Top Chef: Just Desserts (2010) s01e08 Episode Script
Celebritea Party
Previously on Top Chef: Just Desserts.
Now that it's three and three, it almost seems like there's factions.
Team go diva, I need to break them up.
Your time starts now.
Go.
Team diva's on one side, and team loser is on the other side.
Morganza.
Morganza.
Morganza.
Feel the burn! Why is this coming back? Just take the judges' plates.
Heather seems to be struggling right now.
Shut up.
Did you just tell me to shut up? Shut up.
We all agreed the one shop that we would keep returning to would be whisk me away.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, come on.
Congratulations.
Heather.
Your desserts just didn't measure up.
Please pack your tools and go.
Now five pastryChefs remain to compete for a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine festival, a German-engineered, sport-injected Buick Regal, and $100,000 furnished by Godiva Chocolatier.
Who has the creativity, the skill, and the drive to win Top Chef: Just Desserts? Top Chef: Just Desserts 1x08 Celebritea Party His favorite color is blue.
Heather went home last night.
It was kind of a very emotional day for everyone.
Now there are only five people left.
Team diva's now only 2/3 of its original power.
It was so cold last night.
I couldn't believe it.
To be the last woman standing makes it even more exciting.
It's like, ooh, it's so close.
You know, you're like a little horse with a carrot.
Heather and I, we were very close.
And waking up this morning, I just felt like I was hit by a ton of bricks.
You know when you work so hard, so hard, so hard, you actually stop for ten minutes and your body's just so tired.
I think Heather was, like, hands down, one of the best Chefs in this competition.
I'm a little bit shocked that she was sent home.
And losing dessert Chef wars was a very big blow to my self-confidence.
I just never expected I could be on the bottom three.
Okay, guys, let's go.
Let's go.
Good morning, Chefs.
- Good morning, Gail.
- Good morning.
Say hello to your guest judge for this round, renowned cake decorator Shinmin Li.
Hello, Chefs.
Shinmin makes gorgeous edible flowers, gorgeous cakes.
But don't be fooled by Shinmin's exterior.
She's very pretty, but that girl breathes fire.
Desserts are a very visual medium, as you know, and sometimes even floral.
So for this quickfire challenge, you'll be making an edible bouquet.
- What? - Jesus.
I'm not skilled in pulling sugar flowers, but I do do buttercream flowers.
So I'm thinking, wow, what if I can win this? There is a really big trend now in artful decorative dessert.
People are looking for that "wow, how did they do that" factor.
For my clients, I've done anything from a 5-foot tall winter wonderland that served 800 people to a delicate stain glass window of roses.
Achieving that aesthetic requires technique and precision, but also a heightened level of sophistication and creativity.
This is not my first edible bouquet and showpiece.
And so I'm anxious to, to show a bit more of my abilities.
You will now have three hours to create your edible bouquet.
To date, you've all won some cash in this competition.
And today, you'll be getting another chance.
As you know, you can no longer win immunity.
But the winner will receive $5,000 furnished by Dawn Hand Renewal.
Thank you, Dawn.
Your time startsNow.
When time starts, I see mirrored bud vases.
So I grab those and decide to make an arrangement out of chocolates.
I don't really do sugar flowers.
I really prefer to work with real flowers.
And that's why I wanted to do something that's more natural.
This should be interesting.
So I'm thinking of more of using fresh fruit, for the most part.
Things I can make that resemble flowers.
Basically, I'm gonna make a vanilla cake in a large brioche mold, and then I'm gonna just decorate the top with sugar flowers.
Kind of like a kitschy, fun, but beautiful cupcake.
I wanna make these very intricate, wild-looking orchids.
And I also wanna go one step further by not using one of the standard vases but I actually wanna make my own pulled sugar base.
What's that? I'm gonna attempt making my own vase.
I'm making a bouquet of chocolate flowers.
And it's my first opportunity to get in some sugar technique and show everybody that I can also pull sugar.
Pulling the ice malt vase is actually a very basic technique where you cook ice malt and you pour it into a ring mold.
And as you very slowly lift it up There we go.
That's the money.
The sugar keeps falling down.
And as the air keeps cooling, it creates this beautiful pulled sugar effect.
But it's an extremely fragile piece of sugar.
As I'm working there at the table, there's these leaning vases towering in on me.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe that I put my elbow through one of Yigit's vases.
Yigit, the one closest to me I just hit with my elbow, and I'm sorry.
Sometimes I think Morgan's purpose is to win this competition, no matter what.
But what am I gonna do, yell at him? No.
So I just have to take my losses and I just hope that I can work with the other one.
Yigit's vases, they're thin as paper.
I think it's a beautiful technique, but it's a difficult technique to do under pressure.
Okay, I'm done.
Yigit's edible bouquet is having a little malfunction.
Oh, well.
Gonna lose it.
Time is running out, but I just put it aside and I pull a vase from the shelf and some glass pieces.
I want to just make it happen.
45 minutes.
I would like to thank Martha Stewart for the inspiration.
I would like to thank mother nature for being a wonderful mold.
I don't know what I'm doing.
And I'm really gonna make an embarrassment out of myself.
Hmm.
I just know that I have to make flowers, and I'm gonna make a lot of them, and then I'm gonna figure out how it all works later.
Giant cupcake.
Giant cupcake.
I'm loving what I'm doing.
I think it's fun, I think it's pretty.
This is the first time where, like, wow, I'm in the final five.
Just have fun with it.
You belong here.
Chefs.
Time's up, tools down.
As I look around the room, Danielle's piece, knowing Shinmin's style, it's not at all what she wants to see.
Eric's large cupcake, it just looks a little bit disarrayed.
Zac's piece looks like a flower arrangement that had a rough night then just forgot to go back to bed.
And with Morgan's piece, I think that brown is not a flower color.
Morgan, talk to us about what you made.
Well, I wanted to put together as many flowers as I could.
I wanted to get some sugar work in there.
I wanted to make a bow for it.
I saw this vase sitting up top, and I like the sort of chocolate rustic feel of the cup-- and this is pulled sugar as well? - Yes.
- Thank you.
Thanks, Morgan.
Danielle, tell us about everything here.
So, you know, I like, kind of natural, organic-looking things.
So I candied orange zest and blood oranges and then made those into roses.
And then I did sugar cookies.
And then my favorite flower is hydrangea, so I made marshmallow hydrangeas.
Do you mind if we turn them around? Sure.
A lot of different textures.
- Great.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
Uh, this creation just came about in the last 13 minutes very sadly.
I was actually building my own sugar vase, and it collapsed and took my entire showpiece with it.
So I just wanted to put together something that would look at least semi-clean, 'cause I don't give up.
So I have some tropical roses I made with some tempered cocoa butter.
And I emulate the tropical leaves with the red vines and present that in something that you'd find at a florist.
And these, uh, chocolate pieces I blew luster dust on top to give it a little extra shimmer.
Thanks, Yigit.
Hi, Zac.
Hey, Gail.
Tell us what you made for us.
I kind of went into some modern chocolate flowers.
I also took the regular leaves and, uh, used them as a template for some chocolate leaves as well.
You know, a flower blossoms at the disco, I guess.
It is pretty disco-y.
All right, thank you so much, Zac.
Thank you.
Eric? Basically, I wanted to keep with my style, which is a bakery style.
So I just created a giant cupcake out of a brioche mold, and then I just built the flowers on top of that there's gum paste and there's buttercream icing all mixed up in there.
And you're more comfortable with piping the flowers-- yeah, that's-- I wanted it to stay to something and, and still just kind of make it pretty.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you very much.
So, Shinmin, tell us what you thought of our Chef's edible bouquets.
Some of you really tried and were pretty overly ambitious, given your level of comfort.
Who were your three least favorites? I would have to say Zac.
I think your chocolate work is a little messy.
Eric, you have a very sturdy-base to work with.
It really lends itself to more height.
I think the piping work is messy.
It just looks like a pile of icing.
I love what I did.
I thought it was clean.
It was one of the cleanest things I've done, and I think Shinmin is rude.
Danielle.
I think you tried a little too much with contrasting textures, and I'm not happy with the fact that your backs are not finished.
I think the bouquet should be beautiful and presentable, Then who are your favorites? Morgan.
Although, I think you should have tried a little bit more with a unique, creative finish, this is definitely by far the most professional-looking presentation.
And Yigit, although I can't judge you on your sugar work attempt, your final presentation is really well-balanced.
Your flowers-- each petal has personality.
I'm very happy with that.
Wow.
Terribly thank you.
Thank you very much.
This is a tough choice, because I think that they're really different, but both really, really beautiful.
To choose one, I would have to say Morgan.
Congratulations.
Morgan winning again is a double blow to my ego.
