Previously, in the Little Shop of Spring Magic, Priya...
-[Priya gasps and laughs] -[all cheering]
-...Lisa... -[Lisa exclaims]
...both of you are advancing directly
to the final main heat.
Mary-Frances and Raveena,
there is still a path to the championship
through a bake-off.
We're going to create the one spring dessert
most meaningful to you.
I'm going to make my mom's cardamom spice cake.
I'm just keeping it very simple
with a pavlova.
I learned it when I was an apprentice.
This is a beautiful pavlova.
[Nancy] Mary-Frances,
you have really refined your palate.
[Jesse] Okay, let's check out Raveena's dessert.
[exclaims and chuckles]
[chuckling] That is really, really, really good.
-[tense music playing] -All right, so judges,
this is a huge decision.
[Raveena] I've come so far,
and I really don't want to go home.
Anxiety and the panic.
Winning this would change my life.
I can't go home now.
Who's going to be the final baker making it
into the main heat?
[sighs]
-This one's close, man. -Yes.
it's so close.
[tense music continues playing]
Mary-Frances and Raveena,
you made two desserts that were very personal
and also very magical.
[Raveena sighs]
But only one of you can continue along with us
to the final main heat.
The judges decided
that the best one was baked by...
[suspenseful music playing]
-...Raveena. -Oh, my goodness.
Mary-Frances, thank you so much.
Thank you.
[Mary-Frances speaks indistinctly]
Even though I didn't win, I gained so much more.
[Lisa] We love you.
[Mary-Frances] I have new friends.
Bring it in, bring it in. Rav, you too.
I'm gonna miss you so much.
I'm a little bit more brave now.
I have a little bit more self-confidence.
-Bye everyone. -[Lisa] Bye.
And it was a wonderful experience.
[Jesse] Bye, Mary-Frances.
-[sighs] -Nice job.
[Raveena] I am in shock.
I am so happy.
This is truly a dream come true.
[softly] Congratulations.
Jeez, thank you.
-[Raveena sighs] -[sighs]
All right, we're down to the final three.
Crazy.
[Jesse] Priya, Lisa,
and Raveena, congratulations.
[contestants] Thank you.
[Jesse] One of you is going to leave here with $25,000...
Wow.
...and the title of Spring Baking Champion.
[Raveena] Oh, my goodness.
[Jesse] But before we move ahead to the final
and the toughest main heat of this entire competition,
we really wanted to let you know
that you all got some fans who are thinking about you,
and they really want to wish you well, too.
-Say "Hi, Mommy." -Hi, Mommy.
We wish you the best of luck. We're so proud of you,
and we miss you very much.
Can you say "Good luck, Mommy?"
Good luck, Mommy.
Priya, we've been married 20 years this month.
We know that you're working so hard.
We don't want you to come home too soon,
but we are looking forward to it
because your food is so much better than mine.
[Priya giggles]
-We love you. -We miss you.
We're proud of you.
And we're cheering for you.
Yes!
Aww.
[Priya inhales]
[sighs]
That's really sweet.
Hi, babe.
I love you. I miss you.
Aww.
[Raveena's husband] Congratulations.
You're in the finale.
Go win it.
Be legendary.
The marathon continues. Go get it.
[all chuckling]
I love that. Aww.
The three of you should all feel really loved.
[heartwarming music playing]
Okay, I'm going to fire up the magic machine
one last time
for the grand finale.
[mysterious music playing]
-[sighs] -[Jesse] Okay.
[button boops]
-[machine ramping up] -[Raveena chuckles]
-Oh, man. -[Jesse] All right, bakers,
just hang on one second.
What the heck is he doing?
Where's he going?
Back in time.
-Back in time, maybe? -[Priya] Oh. [chuckles]
-[Raveena] Oh. -[Lisa] Oh.
[all exclaiming]
-[aristocratic music playing] -Spiffy.
Well, the magic machine sent me back to France.
But in the year 1785,
-and the queen of France, Marie-Antoinette... -Uh-huh.
...took me for a stroll
through her beloved spring garden at Versailles.
But the whole time, I just couldn't stop
staring at her very elaborate and crazy tall hairdo
that she had decorated for spring
with fresh cut flowers.
Beautiful.
How about we bring out the woman herself?
-Oh. Wow. -[Priya chuckling] Yeah.
[all laughing]
Bonjour bakers.
Bonjour.
Bakers, your final challenge will also be
-your most difficult. -[softly] Oh, my goodness.
You know the queen is associated
with the legendary catchphrase,
"Let them eat cake!"
