she's going to use
those maple-bacon chips.
But I would have baked it
on top of a baking rack
so that all the bacon grease
would have dripped out.
Keri's the faker.
KERI: Bacon in the oven.
After I get the bacon
in the oven,
I need to get
my donut dough going.
By grinding the classic chips
super, super fine
and mixing it with the flour,
it's going to incorporate
some potato chip flavor
into my donut batter.
Putting the flour with the chips
and pulverizing them
all together,
that's a baker move.
It makes sense because
the potato's a starch.
Keri's my baker.
Let's see.
Me and my family are
big donut fans.
We're a family of five
with a newborn,
and my kids have
probably sacrificed
a little more
for my career than needed.
Cook, cook, cook, cook, cook!
Winning the money
would be great.
I would love to take my family
on a vacation that they deserve.
I'm a little worried
about potato-chip flour.
It might make the donut
texture a little too gummy.
Oh, no.
The chips definitely changed
the texture a little bit.
But I don't have time
to make a new batter.
It's this or nothing.
Hot behind you, hot behind you.
We're frying.
Harold definitely looks
like he needs help.
Are you a baker or a faker?
- I...
- Am...
A...
I told you!
I told you!
♪♪♪♪
My donut is still raw inside.
Not done all the way.
Using the chips might have
made it a little too sticky.
I can do this.
I can do this.
So now I'm going to add
a little extra flour
just to give it more structure.
Rolling my donuts,
getting them in.
Oh, look at Keri.
She's overworking that
and working more flour in.
It should be
a nice, soft cake dough.
Yeah, it's going to be dry.
I don't have time
to make a new batter.
It's this or nothing.
So I just hope that this batch
comes out great.
It's now or never.
Trying to get my glaze
to come together.
Now that my food's in the oven,
I have to concentrate
on the maple glaze.
This glaze is really
simple to bake.
But the butter's got to be
slightly melted so it holds.
Otherwise, it will break.
Hot behind you, hot behind you.
These donuts are looking
nice and golden-brown.
They're ready to be glazed.
And I have to add
my signature glitter.
Where's my disco dust?
- What's disco?
- Disco.
- Like discotek?
- Like discotek.
No way.
It's an edible glitter dust.
Cassie is the baker
because of the disco.
Normal people don't know disco.
Cassie's the cake decorator.
She makes cakes.
She better decorate that cake
to look like a donut.
I feel sticky.
[ Laughing ]
We're just about ready to fry.
My fritter batter is
ready to fry.
But first, I need
to get started on my crumble.
Anyone else using herbs
in theirs?
I'm utilizing
the cheddar chips and thyme
to bring in a savory element.
All this beautiful thyme.
The herbaceousness
of the thyme in the topping
works off the salt
and the cheddar
and the sweetened tang
of the apple
to create a really complex
flavor profile
and keep the donut
from being too sweet.
We're frying!
Look at Molly's kitchen.
A real baker would have
used an ice cream scoop
to get the perfect,
round fritter.
Take an ice cream scoop,
dip it in some warm water,
roll the fritter
so you get, like,
a perfect zeppole shape, right?
Zeppole?
I'm speaking your language.
Zeppole.
[ Italian accent ]
How do you say it in Italian?
That is a faker.
You don't say it
'cause it's a baker.
MOLLY: Oh, yeah.
Look at those fritters.
Those are looking gorgeous.
HAROLD:
Those are looking good!
I have the donuts rising
in the oven,
so I'm making the orange glaze.
Make it happen.
What I like about Harold,
he's using a zester
in a very fast way.
He was rotating the orange
as he was going.
What he's doing right now,
that could be a baker move.
Harold definitely looks
like he needs help.
[ Laughing ]
That's what you think.
With baking, I grew to love it.
As a youngster,
I started baking for my sisters.
I mean, they were my guinea pigs
'cause at that point,
I was making slop.
[ Laughs ]
But it was the beginning
of greatness, if you will.
Let's see. Let's see.
When I pulled the donuts
out of the oven,
the donuts are not rising
as quickly as I would like.
Not ready yet.
But I know
that there's going to be
a certain amount of puff
when they get in the oil,
so I'm not that concerned.
Harold is using a nice, heavy
pot with oil and a thermometer
as opposed
to using the big deep fryer.
He's able to have more control
over his oil
versus the big deep fryer.
That is a total baker move.
Oil is good.
Keri, how are you doing
all the way down there?
'Cause these apple donuts
are going to come out perfect.
No one wants fruit donuts.
They want bacon.
While I have my donut
in a fryer,
I'm going to get my caramel
going to coat my bacon
and maple-bacon potato chips.
♪♪♪♪
And being a kettle chip,
it's not going to get soggy
when I pour the caramel sugar
over top.
Perfect.
It looks like Keri has
chips and sugar.
Chip and sugar, there you go.
It's going to be
a chip-bacon brittle.
That's a total -
- It's crunch.
- Total pro move.
- Yep.
She's not relying on the natural
crispiness of the chip... Yep.
...'cause she knows it'll get soggy.
That's right.
She's adding that
hard crunch caramel.
- Yep.
- She's got bacon.
She's got chip flour.
Keri's my baker.
Awesome.
My donuts look crispy.
They look done.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Hot, so hot.
Two minutes left!
Come on, come on, come on.
Zac, who are your two bakers?
Harold, our yeast-raised king
over there.
He's going to make this work.
He's going to pour the glaze
over them.
That's going to be delicious.
And Keri.
She has a bacon
potato chip brittle.
She's kept everything crunchy.
Crunchy is good.
- Damiano?
- 100% Keri.
She looks like she has
confidence in the kitchen.
And look at her donuts -
They're beautiful.
They're puffed up perfectly.
- You see baker?
- I think so.
The other baker has to be Molly.
She's doing those beautiful
fritters with apple,
with thyme,
a little bit of cheddar.
Add the potato chip with it,
it's just a perfect combination.
10 seconds.
Ten... nine... eight...
seven... six...
- ...five... four...
- This is a race.
- ...three... two...
Come on, guys.
BUDDY: ...one!
Stop your work!
Step away from the donuts!
At this point,
I don't know if the judges
are going to
consider it a donut,
but I know they're going
to taste phenomenal.
Bakers and fakers,
I gave you 45 minutes
to make donuts
using potato chips.
Now, it's time
to face the judges.
Harold.
I made an orange-glaze
cheddar-potato-chip donut
with whip cream.
ZAC: You know what, Harold.
They might not look the best...
but they are a really tasty
yeast-raised donut.
Thank you.
It's a little crispy
on the outside.
It has that fabulous
yeast-raised donut chew.
You got everything we love
about a yeast-raised donut.
I'm just missing the chip.
I should be tasting
cheese, salt.
Maybe I would have
put the chip in the glaze.
Damiano, what do you think?
The flavor is really,
really good.
Using the orange zest
within the actual donut,
amazing job.
It brought it all together.
I would have done
the exact same thing.
But it didn't rise.
To me, it's flat.
It's not puffed at all.
You took a huge risk,
but I think the time
was against you.
True, true.
Molly.
I made a cinnamon-apple fritter
with a cheddar- and-thyme
crumble on top.
You are really brave
using the cheddar potato chip.
You gave that
beautiful chip crunch,
and I love the combination
of flavors.
The apple goes really well
with thyme.
It goes really well
with the cheddar.
I mean, it really
works all together.
The only thing
that I would have done
is infuse the thyme in the glaze
and do a thyme glaze on top.
But overall, I mean,
I'm really happy with it.
You really took that fritter
and took it to the next level.
It was soft.
It was chewy.
It was crispy on the outside.
But, really, I could
have used more cheddar.
Had you taken the fritters,
tossed them with the glaze
in a bowl with the chips,
got them all fully coated
and given that to me,
I mean, that's it.
Cassie.
I made a
butter-maple-pecan-disco donut.
I like that you did
a baked donut.
I think you were very smart
in the way you used the maple
with the saltiness
from the potato chips.
I love that one-two punch
that you're bringing.
Unfortunately, this looked
like a bundt cake,
and this is a great cake.
However, I'm just struggling
with whether or not
this is a donut.
I love the cake.
I mean, it's a really,
really good cake
and really like the glaze.
