Halloween Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Guest]

Well I was rooting hard for Adina and would have been more than satisfied with a Guillermo (or Megan) win, so naturally Renee won XD. I mean, congrats to her and she seems very nice, but I've had a creeping sense all season that this was a bit of a pre-determined do-over for her, so I was left feeling a little dissatisfied.

But regardless of the winner, Adina has cemented her place among my all-time favorites in the X Baking Championships. I know her supposed attitude turned some people off, but I thought she was a riot and super creative. Maybe next season will be her chance for a do-over and I can prove myself a total hypocrite by rooting for her!

Edited October 26, 2021 by tracyscott76

[libgirl2]

7 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Well I was rooting hard for Adina and would have been more than satisfied with a Guillermo (or Megan) win, so naturally Renee won XD. I mean, congrats to her and she seems very nice, but I've had a creeping sense all season that this was a bit of a pre-determined do-over for her, so I was left feeling a little dissatisfied.

But regardless of the winner, Adina has cemented her place among my all-time favorites in the X Baking Championships. I know her supposed attitude turned some people off, but I thought she was a riot and super creative. Maybe next season will be her chance for a do-over and I can prove myself a total hypocrite by rooting for her!

I kind of felt like they regretted not having her win before. Both Guillermo and Adina looked a bit shell shocked or just not happy.  Her brain was not good and I honestly wasn't impressed with her cake. Why not just do a season with past contestants? I wouldn't mind that. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by libgirl2

[CrystalBlue]

Boo!  Guillermo didn't win.  😢  One of my two faves from the beginning, the other being Megan who I had chosen as my first pick for winner.  Then Guillermo impressed me with his progress and with the sweetness to his personality kept me rooting for him.

I was sad Megan was left out of the top three.  Personalities aside, I wasn't that thrilled with Renee's cake as it looked too comical to me.  And her brain was a rubber dud.  Guillermo's looked scary especially with the top tier of the zombie, and his cake had 360 degree interest with a great brain.  Adina's cake turned into a leaning tower cake and her shovel fell off.

At least Adina didn't win, but I sure don't agree that Renee, the second chance contestant, won, especially when her cake wasn't totally ahead of the rest.

Well, until next year . . .

Have yourselves a happy little Halloween!

[Kerbearjo]

I was surprised and disappointed with the winner. I bet the other two were super frustrated because she hit a second chance. I noticed a little “spark” between Adina and John!! 😉

[CheshireCat]

I thought the challenge was very uneven - it was much more difficult to incorporate sauerkraut and rosmary into a S'mores dessert than jello and black garlic. I can understand why Guillermo went into the "sudden death" but I didn't catch why Megan was in the bottom two. After the critique, I thought Renee would be in the bottom two. Megan's macarons looked very neat, at the same time, black garlic was not hard to incorporate and the macarons were something fairly traditional as well.

I don't think either one fulfilled the visual aspect of the sudden death challenge. Megan's looked too nice and Guillermo's looked messy. In my opinion, a dessert like that needs to look gross but at the same time, appetizing. Guillermo's did not.

I didn't think that Guillermo's cake looked any better, though. That mummy and pumpkin layer were messy and not in a good way. Things don't have to be pretty on Halloween but as a baker, you need to find a balance between something that doesn't look pretty and something that looks like you baked it in an hour and didn't bother with it. The shadow on the pumpkin should have been airbrushed evenly, for example, and the pumpkin would still have looked scary.

Did Guillermo have a support structure? It looked like the cakes were sinking into the bottom tier.

Shouldn't Renee have known that chocolate that comes straight out of the freezer is likely to crack? That said, why did she not just melt some more chocolate, put it back in the mold and glue it back together? Why did she not make use of that crack in a creative way, like it's a big bite that has been taken out of that brain or something like that?

Her cake looked very nice and clean though (but still scary).

Did I understand correctly - Adina had second thoughts about her decision because if she had said mousse it would have messed with everyone? Maybe she should have chosen what she wanted to work with the most and not what she thought would hurt the others?

Her cake looked very nice as well. The idea with the blood that dropped out of the mask was awesome! It's such a pity that her cake was leaning but because it was, I'm good with Renee winning.

Guillermo's work was a mess in the finale, so I was rooting for either of the two women and would have been fine with either winning.

[GaT]

I'm glad it's over, I don't know if I'll watch next year, I'm really bored with this show.

