History Series / SweetGenius

** A season 3 episode had a cute clown girl as inspiration, and of course, one of the chefs was terrified of clowns.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: A season 3 episode had a velociraptor as inspiration for the third round.

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** Too much blue food coloring. Chef Ron has stated that as there are no natural blue foods in existance, blue is just plain artificial, and too much blue food coloring can taste metallic.

** During the chocolate round in a season 1 episode, one of the mandatory ingredients ends up being peking duck. One of the competitors is thrilled, as she enjoys using savory ingredients, and proceeds to make a tart using the peking duck, a dough she prepared, and a bit of chocolate ganache inside. And as Chef Ron tastes it, she pretty much admits that her tart is meant to be an appetizer or entree and not a dessert. Ron declares the tart to be delicious and innovative, but by the chef's own admission, it was not a dessert, which is what should be served in a competition that focuses on desserts. Needless to say, she lost that episode.

* EverythingsBetterWithChocolate: The final round is chocolate for every episode in season 1. The first round for season 2.

* TookALevelInKindness: In season 1, Chef Ron wasn't exactly a jerk, but he was very serious, strict and down-to-business. Starting with season 2, he's become more relaxed, more detailed with his judging, and is clearly having a lot of fun and enjoying himself, also wanting the chefs to enjoy the experience and have fun too.

* GenreSavvy: Season 3 contestant, Ami Dand, had notes of specific measurements for confections on all rounds, a wise choice due to baking needing exact and precise measurements to come out right.
** A few times you can see chefs bringing note paper to plan their creations and make sure they don't skip steps. One in the first season lent some blank paper to another chef to pipe icing with.

* [[OutsideContextVillain Outside Context Ingredient]]: Many a contestant is tripped up by a mandatory ingredient or inspiration that is simply so far outside their experience, expertise, and/or culture that they have ''no clue'' what it is or how to work with it.

* OneNoteChef: In the first season, Chef Ron was not amused if a chef baked chocolate cake for both the Baked and Chocolate rounds, even if they did different styles of chocolate cake.

*** Slightly averted with a chef being unable to plate a mandatory ingredient. While this is a serious offense, Ron will allow them to go through to the next round if their flavors and creativity manage to surpass at least one of the other competitors' efforts.

* BerserkButton: Chef Ron has some dislikes and pet peeves that contestants in future seasons should take into account.

** Slightly averted with a chef being unable to plate a mandatory ingredient. While this is a serious offense, Ron will allow them to go through to the next round if their flavors and creativity manage to surpass at least one of the other competitors' efforts.

** One chef in the first season made a microwave-baked cake for the Baked round. [[{{Understatement}} Chef Ron was]] ''[[{{Understatement}} not]]'' [[{{Understatement}} happy]]. Especially since it was underdone in the middle.

''Sweet Genius'' is a competition show on Creator/FoodNetwork, in the style of ''Series/IronChef'' and ''{{Chopped}}''. Master pastry chef Ron Ben-Israel, an internationally recognized expert on pastries, is the host who presents a challenge to four dessert chefs. The competing chefs get three rounds -- Frozen, Baked and Chocolate (for season 1) or Chocolate, Candy, and Cake (from season 2 on) -- to wow Ben-Israel and show they are truly sweet geniuses. To make the challenge more difficult, they are also presented with a "bewildering" inspiration and two to three unusual mandatory ingredients. The first mandatory ingredient and the inspiration come just before the round starts, ''{{Chopped}}''-style. The 2nd (and 3rd in early seasons) ingredients are then introduced one at a time throughout the prep, forcing the chefs to adjust their dessert on the fly. If they win, they receive Chef Ron's recognition as a sweet genius and $10,000. If they fail... well, they are no sweet genius.

* EpicFail: Some contestants tend to fall into this, whether it be because their confections did not cook/bake/froze properly, time got away from them, or just for sheer stupidity.

* EverythingsBetterWithChocolate: The final round is chocolate for every episode in season 1. The first round for season 2.