S01E02: Meet the Competition

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

A second group of bakers is challenged to scour the kitchen for clues and ingredients to figure out what has been baked.

 

[DanaK]

Man, that Italian heritage guy was so completely wrong both times. Good call to send that team home. I could never figure that stuff out though

[mertensia]

Love that Natasha suggested cannoli and Anthony shut it down and then was all "well, how were we supposed to know?" Even the pie ladies knew!! And then they missed chocolate, kirsch and meringue.

[DanaK]

41 minutes ago, mertensia said:

Love that Natasha suggested cannoli and Anthony shut it down and then was all "well, how were we supposed to know?" Even the pie ladies knew!! And then they missed chocolate, kirsch and meringue.

Even worse, they didn’t figure out that some clues were red herrings

[The Crazed Spruce]

27 minutes ago, DanaK said:

Even worse, they didn’t figure out that some clues were red herrings

In their defence, they probably didn't realize they should be looking out for red herrings. Of course, from here on out, there's no excuse.

[DanaK]

7 hours ago, The Crazed Spruce said:

In their defence, they probably didn't realize they should be looking out for red herrings. Of course, from here on out, there's no excuse.

The other contestants in the same group figured it out. These two, especially the guy, were just obtuse. They were the only ones to make donuts

[radiochik]

9 hours ago, mertensia said:

Love that Natasha suggested cannoli and Anthony shut it down and then was all "well, how were we supposed to know?" Even the pie ladies knew!! And then they missed chocolate, kirsch and meringue.

I wanted her to give him at least one "I told you so" after all that.  It wasn't like she said cannoli once.  She said it multiple times and each time he was certain it wasn't. 

[OoogleEyes]

I shouldn't continue to be amazed by the confidence of a mediocre white guy, yet here I am. 

"Who is Curtis Stone?" HA!

I love black forest cake, and I kind of love this show!

 

[bad things are bad]

Anthony definitely did that man thing, which my husband does a LOT. Confidently state something so you think he's absolutely right because he knows what he's talking about. No chance that he's wrong! Except, well...

[tinkerbell]

I like this show so far.   It seems this week, the judges were giving them clues to stay on the task - don't add cardamom, espresso powder, unless there's a clue that those ingredients were used.  The team that made donuts, somehow the guy was not only confident that the clues pointed to donuts, he also expressed confident in the specific 4 different donut flavors.  Some of these people, it seems, wanted to be on America's Best Bakers, and are missing what the show is about.   They're bouncing around the kitchen, not knowing what they're supposed to be making, and just "let's make yellow cake! oh, cocoa powder!  We'll sprinkle that on top!"  

I like that there are random ingredients and utensils aimed at throwing them off . they need to look, not at the ingredients that are IN the kitchen, but figure out what was USED.  very clever.  

[tennisgurl]

The mystery really does add to the drama, you could make an awesome cake but if its the wrong one you could still be in big trouble. 

I knew right away who was leaving, dude really should have listened to his wife. To be fair, they didn't know there would be misdirects, but on the other hand, she totally called it and he just blew her off, plus the other teams caught it. 

"Thank you for your vague and unhelpful clue." I continue to really like this show and Joel as host, he fits this shows vibe really well. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

When I saw the ads for this show, I thought it sounded ridiculous.   However, I really enjoyed watching the teams trying to figure out the dishes, and then replicate it.    I think the right team went home, and I would have been disappointed if the decision would have been for anyone one else to go instead.     I don't understand why people who don't want to be part of a team, but just push their opinions on the other teammate come on a team show.  

[Whimsy]

13 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

When I saw the ads for this show, I thought it sounded ridiculous.   However, I really enjoyed watching the teams trying to figure out the dishes, and then replicate it.    I think the right team went home, and I would have been disappointed if the decision would have been for anyone one else to go instead.     I don't understand why people who don't want to be part of a team, but just push their opinions on the other teammate come on a team show.  