I think that
the combination of flavors
that you chose
really marriage together.
Can you say that in English?
- Yeah.
- You can?
- Yeah, marriage.
- "Married."
- Married together.
So, flavor-wise, you nailed it.
But, you know,
I don't know about
the potato-chip crust
on the bottom.
I would have lined the
whole tin with it. Yeah.
Butter and sugar maybe,
caramelize it a little bit.
Pour it on the bottom,
and then you have a beautiful,
like, nice wafer crunch.
Yeah.
Keri.
I made a peanut-butter
maple-bacon-crunch donut.
Blending the chips
with the flour
to make the dough
was so well done.
The donut itself tastes
like a potato chip.
Now, here's the problem.
It's really hard to eat.
Like, I need a bib or a tarp.
I would love if this delicious
chippy crumble situation
were smaller and totally
coating the donut.
Finally, you know,
somebody that made the donut,
meaning that you did the donut.
You made a donut.
It's hands down a donut.
The combination of the flavors
that you used was
very, very smart.
The regular potato chips
within the chocolate,
within the bacon,
works real, real well.
But considering the fact
that it's already fried
and then you adding on top,
you know, potato chip, bacon,
it's just so heavy.
Thank you, Keri,
and thank all of you.
But now comes the hard part.
The judges must deliberate.
CASSIE:
I made a Cassie donut.
It's a donut that
nobody else will make.
Hopefully, that'll be enough
to get me through
to the second round.
Bakers and fakers,
I give you 45 minutes
to make donuts
using potato chips.
You've already faced the judges.
Now, it's time
to find out who won,
who's going home
and who that person really is.
So Zac.
The winner of this round is...
Molly.
[ Cheering ]
Hell yeah, baby.
My donuts kicked butt.
I'm thrilled.
Congratulations.
You're safe.
Thank you so much.
The second-best donut
was made by...
Keri.
Congratulation.
All right, judges,
we are down to the bakers
that made your least
favorite donuts.
Zac.
The person moving on
to Round 2 is...
Cassie.
[ Sighs deeply ]
I can't breathe.
You barely survived.
I know I did.
Harold, I think
you had a lot of guts
making the yeast-raised donut
in 45 minutes.
- Yes, yes.
- But unfortunately,
it didn't pan out
for you, my friend.
Oh, well.
And that means
you've been eliminated.
But, before you go, tell us,
are you a baker or a faker?
I...
am... a...
faker.
- Oh!
Seriously?
And you decided to make
a yeast-raised donut?
Yes, yes.
Dude, you're amazing!
What do you do for a living?
I do security
at a luxury condominium.
Man!
My job is a security guard
in a luxury condominium.
I talk to people,
make them feel comfortable
and make them feel secure.
All clear.
Not being able to go on
to Round 2
was a little disappointing,
but I'm going
to continue to bake
because I can't live
without eating sweets.
[ Chuckles ]
You did a great job.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
♪♪♪♪
Hello, bakers and faker...
- Yep.
...'cause we know we have
two bakers left
and one faker left.
Wonder who that is.
In this round,
I'm going to let you bake
anything you like.
But one little addition.
I knew there had to be a catch.
You must incorporate...
...yogurt!
Yogurt?
Yahtzee!
Yogurt!
[ Chuckling ]
I don't know.
We got plain yogurt,
freeze-dried yogurt,
yogurt chips,
yogurt smoothie
and frozen yogurt.
Fro-yo, yo.
Yo.
The hardest part
about baking with yogurt
is that it can make
something too heavy
and not come out right.
Whoever bakes the best dish
using yogurt
takes home the cachiche.
- Ha-ha!
- You guys ready?
- Yes.
- Ready.
45 minutes on the clock!
Get baking!
♪♪♪♪
Yogurt.
What do you think?
What a great ingredient.
Not only is it
a technical element in a recipe,
add moisture, add tang,
but... yogurt also has
amazing flavor.
What would a baker do
with yogurt?
Go straight ahead
and make a yogurt mousse.
Now, to that, you can add
a little bit of fresh berries
and give some tartness
and some perfume
to the actual yogurt -
it's beautiful.
The faker is going to take
their white cake recipe,
dump some yogurt in it,
and serve it.
And baker's going
to incorporate texture somehow,
like a brittle
or a granola, you know,
and the baker is going
to give me
the delicious tang of yogurt.
All right.
Let's see what they do.
I'm happy for all of us,
but you guys are going down
this round.
CASSIE:
We will see, my darling.
You little youngin'.
Going into this round,
it's game on.
Round 2, I am making
my famous banana-split cupcake.
Some cuppie cakies.
This cupcake is
super special to me.
It reminds me
of my 5th birthday.
My mom took me and my friends
to an ice cream parlor.
And I had
the hugest banana split
you could ever think of.
I've got it, girlfriend.
First thing I need to do is
get my cupcake batter done...
Cream and the sugar
and butter, baby.
...so that it bakes
and cools in time to frost.
I get two ripe bananas
and just start mashing
the heck out of them
until they come to a consistency
that's just slightly chunky,
but still liquidy enough
to mix into a batter.
So Cassie, I'm worried about
what she's doing
with the bananas...
- Yes.
- ...because bananas and yogurt
act similarly in a recipe, right?
Exactly.
So whatever she's making
could be too wet...
- Yep.
- If she's making a banana bread.
She needs to be careful
of her ratio.
They're a little underripe
than I'd like,
but I'm gonna make it work.
I still think she's a faker.
Oh, 100%
It's yogurt time, baby.
I'm going to use
the plain yogurt
in place
of half the milk content
in order to up
the moisture content,
and there'll be
a little bit of tang.
I toss the chocolate chips
into my cupcake batter,
and I mix that all up.
Ice cream scoops...
got them, got them, got them.
The best thing
about this cupcake is that,
when you take a bite of it,
you can literally
separate each flavor
of a banana split in your mouth.
And so I scoop my cupcake batter
into the cupcake tins
and get it into the oven.
I've got this one in the bag.
I'm super excited to be
in my comfort zone
and make what I know
I'm good at.
For Round 2, I'm going to make
an olive-oil madeleine
and a vanilla-bean-yogurt
mousse.
This cake is my go-to recipe.
It's nice and smooth
and has a little extra flavor
from the olive oil.
But trying to figure out how
I'm going to incorporate yogurt,
which is creamy
and has a tart tang to it
and can change
the way things bake,
is going to be a little bit
of a challenge.
All right.
Let's get this in there.
Once my cake batter is mixed
and I've added the olive oil
to get it to the right texture,
I chop up some yogurt chips,
and I fold them into the batter.
Want to give it
a little extra texture
and a little extra flavor.
I think that the yogurt that
essentially going to go
and give texture to it.
Yeah.
So, if they go inside
and act sort of like
a meringue crunch...
Yeah.
...that would be
a pleasant surprise.
- And a total pro move...
- Exactly.
...thinking
about all those textures.
Textures and everything.
Two, four, six, eight,
ten, twelve - perfect.
I got the madeleines
scooped into pan.
I get the pan right in the oven
'cause I want them to bake.
But because of the yogurt,
I'm not sure exactly how long
they're going to take.
If these madeleines
are not done right,
if they're overdone
or underdone, I'm done.
♪♪♪♪
I got this!
Round 2, I'm bringing this home
because I get to make
what I do best.
French macarons.
Crispy on the outside,
chewy on the inside -
you can't beat them.
Fight to the finish, ladies!
I'm making
lemon-scented macarons,
which is a French
almond-based cookie
with a yogurt-blueberry
buttercream.
They're finicky
in any normal circumstance,
let alone a time constraint
and a secret ingredient.
I'm nervous, but I'm going big.
Trying to get these
things sifted.
First thing I need is to get
my blanched almond meal
and my confectioner sugar
in a good sifter.
Woo!
Arms are getting tired.
Aerates the mixture and takes
out any big almond pieces
that would create lumps
in your batter
and not a perfect macaron.
No yolk in those.
The next thing you need to do
is get your egg whites
separated from your yolks
so I can make my meringue.
Look at those stiff peaks.
Perfect.
The meringue are
the whipped egg whites
that make the macaron batter
rise in the oven.
