Halloween Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Spunkygal]

In addition to the fact that not all surprise ingredients are created equal, I hate the “free for all” involved in grabbing an ingredient. Ready, set, elbow each other out of the way!  But I, too, would prefer that each baker get the same ingredient.

[libgirl2]

9 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

In addition to the fact that not all surprise ingredients are created equal, I hate the “free for all” involved in grabbing an ingredient. Ready, set, elbow each other out of the way!  But I, too, would prefer that each baker get the same ingredient.

And if you want to make it fair and have different ingredients, not a free for all, have them pick a number or something like that, so it is really random. 

[Tippi]

I have gotten tired of seeing these whammy ingredients pop up.  It's just not fair.

[Rammchick]

While I really liked Kristi and was sorry to see her go, I do think putting Good and Plenty directly into a cake (even ground up) was a mistake.  There are a lot of other ways to get licorice flavor into a dessert (and I'm partial to British black licorice toffees, so I know that it goes with other sweet flavors).  She could have even used her ground up candy seeped in some sort of liquid for a cake soak.  However, I agree, it did seem as though Blayre's mistakes were more egregious, but of course, I didn't taste the two cakes.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Rammchick

[Frost]

A component of Blayr's cake was raw.  Serving raw dough versus an unsuccessful use of licorice as a surprise ingredient should have been a no brainer.

Is the drag queen community happy with Zac as its representative?  He seems to make a number of comments that lump all drag queens together.

[dleighg]

32 minutes ago, Frost said:

He seems to make a number of comments that lump all drag queens together

Yeah I'm tired of hearing about what "drag queens do." 

[mojoween]

From what was presented to us, Blayre’s cake was both underdone and hard to get through.  Make it make sense.

[BookWitch]

Kristi put a big post on her Facebook page talking about the show and all the people. She does end it with 

Quote

And for the record, Entremets in 2-hours are not a thing

[Pallida]

My biggest issue with these strong flavor twists is I have to assume the bakers somewhat limit themselves when doing their initial planning because they know they’ll have to incorporate something else with no time. While we still see a variety of flavors, I have to assume they’d go even more complex and interesting if they didn’t have a possible flavor twist. 

[Catfi9ht]

5 hours ago, BookWitch said:

And for the record, Entremets in 2-hours are not a thing

This wasn't the first time the show had the contestants make entremets so... 🤷

She's the culinary instructor so she should have been the most prepared for this show IMO. I didn't really care for her on the show and her products seemed fine for an instructor when usually the instructors on the show are top notch.

I will say I went to her Facebook post and expected it to be as bitter as the quoted sentence but it was very positive and lovely. https://m.facebook.com/people/Kristi-Pak-Descher/1358761195/#_=_

I'm surprised Kristi went home and agree it should have been Blayre but I would have been fine with either.

6 hours ago, mojoween said:

From what was presented to us, Blayre’s cake was both underdone and hard to get through.  Make it make sense

Came here to post the same thing. I've noticed some strange judging choices and comments this season like how the judges gushed over the "potion bottle" eclairs when they looked like a purple tipped mess with a note on it. Also, her story had nothing to do with what John introduced.

I've also noticed the show has completely dropped using fall flavors as a requirement for each round. The show is now a baking competition with scary decorations. I'm completely fine with it because most of the time the requirement was only enforced selectively and subjectively as what has happened on the spring version.

Not sure I can forgive Jill for hating sloths, but it was silly and memorable which helped her win so maybe I can look past it just once. My favorite decoration was Zac's with the rubber ducky. It seemed to tell a scarier story than Kristi's.

Everyone in the finale seems nice and supportive of each other. I'm fine with any of them winning. This season has been fun. The theme was great. The sets and costumes were phenomenal as always.

[CheshireCat]

I'm not sure what to make of Kristi's last comment. Did she mean that the time was too short? But they all managed to finish their cakes and decorate them nicely. Or did she mean that the show only claimed that they did it in two hours but they had more time or that some elements were prepared beforehand?

I've always found the time that they have quite short especially compared to the various "Bake-Off" shows. I just started watching the finale of the German version and they had 3 hours for the first challenge!

