02x08 - Bring on the Heat!

[bunniefuu]

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

♪ Set the city on fire, light it up ♪

What was the weirdest gift

you've ever gotten?

I used to collect taxidermy animals,

and someone got for me

two squirrels playing a little banjo.

You keep getting weirder by the minute.

[laughs]

[upbeat music plays]

- Hey, Chef.

- Hello.

[Ashley] Hi, Chef.

- [Gonzo] Hi, Chef.

- Hey, Chef.

[Christina] I brought

a really fun guest today.

Let's give a big Bake Squad welcome

to Captain Erik.

- He's from Los Angeles Fire Department.

- [Christophe] Hello!

- Hi, Captain Erik.

- Hello.

Captain Erik, you know that Bake Squad

is my hand-picked A-team of bakers

who all have out-of-this-world skills

in the kitchen.

And together, we're all trying

to make life a little sweeter

by bringing some seriously

delicious desserts to parties everywhere.

So, Captain, tell us

what you're planning, please.

Well, the event is for a Los Angeles City

fire captain, Thomas Kitahata.

We call him Kit, for short,

whom we recently named

Firefighter of the Year.

- Wow.

- Oh, wow.

[Erik] Over 33 years on the job

in urban search-and-rescue.

One of the rare still active duty members

that was on the pile at 9/11.

He's a Boy Scout.

And I mean, like, literally a Boy Scout.

- He's an Eagle Scout.

- [Christina giggles]

[Erik] An absolute volunteer.

He works with his church

to make sure homeless are fed.

He is somebody

that so many of us strive to be like.

Just an outstanding guy.

What is he like off the clock?

[Erik] He's an outdoors guy.

He's got a cool vegetable garden.

Likes to just kind of work

around the yard, clear his mind.

- That's kind of his Zen spot.

- Awesome.

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

What is Captain Kit into?

Savory and, most importantly, sweet.

He's okay with tangy things, but not

something that's too sweet or rich.

Uh, he'll have a green tea.

Fruit-based pies. Tarts.

Does he like anything spicy?

No problem on the spice.

- He can handle it.

- Oh, good.

- I like where you might be going there.

- Let's see what you got.

Tell me about this event.

So he's gonna be surrounded

by workmates, friends, family.

[Erik] Yeah, I'd guess maybe 50 people.

His last assignment

was at Fire Station 69,

so that's where it'd be best

to have the celebration.

When I think of "storybook firehouse,"

where you like,

wake up from the alarm,

you go down the pole and pet your dog.

Do you have a dalmatian?

Actually, Fire Station 69

did have a dalmatian.

- [Ashley] Oh.

- [Gonzo] Wow.

So cute.

[Christina] This isn't just a tough

challenge. It's an important challenge.

Captain Kit has gone above and beyond

for his community for so long.

In just seven hours,

Captain Erik is gonna come back,

there's gonna be four desserts,

and we're gonna try them all,

but you're going to have to choose one.

The one.

This is not a drill, Bake Squad.

We gotta get to work. Let's go.

- We'll see you soon.

- Deal.

- Let's do it.

- [Ashley] Let's go.

We're gonna celebrate ♪

[Christophe] All right. Good luck.

[Ashley grunts]

[upbeat music plays]

What screams firefighter

more than a fire hydrant?

- Ash.

- Hey, Chef.

- How are you feeling?

- Good. I'm so excited for this one.

Captain Kit seems like an amazing soul.

To be able to show up

and create for him just gives me joy.

[Christina] Talk me through your vision.

When I think of "firefighter,"

I'm thinking fire hydrants, dalmatians.

Captain Kit had a dalmatian

at his old Station 69.

So I'm doing the dog in cake.

However, for the hydrant,

I'm gonna be stepping out

of my wheelhouse just a bit.

So I really think I can do a life-sized

chocolate sculpture of a fire hydrant.

And he likes fruit, so you take

the top off, you open it, and you're like,

"Oh my gosh,

look at all this fruit inside. How cool."

I love that you're pushing

outside your comfort zone,

but there's a lot of elements.

All of it's precision,

and it's across different mediums.