Get those egg whites in there.
Molly, look at the way
she's folding in the whites.
The pro is going to know
exactly when to stop folding.
So she's looking to see
how the batter falls off
of the spatula.
That's going to ensure
an even consistency.
That is a pro move.
- 100%.
Tasting pretty good down here.
If you put them in the oven
while the top of the shells
are still wet and sticky,
the steam could
come up too quickly
and escape from the top.
If it escapes from the top,
you're done for.
Your macarons are not going
to be crispy on top.
They're just going to be
a chewy mess.
All right, I'm going in.
Here's the thing about Molly.
So she put the macaron
into the regular oven.
Yeah.
A pro would have used
the combi oven
on the very low fan
because you want the air
to circulate
so it dries as it bakes.
I'm really nervous for Molly.
Ooh, goodness gracious.
Twenty minutes left!
We're just peeking in.
If my macarons don't
rise properly,
I'm done.
So, to cover my bases,
I have a backup plan.
What is Molly doing?
I make a second sheet tray
that I'm going to pipe
and put in the convection oven
so I can control the temperature
to the best of my abilities.
Molly pulled out all the tricks.
I like that she knows
she has to go a little bit lower
and a little bit slower
with the macaron. Yep.
Yeah, it's about forming the right skin...
Yeah, yeah.
...and lift to get those
perfect little feet.
That's a pro move.
I smell my cupcakes.
That means they're almost done.
CASSIE: I pull my cupcakes
out of the oven.
I give them the pushback test.
They sponge back real quick.
I know they're done.
I put them in the freezer
so they cool down quick
enough for the buttercream
not to melt off.
There we go. Spectacular.
I want this cupcake to be
my birthday party on a plate,
and the only way
I can think of doing
that is to add
some colored fondant curlicues
with sparkles all over them.
Mine's going
to look spectacular.
I get my Tylose powder out,
add a little to each color
and kneed that in so
that it sets up quicker.
I don't want floppy fondant
on my plate.
I want stiff curlicues.
BUDDY: Look at the way
that Cassie's adding
Tylose powder.
Tylose powder will
turn regular fondant,
basically, into gum paste.
Cassie is the faker.
She's trying to fool you
with fondant.
You're so bamboozled.
This is her game plan.
Look at the way
she's handling the fondant.
My guaranteed baker's Cassie,
and I ain't changing.
Do you have any
butter I can use?
KERI: Yep.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
Then, I move on to
my strawberry buttercream
for the top of my cupcakes.
I'm kind of a messy baker.
I want to win this so badly
because this dish
is my family personified.
As a single mother,
I am really grateful
to my parents.
They've been huge influences
on me and my girls.
Winning would not
only make me proud,
but, more importantly,
I want to make the people
who helped me proud.
KERI: While my madeleines
are in the oven,
I need to get my mousse going.
In my mousse,
I want to add some yogurt,
so I actually put a little
Greek yogurt in
to fluffen up my mousse.
And I add the berry smoothie
just to add
a little extra flavor
and give it that texture
that I'm looking for.
That's good.
I decide that I want to add
one more flavor component
to my dish,
and I want to add passion fruit.
It's my favorite flavor.
I love it.
It's got a bright, pretty color,
and I think it'll
contrast really well
with the olive oil madeleine.
While my passion fruit sauce
gets to a bubbly stage,
I make a cornstarch slurry,
and I slowly whisk it in
while it's boiling
to start to thicken up
the passion fruit puree
a little bit
so I can make a really
nice sauce out of it.
Keri is making a slurry,
which she's adding water
to cornstarch,
so she's going to add that
to her coulis to thicken it.
But you want
to thin out the cornstarch
with a little bit of liquid
so it doesn't clump.
Ah, I love that smell.
That's a pro move.
Yeah.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Once my passion fruit is set,
I decide that I want to make
crunchy almond brittle.
I melt some of my butter
my sugar, and I let it go.
And it will add
a different level of flavor
and crunch to my dish.
DAMIANO: I really like
what Keri's doing right now.
She's going to make
almond brittle.
I love that.
It's a great way to add
that texture to go with
the creaminess of the yogurt.
- That's a baker.
- That's a baker.
Come on! Bake!
Bake, bake, bake. Come on!
So I check on my madeleines,
and I'm second-guessing myself.
Oopsie.
I feel like they need
another minute.
I just want to make sure
that they're done.
They get a nice golden color.
That olive oil gives it
a little bit of crunch
on the outside
and keeps them moist inside.
Doing good, you got this.
We got feet!
Now that I have, not one,
but two trays of macarons
in the oven,
I need to get started
on my buttercream
to fill my macarons.
I'm going to to use
the plain yogurt
and melted yogurt chips
in my buttercream
to add a great yogurt tang
and flavor to the dish.
So I'm adding rosemary,
lemon zest, and powdered sugar.
Ooh, we got powder.
And I get that whipping
in a bowl
until it's nice and fluffy.
I got this, 100%.
Lemon and blueberry are
really fresh flavors
and go great
with the tang of yogurt.
I wanted to do flavors
that I know would work well
with the yogurt
and not overpower it.
Ah, why buttercream?
Buttercream is classic
in the macaron,
and with the tang of the yogurt,
it's going to break up
the fat of the butter.
That's a baker move.
I will not do that, though.
I will do something
more creative.
What's more creative
than a yogurt buttercream?
The shells are so sweet.
You do not want
to make a buttercream
when you go
and put that much sugar.
Yes, there is the yogurt
that is going
to counterbalance the sweetness,
but at the same time,
it's boring.
But I still think she's a baker.
Two minutes left!
Hurry up!
Plate your stuff!
MOLLY: I got this.
Now we're cooking.
- Zac, who's your two bakers?
- Keri.
I mean, she made that quick
yogurt mousse with cream cheese,
which is going
to stabilize the mousse.
That is brilliant
in competition.
And Molly.
I mean, look at those macaron.
Those are perfect.
And to combine the fresh herbs
with the citrus and the yogurt,
that's a really smart,
very pro move.
I have agree 100%.
Molly is a baker.
Molly made the macarons
in 45 minutes.
That's a complicated
thing to do.
You got to know your techniques.
You don't do it if you're
not capable of doing it.
The other baker has to be Keri.
She's taking risk
for anything that she's doing.
She's confident about it.
She's using
a lot of ingredients.
She's combining three or four
different kind of yogurt.
And she's relaxed.
That has to be a pro.
If Keri's the baker,
then Molly's not.
Cassie is a cake decorator.
Starting from the disco
to the Tylose powder,
- she's a cake decorator.
- She's fooling you with fondant.
Ten... nine... eight...
seven... six...
five... four... three...
two... one!
Stop your work!
KERI: I'm happy with my dish.
I love the way it looks.
It's restaurant quality.
It's definitely
a beautiful plate of desert.
I feel like I have this.
Are you a baker...
or are you a faker?
- I...
- Am...
A...
- Seriously?
- I told you!
Bakers and fakers,
I gave you 45 minutes
to make whatever you like
as long as you had
some yogurt in it.
Now, it's time
to face the judges.
Keri, what did you make?
I made a olive-oil-yogurt
madeleine
and a vanilla-bean-yogurt
mousse.
This mousse is exactly
what I wanted
as an expression of yogurt.
It's creamy.
It's rich, not too sweet.
I mean, this is really amazing.
The brittle, I think,
is a good idea.
I don't think
you cooked it enough.
And I really want that, like,
crispy, crunchy,
almost burnt caramel flavor.
I think that would be
a really great foil
to the yogurt mousse.
- Okay.
The use of the passion fruit,
it gave color to the dish
and that darkness
to go through the brittle
because it's sweet.
It was very smart.
But the madeleine,
you took it out.
You look at it.
For some reason,
you put it right back in.
Now, that, it's what made it
a little dry to me.
But overall, it's a good job.
- Thanks.
- Molly.
I made a lemon-scented macaron
with a blueberry-yogurt
buttercream.
You made a fantastic macaron.
Texture of the shell is
exactly what I want.
It's crunchy on the outside,
and it's chewy on the inside.
I mean, the shell was spot on...
- Thank you.
- ...for me.
However...
I like sprinkles.
I don't think I like
rosemary sprinkles.
