- Hi, I'm Mia, I'm seven.
Today, two chefs compete to make my dream dish.
(dramatic music)
- [Marcus] Hi, how are you?
- [Alexis] Hi Mia.
- Good.
- I'm Alexis.
- I'm Marcus.
High five.
(Marcus yells) (Alexis laughs)
Hey everybody, my name is chef Marcus Samuelsson
from Red Rooster in Harlem.
- He is the top of the line, best of the best.
Honestly, I'm just excited to cook next to him.
Mia, do you like mermaids?
- Yes.
- So cool.
- So, we have a big question.
If you were a mermaid, what kind of cake would you want?
- Vanilla.
- [Alexis] Can you draw it for us?
- [Mia] I am right now.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Are there shells, are there berries?
- Not berries.
- Not berries. - Not scary berries.
- No scary berries.
Do you like strawberries?
- Yeah.
- What about pineapples?
- Not pineapple.
- Do you like raspberries?
- It can have, of course, raspberries.
(Marcus laughs) - I feel the same way.
The flavors that Mia has talked about, vanilla and fruit,
are also the flavors that I like.
So, I feel pretty good about this.
- [Marcus] What color would the decoration have?
- [Mia] Blue.
- [Alexis] Blue.
- Why did you choose blue for your cake?
- 'Cause it has lots of blueberries.
- 'Cause you like blueberries?
- Yeah.
- And also, what was the theme?
- Easy cakes.
(Cara laughs)
- Should we help you draw this in with this blue?
- [Mia] Right here.
- What would you like us to draw here?
- Vanilla.
- [Mia] Cake with candles.
- I guess the show is now, we draw, we cook?
I don't hate it.
- Hey man, I haven't be in drawing class for a long time,
so that was fun.
- [Mia] Six layers.
- [Marcus And Alexis] Six layers.
- [Marcus] I only got, I got four.
- Two, three four. - So, I got work to do.
- You need seven.
- Oh seven. - Seven.
- I don't think I have room for seven.
- How many candles do you want on it?
- 20.
- 20, I got you.
She asked for 20 candles, six or seven layers.
I'm gonna give her some sparkles and candles,
not focusing on how many?
- I'll cry.
- Oh don't cry, nothing to cry about.
- I love you, Mom.
- I love you too.
- Do you want anything that is not blue on this cake?
- Pink.
- You want pink?
- With some poop.
(Alexis laughs) - That's definitely
interesting.
- Everything up until this point
has been really kid friendly, really doable,
and then Mia said she wanted poop.
- I'm gonna focus on the pink.
I'm gonna let Alexis focus on the poop.
- [Alexis] I feel like this is super helpful
and I think we can make you something great.
- A Barbie.
- Maybe not a Barbie.
(Marcus laughs)
- We're gonna go and cook,
we're gonna make you this fabulous mermaid cake
and you keep drawing, okay?
- Okay.
- All right. - Okay, see you soon.
- See if I can get out of here.
- [Alexis] Whew.
(upbeat music)
- So, here's my plan.
I'm starting with a sand ocean,
strawberries, popcorn, seaweed.
Then you go to the next thing, which is,
the chocolate pancake, two ice creams,
whipped cream and then the stardust that rains on top of it.
And on top of that, you have the burst element,
which is two different types of candles and sparklers.
All of it, shooka, shooka, shooka!
There you have it.
- So, here's the game plan.
I'm gonna make a crepe cake and dye it blue,
so every layer will be blue.
I'm gonna dye whipped cream also a pale blue
to put that in between.
And then I'm gonna top it all with berries.
It'll be pretty simple,
but I think it'll hit all the flavors that Mia wants.
(upbeat music)
I look very boring right now, but you've this amazing apron.
What's the story?
- Yeah, this is a beautiful charity that I love,
Alex's Lemonade Stand,
that supports and help young children with cancer.
- That's incredible.
It's beautiful, great cause.
Let's get cooking.
- All right.
I want to add lots of color to my dessert,
and raspberries, strawberries, a little bit of blueberries,
can be a fun way to just add color, but also a good texture.
