Sugar Rush Christmas (2019–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - Gift Exchange - full transcript
Bakers compete in three rounds of gift themed challenges.
This is Sugar Rush Christmas!
The baking competition where
time is the most important ingredient.
Four teams of brilliant bakers
battle it out for sugary success
over three rounds of competition,
-racing against each other and the clock.
-[chimes]
The faster they work the better, because
any time saved in round one, cupcakes,
and round two, confections,
will be banked and added
to their third and final round, cakes.
I'm your host, Hunter March,
and determining which of these teams
is going home with the $10,000 prize
in their stockings
is our giving panel of judges.
Her presence is a present for us all.
That's right, it's pastry chef
and entrepreneur Candace Nelson.
I want him wrapped up
under my Christmas tree
with a bow
on top of that shiny, smooth head.
That's right, it's celebrated Australian
pastry chef Adriano Zumbo.
The only thing better
than getting a gift is giving one.
That's why our bakers are competing in
three rounds of gift-themed competition.
It's our present to you.
And finally, our guest judge,
celebrated chocolatier
and pastry chef Valerie Gordon.
Candace and Adriano are inside
presenting the first two rounds
-of gift-themed challenges...
-[bleeping]
...and that sound means
that competition has just begun.
Let's check it out.
Hello, bakers.
Start rollin' out that dough-ho-ho.
[baker laughs]
Get used to a lot of that today.
Yes, we're excited it's Christmas.
Hello, judges.
-Hello, Hunter.
-Hello, Hunter.
Well, what a day to be
in the Sugar Rush Christmaskitchen.
I feel like all of you are gifts
to everyone here.
-Especially our guest.
-[laughs] That's right.
-Valerie Gordon, how are you?
-I'm so happy to be here.
We have four teams of incredible bakers.
Candace, what are they doing in round one?
We want to get to know our bakers better.
So we've asked them to create a cupcake
inspired by the best Christmas gift
they ever received.
We really want them to incorporate
some nostalgic flavors as well.
We have to do the best gift we ever got.
-Girl, jewelry!
-Perfect.
[man] Gingerbread teddy bear?
-Gingerbread's nostalgic. Yeah.
-Very nostalgic.
What do you think
of, like, a perfume bottle topper?
That would kind of bring in the idea.
So, my favorite childhood gift
was a teddy bear.
-Perfect.
-All right, so, I'll start on the batter.
You wanna start these decorations
-so they can harden?
-Okay.
My name is Brian Jared.
I'm from Washington, DC.
I am an assistant food service director
for a large corporation,
but baking holds
a special place in my heart.
My name is Kareem, also known by Mr. Bake,
I run a custom cake shop
called Mr. Bake Sweets
in the Washington, DC area.
I'm thinking, like,
maybe I max everything in the oven,
decorations start to go at 45...
Forty-five minutes to an hour, you got it.
-[laughs]
-We met over ten, 11 years ago...
-Ago...
-...through a mutual friend,
from both of our love of baking.
And B has been nothing but a great friend.
-Really?
-Yeah!
I mean, you... you got your times,
but overall, you know,
you all right, girl, you cool.
-So...
-Son of a bitch!
-How you doin' over there, B?
-Pretty good, pretty good.
[Kareem] All right, good. Bananas!
For the cupcake round, we decided to go
with hummingbird cupcakes.
It is a banana-based cake with pineapples,
toasted pecans,
with a tangy cream cheese frosting.
The cutest little teddy bear
in a fondant gift box.
[Brian Jared] Perfect. All these bows.
It's like a bow gallery over here.
All right, all right!
It smells like banana-nut bread.
The judges,
they are definitely going to hum...
-[hums]
-...tasting these cupcakes.
-Guess what? Cupcakes going in the oven.
-What?
Nice, nice.
-You do the batter, I'll make the filling.
-I'll get the batter. Okay.
I'm Caunia. I'm from the Bay Area.
I own SweetTooth Sensations.
I'm also the Flavor Queen.
And I'm Jill from the Bay Area,
and I own Jill of All Cakes.
Everybody calls me Sugah Sugga,
and she's literally my alter ego.
We makin' sugar over here, baby!
Sugah got enough sugar for all of us.
You gonna activate this sugar?
-[laughs] I know!
-Activate sugar, baby!
Don't get me started.
Jill is serious.
I'm good at what I do.
But Sugah Sugga will tell you, "I'm not
doin' that, you ain't gettin' that,
and I don't care what you say."
So she gets to be dirty
but sweet at the same time.
Oh, you tryin' to call me Sweet'N Low?
Nuh-uh, I'm Sugah Sugga.
[laughing]
[Sugah] I need a shot of that.
For our Christmas gift cupcake,
we're making eggnog cupcakes
with a coquito pecan filling
with coconut and some rum.
And a cinnamon-nutmeg
cream cheese frosting on top,
decorated with a large and in charge
white chocolate diamond ring.
Incorporate, incorporate, incorporate,
come on.
-Got the alcohol in? Can't leave that out.
-Got it in. I know.
Eggnog is a very nostalgic flavor.
It's also one of my dad's
favorite flavors for Christmas.
My dad passed away ten years ago,
so every Christmas, we bring out
all his favorite flavors for everything.
It just brings back those memories.
About to pop 'em in the oven. All right.
All right, poppin' bottles, baby!
Oh, God. No, okay, not towards me!
-[pop]
-[both] Whoo!
It's a party over there,
it's a party over here, too.
-Whoo!
-Party with Bacardi!
[laughing]
-My name is Sheela.
-I'm Kenzie.
[Sheela] We're from Tacoma, Washington.
We work at Corina Bakery together.
-And together we are the...
-[both] Baking Bombshells.
[Sheela] This is, like,
my favorite flavored cake to make.
The best Christmas desserts
that I love are boozy.
So for our Christmas gift cupcakes,
we're making pink champagne cupcakes
with a rose ganache,
a vanilla buttercream,
and isomalt perfume bottle
that is also rose-flavored.
[Sheela] Kenz, check out this color.
I think it's good for the perfume bottle.
-Oh, that is beautiful.
-I'm just gonna use this to pour.
When I was about 12, I received
a perfume set from a dear neighbor.
It started my love of perfume,
and it made me feel like a grown-up.
Perfecto, and one more. This is awesome.
I'll let these sit for a minute
and harden.
-I'll throw these in and start the timer.
-[Kenzie] Okay.
[Sheela] All right, they're in.
[man] Katie, how long
do you wanna spend on this?
No more than 45 minutes.
Let's shoot for that.
I'm Katie, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio.
I'm the owner of Whimsy Cakes Bakery.
I'm Anthony from Cleveland, Ohio,
as well, and I'm a professional baker.
He's probably my best friend
since I moved to Cleveland.
-You have the kosher salt, don't you?
-I do, I'll be done with it in a moment.
Being friends and
going into this competition together,
it is either going to make us or break us.
-Oh, my God.
-It depends on how it goes.
For our cupcake,
I'm gonna use some star anise.
Okay, like, that licorice-y flavor,
-you thinking?
-Yeah. For me, it's kind of nostalgic,
a flavor that my family would use.
I think it'll go really well
with gingerbread.
For our Christmas gift cupcake,
we're making gingerbread spice cupcakes
with a cheesecake filling,
a Swiss meringue buttercream for the snow,
and on top,
we're putting a gingerbread teddy bear.
[Katie] I'm cuttin' out the cookies.
We know Candace loves
an edible decoration,
so we really don't want to do
a fondant decoration.
This one's for Candace.
[Katie] Bears goin' in.
Valerie, what's the best gift
you've ever received?
I would say one of my sisters
compiled photos of the family
and created these photo albums
for all of us.
That was pretty good.
I remember getting my first cassette tape.
-It was Flashdance.That was exciting.
-Oh, my God. So good.
I played that on repeat.
Can you show us the whole dance?
[laughs]
-I'm gonna need water and a leotard.
-[laughter]
[Kareem] We're going for
tangy frosting, right?
[Brian] Definitely.
That bite with the cream cheese...
-Everybody knows...
-Everybody...
...a spice cake pairs very well
with cream cheese frosting.
It's that tanginess
-that offsets the spices.
-[Brian] Mm-hm.
B, do you mind?
We wanna make sure when we take that
first bite, it's like taking somebody back
-to their grandmother's home cooking.
-Yes! Yes!
-Think it's fine?
-I think it's good.
-It's good?
-I think it's really good.
Okay.
All right.
We got cupcakes in the oven already!
Cupcakes in the oven yet?
Don't you try to distract me, man,
I'm workin'.
That's... Okay.
Do a little bit more.
[Sugah] I'm making the coquito
with lots and lots of rum.
Like, these judges are gonna be lit.
[laughs]
-[blender whirs]
-I like that.
[Sugah] Buttercream.
Butter, butter, butter.
[Caunia] What about the cupcake?
Come check this, come check this.
[Caunia] Lookin' and smellin' good.
All right.
That's a good cupcake.
-[bleeping]
-[Kenzie] Ooh, I think they're done.
All right, bakers, you have
less than two hours and 25 minutes left!
-[Kenzie] Great. I'll start the ganache.
-[Sheela] Perfect. Here's the rose.
The nostalgic flavor of rose
reminds me of my grandmother.
She always smelled like roses, and I just
wanted to make this cupcake for her.
-[Kenzie] You taste the rose?
-Yeah.
That's good. I'll put this in the walk-in.
[Sheela] I'm gonna get going
on the wafer paper snowflakes.
-[Sugah] All right, I'm on to decorations.
-[Caunia] Okay.
[Sugah] The best gift I ever received
was a ring
that was a gift from my grandmother.
And this was given to my husband
to propose to me.
I jut put a bit more rum syrup
on the cupcake, just give it extra oomph.
-Yes, yes, yes.
-It's rum! It's rum!
You gonna get these judges drunk.
Girl, that's my job.
-[Kareem] Oh, yeah!
-[Brian] Oh, those look good.
[Kareem] That took you longer
than I expected.
-Listen, it really did.
-[laughs]
[Brian] This topper is taking much longer,
but we gotta make sure we have
those details for the judges.
[Kareem] I'm starting on the bears.
I find the cutest little molds that
represent my childhood teddy bear.
[Kareem] Oh!
Y'all got fondant decorations?
Definitely.
Oh, man, those actually look really good.
I've noticed that
Katie and Anthony are also doing
-some kind of, like, bear cut-out.
-Bear.
[Kareem] But not our bears.
-[Brian] No.
-We're giving them 3D bears.
And ours are golden.
-♪ Golden, golden ♪
-[laughs]
Cupcakes on the left or the right?
-They're in the, uh, blast chiller.
-A-ha. Duh.
[Anthony] Cupcakes comin' out.
[Katie] Okay. How long on buttercream?
It's a little soupy.
Ideally, when you're making
Swiss meringue buttercream,
you want to let that meringue whip
until it's achieved stiff, firm peaks.
-Can you rush the Swiss meringue?
-[Anthony] Okay.
-I can start adding butter to the Swiss.
-Yep.
-I just really need that buttercream.
-[Anthony] It's happenin'.
[Katie] Yeah.
Oh, it smells so good in the freezer
with the cupcakes in there.
Shoot. I broke one.
I got a lone soldier, man down.
[Sheela] The isomalt perfume bottles
that are coming out,
a few of them are breaking
as I'm pulling them out.
-[Kenzie] Do you wanna make more?
-Yeah, I think I can afford it.
-You can? Yeah.
-Let me do it.
Even though this is gonna set us back,
we need to make more isomalt molds,
because we really want
to impress the judges
with our presentation of our cupcakes.
-Nice! Right on, girl!
-Yay. Good job, good job.
-Okay, cool. Awesome.
-Yes.
Okay, so are these ready to fill?
Yep.
[Caunia] Come on. Come on, come on.
Poppin' the ring on.
Hurry up.
All right.
-Okay...
-You wanna push the button? Okay.
-Go, go, go!
-[bells jingle]
Caunia and Jill, first ones done.
Let's head on down.
We need to go faster! [laughs]
Aaargh!
-[Hunter] Hi, Caunia, hi, Jill.
-You said Jill, but I go by Sugah Sugga.
-Sugah Sugga, I'm learning.
-And you look so fly, thank you.
-[laughs] Hi, Caunia.
-I love your name.
-Thank you.
-Hi!
Tell us about your gift-themed cupcake
and what gift it's based on.
[Sugah] We made a eggnog cupcake
with a coquito filling,
with a cinnamon and nutmeg
cream cheese frosting.
My Grandma had a ring,
and my husband proposed with that ring.
So, it literally is
the best gift I've ever gotten.
-I felt like I got a gift when I got this.
-Aww.
They were so toasty and warm
and just spoke to me of the holidays.
-Well done.
-Okay.
That cupcake made me feel very warm.
That coquito had that nice bit of rum,
spiced you up, you know?
I think it was a real present in itself.
I could taste the cinnamon
and the coconut.
It spoke to the two of you.
-I got Sugah Sugga in this.
-[Sugah] Oh!
-[Valerie] Fully.
-Say it one more time!
[all] Sugah Sugga!
And Caunia!
And Caunia! You can't forget about Caunia.
Frost all of them.
I have two more bears to do.
Aah!
-[Brian] We ready to hit that buzzer?
-Yup.
[bells jingle]
Oh! Another team done. Brian Jared
and Kareem. We'll be right over.
[Katie] All right.
We're at the finish line.
-[Anthony] We are.
-Get 'em all cute. All right.
[bells jingle]
Another team is done.
Almost there.
Bakers, we have a lot of teams to get to
as everyone seems to be
jumping on your train right now.
