02x07 - Multicultural Wedding

[bunniefuu]

♪ So party up, party up ♪

[Ashley sighs]

Does anyone have, uh, special party tricks

that you like to do?

I can break an apple in half

with my bare hands. [grunts]

I want to see that.

- I want Hold Okay.

- I didn't say it was glamorous!

- No way!

- Oh!

- I love it.

- Mm.

[laughs]

I do not wanna know what is going on here.

- Hi, Chef.

- Hi, Chef.

Hello, hello.

Nothing to see here.

I leave you four alone for five minutes.

Ahren, Bake Squad. Bake Squad, Ahren.

- Hey, guys.

- Hi, Ahren.

- Hi, Ahren.

- Welcome.

Thank you.

Bake Squad, Ahren is here because

she's celebrating a really big day.

Ahren, tell us who it's for.

I'm here to nominate my fiancé, Alejandro.

- That's him right here. He's so cute.

- Oh my. You two.

[Gonzo] Such a cute picture.

- [Ahren] Thank you.

- What is the event?

It is our wedding day. [laughs]

Congratulations.

- It's a wedding!

- Yes!

So we dated 16 years ago,

when we were in high school,

and the only reason we stopped dating

is because I went to college,

to another state.

So fast-forward 16 years,

we reconnected over Instagram. [laughs]

Wow.

Tell us about the event.

What's the spirit, the vibe?

Our wedding is really

about blending our cultures together.

Um, Alex is from Mexico,

and I am African-American,

and my family's from the South,

like Georgia and Texas.

- Yes, Georgia.

- Oh, Georgia!

Yes!

And our colors are orange,

yellow, indigo, and gold.

- Very chic.

- Yeah.

We're doing some really amazing,

like, fusion with food.

We have a paleta cart we're gonna have,

which is like the Mexican popsicles.

Yes.

What are some traditions

that maybe you're gonna bring

from your African-American culture

and he'll bring from his Mexican culture?

From the African-American tradition, we're

jumping the broom during our ceremony.

Jumping the broom is just a symbolism

of jumping into your new life.

And then for the Mexican-Latino tradition,

we're doing a unity lasso.

Okay.

That is kind of like a rosary,

but it goes over myself and Alex,

and it's basically the unifying

of both people and both families together.

Tell us more about what the two of you

love to do and eat together.

We're a big breakfast couple.

We love breakfast. [laughs]

- So good.

- Definitely eggs, coffee, mimosas.

[Christina] What about dessert likes?

Alex loves donuts,

cheesecake, cookies, tres leches.

- Mm-hm.

- [Ahren] We love cake.

- Pecan pie is, like, the fave.

- Southern flavors, right?

Exactly.

So I'm wondering

if there's anything from Mexico

you could see that Alejandro

would like incorporated into the dessert.

Alex really loves modern art and modern

architecture and stuff like that.

In San Luis,

they have really beautiful buildings,

lots of beautiful fountains.

- The beautifully graphic tiles?

- Sure, yeah.

Why does Alejandro deserve this?

He is truly the most incredible human.

He is a middle school art teacher.

He goes above and beyond for his students.

That's beautiful.

He also just shows up and loves so hard.

His family, myself,

his mom and his brother.

When they came here,

it was the three of them for a long time.

- He really took care of them.

- That's great.

So he just really deserves to be spoiled

and just treated for the amazing man

that he is to everyone around him.

Oh, wow, that's so sweet.

All four Bake Squad members are going

to give you four immaculate desserts,

then it's up to you to select

which one is fit for your occasion.

- Think you can handle that?

- I can handle it.

[Christina] Squad, Ahren will be back

in seven hours

to taste the most important dessert

of her life.

- No pressure.

- We're gonna make it happen.

- Yes.

- Right, Bake Squad, you know what's up.

Ovens on, let's start dreaming.

Ahren, we'll see you soon.

- [Ahren] Sounds good.

- Woo! Let's go! Good luck.

[upbeat music plays]

- Ready? ♪

- Get set, go! ♪

Get set, go! ♪

So today we are doing

the multicultural wedding, right?