And I feel if Morgan hadn't wrecked one of my sugar vases, I think I could have taken a win.
Congratulations, Morgan.
That means you just won $5,000 furnished by Dawn Hand Renewal.
Thank you, Dawn.
Hey.
That brings my grand total up to $36,000.
That feels awesome.
For this elimination challenge, you'll be catering a tea party for Dana Cowin of Food & Wine magazine and some of her friends.
Dana Cowin is the editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine.
She's definitely someone I would like to impress.
She has a very specific theme in mind for this party: Celebri-tea.
You'll be creating a dessert based on a contemporary celebrity duo.
I really don't know anything about celebrity couples.
I have no idea what I'm gonna do.
Each of you will create 100 portions of two small tea party desserts based on and inspired by a celebrity duo of your choice.
What these tea party desserts may lack in size, we hope they'll make up for in creativity, detail, and hopefully a little bit of a sense of humor.
Dana is also a great mentor of mine, so please don't disappoint her.
Good luck.
We'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
Everybody, listen up.
- You're joking.
- What? Oh, that's really uncool.
For our elimination challenge, we are doing a celebri-tea party for Dana Cowin of Food & Wine magazine and her friends.
And we need to create two desserts that go with the contemporary celebrity duo.
My celebri-tea dessert is going to be for Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter.
Um, so for Conan, I'm gonna do something red, 'cause he's a redhead.
22 minutes, guys.
22 minutes.
I love celebrities.
And surprise, I love musical theater.
So I settle on Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music and her husband, Blake Edwards.
I want to do a nice creamy tart that I can put a spoonful of sugar on to represent Julie.
Blake Edwards directed all the Pink Panther movies.
So I wanted to do something pink.
Basically anything but chocolate, especially after my showing at the quickfire.
I pick up a magazine, and the story that I'm reading is Reggie Bush bought the ring, but he won't propose.
Kim Kardashian.
She's getting a little bitter about it.
Well, this is perfect.
Sachertorte is a cake that's been debated on whether or not it's raspberry or apricot.
From the Kim side, a macaroon with this bitter, sour citrus jelly that will reflect her feelings.
I think I've got a well-paired couple with my dessert.
My duo is Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
Madonna is the queen of pop culture and chocolate is the king of pop desserts.
So my idea is to do a pairing of two chocolates with different contrasts.
I think the two of them had a very conflicting relationship, and at this point, I feel a little bit conflicted myself.
I'm a very strong competitor, and I need to shake this overwhelming sensation of disappointment off my shoulders.
Ten minutes.
I pick Oprah and Stedman.
I think they're iconic figures.
They're so larger than life that it would-- I think it could translate well to a dessert.
My Oprah will be some kind of brownie ganache extravaganza, which will save time because I can get chocolate from the Just Desserts pantry.
Thank you.
What? Really? - What? - There's no chocolate? - Huh? - There's no chocolate.
- You're joking.
- What? We weren't told about that.
Oh, that's really uncool.
Did everyone see that? Everybody listen up.
As you may have noticed, there isn't any chocolate in the pantry.
We're getting down to the wire.
And as the final five, we need to know who's got what it takes to make it to the end.
So for this elimination challenge, we're taking chocolate off the table.
After all, this is a tea party and chocolate usually isn't a star.
Good luck with your celebri-tea dessert.
I'll see you tomorrow at the party.
The one day I decide not to make chocolate cake.
Zac for the first time ever is making something without chocolate and is completely unaffected over in the corner giggling, like the little girl he is.
Oh, This.
Good night, guys.
Thank God.
I don't know if I anticipated it or if the gods of pastry were smiling on me, but I am so happy that I did not decide to use chocolate.
Suckas! Okay.
The shock wave of the last challenge is still ripping through me, and to top it all off, now there's no chocolate in the pantry.
It's actually really essential to my Madonna and Guy Ritchie recipe.
Now I don't know what to do, and the devastation just sinks in.
Yeah, I'm .
Is there no cocoa powder either? I'm in real trouble.
One of my dishes was chocolate, so it does really throw me off, and now I have to come up with something else.
And so I'm, like, well, if I stick with shortbreads, I make them two different ways, Stedman will be more on the savory side and Oprah's have a caramel-y sweet, salty bite.
I feel like maybe it will all come through in the end.
Rewrite a new recipe.
Yeah! The only problem I have is that I had a recipe in mind for chocolate cake.
I need to invent a cake for this.
Reggie Bush is a Saint.
I can make this white saintly sacher.
Just keep it all blonde.
There's no chocolate in it.
I'll use buttercream instead of ganache.
Gotta adapt.
Danielle, you didn't seem to miss a beat.
You're good, right? Huh? Yeah, exactly.
You didn't even have chocolate on your menu.
I wasn't planning on using chocolate, so I just keep on rolling.
For Conan, I am doing a strawberry layer cake with jalapeno.
For Andy, I want to do an oatmeal cookie, and I'm gonna put kix in it because he is the side kick.
The concept, it's something that really gets my creative juices flowing.
Just a little bit of butter.
Just a little butter.
After struggling to find a good recipe, the celebri-tea dishes I'm making now is a citrus-scented yogurt cake with a honey flan custard and a brown sugar sable with a calvados gelee.
I'm definitely pumping out recipes but my heart's really not in it.
This is not what I wanted to do and I don't feel good.
Five minutes.
Sponge.
Done.
Buttercream, done.
Time.
I think I've been a very strong competitor, and I've been able to knock out some amazing food.
All right.
Awesome.
But I don't feel very confident in my dessert, and you're only as good as your last dish.
I need to really step up that game.
You done with this? Morgan is a bully in the kitchen.
He has a really foul attitude.
Move, move, move, move, move.
Come on, dude.
I'm trying to figure out which way you're going.
Or shut the Up.
Please, guys.
You guys, please.
So we arrive at Madera Design House for the tea party.
The tea party room is cute.
And, you know, there's a lot of specialty teas being made in all kinds of country style, cozy atmosphere.
I have catered tea parties before, but the kitchen at the Madera Design House resembles a little closet.
It's extremely hot, and it's gonna be a nightmare to work out of.
- Hey, baby.
- Hi, honey.
How are you doing? I'm good.
- Yeah? - Yeah, sure.
We have an hour to prep for the tea party.
The serving is staggered, and I am the first one to go.
I'm doing terrible.
I hate my dessert.
The no chocolate twist really screwed me up.
I was just like I wasn't able to do a lot of components that I wanted to for these dishes.
But, hey.
You gotta just keep going.
My head is not in the right space, and I'm just hoping I can make it to the next challenge.
Not having chocolate does not affect me for this challenge.
But I still have a lot to do.
I need to cut my cookies and I need to pipe them to resemble the podium that Andy Richter stands at.
I'm going as fast as I can but I'm not really sure I'm gonna have enough time to finish everything.
It's going so well.
- Hi, there.
- Hi.
Does anyone have a sweet tooth? - Yes.
- Yes.
- Thank you for coming.
- Thank you for having us.
It's pretty exciting to be here.
I'm glad, yeah.
Well, hopefully, everything will taste good.
That's the important part.
Guys, can I steal her away? We're going to our table.
- Enjoy.
- Thank you.
How are you feeling, boo? Just wanna get through this service.
I'm feeling really bad about my dish.
It's not presentable.
Oh, my God.
I'm so stressed out, but I hope the judges think that my flavors are enough to keep me here.
Damn it.
So, guys, I don't know if you know it or not, but last night, I went in and told them that they were not allowed to use chocolate in any of their desserts.
Wow.
It's a nice opportunity for them to perhaps think seasonally a little more.
And I think traditionally, you really do have a tea party without a lot of chocolate treats.
Well, to a great tea, and I hope that the Chefs have made some special things that impress us all.
Cheers.
- Hi, Eric.
- Hi.
I'd love to introduce you to editor in chief of Food & Wine magazine, Dana Cowin.
- Hi.
- Hi, there.
You remember Dannielle Kyrillos.
Lifestyle and entertaining critic for Daily Candy.
Hi, Eric.
Shinmin Li from yesterday's quickfire.
- Hi, Eric.
- Hi.
And your cantankerous head judge, Johnny Iuzzini.
- Chef.
- How are you doing, Chef? Um, so today, my duo was Oprah and Stedman.
And basically what I did was two plays on shortbread.
Uh, Stedman is square and savory, so it's a Rosemary shortbread.
It has apricot, um, compote in the middle.
And Oprah is round and more boisterous, so it's a pecan shortbread with caramel.
I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you, guys.
- Take a deep breath, Chef.
- I will.
Thank you very much.
Mm, it's good.
Yeah.
I haven't been to that many tea parties, but I would think that Eric's desserts are a bit large, aren't they? This is a pretty messy Oprah.
