Original subtitles

Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, England,

where the world-renowned Harry Potter films

were brought to life.

Now, for the first time ever,

nine pairs of the world's finest bakers

have been invited to take part

in an extraordinary competition...

That's amazing.

...to create magical, edible showpieces

inspired by the world of Harry Potter.

- Yes! - It looks great.

We got this. We got this.

They'll present their spectacular creations

on these breathtaking original sets.

For our showpiece,

we are representing our Patronus Charm.

We have a fully isomalt chandelier.

Guided by none other...

Welcome to Platform 9 3/4!

...than the Weasley twins themselves,

James and Oliver Phelps.

- Ready, Fred? - Ready, George.

Let the baking begin.

You're trying to come up with a catchphrase, aren't you?

I'm try-- It'll get there somewhere.

Tonight...

- Three, two, one! - Three, two, one!

Arresto Momentum.

...one team at a time, the bakers must prove

they have what it takes

to board the Hogwarts Express

to the next round of the competition.

To do that, they'll have to impress

our distinguished Ministers of Baking,

Chef Carla Hall and Chef Jozef Youssef.

As the journey continues,

we'll meet some very special guests.

Say hello to Warwick Davis.

Please welcome Bonnie Wright! What's up, sis?

Evanna Lynch!

I cannot wait to see what you make!

Only two teams will make it through to the final challenge.

And only one team

will be featured in the new Harry Potter cookbook

and win the coveted Wizards of Baking Cup.

Let the magic and the baking begin.

James, I don't know about you,

but I can't wait to see what these baking wizards

- come up with in this kitchen. - Kitchen?

This is not a kitchen. This is a Quidditch pitch.

Look how big it is!

Wait a sec. Where is everyone?

Ah, they must be coming to the kitchen via the...

- Floo Network. - Floo Network.

Inspired by magical moments

in her childhood kitchen with her grandfather,

Mitzi blends traditional Mexican flavors

with cutting-edge molecular gastronomy.

Mother of two and proud Hufflepuff,

Lisa has earned her place among the culinary elite

by channeling her passions into world-renowned cakes

with stunning artistry.

Paired for their complementary skills

and their love of Harry Potter,

they are the first team invited to try and dazzle the judges

and win a ticket for the Hogwarts Express.

- Wow. - Oh my gosh.

- Hello, Lisa and Mitzi! - Hi!

Welcome to the Wizards of Baking kitchen.

- It's incredible. - Really, really cool.

It is.

You seem like you're really trying to keep it in.

- Uh-huh, I'm trying real hard. - Come on, let it go. Let it go.

- No! - Just scream! Scream.

- The Weasley twins? - Who doesn't love the Weasleys?

This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

- This is so cool. - Yes, it's incredible.

Is it a Nimbus Two Thousand? Two Thousand and One? A Firebolt?

You're a bit of a Potter fan, aren't you, Lisa?

What would you say on, like, one to ten?

- A nine and three-quarters? - Oh, there we go!

- I'm sorry, that was so cheesy. - We didn't even plan that!

Lisa, what would you say you're known for

in the cooking world?

I'm known for my big, over-the-top,

like, eccentric cakes.

And Mitzi, tell us about your culinary expertise.

I love doing plated desserts with a little molecular twist.

So we've got a cake artist and a mad scientist,

and I think those seem like very complementary skills

for a team of baking wizards.

Let's get into the challenge. Okay, so Lisa and Mitzi,

you are the first of the nine teams

who have been invited to compete.

One team at a time will create

a magical, edible showpiece together.

If you impress our judges, they'll give you a ticket

onto the Hogwarts Express to the next round.

That's so cool.

Here are the rules.

Every team must create a dessert display

that's a tribute to the part of the Wizarding World

that you guys love the most.

Your edible sculptures must be at least two feet tall

and contain at least one enchanting magical element.

And you're each responsible for making one tasting element

that's incorporated into your showpiece.

You only have six hours

to make your dazzling edible showpieces.

And when your baking time is up,

you'll assemble it at Platform 9 3/4.

Ooh, okay. No pressure.

So, let the baking begin!

- Thank you! - Let's go.

Look at how big this is!

What do you think we should do?

I'm a pretty big fan, so narrowing down what I love

might be a little hard for me.

I love Luna. I feel very identified with her.

I love the way she dresses, the way she acts,

the way she talks. She's just so unique.

- Okay, Luna. - Yes. Luna.

Let's go with it. Okay.

I feel like Luna,

she's kind of who I wish I could be.

Hello, everyone.

You look dreadful, Ron.

My mum always said things we lose

have a way of coming back to us in the end.

Can we do, like, what her trolley would look like

or what her journey to Hogwarts would look like?

Yes, I would love that. So, we're gonna be

pushing and fighting to get the ticket.

Oh my gosh, we gotta put her shoes on here.

We can actually do her glasses as the magic element.

You are so cool!

We're gonna put that right on top.

For our showpiece, we'll make Luna's trolley cart

with all of her unique belongings,

like her scarf and her sneakers

and her iconic upside-down Quibbler.

Luna's glasses box out of cake,

which will be spinning on top of her trunk,

which will be my tasting element.

And that's going to be my Mexican hot chocolate cake.

And I will create the Spectrespecs,

which will be for our enchanting element.

The glasses will reveal a hidden message

on our showpiece.

Okay, we got Mexican chocolate blocks!

I have been a very big fan of Harry Potter

for a very long time.

And now, my daughters go crazy for Harry Potter.

I want my kids to always see me shine

and be the best and be great.

So, a win would be an amazing dream come true.

Something's happening.

- Is that smoke? - What?

We've got one team baking and eight more to go.

Next team's coming.

With roots in Louisiana,

Kayla's colorful cakes

are as effervescent and charming as she is.

French-born executive pastry chef Yohann

finds delight in the science of baking,

convinced that mastering classic French pastries

creates wonder in every bite.

These baking wizards are confident

their showpiece will gain them one of the coveted tickets

to board the Hogwarts Express.

Hello, Kayla and Yohann.

- Oh my god! - Hi!

Did you have a good trip in?

- Not jet-lagged at all. - No?

- Perfect way to travel, isn't it? - I know, I know, I know.

- Okay. - You know the rules.

You have six hours to make your sweet showpiece.

If your showpiece makes a good enough impression

on the judges,

you'll get a ticket to the next round.

- Yeah. - Yeah!

So, I'm sure you're raring to go,

so let the baking begin!

- Okay, awesome! - Off you go.

- Go towards your stations, guys. - Thank you.

I cannot believe we are here.

How do you connect to Harry Potter?

I love the first movie.

Okay, the first movie is my favorite movie.

You're a wizard, Harry.

Gryffindor!

He's got the Snitch!

Go, go, Gryffindor!

Oh my gosh!

This is gonna be delicious.

- Kayla, Yohann. - Hello!

How are we getting on?

I see some popping going on over there.

I know. It might attack you, so be careful.

What are you guys gonna be making for us?

Our showpiece is gonna be

everything that we both fell in love with

in the first movie.

So, our cake is a modeling chocolate wand

that has rice paper sails coming out of the wand.

The first tier says, "You're a wizard, Harry."

We'll have a topsy-turvy tier

that has a Gryffindor scarf around it.

In between the tiers, we have invitations

representing all of the invitations

going into Harry's house.

And then we'll top it off with a Snitch.

A tasting element,

with a popcorn mousse and a chocolate shell,

and attaching the wings on the sides.

So, I am a cake decorator,

and so I do a lot of sculpted cakes

and sculpted chocolate figures.

I'm doing a s'mores cake

because when Harry Potter, the movie, came out,

we would always go to our lake house.

My family would have like-- We were camping,

and so we would do s'mores.

So, I thought that a chocolate cake

with a marshmallow buttercream,

that connects me to Harry Potter.

Sounds great.

We're going to make ourselves proud today.

That's done.

I'm very excited to show Kayla

also a little bit of my background.

So, I am known for everything French,

from chocolate, croissant, or viennoiserie,

or also petit gâteau, or entremet, all that fun stuff.

I'm really excited to see how this Wild West cake style

and this pastry guy come together.

Let's do the cake first.

We got sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, vanilla beans.

I'm a cake artist, so,

I'm making my famous chocolate cake,

which will be Luna's trunk.