Each of you are going to create a sky-high cake
inspired by the best loved spring hairstyles
of Marie-Antoinette.
And your cakes also must feature
a floral flavor.
A floral flavor of your choice.
Oh, boy. [sighs]
Are you joking me right now, Jesse?
This is a lot to ask, okay?
Give a girl a break.
Your Majesty.
[music playing]
[Jesse] So you've got...
sailing ship.
-[Lisa] Okay. - Jesse] The peacock look.
-And the Spring Garden Dew. - Raveena exclaims]
-[Priya] Interesting. -[Jesse] Priya,
-you can hold those. -Oh.
Okay.
[Jesse] Now, Priya,
for winning the final preheat,
you get to choose whichever theme you'd like.
-Oh, my goodness. -[Jesse] So what's it going to be?
[Priya inhales and sighs]
I think I'm going to go with Spring Garden.
That's the theme of this baking show,
and it's totally my jam.
Pretty big advantage, right?
[Raveena] Mm-hmm.
It's not quite big enough for the finale.
[sighs]
So now you also get to decide
which themes the other bakers are
going to get.
Oh.
I don't know.
Go ahead and assign them, Priya.
[Priya] Truthfully, I just handed
the signs to them one at a time,
and there really was no strategy behind it.
So Priya, what did you give Raveena?
[Priya] The sailing ship.
[Raveena] There is a legit sailing ship
in the hair.
Like how...
how do we do that?
Oh, my God.
[Jesse] What did you give Lisa?
[Priya] The peacock.
[Lisa] I could never imagine wearing a peacock in my hair.
This is crazy.
[Jesse] All right, bakers,
you're going to have five hours
to create your lofty cakes
inspired by the iconic spring hairstyles
of Marie-Antoinette herself.
And the winner of this challenge will be
crowned Spring Baking Champion.
And your time starts
now.
[contestants laugh excitedly]
[Priya] What?
[Lisa] What is this?
I'm so scared.
I gotta make a peacock.
Five hours is not a lot of time.
I think what's gonna take to win this final challenge is
really how we decorate.
If they don't get our theme,
then we're not gonna win.
I feel good about using a floral flavor.
I'm gonna use rose water.
I'm doing an Earl Grey white chocolate lavender cake.
I'm just grinding down my Earl Grey.
I'm going to sift that into my batter.
I'm going with orange blossom today.
One of the traditions in China is
that lovers exchange oranges.
And so I'm going with chocolate orange today
in honor of my husband, Aaron.
We have been married for 20 years,
which is its own magic, believe me.
Aaron is my biggest supporter.
He tackles
all of the things that need to be done in my absence
with such a great attitude.
And honestly, I'm so grateful.
[Jesse] Well, Priya...
-Yeah, Jesse. -...the preheat queen,
you did it again.
You won that advantage.
You got to pick your theme.
What was it about spring garden
that was talking to you?
It is a Spring Baking Championship.
[Jesse] It is.
Listen, you didn't pick the boat.
[Priya] I gave Raveena one that has a ship on it.
[Jesse] Which I thought was a safe move.
-[Priya laughs] -[Jesse chuckling] At least that.
Yeah, not too thrilled, but we'll make it work.
-[Priya] I'm so sorry, Raveena. -[chuckles] It's all good.
[Jesse] So what flavor cake are you going to make?
[Priya] Well, I'm going to do chocolate and orange.
For my fillings, I'm going to do
chocolate and orange blossom ganache.
And I'm also going to do an orange buttercream
with the orange blossom.
[Jesse] Nice. What are you doing
to kind of bring the garden to life?
[Priya] I'm going to be doing flowers, leaves, you name it.
I'm going to bake a four-tiered cake
that I've carved to look like a planter.
It's like a garden topiary.
To create the other levels,
I have some chocolate spheres,
and I cover the outside with green speculoos moss.
I'm also going to be doing some vines,
kind of wrapping around to become part of her, like,
decor she's wearing in her hair.
What are you making all that out of?
Chocolate. [chuckles]
Wow. Man, oh, man.
It sounds like it's going to be amazing.
How surprised are you
-to be here in the finale. -Jesse,
I am beyond shocked.
-Really? -I am!
It's been a really long journey
to get here.
Holy smokes.
I work predominantly with chocolate.
This is way outside of my comfort zone.
-Priya! -[all exclaiming]
[Jesse] Priya was first or second
in the pre-heat over and over.
This is blowing my mind.
[instrumental music playing]
Uh-oh.
