In the Jill and Jessa: Counting On episode “Love and Loss,” Jessa, Lauren, Kendra and Jana pair off with some of the little kids and go head-to-head to create possible groom’s cakes for John and Abbie’s wedding. The cake must be gluten-free and sugar-free (both ingredients upset Abbie’s stomach.) Jessa has never baked a cake before so she went with the first recipe she could find that was gluten-free and sugar-free. She doesn’t have a mixer or a sifter and the baking powder she finds in the cupboard is almost three years old.
Even the Counting On producer was surprised to learn that Jessa never baked a cake. She explains that cake wasn’t a big thing in her big family. Ice cream was the standard choice for birthday dessert. The producer interviews the other Duggar kids and it’s unanimous: Jana is the best cook in the family, Joy is the worst cook. So it’s really no surprise when at the cake taste test, John and Abbie pick Jana’s cake. However, Jessa doesn’t walk away without recognition. Her banana caka won “Best Design” — there was a toy plane on the top of the cake (John is a pilot and proposed to Abbie in a hangar.) But as Jessa sums up: “You never want to be that person who’s pretty on the outside but rotten on the inside, and that’s what we were.” Jill and Jessa: Counting On airs Mondays at 9 pm on TLC.
