Comedy Cupcakes

We can totally do this. WILLMAN: In just a few minutes, four bakers will share the spotlight as they battle for the cupcake crown. I don't like any of those. KIM: You're too picky! Do you want to win, or do you want to lose? And one by one, they will be eliminated as they're judged on taste... Eating your cupcakes were painful. WILLMAN: ...presentation... I was giggling with delight. WILLMAN: ...and in the final round, the last two bakers standing will have to bring it all together into one incredible fantasy cupcake display. Tonight's winner gets to have their cupcakes as the centerpiece at the exclusive, star-studded Power of Comedy event, hosted by Variety magazine... We need to make Florian smile. Wah-wah... WILLMAN: ...and they'll walk away with $10,000. I put the wrong decoration on the wrong cupcake. I'm pretty sure I'm going home. Why is this runny? I am horrified. Get ready, 'cause this... is "Cupcake Wars." -- Captions by VITAC -- Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC. [ Ding! ] What's up, guys? I'm Justin Willman, and the battle for cupcake domination is about to begin. 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. The kitchens are stocked. Our judges are ready. Let's meet our bakers. We don't just have fun, but we actually get stuff done. My name is Christina O'Donoghue, and I am the executive pastry chef at Velvet Bake Shop in Plano, Texas. We've been in business for about two years. We love what we do, and we do it very well. We make the best cupcakes ever. Our cupcakes are unique because we just make things up every day as we go and see if it sells, and almost all the time, it does. Happy people makes happy cupcakes. My assistant today is my beautiful mother, Kim. She stays really calm and cool under pressure. She's really gonna help me keep a level head in this whole thing. You feeling ready to win? All right. Let's go. Winning "Cupcake Wars" could definitely help to get the word out all across the country. It would help out business take off so much. CHRISTINA: Yay! This is going to be delicious. I'm Lacey Carney, and I own Bliss Cupcake Café in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We have been open three years, and we have three locations. TATE: Banana pudding is so good. Welcome to the South. We are a mouthful of happy. Ooh! Don't forget the vanilla bean. My assistant today is Tate Fejfar. She is a friend of mine from church, actually. She makes me laugh, and she's just perfect. Just don't play it safe. I don't want to play it safe with anything. Walking into the competition, I know we are gonna win because we have the best cupcakes. We are just gonna rock the show. Let's go. I'm going big on every single cupcake we're gonna make. I'm Charlene Simon. I'm the owner of Fat Bottomed Girl's Cupcake Shoppe in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We have been open for a year. CHARLENE: "Cupcake Wars" -- it's the World Series of our industry. People come in just because of the name. Our cupcakes are amazing. We've won several awards locally and state-wide. Are you sure you want to take me instead of someone that can bake? My assistant is Justin Simon, my husband. He is my best friend, and I wanted to share this experience with my best friend. JUSTIN: I'll bring mine. No. My cupcakes are the best, and we work hard to make them taste really great. I want to win "Cupcake Wars" because it'll help Fat Bottomed Girl's move into new locations and expand. Aah! Oh, yeah! My name is Traci Sparks. I am the owner and baker at C n' C Cupcakes in San Jose, California. We're really good at what we do, and we can make anything work. C n' C Cupcakes is an online bakery. Our motto is, "Whatever bakes you happy." We got this. My assistant today is Dakota Fulkman. We met in the kitchens at an amusement park. He works really well with me. We have so much to gain by winning "Cupcake Wars." I need to win "Cupcake Wars." I would love to open a storefront and get my product in the mouth of everyone I can. Let's go! Yeah! Cupcake bakers! Let's begin. What's up, ladies? Welcome to "Cupcake Wars." Okay, stop me if you've heard this one before, but today you guys are gonna compete to have your cupcakes as the centerpiece at Variety magazine's third annual Power of Comedy event. Variety magazine's Power of Comedy gala. I know that the biggest names in comedy go there, so to be able to go to that event would be ridiculous. Of course, if having your cupcakes as the main act for one of the most exclusive parties in Hollywood isn't enough for you, we're gonna give the winner $10,000. Let's get started. Today, there are three rounds of competition. After each one of those rounds, one of you will be eliminated. Up first is the taste challenge. Now, Variety's Power of Comedy V.I.P. gala is about the laughs, so for this round, here's the setup. We want cupcakes inspired by hilarious ingredients. On the inspiration table, you'll find funny flavors such as pickles... yucca... and, of course, my favorite, kumquats. Punch line is this -- you must each choose two of these flavors to create yummy cupcakes that'll have our judges