Spring Baking Championship was in full bloom this week for episode 7 of season 10. It was all about florals and spring floral arrangements for both challenges, but that doesn't mean it was a walk in the park. For a few of the bakers, it was quite a struggle.
For the Preheat challenge, the bakers had to make petit fours. Sounds simple, right? Nope. It's a lot more difficult than it seems. With the cake, the different textures that are needed, and the glaze, a lot can go wrong. And it did for both Robert and Rochelle.
Robert made the grave mistake of leaving the seeds in his fruit leather on top of his petit fours (I don't have a problem with this, but the judges sure did). His glaze also kind of melted off before the judges could look at it.
Rochelle, on the other hand, continued to not be great at time management and barely decorated her petit fours at all.
But who did well? Alex was the winner of the challenge, and considering he's the resident French dude, this is the least surprising result on this show ever. He made a decadent-looking chocolate petit four that had the judges singing his praises.
Spring Baking Championship Main Heat: It was all about flowers this week
On to the Main Heat! For this challenge, the bakers were tasked with making shortcake floral wreaths. They also had to include a decorated maypole in the middle. The shortcakes needed to include some kind of fruit as well. They could choose from strawberry, cherry, plum, pineapple, peach, or blackberries.
Alex received the classic strawberry, Kate got blackberries, Robert chose peaches, Rochelle picked pineapple, Steven picked plums, and Nickey received cherries. Alex did have the advantage of receiving a bunch of baking equipment to help make floral decorations but... He didn't use any of it.
Overall, these wreaths didn't look too bad. Even the bakers who didn't know much about piping flowers made pretty wreaths. That being said, Robert and Kate's wreaths clearly stood out. They looked like the flowers had just been picked. It also helped that their flavors worked extremely well. The judges practically fell over when they tasted Kate's biscuits, and that's why she won the challenge.
As for the bottom two, that was unfortunately Nickey and Rochelle. Nickey's pound cake was a little too tough, and the judges didn't get enough pineapple in Rochelle's wreath. At the end of the day, it was Rochelle who went home.
Next week, the remaining five bakers will have to make cocktail-inspired eclairs for Derby Day and create carrot desserts that even the horses will love. Bring it on!