Spring Baking Championship season 9 episode 3: Flings and break-ups

Spring Baking Championship is back for episode 3 but while the first two episodes were all about long-lasting romance, this week, it was about spring flings and break-ups. The remaining 10 bakers showed the fleetingness of romance in their desserts.

In the Preheat challenge, the bakers had to make Napoleons and include rhubarb as one of the ingredients. This may sound easy but these bakers couldn’t use premade puff pastry. They had to make their own and for some of the bakers, the difficulty of that task showed.

Most of the Napoleons were well done, but the judges thought some were lacking in flavor while others…let’s just say their puff pastry was the worst.

But who came out on top? That was Luke with his rhubarb and hibiscus Napoleon with basil lemongrass and lime leaf pastry cream. It was colorful, flavorful, and gorgeous!

Spring Baking Championship was all about flings and breakups this week

On to the Main heat! This week, the bakers had to partner up into teams of two to make a breakup cake. Each team had to make two sides of a cake that, when put together, would look like a whole cake, but have two mismatched flavors.

The teams of two included Luke and Jai, April and Molly, Josh and Michelle, Christian and Jessica, and Clement and Manja. To say this was a chaotic challenge would be an understatement. But some truly beautiful and tasty cakes were made.

But whose cake was the best? The team that won this week was April and Molly. Their cake looked like a professional wedding cake. It was astounding. Their flavors included devil’s food cake with spiced ganache and cinnamon buttercream and lavender cake with elderflower and lemon buttercream. Talk about opposites!

The person who the judges thought baked the best half-cake was Michelle! She has struggled so much over the past few weeks and it was wonderful to finally see her shine with her carrot cake with mascarpone cream cheese filling and pineapple compote. I would gladly eat a whole cake of that!

Unfortunately, someone did have to go home and this week, it was Manja. She did not have a good week. Her puff pastry was awful in the Napoleon challenge and her side of the breakup cake was very dry.

Next week, the remaining bakers will have to make “fool for love” tarts and then create cakes that look like pies.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Spring Baking Championship? What was your favorite dessert? Let us know in the comments below!