Hanson

I'm just getting a little flustered. Well, then, get it together. All right. WILLMAN: In just a few minutes, four bakers will get in the ring for the ultimate cupcake face off. Don't stop, don't stop, don't stop. No burn, no burn. One by one, they'll be knocked out, as they're judged on taste... It was like a brick in my stomach. ...presentation... Thank you. And in the final round, the last two bakers standing will have to bring it all together into one beautiful cupcake display. The winner gets to have their creation as the heart and soul of one of the most exclusive events of the year -- the after-party at a Hanson concert. Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. It's Hanson, Hanson, Hanson. And they'll walk away with $10,000. It smells like something's burning. Oh, my God. There's no way we can use these. Oh! Oh, my God. I am so screwed and so stressed. Ohh. Get ready, 'cause this is "Cupcake Wars." -- Captions by VITAC -- Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC. [ Ding! ] Hello, I'm Justin Willman, and we are about to kick start a battle for cupcake excellence. Overseeing today's war are our judges. Candace Nelson, founder of the world's first cupcake bakery, Sprinkles Cupcakes. And Florian Bellanger, owner of Mad Mac Macarons and former executive pastry chef at the world-renowned Fauchon. Kitchens are loaded. Our judges are ready. Let's meet today's competitors. Mom! My name is Nicole Storey. I own Izzabee's Confectionaries in Lexington, South Carolina. We are an online bakery. We specialize in all things sweet and whimsical. Ooh, bake much? [ Laughs ] Our family has recently relocated from across the country. That means that we need to grow a whole new client base. How did I end up being your assistant? My assistant today is my mom, Jennifer Knobloch. She's the one who taught me to bake. You mean when we win? I need to win "Cupcake Wars" because we just relocated. I have no clients, I have no customers, and I really need to build my business again. Dreamy Creations is coming back to be two-time champion. Right on! My name is Jenica Braddock, and I own Dreamy Creations in Northridge, California. We do everything in cupcake form. We do bread pudding, gluten-free brownies. We do pies hand-crafted in a cupcake paper. Being a winner, they're gonna just expect so much more. This is my third time on "Cupcake Wars." The first time I was on, we got eliminated Round 1. The second time we went on, we were on for Tony Hawk's episode, and we won. They're gonna taste our Dreamy Creation. My assistant is Crystal Schaffner, my mother. We make a really good team. She's just amazing. We're gonna kick butt again! I know. We have to win. Last time we won, we used the money to get a big delivery truck, so the $10,000 would help us get more equipment. "Cupcake Wars," we're coming back! Go! Oh, no! No more frosting. I probably ate too much. My name is Anna Kelly, and I'm the owner of AK Cookies N Cupcakes in Manteca, California. We're an online bakery. We take classic flavors and make them our own. Like an Irish car bomb cupcake. Really good. It'll give us a little comfort to have each other in the kitchen. Plus, you're used to me yelling at you all the time, anyway, so we're good. My assistant today is Richard Kelly, and he is my husband. We work really great together. We communicate really well. This is more than just work stress. It's $10,000 stress. "Cupcake Wars" is what my business needs. I'm not a trained pastry chef. It'll really prove to me that I can actually do this. All right. Let's go! That's right. I'm Annie Justiss. I'm the manager of Cupcake Downsouth in Charleston, South Carolina. In the past seven years, we've grown a lot, and now we have four locations. We have over 50 flavors, but we're in the south. Red velvet is the southern staple. So, how did I get to be the assistant? That's just the way it is. Karen is a great assistant. We started working together at the bakery, and we've been friends ever since. We make an awesome team. There's no way anybody's gonna beat us. Winning "Cupcake Wars" would really help the business. It would bring a lot of new customers that might not have ever heard of us before. All right, here we go. L.A., here we come. You're driving all the way, right? Hello, cupcake bakers. Join me. What's up, guys? Welcome to "Cupcake Wars," where tonight, your goal isn't just to make cupcakes that are delicious. Your goal is to make cupcakes that rock. Because we're not just sending tonight's winner to one of the hottest concerts in America. We're sending you and your cupcakes to the after party with the band. But don't take it from me. Take it from these guys. The 3-time Grammy nominees with 6 top-40 singles, Hanson. What's up, dude? Welcome. How are you? What's up? When I was 12, I had a huge crush on Taylor Hanson, and now I'm baking him cupcakes. Taylor is totally still cute. We are celebrating the release of our sixth studio album called "Anthem." So we need some cupcakes that really rock. WILLMAN: And, of course, to help you party like a rock star, we're even gonna throw in 10,000 bucks. Here's how it works. There's gonna be three rounds of competition. After each round, one of you will sadly be eliminated. Now, your first challenge is a taste test. And since the band hails from Oklahoma, we're paying homage to the home of Hanson. Our inspiration table here is packed with ingredients from Oklahoma's state meal. Barbecued pork, sausage gravy, fried squash, and so much more. Your job -- use three of these flavors to create a delicious cupcake that takes Hanson home. You have 45 minutes. Good luck. Starting now. ANNA: I see chicken-fried steak, fried zucchini, fried okra. Blech. Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. It's Hanson, Hanson, Hanson. I'm so excited. They have, like, pulled pork, strawberries. Fried okra, fried squash. Chicken-fried steak. Some grits. I definitely don't want to go with the sauce. Or the grits. We have to do this big. It's a really big pop band. Maybe like a brown sugar corn cake. And then they have black-eyed peas. I don't want to use meat. Today, I'm going to make a brown sugar corn cake topped with a graham cracker crust, filled with fresh, chopped strawberries with a black-eyed pea cream cheese icing and garnished with fresh strawberries. NICOLE: Just gonna food process the black-eyed peas. I want to make the icing a little sweet. I think the black-eyed pea icing is really going to stand out for the judges, but I have never used any bean in any icing ever. So, I'm taking a huge risk. Okay. NICOLE: Mom, this corn is going all over. My idea is to do something really, really risky. I'm going to make a sweet corn and barbecue pulled pork cupcake with a brown sugar strawberry coulis, a brown butter honey buttercream and a fondant corn on the cob. This is a bold move, you know? First time on "Cupcake Wars," and also making a cupcake that we've never made before. We're gonna keep some whole, right? I want some texture in the cupcake. I'm doing a sweet corn cupcake filled with a strawberry-braised barbecue pulled pork, topped with a strawberry Italian buttercream, garnished with sliced, fresh strawberries. Just grab a spoon. I'm going to the stove. I've never used corn in a cupcake before, so I need to get this batter started and in the oven, stat. How's that corn syrup looking? The corn'll be there in about a a minute and a half. Perfect. The grits will be, like, the perfect texture to it. Being from the south, we use grits. Today, I'm making a cornmeal and grit cupcake. We're gonna fill it with a strawberry-glazed barbecue pork, top it with a strawberry frosting, and then a strawberry on top. All right, Karen. Here goes nothing. The hardest thing about this cupcake is gonna be working with the density of cornmeal and grits. If we're not careful with it, it could turn into a corn muffin instead of a corn cake. What do you think? Yeah, that's a winner. Definitely. These cupcakes better be Mmm... ...mmm. 30 minutes. Oh, my gosh! See what I did there? I remembering singing "Mmmbop" at the bus stop in sixth grade. Yes, on the bus. All the cool kids. Corn! This batter looks awesome. JENICA: Okay, so I'm gonna put some of this on top. Come on, in the batter. I'm going to go to the oven with a corn cupcake. Cupcakes going in. Go, go, go. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Cupcakes in the oven. All right. Beautiful. I think this is gonna be really good. I think the flavors are really gonna just go together. Oh, my gosh. Everyone else is using strawberries. I looked around the room, and I saw that everyone was using strawberries, so I was just a little, like, uhh. I hope ours stands out. I notice I'm the only person not using pulled pork. I hope my cupcake's just better than theirs. Last time we were on this, we won. Oh, my God, yes. JENNIFER: Okay. I'm checking the cupcakes, just waiting for them to finish. Richard! No! Something is definitely wrong with this batter. Did you put the baking powder in? It doesn't look like it. I forgot the baking powder. We have no choice but to dump these cupcakes and start all over again. We've only got 15 minutes. I'm so screwed and so stressed. Ugh. I can't believe I just wasted all that time on these. Richard! No! ANNA: The cupcakes have been in the oven for seven minutes. They are not rising at all. Did you put the baking powder in? I -- I don't think so. This is it. We're screwed. I don't think we have time to make another batch. We're gonna have to have time. Ugh. I can't believe I just wasted all that time on these cupcakes. I just need to get this batter started and in the oven, stat. Okay. I really hope we have time to get it in there. I just rinsed off the beans, the black-eyed peas. JENICA: For the brown sugar corn cake, I'm going to make a black-eyed pea cream cheese icing. I start to puree the black-eyed peas so we could incorporate them into the icing, and we have to make sure they're very fine because you don't want to be munching on beans in your icing. Taste it, taste it. It's good. Yeah, I do. Okay. Let's fill up the bag. Okay, putting the corn cupcakes in the oven. KAREN: I'm gonna put a little more in this. Strawberry jam. JENNIFER: I think we're just about there with this, Nick. Just over here a little bit more. I'll heat this up now so it can cool down a little bit. WILLMAN: Cupcake makers, 10 minutes! NICOLE: All right, cupcakes coming out of the oven. Hot! Behind you! The cupcakes are looking really good. Look at those. Oh! Perfect, Annie. Hot plate, coming through. KAREN: Oh, they're burned. ANNIE: The cupcakes come out of the oven. They look great on top, but they're burned on the bottom. Our only choice at this point is to find the ones that are the least burnt and decorate those. All right. NICOLE: Mom, you know what? It's kind of a little bit -- But the sour cream, the pulled pork -- that has a lot of moisture in it. I'm totally freaking out at this point because the tops are great, and the middle seems mushy. I think I might need to put them back in for a minute. I can't serve a raw cupcake, so I put them back in the oven, but I'm really worried about serving a burned cupcake. NICOLE: I know. We don't have a choice. Okay. This is so good. It looks delicious. I've got the cupcakes out of the oven. The frosting is great. This is perfect. It's exactly what I wanted. All right. Tastes really fresh. Yeah, that's good. JENICA: Well, put it in the bag. Put it in the bag. Okay, well, let me just whip it one more time to get this in there. You know what, I think these are good. All right, cupcakes out of the oven. Gosh, we got to go. Let's move, let's move, come on. We want to make sure we give them the nicest, biggest, fluffiest cupcakes. They are. You're right. The pork's not gonna fit in it. Okay, well, you got to core, core, like, around. Yeah, perfect. These are so hot. I don't know if these are gonna work. CRYSTAL: I can see the steam coming out of the center. They're way too hot still. WILLMAN: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ah! Okay. Ahh! I hope they're okay. All right, good. We did it. Okay, all right. They look good. Cupcake bakers, we asked you to invent a cupcake that would transport our judges back to Hanson's home state of Oklahoma. I'm eager to see how you did. Hi. Welcome to the show. What'd you bake 'em? We've got a corn cupcake with grits, and then it's filled with barbecue with a strawberry glaze, topped with a strawberry butter with a little bit of sugar in it. Florian, what do you say? Your combination of flavor was not bad at all. I mean, I think strawberry and pulled pork and everything kind of worked for me. I like your strawberry frosting, but I think your cupcake was way too dense. It was like a brick in my stomach. The execution was not that great. I think this cupcake sort of missed the mark a bit. We had the sort of very, very sweet frosting with this cornbread, and the whole overall package just didn't work very well for me. Taylor, what do you think? TAYLOR: As far as bringing it back to Oklahoma, it was great to have the barbecue in there. I thought that was really creative. Hi! I did a pulled pork and sweet corn cupcake filled with a brown sugar strawberry coulis topped with a brown butter buttercream, finished with a little fondant corn on the cob. Well, this is one rocking cupcake. You used that pulled pork as sort of like a back-up singer so that you could let the flavors of strawberry and corn and that delicious brown sugar and butter really shine. My one note would be that it was really moist. I think you could pull back on some of that liquid so it's not too gooey in the center. I like this cupcake. The pulled pork. I can taste the barbecue in it. The taste was right there. Your brown butter frosting was just amazing. Isaac? The flavors were impressive, and the frosting was really good. Thank you. Hi! What have we here? It's a sweet corn cake filled with a strawberry-braised barbecue pulled pork topped with an Italian strawberry buttercream topped with some fresh, sliced strawberries. I was actually having so much fun enjoying your sweet corn cake and your lovely, lush, strawberry buttercream frosting that I did find the filling a little bit jarring. I would have loved to have just sort of enjoyed this cupcake without it. You know what's wrong in this cupcake? What's really, really, really wrong? Is the combination of pulled pork and buttercream. The pulled pork was good, the cake was good, but having that buttery buttercream on top of it was totally off-key. Zach, would this quench your hunger after -- See, I'm gonna go the opposite way. This corn bread felt like an Oklahoma meal to me. You know, Oklahoma is kind of southern food, barbecue, corn bread. And so, the buttercream, to me, tasted like the way people put butter on their corn bread. Thank you. Hi! Welcome back. What are we about to eat? We did a brown sugar corn cupcake, and then filled it with fresh strawberries, and then a black-eyed pea cream cheese icing topped with, like, a strawberry garnish. What struck me most on this cupcake is the fact that you managed to use corn and make a fluffy cupcake. Fluffy, nice texture, very well baked. And I liked it very much. The filling was heaven. And I think you did a good baking. You rock. I was very excited to hear that you were working with black-eyed peas. I was a little disappointed, though, that you worked with cream cheese because I felt that the cream cheese did cover up that black-eyed pea flavor. I think you took the