And I'm gonna add some Mexican flavors.

Both of us having Mexican backgrounds,

we need to celebrate our heritage

with some Mexican hot chocolate ganache,

some cajeta in a pastry cream.

I think the judges are gonna feel us in this cake.

I'm feeling a little frantic.

Mitzi's calm energy is helping a little bit.

Okay.

I hope we're meeting somewhere in the middle.

I think it's challenging to work with someone

that you don't know,

but I think we're gonna balance really well.

I want to get that baking. Get it in. Close it up.

We've got two teams already in the kitchen,

and seven more to go.

Who's coming?

British-born baker Elizabeth

is known for her hyper-realistic cakes

that astonish and delight.

She's a force to be reckoned with,

having won multiple baking competitions.

Hailing from Colombia, esteemed chocolatier Juan

moved to Chicago at the age of 19

to pursue his pastry dreams.

By 24, he had ascended to the esteemed position

of executive pastry chef.

These bakers are united

by their passion for a powerful charm

from within the Wizarding World.

- Oh my god! - Here they are!

- Oh my-- - Welcome, Elizabeth and Juan.

- Hi. Oh my... - Hi. This is insane.

My heart is literally pounding in my chest right now.

I'm like, "Don't geek out, don't geek out!"

And, like, all the details.

I just noticed, it's the Fat Lady.

I know the two of you may have different disciplines...

- Yes. - ...but you've got

the exact same fascination for one part

of the Harry Potter stories.

And that is?

We're both obsessed with the Patronus Charm.

- Yes. - Ah, okay.

- Yes. - Right, okay.

This is really advanced stuff, guys.

You're doing so well.

Expecto Patronum.

Expecto Patronum.

We actually have the same Patronus.

- Okay. - Yeah.

It's actually the stallion.

What's your Patronus?

Probably a slug.

So, off you go to your station.

- Okay, okay. - Okay!

Or should I say, "Let the baking begin!"

You're trying to come up with a catchphrase, aren't you?

I'm try-- It'll get there somewhere.

All right, okay.

So, obviously we know we wanna do our Patronus.

Our showpiece is going to be a representation

of the Patronus Charm.

So, we're gonna have a horse head out of cake,

and that's gonna be my tasting element.

Swirls of chocolate around our Patronus Charm,

and then we're gonna have some spinning lily pads,

so we've got a bit of movement in there.

So, this is our first challenge. This is a huge deal, okay?

We're around big, big chefs.

We need to really impress these judges.

So we need to make sure that this is like, "Wow."

- We play hard from the beginning. - Yeah. Yeah.

How you feeling right now?

I'm as nervous as I am excited.

Can you imagine being in a Harry Potter cookbook?

Don't even-- Tell me about it!

I mean, we really want to win that beautiful cup.

It is insane just to be part of, like, this world.

It's just for me-- It's a dream come true.

Oh my god. That's great competition!

I know! They're amazing. Oh my god. She is so good.

I've actually competed with Elizabeth before.

She's amazing. Her attention to detail

is something that does not come easily.

We better bring it.

I know that they are here to win.

But we're here to win too, so we got this in the bag.

Yeah, it better be the best chocolate cake

you ever done, girl.

I'm really trying.

The first three teams of baking wizards

are hard at work in the kitchen,

while six more are en route.

Once all the teams have presented their showpieces,

the Hogwarts Express will depart to the next round

of the competition.

The pastry cream is almost ready.

Chocolate cake. Checking the chocolate cake.

- It smells burnt. - It smells burnt?

- The bottom of it, it's... - Burning.

Smelling this cake,

we're not gonna be able to use this.

So I'm going to have to use the very little time

that we have to start over.

I'm here to prove that my baking is incredible,

and I will not sacrifice that.

So, this is definitely a bit risky,

but I would rather lose time

than give them cake that's not gonna wow them.

So, we are going to start again.

And now we have burnt cake,

so I'm gonna move forward making a second cake.

Super honestly, I feel like I'm disappointing Mitzi,

and I hate that.

I mean, I definitely feel like we're behind

about a half hour because I had to do this twice,

but this one's looking so much better.

- We're back in it. - We're back in it.

We may have had a setback,

but we are still getting a ticket to Hogwarts.

Yay!

- You're going to the bottom? - Yes.

There you go.

These are gonna be beautiful.

These bakers are the best of the best.

So, this is challenge one.

We've set them a really hard task here.

Yeah.

It needs to be at least two feet tall,

a tribute to Harry Potter, have two tasting elements,

needs to bring magic with it as well,

and they're all working as a team.

I was gonna say, they're not being judged

against each other.

In this first challenge, the way to get the tickets

is only by competing against themselves.

- And no one's had the grump yet. - No.

- Which I think we would, if we were... - Hundred percent.

Right now, I'm cooking my pectin with my raspberry water.

It's gonna be the lens on her glasses.

I want to get as much air as I can out of the glass,

and I'm gonna put it in the dehydrator,

so it dries all the way.

And then, we'll glue it into our glasses.

I'm making this, our first tasting element.

It's going to be a s'mores cake

at the center of our showpiece.

I'm putting the marshmallow filling in now,

and then I'm gonna toast this.

Oh my god, I love it.

So, my daughter, Kinley, she would love this cake.

I introduced her to Harry Potter,

and so it's really special, being able to share something

from my childhood with my daughter.

If I was to receive that ticket onto that Hogwarts Express,

she's gonna be so excited.

This is a mango and passion fruit caramel.

This will be the filling for my tasting element,

the glasses.

They will be filled

with white chocolate popping candies

and little bites of this caramel.

I'm going to start sculpting Luna's shoes.

Lisa and Mitzi, how you getting on, guys?

- Hello! - How are we?

Getting going.

Right, how did you guys get into baking?

I was unhappy in my corporate job,

and I was going home on my lunch breaks

to watch Ace of Cakes on TV, and I said, "That is so cool."

So, one day I was like,

"Why don't I just quit my job and go become a cake designer?"

And for me, I always knew I wanted to be in the kitchen.

Could say that pastry picked me.

You got sorted into pastry?

I got sorted into pastry. It picked me.

By the way, you guys want to try the caramel?

Yes.

Okay...

- Are you going to use all that? - Yeah?

No, no.

Thank you.

I'm making, right now,

my tasting element, it's gonna be the lily.

It's gonna be almond cake, a roasted malted mousse

with some malted almond praline...

It's gonna be nice and savory in a way.

So, this is pretty much the inside of the flower.

In the flower, we're gonna put our lily leaves.

This is all rice paper.

I am dipping them

in a little bit of malt chocolate

just so I can have some strength.

- Tasting element done. - Yay!

So, in order to do a sculpted horse head cake,

I'm gonna stack my layers of cake to get myself a block,

and then I use my sharp knife to whittle it down.

I've done horses heads a couple of times

and some pretty big pieces,

but I don't normally have to do it within six hours.

In six hours.

Yeah, I mean, very ambitious.

What about the Snitches?

It's not gonna take me very long to finish them.

Inside the Golden Snitch, a caramel corn,

a praline, as well as a popcorn mousse.

So, I take the Snitches out of the mold.

Putting gold on my Snitch desserts,

give them that Snitch look.

I know it's gonna be delicious.

Elizabeth and Juan, you have five hours left

to make your Patronus showpiece.

Kayla and Yohann, you have four hours remaining...

- Oh, wow. Okay. - Wow.

...to finish your

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone showpiece.

Lisa and Mitzi,

three hours to make the judges go "loony."

- Get it? Get it? - He's not gonna be

doing jokes all day. I promise.

How are you feeling about the glasses, Mitzi?

The raspberry paper is definitely a no-go.

It's not drying fast enough. I'm gonna work with some isomalt

to see if we can have a plan B.

If it's isomalt, will we still be able to get

that magical see-through element?

I kind of have the feeling we will.

Yes!

Oh!

Something's happening. New team, James.

We've got three teams here and six more to go.

- Oh my gosh. - Hiya!

Whoa!

- Hey! - Hi!

Welcome! How are you doing?

- Amazing. Good to be here. - Awesome. Oh my gosh.

Wait, wait. Hold on. Hold on. What's this?

Another one?

Wait, wait. Hold on. Hold on. What's this?