in stitches. And Florian has not laughed in eight seasons, so bring it on. You got 45 minutes, starting now. We have spray cheese in a can... tater tots, seltzer. It is horrendous what we had to choose from. Oh, my God! There's some really funky ingredients up there. I'm thinking what we might be able to do Okay. We've got to use two ingredients. I'm gonna go with the lesser of the evils -- the parsnip and the quince. So, the cupcake I've decided to make is a spicy parsnip cake. I'm going to fill it with a fresh ginger and quince compote and then frost it with a very lightly sweetened honey cream cheese frosting. The quince have a really earthy flavor and the sweetness of an apple or pear. I think it's gonna complement the parsnip really well. All right, Mom. Adding the allspice. We're really gonna amp up the flavor with spices. It's really gonna elevate the parsnip and make it something really new and delicious. Since it's a secret ingredient, we got to make sure it's really good in there, okay? All right. You got it. It's like a pear -- the texture. Oh. Well, then, we'll just do, like, a compote with it, right? Compote. Sounds good. I am going to make a banana-rum cupcake with a quince-seltzer compote filling, topped with an Italian buttercream made with fresh vanilla beans. This is funny, right? Yes. It sounds like it's gonna be, like, a funny combination. I had never worked with quince before. I know it's a fruit, but, you know, it's go big or go home. I don't know how this is gonna turn out. It's "take a risk." Take a risk. CHARLENE: Where are you on the cake? Okay. CHARLENE: We both agree that the Boston cream pie and bananas would make a great combination. I'm gonna take a traditional Boston cream pie and make it like it's slipping on a banana peel. It's gonna be all turned upside down. It's gonna have a banana cake, a pastry cream filling, and a chocolate ganache drizzled on top. I'm gonna top it off with a banana star. Just smash them. Smash them real, real good. I'm using overripe bananas. I'm gonna mash them and put them into the batter to give it a really good banana flavor. I would smash up a little more. Got it. So, I'm about ready for those parsnips. Are we there yet? Got it. I'm going to make a parsnip and seltzer spice cake with a cinnamon-maple cream cheese frosting and sprinkle pecans on top. Watch out for the seltzer. Seltzer explosion. I'm thinking we can throw in that seltzer water to replace our eggs and oil, and it'll be low-cholesterol. It's really gonna add some volume to the cakes. I might be playing it a little too safe. I'm just really wanting to impress them with the cake and the frosting. Make sure you get it... Yeah. Yeah. Guys, the key to comedy is timing. You've got 30 minutes. Oh, my word. We've got so much to do, okay? Let's pick up the pace. I will not forget the wine. I promise. TATE: Just get them on there and get them in. Cupcakes are going in the oven, Traci. I know, babe. Don't worry about other teams. We just got to focus. CHRISTINA: Okay, Mom. The cupcakes are in the oven. Here. The ganache is ready to go. This is... I'm scraping the bowl, mix it one more time, and then we're ready to pan it. No, something's not right. What doesn't look right about it? The consistency, the texture of it, is wrong. I look over, and it's way too runny to be a banana cake batter. I have no idea how much flour's in there. We have to throw it out. We have no time. We literally have no time. I don't know if it's even possible to make them in time. I'm pretty sure I'm going home. I cannot believe this. No, something's not right. The texture of it is wrong. It's way too runny to be a banana cake batter. I have no idea how much flour's in there. I cannot believe this. We had to completely throw this out and start over. And this time, I'm remaking the banana cake batter. And this time, I see it come together like it should be. Okay, we need to get them in because these take 20 minutes to bake, and we have no time. We got them. We're good. These cupcakes may not make it out of the oven. I'm freaking out. WILLMAN: Bakers, 15 minutes. LACEY: I'm gonna grab the cupcakes. I'll be right back. CHRISTINA: Okay, Mom. These look great. This Italian buttercream is starting to look really thin. I'm worried that that's not gonna come together here. TRACI: I'm working on the buttercream. We let it whip. We start adding the butter, but it just starts to curdle. We are not at a point where we can start a second batch. I'm adding more butter. I hope it'll thicken it up a little bit. We have no choice at this point but to continue the process and pray that it comes together. Now go ahead. Pour it. Drizzle it in slow and stir constantly. Oh, I think we did it. Oh, my God. It looks awesome. Now we just need to make sure our cupcakes get baked in time. LACEY: I think that frosting with the cinnamon is gonna be, like, perfect with that cake. Yeah. Tate's got the frosting all whipped up, and we're tasting it to make sure we have just the right amount of cinnamon in there. Is it good? Mmm. Like, the maple and the cinnamon together -- I think that's a perfect combination. I