[Pi237]

I hate the mad dash, too. I’d never run up and try to wrestle ingredients out of the other chefs’ hands.  Seems degrading to me. There has to be other, more entertaining ways to do that….like, make them throw darts or axes? Lol I don’t know, but I keep waiting for someone to break a finger or take an eye out. 

[Popples]

10 minutes ago, Pi237 said:

I hate the mad dash, too. I’d never run up and try to wrestle ingredients out of the other chefs’ hands.  Seems degrading to me. There has to be other, more entertaining ways to do that….like, make them throw darts or axes? Lol I don’t know, but I keep waiting for someone to break a finger or take an eye out. 

They've thrown axes at a target for first pick of an ingredient in a previous season. It was either last season or 2019 because I remember John being there and Carla hosted 2020.

[TVbitch]

Sloths happen to be my spirit animal. 😁 I refuse to believe they could be anyone's worst nightmare!

[mlp]

9 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Sloths happen to be my spirit animal. 😁 I refuse to believe they could be anyone's worst nightmare!

They do have scary looking claws but, if the many videos I've seen of them can be believed, they don't seem aggressive at all.  If you did meet an angry one, all you'd have to do is take a step back.  They're much too slow to chase you.  John didn't seem to believe it either.  His comment made me laugh.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

They do have scary looking claws but, if the many videos I've seen of them can be believed, they don't seem aggressive at all.  If you did meet an angry one, all you'd have to do is take a step back.  They're much too slow to chase you.  John didn't seem to believe it either.  His comment made me laugh.

We had a sloth visit the library I work at for a children's program. I got to meet her and she was a sweetie. Slow, but faster that I thought. She lives at someone's house nearby. They have their yard all set up for her (and I think another). What was interesting is she is quite smart. They had a carrier for her. When they were getting ready to leave, they set it over by her and she slowly made her way to it and got in AND closed the door! 

2 hours ago, Pi237 said:

I hate the mad dash, too. I’d never run up and try to wrestle ingredients out of the other chefs’ hands.  Seems degrading to me. There has to be other, more entertaining ways to do that….like, make them throw darts or axes? Lol I don’t know, but I keep waiting for someone to break a finger or take an eye out. 

Didn't they do darts at some championship or contest this year or last? And no, the the abomination that was the Spring BC.

[Taeolas]

IMO COVID should have killed the Mad Dash. The COVID series came up with other ways to pick the whammy ingredients (like random draws or some other mechanism to pick the order), and they should've kept doing that post-COVID. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm so mean.   I watched the rerun of the Open Wounds episode from Monday, just to watch John leave the stage.   

This afternoon they had the reruns of most of the season, so I watched the Open Wounds again.   It was just as much fun for me as the first time.   

I know who I hope wins the competition tonight, but any of the final four would be good.   

I'm glad all four finalists get to compete until the end.   The judges costumes are fantastic, as usual!   Lauren's looked good.   Blayke's looks fantastic, Jill's looks wonderful too, Zac's cake looks fantastic.  

Congratulations to the winner, Blayre, and to all of the finalists, Lauren, Jill and Zac did such a wonderful job too.   It's too bad everyone couldn't win.   A truly memorable season. 

I love that Blayre's prize is a tour of the 10 most haunted hotels in the U.S. 

I love John's speech at the end about Blayke being the pastry chef at the hotel, and she's always been the partry chef at the hotel.    

Edited November 1, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[rlc]

On 10/25/2022 at 11:55 PM, CheshireCat said:

I'm not sure what to make of Kristi's last comment. Did she mean that the time was too short? But they all managed to finish their cakes and decorate them nicely. Or did she mean that the show only claimed that they did it in two hours but they had more time or that some elements were prepared beforehand?

I've always found the time that they have quite short especially compared to the various "Bake-Off" shows. I just started watching the finale of the German version and they had 3 hours for the first challenge!

Yeah, timing seems off for some of these projects. Also, the judges' makeup likely takes longer than the time the bakers are (supposedly) being given.

[MsMalin]

I wish they would do a behind the scenes show so that the viewers could see how these competitions are really run. Like how much I advance are they able to plan, how are the needed ingredients always on hand, how much time does the filming really take.etc.

