The last three bakers must show off their decorating chops in order to finally be crowned Holiday Baking Champion! First, they must bake and beautifully decorate a sugar cookie tree. Then, in the final heat, the bakers need to transform their assigned holiday tradition into an intricately decorated cake.
At the Museum of Unnatural History, a malevolent spirit is reanimating the taxidermy in the Great Animal Hall, and it's terrifying. So, for the haunted heat, host John Henson challenges the nine bakers to create reanimated taxidermy desserts to win $1,000. Then, the bottom six bakers must create possessed pest desserts inspired by a demonic insect exhibit. In the end, judges Stephanie Boswell, Aarti Sequeira, and Zac Young send one baker home.
The remaining four bakers recreate their childhood memories of waking up on Christmas morning by making edible dessert stockings for the pre-heat. Then, they take their designs to new heights in the main heat by building colorful cream puff Christmas trees.
The seven remaining bakers get creative with Thanksgiving-inspired desserts, and in the first round, their sweets feature canned cranberry sauce. Then, in the main heat, the bakers must invent a dessert highlighting their assigned harvest ingredient: sweet potato, pumpkin, apple, pear, pomegranate, carrot or lemon.
In the epic finale, the three remaining bakers have just one challenge, but it's a massive one. Each baker taps into a favorite holiday memory and then constructs gingerbread worlds filled with all sorts of treats. The baker who can impress the judges the most will become the Holiday Baking Champion and take home $50,000!
When it comes to Thanksgiving, nobody can compete with grandma's signature recipes, so Clash of the Grandmas star Norma Zager joins Bobby Deen to lend her expertise to the remaining eight bakers. For the pre-heat, they must whip up two types of cookies, with one inspired by dear old grandma. Then, in the main heat, the bakers compete to create the best pie by hand -- no appliances -- just like grandma used to!
Host John Henson leads the bakers into the dark night of the finale! First stop at the Museum of Unnatural History is the Ancient Egypt Collection in the Hall of Humanity, featuring a large sarcophagus. The bakers are inspired to create scary sarcophagus desserts centered around an ingredient they love so much they'd take it into the afterlife. Then, it's time to bake for all the bones as the final bakers make ossuary cakes, based on a room in the Hall of Great Wonders covered entirely in human bones. Judges Stephanie Boswell, Aarti Sequeira, and Zac Young select the winner of the final challenge to receive $25,000 and the coveted title of Halloween Baking Champion!
To kick off, host Jesse Palmer honors the tradition of making tasty treats for family and friends at a holiday open house. In the preheat, Jesse asks the 12 bakers to create holiday cheese ball desserts featuring a type of cheese and either nuts or dried fruit. Then, host gifts are the theme for delicious bites as the bakers create holiday bark inspired desserts that are both inventive and large scale to impress judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Nancy Fuller.
To highlight Friendsgiving, host Jesse Palmer asks the remaining 10 bakers to create flavor friends desserts designed to make a seasonal flavor pairing shine. Then, the bakers are divided into two teams for the ultimate fall flavor showdown as they take on apple vs. pumpkin desserts in an all-out effort to settle the debate for judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Nancy Fuller.
Host Jesse Palmer kicks things off with a swanky Christmas open house for judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall and asks the bakers to create dessert charcuterie boards. Then, the bottom two bakers face off in a sudden elimination challenge of dueling holiday pinata desserts. In the final main heat, the competitors take on holiday party theme cakes and incorporate lights into their designs. The most successful cake maker becomes the Holiday Baking Champion and walks away with $25,000!