Great Chocolate Showdown season 4 episode 7: The semifinals

The Great Chocolate Showdown was back for episode 7, and the judges bumped up the stakes quite a bit. You expect the pressure to be on during the semifinals, but it kind of felt like the judges were overdoing it a bit. But before we get to that, let’s start with the Technical Challenge.

For this episode, the bakers had to make a chocolate terrarium trifle for their Technical Challenge. And they had to pick a theme to base their dessert on. The themes were Mars, a magical garden, a desert, and a jungle. Tim received Mars, Ashlee picked jungle, Kristen got desert, and Mike picked magical garden.

The judges were not happy with most of these. They were looking for very distinct layers and really only Mike gave them that. This is why he won the challenge and was able to get the advantage of using fancy ingredients in his Elimination Challenge dessert. He chose Tahitian vanilla and saffron.

On to the Elimination Challenge! This week, the remaining four bakers had to make a suspension cake, which is pretty much a tiered cake that is hung upside down. It’s not easy even for the most experienced bakers. They also had to, once again pick a theme. Mike picked art, Ashlee chose geometry, Tim got crystals, and Kristen picked bubbles.

Great Chocolate Showdown season 4 is back with episode 7

In my opinion, everyone ended up making some seriously cool cakes. A few were a bit messier than others, but overall, they looked fantastic! But there were a few issues. Mike’s cake had little to no chocolate flavor and the judges HATE that. Ashlee’s cake was crooked, but it totally went with her geometry theme, so it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. Tim’s cake was a bit sloppy, and the judges pointed that out.

All these were fine critiques. My biggest issue with the judges this week was during Ashlee’s judgment time. Anna inquired whether a chocolate cake was good enough to make it into the finale. It’s a chocolate show! Of course a chocolate cake is enough. Come on! It felt like they were just coming up with critiques to fill time.

But who is going to the finale? Ashlee and Kristen were the first two to go to the next round, which left Mike and Tim in the bottom two. Unfortunately, Tim was the one to go home. He has been such a bright spot on the show, and when the whole middle fell out of his cake, he did not give up. He just made it into a surprise cake. He will be missed.

The next episode of Great Chocolate Showdown will be the finale. The remaining three bakers will have to tell their baking story by making four desserts. Each dessert will have to represent a chapter in their story.

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