I got to say, you know, you did
nail the actual macaron part,
so I appreciate this a lot.
But then, there
is the buttercream.
I don't taste any yogurt - none.
Cassie, what'd you do?
I made a banana-split cupcake.
I used plain yogurt,
and I used it to substitute
a lot of the milk content
in the cupcake.
I feel like you made yourself
on a plate.
[ Laughter ]
We got your hair color,
your makeup color.
I think it was genius.
[ Laughing ]
But the buttercream, I think
that it's so sweet already.
The chocolate brings it,
like, over the top
really sweet - for my palate.
Your use of the yogurt
in the cupcake is genius.
The yogurt plus the banana
made this cupcake
so velvety smooth, so moist.
I mean, wow.
But the cake-to-frosting ratio
was way off.
You went overboard
with the frosting.
Okay.
Thank you, Cassie,
and thank you all.
Now, it's time
for us to deliberate.
CASSIE: I'm the most nervous
because the other plates
are so much more fancy
and elegant than a cupcake.
I have a cupcake.
KERI: Even with a tough critique
for overcooking my madeleine,
I still think that I have
a shot at winning this.
MOLLY: I did my absolute best
with a technically
difficult dish,
let alone in 45 minutes.
That money is at my fingertips.
I can almost taste it.
Bakers and faker,
in this envelope
is the name of the winner.
But, before I tell you who one,
you need to tell us
who you really are.
Let's start with Cassie.
Are you a baker,
or are you a faker?
I...
am a...
Cassie, are you a baker,
or are you a faker?
I...
am a...
baker.
I told you!
I told you!
I told you!
- Wow.
- Woo!
Cassie, where are you a baker?
I'm a baker
at "Cassie Cakes Cakery"
in Northridge, California.
I'm the CEO
and head cake decorator.
We are known for colorful,
sparkly, bright, happy deserts
that really are
the center of the party.
Glitter-fied.
My favorite thing to make
at the bakery is unicorn poo.
It's a sugar cookie.
It probably is
my best-selling item.
It's what we're known for.
It had always been
a dream of mine
to pursue a career in baking.
My mom taught me to bake
when I was really little.
She always had me
in the kitchen with her,
and I just fell in love with it
because it was something
that we did together.
What I love most about my job
is bringing smiles
to people's faces.
I think she's done.
It feels amazing.
So we still got one baker
and one faker remaining.
Molly, tell us,
are you a baker or a faker?
I...
am a...
...faker.
- Seriously?
- Aaah! I told you!
- I told you both!
- What?
Yes!
I told you both!
Fakers can't bake macaron
like that.
Did you spend a lot of time
in France?
Molly, what do you do?
I am a full-time
graduate student.
I'm getting my Masters
at Boston University
in nutrition and dietetics.
I've always loved food,
but now I get to know
the science behind it.
What I'm learning is everything
to what I love to do
when it comes to
cooking and baking
and being in the kitchen.
I owe a lot to baking.
It has really helped me
to understand
how to make others
feel appreciated.
It has made me understand
how to make other people happy
and how to really
connect with them.
Baking and decorating
and feeding other people
has always been
a part of my life,
and I know it always will be.
Keri, for the record,
are you a baker or a faker?
I am a baker.
[ Chuckles ]
We all knew that.
I am the head baker and pastry
chef at Yale University.
Guys, today, we're going to do
64 dozen chocolate chip cookies.
I oversee a small department
that provides breakfast,
two lunch and a dinner item
for every college on campus
for all the students,
as well as catering and retail.
We feed a lot
of hungry students.
What I love about my job
is that I get
to be completely creative
and really just have fun
with deserts and food
and be able to put
different combinations together.
So now that we know who you are,
it's time for me
to reveal the winner.
That means,
if Cassie or Keri wins,
you win $10,000.
Molly, if you win, $15,000.
All right.
The winner is...
Cassie.
[ Laughing ]
- Congratulations.
- I'm so happy for you.
Congratulations.
You represented yourself.
And I think, as a chef,
our point of view is personal,
and you brought that today.
And we tasted it,
and we loved it.
Thank you.
What are you going to tell
your kids when you see them?
I did it all for them.
How proud is your mom
going to be?
She's gonna freak out.
Believe me.
[ Chuckling ]
Congratulations!
Give me a hug!
- Good job.
- Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Pleasure.
Marblehead, Massachusetts,
and I am a professional baker.
I'm Keri from
Middletown, Connecticut,
and I am a professional baker.
I'm Harold from
Los Angeles, California,
and I am a professional baker.
I'm Cassie from
Northridge, California,
and I am a professional baker.
Hang on! The fun
is about to begin.
Four bakers are here
to do battle.
Golden-brown delicious.
Two are amazing amateurs.
Do I look like I need help?
Hey, have you got an
Easy-Bake Oven down there?
And two are professionals.
Lovely.
Out of this world.
But only they know
their true identities.
Their mission?
Just winnin' a bunch of money.
Outbake the competition.
If a professional baker wins,
they take home $10,000.
That sounds fancy.
But if an amateur is able
to fake out the judges...
I didn't wanna stop eating it.
You're a baker.
...and take down the pros...
- Pssh! Pssh!
...they walk away
with 15 grand!
- Wow!
- [Gasp]
Bada-bing, bada-boom.
Are you a baker
or a faker?
- I...
- Am...
A...
[ Suspenseful music climbs ]
- Seriously?
- I told you!
I told you both!
You're amazing.
Well, welcome to
"Bakers Vs. Fakers"
Ooh, yeah.
Here are the rules.
There are 2 rounds
of competition,
and we're hiding your identities
so that our judges will be
completely unbiased.
In Round 1,
you will be baking...
donuts!
- All right.
- Yay!
You go to a bakery,
you get a cupcake.
Go to a donut shop,
you get a donut.
What's the matter, Cassie?
You don't make donuts?
I'm a baker, Buddy,
not a donut maker.
Bakers don't make donuts.
I never met a donut
I didn't like.
[ Chuckles ]
But it takes a real pro
to make a first-class donut
using...
potato chips!
- Yay!
- Oh!
Putting together savory flavors
into a sweet dish
is something I do well,
and potato chips are
the perfect vessel to do that.
We got classic, kettle, cheddar,
maple bacon, and spicy barbecue.
I'm going to give you 45 minutes
to make amazing donuts
using one of these types
of potato chips.
I am ready.
45 minutes on the clock!
Get baking!
♪♪♪♪
Donuts.
What do you guys
think about donuts?
Every baker should be
able to make a donut.
Anybody who tries
a yeast-raised donut
in this amount of time,
I think, is the baker.
DAMIANO:
Doing in 45 minutes
a donut that would take
2 hours to do it
is the most risky thing to do.
You would stay away
from the yeast-raised.
I would stay away from it.
I would either go cake donut,
or I would go French cruller.
You could even do
a baked donut and glaze it.
You don't bake a donut!
I'm just saying,
someone might be trying
to make a healthier version
of a donut.
Oh, this guy -
He wants to bake a donuts.
What's wrong with you?
You bake the donut.
We fry it.
That's right.
That's right.
What's going to tell
the baker from the faker
is how they incorporate
the potato chips.
I want to be able
to taste the chip.
The faker's going to make
the donut that they know to make
and crumble some chips on top
and call it a day.
The baker, you know, will
actually take the potato chip
and crumble it inside
the actual mixture
to give some texture to it.
I agree.
Time to make the donuts.
CASSIE: All right!
What ingredients?
Most donuts require frying,
but I'm a leader.
I've never been a follower.
So I want to make a donut
that's going to stand out
from the crowd.
Okie dokie.
In my baking,
I like to relate back
to happy times in my childhood.
My dad used to take me
to the donut shop
when I was a little girl,
and I always picked
the maple-glazed donut.
I am going to make
the butter-maple-pecan
baked donut for my dad.
There we go.
I can't help but gravitate
towards the mini bundt pan.
I know it's going to look
like a mini bundt cake.
It's who I am.
It's going to make it more fun,
more fancy.
Chips.
I think I'm just going to go
with the classic potato chips
because the bundt cake donut
is taking a huge risk.
So I want to stick
to what I know.
There we go.
The bundt goes upside down.
