Summer Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Rammchick]

14 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

I think when she first took the bacon out of the oven and cut it, it was crispy. The frosting must have made it soggy/chewy. She probably should have diced it much finer and just used a small amount.

I was thinking the same thing.  Bacon would probably have been better if it was on the top rather than added inside, for this very reason.

16 hours ago, Frost said:

ZOE!!!! Yeah!  From the judge's comments, it wasn't much of a surprise.  I feel bad for Yohann.  If he had been able to use the star cutter, his cake would have been spectacular.  The broken tiles did not have the same effect.

I don't know why Yohann didn't either make a star template out of cardboard or freehanded it.  The cutters were not the only option.

[MerBearHou]

In the end, it didn't seem like it hurt Alyssa or Yohann not having the sprinkles and cut-out materials.  Their cakes were gorgeous and creative anyway.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

In the end, it didn't seem like it hurt Alyssa or Yohann not having the sprinkles and cut-out materials.  Their cakes were gorgeous and creative anyway.

It seems like they lost on taste. 

[CheshireCat]

2 hours ago, Rammchick said:

I don't know why Yohann didn't either make a star template out of cardboard or freehanded it. 

Time. Even if he had set stars on top of the tile and not done all of the tiles as stars it would have taken him forever to cut the stars by hand/with a template. Additionally, chocolate is time sensitive. You can only cut it when it's just right, so you need to work quickly.

[Salacious Kitty]

11 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

It seems like they lost on taste. 

This set of judges have heavily leaned on taste over decorating. 

[mojoween]

We very rarely got “but it’s not suuuuummmmmmmmer enough” which was a refresher.

[MsMalin]

I was very impressed by Alyssa decorating given the time constraints. And her colors were spot on too.

Seemed like that season went sonfast.

Looking forward to HBC with John.

[Ohmo]

10 hours ago, pally said:

To give someone, exclusive access to certain decoration elements, such as the star cutouts for the 4th of July, seems a bit heavy-handed, especially for the finale

I had a problem with her getting the star cookie cutter.  If they wanted to give her the gold sprinkles or the transfer sheets, OK.  However, a star is a shape, and it was a cookie cutter, which is a pretty basic baking tool.  I thought restricting that was a bit ridiculous.

I'm fine with Zoey winning.  She's obviously a skilled baker, but Alyssa's cake would be the one I'd want.  It was beautiful, and the color of that spray was gorgeous!  As a fan of super, super crispy bacon, all she has to do is fix that part, and she could easily redo that design and flavorings on future cakes that she could sell.

I hope Yohann gets a boost from being on the show as well.  His cake wasn't my favorite, but I liked several of his previous efforts, like the toy cake.

And yes, I heard what Jesse said.  However, I still think that's an overall cop-out given the length of the competition.

I also prefer this combination of judges.

[mlp]

4 hours ago, Ohmo said:

I also prefer this combination of judges.

I prefer almost anyone to Nancy but I wish they'd get Stephanie Boswell or Sherry Yard or someone who is actually a baker instead of Damaris.  I have nothing against Damaris but she isn't known for having baking expertise.

[Maverick]

 Neither is Carla.  Or Kardea.  Or Nancy for that matter.   Duff, Lorraine, Stephanie and Zach are the ones who are primarily known for baking.   The other chefs may know how to bake but that's not what they're known for.  Duff is trained as a savory chef as well, but they don't have him judging Chopped or GGG so it doesn't really cut both ways.  

[AZChristian]

7 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Neither is Carla.  Or Kardea.  Or Nancy for that matter.   Duff, Lorraine, Stephanie and Zach are the ones who are primarily known for baking.   The other chefs may know how to bake but that's not what they're known for.  Duff is trained as a savory chef as well, but they don't have him judging Chopped or GGG so it doesn't really cut both ways.  

He has been a judge on Beat Bobby Flay, as has the Cake Boss guy.

I think part of what the judges are looking for is the creative use of a set of ingredients.  Really, baking challenge shows are kind of like Chopped, but with ALL of the challenges leading towards dessert.  They only have one dessert per show on most Chopped episodes.

[Catfi9ht]

Not really happy with Zoe winning. The judges gave Johann crap for the wrong color blue but Zoe had the same, incorrect shade of blue on her cake.