You have to bake the cake, construct it,

tempering an insane amount of chocolate

to make it look

like a freaking fire hydrant.

- You're stressing me out!

- [Christina] Girl, do not go anywhere!

[chuckling]

- I'm rooting for you. Keep at it.

- Thanks, Chef.

- [Maya-Camille] What are you thinking?

- Everyone will pick the firefighter theme.

Yeah.

And I know he loves gardening,

so I want to create an illusion.

Vegetable garden.

From the outside,

it's gonna look like vegetables.

You have carrots, beets,

potatoes, onion, cabbage.

And every single vegetables

are filled with something sweet.

There is, like,

27 different elements to make.

- Oh!

- So it's gonna be another busy day, huh?

[Christina] Gonzo.

- Yes, ma'am.

- How're you feeling?

- Excited.

- [Christina] What are you thinking?

[Gonzo] When you go to the firehouse,

each of them has their lockers

where they keep their personal items.

I wanna do a little bit

of chocolate carpentry.

I want to create an actual locker

out of chocolate, at least four feet tall.

With many elements

all related to firefighters.

On top of all this, a roulade cake.

Exactly.

And that is going to be representing

the actual hose of the firefighters.

[Christina] I love that you're baking.

That's very tricky to get that roll right.

To get even layers of cake and filling.

Your sponge needs to be perfectly flexible

in order to roll and not break.

- There is technique on technique.

- [Gonzo] Yeah. [chuckles]

- I'll leave you to it. Good luck.

- Thank you.

[Christophe] What do you think?

I definitely wanna do

something with vegetables

because he loves a ton of vegetables.

Something a little bit atypical.

He said he loves pies.

- I'm just gonna do pies.

- What kind of pie are you thinking?

Sweet and savory,

and add some heat!

- So

- Oh, I like that.

What's gonna be especially important

is if I'm incorporating

both sweet and heat,

it has to be the perfect balance.

The flavor has to be just right.

I know you can do it.

You're the queen of flavors.

Ooh!

[upbeat music plays]

[Christophe] Water. Sugar.

[Gonzo] Bake away.

For this Firefighter of the Year

celebration,

I'm creating a chocolate locker,

at least four feet tall.

Then I'm also creating

the boots, and the axe,

and a helmet out of chocolate.

The first thing

that I need to do for this locker

is to create

every single one of the panels.

Every single panel of my locker,

I have to make sure they're not too thin

or too thick so it doesn't warp.

All right ♪

I'm gonna use this pan riser so I can

get this cake as thick as possible.

Captain Kit, he has done so much

for everyone in his life.

I think there's no better way to show up

and be celebrated at a party

than with some iconic imagery.

I'm gonna make a life-sized dalmatian cake

made from a green tea cake

with a blackberry jam,

a cream cheese frosting.

Think I can get this whole cake done

with one sheet pan.

When it comes to cake designs,

I would say mine are pretty funky.

I've been doing this for about 13 years.

I was a culinary school dropout.

Yet my career has taken

quite the amazing journey.

[upbeat music plays]

I have made cakes

for Billy Joel, Elton John.

My cakes have been

on various morning programs.

When it comes to cake,

there's no competition.

I can do a bit of everything.

I'm getting the bubbles out so it's dense,

which is good to sculpt with.

A life-size dog typically

would take me a couple of days,

but today we have seven hours

to pull this off.

Yeah. It's a little crazy.

[sighs] Cake is in, all right.

Onion.

My inspiration is coming from the fact

that Captain Kit loves gardening.

So, I want to create

an illusion of a vertical garden.

So I'm thinking the carrot will be sugar.

Then I'm filling up my carrot

with carrot cake.

The cabbage will also be chocolate shells.

I am filling this

with a deconstructed apple pie.

Inside the onion will be a coconut cream,

pineapple, and mango compote.

For my mushroom,

I am creating a peanut-chocolate spread

with a beautiful raspberry jam

in the center.

Inside the potatoes

is a house-made marzipan.

And for the beets,

I'm using a mascarpone cream

with a strawberry beets compote.

[exhales] That's a lot of veggies, huh?

Let's make the molds.

I'm using two different techniques

to make molds.