Adriano, remind them
what they do in round two.
We want to see a confection inspired
by the White Elephant gift exchange.
You have a bunch of mystery gifts
in the pantry.
Pick one,
and work in that mystery ingredient.
-[both] Okay.
-Thank you, bakers.
-Good luck!
-[Caunia] Thank you.
-We need to find something...
-Which one looks like
it will be the easiest?
Let's try this one.
-Okay. What is this? What do we...
-What is it? What is it?
-Oh, heck no. For real?
-Uh...
[Sugah] Jalapeños.
[Caunia] What do we do with a jalapeño?
-Brian Jared and Kareem.
-Hola!
-"Hola!"
-[Kareem] How you doin'?
Feliz Navidad!
You know, I'm a little bilingual.
-[all laughing]
-That's all I can get for you.
-[Candace] Very nice.
-This one's for you.
We have here a hummingbird cupcake.
And we did a cream cheese frosting
to go on top.
The inspiration was a teddy bear.
My grandmother got it for me.
I've always been a grandma's boy.
So, I still have that teddy bear
to this day.
-[Hunter] Valerie.
-I'm nervous.
-[laughs]
-I have to say, it's beautifully moist.
-[Kareem] Okay.
-And really nicely spiced.
You've really integrated
all the ingredients very thoroughly.
Then you get a nice, even cake texture,
which is really great.
-Very good.
-[Adriano] I love the story.
I love the banana flavor, it's strong.
The cream cheese frosting is delicious.
You can taste the cream cheese.
A bit of acidic-ness there.
-You did a good job balancing that.
-[both] Thank you.
Your story resonated with me
because I've got two boys at home
-and they both have giant teddy bears.
-Giant teddy bears! Okay!
What a tasty hummingbird cake!
-[Kareem] Okay.
-So light and fluffy.
And I love the sweetness of the pineapple
against the bite of those pecans, yum!
-Thank you so much. Thank you.
-[Brian] Thank you.
Uh... I'm sorry, I just glittered you!
[laughs]
Wipe it, girl. Let's get 'em on.
-Okay, let's do this.
-Okay, ready? Ready?
-Yeah, yeah!
-Ready? Ready?
-Aaah!
-[bells jingle]
-Another team buzzed in.
-Thanks!
We have two more cupcakes to try.
We're heading out.
-[both] Thank you.
-Good luck, bakers.
-You pick. Perfect.
-Cool.
[laughing]
-You ready? A one, a two...
-Two, three.
-A three.
-Really?
-[Kareem laughing]
-[Brian] Pork rinds?
-[Hunter] Katie, Anthony, how's it goin'?
-Hi.
-[Candace] Hi.
-Tell us what you did.
We also were inspired by our childhood
Christmas presents of teddy bears.
We went with a gingerbread cake,
and we repeated that in the cookie on top
with Swiss meringue buttercream
cheesecake filling in the middle.
[Adriano]
That soft, spicy gingerbread cupcake,
it was beautiful
with that cheesecake center.
Had that nice tang of cream cheese.
The only thing I'd say is
-work a bit more on the presentation.
-Okay.
-I love an edible decoration.
-I know you do!
-Well done on that.
-Thank you.
I love gingerbread,
particularly when it's crunchy.
-Yay!
-I loved your light-as-air buttercream.
It was like a cloud of buttercream.
My one note would be
that the ratios were a bit off.
It was a mouthful of buttercream,
as delicious as it was,
and I was kind of searching for the cake.
-Right.
-[Valerie] I love these flavors.
I got clove, I got nutmeg, I got cinnamon.
I tasted the nostalgia in the cupcake.
But like Candace, I wanted more cake.
Bakers, well done.
You have an hour 45 left.
-[Katie] Whew.
-Judges, let's head over
to Sheela and Kenzie's station.
-I like gold and red, favorite colors.
-All right, do it.
Yeah, okay. Do you wanna open it?
-Yes.
-Pull the lid.
-[Katie] All right.
-[Anthony] What do we got?
White miso paste.
We can do something with this.
-[Hunter Hi, Kenzie. Hi, Sheela.
-Hello.
-Hi.
-Hi!
Why don't you pass out your cupcakes,
tell us about the gift,
and what flavors did you use
to bring us back?
[Sheela] I had this dear neighbor that,
when I was about 12,
gifted me a mini perfume set,
and it started my love of perfume.
So, I have a champagne cupcake with
a rose ganache and a vanilla buttercream,
and an isomalt perfume bottle
that is also rose-flavored.
This is like a girly wonderland.
It tastes like it looks. It's so feminine.
-There's something very happy about it.
-Thank you.
But I actually think
the rose went a little too heavy.
-Okay.
-It's a pink party!
-[laughs] Whoo!
-And it's so cute.
The texture was really fluffy and light.
You mentioned that
perfume was your inspiration.
That can be a little tricky, 'cause rose
can really move into that perfume arena.
I think that this was
a little heavy on the rose.
I agree.
The cupcakes have delicious texture.
But I'm not getting pink champagne.
It's such a fragile flavor.
And then that rose in the middle
is a bit overpowering.
I think it's a great presentation.
There's great textures in there.
It's just a flavoring balance.
Thank you.
Well, you have an hour 35 remaining.
Good luck, bakers. Thank you.
-[all] Thank you.
-Okay, judges,
let's head back to the judge's table
for a very important decision.
Okay, this elephant is adorable!
Are you ready?
-Oh, my God.
-What is it?
-It's pickles.
-Whoo!
-You love pickles.
-I love pickles.
Okay. Judges,
-we just tried our bakers' four cupcakes.
-Mmm.
But only three teams can move on
to the confection round.
Who had your two favorite cupcakes?
I thought Caunia and Sugah Sugga
just went for it in terms of flavor.
Then adding that texture
with the coconut and the nuts,
it was just, like,
a flavor bomb and it was awesome.
That coconut, the coquito, all the spices.
Great, beautiful cupcake.
[Valerie]
And they had a deep rum infusion.
All of those great holiday flavors,
very festive.
[Candace] Brian Jared and Kareem gave us
a really tasty hummingbird cupcake.
It was simple,
but everything was perfectly balanced.
They did an amazing job
texture-wise, flavor-wise.
Beautiful banana taste.
I love the pecans, the pineapple.
And the presentation was
by far one of the best this round.
With the present presentation
and the teddy bear,
they locked it all together.
It's really good.
Why were the other two teams
unanimously in your bottom two cupcakes?
Katie and Anthony,
they had that luscious, fluffy buttercream
which we were all enjoying.
-But where was the cake?
-Yeah.
The cake was kind of hidden
under all that buttercream.
Proportion of topping and cake is so key
to the experience of eating a cupcake.
Sheela and Kenzie I think really just
took the wrong inspiration today.
The rose was heavy-handed.
And picking the pink champagne flavor,
it's always a difficult one to make
pronounced in a baked cupcake.
Unfortunately, I think the finish
of the buttercream was problematic.
I wanted to see a little more technique.
Sounds like we have made a decision.
I will let our bakers know.
Thank you, judges.
Bakers, can I have your attention, please?
Our judges have made their first decision.
And the team with
their favorite cupcake this round is...
That smile.
-It makes me wanna give it to you.
-No!
Hold on, look, I can smile, too!
Don't worry,
I'm not just giving it to them.
You guys got the favorite cupcake,
-regardless.
-Aaah! Nice!
-Thank you!
-Thank you!
Very well done, Brian Jared and Kareem.
You guys are safe from elimination.
-On to the next.
-[both] Boom!
Not only are you moving on
to the confection round,
but because you've given us such a treat,
we wanna give it right back to you.
Just like Christmas morning,
you're gonna be wakin' up to some fresh
orange juice with a brand new juicer!
-Aah! Thank you!
-Nice! Could use one!
You guys are each gettin' one,
congratulations.
Get workin' on your confections.
-All right!
-Awesome.
The rest of the teams,
unfortunately, that means that
one of you will be going home.
And the team with our judges'
least favorite cupcake this round is...
...Kenzie and Sheela.
You had an incredible cupcake. There was
just too much rose in it for our judges.
Your time in the Sugar Rushkitchen
has run out.
-Thank you, bakers.
-Thank you.
Being the first ones to leave
is probably the most disappointing.
Yeah. It's always the worst
to go home first, you know? [tuts]
-Great job.
-Thank you.
We didn't win Sugar Rush,
but we both had an amazing time
-being on the competition together.
-Bye, guys.
[Sheela]
This is just the beginning for us.
A great start to something amazing.
Katie and Anthony, Sugah Sugga and Caunia.
-Yes?
-You're moving on to the confection round.
You have one hour 21 minutes
remaining on the clock.
Get to work, bakers.
That's freaking jalapeño.
-[Sugah] Ssh.
-You picked that, too.
-Don't shush me.
-Sh.
[Sugah] We got a jalapeño.
-A freakin' jalapeño. Of all...
-What are we gonna do
-with a jalapeño?
-Who wants to work with jalapeño?
It'd be a sugar tornado.
We gotta go sweet and spicy,
something to complement the jalapeños.
All right, so I'm makin' the...
the shells for the mousse.
For our White Elephant confection,
we're gonna make
a cream cheese jalapeño mousse,
topped with a mango jalapeño compote,
layered inside of a white chocolate shell,
sitting on top of
a pistachio-ramen shortbread
to give it some extra crunch.
-What's the sugar? Did you put some in?
-[Caunia] A cup.
I'll boil it down to get that sweetness
along with that spice in that syrup.
Okay, so I have that on.
Simple syrup is gettin' ready to start.
[Kareem] Let's do something chocolate.
Sweet, savory.
Okay, that works. Definitely.
-Let's crush those and put those on top.
-On top.
We know that chocolate and pork
really plays well together.
So, we're making a brownie.
We'll put some of those chicharrones
right on top.
Top that off with roasted pecans,
caramel sauce
and whipped cream on the side.
All right, brownie goin' in the oven.
You gonna pour a little bit in there...
jidoin... ajoint... adjoinst?
Yes. We already have chicharrones,
let's add a little bacon. Why not?
-Everybody knows pork and pecan...
-Definitely.
-...is two Southern classics.
-Very Southern.
-[timer bleeping]
-That smells good.
-All right.
-Going off Asian flavor inspiration,
what do you think about black sesame?
The only thing I know about miso
is that it's a salty, savory paste.
How do you feel about ice cream?
Ice cream's good.
We're an hour in. We should try
to knock it out in 30 minutes.
-I really mean that.
-Okay.
For our White Elephant confection,
we are going to make
miso ice cream
over a pool of miso-caramel sauce
with a black sesame spritz cookie,
and toasted sesame seeds on top.
-I have the miso caramel started.
-[Katie] All right, awesome.
[Anthony] When you put this miso
with something sweet,
if you do it right,
it can be really rich and almost buttery.
[Katie] Sixteen ounces of flour...
[Katie] To make the spritz cookie,
we're using powdered sugar
versus granulated sugar.
And I need to get the butter
really light and fluffy
because we want this cookie
to melt in your mouth.
[Anthony] That looks amazing.
-[Katie] To your left.
-[Anthony] Yup, heard.
[Sugah] So get that mousse.
We need to let that mousse sit up.
In this round, I know we are going to have
to bring something they've never had.
We have to wow them.
I am crunching up some ramen, 'cause
nobody puts ramen in a shortbread, right?
I'm making a pistachio shortbread,
and I'm adding some ramen.
We're trying to get flavors out there
that's gonna make them be, like, "Hmm!"
So ramen in shortbread?
Nobody's gonna be expecting that.
[Sugah] Ramen doesn't have a flavor,
but the texture stays the same.
Don't hate on ramen noodle.
You don't wanna see the things
I can do with ramen noodles.
[Caunia] I'm putting 'em in the oven.
Brownie, I think, is sha-done.
[Brian] That smells so good.
-We love Christmas.
-Like, okay...
-Like...
-So, Christmas in my family is huge.
My mom puts up Christmas decorations
starting in August.
We're looking back at pictures wondering,
"Is this Thanksgiving, or Christmas?
Is it Halloween? I don't know."
My sugar is boiling.
You smell that?
That caramel is starting to brown.
That creamy caramel sauce,
it's gonna bind them all together.
-[Brian] I smell caramel!
-[Kareem] I got you. I'll pour, you mix.
The balance between salt and sweet
is a fine line.
So that's something you definitely want
to make sure you balance very well.
-Let me get...
-I taste the bacon.
-Oh, thank you.
-Mm...
-Hmm?
-You're so awesome.
-M'kay.
-[Brian laughs] I can't stand it.
-What d'you think?
-That's good.
-[Anthony] Oh! How are the cookies doing?
-[Katie] They look gorgeous.
-[Anthony] Oh, man.
-[Katie] Can we do it in 20 minutes?
[Anthony] We still need
to make the ice cream base.
Our ice cream base is a custard, actually.
And that's gonna give so much flavor,
along with the miso paste.
Okay. I think I'm happy with this.
[laughs]
-We need to get caramel in the bowl.
-[Katie] Is this firm enough?
[Anthony] I'm trying to see
how this scoop comes out.
-[Katie] It's really soft. It scares me.
-It is soft.
[Katie] We should've chilled the glasses.
I don't wanna serve them puddles!
The ice cream looks a little soft.
Additionally, our caramel is really loose.
I'm worried we're actually
gonna serve the judges miso soup.
-We can throw the servings in the chiller.
-Do it. Do it, do it.
[Anthony] Let's just give it
a minute or two.
[mixer whirring]
[Brian] This is stiff enough
to form the snowman.
That's good.
