Fantasy Baking Championship

It's the finale, y'all! And we are all cordially invited to doff our fanciest duds and visit Hotel Henson for some killer nuptials! In a finale designed to truly celebrate our bakers' craft - no tricks or twists or sudden deaths - we are treated to the cheesiest, dreamiest snacking boards and the most dramatic, delectable black wedding cakes we've ever seen. The BEST way to cap a killer season, and the best way to make OUR journey to the thirteenth floor, where these four dum dums are taking up residence!

Halloween Baking Championship opens this week's episode with the most terrifying taunt yet: John Henson as into a 1920's thirst trap bartender.... MEOW, fellow bakers. Me. OW. After creating boozy throwback death eclairs in the pre-heat, our bakers must face their worst fears whilst producing not one, not two, but THREE ENTREMETS IN TWO HOURS. What did we learn from this episode? A) Even terror sloths are adorable B) Zac is a killer baker, a drag queen AND a shark attack survivor C) Black Licorice can go to Hell? If you answered D) all of the above, you were watching the same episode as us! Break out that side of ranch and join us on the couch as we dish on the penultimate episode of season 8!

Is that a shard of glass in your eye, or are you just watching the grossest Halloween Baking Championship season ever? Maybe both (and we're into it)! HBC serves up a preheat full of jigglin' eyeballs and heebie jeebies and then the bakers must twin out on identical cakes inspired by the creepy girls living in room 222. The scariest part? They all KILLED this challenge, which meant one beloved baker was sent to the 13th floor for the tiniest flaw. Join us this week for your fill of eye veins, haunted bed ruffles, and horrifically good flavor combinations!

MEAT CAKES??? How do you spell “full body vocal gross-out shudder”? Cause we did a LOT of that this episode, and we likey. Our bakers follow up some light arson in the preheat with quite possibly the grossest challenge (and CAKE: we're lookin' at you, Kristi) in Halloween baking history. We never would have expected a baking competition show to viscerally remind us that we are all quite literally made out of meat, but here we are. Top their incredible performances with the fact that Chris now has to bake a prosciutTOE cake, and these hosts give this episode five knives!

Maggots, maggots, maggots! Halloween Baking Championship brings the noise and the funk this week in two heats designed to horrify our senses. In maybe the most disgusting thriller yet, the bakers were challenged to deliver us the most putrid, rotting dishes they could, using fermented ingredients and their grossest horror instincts. *insert hurl sound* We'll be honest. The smashed dessert killer challenge was a little bit of a letdown after a thrilling pre-heat, but if it got John Henson to axe through a door Jackie Nic style, sign us up. JOHN SMASH!!

No Thriller. All Killer. And, TWO bakers take a trip to the 13th floor ALL in a one hour episode?? Food Network, what are you doing to us?! In this week's trip to Hotel Henson, our fearless bakers team up to create haunted maze cakes delicious enough to make anyone risk getting lost inside them. Join us as we trim the delectable hedges on this episode, break down the fact that none of us know what an entremet is, bid a fond farewell to two of our beloved bakers and acknowledge the record-setting exit of one of our FBC hosts from the competition!

In a daring publicity stunt for his notorious hotel, John Henson announces a new pet-friendly policy with a celebrity appearance from Dreamworks' Puss n' Boots. In a challenge that makes as much sense as the cross-promotion, our beleaguered bakers must turn their Choux into shoes and try not to die doing it. Next, they must make that most famous cake none of us have ever heard of, the "soccer tour"*! These chocolate cakes surprisingly featured zero yellow cards or athletic legs but DID include some beautiful mirror glazes. The episode culminated in a sudden-death bake off featuring two bakers we're not ready say good-bye to and the baked good every baker inexplicably hates: the cupcake. OH THE HORROR!!! * Sacher-Torte, if you're Austrian.

Welcome back to Spoooky Season, Y'all!!!  This year, we're all making an extended visit to Hotel Henson, where we can check out anytime we like, but we can NEVER LEAVE. And who would want to, with this many gory, gushing, guh-licious desserts on tap? Blueberry danish severed face pie?? Yes, please.  This place has everything: a creepy host, bleeding cakes, a rotting grandma, strawberry intestines... Need we go on?  No, we need not.  Hotel Henson sells itself.  So unpack your bags, throw on your monogrammed robe, and be sure to check that complementary lobby cookie for razors, cause this is gonna be a season to DISMEMBER.  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!!  

