The ten competing bakers celebrate the spring equinox by first making colorful and delicious doughnuts themed to either sunrise or sunset. Then the theme is stargazing at night, and each baker is assigned a celestial event to bring to life in dessert form. There are shooting stars, the Milky Way, the Northern Lights, meteor showers and more.
Host Jesse Palmer is all about the outdoors as the bakers take a trip to the Summer Baking Campground to make radical s'more desserts using wild chocolate flavors. Then, Jesse enjoys a bike tour while thinking about the one dessert that is inspired by bike riding -- the Paris-Brest! The bakers must use fresh-pressed juice in their summery Paris-Brest, or judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips will send them riding off into the sunset.
Put on your sunscreen! Host Jesse Palmer is ready to take a dip in the lake and uses his favorite summer floatie as inspiration for the first Preheat featuring floatie doughnuts in summer flavors! Then for the Main Heat, Jesse enjoys the water as he challenges the bakers to make gelatin water feature cakes, and judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips see which competitors sink or swim.
It's the semi-finals, and Jesse Palmer is celebrating the Warner Bros. Pictures' movie event of the summer, Barbie! Inspired by Barbie's signature color, he asks the bakers to make pink desserts using ingredients like pink grapefruit and pink pineapple. Then, the bakers take their cues from the Barbie Dreamhouse, one of Mattel's top toys of all time, by making toy cakes that look like they belong in the Dreamhouse Kitchen! Judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips decide which competitor is everything and which one is leaving the Dreamhouse for good.
Host Jesse Palmer is cruising through the American Southwest in a convertible enjoying the desert vistas and local cuisine when he gets the idea for dessert tacos. He tasks the bakers with crafting sweet tacos that are perfect bites of handheld deliciousness. Then, he takes the bakers on a trip to Sedona, where they make tres leches cakes celebrating local attractions like energy vortexes, desert sunsets and hot air ballooning. Feeling the desert vibes, judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips bring the dry heat when they decide which baker must make journey home.
Every summer, millions of families travel to a lake to relax, and host Jesse Palmer is right there with them fueling up at the breakfast buffet! To start the day off right, the bakers craft sweet and savory breakfast treats inspired by an assigned breakfast item. Then, Jesse has been picking berries by the lake, and the bakers must turn them into mile-high summer pies for judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips in hopes their sweet slices will save them from elimination.
With Father's Day around the corner, host Jesse Palmer is on the hunt to find great gifts for Dad! He challenges the bakers to get fired up with grill pan desserts for Dad, complete with grill marks! June is also Pride Month for the LGBTQ+ communities, so the bakers celebrate with bold rainbow desserts that will make judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips proud.
One of the best things about summer is the fruit stands that pop up when the weather gets warm, so host Jesse Palmer challenges the bakers to make a cobbler, crumble or clafoutis using the bounty of the fruit stand. Then, the bakers must make watermelon desserts that taste AND look like a watermelon before judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips send another competitor home.
Host Jesse Palmer is aboard a summer cruise, and he's in awe of the elevated water ride on the ship. Inspired by the ride's inner tubes, he tasks the bakers with creating giant, colorful inner tube cakes. Then, Jesse docks for a day trip on an island where snorkeling is popular, so the bakers make snorkeling lagoon cheesecakes with underwater objects that judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips can see through a layer of gelatin.
For the semi-finals, host Jesse Palmer celebrates Discovery's Shark Week by challenging the bakers to make shark bite cookie bars in the shape of beach-inspired items like surfboards, flip flops or sunglasses. Then, the bakers bravely protect their sweets from the majestic Great White by making shark cage desserts, but their bakes can't protect them from the probing critiques of judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips as they vie to make it into the finale.