Halloween Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Dirtybubble]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:50 AM, Cheyanne11 said:

Carla and Stephanie looked amazing.  I'm glad this show is back, I love the theme they carry through the season.   

 

On 9/16/2023 at 11:50 AM, Cheyanne11 said:

Same!  And Jon is just such a great host.  I literally laugh out loud at some of his jokes.

Same and Same!  I really like the carnival theme they are going with this year.  Jon is such a joy to watch and the judges are great.  Their costumes are really elaborate and it still amazes me how they can talk or even eat sometimes.

Not surprised by the elimination.  If you screw up the mini challenge AND the main challenge you're pretty much gone.  Enh sorry don't remember the names of the bakers yet so I don't have any favs so far.

[RoxiP]

6 hours ago, dleighg said:

interestingly enough, macaroons can also be flour-less (hence their popularity for passover).

I just don't like coconut...LOL!

[YupItsMe]

You know what I’ve noticed? When someone actually makes macaroons no one ever mispronounces it as macaron. Seems people only get confused when it’s actually a macaron. 🤷‍♀️ 

[BookWitch]

No one's gonna talk about Chad being sick? How long did he feel bad? When they all finally noticed he's already infested everyone! I wonder what was going on behind the scenes. 

I can't believe Phoebe lost over that collapsible cake woman. She seemed like she was really enjoying herself.

[mojoween]

The ethnocentrism about the ube cake, my god.

How long was Chad hacking all over the kitchen?  I mean in this day and age at the first sniffle he should have been sent out.

Nice comeback from James after last week.

Phoebe’s carousel was very pretty, but that cake looked yucky.

[Rammchick]

17 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Phoebe’s carousel was very pretty, but that cake looked yucky.

I think all these multiple-episode competition shows have an issue with ageism.  No one with gray hair seems to do very well.

[libgirl2]

18 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

I think all these multiple-episode competition shows have an issue with ageism.  No one with gray hair seems to do very well.

I thought her cake looked lovely and was surprised that she went home. There was a least two that looked worse. 

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, BookWitch said:

No one's gonna talk about Chad being sick? How long did he feel bad? When they all finally noticed he's already infested everyone! I wonder what was going on behind the scenes. 

I can't believe Phoebe lost over that collapsible cake woman. She seemed like she was really enjoying herself.

I dozed off briefly and woke to him coughing and sitting down. What happened??? 

[Dirtybubble]

I really liked the apple razor blade cake/candy corn carousel cake.  And YES I will fight you Jon over candy corn being a joy!

Loved Stacey's cat face carousel cake.  The height of that could not have been easy and the Pbutter flavors are my favorite.  On a side note was she a body builder or weight lifter at some point.  Her arms....WOW! 💪

I too am bummed Phoebe went home.  While the cake was a bit sloppy it wasn't that bad.  Mandi's lemon cake just looked like a mess!  I wonder why so many people used buttercream instead of fondant.  The fondant would have looked cleaner.

25 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

I think all these multiple-episode competition shows have an issue with ageism.  No one with gray hair seems to do very well.

Enh I don't really see that.  Most of the competition shows I watch older contestants usually do well if not win *shrug*

3 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

I dozed off briefly and woke to him coughing and sitting down. What happened??? 

I don't know what he contracted but he was saying he felt lightheaded and coughing really bad.  A medic spoke to him before the commercial and after the commercial he told Jon he wanted to go home.  

[MerBearHou]

None of the other bakers seemed to even say bye / feel better to Chad, or did I miss that?

Complete BS that Phoebe was sent home.  I could not believe it when they said her name over the other woman whose cake was a total trainwreck.  The judges can go on and on about flavor when it's a wreck of a cake in order to justify who they decide to send home.  And I absolutely call out ageism for Phoebe -- irritates me to no end.

Had to mute the TV whenever Mandi spoke.  

[mojoween]

Mandi’s indoor voice is SUPER LOUD.  I feel like she is shouting even when appearing to speak normally.

[Dirtybubble]

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

Mandi’s indoor voice is SUPER LOUD.  I feel like she is shouting even when appearing to speak normally.

Is Mandi the one with the super squeaking voice?  Yea she's gonna grate my nerves before too long.  