Consistency...
These two... I don't wanna put too much.
-I think this is good.
-[Kareem] Ready?
Oh, yeah, we're good.
-[chimes]
-[bells jingle]
-Ooh!
-Brian Jared and Kareem just buzzed in.
Judges, let's head down
and try our first confection.
-We runnin' out...
-Runnin' out of time, we gotta hurry up.
Hello, Brian Jared and Kareem,
how's it going?
-Fa, la, la, la, la!
-Good!
[both] ♪ La, la, la, la! ♪
Every time you come,
you'll get a Christmas song.
Pass out your confections.
Tell us what White Elephant ingredient
you put inside.
So, the White Elephant ingredient we had
was pork skins.
So what we have here is
pork rinds baked into the brownie,
rich, creamy caramel,
then mix that all together.
On the side is our melted snowman.
So, a nice play
on more of our Southern roots.
I love that you're taking us
on a tour of your Southern roots.
The fact that you've made this yummy,
candied concoction
with the nuts and the pork skins,
and then the caramel just
brings it all together, Southern style.
-Thank you. Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
I love the fudginess of the brownie.
Then, obviously using the pork skin
made that beautiful topping.
-I did want more salt.
-Okay.
I find that the caramel
dumbs the salt down.
Other than that, I think
it's a good way of doing a confection,
and being quick on your time, as well,
it was really smart.
-Yes.
-[Hunter] Valerie?
The chicharrón in the brownie
was kind of shocking...
...because it was so successful.
-Oh, thanks!
-I thought it was a Rice Krispie,
something that you would naturally find
in a pastry like this.
-Nicely played.
-[Brian] Great.
Thank you so much.
Incredible job on your confection.
You banked one hour and six minutes.
-What we wanted!
-Perfect!
We're looking forward to another
Christmas song if we end up coming back.
-Okay, we'll have a good one for you.
-Okay! Okay!
-Thank you, bakers.
-[all] Thank you.
-[Anthony] I'm gonna pull it out.
-Okay.
Wow, that does look better. All right.
[Sugah] We need to be plated, ready to go
and ready to hit the buzzer.
That chocolate is going to melt
hecka fast.
[Caunia] Shortbread's out the oven.
That shortbread smells so good.
[Katie] Gonna be fine, but we got three
minutes to knock this out. It's fine.
Everything's fine.
Get ready to hit the button.
-[chime]
-[bells jingle]
Judges, Katie and Anthony done.
Let's go try our second confection.
Katie, Anthony.
[all] Hey.
We gotta put a top on that.
That's the last thing we need.
-All right, press it.
-[bells jingle]
Oh, actually, Caunia and Sugah Sugga
also buzzed in.
We'll be over there in a second.
Tell us what your mystery
White Elephant flavor was.
[Katie] So, we got miso.
[Anthony] So, we have
a miso black sesame sundae.
Vanilla-miso ice cream
with a miso-caramel sauce
and a black sesame spritz cookie.
I'm a big lover of miso in desserts.
You did it really well,
using an ice cream
because it's got a cool texture.
Would've liked more black sesame
just to jump up against that miso
a bit more, but great flavors.
I agree that I want
a little bit more sesame.
-Mmm.
-And the sugar decor
didn't really make sense.
-But the miso, caramel, best friends.
-Great.
-Awesome.
-This is a very successful,
-exciting dessert.
-Phew.
-[laughing]
-[Candace] Yeah.
The ice cream was just so creamy
and rich and buttery.
And that cookie was such a nice note,
almost like powder in your hands,
-it was that delicate and tender.
-Yeah.
Thank you.
Okay. You banked 47 minutes, 54 seconds.
How do you feel about that time?
-It...
-I wish it was more,
but we'll... we'll make it work.
-Good luck.
-Thank you.
Judges,
we have one more confection to try.
-Hi, Sugah Sugga, Caunia.
-Hello.
-[Adriano] Hello.
-[Hunter] Tell us about
the ingredient and the confection.
-Our ingredient was jalapeños.
-[Hunter] Ooh!
[Sugah] So, we did a jalapeño
cream cheese mousse,
with a jalapeño-mango compote
on top of a pistachio
ramen noodle shortbread.
-Oh!
-Whoa!
-Where's the ramen noodles?
-[Caunia] In the shortbread.
-Oh, down there.
-[Valerie] Let's get to that.
-[Caunia] It keeps its crunch.
-So cool.
[Adriano] Wow.
You just had to work
with one crazy ingredient today.
But here you go
bringing in the ramen, too!
It's such an interesting idea,
and it was so tender.
The way you worked with the jalapeño
was with a very nice, mild touch,
cooling us off with the mango,
cooling us off with the mousse.
I think you worked very well
with the exotic flavors.
Beautiful presentation.
I love the flavors.
I would want it a bit more incorporated.
That sauce had the kick, and I would have
loved it to have been in the bowl.
And I would have loved that shortbread
to be in the bowl.
For me to have to go there
and eat it, it's too much thinking.
Should be able to eat it all in one bite.
This shortbread was so much fun,
and such a great use of ramen.
I would never have thought of it,
and now I'm gonna steal it.
-So...
-[laughter]
You went ahead and banked 47 minutes.
You guys saved quite a bit of time.
-Yes. Yes, yes.
-Yes.
Very well done. Judges, we have
a remarkably difficult decision to make.
Let's head back to the judges' table.
Thank you, bakers.
Three confections down,
all very delicious flavors.
Only two can go to the final cake round.
Before we talk about who's eliminated,
let's talk about
who had your favorite confection.
My favorite was Katie and Anthony.
For me, they had the best flavor.
It had so much umami going on.
That ice cream was delicious.
That was a finished dessert
in a very short amount of time
with a surprise ingredient.
I thought it was really well thought out,
very well balanced.
The spritz cookie, it was very inventive.
Katie and Anthony's ice cream and black
sesame cookie, the flavors were delicious.
I thought they gave us
a really surprising and elegant dessert.
[Hunter] We know who our favorite is.
We now have to talk about
who had your least favorite confection.
Well, Kareem and Brian Jared
put up such a tasty dessert.
I mean, that was a fudgy brownie.
We had that great concoction on top
incorporating the pork rinds,
the bacon, the caramel, and the nuts.
And it was chewy and yummy, but I do
feel like it was a bit simplistic.
It wasn't awful, it was delicious, but
it was chocolate and bacon, with caramel.
It didn't have the dimension of depth.
Their confection really felt
very homemade.
Although it was a yummy bite,
it didn't feel like a finished confection.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga's,
I thought they did such a nice job with
a really tricky ingredient of jalapeño.
They brought in the fresh and the spicy.
There were some technical issues, and I do
think that they were missing a note.
It was also a little hard to eat.
I love their flavors, but for me,
the dessert just feels disjointed.
You had to go underneath
to get the biscuit.
It felt like there wasn't
a whole dessert in one.
It was more of an art piece.
[Kareem] I feel good. I feel like
the spirit is gonna bring us all the way.
Phew.
-Girl.
-Yeah.
Judges, seems like a decision has been
made. I will go and let our bakers know.
Bakers, can I have your attention,
please?
So, our judges have made
a second decision.
The team with our judges'
favorite confection is...
-Katie and Anthony.
-Yes!
-[both laughing]
-[Katie] Oh!
[Hunter] Because you guys are the winners
and we're in the giving season,
we wanna mix it up
and give you guys two new blenders.
-Oh, my God.
-Yay!
Congratulations! You guys are moving on
to the final cake round.
Unfortunately, that means that one of our
two remaining teams will be going home.
The team with our judges'
least favorite confection this round is...
...Kareem and Brian Jared.
-Aww.
-Cannot stress how difficult this was.
You had all the flavors.
They just needed something
to bring it all together.
-[woman] We love you!
-[Kareem] Thank you so much.
Thank you. Good night.
Thank you so much.
Give Mama sugar!
-Give Mama sugar!
-I appreciate it.
The lights go down.
They're like, "You have to leave."
I'm like, "But I'm not ready!"
-"I wanna make cake for the people!"
-Exactly.
Our time on Sugar Rushmay be over,
but it's not the last you'll see of us.
Please!
This has been one of
the greatest experiences
-I've ever had.
-Yes, yes.
-[Kareem] Until next time, everybody!
-[Brian] See you, guys.
-One, a two. A one, two, three, go.
-Two... two, three!
♪ Sugar Rush, Sugar Rush
Bring your best today ♪
♪ 'Cause if you don't ♪
-♪ You'll go home today ♪
-Boom!
Sugah Sugga and Caunia, congratulations,
that means you are moving on
to the final cake round
along with Katie and Anthony.
Very well done, bakers, very well done.
With this final cake round,
is there anything that says "Christmas"
like a Secret Santa?
You must incorporate a Santa Claus
hidden somewhere within your cake design.
Katie and Anthony,
you banked 47 minutes and 54 seconds.
We'll add three hours to that,
giving you a total of three hours,
47 minutes and 54 seconds.
All right.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
you banked 47 minutes and 46 seconds.
We'll add three hours to that,
giving you a total of three hours,
47 minutes and 46 seconds.
Could not be a closer third round.
Because Katie and Anthony banked
more time, you will start first.
-Are you ready?
-[both] Yes.
-Ready.
-Katie and Anthony, your time starts in
-three, two, one, go.
-[bleeping]
Okay.
Do you wanna do, like,
a Winter Wonderland?
-We can hide Santa in a Winter Wonderland.
-Right. Okay.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga, hang out.
Just a second more, and...
Go! Good luck.
-You're so literal.
-I am very literal.
-So you...
-So let's do literally a secret Santa.
-We could put a fire in a fireplace.
-Uh-huh.
-Like the caramel in the first round.
-Okay.
For the design,
we planned a four-tiered cake.
The bottom layer is gonna be
our Winter Wonderland gingerbread scene.
We're gonna put Santa
in one of the gingerbread houses.
The second tier is gonna be
all of the gifts and the Christmas lights.
The third tier, we're gonna do
our chimney with a fireplace,
and a big Christmas tree
on the very tippy-top of it.
-You wanna start making the cake batter?
-Okay, let's go.
What if we did a mailbox?
Put Santa on the inside.
-And...
-Kids were coming to mail their letters,
but he had to hide
so they wouldn't see him.
-Yeah. Okay.
-Secret Santa. There.
For the Secret Santa cake,
we're gonna make
a bright red 3D mailbox.
Underneath the mailbox, we're gonna do
a mound of snow and a snowman.
We're gonna have
the mailbox door open and close.
We're gonna hide Santa in the mailbox
and cover it in letters.
[Caunia] We're making two separate cakes
disguised as gifts,
so when we give the judges tasting slices,
we give them a clean cut.
-All right, let's go. Go, go, go.
-Okay.
Ooh! Pistachio paste.
We decide we're going to do
a pistachio cake with cherry jam
and dark chocolate ganache inside.
That way you see these really nice green
and red tones when you cut into the cake.
[Anthony] Ovens are set at 325.
Pistachio paste is goin'.
We're also doing
some almond extract with this.
Almond and pistachio
just go really well together.
I wonder what Sugah Sugga
-and her partner are up to.
-I wonder.
Sugah Sugga, what?
What are you makin'?
-A whole lot of lotta! [chuckles]
-Okay! [laughs]
For our flavor profile,
we're gonna give it a little oomph.
All right. That's cayenne.
We might as well just use the whole thing.
We're doing a cayenne pepper
chocolate cake
layered up with a chocolate ganache
and a graham cracker almond crumble.
On top of that,
we're gonna do a marshmallow cream
and a hot chocolate buttercream.
Soon as I put it in the oven,
I'll start the buttercreams.
I'm adding cayenne to this cake
because I wanna jazz up
a play on the traditional s'mores.
Wanted to give them adult flavors
to tie it all in together.
Smell this! Can you guys
smell this chocolate over there?
What's that?
I know you can, don't lie.
Okay, I got a cake going in, Katie.
Do we think we have a big enough
recipe of Swiss meringue?
No, that's one we'll probably
have to do twice.
-Kind of did the math.
-All right. I trust you.
Somehow you got us this far.
Somehow.
All right, first batch of meringue's on.
Maybe it'll be the only one. We'll see.
Holy crap. Oh, my God.
-Did you even see this happen? I did not.
-No.
[Katie] I'm just gonna leave that
in your qualified hands.
Clearly, I did the math wrong
for this size bowl.
Looks like he didn't understand
the yield of his recipe
relative to the mixer size,
and it just kind of blew up on him.
[Hunter] Candace, I'll tell you now,
-I have never let that happen.
-[chuckles]
-[Candace] Because you're a professional.
-Because I've never made buttercream.
[Caunia] Smells so good.
It's chocolatey.
Who don't like chocolate?
It took more time than I thought it would
to get the cakes together.
Okay, I got one in the oven.
I'm held up.
I can't do anything without the cakes.
So instead, I'm gonna make Santa's face.
[Caunia] Make him look surprised,
but happy.
Aaah!
[Sugah] I'm making Santa
of Rice Krispie treats.
This will make him very sturdy,
and it holds its shape.
[Sugah] I'm finishin' Santa up right now.
[Caunia] Oh, so pretty.
-What can I help you with now?
-Make the tree.
Do you have any advice
for how to start the shape of this?
-Just make a cone.
-You say that like it's a simple thing.
It's a cone!
-I don't know how.
-Okay. I got it.
-I'm sorry.
-It's fine.
Okay.
Cone!
Nice! Beautiful, beautiful.
[Hunter] All right, bakers,
you have two hours remaining.
[Caunia] You know what the best thing
about a crumble is?
