Posted in: TV | Tagged: , ,

Halloween Baking Championship Season 10 Episode 1 Recap: Spooky Start

Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship returns with 10 new bakers competing in creepy challenges. Here's how the Season 10 opener went.

Published
by
|
Comments

Look alive (or dead… or undead), baking fans! Halloween Baking Championship is back Monday nights on Food Network, with John Henson opening up Henson Labs to 10 fresh new bakers for another spooky competition. Returning this season to judge the competition, of course, are pastry gurus Carla Hall, Stephanie Boswell, and Zac Young, whose commentary makes the judging constructive and entertaining each week.

Halloween Baking Championship S10 off to a Spooky Start
Image: Food Network Screencap

The ten bakers competing this season are:

  • Megan Aucone, Pastry Chef and Cake Artist from Sayreville, New Jersey
  • Thierry Aujard, Executive Pastry Chef from Norristown, Pennsylvania
  • Lillian Chng, Home Bakery Owner from San Diego, California
  • Aaron Davis, Pastry Lead from Surprise, Arizona
  • Joel Gonzalez, Executive Pastry Chef from Scottsdale, Arizona
  • JL Hinojosa, Pastry Chef de Partie from Austin, Texas
  • Manny Martinez, Bakery Owner from San Antonio, Texas
  • Hollie Rivera, Assistant Pastry Chef from Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • Carly Robertson, Bakery Owner from Lehi, Utah
  • Samantha Santiago Torres, Executive Pastry Chef from Chicago, Illinois

The first thriller challenge of the season, "Laboratory Story," sees the bakers tasked with making a dessert that incorporates shattered lab glass, edible, of course. Each baker has a different piece of lab glassware, and the treats range from gruesome and elegant to a little simple and clunky. Thierry's pear, hazelnut, and fennel financier flask was ranked high, but it was Aaron's blood orange chocolate broken beaker that won him the immunity potion for the killer challenge.

The main killer challenge consists of desserts with bubbling components, complete with dry-ice smoke. This challenge saw creativity run wild, like with Aaron's coconut chai tart, which was presented with a clever rhyme, Megan's buttercream jack-o-lantern, and Lillian's red velvet Brigadeiro cauldron. Joel's toxic sludge and slime coconut cake with tropical mousse bubbled beautifully, thanks to his tapioca sludge bubbles inside chocolate orb bubbles, winning the week and the judges' hearts.

JL's toxic rats were a little too abstract, and Carly's loose tart oozed in the wrong way and stuck to the pan, leaving both desserts a little messy. Sadly, Samantha's toxic waste barrel bonbons failed to bring the substance beyond the chocolate shell and fondant, which sent her into the cryo-chamber and out of the competition.

Halloween Baking Championship S10 off to a Spooky Start
Image: Food Network Screencap

Next week sees a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice-themed episode, which promises to unleash the chaos and charm of everyone's favorite ghost host with the most. Food Network's 10th season of Halloween Baking Championship airs on Monday nights.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!

Eden ArnoldAbout Eden Arnold

Eden enjoys watching baking shows with her cat, and they have lots of opinions about television (as well as movies and everything else). She puts this to good use along with her journalism degree and writing experience with by-lines over the years in newspapers, magazines, books, and online media outlets. You can find her on Twitter and IG at @Edenhasopinions.
twitterinstagram
Comments will load 20 seconds after page. Click here to load them now.