Baking Impossible (2021) s01e06 Episode Script

1
[upbeat music playing]
Come on! Come on!
Okay.
So, we've got four teams left on this.
We've made it this far.
Amazing. Let's go.
Mission Six.
Skyscraper, okay.
I like skyscrapers.
- [Taylor] One edible city block.
- [Steve] Five-foot gingerbread.
- [Sara] Two cake structures.
- [Cindy] Seismic?
- [Menuka] It's a shake table.
- [Brandi] For earthquake simulation.
Oh, my gosh, five feet?
That's as tall as me.
Hey, friends.
So, these bakineers are about to find out
that hard hats will be required
in this cake construction zone,
because, today, the bakineers are
baking and building edible skyscrapers.
Which I guess makes them skybakers.
Makes me a piescraper. I don't know.
The point is, they're gigantic, edible,
and we might just shake 'em to the ground,
'cause this is Baking Impossible.
We do crazy stuff with cake!
I love any kind of artistic thing.
Yeah. Let's do art.
Let's get centralized on art.
Cities that
Barcelona is an amazing city of art.
Let's make it a futuristic city
that appreciates art, right?
Uh-huh.
This is a challenge.
Buildings don't withstand earthquakes.
This is a tough one.
This is the biggest mission
we've had the bakineers undertake to date.
These bakineers have
a load of work ahead of them.
Since we don't want
our bakineers collapsing,
this'll be our very first
two-day challenge,
broken up into two seven-hour days.
In terms of the spec for this mission,
we're requiring that they make
a five-foot tall skyscraper,
but it's gotta be on a city block,
so we expect
two other structural elements
to make up that city block.
I spent three months in Japan.
We can add mountain in the back.
Maybe Mount Fuji.
Do you wanna say Pittsburgh in fall?
- Beautiful autumn Midwest cityscape?
- Yes.
If we do Venice, we could
- That sounds good. Absolutely.
- That's like a water city. Right? Okay.
Their buildings are going to be facing
the ultimate structural stress test,
a little something
I like to call The Bake Quake.
We're gonna take their whole cityscape
and then put it on a seismic shake table
engineered specifically to mimic
three distinct levels of seismic activity.
In timed increments,
we'll slowly increase the shaking until
Until it all comes tumbling down.
[laughing evilly] Yes!
The goal is to reduce
the effect of the vibration
as it travels up the building.
It's kind of like cakes
when we put straws or dowels
and put another cake circle.
That's how you stack
a wedding or a two-tiered cake.
- Absolutely that concept.
- That's cool. That's cool.
We need something to be flexible
but not too rigid.
But we also need rigid.
But again, not too flexible.
When I build wedding cakes,
I use a tiered effect
so it goes from a larger to smaller.
If you could give me
the mathematical equations
on how wide the base needs to be
to go up five feet,
and I think we could start from there.
The physics of earthquakes is amazing.
What these buildings have to survive.
They're gonna have to think
about a lot of their structural choices.
What materials they use,
what is the weight distribution
of those materials,
what is the shape of the building?
What is the best shape for a?
Triangles. I'm thinking triangles.
We'll do a big tower of triangles.
Like, central column,
that's the most strong one
and then these will be supporting it.
Thick at the bottom, thinner as we go up.
So, normally,
we let them choose their edible materials.
But when it comes to skyscrapers,
we're requiring them to use gingerbread.
So, they can do things
in addition to gingerbread.
- But gingerbread is the steel.
- Yes. That's the structure.
- If you're building a house it's the wood.
- It's the skeleton of the building.
Structure-wise,
we can have a reinforcement
with the gingerbread.
Also, we have our cool, edible,
secret glue too. I think this is
That's true. That'd be good
to absorb the vibration.
- That's Exactly.
- [Steve] Gelatin.
- Gelatin?
- Yeah.
- For the center? Yeah.
- To actually smash it?
I'm thinking of a center core
running up through the building
with gelatin,
because you've got the wobble
in the gelatin,
but it would also hold the building?
So, the whole tube
has a slight wobble to it.
The bakineers also have to build us
an entirely edible city block.
And the flavor profile of the cake?
It has to match the city theme.
I hope you like the smell of gingerbread.
- I love gingerbread. Let's do it.
- That's what I'll start doing.
[clock ticking]
[upbeat music playing]
So, I'm thinking, Rodolfo,
it really is gonna come down to the joints
and how we hold things together.
- So, this glue could be the golden ticket.
- That's the secret?
Our edible skyscraper
is primarily gingerbread.
That's what the big
structural panels will be,
but inside, I'm gonna use pretzel rods
as sort of columns encased
in our candy epoxy
so we can wedge the corners
and make sure they're gonna stay
exactly where they need to.
- How many bears will you kill?
- There's so many.
- [Rodolfo] How many gummy bears?
- [Sara] Gummy bear graveyard.