So, when I turn
my donut bundts out,
they're going to have the salty,
savory potato crust
on the bottom.
Cassie is just
crumbling those chips
on top of her donut batter,
but she hasn't done
anything else with the chips.
That's a faker move.
It's definitely a faker's move.
About to go in convection.
How's everybody doing?
Everybody doing good?
I'm a talker in general.
I talk all the time.
Smells delightful in here.
What are you making?
A apple fritter with a cheddar-
and-thyme-crunch topping.
Everything else in my donut
is pretty sweet.
- Okay.
- So going with the Granny Smith
because I don't want
too sweet going in
with the apple, as well.
And also, with the moisture,
there're a little less moisture
than some of your other choices,
and I don't want that to affect
my donut consistency.
All right.
A donut is basically
a fried batter.
My fritter is
a deep-fried, sweet batter
and a topping and a glaze.
This is a donut 100%.
Our chips are gonna be
salt in here.
Cheddar makes it better.
The savory cheddar chips
and the sweet tang of the apple
is a perfect combo.
I want to make sure
my apples are nicely diced.
Throughout my childhood,
baking was something
constant in my life.
And my little brother's
favorite donut in the world
is an apple fritter,
so I'm dedicating
this donut to him.
This is going to be awesome.
Come on. Look at Molly.
While she was talking to me,
and I said, "Oh, Granny Smiths?"
And she's like, "Yeah."
And she's like,
"They're more tart.
They're not oversweet."
She knows her apples.
She could be a teacher,
all right.
She knows an apple.
- She knows her apples.
She's got good knife skills.
She's the baker, buddy.
Guys, I just tasted my batter,
and it is on point!
Here we go.
Here we go.
As far as baking style goes,
I will say I have no style.
There is no style
that can confine me.
I'm kind of like Bruce Lee.
I'm a master.
- Harold.
- Yes?
Do you bake donuts or fry them?
You can bake them or fry them,
whatever you want to do.
Oh.
HAROLD: I'm making
an orange-glazed,
cheddar-chip-filled,
whipped-cream-covered donut.
The only word that I keep
in my vocabulary is winning.
I don't even use
the opposite word.
Winning here today would just
validate what I already know,
which is that I'm the best.
[ Chuckles ]
Yeast.
Harold has a bowl lined
with plastic wrap.
He's going yeast. He's going yeast!
Yeah, he's going...
Harold is a baker.
He...
He's going yeast.
He's not understanding
the timing.
He's not thinking straight.
I'm telling you.
When it comes to baking,
I never limit myself
because the sky is the limit,
if you will,
and nobody can reach the sky,
so that's what I'm going for.
Trying to do a yeast donut
in 45 minutes
is the most risky thing to do.
He is playing with fryer.
[ Both laughing ]
You can hate if like,
but I know what I'm doing.
In my book, the real donuts
are made with yeast.
Part of the process is
putting yeast in the mixture
in order to leaven the dough,
which, you know, can take time.
I'm almost done.
I'm almost done
with the hard part.
So I placed the donut dough
in the oven
to get the donuts
to rise quicker.
Harold is
using hot boiling water
inside a pan, inside the oven,
to create some sort of moisture.
It's smart.
He's making a proof box.
Exactly. That's going to
give humidity into the oven,
and it makes the dough
rise faster.
- It is a good move.
- He's a baker.
Who thinks about a proof box?
Who does that?
Just need a little quick rise.
[ Chuckles ]
When I'm in the kitchen,
it's organized chaos.
Aah, just dropped everything.
But, in the end, I pull together
to create
a beautiful masterpiece.
Good to go, good to go.
My style of baking is
trendy comfort food.
So today, I'm going to make
a peanut-butter-maple-
bacon-crunch donut.
Have bacon going.
The very first thing
I need to do is,
get that bacon cooking
for my crunchy
caramel-bacon topping.
Get it going.
Keri - look over there.
See, she's got bacon.
That's an interest choice.
Well, maybe she's going to use
those maple-bacon chips.
But I would have baked it
on top of a baking rack
so that all the bacon grease
would have dripped out.
Keri's the faker.
KERI: Bacon in the oven.
After I get the bacon
in the oven,
I need to get
my donut dough going.
By grinding the classic chips
super, super fine
and mixing it with the flour,
it's going to incorporate
some potato chip flavor
into my donut batter.
Putting the flour with the chips
and pulverizing them
all together,
that's a baker move.
It makes sense because
the potato's a starch.
Keri's my baker.
Let's see.
Me and my family are
big donut fans.
We're a family of five
with a newborn,
and my kids have
probably sacrificed
a little more
for my career than needed.
Cook, cook, cook, cook, cook!
Winning the money
would be great.
I would love to take my family
on a vacation that they deserve.
I'm a little worried
about potato-chip flour.
It might make the donut
texture a little too gummy.
Oh, no.
The chips definitely changed
the texture a little bit.
But I don't have time
to make a new batter.
It's this or nothing.
Hot behind you, hot behind you.
We're frying.
Harold definitely looks
like he needs help.
Are you a baker or a faker?
- I...
- Am...
A...
I told you!
I told you!
♪♪♪♪
My donut is still raw inside.
Not done all the way.
Using the chips might have
made it a little too sticky.
I can do this.
I can do this.
So now I'm going to add
a little extra flour
just to give it more structure.
Rolling my donuts,
getting them in.
Oh, look at Keri.
She's overworking that
and working more flour in.
It should be
a nice, soft cake dough.
Yeah, it's going to be dry.
I don't have time
to make a new batter.
It's this or nothing.
So I just hope that this batch
comes out great.
It's now or never.
Trying to get my glaze
to come together.
Now that my food's in the oven,
I have to concentrate
on the maple glaze.
This glaze is really
simple to bake.
But the butter's got to be
slightly melted so it holds.
Otherwise, it will break.
Hot behind you, hot behind you.
These donuts are looking
nice and golden-brown.
They're ready to be glazed.
And I have to add
my signature glitter.
Where's my disco dust?
- What's disco?
- Disco.
- Like discotek?
- Like discotek.
No way.
It's an edible glitter dust.
Cassie is the baker
because of the disco.
Normal people don't know disco.
Cassie's the cake decorator.
She makes cakes.
She better decorate that cake
to look like a donut.
I feel sticky.
[ Laughing ]
We're just about ready to fry.
My fritter batter is
ready to fry.
But first, I need
to get started on my crumble.
Anyone else using herbs
in theirs?
I'm utilizing
the cheddar chips and thyme
to bring in a savory element.
All this beautiful thyme.
The herbaceousness
of the thyme in the topping
works off the salt
and the cheddar
and the sweetened tang
of the apple
to create a really complex
flavor profile
and keep the donut
from being too sweet.
We're frying!
Look at Molly's kitchen.
A real baker would have
used an ice cream scoop
to get the perfect,
round fritter.
Take an ice cream scoop,
dip it in some warm water,
roll the fritter
so you get, like,
a perfect zeppole shape, right?
Zeppole?
I'm speaking your language.
Zeppole.
[ Italian accent ]
How do you say it in Italian?
That is a faker.
You don't say it
'cause it's a baker.
MOLLY: Oh, yeah.
Look at those fritters.
Those are looking gorgeous.
HAROLD:
Those are looking good!
I have the donuts rising
in the oven,
so I'm making the orange glaze.
Make it happen.
What I like about Harold,
he's using a zester
in a very fast way.
He was rotating the orange
as he was going.
What he's doing right now,
that could be a baker move.
Harold definitely looks
like he needs help.
[ Laughing ]
That's what you think.
With baking, I grew to love it.
As a youngster,
I started baking for my sisters.
I mean, they were my guinea pigs
'cause at that point,
I was making slop.
[ Laughs ]
But it was the beginning
of greatness, if you will.
Let's see. Let's see.
When I pulled the donuts
out of the oven,
the donuts are not rising
as quickly as I would like.
Not ready yet.
But I know
that there's going to be
a certain amount of puff
when they get in the oil,
so I'm not that concerned.
Harold is using a nice, heavy
pot with oil and a thermometer
as opposed
to using the big deep fryer.
He's able to have more control
over his oil
versus the big deep fryer.
That is a total baker move.
