Summer Baking Championship - General Discussion

[RoxiP]

8 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

There was a box in the lower left that called it the Hershey's challenge. Used the logo, so they got their promo.

I saw that also  Maybe they just didn't want to beat a dead horse!

[carrps]

It's funny. I never noticed before that Mr. Goodbar was Hershey's. I'm with Carla's hubby. I love love love chocolate and peanuts. My favorite sundae is a Tin Roof.

I thought for sure Dominick was going to be a goner. He got extra time, and he still barely squeaked it out. But it did look pretty, and he earned an invite to the Hall Cook-Out!

Does anyone think Duff has had any facial work done? His skin looked so good last night. Smooth and really fresh looking.

 

[libgirl2]

6 minutes ago, carrps said:

It's funny. I never noticed before that Mr. Goodbar was Hershey's. I'm with Carla's hubby. I love love love chocolate and peanuts. My favorite sundae is a Tin Roof.

I thought for sure Dominick was going to be a goner. He got extra time, and he still barely squeaked it out. But it did look pretty, and he earned an invite to the Hall Cook-Out!

Does anyone think Duff has had any facial work done? His skin looked so good last night. Smooth and really fresh looking.

 

I love Mr. Goodbars and I love chocolate covered nuts in general. 

 

Edited June 11 by libgirl2

[Starry-Eyed]

8 minutes ago, carrps said:

Does anyone think Duff has had any facial work done? His skin looked so good last night. Smooth and really fresh looking.

I noticed too! I couldn't figure out what exactly was different about his face, but it seemed smoother and fresher to me. I thought maybe he shaved differently than usual.

[AZChristian]

He has lost over 50 pounds recently.

[Splashy]

 

4 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

There was a box in the lower left that called it the Hershey's challenge. Used the logo, so they got their promo.

It would be easy to miss because they always junk up the screen with promos, so I think most people tune it out (including me), but I did happen to catch this one!

I was amazed that Rob was able to pivot from a brownie to a devil's food cake in the middle of the bake time!

So sad to see Austin go because I thought he was so adorable and enjoyed his personality, but . . .  based on the challenge, it was the right decision. 

 

[Rammchick]

4 hours ago, tinkerbell said:

I assume that Hershey didn't pay for the promotion, and didn't ok them using the names. The network would have to have an agreement with Hershey.

Right, we established that this was the Hershey's Challenge.  And for the record, if the network doesn't have an advertising agreement with a brand name, they usually blur or tape out the name so it can't be seen on camera.  Hershey's was clear as day in this case.

[springbarb]

There was also a "Sponsored by Hershey's" screen at the end of the episode (or maybe at the last commercial break).

[statslady]

16 hours ago, Starry-Eyed said:

16 hours ago, carrps said:

 

Does anyone think Duff has had any facial work done? His skin looked so good last night. Smooth and really fresh looking.

 

I noticed too! I couldn't figure out what exactly was different about his face, but it seemed smoother and fresher to me. I thought maybe he shaved differently than usual.

 

Did not notice but thank you both for calling attention to this in a man!  Even if it was just to say he looked good.  

[ruffy666]

On 6/10/2024 at 6:38 PM, MerBearHou said:

Stephanie’s all-soft dessert would have been my least favorite.  It was pretty but too mushy for me.  

The judges commented on that too but ... Is cobbler typically considered a textural wonderland?  I always thought the fruit was basically cooked down and the topping was almost steamed by being cooked on top of the fruit, so that wouldn't necessarily be crunchy either.  Obviously I didn't try her dessert so what do I know but I consider cobbler one of those 'comfort' desserts where a lot of crunchy stuff would actually be an undesirable thing.

[tennisgurl]

I'm sad to see Austin go, he seems like such a sweet guy, but I can see why he was sent home this time. At least he gets a cruise! 

I was sure that Dominick would be gone this week, but he actually improved a lot this week, both of his bakes looked gorgeous. Not super exciting taste was from how it sounded, but perfectly competent and tasty which is all he really needed to stick around. 

"Elevate" is one of those cooking terms that everyone uses but I always find to be so vague. Everyone seems to have an idea of what an "elevated" dish is but no one can really agree, it can be anything from "worlds fanciest cheese sandwich" to "cheese sandwich with a smidgen of parsley". 