It don't matter how much stuff
you put in it,
as long as it has that crisp, you good.
I'm making graham cracker crumble,
which is basically graham crackers
and almonds and sugar and butter.
[Sugah] It's gonna be good!
We need to hurry up and get this cake out
so it can start coolin'.
We have two hours left.
How do you think you're doin'?
Um... It's not ideal,
but I think we can make it work.
I need to focus on the fondant details.
I have a lot to do and I don't have a lot
of time, so I just go into work mode.
[Katie] So, I made this mantelpiece,
-and I marbled it.
-[Anthony] It'll look beautiful.
[Katie] Really, one by one,
I'm just trying to crank out
as many pieces of the puzzle as I can.
Just gotta make penguins as fast as I can.
I gotta make Santa,
then I have to make the elves
and the penguins and the presents.
-It's overwhelming.
-There's a lot.
[Katie] Aah! Look at my Santa! [laughs]
Oh, my God, Katie, he's perfect.
I don't wanna hide him. He's too cute.
They'll find him.
I'm taking it out.
I'm starting to make
two separate cakes disguised as gifts.
I put a layer of chocolate ganache.
I then put a marshmallow fluff cream
and then I put a layer
of the hot chocolate buttercream.
We need fondant rolled out.
To me, it's all about the flavor.
If your flavor's not there, your design
could go out the door. I'm just sorry.
Bakers, you have less than one hour
and 30 minutes remaining.
Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
I'm building the mailbox
on top of the structure.
I'm about to get started on the arch
to hold up the opening in the mailbox.
In order to make this mailbox
open and close,
I'm gonna make a cardboard door
and a bridge
so that it's hollow enough
that I can hide Santa in the mailbox
and cover it in letters.
Uh-oh.
[Sugah] This fondant
was going to hide Santa.
This just broke.
But now it's started to crumble.
I do not have a plan B.
Now I cannot open and close it.
I don't know what to do,
but I have to do something to hide Santa.
Never mind, nope.
Nope. [sighs]
Bakers, you have less than one hour left.
-[Katie] Can you do a tree in 15 minutes?
-Yes.
Let me put the brick on
before you do anything.
-Oh, that's a chimney.
-[Candace] Oh, a chimney.
-That's so cute.
-Yeah, a great place for Santa to hide.
[Katie] We have stockings!
Thank God
we banked that extra time! [laughs]
This mailbox needs to be done.
All the way done.
[Caunia] We're starting on the snow
on the bottom of the base board,
layered up to give us height
to make it look like snow.
-Caunia.
-What?
Come help me.
Hold it. Any two places.
Oooh!
Caunia and Sugah Sugga are putting the
crowning jewel on top of their cake now.
[Sugah] We still have to do somethin'
to hide Santa.
All right. I'm working on these letters
that fell off the mailbox.
[Katie] Shovin' Santa in. [laughs]
[Anthony] Oh, that's so cool.
Hold the back.
Don't push it, just support it.
One, two...
Anthony, you pushed it. Argh!
-[Anthony sighs]
-[Katie] Losing my mind!
-Just breathe.
-No!
I'm such a perfectionist.
I really don't want to put out work that
is not absolutely perfect from all angles.
[Hunter] Thirty minutes left, bakers.
Thirty minutes left.
[Sugah] I have to put Santa Claus
up here on this mailbox.
So I take some buttercream and put it
in place and I just push Santa on it.
A part of the challenge is
he has to be hidden.
But without a bridge,
I cannot open and close the mailbox.
Santa's face is too big.
-I'm gonna have to take off the flap.
-[Caunia] Okay.
Time is runnin' out.
We have to get the presents on there
and do somethin' to hide Santa.
[Anthony] This is so weird at this angle.
Oh, look, they got
their fire burning in there.
-That's so cute.
-[Adriano] Oh, they nailed it.
Devil's in the detail.
All right, bakers,
you have ten minutes left!
[Valerie] Oh, my God, nothing's done.
Just the letters are done.
We need to hide his face so...
-[Caunia] We need letters.
-Take them off the ground.
[Sugah] I already made these letters
I thought would be sitting in the snow.
I'm just thinking
I'm gonna take these letters
and hide Santa as best as I can.
Give me one more letter, one more letter.
One more letter? Uh-oh.
[gasps]
Because we're running out of time,
I'm piping all this buttercream,
putting letters in front of Santa
so we can hide him.
I don't know
if we're about to get this done.
Two minutes left, bakers!
When we planned this,
I thought I was gonna be individually
placing the ornaments with tweezers.*
-Got powdered sugar? Want some more?
-I got some.
One minute left, bakers!
-Five, four, three, two, one.
-[judges] Three, two, one!
-[Hunter] No more touching your cakes.
-[cheering]
-Judges, let's find these Santa Clauses.
-All right.
-Hello.
-Hi, ladies.
-Hello.
-Hello.
The energy is definitely
a little different over here,
but it feels more like relief now.
-It definitely is.
-Yes.
The time has stopped,
-and we don't have to look at the clock.
-Yes.
-[laughter]
-Yes.
Walk us through your Secret Santa cake.
[Caunia] It is a cayenne pepper
chocolate cake.
It has a graham cracker almond crumble
in the middle,
a marshmallow cream and a chocolate
buttercream, also a chocolate ganache.
I'm hot and spicy,
this cake is hot and spicy.
So, if you see our cake melting,
that is because this cake is hot.
-[Caunia laughing]
-[Sugah] Yes.
The snow is...
-Oh, this...
-[Katie gasps] Ohh...
Oh, no.
Oh!
-There you have it, we found Santa!
-[laughter]
[cheering]
-Whoo!
-He couldn't stay hidden any longer.
How did you guys make it so that
Santa jumped out of the mailbox?
-On cue!
-Do you have a spring in there?
-He literally was floored. There you go.
-Yeah.
-[Adriano] Oh, yeah.
-[Sugah] Yes, he was!
-[Valerie] He's so sweet.
-[Candace] Acupuncture.
-[Adriano] Yeah, he's got some...
-[laughter]
[Hunter] Judges, what do you think
about Caunia and Sugah Sugga's cake?
This is, like, a life-sized mailbox
we got goin' on here.
The way that you've suspended it
up above the snowy drift
and the way that you've added
these really beautiful
fondant bows and the presents
around the bottom of it,
it just kind of sets a really fun,
wintry scene.
I cannot wait to taste your flavors...
-Yes.
-...because they sound awesome.
I love your spirit, it's amazing.
I love the scale of it, it's big.
It's in your face. I love the colors.
You pushed on.
Yeah, we had to deliver the mail.
-[laughter]
-[Caunia] Yeah!
I think the letters are super cute.
-I love how they look like kids' writing.
-[Caunia] Yes.
There's a lot of spirit.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
Bakers, cut us four slices of cake.
See you at the judges' table.
-[both] Okay.
-[Candace] Thank you.
Hi, Katie. Hi, Anthony.
-[Katie] Hi. Welcome.
-[all] Hi.
Well, bakers,
tell us about your Secret Santa cake.
We were kind of inspired
by the idea of a North Pole scene,
where the little penguins and the elves
are getting the presents ready.
Those are all the gifts
on the second tier.
Then we have our chimney layer
and the fire in the fireplace.
And then we've, of course, got
the very festive, enormous tree on top.
Amazing. Do you want to take
a second to try and find Santa Claus?
-I'm vexed.
-[Candace] Sure.
-Yes.
-[Hunter] Okay, let's look.
Is he incognito? Oh, I found him.
-[Candace] You did?
-He's in the house, back here.
-[Valerie] He's so cute. Do you see?
-[Adriano] Oh, yeah!
-[Candace] Oh, yeah!
-[Valerie] That's adorable.
-[Katie] Thanks!
-[Valerie] So cute.
-[Adriano] It's cool.
-[Candace] I love it.
-What do you think?
-I think this is so charming.
-I really do.
-Thanks.
The color of this tree? Heaven.
You've got little jimmies,
you've got mini M&Ms used as ornaments,
and it reads as ornaments.
It's so cute.
I mean, our names are on it, come on.
-[Hunter] Our names?
-[Candace] Yeah.
I love it. So much story, detail, color.
You've really gone the extra step
in everything, and it really shows.
This cake gives me
a sense of childlike wonder.
It's just so whimsical,
and yet all the details are so clean.
And I do love a personalized cake.
-So, thank you for my stocking.
-We got you. Absolutely. [laughs]
You did an incredible job.
Cut us four slices.
See you at the judges' table.
-Well done, bakers.
-Awesome.
[all] Thank you.
-Hi.
-Hi.
-[Valerie] Brought something proper.
-Thank you.
Okay, judges, let's go ahead and start
with Caunia and Sugah Sugga's cake.
You have a cayenne pepper chocolate cake,
a graham cracker almond crumble,
a marshmallow cream and a chocolate
buttercream, all layered together.
Sugah Sugga and Caunia,
you made the secret Santa
really the star of your show.
But I think you lacked the time to really
finish the cake the way you wanted.
The flavors, on the other hand,
were totally buttoned up.
The cayenne was just perfect,
just kickin' in the back of my mouth.
And the marshmallow buttercream, that
graham cracker crumble was so delicious.
-Yes. Yes.
-It was like those nostalgic flavors
-of s'more but, like...
-Yes.
-[Caunia] Yeah, yeah.
-...kicked up to adult level with cayenne.
-Well done.
-Thank you.
Obviously, housing Santa
with the spring-loaded effect,
-uh... I really enjoyed that.
-[laughter]
Flavors of your cake,
I thought were delicious.
For me, the star was the crumble.
-It gives crunch when you eat it.
-[Caunia] Yeah.
-It adds another dimension to the cake.
-[both] Thank you.
It's a really fun, delicious cake.
I love the crunchy bits.
I love the marshmallow fluff.
The experience altogether is
so heartwarming and delicious.
Okay, let's go ahead and switch
to Katie and Anthony's cake.
Judges, you have in front of you
a pistachio almond cake
filled with cherry jam,
dark chocolate ganache,
and a pistachio
Swiss meringue buttercream.
Katie and Anthony, it looks like
you decorate cakes all day long.
This is a very beautiful,
well-finished, very clean cake.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
-I did think the almond was overpowering.
-Okay.
But all in all, very well done.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
I thought your cake was fun,
had a lot of color,
told a little story around it,
there was a lot of detail.
-Awesome.
-The flavor was good, except for the...
I mean, the almond extract for me
-is just too overpowering, you know?
-[groans]
It just reminds me too much
of fake pistachio paste.
Overall, you did an amazing job
on the whole product.
You know, the little Santa hiding at the
back was a nice little end to it all.
Well done.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
The look of the cake, obviously,
it's just so endearing.
-Thank you.
-[Valerie] It's so cute.
And that fireplace,
it's a clever use of space.
We don't need to belabor
that almond extract situation
because that pistachio cake was so good.
And I like your cherry compote,
I really do.
-Thank you.
-Yay.
All right. Well, thank you, bakers.
Both teams did an incredible job today.
There's only one thing left to do,
and that is decide
who's going home with $10,000.
Judges, who had your favorite cake?
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
you had an ambitious plan today,
and Santa came flying out at us.
I felt like you were baking for me,
because I love nostalgic flavors
that are elevated.
It truly is one of the yummiest cakes
I've had on the show.
Thank you.
Katie and Anthony, you guys
are clearly master cake decorators.
You put up a beautiful cake
and a lot of whimsical details
that just put a smile on my face.
It was a perfectly finished cake.
So ultimately, today, my favorite cake is...
...Caunia and Sugah Sugga.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
that's one vote for you,
meaning if you get one more vote today,
you'll be going home with $10,000.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
I loved your creativity.
I thought you had a great story.
The flavors were super delicious.
My favorite part was the crumble.
I think that really was
what really made it.
Anthony and Katie,
you gave us a beautifully designed cake.
It had a lot of color, a lot of detail.
I loved the texture of your cake.
I thought you really nailed that.
It was nice and soft and moist.
Today, my vote's gonna go with...
...Katie and Anthony.
Katie and Anthony,
that is one vote for you.
Meaning the winning vote, $10,000,
and the winner of Sugar Rush Christmas...
is in the hands of our guest judge.
-Oh, my God.
-[Hunter] Valerie.
-[Valerie laughs]
-Who had your favorite cake?
It's Sophie's Choice.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
this is one of those cakes where I will
think about it and want to eat it again.
It's so delicious and so much fun
and really expresses the two of you,
-which is amazing.
-[both] Thank you.
Katie and Anthony, love the look
of this cake. Adorable, heartwarming.
I felt like I was in a Christmas village.
This is such a hard decision.
But my favorite cake today...
...is...
...Katie and Anthony's.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! [laughing]
Katie and Anthony, congratulations!
-Oh! [laughing]
-[Hunter] You just won $10,000
-in the Sugar Rush Christmaskitchen!
-Oh, my God!
This is literally
one of the funnest things I've ever done.
I'm proud of what we were able to do
in the time we were able to do it.
-Crazy.
-[Caunia] Yeah. I came with somebody
who I consider a sugar sister.
For everything that went right and
that went wrong, I have no regrets.
For two girls from the Bay Area,
gettin' to where we are, we did that.
[laughing]
I can't believe we won.
-God!
-We just won Sugar Rush! [laughing]
I am in a total state
of shock and disbelief.
Against the odds, we have won.
Our cake did it, we made it here
to the end and we won.
This experience has shown me
that, like, I...
I am good enough.
I've been waiting for this feeling...
for... forever.
[laughs] Told you I was gonna cry.
-It's okay. You're great. Doing great.
-Oh, thanks.