We decided that we're gonna
go with this candy epoxy,
because we know
that it's gonna be really, really strong.
And hopefully, the combination of caramel
with a little bit of the gummy bear
and marshmallow is
also gonna give a little elasticity
so when it comes time
for that shaking to occur,
it's not gonna be brittle and snap apart,
it'll hold its shape and take that load.
Okay.
So, I'm a lighting designer now,
but my background
is in architectural engineering.
So, I took a few structural courses
way back when
and I work with structural engineers
every day, so it's a part of my life now,
so I'm pretty excited that this mission
actually dips into that part.
- Hello, Sara.
- Hello, guys.
- Hi, Rodolfo.
- Get your game face on.
So, Sara, Rodolfo,
talk to us about your edible cityscape.
We are starting
with the idea of Barcelona,
as it's already a city
that embraces and loves art.
So, our futuristic Barcelona
centers around a giant skyscraper.
Surrounding the skyscraper is
a park that's made mostly out of cake.
We've got two buildings as well
in the park.
We have our Tree of Ténéré,
which is this modeling chocolate,
and we've also got this gingerbread house
which is gonna house our tasting element.
For the tasting portion,
I'm baking a carrot cake
with a cream cheese frosting.
So, tell me
why you used a triangular shape.
I've used a triangular shape
because triangles are very strong.
- And if you see, the base is very steady.
- [Sara] Hey, feel free to give it a shake.
Maybe we will.
I'm sure
you're gonna give it quite a shake.
- [Joanne] Best of luck.
- Thank you.
[Dr. O] Good luck.
[clock ticking]
- Those colors are gorgeous.
- Thanks.
- [Taylor] Is that for leaves?
- [Cindy] Yes.
I lived in Pittsburgh for quite a while,
which is where I went to school
at Carnegie Mellon.
I love California and Los Angeles,
but Pittsburgh is the city
where I became an adult,
is what made me me.
- Oh, wow.
- It's like fall.
That's so cool.
- And this is wafer paper?
- Yeah.
We're gonna build
a Pittsburgh-inspired cityscape
where the Allegheny river hits
the Monongahela
and you see this gorgeous,
triangular downtown area.
We have an isomalt suspension bridge
we're gonna build in bright yellow,
two edible buildings made of cake,
and we've got all these details
that make it feel like a city.
We'll have our skyscraper,
which is gonna be five feet tall,
steel-inspired with exposed structure.
The framing is exposed on the outside
and is made up of individual bricks
with crossbars to add stability.
Cindy and Taylor.
- [Cindy] Hi!
- Hello there.
- How are you?
- Good. How are you?
That's a pretty interesting module
in your hand there.
Given that it has to be gingerbread
and that gingerbread is flat,
I was thinking what shapes I can make
that are 3D out of a 2D shape.
So, I settled
for this almost truss-like shape,
where it's just a rectangle
with a crossbar.
And then I alternate on each story
which side the crossbar's on.
So, overall,
almost all the force should be going
through these
really structurally-sound corners.
- You made gingerbread bricks, looks like.
- Yes! Like gingerbread bricks.
Have you made some sort of epoxy
or are you using
any sort of mechanical joints?
Yeah, so these are
gonna be extremely rigid,
but then we'll use gelatin between layers
and that'll provide
the stability for the actual shake.
Cindy, what are you making
for a cake for us to try?
So, I'm gonna go out my realm.
I'm going with a dark chocolate cake
and a peanut butter,
Swiss meringue buttercream.
Buttercream, not whip.
I'm gonna add a pretzel crunch,
so it's gonna be a nice contrast.
A little salty, a little sweet.
That sounds amazing.
And how does that tie in to Pittsburgh?
[Cindy] Um, black and gold.
Every sports team Pittsburgh has
is black and gold.
It's kind of cool.
- We will let you get back to work.
- Thanks, guys.
Brandi, what's your theme?
Our theme is a Japanese pagoda.
Ooh!
I wanted to do Kentucky,
but Menuka is over it.
[both laughing]
No, I didn't say that.
We're going to build the pagoda
entirely out of gingerbread.
And we're going to build it
like a pyramid shape
with the five different levels.
[Brandi] The landscape portion
will have Mount Fuji in the back
created out of cake,
a sake fountain in the front,
also created out of cake,
some cherry blossom trees
using modeling chocolate
and marshmallows rolled in tinted coconut.
The dessert will be
an almond and fig cake.
I had the idea of cutting the figs open
and baking them face up
so it'll look like a cobblestone effect
to surround the base of the sake fountain.
Get those pieces laid out
and ready to go.
That way whenever the glue is ready
we can just slap 'em together.
[clock ticking]
[Renee] Is the gelatin ready?
[Steve] This can go underneath the base.
- That looks awesome.
- Yeah, so it's strong.
[exclaims] It looks
like an octopus or something.