Rob seems like the baker to beat, and I like him a lot, but Stephanie is my one to watch, her bakes looked wonderful.

[libgirl2]

4 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Rob seems like the baker to beat, and I like him a lot, but Stephanie is my one to watch, her bakes looked wonderful.

I agree, I think Stephanie is a great dark horse. 

[Splashy]

I wouldn't have had a problem with Stephanie's "not enough textures" dessert. I went thru a phase of making trifles, and they never had any kind of crunch or differing textures - all soft and creamy through and through ... and they were delicious if I do say so myself (lol). Everyone else seemed to love them. I never knew this was an issue before watching this show. It's like they have to have something crunchy in every single bake. Sometimes I'm not in the mood for crunchy.

Now, I do understand that some things are expected to have some crunch, like the edges of the biscuit that Stephanie cut off. I think she was going for having a uniform shape in all of them, and cutting off the edges did provide that nice visual uniformity that you usually see in high-end desserts. And they did ask for "elevated", whereas, leaving them with raggedy edges would have kept them more rustic-looking, like a regular cobbler. I was frustrated that they criticized her for that!

[carrps]

2 hours ago, ruffy666 said:

I always thought the fruit was basically cooked down and the topping was almost steamed by being cooked on top of the fruit, so that wouldn't necessarily be crunchy either.  

We always cooked ours with a biscuit-y topping that we baked until the biscuits were partially browned and a bit crunchy.

 

21 minutes ago, Splashy said:

I wouldn't have had a problem with Stephanie's "not enough textures" dessert. I went thru a phase of making trifles, and they never had any kind of crunch or differing textures - all soft and creamy through and through ... and they were delicious if I do say so myself (lol). Everyone else seemed to love them.

Me, too! I went through a period of making a lot of trifles, and they were always smooth throughout. Once I brought one to a work potluck (only did it once because I didn't want to risk my trifle bowl), and for literally years after one of the guys would tell me how much he looooved that trifle. LOL.

[libgirl2]

35 minutes ago, Splashy said:

I wouldn't have had a problem with Stephanie's "not enough textures" dessert. I went thru a phase of making trifles, and they never had any kind of crunch or differing textures - all soft and creamy through and through ... and they were delicious if I do say so myself (lol). Everyone else seemed to love them. I never knew this was an issue before watching this show. It's like they have to have something crunchy in every single bake. Sometimes I'm not in the mood for crunchy.

Now, I do understand that some things are expected to have some crunch, like the edges of the biscuit that Stephanie cut off. I think she was going for having a uniform shape in all of them, and cutting off the edges did provide that nice visual uniformity that you usually see in high-end desserts. And they did ask for "elevated", whereas, leaving them with raggedy edges would have kept them more rustic-looking, like a regular cobbler. I was frustrated that they criticized her for that!

Haven't they had smooth desserts on  here that the judges liked? 

[Salacious Kitty]

Just now, libgirl2 said:

Haven't they had smooth desserts on  here that the judges liked? 

Duff always harps on about texture. So does Carla to a certain extent. 

[RoxiP]

Our cobbler toppings were always sort of crisp, in the same way that the top of a pie crust is crisp.  Sometimes we have even topped our cobbers with a streusel-type topping.  Love me some good cobbler!

[Splashy]

6 hours ago, RoxiP said:

Our cobbler toppings were always sort of crisp, in the same way that the top of a pie crust is crisp.  Sometimes we have even topped our cobbers with a streusel-type topping.  Love me some good cobbler!

Oh yes, in some desserts, a crunch or crisp factor is expected and delicious! I could eat a whole bowl of streusel by itself 😛

[Ancaster]

On 6/5/2024 at 7:57 AM, kathyk2 said:

Is anyone else watching the Paris Baking show that follows this show? I liked Lindsay and I hope she's ok. I like the show but it's not as good as the Julia Child Challenge.

There's a Lindsay?

On 6/11/2024 at 9:25 AM, Rammchick said:

Weird that the preheat was obviously a plug for Hershey's, but they never said their name or the brand names of their candy bars.

I'm pretty sure that no professional baker worth their salt would ever use vomit flavored Hersheys.