There's a crispness in the air and a spooky, pumpkin spice infused fog rolling in over the hill so, you know what that means...it's time for Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship, y'all!! And for us four dumdums, that means it's DRAFT DAY!! Join us as we prepare to check in to John Henson's 'Hotel of Horrors' by placing our team selection fates in the hands of the Wheel of Death™! LET'S DO THIS!!

What the everloving CLUCK?!? Spring Baking Championship caps off a doozy of a season with a sprinkle-covered nightmare of their own making! After our beloved contestants pour their hearts out in a tearjerker of a pre-heat, the show continues with the psychological torture springing a tone-deaf head-to-head, sudden death bake off on them, causing one of our beloved bakers to call it quits. WHEW. Has this show officially jumped the shark? Are they actually conducting a psychological experiment? On a lighter note, how badly do we all want to taste Jaleesa's outrageous chocolate cake? Tune in as we celebrate these bakers one more time and slowly lose our minds as the spring chaos has one last crack at us all!

All aboard! It's wine-o'clock, and Spring Baking Championship is celebrating with a booze cruise of an episode! How do you incorporate cheddar and wine into a cake? Could cocktails convince the judges to like cupcakes? Will Dennis EVER be granted an advantage? Grab your life preservers because this episode is a wild penultimate ride…

Just when you think the Spring chaos may have reached its peak, the team at SBC whips up yet another jumbo cookie salad sized surprise with the return of Carolyn! In this episode, our beloved bakers take on an Easter Bunny-sponsored preheat featuring candy themed Pâte à Choux, before teaming up to put the "CUTE" in charcuterie with main heat farm animal-inspired dessert boards. What could be BAAAAAAAH-D?

Pinkies up Bakers of the World, cause we're taking a trip to Scone Country! Spring Baking Championship asks our bakers to start the day off right with carbs and butter in a pre-heat featuring the Best Biscuit Nancy Has Ever Had... Then it's off to art school... on the farm? Bakers must whip up painterly cakes featuring scenes from Molly's farm using only a palette knife. Two floating tractors, one tomato fiasco and a Nice Looking Chicken later, and we are one week closer to the finale and crowning our Spring Baking Champion!

Bakers of the world, do we have a sweet Springtime treat for you! Current Spring Baking Championship baker, FBC favorite and Team J.T. superstar Tom Smallwood joins us on the pod to talk about diving, dodgeball, drag, and oh yeah, baking! Come for the behind-the-scenes dish, and stay to find out why he's the friend you need to have (which only PARTLY has to do with baked goods). Everything's coming up Tom! Follow Tom on Instagram @cheftom_pastry and on Twitter @PastrychefTom

Bakers of the world, grab a cup of milk cause this one's SPICY. Spring Baking Championship takes us out to the ballgame…to distract us from a main heat that's so Basic™ y'all burned Twitter to a crisp with hot takes. We're here for it (and you), with our own salty rage feelings, flying burritos, and other trash bag desserts for the ages. Join us in this dumpster, as we light a fire fueled entirely by cookie salad.

Better late than never! The spring chaos continues as our intrepid bakers tackle Cherry Blossom Season, and your Fantasy Baking Championship hosts fight an ill-timed lawnmower in this festive and floral episode! Cherry blossoms two ways! A schmear of Kindness! The return of the advantage to the pre-heat winner AND the twist! It's enough to make the bakers (and us) a little misty...

Bakers of the world, we are four episodes in to this season of Spring Baking Championship and the chaos we have come to expect from Spring is being delivered by the basket! A pre-heat that asks our beloved bakers to turn an upside-down cake on its head - wouldn't that be a regular cake? A main heat modern take on a traditional pie - a.k.a. "Jen's Dream Heat"? A pre-heat winner who gets no advantage in the main heat, despite crushing the challenge AND giving us all the feels while doing it?! And, WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE MAIN HEAT TWISTS?!?! Grab a slice, embrace the chaos and let's get into it!

Hang on to your tea cart because this one's a wild ride! And we don't mean the Spring Baking episode - that one is perfectly civilized and spectacular and features an edible porcelain pineapple teapot that's so exquisite it makes us want to throw things- no, we're talking about THIS episode of FBC. Long time listeners, you're no stranger to our weird back-road car trip detours, but this one really takes the tea cake. We don't know what happened, but if you're here SPECIFICALLY to hear us fawn over cookies the size of a steering wheel and outrageous edible tea cups, you have our full permission to fast forward at will. Otherwise, sit down, tighten your seatbelts and keep your arms and legs inside the teacup at all times because this episode is DEFINITELY a Mad Hatter affair!