think they're gonna love the texture. Very good. Bakers, 5 minutes. Oh, my God, Mom! 5 minutes, okay?! JUSTIN: Oh, they look good. I just hope they have time. Let me go check the quince real quick. I am stressing over the consistency of this Italian buttercream, and I totally forget about the pot of quince on the stove. We almost burnt the quince. It's really, like, chewy, though. It's really sweet. The quince tastes great, but it's surrounded by this candied sugar that's really chewy. It's impossible at this point to start a new batch. I think it'll be fine. Let's pull them out in about 30 seconds, and then we'll start coring them out and frosting them. Mmm! Let's get them iced. JUSTIN: God, they're plating over there. Everyone is plated except us. All right. Take them out. Take them out. We got to cool them down. One minute! Oh, my God. One minute. Okay. Here. Just cut a little hole in those so we can fill it. Not bad. No. CHARLENE: It needs a ganache. Don't cut them on the plate. What are you doing, woman? Get the stars ready. The stars! WILLMAN: 10... 9, 8, 7... 6, 5, 4... 3, 2, 1. Time's up. Whoo! Ohh, my God! [ Ting! ] Whoo! Bakers, in honor of Variety magazine's exclusive Power of Comedy gala, we asked you to make a cupcake with a comedic twist. Let's see what the judges think. First, you know Candace and Florian. Out guest judge today is P.R. guru to the stars Jennifer Styles. Hi, Justin. Hi, bakers. We're looking for a cupcake that is yummy as it is funny. Yummy and funny. Let's do it. I'm great. Today I made a parsnip and seltzer cupcake. We took out all the oil and eggs and put in the seltzer with a cinnamon-maple cream cheese frosting and just sprinkled it with some pecans. Candace, how did Lacey do? Hey. That ingredient table today was definitely no joke. There were some scary flavors on that table. And you chose two of the more innocent ones. And then covering it up with maple, I mean, I just had to sort of trust that you'd used those ingredients because I couldn't taste anything. And, unfortunately, substituting the eggs and the oil with seltzer water led to sort of a gummy texture. Florian, what do you think of Lacey's work? Well, unfortunately, I think the joke you tried to play on us today was, "Let's make sure that the judges don't taste any of this." That cupcake didn't make me laugh at all. There wasn't any "wow" factor to this cupcake. I thought it was a bit gummy and hard to eat. Up next, Traci. How's it going? Good. What did you bake? You have a banana-rum cake with a quince-compote filling and a Italian buttercream with fresh vanilla bean, but we've also added seltzer to both the quince compote and the vanilla buttercream. Well, nice try on the joke, but I'm not sure if the audience will be laughing about it. Your cake was good, but there was so much rum that it was, you know, overpowering banana's flavor. And your Italian meringue buttercream was way too buttery. It was more tasting like whipped butter than buttercream. Didn't like this cupcake. Well, I thought your banana cake was gut-bustingly delicious. I love a banana cake that has sort of a toasty brown outside and is sort of deliciously moist on the inside, and this cupcake was just like that. But, unfortunately, the joke fell flat when I dug into that quince filling. I mean, it was so hard and candied, it sort of stuck to the back of my teeth and wasn't very funny. Hi, Justin. Good. Everything is there. It's just not the way I wanted it to look, so I'm really nervous. What'd you do? Today I made a banana cake with vanilla pastry-cream filling and a chocolate ganache, and then it's topped with a banana star. And I assembled it upside down, as if slipping on a banana. Hilarious cupcake. I mean, I loved your approach here, and I got it instantly. That's exactly what we're looking for here today. I just wish that you had pumped up the Boston-cream-pie factor with that vanilla pastry cream because the cupcake didn't have any frosting. I know it's not easy to make me laugh. And when I look at this cupcake, I actually was quite pleased by the look. I think you had a great idea of putting it upside down, but as soon as I started to eat it, it was quite overbaked, and it was just more like a "wah-wah-wah." It's a perfect size, and I love the presentation for doing high-profile events because people don't want the messy factor when you're eating a cupcake. I liked it. Christina, you get the last laugh. What'd you bake? Today I have made for you a parsnip cake. It's spicy, almost like a carrot cake. And then I filled it with a quince compote, and then the frosting is a very light honey cream cheese frosting. On top, we put a little bit of the glaze from the quince compote. This cupcake tickled my taste buds. I like the texture of the cake. The quince compote was really good. Your choice of parsnip and quince, I think, was wise because no flavor overpowered the other. Well done. Love it. I was giggling with delight. You really executed this flawlessly. Your cake was moist. Your quince was perfectly cooked. That luscious honey cream cheese frosting was not too sweet. I think you created something