I have struggled in the main heat challenges.
[Nancy] It looks like
you were taking it someplace in the car,
-and you went around a sharp corner. -[tires screeching]
[all laughing]
You kind of doubt yourself a little bit.
-It's not a tiramisu. -Okay.
[Duff] Feels like it's not finished, right?
-There's nothing in the middle. -Correct.
I was considering, like, "Do I even belong here?"
[tense music playing]
I'm so glad I pushed past those negative thoughts.
Well, you've deserved it, and you've earned it.
-Yeah. -You've got to make the most of it.
[Priya] Thanks, Jesse.
I got peacock as my theme.
I have made a peacock cupcake before,
but never built a cake on top of a mannequin head.
So this is a first.
This is the most important cake
I've ever made.
I'm making a vanilla sponge cake
soaked with rose water simple syrup
for my floral flavor.
And then for the filling,
I'm doing a pistachio buttercream,
crushed pistachios, and raspberries.
You want somewhat of a denser cake,
because it's going to be holding
a lot of decoration,
and it has to stay up.
For her hair, I'm going to do buttercream,
and then I'm going to add some bows and flowers.
I'm going to add a fondant peacock
sitting on top
with wafer paper feathers cascading down.
I'm also going to give the mannequin some makeup.
I'm going to put some earrings on her, a necklace.
We've been baking for 10 weeks now.
It's been such a long journey to get here,
but I'm so thankful I'm here.
I won two pre-heats and three main heats.
[Jesse] Lisa was first in the pre-heat in week 2.
You nailed it.
[Jesse] Then she was part of a Best Team victory with Corey.
-[Corey] Let's do it. -Corey and Lisa.
[all exclaiming and cheering]
[Jesse] Then she won
the main heat outright in week 4
with a shockingly authentic dessert deception.
Wow. Chef's kiss.
[Jesse] But week 7 was a roller-coaster ride.
She picked up $1,000...
-You deserve it. -Thank you.
...for creating the most magical roll cake,
but then was nearly sent home
on the back of some messy zucchini macarons.
There's problems with the shell
-of your macaron. -Yeah.
[Jesse] But she's battled back to win another main heat
in week 8.
Wow, what a cake.
I want to win this.
[Raveena] Priya, do you want to try my lavender ganache?
[Priya] I sure do.
-Too much? -Yeah.
Not soapy?
-I love it. -Okay, good.
Only three and a half hours left
to make these Marie-Antoinette hairstyle cakes.
[tense music playing]
[Priya cry-chuckles]
They do not look right.
One of the hardest parts about this whole thing is
going to be the stability of the cake.
[Lisa] This is going to be a really good cake
to sculpt with.
These are really tall cakes.
You need a lot of cakes
-stacking on top of one another. -[Raveena] Great.
[Priya] Such weird cakes.
It has risen too high. It has collapsed.
I'm concerned.
Priya is having some issues with her cakes.
They're all beginning to sink.
[Priya] Why today?
No time to remake those. [sighs]
One more taste test.
[Jesse] Bakers, one of you is going to win $25,000.
Yep.
[Jesse] We're looking for Marie-Antoinette hairstyle cakes.
[tense music playing]
My cakes look puckered and weird.
Maybe they're salvageable.
You know what? They look delicious.
They don't look pretty, but they look delicious.
I'll be carving the cake anyways
to make the topiary.
Mm-hmm.
It tastes good.
I think we're in good shape.
[Raveena] All right.
Start torting all of my cake layers.
Mm-hmm. I'm tasting Earl Grey.
I love it. I'm going to soak it with...
my Earl Grey simple syrup as well.
I think that'll help
just deepen the flavor a little bit more.
[Jesse] Right, Raveena.
-[exhales] -[Raveena] Hello.
How relieved are you to win the bake-off
-and make it into the final main heat? -I am so relieved, Jesse.
It feels really good to be here.
And yeah, I'm ready to show the judges what else I got.
I'm going to let this cool down for a minute.
[Jesse] Raveena has been consistent
throughout the entire competition,
peaking at week 5 with her grandfather clock.
It's, like, sweet, but it's naughty.
Mmm. [chuckling]
[Jesse] She followed that up with another main heat win
the very next week.
-Raveena. -Oh, whoa.
-What? That's awesome. -[all cheering]
Thank you, guys.
[Jesse] Raveena was never in the bottom two
until last week
when she was almost eliminated on a peach flambe cake bomb.
It was her first big miss.
Yeah, I can't believe I'm here.
How much gas do you have left in the tank?
