Original subtitles

-It's go time. -Poof!

Buddy: Four bakers will attempt to make extreme cookies,

amazing cupcakes,

and an over-the-top cake in one 6-hour round.

Time doesn't stop here on "big time bake."

it's ruthless.

That's three masterpieces all at the same time.

It's either going to be amazing or awful!

We are done with the cookies.

At the 2-hour mark, their cookies will be judged.

Presentation -- knocked it out of the park. Thank you.

That clock doesn't stop because they want to chat,

so I'm trying to work in between, get stuff done.

Buddy: And one baker will be eliminated.

Man: Keep working, keep working, keep working.

Woman: Whew! We did it.

Buddy: Four hours in, cupcakes are due.

Man: I'm getting the cake mixed together.

I need that, like, asap.

Buddy: And one more baker's time will run out. Aw!

I think this cookie is darling.

Buddy: After six hours, best cake takes all.

-Whoo! -It's amazing.

It's so, like, life-like.

Buddy: They'll have to bake their best...

This is something that I could see on the cover of a magazine.

...And strategize even better

because the clock...Never...Stops.

This is no joke.

♪

this is "big time bake!"

♪

the clock has already started ticking for today's four bakers.

Their cookies, cupcakes, and cakes

must be inspired by today's theme, the roaring twenties.

The baker left standing in the end

will win an all-expense-paid trip to go on a vacation

of their choice where time stands still.

Come on, this is what I'm thinking.

Okay. Okay. You do cream cheese.

I'll do the cookie, and then we'll come together.

And I flash it so it sets nice. Perfect.

So you can put it inside the cookie. Perfect.

Alright. Alright, it's all about time management

and knowing your place and your role to make it happen.

So I'm inspired

by the classic-ness of the 1920s,

so we decided to do a classic red velvet cookie.

So we're going to have a classic car

on the top of that cookie with some gold details

because the gold is something that pops

from the 1920s.

For our cupcake, we're gonna add an art deco element,

and everybody loves a drink, so. [ chuckles ]

we're gonna do a champagne cupcake

and we're going to infuse that cupcake

with some strawberry puree filling,

and my final cake is going to bring it all together.

Raina: Josephine baker is our inspiration for the cake.

She was known to dance with her bananas around her waist.

So we're going to do a roasted banana cake

with piano keys that's going to give us

the feel of the jazz era of the 1920s.

Just like a eighth of sea salt. Okay.

Not a lot.

Once you put it in, you can't take it back.

First I want to make sure that our cookie dough is ready to go

while kyvaughn works on our bourbon cream cheese filling.

And within that first hour,

I'm hoping that we've gotten those cookies in the oven

and we're working on the pieces for the top

because they're so detailed

that they're going to take a lot of time.

One more taste.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Kyvaughn is baking everyday as well

so she knows the need for time management.

So to have us both working on those cookies,

we're going to get it done quicker, if we work together.

Oh, goodness. The cream cheese is coming out.

Okay, we'll have one that won't be pretty.

I'm putting the cookies in.

Went to grab this timer, it was already on 13 minutes.

Beautiful. [ laughs ] it's a sign.

Definitely we're going to start on the cookies

since that has to be done at the two-hour mark.

But then we're really just trying to tag team

with the big cake while still tag teaming the cupcake

and getting that done at the four-hour mark,

so this is going to be, go, go, go.

So for this challenge, I'm channeling the idea

of a dinner party at the great gatsby house.

So the first course we're going to do a deviled-egg cookie.

Kind of play on that hors d'oeuvres idea.

It's a cream cheese cookie, it's got lime zest and macadamia nut,

and then a little bit of passion fruit buttercream

to make, like, the egg yolk.

The cupcake is going to be a play off the brandy alexander,

which is a chocolate- and cognac-based drink

that's got some nutmeg.

So, we will be presenting the cupcakes underneath a cloche,

and I will fill the cloche with smoke.

The final cake is going to be, like, the main event.

Lots of gold, lots of glitz, lots of glamour.

We're going to do a vanilla-based cake,

but then I'm going to make a pineapple jam

that's got brown sugar and maraschino cherries.

It's almost like a deconstructed pineapple upside-down cake.

Really popular in the '20s, it should be awesome.

I'm working on the cookie dough,

jossie's going to go straight into the vanilla cake batter,

that way we can get it in the oven..

Jossie's strength in the kitchen is definitely her speed,

the girl can move. [ chuckles ]

she has all the recipes memorized, she's incredible.

♪

convection, yes?

Convection do a 13-minute timer.

13.

They have a cake in the oven? They have a cake in the oven?

No. There's no way.

Gina: Time is horrible in this competition.

My overall concept is a big jazz party.

For my cookie, I am doing a sugar cookie

filled with butterscotch-rum filling.