to make the comedians laugh. Thank you so much. Thank you, judges. Thank you. Bakers, we're gonna give them a moment to chat. We'll bring you back in a few. Thank you. LACEY: Christina made a parsnip-spice cake, too, and I was just so surprised that Florian gave her praises but he didn't give that to me. I did not come here to lose. Honestly, I think it's gonna be down to me and Lacey. I'm really praying that they'll see past my filling and move me on to round 2. Bakers, for this round, in honor of Variety magazine's Power of Comedy gala, we wanted cupcakes that would make us laugh. We gave you this setup, but, sadly, some of you have failed to win over the crowd. Thank you. LACEY: I am so disappointed. I did not want to be the first one to leave. Congrats, bakers. You are all a step closer to getting your cupcakes a front-row seat at Variety's celebrity-packed Power of Comedy extravaganza. But before you take the stage, keep in mind that only two of you will be moving on to complete that 1,000-cupcake display. First, before any of that, you got to prove yourself right now in this round. Now, the Power of Comedy event is a V.I.P. party studded with stars, so, of course, they'll be dressed to the nines. And we want that same glamour from your cupcakes. In this round, we want each of you to bake three cupcakes with delicious flavors that are also red-carpet-ready. The judges will grade you 50% on taste and 50% on presentation. You have 75 minutes. Good luck. Starting now. Oh, my God. Yes! Oh, by the skin of our teeth. They loved our cupcake, so we really need to even up up our game even more. So, I'm thinking we could do, like, a cannoli cupcake -- like a holy cannoli cupcake. My first cupcake is a cannoli cupcake. It is a pistachio-crusted orange-blossom cake with a ricotta-cheesecake filling and a ricotta cream cheese frosting. We're gonna garnish that with a Charlie Chaplin fondant top hat and cane. Let's try...banana. My second cupcake is a banana cake dipped in chocolate ganache and frosted with a peanut butter frosting. We're gonna top that with a fondant banana peel and some gold stars. Then for the third cupcake, let's do -- what do you think? -- coconut-lime. My third cupcake is a coconut cake with a creamy lime-curd filling and a spiked coconut-rum frosting with a fondant whoopee cushion and some pink glitter. You need to make that cheesecake filling, Okay. All right, cupcakes. Your peanut butter is the best. My first cupcake is a dark chocolate cake, a chocolate-ganache filling, topped with a peanut butter cream cheese frosting, a fondant hand holding a peanut butter cup that's gonna be topped to look like a pie being thrown in the eater's face. Pumpkin. My second cupcake is our pumpkin-spice cupcake. We're gonna fill it with an apple pie/bourbon filling with a salted maple Italian buttercream. For the decoration, a banana peel. Okay. My third cupcake -- it's a white cake made with *** and coffee liqueur. We're going to fill it with a strawberry compote and top it with a coffee liqueur buttercream. We're gonna do a yellow fondant star on a white fondant circle to spotlight the stars that will be attending the Variety event. Let's get to it. Let's do it. I'm gonna set this cocoa to the side 'cause I need that water to boil. My first cupcake is a chocolate cake with a salted-caramel filling, cream-cheese icing, drizzled with salted caramel sauce and fleur du sel. It's gonna get an iconic comedy stage. It's gonna have a chocolate brick wall, pretzel dipped to resemble a microphone, and a fondant star with Variety's "V" on it. I'll get these lined, and then I'm gonna go ahead and get started on the raspberry brûlée. My second cupcake is the vanilla cake. It has a raspberry custard filling, a raspberry buttercream, and it's garnished with a raspberry, brûléed sugar sprinkled on top, and Variety's "V" made from chocolate. I'm starting the cake for the lemon-lavender. My third cupcake is the lemon cake with a lavender buttercream. It has a lemon wedge and a comedy mask made from fondant. The faster they're in the oven, Yeah. WILLMAN: One hour. Oh, my God. Mom, one hour. We don't have cupcakes in. I'm going in the oven with these. TRACI: All right. So, we got some *** here. I'm really excited about the White Russian cake. We've got ***. We've got coffee liqueur. It's gonna be a real moist, delicious cake. I am a *** baker, so it's what I am. All right. Mom, please. I asked you for the oil. Oil, oil. TRACI: Putting the pumpkin in the oven now. You're taking way too long on that batter. You need to go faster. Lemon-lavenders are going into the oven right now JUSTIN: Awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Banana going in, Mom! You've got 30 minutes. We have 30 minutes. Okay. I'm starting on the lemon-lavender icing. Yeah. Behind, hot, oven! KIM: I'm trying to make a perfect banana peel here. CHRISTINA: Okay. Well, then do it. Oh, that's perfect. I don't like any of those. They're too fat. No. No, no, no. This is good. Just redo them for my sanity. As my mom is making the fondant decorations, I look over and see that I think her bananas are just way