I thought Alyssa should have won because of her creativity and the fact that hers looked like an actual float. Zoe's cake had the least amount of technique in decorating complexity compared to the other two. I would have been happy with Johann winning too.

This show's editing is pretty bad and insulting to viewers. Don't think I'll continue watching the show because they're not really interested in a competition as far as skill, just a popularity contest with creative editing to swing it in their favorite's favor. 

I did enjoy this judging panel without Nancy even if Damaris didn't really act like herself. Yet another creative choice this show got wrong. 

It's such a bummer for me. These were my favorite shows on FN.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Catfi9ht said:

I thought Alyssa should have won because of her creativity and the fact that hers looked like an actual float. Zoe's cake had the least amount of technique in decorating complexity compared to the other two. I would have been happy with Johann winning too.

This show's editing is pretty bad and insulting to viewers. Don't think I'll continue watching the show because they're not really interested in a competition as far as skill, just a popularity contest with creative editing to swing it in their favorite's favor. 

Alyssa's cake was beautiful, no doubt, but it also had chewy bacon in the middle. Yohann's was also impressive, but his ginger flavoring was bland. Zoe's decoration, while maybe not as fancy as the others, was still involved and very cleanly done, and her cake apparently tasted incredible.

Any one of them could have won, but I don't think Zoe's win was just based on a popularity contest. She has plenty of skill, as evidenced by the creative, tasty things she did over the course of the season that often got her in the top two. And in the finale's pre-heat, her amusement park desserts were better than the other two.

Yes, they said that the final challenge was judged on its own without the others being factored in, but Zoe's success throughout the season shows that the judges were interested in skill. I don't think it's quite fair to say that she won just because...what, she was perky and tv-friendly? And I'm afraid I don't understand the "creative editing" comment - the judges had plenty of praise for all three bakers, and for most of the others who went out earlier. So it's not like they were thumbing the scale with only positive feedback for Zoe. And if there was a lot of negative feedback for Zoe that they cut out, why was she often in the top two?

[Catfi9ht]

5 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

And I'm afraid I don't understand the "creative editing" comment

I posted an example of the creative editing in my post that you replied to. They had negative comments to say about Johann's incorrect blue when Zoe had the same incorrect blue and they either didn't say it or it was edited out. This show has had those types of editing choices all season. Giving a baker negative feedback about something and not showing or giving that same feedback to another baker for the same exact thing.

This show is so heavily edited that in the Spring Baking Championship, they had twists for every episode but edited them all out. We, as an audience, are not getting to see alot more of the competition aspects than we used to, which is what I have a problem with.

I know and understand all reality shows are scripted and fake, but when those choices become so obvious that it insults its audience, that's when I'm going to choose not to watch.

10 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

And if there was a lot of negative feedback for Zoe that they cut out, why was she often in the top two?

Because the show can pick whatever winner it wants episode to episode? Because the producers often suggest who should win each episode based on the story they want to tell?

As an example, Zoe won a challenge with a dessert that looked like avocado toast with smoked salmon on top. Jesse made that same joke during the episode. It did not look like a watermelon and the judges gushed that it did. 

It's not just Zoe. This show (all iterations: Spring, Halloween, Christmas, and now Summer) has changed the way it wants to present itself to its viewers and it hasn't been for the better for me.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Catfi9ht said:

I posted an example of the creative editing in my post that you replied to. They had negative comments to say about Johann's incorrect blue when Zoe had the same incorrect blue and they either didn't say it or it was edited out. This show has had those types of editing choices all season. Giving a baker negative feedback about something and not showing or giving that same feedback to another baker for the same exact thing.

This show is so heavily edited that in the Spring Baking Championship, they had twists for every episode but edited them all out. We, as an audience, are not getting to see alot more of the competition aspects than we used to, which is what I have a problem with.

I know and understand all reality shows are scripted and fake, but when those choices become so obvious that it insults its audience, that's when I'm going to choose not to watch.

Because the show can pick whatever winner it wants episode to episode? Because the producers often suggest who should win each episode based on the story they want to tell?

As an example, Zoe won a challenge with a dessert that looked like avocado toast with smoked salmon on top. Jesse made that same joke during the episode. It did not look like a watermelon and the judges gushed that it did. 