That'll be the keys to the entrance to the party.

For my cupcake,

I'm thinking chocolate cake with this gin rose ganache,

and I would like to have that as the dress-up times,

lots of fringe, lots of pearls.

And my cake will be a five-tier cake with a bathtub,

which they would often use to store liquor

at these massive parties.

4 tablespoons is for one recipe.

I want to double it. Should I go 8?

That's, like, crazy.

Just keep tasting it. Okay.

I taste the boiling hot sugar.

[ laughs ]

so ryan's working on a butterscotch rum

filling for our sandwich cookies.

I'm doing the sugar cookie dough now.

Because it is baked with vegan buttery sticks,

it's going to be more like a flaky pie crust.

Everything that I do is vegan and nut-free out of necessity.

We found out my middle daughter

was allergic to nuts, and no bakery

could secure me a safe cake, so I made it myself

and I kind of became, like, the allergy baker.

♪

here, ryan, taste this.

Taste that. In my mouth.

Oh, yeah. That's good. Okay.

By the first hour, we're hoping to have all of the fillings,

all of the cookies, and all of the cupcakes done,

and we're thinking this is something

that could actually happen,

so we're a little crazy, I think.

We got to get those cookies done fast.

[ exhales sharply ]

♪

can you pass me the rolling pin? No.

Thank you.

The strategy is just no dead time.

So whatever we can do during any time that, like, we have space,

we're just going to fill in that time space

and make sure that we get everything done.

A lot of multi-tasking, I'm sure.

I have been baking since I was 9 years old.

I've been doing it for about 10 years now.

Anybody who downplays my role as a teenager

making cakes professionally, I just like to prove them wrong.

So we want to go with the prohibition scene.

For our cookie, I'm thinking of

a peanut butter rolled oat cookie

topped with a newspaper article

listing all the events that was going on during prohibition.

For my cupcakes, I'll make chocolate stout cupcake

with an alcohol barrel that's labeled with "xxx."

for my cake, I'm envisioning the whole mobster scene

from the 1920s.

She's starting off the cookies,

I'm starting off the decorations,

the toppers for the cupcakes.

That way we can have it all done in a timely manner.

Within the first two hours, I definitely

want to have the cupcakes and the cookies complete.

That way we can dedicate the rest of our time

to our sculpted cake. The dough for the cookies

is about to go in the oven, any minute now.

How are we doing, rosie? About one minute.

One minute, she says. I trust her though, she's good.

Rosie taught me the majority of everything I know,

so I know I'm in good hands with her.

Proud of max. [ chuckles ]

how's it looking? Good.

You're going to make the royal icing.

Gina: I'm making it now.

So the cookies are in the oven,

and I'm going to start making the aquafaba royal icing

for all the details on the cookies.

I'm doing vegan royal icing,

which is done with chickpea water.

The butterscotch is taking longer than I expected

'cause I made a lot more. Okay.

But we're just going to 230 for the butterscotch,

so we're almost there. Okay.

Aquafaba is great to substitute egg whites in a meringue.

[bleep] I'm totally boiling over.

[ gasps ]

careful. Yeah, hot.

Oh, my god. I'm already going against the clock,

so I'm absolutely worried this setback's

going to get me eliminated.

[ sighs ]

♪

I made a mess.

Gina: So there is butterscotch filling everywhere,

all over the stove.

That kind of killed some time, man.

We're going to go ahead and start over.

I'm at 205 degrees.

We're looking for 230.

So we only have, like, about an hour to do these cookies,

and there's so many more little steps to accomplish.

So we're going to do the cake batter.

We're going to do a sprinkle cake,

also called funfetti cake,

which is the happiest cake in the land. [ chuckles ]

okay, done. Okay.

Just pop them in. Done.

It's fine.

♪

honey, I feel like I've been working for two hours already.

♪

buddy: Smells good in here. I recognize him.

Jossie: That's baked by dan. Yeah.

That's so cool.

Baked by dan.

Yeah. [ laughs ]

you can go on to the next thing.

Go ahead and make the... The puree?

Yeah. Okay.

-Perfect. -Hello, raina.

-Hey, buddy. -Hi, raina. How are you doing?

Hello, everyone, I'm good.

So tell us about your overall concept for today.

It's going sexy, 1920s was sexy,

so we're going sexy, classic. Tomlan: I like that.

You're bringing sexy back. Bringing sexy back.

Amen. Yeah, so we're going classic,

starting off with a classic red velvet cookie,

and it's stuffed with bourbon cream cheese

'cause that's what they were drinking back there, right?

Have you started your cupcakes or cake yet?

We have started the filling for our cupcakes,

but we're finalizing the final pieces of our cookies

'cause they're almost ready to go.

Okay. So you haven't really started the cake yet either.

