Apple cider doughnuts are a sure sign of fall, so in the first round, Jesse Palmer asks the eight bakers to create a dozen kicked-up apple cider doughnuts decorated with seasonal themes. Then the bakers must transform a classic holiday yule log into a festive Thanksgiving roll cake, and judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale decide which competitor's cake falls short.
The remaining four bakers are going cocoa-loco for the holiday season in the chocolaty pre-heat, when they have to combine common pantry ingredients like balsamic vinegar, potato chips, oatmeal, red wine, olive oil and more in a new version of a classic holiday dessert. For the main heat, the bakers must use two key fruitcake components in a new dessert.
Some of the tastiest treats of Hanukkah are gold-covered chocolate coins, and Jesse Palmer challenges the four remaining bakers to give the classic treat a twist by incorporating candied orange, espresso beans, smoked salt or toasted coconut and create a dessert highlighting their chosen flavor. In the second challenge, the competitors bake up delicious cheesecakes with an assigned crust and decorated with an edible shiny ice rink on top. Judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale get serious about which three bakers move on to the finale.
Host Jesse Palmer loves both cookies and pies, so he asks the nine bakers to make holiday cookie-topped mini pies. Then, Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall judge the pie pandemonium as the competitors celebrate fall with flavor combos such as pumpkin-cider and chestnut-chocolate in double crust, cream pies, slab pies, lattice pies and custard pies.
In the first challenge, host Jesse Palmer asks the 10 bakers to introduce themselves with edible place cards and one-bite signature holiday desserts. The main heat is all about holiday wreath cakes, and the competitors must bake and decorate a Danish Kransekake featuring holiday ingredients like chestnuts, graham crackers or toffee. Judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale have the final say in which baker goes home.
Host Jesse Palmer is turning things on their heads as he challenges the six competitors to work in teams to create jelly doughnut-inspired desserts, a twist on traditional Hanukkah jelly doughnuts. Then, the bakers get creative with the yummiest, gooiest holiday decorated upside-down cakes to satisfy judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall.
John Henson kicks off the competition by revealing all the skeletons in his family's closet to inspire the eight bakers as they make scary skeleton desserts. The main heat is monster madness as the bakers conjure up monster-under-the-bed creations.
Descending into a spooky cellar is enough to make any baker's blood run cold, and blood is always on the menu for a vampire party. Host Carla Hall asks the eight remaining bakers to team up and create desserts for a vampire buffet to satisfy the bloodsuckers' appetites as well as Carla and the other judges, Stephanie Boswell and Zac Young.
A monster has ransacked the kitchen and is on the loose! The bakers work together in the pre-heat challenge to create a 3-D suspect sketch out of pate a choux to help track him down. The sketch helps puts the monster behind bars but now he's hungry for the main heat challenge that involves monster-sized Halloween deserts like giant cupcakes, pies, cream puffs and more.
The competition begins with a deliciously difficult pre-heat as the eight Halloween bakers weave spider web desserts with creatures trapped inside. In the main heat, wily witch hunter John Henson challenges the bakers to create melting desserts that reveal a Halloween item inside.