Yeah. Hopefully, that'll take
the bouncing up and down pressure
a little bit out of it.
I'm excited for this mission
just on the structural aspects alone
of creating a building
that's gonna withstand an earthquake.
Try and move that.
[Renee] Okay.
So, that's gonna put the stability
between the shaker and your base
so that does the shaking,
but this is the cushion.
Mmm, mmm. I like it. Okay.
We can cut pieces, like,
four and stack them up like this
and put 'em in each corner.
- Okay. Sweet.
- And then that's your rubberized base.
- Steve, Renee.
- Hello there.
How are you guys doin'?
We're doing great, thank you.
I'm curious, why Venice?
We thought Venice because gondolas,
the ocean,
more elements to throw in there
So, Steve and I are
building Futuristic Venice.
We wanna stand out from the other teams,
so we're going with
a all-green energy building
powered by solar panels and wind energy.
Our side buildings are
going to be an edible dessert
that the judges are just going to love.
It's gonna be a cannoli cake
laced with rum and chocolate chips.
Is this going to sit on your platform?
So, is this the upper layer?
So, this is gonna be the bottom layer.
There's an identical piece
that's gonna sit on top of this.
And there's gonna be oil in between.
I see.
That's the premises behind it.
If it'll work or not, I don't know.
But oil creates less friction,
which will give me
a sliding element going on.
- Neat. You want it to slide.
- I want it to slide, correct, yes.
So, hopefully, my building will do this
and the core will do that.
- You're making a shimmying skyscraper.
- Exactly.
[clock ticking]
Teams, three hours
'til the end of day one.
- Sorry.
- Yeah.
- How many of these do we have to build?
- We have to build 34 boxes.
There's nothing
our magic glue won't stick to.
We can hit it with a freeze spray,
it sets up really quickly.
Royal icing's what you'd normally attach
gingerbread with, but it has a dry time.
We also contemplated using chocolate,
however, chocolate cracks.
And Menuka's very adamant
he wants it to have a shiftability.
We can just take white chocolate
and pipe in strips like that down it.
- Okay. Okay.
- That'll add reinforcement.
[Steve] So, I'm putting the gelatin core
inside right now
on a smaller version
of what would be the larger version.
Let me let this set for a moment
and then I'm gonna go stand on it
and see if we can take
200 pounds on top of this.
As much as I have
from an engineering perspective, like,
it sounds like you're really knowledgeable
in the structural building.
It's almost like building a wedding cake.
It's the same principles
that you have to have structural support.
The pieces have to be machined
to a 90-degree angle on the corner
so they come together properly.
The supports inside have to be
exactly machined
so you can build the next cube,
and the next cube.
That is really my world right there.
So, 200-pound stress test, okay?
One, two, three.
So, there's 200 pounds
on top of a two-inch by two-inch cube.
That's awesome, Steve.
[clock ticking]
[upbeat music playing]
[Taylor] So, what's your vision
for this tree during the stress test?
I really hope that some fall off.
- So that it's, like, legit fall, yeah.
- Fall? Yeah.
Put a couple of loose ones in there,
in case they don't.
[Taylor] It's so beautiful.
Thank you. You're beautiful.
- You're beautiful.
- You're beautiful.
Hey, Brandi and Menuka!
So, you guys won
the last mission. Congrats again.
By doing that, you've won
an enormous advantage in this mission.
I'm curious if you wanna hear what it is.
- Yes!
- Yes!
Yeah? Okay.
So, let's just say
that all of your buildings are gonna face
some seriously devastating shaking.
However, Brandi and Menuka,
you guys get to have your building shake
for half as long as your competitors.
That's an advantage, for sure.
It's gonna save us. This is gonna save us,
because we really need this one.
Everyone else, stop shaking in your boots,
get back to work. Good luck.
[clock ticking]
Check this out.
Oh my God, so cool. Love.
I am not happy with this.
This is not working.
We're gonna switch it up. I don't know
if we wanna keep going with the gelatin.
I wonder if it's just too humid here
with, you know, these structures.
The building is actually
held together with a gelatin mix.
But some of the panels were sticking
with the gelatin
and holding together very well
as a structure. I mean, they were sound.
And then others were falling apart.
And I'm realizing something's gone wrong
with the gingerbread
and it's starting to
draw humidity from the gelatin.
I don't think we have much time left
today. Let me clean these panels off.
This one's not going together properly.
It's warped.
Three minutes, teams. Three minutes.
[tense music playing]
[Steve] It's gonna take
every single second we have
to pull this off.
Ten. Nine. Eight.
[Justin and judges] Seven. Six. Five.
Four. Three. Two. One.
All right, bakineers,
that's the end of day one!
You get to go get some sleep.
So, wrap up your work
and we'll see you tomorrow
for a rich, full day
of baking and building. Well done.
[Steve] So, it's the end of the day
on the first build
and we're not in a good place.