Thank you for watching this episode
of Sugar Rush Christmas.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
The baking competition where
time is the most important ingredient.
Four teams of brilliant bakers
battle it out for sugary success
over three rounds of competition,
-racing against each other and the clock.
-[chimes]
The faster they work the better, because
any time saved in round one, cupcakes,
and round two, confections,
will be banked and added
to their third and final round, cakes.
I'm your host, Hunter March,
and determining which of these teams
is going home with the $10,000 prize
in their stockings
is our giving panel of judges.
Her presence is a present for us all.
That's right, it's pastry chef
and entrepreneur Candace Nelson.
I want him wrapped up
under my Christmas tree
with a bow
on top of that shiny, smooth head.
That's right, it's celebrated Australian
pastry chef Adriano Zumbo.
The only thing better
than getting a gift is giving one.
That's why our bakers are competing in
three rounds of gift-themed competition.
It's our present to you.
And finally, our guest judge,
celebrated chocolatier
and pastry chef Valerie Gordon.
Candace and Adriano are inside
presenting the first two rounds
-of gift-themed challenges...
-[bleeping]
...and that sound means
that competition has just begun.
Let's check it out.
Hello, bakers.
Start rollin' out that dough-ho-ho.
[baker laughs]
Get used to a lot of that today.
Yes, we're excited it's Christmas.
Hello, judges.
-Hello, Hunter.
-Hello, Hunter.
Well, what a day to be
in the Sugar Rush Christmaskitchen.
I feel like all of you are gifts
to everyone here.
-Especially our guest.
-[laughs] That's right.
-Valerie Gordon, how are you?
-I'm so happy to be here.
We have four teams of incredible bakers.
Candace, what are they doing in round one?
We want to get to know our bakers better.
So we've asked them to create a cupcake
inspired by the best Christmas gift
they ever received.
We really want them to incorporate
some nostalgic flavors as well.
We have to do the best gift we ever got.
-Girl, jewelry!
-Perfect.
[man] Gingerbread teddy bear?
-Gingerbread's nostalgic. Yeah.
-Very nostalgic.
What do you think
of, like, a perfume bottle topper?
That would kind of bring in the idea.
So, my favorite childhood gift
was a teddy bear.
-Perfect.
-All right, so, I'll start on the batter.
You wanna start these decorations
-so they can harden?
-Okay.
My name is Brian Jared.
I'm from Washington, DC.
I am an assistant food service director
for a large corporation,
but baking holds
a special place in my heart.
My name is Kareem, also known by Mr. Bake,
I run a custom cake shop
called Mr. Bake Sweets
in the Washington, DC area.
I'm thinking, like,
maybe I max everything in the oven,
decorations start to go at 45...
Forty-five minutes to an hour, you got it.
-[laughs]
-We met over ten, 11 years ago...
-Ago...
-...through a mutual friend,
from both of our love of baking.
And B has been nothing but a great friend.
-Really?
-Yeah!
I mean, you... you got your times,
but overall, you know,
you all right, girl, you cool.
-So...
-Son of a bitch!
-How you doin' over there, B?
-Pretty good, pretty good.
[Kareem] All right, good. Bananas!
For the cupcake round, we decided to go
with hummingbird cupcakes.
It is a banana-based cake with pineapples,
toasted pecans,
with a tangy cream cheese frosting.
The cutest little teddy bear
in a fondant gift box.
[Brian Jared] Perfect. All these bows.
It's like a bow gallery over here.
All right, all right!
It smells like banana-nut bread.
The judges,
they are definitely going to hum...
-[hums]
-...tasting these cupcakes.
-Guess what? Cupcakes going in the oven.
-What?
Nice, nice.
-You do the batter, I'll make the filling.
-I'll get the batter. Okay.
I'm Caunia. I'm from the Bay Area.
I own SweetTooth Sensations.
I'm also the Flavor Queen.
And I'm Jill from the Bay Area,
and I own Jill of All Cakes.
Everybody calls me Sugah Sugga,
and she's literally my alter ego.
We makin' sugar over here, baby!
Sugah got enough sugar for all of us.
You gonna activate this sugar?
-[laughs] I know!
-Activate sugar, baby!
Don't get me started.
Jill is serious.
I'm good at what I do.
But Sugah Sugga will tell you, "I'm not
doin' that, you ain't gettin' that,
and I don't care what you say."
So she gets to be dirty
but sweet at the same time.
Oh, you tryin' to call me Sweet'N Low?
Nuh-uh, I'm Sugah Sugga.
[laughing]
[Sugah] I need a shot of that.
For our Christmas gift cupcake,
we're making eggnog cupcakes
with a coquito pecan filling
with coconut and some rum.
And a cinnamon-nutmeg
cream cheese frosting on top,
decorated with a large and in charge
white chocolate diamond ring.
Incorporate, incorporate, incorporate,
come on.
-Got the alcohol in? Can't leave that out.
-Got it in. I know.
Eggnog is a very nostalgic flavor.
It's also one of my dad's
favorite flavors for Christmas.
My dad passed away ten years ago,
so every Christmas, we bring out
all his favorite flavors for everything.
It just brings back those memories.
About to pop 'em in the oven. All right.
All right, poppin' bottles, baby!
Oh, God. No, okay, not towards me!
-[pop]
-[both] Whoo!
It's a party over there,
it's a party over here, too.
-Whoo!
-Party with Bacardi!
[laughing]
-My name is Sheela.
-I'm Kenzie.
[Sheela] We're from Tacoma, Washington.
We work at Corina Bakery together.
-And together we are the...
-[both] Baking Bombshells.
[Sheela] This is, like,
my favorite flavored cake to make.
The best Christmas desserts
that I love are boozy.
So for our Christmas gift cupcakes,
we're making pink champagne cupcakes
with a rose ganache,
a vanilla buttercream,
and isomalt perfume bottle
that is also rose-flavored.
[Sheela] Kenz, check out this color.
I think it's good for the perfume bottle.
-Oh, that is beautiful.
-I'm just gonna use this to pour.
When I was about 12, I received
a perfume set from a dear neighbor.
It started my love of perfume,
and it made me feel like a grown-up.
Perfecto, and one more. This is awesome.
I'll let these sit for a minute
and harden.
-I'll throw these in and start the timer.
-[Kenzie] Okay.
[Sheela] All right, they're in.
[man] Katie, how long
do you wanna spend on this?
No more than 45 minutes.
Let's shoot for that.
I'm Katie, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio.
I'm the owner of Whimsy Cakes Bakery.
I'm Anthony from Cleveland, Ohio,
as well, and I'm a professional baker.
He's probably my best friend
since I moved to Cleveland.
-You have the kosher salt, don't you?
-I do, I'll be done with it in a moment.
Being friends and
going into this competition together,
it is either going to make us or break us.
-Oh, my God.
-It depends on how it goes.
For our cupcake,
I'm gonna use some star anise.
Okay, like, that licorice-y flavor,
-you thinking?
-Yeah. For me, it's kind of nostalgic,
a flavor that my family would use.
I think it'll go really well
with gingerbread.
For our Christmas gift cupcake,
we're making gingerbread spice cupcakes
with a cheesecake filling,
a Swiss meringue buttercream for the snow,
and on top,
we're putting a gingerbread teddy bear.
[Katie] I'm cuttin' out the cookies.
We know Candace loves
an edible decoration,
so we really don't want to do
a fondant decoration.
This one's for Candace.
[Katie] Bears goin' in.
Valerie, what's the best gift
you've ever received?
I would say one of my sisters
compiled photos of the family
and created these photo albums
for all of us.
That was pretty good.
I remember getting my first cassette tape.
-It was Flashdance.That was exciting.
-Oh, my God. So good.
I played that on repeat.
Can you show us the whole dance?
[laughs]
-I'm gonna need water and a leotard.
-[laughter]
[Kareem] We're going for
tangy frosting, right?
[Brian] Definitely.
That bite with the cream cheese...
-Everybody knows...
-Everybody...
...a spice cake pairs very well
with cream cheese frosting.
It's that tanginess
-that offsets the spices.
-[Brian] Mm-hm.
B, do you mind?
We wanna make sure when we take that
first bite, it's like taking somebody back
-to their grandmother's home cooking.
-Yes! Yes!
-Think it's fine?
-I think it's good.
-It's good?
-I think it's really good.
Okay.
All right.
We got cupcakes in the oven already!
Cupcakes in the oven yet?
Don't you try to distract me, man,
I'm workin'.
That's... Okay.
Do a little bit more.
[Sugah] I'm making the coquito
with lots and lots of rum.
Like, these judges are gonna be lit.
[laughs]
-[blender whirs]
-I like that.
[Sugah] Buttercream.
Butter, butter, butter.
[Caunia] What about the cupcake?
Come check this, come check this.
[Caunia] Lookin' and smellin' good.
All right.
That's a good cupcake.
-[bleeping]
-[Kenzie] Ooh, I think they're done.
All right, bakers, you have
less than two hours and 25 minutes left!
-[Kenzie] Great. I'll start the ganache.
-[Sheela] Perfect. Here's the rose.
The nostalgic flavor of rose
reminds me of my grandmother.
She always smelled like roses, and I just
wanted to make this cupcake for her.
-[Kenzie] You taste the rose?
-Yeah.
That's good. I'll put this in the walk-in.
[Sheela] I'm gonna get going
on the wafer paper snowflakes.
-[Sugah] All right, I'm on to decorations.
-[Caunia] Okay.
[Sugah] The best gift I ever received
was a ring
that was a gift from my grandmother.
And this was given to my husband
to propose to me.
I jut put a bit more rum syrup
on the cupcake, just give it extra oomph.
-Yes, yes, yes.
-It's rum! It's rum!
You gonna get these judges drunk.
Girl, that's my job.
-[Kareem] Oh, yeah!
-[Brian] Oh, those look good.
[Kareem] That took you longer
than I expected.
-Listen, it really did.
-[laughs]
[Brian] This topper is taking much longer,
but we gotta make sure we have
those details for the judges.
[Kareem] I'm starting on the bears.
I find the cutest little molds that
represent my childhood teddy bear.
[Kareem] Oh!
Y'all got fondant decorations?
Definitely.
Oh, man, those actually look really good.
I've noticed that
Katie and Anthony are also doing
-some kind of, like, bear cut-out.
-Bear.
[Kareem] But not our bears.
-[Brian] No.
-We're giving them 3D bears.
And ours are golden.
-♪ Golden, golden ♪
-[laughs]
Cupcakes on the left or the right?
-They're in the, uh, blast chiller.
-A-ha. Duh.
[Anthony] Cupcakes comin' out.
[Katie] Okay. How long on buttercream?
It's a little soupy.
Ideally, when you're making
Swiss meringue buttercream,
you want to let that meringue whip
until it's achieved stiff, firm peaks.
-Can you rush the Swiss meringue?
-[Anthony] Okay.
-I can start adding butter to the Swiss.
-Yep.
-I just really need that buttercream.
-[Anthony] It's happenin'.
[Katie] Yeah.
Oh, it smells so good in the freezer
with the cupcakes in there.
Shoot. I broke one.
I got a lone soldier, man down.
[Sheela] The isomalt perfume bottles
that are coming out,
a few of them are breaking
as I'm pulling them out.
-[Kenzie] Do you wanna make more?
-Yeah, I think I can afford it.
-You can? Yeah.
-Let me do it.
Even though this is gonna set us back,
we need to make more isomalt molds,
because we really want
to impress the judges
with our presentation of our cupcakes.
-Nice! Right on, girl!
-Yay. Good job, good job.
-Okay, cool. Awesome.
-Yes.
Okay, so are these ready to fill?
Yep.
[Caunia] Come on. Come on, come on.
Poppin' the ring on.
Hurry up.
All right.
-Okay...
-You wanna push the button? Okay.
-Go, go, go!
-[bells jingle]
Caunia and Jill, first ones done.
Let's head on down.
We need to go faster! [laughs]
Aaargh!
-[Hunter] Hi, Caunia, hi, Jill.
-You said Jill, but I go by Sugah Sugga.
-Sugah Sugga, I'm learning.
-And you look so fly, thank you.
-[laughs] Hi, Caunia.
-I love your name.
-Thank you.
-Hi!
Tell us about your gift-themed cupcake
and what gift it's based on.
[Sugah] We made a eggnog cupcake
with a coquito filling,
with a cinnamon and nutmeg
cream cheese frosting.
My Grandma had a ring,
and my husband proposed with that ring.
So, it literally is
the best gift I've ever gotten.
-I felt like I got a gift when I got this.
-Aww.
They were so toasty and warm
and just spoke to me of the holidays.
-Well done.
-Okay.
That cupcake made me feel very warm.
That coquito had that nice bit of rum,
spiced you up, you know?
I think it was a real present in itself.
I could taste the cinnamon
and the coconut.
It spoke to the two of you.
-I got Sugah Sugga in this.
-[Sugah] Oh!
-[Valerie] Fully.
-Say it one more time!
[all] Sugah Sugga!
And Caunia!
And Caunia! You can't forget about Caunia.
Frost all of them.
I have two more bears to do.
Aah!
-[Brian] We ready to hit that buzzer?
-Yup.
[bells jingle]
Oh! Another team done. Brian Jared
and Kareem. We'll be right over.
[Katie] All right.
We're at the finish line.
-[Anthony] We are.
-Get 'em all cute. All right.
[bells jingle]
Another team is done.
Almost there.
Bakers, we have a lot of teams to get to
as everyone seems to be
jumping on your train right now.
Adriano, remind them
what they do in round two.
We want to see a confection inspired
by the White Elephant gift exchange.