- [Alexis] Totally.
- So, in here is vanilla bean.
I just added in a little bit of cream
and coconut flakes and coconut milk.
I'm gonna put some more chocolate into it later on.
Nutella.
- Nutella is like the way to kids' hearts.
- Right. - That was good.
I'm just making my crepe batter, which is just flour, sugar,
eggs, milk, and butter.
So, my crepe batter is done, it's really smooth,
and I'm going to dye it blue.
I grew up eating crepes.
It's one of my favorite things to eat on a Sunday morning.
So, this dish, I mean, I love it.
I probably wouldn't dye it blue, but it's okay.
- Where do mermaids live?
- At sea.
- In the sea?
- Yeah.
- Have you ever seen one?
- No.
- Would you like to see one?
- Yeah.
- [Marcus] We have our beach
and the bottom of the ocean right here.
And I kinda like it.
- It looks amazing!
- It has like these little rocks.
- [Alexis] Oh my gosh, she's gonna love it.
- Well, we don't know that.
- I mean, I love it.
Marcus has all these different elements,
and all these flavors going on,
and I'm just making crepes.
You want a batter that's pretty loose, but not too liquidy.
You can see that the edge starts to cook,
and that's kind of your cue to when to flip it.
This is all I'm gonna be doing, I'm so sorry.
- So, what's gonna be in this pancake is
butter and chocolate.
Then a little bit of flour, some eggs, and egg white.
This is gonna be done
when you can basically turn it upside down.
- Marcus was definitely showing off a little
by whipping egg whites by hand,
but honestly, I don't blame him.
- I'm old school.
My grandmother is the one who taught me how to cook,
and I like to whip things by hand,
especially when you're making desserts.
It's so important with texture.
And I've never cooked in this kitchen,
so I want to have total control over it.
I haven't cooked on electric for a minute, so this is good.
(Marcus and Alexis laughing)
Okay, you're gonna be the taster.
- Thank you.
(Alexis gasps)
Marcus gives me a bite of his pancake,
and then I promptly dropped it.
I'm gonna deal with this, I'll be back.
I just had to get a new pan after my pancake mishap.
Just let that heat up.
Marcus whipped his egg whites by hand.
I'm making whipped cream with a mixer.
- [Marcus] Much faster.
- [Alexis] Much faster.
- Would you ever want to be a mermaid?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
What would be the best part of being a mermaid?
- The tail.
- You're already a fish 'cause you like to swim.
- Yeah.
- Can you imagine if you had a tail
that made you swim even faster?
- Yeah.
- The deal with this plate is to create a beach,
but the pebbles here are strawberries, popcorn, seaweed.
And the sugar is gonna represent the sand.
And you know, how you feel when you come up
and you have sand in between your toes.
Sometimes you like it and sometimes you don't.
- (laughs) It's far more creative than mine.
Just blue.
- I was pretty set on my idea
that I wanted to build a sandy, really big rocky ocean.
I was just more worried if I could do a good enough job
so Mia would understand it.
I don't know if she'll get it, but I had fun making it.
And it was good.
- Okay, I'm finally done.
24 crepes in here.
I'm putting layers of this blue whipped cream
between the crepes and just keep stacking up.
You want to try to make sure that the whipped cream is even,
so the cake isn't lopsided,
but I find it to be kind of sooping.
Just keep goin'.
- What color would your tail be?
- Green.
- No other colors? - With some blue in it.
And some glitter.
- Oh, definitely glitter.
- But not too glittery.
- Yeah, not too glittery.
- So, I added two types of food coloring for the top layer.
So, it looks like a little marbled, if you get up close.
Or like waves.
(laughs) This looks fully like a Smurf cake.
- Right now I'm nervous if Mia is really gonna like my sauce
because it's tart and it's sour.
The strawberries are not very sweet either.
I have serious doubts here.
(Marcus laughing)
- I mean, it's really good, but.
- It's a tough one.
It worked kinda more as my glue, but I liked it.
And that is important too.
- [Alexis] Ooh, that might help it.
- [Marcus] And we don't know.