I'm using the Formech machine

for the big pieces.

We have our onion molds ready.

Ashley, catch.

A gelatin mold for the intricate pieces.

If there is anything I'm worried about

It's too much.

not being able to finish

because I have 27 things to do

in seven hours.

The gelatin, done.

Let's put this in the cooler.

Maybe I'll pair this with the miso.

I am the flavor maven.

But I'm going to push myself

to develop six new flavor combinations

in seven hours.

Salty. But with the sweetness

of the pears, it will work.

I'm going to make sweet and savory pies,

with a little kick of heat.

So I absolutely

have to taste-test everything.

Captain Kit is an elite firefighter.

So today, this one feels

a little personal to me,

because my cousin, Big Archie,

and his son Aaron, are firefighters.

And his grandfather

was the first Black deputy firefighter

in the city of Chicago.

It is such an honor to bake for someone

who's in a profession I admire so much.

Got my flavor pairings,

I'm ready to move on to my crust.

Six hours, Bake Squad. Time is ticking.

[Christophe] That's for my carrot cake.

fighting you, stay cool ♪

I'm going to un-mold

the gelatin mold to, uh, make my beet.

Look at that.

[Ashley] My cake is looking really great.

I'm starting to glue

these panels for the locker.

So for this locker,

I use chocolate to glue more chocolate.

The tricky part is going to be

that this stands and doesn't fall off.

I'm becoming, like,

a chocolatier carpenter, basically.

I have to make sure

every single one of these panels

are perfectly flat

and they fit into each other.

Uh

And then I glue it with more chocolate

so my chocolate is strong enough

to hold the structure.

All right, that's a lot better.

- Hey, Gonzo, our chocolate king!

- [Gonzo] Yes, ma'am.

I'm working with chocolate today,

so I'm gonna need your guidance.

To pull off this life-sized

fire hydrant chocolate sculpture,

I need to get a larger cylinder,

put a smaller cylinder inside,

and that little wall that's created,

I'm gonna fill that up

with tempered chocolate

to make a thin chocolate shell.

When you pipe your chocolate in here,

make sure you get all the air bubbles out.

Then you're gonna have a smooth shell.

[upbeat music plays]

h*-h*-hoo!

That barely fit.

[Christophe exhales]

[Christophe] Look at that. This

gelatin mold will be for the mushroom.

[Maya-Camille] I'm making

an all-butter crust.

This is going to be

the base of all the pies.

- [Gonzo] You think this works as a helmet?

- Uh, I don't know.

- It fits.

- Yeah?

I'm making all the elements

that represent an actual firefighter.

Boots, axe, helmet.

They're gonna go in and around the locker.

And then after that, I'm gonna put

all of these chocolate pieces together.

Wanna throw this in the fridge.

Maya-Camille!

All right, you're going to pie town.

- I am.

- Onboard me. What are you thinking?

[Maya-Camille] I'm thinking of making

six different pies.

A wasabi and yuzu pie,

fig and pancetta pie,

a strawberry pie with cayenne,

Japanese candied yam pie,

the miso, caramel, pear pie,

and the caramelized onion

and broccoli pie.

Holy smokes.

I mean, you are my flavor queen

for a reason,

but time is ticking,

and I know you're a perfectionist.

You have six different flavors.

How many pies are you making?

- Eighteen large pies.

- So three of each flavor.

Correct. I'm also gonna do miniature pies.

- That's a lot of pie. That's a lot

- It is.

Let's just visually see

how many pies that is. Okay, this is six.

- Oh, wow.

- Okay, that's 14.

These are just the big pies.

- How many little pies are you making?

- [Maya-Camille] Same number.

[suspenseful music plays]

- What in the world?

- [Maya-Camille] I need a bigger boat.

[laughs] I have to make a lot of pies

because there is going to be a lot

of party guests to feed at the event.

Real talk. You need a bigger station. What

are you thinking about for the display?

What if there were a miniature firehouse

that housed the pies?

You're giving me a big task, my friend.

I'll get my task done

if you get your task done.

- Deal?

- Deal.

- Okay. Good luck.

- Thanks, Chef.