- It's a messy Oprah.
- It's dripping.
I tried to take a bite and it kind of exploded.
The Rosemary's really good with the apricot.
I have to say Eric's compote is pretty delicious, so A lot of, a lot of great flavor there.
I love the Stedman shortbread square.
It does crumble apart in my mouth, so he got the short part of the shortbread.
For such a high profile couple, this was such an average display.
- That's me.
- That's you.
- You done with this? - Yeah.
Morgan is a bully in the kitchen.
He has a really foul attitude that people don't wanna get sucked into.
Don't touch anything on the table.
I'm not touching it-- no, don't touch anything on this table because these things shake.
You done with the brown sugar? Yeah.
Can you just let me get my food out, honey? I focus on me.
Maybe that's why I'm faster than everyone.
I don't care, ever, what they think.
I really, really wanna beat Morgan for the most part because I want redemption from the quickfire.
- Hi, Zac.
- Hello, judges.
I chose Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, who I think just complement each other wonderfully.
And Julie Andrews is the original diva, so I had to pay homage.
Ah, yes.
Um, so we have a Captain Von Trapp Crunch with mascarpone cheesecake and a spoonful of tarragon sugar on top.
And then we have the Pink Panther pavlova with grapefruit curd, meringue, and a little grapefruit pate de fruit in the middle.
They are designed to be either eaten separately, or you can take them, stack them on top of each other, and make the perfect pair.
Practically perfect, like Mary Poppins.
- Yes.
- Oh, my God.
I am such a dork.
I cannot stop giggling.
Dana's just such an icon.
I wanna sit down and have tea with her.
Well, thank you so much, Zac, we can't wait to try it.
- Thank you.
Enjoy.
- Thanks a lot.
This size is just great.
Zac's Captain Von Trapp really does have a, a great crunch, doesn't it? Oh, my goodness, is there really captain crunch in there? - It's, it's captain crunch.
- It really is.
It's amazing.
It is.
- Wow.
- It was the perfect bite.
It was the perfect bite.
I think it brings a really nice kind of added sweetness.
Oh, my God.
To pipe my cookie is pretty much taking half of my plating time.
So I know I need to bust a move.
Move, move, move, move, move.
Come on, dude.
I was trying to figure out which way you're going.
Say a direction.
Or shut the Up.
Please, guys.
You guys, please.
Please.
I'm going as fast as I can, but I know I'm not gonna get every single plate on there.
- Hi, Danielle.
- Hello, Danielle.
Hello.
So tell us how it went and what you made.
It was fun.
My duo is Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter.
Ah.
My favorite, the red one, is representing Conan, 'cause he is a redhead.
The sandwich cake with, uh, strawberry jam, and then I did strawberries.
And there's a little dried jalapeno on top 'cause he isHot.
And he's irish, so he's a little spicy.
And then to the other side of it that's, uh, representing Andy.
It's an oatmeal cookie.
It has a buttercream with a little orange blossom water.
Your cake sandwich, is it a vanilla cake? Yeah, it's a vanilla cake.
There's a little, uh, lemon zest in it.
And then it's sandwiched with strawberry jam.
And did you make the strawberry jam? - Mm-hmm.
- Great.
Thanks so much.
- Enjoy, thank you.
- Thank you.
Thanks.
That's generous on the jalapeno.
Cleared my sinuses right up.
Thank you very much, Danielle.
I think we have a leavening problem once again with Danielle's cake, you know? She's working without recipes.
I think she might have got one of the ratios off, the portions off.
That was not a pleasant bite, cake-wise.
But really great for the idea.
The jalapenos on the, on the strawberries, that was extra good.
Should we move on to Andy Richter? The buttercream frosting seems like a mismatch with the cookie.
I think it's great that they're very different.
I like the variety.
I like the fact that she's showing a range of flavors here.
I think Danielle's choices don't necessarily complement each other, but variety is what makes life and tea parties interesting.
The bottom part is just so chewy and it's getting really stuck in my teeth.
It reminds me of a workout protein bar.
Sorry.
Same thing I miss chocolate already.
Chocolate and I are buddies.
We go way back.
No chocolate sucks.
But whatever.
Can my hands shake anymore right now? This is ridiculous.
I am running very low on time.
You gotta be used to this by now.
Gentle as we go, huh? - Good afternoon.
- Hi, Morgan.
- Is it time for tea yet? - Sure is.
Tell us what you made.
I actually came up with a dessert and I worked backwards with it, and I found a couple that matched.
And that would be Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian.
Nice.
What we have is a blonde sacher, so we have some almond sponge, an apricot coulis, and citrus buttercream.
And then that's paired alongside Kim's citrus macaroon.
She's a little rough around the edges like a macaroon.
And, um, she's getting a little bit sour and bitter about the fact that he hasn't proposed yet.
So inside is a sweet buttercream bolstered with a very sour citrus fluid gel.
Please enjoy.
All right.
On first glance, Morgan's Kim Kardashian macaroon is, is overfilled.
You know, it's not a-a one-bite tea party macaroon, but this is a macaroon that I'm willing to take two bites of.
I actually just got the bitter because it came out from the gel and it was all on one side and I'm just now getting the bitter.
You could taste Kim's bitterness.
I don't know if I really enjoyed tasting it.
- Yeah.
- Should we move on to Reggie? You ate that with a spoon.
It's very easy to eat with a spoon, actually.
I think that's our best bet.
I have to say, the almond flavor is amazing.
But as the first burst, I was like, wow, that's delicious.
Unfortunately, the challenge was to make a finger food for a tea party, and I don't think Morgan delivered on that promise.
Beautiful, Yigit.
I'm very low on time.
My biggest competition is Yigit, and I think he's really struggling.
And I'd love to see him go home.
I'm definitely not gonna be able to get every component onto this little guy.
So I'm gonna pick and choose my battles at this point.
Making it to the next round is always what I want, and winning this entire competition, but at this point, I'm so doubtful with my flavors for the first time ever, I just really wanna pull through.
And this is when I go home, 'cause I don't get to plate it.
- Hi, Yigit.
- Hello.
This is your last bit to your tea party.
Some of it is on my jacket, I apologize.
Yigit, you look a little flustered.
I think Johnny's a little bit shocked by what I put in front of him.
I'm sure he expected something different from me, as did I.
Um, so my characters were Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
I kind of love Madonna.
And, you know, I don't think they ever really got along too well, so I wanted to do two desserts that really kind of contradicted each other in flavor.
So for Madonna's soft personality, I made a citrus-scented Greek yogurt cake.
And it has a baked honey flan custard.
For Guy Ritchie's flavor, you know, I kind of figured he's like a very simple guy.
So I made a brown butter sable base, dulce de leche, a little bit of a praline I candied, and it actually has a calvados gelee.
- Wow.
- Wow.
I look at the editor-in-chief from Food & Wine magazine, I'm just thinking, God, I hope I have another chance to meet her and prove myself again.
- Well, thanks.
- Thank you, judges.
- We can't wait to try it.
- Thank you very much.
Thanks, Yigit.
Whoa.
Yigit's Madonna yogurt cake is really moist.
I think it's a little bit bland.
If Madonna was gonna be a dessert, she'd be a red hot.
It's pretty flat.
It's almost, like, a little bland.
It's really bland.
Let's see what Guy Ritchie has to say to us.
A lot of great flavor.
The nuttiness goes really well with the calvados.
There's not a whole lot of technique on this one, but I think it's very masculine as far as the flavors, and I enjoyed it.
Very, very sweet.
And I'm not sure how sweet he is, but Madonna certainly isn't, and so maybe that's the contrast in texture.
But in a tea party setting, these are meant to sort of sit around for you to pick up at your leisure, and that dessert wouldn't stand.
It wouldn't stay.
That's true.
There's something not quite finished about the whole thing.
- Hey, kitten.
- hey I didn't get to finish plating.
- Aw.
- Yeah.
Yigit is nervous and worried, and so I'm just wondering if maybe he might get sent home.
And I'm starting to think that I feel like I might have a chance.
Special drawing.
Is it me on a plane back to San Francisco? Mm-hmm.
'Cause that's what's gonna happen today.
And now I realize that Yigit's overambitiousness has been his thorn.
I'm excited to see how this thing pans out.
Whatever.
What happened back there? It actually reminded me of the frozen petit fours that cruise ships buy and take out of a box.
Is there anyone in the shower down here? - Who's in there? - Sounds like Danielle.
Oh, my God.
It's gonna be five years.
I live alone.
And I take really long showers.
I have to pee.
You want to shower first, then I'll go after you? Danielle still takes the longest showers in the world, which is ridiculous.
Ask her if she has her, um, fiber cereal in there too.
That was my favorite.
I don't know what Danielle does.