Oil is good.
Keri, how are you doing
all the way down there?
'Cause these apple donuts
are going to come out perfect.
No one wants fruit donuts.
They want bacon.
While I have my donut
in a fryer,
I'm going to get my caramel
going to coat my bacon
and maple-bacon potato chips.
♪♪♪♪
And being a kettle chip,
it's not going to get soggy
when I pour the caramel sugar
over top.
Perfect.
It looks like Keri has
chips and sugar.
Chip and sugar, there you go.
It's going to be
a chip-bacon brittle.
That's a total -
- It's crunch.
- Total pro move.
- Yep.
She's not relying on the natural
crispiness of the chip... Yep.
...'cause she knows it'll get soggy.
That's right.
She's adding that
hard crunch caramel.
- Yep.
- She's got bacon.
She's got chip flour.
Keri's my baker.
Awesome.
My donuts look crispy.
They look done.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Hot, so hot.
Two minutes left!
Come on, come on, come on.
Zac, who are your two bakers?
Harold, our yeast-raised king
over there.
He's going to make this work.
He's going to pour the glaze
over them.
That's going to be delicious.
And Keri.
She has a bacon
potato chip brittle.
She's kept everything crunchy.
Crunchy is good.
- Damiano?
- 100% Keri.
She looks like she has
confidence in the kitchen.
And look at her donuts -
They're beautiful.
They're puffed up perfectly.
- You see baker?
- I think so.
The other baker has to be Molly.
She's doing those beautiful
fritters with apple,
with thyme,
a little bit of cheddar.
Add the potato chip with it,
it's just a perfect combination.
10 seconds.
Ten... nine... eight...
seven... six...
- ...five... four...
- This is a race.
- ...three... two...
Come on, guys.
BUDDY: ...one!
Stop your work!
Step away from the donuts!
At this point,
I don't know if the judges
are going to
consider it a donut,
but I know they're going
to taste phenomenal.
Bakers and fakers,
I gave you 45 minutes
to make donuts
using potato chips.
Now, it's time
to face the judges.
Harold.
I made an orange-glaze
cheddar-potato-chip donut
with whip cream.
ZAC: You know what, Harold.
They might not look the best...
but they are a really tasty
yeast-raised donut.
Thank you.
It's a little crispy
on the outside.
It has that fabulous
yeast-raised donut chew.
You got everything we love
about a yeast-raised donut.
I'm just missing the chip.
I should be tasting
cheese, salt.
Maybe I would have
put the chip in the glaze.
Damiano, what do you think?
The flavor is really,
really good.
Using the orange zest
within the actual donut,
amazing job.
It brought it all together.
I would have done
the exact same thing.
But it didn't rise.
To me, it's flat.
It's not puffed at all.
You took a huge risk,
but I think the time
was against you.
True, true.
Molly.
I made a cinnamon-apple fritter
with a cheddar- and-thyme
crumble on top.
You are really brave
using the cheddar potato chip.
You gave that
beautiful chip crunch,
and I love the combination
of flavors.
The apple goes really well
with thyme.
It goes really well
with the cheddar.
I mean, it really
works all together.
The only thing
that I would have done
is infuse the thyme in the glaze
and do a thyme glaze on top.
But overall, I mean,
I'm really happy with it.
You really took that fritter
and took it to the next level.
It was soft.
It was chewy.
It was crispy on the outside.
But, really, I could
have used more cheddar.
Had you taken the fritters,
tossed them with the glaze
in a bowl with the chips,
got them all fully coated
and given that to me,
I mean, that's it.
Cassie.
I made a
butter-maple-pecan-disco donut.
I like that you did
a baked donut.
I think you were very smart
in the way you used the maple
with the saltiness
from the potato chips.
I love that one-two punch
that you're bringing.
Unfortunately, this looked
like a bundt cake,
and this is a great cake.
However, I'm just struggling
with whether or not
this is a donut.
I love the cake.
I mean, it's a really,
really good cake
and really like the glaze.
I think that
the combination of flavors
that you chose
really marriage together.
Can you say that in English?
- Yeah.
- You can?
- Yeah, marriage.
- "Married."
- Married together.
So, flavor-wise, you nailed it.
But, you know,
I don't know about
the potato-chip crust
on the bottom.
I would have lined the
whole tin with it. Yeah.
Butter and sugar maybe,
caramelize it a little bit.
Pour it on the bottom,
and then you have a beautiful,
like, nice wafer crunch.
Yeah.
Keri.
I made a peanut-butter
maple-bacon-crunch donut.
Blending the chips
with the flour
to make the dough
was so well done.
The donut itself tastes
like a potato chip.
Now, here's the problem.
It's really hard to eat.
Like, I need a bib or a tarp.
I would love if this delicious
chippy crumble situation
were smaller and totally
coating the donut.
Finally, you know,
somebody that made the donut,
meaning that you did the donut.
You made a donut.
It's hands down a donut.
The combination of the flavors
that you used was
very, very smart.
The regular potato chips
within the chocolate,
within the bacon,
works real, real well.
But considering the fact
that it's already fried
and then you adding on top,
you know, potato chip, bacon,
it's just so heavy.
Thank you, Keri,
and thank all of you.
But now comes the hard part.
The judges must deliberate.
CASSIE:
I made a Cassie donut.
It's a donut that
nobody else will make.
Hopefully, that'll be enough
to get me through
to the second round.
Bakers and fakers,
I give you 45 minutes
to make donuts
using potato chips.
You've already faced the judges.
Now, it's time
to find out who won,
who's going home
and who that person really is.
So Zac.
The winner of this round is...
Molly.
[ Cheering ]
Hell yeah, baby.
My donuts kicked butt.
I'm thrilled.
Congratulations.
You're safe.
Thank you so much.
The second-best donut
was made by...
Keri.
Congratulation.
All right, judges,
we are down to the bakers
that made your least
favorite donuts.
Zac.
The person moving on
to Round 2 is...
Cassie.
[ Sighs deeply ]
I can't breathe.
You barely survived.
I know I did.
Harold, I think
you had a lot of guts
making the yeast-raised donut
in 45 minutes.
- Yes, yes.
- But unfortunately,
it didn't pan out
for you, my friend.
Oh, well.
And that means
you've been eliminated.
But, before you go, tell us,
are you a baker or a faker?
I...
am... a...
faker.
- Oh!
Seriously?
And you decided to make
a yeast-raised donut?
Yes, yes.
Dude, you're amazing!
What do you do for a living?
I do security
at a luxury condominium.
Man!
My job is a security guard
in a luxury condominium.
I talk to people,
make them feel comfortable
and make them feel secure.
All clear.
Not being able to go on
to Round 2
was a little disappointing,
but I'm going
to continue to bake
because I can't live
without eating sweets.
[ Chuckles ]
You did a great job.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
♪♪♪♪
Hello, bakers and faker...
- Yep.
...'cause we know we have
two bakers left
and one faker left.
Wonder who that is.
In this round,
I'm going to let you bake
anything you like.
But one little addition.
I knew there had to be a catch.
You must incorporate...
...yogurt!
Yogurt?
Yahtzee!
Yogurt!
[ Chuckling ]
I don't know.
We got plain yogurt,
freeze-dried yogurt,
yogurt chips,
yogurt smoothie
and frozen yogurt.
Fro-yo, yo.
Yo.
The hardest part
about baking with yogurt
is that it can make
something too heavy
and not come out right.
Whoever bakes the best dish
using yogurt
takes home the cachiche.
- Ha-ha!
- You guys ready?
- Yes.
- Ready.
45 minutes on the clock!
Get baking!
♪♪♪♪
Yogurt.
What do you think?
What a great ingredient.
Not only is it
a technical element in a recipe,
add moisture, add tang,
but... yogurt also has
amazing flavor.
What would a baker do
with yogurt?
Go straight ahead
and make a yogurt mousse.
Now, to that, you can add
a little bit of fresh berries
and give some tartness
and some perfume
to the actual yogurt -
it's beautiful.
The faker is going to take
their white cake recipe,
dump some yogurt in it,
and serve it.
And baker's going
to incorporate texture somehow,
like a brittle
or a granola, you know,
and the baker is going
to give me
the delicious tang of yogurt.