Mm-hm. How are you feeling?

Are you inspired?

Yes, because my wife is Filipino,

I'm French.

We kind of fused both cultures together,

so this, uh, event means a lot to me.

I bet. What are you making?

I'm thinking I want to create

this beautiful breakfast buffet.

It looks exactly like a savory breakfast,

but every single item

are actually desserts.

The illusion.

- That's right.

- [Ashley] Wow.

What do you think I can do

as something illusion, you know?

- I had eggs Benedict this morning.

- Oh, that sounds good.

What about some sort of breakfast burrito?

You absolutely

cannot leave off donuts here.

Ahren said Alex is obsessed with donuts.

- Donuts it is.

- But is a donut already a dessert?

[Christophe] But I feel like we need

some breakfast items that will be real.

Sometimes it's good also to stay classic,

because the greatest things

are the simplest things.

All right, G.

- Hello.

- What are you thinking?

I'm thinking about going wedding cake.

Ooh!

There's something about

the round nature of a wedding cake

that feels very traditional,

But I don't think

Ahren's looking for anything traditional.

- Is there another way to think about it?

- I could go square for sure.

But how do you present it

so it doesn't look like blocks

on top of each other?

- Gotcha.

- [Christina] I'll leave you with that.

- See what shakes out. Good luck.

- Thank you.

What are you making?

Where I'm going right now

is think about when you're traveling,

you have your town square

and big fountains in the center,

and Ahren mentioned

Alejandro's love for architecture,

so what if I make

this beautifully decorated fountain

with all these cookie tiles?

- Cookies?

- She said that Alex loves cookies.

- Okay.

- Maybe a little chocolate fountain.

We're making

a chocolate fountain over here!

Chocolate fountain!

It looks like it's going to be epic.

Gotta get myself organized and focused,

and I think I can pull this off.

They're gonna be

four inches by four inches,

and when I plug that into my calculator,

there's over 300 cookies I need to make.

Three hundred cookies?

- Apparently.

- [Christophe groans]

- Maya-Camille.

- Hey, Chef.

- How are you feeling?

- Pretty good.

- What are you thinking about baking?

- Alejandro loves cheesecakes.

So instead of doing

a traditional wedding cake,

I am thinking of doing a cheesecake tower

that is inspired

by traditional Mexican flavors of paletas.

[Christina] Okay.

Then Southern flavors

such as monkey bread and pound cake,

and the pound cake

will be the cake topper.

There is a bit of anxiety

about the fragility

A little bit of anxiety?

It's going to be structurally delicate,

because you literally have the crust

and then the cheesecake,

but I freaking love the vision.

- Go big on ambition. I know you can do it.

- [Maya-Camille] Thank you.

[Christophe] Good luck, guys.

One, two, three, four ♪

- [Christina] Christophe.

- Hi, Chef.

Okay, so what's the idea?

So I remember Ahren mentioned

the favorite meal

they like to share together is breakfast.

Yes.

So I wanna create

a beautiful dessert buffet,

but creating an illusion of a breakfast.

So there is eggs Benedict,

a burrito, bread and butter.

But then some real desserts,

like traditional conchas,

which is Mexican sweet bread, and donuts.

[Christina] I love this balance

of optical illusion and reality.

There's a lot of risk in that,

because you need the breakfast burrito

or the eggs Benedict to feel real,

so that on display,

they feel worthy of being

in the presence of donuts and conchas.

I love the vision, but let's get real.

I can see your prep list.

You got a lot of things to cross off,

so you gotta get a move on, my friend.

- [Christophe] Right.

- Tick-tock.

Thank you, Chef.

[Gonzo] The first thing I need to do

right now is start baking my cakes.

Today, I'm going to challenge myself

and prove to everybody else

that I could actually make some cake.

So I'm going to make

a giant wedding cake with multiple tiers.

We're going to go

into the mixer back here.

I'm getting out of my comfort zone,

but I'm also going to create

all these different chocolate features

I will put around the cake.