We're not feeling good about this,
we're running out of time,
we don't have a structure.
So, it's very worrying at this point.
We gotta figure this out.
[tense music playing]
[Justin] Good morning, bakineers.
You've got seven hours left.
[Brandi] We got
most of the boxes built yesterday.
Once we get those finished, you can
start constructing the gingerbread house
while I work on our two cake pieces.
Sounds like a plan.
Ten minutes already passed.
Goes fast.
If it works, I'll feel pretty smart.
If it doesn't work,
I'll still feel pretty smart, honestly.
[Cindy laughing]
For this skyscraper, we're gonna
be using primarily gingerbread,
but, as an adhesive agent,
we'll be using isomalt.
And as a shock absorber in the base,
we'll be using gelatin.
From an engineering perspective,
the biggest principle I'm highlighting
is base isolation.
And I think that using a thick layer
of really, really rubbery gelatin
will prevent the shock
from going like this
all the way up the structure
and really keep it low in that base layer.
You can do it.
If anyone can do it, you can do it.
Aww
We can leave these together.
We're gonna use chocolate on the corners
Okay. Do you want me
to come over and help you?
- Just get the chocolate hot.
- Okay.
- Get rid of this gelatin.
- Okay.
So, we're not using the gelatin anymore.
The gelatin's not working at this point.
So, we're switching it up
and we're going to use baker's chocolate
as the structural glue.
[clock ticking]
That's really cute.
It's my small cake.
My hands are gettin' a little figgy.
That's so pretty.
Carrot cake. It's my favorite dessert.
- It's your favorite dessert?
- Yeah.
Do you smell that?
Victory.
[chuckles]
So, the pagoda, the way they work is
each level is separated from each other.
So, when they moving,
they call it "dancing floors."
So, I'm actually going
through the same process.
So, I want to have each level
is not really attached permanently
and have a flex, so they each can move
in a separate direction.
I know this is gonna take more
gingerbread and more time to prep,
but, in my head, this is a safe approach.
Because, as you know,
in the ancient world,
the only thing that survives
is a pyramid-shaped building,
so I want to make a nice pyramid shape
and disguised as a pagoda.
Five hours left!
- [Menuka] Oh, my God.
- Five hours.
[dramatic music playing]
Gettin' tall.
When we get this mission,
I realize we have an opportunity
to use the rest of the city
as a dampening force for the tower itself,
and the main goal is
to keep the tower upright.
But what I'd like to do is to try
to get the park encasing the tower
at least on two of the three corners
so that extra cake
will absorb some of the shock
and save a little bit more
of the base of the tower.
All right, can I hand this back?
Okay. Thanks. Good.
[electropop music playing]
[clock ticking]
[Steve] You see the white chocolate?
- White chocolate?
- I saw it right here.
Bakineers,
the quake is coming in one hour.
[Steve] Coming over with the cake.
You think we could make
a couple more gondolas?
I'm gonna work on something
for the piazza.
Judges, why don't you guys head off
and get ready?
- Let's do it.
- Make sure to have a broom handy, I think.
[Andrew chuckles]
Bakineers, the judges are off
to construct a truly seismic stress test.
Jesus.
- [Rodolfo] Go easy.
- Okay.
[Steve] I'll hold that.
- That's in?
- [Renee] Press down.
[Justin] You have five minutes left!
[tense music playing]
[Steve] Move on. Move on. How many?
[Renee] I need one battery.
You're doing great. You're doing great.
[Justin] Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
[klaxon wailing]
Bolts and buttercream down.
Your time is up!
- [applause]
- Oh, my gosh.
- [sighing] Oh, my God.
- Oh!
Bakineers, come with me.
You know,
since it's our sixth stress test,
we thought,
"Let's shake it up a little bit."
[contestants exclaim]
- Whoa!
- Oh, my God!
What?
- Wait, is that smoke or What was that?
- [Taylor] That smoke is wonderful.
- [Justin] It's getting warmed up.
- [Taylor] Yes.
Well, bakineers, what you're
about to face will be earth-shattering.
[laughing evilly]
The one key engineering requirement
of all buildings is they cannot fall.
In this stress test, we'll be challenging
the structural integrity
of your edible constructions.
[Justin] That is
an earthquake simulation table.
We call it The Bake Quake.
Trademark pending.
Now, each of your buildings
will have to withstand shaking
in three incremental levels,
for 10 seconds, 30 seconds, and
one minute without falling off the table,
which I control
with this detonation system right here.
Are the buttons isomalt
so you can push the edible?
[all exclaim, laugh]
- Oh, Brandi, that's a good point.
- Brandi, Brandi, Brandi.
We'll start with a gentle shimmy
and go all the way up to the big one.
Can you show us
what a gentle shimmy looks like, Andrew?
[all laughing]
We did have you put aside some cake,
so, just in case
your buildings come tumbling down,
we will have something to taste.
