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Sugar Rush Season 2, Episode 1: Trending Treats review

By Louis Skye

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Sugar Rush Season 2 returns with more delicious themed desserts by experienced bakers. We review episode one—Trending Treats.

In the first episode of Netflix’s Sugar Rush Season 2, four pairs of bakers, all of whom met each other online, were asked to create confectionaries based on baking trends on social media. Over three rounds, the teams competed for the grand prize of $10,000.

But first, they had to impress judges Candace Nelson—owner of Sprinkles Cupcakes—and baker extraordinaire, Adriano Zumbo. They also needed to wow the episode’s guest judge, Jackie Sorkin, CEO of Hollywood Candy Girls, and co-creator of Candytopia.

Round 1

In the first round of this episode of Sugar Rush Season 2, the bakers were tasked with recreating popular cake trends on Instagram as cupcakes.

Amy and Jenn, who met via Instagram before eventually working together, made blue geode cupcakes. They were the first to finish, and their honey, fig, and rosemary cupcakes with marble fondant looked delightful.

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Nelson was thrilled with their choice of trend but the figs turned out to be too large to eat. Zumbo also found their cupcakes overwhelmingly sweet.

The second team to finish were Shayla and Abbia, who had met on social media, but had never baked together before appearing on Sugar Rush. They made black velvet cupcakes, based on the activated charcoal trend.

Their cupcakes not only looked brilliant, but the judges applauded the taste and the touch of theatre that the bakers had added with a squeezable bottle of bourbon sauce. A very positive start for this team.

The third to finish were Ashton and Lio, a couple who met on Instagram. Their cotton candy, upside-down ice-cream drip cupcake had all three judges applauding their balance of flavour. They had managed to cut back on their sweetness, which made the eating experience pleasurable, and was complemented by their excellent design.

Roxanna and Ana were the final team to finish, and the only ones to really struggle in this first round of Sugar Rush Season 2, with their buttercream curdling and two batches of burnt isomalt. They brought their passion for Dominican cakes to the competition with their white chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling, using the trends of edible flowers and lollipops.

Though Sorkin enjoyed their cupcakes, and Zumbo loved the balance of flavours, Nelson saw little connection in the two trends the duo chose.

At the end of round one, Ashton and Lio were unsurprisingly named the top team, whereas Amy and Jenn’s overly sweet cupcakes saw their competition come to an end.

Sugar Rush on Netflix

Round 2

In the second round of this opening episode of Sugar Rush Season 2, the teams were tasked with baking ‘the next big trend’ in confectionary.

Shayla and Abbia opted to turn the cakesicle trend on its head by making a stuffed cookie-sicle, shaped like a popsicle. They once again finished first, proving their excellent team work.

And it showed in their flavours and how their dessert really was an activity. But Nelson found their chocolate coating too thick and Zumbo found the chocolate too sweet.

Ashton and Lio finished second, with their chic dessert taco with a cheesecake, fruit cereal filling. The dessert was super-Instagrammable and Zumbo was blown away by the taste. Nothing was stopping this pair!

Roxanna and Ana almost didn’t make it to the second round but their balance of flavours saved them. With the least amount of time in the confection round, they decided to do a dessert inspired by the Miami sunset. But hiccups with their mousse not setting had them heading down to the wire again this round.

But the judges found their presentation and flavours good, nonetheless. However, their sugar backdrop was hard to eat, and saw them being eliminated this round. Ashton and Lio were once again crowned round winners.

Round 3

In the final round of the opening episode of Sugar Rush Season 2, the judges asked the remaining two teams to create a twist on the year’s biggest cake craze—unicorns.

For their unicorn-inspired cake, Shayla and Abbia decided to make a diva-corn—an adorable unicorn who indulged in a bit too much shopping.

We’d already seen geode cupcakes send a team home in this episode of Sugar Rush Season 2, but that didn’t stop Ashton and Lio from attempting their own twist on the geode trend for the third round—a galaxy geode unicorn cake.

Interestingly, in this round, both teams decided to use strawberry pink champagne as their primary flavour. Despite their great flavour choice, both teams struggled. Ashton and Lio’s unicorn head ended up tearing from being manhandled onto the top of the cake. Meanwhile, Shayla accidentally spilled hot water on her and Abbia’s cake shopping bag. And they forgot the unicorn’s tail until the last minute.

The judges were still blown away by the design of Ashton and Lio’s cake and how well they’d incorporated three trends—galaxy cakes, geode cakes, and unicorn cakes—into one cake. The taste of the cake also elicited positive reactions, though the strawberry compote element was so thin, it was barely there.

The fun element of Shayla and Abbia’s cake impressed the judges, as did the story of their unicorn. Plus, there was glitter, and everybody loves glitter. They got most of the flavour right except for the buttercream, which wasn’t as light as it should have been.

Sugar Rush on Netflix

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With the two teams neck and neck, at the end of the judging period, Zumbo was left with making the deciding vote—Abbia and Shayla!

Final Thoughts

This opening episode of Sugar Rush Season 2 was delicious, delightful, and definitely Instagrammable. The teams competed hard but fair, and created beautiful confectionaries that were easy on the eye. The overall winners were a surprise, as Ashton and Lio had done so well throughout. But at the end of the day, flavour and presentation trumped ambition, and the best team—Abbia and Shayla—deservedly won.

Watch Sugar Rush on Netflix. 

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