Edited June 17 by Ancaster
flavored not favored

[Rammchick]

59 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

There's a Lindsay?

I'm pretty sure that no professional baker worth their salt would ever use vomit favored Hersheys.

There WAS a Lindsay.

I'm not a professional baker and I sure wouldn't use it (although their cocoa powder isn't bad).

[carrps]

1 hour ago, Ancaster said:

There's a Lindsay?

I'm pretty sure that no professional baker worth their salt would ever use vomit flavored Hersheys.

I don't know if I'd call it vomit exactly but their chocolate always has a sour spoiled-milk taste to me.

Edited June 17 by carrps
milk, not mile

[Ancaster]

14 minutes ago, carrps said:

I don't know if I'd call it vomit exactly but their chocolate always has a sour spoiled-milk taste to me.

Butyric acid.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/why-american-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit

[CrazyInAlabama]

New, 6/17/2024 "Southwest Summer Break", Season 2, Episode 6.

From Titan TV: Jesse Palmer gets an idea for dessert tacos while cruising through desert vistas in a convertible and challenges the bakers to craft sweet tacos that are perfect bites of handheld deliciousness, before taking them on a trip to Sedona.

 

Down to five bakers: Vonshia, Rob, Dominick, Chris, Stephanie.  

Preheat: Dessert Tacos, half dozen.  Dominick: Pina Colada. Stephanie: Orange, Basil, Cheesecake, Strawberry, with Pizzelle shell. Rob: Rosewater, Thyme, Mango, with Pistachio with shortbread shells.  Chris: Bunelo taco, coconut Tres Leches, Cinnamon and Cardamon.    Vonshia: Fortune Cookie shell, Passion Fruit, Mango, Pineapple filling.       All of the tacos look sensational. 

Stephanie: looks great, tastes good too.  Dominick: Taco looks great, and his jeans are so cute.  obviously thrown together at the last minute, tastes great.  Rob: looks fantastic, taste sugar cookie shell too hard, but taco tastes good. Chris: looks great, judges love it.   Vonshia: looks a little underfilled. looks messy. Taste is good, but fortune cookie shell is chewy.  

Winner is: Chris.  Wins first class station.  

Main Heat: Secona, AZ, and a tumbleweed rolls into the set. Tres Leche cakes are the challenge.   Summer Tres Leches cake, highlighting flavors.   Decorating by Secona themes, crystals, starry night sky, hot air ballons, energy vortex.  Chris: Starry night sky, dark chocolate, cactus decoration.   Vonshia: orange cardamon, sunset decoration.  Stephanie: crystals, hazelnut orange cake with cherry.   Dominick: energy vortex, Camomile almond cake with passion fruit.    Rob: raspberry spongecake, with Earl Grey soak, hot air balloon theme.   

Jesse says there's a twist, and I hope he's kidding.  He's not kidding, everyone but Chris will have to incorporate prickly pear.  

Chris: starry night, cactus on top looks like a green snowman, blackberry and cocoa, not enough soak.     Dominick: energy vortex, chamomile, decorated ring isn't complete, Olive Oil with passion fruit, lots of soak, the judges love it. Rob: Hot Air ballons cookies look messy, but judges love the taste, and soak. Stephanie: Crystals look nice, taste is good even with the prickly pear, Damaris doesn't like the soak.   Vonshia: desert sunset, theme is OK, but cactus look terrible, decorating is not good, taste is burned, and cake is over cooked with an uneven soak.   

Top Two are: Rob and Chris    Winner is: Rob.  Rob and Chris to the finals, and Stephanie

Bottom two are:   Vonshia and Dominick.    Vonshia  goes home.   (I think that Dominick and Vonshia should have both gone home.  Neither one did a good decorating job, and both had major flaws in their cakes).  

 Next Week: Shark Week shark cages.  

 

Edited June 18 by CrazyInAlabama

[mojoween]

Chris’s green Mickey Mouse BB8 was so silly.  If they had picked him over Rob I would have, well done nothing really because I am not able to time travel.  But still.  

I can only go by visuals, but Rob’s was the clear winner and it’s surprising Damaris was not sure.

[Frost]

I was hoping there was a double elimination this week.  Dominick sure doesn't seem like someone who should be in the top four.