Not the cake yet, either, no. But we're not worried.

Well, I would say start those elements,

especially these things that need to dry, as soon as you can.

Yeah, we're going to get it done.

Alright. Thank you. Good luck. Alright, thank you, buddy.

Yeah. Count them.

Alright, good.

So, my bowl is clean? Kyvaughn: Yeah, it's over here.

-My bowl is clean. -Okay. It's up there.

This smells so good. Cookies are halfway done.

Right now I'm getting started on the actual alcohol barrels

for our cupcake toppers, using brown chocolate fondant.

Hey, max. Hey what's up, boss?

-How we doing, man? -Hi, max.

Good, how are you guys? Excellent.

So you're young, you know, 19 years old.

Yes, I am, yes. I like it.

What is your whole concept? Tell us about it.

So we're going with the prohibition.

We're trying to incorporate alcohol as much as we can.

It's our way of getting alcohol from us to you guys

as if we were in the prohibition.

All of your components have alcohol,

are you worried that you can't try them?

I trust my assistant enough to taste it for me.

Langan: Have you thought about what you're doing with the cake,

do you have any decorations for the cake?

I haven't started the decorations yet,

but ideas are flowing,

and we kind of brainstormed a little bit.

Okay. Well, good luck, my friend.

-Good luck, max. -Good luck.

Thank you.

Buddy: 19, huh?

Tomlan: That is crazy. Good for him.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. These are good.

We're about to tag team on finishing the cookies.

I'm going to get this white chocolate in.

She's working on the buttercream for the topping.

We'll have it on in no time.

The best way to stick to our time constraint

is to make one batch of swiss meringue buttercream,

and then I can flavor it differently

for each one of the bakes.

So just a little bit of passion fruit added,

it goes onto the deviled egg,

and I can add a little bit of nutmeg to it

and then that will go on top of the brandy alexander cupcake,

and then I actually add a little bit of molasses to it to give it

a brown sugar flavor to go with the pineapple upside-down cake.

Hello, ella. Ella: Hello.

Langan: Hey, ella. How are you doing?

I'm doing great.

So my idea for this whole competition

was to do, like, a dinner party at the great gatsby house.

So, I'm jay gatsby.

You guys are my daisy buchanans.

I am doing all of this to impress you guys.

What is your overall strategy

for getting everything done in the time you have?

So I'm actually feeling really good about time right now.

I think this is going to be

one of our strengths in this competition.

I have two boys, I run two businesses,

time management is something that -- that I can handle.

So we're looking really good,

the cookies are almost done, a couple of finishing touches,

but we'll definitely be ready at the two-hour mark.

Thank you, ella. Absolutely.

[ speaks indistinctly ]

that's really good.

Okay, no more. No more rum.

I didn't even use all of the rum that we wanted.

That's good, though. No, that's good.

-Hello, gina. -Hi, how are you?

-Hi, gina. -So my overall concept

is that you guys are getting invited

to a super secret jazz club,

sort of like a speakeasy kind of thing,

so you will receive a key

and then you'll get dressed for the party,

and then the cake is the big party.

I'm a little concerned just looking at your cookies

right now, they look a little brown.

They're actually pretty good. It's a vegan cookie,

so they tend to brown a little bit more.

Makes more sense. I'm with you now.

Okay. I was only looking out.

I'm only looking out. Good luck, gina.

Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you, judges.

-Good job. -Okay.

Focus, do something, don't stop doing things.

I'll have 15 minutes left till my cookies are due,

but we're good.

Oh, my god, I love these.

Stress. [ sighs ]

no, we're good, we're good.

Oh, my gosh rosie.

Buddy: With two hours coming up fast,

the bakers have to use every second

they got to finish their cookies

while getting ahead on their other desserts.

♪

ryan: We got to get cupcake batter done.

Gina: We are behind in everything,

and I'm, like, freaking out.

So I am going to start the cupcake batter

while ryan is finishing up the cookies.

For the cupcake batter, I'm going for a denser,

a really chocolaty batter.

I'm a little worried about the cupcakes

because the batter doesn't look as smooth as I would like it to,

and I'm afraid that I might have over-mixed it at this point,

but we don't a lot of time, so I'm just going to go ahead

and scoop it and hope for the best.

Just make it super gold.

[ speaks indistinctly ] what?

Beautiful? Yeah.

Okay, cupcakes are going in.

Here, I'll starting putting the cookies together.

Check on them. They need...

Where are they?

In the freezer. Which one?

The only one.

♪

they're hot still? Nope.

Max: I feel like the time running out

on the back of my mind

is definitely making me rush

and a little bit nervous, so I need to just

get started on the cake.

Oh, my god, I put the oil in the batter.

[bleep]

I messed up. I have to -- is there more cake?

