Food Network's 'Holiday Baking Championship' Boasts a Sweet Cash Prize

Season 8 of Food Network's 'Holiday Baking Championship' is here. A dozen bakers will flaunt their talents in hopes of successful a tremendous sweet cash prize.

Bianca Piazza - Author

The nights meet us quicker, the air gets increasingly crisper — we are approaching that time of year. It's the time of 12 months when holiday treats and confections name our names, each cookie, sprinkle, and chocolate chip taunting us, hoping to seduce our gluttony. Food Network very much amplifies this with displays like Christmas Cookie Challenge and Holiday Baking Championship. While both are Food Network classics, the latter has graced our TV screens for longer, this upcoming season being the display's eighth.

Article continues beneath commercial

Hosted by former NFL superstar (and soon-to-be Bachelor host) Jesse Palmer, Holiday Baking Championship is an annual competition truth program that sees a staff of bakers, chefs, chocolatiers, and extra compete in holiday-themed "pre-heat" and "main heat" challenges.

Airing every November thru December, contestants put their blood, sweat, and tears into their creations (not actually) all in hopes of being crowned the new Holiday Baking Champion, in addition to successful a tremendous sweet grand prize. Unbuckle your belts, other people — you're in for a actual treat.

Article continues beneath advertisement

What is the 'Holiday Baking Championship' grand prize?

Season Eight will see 12 diversely skilled contestants flaunt their stuff, in addition to their stuffing, to win $25,000. Showcasing a wide variety of existence reviews, each and every contestant has a distinctive purpose for the prize cash. With over 30 years of revel in as a pastry chef, contestant Marilyn Santos McNabb, as an example, hopes to put the prize money towards her retirement.

Article continues under advertisement

What are the "pre-heat" and "main heat" challenges?

Each episode features the "pre-heat" and "main heat" rounds. The pre-heat round regularly involves a much less taxing problem, something that may be completed in a shorter period of time. The winner of that first round, aka the one who "takes the cake," will probably be awarded a special advantage going into the bigger, badder main heat round. Each introduction is judged on 3 facets: look, theme interpretation, and style (duh).

Article continues under commercial

In Season 8, Episode 1, titled "Falling into Winter," the pre-heat round would require the contestants to make each fall and wintry weather doughnuts. The major heat will process the bakers with combining "holiday cheese board staples in creative apple and cheese desserts." The premiere episode will probably be a doozy, as the judges — Farmhouse Rules' Nancy Fuller, Ace of Cakes' Duff Goldman, and The Chew's Carla Hall — prepare to send two bakers packing. The sequence cheekily sees its eliminated bakers off by sending them "home for the holidays."

Article continues underneath advertisement

Season 7 noticed Champaign, Ill., resident Julianna Jung earn herself the identify of Holiday Baking Champion and a whopping $25,000, which was specifically spectacular taking into consideration she used to be the only home baker of the season. With precision and grace, she rose to each and every challenge, sending home 11 professional bakers and cooks along the best way. “If you’re working in a bakery or a restaurant, it's a must to bake the similar issues at all times, while I’m a home baker,” she told The News-Gazette.

“I get to bake whatever I want. So I have a little little bit of a selection, and possibly that gave me a bonus," Julianna continued, clearly humble. She went on to explain that the judges take much longer to analyze and taste each treat than the minuscule portion of time shown to viewers watching from their lumpy living room couches. “It’s not just food, it’s also a form of art," Julianna stated.

Article continues beneath advertisement

Season 8 contestants better have their spatulas, rolling pins, and whisks able because holiday time has officially arrived. Cookie-cutter recipes just may not lower it.

Season Eight of Holiday Baking Championship premieres Monday, Nov. 1, 2021, at 8 p.m. EST on Food Network.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfnbyttcOasGaakaC2r7OMnJ%2BapaCevK%2B%2Fx6KnZqiinsem