Summer Baking Championship - General Discussion

[RealityCheck]

A new series SUMMER BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP premieres with two back-to-back episodes on Monday, May 15 at 9pm ET/PT with judges Duff Goldman, Carla Hall, and Damaris Phillips and host Jesse Palmer.

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The competition kicks off with a challenge to recall sweet summer memories by the water, as the bakers must create a dozen doughnuts that look like water floaties with an added 3D decorated element.  During the main heat, the bakers are tasked with creating a cake with a gelatin water feature.  Throughout the season the bakers will have to elevate summer classics like ice cream sandwiches, s’mores, cobbler and cream pies.

Summer Baking Championship contestants include: Alyssa Alcantara (San Diego, CA), John Boyle (Philadelphia, PA), Kyle Davis (Springfield, MO), Kristina Krause (Leesburg, VA), Yohann Le Bescond (Ocala, FL), Ally Radziewicz (Syracuse, NY), Lisa Lu (Healdsburg, CA), Anrika Martin (Kingston, NY), Zoe Peckich (Pittsburgh, PA), Carlos Pena (Las Vegas, NV).

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I can't wait to see this.    Especially since Jesse is the host. 

[Salacious Kitty]

I wonder when they filmed this? They would have had to work around Jesse's fall schedule which includes working for ESPN. Not to mention filming The Bachelor (if he's still doing that). 

[Starry-Eyed]

I'm excited! These seasonal baking championships are my favorite kind of comfort tv.

[Popples]

2 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I wonder when they filmed this? They would have had to work around Jesse's fall schedule which includes working for ESPN. Not to mention filming The Bachelor (if he's still doing that). 

Jesse was missing for most of the football season last year. He was there for maybe the first two weeks and the last week.

[Salacious Kitty]

15 minutes ago, Popples said:

Jesse was missing for most of the football season last year. He was there for maybe the first two weeks and the last week.

He was? I guess I just happened to watch when he was in studio. 😃

[CalicoKitty]

I was looking forward to the Summer Backing Championship, but Damaris is an automatic click for me.  I absolutely cannot stand her, so I guess I won't be watching.

[CrazyInAlabama]

My guess is since Nancy's not a judge, that Damaris is taking the Nancy role with being a lover of all things liquor related.      I am neutral on Damaris, because I think the judges follow a role set by the producers, and the chemistry between Duff, Carla, and Damaris could be interesting.    

Out of ten cheftestants, there is only one home baker.   

If anyone's recording this Monday, the two hour premiere episode on the 15th is actually episode 1 and episode 2, and the 22 May episode is episode 3.   They are running this Monday's two hour show reruns as two one hour ones before showing the new episode 3 on the 22nd. 

Edited May 11, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[Guest]

On Food Network's page for this show, there's a link in the judges' section called "things you didn't know about Damaris" (I think it's old because it talks about the premiere of her show with Bobby, which isn't on anymore). I liked this one:

Her Signature Cocktail Is Simple and Elegant

“You take a bottle of Champagne and you chill it. And then you open it and you drink it."

She also talks about making nachos using tater tots instead of tortilla chips, saying it classes it up 😆

This gives me hope that she'll appreciate more simple, solid desserts that are well made and taste good, and won't downgrade them in favor of creations with giant abstract...things...all over them.

[Mellowyellow]

As long as Damaris doesn't say "This isn't summery enough" or "I don't see summer," I'm all good!!! 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

As long as Damaris doesn't say "This isn't summery enough" or "I don't see summer," I'm all good!!! 

My main hope is that Damaris will bring humor to the judging that is often missing with certain judging panels. There's a way to give a negative critique with a light hand that doesn't sound like lecturing (or nonsense), and keeps the proceedings fun. Several of the X Baking Championship judges are usually good at this (Carla; Val; Stephanie Boswell and Duff depending on who they're paired with). Others not so much - they try, but it usually comes off as condescending, snide, or just plain unfunny. Won't mention any names, but I don't think I need to lol.

[CrazyInAlabama]

So far, I really like the challenges, and the bakers seem like a fun bunch.   I like the judges' input so far.     

Kristina's the only home baker on the show.  

Kyle really improved this episode.   

Damaris may seem harsh, but Duff and Carla agreed about the criticisms about tough cookies.    I think Damaris inherited the Nancy Fuller role, of critical about everything.    

Edited May 17, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[Grizzly]

Christian was ahead of his time. He would have been all over this main bake challenge.

[Adeejay]

Is it my imagination or are the judges extremely critical?  Damaris is nasty af.  

[Lamb18]

What happened to fun Damaris? She is so sour.

[BookWitch]

I can only hope it's nervousness thats got them making so many mistakes. Also seems like they're speeding through the tastings.