Pick it up as we go

Da-di-da-di-da ♪

- [Christophe] Can I borrow a pot?

- [Ashley] How did you use all your pots?

- [Christophe] I'm making over 20 recipes.

- Christophe!

Today there is a lot going on.

- Gonzo, can I grab some pots over here?

- Uh, yeah, you can take 'em.

I'm overwhelmed.

Can you bring that one

to my station, please?

- Can I take the stove too?

- How many pots do you need?

[Christophe] Six kinds of vegetables.

Carrots, cabbage, mushroom,

potatoes, beets, and onion.

In each vegetable, you have two or three

different recipes for the filling.

I'm starting with all my fillings first.

I'm working on the coconut nougatine,

and the raspberry jam,

then caramelized pineapple,

strawberry jam, caramelized apple,

the cream, the carrot cake.

- I'm gonna need more pots.

- You got a lot going on.

Yes, but the firefighter

has a lot going on too.

I wanna make him proud.

Since a young age,

I always wanted to wow everybody.

At the age of 15, I went to a small

culinary school in the south of France.

I did five years of apprenticeship,

traveling all over France,

trying to work with the best.

And now I'm the illusionist of the team,

so I'm going to use my skill

to make those vegetables look realistic.

[Ashley] Cake base,

stacking a bunch of rounds on,

but I want to be intentional

with the shape.

[upbeat music plays]

- [Gonzo] Perfect.

- The first three crusts are going in.

[Christophe] This is for the soil.

The soil needs to look real too.

I'm going to make a chocolate streusel

and mix with a little bit of chocolate

to make the soil look exactly like soil.

Chocolate soil, ready.

[Maya-Camille] My goodness. Did you make

a fireman's hat out of chocolate?

Oh, yeah. I don't have a mold,

so I used one of these gray bowls.

Oh, boy.

I have the cream cheese filling to do,

the mascarpone cream, the coconut mousse.

And then I can assemble my vegetables.

[Ashley] Buttercream is like cement

that's gonna firm up really hard

and make this super stable.

If it does not have structural integrity,

you'll make one cut,

the whole cake could fall apart.

It's all about just precision.

When it comes

to sculpting the cake layers,

a lot of it is just by memory.

I have a dog at home that's almost

the same size as this cake I wanna make.

I'm really just thinking

about my time at home with Daisy.

Holding Daisy, cuddling with her,

what does her body feel like?

How can I bring that memory to cake form?

Put it in the fridge.

[Christophe] Ooh-la-la.

[Gonzo] Working on the hose.

I am pressing out pie crust.

I'm going to make

a total of 18 small pies.

[Christophe] That's gonna be

for the potatoes.

This is a homemade marzipan,

and I'm going to hand-shape them.

And then I'm gonna use a toothpick

to poke some holes.

Then I'm gonna brush them

with cocoa powder.

Ashley, you have pastry brushes

over there?

- [Ashley] Good catch.

- Thank you.

They look exactly like potatoes.

For all the pies I have to make,

I have all of the crust done,

but I have none of the fillings done.

[sighs]

Three hours in,

and I have made all the pie crusts,

but I still have to make

all six flavors of pie filling.

[upbeat music plays]

Woo, this is a workout.

Once I get the pear pie done, I have to

Basically I gotta do every pie.

I don't have a lot of time,

so I have to work quickly,

but also make sure that I'm balancing

the sweet, the savory, and the heat.

[groans] It's a lot to do. A lot to do.

- Time is ticking away. Three hours to go.

- [Maya-Camille groans]

Move your butt.

Who, who, who? Who, who, who?

Christophe,

what's a French dog sound like?

- Woof.

- [Ashley laughs]

[Maya-Camille] I'm making

blackberry vinaigrette

that is going to go

on top of the broccoli tart.

Gonzo, what are you making?

[Gonzo] Right now,

I'm working on a roulade.

For the fireman's hose,

I have this delicious cake

that is ginger and lemon,

with raspberry

and chocolate ganache filling.

Now we're gonna start

cutting the strips for the roulade.

In order to create a roulade,

the cake will be cut into strips,

and then it gets rolled

into one giant roll.

In order to not break,

the cake can't be too cold or too hot.