Every time she comes out of the bathroom, she's holding the box of fiber cereal.
Which I'm not sure if she's using it as an oatmeal scrub or she's having some digestive issues.
I still can't really figure it out.
I just need to pee.
It's win-win.
You know? We've come this far.
We have so much to be proud of.
We've done well, you know? We did it.
- Hi.
- Hey, Gail.
We would like to see Morgan, Zac, and Danielle.
Thanks.
Chefs.
Today you were challenged to make desserts for the celebri-tea party.
You'll be happy to know yours were the top desserts of the challenge.
Congratulations.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Morgan, you gave us quite a story with your Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian desserts today.
How did you think you did? Well, Reggie Bush, I had this perfect sachertorte and then no chocolate caused me to invent a sponge.
It just didn't come out the way I wanted it to come out.
That was my favorite thing that I ate today.
And although some people complained that they really couldn't pick it up with one hand, I was completely prepared to lick it off the plate.
Well, thank you.
So, Morgan, I loved the cake as well.
I thought the, the fact that you had a beautiful roasted nut flavor really came through.
You improvised and you adapted the original recipe to a new recipe.
It worked out for you.
Thanks.
Zac, you presented us with a play on Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards.
Tell us how you came to this decision.
I decided this is tea, this is classy.
And when I think classy, I think of Julie Andrews.
I will shamelessly say that I want to be Julie Andrews in many ways.
Zac, your treats were like the kind of guests everyone wants to sit by at a tea.
They were refined and elegant, but not prissy and not boring.
It was a hoot.
Thanks.
The Pink Panther pavlova, I especially liked the little pate de fruit, that chewy stickiness in the middle, and that was a bit of a surprise and a really nice touch.
Thanks.
I felt like your presentation today was really the only one that made me think of Devonshire tea, drinking my tea with my pinky up.
I really enjoyed it today.
Danielle.
Conan, he makes me smile and makes me happy, so I thought, you know, I was hoping that that would come out in the challenge, and definitely, I knew I had to do something red.
There was tall redheaded Conan and tiny, wee little Andy Richter on the side, and it was just perfect.
It was funny and it was fun, and it was most importantly really tasty.
Thank you.
You know, Danielle, I was excited to finally see you tell me about a concept and then deliver the concept as you planned it.
You finally showed me the commitment I've been looking for.
And look where you are.
You're in the top three.
Thank you.
Shinmin.
Please announce our winner.
The winner tonight really embraced this challenge by presenting beautiful flavors and selecting a very clever celebrity duo.
And the winner tonight is Zac.
Thank you.
- Congratulations.
- Good job.
Oh I finally break the losing streak.
I can't believe it.
I, I won.
Finally.
Yeah.
Well-deserved.
I had Julie Andrews on my side, which, I think, was my secret weapon.
Now, unfortunately, we do have to ask you to send back your two other colleagues.
Thanks.
Have a good night.
Thanks.
It's, uhZac.
Yay.
Good job, Mary.
Thanks.
- Awesome.
- Awesome.
Um, so, guys, I guess you know.
Chefs.
Unfortunately, yours were our least favorite celebri-tea desserts today.
You both seemed so downtrodden when you came to our table.
I know it was a really hard challenge.
What happened back there? Eric.
From beginning to end, I just kept sinking and sinking.
And there were numbers in my head and things going on.
And, and I had a hard time pushing through it.
Eric, your lack of creativity was disappointing.
Even if you were gonna stick with Oprah and Stedman, there had to be a better way to tie together what you ended up producing and the challenge.
Were you aware that the two pieces of shortbread were baked completely unevenly? Yeah, I knew.
Eric, you should have an arsenal of simple baked items in your, in your pocket being a baker.
This is what you do day in and day out.
To see two shortbreads from you, I was a little bit disappointed.
I was a lot disappointed.
Eric, you've won a number of challenges, 'cause we know your baking is impeccable.
- I know.
- We're not doubting that.
We just didn't see where Eric went tonight.
That was not the Eric that we knew.
I left the building.
And, you know, I-- I don't make excuses.
I stalled and got trapped in it.
And you wake up and you're like, what did you just do? I mean, that's what happened.
Yigit.
When you came to the table today, you were 1/3 of the Yigit that we know.
Perhaps 1/4.
I don't think any of us have seen you like that before.
Mind you, I've never seen myself like this before, so.
What was going on in that kitchen? Both my desserts were supposed to be chocolate-based, and I thought to myself, you're gonna bounce back from this, just plan your menu, it's gonna be fun, just do it.
And then I couldn't.
So that dessert that I put out actually had, like, only half the components which I prepared for it.
Yigit, Madonna works out three hours a day, and that dessert was jiggly.
That's not how I think anyone else thinks of Madonna.
Sorry to you guys and Madonna.
Yigit, I thought that the Madonna yogurt cake was very mushy, and it wasn't strong enough to support the custard.
And you told me that you had infused sage in there, and I didn't taste that.
Yigit, it actually reminded me of the frozen petit fours that cruise ships buy and take out of a box and put them on a display.
- Oof.
- Like it was weeping.
It was really sad and flavorless.
It was very sad.
You really made me angry.
Not even disappointed, but I was angry at you for allowing that to go out.
It was definitely a very bad day for me.
No, no excuse around that.
The last dessert wars really hit my core.
And then when Heather went home, I completely came undone.
And that really directly translated to my food.
It was an absolute flop.
All it takes is one flop to go home.
Absolutely.
We started with 12 Chefs, and we're at 5.
So there's a reason you've stayed this long, both of you.
We just need to figure out where we're gonna go from here.
We'll let you know when we've made a decision.
- Thank you.
- Thank you both.
Of course we don't know.
Eric? It was actually-- it was-- it was as uplifting as being in the bottom could be.
It was, because they just said it straight with us.
They just said, "we both think you're amazing, and you've made us disappointed.
" I mean, which is a reverse compliment, I guess.
Both Yigit and Eric were not themselves at all, and their desserts showed it.
Although I feel that neither of their desserts tasted great, there's so much more to it in this challenge than just flavor.
Then you have to say, okay, well, who had a better idea of concept with what they had to work with? I will say that Yigit embraced the celebri-tea challenge more than Eric.
It was just that I wish Eric's story had been better.
It was clear that he had no thought process at all about what he wanted to present to us.
Unfortunately, that was made evident by the fact that he presented two shortbreads.
They were really bad, you know.
They had bad texture, they had-- the flavor was okay, but I could have easily just eaten the jam.
You know, you're We were so excited to see what you would do for this challenge, 'cause you're a baker, and this is kind of the things that you do, and we just don't understand.
While Yigit's flavors disappointed, as well as the textures, I definitely think that Yigit embraced the challenge.
He has very clear ideas of how he feels about Madonna, the relationship with Guy Ritchie.
Yigit told us a good story.
He clearly thought through how he wanted to present them on the plate.
It just really didn't really turn out the way he had planned.
What he gave us today, I was like, this far along in the competition, I was like, "really?" You know, a bland little honey mousse.
In my opinion, it was just boring.
You know, it's something that I would expect at, like, you know, a bad hotel at a bad buffet line.
He's like, "I was angry with what you put out today.
" He was like, he was so disappointed in me.
That hurts more than elimination.
I could get eliminated, it'll hurt less than that, because I do respect his opinion.
I think we've made our decision.
Let's bring them out here.
Unfortunately, Chefs, one of you will be going home tonight.
Eric, we asked you to give us two fun tea party desserts.
You made us two shortbreads.
That's just unacceptable.
Yigit, you allowed your emotions to get in the way of performing your duties.
The quality of your desserts, especially the flavors, were substandard.
Eric, your desserts just didn't measure up.
Please pack your tools and go.
Sure.
I'm so proud of you.
I cracked under pressure, and I was ready to go.
Thank you so much.
- You're a great Chef.
- Thank you.
I came here to prove that a baker can be a pastry Chef, and to have Johnny and Gail tell me that I'm an amazing Chef was just the most incredible thing.
No! No! All right, man, you're an inspiration to me.
No, no, man.
You have been so wonderful.
Thank you so much.
I've never had this kind of love and support, like, "wow, I love what you do.
" You're an amazing Chef.
- I am a Chef! - Yeah! I am a Chef! I am a Chef.
Before I came here, I was a baker, and no one had ever called me Chef.
Bye, guys.
Bye, Eric.
It wasn't until now that I realized that was my journey that I went on.
I became a Chef here.
Next time on Top Chef: Just Desserts Come on, guys.
All I need is one more, one more.
Time's up.
It's down to the final four.
Can't finish your truffles? You don't belong.
Will you all stop what you're doing for a second? With Top Chef: Just Desserts, there's always the unknown.