I'm glad that team went home because the guy just thought he knew it all- and didn't.  However, I also would've been ok with the mother/daughter team that was in 2nd to last.  They seemed to know next to NOTHING about most desserts...  

[Lisapooh]

Another fun episode! I am still super psyched to try and figure it out and see how these folks analyze the clues. 
 

I would not have gotten cannoli (didn’t know about the Marsala) but all those clues make total sense. I honestly don’t know what I would have made. Probably a filled donut dipped in chocolate? 

I did guess Black Forest. Kirsch/cherry was a no brainer. The coconut did make me think German chocolate at first but it wasn’t open so Black Forest won out. 

I don’t think red velvet was a horrible guess, but there would have been red food coloring as a clue and it’s cream cheese frosting, right? I’ve made red velvet but it’s not my favorite.

tres leches is one of my favorite cakes but buttermilk isn’t one of the milks and there was no evaporated milk and it has to sit and absorb all the liquid so two hours isn’t long enough. 
 

that chain-smoking lady makes me happy. She’s so funny! The eliminated couple made a hodgepodge of three different cakes and none of them had chocolate? Come on. 

[Chyromaniac]

On 6/4/2021 at 10:15 PM, Lisapooh said:

The coconut did make me think German chocolate at first but it wasn’t open so Black Forest won out.

I loved that both of the unopened ingredients (coconut and sweetened condensed milk) were basically saying, don’t make “Germans Chocolate” Cake- make the “German” chocolate cake.  I like both, but only Schwartzwalder Kirschtorte is actually from Germany- the other is, iirc, Southern, and the name refers to the chocolate brand used in the original published  recipe.  This episode also made me miss the Austrian bakery/cafe that used to be in my town, which had an excellent Black Forest cake - Ich erinnere mich gerne an Sie, Strudl Haus.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Chyromaniac
Corrected the Germans cake origin

[Maverick]

 German Chocolate Cake was invented by a woman in New England.  She submitted the recipe for a contest and since her last name was German, she titled it "German's Chocolate Cake".   The "'s" was lost somewhere in translation and this the misconception it was an invention of Germany was born.  

 The guy who got booted was about as good a detective as Inspector Gadget.  But I was equally appalled by the team that thought it was ok to serve raw eggs.  How does someone with such a dangerous lack of knowledge make the cut for a baking show?  

[tinkerbell]

FANSIDED summary

This site gave a pretty good breakdown of what the clues were and which team did what.  

[Chyromaniac]

21 hours ago, Maverick said:

 German Chocolate Cake was invented by a woman in New England.  She submitted the recipe for a contest and since her last name was German, she titled it "German's Chocolate Cake".   The "'s" was lost somewhere in translation and this the misconception it was an invention of Germany was born.    

This is the info I was referencing.  Yes, it’s Wikipedia- but it squares with what I’ve heard anecdotally in other settings.  If there’s something else to the story, I was not not aware of it.

”On June 3, 1957, a recipe for "German's Chocolate Cake" appeared as the "Recipe of the Day" in The Dallas Morning News.[3] It was created by Mrs. George Clay, a homemaker from 3831 Academy Drive, Dallas, Texas.[3]This recipe used the baking chocolate introduced 105 years prior and became quite popular.”

[Maverick]

 I missed a connecting piece in the story.  The chocolate was invented by someone named German.   The housewife then came up with the recipe using that chocolate and called it German's Chocolate Cake.  Still named after a person and not a country, I just had the wrong person  :)

[Ilovepie]

On 6/4/2021 at 7:01 AM, Whimsy said:

I'm glad that team went home because the guy just thought he knew it all- and didn't.  However, I also would've been ok with the mother/daughter team that was in 2nd to last.  They seemed to know next to NOTHING about most desserts...  

This. I couldn't believe what a cocky know-it-all that guy was. What an idiot. And the mother/daughter team will be next to go. After they came back from investigating, it was like they hadn't even spent a minute in there. What were they doing while they were supposed to be looking for clues?

I am not a baker so hats off to these people. I think this is harder than it looks. I was stumped by the buttermilk. I thought red velvet too, but then the whipped cream frosting made no sense.