(Marcus and Alexis Laughing)
- Mia said, she really likes fruit, so I'm just gonna do
a really, really simple fruit decoration on top,
which hopefully, she'll really like.
The berries actually looked like a wave,
and then I felt like, oh this could actually be really good.
I also have basil, it's not like seaweed,
but maybe it'll be reminiscent of seaweed.
Just to make it a tiny bit prettier.
Okay, I'm gonna step away.
I think it's done.
- Plating is always nerve-racking,
and it's a lot of moving parts.
I wanted to build this hilly beach,
and then the dry ice gotta work,
and then the sparklers gotta work.
So, I'm kinda nervous if I'm gonna get this together.
Is it all just gonna fall down?
'Cause all these part needs to work,
otherwise you don't get the dramatic effect.
- Let's see what Mia thinks, yeah?
- I'm kinda nervous.
- Me too.
- All right, wish me luck.
- Oh, me too.
("La donna e mobile")
My crepe cake is really simple,
but it hits all the notes she wanted.
Vanilla, berries, that's pretty much it.
So hopefully, she likes this simple interpretation
of her mermaid cake.
- All I kept thinking about
was that moment when I'm gonna present the dessert for Mia,
and she would be like,
Yes, I'm at the candy store!
I'm at a circus, and it's fun!
If you don't go, with those eyes, I failed, basically.
- Look at that!
- Yeah.
- What do you think of that?
- It's good, Mom.
- Is that what you pictured in your head
when you drew that picture?
- Yeah.
- Are you gonna blow out the candles?
What's your wish?
- It's a Barbie.
- A Barbie, okay, one, two, three, go.
Yay!
How fun, it's like a birthday cake.
- What's this?
- I don't know.
- Well, try it.
- [Cara] Mm!
- Mm, yummy!
- Is it good?
- Yeah.
- You love it?
This looks like sand, doesn't it?
What does it taste like?
- It tastes like mermaid.
- You have to try the strawberry, it's so delicious.
- Mm, it is really good.
- It's really good.
What part do you like the best?
- The top.
- The top part?
- Yeah.
Can I have a napkin?
- Do you like it?
- Yeah.
- [Cara] So, what are your thoughts about this dessert?
- It's yummy.
- [Cara] Okay.
You're living your best life right now?
- Yeah.
- [Cara] Yeah.
- I'm happy that Mia loved it, and it was fun to make.
- Oh my goodness, that's beautiful.
- Blueberries!
- [Cara] Those are your favorite.
- Yeah.
I'm excited. - Looks so good.
Okay.
How is it?
Delicious? - Yeah.
- Can I try this off your, no?
(Cara laughs)
Okay.
I didn't want to ruin the pretty cake.
It's so creamy.
- [Mia] Mm, mm, mm.
- What do you think?
- It's yummy, yes.
Should I have a blackberry?
- Of course.
- Oh, it has cream.
It's yummy.
- It's so good, huh?
- Yeah.
- One last bite?
- No, thanks mom.
You have it.
- Okay.
(upbeat music)
- Mia really likes both desserts.
I genuinely don't know who she's gonna choose,
but the fact that she liked the cake in the first place,
it just makes me so happy.
(cheerful music)
Okay, Mia, we have a big question for you.
Out of both of the cakes, which one did you like better?
- The sandy one.
- [Marcus And Alexis] The sandy one.
- Marcus made that one.
- That's good.
Congratulations.
- Thank you very much.
Yay!
This is going straight up on the wall in the restaurant
right next to the Beard Award.
I like it, it makes me really happy.
- I feel like the happiest loser ever.
I made Mia happy, that's a win in my book.
- Yay! - You know what
I have for you?
- No.
- Because you like my apron.
- [Mia] It's lemons.
- Yeah, I'm gonna give that to you.
So, when you, I know it's big, but when you cook at home,
you can have that, that's yours.
- Thanks.
- Thank you so much.
It was so much fun hanging with you and cooking with you.
- Thanks Mia, can I get a high five too?
Yeah.
- Anytime you can cook for a child and make a child happy,
you should do it.
(jazzy upbeat music)
(camera clicks)