Rob Pryce
Megan portrait, as seen on Holiday Baking Championship, Season 7.
Legacy Cakes owner Megan Rountree was back on Food Network last night for the next episode of “Holiday Baking Championship.” First, the seven remaining bakers each choose a number from an advent tree to find out what chocolate they would use in the first challenge, where they were asked to create a chocolate dessert with a surprise inside. While Megan was pumped to get white chocolate, she was also excited to hear about the advent calendar-themed heat.
“I have [an advent calendar] that’s been passed down from generations,” Megan says during the episode. “It doesn’t contain candy, but you do move pieces around. And now my daughter and I do it too.”
Megan transformed her white chocolate into a Bavarian cream, a custard set with gelatin then lightened with whipped cream, with a pistachio crust. Her surprise waiting inside was a raspberry delight filled with almond liqueur. The classic dessert was, however, met with mixed reviews.
“When you do something this simple, it has to be perfect,” judge Duff Goldman says on the episode after seeing Megan’s cracked crusts.
But he was quick to compliment her flavors after digging in.
“You know what I love: it’s not only the flavor of white chocolate, but it’s like the experience of white chocolate,” Duff Goldman says during the episode.
After shaking off the first heat, Megan went onto the main challenge, where the bakers were asked to make a tri-flavored cheesecake. Megan’s three-in-one cheesecake featured pumpkin, gingerbread and orange flavors on a graham cracker crust.
“My inspiration here is to really use holiday flavors that all play well together,” Megan says during the episode.
While the bakers were hard at work on their cheesecakes, they were given a twist midway through the challenge: to create three different decorations that show the flavors of each section, and two out of the three had to be baked from scratch. Megan pivoted by making gingerbread cookies for the gingerbread section, pumpkin spice glazed cookies for the pumpkin section and orange bombe for the orange section.
After tasting her creations, the judges told Megan they thought she played it safe this round.
“If anybody took a bigger chance, they’re going to beat you,” judge Carla Hall says during the episode.
Thankfully for Megan, her tri-flavored cheesecake was enough to land her in the fifth place spot, securing her a spot in next week’s episode of “Holiday Baking Championship.” Next week, the remaining six bakers will make upside down cakes, which is sure to raise the heat in the kitchen.