- Wow. - Oh my god.

Oh my god. Two?

Two, Kayla!

Wow.

So, Hemu and Riccardo, Michael and Conner,

the reason that both your teams were brought to the kitchen

at the same time

is because you've all got something in common.

A fascination with a scene in the movies.

Michael and Conner, what scene has captured your imagination?

The Mirror of Erised.

- The mirror, for sure. - Yeah.

I see that you, like so many before you,

have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised.

Mom?

It shows us nothing more or less

than the deepest and most desperate desires

of our hearts.

It really does showcase that bond

between a mother and son.

And we both are so close to our moms.

- Yeah, it shows love. Yeah. - Yeah.

So, Hemu and Riccardo,

what scene captures your imagination?

- The Whomping Willow. - Whomping Willow

- with flying car. - Yeah?

And I still believe there is this flying car.

One day, I'm going to get to drive it

and beat the Houston traffic.

Yeah.

Now, if your showpiece

makes a good enough impression on the judges,

you'll get a ticket to the next round.

So that means,

it's possible that both of you can go through,

or just one, or neither.

But we're not gonna think about that!

Let the baking begin!

- Thank you. - Let's go!

Run, run, Riccardo!

This is not my first competition,

but it feels very special because it's Harry Potter.

When the car lands on the Whomping Willow

and the Whomping Willow starts smashing the car.

Ah! Yeah, yeah.

We'll make it out of chocolate

with the flying car from the Weasley family.

Which is my tasting element.

I'm going to make some chocolate bonbon spiders.

As you all know, in The Chamber of Secrets,

Harry and Ron, they have to follow the spiders.

And they're crawling, so that's what I wanted to do.

So as of now, I'm decoring the spider bonbons in chocolate.

So, I'm going to make my almond cake

with fresh raspberries.

These are my most requested flavors.

My clients love this flavor.

The batter looks amazing.

Anything you can think of, I can turn that into a cake.

I'm known for hyper-realistic sculpted cakes,

and I have, like, 16 cake awards under my belt.

I'm two-time Food Network Champion.

I'm the best! What else you wanna know?

Lisa and Mitzi, two hours left.

My perfect, beautiful, fluffy chocolate cake.

We got this, Lisa.

I'm going to fill it with our...

Mexican hot chocolate ganache and that cajeta pastry cream.

Did I just get buttercream on my face?

- And we have glasses. - We have glasses!

This trunk is coming together.

Holy macaroni!

That's a big cake.

I want my ticket so badly.

We really want to impress the judges with this.

Hopefully, this fits.

I really hope we get the first ticket.

- It's moving. - We have a moving cake!

- Hemu, Riccardo. - Yeah?

Are you guys getting a ticket onto the train?

- We already got the first class. - Oh, okay!

That looks awesome already.

This is my first competition.

It's Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking.

Life is good.

For this challenge, we're making an actual replica

of the Mirror of Erised.

The stairs leading up to the mirror will be my cake element,

leading up to the actual frame of the mirror.

And for the mirror itself,

I'll be pouring a marbled isomalt layer.

And then the whole thing is going to flip around

and we're going to show a bunch of really sentimental artifacts

of Harry and his mother

such as the Gryffindor scarf, a pair of hearts,

and there will also be my tasting element,

a milk chocolate bonbon.

These tasting elements have to be on point.

- This ticket has to be ours. It is ours. - We have to. Yes.

So we're going above and beyond.

I'm 18, and I'm a pastry chef

at a large hotel chain in Austin, Texas.

It gave me a lot of freedom

to find my roots and finding specifically what I love.

There's cake. There's chocolate. There's sugar.

It's all so cool to me.

I literally have one more frame.

- Okay. - And then I'm good.

Kayla and Yohann, you have 90 minutes

to finish your showpiece.

- Oh my god. - Oh my god.

Oh my god, Yohann. We have so much to get done.

It's like a scarf, so I'm trying to make it look...

just worn enough.

So, we just use a mold to put fondant in,

that makes this cake look fabric-y.

This is definitely a technique that I've used before.

You know, you just want to keep it clean,

which is really one of the difficult parts, and...

we have to make the wand. We have to attach all the magic.

We have to... We have a lot.

- It's a lot to do. - Actually, I'm freaking out.

Okay.

Lisa and Mitzi, 30 minutes.

Okay, that's not exactly as much time as I'd hoped.

No.

We're taking a risk

juggling so many different components.

For our Quibbler,

which is our magazine printed on sugar sheets,

I'm just spreading tempered white chocolate

so it will be easier for me to move.

Lisa and Mitzi, ten minutes to go.

How are you feeling about the glasses, Mitzi?

I started working on the isomalt.

We're just gonna glue it.

Hopefully, when the judges use it,

it will reveal a hidden message on Luna's trunk.

Lisa and Mitzi, time is up.

You'll assemble and present your sweet showpiece

at Platform 9 3/4.

You will have 20 minutes to get everything ready.

- Good luck, guys. - Best of luck, guys.

Good luck, guys.

- Thank you. - Good luck.

I'm feeling a little bit nervous

because burning my first batch of cake

really put us behind,

and it wasn't how I wanted our first bake to go.

At the end, we pull it together,

but I really hope it's enough for us to make it through.

Yeah. I really do.

Carla is amazing. Her palate is so sophisticated.

Jozef is a world-renowned chef,

and I very much respect his opinion,

so being judged by him is going to be scary.

I think they're expecting something absolutely incredible.

All right, Lisa and Mitzi,

here's what's going to happen now,

you'll present your dessert showpiece to us,

and if it's truly transcendent,

I'm going to give you a ticket to board the Hogwarts Express!

If you don't get a ticket...

that means your journey ends here.

Now, tell us what magic

you've brought to the platform.

This isn't just a cake, it's a frozen moment

of what Luna's trolley would look like

going to Platform 9 3/4.

Her trunk is made out of cake

covered in some royal icing details,

and her shoes are hanging

just like they do on the rafters at Hogwarts.

Our build is complete with Luna's Quibbler,

made out of edible paper,

and her Spectrespecs on top are made out of white chocolate.

There is one more really special trick

we want you guys to get to do.

Go on.

So, Spectrespecs are pop-out glasses

for you to use them almost like a decoder.

So, the idea is for you to grab the glass

and kinda...

Yeah. Oh!

- "You're just as sane..." - "Sane..."

- "...as I am!" - "...as I am!"

Wonderful!

Your ability to tell a story is incredible.

I love the magic that you've brought for us,

the spectacles with the hidden message,

the movement and the rotation, and defying gravity.

Thank you so much.

All right, so tell us what we're going to be eating.

You're going to be tasting... her glasses.

The glasses are made of raspberry,

caramel, and mango pieces, popping candy,

that has been covered in tempered chocolate.

- I'm popping! - I hear it. I hear it!

- Yeah, I hear popping candy, Carla. - That is so fun!

Let's talk about this mango caramel.

Yay!

It is tangy, and that acid

with the white chocolate is needed.

It is interactive.

Not only is it part of your magic,

but also, it's kind of fun to eat.

You eat one side, you still have a monocle.

I love the way you've got these really clean, lovely,

defined lines on it, like,

it's really well constructed.

At the end of the day, this is quite a...

- tough bit of sugar. - Yeah.

All right, so, Lisa, let's try your tasting element.

So, both of us having Mexican backgrounds,

we wanted to bring those flavors to you.

Mexican hot chocolate cake,

and inside, a cajeta pastry cream

and a Mexican hot chocolate ganache.

All of your flavors, everything that you promised us,

you delivered on.

The cajeta with the ganache, the sponge,

all of it works really lovely as flavors,

so great job on that.

The Mexican spices that I'm getting through,

love that, and it's really kind of comforting. Brilliant.

So, Lisa and Mitzi,

it's very difficult to get a ticket for this train.

But...

- you've got a ticket! - Yes!

Yay!

Thank you!

- Off you go! - Thank you!

Whoa!

- We get the first ticket. - Yeah. We get the first ticket.

We are the first students on the train.

Oh my god! Oh my god!

Now I'm getting emotional!

So cool on so many levels.

I feel like little Lisa who...

read all the books would be very proud.

She's very proud.

With one team through,

which of the remaining eight teams

will also win a ticket?

It's coming together.