I kept hearing Nancy in my head when looking at Vonisha's decorated sunset cake.  Very amateurish.

 

[kathyk2]

22 minutes ago, Frost said:

I was hoping there was a double elimination this week.  Dominick sure doesn't seem like someone who should be in the top four.

I kept hearing Nancy in my head when looking at Vonisha's decorated sunset cake.  Very amateurish.

 

Vonisha's dessert looked better than Dominick's. I don't know why he's still in the competition. 

[libgirl2]

15 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

Vonisha's dessert looked better than Dominick's. I don't know why he's still in the competition. 

Her cake was overbaked and not evenly soaked.

[kathyk2]

4 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Her cake was overbaked and not evenly soaked.

I know but his cake wasn't well decorated. I don't think he'll win I think it will be either Rob or Stephanie.

[Grizzly]

Chris's night sky mirror glaze was gorgeous.  There was no reason to put that huge, round "cactus" on it. He should have done some small cacti transfers on the side.

[MerBearHou]

Chris’ cake topper absolutely looked like a green Mickey Mouse and I was just waiting for one of the judges to see / say that.  Leave it to Carla!  

Of course, I’m most happy for my hometown Rob’s wins and would be elated if he won the whole thing.

 

Edited June 18 by MerBearHou

[mlp]

Once again, I agreed with the judges.  When one of them (Carla?) knocked Vonisha's cake against the plate and it made a sound instead of falling apart, I figured she'd be next to go.  Dominick had problems of his own but hers were worse.  

Rob's balloon cookies looked sloppy but apparently his cake made up for that.  I hope he wins.  If not Rob, Chris.

[Irlandesa]

They gave Dominick's fiance* two shoutouts with pictures so I really thought he was going.  (*Fiance?  But he looks so young.  Is he older than I think?)  I always feel if we suddenly learn more about the contestants, it means they're on the chopping block. 

[Salacious Kitty]

1 hour ago, kathyk2 said:

I know but his cake wasn't well decorated. I don't think he'll win I think it will be either Rob or Stephanie.

They are definitely weighing decisions based on taste over design. 

[libgirl2]

8 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Chris's night sky mirror glaze was gorgeous.  There was no reason to put that huge, round "cactus" on it. He should have done some small cacti transfers on the side.

TBH, the cactus was really ugly. It looked like a green snowman! 

[libgirl2]

7 hours ago, mlp said:

Once again, I agreed with the judges.  When one of them (Carla?) knocked Vonisha's cake against the plate and it made a sound instead of falling apart, I figured she'd be next to go.  Dominick had problems of his own but hers were worse.  

Rob's balloon cookies looked sloppy but apparently his cake made up for that.  I hope he wins.  If not Rob, Chris.

I didn't think Rob's cake looked all that great.  I agree, the cookies looked sloppy but I also thought the frosting on the bottom portion did too. I could see some cake poking through. 

[Madding crowd]

I’m always amazed so many bakers have home pictures that fit in with the challenges . Someone always has a childhood picture eating the item or doing the activity. I know these are provided after the show is over but I don’t think I have any pictures that would fit these challenges.

[Frost]

I haven't been able to watch all the episodes this season, but I am underwhelmed by the quality of these last few bakers.  Was anyone really talented but had a very bad day eliminated early?

[libgirl2]

2 minutes ago, Frost said:

I haven't been able to watch all the episodes this season, but I am underwhelmed by the quality of these last few bakers.  Was anyone really talented but had a very bad day eliminated early?

I feel that the quality level was just a smidge higher in the Spring BC. 

[RoxiP]

Honestly these have been the best from the beginning (well, Rob and Chris).  Nobody has stood out.  It seems the producers have pushed Dominick through a couple of times.  Stephanie has been kind of a dark horse - always there but never significantly better, but she could sneak through and win the whole thing. Dom is the only one who I would side eye if he won.

[Insert Username]

In the previous episode, I was so confused by their criticism of Stephanie for using dark chocolate for her s'mores cookie. I know that they have had a "s'mores reimagined" on one of the baking competition and no one said a s'mores had to be made only with milk chocolate.