[libgirl2]

3 hours ago, GaT said:

I'm glad it's over, I don't know if I'll watch next year, I'm really bored with this show.

I enjoyed it and I know I liked all four but this was the other three's season and I can't help but feel they got a bit ripped off. Will they bring one of them back next year? Is this a new trend? Just do a best of or second chance bakers next year 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

Did I understand correctly - Adina had second thoughts about her decision because if she had said mousse it would have messed with everyone? Maybe she should have chosen what she wanted to work with the most and not what she thought would hurt the others?

As I understood it, she DID chose what she wanted to work with the most (curd) but realized after the fact that if she had chosen mousse, it would have taken it off the table for the others and possibly thrown them off. But she said she preferred it that way because she'd rather just beat people on merits without messing with them.

But then she changed her mind about using the curd in the brain because of technical concerns, though I didn't catch exactly why. Maybe because the jam would better create the bleeding effect she wanted.

[libgirl2]

4 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

As I understood it, she DID chose what she wanted to work with the most (curd) but realized after the fact that if she had chosen mousse, it would have taken it off the table for the others and possibly thrown them off. But she said she preferred it that way because she'd rather just beat people on merits without messing with them.

But then she changed her mind about using the curd in the brain because of technical concerns, though I didn't catch exactly why. Maybe because the jam would better create the bleeding effect she wanted.

that bleeding did look really neat! 

[CheshireCat]

1 hour ago, tracyscott76 said:

But then she changed her mind about using the curd in the brain because of technical concerns, though I didn't catch exactly why. Maybe because the jam would better create the bleeding effect she wanted.

She said curd was too heavy and she didn't want the weight on top of the cake. I'm not sure that jam is that much lighter but okay. This whole curd/mousse/jelly thing was weird anyway.

[dleighg]

For the first challenge, where they had to use their "most feared ingredient," shouldn't the bakers have figured that this was going to come back and bite them? I mean, I'd write down something that was a bit weird, but that I knew I could work with. Who knows, maybe some of them did :) like the sauerkraut.

[3outta5]

I was surprised that I was ok with Renee winning. I liked all of them, though, which doesn't usually happen. John is a delight; he made it fun for me to watch. 🧡🖤

[CrazyInAlabama]

I really enjoyed the theme aspect of the entire season.   John did a good job this season, and I liked what all three finalists did.   

[dleighg]

Idina said that the grenadine would give "that intense cherry flavor."

Isn't grenadine made from pomegranate? 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Idina said that the grenadine would give "that intense cherry flavor."

Isn't grenadine made from pomegranate? 

It is, but apparently pomegranates and cherries can have a similar flavor (I don't eat a lot of pomegranates myself, so can't confirm), and there are even brands of grenadine that are specifically cherry-flavored. Adina was going for the "chocolate malt with a cherry on top" kind of cherry flavor, so I guess grenadine was close enough for what she wanted.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

For the first challenge, where they had to use their "most feared ingredient," shouldn't the bakers have figured that this was going to come back and bite them? I mean, I'd write down something that was a bit weird, but that I knew I could work with. Who knows, maybe some of them did :) like the sauerkraut.

I would do the same thing too.... sure, I'm afraid of chocolate! I guess they didn't think that would happen. 

[invisiblegirl12]

Watching this episode now, and absolutely cringing at the fact that both contestant Megan and judge Stephanie Boswell ("acclaimed pastry chef?") don't know the difference between a Macaroon and a Macaron. Two totally different things. Those were Macarons she made, but they both kept calling them Macaroons. Gah.

[dleighg]

2 minutes ago, invisiblegirl12 said:

absolutely cringing at the fact that both contestant Megan and judge Stephanie Boswell ("acclaimed pastry chef?") don't know the difference between a Macaroon and a Macaron.

I noticed that as well, and was shocked that Stephanie did it as well. All I could guess is that maybe..... Stephanie was just trying to not show up Megan on national TV. But if so, she really should have just said "many folks use the term macaroon when they mean macaron. These are macarons" and then LOTS OF PEOPLE WOULD GET EDUCATED!

[Rammchick]

Renee reminds me a lot of a friend of mine, so I think I was silently rooting for her, although I did want Adina to win.  I enjoyed her personality, particularly her interactions with John.  And I especially liked her attitude about not depriving the others of using mousse.

In other news, that was the first time I noticed the big cake tattoo on the side of Megan's neck.