 

3 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

None of the other bakers seemed to even say bye / feel better to Chad, or did I miss that?

No I think they gave a collective awww about him leaving.  It's just no one wanted to hug him b/c he was sick and no one really had time to dwell on it because it was right in the middle of the timed main challenge.  

3 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Complete BS that Phoebe was sent home.  I could not believe it when they said her name over the other woman whose cake was a total trainwreck.  The judges can go on and on about flavor when it's a wreck of a cake in order to justify who they decide to send home.  And I absolutely call out ageism for Phoebe -- irritates me to no end.

Well in all fairness I think the judges said Phoebe's presentation was a bit sloppy and while her cake tasted good I think they said her cookies were a bit dry and crumbley.  Enh I'm sure her career will get a boost just being on this show.  

[mlp]

I liked Phoebe.  I didn't expect she'd win but I thought she'd last longer than she did.  The other woman's cake looked worse to me but Phoebe sort of nodded when her name was called so maybe she knew something we didn't.  I had a feeling she wasn't surprised.  

My first thought when Chad started coughing was Covid but the show went on so I guess not.  Maybe they'll let him come back for another season.  He must have been very disappointed to have to drop out.

John's hair has gone so grey that his signature white streak barely shows up any more.  Love him.

[libgirl2]

39 minutes ago, mlp said:

I liked Phoebe.  I didn't expect she'd win but I thought she'd last longer than she did.  The other woman's cake looked worse to me but Phoebe sort of nodded when her name was called so maybe she knew something we didn't.  I had a feeling she wasn't surprised.  

 

There must be something they didn't show us. 

[jcbrown]

8 hours ago, BookWitch said:

No one's gonna talk about Chad being sick? How long did he feel bad? When they all finally noticed he's already infested everyone! I wonder what was going on behind the scenes. 

I can't believe Phoebe lost over that collapsible cake woman. She seemed like she was really enjoying herself.

I am sad that Phoebe went home. I never learn anyone's names this early but I really liked her and wanted her to stay over that lemon mess. She was so pleasant and nice to have onscreen and seemed pretty good. I mean, she wasn't going to win but I wanted her to stay longer, as @mlp said.

8 hours ago, mojoween said:

The ethnocentrism about the ube cake, my god.

How long was Chad hacking all over the kitchen?  I mean in this day and age at the first sniffle he should have been sent out.

Yeah, the ethnocentrism was a lot.

The illness was appalling to me. Did you people not live through the same global pandemic we all did? I liked Chad and I was sorry he had to leave but he should have been masked and he should have left the kitchen before he contaminated the whole place. I shuddered watching it. The first sniffle should have had him met by a medic with a COVID test and a facemask. Maybe that happened but it certainly was not edited to seem so.

[Splashy]

Same. I was thinking Chad should really have a mask on if he’s not feeling great, and especially once he got really bad. I was cringing!

I thought for sure it was going to be Christa; her cake was a mess! I guess it tasted better than Phoebe’s. I like the flavors Phoebe chose, and her cake looked cute. I don’t mind a dense cake lol. I liked her, as well.

Sometimes I’m just baffled by the elimination choice, but I know they have to do a lot of editing of the critiques, so I guess we didn’t get to see what really swung the decision.

[Salacious Kitty]

8 minutes ago, Splashy said:

Same. I was thinking Chad should really have a mask on if he’s not feeling great, and especially once he got really bad. I was cringing!

I thought for sure it was going to be Christa; her cake was a mess! I guess it tasted better than Phoebe’s. I like the flavors Phoebe chose, and her cake looked cute. I don’t mind a dense cake lol. I liked her, as well.

Sometimes I’m just baffled by the elimination choice, but I know they have to do a lot of editing of the critiques, so I guess we didn’t get to see what really swung the decision.

We're going to hour episodes next week, so there will be even less discussion from the judges. 

Phoebe really got dinged for the cake. I guess they're putting more weight on flavor over decorating. Because Christa's cake looked like a preschool project. It must have tasted pretty good for her to have survived.