Hi! Oh, my God! For more about the recipes you've seen tonight, go to bravotv.
Com.
Now that it's three and three, it almost seems like there's factions.
Team go diva, I need to break them up.
Your time starts now.
Go.
Team diva's on one side, and team loser is on the other side.
Morganza.
Morganza.
Morganza.
Feel the burn! Why is this coming back? Just take the judges' plates.
Heather seems to be struggling right now.
Shut up.
Did you just tell me to shut up? Shut up.
We all agreed the one shop that we would keep returning to would be whisk me away.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, come on.
Congratulations.
Heather.
Your desserts just didn't measure up.
Please pack your tools and go.
Now five pastryChefs remain to compete for a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine festival, a German-engineered, sport-injected Buick Regal, and $100,000 furnished by Godiva Chocolatier.
Who has the creativity, the skill, and the drive to win Top Chef: Just Desserts? Top Chef: Just Desserts 1x08 Celebritea Party His favorite color is blue.
Heather went home last night.
It was kind of a very emotional day for everyone.
Now there are only five people left.
Team diva's now only 2/3 of its original power.
It was so cold last night.
I couldn't believe it.
To be the last woman standing makes it even more exciting.
It's like, ooh, it's so close.
You know, you're like a little horse with a carrot.
Heather and I, we were very close.
And waking up this morning, I just felt like I was hit by a ton of bricks.
You know when you work so hard, so hard, so hard, you actually stop for ten minutes and your body's just so tired.
I think Heather was, like, hands down, one of the best Chefs in this competition.
I'm a little bit shocked that she was sent home.
And losing dessert Chef wars was a very big blow to my self-confidence.
I just never expected I could be on the bottom three.
Okay, guys, let's go.
Let's go.
Good morning, Chefs.
- Good morning, Gail.
- Good morning.
Say hello to your guest judge for this round, renowned cake decorator Shinmin Li.
Hello, Chefs.
Shinmin makes gorgeous edible flowers, gorgeous cakes.
But don't be fooled by Shinmin's exterior.
She's very pretty, but that girl breathes fire.
Desserts are a very visual medium, as you know, and sometimes even floral.
So for this quickfire challenge, you'll be making an edible bouquet.
- What? - Jesus.
I'm not skilled in pulling sugar flowers, but I do do buttercream flowers.
So I'm thinking, wow, what if I can win this? There is a really big trend now in artful decorative dessert.
People are looking for that "wow, how did they do that" factor.
For my clients, I've done anything from a 5-foot tall winter wonderland that served 800 people to a delicate stain glass window of roses.
Achieving that aesthetic requires technique and precision, but also a heightened level of sophistication and creativity.
This is not my first edible bouquet and showpiece.
And so I'm anxious to, to show a bit more of my abilities.
You will now have three hours to create your edible bouquet.
To date, you've all won some cash in this competition.
And today, you'll be getting another chance.
As you know, you can no longer win immunity.
But the winner will receive $5,000 furnished by Dawn Hand Renewal.
Thank you, Dawn.
Your time startsNow.
When time starts, I see mirrored bud vases.
So I grab those and decide to make an arrangement out of chocolates.
I don't really do sugar flowers.
I really prefer to work with real flowers.
And that's why I wanted to do something that's more natural.
This should be interesting.
So I'm thinking of more of using fresh fruit, for the most part.
Things I can make that resemble flowers.
Basically, I'm gonna make a vanilla cake in a large brioche mold, and then I'm gonna just decorate the top with sugar flowers.
Kind of like a kitschy, fun, but beautiful cupcake.
I wanna make these very intricate, wild-looking orchids.
And I also wanna go one step further by not using one of the standard vases but I actually wanna make my own pulled sugar base.
What's that? I'm gonna attempt making my own vase.
I'm making a bouquet of chocolate flowers.
And it's my first opportunity to get in some sugar technique and show everybody that I can also pull sugar.
Pulling the ice malt vase is actually a very basic technique where you cook ice malt and you pour it into a ring mold.
And as you very slowly lift it up There we go.
That's the money.
The sugar keeps falling down.
And as the air keeps cooling, it creates this beautiful pulled sugar effect.
But it's an extremely fragile piece of sugar.
As I'm working there at the table, there's these leaning vases towering in on me.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe that I put my elbow through one of Yigit's vases.
Yigit, the one closest to me I just hit with my elbow, and I'm sorry.
Sometimes I think Morgan's purpose is to win this competition, no matter what.
But what am I gonna do, yell at him? No.
So I just have to take my losses and I just hope that I can work with the other one.
Yigit's vases, they're thin as paper.
I think it's a beautiful technique, but it's a difficult technique to do under pressure.
Okay, I'm done.
Yigit's edible bouquet is having a little malfunction.
Oh, well.
Gonna lose it.
Time is running out, but I just put it aside and I pull a vase from the shelf and some glass pieces.
I want to just make it happen.
45 minutes.
I would like to thank Martha Stewart for the inspiration.
I would like to thank mother nature for being a wonderful mold.
I don't know what I'm doing.
And I'm really gonna make an embarrassment out of myself.
Hmm.
I just know that I have to make flowers, and I'm gonna make a lot of them, and then I'm gonna figure out how it all works later.
Giant cupcake.
Giant cupcake.
I'm loving what I'm doing.
I think it's fun, I think it's pretty.
This is the first time where, like, wow, I'm in the final five.
Just have fun with it.
You belong here.
Chefs.
Time's up, tools down.
As I look around the room, Danielle's piece, knowing Shinmin's style, it's not at all what she wants to see.
Eric's large cupcake, it just looks a little bit disarrayed.
Zac's piece looks like a flower arrangement that had a rough night then just forgot to go back to bed.
And with Morgan's piece, I think that brown is not a flower color.
Morgan, talk to us about what you made.
Well, I wanted to put together as many flowers as I could.
I wanted to get some sugar work in there.
I wanted to make a bow for it.
I saw this vase sitting up top, and I like the sort of chocolate rustic feel of the cup-- and this is pulled sugar as well? - Yes.
- Thank you.
Thanks, Morgan.
Danielle, tell us about everything here.
So, you know, I like, kind of natural, organic-looking things.
So I candied orange zest and blood oranges and then made those into roses.
And then I did sugar cookies.
And then my favorite flower is hydrangea, so I made marshmallow hydrangeas.
Do you mind if we turn them around? Sure.
A lot of different textures.
- Great.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
Uh, this creation just came about in the last 13 minutes very sadly.
I was actually building my own sugar vase, and it collapsed and took my entire showpiece with it.
So I just wanted to put together something that would look at least semi-clean, 'cause I don't give up.
So I have some tropical roses I made with some tempered cocoa butter.
And I emulate the tropical leaves with the red vines and present that in something that you'd find at a florist.
And these, uh, chocolate pieces I blew luster dust on top to give it a little extra shimmer.
Thanks, Yigit.
Hi, Zac.
Hey, Gail.
Tell us what you made for us.
I kind of went into some modern chocolate flowers.
I also took the regular leaves and, uh, used them as a template for some chocolate leaves as well.
You know, a flower blossoms at the disco, I guess.
It is pretty disco-y.
All right, thank you so much, Zac.
Thank you.
Eric? Basically, I wanted to keep with my style, which is a bakery style.
So I just created a giant cupcake out of a brioche mold, and then I just built the flowers on top of that there's gum paste and there's buttercream icing all mixed up in there.
And you're more comfortable with piping the flowers-- yeah, that's-- I wanted it to stay to something and, and still just kind of make it pretty.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you very much.
So, Shinmin, tell us what you thought of our Chef's edible bouquets.
Some of you really tried and were pretty overly ambitious, given your level of comfort.
Who were your three least favorites? I would have to say Zac.
I think your chocolate work is a little messy.
Eric, you have a very sturdy-base to work with.
It really lends itself to more height.
I think the piping work is messy.
It just looks like a pile of icing.
I love what I did.
I thought it was clean.
It was one of the cleanest things I've done, and I think Shinmin is rude.
Danielle.
I think you tried a little too much with contrasting textures, and I'm not happy with the fact that your backs are not finished.
I think the bouquet should be beautiful and presentable, Then who are your favorites? Morgan.
Although, I think you should have tried a little bit more with a unique, creative finish, this is definitely by far the most professional-looking presentation.
And Yigit, although I can't judge you on your sugar work attempt, your final presentation is really well-balanced.
Your flowers-- each petal has personality.
I'm very happy with that.
Wow.
Terribly thank you.
Thank you very much.
This is a tough choice, because I think that they're really different, but both really, really beautiful.
To choose one, I would have to say Morgan.
Congratulations.
Morgan winning again is a double blow to my ego.
And I feel if Morgan hadn't wrecked one of my sugar vases, I think I could have taken a win.
