Disaster in the Kitchen: Epic Fails From 'Spring Baking Championship'

Spring Baking Championship's little shop of magic is a veritable factory of incredible baked creations, where hardworking, creative contestants turn out delicious and visually stunning desserts every week. Bakers endure two challenges in each episode that test their creativity, skill and time management — trials so tough even the most experienced bakers can end up on the judges’ not-so-good sides. Ahead, check out 11 Spring Baking Championship creations that didn’t quite hit the mark, as much as we were rooting for these lovable, incredibly skilled chefs.

During Season 10, Episode 1, a new class of talented bakers arrived to tackle their first pre-heat challenge: creating a tropical spring break-themed dessert inspired by a spring flower. One contestant chose to make a St. Honore — a classic French dessert with a puff pastry bottom encircled by cream puffs and filled with pastry cream — but forgot to weigh down the puff pastry (usually done by placing a sheet pan or baking weights on top) as it baked, resulting in a base that was far too tall. The deconstructed St. Honoré was composed of store-bought puff pastry, passionfruit lime pastry cream and honey crémeux. While the judges enjoyed the components of the dessert, it was unfortunately not a winner.

For the pre-heat challenge in Season 10, Episode 1, bakers were also tasked with making desserts flavored with ube for a spring equinox party. One baker embarked upon an ube lime macadamia no-bake cheesecake with a sugar cookie crust decorated with trumpet flowers. While the judges thought that the crust boasted great texture, the cheesecake didn’t set up and was overpowered by ube extract.

Spring Baking Championship challenges bakers of all specialties, from chocolatiers to pastry buffs. During the main challenge in Season 10, Episode 2, contestants were required to bake a floral dome cake — a semispheric confection adorned with flower decor. Unfortunately for one competitor, neither cake baking nor floral embellishments were in their repertoire of culinary skills. The quality and shortage of gum flower decor, as well as the lack of filling — lychee and almond pastry cream — between the layers of the lemon and jasmine olive oil cake underwhelmed all three judges.

To celebrate Earth Day and our planet’s diverse environments, bakers were challenged to create a baked Alaska inspired by different geographic regions and filled with globally inspired ice creams during Season 10, Episode 4. Unfortunately, the tricky dessert’s meringue exterior was an obstacle for several bakers, including the maker of this adorable arctic-inspired entry composed of cardamom pistachio ice cream, apple jam, cardamom coffee cake and Italian meringue. Not only did the meringue piping fall, exposing the ice cream layer beneath, but the judges felt the cardamom flavor was far too subtle.

Sculptural cakes are stunning but can be tough to execute. Take, for example, this creation from Season 10, Episode 5, when contestants were paired up and challenged to create a cake that honors Thailand’s Songkran water festival. The cake had to include an elephant — the national animal of Thailand — and feature a signature Thai flavor. One team’s sculptural elephant cake had so much promise, but it cracked under pressure when the bakers attempted to affix the elephant’s rice cereal head to the strawberry chiffon cake body. The team ditched their sculpture and recast the story of their cake as a mom elephant whose head is dipping out of view for a drink of water with her shoulders covered in a fondant blanket. She is surrounded by elephant babies splashing her with water made of blue isomalt. The judges loved the texture and flavor of the cake, but they had to dock the team for missing the mark visually.

Spring Baking Championship is all about whimsy, but one creation in Season 11, Episode 1, was a bit too fantastical for our judges. For the pre-heat, contestants were tasked with creating a flower-themed dessert that reflected their unique personalities. This baker chose a tulip-inspired Paris-Brest, a French dessert of choux pastry and praline-flavored cream. The dessert featured a fun twist to honor the baker's time at Coney Island as a child: a game in which judges could toss a gummy candy into the bunny-shaped Paris-Brest. Unfortunately, the Paris-Brest was not crispy, and as judge Nancy Fuller remarked on the dessert’s design: “As much fun as this is, I want to see a little more finesse in the future.”

What’s more spring-centric than bees buzzing from flower to flower to make honey? Inspired by the magic of nature, bakers were challenged to create showstopping honey pies using an assigned honey and infusing honey into bee-inspired decorations atop the pie in Season 11, Episode 1. For this baker’s orange blossom honey assignment, they crafted a cream cheese pie inspired by their garden, piping colorful tulips on top. Sadly, the tulips were over-whipped, which caused them to fall, and the honey flavor in the pie did not come through for the judges. Her floating bee confections, while cute, did not contain honey, which meant one of the challenge requirements was not fulfilled.

Spring storms can lead to one of nature’s most beautiful sights: a rainbow. In the main challenge for Season 11, Episode 3, bakers were asked to make their own rainbow, both atop a cheesecake and in the layers within it. Each contestant was assigned a color and a fruit to inspire their creation. This confection's baker, whose fruit was blackberry and color was blue, crafted a visually stunning blackberry cream and mascarpone cheesecake with an almond ginger graham cracker crust that sported vivid hues, fluffy clouds and a perfect rainbow that wowed the judges. But the interior of the cheesecake itself sadly came up short. Nancy thought it was too dense, perhaps due to too much gelatin, and judge Kardea Brown remarked she didn’t detect any blackberry flavor.

Season 11, Episode 4, was all about April Fools', with a pre-heat challenge to create six chocolate eggs that look real from the outside and reveal a surprising “yolk” element when cut open. One baker aimed to make organic-looking brown speckled eggs, but when their coating of chocolate for the egg exteriors turned out lumpy, they opted for a whimsical angle that didn’t work for the judges. “It was very creative of you to give us a chicken [design], but it’s a little cartoonish, and we were expecting more delicate work,” Nancy said. The chocolate mousse inside was also too loose, said Kardea.

In another dessert deception in Season 11, Episode 4, contestants were charged with making desserts that look like savory dinner dishes, from fish tacos to sausage pizza. This baker’s challenge was to create a confection that resembled fish and chips and, though many of the elements were achieved in the pound cake “fish” with rosé buttercream and shortbread cookie "fries," the judges agreed the disguise could have been improved with thinner, more textured fish and fries that boasted a deeper color.