I'll look at the integrity
of your structures.
I mean,
this is Structural Engineering 101.
So, I'm gonna be looking to see
how well your buildings survive
our bake and shake test.
[Justin] All right.
Who's ready to shake and bake?
Let's do it.
First up, Cindy and Taylor.
- Yeah!
- Give it up.
Pittsburgh is a place with four seasons.
We wanted to highlight that
in this build. In the far corner,
you'll see the entrance to the city.
You go across our isomalt bridge.
We have these awesome
modeling chocolate trees.
[Cindy] The leaves
are made out of wafer paper.
There's hundreds on there.
The cake on the right is
The tasting portion's on the top layer,
but that's a chocolate cake
and also the building on the back
is chocolate as well.
For our skyscraper,
it is just about 100% gingerbread,
with the primary exception
of gelatin on the bottom,
hopefully dampening
a lot of the vibrations.
All right! It is about time
to launch some destruction.
Andrew, fire up level one
in three, two, one.
- Yep. Yeah.
- [Brandi] Yeah!
[contestants applauding]
[Joanne] Wow.
- [Bake Quake powers down]
- [Justin] That's level one!
You made it through all of ten seconds
of level one. Are you ready for level two?
- Yeah.
- Yes.
[Taylor] Oh, God.
Oh!
[contestants exclaim]
Oh, my.
[murmurs]
[Taylor] Cake's gonna waddle off the back.
- [Joanne] Oh, boy.
- Oh!
[all] Oh!
[contestants laughing]
[Joanne] But the building didn't fall!
Have you ever seen a cake walk like that?
Wow.
Not a beautiful day in this neighborhood.
[Cindy] It's not.
It's no longer beautiful.
All right, well, Cindy, Taylor,
let's do level three, shall we?
Which is the big one. Andrew?
[Renee] Oh! The cake's walking.
- Oh, no. There it goes.
- The cake!
Oh, no!
[all] Oh!
[Brandi] Suicide.
It's comin' out.
Oh, God.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Okay. Okay.
Go!
[all exclaiming]
[applause]
Cindy and Taylor,
you ultimately did fail the stress test,
but you made it 23 seconds
into level three.
- Well done!
- [Renee] Good job.
[Joanne] That's impressive.
Let's taste your creations.
[Cindy] I made
a dark chocolate cake
with a peanut butter
Swiss meringue buttercream
and a pretzel crunch.
It is fantastic.
- Thank you.
- The cake is rich, moist,
light, but still very flavorful.
The peanut butter Swiss meringue
I think is really well-balanced.
But the fact that it's covered
in modeling chocolate,
I'm definitely gonna leave
the modeling chocolate to the side.
You did a great job
on the design today, visually.
I love the isomalt bridge.
I would say
the level of finish at ground level,
then as you go up
was slightly stark in contrast,
I think it'd be fair to say.
But overall, it's very striking.
Your building lasted a bit longer
than I predicted,
but, ultimately,
I think there was some really ingenious
engineering elements that you included.
I always thought the gel
at the bottom was a very good idea.
- I'm really proud of you.
- Thank you.
Cindy, Taylor,
thank you for the trip to Pittsburgh.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
Up next, Rodolfo and Sara.
- Please carefully
- [Brandi] Good luck!
Rodolfo and I
were thinking futuristic cities,
what do we want to be seeing?
Immediately Barcelona came to my mind.
Gaudí's crazy architecture everywhere.
[Rodolfo] For the park,
we have a vanilla cake base
and for the tree,
modeling chocolate and sugar leaves.
We did two cakes
with gingerbread around.
Coconut for the grass
and a little pasta on the top
just to get a little higher. [laughs]
- Rodolfo, Sara, you ready?
- Ready.
Andrew? It's time for level one.
[tense music playing]
[cheering]
- You think your skyscraper will survive?
- I hope so.
- I think so.
- Let's activate level two.
Oh, my gosh!
[gasps] Oh!
The house is falling apart.
Oh, gosh!
[Justin] It stayed up!
[Brandi] Yeah!
[Justin] We saw a little damage there.
- Are you ready for level three?
- Let's do it.
Solid.
- Solid.
- [Joanne] It isn't going anywhere.
Solid as a rock.
Oh!
Whoa!
[cheering]
- [Joanne] Oh, my God!
- Wow!
- [Brandi] Good job, guys!
- Good job!
Sara, Rodolfo, you have survived
everything we could throw at it.
- Well done!
- Yeah!
Now Andrew's just gonna
come kick it over.
Congratulations.
Brilliant engineering, Sara.
You had this internal reinforcement,
you engineered your own epoxy,
wonderful job all around.
Well, Rodolfo, Sara,
it is time to taste
the cake construction that survived,
so let's cut it up.
[Rodolfo] We did a cake inspired by Gaudí.