Congratulations, Morgan.
That means you just won $5,000 furnished by Dawn Hand Renewal.
Thank you, Dawn.
Hey.
That brings my grand total up to $36,000.
That feels awesome.
For this elimination challenge, you'll be catering a tea party for Dana Cowin of Food & Wine magazine and some of her friends.
Dana Cowin is the editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine.
She's definitely someone I would like to impress.
She has a very specific theme in mind for this party: Celebri-tea.
You'll be creating a dessert based on a contemporary celebrity duo.
I really don't know anything about celebrity couples.
I have no idea what I'm gonna do.
Each of you will create 100 portions of two small tea party desserts based on and inspired by a celebrity duo of your choice.
What these tea party desserts may lack in size, we hope they'll make up for in creativity, detail, and hopefully a little bit of a sense of humor.
Dana is also a great mentor of mine, so please don't disappoint her.
Good luck.
We'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
Everybody, listen up.
- You're joking.
- What? Oh, that's really uncool.
For our elimination challenge, we are doing a celebri-tea party for Dana Cowin of Food & Wine magazine and her friends.
And we need to create two desserts that go with the contemporary celebrity duo.
My celebri-tea dessert is going to be for Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter.
Um, so for Conan, I'm gonna do something red, 'cause he's a redhead.
22 minutes, guys.
22 minutes.
I love celebrities.
And surprise, I love musical theater.
So I settle on Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music and her husband, Blake Edwards.
I want to do a nice creamy tart that I can put a spoonful of sugar on to represent Julie.
Blake Edwards directed all the Pink Panther movies.
So I wanted to do something pink.
Basically anything but chocolate, especially after my showing at the quickfire.
I pick up a magazine, and the story that I'm reading is Reggie Bush bought the ring, but he won't propose.
Kim Kardashian.
She's getting a little bitter about it.
Well, this is perfect.
Sachertorte is a cake that's been debated on whether or not it's raspberry or apricot.
From the Kim side, a macaroon with this bitter, sour citrus jelly that will reflect her feelings.
I think I've got a well-paired couple with my dessert.
My duo is Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
Madonna is the queen of pop culture and chocolate is the king of pop desserts.
So my idea is to do a pairing of two chocolates with different contrasts.
I think the two of them had a very conflicting relationship, and at this point, I feel a little bit conflicted myself.
I'm a very strong competitor, and I need to shake this overwhelming sensation of disappointment off my shoulders.
Ten minutes.
I pick Oprah and Stedman.
I think they're iconic figures.
They're so larger than life that it would-- I think it could translate well to a dessert.
My Oprah will be some kind of brownie ganache extravaganza, which will save time because I can get chocolate from the Just Desserts pantry.
Thank you.
What? Really? - What? - There's no chocolate? - Huh? - There's no chocolate.
- You're joking.
- What? We weren't told about that.
Oh, that's really uncool.
Did everyone see that? Everybody listen up.
As you may have noticed, there isn't any chocolate in the pantry.
We're getting down to the wire.
And as the final five, we need to know who's got what it takes to make it to the end.
So for this elimination challenge, we're taking chocolate off the table.
After all, this is a tea party and chocolate usually isn't a star.
Good luck with your celebri-tea dessert.
I'll see you tomorrow at the party.
The one day I decide not to make chocolate cake.
Zac for the first time ever is making something without chocolate and is completely unaffected over in the corner giggling, like the little girl he is.
Oh, This.
Good night, guys.
Thank God.
I don't know if I anticipated it or if the gods of pastry were smiling on me, but I am so happy that I did not decide to use chocolate.
Suckas! Okay.
The shock wave of the last challenge is still ripping through me, and to top it all off, now there's no chocolate in the pantry.
It's actually really essential to my Madonna and Guy Ritchie recipe.
Now I don't know what to do, and the devastation just sinks in.
Yeah, I'm .
Is there no cocoa powder either? I'm in real trouble.
One of my dishes was chocolate, so it does really throw me off, and now I have to come up with something else.
And so I'm, like, well, if I stick with shortbreads, I make them two different ways, Stedman will be more on the savory side and Oprah's have a caramel-y sweet, salty bite.
I feel like maybe it will all come through in the end.
Rewrite a new recipe.
Yeah! The only problem I have is that I had a recipe in mind for chocolate cake.
I need to invent a cake for this.
Reggie Bush is a Saint.
I can make this white saintly sacher.
Just keep it all blonde.
There's no chocolate in it.
I'll use buttercream instead of ganache.
Gotta adapt.
Danielle, you didn't seem to miss a beat.
You're good, right? Huh? Yeah, exactly.
You didn't even have chocolate on your menu.
I wasn't planning on using chocolate, so I just keep on rolling.
For Conan, I am doing a strawberry layer cake with jalapeno.
For Andy, I want to do an oatmeal cookie, and I'm gonna put kix in it because he is the side kick.
The concept, it's something that really gets my creative juices flowing.
Just a little bit of butter.
Just a little butter.
After struggling to find a good recipe, the celebri-tea dishes I'm making now is a citrus-scented yogurt cake with a honey flan custard and a brown sugar sable with a calvados gelee.
I'm definitely pumping out recipes but my heart's really not in it.
This is not what I wanted to do and I don't feel good.
Five minutes.
Sponge.
Done.
Buttercream, done.
Time.
I think I've been a very strong competitor, and I've been able to knock out some amazing food.
All right.
Awesome.
But I don't feel very confident in my dessert, and you're only as good as your last dish.
I need to really step up that game.
You done with this? Morgan is a bully in the kitchen.
He has a really foul attitude.
Move, move, move, move, move.
Come on, dude.
I'm trying to figure out which way you're going.
Or shut the Up.
Please, guys.
You guys, please.
So we arrive at Madera Design House for the tea party.
The tea party room is cute.
And, you know, there's a lot of specialty teas being made in all kinds of country style, cozy atmosphere.
I have catered tea parties before, but the kitchen at the Madera Design House resembles a little closet.
It's extremely hot, and it's gonna be a nightmare to work out of.
- Hey, baby.
- Hi, honey.
How are you doing? I'm good.
- Yeah? - Yeah, sure.
We have an hour to prep for the tea party.
The serving is staggered, and I am the first one to go.
I'm doing terrible.
I hate my dessert.
The no chocolate twist really screwed me up.
I was just like I wasn't able to do a lot of components that I wanted to for these dishes.
But, hey.
You gotta just keep going.
My head is not in the right space, and I'm just hoping I can make it to the next challenge.
Not having chocolate does not affect me for this challenge.
But I still have a lot to do.
I need to cut my cookies and I need to pipe them to resemble the podium that Andy Richter stands at.
I'm going as fast as I can but I'm not really sure I'm gonna have enough time to finish everything.
It's going so well.
- Hi, there.
- Hi.
Does anyone have a sweet tooth? - Yes.
- Yes.
- Thank you for coming.
- Thank you for having us.
It's pretty exciting to be here.
I'm glad, yeah.
Well, hopefully, everything will taste good.
That's the important part.
Guys, can I steal her away? We're going to our table.
- Enjoy.
- Thank you.
How are you feeling, boo? Just wanna get through this service.
I'm feeling really bad about my dish.
It's not presentable.
Oh, my God.
I'm so stressed out, but I hope the judges think that my flavors are enough to keep me here.
Damn it.
So, guys, I don't know if you know it or not, but last night, I went in and told them that they were not allowed to use chocolate in any of their desserts.
Wow.
It's a nice opportunity for them to perhaps think seasonally a little more.
And I think traditionally, you really do have a tea party without a lot of chocolate treats.
Well, to a great tea, and I hope that the Chefs have made some special things that impress us all.
Cheers.
- Hi, Eric.
- Hi.
I'd love to introduce you to editor in chief of Food & Wine magazine, Dana Cowin.
- Hi.
- Hi, there.
You remember Dannielle Kyrillos.
Lifestyle and entertaining critic for Daily Candy.
Hi, Eric.
Shinmin Li from yesterday's quickfire.
- Hi, Eric.
- Hi.
And your cantankerous head judge, Johnny Iuzzini.
- Chef.
- How are you doing, Chef? Um, so today, my duo was Oprah and Stedman.
And basically what I did was two plays on shortbread.
Uh, Stedman is square and savory, so it's a Rosemary shortbread.
It has apricot, um, compote in the middle.
And Oprah is round and more boisterous, so it's a pecan shortbread with caramel.
I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you, guys.
- Take a deep breath, Chef.
- I will.
Thank you very much.
Mm, it's good.
Yeah.
I haven't been to that many tea parties, but I would think that Eric's desserts are a bit large, aren't they? This is a pretty messy Oprah.
- It's a messy Oprah.
- It's dripping.