It's not just Zoe. This show (all iterations: Spring, Halloween, Christmas, and now Summer) has changed the way it wants to present itself to its viewers and it hasn't been for the better for me.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree that pick the winner they want regardless of talent and edit the show accordingly. I refuse to believe that they swept everything bad Zoe did under the rug just because they wanted her to win. There were just too many examples of things she did that were good. And I don't get why they would have zeroed in on Zoe as their darling when Yohann the likable French baker was right there.

As far as the specific editing you mention: The critique about Yohann's blue wasn't that it was the wrong shade period - it was that it didn't match his other shade of blue. So therefore Zoe didn't have the wrong shade either - no creative editing there.

You didn't think her watermelon dessert looked like a watermelon, and that's fine. I thought it looked a lot like a watermelon, and so did the judges. And you say they showed Jesse making a joke that it looked like salmon and avocado toast - so doesn't that contradict the idea that they creatively edited out negative Zoe comments?

I know people haven't liked some of the recent winners and certainly anyone is within their rights to dislike the show and stop watching, but I'm just not seeing a conspiracy here.

[ruffy666]

2 hours ago, Catfi9ht said:

Not really happy with Zoe winning. The judges gave Johann crap for the wrong color blue but Zoe had the same, incorrect shade of blue on her cake.

I thought Alyssa should have won because of her creativity and the fact that hers looked like an actual float.

I actually agree that Alyssa's cake was the best looking of the three (and a pox upon Duff for his ridiculous comment about Zoe's looking more like a float... Alyssa's practically WAS a float!) 

But I think the judge's comment was more that Yohann had multiple shades of blue and none of them matched.  His cake looked a little sloppy (those drips!  ugh!) and not up to his usual standards; maybe not having access to the star cutter really threw him off.

I think Alyssa tried to account for the bacon texture by candying it, but when she's chopping it up you can see it's not really candied in any meaningful way... it looked more like she sprinkled some brown sugar on it and threw it in the oven for 5 minutes.  Actually candied bacon would be great in a cake!

[Suzn]

3 hours ago, Catfi9ht said:

 I did enjoy this judging panel without Nancy even if Damaris didn't really act like herself. 

 

12 hours ago, mlp said:

I prefer almost anyone to Nancy but I wish they'd get Stephanie Boswell or Sherry Yard or someone who is actually a baker instead of Damaris.  I have nothing against Damaris but she isn't known for having baking expertise.

I was so glad that Nancy was not a judge!  She always had inane and repetitive comments and nothing helpful or interesting.

I really didn't want Zoe to win.  Alyssa's cake looked the best by far to me.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Suzn

[Maverick]

6 hours ago, AZChristian said:

He has been a judge on Beat Bobby Flay, as has the Cake Boss guy.

Yes, for dessert themed shows.  My point is you don't see the pastry background talent turning up on savory shows regularly. The inverse isn't true because you have everyone from Carla to Aarti popping up on the dessert shows.  

[kirklandia]

59 minutes ago, Maverick said:

My point is you don't see the pastry background talent turning up on savory shows regularly.

The one that came to my mind immediately was Christina Tosi, judging on MasterChef (I don't remember how many seasons).

[Salacious Kitty]

7 hours ago, AZChristian said:

He has been a judge on Beat Bobby Flay, as has the Cake Boss guy.

I think part of what the judges are looking for is the creative use of a set of ingredients.  Really, baking challenge shows are kind of like Chopped, but with ALL of the challenges leading towards dessert.  They only have one dessert per show on most Chopped episodes.

Duff and Buddy judge(d) dessert battles. I don't recall Duff ever being a judge for savory. 

[RoxiP]

I did agree that Yohann's cake had too many shades of blue and none of them were the traditional shades used for fourth of July. Visually I think Alyssas cake looked the best but Zoes cake apparently tasted fantastic. Side note was anybody else surprised Zoes eyes were blue?  I thought all along they were brown. 

[MsJamieDornan]

12 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I don't recall Duff ever being a judge for savory. 

He has been on Beat Bobby Flay

[HyeChaps]

Back when the Christmas Cookie Challenge had a panel of judges, they had Gesine, Damiano, Jason, Zach, and other real baking authorities in addition to Ree (ugh). 

[Salacious Kitty]

11 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

He has been on Beat Bobby Flay

Judging desserts. Bobby does a few sweet episodes each season.

