Say "cheese" -- it's picture day! Hosts and judges Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman meet the 12 kid bakers through picture-day portrait cakes. Each cake must have an edible photo on top and custom emojis that show off each baker's hobbies and interests. And don't blink, because in the end, the least successful baker goes home.
It's every kid's favorite part of the school day -- recess! And what would recess be without the timeless game of hopscotch? Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman ask the kid bakers to honor this classic game by making blondie hopscotch puzzles! Whose blondies will be hopping into Duff and Val's hearts and who will be hopping home?
What's the tastiest fundraiser at school? A bake sale! For this challenge, hosts Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman are the customers as the kid bakers work in teams to decorate their own bake sale booth and stock it full of their assigned sweets. The baker with the least successful desserts will have to pack up their booth and go home.
What do you get when you combine mosaic art and baking? You get one of the hottest trends in baking, mosaic pies! In this challenge, Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman ask the kids to make these colorful pies filled with cubes of gelatin suspended in creamy pie filling. The mosaic that cracks under pressure will be headed out the door.
The show is about to begin -- it's time for the school play! Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the young bakers to work in teams to create a cake inspired by traditional theatrical masks. These happy/sad cakes bring out all sorts of emotions in the kitchen! And when the curtain falls, one baker must exit the stage.
Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman bring the fun and stakes of a spelling bee into the kitchen by asking the kid bakers to make spelling bee word tarts with assigned words on top. When the spelling bee ends, the baker that didn't use spell-check will take a bow and leave the competition.
It's time for lunch, and cafeteria lunch dessert imposters are on the menu! Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman assign each kid baker a different lunch menu with items they must "imposterize" and serve up on a classic cafeteria tray. When lunchtime is over, who will head back to class and who will head home?
For this challenge, Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman are honoring the school library by asking the young bakers to create book desserts. They can make any dessert, as long as it's decorated to look like a book! Sadly, on the last page, one baker's story comes to an end.
It's school spirit day, and the theme is tie-dye! Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the kid bakers to make tie-dyed doughnuts and ice cream with two different flavored swirls. It's a lot of color, a lot of flavors and a lot of fun as the four remaining bakers compete for the three spots in the finale. When the day is done, one baker will go home.
The finale erupts with fun as the top three kid bakers face the final challenge, science fair volcano cakes. Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman ask the final bakers to make a cake that's not just delicious, it also has to look like a real volcano and erupt like one too! The baker with the best all-around volcano cake will win $25,000 and be crowned the Kids Baking Champion!