challenge and actually wove it into a whole, flavorful cupcake that I would actually want to serve to someone. Thank you. Thank you, judges. Thank you, Jenica. All right, bakers. We're gonna give our judges -- all five of them -- a chance to come to a decision. We'll bring you back in a few. Thanks. ANNA: I feel nervous that we are going home. We were just trying to do too much, and we should have scaled it back a little bit on the flavor composition. ANNIE: I'm feeling really nervous. There were some baking technical difficulties. We're hoping that the flavor combinations get us through to the next round. Bakers, recording a hit song requires more than just hitting the right notes. And as you all learned today, creating a brilliant cupcake is no different. Unfortunately, not everybody harmonized. Annie, I'm sorry. You're done in the cupcake war. ANNIE: We tried so hard to come up with a good flavor for the judges, and it just fell apart. Well, bakers, congrats. You made it to Round 2, but you're not at the top of the charts yet. In a few moments, two of you will build the 1,000-cupcake displays that could win you a trip to Hanson's after party. But first, you got to prove you've got more than just a hit single -- you need an entire EP. 'Cause this time, you're gonna be making three cupcakes. Being a pop star isn't just about playing like a star. It's also about looking like a star. You'll be judged 50% on taste and 50% on presentation. We're giving you just 75 brief minutes. Clock starts now! Oh, my God, I'm so glad that we made it past the first round. We did so good. Oh, my God, we almost -- Like, we just made it by the skin of our teeth. So, I think since we had a taste of Oklahoma in the first round, we should give them a taste of our home state. So I think maybe a Boston cream pie? Boston cream pie, oh, yeah. My first cupcake is a Boston cream pie. It's a vanilla bean cake with a vanilla bean pastry cream topped with a chocolate glaze, finished with a whipped cream cream cheese frosting, decorated with a retro chocolate record. They're kind of the All-American band. What's more American than apple pie? My next cupcake is an apple pie cheesecake cupcake. It's topped with a cinnamon apple buttercream, a little bit of salted caramel, and it's finished with a miniature pie and an American flag. What goes better with a band than beer? A beer cupcake. My last cupcake is a beer cupcake. It's filled with a citrus curd, topped with a citrus glaze, finished with a cream cheese orange frosting, topped with some musical notes. These flavors are gonna blow the judges away. Ready? Let's go! All right. How about our peanut butter and jelly cupcake, but we can do, like, a fresh berry compote. Our first cupcake is a PB and J cupcake, which is a vanilla cake filled with a fresh strawberry and blackberry compote, topped with a peanut butter buttercream and garnished with a black fondant record and white chocolate 6, 'cause this is their sixth studio album. So, the coffee is brewing. Our second cupcake is a coffee cake filled with a coffee liqueur, white chocolate ganache topped with Irish cream buttercream, garnished with a black fondant guitar on a star-printed sugar sheet. The chocolate stout is really going to help with the flavor of the chocolate cake. Our third cupcake is our traditional chocolate cake made with a chocolate stout beer, topped with a cream cheese frosting, a glittered red guitar pick, and chocolate fondant drumsticks. Go ahead and get started on all of those decorations. I know they're gonna take a really long time. Okay, I'm creaming that for the sweet potato. My first cupcake is going to be a sweet potato pie cupcake filled with a blueberry pie filling with a bit of orange zest, topped with a chantilly vanilla bean cream, cinnamon streusel, the orange fondant guitar, and an orange zest sugar flake. Okay. My next cupcake is going to be a raspberry cake filled with a raspberry sauce, topped with a cream cheese icing, and a musical note. I'm doing my dry ingredients for the crème brûlée. Our third cupcake is going to be a crème brûlée, which is a vanilla butter cake topped with a crème brûlée custard, brûléed sugar, and a white fondant star, and a little microphone chocolate candy. JENICA: No mistakes. WILLMAN: One hour left. One hour, mom. We've got to hurry. Mom, we only have one hour. Go, go, good. This is like a hot mess right now. We're gonna do some rockin' cupcakes. JENICA: Yeah, let's do it. All right, these are just about ready to go in. Scooping up the vanilla for the crème brûlées. I am making a mess. JENICA: Okay! I need to still add the apple cheesecake filling, so I need to take some of this out. I go to fill the apple cheesecake cupcakes, and all of a sudden, I realized that I had forgotten to put the cheesecake filling inside. It's kind of the crux of my cake. I just start scooping as much as I can out. It's getting all over the place. I feel like I have two left hands right now. They don't look pretty, but they're ready to go in the oven. ALL: ♪ You got 30 minutes ♪ Oh, hey. I just -- I came in a little bit late. Small. 30 minutes! 