[Ohmo]

On 6/28/2023 at 12:32 AM, Maverick said:

Neither is Carla.

I didn't know that.  Since she's hosted The Next Great Baker (Season 4, I think(, I thought she had some baking experience.  I like her as a judge, though.  I also like Zach and Stephanie, too.   It would be cool to see Stephanie judge a competition other than Easter.

Summer Baking Championship was my introduction to Demaris.  She doesn't bother me.

[MerBearHou]

I’ve seen Damaris as a judge often on GGG and though she can be fun and goofy when she’s cooking and not judging, she judges on GGG exactly the same as her Summer Baking judging.  I think part of the issue is that the serious critiquing comes across as such a switch from the fun Damaris we see often — a bigger pendulum “vibe” swing when she has a serious comment to make.  

Edited June 30, 2023 by MerBearHou

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I’ve seen Damaris as a judge often on GGG and though she can be fun and goofy when she’s cooking and not judging, she judges on GGG exactly the same as her Summer Baking judging.  I think part of the issue is that the serious critiquing comes across as such a switch from the fun Damaris we see often — a bigger pendulum “vibe” swing when she has a serious comment to make.  

You probably already know this, but that dichotomy goes all the way back to her time on Next Food Network Star, when she won a challenge and got to critique her competitors' dishes. Wacky Damaris suddenly gave way to Culinary Instructor Damaris, and they were all like "where did that come from??" 😆

22 minutes ago, Ohmo said:

I didn't know that.  Since [Carla]'s hosted The Next Great Baker (Season 4, I think(, I thought she had some baking experience.  I like her as a judge, though. 

I tend to think that even if a professional chef or food personality isn't known for baking, it doesn't mean they don't know baking (and vice versa - Duff might very well be a hell of a savory cook). The two aren't automatically mutually exclusive. It might be harder to believe at first glance that someone like Eddie Jackson, for example, knows enough about baking that he should be judging a baking comp, but I have no trouble believing that Carla and Damaris know plenty.

[RoxiP]

Didn't Duff go to culinary school? Answering my own question he did (I looked it up).  He also worked in restaurants starting at age 14.

[Maverick]

Yes, he competed on an episode of Chopped where he stated people would be surprised he was a trained chef and he wanted to show that he could do savory. 

[mlp]

3 hours ago, Maverick said:

Yes, he competed on an episode of Chopped where he stated people would be surprised he was a trained chef and he wanted to show that he could do savory. 

He did a whole series on Discovery+ a couple years ago cooking savory.  According to Wikipedia, he also staged years ago at The French Laundry.

[Tippi]

Damaris had a show on the Food Network after she won the Next Food Network Star season.  It lasted a few seasons and the premise was that she would help a non-foodie cook a special meal for someone they were close to.  As I recall she almost always included some sort of dessert as part of these meals.  I think she may not be professional baker level like Duff, but is still knowledgeable enough to be a judge.  I'm not always a fan of some of her goofiness on GGG, but I thought she was fine here as were Carla and Duff.

[libgirl2]

On 7/3/2023 at 4:57 PM, Tippi said:

Damaris had a show on the Food Network after she won the Next Food Network Star season.  It lasted a few seasons and the premise was that she would help a non-foodie cook a special meal for someone they were close to.  As I recall she almost always included some sort of dessert as part of these meals.  I think she may not be professional baker level like Duff, but is still knowledgeable enough to be a judge.  I'm not always a fan of some of her goofiness on GGG, but I thought she was fine here as were Carla and Duff.

I remember that show! 

[RealityCheck]

Food Network Picks Up Second Season of Summer Baking Championship.

[Ohmo]

Question about all of the Championship series shows: How long do they take to film?

I'm guessing that 1 week (each episode) = 1-3 days in actual time.

[DEL901]

14 minutes ago, Ohmo said:

Question about all of the Championship series shows: How long do they take to film?

I'm guessing that 1 week (each episode) = 1-3 days in actual time.

My guess is a day an episode   Preheat in the morning.  Main heat in the afternoon.   The whole season could film in 7 or 8 days.   They would want to compact it as much as possible since they would have to pay living expenses, hotel, etc. during filming.   Look at shows like Jeopardy (film 5 x 30 minute episodes in one day) and The Price is Right films 2 x1 hour episodes in a day.