too big. Mom, okay. Do you want to win, or do you want to lose? You're too picky! I am so overwhelmed by the amount of work that we have to do. You need to go fast, 'cause I've got frosting to make, and I can't do it all by myself. I don't have time to argue about this. I just need the bananas done the way they're supposed to be done. Okay. Let me make a skinny banana. Here it is. How's it look? Very good. That'll be fine. That'll work. Be careful with them, 'cause they are not very dry. What do you think about my hat? Don't fold them up like that, Mom. It's a bowler hat. The Italian buttercream here is looking a little bit better. In round 1, we completely failed on our attempt at Italian buttercream. This needs to work this time. All right. I'm slowly adding the butter to this maple. I start adding the butter, and I'm having the same issue that I ran into in round 1. The frosting is starting to curdle, and it's not coming together. It's looking a little curdled right now. I cannot believe that this is happening. I cannot get an Italian buttercream to work. Okay. I'm hoping that it will mix fast enough to be frosted by the end of the round. It's gonna come. It's gonna be there in five minutes. Bakers, this is it! Five minutes! We still got two frostings. We got to fill everything. So, let's hurry up. We got to get this ready and perfect. Mom, make the ricotta frosting right now. As my mom is finishing her fondant decorations, I realize we don't have the frosting for the cannoli cupcake. We've got barely any time left, so I've got to scramble to just get something on the plate for these judges. CHRISTINA: It's in the fridge! CHARLENE: We need to ice the lemon-lavender cake right now. Excellent. Mom, we don't have time. Come on. We're not gonna get these cupcakes on the plate. One minute! Oh, my God. Babe, baby, b-b-b... One minute! Oh, my God! Let's bag it. Let's bag it. I put the wrong decoration on the wrong cupcake. Ohh! Were they? Why'd you move them? CHARLENE: The last seconds are counting down, and I realize that some of the cupcakes don't even have the right decorations on top. I'm trying to switch the decorations to the right cupcakes. Okay, okay. WILLMAN: 10, 9... 8, 7, 6... ...5... ...4... Where are they? ...2, 1. Time's up. [ Sighs ] Yes! CHRISTINA: My mom made these gorgeous decorations, and they're not on my plate. I am mortified that I'm putting this work out for the judges to eat. I am just so devastated. Bakers, for this round, we wanted you each to make three cupcakes that were ready to walk the red carpet alongside Hollywood elite in both taste and decoration. We will hear what the judges think first. I'm great. Thank you. Tell us what you baked. The first cupcake is a dark chocolate cake with chocolate-ganache filling, peanut butter cream cheese frosting, and on top of the cupcake, a peanut butter cup frosted to look like a pie. The second cupcake is our White Russian cupcake with strawberry-compote filling and coffee-liqueur frosting, topped with a fondant star in a spotlight. Our last cupcake is a pumpkin-spice cupcake, filled with an apple-bourbon filling, topped with a maple Italian buttercream, topped with a banana peel. I think your decorations were really fun and really cheeky. I love how you turned this peanut butter cup into a cream pie. That was great. I'm not sure that your cupcakes, however, had as much stage presence. The coffee-liqueur cupcake didn't really get that flavor, and the texture of the cake was spongy and dry. But I did love your fluffy pumpkin with the apple compote. That was delicious, and that kept me laughing. Good job on the decoration. I think this pumpkin-spice and apple-compote cupcake was delicious, but you still have an issue with your buttercream. Your recipe is not right. The Russian *** -- that was missing the coffee flavor. It is a lot for me, to say the least. I agree. Wasn't too crazy about the frosting, but the cupcake was tasty. Thanks, Traci. Hi, Charlene. What'd you do? The first cupcake is a lemon cake with a lavender buttercream, topped with a comedy mask. The second cupcake is our chocolate cake with a cream cheese icing, and it also has a caramel sea salt filling and a comedy stage on top. And the third cupcake is a yellow cake with a raspberry icing, topped with a Variety "V" and then a raspberry on top. I think your decoration were a little bit shy. I mean, the winner to me, though, is the comedy stage. I like this one very much. What turned me off is eating your cupcakes were painful -- all of them. From the texture of your cake to your frosting to your fillings, nothing was right. Well, if I look at your decorations specifically, your comedy mask, right on point. Red brick wall -- that was a winner. Your cupcakes themselves -- all of these recipes need some reworking. I just feel like this presentation should have been more for a kid's birthday party. Thank you. Hi, Christina. I am mortified that I'm putting this work out for the judges to eat. The judges are going to kill me. The first cupcake was a cannoli cupcake. It has a buttered-pistachio crust with an orange-scented vanilla cake, filled with