You have a bunch of mystery gifts
in the pantry.
Pick one,
and work in that mystery ingredient.
-[both] Okay.
-Thank you, bakers.
-Good luck!
-[Caunia] Thank you.
-We need to find something...
-Which one looks like
it will be the easiest?
Let's try this one.
-Okay. What is this? What do we...
-What is it? What is it?
-Oh, heck no. For real?
-Uh...
[Sugah] Jalapeños.
[Caunia] What do we do with a jalapeño?
-Brian Jared and Kareem.
-Hola!
-"Hola!"
-[Kareem] How you doin'?
Feliz Navidad!
You know, I'm a little bilingual.
-[all laughing]
-That's all I can get for you.
-[Candace] Very nice.
-This one's for you.
We have here a hummingbird cupcake.
And we did a cream cheese frosting
to go on top.
The inspiration was a teddy bear.
My grandmother got it for me.
I've always been a grandma's boy.
So, I still have that teddy bear
to this day.
-[Hunter] Valerie.
-I'm nervous.
-[laughs]
-I have to say, it's beautifully moist.
-[Kareem] Okay.
-And really nicely spiced.
You've really integrated
all the ingredients very thoroughly.
Then you get a nice, even cake texture,
which is really great.
-Very good.
-[Adriano] I love the story.
I love the banana flavor, it's strong.
The cream cheese frosting is delicious.
You can taste the cream cheese.
A bit of acidic-ness there.
-You did a good job balancing that.
-[both] Thank you.
Your story resonated with me
because I've got two boys at home
-and they both have giant teddy bears.
-Giant teddy bears! Okay!
What a tasty hummingbird cake!
-[Kareem] Okay.
-So light and fluffy.
And I love the sweetness of the pineapple
against the bite of those pecans, yum!
-Thank you so much. Thank you.
-[Brian] Thank you.
Uh... I'm sorry, I just glittered you!
[laughs]
Wipe it, girl. Let's get 'em on.
-Okay, let's do this.
-Okay, ready? Ready?
-Yeah, yeah!
-Ready? Ready?
-Aaah!
-[bells jingle]
-Another team buzzed in.
-Thanks!
We have two more cupcakes to try.
We're heading out.
-[both] Thank you.
-Good luck, bakers.
-You pick. Perfect.
-Cool.
[laughing]
-You ready? A one, a two...
-Two, three.
-A three.
-Really?
-[Kareem laughing]
-[Brian] Pork rinds?
-[Hunter] Katie, Anthony, how's it goin'?
-Hi.
-[Candace] Hi.
-Tell us what you did.
We also were inspired by our childhood
Christmas presents of teddy bears.
We went with a gingerbread cake,
and we repeated that in the cookie on top
with Swiss meringue buttercream
cheesecake filling in the middle.
[Adriano]
That soft, spicy gingerbread cupcake,
it was beautiful
with that cheesecake center.
Had that nice tang of cream cheese.
The only thing I'd say is
-work a bit more on the presentation.
-Okay.
-I love an edible decoration.
-I know you do!
-Well done on that.
-Thank you.
I love gingerbread,
particularly when it's crunchy.
-Yay!
-I loved your light-as-air buttercream.
It was like a cloud of buttercream.
My one note would be
that the ratios were a bit off.
It was a mouthful of buttercream,
as delicious as it was,
and I was kind of searching for the cake.
-Right.
-[Valerie] I love these flavors.
I got clove, I got nutmeg, I got cinnamon.
I tasted the nostalgia in the cupcake.
But like Candace, I wanted more cake.
Bakers, well done.
You have an hour 45 left.
-[Katie] Whew.
-Judges, let's head over
to Sheela and Kenzie's station.
-I like gold and red, favorite colors.
-All right, do it.
Yeah, okay. Do you wanna open it?
-Yes.
-Pull the lid.
-[Katie] All right.
-[Anthony] What do we got?
White miso paste.
We can do something with this.
-[Hunter Hi, Kenzie. Hi, Sheela.
-Hello.
-Hi.
-Hi!
Why don't you pass out your cupcakes,
tell us about the gift,
and what flavors did you use
to bring us back?
[Sheela] I had this dear neighbor that,
when I was about 12,
gifted me a mini perfume set,
and it started my love of perfume.
So, I have a champagne cupcake with
a rose ganache and a vanilla buttercream,
and an isomalt perfume bottle
that is also rose-flavored.
This is like a girly wonderland.
It tastes like it looks. It's so feminine.
-There's something very happy about it.
-Thank you.
But I actually think
the rose went a little too heavy.
-Okay.
-It's a pink party!
-[laughs] Whoo!
-And it's so cute.
The texture was really fluffy and light.
You mentioned that
perfume was your inspiration.
That can be a little tricky, 'cause rose
can really move into that perfume arena.
I think that this was
a little heavy on the rose.
I agree.
The cupcakes have delicious texture.
But I'm not getting pink champagne.
It's such a fragile flavor.
And then that rose in the middle
is a bit overpowering.
I think it's a great presentation.
There's great textures in there.
It's just a flavoring balance.
Thank you.
Well, you have an hour 35 remaining.
Good luck, bakers. Thank you.
-[all] Thank you.
-Okay, judges,
let's head back to the judge's table
for a very important decision.
Okay, this elephant is adorable!
Are you ready?
-Oh, my God.
-What is it?
-It's pickles.
-Whoo!
-You love pickles.
-I love pickles.
Okay. Judges,
-we just tried our bakers' four cupcakes.
-Mmm.
But only three teams can move on
to the confection round.
Who had your two favorite cupcakes?
I thought Caunia and Sugah Sugga
just went for it in terms of flavor.
Then adding that texture
with the coconut and the nuts,
it was just, like,
a flavor bomb and it was awesome.
That coconut, the coquito, all the spices.
Great, beautiful cupcake.
[Valerie]
And they had a deep rum infusion.
All of those great holiday flavors,
very festive.
[Candace] Brian Jared and Kareem gave us
a really tasty hummingbird cupcake.
It was simple,
but everything was perfectly balanced.
They did an amazing job
texture-wise, flavor-wise.
Beautiful banana taste.
I love the pecans, the pineapple.
And the presentation was
by far one of the best this round.
With the present presentation
and the teddy bear,
they locked it all together.
It's really good.
Why were the other two teams
unanimously in your bottom two cupcakes?
Katie and Anthony,
they had that luscious, fluffy buttercream
which we were all enjoying.
-But where was the cake?
-Yeah.
The cake was kind of hidden
under all that buttercream.
Proportion of topping and cake is so key
to the experience of eating a cupcake.
Sheela and Kenzie I think really just
took the wrong inspiration today.
The rose was heavy-handed.
And picking the pink champagne flavor,
it's always a difficult one to make
pronounced in a baked cupcake.
Unfortunately, I think the finish
of the buttercream was problematic.
I wanted to see a little more technique.
Sounds like we have made a decision.
I will let our bakers know.
Thank you, judges.
Bakers, can I have your attention, please?
Our judges have made their first decision.
And the team with
their favorite cupcake this round is...
That smile.
-It makes me wanna give it to you.
-No!
Hold on, look, I can smile, too!
Don't worry,
I'm not just giving it to them.
You guys got the favorite cupcake,
-regardless.
-Aaah! Nice!
-Thank you!
-Thank you!
Very well done, Brian Jared and Kareem.
You guys are safe from elimination.
-On to the next.
-[both] Boom!
Not only are you moving on
to the confection round,
but because you've given us such a treat,
we wanna give it right back to you.
Just like Christmas morning,
you're gonna be wakin' up to some fresh
orange juice with a brand new juicer!
-Aah! Thank you!
-Nice! Could use one!
You guys are each gettin' one,
congratulations.
Get workin' on your confections.
-All right!
-Awesome.
The rest of the teams,
unfortunately, that means that
one of you will be going home.
And the team with our judges'
least favorite cupcake this round is...
...Kenzie and Sheela.
You had an incredible cupcake. There was
just too much rose in it for our judges.
Your time in the Sugar Rushkitchen
has run out.
-Thank you, bakers.
-Thank you.
Being the first ones to leave
is probably the most disappointing.
Yeah. It's always the worst
to go home first, you know? [tuts]
-Great job.
-Thank you.
We didn't win Sugar Rush,
but we both had an amazing time
-being on the competition together.
-Bye, guys.
[Sheela]
This is just the beginning for us.
A great start to something amazing.
Katie and Anthony, Sugah Sugga and Caunia.
-Yes?
-You're moving on to the confection round.
You have one hour 21 minutes
remaining on the clock.
Get to work, bakers.
That's freaking jalapeño.
-[Sugah] Ssh.
-You picked that, too.
-Don't shush me.
-Sh.
[Sugah] We got a jalapeño.
-A freakin' jalapeño. Of all...
-What are we gonna do
-with a jalapeño?
-Who wants to work with jalapeño?
It'd be a sugar tornado.
We gotta go sweet and spicy,
something to complement the jalapeños.
All right, so I'm makin' the...
the shells for the mousse.
For our White Elephant confection,
we're gonna make
a cream cheese jalapeño mousse,
topped with a mango jalapeño compote,
layered inside of a white chocolate shell,
sitting on top of
a pistachio-ramen shortbread
to give it some extra crunch.
-What's the sugar? Did you put some in?
-[Caunia] A cup.
I'll boil it down to get that sweetness
along with that spice in that syrup.
Okay, so I have that on.
Simple syrup is gettin' ready to start.
[Kareem] Let's do something chocolate.
Sweet, savory.
Okay, that works. Definitely.
-Let's crush those and put those on top.
-On top.
We know that chocolate and pork
really plays well together.
So, we're making a brownie.
We'll put some of those chicharrones
right on top.
Top that off with roasted pecans,
caramel sauce
and whipped cream on the side.
All right, brownie goin' in the oven.
You gonna pour a little bit in there...
jidoin... ajoint... adjoinst?
Yes. We already have chicharrones,
let's add a little bacon. Why not?
-Everybody knows pork and pecan...
-Definitely.
-...is two Southern classics.
-Very Southern.
-[timer bleeping]
-That smells good.
-All right.
-Going off Asian flavor inspiration,
what do you think about black sesame?
The only thing I know about miso
is that it's a salty, savory paste.
How do you feel about ice cream?
Ice cream's good.
We're an hour in. We should try
to knock it out in 30 minutes.
-I really mean that.
-Okay.
For our White Elephant confection,
we are going to make
miso ice cream
over a pool of miso-caramel sauce
with a black sesame spritz cookie,
and toasted sesame seeds on top.
-I have the miso caramel started.
-[Katie] All right, awesome.
[Anthony] When you put this miso
with something sweet,
if you do it right,
it can be really rich and almost buttery.
[Katie] Sixteen ounces of flour...
[Katie] To make the spritz cookie,
we're using powdered sugar
versus granulated sugar.
And I need to get the butter
really light and fluffy
because we want this cookie
to melt in your mouth.
[Anthony] That looks amazing.
-[Katie] To your left.
-[Anthony] Yup, heard.
[Sugah] So get that mousse.
We need to let that mousse sit up.
In this round, I know we are going to have
to bring something they've never had.
We have to wow them.
I am crunching up some ramen, 'cause
nobody puts ramen in a shortbread, right?
I'm making a pistachio shortbread,
and I'm adding some ramen.
We're trying to get flavors out there
that's gonna make them be, like, "Hmm!"
So ramen in shortbread?
Nobody's gonna be expecting that.
[Sugah] Ramen doesn't have a flavor,
but the texture stays the same.
Don't hate on ramen noodle.
You don't wanna see the things
I can do with ramen noodles.
[Caunia] I'm putting 'em in the oven.
Brownie, I think, is sha-done.
[Brian] That smells so good.
-We love Christmas.
-Like, okay...
-Like...
-So, Christmas in my family is huge.
My mom puts up Christmas decorations
starting in August.
We're looking back at pictures wondering,
"Is this Thanksgiving, or Christmas?
Is it Halloween? I don't know."
My sugar is boiling.
You smell that?
That caramel is starting to brown.
That creamy caramel sauce,
it's gonna bind them all together.
-[Brian] I smell caramel!
-[Kareem] I got you. I'll pour, you mix.
The balance between salt and sweet
is a fine line.
So that's something you definitely want
to make sure you balance very well.
-Let me get...
-I taste the bacon.
-Oh, thank you.
-Mm...
-Hmm?
-You're so awesome.
-M'kay.
-[Brian laughs] I can't stand it.
-What d'you think?
-That's good.
-[Anthony] Oh! How are the cookies doing?
-[Katie] They look gorgeous.
-[Anthony] Oh, man.
-[Katie] Can we do it in 20 minutes?
[Anthony] We still need
to make the ice cream base.
Our ice cream base is a custard, actually.
And that's gonna give so much flavor,
along with the miso paste.
Okay. I think I'm happy with this.
[laughs]
-We need to get caramel in the bowl.
-[Katie] Is this firm enough?
[Anthony] I'm trying to see
how this scoop comes out.
-[Katie] It's really soft. It scares me.
-It is soft.
[Katie] We should've chilled the glasses.
I don't wanna serve them puddles!
The ice cream looks a little soft.
Additionally, our caramel is really loose.
I'm worried we're actually
gonna serve the judges miso soup.
-We can throw the servings in the chiller.
-Do it. Do it, do it.
[Anthony] Let's just give it
a minute or two.
[mixer whirring]
[Brian] This is stiff enough
to form the snowman.
That's good.
Consistency...
These two... I don't wanna put too much.
-I think this is good.
-[Kareem] Ready?