He used a lot of vegetable and fruits,
so I did a carrot cake with pecans
and a traditional cream cheese.
The carrot cake is really well-prepared.
It is light, it's not overly-spiced.
I might add
either a little bit more carrot,
something to give it
kind of that juiciness
I expect when I eat a carrot cake,
something that's
just a little bit more moist.
But again,
that's a very minor, minor point.
Thank you.
Rodolfo and Sara, I think this is iconic.
It's colorful, it's bright.
It grabbed my attention
when I saw it in its completed form.
It really did take my breath away.
Your your candypoxy
clearly worked really well today.
I think it's also
a testament to your design as well.
Just putting two pieces end to end
with a good epoxy
isn't gonna make a strong joint,
but you've thought about that
and you built the internal structure.
It's very impressive.
- Well done.
- [Sara] Thank you.
[Taylor] Guys!
[Justin] Up next, Brandi and Menuka!
- Nice!
- Yeah!
- Please carefully bring us that pagoda.
- Go, Brandi!
[Menuka] So,
when we received this mission,
my mind straight went
to the Japanese pagoda.
[Brandi] In the front of the pagoda,
you have little shrubbery
that's made out of the giant marshmallows,
and then you have the sake fountain,
which is cake.
I took pearl sugar and colored it.
Then we also have
the cherry blossom trees, which I love.
I made those with melted marshmallows
using shredded coconut.
And then off in the landscape behind,
you can see Mount Fuji.
And that is cake
with buttercream and snow sugar on top.
The structure
entirely made of gingerbread.
Now, let's remember,
because of the advantage you earned,
you'll only be shaking,
rattling and rolling for half the time.
Andrew, we'll begin
with five seconds at level one.
[Joanne] Oh!
Lost a few shrubs,
but structure's holdin' firm.
Andrew, cue level two.
- It's starting to weaken.
- [Brandi] Jeez.
[Joanne]
It's going to separate.
- [Brandi] Oh, my goodness!
- [Joanne] Wow!
- Solid.
- Well done. Prepare level three.
You have to withstand 30 seconds,
which is half the amount of time
as your competitor. You ready?
Yes, we're ready.
Go easy, Andrew. Go easy.
[Justin] Oh!
[Brandi] Aww!
Oh! Oh!
[Andrew] Oh, oh, oh! [groans]
- [Justin] Yeah!
- [all cheering]
You have successfully survived 30
seconds. Congrats, how do you feel?
Like I wanna puke, maybe. Excited
Time to give the judges
a taste of Japan.
So, I decided to bake
an almond and honey cake
with upside-down figs.
- Is it glazed with honey as well?
- No, it's
- There's just some sugar sprinkled on top.
- Got it.
The cake is well-flavored.
There's little bits of almond,
which I like.
I wish that this had been
a little bit more adventurous.
Maybe putting it in a tart shell
and then putting a little bit of cake,
and then some of the fig might have
just elevated the dessert
so it just showed off a little bit more
of all of the talents I know you have.
I think you picked the most
ambitious design, architecturally.
Most impressive to me is
how you bakineered this.
So, you used your patented epoxy,
Menuka, which has worked a treat here.
It's got elasticity so it's able
to absorb some of that vibration.
That thick layer at the bottom
clearly did its job really well.
If I was to give
some constructive feedback,
if I put my hand there,
from the first three layers,
I'm in Japan.
Oh, it's clearly gingerbread.
Well done for completing
what you did in time.
Perfect. A little bit unfinished.
So, Menuka, I think
it was a brilliant technique.
Your step pyramid design,
it gave you sort of like
a dampening of energy as you go up
and I saw that every single level
was as solid as a rock,
but they were moving separately.
So, I love what you did
from an engineering perspective.
Congratulations. Great job.
- Appreciate it. Thank you.
- Thank you.
Thank you guys very much. Well done.
Up next, Steve, Renee.
- [Taylor] Yay!
- [Rodolfo] Go get it, guys!
[Renee] Welcome
to Futuristic Venice, Italy.
In order to combat
the impacts of climate change,
Venice has to go 100%
no carbon emissions energy.
Such as the solar panels
that are powering the inside
of the skyscraper itself
and the windmills.
Tower is gingerbread
with a support system inside,
which is a crisscross system
between the layers.
The two buildings are cake on the inside,
buttercream on the outside.
The surrounding area
to the building itself is
Rice Krispie cereals
covered with coconut flakes.
The trees are made from chocolate,
and the gondolas are
modeling chocolate made by Renee.
- Steve, Renee, ready for level one?
- I'm ready.
- [Renee] Ready.
- [Justin] Andrew?
[Dr. O, Joanne] Wow.
Let's take it to level two.
- [Joanne] Got some movement.
- Here we go.
Oh, oh, oh, oh!
[applause]
It's not gonna make it.
A slight redesign has happened,
but you survived. How you feeling?
A lot of that's held together
with gelatin.