So the first cake that I'm making

is my mimosa cake.

Ahren and Alejandro,

they love brunch and breakfast,

so one of the cakes

is going to be mimosa flavor,

and then an orange

and champagne buttercream.

Cakes in the oven.

And then Alejandro loves Mexican flavors,

so I'm going to make

a horchata cake for him.

Bam. Cinnamon.

These are two very particular

flavor options I'm going with,

but I'm pretty sure

Ahren and Alex are gonna love it.

Horchata batter going down.

Ooh la la, how beautiful this is.

Ash.

- Hey, Chef.

- What you got going on?

- There's no cake today.

- No cake?

No cake. I'm stepping

out of my comfort zone.

I'm gonna make a chocolate fountain

surrounded by a wall decorated

with cinnamon and ginger sugar cookies

that look like painted tiles.

And I also wanna incorporate

flavors in their cultures,

so I'm gonna make Mexican wedding cookies,

Southern benne seed cookies

and then a classic jam thumbprint cookie.

How big are you thinking of this fountain?

I mean, well, I have

I have this.

Removed all the dust from 1990,

from just hanging out.

Okay. So this chocolate fountain,

in order for it to have the right context,

I mean, we're talking

Yeah.

- That's a lot of work. Girl

- I know.

Something tells me

you're not building the wall.

- But your subcontractor over here is.

- Yeah, about that Yeah?

- I'm gonna work on it.

- Do you feel inspired?

- It's a deal.

- Good luck.

Thank you, Chef.

I'm going to get my goat cheese

cheesecake started.

Alejandro loves cheesecakes,

so instead of doing

a traditional wedding cake,

I'm doing a nine-tier cheesecake tower,

incorporating the flavors

from each person's culture.

The Mexican cheesecake flavors

include avocado lime, mango con chili,

and goat cheese with cherry,

and the Southern flavors include

a monkey bread-inspired cheesecake,

along with a cream cheese

pound cake topper.

Going to cream my butter

and my cream cheese first.

Cheesecakes are relatively soft,

and I want to stack them,

so I need to be quick in making them,

but also giving the cheesecakes

enough time to cool,

so that they can be solid enough to stack.

[Christina] Gonzo.

[Gonzo] Hello, hello.

Okay, are you still confident

about pushing it with square cakes?

Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna make it happen.

But let me show you this.

Right, so I have the drawing right here

of my actual cake.

Here's your regular cake.

Bam, we're gonna make it upside down

so it could be a chandelier type of cake.

Dude, this is super tricky.

You are death-defying gravity here.

It's held basically

by one single threaded string.

If it's not dead center,

your entire cake

could end up on the ground.

You can help me out in order to get

a structure to hold this cake.

How heavy do you think we're talking?

I think this thing is gonna be

somewhere around 150 pounds of cake.

Just give me a few minutes

to wrap my head around this.

- Yeah.

- Lord, Gonzo. All right, game on.

[Christophe] Ashley.

I'm not doing any sugar today.

- [Ashley] You're not doing any sugar?

- Zero.

[Ashley] And I'm not doing any cake.

What's going on

in the Bake Squad kitchen today?

I used to work in catering,

and we do volume.

It's all about hundreds,

hundreds of things,

so I have a background in mass production.

But doing over 300 cookies by myself

with a few hours to bake 'em,

I wonder if I've lost my mind.

Like, not even a quarter of the way done.

This is a decorative cake pan

for my pound cake topper.

This is a naked cake.

It has to look really beautiful

because there are no buttercream frostings

or fondant to cover up any imperfections.

So I'm going to top the cheesecake

with pound cake.

[Gonzo] Putting together all these cakes.

Let's go ♪

All right.

So I'm doing the bread illusion right now,

which is a strawberry shortcake.

The hardest part of the illusions

is making the dessert

look exactly like a savory item.

It needs to be 100% realistic

next to the real desserts.

Try to make it

as much realistic as possible.

[Ashley] All right.

The Mexican wedding cookies are in.

