10 Judge-Approved Creations From This Season’s Holiday Baking Championship

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Leslie Wu

Season 7 of Holiday Baking Championship may have wrapped, but judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Goldman and newcomer Carla Hall have a present for you: a nice-not-naughty list of this year’s sweetest treats. Take a peek at 10 baked bombshells that were winners in both taste and appearance, and find some inspiration and helpful take-home tips for your own holiday baking.

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1 of 10

Apple Cinnamon Quick Bread and Apple Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (Episode 1)

Pastry chef and bakery owner <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/holiday-baking-championship/photos/season-7-bakers/#!holiday-baking-championship-s7-contestants-kess-eshun" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kess Eshun</a>’s decision to trade computer science for culinary school paid off with the first win in the show. Everyone at the judges’ table let out an appreciative “mmmm” on tasting Kess’s take on a quickbread wreath, with Nancy lauding the balance between the spices and apple. Take home tip: Tweak a family favourite to the occasion: Kess’s creation was based on a well-practiced recipe. “The first thing that came to my mind is my delicious <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/savor-banana-bread/18390/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">banana quickbread</a>, which I can make in my sleep,” she says.
2 of 10

Cinnamon Brown Sugar White Cake with Snickerdoodle Dough Filling (Episode 1)

<a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/holiday-baking-championship/photos/season-7-bakers/#!holiday-baking-championship-s7-contestants-megan-roundtree" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Megan Rountree</a> also tipped her cap to a familiar favourite with her adorable knitted hat with individually piped layers of buttercream and fondant letters with extra stitching details. “We always have a <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/snickerdoodle-cookies/16559/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">snickerdoodle</a> cake around the holidays and I think that it’s definitely a winning flavour,” she says. Duff called her creation “the essence of snickerdoodle” and praised the combination of cinnamon and buttery flavour. Take home tip: If you don’t have a pan with a specific cake shape, improvise: Megan used five stacked <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/lemon-swiss-buttercream-hatbox-cake/19144/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">layer cakes</a> and then carved them into the dome shape of a hat before adding decorative buttercream.
3 of 10

Cranberry Key Lime Pie with a Dried Fruit Crust, Cranberry Gelée and Mango Whipped Cream Topping (Episode 2)

Pastry chef <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/holiday-baking-championship/photos/season-7-bakers/#!holiday-baking-championship-s7-contestants-lorenzo-delgado" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lorenzo Delgado</a> started out this baking challenge with a required combination of <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/annas-key-lime-pie/3738/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">key lime pie</a> and dried fruits, then had mango added as a mid-challenge twist. “It’s just starting to become a fruit salad at this point,” he joked as he incorporated the dried fruit into the crust, pureed cranberries for the <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/raspberry-gelee/5652/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">gelée</a> and folded mango into his whipped cream topping. “It looks like Christmas right on my plate,” declared Nancy. Take home tip: Lorenzo smoothed out his key lime filling by (gently) bouncing the pie up and down to remove air bubbles before putting it into the oven.
4 of 10

Sweet Potato Eggnog Chai Pie with Chai Double Crust (Episode 3)

Home baker <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/holiday-baking-championship/photos/season-7-bakers/#!holiday-baking-championship-s7-contestants-julianna-jung" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Julianna Jung</a> turned down the temperature on her oven to avoid darkening the crust on her chai double crust pie — a strategy that ended up backfiring when the pie was still a little wobbly in the centre with 30 minutes left to the main heat. A blast in the convection oven ended up cooking the crust a little darker, but Duff decided that this slight bitterness ultimately balanced the sweetness of the filling to perfection. Take home tip: When doing a <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/all-butter-easy-pie-dough-/22055/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">double crust</a>, be sure to cool down your filling before adding decorative top pastry so that it doesn’t sink into the finished pie. Julianna’s method of fanning it with a cutting board caused host Jessie to question her technique, but it ultimately worked out.
5 of 10

Corn Cream Puff with Corn Custard and Corn Caramel (Episode 4)

When bakery owner <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/holiday-baking-championship/photos/season-7-bakers/#!holiday-baking-championship-s7-contestants-eva-roberts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Eva Roberts</a> got corn as the ingredient she had to incorporate into her dessert, she looked on the bright side. “Thank the lord we didn’t get Brussels sprouts,” she laughed. She complemented the cream puff with a champagne cherry compote, and sautéed sugared corn into her caramel, which Nancy wanted to bottle and sell. The crispness of the <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/sweet-choux-pastry/9015/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pate a choux</a> and sticky gooeyness of the custard/caramel combination led Duff to dub Eva a “corn star”. Take home tip: Eva gave her <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/cinnamon-custard/2594/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">custard</a> a little bit more of a corn kick by simmering milk with both kernels and the stripped cobs. “The difficulty with this challenge is that you can overdo it with the corn element, so I’m making sure to do just the perfect amount,” said Eva.
6 of 10

