Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the eight bakers to defend Bird Island or Pig Island in this round inspired by the Angry Birds 2 movie. Each baker makes a dozen cupcakes based on a movie character, then they team up to build an edible island.
Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the five young bakers to each make a poke cake with fillings such as pureed fruit or pudding. To increase the cuteness factor, they must decorate it to look like the pokiest little critter -- a hedgehog!
Dessert impostors come in all shapes and sizes, so Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the five young bakers to make sweet dessert tacos that look like the real thing.
To kick off the season, Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman are going back to the 1970s as they challenge the 12 young competitors to make shag cakes. Each baker must make a cake in their chosen flavor and then decorate it to create a shag texture. Groovy, man!
It's always a puzzle to determine which three bakers will make it to the finale, and this season, Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman are making it a sugar cookie puzzle. The four remaining young bakers must make sugar cookie puzzles in assigned flavors like raspberry, butterscotch, spice or lemon to earn a spot in the top three!
It's the most-anticipated challenge of the competition -- dessert imposters! Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the nine kid bakers to create breakfast, lunch and dinner imposters.
The young bakers must think on their feet as Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge them to fill a mini fireplace mantel with "santastic" sweets. Special guest Casey Webb helps choose the winner of the baker's dream prize package of top-of-the-line baking equipment worth over $10,000.
Garden-themed decorating is gaining in popularity, so Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the 11 young bakers to create garden cakes decorated with actual fruits, herbs and other natural ingredients -- no glitter, sprinkles or fondant allowed.
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.
After traveling all over, host Jesse Palmer lands in the Big Apple for some finale fireworks! Everything is decked out in red, white and blue for his 4th of July backyard barbecue, so the bakers must create red, white and "woo-hoo" desserts using summer favorites like strawberries, blueberries and white peaches. Then, judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Damaris Phillips get blown away by 4th of July exploding fireworks cakes as they decide which baker will be crowned Summer Baking Champion and awarded $25,000!