Spring Baking Championship season 9 premiere: Love is in the air

Spring Baking Championship is back on Food Network for season 9 and it started off celebrating love. Love for food that is! The series returned with host Jesse Palmer and judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown.

The premiere began with 12 bakers who had to show what dessert made them first fall in love with baking. The desserts included biscuits, coconut cream pie, angel food cake, and chocolate chip cookies. The twist was that the bakers had to use a flower or incorporate a floral theme into their dessert.

The resulting desserts consisted of butter swim biscuits, vanilla cake with prickly pear buttercream, lavender coconut cream pie, and chocolate angel food cake.

But who came out on top during this first challenge? That was Christian. He made a pistachio and cherry frangipane with hibiscus sauce, dragonfruit, and hibiscus cream. Yum!

Spring Baking Championship is back for season 9

On to the elimination challenge! For this challenge, the bakers had to make cakes with berries that represent what they love to do in the spring. Some of the berries they had to work with included blueberries, raspberries, golden berries, and lingonberries. And the activities some of the bakers picked included looking at flowers, rolling down fields, taking pictures, and going on picnics.

A few of the desserts the bakers made were a goldenberry and citrus cake, raspberry devil’s food cake, raspberry lemon cake, blackberry olive oil cake, almond cardamom cake with lemon buttercream, and almond buttermilk cake with lingonberry cara cara orange jam. Most of the creations looked amazing!

But who won this first episode? It was Jai! She made a lemon cake with strawberry mousse and it looked as amazing as it was delicious.

Unfortunately, someone also had to go home and in this episode, it was Keem. The judges didn’t like how he decorated his cake and thought his flavors were underwhelming.

Next week, the remaining bakers must make bento box cakes with aphrodisiacs and passionfruit and chile desserts.

What did you think of the premiere of Spring Baking Championship season 9? Which was your favorite dessert? Let us know in the comments below!