Camp Devil's Food Lake is not done with us yet as Halloween Baking Champion Renee Loranger joins us with the gory details of how she hacked and slashed her way to victory with nothing but an icing spatula and a killer instinct! Longtime friends of the pod know that Renee has often popped in to encourage us in our own baking (if you can call it that), and it was a devilish delight getting to dish with her post-victory. The opening of her dream bakery Sugar Pop! What Reality Show is she gunning for NEXT?! Also, BRANDED DRUMSTICKS! Join us for a bloody good time... Follow Renee on Instagram at @renee_k_loranger Follow her bakery, Sugar Pop Baking Co. on Instagram @sugar_pop_bakingco And check out the official site HERE: https://www.sugarpopbakingco.com/

Laissez les bons temps rouler! Host Molly Yeh admits she's butchering Cajun French but letting the good times roll right into the kitchen as the bakers head down to the big easy for some Mardi Gras madness. Our bakers put the fat in Fat Tuesday with King cake inspired treats followed by a boozy parade float cake fit to carry a krewe of Beignets right into our judges' mouths. Is a beignet just a square donut? How much cinnamon is too much cinnamon? Why is there a plastic baby in my cake?? Join us for these questions and more as we welcome a new surprise baker (hello Stephon!) and crown (or rather, ribbon?) this year's Mardi Gras King baker!

Like all good killers, three 2021 Halloween Baking Finalists Adina Schaefer-Morgan, Guillermo Salinas and Megan Baker have popped up when you least expect them! Join us as we dissect the bloody guts of the Halloween Baking Championship process, see what haunted memories remain from Camp Devils Food Lake and get a gentle reminder of just how delightfully hilarious these three finalists (and friends!) truly are! Follow Adina on Instagram @sweetsbyadinamarie Follow Guillermo on Instagram @guillermosalinasart and @just.vanilla.bakes Follow Megan on Instagram @thirstywhalebakery

And we're back! The groundhog saw his shadow this year, but no one tell Food Network because spring has sprung in the kitchen, and we are HERE FOR IT. Spring Baking Championship welcomes a new host (Hi, Molly!) and twelve new bakers to the kitchen, challenging them to present a fruity self-portrait tart (how? what? here comes the spring chaos!), and following up with a floral bonanza cake that ain't yo mama's Publix bakery birthday cake, no sir. There'll be critters! And ribbons! And enough flowers to make you almost believe it's spring! Put on your stretchy pants and join us as we break down our favorite dishes and begin our spring fling with these delightful culinary craftspeople!

The ground is beginning to thaw, the birds are beginning to chirp and flowers are beginning to bloom which can only mean one thing, it's time for Spring Baking Championship!!  Chris, Jen and J.T. assemble at the big board to draft and set the teams.  Who will take the first victory of 2022?  Only fate knows but, right now, it's anyone's game!!  Let's Do This!! NOTE:  This episode was recorded LIVE on our Facebook page and, as such, our audio isn't QUITE up to our usual standards.  We'll be back in form for our regular episodes this Friday!    

Ho Ho Ho, Bakers of the World! After 8 weeks of holiday cheer, four of our beloved bakers have reached the final episode and we went LIVE on Monday night to celebrate! Join us as we delight in these four charcuties (yeah, you heard us), stress eat over the Christmas piñata of Sudden Death, get heated on the "wrapped vs. unwrapped" candy cane debate, and raise a glass to what has to be one of the most talented groups of bakers collectively to reach the finals! Happy Holidays to all and, to all, a good night!

Bakers of the world, we found another present hiding under the tree just for you...an interview with Holiday Baking Championship finalists Sabrina Coombs and Jose Marchán! We get the inside scoop on their journey to HBC, their approach to ensuring all the judges were happy with their bakes AND their secret motivation to keep pushing through (SPOILER: It was Dollywood)! We're serving up the perfect appetizer for tonight's finale so, pull up a chair, grab a fork and let's DIG IN! Follow Jose on Instagram @jsm.pastry and @sugardramabyjsm Follow Jose on Twitter @thejosemarchan Follow Sabrina on Instagram @chefsabrinaalicia

Bakers of the world, we've already reached the PENULTIMATE episode of this season of Holiday Baking Championship! In this episode, sweet potatoes and spice take the stage in a Kwanzaa inspired pre-heat and our bakers send along some holiday cheer in a main heat featuring *checks notes* rectangular family card cakes (what?!). Join us as we ask age old questions like, "What is mace?" and "Can you eat mashed potatoes with chopsticks?" and, of course, find out which of our beloved bakers are taking a sleigh ride into next week's finale!