30 minutes! What am I doing right now? JENICA: How's it going? Starting on the crème brûlée. If it's not done right, we have no cupcake. I'm taking a really big risk for this crème brûlée, but if Florian really likes it, I mean, it's just gonna be the cupcake that makes us win. How's the crème brûlée? Starting -- starting to get thick. It's a $10,000 cupcake, so let's go. Let's do it. Just make sure you stir it. I don't want it to curdle. I know. I'm pulling out the vanilla. Okay, these are perfect. I'm gonna put them in the fridge to cool down. NICOLE: Okay, great. You think it's good? Take it off, take it off, take it off. My mom is making the crème brûlée, and it's curdling. Yeah, just keep stirring. Don't stop, don't stop. Don't stop. No burn, no burn, don't stop. My mom is clearly not stirring fast enough. Bakers are strong. We cannot afford to lose this crème brûlée. Let's hope it sets. Oh, my gosh, I'm getting nervous. NICOLE: All right, just hurry. You want this a little chunky? ANNA: Yeah, a little chunky. [ Gasps ] I'm sorry. We need to get started on the decorations, too. Okay, I'm doing the guitars right now, okay? JENNIFER: Look at the way this came out. Oh, yeah, those look so cute. RICHARD: These are going to be the guitar picks. We're gonna make this a flame, put it behind the guitar, and it's gonna look really cool. Bakers! 10 minutes! JENNIFER: Oh, my gosh. I just want it to combine! Come on, crème brûlée! I am frosting the chocolate stout. JENICA: I'm doing a little dollop of raspberry cream now. NICOLE: Mom, it's 5 minutes. Hurry, hurry, hurry. All right, all right. I'm trying. I'm trying. JENICA: No, no, no. Right in the center. There you go. Don't shake. [ Laughs ] RICHARD: Yes. JENICA: Good job on the crème brûlée. One minute left! ANNA: Holy mother of God right now. Seriously. No. Things are just crazy. The frosting is actually falling off of the Boston cream pie. It's just not going how I want it to look. Shoot. Oh, my God! What is my problem right now? I just spilled all the cupcakes. Some of them. Half of them. At least there's enough for all of the judges. We're good. We're good. JENNIFER: Musical notes on the -- The beer. ANNA: Six. You need to put the guitars and the stars down, okay? I know, I know. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Whoo! [ Laughs ] That was not -- NICOLE: At this point, I'm glad that we have all of our cupcakes done. I know the flavors will be amazing. I just think the decorations are really lacking. WILLMAN: Cupcake makers, for Round 2, you were asked to create three cupcakes whose tastes and flavors were worthy of one of America's most tuneful trios, the Hanson Brothers. Let's see how you guys did. Nicole, tell us what you did. NICOLE: We have an apple pie cheesecake cupcake with an apple cinnamon buttercream finished with a miniature pie and an American flag. Then we have a Boston cream pie with vanilla bean cake, a pastry cream filling, a chocolate ganache glaze, finished with whipped cream, decorated with a retro chocolate record. And then we have a beer cupcake with a citrus filling, a citrus glaze, finished with a citrus cream cheese frosting. And then decorated with chocolate musical notes. NELSON: Hi, Nicole. In terms of your decorations, they fell a little flat because they were so generic. But when you were describing your beer cupcake, I thought, aren't you clever? However, I was disappointed to bite into it and really have a hard time finding that beer. This apple pie cupcake, however -- this was your hit song on the plate. BELLANGER: Regarding your cupcakes, the Boston cream, I couldn't stop digging in it. I think you did a great job. I was not so happy about the apple pie. Apple pie is supposed to be juicy, full of flavor. And unfortunately, that was missing this juiciness. Although the frosting was delicious. Taylor, what did you guys think? TAYLOR: I think there's a lot of creativity, but it doesn't particularly represent this album. It looks a little bit more like a country band. I'm not sure you nailed it. Thank you, judges. Hi! What'd you bake 'em? ANNA: First we have a PB and J cupcake with a fresh raspberry and blackberry compote topped with a peanut butter frosting with an edible fondant record and white chocolate 6. We have a coffee cupcake filled with coffee liqueur, white chocolate ganache, topped with an Irish cream buttercream with a chocolate guitar and sugar sheet. And we also have our chocolate stout cupcake with a cream cheese frosting, topped with a fondant guitar pick and drumsticks. Regarding your cupcakes, your baking in general is just not right. Your cakes are so dense. All of your cakes are like this. This peanut butter and jelly. It's a shame because your frosting is delicious, and your filling is delicious. The plate was kind of lame in general. Well, we're definitely starting to rock here. In terms of these decorations, I liked that black guitar, and you have an LP, but you have a 6 there, so it's specific, so well done on that. However, I'm not sure these cupcakes are getting you backstage. I have to agree with Florian -- This is rock 'n' roll. I was looking to be electrified by these cupcakes, and I'm a little bored. Isaac, speaking for the group. I agree with the other two