So, right now, I'm adding

my little fondant details to my horse Patronus.

I actually didn't go to culinary school at all.

I actually studied biology.

My speciality is definitely making things so real

that you don't know they're cake.

I've done a lot of other competitions before.

I had actually said

that I was going to step away from competing,

but for Harry Potter, I'm diving back in, here we go.

- Now, our horse has skin. - Perfect.

So, there's a huge amount of pressure

to do really, really well.

I want to go out with a big bang,

not a little fizzle.

Oh! Something's happening.

Next team's coming.

A competition veteran

known for her delectable dinosaur skulls

and edible anatomical hearts,

Jamie frequently scours antique shops

for her dessert inspirations.

With several culinary awards to her name,

vivacious pastry chef, Jess, is rolling into the competition

full of big ideas!

Both deeply connected to their own families,

these talented women

find a reflection of their own lives

in the unwavering love,

support, and warmth of the Weasley family.

That was a good one, wasn't it, that?

- Jamie, Jess, welcome! - How are we doing, guys?

Now, we heard that the two of you

have a deep affection for a certain aspect

of the Harry Potter series.

- The Weasley family! - The Weasley family!

Come on, guys! I love that.

- Everyone heard this. - Yeah.

Morning, Weasleys!

- Morning, Dad. - Morning, Arthur!

What a night. Nine raids. Nine!

Raids?

Dad works in the Ministry of Magic,

in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.

Dad loves muggles, thinks they're fascinating.

Is there some way that we can create their home?

Like, create their home in a really magical way.

- Okay. - And like, think back

to what does the Weasley house look like?

- It's all kind of wonky. - It's super wonky.

- Right? - Like, multi-leveled.

I think this is going to create nostalgia,

- just like that. - That is going to be fire!

And it's gonna be like a pop-up book.

I'm gonna make the whole home out of wafer paper.

And then, there's actually going to be a real scene playing

inside of the house.

Yeah, let's go, baby.

This is my first time doing a chocolate showpiece,

so I'm a little nervous.

But I want to take a risk.

We need to be super ambitious

to make sure that we're standing out

amongst everybody else.

I couldn't agree more.

Jamie, what are you working on?

I am making a cream cheese frosting

to go inside of my tasting element.

It's gonna be like cinnamon roll-inspired cake.

- Okay. - A vanilla butter cake,

a salted brown sugar

cream cheese frosting.

Every year for the holidays,

I make cinnamon rolls to give to my family,

my husband, Will,

and my two daughters, Eddie and Ripley.

It makes me feel really happy, like, making it.

I am getting ready to unmold this first layer.

So, this is our suitcase, our trunk.

I feel nervous.

- I got this, I got this. - You got it.

Look at that. Look, look, look.

- Yeah! Oh, good! - Slab done!

Yes! Ha-ha!

I'm gonna do my ganaches

so I can finish the bonbons,

filling them with a double filling.

Peanut butter ganache and a soft caramel ganache.

It's gonna be like, you know, the inside of the spider.

Mm! Sounds yummy.

When you work on a cake,

do you need a specific texture for your cake?

Yes, for sculpted cakes, you want it to be firm,

because if you carve the spongy cake,

it's gonna crumble, so you have to have

a very sturdy cake.

My cake's out of the oven, it looks beautiful.

My cake's gonna be the stairs leading up to the mirror.

So, right now, I'm gonna start stacking and filling

with my strawberry-lychee marmalade right here.

My rose vanilla mousse,

and I also have a lime buttercream

that I'm gonna put on the outside of it all.

- Conner, you wanna try this? - Yeah.

Oh, that's really good.

- You like it? - Yeah, I really like it.

I'm professionally trained,

graduating with six culinary degrees.

Some of the coolest cakes that I got to make

were Drake's birthday cake, Bruno Mars's birthday cake.

A bunch of different celebrities.

I'm a Harry Potter fanatic.

I eat, breathe, sleep Harry Potter,

and I have to get that ticket.

We have stairs.

Kayla and Yohann, you have ten minutes to go.

Last push, guys, come on!

- Oh my god! - Oh my, God!

We have so much to get done.

These magical sails.

I'll try to like let that sit... in there.

Kayla and Yohann, five minutes to go.

Okay, they're looking like

they have entirely too much chocolate.

They look... not great, to be honest.

They don't look great at all, they look bad

We're just doing our best to cover

and still create our vision.

Kayla and Yohann, Arresto Momentum,

your time is up!

- Okay. - Oh my god!

Now, you've got to head to Platform 9 3/4

to assemble your showpiece.

- Best of luck, guys! - Good luck!

Thank you.

- Hey! - Bye!

The stakes are higher in this competition,

much higher than any other competition

that I've done before.

I think the judges are going to be very impressed,

but we can't deny the fact that there is few things

that could have been a little more clean.

Kayla and Yohann, tell us about your creation.

So, Yohann and I both connected over the fact

that The Sorcerer's Stone is our favorite movie,

and our cake represents some of our favorite moments.

For this showpiece,

our enchanting element is the entire topsy-turvy cake.

It's all magically balanced on top of the chocolate wand.

The first tier is a stone tier that represents Hogwarts.

Then a topsy-turvy tier,

and it has a Gryffindor scarf around it,

the Sorting Hat sitting on the front of the cake,

And then, at the very top,

the buttercream cake that Hagrid made Harry.

And these windy twists of invitations.

It's amazing, I love the way it's kind of frozen in mid-air.

I want to commend you on the beautiful storytelling.

Love The Sorting Hat, and the scarf has movement.

I love that textural element there.

Yes, but I think that there are some neatness issues.

It looks a little messy.

Okay, so I am the cake decorator,

and so I baked you a s'mores cake

with a marshmallow filling that's toasted,

graham cracker crumbles, and a chocolate ganache.

This is a very good cake.

It is light in chocolate, and then having the ganache

sort of gives you that additional chocolate.

But because it's so much cake,

the elements that make it s'mores

- are getting lost. - Understood.

My turn.

The Snitch is actually a popcorn dessert.

So, the Snitch has

a caramel corn and praline insert,

a popcorn mousse

encased into a gold chocolate shell.

Yohann, I one hundred percent get popcorn.

Yes!

For me, I think that you needed

to coat the popcorn because it is getting soggy.

And that's a shame because it tastes delicious.

- Thank you. - You've got a salty element

in there as well, which I think really helps

balance out all the kind of sweet flavors

that you've got there, but the actual concept

and idea behind it is brilliant.

Thank you.

All right, we know that everyone is here,

so that they can get a ticket to board the Hogwarts Express.

Now, while you two are clearly wizards of baking...

Did you do enough to make it on board the Hogwarts Express?

Did you do enough?

I'm sorry to say, guys...

you will not be moving forward.

Kayla, your cake,

the flavors didn't deliver on what you promised.

Understood.

The Snitch,

I liked the flavors,

but I think the execution leaves something to be desired.

I appreciate you.

- Thank you. - Thank you, Judges.

- All right, thank you. - Thank you, Carla.

When I sit back and look at that cake,

I'm really proud of it.

But it's amazing to have been here.

We can take what we've learned from this,

and then put that into our future.

I have made friends forever,

and I'll cherish the memories forever.

It's not that that was bad. It's just how good

the standard has to be to get on the Hogwarts Express.

Yes.

Only one of the coveted tickets

has been awarded,

with seven baking teams still to be judged.

Okay.

Who will win the next ticket?

It tastes great.

Oh! Something's happening.

Next team's coming.

Ooh!

Dude, what is happening right now?

Kimberly, a baker with an already established career,

realized the path to excellence required a formal education.

Now, she's become a master

in creating towering wedding cakes

and intricate 3D sculptures.

Having learned the art of baking

from her great grandmother's cookbook,

Ashley has blossomed

into a distinguished pastry chef,

celebrated for crafting

magnificent gingerbread mansions.

Both exemplary students share a passion

for the precision and ingenuity required to excel

in Potions class.

Oh my god!

Hello, Kimberly and Ashley.

Hi!

You've got six hours to create your sweet showpiece.

So, guys, we're going to catch up with you later.

Start baking.

Okay, Ash, what are we going to do?

Our shared connection for Harry Potter.

- What are your thoughts? - I love the magic of it.