Get ready for a visit from the ghost of desserts past as Holiday Baking Championship takes us back to a time when jello was hot and folks preferred their Alaska baked. Are there actually grasshoppers in a grasshopper pie? Can Adam make us believe Ambrosia is indeed the food of the Gods? How adorable is Marilyn? Join us for these questions and more, as your hosts careen through this episode on the rickety bobsled that is Winter 2021!

Bakers of the world, do we have an early Christmas present for you... Team Kim is IN THE HOUSE as bakers Adam Monette and Jody O'Sullivan from this season of Holiday Baking Championship join us for an intimate tete a tete about all things HBC! The guys spill the tea on how they got on the show, who's the easygoing-est baker (spoiler alert, it's Marilyn DUH), and what it's like for your greatest baking failure to be captured ON CAMERA! So, pull up a chair, grab a slice of fruit cake (the GOOD kind) and let's dig in! Follow Jody on Instagram @chefjodyosullivan Follow Adam on Instagram @chefamonet

It's the Festival of Lights, y'all! In celebration of the 8 crazy nights, our beloved bakers must make delish olive oil cakes that delight and compete for the last remaining immunity, which TEAM KIM TAKES AGAIN BECAUSE SHE IS UNSTOPPAB---J.T. here. Kim will not be writing the rest of this description. ANYWHO! In the main heat, bakers must upcycle a dud of a holiday dish and make it something delectable. How do you make a fruitcake good? Is banana pudding a holiday dessert? Who DOESN'T love a crème brûlée? Grab a cup of boozy nog and join us as we chew over these questions and more!

There is nary a supply chain issue to be found in the Holiday Baking Championship kitchen as our bakers tackle a Black Friday inspired pre-heat! And then, it's a cornucopia of gluten in the main heat for a bread lover's fever dream of a team challenge. Pull up a chair as we all give thanks for this bountiful feast, marvel at the wondrous yeasty creations before us and ask the all important question...is a butter churner actually a gadget? Gobble, gobble, ya'll and Happy Thanksgiving!

PIES PIES, PIES PIES Pies Pies EVERYBAHDAAAY! Jen's clearly on the nice list, because Holiday Baking Championship served her up a buffet of flaky goodness bound to put us ALL in an attitude of gratitude. To thank us all for this bounty, Jen explains why we should never eat maraschino cherries, introduces us to a new way to greet your neighbors (keep that pie for yourself!) and even invents an entirely new word! There'll be canned fruit, 160 million pounds of butter, and NO REGRETS. So grab your Butternuts and shut your piehole, as we all preemptively pop our pants and dig into this episode!

Baby it's cold outside, but don't you worry because Holiday Baking Championship is whipping up some boozy confections to enjoy around a Craquelin Yule log on this almost-winter night! But a few drinks, some tempered chocolate, and a marzipan woodland menagerie later, and one baker will be left out in the cold… So grab your cake combs and belly up to our bar as we ask some timeless HBC questions: How much booze is enough, Nancy? Why do pretzels suck? IS feuilletine a dietary supplement? All this and more as we dive headlong into this holiday season.

It's Ho Ho Holiday time, y'all! You thought perhaps you'd have a day or two to digest your kid's Halloween candy before the holiday police were on the scene, and you were wrong! Toss those pumpkins and don your warmest socks because Food Network's taking us to winter town, and this train's ahead of schedule! There'll be donuts! And cakes! And cheese of the edible AND spoken variety (Oh, Jesse)... It's getting cold out there, so gather round and warm your hearts with us as we fall for another crop of bakers, curse pine nuts, and guess at which baker will prove to be the apple of the judges' eye.

The holidays may have arrived, but that doesn't mean that Halloween is done with us just yet! Bakers of the world, the gremlins were out in full force this weekend and they descended on the house of Jen & Chris in ways we still don't yet fully understand. BUT, the show must go on and that meant a quick Live broadcast just minutes before the premiere of Holiday Baking Championship AND the return of the Wheel of Fate to determine our teams for the season! So, deck the halls, because it's Draft Day!