judges. Sorry to say, but I didn't love 'em. Thank you, judges. Jenica, tell us about your trifecta. JENICA: The first cupcake is a twist on a sweet potato pie with a blueberry pie filling in the center, topped with a chantilly whipped cream, garnished with an orange guitar on fire with sugar candy. In the center, you have a crème brûlée vanilla butter cake, topped with custard with caramelized sugar. And then on top, a fondant star, and a little microphone candy. On the right hand side, we have a raspberry cake topped with cookies, chocolate chips, filled with a tart raspberry filling, cream cheese icing, and a milk chocolate musical note. BELLANGER: Hi, Jenica. This is the kind of decoration that bring me joy. This caramel is edible. It bring some volume to your cupcakes. It was a nice touch. Regarding your cupcakes, this crème brûlée cupcake -- It was delicious. All of them are really well done and fluffy. This decoration is lighting up your stage, so well done on that. You know what I'm gonna say on the other two decorations? The microphone with the star and the musical note? Just a little too generic. Whoo! This is like the worldwide smash hit. The flavors are great, and I think you did a great job. Thank you, judges. All right, gang. We're gonna give our judges a chance to mull it over. Bring you back in a few. NICOLE: I think I'm going home. 50% of this round is based on decorations, and they really thought mine were lacking, and I kind of agree. I definitely wasn't expecting the judges to say that the cakes were dense, dense, dense. I'm feeling nervous. WILLMAN: Well, bakers, when you're a rock star on tour, you have to deliver night after night. What you can't do, though, is flame out after your opening gig, and one of you just did. Anna, you're done in the cupcake war. If I wasn't quite as flustered from the first round going into this round, we could have done better, but I'm still proud of what we did. Nicole, Jenica, congratulations. You've made it to Round 3, which means it is finally time to compose your biggest hit. A 1,000-cupcake display that can bring down the house. Of course, as Hanson knows, being in a band requires more than just musicianship. It also requires teamwork, as does building a 1,000-cupcake display, which is why we're giving you each a master carpenter. How are you? And you also get four baking assistants each to help in any way you may need -- Hello, ladies. At the end of this, your final challenge, our judges will evaluate your cupcake's taste, scope out your presentation, and, based on how well you bring it all together, name one of you ladies the winner of "Cupcake Wars." Good luck. You have two hours starting now. Oh, my God, I'm so happy we made it. [ Squeals ] We really need to focus. I really want to win because I know that this would huge for my business. Black, white, red, kind of rock 'n' roll. This display needs to be larger than life. Like, maybe like a guitar on a stand. I really want to make it a rock 'n' roll theme, maybe a life-size guitar, and then a huge, spinning record. And the name is "Anthem" of their new album. We really need to make the name of their album stand up, and their name in lights. Rock 'n' roll. Love that. Thank you. I want to do, like, a stage, like a Hanson stage. JENICA: This display has to be something that really represents the band. It has to be very rock 'n' roll. Let's just do a drum set, and then I'm thinking a mini piano, and then, like, an electric guitar. You're gonna have all the instruments sitting on top of the stage, and all the instruments will be holding cupcakes, as well. The name of their record coming out is gonna be "Anthem," so I want that really big, like, above it in, like, red. Gotcha. It's very rock 'n' roll, and I think we possibly could be two-time winners. Okay, cool. Thank you! JENNIFER: We need your help. If you could help us with decorations. We can't afford to make any mistakes this round. What are you gonna change with the apple pie? The only chance I have of beating Jenica is to fix what the judges told me I had to. I'm gonna get rid of the cheesecake component of it. For the apple pie cupcake, I'm gonna take the cheesecake filling out of the batter and add caramelized apple filling, so it's more of the taste that Florian's looking for. Try adding an egg white, make it fluffier. For the citrus beer cupcake, I definitely need to bring up the beer flavor, so I'm gonna add a little bit more beer in the batter. It's a lot fluffier. How much beans are we gonna put in? Okay, do four ounces, and then we'll taste it. JENICA: The first round, the judges couldn't taste enough black-eyed peas in my icing, so this round, I really want to just amp up those black-eyed peas and make sure they're able to taste them. That's good. You taste the beans. The last round, the judges thought some of my decoration was a little flat, so I decided to put it on a toothpick just so it stands up, and it just has a better presentation. JENICA: I want to be a two-time winner, mom. I want to be the best. NICOLE: I mean, even if we just add a little bit of beer to it, just to taste. 