I had to switch up a little bit,
because the gingerbread
was getting too soft.
So, I switched up to some chocolate base.
And I knew there was gonna be
a weak spot right there, and I was right.
Maybe it'll take it right back
where it's supposed to be.
- [Steve] It may do that.
- You ready for level three?
Yep.
Oh, gosh.
Oh!
[softly] Stay. Stay.
[Renee] I just wanna catch it.
[all] Oh!
- [Steve] That one place.
- Wow.
Oh, man.
Steve, Renee,
your building withstood 38 seconds.
You failed the stress test,
but we're excited to taste your cakes.
[Steve] So, I made today,
to tie in with the theme of Italy,
a cannoli rum cake
with a European buttercream
on the outside.
And what is the filling?
It's a combination
of ricotta and mascarpone.
A hint of rum and vanilla.
- What's crunchy inside? Chocolate chips.
- Sorry, the chocolate chips. I forget.
So, Steve,
I wanna start off by thanking you
for covering it in something
other than modeling chocolate or fondant.
Because if I'm gonna eat a slice of cake,
I want to be able to eat the whole thing.
And in this case, I can and I want to.
The sponge cake is really light,
I mean, it's almost like flying away.
The ricotta and mascarpone
are really rich and creamy.
I love the addition
of the chocolate chips,
which gives it a little texture,
a little crunch as you're eating it.
But, unfortunately,
the rest of the cake is a little bit dry.
- Okay.
- It's so light, and, as a sponge cake,
it really is meant
to soak up whatever liquid,
so I think
if you were to make this cake again,
just making a simple syrup with some rum
would really not only
highlight the rum flavor,
but also give the cake more moisture.
Steve, this is like being in Italy.
I love that ricotta filling,
the chocolate chips give
a beautiful crunch. I'm an Irishman,
so I could've taken more rum,
to be honest.
- Okay.
- [Joanne laughs]
Steve, I know there was some issues
with the material choice.
You've said it yourself,
where it split was where you had to make
that switch to chocolate.
I think with a slightly
different ballistic gel composition
it might've been
a little more humidity-resistant.
Maybe a bit of glycerin.
But all in all,
I think you've got a really nice design.
You can tell
those units were well-designed.
Even that one on the floor there,
it's still holding together.
It was just those interfaces
which started to give way.
Hey, that's what brings buildings down.
One flaw.
[Dr. O] Steve and Renee,
your building did not survive
our stress test,
but I was immediately reminded
of how buildings in California are made,
where you have a subterranean
rollers that allow the building
to slide back and forth,
and I looked at it
at the very lowest levels
of our earthquake settings
and I could see the base sliding around,
so I thought, "Yeah, that's really good."
So, great job.
You didn't make it all the way through,
but part of your building
is still standing, so, way to go.
Steve, Renee, well done.
Thank you.
Thank you for Venice.
Congrats. Awesome job.
Our judges have
a very tough decision to make.
Want me to take care
of your controller while you're gone?
- I'll keep ahold of it, thank you.
- Okay. Why don't you guys go discuss?
We'll sit tight.
[tense music playing]
[softly] At this point,
it's our sixth mission,
and, like the skyscrapers,
our expectations are sky high.
This one's really, really hard.
They're obviously
both such talented bakineers.
It's a really difficult decision.
- I don't know what we're gonna do.
- Shall we flip a coin?
Dr. O!
I know we're in the bottom two.
So, it Just
How are they gonna judge this now?
That's our main concern.
How is this gonna go?
Judges.
Are you ready for us?
- Yes, we are.
- We are.
Bakineers, follow me.
Right.
Bakineers. We like to call this process
"creative destruction,"
and, from where I stand, at least,
you all were up to the challenge.
A spot in the semi-finals
is on the line, everyone.
And we're so sad to see
one of your amazing teams leave
right before we get there.
Four teams are left,
but only three teams will be moving on
and one step closer
to winning the $100,000.
Sara and Rodolfo, Brandi and Menuka.
Congratulations.
You will both be moving
into the semi-finals,
but only one of you will be earning
a colossal boost in the next mission.
To find out who that is,
we're gonna shake things up
just a little bit more.
[Bake Quake powering up]
[contestants] Yay!
[Sara] Seeing our name in lights
feels awesome.
And it took a minute
for me to recognize my own name.
I'm reading and going,
"Yes, that's actually us!"
I honestly can't believe
we're in this mission at this point.
And then we're in the semifinals! Ah!
[Justin] Congratulations,
Rodolfo and Sara.
You will now earn an incredible advantage
in the next mission.
And that mission is pivotal,
as it will decide
who makes it into the finale.
Rodolfo and Sara,
I loved your use of edible materials.
You had your own edible epoxy,
you cleverly designed
a building with good joints
and you used the cake at
the bottom to act as a bit of dampening.
It worked flawlessly.