 

[Ohmo]

15 hours ago, DEL901 said:

My guess is a day an episode   Preheat in the morning.  Main heat in the afternoon.   The whole season could film in 7 or 8 days.   They would want to compact it as much as possible since they would have to pay living expenses, hotel, etc. during filming.   Look at shows like Jeopardy (film 5 x 30 minute episodes in one day) and The Price is Right films 2 x1 hour episodes in a day.

 

I'd guess 2-3 for some episodes simply because we've seen some pre-heats that are 2 hours and some main heats that are 4-5 hours.  Then there are interviews and taking video of the food.  Even with multiple things happening at once, with 10-12 contestants at the beginning, I'd think some of those episodes would have to take at least 2 days to film.   I agree with you that 1 day is likely possible for some episodes.

[libgirl2]

I get daily recipe emails and today's was a cookie salad. NO!! 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

I get daily recipe emails and today's was a cookie salad. NO!! 

Not to be a scrooge and cut into the Molly-hating, but she has absolutely nothing to do with this show. Can posts like this possibly be kept to either her own show's thread or at least the Spring Baking Championship thread (even though she's no longer hosting that one either)?

[littlebennysmom]

12 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Not to be a scrooge and cut into the Molly-hating, but she has absolutely nothing to do with this show. Can posts like this possibly be kept to either her own show's thread or at least the Spring Baking Championship thread (even though she's no longer hosting that one either)?

It was more if a cookie salad hating comment than a Molly hating one.

[CheshireCat]

18 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I get daily recipe emails and today's was a cookie salad. NO!! 

Do I even want to know?

[Guest]

5 hours ago, littlebennysmom said:

It was more if a cookie salad hating comment than a Molly hating one.

I'd like to believe that, but I'm sorry, I don't. It was negatively invoked too many times in relation to her Spring season (and in this thread, with lots of laughing and talk of barf emojis) for me to think otherwise.

[MsJamieDornan]

On 7/21/2023 at 7:52 AM, tracyscott76 said:

I'd like to believe that, but I'm sorry, I don't. It was negatively invoked too many times in relation to her Spring season (and in this thread, with lots of laughing and talk of barf emojis) for me to think otherwise.

Why does it matter ?

[Guest]

2 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

Why does it matter ?

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't. I was just expressing the hope that, if people are going to continue to take digs at Molly, they could do so in a thread for a show she was actually on. When someone suggested it wasn't a dig at Molly, I disagreed. That's all. 🤷‍♂️

[RealityCheck]

The new season of the SUMMER BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP premeires on Monday, May 13 at 8PM ET/PT with host Jesse Palmer and judges Duff Goldman, Carla Hall, and Damaris Phillips.

Quote

The competition kicks off with a challenge where the bakers must craft the perfect poolside snack - ice cream bars. However, there’s a twist - no ice cream allowed!  The bars must look like ice cream bars, but can only be made of cake or cookies, and need to be beautifully decorated for summer.

Contestants include:

Vonshia Brown (Los Angeles, CA)
Tara Canaday (Cumberland, ME)
Austin Granados (Manitoba, Canada)
Chris Jara (San Antonio, TX)
Rob Lough (Houston, TX)
Dominick Miller (Santa Rosa, CA)
Nayibe Renaud (Henderson, NV)
German Rizzo (Glen Cove, NY)
Stephanie Tucci (Ontario, Canada)
Karol Zapata (Queens, NY)

 

Edited April 10 by RealityCheck

[RoxiP]

Makes sense - ice cream would have melted quickly beside the pool....LOL.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I just saw the bakers for Season 2, coming this summer.    It will have Jesse, Carla, Duff, and Damaris.  

Thanks to Salacious Kitty, starting 5/13.    Next Baking Master: Paris series starts tonight Monday 5/6 after the Spring Baking finale. 

Edited May 6 by CrazyInAlabama

[Salacious Kitty]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I just saw the bakers for Season 2, coming this summer.    It will have Jesse, Carla, Duff, and Damaris.  

Debuts next week (5/13) in Spring's time slot.

[mlp]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I just saw the bakers for Season 2, coming this summer.    It will have Jesse, Carla, Duff, and Damaris.  

No Nancy.  Hurray!

[Biosynth]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:10 PM, mlp said:

No Nancy.  Hurray!

You got that right.  Whew.

[paisley]

Too much loose hair.