250 crème brûlées. You're the one who wanted to do brûlées. Hot pan, hot pan, hot pan. I'm gonna do the brown butter next. I'm scooping out the corn cake right now. Will you scoop these for me? I want everything to come out good. First batch going in the oven. CRYSTAL: Vanilla cupcakes going in. Putting in the beer cupcakes. Guys, Hanson has inspired me, so I'm gonna sing how much time is left. No. Bakers, 90 minutes! NICOLE: 90 minutes. Yeah. We have so much more to do. How many minutes do they usually bake for? Oh, my gosh. 90 minutes. Let's go, let's go. Things are getting so crazy, I don't even know what's baked and what's not. I don't know. How do you not know? We have the vanilla. This has orange zest in it. We have mystery bowls of batter, and the stress is kind of getting to me. Just getting a little flustered. This is a lot of pressure. Then get it together. Stop and get it together. We are so close to being done. We need to overcome. We just need to complete the race. Maybe it was just left over 'cause I doubled the recipe. That's what it is. I really hope the carpenter has my vision and can find the drum kit. CRYSTAL: I don't know how he's gonna build a piano. I know, right? [ Saw buzzing ] Nicole's album is almost complete. Jenica wanted drums, so I found these in the prop shop, and I think they're perfect. Lights make a boring sign rock 'n' roll. Sometimes less is more, Jake. JENICA: Do you think they're done? They probably have a couple more minutes. Are they cooked? That's a lot fluffier than they were before. You guys, I was wondering, is now a good time for me to show you my Hanson tattoo? Or... Later, we'll do it later. Okay. One hour left. Rain check. We only have one hour. Oh, my gosh. Mom, let's go, let's go, let's go. All right, all right, all right. That's right. What about the decorations? Are they all done? We need 250 of them. I know, I know. JENICA: This is so much more stressful than the last time we were here. We need to get started on the frosting, like, ASAP. JENICA: Do you smell something? It smells like something's burning. Is that us? Oh, my God. I realized I forgot to set the alarm. Oh, my God. Oh, my God, they're charcoal! How could that have happened? Three trays got burned. There is no way we can use these. [ Whining ] I can't believe it. As this is getting hectic, the clock is rushing down, and we have to do all of the batter over again. This is horrible. Oh, my God. JENICA: Oh, my God, they're charcoal! How could that have happened? Three trays got burned. There is no way we can use these. [ Whining ] I can't believe it. We have to do all of the batter over again. This is horrible. Oh, my God. I can't believe this happened. We have to hurry. We have to keep going. We have to make another batter. We have to finish. We can't stop. The cake has to come out perfect. These are the last cupcakes coming out. So many. JENNIFER: See, these are what they were supposed to look like. How's it going, girls? Good? They look awesome. JENNIFER: All right, all right, all right. We have so many cupcakes to finish. Just get these in the oven. We can't afford for it to burn again. Vanilla cupcakes going in. JENICA: I just hope the cupcakes bake in time. We have to finish. Make sure we set a timer for them. NICOLE: Keep going. Just put them on there. We just need to get 'em done. We have people frosting. We have people decorating. I'm drizzling. There's no way I'm gonna get all of this done. NICOLE: Mom, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. JENICA: Timer! How do they look? CRYSTAL: They look good. Come on, let's go! Who's going backstage and who's going back home? You'll find out in 30 minutes! JENICA: Oh, my gosh, it looks so good! Oh, I love it! It's perfect. It is their stage. It's amazing. Thank you! [ Laughs ] Did you see their display? Yeah, their display is ridiculous. Oh, my gosh. That looks so good. That looks awesome. NICOLE: You can't get much more Hanson than my display. It's gonna blow the judges away. CRYSTAL: I know! Come look. No, come look at the front. It's so pretty. That's rock 'n' roll, right? Good job. WILLMAN: 10 minutes! We have 10 minutes. We have to get the cupcakes on there. Grab a tray, mom. Start loading the display. Those ones can go in the front. I almost have another tray done. Okay, you guys are doing great. WOMAN: Yeah, I'll move these here. Keep going, you got it. Don't stop. WILLMAN: This is it! 5 minutes! Oh, my gosh. All right, girls, let's go. We're almost done! Thank you so much. We're doing so good. We're almost done. I'll start moving some of these. It's okay. No, no, no, what are you doing? 