I tried to take a bite and it kind of exploded.
The Rosemary's really good with the apricot.
I have to say Eric's compote is pretty delicious, so A lot of, a lot of great flavor there.
I love the Stedman shortbread square.
It does crumble apart in my mouth, so he got the short part of the shortbread.
For such a high profile couple, this was such an average display.
- That's me.
- That's you.
- You done with this? - Yeah.
Morgan is a bully in the kitchen.
He has a really foul attitude that people don't wanna get sucked into.
Don't touch anything on the table.
I'm not touching it-- no, don't touch anything on this table because these things shake.
You done with the brown sugar? Yeah.
Can you just let me get my food out, honey? I focus on me.
Maybe that's why I'm faster than everyone.
I don't care, ever, what they think.
I really, really wanna beat Morgan for the most part because I want redemption from the quickfire.
- Hi, Zac.
- Hello, judges.
I chose Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, who I think just complement each other wonderfully.
And Julie Andrews is the original diva, so I had to pay homage.
Ah, yes.
Um, so we have a Captain Von Trapp Crunch with mascarpone cheesecake and a spoonful of tarragon sugar on top.
And then we have the Pink Panther pavlova with grapefruit curd, meringue, and a little grapefruit pate de fruit in the middle.
They are designed to be either eaten separately, or you can take them, stack them on top of each other, and make the perfect pair.
Practically perfect, like Mary Poppins.
- Yes.
- Oh, my God.
I am such a dork.
I cannot stop giggling.
Dana's just such an icon.
I wanna sit down and have tea with her.
Well, thank you so much, Zac, we can't wait to try it.
- Thank you.
Enjoy.
- Thanks a lot.
This size is just great.
Zac's Captain Von Trapp really does have a, a great crunch, doesn't it? Oh, my goodness, is there really captain crunch in there? - It's, it's captain crunch.
- It really is.
It's amazing.
It is.
- Wow.
- It was the perfect bite.
It was the perfect bite.
I think it brings a really nice kind of added sweetness.
Oh, my God.
To pipe my cookie is pretty much taking half of my plating time.
So I know I need to bust a move.
Move, move, move, move, move.
Come on, dude.
I was trying to figure out which way you're going.
Say a direction.
Or shut the Up.
Please, guys.
You guys, please.
Please.
I'm going as fast as I can, but I know I'm not gonna get every single plate on there.
- Hi, Danielle.
- Hello, Danielle.
Hello.
So tell us how it went and what you made.
It was fun.
My duo is Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter.
Ah.
My favorite, the red one, is representing Conan, 'cause he is a redhead.
The sandwich cake with, uh, strawberry jam, and then I did strawberries.
And there's a little dried jalapeno on top 'cause he isHot.
And he's irish, so he's a little spicy.
And then to the other side of it that's, uh, representing Andy.
It's an oatmeal cookie.
It has a buttercream with a little orange blossom water.
Your cake sandwich, is it a vanilla cake? Yeah, it's a vanilla cake.
There's a little, uh, lemon zest in it.
And then it's sandwiched with strawberry jam.
And did you make the strawberry jam? - Mm-hmm.
- Great.
Thanks so much.
- Enjoy, thank you.
- Thank you.
Thanks.
That's generous on the jalapeno.
Cleared my sinuses right up.
Thank you very much, Danielle.
I think we have a leavening problem once again with Danielle's cake, you know? She's working without recipes.
I think she might have got one of the ratios off, the portions off.
That was not a pleasant bite, cake-wise.
But really great for the idea.
The jalapenos on the, on the strawberries, that was extra good.
Should we move on to Andy Richter? The buttercream frosting seems like a mismatch with the cookie.
I think it's great that they're very different.
I like the variety.
I like the fact that she's showing a range of flavors here.
I think Danielle's choices don't necessarily complement each other, but variety is what makes life and tea parties interesting.
The bottom part is just so chewy and it's getting really stuck in my teeth.
It reminds me of a workout protein bar.
Sorry.
Same thing I miss chocolate already.
Chocolate and I are buddies.
We go way back.
No chocolate sucks.
But whatever.
Can my hands shake anymore right now? This is ridiculous.
I am running very low on time.
You gotta be used to this by now.
Gentle as we go, huh? - Good afternoon.
- Hi, Morgan.
- Is it time for tea yet? - Sure is.
Tell us what you made.
I actually came up with a dessert and I worked backwards with it, and I found a couple that matched.
And that would be Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian.
Nice.
What we have is a blonde sacher, so we have some almond sponge, an apricot coulis, and citrus buttercream.
And then that's paired alongside Kim's citrus macaroon.
She's a little rough around the edges like a macaroon.
And, um, she's getting a little bit sour and bitter about the fact that he hasn't proposed yet.
So inside is a sweet buttercream bolstered with a very sour citrus fluid gel.
Please enjoy.
All right.
On first glance, Morgan's Kim Kardashian macaroon is, is overfilled.
You know, it's not a-a one-bite tea party macaroon, but this is a macaroon that I'm willing to take two bites of.
I actually just got the bitter because it came out from the gel and it was all on one side and I'm just now getting the bitter.
You could taste Kim's bitterness.
I don't know if I really enjoyed tasting it.
- Yeah.
- Should we move on to Reggie? You ate that with a spoon.
It's very easy to eat with a spoon, actually.
I think that's our best bet.
I have to say, the almond flavor is amazing.
But as the first burst, I was like, wow, that's delicious.
Unfortunately, the challenge was to make a finger food for a tea party, and I don't think Morgan delivered on that promise.
Beautiful, Yigit.
I'm very low on time.
My biggest competition is Yigit, and I think he's really struggling.
And I'd love to see him go home.
I'm definitely not gonna be able to get every component onto this little guy.
So I'm gonna pick and choose my battles at this point.
Making it to the next round is always what I want, and winning this entire competition, but at this point, I'm so doubtful with my flavors for the first time ever, I just really wanna pull through.
And this is when I go home, 'cause I don't get to plate it.
- Hi, Yigit.
- Hello.
This is your last bit to your tea party.
Some of it is on my jacket, I apologize.
Yigit, you look a little flustered.
I think Johnny's a little bit shocked by what I put in front of him.
I'm sure he expected something different from me, as did I.
Um, so my characters were Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
I kind of love Madonna.
And, you know, I don't think they ever really got along too well, so I wanted to do two desserts that really kind of contradicted each other in flavor.
So for Madonna's soft personality, I made a citrus-scented Greek yogurt cake.
And it has a baked honey flan custard.
For Guy Ritchie's flavor, you know, I kind of figured he's like a very simple guy.
So I made a brown butter sable base, dulce de leche, a little bit of a praline I candied, and it actually has a calvados gelee.
- Wow.
- Wow.
I look at the editor-in-chief from Food & Wine magazine, I'm just thinking, God, I hope I have another chance to meet her and prove myself again.
- Well, thanks.
- Thank you, judges.
- We can't wait to try it.
- Thank you very much.
Thanks, Yigit.
Whoa.
Yigit's Madonna yogurt cake is really moist.
I think it's a little bit bland.
If Madonna was gonna be a dessert, she'd be a red hot.
It's pretty flat.
It's almost, like, a little bland.
It's really bland.
Let's see what Guy Ritchie has to say to us.
A lot of great flavor.
The nuttiness goes really well with the calvados.
There's not a whole lot of technique on this one, but I think it's very masculine as far as the flavors, and I enjoyed it.
Very, very sweet.
And I'm not sure how sweet he is, but Madonna certainly isn't, and so maybe that's the contrast in texture.
But in a tea party setting, these are meant to sort of sit around for you to pick up at your leisure, and that dessert wouldn't stand.
It wouldn't stay.
That's true.
There's something not quite finished about the whole thing.
- Hey, kitten.
- hey I didn't get to finish plating.
- Aw.
- Yeah.
Yigit is nervous and worried, and so I'm just wondering if maybe he might get sent home.
And I'm starting to think that I feel like I might have a chance.
Special drawing.
Is it me on a plane back to San Francisco? Mm-hmm.
'Cause that's what's gonna happen today.
And now I realize that Yigit's overambitiousness has been his thorn.
I'm excited to see how this thing pans out.
Whatever.
What happened back there? It actually reminded me of the frozen petit fours that cruise ships buy and take out of a box.
Is there anyone in the shower down here? - Who's in there? - Sounds like Danielle.
Oh, my God.
It's gonna be five years.
I live alone.
And I take really long showers.
I have to pee.
You want to shower first, then I'll go after you? Danielle still takes the longest showers in the world, which is ridiculous.
Ask her if she has her, um, fiber cereal in there too.
That was my favorite.
I don't know what Danielle does.
Every time she comes out of the bathroom, she's holding the box of fiber cereal.