I still can't figure out why people try to make their own twist on the dessert when there are clues that say otherwise. The team that got the mushroom clue but then didn't color them red? I hope these people realize sooner rather than later that the point is to recreate the dessert the judges made as close as possible to the original, not one-up it.

And I can't believe an incorrect hummingbird cake two weeks in a row! That is the cake of doom!

[chitowngirl]

Some week it really WILL be a hummingbird cake! 😆

[The Crazed Spruce]

27 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Some week it really WILL be a hummingbird cake! 😆

Betcha that'll be the showpiece for the season finale, and nobody gets it.

[cmahorror]

Hummingbird cake is the lupus of Crime Scene Kitchen.

[blackwing]

Discussion about German Chocolate Cake made me realise how long it's been since I've had it... now I have a craving!

I've never heard of Hummingbird Cake but interesting that two teams failed with it two weeks in a row.

[CheshireCat]

Catching up on the episodes... Uh, I don't think I'd call that Black Forest cake. Rather, chocolate cake with Kirsch or chocolate cake based on Black Forest cake. The bakers who made the Black Forest cake but didn't win made a cake that looked most like a Black Forest cake but some of the ingredients just aren't part of a Black Forest cake and it only has four layers if you count the pastry layer at the bottom. So, that was certainly a very free interpretation of Black Forest cake.

That said, I think the right team went home. I felt sorry for the woman but I guess, she and the guy decided to do the competition together, so, I would assume she knew what she was getting into?!

The mother-daughter team is weird.

I still wish they'd show the detecting differently. I just find it hard to follow that way. I realize that they can't show all the teams but it's too much editing for my taste. It goes by too quickly and I can't really take things in.

[AZChristian]

On 6/3/2021 at 5:54 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

When I saw the ads for this show, I thought it sounded ridiculous.   However, I really enjoyed watching the teams trying to figure out the dishes, and then replicate it.    I think the right team went home, and I would have been disappointed if the decision would have been for anyone one else to go instead.     I don't understand why people who don't want to be part of a team, but just push their opinions on the other teammate come on a team show.  

If I were on a team like that, being bulldozed by the other team member, I'd get a marker and write on my shirt, "Just for the record, I thought it was cannoli."

I think that guy walked into the kitchen planning to make donuts, no matter what the clues were.  He bent the clues to fit HIS plan, rather than having his plan be to keep an open mind to discuss with his partner what the clues might point to.

[7-Zark-7]

On 6/3/2021 at 6:31 AM, radiochik said:

I wanted her to give him at least one "I told you so" after all that.  It wasn't like she said cannoli once.  She said it multiple times and each time he was certain it wasn't. 

If he found it too humbling to admit that his partner might be right and he might be wrong, how must he have felt when everyone else got it right and he was the only one to get it wrong? And as he's sent packing he says "I am who I am". Who is that? A guy who'll die on every hill as long as he doesn't have to take advice?

Anthony: "It couldn't be cannoli, there were no cannoli shells."

Well, Anthony maybe you're supposed to make the shells because... you're a baker. What's next: "It couldn't be a cake, there was no box of Duncan Hines"?

I laughed when the team that won the first challenge got their extra clue (tree bark), then high fived and felt all the more secure in baking... a wood themed cake. They literally missed the forest for the tree. 

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by 7-Zark-7

[proserpina65]

On 6/4/2021 at 11:15 PM, Lisapooh said:

I did guess Black Forest. Kirsch/cherry was a no brainer.

Hell, I hate cherry and chocolate together, and I knew it was Black Forest cake.  Probably wouldn't have had a clue about the decoration, though.

 

[appositival]

On 6/8/2021 at 1:16 PM, Ilovepie said:

I still can't figure out why people try to make their own twist on the dessert when there are clues that say otherwise.

I don't think the judges properly emphasize that the bakers should duplicate the mystery cake. Some of the people who are making this mistake appear to be the better bakers who want to "show their stuff".