Oh, no.

It's breaking. I let it cool too much.

That is not gonna look good.

It should be a little bit more flexible.

My roulade needs to be perfectly smooth,

and it's cracking.

- [Christina] Gonzo.

- [Gonzo] Hello, hello.

- Is this your hose?

- This is the hose.

It looks more square and broken

than it does round like a hose.

It's brittle.

- You gotta start this anew.

- Okay, I'll get it done.

It's super frustrating,

'cause it's definitely setting me back

at least 30, 40 minutes.

Gotta keep going at this point.

I'm gonna try to make a carrot.

So I have my sugar and my sugar pump.

- What's up, doc?

- [Ashley laughs]

I'm blowing air

into each and every one. C'est magnifique.

In order to do my sugar carrot

super realistic,

I am warming up my knife with a torch.

I'm creating the lines on my carrot,

then I'm taking my carrot

and pour over the cocoa powder

to make it look exactly

like it has been inside the dirt.

And then I'm filling up my carrot

with the cream cheese icing

and a piece of carrot cake in the inside.

Nice carrots.

[upbeat music plays]

[Gonzo] It's going to be the boots.

- Is it looking like a dog should look?

- [Christophe] Yeah, so far.

- It doesn't look like a cat, huh?

- [Ashley laughs]

This dog, I want it to look

as life-like as possible.

I want the fur,

to have the expression of a dog.

But doing so takes a lot of time.

A dog can have just one ear, right?

That's normal.

Hey, Squad, we have 90 minutes.

[Maya-Camille] Oh my goodness.

Okay. Thank you.

- [Ashley] Oh my gosh.

- I'm struggling here.

Yeah, I'm doing fine.

Thank you for asking.

[laughs]

There's absolutely no way anybody

can make 18 pies in four hours.

I have a lot to do. I gotta keep moving.

I have a lot of things left to do,

and I am running out of time.

The yams are falling apart.

I'm just gonna stop this.

I don't think anything's gonna be done,

because the perfectionist in me

wants everything to be perfect.

So Oh gosh.

Maya, she is our queen of pies.

Oh my gosh.

[Ashley] But she seems so overwhelmed,

and I'm wondering if she bit off

more than she could chew this time.

There's a lot of pies in the oven.

What do you still have left to do?

I need to, uh, definitely Uh

[tense music plays]

Let's go pie by pie.

Wasabi. Big and little, done?

- Mm-hm.

- Okay, got it. Fig pancetta?

Uh, this is the pancetta,

and I also need to do the fig filling.

The miso caramel is done.

I have all of the elements of the broccoli

and caramelized onions done.

I just need to finish baking that.

I still have large shells

I need to blind bake.

I know I'm not able

to get all the pies done,

and I don't want to put out a pie

if it's not of my standard.

While I am talking to Chef Christina,

I realized I don't have enough time

to bake the Japanese candied yam pie.

Here's the thing I tell my team.

We set these lofty goals for ourselves,

and sometimes we fall short of them.

But what we put out

is always our best work.

So it always looks like success,

even though we know which pie's missing.

It's about knowing that what you're

putting forth is your very best work.

You got this, mama.

[Gonzo] I remade a nice roulade.

Now this time, I didn't let it cool

for a long time, so it's not breaking.

Christina's gonna be proud of this.

It's flexible. Not too cold, not too warm.

[Ashley] The moment of truth.

With the fire hydrant,

so many different steps

really are gonna help

tie this vision together.

All right, I gotta smooth

all these things down.

I'm gonna make chocolate bolts.

Gonna make a chocolate chain.

Then it becomes a long,

arduous process of refining everything.

I have my cylinder on the base.

I'm just adding a bit of texture.

Get this painted,

I'm gonna spray it in cocoa butter,

and everything's really

gonna come to life. I think.

[Maya-Camille] I have

the fig and pancetta pie in the oven.

[Christophe] That's going to be

for the cabbage.

Cinnamon whipped cream, apple filling,

cinnamon streusel, caramel sauce.

This apple pie, it's gonna be so good.

[Ashley] I was thinking the bolts

could be like a Reese's cup

with mint buttercream.