Oh, yeah, we're good.
-[chimes]
-[bells jingle]
-Ooh!
-Brian Jared and Kareem just buzzed in.
Judges, let's head down
and try our first confection.
-We runnin' out...
-Runnin' out of time, we gotta hurry up.
Hello, Brian Jared and Kareem,
how's it going?
-Fa, la, la, la, la!
-Good!
[both] ♪ La, la, la, la! ♪
Every time you come,
you'll get a Christmas song.
Pass out your confections.
Tell us what White Elephant ingredient
you put inside.
So, the White Elephant ingredient we had
was pork skins.
So what we have here is
pork rinds baked into the brownie,
rich, creamy caramel,
then mix that all together.
On the side is our melted snowman.
So, a nice play
on more of our Southern roots.
I love that you're taking us
on a tour of your Southern roots.
The fact that you've made this yummy,
candied concoction
with the nuts and the pork skins,
and then the caramel just
brings it all together, Southern style.
-Thank you. Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
I love the fudginess of the brownie.
Then, obviously using the pork skin
made that beautiful topping.
-I did want more salt.
-Okay.
I find that the caramel
dumbs the salt down.
Other than that, I think
it's a good way of doing a confection,
and being quick on your time, as well,
it was really smart.
-Yes.
-[Hunter] Valerie?
The chicharrón in the brownie
was kind of shocking...
...because it was so successful.
-Oh, thanks!
-I thought it was a Rice Krispie,
something that you would naturally find
in a pastry like this.
-Nicely played.
-[Brian] Great.
Thank you so much.
Incredible job on your confection.
You banked one hour and six minutes.
-What we wanted!
-Perfect!
We're looking forward to another
Christmas song if we end up coming back.
-Okay, we'll have a good one for you.
-Okay! Okay!
-Thank you, bakers.
-[all] Thank you.
-[Anthony] I'm gonna pull it out.
-Okay.
Wow, that does look better. All right.
[Sugah] We need to be plated, ready to go
and ready to hit the buzzer.
That chocolate is going to melt
hecka fast.
[Caunia] Shortbread's out the oven.
That shortbread smells so good.
[Katie] Gonna be fine, but we got three
minutes to knock this out. It's fine.
Everything's fine.
Get ready to hit the button.
-[chime]
-[bells jingle]
Judges, Katie and Anthony done.
Let's go try our second confection.
Katie, Anthony.
[all] Hey.
We gotta put a top on that.
That's the last thing we need.
-All right, press it.
-[bells jingle]
Oh, actually, Caunia and Sugah Sugga
also buzzed in.
We'll be over there in a second.
Tell us what your mystery
White Elephant flavor was.
[Katie] So, we got miso.
[Anthony] So, we have
a miso black sesame sundae.
Vanilla-miso ice cream
with a miso-caramel sauce
and a black sesame spritz cookie.
I'm a big lover of miso in desserts.
You did it really well,
using an ice cream
because it's got a cool texture.
Would've liked more black sesame
just to jump up against that miso
a bit more, but great flavors.
I agree that I want
a little bit more sesame.
-Mmm.
-And the sugar decor
didn't really make sense.
-But the miso, caramel, best friends.
-Great.
-Awesome.
-This is a very successful,
-exciting dessert.
-Phew.
-[laughing]
-[Candace] Yeah.
The ice cream was just so creamy
and rich and buttery.
And that cookie was such a nice note,
almost like powder in your hands,
-it was that delicate and tender.
-Yeah.
Thank you.
Okay. You banked 47 minutes, 54 seconds.
How do you feel about that time?
-It...
-I wish it was more,
but we'll... we'll make it work.
-Good luck.
-Thank you.
Judges,
we have one more confection to try.
-Hi, Sugah Sugga, Caunia.
-Hello.
-[Adriano] Hello.
-[Hunter] Tell us about
the ingredient and the confection.
-Our ingredient was jalapeños.
-[Hunter] Ooh!
[Sugah] So, we did a jalapeño
cream cheese mousse,
with a jalapeño-mango compote
on top of a pistachio
ramen noodle shortbread.
-Oh!
-Whoa!
-Where's the ramen noodles?
-[Caunia] In the shortbread.
-Oh, down there.
-[Valerie] Let's get to that.
-[Caunia] It keeps its crunch.
-So cool.
[Adriano] Wow.
You just had to work
with one crazy ingredient today.
But here you go
bringing in the ramen, too!
It's such an interesting idea,
and it was so tender.
The way you worked with the jalapeño
was with a very nice, mild touch,
cooling us off with the mango,
cooling us off with the mousse.
I think you worked very well
with the exotic flavors.
Beautiful presentation.
I love the flavors.
I would want it a bit more incorporated.
That sauce had the kick, and I would have
loved it to have been in the bowl.
And I would have loved that shortbread
to be in the bowl.
For me to have to go there
and eat it, it's too much thinking.
Should be able to eat it all in one bite.
This shortbread was so much fun,
and such a great use of ramen.
I would never have thought of it,
and now I'm gonna steal it.
-So...
-[laughter]
You went ahead and banked 47 minutes.
You guys saved quite a bit of time.
-Yes. Yes, yes.
-Yes.
Very well done. Judges, we have
a remarkably difficult decision to make.
Let's head back to the judges' table.
Thank you, bakers.
Three confections down,
all very delicious flavors.
Only two can go to the final cake round.
Before we talk about who's eliminated,
let's talk about
who had your favorite confection.
My favorite was Katie and Anthony.
For me, they had the best flavor.
It had so much umami going on.
That ice cream was delicious.
That was a finished dessert
in a very short amount of time
with a surprise ingredient.
I thought it was really well thought out,
very well balanced.
The spritz cookie, it was very inventive.
Katie and Anthony's ice cream and black
sesame cookie, the flavors were delicious.
I thought they gave us
a really surprising and elegant dessert.
[Hunter] We know who our favorite is.
We now have to talk about
who had your least favorite confection.
Well, Kareem and Brian Jared
put up such a tasty dessert.
I mean, that was a fudgy brownie.
We had that great concoction on top
incorporating the pork rinds,
the bacon, the caramel, and the nuts.
And it was chewy and yummy, but I do
feel like it was a bit simplistic.
It wasn't awful, it was delicious, but
it was chocolate and bacon, with caramel.
It didn't have the dimension of depth.
Their confection really felt
very homemade.
Although it was a yummy bite,
it didn't feel like a finished confection.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga's,
I thought they did such a nice job with
a really tricky ingredient of jalapeño.
They brought in the fresh and the spicy.
There were some technical issues, and I do
think that they were missing a note.
It was also a little hard to eat.
I love their flavors, but for me,
the dessert just feels disjointed.
You had to go underneath
to get the biscuit.
It felt like there wasn't
a whole dessert in one.
It was more of an art piece.
[Kareem] I feel good. I feel like
the spirit is gonna bring us all the way.
Phew.
-Girl.
-Yeah.
Judges, seems like a decision has been
made. I will go and let our bakers know.
Bakers, can I have your attention,
please?
So, our judges have made
a second decision.
The team with our judges'
favorite confection is...
-Katie and Anthony.
-Yes!
-[both laughing]
-[Katie] Oh!
[Hunter] Because you guys are the winners
and we're in the giving season,
we wanna mix it up
and give you guys two new blenders.
-Oh, my God.
-Yay!
Congratulations! You guys are moving on
to the final cake round.
Unfortunately, that means that one of our
two remaining teams will be going home.
The team with our judges'
least favorite confection this round is...
...Kareem and Brian Jared.
-Aww.
-Cannot stress how difficult this was.
You had all the flavors.
They just needed something
to bring it all together.
-[woman] We love you!
-[Kareem] Thank you so much.
Thank you. Good night.
Thank you so much.
Give Mama sugar!
-Give Mama sugar!
-I appreciate it.
The lights go down.
They're like, "You have to leave."
I'm like, "But I'm not ready!"
-"I wanna make cake for the people!"
-Exactly.
Our time on Sugar Rushmay be over,
but it's not the last you'll see of us.
Please!
This has been one of
the greatest experiences
-I've ever had.
-Yes, yes.
-[Kareem] Until next time, everybody!
-[Brian] See you, guys.
-One, a two. A one, two, three, go.
-Two... two, three!
♪ Sugar Rush, Sugar Rush
Bring your best today ♪
♪ 'Cause if you don't ♪
-♪ You'll go home today ♪
-Boom!
Sugah Sugga and Caunia, congratulations,
that means you are moving on
to the final cake round
along with Katie and Anthony.
Very well done, bakers, very well done.
With this final cake round,
is there anything that says "Christmas"
like a Secret Santa?
You must incorporate a Santa Claus
hidden somewhere within your cake design.
Katie and Anthony,
you banked 47 minutes and 54 seconds.
We'll add three hours to that,
giving you a total of three hours,
47 minutes and 54 seconds.
All right.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
you banked 47 minutes and 46 seconds.
We'll add three hours to that,
giving you a total of three hours,
47 minutes and 46 seconds.
Could not be a closer third round.
Because Katie and Anthony banked
more time, you will start first.
-Are you ready?
-[both] Yes.
-Ready.
-Katie and Anthony, your time starts in
-three, two, one, go.
-[bleeping]
Okay.
Do you wanna do, like,
a Winter Wonderland?
-We can hide Santa in a Winter Wonderland.
-Right. Okay.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga, hang out.
Just a second more, and...
Go! Good luck.
-You're so literal.
-I am very literal.
-So you...
-So let's do literally a secret Santa.
-We could put a fire in a fireplace.
-Uh-huh.
-Like the caramel in the first round.
-Okay.
For the design,
we planned a four-tiered cake.
The bottom layer is gonna be
our Winter Wonderland gingerbread scene.
We're gonna put Santa
in one of the gingerbread houses.
The second tier is gonna be
all of the gifts and the Christmas lights.
The third tier, we're gonna do
our chimney with a fireplace,
and a big Christmas tree
on the very tippy-top of it.
-You wanna start making the cake batter?
-Okay, let's go.
What if we did a mailbox?
Put Santa on the inside.
-And...
-Kids were coming to mail their letters,
but he had to hide
so they wouldn't see him.
-Yeah. Okay.
-Secret Santa. There.
For the Secret Santa cake,
we're gonna make
a bright red 3D mailbox.
Underneath the mailbox, we're gonna do
a mound of snow and a snowman.
We're gonna have
the mailbox door open and close.
We're gonna hide Santa in the mailbox
and cover it in letters.
[Caunia] We're making two separate cakes
disguised as gifts,
so when we give the judges tasting slices,
we give them a clean cut.
-All right, let's go. Go, go, go.
-Okay.
Ooh! Pistachio paste.
We decide we're going to do
a pistachio cake with cherry jam
and dark chocolate ganache inside.
That way you see these really nice green
and red tones when you cut into the cake.
[Anthony] Ovens are set at 325.
Pistachio paste is goin'.
We're also doing
some almond extract with this.
Almond and pistachio
just go really well together.
I wonder what Sugah Sugga
-and her partner are up to.
-I wonder.
Sugah Sugga, what?
What are you makin'?
-A whole lot of lotta! [chuckles]
-Okay! [laughs]
For our flavor profile,
we're gonna give it a little oomph.
All right. That's cayenne.
We might as well just use the whole thing.
We're doing a cayenne pepper
chocolate cake
layered up with a chocolate ganache
and a graham cracker almond crumble.
On top of that,
we're gonna do a marshmallow cream
and a hot chocolate buttercream.
Soon as I put it in the oven,
I'll start the buttercreams.
I'm adding cayenne to this cake
because I wanna jazz up
a play on the traditional s'mores.
Wanted to give them adult flavors
to tie it all in together.
Smell this! Can you guys
smell this chocolate over there?
What's that?
I know you can, don't lie.
Okay, I got a cake going in, Katie.
Do we think we have a big enough
recipe of Swiss meringue?
No, that's one we'll probably
have to do twice.
-Kind of did the math.
-All right. I trust you.
Somehow you got us this far.
Somehow.
All right, first batch of meringue's on.
Maybe it'll be the only one. We'll see.
Holy crap. Oh, my God.
-Did you even see this happen? I did not.
-No.
[Katie] I'm just gonna leave that
in your qualified hands.
Clearly, I did the math wrong
for this size bowl.
Looks like he didn't understand
the yield of his recipe
relative to the mixer size,
and it just kind of blew up on him.
[Hunter] Candace, I'll tell you now,
-I have never let that happen.
-[chuckles]
-[Candace] Because you're a professional.
-Because I've never made buttercream.
[Caunia] Smells so good.
It's chocolatey.
Who don't like chocolate?
It took more time than I thought it would
to get the cakes together.
Okay, I got one in the oven.
I'm held up.
I can't do anything without the cakes.
So instead, I'm gonna make Santa's face.
[Caunia] Make him look surprised,
but happy.
Aaah!
[Sugah] I'm making Santa
of Rice Krispie treats.
This will make him very sturdy,
and it holds its shape.
[Sugah] I'm finishin' Santa up right now.
[Caunia] Oh, so pretty.
-What can I help you with now?
-Make the tree.
Do you have any advice
for how to start the shape of this?
-Just make a cone.
-You say that like it's a simple thing.
It's a cone!
-I don't know how.
-Okay. I got it.
-I'm sorry.
-It's fine.
Okay.
Cone!
Nice! Beautiful, beautiful.
[Hunter] All right, bakers,
you have two hours remaining.
[Caunia] You know what the best thing
about a crumble is?
It don't matter how much stuff
you put in it,
as long as it has that crisp, you good.