And you're a pastry chef, I'm a cake artist,

so we like experimenting, mixing things, potions.

Ooh! I love Potions class too.

- Yes. - Yeah, I love that.

Right, so Potions class, yeah?

Definitely doing Potions class.

Amazing. So, let's start there.

So, we've got to get to two feet.

We'll make a two-foot Potions cabinet.

And we're going to add in

some Harry Potter potion ingredients,

made out of isomalt bottles in different colors.

One of them will be my tasting element.

And then the gravity-defying bottle

with a sugar spiral to really create the illusion

that this bottle is pouring into this cauldron.

I'm going to make stacked books

and two huge cauldrons out of cake.

And my tasting element

will be a bottle of lemon cake with lemon curd.

Kim, I can't believe we're here right now.

- This is absolutely insane. - I know.

I mean, my inner, like, twelve-year-old girl

is freaking out right now like...

- I know! - This is insanity.

I am known for my shape 3D cakes.

I can make anything into a cake.

I can make cameras, purses, shoes.

Like, I've been doing cakes for 16 years.

I did not go to culinary school up until recently.

At 51 years old, I decided I wanted

to step my cake level up and go to pastry school

to better understand flavors and textures.

I'm going to zest the lemons,

and then I'm going to squeeze them,

so I can get the lemon juice for the lemon curd.

I know we got a letter,

but we've got to get a ticket now too.

- Listen! - For sure.

Come on.

Guys, you've got just under five minutes to go.

- Oh my god! Okay. - Okay, okay, okay.

We are down to the last part

of the time we have for this challenge.

It's just-- It's manic.

I need to get started on airbrushing

because time is ticking down.

I got to put the last ones in.

- Three, two, one! - Three, two, one!

Arresto Momentum, your time is up.

- It's looking great. - It's so sparkly and pretty!

This whole competition

is a different sense of pressure.

I don't think any of us have ever wanted something

- quite as much as this. - I have my hands shaking,

and I'm just hoping that we get to stay.

- Wow, okay. - Brilliant!

So, Elizabeth and Juan,

tell us all about this marvelous creation of yours.

So, for our showpiece,

we are representing our Patronus Charm,

which is the stallion. And that's out of sculpted cake.

And then we have the chocolate sails,

which represent the Patronus Charm being cast.

For our enchanting element,

our main focus lily in the center,

not only is it spinning, but it's actually levitating.

Yeah, I can see, that's crazy!

So it's completely floating.

I love the movement.

You see the Patronus spell working.

I think the piece itself is so magical.

Thank you.

All right, so coming to the tasting elements.

My tasting element is going to be the lily.

Malted mousse with almond praline,

and an almond cake.

The petals are actually edible. They're rice paper,

where you can actually eat the petal with the flower.

I think the way that you thought about the malt

and the almond and the vanilla flavors...

- are incredible. - Thank you.

They look great.

I think the effect on there is stunning.

- Yeah. - I just think...

I don't know, it does feel like eating paper.

Yeah.

All right, it is now time

for your tasting element.

I am actually going to cut right into the top of the head.

I know! It's the easiest part to access, though.

Look!

- I mean, look how-- - The whole thing is cake.

Yeah.

- There we go. - No!

So, we took a chocolate milk stout cake

and then did a light beer soak,

which pairs very well with salted caramel,

and we drizzled that on top of salted caramel buttercream.

Dude...

I got a "dude"!

I'm trying to have a poker face.

That's yummy. That's really, really yummy.

You can actually smell the stout.

And I think the textures are really nice.

Absolutely delicious. I love the technique

that you guys have shown with this.

The baking and the chocolate work

is incredible.

Guys, do you remember the Dumbledore quote,

"One can never have enough socks"?

Well, I hope you've packed enough

for a few weeks with us because...

That's your ticket to board the Hogwarts Express!

- Take it and go! - Oh!

Okay, okay, come on, come on!

Quick, before they shut the train!

- Oh my god, can I see it? - Yes!

Let me know if you need any help with anything, Jess.

Will do.

Looking good. You're almost done.

Yup, almost done.

- Michael and Conner... - Hemu and Riccardo...

You have two hours left to finish your showpiece,

which is inspired by your favorite scene

in Harry Potter.

We have a good amount to do, but I think we can get it done.

- We really need to push. - Yeah.

The Whomping Willow

has a lot of texture on the trunk,

so I would like to build the trunk in chocolate.

When you take tempered chocolate, you cool it down,

and after you start playing with it,

it becomes like Play-Doh.

The only thing is, like, you really need cold.

The kitchen is very hot,

and, like, the chocolate is not cooling down.

I'm starting to get concerned. When it takes so long,

chocolate decrystallizes in the process,

and it becomes very weak,

which we really don't need

if we're building a whole tree out of chocolate.

If I cannot get this chocolate ready,

the way that I want it,

we might not be able to have a showpiece.

I need to do something else.

The chocolate is not cooling down.

You can see it, this is taking forever.

I need to do something else.

What I'm going to do is put it in a Robot Coupe.

It's workable like clay.

And little by little, you make it

and start building everything.

With this technique of chocolate clay,

I can create that look pretty much like a tree trunk.

Quick problem-solving technique right there, Riccardo.

- Yup. - Very good! Proud of you!

They look phenomenal! So excited!

These are my sweet potatoes

for my sweet potato pie tasting element.

They're a kind of deconstructed sweet potato pie mousse,

but I'll have them look like rocks around the burrow.

I decided to go with sweet potato

because it's like one of the traditional

holiday sweets in the Black family, especially.

I know it's really common, but especially in my family!

So far, it's nice and smooth.

Look at that beauty right there.

Beautiful!

So, Jamie, what's your competition experience like?

Oh, man, I got a few competitions under my belt,

- and let me tell you. - You do?

I got a couple wins,

and my husband proposed to me on Food Network.

Oh, nice! Wow!

The competition here, like, is... fierce.

Fierce, I know.

Those look so good. Our lovely lemon cake.

I'm working on our chocolate cabinet now,

which is gonna be one of our big pieces.

- Cool. - Aw! They look cool!

Edible spider bonbon.

They look incredible, they are nice and shiny.

This is alive.

So cool!

So far, seven baking duos

have entered the competition. Only two teams left to meet.

- Someone is on the way. - Ooh!

Whoo!

- Here we go again. - Okay!

- Hey, Zoe! Hey, Jordan! - Oh my...!

Oh my goodness!

- Come on in! - Welcome!

- Welcome! - Welcome!

Zoe and Jordan, it sounds like you've got company.

Another team's coming.

- Oh my god, Chris! - Wow!

- It's amazing! - Am I dreaming or what?

- It's Miko! - I love their outfits.

- Welcome! - Thank you.

- Hi! Thank you. - Thank you very much.

You guys all excited to be here?

Yeah, we are very much excited.

I actually can't take my eyes off of you two,

I have to be totally honest.

That's the right answer, that's what we're...

So, Zoe and Jordan, Miko and Chris.

Both of you teams have been summoned together

because all of you love Hogwarts houses!

- Absolutely. - Yes, we do!

Well, me and Zoe are both...

- Hufflepuffs. - Hufflepuffs.

And what about you guys?

Slytherin.

So, you've got six hours to bake.

Let the bake begin!

- All right, Jordan, okay. - All right.

Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me.

Okay.

Slytherin is known for the snake.

So, the snake is going to be here.

Okay.

It's going to be coiling... - Perfect!

...the fountain.

I could do a badger. The badger is our emblem.

Two foot, right? We've got to reach two foot.

Our showpiece will be a tribute to the Hufflepuff house.

The badger, made of cake,

will be sitting on a wall made of chocolate

to look like Platform 9 3/4.

At the bottom will be cake trunks.

And we'll just kind of make a bit like an apple pie filling.

I'm just kind of throwing in a little bit of

allspice and cinnamon, some brown sugar.

It is so important,

because it's the first challenge,

that we showcase both of our individual talents,

both of our individual personalities.

The winner of this competition

will be featured in a new Harry Potter cookbook.

As a pastry chef, that would mean the world.

Jordan, I'm seeing this coming to life!

My favorite thing, to build walls.

And it's pretty big, right? I could move in, maybe.

You could probably fit in there.

Michael and Conner, Hemu and Riccardo,

- just ten minutes to go. - Okay.

