‘Tis the season…for red and green…really?
The episode started with mini challenge of course. This week’s mini challenge was Christmas cake decorating race. Buddy showed the contestants how he does it. And of course he does it in 5 short minutes!!! Cake must be stacked, filled, iced and decorated with two buttercream roses. Arghhhh
“He ripped this cake down in 5 min and we’re like Wow!” Dana got a little nervous.
So the team was divided into Boys versus the Girls. Battle of the sexes!!
Pam and Jay started the race. Boys’ team started pretty smoothly. Jay delivered his part by stacking the cake beautifully. Pam did an awesome job. Then Brian was suppose to ice the cake and with inputs from his teammates and he did finish icing the cake but then…cake fell off so boys team had to start all over. Meanwhile the girls were moving even with the mishap with Corina moving the cake they still were leading. This time on boys’ team Brian cut and fill and Jay iced the cake…and that was so much better. Then it was Sugar Daddy’s turn to decorate with borders. At this point the girls’ team was already passing the cake to Megan who was gracefully (and fast!) putting on the decoration on the cake.
“Dana, please put the bag down!” Buddy was shouting.
The girls delivered on this one and won! The winner of the mini challenge gets…NOTHING.
Then Buddy announced the elimination challenge for this week. and said to the boys’ team that they will have to do better.
“Oh Lord Jesus, I say we need to start praying for the cake god right now I’m telling you!” Jay was pleading.
So Buddy brought in Chef Paul Dylan, Dean of the Hudson county Community College. Chef Paul announced that they will be making a cake for the Volunteers of American Cancer Society. Cake must be a Christmas theme and must be 3 feet high.
Then it was GO time! Girls’ team decided to do a big chimney with Santa and Christmas tree, a very classic Christmas. Boys’ team decided to do a Christmas tree. It will be very modern and very pure, like the department store window…according to Greggy. Jay was leading the team while Brian worked on the structural part of the cake and Dana was working on the sugar pieces for decorations.
Things got a little bit stressful in the kitchen as always. On the girls team Johanna was stacking more and more cakes. Everyone was nervous that it was going to fall apart. Meanwhile the cool boys were going with layers of branches to stack the Christmas tree. Then Pam was giving her 2 cents to Corina about how to use a drill but wasn’t well accepted. The drama rubbing off on the boys and Jay had to be snippy with Brian who didn’t like it at all.
“We’re working 15 hours days…we’re going to be snippy!” Jay was adamant.
With all this “hot air” in the kitchen, Buddy came in and announced another challenge…oh boy! This time on top of the elimination challenge Buddy asked the team to cook a Sunday Italian Dinner that needs to be done the same time the cake supposed to be done.
Chef George Duran came in and gave the contestants the ingredients sponsored by Hunts. The Italian bread, sausage, pasta and all the works were provided. Dana decided to take over the challenge to keep the boys working on the cakes and made Chicken Primavera, Torn Lasagna and Shrimp Fra Diavolo. That was some Iron Chef skills there!
On the Christmas tree challenge the boys were working nicely and the cake was looking phenomenal. Sugar Daddy decided to do blown sugar ornaments in blue and it looked great to finish the tree cake. Dana was everywhere this week! The girls’ team was having a little crisis with cake falling apart.
At the end of the day, the boys’ cake was looking so great. They had a tree, cookies, teddy bear, presents, glitters and finished 3 different dishes for the Italian Dinner. Girls’ cake was very christmassy with chimney, Santa, toys, Christmas tree and more. Then time was up!
As the girls’ team delivering downstairs, the cake kept crashing and crashing but they pressed forward. Boy’s team was confident with their cake structure. Every team delivered the cake to the party. Then it was time to move the cake and of course Sugar Daddy helped the girls moved the cake. How sweet is he? LOL.
Dinner was then served and all the people in the party kept asking Dana for the recipes (according to Brian)…They loved the food.
Then it was judging time. The three judges came in to have a taste of the Italian dinner and judging the cake. Everyone waited nervously. So it seemed. Buddy then called the contestants to the elimination room. Here we go…
On the dinner the judges loved the boys’ Italian dinner. It was very Italian according to Chef Georgie who called Dana “Chef” that night because of the excellent food. The girls’ dinner was mom’s cooking according to George and who wouldn’t love it.
On the cake Buddy did say that the girls’ team made Buddy feels like Christmas morning but structurally it was a bad job. Chef Paul loved the classic idea of the chimney, tree and Santa it was a great theme. On the boy’s cake Chef Paul loved the ornaments and the tree but wasn’t crazy with the color scheme. Buddy thought they did an amazing clean job. The sugar work was very nice and asked if Dana was tired. And he said no I can go another round. Buddy was please to hear that.
So Buddy asked the boys’ team who they think was the strongest team member there. Everyone on team boys unanimously agreed that Dana was the strongest team player. MVP…yeah sugar daddy. They won $10,000 from Hunts but Buddy decided to gave it all to Dana and ask him if he would keep the money or split. I mean you really gotta do that to a brotha? LOL But of course our Sugar Daddy because he is such a sweet man…would split it!! So off to the lounge the winning team went.
Now it was the losing girls’ team. Pam decided to tell Buddy that Corina should be at the bottom. And Corina blew off. Corina said that Pam was a backstabber. Wow more drama?
Megan with a cool head admitted that the structure was bad and said Johanna should be responsible. Three of the girls including Johanna herself agreed that Johanna must go home. So Buddy sent Johanna home. To the box truck baby! Sorry Johanna…you’re not the Next Great Baker. Hiks…
Next week…it’s a special effect cake challenge and Brian looked like he was going to be on fire. Oh No! Let’s hope Sugar Daddy won’t be melted!
‘Till then bloggers….HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Chef Dana “Sugar Daddy” Herbert and the Desserts by Dana Crew!
The post ‘Tis the Season… appeared first on The Official Website of Chef Dana Herbert.