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time is up! [ Applause ] Thank you. Cupcake makers, for your final challenge, your task was creating a 1,000-cupcake display that would have our judges shaking their moneymakers. Good, how are you? Tell us what you've done. I wanted to really put out there that this is your album premiere party. So your name is in lights, and I wanted to bring a little bit of rock 'n' roll, so we have a life-sized guitar, as well as some spinning records because everyone wants some action in their displays. As for the cupcake changes, I added a little bit more beer to the batter, as well as adding beer to the cream cheese frosting. For that apple cake, I added some filling into the center, and I omitted the cheesecake. Thank you, Nicole. Jenica, tell 'em what you did. We made you a display, and it has a stage with Hanson across it -- your logo. At the top, we have "Anthem," for your new record release. We really wanted to showcase, like, rock 'n' roll, so we did an electric guitar, very rock 'n' roll, and then on the right-hand side, we did a little baby grand piano -- pretty classy, but you can still rock 'n' roll on that. And then we have a drum set to *** on, just go crazy. And the changes we made to the cupcakes was a musical note that is standing on the cupcake, and then we added a lot more black-eyed peas to the icing on the corn strawberry cake. Hopefully, you're excited about it. All right. Jenica, Nicole, great work. We're gonna let our judges check out your displays, taste your changes, have a conversation, and bring you back in a few with a final decision. Thank you guys. JENICA: So much work, so many mistakes, but we finished. We did our absolute best. I'm just really nervous. I just want to win it. I want to win it all. NICOLE: Today has just been definitely a roller coaster of emotions. The prize is right in front of us, and it's so close, I can taste it. NELSON: Well, we have two really great displays. We've had solid cupcakes from both of these competitors all day. It's gonna be a tough one, but we have five judges here. Let's talk about Nicole's display. Candace, what do you think? You know, Nicole's given us quite a few components that are very nice. She has a spinning record. She has a great big guitar. I really love how she did the sign with those bright lights. I mean, we're celebrating the release of "Anthem," the album, and that is undeniable here. I like the fact that she showcased her cupcakes inside a guitar. Although, there is something off by just having that sign by the floor. I would have liked to see the sign on top of it. TAYLOR: I have to say, I agree. As far as a slight negative, the acoustic guitar, it does -- it kind of says Nashville. On the positive side, I think it really features the cupcakes. I mean, when you think about this in a dark room, in a club environment, I think the lights would be a big draw. So in Round 2, Nicole gave us a beer cupcake, and you guys just couldn't find that beer. Did she fix it? She pumped up that beer, and you can really taste it now. Her apple pie cupcake, what'd she do? Her apple pie cupcake was missing that cooked apple, caramelized apple feeling inside, and now it's delicious. It really is a really tasty cupcake -- one of my favorite cupcakes of the whole day. All right, now Jenica -- let's talk about her display. Well, I think Jenica's branding is right on point. We've got "Anthem" right up top. Hanson as it appears on your album cover. That's actually our font. The branding is amazing, but since that dais is so big, I'm afraid it'd be difficult to reach in the center to get some cupcakes up there. What I actually really like about her display is the opening track of the album "Anthem" is called "Fired Up," and there's all that fire around the stage. She really nails presentation. And she did take the note. She kind of propped up that music note. Jenica did give us really consistently delicious cupcakes all day. But I am really shocked. I mean, she propped up that music note with a toothpick, and then covered the toothpick in chocolate. The decoration looks edible, but it's not. That's not a good change in my book. So, black-eyed pea cupcake from round one? She helped the black-eyed pea, but we still have hard time to detect it. Do we have a winner? Mm-hmm. Let's bring 'em back. So, bakers, today we challenged you to create a display combining two things that don't always go together -- rock 'n' roll and cupcakes. Nicole, few things symbolize modern music better than guitars, and you gave us a big one along with an in-your-face sign that literally lights up the room. And Jenica, you gave us a fully dressed stage stocked with flaming cupcakes and instruments ready to be played loudly. But the judges felt only one of you brought together your cupcakes, your decorations, and your display into a single, unified message -- an Anthem. Congratulations... ...Jenica. You're the winner of "Cupcake Wars"! I'm so excited. JENICA: I am so happy. I can't believe he said I won. You put so much work and effort into being here, and then to go home empty-handed -- it's a total bummer. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, let's get these cupcakes. MAN: Yes! WOMAN: I want to try this one. This is so good. JENICA: This does so much for me professionally, for me personally. This does so much for our business. Really, really impressive. This is so good. JENICA: I started our business in high school. I'm a self-taught baker, so the fact that I won twice, like other people that have been doing this for 10, 15 years, I feel like I'm up there at the top. Just as good, just as talented. Oh, my Lord. So, I'm just so happy. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for making our party so sweet. Thank you for having us! Cheers.