It's very nerve-racking.

Hemu, we really need to stay focused,

we cannot waste a second.

Aye aye, Captain.

So now, all I need is my isomalt mirror,

- painting my silhouette on that. - Oh, yeah!

Oh, Michael, you're awesome.

Let's go this side, and I'm gonna add the moss

- as the final touch, okay? - Okay, cool.

One minute to go!

Hold on.

Right here, massive piece

in six hours.

- I'm happy. - We got this.

Hemu and Riccardo, Michael and Conner,

Arresto Momentum. Your time is up!

Oh my gosh.

Good luck, guys.

With the Hogwarts Express

soon departing,

this is the first time that two teams

have entered Platform 9 3/4 for judging together!

- Hi, teams! - Hi!

We'll give a Hogwarts ticket to any team

that creates a showpiece that blows our minds.

Let's start with Hemu and Riccardo.

All right, I think I know what this is.

But why don't you tell us about it?

We have a Whomping Willow structure.

The trunk and branches are made out of chocolate.

At the top,

there is the Weasley family flying car carved out of cake,

complete with working headlights.

At the base, some moss, and of course, the spiders.

I love the detail.

I love that it's 360, and you know exactly what it is.

You've created a world.

The car, clearly from the movie, it's all beat up,

and I love that you got that shading

and the windshield.

In the movie, Harry has to follow the spiders,

and they're around the Whomping Willow.

Oh my god!

Ooh, it's coming towards you.

It doesn't bite, it's actually quite delicious.

That's cool.

I made edible spider bonbon.

I did a dark chocolate shell.

The inside is made with peanuts, a little bit of salt,

darkened milk chocolate, and a little bit of caramel.

I like a little creepy things.

I can see you hate spiders.

Can we just pick these up?

Come on, Carla, we've got to do it.

This is... grossing me out.

I can see you hate spiders.

This is grossing me out.

Stop it.

This shell...

is pretty incredible.

It's perfectly tempered, the chocolate.

The caramel kind of coats your mouth,

then you get these lovely kind of nutty flavors

that come through from the peanut butter.

Thank you.

All right, let's cut the car.

I mean, we're not gonna say that again.

So, I made an almond cake

with a raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream,

with fresh raspberries and toasted almonds

in between the layers.

I love almond, it's got lovely balance in it.

I would say

this almond cake though just seems very dense.

But I'm walking away loving the raspberry.

I absolutely love the freshness of it.

Thank you.

And now we move on to...

Michael and Conner.

So, this piece is Mirror of Erised.

The stairs leading up to the mirror

are made of both cake and chocolate.

The actual frame of the mirror,

made by Conner's beautiful chocolate work.

And for the mirror itself, a marbled isomalt layer.

As you can see, it looks just like a regular mirror,

nothing magical to it, but then...

That's brilliant.

And it's showcasing that connection

between a mother and son in the same way

that Conner and I

have that connection with our mothers.

I'm a mother's boy myself, and I love the concept

and the idea of what you guys have come up with.

I love how majestic it is.

I love the finials, like, reaching up to the sky

and then the wood grain on the steps.

There were a couple spots that weren't that clean,

but I love that it's 360.

Can't wait to taste your tasting elements.

My tasting element is the cake,

and I actually put it into the stairs,

the foundation of the mirror.

And I made a rose water-scented vanilla bean cake,

as well as a rose vanilla mousse,

and strawberry lychee marmalade.

Michael, your cake, albeit tasty,

it is just a little underbaked.

What saves it though is that you have

that lovely strawberry in there that's really fresh.

Thank you.

For my tasting element,

I made heart-shaped milk chocolate bonbons

with a vanilla bean ganache inside of it

and a chamomile fluid gel.

It's fluid.

I like the flavors. The chocolate is very milky.

It's a great shine on that.

Thank you so much.

But I wanted something that was bright,

that would cut through the sweetness of the chocolate.

But I think that you handled that nice bite really well.

Thank you.

We'd love to have everyone we see

join us on that train.

But just one team is joining us on the Hogwarts Express.

The team that's earned the ticket

to board that train is...

Hemu and Riccardo.

Oh my god!

- Thank you so much. - Take your ticket

- and get on the train. - Thank you so much.

Good job, you guys.

- Yay! - That was great. That was great.

Good job. I'm so happy.

- We did it! We did it! - I'm so happy.

Michael and Conner, you're amazing.

But the cake was underbaked.

And the chocolate could have been

just a little bit more exciting. Thank you, guys.

- Thank you so much. - Thank you.

- I appreciate it. Thank you. - Thank you.

I think despite leaving early,

this was an incredible experience.

I think we met awesome people and I had such an amazing time.

Win or lose, you live and you learn,

and you come back stronger.

There are now just four remaining teams

with a chance of boarding the Hogwarts Express.

I am putting the finishing touches

on my tasting element, the cinnamon roll-inspired cake.

Oh my god. I bonked it!

I accidentally bonked the side of the box,

so I did break one of the sides.

- Okay. - Hey, Jess, Jamie!

Is there a bit of patchwork going on here?

A little bit of patchwork.

Building a cake inside of a chocolate box,

I mean, it has its hazards.

I'm just going to need a little bit of

tempered chocolate to glue it and support it.

- Okay. - I am so sorry.

Don't be sorry, girl. It's okay.

When you're pushing yourself

to do something that nobody's ever seen before,

you're gonna run into

- little hiccups here and there. - Yep.

How badly do you want to be able to put that trunk

on the Hogwarts Express with a ticket?

- So bad. So bad. - Oh, yeah.

To get to a point like this

and to be included in this amazing group of my peers

is just the ultimate validation

of all the things that I've been working for the last

12, 13, 14 years of my life.

I'm just so, so, so grateful.

- Great stuff. - Truly a blessing.

Well, guys, we'll leave you to it.

- Thank you. - Awesome. Thank you.

Kimberly and Ashley, you are halfway

through your bake. Three hours left, guys.

Whoo!

This will be my tenth competition.

What? So, this is my first one.

I've always wanted to do a competition,

but to take time away from my kids, being so young,

is incredibly difficult,

but I really want to prove to them

that you can absolutely pursue your passions

and pursue your dreams.

You good? Can I get in here?

Girl, yeah. Tell me to move, child. Or sis.

We're gonna do our gravity-defying sugar bottle.

So, this is going to be that bottle of dragon's blood

that is pouring into the cauldron.

What I'm going to do is really heat up this metal

and start to mold the sugar around it.

My specialty is doing insane sculptures

out of cake, sugar, and gingerbread.

I've had the privilege of training in France,

and so I'm really excited that I can bring that technique

to bring that world of Harry Potter to life.

Isomalt is super delicate.

This thing could crack at any minute.

It's a huge risk,

especially 'cause it's kind of our main focal point.

But we are getting on that train!

What you working on, Miko?

Oh, I'm working on the Earl Grey cake right now.

It's gonna be kind of a lot of cake.

- Miko, Christopher. - Hello!

What is it that you're going to make?

Okay, so basically, it's our shared love

- for Slytherin. - Oh, okay.

So it's a homage of the Slytherin house.

We have a snake that's coiling around the...

The water fountain. For our enchanting element,

we're going to have chocolate wands that,

when we touch it to the fountain,

it will turn it green.

I'm baking a cake with calamansi curd in it

for the fountain.

So, calamansi is a Philippine lime,

and I want to incorporate that in my bake

because I'm from the Philippines.

And then I'm about to start making

the scales for the snake.

So, basically what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take some acetate,

dip this tool into the chocolate,

and then do little leaves, and it should look like scales.

I need about 864 snake scales.

Oh, wow, okay.

Well, we'll leave you to it, guys.

Have fun and we'll check in later on.

- Thank you very much. - Thank you so much.

- Hey, Chris and Miko! - Yes, Jordan?

You don't look like a Slytherin.

- I mean, yes, we are! - Miko looks so nice.

Be careful, 'cause the nicest people

are like the exact opposite.

There's no Harry Potter if there's no rivalry.

Jamie, Jess, you have ten minutes left.

- Ooh! - I gotta move. I gotta move.

I've gotta get this monitor inside of our house.

- How we looking? - I mean... Meh.

Okay, we got this.

- Five... - ...four...