Ahren said that Alex loves cookies.

I really love these thumbprint cookies.

It's a great way to incorporate

the fruit I know Alex likes.

I'll be able to bang out

a lot of these really quick.

Let's go ♪

All right.

Benne cookies.

This is just a thin wafer cookie.

The sesame seeds in there

add a really nice flavor and texture.

[upbeat music plays]

[Ashley] Benne seed cookies are in.

For the Mexican-inspired cheesecakes,

I'm using flavors of paletas.

The flavors are goat cheese

and cherry cheesecake with a cherry jam,

then a mango con chili cheesecake.

We're gonna pour

the mango chili into the mold.

And then avocado lime,

which uses lime zest,

lime juice and fresh avocados.

I will pop this in a blast chiller

so that it can set.

[upbeat music plays]

[Gonzo] All of my cakes

are gonna be horchata or mimosa,

covered in chocolate ganache,

and right now I'm just working

on every single one of the angles,

because on square cakes,

it's all about sharp corners.

- [Ashley] Gonzo, that is sharp.

- Thank you so much.

I strongly do not care for square cakes.

Very satisfying when you get them perfect,

but it's so hard to get it perfect.

Five hours, Bake Squad.

I have so many things to do today.

Just keep it together, Christophe.

One of the elements

that I really want to execute properly

is the conchas,

which is Mexican sweet bread,

with vanilla, strawberry,

and lemon flavored toppings.

Brioche dough. That's ready.

Because the conchas

are really pure tradition Mexico,

so the pressure is pretty high.

- What are you making?

- Brioche for conchas.

Nice. [chuckles]

[laughs]

[laughter]

[Gonzo] My cake is going to be covered

in these beautiful chocolate marble slabs.

Alejandro loves modern art,

so I want the presentation of this cake

very modern, abstract, and edgy,

and I'm the chocolate guy,

so I'm gonna create

colorful spheres and half domes,

and the chocolate panels will be covering

the different sides

of each one of the cakes.

Tempered cocoa butter.

In order to create my chocolate panels,

I put plastic wrap on the counter,

and then I apply cocoa butter,

and then chocolate on top of it.

Once my chocolate crystallizes,

I peel off the plastic wrap

and then it will have

all these different textures

on each one of the panels.

This is the monkey bread cheesecake.

It's gonna be a cinnamon

and allspice-infused cream cheesecake.

Monkey bread is a Southern dessert

that is almost like pull-apart bread,

but it's ooey and gooey with caramel.

When Ahren cuts

into this slice of cheesecake,

the caramel will ooze out.

Let's cook the conchas.

[Ashley] All right. Ooh.

Shoo, la, la, la ♪

So I'm frying my donuts right now.

Donut party over here. Woo!

Shoo, la, la, la ♪

[Maya-Camille] Let's see

how this looks. [gasps]

They're so cute!

I'll use that one.

Beautiful conchas.

La, la, la ♪

Okay, I'm going to start

to build a burrito.

I have all my components

to build my burrito.

Crêpe.

Yes. Nice.

Chocolate cream, raspberry jam,

lemon curd, fresh raspberry.

I fold it, roll it into a burrito.

It's a French crêpe inside an illusion

of a burrito, and I love it.

I think it's gonna be great.

That looks so good.

[Ashley] Fondant squares

for pops of color.

Bake Squad, just three hours remain.

I am blind-baking my Graham cr*cker crust

for the no-bake cheesecakes.

I am doing

two of the cheesecakes not baked.

Avocado lime, and the monkey bread flavor.

All right,

into the blast chiller this goes.

Which take a long time

to set in the cooler

to get solid enough to stack.

And the other two cheesecake flavors

will be baked.

Mango con chili

and goat cheese with cherry.

These are difficult

because you have to bake it low and slow

so that the cheesecakes do not crack.

Check it and see how

Oh!

It's done. [chuckles]

That is actually a perfect bake.

You also have to cool it low and slow,

so you turn the oven off

and then you crack open the door,

which also prevents cracking.