[CrystalBlue]

I was really rooting for Phoebe to last a while on HBC and am so disappointed she was the second baker eliminated.  I'm not surprised though, for the reason already opined above.  Her cake was decorated a lot better than the mess that was Christa's and looked better on the inside as well.  The denseness couldn't have been that bad as it was basically only Zac's objection.

[dleighg]

10 hours ago, jcbrown said:

The illness was appalling to me. Did you people not live through the same global pandemic we all did? I liked Chad and I was sorry he had to leave but he should have been masked and he should have left the kitchen before he contaminated the whole place. I shuddered watching it. The first sniffle should have had him met by a medic with a COVID test and a facemask. Maybe that happened but it certainly was not edited to seem so

Yeah, most people since the last three years we have all lived through have the decency to, at the first real cough, remove themselves from nearby people! (Though maybe that's just me-- my husband was recently on an airplane, to Texas if it matters, and everyone around him was sneezing and coughing, maskless. He had a mask on, and avoiding getting covid, on this trip anyway.)

[cowgirlwen]

21 hours ago, BookWitch said:

No one's gonna talk about Chad being sick? How long did he feel bad? When they all finally noticed he's already infested everyone! I wonder what was going on behind the scenes. 

All I kept thinking (before he dropped out) was, "Are the judges really going to eat the cake that he's prepared whilst hacking, snotting, and sweating all over it?"  There's no way I would have!    UGH!!  🤢

[Maya]

I am already getting a winner vibe from Hollie. I don’t think Food Network can resist the visual of a woman with tattoos and piercings being the face of the Halloween Baking Championship. 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Maya said:

I am already getting a winner vibe from Hollie. I don’t think Food Network can resist the visual of a woman with tattoos and piercings being the face of the Halloween Baking Championship. 

Hollie lost me a bit when she was decorating the "happy" side of her carousel and was making agitated noises all "I don't do cuuute that isn't meee". I have to roll my eyes a bit when people feel the need to constantly show how hardcore they are. Like, you're not going to lose cred because you put a couple brightly-colored animals on your cake. I wasn't expecting that from her, because she has a pretty upbeat, chipper attitude in general.

Anxiously waiting to see how Mandi incorporates intestines every week!

[libgirl2]

34 minutes ago, Maya said:

I am already getting a winner vibe from Hollie. I don’t think Food Network can resist the visual of a woman with tattoos and piercings being the face of the Halloween Baking Championship. 

I am too. 

[RoxiP]

I guess because this summer in Texas has been so hot and dry that we are immune to other people's coughing and hacking and sneezing - my allergies have been in high alert all summer (not helped by living in an environment where our driveways and roads are gravel and dust) - I was in my doctor's office this morning and joked that if I had covid that it had lasted since the middle of June.  However if I was around other people and they were uncomfortable I would have donned a mask, or if they chose to do so I would have not been offended.

I came back to say that I did find his hacking and coughing over the food he was making (and perhaps on the other participants in the competition) to be troubling and hopefully what they showed and how long it went on was a short period of time.

Edited September 20, 2023 by RoxiP

[ruffy666]

Is it just me or were most of the cakes ugly as all get out tonight?  The only one I really thought looked "professional" was Ryan's so I was glad that he at least made it to the top.

James is a hometown boy so I should be rooting for him but for whatever reason he rubs me the wrong way.  It seemed so performative to be like "UBE!  PANDAN! LOOK AT ME AND MY EXOTIC FILIPINO FLAVORS!" but hey it's probably just me.

Phoebe seemed like a cool person but the thought of a clove-heavy doughnut sounds so nauseating... and I've eaten (heck, I've probably made) pumpkin cake that is dense and super stodgy and it ain't pretty.  Coupled with what looked like an equally heavy cream cheese frosting, I can imagine it was like eating pumpkin spice wallpaper paste.

Edited September 20, 2023 by ruffy666

[RoxiP]

Well at least I know what Ube is now.  

[Salacious Kitty]

They had an Ube cheesecake on an episode of Chopped last night. I could say I knew what it was! 😀

[CrystalBlue]

Me three as to Hollie being the designated winner, or at least one of the longest running contestants because of the visually interesting factor.  Yes she irritated me too (or is that three) with her hardcore cool chick persona.  I don't do cute.  Whatever, Ms. Aussie.  She's just too much for me visually.  Every box is checked.  The unnaturally-colored hair in an edgy hairstyle, the face (yikes!) tattoos blended with the neck tats, all exposed skin tatted up, the DEAD GIRL finger tattoos and the multiple piercings everywhere; can you say "trying too hard"?