[seacliffsal]

I was on vacation so just finished watching the most recent episodes.  Wanted to make a comment about the previous episode's Killer Challenge which was the team twin one.  In the instructions it was very clear that the cakes were to taste nothing alike although they had to look alike.  The biggest criticism of the losing team was that the frosting colors were a bit off (blue/blue-green).  BUT that's because they made different frosting while one of the winning teams admitting that they made the exact same frosting so that the color would match.  Wasn't that in violation of the rules regarding taste?  If the frosting was the same, that component would have tasted the same.  In my view, the team that lost was penalized for making sure that every component tasted differently while a team was rewarded for having the same tasting component on both cakes.  Alexi was robbed...

[Grizzly]

Everyone seems to be having a good time and they like each other. John has been smiling a lot. (And he looks good in that suit.) Despite it being Halloween,  no one is being cut throat. I like that the judges couldn't eliminate anyone after the first round and no one got an advantage. I couldn't tell who was winning (which is a good thing) but I didn't expect it to be Blayre. I liked the look of Lauren's the best.

[Guest]

I had forgotten that Blayre was a hometown girl (from where I grew up, not where I am now), so that was cool that she won. Was rooting for Jill, but once I saw the final cakes, I would have been fine with any of the women winning. If Zac had won for that barely decorated cake, I'm not sure what I would have done (stewed about it for 2 minutes and then moved on, probably).

Speaking of Zac, when he got the Antiques theme and was talking about how he didn't want something old because he was the youngest one there, did I hear him right when Jill said she got Roaring 20s? Did he say "That's what I wanted!"?? Because...the Roaring 20s ain't the 2020s, my friend.

[CheshireCat]

I have no problem imagining ricotta, goat cheese and brie in a sweet dish. I've also eaten peanut butter and jelly on top of a slice of cheddar. But cheddar and chocolate is something that I find difficult to pair in my mind. I would have loved to taste it myself.

Not wanting something old because you're the youngest one is a pretty odd comment. It's not like the others look that much older and why can't do you do an antique cake just because you're not that old? (Were any of the themes really "current"?)

I liked Lauren's cake and at the same time, I felt like something was missing. Maybe the masks should have been a different color? Or maybe there should have been a feather on a mask or two? I really don't know what was bothering me about it.

Blayre's cake looked awesome. I think buttercream flowers the way she did them look so pretty anyway and on her cake, they looked like a stained-glass window. So beautiful.
I wouldn't have minded if any of the three women had won but I still think she had the best looking cake.

I love Art Deco, so a part of me was disappointed that Jill's cake lacked a bit of the accuracy and neatness. On the other hand, it looked exactly like I imagine one of the fancy mansions would have looked like once one of their expensive parties was over which I think fit the theme perfectly.
I also didn't mind that the fringes didn't look quite black. They looked shiny on TV which I think fits with the era.

I agree with the judges, Zac's cake looked boring and the topper looked like an afterthought. Contrary to Jill's cake, his cake didn't look antique. It looked like a black cake with black lace.
The orange cake layer seemed a bit too bright when compared to the other two layers.

With that said, those were the best cakes I've seen in a while! Definitely worthy of a finale!

[Salacious Kitty]

 Blayre was a deserving winner. Gorgeous cake. Zac seemed lost, and Jill sunk herself with the corn flakes. I loved the purple layer of Lauren's cake. I can see why she made her masks dark; they wanted black. But I agree, she needed something extra on the masks. 

[dleighg]

Zac kept mispronouncing mascarpone. DRIVES ME NUTS! 

I also thought his "cheese board" in the first round was overdone. He threw so much other stuff on that you could barely see his actual items. 

Agree that the pre-made lace was the kiss of death. And he knew it.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

Zac kept mispronouncing mascarpone. DRIVES ME NUTS! 

I also thought his "cheese board" in the first round was overdone. He threw so much other stuff on that you could barely see his actual items. 

Agree that the pre-made lace was the kiss of death. And he knew it.

As soon as he mentioned it, I knew it. 

[Rammchick]

8 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

 Blayre was a deserving winner. Gorgeous cake. Zac seemed lost, and Jill sunk herself with the corn flakes. I loved the purple layer of Lauren's cake. I can see why she made her masks dark; they wanted black. But I agree, she needed something extra on the masks. 