It requires so much time

and I don't have a chance for do-overs.

The biggest challenge today

is just the undertaking of quantity here.

Okay, I got to prep myself for this.

Decorating these little guys

is gonna take a really long time,

and I have to be very intentional

with the designs too.

I want it to look very styled

and purposeful, like a hand-painted tile.

When Ahren was telling us

about her beautiful wedding,

she mentioned these amazing traditions

they both carry in each of their cultures,

so I definitely want to incorporate

both of those traditions

into these designs.

One is the lasso ceremony

that represents Alex's Hispanic culture,

and then the jumping of the broom,

which represents

Ahren's African-American culture.

[upbeat music plays]

Woo! ♪

- Oh!

- Oh!

- [Christina] Ashley!

- Yes!

[Christina] Look what I got!

- Oh my God!

- [Christina] What do you think?

Oh God.

Wow. Imagining this covered

in all of these mosaic cookies,

it's gonna be like a dream.

- There's presence, my friend.

- [exhales] Wow.

It's not typical

making a breakfast for a wedding,

but I want to give them what they love.

So I'm doing eggs Benedict,

but it's actually

a fancy tropical dessert.

The base will be puff pastry dough,

the eggs will be coconut mousse,

the yolk will be a mango coulis.

I'm mixing the mango purée with the sugar

for the mango to become thick,

but not too thick,

so we can obtain a jelly that is runny

in the center of the egg Benedict

and the salmon underneath

will be the guava jelly.

Let's go in the freezer.

[Ashley] Okay, where to start?

How can I split these colors up

in a way that makes it make sense?

- It is crunch time. One hour remains.

- Yes, Chef.

- Thank you, Chef.

- One hour, team.

- [Ashley] Oh my gosh.

- [Christophe] Push!

[Christina] Ash!

So it literally looks like grout.

I don't know why contractors

don't use buttercream grout more often.

I like where you're going with this.

[Gonzo] Hustle, hustle.

[Maya-Camille] Oh, that looks pretty.

The cheesecake tower is super fragile,

so I need to make sure

that the dowels are in the right place

and that they are level,

so that nothing will be sliding off.

[Christina] All right, MC.

Ah, so this cheesecake

is sort of falling onto this cheesecake.

There is one layer

that looks like it's a little off

and it's not exactly level,

so I need to remove the layers above it

so that I can fix the dowels

in that one layer.

- [Christina] Okay.

- Wait, hold on.

- Maya-Camille.

- Yes?

I mean, making the decision

to lift these top three layers

is gonna give you structural integrity,

but if there's a slip

[Maya-Camille chuckles nervously]

we got five layers of cheesecake

instead of two, four, six, eight layers.

Oof. Oh, girl, I admire you.

We're going from scratch. We're starting.

I am really nervous.

There you go.

All in the name of structural integrity.

[Maya-Camille] I have to fix

the dowels in that one layer

to make sure it's level

so the tower doesn't fall apart.

So what do you think? Oh, I see.

The dowels aren't exactly centered.

- [Maya-Camille] Yeah.

- [Christina] You need an extra dowel here.

- Thank you.

- [Christina] You got it. Almost there.

Gonzo, the giant hook

for your giant 150-pound chandelier cake.

That's perfect. Exactly what we need.

The trickiest part about assembling

this cake is that we have a giant rod

that goes through them,

and then we have to use this bolt

that is going to be

holding each one of the tiers.

I have to make sure they're tight enough

and perfect enough so nothing slides down.

- That's good.

- Moment of truth. Here we go.

- You ready?

- [Gonzo] Yeah.

If one of my tiers slides down,

the whole thing is gonna collapse.

And there we have it, dude.

150 pounds of cake hung upside down

like a freaking chandelier.

Oh, yeah.

[Ashley] I'm getting emotional. So pretty.

[rock music plays]

[Christophe] This is gonna be

the salmon for the eggs Benedict.

We are nearly there, Bake Squad.

30 minutes remain.

Look at me go ♪

[Christophe] That looks like bread.

[Christina mimics a fanfare]

- [Christophe] What I'm talking about!

- What you think?

- This is five-star brunch energy.

- I love it.

[exciting music plays]

[Ashley] Got to get this chocolate

in this fountain. Goodness.

[exciting music continues]

[Christophe] Awesome. Love it.

Okay, Bake Squad, just 60 seconds.

[Ashley] Oh my gosh, that's so exciting.

[Christina] All right, 20 seconds to go,

bakers. Here comes Ahren.

Oh, she's not alone.

All right, Bake Squad, time is up.

Ovens off, whisks down.

Well done.

And look who's back.

Ahren, tell the bakers who you brought.

This is such a tough decision,

so I brought Alejandro's mom.

She has been with me

the whole way for my wedding,

and I'm so excited that she's here.

- And what's your name?

- Guadalupe.

Guadalupe, welcome.

Welcome.

- Gracias.

- [Christina] Let's go.

Let's go taste.

Guadalupe, this is Ashley.

She is our queen of cakes.

But today she's taken

a different direction.

We went in cookie land today.

- [Ahren] I didn't know these were cookies.

- I knew it. Good!

It is amazing.

You know, to see all the tiles.

It just made me go back to Mexico.

[Ashley] So my dessert

is called Fountain of Love.

I was thinking of the town square,

where everyone comes together to meet,

and there's usually a fountain

in the middle of that square.

We're combining two cultures.

There's Mexican-inspired tiles,

some African-American-inspired tiles.

The broom-jumping ceremony

represented here,

and then we have

the lasso ceremony represented here.

Also here we have some benne seed cookies.

- Can we just?

- [Ashley] Go for it.

Wow, this is so cool.

[Ashley] We have some Mexican

wedding cookies and jam thumbprints.

We had to throw a little fruit in there.

Okay, ladies, let's do this.

- I don't wanna eat it. It's so beautiful.

- [Ashley] So pretty, you don't wanna eat.

Gorgeous.

- That's so good.

- Wow.

So flavorful, so decadent. Like [laughs]

- [Christina] That's the cinnamon lasso.

- The cinnamon, it is so delicious.

What do you think

of the Mexican wedding cookies?

Alex is gonna be so happy.

They're really the flavor that we like.

I love it. I love it.

Oh, that's so great to hear.

[Christina] What do you think

of the benne seed wafers?

It tastes caramelized and delicious,

and putting it in that chocolate fountain.

What?

I just kind of wanna put my mouth under it

and then just like

You're the bride, you're allowed

to do whatever you want on your day.

- If this is the one you take.

- Cookie, chocolate.

[laughter]

Ashley, you hit

all of the different flavors.

- And the colors. It's stunning to look at.

- Beautiful, wow.

My friends, we got to snack and run.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you.

[upbeat music plays]

[Christina sighs] Maya-Camille.

It's so beautiful.

Look at these beautiful flowers and fruit.

I love the colors.

Maya-Camille,

please introduce your dessert.

[Maya-Camille] So I call this

The Best of Both Worlds.

It's the best of the Mexican culture

and the Black culture in terms of flavors.

The bottom layer is avocado lime.

It has the creaminess of avocado,

but the brightness with the fresh lime.

The second layer is inspired by

a little Southern favorite, monkey bread.

[gasps] What?!

- Yes. Thank you, Maya-Camille.

- [Maya-Camille] Of course.

con chili.

- Oh!

My favorite.

So it's a mango cheesecake

with a mango gelée,

and then a bit of chili.

- It's all yours, Guadalupe.

- How beautiful.

[Guadalupe] It's mine.

[Maya-Camille] Next, it's goat cheese

and cherry cheesecake.

And then lastly, a cream cheese

pound cake is at the very top.

- Let's hit it.

- [Ahren] Let's do it.

[Ahren] Oh.

Oh my gosh.

I'm tasting the monkey bread cheesecake.

I feel like this is the best cheesecake

I've had in my life. It's incredible.

And this caramel strip in here,

oh my gosh.