I agree that Chris and Rob are the front runners. Chris just needs to learn to edit! Stephanie has been pretty consistent though and could pull it off

[Pallida]

I was getting annoyed by the saguaro cacti on this because that’s not generally a Sedona thing. Sedona is a higher elevation and is not miserably hot dangit!

[Pi237]

On 6/17/2024 at 11:05 PM, Irlandesa said:

 I always feel if we suddenly learn more about the contestants, it means they're on the chopping block. 

That’s always what happens on Project Runway. They’ll have a FaceTime call with their relatives, crying about missing them, and then-you’re out! 🤣

Wow, the decorating skills of this bunch are really subpar. I’m sure time is an issue, but even with the crystal cake-she just threw the whole kitchen sink on there. If she’d just made sure her lines were clean and added a few well-placed crystals, it would’ve looked sharper than that cluttered mess. Rob’s hot air balloons looked like they were piped on a moving bus. And I laughed out loud at Chris’s badly painted, missing limbs, green Mickey Mouse. His starry night glaze was so pretty and then he plopped that eyesore on top.  Worth them all doing so bad, I’m guessing it’s time. So, give them more of it because it’s more entertaining when the desserts look good, since we can’t taste them🤣

[libgirl2]

39 minutes ago, Pi237 said:

That’s always what happens on Project Runway. They’ll have a FaceTime call with their relatives, crying about missing them, and then-you’re out! 🤣

Wow, the decorating skills of this bunch are really subpar. I’m sure time is an issue, but even with the crystal cake-she just threw the whole kitchen sink on there. If she’d just made sure her lines were clean and added a few well-placed crystals, it would’ve looked sharper than that cluttered mess. Rob’s hot air balloons looked like they were piped on a moving bus. And I laughed out loud at Chris’s badly painted, missing limbs, green Mickey Mouse. His starry night glaze was so pretty and then he plopped that eyesore on top.  Worth them all doing so bad, I’m guessing it’s time. So, give them more of it because it’s more entertaining when the desserts look good, since we can’t taste them🤣

The starry night glaze was gorgeous and then he covered it with that thing. He should have put cacti around the cake as it was a bit slidey. 

[KittyMom4]

3 hours ago, Pi237 said:

she just threw the whole kitchen sink on there. If she’d just made sure her lines were clean and added a few well-placed crystals, it would’ve looked sharper than that cluttered mess.

Omfg, THANK YOU for stating this! I kept looking at it and wondering what the hell it was supposed to be! Giant marshmallows with a bunch of pebbles tossed on them. I thought it was U G L Y but they were raving about it. Maybe it looked better in person? 

[libgirl2]

3 minutes ago, KittyMom4 said:

Omfg, THANK YOU for stating this! I kept looking at it and wondering what the hell it was supposed to be! Giant marshmallows with a bunch of pebbles tossed on them. I thought it was U G L Y but they were raving about it. Maybe it looked better in person? 

I thought it looked pretty but I did wonder about the judges eating those "crystals" 

[mlp]

5 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

I thought it looked pretty but I did wonder about the judges eating those "crystals" 

I wondered about that too.  No one is going to eat a chunk of isomalt.  I thought decorations had to be edible but none of the judges even mentioned it.

[libgirl2]

2 minutes ago, mlp said:

I wondered about that too.  No one is going to eat a chunk of isomalt.  I thought decorations had to be edible but none of the judges even mentioned it.

I was surprised they didn't either because in the past they have. 

[Splashy]

 

Green Mickey Mouse, BB8, wonky snowman -

Yeah, it looked terrible. I liked the vivid green color against the dark blue, but really, it was unnecessary. Or he could have made it much smaller. 

Was this really the first twist? I soooo didn't miss it all this time.

[Texasmom1970]

Had to giggle when one of the guys was saying what kind of cake they made and Carla said "yeah you did," all breathy and excited!

This is so me when I am watching food porn!  😊

[kirklandia]

I wondered about whether the decorations were supposed to be edible as well. One of my pet peeves with some baking shows is when the bakers use lots of decorative elements that are technically edible - but I can't imagine they are anything you would actually want to eat.

When I saw that one of the themes was crystals, I immediately pictured Jell-O cubes. They could be pretty colors and different shapes. Of course, they would have to be "elevated ".

Edited June 20 by kirklandia