The very fact that she mentioned using them instead of feuilletine was all I needed to hear to know that wasn't going to be a success.  And although based on looks alone (because of course, we can't taste it), I did think Blayre's cake was the best, but I also thought her palette flowers were very dark and didn't stand out enough against the black of the cake.  Could have been my TV though.

Next week starts Holiday Baking Show.  Gee, I've missed Nancy, haven't you? 😉

[Pi237]

Zac’s decorations, especially the topper, were embarrassingly bad, but the inside looked like a party.

Good season. I liked everyone, Loved the judges costumes each week, and no one was over-the-top obnoxious for camera time.  On to Holiday….

[dleighg]

2 minutes ago, Pi237 said:

Loved the judges costumes each week

Mostly agree, but I was kind of disappointed in the finale this week. They were all the same basic idea of dramatic makeup, but not that much else.

[Dirtybubble]

6 minutes ago, dleighg said:

10 minutes ago, Pi237 said:

Loved the judges costumes each week

Mostly agree, but I was kind of disappointed in the finale this week. They were all the same basic idea of dramatic makeup, but not that much else

Really?  I loved the bride theme of the finale week and Carla really knocked it out of the park with her judge/bride/whatever costume.  

Congrats to Blayre, her cake was GORGEOUS!  I was thinking Jill was getting the winners edit and how good she did on the mini challenge but yeah those cornflakes were a fail.

[Frost]

I'm trying to figure out how Zac spent his time.  The other three cakes were gorgeously decorated and he slapped on some pre-made edible lace and a crappy topper.  I didn't see any creative buttercream work or piping.  Did I miss it?

[RoxiP]

I thought Blayre's flowers were very dark also but I guess they were more discernible in person.

[tennisgurl]

I was rooting for Jill most of all, but everyone still here was excellent and I am happy with Blayre winning. I really liked everyone this season, they seem quite nice and were all very talented, even the people who were sent home early. 

I loved Jill's cake the most, even if I wish that it had been just a teeny bit more Art Deco, but it definitely had that retro jazz age sort of vibe to it. Blayre probably had the most technically good cake, and it really was gorgeous, but Jill's cake was more my personal style. All of the cakes were very much finale worthy.

The judges give us one last round of amazing costumes! Lets all give a hand to the wardrobe department, the true heroes of Halloween Baking Challenge!

Zac's comments about not wanting to get antiques because he's younger than the other contestants was weird, what does how old he is have to do with cake themes? Still love Zac, and his cake looked delicious. 

The "you've always been the pastry chef" ending was the hilariously perfect send off for this show, what a spooky blast this season has been. Now lets take down those pumpkins and pull those Christmas trees out of the garage...

Edited November 1, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Dirtybubble]

Here is Zack's cake.  No not his best decorating.  The lace looks tacky, everything else looks sloppy 

[Salacious Kitty]

It was just too simple compared to the others.

[mojoween]

If Lauren’s cake tasted delicious, who the fuck cares if the interior wasn’t purple?  I get that she called it purple velvet, which she didn’t make, but it tasted good.  That’s what matters, yeah?

I’m bummed Zac did so poorly on the decorating because it sounds like the judges liked his flavors best of all.  Blayre was never my fave, but her cake was beautiful.

The holiday baking ads made me so happy seeing Jesse, even on fast forward.

[Pi237]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

The "you've always been the pastry chef" ending was the hilariously perfect send off for this show

Yes! I forgot to mention how much I loved that, with the zoom on the black and white photo of John & all the chefs. Perfection. 

[CrystalBlue]

Blayre's cake was the best in my opinion too.  I love gothic as a matter of personal taste anyway and did so over the other themes in the final round.  Her cake, skulls and flowers were gorgeous.  The flowers didn't look too dark to me and goth cakes are supposed to be dark, nothing bright or cheery.  Well done Blayre!  I was rooting for Zac but my feelings aren't hurt that Blayre won.  It was the right choice based on appearance and the judges' comments.

Jill commented that this was the first time she did the cornflakes, so she sunk herself for trying something new in a final round.