Yeah. I messed up. I have to dump this all out.

Huh? I said I messed up.

I have to dump this all out.

Why? I put oil into the flour by accident.

♪

max: Right now I know our cookies is our main priority,

but I have to redo these cakes.

I'm thinking positive.

You want to just put the walnut pieces on top

so that way they can stick on?

♪

[ sighs ] alright. Here we go.

Buddy: Two hours are up on the clock.

It's time for the bakers to face the music.

They'll be judged on taste, design, and level of difficulty.

♪

make it quick.

They got to dig deep and continue to work

on their cupcakes and cake,

even though one of them will be going home.

-Hi, judges. -Hello, gina. -Hi gina.

So tell us, what do you have for us?

Gina: Sugar cookies with butterscotch rum inside

and vegan frosting on the top as well.

I got to say, you nailed the theme for roaring '20s.

The piping that you created with the royal icing

and that little gold shimmer,

I think really adds a lot of nice detail.

I'm excited to try them. Yay, okay.

-Bon appétit. -Yeah.

Tomlan: Let's do it.

♪

I am pleasantly surprised because your vegan cookie

doesn't leave anything to be desired flavor-wise.

I almost want more of this filling.

I think it's really delicious,

and I don't get a huge kick of the rum.

I think you did a good job.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Alright, cake. Ryan, cake.

Hello. Raina. Hello.

Here we have our classic red velvet cookie

to go with the classic car from the 1920s,

filled with the cream cheese that has bourbon.

Okay. Okay.

I love the gold foil.

Car detail is awesome, and put a good feather on it

and it screams roaring '20s.

Thank you. Bon appétit.

-Dig in. -Thank you.

♪

mmm, it's like a whole shot of bourbon.

That bourbon flavor really is wow.

I love that it's kind of crispy on the outside,

but super soft on the inside. Almost still gooey.

The cream cheese buttercream is very potent with the bourbon.

I love the fact that you filled the cookie, which was amazing.

You definitely put too much bourbon in this.

Okay. Not even a question.

I call it the way it is, right?

Call a spade a spade. You're the caller.

Thank you. Alright.

Now it's on to cupcakes. Alright, here we go.

I don't need this anymore, we can put this.

I want to taste the damn cookie.

[ laughs ]

-hey, max, how we doing? -Hi, max.

-Good. -Hi.

A little stressed, but we've been doing great.

Wow. Wow.

Wow. Look at the detail on that.

So we have a newspaper article on top of our cookie,

it basically tells us all the different headlines

that were going on around the prohibition.

These fondant pieces on top are pretty thick.

I think you could have rolled it a little thinner

or maybe used wafer paper and kind of ruffled it

to make it look more like an aged newspaper.

Were you going for the chocolate to be melted

or did you want that to set?

I mean, melted chocolate, I knew

that it almost catches everybody's eye.

-Let's taste. -Oh.

Wow. This thing weighs a lot.

You got a pound of cookie.

So we have a peanut butter rolled oat cookie

topped with a peanut butter chocolate ganache

with crushed pretzels, crushed peanuts,

a little bit of sea salt, and then our topper on top.

I think it's very dense. It's really delicious.

I love the chocolate-peanut butter combination.

I really enjoyed the texture of the cookie.

I think it needed a little bit more salt

and maybe a little bit more peanut butter.

I think if you had packed some more salt in here,

it would have let all the flavors kind of sing

a little bit more. This is a big cookie,

so it had potential for really, really big flavor.

Nice job. Good job. Thank you.

The chocolate, it could have used a little bit more sea salt,

but overall, they were really impressed.

I actually think I forgot the sea salt on top.

No way.

Hi, ella. Hello, ella, how we doing?

-Good. -Oh, my gosh.

Wow. These are beautiful.

Thank you. They look really beautiful.

-So cool. -They look like real eggs.

Yeah. Good, good, that's what I was going for.

This is a cream cheese cookie.

It has some lime zest and some macadamia nuts in it.

And then it has a white chocolate shell

and a passion fruit swiss meringue buttercream.

The presentation is on point.

It really does look like an egg.

The egg shape is perfect,

even the matte finish on the buttercream,

it doesn't even look like buttercream,

it looks like a whipped up... Right. Yeah.

...Kind of cooked egg yolk, and it really looks real.

I think this is phenomenal. I only have one concern,

I just hope that the chocolate's not too thick.

Cheers. It feels like an egg.

-Salut. -Cheers.

♪

is this coating chocolate? It is. Yeah.

Tomlan: The chocolate is a little thick.

It's just a little hard to crack into, no pun intended.

Ba-dum! [ laughs ]

I'm disappointed that I didn't get more of the inside

because the cookie was delicious.

Thank you. Good job.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

Shall we taste them?

