It's the quarterfinals, and only half of the original ten bakers are standing to participate in the first ever Spice Week, for which the bakers must be cognizant to make their bakes spice forward but not to make them so muddled in taste by combining too many spices or other flavors. They are heading to India for their signature in each being asked to make ras malai. While they are free to use whatever flavors they like, they must make it noticeably ras malai in using an eggless sponge soaked in milk, and chhena, a simple cheese made by adding an acid to milk, in some form. They are moving to the Caribbean for the technical in each to make a dozen Jamaican patties. They will be using an old-fashioned ingredient which many have probably never used, namely suet, and while they are provided all the spices to be used, they are not provided quantities, the most problematic arguably being Scotch bonnet peppers, a few which go a long way. And for the showstopper, each is to make a structure out of spice cookies, in other words a gingerbread house on steroids. Beyond the spices used, they have to choose cookie types that are sturdy enough to withstand gravity, while not making them too sturdy as to be inedible.
—Huggo