Lauren's cake was fine but I really like goth better and agree the masquerade masks could have used something like feathers or ornaments.  The colors were cool but I didn't like all that harlequin diamond pattern.  My heart belongs to skulls and red roses!

I don't know what anyone's age has to do with doing antique either.  Zac seemed to like talking about himself a lot, what with his age, coming out, being a drag queen, etc., so I guess it was just something to say for the camera.

I don't watch the Holiday food shows or any other season, so hopefully I'll be back for Halloween 2023!  I love John Henson and Carla Hall!

[toodywoody]

Did you tinkle a little? See that's why he's perfect. Then when he dropped the flowers and broke the glass. He's perfect for this show.

[MerBearHou]

6 minutes ago, toodywoody said:

Did you tinkle a little? See that's why he's perfect. Then when he dropped the flowers and broke the glass. He's perfect for this show.

Those KILLED me!  Did you tinkle a little??!!  I had to rewind and listen again — oh John, you are the best!  I love that the bakers chuckle at him too — there was a great rapport with John and the final group of bakers.  Zac and he were so good together; so were Lauren and Jill — they all “got” his humor instantly.  

[Shorty186]

3 hours ago, toodywoody said:

Did you tinkle a little? See that's why he's perfect. Then when he dropped the flowers and broke the glass. He's perfect for this show.

Omg I was so sad in 2020 (?) when he wasn't the host. He's the reason why this and Holiday Baking Championship are tied for my fave.

[Catfi9ht]

Agree with everyone's comments about the cakes. Blayre was a surprise win, but I'm happy for her and she did have the best looking cake.

I loved Stephanie's comment about her eyebrows fighting with her Botox when tasting Lauren's mini cheesecake. I always suspected she had Botox and lip fillers after watching some previous years recently, but I love the fact that she's honest and has a sense of humor about it. The more I get to see her personality, the more I love her sense of humor.

Overall, I thought the judging this year was positive and supportive (even when some of the results looked terrible) instead of catty and mean. 

The vibe this year for the judges and the contestants was overwhelmingly positive, supportive, and most importantly, FUN!

I loved the theme this year. What a fun season! 

[rlc]

What an absolutely delightful season! Food Network- please take note. This is what we want to see. Talented bakers with pleasant personalities who all get along with each other. Charming host who doesn't over insert himself into the process. Judges giving mostly constructive feedback. Very few producer shenanigans.

Buckle your seat belts, y'all. Get ready for the add more booze for Nancy, not christmasy enough critiques, and one obligatory Hannukah challenge season of Holiday Baking Championship.

[Dirtybubble]

Blayre winning cake

[mojoween]

When Lauren was mixing her batter? frosting? she was doing it with her hands.  Anyone know why you would do it that way?

[RoxiP]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

When Lauren was mixing her batter? frosting? she was doing it with her hands.  Anyone know why you would do it that way?

I saw that several times throughout this season...I was wondering if it was because there were such large batches of batter it would help ensure that the cake was properly mixed.

But always wearing gloves thank goodness!

[mlp]

Thanks for the picture, Dirtybubble.  On my TV, the decorative part of that cake just looked like a dark and featureless mess.  Now I see why Blayre won.

[Dirtybubble]

Ur welcome, I wanted to show these cakes up close so we can zoom in and see what's what.  Here are the other 

[CheshireCat]

14 hours ago, mojoween said:

When Lauren was mixing her batter? frosting? she was doing it with her hands.  Anyone know why you would do it that way?

I don't know what kind of a dough she was mixing but I'm assuming it was a dough where the egg white was incorporated afterwards? Some bakers like to mix certain doughs by hand so that they don't overmix and push all the air out again. (Think macarons, if you overmix, the macarons won't rise properly and will be too dense).

With the exception of gingerbread, I like to knead all my cookie doughs and yeast doughs by hand. (Not at the beginning but once the dry ingredients are added to the wet ingredients). For cookie dough, it's because it's often quicker, for yeast doughs, it's because I can feel when it's ready and because the dough has a lot of resistance, it's easier, too.

12 hours ago, RoxiP said:

But always wearing gloves thank goodness!

The cake is going into the oven anyway, so as long as she washed her hands, I'd be good :-)