Yeah, let's do it. See what we think.

Raina: Hopefully they don't throw

our drunken cookie to the wolves.

So now we got to get to the hard part here.

I would say my top two are max and ella. Yeah.

I would have liked less chocolate on ella's egg,

but the presentation and the buttercream

for me made up for all of that.

Had a little too much chocolate on it,

but it wasn't overpowering, it still was delicious,

and their passion fruit buttercream

was off-the-charts good. Yeah.

With raina's cookie, it was just too much bourbon.

Now, gina's presentation was great.

I wanted way more of that butterscotch filling.

I agree with you there. I think that was huge miss.

That's where all the flavor in her cookie was...

Absolutely. ...In the filling.

I think we have a decision, right?

Let's go do it. Alright.

Bakers, can I have your attention, please?

The clock is not stopping,

so let me get right to the results.

Unfortunately, one of yous have to go home first.

And today that person is raina.

Sorry, raina. It's alright, no problem.

Just keep it running.

♪

oh.

It's okay. It's alright.

It's okay. So.

Buddy: So you got about an hour and 10 minutes left

to judge your cupcakes. We'll see you then.

Ella: The judges said they were a little heavy on that bourbon.

Let's make sure we go a little lighter on that cognac.

We don't want to have the same thing happen to us.

Jossie: Okay, sounds good.

Oh, this looks so good. [ chuckles ]

ella: The only thing going through my mind is "go, go, go."

the chocolate batter for the cupcake is mixing now,

so I just have to get it scooped and in the oven.

So I'm starting the pineapple jam.

So I'm trying to play off this pineapple

upside-down cake flavor,

and I thought the best way to do that would be through a jam.

So you pull all the flavors

that you get from a pineapple upside-down cake

all into one filing. We're done with that.

Gina: Ryan's working on decorations for the cupcakes.

He's also doing the gin rose ganache.

I'm out of breath. [ speaks indistinctly ]

it doesn't matter, just keep going.

My cupcakes are getting ready for the party now,

so we have chocolate cupcakes,

and they have a rose gin chocolate ganache inside.

How do the cupcakes look, gina?

Can you tell that it's super roaring '20s?

I don't know what I'm going to say about this paper.

Oh, my god.

Oh.

Okay, this is not working, ryan.

I don't know what to do. Pipe beads on it?

That's going to take forever.

No, no, no. This isn't working.

Everything dried.

Gina: I'm, like, freaking out. The string of pearls

was going to cover the edge of the wafer paper

but the pearls dried out and they keep breaking,

but at this point, we don't have any more time

to make 12 more strings of pearls.

Oh. Oh, my god.

I don't know what to do.

♪

gina: I don't know what to do.

Maybe some royal piping on this.

That's going to take forever.

The pearls dried out and they keep breaking,

but at this point, we don't have any more time

to make 12 more strings of pearls,

so I'm hoping that the judges won't notice.

Like this?

Sure, yeah, actually.

I think it just needs a little bit more detail.

If it's too long, then don't do it.

I already started it, so now I have to do it.

Okay, I'm going to work on the buttercream,

the bailey's buttercream. Max: Time is ticking down,

and I need to just get started on the cake,

while roseann starts making the whiskey ganache filling

and irish cream buttercream for the cupcake.

My family really likes the whole mobster scene.

I'm really interested in it myself.

I'm a cake gangster, as you can see.

So the bottom layer of my cake is going to be a speakeasy

topped with a whiskey crate, followed by the tommy gun,

and I'm going to top it with a zoot suit,

an alcohol bottle. And a top hat.

I'm using these rice-cereal treats

to add the top part of my hat.

We're going for a classic zoot suit hat,

so we're just basically going to place that on top.

Looks good. The hat is done.

Look, what do you think?

It's awesome. It looks perfect.

♪

do you think 10 minutes is too early to smoke these?

I would -- set these for 10 minutes?

Well, I mean, how long did it take...

Start doing it and see what -- see what happens 'cause

it's better to start earlier and turn it off.

Ella: I know the judges are coming soon

to taste my cupcakes,

and the only thing left to do is the smoky reveal.

So I want to make sure

that I'm going to get enough smoke in these cloches

to where you really can't see the cupcakes very well.

That way when they pick up the cloche

and all the smoke goes away, you have this sort of reveal.

My worry is that it's not going to fill all the way up,

which is why I'm starting early, I just want to make sure

that I can actually get this thing happening.

Buddy: The four-hour mark is moments away,

and these bakers need to make sure

everything is 100% on their cupcakes.

If not, the party's over for one of them.

It's kind of not working. [ chuckles ]

I'm definitely going to be able to get some smoke in here.

I just don't know if I'll be able to get

the full enclosed effect. [ chuckles ]

♪

buddy: Four hours has arrived,

and it's time for us to judge their cupcakes.