AND THE KILLER IS...... Sugar! (J/K, J/K) In this, the Mother of all finales (hint hint), you can't be too careful because there's *sudden* death lurking around every corner, and only the best s'mores in the world can save you. In this episode, we learn that pumpkin can be "re-imagined", brains can be tasty, and a good baker can make you want to lick the lid of a trash can. It's got thrills, it's got chills, it's got cakes taller than Guillermo's baby.... and it's got a champion that brought us all to (happy) tears! Join us as we get in our last licks of spooky and cram in as much MURDER as possible before it's all sugar fairies and gingerplums!

BOO-ZYCAKES! This week, Halloween Baking Championship goes PG-13 and asks our bakers to break Slasher Movie Rule #87: DON'T DRINK IF YOU WANT TO LIVE. Ten roll- and fault-line cakes later, and one of our beloved bakers WILL NOT. Join us as we take the penultimate visit to Camp Devil's Food Lake and prepare for the heartbreak and triumph to come...

Donuts, ahoy! Gather round the snack table, matey, 'cause it's the Dismemberment Under the Sea dance and it's time to get awkward, hormonal, and DEAD!! The Camp Devil's Food Lake killer is closing in and seemingly no amount of slime, candy maggots or skin flakes can stop him. So, eat all the maple bacon and chicken-fried fat back donuts you can, cause there's a yellow raincoat a-coming for all but one of us!

Warm up those blood-curdling screams because Halloween Baking Championship brings the GORE this week with severed finger TERROR-misu, and a blood drip cake that will B-Positive-ly horrifying to behold! And fear not Bakers of the World, because the severed-ear motif continues, as does J.T.'s quest for a Rudy-like victory. Join us as we venture deeper into the woods surrounding Camp Devil's Food Lake and sample the delights and horrors that lie within and ponder just who IS the camp killer, and who will survive...

Maggots and roaches and fruit bats, oh my! The judges literally ask the bakers to put a foot in their mouths in this week's ultra-gross, ultra batty Halloween Baking Championship visit to Camp Devil's Food Lake. Our beloved bakers survive the horror of having to serve cupcakes to the judges only to be faced with nightmarish ingredients like black beans, black licorice and black GARLIC? We would not want to be in their position for all the marzipan in the world, dear listeners...which is why they're on TV, and we're four dum dums fangirling and talking smack in our jammies! Let's get spooky!!

You thought you were doing great in therapy, but you were WRONG as Halloween Baking Championship brings your Mommy Issues and TWO BAKERS FROM PREVIOUS SEASONS back from the DEAD!!! WHOA! In another 2-hour episode, Food Network tries to kill us all with zombie bakers, eye goop cookies, and a severed hand sudden death round that left us ALL bloody and maimed... We are exhausted and emotionally spent, and that's not just because we recorded this episode LIVE at 11pm. Join us in all of our punchy glory as we rap with some of this season's bakers live and deconstruct this mother of an episode!

Don't go in the water, or make out in your tent, or turn your back to camera because Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship has brought us all to Camp Devil's Food Lake and no one is getting out alive! In a thriller/killer two-hour premiere, we meet our intrepid bakers and promptly lose TWO OF THEM, as they succumb to the serial killer (pie) and what lies beneath the lake (cake). Join us in our first ever LIVE episode, as we welcome back the season of spooky, fall madly in love with a new crop of killer bakers, and resurrect the John Henson fan club. Prepare yourselves for a season of deadly deliciousness!

Bakers of the world, we are back! There's a slight crispness in the air, an occasional blustery wind blowing through the trees and spices of the pumpkin variety have emerged from hibernation, so you know what that means: it's time for Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship! And for us four dumdums, that means it's DRAFT DAY!! We're shaking things up a bit this year with live episodes and a new and improved draft format, but we guarantee the same disastrous bakes and a host with enough confidence for all of us (we're lookin' at you, Chris). In any case, one thing is certain: it's about. to get. SPOOKY! Let's do this!

The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzin’, and three bakers are about to bake the best damn garden-themed finale cakes you’ve ever seen. IT’S THE DAY OF THE SHOW, Y’ALL! In what’s clearly the best finale cake-off to date, the three remaining bakers transport us to a magical fairyland, a local farm, and Duff’s backyard, and we could not be more excited. Join us as we break down the hair-splittin-est finale EVER, we learn why New Orleans wants Chris dead, and we crown a brand new Fantasy Baking Championship Queen Bee!