All right.
Let's see what they do.
I'm happy for all of us,
but you guys are going down
this round.
CASSIE:
We will see, my darling.
You little youngin'.
Going into this round,
it's game on.
Round 2, I am making
my famous banana-split cupcake.
Some cuppie cakies.
This cupcake is
super special to me.
It reminds me
of my 5th birthday.
My mom took me and my friends
to an ice cream parlor.
And I had
the hugest banana split
you could ever think of.
I've got it, girlfriend.
First thing I need to do is
get my cupcake batter done...
Cream and the sugar
and butter, baby.
...so that it bakes
and cools in time to frost.
I get two ripe bananas
and just start mashing
the heck out of them
until they come to a consistency
that's just slightly chunky,
but still liquidy enough
to mix into a batter.
So Cassie, I'm worried about
what she's doing
with the bananas...
- Yes.
- ...because bananas and yogurt
act similarly in a recipe, right?
Exactly.
So whatever she's making
could be too wet...
- Yep.
- If she's making a banana bread.
She needs to be careful
of her ratio.
They're a little underripe
than I'd like,
but I'm gonna make it work.
I still think she's a faker.
Oh, 100%
It's yogurt time, baby.
I'm going to use
the plain yogurt
in place
of half the milk content
in order to up
the moisture content,
and there'll be
a little bit of tang.
I toss the chocolate chips
into my cupcake batter,
and I mix that all up.
Ice cream scoops...
got them, got them, got them.
The best thing
about this cupcake is that,
when you take a bite of it,
you can literally
separate each flavor
of a banana split in your mouth.
And so I scoop my cupcake batter
into the cupcake tins
and get it into the oven.
I've got this one in the bag.
I'm super excited to be
in my comfort zone
and make what I know
I'm good at.
For Round 2, I'm going to make
an olive-oil madeleine
and a vanilla-bean-yogurt
mousse.
This cake is my go-to recipe.
It's nice and smooth
and has a little extra flavor
from the olive oil.
But trying to figure out how
I'm going to incorporate yogurt,
which is creamy
and has a tart tang to it
and can change
the way things bake,
is going to be a little bit
of a challenge.
All right.
Let's get this in there.
Once my cake batter is mixed
and I've added the olive oil
to get it to the right texture,
I chop up some yogurt chips,
and I fold them into the batter.
Want to give it
a little extra texture
and a little extra flavor.
I think that the yogurt that
essentially going to go
and give texture to it.
Yeah.
So, if they go inside
and act sort of like
a meringue crunch...
Yeah.
...that would be
a pleasant surprise.
- And a total pro move...
- Exactly.
...thinking
about all those textures.
Textures and everything.
Two, four, six, eight,
ten, twelve - perfect.
I got the madeleines
scooped into pan.
I get the pan right in the oven
'cause I want them to bake.
But because of the yogurt,
I'm not sure exactly how long
they're going to take.
If these madeleines
are not done right,
if they're overdone
or underdone, I'm done.
♪♪♪♪
I got this!
Round 2, I'm bringing this home
because I get to make
what I do best.
French macarons.
Crispy on the outside,
chewy on the inside -
you can't beat them.
Fight to the finish, ladies!
I'm making
lemon-scented macarons,
which is a French
almond-based cookie
with a yogurt-blueberry
buttercream.
They're finicky
in any normal circumstance,
let alone a time constraint
and a secret ingredient.
I'm nervous, but I'm going big.
Trying to get these
things sifted.
First thing I need is to get
my blanched almond meal
and my confectioner sugar
in a good sifter.
Woo!
Arms are getting tired.
Aerates the mixture and takes
out any big almond pieces
that would create lumps
in your batter
and not a perfect macaron.
No yolk in those.
The next thing you need to do
is get your egg whites
separated from your yolks
so I can make my meringue.
Look at those stiff peaks.
Perfect.
The meringue are
the whipped egg whites
that make the macaron batter
rise in the oven.
Get those egg whites in there.
Molly, look at the way
she's folding in the whites.
The pro is going to know
exactly when to stop folding.
So she's looking to see
how the batter falls off
of the spatula.
That's going to ensure
an even consistency.
That is a pro move.
- 100%.
Tasting pretty good down here.
If you put them in the oven
while the top of the shells
are still wet and sticky,
the steam could
come up too quickly
and escape from the top.
If it escapes from the top,
you're done for.
Your macarons are not going
to be crispy on top.
They're just going to be
a chewy mess.
All right, I'm going in.
Here's the thing about Molly.
So she put the macaron
into the regular oven.
Yeah.
A pro would have used
the combi oven
on the very low fan
because you want the air
to circulate
so it dries as it bakes.
I'm really nervous for Molly.
Ooh, goodness gracious.
Twenty minutes left!
We're just peeking in.
If my macarons don't
rise properly,
I'm done.
So, to cover my bases,
I have a backup plan.
What is Molly doing?
I make a second sheet tray
that I'm going to pipe
and put in the convection oven
so I can control the temperature
to the best of my abilities.
Molly pulled out all the tricks.
I like that she knows
she has to go a little bit lower
and a little bit slower
with the macaron. Yep.
Yeah, it's about forming the right skin...
Yeah, yeah.
...and lift to get those
perfect little feet.
That's a pro move.
I smell my cupcakes.
That means they're almost done.
CASSIE: I pull my cupcakes
out of the oven.
I give them the pushback test.
They sponge back real quick.
I know they're done.
I put them in the freezer
so they cool down quick
enough for the buttercream
not to melt off.
There we go. Spectacular.
I want this cupcake to be
my birthday party on a plate,
and the only way
I can think of doing
that is to add
some colored fondant curlicues
with sparkles all over them.
Mine's going
to look spectacular.
I get my Tylose powder out,
add a little to each color
and kneed that in so
that it sets up quicker.
I don't want floppy fondant
on my plate.
I want stiff curlicues.
BUDDY: Look at the way
that Cassie's adding
Tylose powder.
Tylose powder will
turn regular fondant,
basically, into gum paste.
Cassie is the faker.
She's trying to fool you
with fondant.
You're so bamboozled.
This is her game plan.
Look at the way
she's handling the fondant.
My guaranteed baker's Cassie,
and I ain't changing.
Do you have any
butter I can use?
KERI: Yep.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
Then, I move on to
my strawberry buttercream
for the top of my cupcakes.
I'm kind of a messy baker.
I want to win this so badly
because this dish
is my family personified.
As a single mother,
I am really grateful
to my parents.
They've been huge influences
on me and my girls.
Winning would not
only make me proud,
but, more importantly,
I want to make the people
who helped me proud.
KERI: While my madeleines
are in the oven,
I need to get my mousse going.
In my mousse,
I want to add some yogurt,
so I actually put a little
Greek yogurt in
to fluffen up my mousse.
And I add the berry smoothie
just to add
a little extra flavor
and give it that texture
that I'm looking for.
That's good.
I decide that I want to add
one more flavor component
to my dish,
and I want to add passion fruit.
It's my favorite flavor.
I love it.
It's got a bright, pretty color,
and I think it'll
contrast really well
with the olive oil madeleine.
While my passion fruit sauce
gets to a bubbly stage,
I make a cornstarch slurry,
and I slowly whisk it in
while it's boiling
to start to thicken up
the passion fruit puree
a little bit
so I can make a really
nice sauce out of it.
Keri is making a slurry,
which she's adding water
to cornstarch,
so she's going to add that
to her coulis to thicken it.
But you want
to thin out the cornstarch
with a little bit of liquid
so it doesn't clump.
Ah, I love that smell.
That's a pro move.
Yeah.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Once my passion fruit is set,
I decide that I want to make
crunchy almond brittle.
I melt some of my butter
my sugar, and I let it go.
And it will add
a different level of flavor
and crunch to my dish.
DAMIANO: I really like
what Keri's doing right now.
She's going to make
almond brittle.
I love that.
It's a great way to add
that texture to go with
the creaminess of the yogurt.
- That's a baker.
- That's a baker.
Come on! Bake!
Bake, bake, bake. Come on!
So I check on my madeleines,
and I'm second-guessing myself.
Oopsie.
I feel like they need
another minute.
