The contestants entered the kitchen...via Floo Powder
Well, why ever not? Yes, naturally, when it came to making an entrance in the kitchen, the bakers entered via Floo Powder, through a fireplace underneath the famous Fat Lady portrait. We wish we could dramatically enter our kitchens in such a manner - or indeed any rooms, ever.
Absolutely everyone was starstruck to meet the Phelps twins!
Once the bakers had popped out of the fireplace, they immediately found themselves face-to-face with our esteemed hosts: James and Oliver Phelps! Scream! (In fact, many of them did.) Yes, our beloved Weasley twins are back at Warner Bros. Studio Tours London to lend their twinning energy to our teams. How excited were the contestants to meet our Harry Potter stars out of ten? Well, nine and a half, obviously.
The bakes were inevitably very magical
From a cake that literally pumped out Hogwarts letters, to moving, edible spiders outside the Whomping Willow, our professionals did not disappoint when it came to magical baking.
A beautiful depiction of the Mirror of Erised was especially powerful, while a colourful homage to Miss Luna Lovegood went down to every quirky detail - such as her snazzy Spectrespecs.
We had Hufflepuff representation with a delicious badger themed dessert, while the star of the episode was the Whomping Willow showpiece, complete with actual, moving, edible spiders - which were actually bon bons!
Other cake-masterpieces included the magnificent 'Power of Patronus' showstopper, detailed with almond cake lilies, while the Potions Cabinet-themed cake (complete with lemon curd bottles!) impressed our judges Carla and Josef. And might've even impressed a certain Professor Snape.
And a Slytherin shoutout to this snake-inspired delight... is it us, or is that snake giving us side-eye?
Miko suffered the classic baking faux pas...
It was bound to be someone!
Yes, in our very first episode, someone forgot to turn on their oven. A (baking) tale as old as time. On this occasion, poor Miko was the victim. We blame Muggle technology, quite frankly.
And we had to say goodbye to some of the teams!
Accio tissues, please! Just as we were getting to know all the teams, Josef and Carla had the difficult task of having to say goodbye to a couple before the next episode. Equipped with tickets for the next round and an invite to go on Warner Bros. Studio Tour London's Hogwarts Express, many of our bakers were delighted to get the nod. However, a couple of teams missed out by a hair.
We won't spoil it here for you who goes home, but suffice to say, tears were shed - but wizarding world friendships were made forever.
In the words of a young Harry himself, 'I'm not going home, not really.' Blub!
Spell-binding new competition series Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking to launch exclusively on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland on 17th December.
The show is out now to Max and Food Network.