a ricotta cheesecake. It was intended to have a ricotta cream cheese frosting on top with a fondant Charlie Chaplin hat and cane. The second cupcake was a coconut cake. It was intended to have lime curd inside with a spiked coconut-rum frosting and a fondant pink whoopee cushion with pink glitter. The third cupcake is a banana cake, intended to be filled with peanut butter pastry cream, dipped in bittersweet chocolate ganache and frosted with a peanut butter frosting, and that was going to have a fondant banana peel with gold stars on it. We got a little bit too ambitious and ran out of time. This plate is a disaster. Missing ingredients, missing frosting, no decorations whatsoever, and I'm really depressed because these are the best cupcakes I've tasted in this round. Even with the missing frosting, even with the missing fillings, delicious. I'm really disappointed right now. I'm already having a bad day. You're ruining my day. And this plate feel like -- more like a tragedy than a comedy. And it's a shame, because I'm tasting all your cakes, and they are delicious. The big question in my head is, "Do I want nicely decorated plate with bad cupcake, "or do I want good cupcake that are missing decoration right now?" And I'll be thinking hard about it. WILLMAN: Bakers, they are clearly gonna need a little time to chat. We'll bring you back in a bit. Thanks. CHRISTINA: I really messed up, and I don't see why the judges would give me another chance. It's definitely gonna be me going home this round. CHARLENE: I think there's a slim chance I might be able to stay, but because they liked Christina's cupcakes so good, I feel like I'm going home. Bakers, Variety's magazine's Power of Comedy party celebrates some of the most hilarious people in the entertainment business. So, for this round, we wanted you each to bake three cupcakes that had a sense of humor while also looking red-carpet-ready. Christina, your cupcakes were described as a disaster on a plate with a complete lack of decoration. Luckily for you though, they were the most delicious cupcakes of the day. Charlene, I'm sorry. You're done in the cupcake war. I feel disappointed and embarrassed that cupcakes that aren't even finished are better than mine. I just never thought I would be out in round 2. [ Voice breaking ] Thank you. Wow! Congrats! You've made it to the final round, but only one of you will get to have your cupcakes headline at Variety magazine's exclusive Power of Comedy event and walk away with 10,000 bucks. The question is, who gets that killer slot? You must each complete a 1,000-cupcake display that will make even the funniest superstars serious about your cupcakes. You each get a master carpenter to help you build. What's up, fellers? Justin and Jake. You also get four baking assistants each to help in the kitchen. Hey, ladies. When our big clock hits zero, our judges will evaluate your cupcakes' taste, rate your presentation, and then, based on how well you bring it all together, name one of you the winner of "Cupcake Wars." Sound like a plan? You have two hours -- good luck -- starting now. We made it. Yes. Oh, my gosh. I don't know how we made it. The judges have given me another chance, and I'm gonna prove that they made the right choice. Congratulations. Round 3. TRACI: My ambition has gotten me this far, and I know it will take me to the win in "Cupcake Wars." Okay. Let's do three different tables, maybe some plexiglass tiers. For the display, I want him to build three separate tables with red, flowy fabric and a sign with the Power of Comedy logo. Maybe come nice crown molding and red-velvet rope along the side. I'm just hoping that he's able to put them together and make them look high-class for this event. All right. Good luck in here. See you in a bit. CHRISTINA: I want to do, like, a staircase. And then I want my first tier to kind of start here. And I want these to look almost like opera booths. CHRISTINA: The main platform for my display is going to be a staircase. I want it to have red carpet going down it, and I want it to just look like a special red-carpet, glamorous event. A red curtain here. I want this to light up under every single tier. I need the Variety sign to light up. I just want lights everywhere. This is war, and I came here to win. Okay. Couple hours. Thank you. Break! Come over here. CHRISTINA: We got to get those cakes done as fast as we can, okay? No shell. He's not happy with anyone's recipes. We need to improve these cakes. We need to make Florian smile. We have so much to do. 1,000 cupcakes, icing, toppers, and then there's a ton of changes that we need to make to our White Russian cupcake. So, we got the ***. So, we're gonna bump up the *** in the cake batter, and then we're going to also add some *** to the strawberry compote. Let's just do a straight vanilla-bean buttercream. The Italian meringue buttercream was a complete fail, so we're changing that from an Italian buttercream to a regular buttercream. Everything gets done the way we wanted it to get done last round. The judges love my cupcakes, so I'm not gonna change anything. All I'm gonna do is we're