Which I'm not sure if she's using it as an oatmeal scrub or she's having some digestive issues.
I still can't really figure it out.
I just need to pee.
It's win-win.
You know? We've come this far.
We have so much to be proud of.
We've done well, you know? We did it.
- Hi.
- Hey, Gail.
We would like to see Morgan, Zac, and Danielle.
Thanks.
Chefs.
Today you were challenged to make desserts for the celebri-tea party.
You'll be happy to know yours were the top desserts of the challenge.
Congratulations.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Morgan, you gave us quite a story with your Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian desserts today.
How did you think you did? Well, Reggie Bush, I had this perfect sachertorte and then no chocolate caused me to invent a sponge.
It just didn't come out the way I wanted it to come out.
That was my favorite thing that I ate today.
And although some people complained that they really couldn't pick it up with one hand, I was completely prepared to lick it off the plate.
Well, thank you.
So, Morgan, I loved the cake as well.
I thought the, the fact that you had a beautiful roasted nut flavor really came through.
You improvised and you adapted the original recipe to a new recipe.
It worked out for you.
Thanks.
Zac, you presented us with a play on Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards.
Tell us how you came to this decision.
I decided this is tea, this is classy.
And when I think classy, I think of Julie Andrews.
I will shamelessly say that I want to be Julie Andrews in many ways.
Zac, your treats were like the kind of guests everyone wants to sit by at a tea.
They were refined and elegant, but not prissy and not boring.
It was a hoot.
Thanks.
The Pink Panther pavlova, I especially liked the little pate de fruit, that chewy stickiness in the middle, and that was a bit of a surprise and a really nice touch.
Thanks.
I felt like your presentation today was really the only one that made me think of Devonshire tea, drinking my tea with my pinky up.
I really enjoyed it today.
Danielle.
Conan, he makes me smile and makes me happy, so I thought, you know, I was hoping that that would come out in the challenge, and definitely, I knew I had to do something red.
There was tall redheaded Conan and tiny, wee little Andy Richter on the side, and it was just perfect.
It was funny and it was fun, and it was most importantly really tasty.
Thank you.
You know, Danielle, I was excited to finally see you tell me about a concept and then deliver the concept as you planned it.
You finally showed me the commitment I've been looking for.
And look where you are.
You're in the top three.
Thank you.
Shinmin.
Please announce our winner.
The winner tonight really embraced this challenge by presenting beautiful flavors and selecting a very clever celebrity duo.
And the winner tonight is Zac.
Thank you.
- Congratulations.
- Good job.
Oh I finally break the losing streak.
I can't believe it.
I, I won.
Finally.
Yeah.
Well-deserved.
I had Julie Andrews on my side, which, I think, was my secret weapon.
Now, unfortunately, we do have to ask you to send back your two other colleagues.
Thanks.
Have a good night.
Thanks.
It's, uhZac.
Yay.
Good job, Mary.
Thanks.
- Awesome.
- Awesome.
Um, so, guys, I guess you know.
Chefs.
Unfortunately, yours were our least favorite celebri-tea desserts today.
You both seemed so downtrodden when you came to our table.
I know it was a really hard challenge.
What happened back there? Eric.
From beginning to end, I just kept sinking and sinking.
And there were numbers in my head and things going on.
And, and I had a hard time pushing through it.
Eric, your lack of creativity was disappointing.
Even if you were gonna stick with Oprah and Stedman, there had to be a better way to tie together what you ended up producing and the challenge.
Were you aware that the two pieces of shortbread were baked completely unevenly? Yeah, I knew.
Eric, you should have an arsenal of simple baked items in your, in your pocket being a baker.
This is what you do day in and day out.
To see two shortbreads from you, I was a little bit disappointed.
I was a lot disappointed.
Eric, you've won a number of challenges, 'cause we know your baking is impeccable.
- I know.
- We're not doubting that.
We just didn't see where Eric went tonight.
That was not the Eric that we knew.
I left the building.
And, you know, I-- I don't make excuses.
I stalled and got trapped in it.
And you wake up and you're like, what did you just do? I mean, that's what happened.
Yigit.
When you came to the table today, you were 1/3 of the Yigit that we know.
Perhaps 1/4.
I don't think any of us have seen you like that before.
Mind you, I've never seen myself like this before, so.
What was going on in that kitchen? Both my desserts were supposed to be chocolate-based, and I thought to myself, you're gonna bounce back from this, just plan your menu, it's gonna be fun, just do it.
And then I couldn't.
So that dessert that I put out actually had, like, only half the components which I prepared for it.
Yigit, Madonna works out three hours a day, and that dessert was jiggly.
That's not how I think anyone else thinks of Madonna.
Sorry to you guys and Madonna.
Yigit, I thought that the Madonna yogurt cake was very mushy, and it wasn't strong enough to support the custard.
And you told me that you had infused sage in there, and I didn't taste that.
Yigit, it actually reminded me of the frozen petit fours that cruise ships buy and take out of a box and put them on a display.
- Oof.
- Like it was weeping.
It was really sad and flavorless.
It was very sad.
You really made me angry.
Not even disappointed, but I was angry at you for allowing that to go out.
It was definitely a very bad day for me.
No, no excuse around that.
The last dessert wars really hit my core.
And then when Heather went home, I completely came undone.
And that really directly translated to my food.
It was an absolute flop.
All it takes is one flop to go home.
Absolutely.
We started with 12 Chefs, and we're at 5.
So there's a reason you've stayed this long, both of you.
We just need to figure out where we're gonna go from here.
We'll let you know when we've made a decision.
- Thank you.
- Thank you both.
Of course we don't know.
Eric? It was actually-- it was-- it was as uplifting as being in the bottom could be.
It was, because they just said it straight with us.
They just said, "we both think you're amazing, and you've made us disappointed.
" I mean, which is a reverse compliment, I guess.
Both Yigit and Eric were not themselves at all, and their desserts showed it.
Although I feel that neither of their desserts tasted great, there's so much more to it in this challenge than just flavor.
Then you have to say, okay, well, who had a better idea of concept with what they had to work with? I will say that Yigit embraced the celebri-tea challenge more than Eric.
It was just that I wish Eric's story had been better.
It was clear that he had no thought process at all about what he wanted to present to us.
Unfortunately, that was made evident by the fact that he presented two shortbreads.
They were really bad, you know.
They had bad texture, they had-- the flavor was okay, but I could have easily just eaten the jam.
You know, you're We were so excited to see what you would do for this challenge, 'cause you're a baker, and this is kind of the things that you do, and we just don't understand.
While Yigit's flavors disappointed, as well as the textures, I definitely think that Yigit embraced the challenge.
He has very clear ideas of how he feels about Madonna, the relationship with Guy Ritchie.
Yigit told us a good story.
He clearly thought through how he wanted to present them on the plate.
It just really didn't really turn out the way he had planned.
What he gave us today, I was like, this far along in the competition, I was like, "really?" You know, a bland little honey mousse.
In my opinion, it was just boring.
You know, it's something that I would expect at, like, you know, a bad hotel at a bad buffet line.
He's like, "I was angry with what you put out today.
" He was like, he was so disappointed in me.
That hurts more than elimination.
I could get eliminated, it'll hurt less than that, because I do respect his opinion.
I think we've made our decision.
Let's bring them out here.
Unfortunately, Chefs, one of you will be going home tonight.
Eric, we asked you to give us two fun tea party desserts.
You made us two shortbreads.
That's just unacceptable.
Yigit, you allowed your emotions to get in the way of performing your duties.
The quality of your desserts, especially the flavors, were substandard.
Eric, your desserts just didn't measure up.
Please pack your tools and go.
Sure.
I'm so proud of you.
I cracked under pressure, and I was ready to go.
Thank you so much.
- You're a great Chef.
- Thank you.
I came here to prove that a baker can be a pastry Chef, and to have Johnny and Gail tell me that I'm an amazing Chef was just the most incredible thing.
No! No! All right, man, you're an inspiration to me.
No, no, man.
You have been so wonderful.
Thank you so much.
I've never had this kind of love and support, like, "wow, I love what you do.
" You're an amazing Chef.
- I am a Chef! - Yeah! I am a Chef! I am a Chef.
Before I came here, I was a baker, and no one had ever called me Chef.
Bye, guys.
Bye, Eric.
It wasn't until now that I realized that was my journey that I went on.
I became a Chef here.
Next time on Top Chef: Just Desserts Come on, guys.
All I need is one more, one more.
Time's up.
It's down to the final four.
Can't finish your truffles? You don't belong.
Will you all stop what you're doing for a second? With Top Chef: Just Desserts, there's always the unknown.
Hi! Oh, my God! For more about the recipes you've seen tonight, go to bravotv.
Com.