[MerBearHou]

Couple of thoughts about Damaris — she has lost soooo much weight that I am wondering if she is going to fully participate in the tasting.  I do get that — she has clearly worked very hard to lose weight.  I kept an eye on her actual tasting tonight and she did some, but she commented on design much more.  This was just what we were shown so that’s all I could go by.  I just do not want her to veer into Giada-I’m-not-tasting-so-I-can-stay-thin territory.  Not great for a cooking / baking show judge.  And I say this as a big, big Damaris fan from her Day One on FN and through all of the years.  She’s got an amazing personality and is clever and fun.  I feel like she’s trying to not be too “on” (she is a little known for that) — she’s the newbie judge with this group and she wants to prove she knows her stuff and belongs there, plus it is wise for her to not overpower Duff and Carla with her very outgoing personality.  I do feel like she’ll settle in better as the weeks go on, but tonight everything felt rushed and she seemed to not be herself in the baking judge seat yet.

Edited May 16, 2023 by MerBearHou

[kathyk24]

Who is creating these challenges? I don't want gelatine on my cake I thought we were done with the dumb challenges I've never seen water balloons on a cake. 

[rlc]

Wow- there was a huge discrepancy between the levels of talent of the bakers. Some of the results looked better suited for Nailed It or Kids Baking Championship.

Poor Christian must have been going nuts watching this at home. Not only did he do the gelatin cake first, but oh so much better than this crew.

[libgirl2]

8 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Christian was ahead of his time. He would have been all over this main bake challenge.

I thought the exact same thing! 

[CheshireCat]

5 hours ago, kathyk24 said:

Who is creating these challenges? I don't want gelatine on my cake I thought we were done with the dumb challenges I've never seen water balloons on a cake. 

Did I hear it correctly, the didn't want to eat the coating chocolate because it wasn't appealing but never said a word about the gelatin balls? If so, it makes no sense. I don't like any of it but I find coating chocolate infinitely more appealing than gelatin balls.

 

8 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Christian was ahead of his time.

Well, the cakes have been around for at least a couple of years, so I wouldn't say he was ahead of his time. But, wasn't it his cake that they featured when they presented the challenge?

[libgirl2]

8 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Couple of thoughts about Damaris — she has lost soooo much weight that I am wondering if she is going to fully participate in the tasting.  I do get that — she has clearly worked very hard to lose weight.  I kept an eye on her actual tasting tonight and she did some, but she commented on design much more.  This was just what we were shown so that’s all I could go by.  I just do not want her to veer into Giada-I’m-not-tasting-so-I-can-stay-thin territory.  Not great for a cooking / baking show judge.  And I say this as a big, big Damaris fan from her Day One on FN and through all of the years.  She’s got an amazing personality and is clever and fun.  I feel like she’s trying to not be too “on” (she is a little known for that) — she’s the newbie judge with this group and she wants to prove she knows her stuff and belongs there, plus it is wise for her to not overpower Duff and Carla with her very outgoing personality.  I do feel like she’ll settle in better as the weeks go on, but tonight everything felt rushed and she seemed to not be herself in the baking judge seat yet.

I got the same vibe from her. She wasn't quite the Damaris I know from everything she has been on. Hopefully a bit of the fun Damaris comes out as time goes on. She was tough!! 

AS for being rushed, I always feel that the first couple of episodes usually are because there is so much to taste. 

I find that I am liking Kyle and that other guy who looks like he should be playing football. I also guess now we need a French guy on every baking show... let's see who good he turns out to be. Some of the bakers weren't that good, but I chalk that up to nerves. 

5 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

Did I hear it correctly, the didn't want to eat the coating chocolate because it wasn't appealing but never said a word about the gelatin balls? If so, it makes no sense. I don't like any of it but I find coating chocolate infinitely more appealing than gelatin balls.

 

Well, the cakes have been around for at least a couple of years, so I wouldn't say he was ahead of his time. But, wasn't it his cake that they featured when they presented the challenge?

I don't think it  was his cake but I think his would have one this challenge hands down.  

The water balloon thing was stupid. The bakers barely put an effort into it if any. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by libgirl2

[MsMalin]

I was not looking forward to Damaris. Thought she was too loud esp on Beat Bobby Flay. But she was very toned down last night so I'm ok with her so far. Enjoyed both episodes last night.

[Dottie D]

I think this will be a pass for me.  I rolled my eyes when they announced the added challenge.

[libgirl2]

31 minutes ago, Dottie D said:

I think this will be a pass for me.  I rolled my eyes when they announced the added challenge.

I didn't mind it though overall, I can do without them. 

So they didn't hand out anything to the winners like they did in the Spring? 

[Rammchick]

So no twists in the spring show but we have the twists back again.  And don't you know, the green apple flavor was the kiss of death again.