[mojoween]

You guys know what’s coming … yaaaaayyyyyyyyy!  I am so happy Renee won this time.  I know she came in after the start of the series and got a second chance, but I don’t care.  I love her.

This time, however, I wouldn’t have been mad if Adina or Guillermo had won.  Guillermo really came on strong at the end.

Megan’s mistakes in both rounds surprised me.  It felt like she shut down when she had to do sudden death and never fully recovered.  If she is invited back for another season that would also be a-ok.

[joanne3482]

On what planet are sauerkraut and black garlic equivalent to rosemary and gelatin in terms of difficulty? Honestly. That made me so angry. Admittedly all the baking shows I watch eventually run together but I feel like Guillermo used gelatin in a panna cotta. Melt down the flavored gelatin treat and bam, panna cotta.

Also, on no baking show I've ever watched have they criticized macarons for not being day old. All the macarons I've ever made I've eaten at least one the same day I made them.  It's never even been said in the recipes I've used that they have to rest overnight.  It was not some horrifying situation. I was floored by Stephanie's issue with Megan's macarons not resting or whatever overnight. She did say towards the end that they were overcooked, which maybe they were, but her initial complaints were all about how they were supposed to "rest" overnight and that's why they wouldn't work.  

[ZootSuitWyatt]

5 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

On what planet are sauerkraut and black garlic equivalent to rosemary and gelatin in terms of difficulty? Honestly. That made me so angry. Admittedly all the baking shows I watch eventually run together but I feel like Guillermo used gelatin in a panna cotta. Melt down the flavored gelatin treat and bam, panna cotta.

Also, on no baking show I've ever watched have they criticized macarons for not being day old. All the macarons I've ever made I've eaten at least one the same day I made them.  It's never even been said in the recipes I've used that they have to rest overnight.  It was not some horrifying situation. I was floored by Stephanie's issue with Megan's macarons not resting or whatever overnight. She did say towards the end that they were overcooked, which maybe they were, but her initial complaints were all about how they were supposed to "rest" overnight and that's why they wouldn't work.  

Yeah, that was weird to me. I’ve seen a ton of macarons made on the various baking championships and I don’t remember this criticism ever coming up before. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Megan’s mistakes in both rounds surprised me.  It felt like she shut down when she had to do sudden death and never fully recovered.  If she is invited back for another season that would also be a-ok.

The way they announced that Megan would be in the sudden death round was a bit sneaky and a little mean, in my opinion. John had already announced Guillermo would be in sudden death and Adina was safe. Normally, I would have expected John to give a run-down of both Renee and Megan's stuff, and then say "the second person in the sudden death round is..."

Instead, he gave Renee the run-down and immediately said she was moving on, so I think Megan was really caught off guard (especially based on her reaction). As you say, she might not have fully recovered from that and couldn't focus.

(To be clear, I don't blame John for that. I'm sure for those procedural types of announcements, he's following the script he's given.)

Edited October 26, 2021 by tracyscott76

[Grizzly]

It's probably small comfort to Adina that she correctly pegged John as the killer.

As far as the least liked ingredient, as Renee went up to get her box she said something about it could be this, this, or sauerkraut. So maybe the contestants gave a few and the producers picked.

[mojoween]

Oh!  I forgot my favorite part - “this is going to taste like anger and disdain.”  It might be my favorite thing Carla has ever said.

[CrystalBlue]

20 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Oh!  I forgot my favorite part - “this is going to taste like anger and disdain.”  It might be my favorite thing Carla has ever said.

I love Carla.  This is another reason why, though, Miss Adina rubbed me the wrong way.  Her personality, which a lot of people liked, reminds me of the bitchy version of The Temperamental Chef stereotype.  Adina made a big deal out of her hatred for <gasp> that evil herb rosemary.  Renee wasn't too enamored of sauerkraut but she seemed to just get on with it and was smart to rinse the sour out of the cabbage and try to use it as coconut. 

Perhaps Renee had a second-chance advantage but her personality was more pleasing to me so her winning isn't an outrage to me, though neither of my picks won.

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, CrystalBlue said:

This is another reason why, though, Miss Adina rubbed me the wrong way.  Her personality, which a lot of people liked, reminds me of the bitchy version of The Temperamental Chef stereotype. 

I agree. I got the feeling she really played up "the character" and I tired of it. She was talented, and I wouldn't have been upset if she'd won, but I just didn't need to see so much of that particular "character." 

