The Spring Baking Championship Final is here: Whose cuisine will reign supreme?

 

This Sunday marks the final competition in Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship. The last three contestants standing are all well-worthy of the win. Simone’s send-off last week was quite a shock; she’s been one of the most consistent chefs in the competition, as well as one of the most consistently professional. And she’d been coming on strong over the past few weeks, taking criticism in stride and incorporating it into her concoctions with ever-more vigor. When the judges told her “Bake from your heart,” she started adhering to the cookbook a little less, and won praise for the results.

But she came up short in the preliminary heat with a pie that Nancy and Lorriane thought was too much of a mess, and her last-minute blue candy melt improvisation didn’t turn out at all. Nor did the judges care for the texture of her cake. She was a fan favorite, but Simone found herself the semi-final victim in perhaps the most shocking elimination of the entire Spring Baking Championship run. Again, though, she took everything in stride–her concluding words were “I learned that it’s OK to take really ridiculous risks.” And she called her time on the show an “adventure.”

 

 

Of the three Spring Baking Championship finalists, Dwayne seems to have the edge where design and execution are concerned. He and Simone were the two best-prepared, most professional chefs in the competition; now that Simone has been eliminated, those aspects of baking are Dwayne’s to show off. He’s never done poorly in any of the preliminary or elimination challenges, and came in a strong second last week: just behind Andy, who notched his first overall win.

 

 

Andy’s very hard on himself, which could be a mark against him going into the final round. Week after week, he had harsh words for himself when he didn’t win any of the challenges, though he’s also often one of the chefs the judges single out for praise before an elimination. He’s won fans’ hearts with anecdotes of life at home among his wife and their four children, and has even teared up when dedicating the occasional dish to one or all of them. He got his first win last week–an impressive victory, too, considering the quality of Dwayne’s baking. Can he take enough confidence from the win to make it a repeat this week?

 

 

Damiano has come on strongest when it matters the most. He began the Spring Baking Championship with seemingly little idea of what to do; many of the early challenges featured a shot of Damiano saying words to the effect of “I’ve never had to bake this before” or “I’ve never cooked with this ingredient before.” But his willingness to experiment won him enough praise to get through the early rounds, and he’s clearly Nancy’s favorite contestant (the fact that he has so much fun flirting with her doesn’t hurt). Plus, he brings authentic Italian baking knowledge to the kitchen, something he’s used with great vigor and to great effect as the weeks have passed.

So: Three remaining contestants, but one $50,000 prize. Who’s going to win it? Whose cuisine will reign supreme?

The Spring Baking Championship finale airs on Sunday, May 31, at 9 PM EST.

 

(Photo credits: Food Network)