She pulled them out of the oven and put them on the cooling rack. While waiting for the cakes to cool, she piped six chocolate circles and put them in the freezer to harden.

Glancing at the clock, she took a breath.

She rolled out sculpting chocolate into an even quarter-inch thickness, and then cut precise 5’s and 0’s for the toppers to cover in edible gold leaf. The numbers turned out quite elegant. She set them aside by each charger plate to save time when she was doing the final garnish. She piped a swirl around each plate, then cut a cayenne in slices, removing the seeds to make tiny pepper flowers along the design.

The cakes finally cooled to the touch. She topped each one with a perfect swirl of frosting, then tucked a dark chocolate circle into the top of the frosting, followed by a gold leaf 50 in the center of each circle. She set one on the charger plate and stepped back, trying to see it from the judges’ perspective. She could do more, but she didn’t want to overdo it either. The dessert looked elegant as it was.

She finished the other five and plated them. On the show it always seemed as if the contestants were working to the very last second. She went back through the ingredients in her mind. She had incorporated each and every one of them. Everything tasted good, and the plates looked pretty. She was going to have to trust that her practice had paid off and that was why she’d finished a little early.

She washed her hands and tidied her kitchen.

“Contestants. Five minutes.”

Her breakfast tumbled in her gut. To keep her nerves at bay, she concentrated on memorizing everything in the refrigerator and where things were in the pantry. Any time she could save would give her an advantage in the next round.

It was the longest five minutes she’d ever experienced.

“One minute.”

She stood in front of her finished product, praying they were enough.

“Time’s up. Please step away from your counters.”

She raised her hands and stepped back.

The LIVE light went red, and she grabbed her bottle of water and took a long sip.

The desserts had turned out exactly as she’d hoped. Now it was up to the judges.

A woman wearing a white chef’s coat came in with a metal cart and asked Kelly to place all six of her plated desserts on the cart, then left the room with them.

Kelly ran a shaking hand through her hair.

Brenda came running into the room. “You did great. You seemed so relaxed.”

“I wasn’t! I got done so early. It kind of freaked me out.”

“You did fine. Don’t worry. I watched for each of the ingredients. You got them all. I bet they taste amazing.”

“I feel good about this round. I just wonder what everyone else did.”