The bakers got to push forward on their cakes

because the clock never stops.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

How are we doing, gina? Hi, gina.

How are you? Hey, judges. Tomlan: How are you?

Good, good.

So it's a chocolate cupcake

with a rose gin ganache

for a little pre-game before the party

whirled with chocolate frosting on top.

Little fondant decorations, a little vegan royal icing,

and you have red wafer paper feathers as well.

Since the buttercream is vegan, what did you use

instead of butter?

Half shortening, half vegan butter.

I love your presentation with the pearls,

it really makes me think I'm sitting

in front of my make-up chair and getting ready for the --

a big party, which is really fun.

You know, I'm really getting kind of, like,

flapper-esque vibes here,

I feel like this reminds me of a head-dress

that a flapper would put on her head

when she was at a party.

Buddy: I got to say, gina,

you definitely nailed the roaring '20s here.

Thank you.

♪

the flavor profile in the chocolate cake is really good.

With the ganache, it's delightful.

The best part is that ganache, but I don't get any of the rose

and I want some of that gin, so...

I have to disagree with you because I could taste the rose,

and I know it's kind of one of those delicate flavors

that you really have to really play with

and kind of experiment with to get a nice balance,

but I tasted the rose in the ganache.

-Thank you, guys. -Nice job.

[ sighs ] ryan: Not bad?

[ sighs ]

alright, just keep going.

♪

buddy: Hey, max. Hello.

-Hi, max, how are you? -How we doing?

Good, good, stressed, but we're good.

So picture yourself in 1920s.

During the prohibition, there was people who did everything

they could to get alcohol to one another.

This is our way of getting alcohol to you guys.

So it's a stout chocolate cupcake with a whiskey ganache

topped with an irish cream buttercream

and the chocolate ganache drizzle

and then topped with our fondant piece.

I love the "no drinking,"

prohibition is the name of the game.

You can definitely tell that by your presentation.

Your cupcakes and the decorations,

they're all so consistent.

There's nice height to the cupcake.

The chocolate drizzle looks perfect,

it's not dripping down the side.

So I can tell you really thought through each element of,

you know, what you brought together.

Well, I'm going to say, max, I do like the fondant work,

but when I look at the back of the barrels,

they're not finished.

When you look at it like that, it should look like a barrel.

Bon appétit.

♪

I really, really enjoyed the irish cream buttercream on top.

The ganache has definitely got more of a whiskey punch to it.

It was more of a punch than I wanted.

As much as I tasted that whiskey in the ganache,

I actually didn't mind it.

Thank you. Thanks, max.

Of course. Good job.

Max: So, I got to get started on my cake.

I'm a little worried though, whiskey ganache,

I mean, I couldn't really taste it,

so we'll see how it goes.

It was strong. [ chuckles ] yeah.

-Hi, ella. -Hi.

-Hi, ella. -Hi.

-How are we doing? -Good, good.

So today we did a brandy alexander cupcake.

Brandy alexander was a really common cocktail in the '20s.

So we wanted to represent that in our cupcake today.

So this is a chocolate-based cake and then the top

is a swiss meringue buttercream with nutmeg.

And then we're doing this sort of smoky reveal,

it's hidden, mystique under here,

so you can lift it up and the smoke should fly,

and then you can see the cupcakes underneath.

Let's do it. Do it.

Voilà. Oh, wow.

Tomlan: You can definitely smell the smoke.

Yeah, you can smell it. Dramatic, just like gatsby.

Yes.

Presentation-wise, I like the texture

and reflection that you get off of the salt,

that's really cool. I think it's beautiful.

This chocolate bark with the gold shavings is awesome.

Thank you. Let's eat, guys.

Let's dig in.

♪

buddy: It's got a nice sponge to it.

Yeah, it's light, which is awesome.

Mmm. You can taste all the smoke in the chocolate.

Good. Really smoky. Mm-hmm.

There is some cognac in the cake.

I filled it with a dark chocolate and cognac cremoux.

The chocolate cake, it's nice and springy,

it's light, it's got a nice crumb.

I got to be honest with you.

The cake is perfect.

Okay. The grain was right, it sprung back,

it had great mouthfeel, the problem is the smoke.

It reminded me of a brisket, and not in a good way.

The presentation and your interpretation

might be enough to keep you around, we'll see.

Hope so. Thanks.

Nice job. Thanks, ella.

I didn't expect it to be that smoky.

They loved the cake. Just that smoke was too much.

I think I started too early,

I was afraid it wouldn't be smoky enough

and I left it too long, but they loved the cake.

Buddy: With less than an hour and a half left, these bakers

need to kick their cake-making skills into high gear,

but only two of them will get to show us their final creations.