Sweet Potato, Pecan and Cherry Holiday Cheesecake (Episode 5)

Professional baker <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/holiday-baking-championship/photos/season-7-bakers/#!holiday-baking-championship-s7-contestants-lashonda-sanford" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lashonda Sanford</a> went all out with her three types of pie, whipping up a homemade <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/cherry-pie/19535/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cherry pie</a> and painting gold lustre dust and glitter onto cherries for extra sparkle. One of the stars of her pie were the mini pecan tassie decorations. “If you’re from the south, you know what a pecan tassie is,” declared Lashonda. “It’s like if a cookie and a pecan pie had a baby”. The combination of her pie ingredients resonated especially with Carla, who said, through tears, that “eating these three things makes me think of home”. Take home tip: Lashonda’s secret ingredient for any <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/holiday-cheesecake/22228/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cheesecake</a> is a bit of sour cream, which she says makes it nice and fluffy. She also prefers vanilla paste over extract in certain preparations for extra flavour.
7 of 10

Plum Port Upside Down Cake (Episode 6)

Megan’s performance in the preliminary challenge with partner Lashonda won them exclusive use of decorating tools in the main heat, which she put to good use making pretty <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/mini-linzer-cookies/17439/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Linzer cookie</a> and fondant ornaments to adorn her cake. The delicate detailing of her piped royal icing inspired Duff to offer her a job on the spot if she ever wanted to trade Texas for Baltimore. Take home tip: Megan’s secret to a successful <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/upside-down-blueberry-lemon-cake/20464/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">upside-down cake</a> is to lay out the fruit exactly as it should appear on the final design, and to add a parchment circle in the bottom of pan with a liberal application of cooking spray, which paid off with a flawless flip.
8 of 10

Charlotte Royale with Milk Chocolate Swiss Roll, Strawberry Brandy Buttercream and White Chocolate Bavarian Cream (Episode 7)

Megan was on a winning roll with her <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/charlotte-royale/12597/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charlotte Royale</a>, a dessert made up of slices of rolled cake and filling that is placed in a bowl and filled with custard. Her spectacular creation incorporated four different types of <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-chocolate-showdown/blog/how-to-melt-and-temper-chocolate/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chocolate</a>: dark, milk, white and cocoa powder. To decorate, she used modelling chocolate to make a gingerbread boy and put a toy sack next to him. All of the judges praised Megan’s creativity and depth of chocolate flavour. Take home tip: Add texture to your <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/vanilla-bavarian-cream-with-caramelized-apples-and-almond-crumble/9332/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bavarian cream</a> with chopped fruit, chocolate or nuts (Megan folded chopped strawberries, dark chocolate and toasted almonds into hers), but be sure to make it ahead of time to let it cool off first.
9 of 10

London Fog Macaron Tree (Episode 8)

Julianna’s early obsession with making <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/macaron-tower/12657/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">macarons</a> won her the last preliminary heat of the season. “When it was all the hype, I was like ‘ I’m not spending $5 on a macaron, that’s ridiculous, so I’m going to make my own’,” she laughed, estimating that she probably made (and threw out) thousands of macarons while perfecting her recipe. The height of her tree proved Julianna was no slouch, and Duff complimented the flavour and slight saltiness of her condensed milk buttercream. Take home tip: The crisp and chewy nature of a macaron is part of its appeal, so Julianna layered a bit of white chocolate on her stacks so that the buttercream layer didn’t make it soggy.
10 of 10

Graham Cracker S’mores Cake with Praline and Coffee (Episode 8)

A combination of solid baking chops and savvy strategy ensured Julianna’s victory, as she used her advantage to assign her competitors decorating styles well out of their comfort zones. Her spectacular Christmas creation played on her favourite holiday memory of making <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/blog/scrumptious-canadian-nanaimo-smores/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">s’mores</a> in her much cherished, always blazing fireplace (she uses a food blowtorch now). “The idea is to conceptually represent my senses, so the Christmas tree smells good, snowflakes that you can feel, bells that you can hear — the whole cake itself is for your eyes but you can also taste it,” she said. Take home tip: Because of the expensive nature of vanilla beans, Julianna used the entire pod by toasting it with hazelnuts and almonds and grinding it up for her homemade pralines. Try out this idea by <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/baking/blog/how-to-make-your-own-vanilla-extract-10741/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">making your own extract</a>.
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