[Justin] All right.
We have two teams guaranteed
spots in our next mission.
So, Brandi, Menuka, Rodolfo and Sara,
why don't you guys go take a seat?
Now, the question is who will be
joining them in the semifinals.
Cindy and Taylor or Steve and Renee?
[tense music playing]
It was so hard
for the judges to come to a conclusion
that they did not come to a conclusion.
Neither of you are going home quite yet.
The judges came up with another solution.
You both have to face one more mission
in order to earn
that coveted spot in our semifinal.
Using everything you've learned
from the skyscraper mission,
you have just two hours to build a house
using your leftover gingerbread
from your skyscraper
that is at least two feet tall.
Then, we're gonna shake them side by side
at the same time on The Bake Quake.
The team whose house survives the longest
will earn a place in our top three.
And, in the event of a tie,
we will be determining who moves on
based on your home design.
[Rodolfo] Gee.
Your final shakedown starts right now.
[woman] Mission launch.
In three, two, one, go.
Ooh! Watch out for that.
Honestly, I can't believe
we're going up against Steve and Renee
on a shakeoff.
[Renee] My thin compartment?
Steve is fast, and that's my biggest
concern going up against them.
I mean, he can pull things out of nowhere
faster than we can even think of them.
I wanna line these up
and make sure they all tie in properly.
Okay. Yeah, I can cut these
on the band saw, no problem.
We just finished a 15-hour build.
We're tired, exhausted, and we don't know
what it's gonna be at this point.
Stand back. Hot, hot, hot.
But I know we can get it up
in two hours with the isomalt,
and I'm pretty sure
the isomalt's gonna hold together
and withstand the stress test
on the shaker.
[Renee] We can always reinforce
on the outside,
especially the bottom pieces.
The bottoms should be reinforced first
and then the outside second,
and then we should be good
from a structural standpoint.
[Cindy] I'm making all the decor
out of modeling chocolate.
- [Taylor] That's perfect in my mind.
- Okay.
[Taylor] We're going for a simple shape
and we're theming it
as King Neptune's vacation home.
Do you think if I make seaweed
out of this we can attach it?
- Onto?
- Yes.
I feel confident
that both buildings are gonna last
for the whole Bake Quake,
so it's important to make it gorgeous
in addition to strong.
Fifty-eight minutes.
There's no time for base isolation systems
and stuff like that.
I just have to secure this thing
to the board the best way I can
with the amount of isomalt
I've got left in the pot.
That should hold it to the board.
I'm pouring it down inside the building
so it would run into the corners
and hold the building in place.
[Brandi] Yeah, Steve.
- Yeah!
- [Brandi] Put that roof on there!
It's a rocket ship.
- It looks like it.
- Yes.
Oh! 'Cause you're an aerospace engineer!
[Steve] When I hold it up,
push it on.
[Renee] Okay.
- And I'll border around it.
- Steve, Renee, how you feelin'?
- Looking good.
- Oh, never better!
- I think they're lying.
- That was sarcasm.
[clock ticking]
That looks right. My grandma's recipe.
On the fly, I need a way
to attach our structure to the base.
In order to succeed in this Bake Quake
against Steve and Renee,
I need to make sure our building
is attached to the base strong,
and isomalt is gonna be way too brittle,
so, I'm making a edible epoxy situation
that's based on marshmallows.
Marshmallows are very, very springy,
so hopefully they can
absorb vibration just like gelatin.
Then I'm adding in some gummy bears
and coating chocolate
to really adhere to the gingerbread.
I'm gonna tilt this towards you.
- Can you support it?
- [Cindy] Yep.
This is on-the-fly engineering.
I'm pretty sure this is gonna work,
but I'm basically taking sticky things
and just putting them in the microwave.
Thirty seconds!
- Come on!
- Last touches.
[Sara] Killin' it, Cindy!
- Come on, guys!
- Come on!
Five, four, three, two, one!
[Justin] Time is up!
Chocolate and chisels down!
[Renee] Wow.
[Taylor] This is
the most emotionally, physically,
and mentally exhausted we've been
this whole competition.
I mean, we put in 100%
and then a couple hours later,
we put in 100% again.
And I'm just hoping that we are able
to stay to create for another day.
So, bakineers, you already know
what it is you're about to face.
It is sitting right here in front of you.
The house that stands up the longest
earns a spot in the top three.
If it comes down to a tie or the same
number of pieces are lost,
we'll be judging you on design.
A spot in the top three
is literally on the table.
Cindy and Taylor,
Steve and Renee, are you ready?
Let's do it.
This is for a spot in the semifinals.
- Andrew, you ready?
- Yes, I am.
In three, two, one.
[Justin] We started with nine teams.
Only one can walk away with $100,000.
I'm sorry to say,
this was your final mission.
Phew!
We have to build a car.
The champions of Baking Impossible are
[theme music playing]