Adrenaline is, uh,
yeah, it's kicking, that's for sure.
[Jesse] Now all you got to do is make a cake
inspired by one of Marie-Antoinette's
-hairstyles. -[Raveena] Yep.
I have never done anything like this before.
I don't do structured cakes.
I don't do gravity-defying cakes.
This is a lot.
The hardest part of this challenge is
going to be structure for sure.
There's a lot that needs to set
and be good for this.
Your floral flavor, talk to me about that.
So I have a vanilla Earl Grey cake going.
I am making white chocolate lavender ganache.
And then I'm going to make
vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.
[Jesse] Which theme did you get?
[Raveena] She assigned me with the sailing ship.
-Who does that? -Who does that?
-Who thought, in the 1700s... -Seriously.
[Jesse]...putting a boat in your hairstyle was a good idea?
-I don't know. -It's what all the cool queens were doing.
Oh, okay. Well, what's this cool queen doing?
I'm going to focus on sculpting first.
I'm going to make her hair out of buttercream.
[Jesse] What are you making the sailing ship out of?
[Raveena] I'm making it out of modeling chocolate...
-[Jesse] Ooh. - Raveena] ...with, like, a wafer paper sail,
so it's nice and airy.
I'm going to be doing edible lace and fabric bows.
[Jesse] Wow. Pulling out all the stops.
I know you spent a lot of time in Paris.
Have you ever been to Versailles?
[Raveena] Yes. I have been to Versailles.
It is absolutely stunning.
The gardens are gorgeous, too.
I loved living in France.
It really enabled me to slow down,
like stop and smell the roses.
-All right. Good luck. -Here we go. Thank you.
I'm gonna do makeup on my mannequin.
I feel like Marie-Antoinette's makeup is
kind of costume-y,
so I can make this work.
I got into baking as soon as I could stand,
and then when I was a senior in high school,
my parents were like,
"You need to pick a school to go to."
And it was between
culinary school and fashion school.
And because some of my other girlfriends
were going to fashion school, I went to fashion school.
Eventually, I was working my way up to become a buyer,
which I didn't love.
I'm just trying to make a necklace for her.
So I decided to go to pastry school
and become a pastry chef,
which has always been my passion.
I'm making a pistachio buttercream
for my filling.
If I win this money,
I can open my dream tea shop
and have all sorts of petit fours and sandwiches
and make my own tea.
I'm just trimming my cake
to get a roundish shape for the hair.
This mannequin head is not flat, it's round.
So stacking my cake on top of this head
is gonna be a huge challenge.
I've already had one cake fall apart.
My ice cream cake completely fell apart.
I don't want this one falling apart in the finale.
I'm doing a rosewater soak,
and I am filling my cakes.
I'm doing a pistachio buttercream,
crushed pistachios, and fresh raspberries.
This is a structured cake,
so you don't want anything too liquid-y in the filling.
So having solid ingredients inside your cake is best.
You guys, we've only got three hours left!
[up-tempo music playing]
[sighs] A little bit of buttercream
to create a dam there,
and I'm soaking this cake with my orange syrup.
I'm going to go in with some ganache
in the center.
A little bit, not too much.
I'm taking a big risk
by doing something very different.
Let's face it,
Marie-Antoinette was very different in her time.
I am going for a spring garden entrance.
You always have, at the gates,
those topiaries on the sides.
I'm really hoping
that the judges like my interpretation
of the Marie-Antoinette era.
I'm just going to mask this cake
with some American buttercream.
I want it to have time to firm up
before I go in with any decoration.
Yes.
Because I'm a chocolatier,
I am going to be using chocolate
in every way I can.
Next, I'm going to temper some chocolate
using a food processor.
And this creates a pliable,
but very, very strong substance.
And I can create shapes with that.
I am going to be making some vines for my...
spring garden.
They'll kind of creep up the sides
and add some dimension and shape.
I'll be crafting some flowers, twigs,
and that's going to kind of be the hair.
Priya, how you doing?
-[Priya] Ooh, I'm doing good. -Good?
-You're in your element with your chocolate? -[Priya chuckles]
Hoping. [chuckles]
What about you, Raveena?
I'm about to start on my paste for my edible lace.
[Priya] Nice.
[Raveena] This edible fabric is
made up of gelatin,
white chocolate, glycerin, and some coloring.
And this will set up pretty quickly here.
Take this paste...
then I spread it in...
every little...
crevice.
It's going to be beautiful.
I'm going to spread this out,
dry it in the oven.