Do you guys have a favorite? Who was your favorite?

I didn't have a favorite.

I didn't have a favorite either, I think they all had issues.

Ella's cupcake had the best texture.

Agreed, yeah. But the smoke kind of killed it.

Max's chocolate cake

didn't have the perfect crumb structure like ella had.

Yeah. But it was edible.

Yeah. Now, gina's cupcake,

I thought was far from perfect.

Yeah. But I thought that presentation was great.

And and her filling.

In gina's cupcake... That was --

...The chocolate was nice, you could taste --

I could taste the rose. Tastes good.

Yeah, agreed. I agree.

Okay.

♪

buddy: Bakers, you had four hours to make cupcakes

inspired by the roaring '20s.

Reminder, the clock is not stopping here,

so I'm going to get right to the results.

The person going home is...

Reminder, the clock is not stopping here,

so I'm going to get right to the results.

The person going home is...

Gina.

Sorry. It's alright.

Oh.

♪

ryan: It's okay. I don't want to finish this cake anyway.

Okay, max and ella. You're the final two bakers.

You got an hour and 10 minutes to complete your cakes.

We'll be back.

Roseann: You got this.

I got a lot of work to do.

Okay, get going.

[ laughing ] oh, my god.

[ sighs ] deep breaths.

I am safe, which is fantastic,

but it's a little bit bonkers to finish a cake

with about one hour left on the clock.

Right now I am painting the "great gatsby" eye

that is really iconic in the book.

I'm having jossie finish up the sugar lace

as I'm working on the gatsby eye.

There's a couple of other pieces that are already done,

they just need to be kind of glued together

and then stack it.

What do you want me to work on next?

So this can get glued on the larger blue cake

that's in there. Okay.

We'll do the top ones -- and the bottom ones.

♪

I need to get started on the gun.

When it comes to my cakes, I don't play,

and when a job needs to be done,

I get it handled.

The tommy gun is definitely going to play a big role

in this cake because it adds all the additional height.

[ sighs ]

a cake like this would normally take me about six hours.

With the clock against us, I really got to rush it.

I'm noticing ella doesn't have her cake stacked yet.

If I were in that position, I'd be a little nervous,

but we'll see how she plays it out.

How are we doing? This is falling.

♪

our cereal rice treats are falling down a little bit

due to the weight of the fondant.

If my tommy gun falls apart,

this whole entire cake is going to be ruined.

This is falling. I'm going to try putting a bolster

right here, and I'm going to put a small piece of cardboard

right there kind of to hold it up,

and I'm going to wrap it with either silver

or brown to blend it in.

Okay. I'm trying to create a gravity-defying cake,

and gravity is not on our side,

so I'm hoping that this will be enough to hold up

the weight of this tommy gun.

I need a few pieces of cardboard.

♪

I think I fixed it. [ chuckles ]

ella: Let's just try to get the rest of the gold lace on here.

They match up. Perfect.

Hey, I'm going to go right above you

in a second.

No, I don't think so.

Ella: With the separator in the cake,

I know the structure is not super sound.

So I won't spin it too fast, don't look at it too hard,

I'm just trying to get this thing up.

[ chuckles ]

♪

okay.

If I could get the same thing done on the back,

and then just the blue on these two,

it will look like everything is all the way round.

You've got 22 minutes. That feels lofty.

♪

♪

so looking at max's cake from across the kitchen,

I know that I have got to nail the detail work on this cake.

Well, hopefully this will line up perfectly.

Good, and yeah, and we'll throw around the border here too.

Max's cake is looking amazing right now.

He's going with the complete opposite route as I am,

so I think that's a good thing

that ours will really stand apart from each other.

So hopefully the sort of clean, modern route

that we're going with,

the art deco look, will win over the judges.

I'm just trying to get as much on this cake

decorative as possible.

So jossie is putting on some dragées,

I'm putting on a quick border.

I'll finish up this border.

That way we've got something going all the way around.

Got it.

Tasteful whiskey.

Buddy: The bakers have just minutes left

to put the finishing touches on their cakes

before the clock hits the six-hour mark.

Max: We need to airbrush the cake

to clean it up a little.

More border going across?

Yeah. Yeah?

Max: [ speaks indistinctly ]

a white fondant strip and pipe black buttercream

so it will say speakeasy. Here's the buttercream.

Have we got another one?

Oh here's this one, right here, sorry.

Is there enough? [ speaks indistinctly ]

♪

buddy: Alright, finishing touches, guys.

♪

it's going to be cute. Coloring in the mark.

Buddy: Okay, bakers, it's been six hours.

Your time is up. Prepare to be judged.

♪

[ chuckles ] a gold five.

We're covered in gold.

Hello, max. Hello.

Hi, max, how are you? Hey, max.