Mandi and her high-pitched loud voice is another annoyance; can't wait for her to get voted off the carnival!

As always, I love, love John Henson and his excellent hosting and sense of humor.  He really makes the show.  I adore Carla and I find her fascinating.  Stephanie seems nice.  Zac Young is a little nit-picky sometimes I think.

I think James and Ryan are going to be in it for the long haul, maybe even one the winner.

[Dirtybubble]

5 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Hollie lost me a bit when she was decorating the "happy" side of her carousel and was making agitated noises all "I don't do cuuute that isn't meee". I have to roll my eyes a bit when people feel the need to constantly show how hardcore they are. Like, you're not going to lose cred because you put a couple brightly-colored animals on your cake. I wasn't expecting that from her, because she has a pretty upbeat, chipper attitude in general.

Anxiously waiting to see how Mandi incorporates intestines every week!

I took that to be a bit of fun.  I've known people like her and that "eww cuuute" routine is usually done as a way to ham it up and just have a bit of fun with her dark side.  I like her and she is appears to be an excellent baker so I'm excited to see how far she goes.

2 hours ago, ruffy666 said:

James is a hometown boy so I should be rooting for him but for whatever reason he rubs me the wrong way.  It seemed so performative to be like "UBE!  PANDAN! LOOK AT ME AND MY EXOTIC FILIPINO FLAVORS!" but hey it's probably just me.

Ok so it's not just me.  I couldn't put my finger on it but just something about him bugs me.  Just a gut feeling.  *shrug*

 

[tennisgurl]

I was so happy when I realized this show is back, I am just now pulling out my Halloween decorations! I really like the creepy carnival theme for the season, its going to be a very spooky-tastic season. 

I was surprised to see Phoebe go so early, had her pegged as someone who would at least stick around until the middle. I guess her cake tasted worse than the other lady? Because it did look a bit better, certainly better than some of the cakes which just looked like lumps.

I don't really know any of the contestants well enough yet to pick a favorite, but the guy who won both challenges in the first episode seems like an early front runner. 

John is such a delightful host, he takes the cheesiest jokes and makes them a part of the fun, a good mix of being in on the joke and having a great time leaning fully into the Halloween fun. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by tennisgurl

[DEL901]

I liked how they ragged on Jesse (the other Baking Challenge host) in the main heat.  

As for Phoebe, I also thought she would stay longer, but maybe they also considered that her preheat donuts didn’t taste great either…too much clove.  

[dleighg]

39 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

I liked how they ragged on Jesse (the other Baking Challenge host) in the main heat.

I figured that's what they were doing but I wasn't sure...

[mlp]

39 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

I liked how they ragged on Jesse (the other Baking Challenge host) in the main heat.  

They did?  I missed that entirely.  What did they say?

[Salacious Kitty]

8 minutes ago, mlp said:

They did?  I missed that entirely.  What did they say?

The whole Cousin Jesse bit. First round, IIRC. 

[jcbrown]

Dang, that totally went over my head.

This is my favorite FN seasonal baking championship, followed by the holiday one (in spite of Nancy Fuller), followed by the spring one (sans Molly Yeh), followed by that summer one they did this year.

I like the kids' one, too.

[CrystalBlue]

4 hours ago, DEL901 said:

I liked how they ragged on Jesse (the other Baking Challenge host) in the main heat.  

As for Phoebe, I also thought she would stay longer, but maybe they also considered that her preheat donuts didn’t taste great either…too much clove.  

I was thinking the same thing about the demise of Phoebe; that perhaps it was too much clove combined with too dense (for Zac at least) pumpkin cake, and wasn't an ageist thing at all.  One thing for sure is clove is very strong and can overpower.  I'm wondering if Phoebe had used nutmeg with a little clove instead if the donuts would've been better.  Her leaving so soon really bothers me and I'm spending too much time being disappointed about it!