Once it sets up, it's very moldable,
very pliable.
I'll be using this for the frill of my bust neck
and also some lace bows.
Very vintage.
It fits the whole 1785 vibe.
[Jesse] Two hours left, bakers.
[festive music playing]
[Raveena] When I think about a sailboat,
I think about stormy, gray skies.
Her hair's gonna be gray silver,
so I'm just gonna
mix in a little bit of this
to make it gray.
I need to start building.
There's so many different parts
of this challenge
and the decorative elements
that make this so tricky and so complex.
[Raveena] How do I do this?
-[tense music playing] -[plates clanging]
[Raveena] I'm ready to stack,
but my ganache filling is not.
[tense music playing]
[Raveena] It's way too solid.
I left it in the fridge for way too long.
I don't have enough time to redo this.
Raveena, her ganache is hard as a rock.
How is she going to be able to get that inside the cake?
And is that even going to be pleasant
for the judges to eat?
-[tense music playing] -[Raveena sighs]
[Jesse] This is the ultimate challenge
in the finale.
$25,000 on the line
and they have to make Marie Antoinette hairstyle cakes.
[Raveena] My ganache, it's way too cold.
It's set, it's rock solid, so I need to fix this.
I'm going to melt this down.
My ganache needs to come back to room temperature.
The pressure is so on.
I'm just gonna melt a little bit down.
Now I can break it apart and put it in the microwave and then it'll be okay.
[Jesse] Bakers, your royal hairdo cakes have to be done in one hour.
[Priya] Holy smokes.
Okay, I'm just gonna try and scuff up the surface of this head a little bit.
I'm hoping that my chocolate will stick a little better to it.
The last thing I want is for this lady's hair to fall off.
I paint it with some tempered chocolate.
This is gonna be a perfect base for me
to adhere my other decorations.
[Lisa] It's not just a tiered cake.
You have to build this on top of a mannequin head,
which is not flat, it's round.
To make sure this is structurally sound, I'm putting in dowels
as well as putting in a piece of plywood in between each tier.
You gotta manhandle it.
How am I gonna decorate this? I'm gonna need a stool.
This thing is gonna be taller than me.
This cake is very scary.
Moving it around, I'm trying not to trip.
If this cake goes down, I'm done.
[Raveena] This should be okay.
I'm focusing on getting my structure done.
This is the most crucial step of the whole process,
'cause if the structure fails, then your entire cake fails.
So I'm making sure I'm building my dam properly
and not adding too much ganache that it's gonna overflow,
and then sandwiching another layer on top.
Then I'm gonna crumb coat.
I wanna be Spring Baking Champion
first and foremost to make myself proud.
You know, it's been 14 years in this business,
and I do kind of have that question sometimes.
It's like, "Do I still got it?"
But then I won two back-to-back main heat challenges.
I really saw my confidence kinda shine through,
and that helps me remember why I do what I do, and that is huge.
And to win that title will further validate that.
Instead of building an actual 3D ship,
I'm gonna do a 2D base of a sailboat and then doing 3D sails.
I need to make a boat that looks like a boat, but it can't be super heavy.
Otherwise it's gonna completely fall off the cake.
To make my mast and sails, I'm getting bamboo skewers and some wafer paper.
I'm using the steam to kind of organically
change the shape of my sails here
as if they're, like, blowing in the wind.
There goes Priya and the chocolate.
It's a good day.
It's always a good day when there's chocolate.
Yeah, and I remember all the way back to Week 1, the very first preheat.
You had that amazing chocolate tree.
[Priya] And you know what? We're bringing it back in some twigs today.
Mm-hmm. So what did you do before you were a baker?
Okay, this is where things get hilarious.
I was a hair stylist.
I wanna say I've had some pretty adventurous hairstyles over the years.
I think my favorite is when I decided to cut my hair
like David Bowie in The Labyrinth, and I rocked it. [laughs]
But then in 2016, my kids and I were part of a wildfire evacuation
[kid] The smoke is everywhere, Mama.
[Priya] It was a really terrifying and challenging time.
[kid] Lotta smoke everywhere!
[Priya] Sorry, my love.
And we never went back.
After we left, I was ready for a new adventure, a new challenge.
So I took the baking and pastry arts program,
and that's how I found myself as a chocolatier.
So now, I am doing a cake hairdo.
Some might say, Priya, this is a full circle moment for you in your life.
Honestly. It's wild.
-[Jesse] All right, Priya. Good luck. -[Priya] Thanks, Jesse.