[AZChristian]

12 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Couple of thoughts about Damaris — she has lost soooo much weight that I am wondering if she is going to fully participate in the tasting.  I do get that — she has clearly worked very hard to lose weight.  I kept an eye on her actual tasting tonight and she did some, but she commented on design much more.  This was just what we were shown so that’s all I could go by.  I just do not want her to veer into Giada-I’m-not-tasting-so-I-can-stay-thin territory.  Not great for a cooking / baking show judge.  And I say this as a big, big Damaris fan from her Day One on FN and through all of the years.  She’s got an amazing personality and is clever and fun.  I feel like she’s trying to not be too “on” (she is a little known for that) — she’s the newbie judge with this group and she wants to prove she knows her stuff and belongs there, plus it is wise for her to not overpower Duff and Carla with her very outgoing personality.  I do feel like she’ll settle in better as the weeks go on, but tonight everything felt rushed and she seemed to not be herself in the baking judge seat yet.

At one point, when she closed one eye and slurred, "Did you taste this?" to a contestant, I laughed and said, "THERE she is!!!"

I agree that everything felt very rushed.  One or two words from each judge as they were tasting, and then immediately on to the next judge.  It was noticeable.  I hope that slows down as bakers are eliminated.  Duff seemed uncharacteristically rude to one baker as he said something like, "This is terrible.  Not your best effort."  And that was it.

[MerBearHou]

38 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

At one point, when she closed one eye and slurred, "Did you taste this?" to a contestant, I laughed and said, "THERE she is!!!"

HA -- same here, AZChristian!  That was the first little moment (and one of the only) where I thought "there's the Damaris we know"!

[MsMalin]

Let us not forget the disaster that was Molly. It puts everything in perspective.

[MerBearHou]

26 minutes ago, MsMalin said:

Let us not forget the disaster that was Molly. It puts everything in perspective.

Last night I heard "sparkles" and "sprinkles" and it immediately brought up the Molly-trauma -- I thought, Oh, Lord, no.  Not fair to these bakers, but I couldn't help it.

[libgirl2]

1 minute ago, MerBearHou said:

Last night I heard "sparkles" and "sprinkles" and it immediately brought up the Molly-trauma -- I thought, Oh, Lord, no.  Not fair to these bakers, but I couldn't help it.

Me too. 

[oraex]

I don’t know how much longer I will last with Demaris.  How rude is she ?

 

 

[libgirl2]

5 minutes ago, oraex said:

I don’t know how much longer I will last with Demaris.  How rude is she ?

 

 

I have watched her for years and this is the first time she was like this. 

[mojoween]

I have to root for Ally because she is from Syracuse so thankfully she pulled it out in the end.  Her ducks were cute.

Wow Duff absolutely HATED that one girls vanilla bean donut with cherry lime glaze.  I have never heard him say something like that on one of these shows.  And then she made vanilla bean again in the main heat!

The guy who made the coconut cake had the best decorating in the amount of time they are given.  He looked like he had twice as long as everyone else.

[mlp]

8 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I find that I am liking Kyle and that other guy who looks like he should be playing football.

Kyle and John are my favorites too.  I also like the woman from Syracuse and maybe the French baker.  The only one I didn't care for right off the bat is Zoe - so I imagine she'll be around for a long time.  i was surprised she survived the second hour.

I've always found Damaris very, very pretty but she didn't look right last night.  I couldn't decide if it was her eye makeup or if she's just getting older (like everyone else). 

I hated seeing twists again.

[libgirl2]

1 minute ago, mlp said:

Kyle and John are my favorites too.  I also like the woman from Syracuse and maybe the French baker.  The only one I didn't care for right off the bat is Zoe - so I imagine she'll be around for a long time.  i was surprised she survived the second hour.

I've always found Damaris very, very pretty but she didn't look right last night.  I couldn't decide if it was her eye makeup or if she's just getting older (like everyone else). 

I hated seeing twists again.

Zoe was the one that scooped out the raw center from her cakes? 

[Grizzly]

43 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Zoe was the one that scooped out the raw center from her cakes? 

Yes. I didn't like her but what she was making in the main heat during the second hour sounded delicious to me. Then she had to add in that twist.

Damaris was subdued. Not sure if she's trying to change her image. The shorter haircut was cute.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Grizzly

[Guest]

A bit perplexed at the "Damaris was rude and nasty" comments, especially since they barely showed her saying more than one sentence at a time. I thought she was fine - critical where necessary and complimentary where she found it appropriate. I think we'll see more of the true Damaris as the bakers dwindle.

I have a definite favorite but I'm not going to say who it is, in a probably fruitless effort to keep them around.

[libgirl2]

11 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

A bit perplexed at the "Damaris was rude and nasty" comments, especially since they barely showed her saying more than one sentence at a time. I thought she was fine - critical where necessary and complimentary where she found it appropriate. I think we'll see more of the true Damaris as the bakers dwindle.

