Rob Pryce
Megan portrait, as seen on Holiday Baking Championship, Season 7.
Keller baker Megan Rountree made a comeback last night during the fourth episode of Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship.” After finding herself in the bottom two last week, the Legacy Cakes owner came ready to impress during the first challenge of the day: transforming common breakfast items into Thanksgiving breakfast-desserts.
Megan, unfortunately, had the last choice when selecting the breakfast dish inspiration because of her bottom placement on the naughty or nice list, which left her with breakfast crepes. She created a multi-colored crepe cake with pumpkin cream, cranberry jam and white chocolate ganache, topped with a decorative turkey.
“I was actually fine with crepes,” Megan says during the episode. “My hope right now is to just get right back up onto the top of the naughty or nice list. Hopefully the crepe cake will be the ticket.”
The judges, Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Nancy Fuller, were disappointed the cake did not set up properly.
“It is a hot mess,” Carla Hall says during the episode.
But after slicing into the crepe cake, the judges’ tune changed, complimenting her on the crepes’ composition and flavor combination.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Duff Goldman says. “It’s really yummy. It really does taste like Thanksgiving.”
It was hard for the eight remaining competitors not to judge their next team challenge: taking inspiration from a common Friendsgiving pot-luck dish. While other competitors were happy to play off of glazed carrots and creamed corn, Megan and her partner Lorenzo had to use an ingredient in a plate of Brussels sprouts. Both Megan and Lorenzo pulled out the balsamic vinegar to create holiday-inspired desserts.
Megan baked mini balsamic pear and goat cheese galettes, accented with decorative leaves. Megan’s balsamic treat was directly judged against her teammate’s creation, a blueberry balsamic cheesecake. After sneaking in a laugh about the difficulty of the ingredient, Megan presented her rustic galettes to the judges.
“I think this is the perfect dessert to take to a Friendsgiving,” Carla Hall says during the episode. “Because they travel well, you can make them ahead.”
Judge Nancy Fuller, however, pointed out that Megan used a similar leaf technique in a previous challenge.
“I feel like I have seen these little leaves before so I want to see something different from you,” Nancy Fuller says during the episode.
Megan’s desserts did receive more positive feedback than Lorenzo’s individual cheesecakes, which landed her in the top four on the nice list.
Megan will now head into the next episode, set to air on Food Network on November 30, and take on the next two challenges: creating advent calendars and a tri-flavored cheesecake. Tune in to see how far this Keller baker will go.