[Gonzo] So this is a Dremel.

And what I'm gonna use this for

is to start adding details

to the outside of this locker.

Bake Squad, we are down

to the final hour. 60 minutes.

[Christophe] Ay-ay-ay.

I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

[Gonzo] I have a boot and axe

out of the blast freezer.

It's time to start spraying the details

and painting and adding all the colors

and textures in there.

In order to make this axe look realistic,

I'm applying first lighter colors,

and then I go to darker colors,

and then other types of browns.

Maya-Camille, you got

your firehouse, my friend.

- Ta-da! Big pies.

- Oh, awesome!

This is beautiful.

[Ashley] Ah, cool!

The locker's where you store

personal effects,

and I've got these of him and his family.

If you could print these on edible paper,

that for me is the thing that takes it

- I'll make it happen.

- Brilliant.

I am putting the broccoli

on top of caramelized onion tarts.

Bake Squad, just 30 minutes.

One half-hour.

I'm never gonna finish!

[upbeat music plays]

[clanging]

What was that? Oh my God.

Oh, my Uh, can I help at all, Christophe?

That was probably one of the most

beautiful vegetables today.

[chuckles] That's all we have.

But you know what? The show goes on.

I still have three cabbages.

They're still good,

and it's going to be a beautiful garden.

[Ashley] Once it gets painted,

I will feel a lot better.

Oh my gosh, that is awesome.

[upbeat music plays]

[Christophe] Ooh-la-la. We're good.

[upbeat music continues]

- [Maya-Camille] I'm about to load this up.

- Oh, that is so cute!

- Bake Squad, one minute to go.

- [Gonzo] Yes, Chef!

- [Christina] Finishing touches.

- [upbeat music plays]

[Ashley] I feel like he needs a collar.

Too many cooks in your kitchen ♪

Too many mouths to feed ♪

"Gardener of the Year."

I thought I was your master chef ♪

- Thirty seconds. Here comes Captain Erik.

- Okay.

- Bake Squad, five seconds to go!

- [Ashley squeals]

Bake Squad, ovens off,

whisks down, time is up.

Well done.

- [Maya-Camille sighs]

- That is amazing. I am blown away.

[Christina] Don't make your decision yet,

because guess what?

- It's my favorite part.

- Tasting.

Tasting! You know it.

- Let's go. Follow me.

- I'm in.

[tense music plays]

- Gonzo.

- Wow.

- How are ya?

- Great.

- Look at this.

- [Christina] This look familiar?

- [Erik] Yeah.

- The name is The Locker.

Basically, everything you see in here

is actually chocolate.

We have boots, an axe.

[Erik] Your talent is incredible.

[Gonzo] And finally the helmet.

[Erik] Ah.

Look at these photos of Kit and Cheryl.

Those photos, they're edible.

They're printed with rice paper,

you can actually eat those.

[Erik chuckles]

So for the fireman's hose,

I have this delicious cake

that is ginger-lemon,

with raspberry

and chocolate ganache filling.

- Look at those layers.

- [Erik] All right.

[Christina] Let's do this.

[tense music plays]

It's so good. Oh, that's delicious.

That ginger undertone is subtle,

but present and very unique.

It's incredible.

Then a sweetness and almost

a bit of an acidity from the raspberry

that's part of the chocolate,

which I love.

The cake is phenomenal.

Gonzo, a freaking triumph.

- Bravo. Well done, my friend.

- Thank you.

- Very impressive.

- Thank you.

[upbeat music plays]

- Christophe.

- Hi, Chef.

- I brought a friend.

- Wow.

Captain Erik, it's a pleasure for me

to present you Gardener of the Year.

Today we know how important it is

for Captain Kit really enjoying gardening.

So today, I wanted

to celebrate his free time,

representing for him an edible garden.

So we have potatoes.

The potatoes is actually marzipan.

- It looks so real.

- [Christophe] We move on to our mushroom.

It's, uh, kind of an inspiration

of peanut butter and jelly.

- Oh, wow.

- The cabbage is, in fact, an apple pie.

[Erik] Oh really? [laughs]

[Christophe] The carrot is a carrot cake.