- ...three... - ...two...

...one. Arresto Momentum!

Jamie and Jess, your baking time is up.

We did it, girl.

All right, Jamie and Jess,

it looks like you brought a suitcase,

ready to get on the train.

So, this is the Weasley family trunk

made of chocolate and cake.

And for our enchanting element...

- Boom shakalaka. - Whoa!

...we've created a pop-up scene of the Burrow.

The Weasley family home is made of wafer paper

and is surrounded by moss and rocks made of cake

and Jess's tasting element.

- And... - And...

- Oh, oh. - Wow.

- Oh! Oh my god! - That's brilliant.

Cue the Weasley family.

I love that old leather color of the trunk.

I think the texture is really great.

I love showing the movie.

That is so brilliant.

The imagination,

the detail that's gone into this.

I think something about the grounds

that maybe could have been

a little bit more kind of finesse.

So, I created the rocks.

They are a deconstructed sweet potato pie.

So, it is a sweet potato pie mousse

with a cream cheese gel on the inside.

And then around, you have some pie crust crunchies.

Sweet potato pie is huge,

especially in African American families.

Yes!

I just had to represent my family in that way.

We absolutely love it.

You served me a rock.

I did.

So, it doesn't really look impressive,

but I taste your heart in this.

Did you roast the sweet potatoes?

I did.

You got all of those warming spices.

Definitely is coming through, but it's still very sweet.

Okay.

All right, we're ready for the next one.

All right. My tasting element is obviously cake

- in there somewhere. - Uh-huh.

So, there are layers of a cinnamon,

vanilla, and cardamom cake,

a Italian buttercream cream cheese frosting,

along with my favorite part,

the brown sugar salted caramel with cinnamon.

I like it. This makes me think of a cinnamon roll,

but I do think that you could have gone probably

a little less of a smear

- with the cream cheese. - Okay. Mm-hmm.

It makes the whole thing quite rich,

but overall, I think you've got some wonderful flavors in here.

- Thank you. Thank you. - Delicious.

Well, Jamie and Jess...

You are very clearly talented bakers.

It's gotta be ours. Come on.

We decided...

you didn't quite do enough.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

- So sorry. - Thank you.

We might be going home, but this partnership

I think, will last forever.

I have met a lot of people

through competition, and I would say,

some people that I've met,

I've connected with really strongly

and they become like family.

And you're one of those people.

That was really hard. I mean...

But it's that the standard is so high.

You are the last three teams baking.

Zoe and Jordan, Miko and Chris,

you have four hours remaining to create your masterpieces.

So, for my tasting element,

I'm actually bringing a taste of Portugal,

which is where my family is from.

So we're doing passion fruit and some chocolate popping candy

that are actually going to be casted in the stones

that are around the water fountain.

We gotta get these in the oven because they take about

- an hour and a half to dry. - An hour? Oh, wow.

Oh, that's me.

- Chris. Chris, how do you... - One second.

'Cause look, it's still so liquid.

Sorry, I got you, I got you. It's not on.

Now it's on.

So the entire time it wasn't baking?

Correct.

Oh my god.

- The oven was not on. - Nope.

Once you close, you gotta press, "Okay" again.

Well, that's my first oopsie, and hopefully the last.

There are just three teams left

with the chance of winning a ticket

to move on to the next stage

of this sweet, magical competition.

So, yeah, now I'm filling the brick molds.

What are you filling them with?

White chocolate.

We want it to look like Platform 9 3/4.

Got two cinnamon sponges here.

How you feeling, Kimberly?

- I am good so far. - Good?

So, I am attaching wafer paper

to make it look like they're actual pages.

I just made wands for the judges to pick up.

These are the tasting element wands.

They're gonna be filled with a spiced chocolate mousse

and a salted caramel.

I came up with these flavors 'cause I'm thinking about wands

and I think about that they hold a lot of magic inside of them,

and it's hot in there.

- Hot magic. - Hot magic.

Kimberly and Ashley, you have 30 minutes remaining.

- Only 30 minutes. - We have to get

everything done that we need to get done

so we can get that ticket.

I'm going to start off with our sugar work

for our potion bottles.

So, what I'm doing is, I'm going to unbox my bottle

and then I'm going to put the tasting element

inside of the bottle.

Oh my god, my pastry art school teachers

are going to be so proud of me

for stepping out of my comfort zone

and doing this.

- Finally. - Is it coming up?

Yeah, it is. Good Lord.

You know, it's amazing what happens

when you turn the oven on, Miko.

I feel bad for Chris

because the entire table is surrounded with cakes.

So, these cakes are for the fountain. Whoo!

Just an enormous amount of cake

being cut, being stacked, scraps.

I'm trying to keep my sanity over here.

But we're going big or going home

to punch our ticket to Hogwarts Express,

but it's got to pay off.

- Perfect. - Yes!

I just need to put that bowl in there.

Ashley and Kimberly, 30 seconds.

Watch out for that sugar, girl.

Oh my god. We got this!

I feel like we hit so many things Harry Potter.

The colors, the cauldron, and the books.

- We really hit the mark. - I would lay it down.

- Five... - ...four...

- ...three... - ...two...

...one. Arresto Momentum.

Kimberly, Ashley, your time is now up.

Girl, we done. We did that.

- We did that. - Yes, we did.

- Well done, guys. - Let's do this.

Here we go!

So, Kimberly and Ashley, what have we got here?

Potions class.

I made this chocolate cabinet

with really beautiful isomalt bottles

that are Harry Potter potion ingredients.

The open book is the Advanced Potions book

from The Half-Blood Prince.

It is made out of cake, wafer paper on the top,

and I made these two huge cauldrons out of cake.

And then we've got our enchanting element,

the gravity-defying bottle,

which is an 18-inch sugar spiral,

which looks like dragon's blood.

What?

That is beautiful.

This is what this competition is about.

Feels like something that should be on the set.

Really impressive.

So, as you know, we do require two tasting elements.

And mine is actually this lovely cake.

- Oh, we're eating the bottle. - Yeah!

Okay.

So, I have a lemon cake

with a lemon curd and an elderflower buttercream.

Oh, how beautiful.

This lemon curd is sharp and bright and wonderful

to the point where I want more.

Let me tell you, if I was left here alone,

I would demolish this whole thing,

so I mean...

So, we have a blown sugar bottle

that is going to have a pistachio crema,

a pistachio cake, a pistachio praline,

and caramelized chocolate.

So, you're going to smash the sugar.

- And... smash. - Oh!

- Oh, wait. There we go! - Oh, yes!

I love it.

This is a study of pistachio.

The mousse melts on my tongue, right?

- Yeah. Yeah. - It is so pleasant.

Is it a microwaved sponge that you have in here?

I'd say that's gotten

a bit dense, yeah.

But other than that, absolutely delicious.

That train leaves very soon.

Do you two deserve seats on that train?

Absolutely, you do!

Yes!

- Get on that train. - Get on the train.

Run, girl, run.

- Oh my god! - I know, right?

We're going to Hogwarts!

We're gonna be doing a pile of trunks

and a big chest that's gonna go

in front of our Platform 9 3/4 showpiece.

I specialize in making playful, artistic cake sculptures

through the medium of illusion food

and hyperrealism.

Just gonna age them up a little bit.

I did not go to culinary school.

I learned through myself and the grace of other people.

Zoe and Jordan, Miko and Chris,

you are the last two teams in the kitchen.

You have one hour remaining.

- One hour. - Oh, okay. One hour.

- Honestly, right now, I'm so nervous. - Same.

But... we're gonna make it work.

Jordan, I'm going to do a test on the money gun.

To bring the showpiece to life

means we're going to bring a couple enchanting elements,

one of them being that iconic Harry Potter scene

where all those letters are coming

through the letterbox.

And with that, we're going to use

a money gun that shoots out

wafer paper letters for the judges to see.

- Zoe, Jordan. - Hello!

Looks like it's coming together brick by brick right now.

- It is. It is. - It is.

Jordan, should we test this money gun?

- Yeah, let's do it. - Yeah, should we do it?

Have you not tested this yet?

That's what we're doing! We're busy!

- Ready to go? Come on. - Yep.

- Come on. - It's not quite happening here.

- Hold on. Hold on. - Okay, hang on.

