Comments from the judges ( Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, and Joe Bastianich)

Richie: "So this was a nod to my grandmother. She used to make home cakes with no leavening. They were meant to be placed underneath the sauce, and then the sauce would soak it up. I made spicy home cakes with an apple compote on top with a tarragon whipped cream on the side."

Judges

"Apples look like a bit of an afterthought. Are there apples included in the batter as well?"

Richie: "No. So I wanted the apples to sit on top."

"So there's an issue, I think, with the ratio of how you weighed out those ingredients and the recipe doesn't seem like it's on point. The actual apples caramelized? Yeah. That's the kind of thing I'd love to see inside those home cakes. So it's missed the mark."

"We kept talking about the sauce being soaked into them. You need a bowl of that stuff to make these have moisture. The cream is the only saving grace on this whole dish, and it has nothing to do with apples."

"Just to give you an idea, these things have, like, the density and the weight of a rock. It's a fossil. Cupcakes, home cakes. Calling what you want. They're no good."