- [Erik] Brilliant.

- The shell is blown sugar.

- [Erik] That's incredible.

- [Christophe] Everything is edible.

- [Christina] Wanna go in for a carrot?

- Let's do it. I'm going for this one.

Oh, wow, look at that.

This looks so real,

with the little dirt marks within there.

I just grated a carrot this morning.

Looks similar.

[tense music plays]

Mm.

Oh, wow.

It's got a harder outer shell,

a very creamy center.

And it tastes like carrot cake.

[chuckles]

- Very cool.

- Is this blowing your mind?

Wow.

- I want you to hold the cabbage.

- Okay.

[Christina] So you can really appreciate

the outer shell

that he mimicked in cabbage land.

That is really incredible.

Attention to detail

is what's blowing me away about this.

Deconstructed apple pie.

I dig it. That is really good.

It has a bit of tartness inside there.

- That bit of zing, I'll call it.

- [Christina] A zing.

A little lemon zest.

You had 27 different processes

to make this insanely delicious

vegetable garden.

- This is your billion-dollar idea.

- Thank you, Chef.

- [Erik] Beautiful.

- Thank you.

[upbeat music plays]

- [Erik] Wow.

- [Christina sighs]

- Look at this.

- Maya-Camille.

Give us a tour

of all these gorgeous pies and flavors.

[Maya-Camille] I call this Sweet and Heat.

So sweet pies and savory pies.

Each pie has an element of heat.

- I'm glad I skipped lunch.

- [laughs]

So what do you fancy?

- Like, are you a heat guy?

- That fig looks amazing.

[Maya-Camille] Fig and pancetta pie,

with a peppery arugula.

[Erik] Look at that.

That's a pretty beautiful slice of pie,

but hold on.

I have a caramelized onion and broccoli

tart with a blueberry vinaigrette.

- [Erik] I dig it.

- [Christina] Have you ever heard of that?

- [Erik] Negative. Not even close.

- Caramelized Not even close.

- And there's Parmesan cheese on top.

- [Erik] Oh wow.

[Maya-Camille] We have

miso caramel pear pie.

Similar to apple pie,

but the heat comes through in the ginger.

- What do we think I need, Maya-Camille?

- [Maya-Camille] Wasabi yuzu.

So a little bit of citrus

with just a kick of heat.

I bet that's gonna be good too.

- It's go time.

- Yeah!

[Christina] Oh!

Yeah?

The fig pairs super great.

I'm not a connoisseur,

but that's a beautiful flaky crust.

That is so, so good.

This yuzu wasabi

tastes like so many

different citrus fruits.

And then the heat of the wasabi,

it's so gentle.

It's just in the background here.

It's time

for the caramelized onion broccolini.

Mm. It's sweeter on the front

than I would have thought.

Mm-hm.

And that broccoli

does not taste like broccoli.

- Right?

- [Erik] That's really good.

Maya-Camille. An incredible job well done.

[upbeat music plays]

Ash.

- [Erik] Incredible.

- Thank you!

Captain Kit seems

like he shows up for everyone in his life.

Friends, family, community.

I wanted to give him

something of epic proportion,

and something

that just really screams firefighter.

This is Top Dog.

This dalmatian is a green tea cake

with a blackberry jam

and cream cheese buttercream.

Then we have a 100% edible fire hydrant,

all out of chocolate.

You had mentioned Firehouse 69,

that there was a dalmatian there.

- That's where the party's gonna be.

- Right.

I thought maybe bring back some memories

and bring the dalmatian back.

That's incredible. The eyes.

- I mean, the detail! What do you think?

- [Erik] It looks like fur.

It's larger than life. Very impressive.

[Christina] You know

what the worst part is?

- You have to ruin it to eat it?

- Yeah.

I can't watch this part.

[Christina] I'm gonna try and do it just

back here so I don't destroy the beauty.

- Ooh.

- [Christina] Ooh.

- It's gorgeous.

- Oh, wow. He likes green tea. Well done.

I heard you, I caught onto that note.

The, um, green tea is mild but present.

That berry is brought through beautifully.

The acidity of the berry

has a really, really, really nice contrast

without being overpowering.