[TVbitch]

Well, at least Chad can say he made the scariest dessert of the season! 😬 No way was anyone ever going to taste that thing the way he was coughing all over his arms and wiping his nose. 🫢 YIKES!!!!! 😱

 

[2soon2tell]

I don’t have a problem with the whole marscapone mascarpone thing because I know that either way it’s just fancy cream cheese. But I will be really annoyed if you promise me a macaroon and give me a macaron. 
 

[carrps]

On 9/20/2023 at 11:11 AM, CrystalBlue said:

Me three as to Hollie being the designated winner, or at least one of the longest running contestants because of the visually interesting factor.  Yes she irritated me too (or is that three) with her hardcore cool chick persona.  I don't do cute.  Whatever, Ms. Aussie.  She's just too much for me visually.  Every box is checked.  The unnaturally-colored hair in an edgy hairstyle, the face (yikes!) tattoos blended with the neck tats, all exposed skin tatted up, the DEAD GIRL finger tattoos and the multiple piercings everywhere; can you say "trying too hard"?

Mandi and her high-pitched loud voice is another annoyance; can't wait for her to get voted off the carnival!

As always, I love, love John Henson and his excellent hosting and sense of humor.  He really makes the show.  I adore Carla and I find her fascinating.  Stephanie seems nice.  Zac Young is a little nit-picky sometimes I think.

I think James and Ryan are going to be in it for the long haul, maybe even one the winner.

I was going to selectively quote from your post, but I agreed with the whole thing. Hollie doesn't seem too bad, but I hate the hardcore tat-clown presentation. Just me.

I love John and have loved him since Talk Soup.

[Silly Angel]

Trader Joe's has like 50 ube products. Everybody, just calm down with your "Ew, purple starch!"

I got so desperate for this show I started rewatching old episodes, or trying to. Good god, the other hosts were awful. Please, Jon, never leave this show. He's perfect.

[CrazyInAlabama]

My guess is Chad had something, thought he was over it, and had a relapse.   I bet the producers are the ones who said he had to leave.     

[Bumblebee84047]

If Hollie had called a Pavlova "PavAlova" one more time I would have thrown a shoe at my television.

[mlp]

I thought most of those pavlovas looked pretty bad.  Black meringue doesn't whet my appetite at all.  The Charlotte Royals didn't look good either.  I suspect the judges have to work to keep from giving Ryan most of the wins.  

Both of the people in the bottom deserved to be there.  I think they sent the right person home.  

[Claire85]

I can’t believe the girl (I’m terrible with names) who made the “pancake” pavlova didn’t go home. What even was that? When she poured it into the pan it looked like cake batter, not fluffy at all.
 

Her alien cake didn’t look that great either. 

[RoxiP]

I guess you just have to be better than the worst bake...LOL!

[Pallida]

Hollie sounds a lot like Claudia O'Doherty (Jillian on Killing It on Peacock) and it keeps confusing me. 

[HyeChaps]

My favorite episode of Bluey:

 

 

[Rammchick]

Color me underwhelmed by most of these bakers.  For professionals, their offerings look like they're actually in the Kids Baking Championship instead.

[ruffy666]

13 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Color me underwhelmed by most of these bakers.  For professionals, their offerings look like they're actually in the Kids Baking Championship instead.

Yeah, yet again after seeing the results of both challenges I'm kinda like... 🤐

I'm convinced they keep the "good" bakers for Holiday Baking Championship, but it does make this show feel a little strange especially when many of the contestants are allegedly professional bakers. 

I can totally appreciate the fact that time constraints and stupid twists contribute to a lesser final product, but man some of these just looked like a mound of goo that was airbrushed into oblivion.

[Rammchick]

8 minutes ago, ruffy666 said:

I can totally appreciate the fact that time constraints and stupid twists contribute to a lesser final product, but man some of these just looked like a mound of goo that was airbrushed into oblivion.

There's such a huge dichotomy between the professional creations we're shown when the bakers are introduced and what they produce on the show.  Obviously if you only get 3 hours to do something that normally takes you several days, it's not going to be at the same level.  That being said, these folks seem weaker than others we've seen on the show.

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Rammchick