actually gonna finish them this time. It's so nice that we don't have to change these cupcakes. We just want to make sure we finish on time. Main priority is to get everything done and on that display for those judges. TRACI: We need to get this done. DAKOTA: We got this in the bag. Make sure that cake's real nice, light, and fluffy. TRACI: Ladies, let's work on that fruit. Speed is key. CHRISTINA: We don't have time to start anything over, so let's do it right the first time, okay? TRACI: I need to get those banana-rum in the oven. The faster we're in the oven, the less we have to worry about them. All right, Mom, I'm getting that cheesecake filling that you made for the cannoli cupcake into the liners. Let's hope your displays don't bomb, guys. 90 minutes, Dakota! CHRISTINA: All right, Mom. This is the last cake. Okay, baby. Watch out. Hot oven, hot oven. How's the fondant going, ladies? The fondant was their favorite part. We need to make sure those come out perfect. Y'all are doing such a great job. Last round, we didn't even get decorations on our cupcakes, so you're doing such a good job. DAKOTA: Two out of three decorations complete. Excellent. I wonder how Jake's doing on our display. He did have a plaid shirt on. And these are gonna be the shelves for Traci's display. Taking the right steps to victory. Lights! Christina's gonna be laughing all the way to bank. Sorry, man. Not on the list. A cupcake walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "We don't serve food." Smile. CHRISTINA: Let's kick it into high gear. Let's go. DAKOTA: Chocolate's coming out of the oven, Traci. Okay. TRACI: Take it out. White Russian. Check those. TRACI: Dakota goes to check the cupcakes, and he sees that the White Russians are looking kind of strange. Oh, my God. They're burned, Traci! Nothing is even. They're overbaked. I pull one out, and I break it open, and it's like a loaf of bread. These are muffins. Okay. No. All of these?! We have to throw the whole batch out. Now we have to make 250 more of these things. DAKOTA: Oh, my God. They're burned, Traci. The White Russian cupcakes -- they look horrendous. Okay. No. Trash all of these, all of them. They're burned. We have to throw the whole batch out. Now we have to make 250 more of these things. I can't believe we are remaking this batter. I'm not sure that there is enough time to get this third batch in the oven and get them baked. We got to get this batter in the oven. More, more. More on that one. We need this done! KIM: We need more icing. CHRISTINA: I got it. You want to start drizzling that on top of this? We're running around like mad men. This is 1,000 cupcakes we have to get frosted. It's taking a lot of time, and we have to get everything done. Let's pick up the speed, guys! Get that into a bag with the star tip. White Russian going in the oven. Not only do we have to bake these cupcakes, we have to frost them, too. We are quickly running out of time. DAKOTA: How's the decorations going, girls? CHRISTINA: Go a little bit faster. KIM: I'm doing it fast. I'm doing it fast. DAKOTA: The White Russian come out, Traci? They're right here. They cooked much more evenly. They're cooked beautifully this time. 30 minutes! You guys have been great. That's my time. I'm out! Oh, my God, Mom. Look at the display. Look at the display. Justin brings in the display, and it looks awesome. It's just like what I pictured. I am so happy. Look at their display. DAKOTA: Oh, my God. Oh, my gosh. No problem. DAKOTA: It looks awesome. The sign looks great. Jake took the stumbled words that I gave him at the beginning of the round, and he made something beautiful, and I'm so excited. Frosting like machines. Thank you very, very much. Look. It's got red and black just like ours, but I think ours is kind of a little bit more chic. Bakers, 15 minutes! 15 minutes, guys! They need to get on the display. We got to start loading, Mom. Careful when you're loading them on there. TRACI: Okay. You have enough for the other side, as well? Just put them however you want. They're all gonna look gorgeous no matter where you put them. All right. Crank it out, guys. Let's go! Let's go! Here. Go, go, go. Yeah. TRACI: Okay, guys. We need to break these up a little bit. DAKOTA: Guys, these cupcakes need to be closer together. I mean, like, they need to be touching. We're squishing cupcakes onto every square inch of these shelves. I want every part of this display covered in cupcakes. Pronto! Pronto! Mom, look. There's space right here. There's space right here. Put some cupcakes there. Just start throwing them on there. We've just got to get this thing finished. Keep going! Speed, speed, speed! 10, 9, 8... 7, 6... 5, 4, 3, 2... 