I'm crushing speculoos cookies with a little bit of food coloring
to make some green moss, which I press gently into the buttercream
going all the way around.
It's gonna add a little bit of crunch, and flavor, and, of course, color.
[Lisa] How are you?
Uh, it's coming together.
[Lisa] I need to make a peacock, that's what my theme is.
I think it's gonna be really cool
doing the entire peacock cascading down her hair.
Now I'm making my peacock feathers with wafer paper
and then I am going to paint them.
One of the first vacations that my husband and I took while we were dating
was to the Dominican Republic,
and the resort that we stayed at had peacocks all over the grounds.
I'm cutting my feathers
just to give it a little bit more of a real feather texture.
Only 30 minutes left now to make your Marie Antoinette hairstyle cakes.
[Priya] Not a lot of time.
[Raveena] I'm using a grass tip as my base for my hair.
-[Priya] Wow, Raveena, gorgeous. -Thank you.
I get into my zone.
I'm like making sure that it's organic enough that it still looks like hair,
but still strategic enough that it's not gonna fall apart.
That looks awesome.
The stakes are so high.
That's why I really want to be fine and detailed with it, down to her makeup.
She was the original duck lips girl, yep.
Down to the lace, down to the bows.
I am going to cut edible lace.
Basically just pinch things together to make a little bow.
[Priya] Okay.
I just want to give her hair a little bit more texture.
I'm using different tips and different waves.
[Jesse] Only 15 minutes left.
[Priya] I don't know where that time went, but it went.
I have grown so much in this competition.
I've made tons of things I've never made before.
I've tried new techniques I've never tried before.
It's a huge accomplishment for me.
[Priya] The vibe in the kitchen was totally different today.
Very focused.
I look over and see Lisa's and Raveena's cakes,
and I'm, like, actually blown away. Wow!
Cake people amaze me.
There's a lot of detail I still have to add.
I create some twists and patterns.
I add some finer vines
just to give the texture of that opulent hair.
And I add some pink blossoms to my topiary.
I'm literally seeing magic before my eyes.
Each baker has done an unbelievable job
in decorating in all the themes,
whether it's a garden, whether it's a boat.
[Raveena] Cool.
[Jesse] Whether it's a peacock.
I cannot wait for our three judges
to lay their eyes on these cakes.
[Lisa] Thanks.
[Jesse] One minute left.
I'm putting my last finishing touches on.
I gotta say these may be the best three cakes we've ever seen
in the final main heat of Spring Baking Championship.
They are absolutely stunning.
Priya how you feeling there?
Mostly stressed.
Everything needs to be set. There's no mistakes.
[Jesse] Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
That's it.
-Oh, my goodness. -[laughs nervously]
Let's go!
Time for the judges to go through your Marie Antoinette hairstyle cakes
with a fine-tooth comb.
Good job.
Oh, my goodness!
I'm feeling so proud of myself.
I'm really happy with how it turned out.
I think I made a $25,000 cake.
[Kardea] Wow, that's a cake.
[Jesse] Judges, for the final challenge, the Bakers made towering cakes
as a tribute to the elaborate hairstyles of Marie Antoinette,
and they used floral flavors.
[Nancy] Well done. Look at that.
Wow.
-Hi, judges. Hi, Jesse. -Priya, welcome back. Tell us which style you got.
So I got spring garden today.
Priya won the preheat challenge.
She got to choose which style she was going to bake with,
and then she assigned the other styles to the other bakers.
I really wanted to create the look of a topiary.
There's vines, there's texture, there's roots.
There's moss and pink buttercream flowers as well.
Share with the judges what your career was before you became a baker.
I was a hairstylist.
-No. -How's that for worlds colliding?
No wonder. How you put that together...
Like, the moss, the pieces of hair, the chocolate in the back.
-It's, like, the roots. -It's beautiful.
Thank you.
It is so opulent.
The whole creative has magically transformed us to Versailles.
The topiary, what a wonderful idea.
It was so prevalent in that era.
You have used such simple shapes
to achieve such a dramatic effect.
There's just a couple little things.
That buttercream kinda throws me off
'cause it's like, "Oh, that's right, it's cake."
The other thing is the colors of the pink and the green buttercream.
I think if they were just muddied up a little bit, it would really come together.
But this cake is an achievement.
-Thank you. -Let's give it a try.
Oh, you gotta slice it.
I've done a chocolate and orange blossom cake for you today.
[Duff and Kardea] Whoa.
Absolutely decadent.
The richness of that chocolate ganache...