Friends, neighbors, and fellow gluttons, put your hands together and help us welcome Spring Baking Championship host and celebrated foodie Ali Khan to FBC!!! It was a total blast to interview Ali, and though you’ll find no spoilers ahead, you WILL learn so much about our current Host with the Most and get a peek behind the scenes to hear just how challenging it is to shoot a baking show during a pandemic. Hint: It’s WAY challenging. Join us for the entremets, stay for the bug tacos, and find yourself enchanted by the fascinating Mr. Khan! Follow Ali on Twitter and Instagram @alikhaneats! More About Ali: Ali Khan is a television host and multi-hyphenate creative in the food and comedy space. The current host of Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship, is most known for his breakout series, Cheap Eats, which ran for 5 seasons on Cooking Channel, internationally on Food Network currently streaming on Discovery Plus. He is a regular on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, a judge on Food Network’s Chopped + Chopped Junior and recently launched his own Youtube Series, Ali vs The Dome. His food writing has appeared in magazines and award winning digital publications. Ali is also an official spokesman for FARE, a food allergy advocacy group.

Show. Us. Your. CAAAAAAKES!!! The bakers are baring it all this Spring Break, as SBC gets wild and worldly with international destination-inspired snacks, and edible vistas that had us trying to remember what it was like to leave our houses. Brush up on your diorama lingo and secure all loose articles because the Spring Baking Championship's Penultimate episode is leaving the station, and that first drop is a dooooozy!

S'mores, anyone? Our bakers answer the Spring Baking Championship's bizarre spring camping invitation with a resounding meh, as they're challenged to consider such things as "how DOES one cook a kiwi in a skillet?" and "what kind of psychopath brings passion fruit on a camping trip?" and "CAN you just add the word Spring to the front of anything and make it a March - May activity"? There's something for everyone in this episode, as "indoor people" are treated to a crafting challenge guaranteed to stitch up at least one of our beloved bakers. Who has to take the long canoe ride home from Camp SBC? Let's find out...

Calling all ye Cookie Monsters (and golfers?), gather round! This week’s episode of Spring Baking Championship featured maximum NomNomNom as our bakers were asked to reimagine cookies of all stripes, and we were asked to reimagine ever fitting back into our pants. We learned that golfing is not 100% a trash sport (ice cream sandwich cookies are its staple snack??), stone fruits - in season May through October - are a “spring flavor”, and there is at least one cookie that will through each of your Fantasy Baking Championship hosts into a rage. Join us for the controversy, stay for the snickerdoodles!

Spring has official SPRUNG and you know what that means, SEASONAL ALLERGIES!! The bakers flex their flower power in their most fragrant challenge to date that found our beloved judges hard pressed to send anyone packing! Grab a Claritin and join us on a Springtime morning stroll through floral cake groves and fields of pizza frittes!

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes TOWERS AND TOWERS OF BAKED GOODS because Spring Baking Championship has got Baby Fever, and they're throwing a shower to be remembered! In this episode, we answer all of the most essential baby-themed baking competition show-related questions: Should coffee be on every parent's registry? (Yes!) Did Natalie just start the next baking trend with her functional cookie rattle? (Also Yes!) Is a Baby Sharknado only cute to people without kids? (3x Yes!). Join us as we try to remove the image of those creepy baby dolls from our minds and edge one step closer to crowning this season's champ!

Love is in the air (albeit a month after Valentine's Day), and our bakers are paired up for this season's first team challenge! With a pre-heat that had us all saying "Yes" and a main heat that proved love truly is blind, this episode reminded us just how much we love this group of bakers and just how tight this competition is right now! What is "desert chic"? Is "Tropulence" really a thing? And, just how much does Jen love Mandy Patinkin? Swipe right and let's get into it!

Real talk: have you ever had a hot-crossed bun(ny)? None of us have, but based on the judges' reactions, we should all get us some buns STAT. Was it the irresistible charm of both adorable AND edible woodland creatures? Was it the surprising flavors and textures? Or was it just that bread, in ALL of its forms, is glorious? Join us as we ponder the answers to these burning questions, explore other normal foods we've inexplicably never had, and laugh heartily at Kim's expense as she's forced to make a French exit.