I'm making graham cracker crumble,
which is basically graham crackers
and almonds and sugar and butter.
[Sugah] It's gonna be good!
We need to hurry up and get this cake out
so it can start coolin'.
We have two hours left.
How do you think you're doin'?
Um... It's not ideal,
but I think we can make it work.
I need to focus on the fondant details.
I have a lot to do and I don't have a lot
of time, so I just go into work mode.
[Katie] So, I made this mantelpiece,
-and I marbled it.
-[Anthony] It'll look beautiful.
[Katie] Really, one by one,
I'm just trying to crank out
as many pieces of the puzzle as I can.
Just gotta make penguins as fast as I can.
I gotta make Santa,
then I have to make the elves
and the penguins and the presents.
-It's overwhelming.
-There's a lot.
[Katie] Aah! Look at my Santa! [laughs]
Oh, my God, Katie, he's perfect.
I don't wanna hide him. He's too cute.
They'll find him.
I'm taking it out.
I'm starting to make
two separate cakes disguised as gifts.
I put a layer of chocolate ganache.
I then put a marshmallow fluff cream
and then I put a layer
of the hot chocolate buttercream.
We need fondant rolled out.
To me, it's all about the flavor.
If your flavor's not there, your design
could go out the door. I'm just sorry.
Bakers, you have less than one hour
and 30 minutes remaining.
Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
I'm building the mailbox
on top of the structure.
I'm about to get started on the arch
to hold up the opening in the mailbox.
In order to make this mailbox
open and close,
I'm gonna make a cardboard door
and a bridge
so that it's hollow enough
that I can hide Santa in the mailbox
and cover it in letters.
Uh-oh.
[Sugah] This fondant
was going to hide Santa.
This just broke.
But now it's started to crumble.
I do not have a plan B.
Now I cannot open and close it.
I don't know what to do,
but I have to do something to hide Santa.
Never mind, nope.
Nope. [sighs]
Bakers, you have less than one hour left.
-[Katie] Can you do a tree in 15 minutes?
-Yes.
Let me put the brick on
before you do anything.
-Oh, that's a chimney.
-[Candace] Oh, a chimney.
-That's so cute.
-Yeah, a great place for Santa to hide.
[Katie] We have stockings!
Thank God
we banked that extra time! [laughs]
This mailbox needs to be done.
All the way done.
[Caunia] We're starting on the snow
on the bottom of the base board,
layered up to give us height
to make it look like snow.
-Caunia.
-What?
Come help me.
Hold it. Any two places.
Oooh!
Caunia and Sugah Sugga are putting the
crowning jewel on top of their cake now.
[Sugah] We still have to do somethin'
to hide Santa.
All right. I'm working on these letters
that fell off the mailbox.
[Katie] Shovin' Santa in. [laughs]
[Anthony] Oh, that's so cool.
Hold the back.
Don't push it, just support it.
One, two...
Anthony, you pushed it. Argh!
-[Anthony sighs]
-[Katie] Losing my mind!
-Just breathe.
-No!
I'm such a perfectionist.
I really don't want to put out work that
is not absolutely perfect from all angles.
[Hunter] Thirty minutes left, bakers.
Thirty minutes left.
[Sugah] I have to put Santa Claus
up here on this mailbox.
So I take some buttercream and put it
in place and I just push Santa on it.
A part of the challenge is
he has to be hidden.
But without a bridge,
I cannot open and close the mailbox.
Santa's face is too big.
-I'm gonna have to take off the flap.
-[Caunia] Okay.
Time is runnin' out.
We have to get the presents on there
and do somethin' to hide Santa.
[Anthony] This is so weird at this angle.
Oh, look, they got
their fire burning in there.
-That's so cute.
-[Adriano] Oh, they nailed it.
Devil's in the detail.
All right, bakers,
you have ten minutes left!
[Valerie] Oh, my God, nothing's done.
Just the letters are done.
We need to hide his face so...
-[Caunia] We need letters.
-Take them off the ground.
[Sugah] I already made these letters
I thought would be sitting in the snow.
I'm just thinking
I'm gonna take these letters
and hide Santa as best as I can.
Give me one more letter, one more letter.
One more letter? Uh-oh.
[gasps]
Because we're running out of time,
I'm piping all this buttercream,
putting letters in front of Santa
so we can hide him.
I don't know
if we're about to get this done.
Two minutes left, bakers!
When we planned this,
I thought I was gonna be individually
placing the ornaments with tweezers.*
-Got powdered sugar? Want some more?
-I got some.
One minute left, bakers!
-Five, four, three, two, one.
-[judges] Three, two, one!
-[Hunter] No more touching your cakes.
-[cheering]
-Judges, let's find these Santa Clauses.
-All right.
-Hello.
-Hi, ladies.
-Hello.
-Hello.
The energy is definitely
a little different over here,
but it feels more like relief now.
-It definitely is.
-Yes.
The time has stopped,
-and we don't have to look at the clock.
-Yes.
-[laughter]
-Yes.
Walk us through your Secret Santa cake.
[Caunia] It is a cayenne pepper
chocolate cake.
It has a graham cracker almond crumble
in the middle,
a marshmallow cream and a chocolate
buttercream, also a chocolate ganache.
I'm hot and spicy,
this cake is hot and spicy.
So, if you see our cake melting,
that is because this cake is hot.
-[Caunia laughing]
-[Sugah] Yes.
The snow is...
-Oh, this...
-[Katie gasps] Ohh...
Oh, no.
Oh!
-There you have it, we found Santa!
-[laughter]
[cheering]
-Whoo!
-He couldn't stay hidden any longer.
How did you guys make it so that
Santa jumped out of the mailbox?
-On cue!
-Do you have a spring in there?
-He literally was floored. There you go.
-Yeah.
-[Adriano] Oh, yeah.
-[Sugah] Yes, he was!
-[Valerie] He's so sweet.
-[Candace] Acupuncture.
-[Adriano] Yeah, he's got some...
-[laughter]
[Hunter] Judges, what do you think
about Caunia and Sugah Sugga's cake?
This is, like, a life-sized mailbox
we got goin' on here.
The way that you've suspended it
up above the snowy drift
and the way that you've added
these really beautiful
fondant bows and the presents
around the bottom of it,
it just kind of sets a really fun,
wintry scene.
I cannot wait to taste your flavors...
-Yes.
-...because they sound awesome.
I love your spirit, it's amazing.
I love the scale of it, it's big.
It's in your face. I love the colors.
You pushed on.
Yeah, we had to deliver the mail.
-[laughter]
-[Caunia] Yeah!
I think the letters are super cute.
-I love how they look like kids' writing.
-[Caunia] Yes.
There's a lot of spirit.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
Bakers, cut us four slices of cake.
See you at the judges' table.
-[both] Okay.
-[Candace] Thank you.
Hi, Katie. Hi, Anthony.
-[Katie] Hi. Welcome.
-[all] Hi.
Well, bakers,
tell us about your Secret Santa cake.
We were kind of inspired
by the idea of a North Pole scene,
where the little penguins and the elves
are getting the presents ready.
Those are all the gifts
on the second tier.
Then we have our chimney layer
and the fire in the fireplace.
And then we've, of course, got
the very festive, enormous tree on top.
Amazing. Do you want to take
a second to try and find Santa Claus?
-I'm vexed.
-[Candace] Sure.
-Yes.
-[Hunter] Okay, let's look.
Is he incognito? Oh, I found him.
-[Candace] You did?
-He's in the house, back here.
-[Valerie] He's so cute. Do you see?
-[Adriano] Oh, yeah!
-[Candace] Oh, yeah!
-[Valerie] That's adorable.
-[Katie] Thanks!
-[Valerie] So cute.
-[Adriano] It's cool.
-[Candace] I love it.
-What do you think?
-I think this is so charming.
-I really do.
-Thanks.
The color of this tree? Heaven.
You've got little jimmies,
you've got mini M&Ms used as ornaments,
and it reads as ornaments.
It's so cute.
I mean, our names are on it, come on.
-[Hunter] Our names?
-[Candace] Yeah.
I love it. So much story, detail, color.
You've really gone the extra step
in everything, and it really shows.
This cake gives me
a sense of childlike wonder.
It's just so whimsical,
and yet all the details are so clean.
And I do love a personalized cake.
-So, thank you for my stocking.
-We got you. Absolutely. [laughs]
You did an incredible job.
Cut us four slices.
See you at the judges' table.
-Well done, bakers.
-Awesome.
[all] Thank you.
-Hi.
-Hi.
-[Valerie] Brought something proper.
-Thank you.
Okay, judges, let's go ahead and start
with Caunia and Sugah Sugga's cake.
You have a cayenne pepper chocolate cake,
a graham cracker almond crumble,
a marshmallow cream and a chocolate
buttercream, all layered together.
Sugah Sugga and Caunia,
you made the secret Santa
really the star of your show.
But I think you lacked the time to really
finish the cake the way you wanted.
The flavors, on the other hand,
were totally buttoned up.
The cayenne was just perfect,
just kickin' in the back of my mouth.
And the marshmallow buttercream, that
graham cracker crumble was so delicious.
-Yes. Yes.
-It was like those nostalgic flavors
-of s'more but, like...
-Yes.
-[Caunia] Yeah, yeah.
-...kicked up to adult level with cayenne.
-Well done.
-Thank you.
Obviously, housing Santa
with the spring-loaded effect,
-uh... I really enjoyed that.
-[laughter]
Flavors of your cake,
I thought were delicious.
For me, the star was the crumble.
-It gives crunch when you eat it.
-[Caunia] Yeah.
-It adds another dimension to the cake.
-[both] Thank you.
It's a really fun, delicious cake.
I love the crunchy bits.
I love the marshmallow fluff.
The experience altogether is
so heartwarming and delicious.
Okay, let's go ahead and switch
to Katie and Anthony's cake.
Judges, you have in front of you
a pistachio almond cake
filled with cherry jam,
dark chocolate ganache,
and a pistachio
Swiss meringue buttercream.
Katie and Anthony, it looks like
you decorate cakes all day long.
This is a very beautiful,
well-finished, very clean cake.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
-I did think the almond was overpowering.
-Okay.
But all in all, very well done.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
I thought your cake was fun,
had a lot of color,
told a little story around it,
there was a lot of detail.
-Awesome.
-The flavor was good, except for the...
I mean, the almond extract for me
-is just too overpowering, you know?
-[groans]
It just reminds me too much
of fake pistachio paste.
Overall, you did an amazing job
on the whole product.
You know, the little Santa hiding at the
back was a nice little end to it all.
Well done.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
The look of the cake, obviously,
it's just so endearing.
-Thank you.
-[Valerie] It's so cute.
And that fireplace,
it's a clever use of space.
We don't need to belabor
that almond extract situation
because that pistachio cake was so good.
And I like your cherry compote,
I really do.
-Thank you.
-Yay.
All right. Well, thank you, bakers.
Both teams did an incredible job today.
There's only one thing left to do,
and that is decide
who's going home with $10,000.
Judges, who had your favorite cake?
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
you had an ambitious plan today,
and Santa came flying out at us.
I felt like you were baking for me,
because I love nostalgic flavors
that are elevated.
It truly is one of the yummiest cakes
I've had on the show.
Thank you.
Katie and Anthony, you guys
are clearly master cake decorators.
You put up a beautiful cake
and a lot of whimsical details
that just put a smile on my face.
It was a perfectly finished cake.
So ultimately, today, my favorite cake is...
...Caunia and Sugah Sugga.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
that's one vote for you,
meaning if you get one more vote today,
you'll be going home with $10,000.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
I loved your creativity.
I thought you had a great story.
The flavors were super delicious.
My favorite part was the crumble.
I think that really was
what really made it.
Anthony and Katie,
you gave us a beautifully designed cake.
It had a lot of color, a lot of detail.
I loved the texture of your cake.
I thought you really nailed that.
It was nice and soft and moist.
Today, my vote's gonna go with...
...Katie and Anthony.
Katie and Anthony,
that is one vote for you.
Meaning the winning vote, $10,000,
and the winner of Sugar Rush Christmas...
is in the hands of our guest judge.
-Oh, my God.
-[Hunter] Valerie.
-[Valerie laughs]
-Who had your favorite cake?
It's Sophie's Choice.
Caunia and Sugah Sugga,
this is one of those cakes where I will
think about it and want to eat it again.
It's so delicious and so much fun
and really expresses the two of you,
-which is amazing.
-[both] Thank you.
Katie and Anthony, love the look
of this cake. Adorable, heartwarming.
I felt like I was in a Christmas village.
This is such a hard decision.
But my favorite cake today...
...is...
...Katie and Anthony's.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! [laughing]
Katie and Anthony, congratulations!
-Oh! [laughing]
-[Hunter] You just won $10,000
-in the Sugar Rush Christmaskitchen!
-Oh, my God!
This is literally
one of the funnest things I've ever done.
I'm proud of what we were able to do
in the time we were able to do it.
-Crazy.
-[Caunia] Yeah. I came with somebody
who I consider a sugar sister.
For everything that went right and
that went wrong, I have no regrets.
For two girls from the Bay Area,
gettin' to where we are, we did that.
[laughing]
I can't believe we won.
-God!
-We just won Sugar Rush! [laughing]
I am in a total state
of shock and disbelief.
Against the odds, we have won.
Our cake did it, we made it here
to the end and we won.
This experience has shown me
that, like, I...
I am good enough.
I've been waiting for this feeling...
for... forever.
[laughs] Told you I was gonna cry.
-It's okay. You're great. Doing great.
-Oh, thanks.
Thank you for watching this episode
of Sugar Rush Christmas.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays.