Holiday Baking Championship

The Holiday Baking Championship kicks off as 10 competing bakers take on a nutty chocolate dessert in the first challenge and beautifully-decorated holiday pies in the main heat. At the end of each episode, one baker will be eliminated!

It's time to get crafty! The remaining nine bakers attempt to amp up the visual impact of holiday baked goods as they create festive candy cane and holiday wreath desserts.

The eight remaining bakers begin by making their best holiday whoopie pies that evoke a randomly-assigned theme of turkey, pumpkin, Pilgrims or fall foliage. Then, they must create stuffed holiday cakes that reveal a surprise center when sliced open.

The seven remaining bakers get creative with Thanksgiving-inspired desserts, and in the first round, their sweets feature canned cranberry sauce. Then, in the main heat, the bakers must invent a dessert highlighting their assigned harvest ingredient: sweet potato, pumpkin, apple, pear, pomegranate, carrot or lemon.

In this week's challenges, the six remaining bakers revel in the warm, taste bud-tingling flavor of ginger. They must make mini desserts highlighting candied ginger, then create three different types of holiday cookies inspired by family traditions.

Every culture has their own holiday traditions, and the five remaining bakers celebrate a couple of favorites by reinventing two Hanukkah classics: rugelach and macaroons. Then, they must create their own unique version of a holiday croquembouche.

The five remaining bakers must make a candy apple dessert inspired by a candy apple gift, then figure out how turn the contents of a traditional gift basket into a delicious dessert.

The last three bakers must show off their decorating chops by baking and beautifully decorating a sugar cookie tree; in the final heat, the bakers need to transform their assigned holiday tradition into an intricately decorated cake.