I'm concerned that the money gun here

has gone a bit quiet.

If the money gun does not work,

you know, that's a big magical element

that's just not gonna be there.

Is there a backup in case this doesn't happen?

We throw the letters at the judges.

I'm throwing my tasting element on, okay?

Okay, okay, go ahead.

These are the meringue rocks

for the bottom of the water fountain.

With passion fruit curd and passion fruit gelée,

and some chocolate popping candy.

Miko and Chris, Zoe and Jordan, you have 30 minutes.

Oh my god.

I need to get going with the badger.

I like sculpting animals.

The badger is our emblem,

so it's only fitting with our design.

But this is the fastest

I have ever sculpted in my entire life.

Still have so many things.

- Come on, do it for Slytherin. - Slytherin!

- Do it for Hufflepuff. - Push, push, push.

I really hope that the judges realize

the level of detail in this, and this isn't a waste of time.

Miko and Chris. Yes. Okay, so the scales,

are they all individual like this?

- They're all individual scales. - Yes, they are.

Chris is actually attaching them one by one.

How long is that going to take to put on?

Chris, it's the other way around.

Is everything okay?

I think I put them on backwards.

I have spent ten minutes

putting the scales on the body of the snake

in the wrong direction.

So, there's a lot of scales to put on.

We'll get it all done, one way or another.

Well, guys, we really hope you can pull this off.

- We're hoping to. - Yep.

Getting to the Hogwarts Express is kind of the dream today.

That's the reason we're going all out.

Okay, badger's on.

Zoe and Jordan, Miko and Chris,

- seven minutes remaining, guys. - Oh my god, okay, thank you!

It is right to the wire.

- Right to the wire. - It's right to the wire.

Ten seconds to go, teams.

Holy-- I'm not gonna pipe. I don't have time.

Oh my god.

Arresto Momentum, your time is up.

I'm going to hug you. Sorry.

Good luck, everybody.

We have delivered something that is creative

and showcases skill, but there's no guarantees.

I'm gonna feel completely devastated

if I don't get a ticket.

I am very nervous.

Seeing Jordan and Zoe's showpiece,

- it was amazing. - Amazing.

And I start to worry

whether or not we're gonna get our ticket.

Hello, the final two teams!

- Hello. - Now, if you want to move on

to the next stage of this competition

you've got to earn one of these.

Let's see if either team deserves a space on that train.

Zoe and Jordan, tell us all about it.

We both are very much Hufflepuff.

So our showpiece is a celebration of our house.

At the top, we made a badger,

the Hufflepuff mascot, of course,

including a scarf in our house colors.

And to represent the beginning of our journey

here in this competition,

Zoe and I made a chocolate wall at the center,

mimicking the entrance to Platform 9 3/4.

as well as some trunks at the base

that are made of cake.

The shine on the badger with the whiskers.

Shut your face.

Okay? That's a technical term for "Bravo."

This is amazing.

You can see how much effort has gone in,

but at the same time,

there's something that looks effortless

about the way you've put it together.

We also wanted to try and recreate that iconic scene

where all those letters are coming

through the fireplace.

Let's see what you're made of, judges.

- Ooh! - Oh!

- Ready? - I'm ready.

Whee!

Wait.

Hopefully the gods are smiling on us, and it works.

Boom.

Whee!

- Boom. - What is happening here?

- Oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! - Ooh! Oh! Oh!

Wow, I didn't think they gonna come out.

- It's coming, it's coming! - Oh! Oh!

- Well, that's pretty cool. - Right?

- That's pretty cool. - That was pretty cool.

- I love it. - Okay. Zoe, this looks good.

But what we need to find out...

Does it taste good?

I really wanted to create a cake of flavors

that spoke to my British heritage

so I made a British classic, apple crumble and custard.

We've got some cinnamon sponges,

a custard buttercream, a spiced apple compote,

and a streusel crunch.

This is bringing back all sorts of

kind of good memories

and nostalgia of crumbles from my school days.

I love the crunch that I'm getting through there,

because that's a big part of what a crumble is about.

I love the apple compote.

The one thing, maybe, that I would add into this,

maybe in the apple compote, is having

- some zesty element in there. - Yeah.

I just think a little zing

would have just taken it to that next level.

But I think this is baked beautifully.

Thank you.

All right, we're ready for the next one.

I did a wand for you.

There is a spiced chocolate crémeux.

So, I have some cayenne in there for that spice,

but I also have some cinnamon, other spices as well,

with some cocoa nibs in there.

And then a beautiful salted caramel

is in the center of that.

- Okay, yeah. Okay. - Thank you.

- All right, cheers. - Cheers.

The crémeux tastes beautiful.

And the cayenne is coming in nicely.

The texture of the caramel is really nice.

It's the right consistency in here.

Thank you.

Yeah, relief, I think.

- Yep. - It's good.

Miko and Christopher, tell us about

your spectacular creation.

Our showpiece highlights the mascot

of the Slytherin house, the snake.

It is complete with chocolate scales,

and is coiled around a fountain made of cake.

This is a stunning Slytherin homage.

Thank you, thank you.

The movement that you have with the fountain,

- the scales, the chocolate work. - That's so impressive.

So, what is your enchanting element?

- Oh, yes, yes. - We do have something.

Ooh, the wands are coming out.

- Whoa! - Whoa!

Awesome.

So, that was the color of Slytherin green,

and now the fountain begins to turn green...

- It's now green. - ...so showing

- that we are true Slytherins. - Pea green.

Oh my god. Oh my gosh, it's warm.

Be careful, you might become a Slytherin.

Oh!

She's a Slytherin. She's green.

I am not.

- In denial. In denial. - But I like the fountain.

All right, so let's talk about the tasting elements.

I made you an Earl Grey cake with Earl Grey ganache,

Earl Grey buttercream, and calamansi curd.

I can smell the Earl Grey.

Bon appétit.

The calamansi curd, it's delicious.

It has such lovely, vibrant acidity to it.

I do think that the Earl Grey

may have absorbed some moisture.

That said, I love the flavors.

The Earl Grey components support your cake beautifully.

Next up.

The rocks are actually the dessert.

So, I created a passionfruit whipped ganache

with passionfruit curd and passionfruit gelée,

and then chocolate-covered popping candy.

- Ooh! - Ooh!

The passionfruit flavor comes through and is so clean.

Your curd is the right consistency.

It is so creamy.

The meringue is beautifully crunchy

on the outside.

The only thing in this gel,

it has too much gelatin.

And that sort of takes you

out of this beautiful cloud-like experience.

The competition is so high that

these are the little details that really do count.

All four of you are wizards of baking.

To board the Hogwarts Express,

you have to deliver on every level.

We'll start with Zoe and Jordan.

You two have only just met.

- Yes. - I mean,

- we've only just met you. - Yeah.

But we're looking forward to spending more time with you

because this is your ticket.

We did it. We did it!

Get on that train.

Get on, get on, get on, get on!

What's up? Who else is on here?

- Oh my goodness. - We made it.

By the skin of our teeth, we made it.

- One-way travel. Wow. - Yeah, we're not coming back.

I'm moving in.

Miko and Christopher, I know it's hard

to see another team jump onto that train.

And I know, like Zoe and Jordan, you came here...

for one of these.

But you can't be perfect every time.

You can't always execute what's in your head.

But tonight... you did execute.

And this is your ticket to board the Hogwarts Express.

- Thank you very much. - Thank you!

Thank you so much!

Congratulations, guys. Go on, go on, go on.

It's leaving soon, get on up there.

We're definitely living our dream.

I'm thrilled to be able to continue the adventure.

We can't wait.

Let me tell you, we have six amazing teams on that train.

They are... Yeah, my guys!

Being here is a dream. Just pinch me, like--

Oh, he really did.

- Hey! - Hi, guys, well done!

I'm so excited. It's been my dream.

First, I got my letter, and now we're on the Hogwarts Express.

I'm living my greatest life.

Come on!

Next time, our bakers continue their wizarding journey

in yet another magical location.

Let the baking begin!

We've got to get moving.

It's melting. I'm absolutely freaking out right now.

I'm gonna be deadly serious.

I don't think I can get it done in time.

All in the hope of impressing

a very special guest judge.

And getting one step closer to the Wizards of Baking Cup.

The winning team is...