“Someone is feeling confident,” Austin said, leaning over to take a deep inhale. “But . . . maybe a bit heavy on that orange, Charlie? A touch bitter on the nose. Guess we’ll see.” He winked into the camera. Cass gritted her teeth but kept her smile intact.

She read her line off the prompter. “Okay, Austin, let’s see what you’ve brought to the table.” Then, ignoring the next line—another weak joke about there being too many cooks in the kitchen and that only one of them could be victorious—she looked into the camera and said, “I sure hope this cake of yours can rise to the challenge.”

“You never have to worry about me—or my cakes—rising to any challenges, Charlie,” Austin replied, his charm on full force for the camera. “So this is my gram’s amaretto and apricot cake. I’ve been making it with her every Christmas since, as she says, I was ‘wet behind the ears.’ ” He bent down to open the oven door, the white bar towel in hand to take out the Bundt pan. “Simple to glaze with amaretto icing and some candied spiced apricots, this will wow any—”

Austin paused. He stared into the oven, confusion crossing his face. His eyebrows knitted together.

Cass tried to catch a glimpse inside the oven, dramatizing her movements for the camera. “Enough with the suspense, Austin. Let’s see your grandmother’s cake.” She smiled wide, covering the moment as Austin continued staring into the oven. Sasha gave Cass a look, and then whispered something to Sydney, who was standing beside her. The assistant shrugged, and Sasha frowned.

“Uh . . . is everything okay, Austin?” Cass asked, keeping her tone light. “Here, let me help.” She quickly slipped on an oven mitt and bent down beside Austin, pulling out the Bundt pan. Then she, and everyone else on set, saw what had rendered the great Austin Nash speechless.

His dessert was pancake flat inside the pan.

“Oh, dear,” Cass said, setting it down onto the workstation beside her glorious, perfectly puffed gingerbread cake. She cringed, extra animated for the camera, and said, “I guess sometimes you do have trouble rising to the occasion?”

Austin stared at his failed cake. Sasha yelled cut, and marched over to the hosts. Just then Austin turned to Cass and hissed, “What did you do, Goodwin?”

“What did Charlie do?” Sasha repeated, then huffed. “She baked a gorgeous-looking cake, and you . . . You baked something that could pass for a ringette ring!”

When Cass and Austin both gave Sasha perplexed looks, she said, “My mom’s Canadian. Ringette’s sort of like hockey, except instead of a puck you pass a rubber ring around the ice.” Then she waved her hands around, as though clearing the air in front of her. “Doesn’t matter. We are short on time and I am short on patience. Ideally we would have two perfect cakes here, but you know what? This is fun.” Austin looked at Sasha in a way that showed he did not think anything about this was “fun.”