I just want to roll around

and take a nap in it.

[giggles]

Guadalupe, you have

the mango con chili cheesecake layer.

I can taste the creamy,

the mango, the chili. I love it.

Thank you.

[Christina] Mine is avocado lime.

The creaminess of the avocado,

and the lime plays off of that perfectly.

It's glamorous, it's gorgeous,

but it's also a nice, warm, cozy hug.

- It is.

- Thank you so much, and incredible work.

Thank you.

Christophe. Wow, wow, wow.

- This is stunning.

- [Christina] Christophe, give 'em a tour.

[Christophe] Today, we have

a beautiful Breakfast Buffet,

which is not a breakfast buffet.

It is illusions and some real desserts.

So we have our traditional conchas

with vanilla, strawberry,

and lemon flavored toppings,

with, uh, four different colors.

The burrito is chocolate cream

with raspberry jam, lemon curd,

and the wrapper is a crêpe.

The eggs Benedict is actually

puff pastry dough with a coconut mousse.

The egg yolk as a mango coulis.

granité.

Mm.

Oh!

This coconut-mango eggs Benedict,

it's a dream.

It's truly Like,

the flavors are so beautiful together.

Guadalupe, what did you think

of Christophe's concha?

[Guadalupe] Crunchy, and it's perfect.

[Christina] Does Christophe's concha

measure up?

Yes! Yes, I think he's gonna say,

"Oh my God, this is amazing."

- These are not my conchas.

- [laughter]

[Christina] We're going

into the breakfast burrito.

- [Guadalupe chuckles]

- Oh my God. It's so delicious.

And it's This mousse

is so, like, decadent and, like, soulful,

and yet so light with the crêpe around it.

It's such a perfect wrap.

[Christina] The really light, beautifully

made crêpe, caramelized on both sides.

Christophe, I could go on and on

about your dessert buffet,

but wanna know what?

I got a whole lot more eating to do.

Do you wanna go in for a second round?

- Yes.

- Yes.

She says yes.

I need this. I need a concha.

[Guadalupe] Oh my gosh.

- Literally a dream. Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Thank you. It is perfect.

- Come with me.

Muchas gracias.

- All right, Gonzo.

- Hello, hello.

I want to, like, put this up in our house.

- It's stunning.

- There you go.

- That is amazing.

- Wow.

- Did you know a cake could hang like this?

- No, I did not.

Can I tell you something?

150 pounds of cake.

- [Guadalupe] Oh, wow.

- Oh my gosh.

[Gonzo] So in here

we have a modern Chandelier Cake.

I wanted to give you guys

an actual wedding cake

to match the colors

of your wedding as well.

- Love that.

- We added a lot of abstract art to it.

Then obviously

we made it hanging upside down.

I remember you talked

about how you love breakfast

and going out for brunch,

so we have a mimosa flavor in there.

- Mimosa.

- [Ahren] Mimosa!

And then obviously for Alex,

we have a horchata flavor.

- Horchata flavor.

- Oh my gosh.

[Christina] Do you even know

you could ask for horchata wedding cake?

- This is the first time, I think.

- Right?

So we have those rice tones, cinnamon.

Very, very yummy stuff.

Wow.

Thank you.

[Ahren] So perfect.

[Christina] First reactions?

Mimosa cake, give me the lowdown.

This orange flavor and buttercream,

it is so delicious.

And this chocolate

is so decadent and delicious.

- Such a perfect touch to all of this.

- Thank you.

Guadalupe, what do you think

of the horchata cake?

Alex is gonna be so happy,

and all my family,

to eat the horchata cake.

It's amazing. The texture is perfect.

I think the sponge of the cake,

the density and creaminess

of the buttercream,

and then the juxtaposition

of the sharp moments

of that chocolate shell around the cake

is really lovely.

You just knocked it out of the park.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

[upbeat music plays]

Four brilliant bakers,

four amazing desserts.

I was completely blown away.

I just love the way

you blended our cultures together.

It was just so beautiful

and artfully created. Beautiful colors.