-The cake is so moist, it's just rich and chocolatey. -Wow.
-Your frosting is fantastic! -Thank you.
[Kardea] The orange blossom is so nice with the chocolate.
I don't know what led you to the decision to go into baking...
And you left your career in hairstyling?
Yeah, so actually, I was part of a wildfire evacuation.
And we left our home and started new.
Sometimes life will throw a wrench,
but it directed you in a path that was destined for you.
-This is proof of that. -Thank you.
You haven't been baking for long,
but you've made something like this.
This tastes like my grandmother made it.
Like, she's been baking for 70 years.
-Amazing. -Thank you.
I will say there's a lot of frosting and chocolate.
I might have done, like, thinner cakes, thinner layers.
-Mm-hmm. -But pretty incredible. Way to go.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much.
-Thank you, judges. -Thank you, Jesse.
I'm feeling pretty good. I'm relieved, it's done.
And I've put out something pretty unique.
Her flavors were so intentional and so well executed.
-Hi, Raveena. -Hello!
So tell us what theme you got.
I got sailing ship.
I have a modeling chocolate ship, some nautical details.
I made some edible lace to make some bows.
Gave her a little bit of lip filler and some makeup.
[Kardea and Raveena laugh]
[Raveena] I used buttercream to do the texture of the hair.
I piped on braiding. I had a lot of fun with this.
I mean, close to flawless.
Thank you.
The gray that you got for her hair
-is such a difficult color to achieve. -Mm-hmm.
[Duff] The ship is great. I love that it's just kind of at this jaunty angle.
Your lace really looks great.
Thank you.
The braiding is immaculate.
The texture of the hair and how it moves,
it looks like real hair was manipulated.
-You should be very proud of yourself. -I really am.
[Kardea] I mean, the sails, the boat, the bows. It's so avant-garde.
Thank you.
I'm so impressed that you really made the back of her hair
look as great as the front.
Yay!
[Jesse] Whenever you're ready.
I did a white chocolate lavender ganache with an Earl Grey cake.
-I'm getting everything you promised. -[gasps] Yay! I'm so happy.
[Duff] Yeah, I get the old gray. It's really good.
I get the lavender too.
Your white chocolate ganache,
this is like a white chocolate candy bar, it's delicious.
Yeah.
But it's awfully thick.
-'Cause I can break it. -Okay.
-The cake is a little on the drier side. -Okay.
But flavors, you've nailed every single one.
-Awesome. -Nice job.
-Way to go, Raveena. -Thank you, judges.
I feel great, and win or lose, I am so proud of what I did.
The flavors were fabulous in this.
Yeah, you get Earl Grey, you get lavender.
-It might be the tea that's drying this out. -[Kardea exclaims]
-I think it is. -Tea is tricky.
-[Lisa] Hi, guys. -[Kardea] Hi, Lisa.
[Nancy] Hi, Lisa.
Hello, Lisa. So, what theme did you get?
I got the Marie Antoinette peacock
with its feathers cascading down her hair.
I added pearls and earrings,
and I tried to do her eye makeup like a peacock.
It's opulent.
Thank you.
-Beautiful cake. -Thank you.
[Duff] It's tall, it's got a lot of texture and movement.
[Nancy] The cascading feathers made out of wafer paper, stunning.
I love the draping of the beads
and how the beads match the feathers.
And I love that you've added a little makeup.
It is definitely a reflection of pring Baking Championship
season finale magic. Beautiful.
Thank you.
The piping is my only concern.
-I'm not sure it looks like hair. -[Lisa] Okay.
-[Nancy] I think if you had curled it a little bit... -Oh, okay.
-[sighs] I feel bad to ask you to cut into it. -Tear it apart?
Yeah.
I'm gonna take the top tier off.
Oh!
[Lisa] Oh, no.
-I'm sorry. -That can be my piece.
Off with her head.
-[Jesse] Yeah. -[Kardea laughs] Literally.
[Lisa] So, inside, I did a rose water soaked sponge with pistachio buttercream,
crushed pistachios, and fresh raspberries.
[Nancy] I really enjoyed your sponge, and I get the rosewater.
I think that your pistachio buttercream is delicious,
and I love the toast that you've got on the pistachios.
-It's really good. -Thank you.
[Kardea] I get a hint of rosewater.
I think you've done a great job with giving us just enough.
The flavors are good,
but you bite into the raspberry and it's tart.
And I believe that there's a difference in texture of your layers.
One is really fluffy and airy,
-and the other one is really dense. -Okay.
I think that this is a little tough,
and I think it's great for this application.