[kirklandia]

[emmawoodhouse]

3 hours ago, Grizzly said:

It's probably small comfort to Adina that she correctly pegged John as the killer.

As far as the least liked ingredient, as Renee went up to get her box she said something about it could be this, this, or sauerkraut. So maybe the contestants gave a few and the producers picked.

I'm pretty sure one of them said they gave a list of three items in their intake. They did a good job picking out which item the producers selected.

[CheshireCat]

6 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

On what planet are sauerkraut and black garlic equivalent to rosemary and gelatin in terms of difficulty?

If black garlic does taste similar to balsamic vinegar (as they said on the show and the internet tells me as well), I think it is equivalent to rosemary and gelatin.

 

6 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

Also, on no baking show I've ever watched have they criticized macarons for not being day old.

I didn't catch that. Seriously? How ridiculous.

 

8 hours ago, invisiblegirl12 said:

Watching this episode now, and absolutely cringing at the fact that both contestant Megan and judge Stephanie Boswell ("acclaimed pastry chef?") don't know the difference between a Macaroon and a Macaron.

Well, they weren't pronouncing "Streusel" correctly either... Technically, they weren't even using them correctly. They're a topping made out of butter, flour and sugar and they get sprinkled over whatever you make and are baked with the cake or pie or pastry.

[MerBearHou]

I was rooting for Guillermo, but Renee is lovely and talented so I was OK with her win.  Anyone but Adina (apologies to her fans here).  I was never wild about her though she could definitely bake, but in the last few episodes, she’s really become a character I didn’t enjoy watching.  And I really didn’t like the flirty spark between John and her.  

Edited October 27, 2021 by MerBearHou

[Maya]

As soon as it was between Megan and Guillermo, I knew Megan was out. These shows are starting to seem very scripted to me…hmm. 

Speaking of scripted..Renee wins! 

[Popples]

I thought Adina would win and was surprised that Renee did, however I would have been fine no matter who won out of the final four.

Renee opened a bakery with her winnings.

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

I was rooting for Guillermo, but Renee is lovely and talented so I was OK with her win.  Anyone but Adina (apologies to her fans here).  I was never wild about her though she could definitely bake, but in the last few episodes, she’s really become a character I didn’t enjoy watching.  And I really didn’t like the flirty spark between John and her.  

Me either, but I figured it was part of her act that she put on to make herself look cute, and it just left me feeling that she's a user.  She's supposed to be married and I thought she was going after the host in a flirtatious manner so she could garner support or favor.

[emmawoodhouse]

I didn't see it as flirting at all. Merely witty repartee that John couldn't coax out of anyone else. Carla got Adina's sense of humor as well when she made her hilarious remark about disdain at judging. Like John, by that point, she knew Adina could take it. I enjoyed her acerbic wit. 

Edited October 27, 2021 by emmawoodhouse

[Guest]

6 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

I didn't see it as flirting at all. Merely witty repartee that John couldn't coax out of anyone else. Carla got Adina's sense of humor as well when she made her hilarious remark about disdain at judging. Like John, by that point, she knew Adina could take it. I enjoyed her acerbic wit. 

Agreed. Obviously whether or not someone likes a contestant is up to them, but I really don't get this view of Adina as some underhanded game-player trying to "garner favor" but also a humorless grump who complains all the time. She's just a low-key personality with a sardonic sense of humor who made John (and the judges) laugh. Of course no one is obligated to like that, but I really think she's being assigned motives that aren't there.

Edited to add: 

And she didn't need to resort to flirting to garner favor anyway, because she was an outstanding baker.

Edited October 27, 2021 by tracyscott76

[Maya]

I also call foul on Guillermo’s cake telling the “story” of the killer. It was a mummy, pumpkin and two other random things stacked on top of each other. 

[binky101]

2 hours ago, Maya said:

I also call foul on Guillermo’s cake telling the “story” of the killer. It was a mummy, pumpkin and two other random things stacked on top of each other. 

I feel as if he chose to tell the story of his past bakes on the show, and forgot (or deliberately ignored) the prompt to portray the Camp Devil's Food Lake killer. He did mention having made mummy, zombie and pumpkin-themed cakes earlier in the competition, and just combining those, but that was not the prompt. Also, as someone else mentioned, the bottom few cakes/ characters looked pretty squashed under the weight of upper tiers, and the bottom mummy was just not detailed enough. (Great wrapping, lackluster face/ eyes.)