Truly stunning.

You got everything for us. It's amazing.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

I'm getting emotional

just thinking about it.

[Christina] It's for your big day

with your soulmate.

[Ahren] Yeah, yeah.

So, Ahren, Guadalupe,

I saw your eyes light up

with all four of these desserts,

but you can only choose one.

Have you made a decision?

Well, honestly, this is such

a tough decision, right?

I don't even think I can do it.

I need to leave it to my mother-in-love.

- Alejandro's mom. I trust her.

- You're gonna leave this decision to Mama?

I'm gonna leave it to Mama,

because I too wanna be surprised.

- [Guadalupe] Are you sure?

- Yes, I'm positive. You got this.

Are you leaving for real?

- I'm leaving for real.

- Ahren, go get ready.

- [Ahren] Bye!

- [Ashley] What?

- [Ahren] I love you guys. Thank you.

- No way.

There she goes.

Okay, Guadalupe, you're with me.

No pressure. [laughs]

All right, Guadalupe,

tell us which dessert you're choosing

for Ahren and Alejandro's wedding.

I think this dessert,

it has a lot of our Mexican culture.

It has the flavor,

the colors, and the love.

This is a hard decision, you know, like

Dios mío. This is too much for me.

Well, I choose

[tense music plays]

I call it "The Fountain."

The Fountain? [squeals]

Oh my gosh.

[cheering]

- Ashley, congratulations.

- Good job.

[Ashley] Thanks, guys. [squeals]

[Christina] Okay, say,

"Alejandro and Ahren."

[Ashley and Guadalupe]

Alejandro and Ahren.

[Christina] Amazing. Okay, Guadalupe,

Ashley and this beautiful cookie fountain

will meet you at the wedding.

- Bye, Guadalupe.

- Thank you. Bye.

My friend, you know where this goes.

Congratulations, you did a great job.

[squeals]

- Get on up there.

- [Gonzo] Yeah!

- Ça va!

- Ça va! Ça va! Ça va!

Awesome!

[laughter]

[Gonzo] Yeah! Ça va! Ça va!

[Christophe] Woo!

[Gonzo] Great job!

Oh, that was a fun one.

- Yes.

- [Gonzo] Oh, yeah.

[Ashley] Y'all are so nice.

[upbeat music plays]

Set the city on fire, light it up, up ♪

I am feeling so excited.

Today is my wedding day.

I get to marry my best friend.

It just is a symbol of love

and unity and family.

We'll set the city on fire ♪

[Ahren] But I'm not nervous

about the cake my mother-in-law picked.

I trust her. She knows Alex and I so well,

which is why I gave her the decision.

So I'm excited to see what she picked.

I'm nervous.

I hope I get the best dessert for them.

Light it up ♪

[woman] It is a custom

in the Latin American tradition

of having a visual representation

of the unbreakable link

of unity as a couple,

and it's called the lasso,

and it is a symbol of strength.

The broom symbolizes life together.

One, two, three. Jump!

[laughter]

[Ahren] This day has been

everything I could've hoped for.

[woman] I am pleased to present

Mr. And Mrs. Martinez!

I'm so excited.

Alex, so I have been working

with the Bake Squad

to surprise you

with a super-amazing, exciting dessert.

I picked Lupita

to pick the dessert. Let's do it.

[cheering]

I know what you're looking for

I know what you need ♪

[Ahren] Look how amazing this is!

Lupita made the 100% right choice.

I love this because it's a reflection

of our cultures blending together,

our traditions. It's just beautiful.

I've seen a lot of creative work

from my students

[laughs] Right?

but I've never seen a dessert like this.

One of a kind.

Get in there.

Come and light the fire ♪

- This is so good.

- It's delicious.

This is a chocolate fountain.

Mmm.

♪ Oh, come and light ♪

Stunning.

Mmm.

- I love it.

- [cheering]

- [Alejandro] I really appreciate it.

- You're welcome.

♪ Light it up, light it ♪

[all] Thank you, Bake Squad!

[upbeat music plays]