But I bet you could have gotten away
-with a little bit softer. -Okay.
I like the fresh raspberries in there, I think it's great. Beautiful cake.
Thank you, guys.
Amazing job, Lisa.
-Thank you, Lisa. -Lisa, thank you.
I'm super proud of myself.
I think this was safe.
Yellow cake, pistachios, no fireworks happening here.
It was good...
-Sometimes less is more. -Not at the finale.
All right, well, judges, those were three incredible cakes.
This is one of the best finales we've had.
These ladies really pulled out the stops.
Raveena had a boat in her hair!
[Nancy] With the sails!
[Duff] And the compass and the anchors, and even that gray color.
Yes. I do think the Earl Grey tea
pulled a lot of the moisture out of her cake.
[Kardea] Yeah, but the white chocolate ganache was so good
with that lavender.
-It was a little stiff, but it tasted delicious. -[Nancy] Kardea loved it.
And then Lisa's cake had a peacock on top of it.
[Nancy] Her feathers were fantastic, all made out of wafer paper.
[Duff] And all hand painted.
[Jesse] She had that rose water and pistachio.
It was very faint, but you got some of that rose water
and the pistachio was really good.
But I did not like the fresh raspberries. They were tart.
-I liked the raspberries, and usually I wouldn't, right? -[Kardea] Right.
I feel like this cake just was a little more dense than it needed to be.
And then there was Priya's spring garden.
[Nancy] It was so avant-garde.
Her chocolate work was amazing. The hair...
[Kardea] With the moss.
[Duff] I mean, not even as a sculpture,
but just as a slice of cake to sit down and eat, it was pretty great.
It was like velvet.
I will say I felt like the filling layers were too thick.
-So you just got this big mouthful of buttercream. -Yeah.
All right, well, judges,
this is gonna be the hardest decision you make all season.
-By far. -So, are you set?
Yes.
The last three standing.
[exhales]
Bakers, all three of you created hairstyle cakes that were fit for a queen.
The judges tasted and debated, and here are the highlights.
Lisa, judges loved the lavish plumage of wafer paper feathers
on your peacock hairdo cake.
And repeating those vibrant blues in your bows and flowers,
it really added to the elegance of the design.
The roasted pistachios gave so much flavor to your silky buttercream,
and we got nice hints of rosewater in the yellow cake.
However, the pipe strand hair didn't really come across as realistic
as some of the other elements,
and the bottom layer of the cake were slightly stiff.
Priya, your spring garden hairdo
literally looked like it was transplanted
right from the Garden of Versailles.
All the intricate chocolate work, it was so breathtaking.
The bright orange blossom marmalade
was also a great counterpoint to the fudgy cake
and the rich chocolate ganache.
But your layers, they could have been a bit thinner
so that each bite didn't have so much frosting.
Raveena, your sailing ship design, that was over at the top.
I mean, literally.
It was a giant frigate cruising through the lifelike hair!
Also the nautical touches, absolutely impeccable.
And Earl Grey, it can be a pretty tricky flavor, right?
But you paired it perfectly with the lavender and the white chocolate.
You did have some issue with some texture.
Cake was a bit crumbly, and the white ganache became a little bit solid.
[exhales]
Bakers, this season, our mantra was "Anything is possible."
And in the final main heat, you proved just that.
All of you created outstanding cakes in the little shop today,
but one of you had the magic touch.
The Spring Baking Champion
and the winner of $25,000 is...
Priya!
-[screams] What? -[bakers cheering]
[Jesse] Congratulations!
-Amazing! -[Priya] Oh, my God!
Oh, my goodness. So many emotions.
-Oh, my goodness. -[gasps]
So something terrible that happened in my life
propelled me forward to something
that has turned out to be one of the most beautiful things in my life.
And look where it's got me.
What?
[Kardea] Congratulations.
Anything, truly, is possible.
How does it feel? You're the Spring Baking Champion.
I'm so blown away, I'm so honored,
and definitely baking among the best.
You did it.
Her cake was literally a masterpiece.
It was amazing. That was a tough ten weeks.
Yes, it was.
[Lisa] My overall experience in this competition was amazing.
The challenges were hard, which pushed me out of my comfort zone.
It's really helped me grow, and I just could not be more proud.
[Raveena] What's next for me is I'm gonna go home to my team
and make some beautiful desserts
and keep growing and keep learning.
I'm excited to see what the future holds.
[all] Congratulations, Priya.
Congratulations, Priya. You deserve this so much.
Thank you.