Personally, I liked Adina's final cake best in terms of decor, but was happy Renee won this season. On to the next X Baking Championship!

[mojoween]

I think what Guillermo was saying is that those characters he made throughout the season could have been the killer in disguise, I swear I thought him say something like that.

[GeorgiaRai]

What exactly was the challenge?  To reveal the killer?  Because Renee's just showed another victim, so to me her "as seen through the killer's eyes" story seemed like a dodge.  That and her rubber brain had me thinking there was no way she would win.  But, alas... sigh. 

And about fuilletine.  I assume bakers can make their own, but on the show, it looks like pre-made flakes they just scoop out. So why do the judges seem so impressed by it?  

I wonder how long it took for Adina's cake to start leaning.

And I'm with those who questioned the "day old macaron" complaint.  Huh?! If I understood correctly, they said Megan should have purposely under-baked to compensate for not letting them sit.  As if they wouldn't have complained about that, as well?  

It was a fun season, disappointing finale notwithstanding!

[Grizzly]

I was very surprised Adina's cake leaned since they showed her putting dowels in it. She knew it needed support.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

I was very surprised Adina's cake leaned since they showed her putting dowels in it. She knew it needed support.

Maybe it was the shovel that caused the lean? The judges didn't seem to like the look of the shovel much anyway, so if she had it to do over again, she'd probably skip it or make it smaller.

[mojoween]

I swear the holiday baking championship has had the bakers make stacks of macarons before and they didn’t sit overnight.  Along with the rest of you, that whole part confused me.

Also what was up with Zac’s lame-ass costume?  It was very underwhelming.

[starlightlost]

I know a lot of you are ok with Renee winning but I don't think she or the other girl from another season even belonged there. They had their chance and that should have been it. When they brought them in I was like "what?"  I mean why did they even eliminate anyone the previous week just to bring in more people? You begin a contest with a certain amount and gradually eliminate. There's no adding in more contestants. Ugh.

[tennisgurl]

I'm surprised, I really thought it would be Adina or Guillermo, but I am fine with Renee winning, I liked all of the bakers in the last week. It does feel a bit like the show wanted to give Renee a second chance because they like her, but I enjoyed her baking and she seems like a really nice person. Good on her for using the money to start her bakery, I wish her luck. 

Guillermo was my favorite, I like his low key vibes and creativity, and I know that Adina rubs some people the wrong way but I like her dry sense of humor and how she and John would banter. I think it especially fit the fun Halloween theme, you have to have the snarky girl in every slasher movie. I loved her dripping head final cake, it was such a cool detail. 

John is a great host, I had a lot of fun this season. Lots of spooky fun!

[mojoween]

I also adore John.  His last question has been making me giggle for a week.

 

[dleighg]

3 minutes ago, mojoween said:

His last question has been making me giggle for a week.

Didn't Marty sport that look in Back to the Future?

[ruffy666]

On 10/26/2021 at 9:34 AM, joanne3482 said:

Also, on no baking show I've ever watched have they criticized macarons for not being day old. All the macarons I've ever made I've eaten at least one the same day I made them.  It's never even been said in the recipes I've used that they have to rest overnight. 

Yeah, I thought the same thing and you're absolutely right, the judges should judge based on the parameters of the challenge.

That said, you can bake a macaron so it's pretty good right with good timing.  If you happen to overbake it even slightly, it will be quite crunchy and crumbly.  The baker could've used a slightly wetter filling to try to mitigate some of that crunchy macaron syndrome... under normal circumstances, it could be saved by filling it and letting it sit overnight (covered helps!) but obviously that's not an option here.

Sorry for nerding out over macarons, I still struggle with these suckers all the time and I feel like I've stumbled into pretty much every possible bad outcome 😄

[Eliza422]

Put me down as another who was surprised at the "macarons have to be a day old" thing. Literally every baking competition out there - and believe me, I watch them all! - has had multiple people make macarons and I've never heard this. Even on the kid's ones.

 

Color me flummoxed.

[Catfi9ht]

Speaking of macarons, last year's Holiday Baking Championship is on now and they have to make macaron trees to get to the finale.

I definitely call shenanigans on Megan's macaron feedback.

ETA: Absolutely no mention of letting them sit overnight. A few "macaroon" slips but not many. I got the feeling the producers coached them because there were alot of in depth explanations on how to make them including baking definitions specific to making macarons.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Catfi9ht
Added more notes on the macaron challenge