I just want to make sure
that they're done.
They get a nice golden color.
That olive oil gives it
a little bit of crunch
on the outside
and keeps them moist inside.
Doing good, you got this.
We got feet!
Now that I have, not one,
but two trays of macarons
in the oven,
I need to get started
on my buttercream
to fill my macarons.
I'm going to to use
the plain yogurt
and melted yogurt chips
in my buttercream
to add a great yogurt tang
and flavor to the dish.
So I'm adding rosemary,
lemon zest, and powdered sugar.
Ooh, we got powder.
And I get that whipping
in a bowl
until it's nice and fluffy.
I got this, 100%.
Lemon and blueberry are
really fresh flavors
and go great
with the tang of yogurt.
I wanted to do flavors
that I know would work well
with the yogurt
and not overpower it.
Ah, why buttercream?
Buttercream is classic
in the macaron,
and with the tang of the yogurt,
it's going to break up
the fat of the butter.
That's a baker move.
I will not do that, though.
I will do something
more creative.
What's more creative
than a yogurt buttercream?
The shells are so sweet.
You do not want
to make a buttercream
when you go
and put that much sugar.
Yes, there is the yogurt
that is going
to counterbalance the sweetness,
but at the same time,
it's boring.
But I still think she's a baker.
Two minutes left!
Hurry up!
Plate your stuff!
MOLLY: I got this.
Now we're cooking.
- Zac, who's your two bakers?
- Keri.
I mean, she made that quick
yogurt mousse with cream cheese,
which is going
to stabilize the mousse.
That is brilliant
in competition.
And Molly.
I mean, look at those macaron.
Those are perfect.
And to combine the fresh herbs
with the citrus and the yogurt,
that's a really smart,
very pro move.
I have agree 100%.
Molly is a baker.
Molly made the macarons
in 45 minutes.
That's a complicated
thing to do.
You got to know your techniques.
You don't do it if you're
not capable of doing it.
The other baker has to be Keri.
She's taking risk
for anything that she's doing.
She's confident about it.
She's using
a lot of ingredients.
She's combining three or four
different kind of yogurt.
And she's relaxed.
That has to be a pro.
If Keri's the baker,
then Molly's not.
Cassie is a cake decorator.
Starting from the disco
to the Tylose powder,
- she's a cake decorator.
- She's fooling you with fondant.
Ten... nine... eight...
seven... six...
five... four... three...
two... one!
Stop your work!
KERI: I'm happy with my dish.
I love the way it looks.
It's restaurant quality.
It's definitely
a beautiful plate of desert.
I feel like I have this.
Are you a baker...
or are you a faker?
- I...
- Am...
A...
- Seriously?
- I told you!
Bakers and fakers,
I gave you 45 minutes
to make whatever you like
as long as you had
some yogurt in it.
Now, it's time
to face the judges.
Keri, what did you make?
I made a olive-oil-yogurt
madeleine
and a vanilla-bean-yogurt
mousse.
This mousse is exactly
what I wanted
as an expression of yogurt.
It's creamy.
It's rich, not too sweet.
I mean, this is really amazing.
The brittle, I think,
is a good idea.
I don't think
you cooked it enough.
And I really want that, like,
crispy, crunchy,
almost burnt caramel flavor.
I think that would be
a really great foil
to the yogurt mousse.
- Okay.
The use of the passion fruit,
it gave color to the dish
and that darkness
to go through the brittle
because it's sweet.
It was very smart.
But the madeleine,
you took it out.
You look at it.
For some reason,
you put it right back in.
Now, that, it's what made it
a little dry to me.
But overall, it's a good job.
- Thanks.
- Molly.
I made a lemon-scented macaron
with a blueberry-yogurt
buttercream.
You made a fantastic macaron.
Texture of the shell is
exactly what I want.
It's crunchy on the outside,
and it's chewy on the inside.
I mean, the shell was spot on...
- Thank you.
- ...for me.
However...
I like sprinkles.
I don't think I like
rosemary sprinkles.
I got to say, you know, you did
nail the actual macaron part,
so I appreciate this a lot.
But then, there
is the buttercream.
I don't taste any yogurt - none.
Cassie, what'd you do?
I made a banana-split cupcake.
I used plain yogurt,
and I used it to substitute
a lot of the milk content
in the cupcake.
I feel like you made yourself
on a plate.
[ Laughter ]
We got your hair color,
your makeup color.
I think it was genius.
[ Laughing ]
But the buttercream, I think
that it's so sweet already.
The chocolate brings it,
like, over the top
really sweet - for my palate.
Your use of the yogurt
in the cupcake is genius.
The yogurt plus the banana
made this cupcake
so velvety smooth, so moist.
I mean, wow.
But the cake-to-frosting ratio
was way off.
You went overboard
with the frosting.
Okay.
Thank you, Cassie,
and thank you all.
Now, it's time
for us to deliberate.
CASSIE: I'm the most nervous
because the other plates
are so much more fancy
and elegant than a cupcake.
I have a cupcake.
KERI: Even with a tough critique
for overcooking my madeleine,
I still think that I have
a shot at winning this.
MOLLY: I did my absolute best
with a technically
difficult dish,
let alone in 45 minutes.
That money is at my fingertips.
I can almost taste it.
Bakers and faker,
in this envelope
is the name of the winner.
But, before I tell you who one,
you need to tell us
who you really are.
Let's start with Cassie.
Are you a baker,
or are you a faker?
I...
am a...
Cassie, are you a baker,
or are you a faker?
I...
am a...
baker.
I told you!
I told you!
I told you!
- Wow.
- Woo!
Cassie, where are you a baker?
I'm a baker
at "Cassie Cakes Cakery"
in Northridge, California.
I'm the CEO
and head cake decorator.
We are known for colorful,
sparkly, bright, happy deserts
that really are
the center of the party.
Glitter-fied.
My favorite thing to make
at the bakery is unicorn poo.
It's a sugar cookie.
It probably is
my best-selling item.
It's what we're known for.
It had always been
a dream of mine
to pursue a career in baking.
My mom taught me to bake
when I was really little.
She always had me
in the kitchen with her,
and I just fell in love with it
because it was something
that we did together.
What I love most about my job
is bringing smiles
to people's faces.
I think she's done.
It feels amazing.
So we still got one baker
and one faker remaining.
Molly, tell us,
are you a baker or a faker?
I...
am a...
...faker.
- Seriously?
- Aaah! I told you!
- I told you both!
- What?
Yes!
I told you both!
Fakers can't bake macaron
like that.
Did you spend a lot of time
in France?
Molly, what do you do?
I am a full-time
graduate student.
I'm getting my Masters
at Boston University
in nutrition and dietetics.
I've always loved food,
but now I get to know
the science behind it.
What I'm learning is everything
to what I love to do
when it comes to
cooking and baking
and being in the kitchen.
I owe a lot to baking.
It has really helped me
to understand
how to make others
feel appreciated.
It has made me understand
how to make other people happy
and how to really
connect with them.
Baking and decorating
and feeding other people
has always been
a part of my life,
and I know it always will be.
Keri, for the record,
are you a baker or a faker?
I am a baker.
[ Chuckles ]
We all knew that.
I am the head baker and pastry
chef at Yale University.
Guys, today, we're going to do
64 dozen chocolate chip cookies.
I oversee a small department
that provides breakfast,
two lunch and a dinner item
for every college on campus
for all the students,
as well as catering and retail.
We feed a lot
of hungry students.
What I love about my job
is that I get
to be completely creative
and really just have fun
with deserts and food
and be able to put
different combinations together.
So now that we know who you are,
it's time for me
to reveal the winner.
That means,
if Cassie or Keri wins,
you win $10,000.
Molly, if you win, $15,000.
All right.
The winner is...
Cassie.
[ Laughing ]
- Congratulations.
- I'm so happy for you.
Congratulations.
You represented yourself.
And I think, as a chef,
our point of view is personal,
and you brought that today.
And we tasted it,
and we loved it.
Thank you.
What are you going to tell
your kids when you see them?
I did it all for them.
How proud is your mom
going to be?
She's gonna freak out.
Believe me.
[ Chuckling ]
Congratulations!
Give me a hug!
- Good job.
- Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Pleasure.