You know what, Captain Erik?

There's more. Ash?

- Yes?

- Pop it off, my friend.

Inside of here, you had mentioned

how much Captain Kit likes fruit.

So I made these really delicious skewers.

The pineapple is actually infused

with orange juice.

Oh, you're kidding.

We have some roasted sugar grapes

and some rose-scented strawberries.

Have you ever had a roasted grape before?

- No. There's a lot of firsts today.

- You know those boring grapes

[laughter]

Mm. Oh, that is so good.

[Christina] Last surprise of the day,

Captain Erik, is

- All right.

- The fire hydrant.

Go give it a little twist.

- Oh, look at this.

- It's a play on a Reese's cup.

But instead it's filled

with a mint buttercream.

[Christina] You went big in your vision.

You went big in your execution.

An incredible job, well done.

- [Erik] Good job.

- Thank you so much, captain.

[barking]

[upbeat music plays]

Bake Squad, you brought to life

some incredibly delicious visions today.

- All right, Captain Erik, it's time.

- You have made this extremely difficult.

- Can we pick all of them?

- I wish

[Erik] It's a big firehouse.

- Is there a clear front-runner?

- I'd say we're down to two.

So that would be The Locker from Gonzo,

as well as the dalmatian that Ashley made.

Wow. Gonzo's chocolate locker

with the incredible roulade fire hose.

[Erik] Incredible.

The cake in particular was

Was really good.

The flavor that you had there

blew my mind.

It was delicious.

[Christina] And then Ashley's Top Dog.

That dalmatian and the chocolate

fire hydrant filled with fruit.

Amazing. It looked like a sculpture.

The cake wasn't overly sweet.

The green tea was

Was a very unique way to pull that off.

The fire hydrant, what was inside,

the fruit was a fun surprise.

Captain Erik, it's time.

Please tell us which dessert

you are taking to celebrate

Captain Kit's 33 years of service

and Firefighter of the Year award.

[Erik] The desert I'm choosing is

[tense music plays]

- Ashley.

- Really?

- Yeah!

- Get on down here, Ashley!

Good job! Great job!

- Yeah!

- Yeah!

- [Christina] Get a photo.

- [Ashley] Thank you so much.

- [Erik] Great job.

- [Christina] Get over here!

[Erik laughs]

[Christina] Say "Captain Kit."

One, two, three.

Captain Kit!

- You have a big event to get to.

- Yes, we do.

[Christina] Give Captain Kit

our very best.

My friend, you know where this goes.

- You're the best. Thank you.

- Great job.

- Thank you again.

- Yay, Ashley!

- [Erik] Great job.

- Bye.

- Bye.

- [Erik] Thank you.

Good job, Ashley.

- Great job! Yeah, mama!

- You're the best!

[Maya-Camille] Good job, Ashley,

[barking]

[Christophe] Yay!

[Maya-Camille laughs]

We're here at LAFD Fire Station 69.

We're celebrating Captain Tommy Kitahata

for Firefighter of the Year.

We're all a little nervous

and we hope he likes the dessert.

[man] With no further ado,

I'd like to introduce Tommy Kitahata.

[cheering]

[man] For our amazing

Firefighter of the Year,

Chief Jones has got

a little token of appreciation.

Thank you.

I feel humbled that I was nominated

and presented the Firefighter of the Year.

It was so meaningful.

It's taller than me too.

It was a great feeling.

We've been working with the Bake Squad

and wanted to make something

very special for you.

[siren wails]

[crowd] Aww!

Get me on fire ♪

- Awesome.

- [Erik] Looks like a sculpture.

[woman] Yeah. So cool.

To see the look on Kit's face says it all.

Wow. Look at that.

Get me on fire ♪

[man] Not too sweet. It's tasty.

My parents own bakeries.

So sorry, Mom. Sorry, Dad.

I've never been so impressed by a cake.

That is good. You can taste the green tea.

Good matcha flavor.

He loved it. Kudos to the chef.

That's awesome.

It was very, very good.

♪ Get me on fire ♪

Having Bake Squad surprise me

made this even more memorable.

[all] Thank you, Bake Squad!

[upbeat music plays]