I have a definite favorite but I'm not going to say who it is, in a probably fruitless effort to keep them around.

I thought she was being rude (or maybe snarky) when she pounded the cookie on the table. There were a few other comments.....It just didn't sound like the person I have seen before. She was too serious. I'll count it to editing and see how she goes from there. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by libgirl2

[MsMalin]

39 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Damaris was subdued.

yes, she was thank God. I liked her much more this way.  It could just be the editing showing her negative remarks. You could tell it was just snippets. 

[Starry-Eyed]

I felt like Duff and Damaris were both really harsh. Maybe it's just the editing (boy did it seem like they were FLYING through the judging segments), but what Duff said to Jessica(?) about her flamingo donuts seemed incredibly rude, especially since I thought they were the best-looking of the bunch and was fully expecting them to be gushed over until Duff barrelled out of the gate with the "what is there to say, do better next time" comments.

Ugh, I hate these twists. The water balloon one was horrendous. Even if they had been given an extra hour to properly execute everything they were asked to do, an edible water balloon would have only fit with two or three of the cake themes. If they had been specifically asked to do pool cakes, that would be different.  An edible water balloon dessert could have been a fun preheat challenge, I guess, where things like sugar domes or creampuffs might have been options, but they seemed like they were setting the bakers up to fail.

[MagicEyes]

6 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Zoe was the one that scooped out the raw center from her cakes? 

How is it even possible for someone who has some baking experience to not notice how raw that cake was before she pulled it out of the oven? It was almost raw batter in the center.

[Salacious Kitty]

2 minutes ago, MagicEyes said:

How is it even possible for someone who has some baking experience to not notice how raw that cake was before she pulled it out of the oven? It was almost raw batter in the center.

She wasn't even the home baker! 

[joanne3482]

I feel like I was taking crazy pills every time Kyle said he was making a macaron ice cream sandwich. I've made macaron ice cream sandwiches.  I love them. That was not a macaron. It had no feet. It spread. It looked like a chocolate chip cookie with no chocolate chips. They loved it. I'm so confused. 

The first hour Demaris was better than second hour Demaris. She was kind of all over the place the second hour. Definitely the banging the cookie was OTT. 

[Catfi9ht]

Watching Demaris made me sad. It felt like she was being held hostage and forced to be a judge on a baking show. She had way too much make up on too. Didn't see the same amount caked on Carla. 

As with everything, I blame the editing.

My husband and I counted twice where the judges couldn't bite through the cookies in the ice cream sandwiches, but their comments about being unable to bite through the cookie wasn't added. However, those notes were added for others.

Two ice cream challenges in the same episode? Hopefully, the challenges are a little more varied going forward. I'm worried the forced theme will get old quickly.

It's hard for me to judge folks the first week. I give most people a pass and chalk it up to nerves. Will start to pay more attention to poor craftsmanship next week.

Everyone seemed nice. No annoying or smug personalities. I'm super glad this improvement has been added to the show. Whomever is selecting the contestants is doing a great job.

[mojoween]

The guy who didn’t even do the twist wasn’t even the one who was bounced, yeah?  Which further shows how dumb the twist was.

[Lamb18]

18 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Zoe was the one that scooped out the raw center from her cakes? 

I missed that part, but that's why there was such thick icing on the pointy part of the slices.

[SoCal Mema]

On 5/15/2023 at 10:19 PM, MerBearHou said:

Couple of thoughts about Damaris — she has lost soooo much weight that I am wondering if she is going to fully participate in the tasting.  I do get that — she has clearly worked very hard to lose weight.  I kept an eye on her actual tasting tonight and she did some, but she commented on design much more.  This was just what we were shown so that’s all I could go by.  I just do not want her to veer into Giada-I’m-not-tasting-so-I-can-stay-thin territory.  Not great for a cooking / baking show judge.  And I say this as a big, big Damaris fan from her Day One on FN and through all of the years.  She’s got an amazing personality and is clever and fun.  I feel like she’s trying to not be too “on” (she is a little known for that) — she’s the newbie judge with this group and she wants to prove she knows her stuff and belongs there, plus it is wise for her to not overpower Duff and Carla with her very outgoing personality.  I do feel like she’ll settle in better as the weeks go on, but tonight everything felt rushed and she seemed to not be herself in the baking judge seat yet.

Yes, she overused the phrase, "this says designer to me".

[Maya]

The balloon twist was strange. Why did so many people make the weird little gel blobs? 

[carrps]

4 minutes ago, Maya said:

The balloon twist was strange. Why did so many people make the weird little gel blobs? 

Probably because it looked like if you mixed two chemicals in the right proportions, the blobs formed themselves (some kind of boba...popping boba?), so you didn't have to spend time forming something yourself.

Not a Damaris fan.