Good. Welcome to the 1920s.

We have the famous american gangster, al capone.

We have our classic zoot suit and a bottle of whiskey,

and then of course, there's always violence

behind all the alcohol and prohibition,

so we had to add a tommy gun.

I love the hat and the suit on top

because it really -- it just,

without any explanation, it screams, "gangster."

right. Like 1920s.

You showed a lot of techniques,

though, with your fondant sculpting.

The airbrushing and the texturing

that you added to the wood crate.

So I can tell that you had a lot of tools in your tool box.

You really pulled out the stops to bring this cake together.

Max, I think it's really stunning.

Really what stands out to me is the level of detail,

like this newspaper and the cigars,

you can tell you know what you're doing,

and it really shows in this cake.

The tommy gun was brilliant.

Adding this height and dimension gives a whole another stature

and presence to your cake. That's a smart decorator there.

I love the top tier. It really screams '20s and gangster.

I see glimpses of genius, but I got to be honest with you,

you need to be able to learn the mediums

in different ways.

This tommy gun you should have did all in modeling chocolate.

It would have been so forgiving. You could have laid the things.

You could have added a lot of texture.

Do you ever use modeling chocolate?

I've never used it in my life.

You missed some opportunities to really make this cake shine,

and it's what I think is a rookie mistake,

and you're a rookie. So let's taste the cake.

You guys have a brown sugar cake

with a vanilla-bourbon buttercream

and burnt butterscotch cream center.

I always think that butterscotch has a really old-timey feel,

and of course we added the bourbon element.

Max, you definitely baked an incredibly moist,

tender brown sugar cake. Tomlan: I agree.

The cake is very, very moist, which is nice.

Burnt butterscotch?

I feel like it could be even a little bit more burnt.

Okay. But it's really delicious.

I thought the butterscotch

could have been a little bit deeper.

I think it was missing a little bit

of that caramel-y, butterscotch-y,

you know, deeper flavor,

but overall, I really enjoyed it.

Thank you.

Thanks, max. Thanks, max.

Of course.

[ sighs ] that was a lot of work.

Hello, ella. Hello. Hello.

Hi, ella. How are you feeling?

Good. That was a lot of fun.

So I really wanted to go the art deco route with this cake,

the straight lines, the chevron, and then, of course,

still we have the nod to "the great gatsby"

with the crying eye at the top.

I like the piping up there,

and I think it's a nice, cohesive design.

I think your theme that you've brought us

through this entire time -- really, this is the finale,

and this speaks to gatsby and the roaring '20s,

and I think you've really nailed the décor.

I think that some of the work is really beautiful,

I have to be honest with you, the cake is crooked.

Okay. But for six hours, I'm happy.

Color scheme is beautiful. I love the colors.

The navy, the blue, the gold really meshes well together.

Let's taste your cake.

So you have a vanilla bean cake.

It has a pineapple jam filling that's made with brown sugar,

and we got the maraschino cherries in there too

so it really brings out the pineapple upside-down cake feel.

And then the buttercream is a brown sugar

swiss meringue buttercream.

Alright, ella, first off, this filling,

I love the texture.

The maraschino cherries are soft,

they have a nice little bite to them,

add, like, a nice little meatiness to the center,

and I love it. Good, thank you.

So this is a little bit dense for my liking.

I also think I was expecting a little more

of the pineapple flavor... Okay.

...When you say pineapple upside-down,

I almost wish that this filling was within all of the layers

or somehow incorporated in another way

because I want more of that. More, okay.

And what I love about this, this cake has

got good crumb structure, and the pineapple,

it's quite delicious.

No reason why it shouldn't be in every layer.

Great job. Thank you.

-Thanks, ella. -Thank you, ella.

Thanks.

We got it done.

♪

okay, so what do you guys think?

They both had issues, but they both had

redeeming qualities too.

Of course, of course. Yeah, I agree.

When it came to what cake I would keep eating, though,

it was ella's cake.

I thought her flavor profile was really nice.

See, I disagree, I think I would go back to max's.

Really? I like the flavor of his cake.

I think max was really smart

to use the tommy gun to add height to his cake,

but he used all fondant, which is kind of messy.

I'm torn. It's tough because I like both of them

and I think that they both bring a lot to the table.

But we have to make a decision.

Buddy: Bakers, you had six hours to create cookies,

cupcakes, and a cake inspired by the roaring '20s,

which is not easy.

So the winner is...

♪

max.

[ applause ]

♪

how do you feel, max?

I'm, like, speechless.

-Congratulations. -Congrats.

Thank you. Congratulations.

Max: Being 19 and winning "big time bake,"

it just shows that my age doesn't play a factor

in my creativity.

It just -- my work speaks for itself.

No, you did a good job with it.

Keep up that good work. Thank you.