1. Time is up. [ Applause ] We did it! Yeah! So, bakers, for this final round, we asked you to create a stunning 1,000-cupcake display that would fit right in at Variety magazine's Power of Comedy party. So, Traci... ...tell us what you did. We wanted to put together a display that showed the class and the glamour of the event. We chose to do three separate tables. We've included stanchions with red-velvet ropes to go along with the red-carpet theme of the event. Yes. Our round-1 cupcake -- the Italian buttercream -- We've made it just a simple vanilla-bean buttercream. The White Russian cupcake -- we added *** to the strawberry compote. The third cupcake, the pumpkin-spice -- we've made that just a simple maple buttercream, so it has a much better texture and taste. No more of that overpowering butter. And they're all ready to go for you. Christina, tell us about your display. So, I really wanted this to really speak V.I.P., red-carpet event. We've got the stairs that are all red-carpeted, so it looks like the star cupcakes are walking up them, and walkway's all lit up. And then we've got the light-up sign as well, which is the Variety and Power of Comedy. We've got the three tiers here, which are meant to look almost like stages. And they've got the red curtains, and each of the tiers lights up, as well. Well, the biggest change we've made is obviously that the cupcakes were all completed. Everything else remains the same. They're just completed products. All right, ladies. Your job is done. We're gonna give our judges a chance to check out your displays, have a chat. We'll bring you back in a bit with their final decision. CHRISTINA: After everything that we've done, coming in second place would just be disappointing. We've worked so hard, and we really want to see this thing through. TRACI: I'm worried that the changes that we made to the cupcakes were the safe way to go. It's come to the point where it's out of my hands, and I'm super nervous. WILLMAN: Two awesome-looking displays. Let's talk about Traci's first. Candace, what do you think? I really appreciate the flexibility. She has three separate tables. It can kind of be set up anywhere. BELLANGER: What I like about this display is the fact that she focused a lot on the V.I.P. section. The sign is fantastic. From a branding perspective, she nailed it. So, Traci made a lot of cupcake changes. Most of which I think were good. Talking about the banana-quince and rum cupcake, she decided to abandon the Italian meringue buttercream, which is actually so good, and she came up with a recipe of American-style buttercream, which is the simplest way and which is not the more tasty way. STYLES: I love that she made two cupcakes with cocktails. Comedy equals cocktails. [ Laughter ] WILLMAN: So, let's talk about Christina, our comeback kid over here. It's a miracle that she's in round 3, isn't it? A miracle. What do you think about her display? Well, Christina's display definitely has some "wow" factor. It has some of that unexpected quality that is so innate to comedy in general. Having said that, I don't love that unadorned black space in the middle. It looks very unfinished, kind of like her round-2 cupcakes were. I like what she tried to achieve with her display -- the modern shape and everything, which I think is really elegant. STYLES: From a branding perspective, "Variety Power of Comedy" gets lost in the black space. It's great to finally see Christina's vision here. That whoopee cushion, in particular, is just so funny. And our instincts were right. Those cupcakes are delicious. However, the frosting that was on top of her coconut and lime-curd cupcake -- it didn't really add much to the final product. Although she gave us all those cupcakes undecorated, unfinished, unfrosted, when I tasted the cannoli cupcake, the one with the chocolate chips, it was really delicious. So, like, Traci almost went out in round 1 but didn't. And Christina almost went out in round 2 but didn't. So, this is really anyone's game. It's a tough decision. Do we have a winner? Okay. I'll bring them back. Bakers, today, in honor of Variety magazine's Power of Comedy celebration, we asked you to bring the glamour and, of course, bring the funny. Christina, all day, your delicious cupcake flavors have impressed the judges, and while your display had a "wow" factor with the lights and the stairs, the judges were a bit disappointed that, as a whole, it seemed kind of unfinished. And, Traci, your display had great branding, so the judges were thrilled that you took their notes, until they realized that you took the easy route with oversimplified buttercream. This is a tough call because only one of you gets the chance to headline. The winner of today's "Cupcake Wars" is... ...Christina. Congratulations. Oh, my God! CHRISTINA: I am just shocked. I cannot believe it. All I can do is put my face in my hands and try to keep myself from crying out of sheer joy. [ Squealing ] TRACI: There is such a big part of me that's disappointed. We worked so hard and so long. It's hard walking away without the prize. STYLES: Congratulations, you guys. Let's get these cupcakes to the event. WILLMAN: Yeah! Okay. CHRISTINA: After being so close to being eliminated and then winning the whole thing, it was just the greatest gift. I know that winning "Cupcake Wars" is really gonna propel our business forward. Pbht! Now it's funny. That just became a very funny cake. Getting to be there with my mom and to win this thing together, that was the greatest prize that I got out of all of this. Ohh!