Holiday Baking Championship: Hanukkah and Fruitcake

With Philippe being shown the way out of the bakery last week, Season 8 of Holiday Baking Championship is down to seven bakers. The gap in talent between bakers such as Adam and Jody and the rest of the contestants is starting to become very evident as the pair begins to pull away from the pack.

For the Pre-Heat, the Final Seven were given a crash course in Hanukkah as they were instructed to create an olive oil cake with a Hanukkah theme. There was a lot of blue, white and candle motifs as the bakers got to work.

While many of the bakers embraced the challenge, one was left completely befuddled. Jody had no clue about Hanukkah, not even what the holiday celebrated about the Jewish religion. He was at a complete loss what to do. Lucky for him he had immunity this week thanks to winning the Pre-Heat and Main Heat last week.

And it turns out he would need it. The judges were not impressed with his olive oil cake, even debating after he presented it if he simply phoned it in since he has immunity. It was not a good look for a baker who has been a frontrunner almost from Week 1.

In the end Adam won the Pre-Heat with his apple and walnut olive oil cake that the judges were blown away by. With it being the last week to have a chance to win immunity, that meant the pressure was on Adam going into the Main Heat.

Who went home this week on Season 8 of Holiday Baking Championship?

For the Main Heat, the bakers had to blindly choose a holiday staple and reinvent it with a new twist. For winning the Pre-Heat, Adam had the option to steal another bakers dessert for himself. Which he did, taking Jody’s fruitcake and leaving him with gingerbread. As an added twist, the bakers also had to make eggnog from scratch to present with their desserts.

As with all the Main Heats, some bakers rose to the challenge while others had a more difficult time. Marilyn had a few issues with her reinvented banana pudding but the judges were happy with the flavors. Jose on the other hand had some trouble wrapping his head around decorated sugar cookies and his flan was a big disappointment.

However, it was Neomie who found herself in trouble with her bread pudding. The judges took her to task for giving them … bread pudding. They felt that she didn’t do enough to really reinterpret the dessert and make it her own. The result was she was sent home after landing in the bottom two with Jose.

Adam ended up winning the Main Heat thanks to his fruit cake which is a tad ironic. When you consider they eliminated Neomie for making exactly what she ended up drawing while rewarding Adam for doing pretty much the same thing, it makes you wonder how objective some of the judging is.

With the win Adam gets the final immunity of the season going into next week. With six bakers left and Adam and Jody seemingly running away with the season, can anyone stop either of them from winning Season 8 of Holiday Baking Championship? We shall see next week.

What do you think Guilty Eaters? Do you think Adam deserved the win even though he basically made a fruit cake? Leave a comment below and let us know or join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.