Season Four Talk: Spring Baking Championship

[GaT]

Since we didn't have a topic, I started one. First, WTH is Ali Khan & why is he the host? Is there a reason they can't keep a host on this show? As for the contestants, how is it possible that so many bakers don't know what "naked cake" is? 

[dewelar]

2 hours ago, GaT said:

As for the contestants, how is it possible that so many bakers don't know what "naked cake" is? 

Well, since a lot of them also didn't seem to grasp the concept of a tie-dye cake, this wasn't surprising. Can we get the kids back?

[Chit Chat]

I noticed that many of them did a tie-dye effect on  top of their cheesecake, but it didn't come out that way once baked - at least not when it was cut into.

I didn't like the second challenge using the herbs.  I felt bad for the lady that was sent home.  What the hell does one do with coriander?  Granted, the guy who won had parsley and managed to make something good. Shouldn't a disqualifier be when you don't follow the directions such as "naked cake?"  Why do they get a pass when they iced their cakes?

[Jillybean]

The only time I've ever seen or heard of a naked cake is on one of these baking shows. Are they actually a thing? I can't imagine any circumstances under which I would order a naked cake instead of a fully frosted one.

[justjen]

Initial thoughts: I don't want that guy who made the fancy-pants cheesecake to win because he was too busy trying to be impressive and didn't fulfill the tie-dye challenge (many others didn't, but he annoyed me the most with his sophistication). There are also too many people left for me to care very much, but I like the Canadian guy and the women all kind of blurred together.

[Adiba]

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I noticed that many of them did a tie-dye effect on  top of their cheesecake, but it didn't come out that way once baked - at least not when it was cut into.

I didn't like the second challenge using the herbs.  I felt bad for the lady that was sent home.  What the hell does one do with coriander?  Granted, the guy who won had parsley and managed to make something good. Shouldn't a disqualifier be when you don't follow the directions such as "naked cake?"  Why do they get a pass when they iced their cakes?

I'm an occasional home baker, and even I know what a naked cake is. Also, I agree that the lady who got coriander kinda got a bad deal--I don't like it's taste and I can't imagine anything one could do with it in a sweet baked good (and still taste the herb) for it to be appealing to me.

It's been said before, but I want to reiterate--I hate the stupid twists.

[stormy]

The minute Michelle (I think) said salsa cake, I knew nothing good was going to come of it.

I do not like Ali Kahn as host. He's trying to be Bobby Dean.

[Rickster]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

Since we didn't have a topic, I started one. First, WTH is Ali Khan & why is he the host? Is there a reason they can't keep a host on this show? As for the contestants, how is it possible that so many bakers don't know what "naked cake" is? 

I had a theory that when some of the bakers saw how bad the competitors attempts at truly naked cakes looked, they decided to ice them and risk getting dinged by the juges rather than putting out a crappy looking cake.

I noticed that even a lot of the naked ones didn’t trim the layers to reveal the colors, so all you got was brown on the sides

[joanne3482]

I didn't understand why the tie dye was so hard for the bakers. I make a chocolate/vanilla swirl cheesecake that turns out beautifully every time.  Admittedly I have never made a "mini" version, but it seems like it shouldn't have been this difficult. 

I have an irrational dislike for Jessica already. I'm not sure why but I hope she does not go far. 

Not all the herbs were created equally and I agree that was a problem. It definitely feels unfair that someone got mint (which in my mind is vaguely easy) and others got coriander and parsley. There are plenty of other herbs that lend themselves to sweet treats, I think. 

[CrazyDog]

3 hours ago, Rickster said:

I had a theory that when some of the bakers saw how bad the competitors attempts at truly naked cakes looked, they decided to ice them and risk getting dinged by the juges rather than putting out a crappy looking cake.

I think that too. 

I liked Nacho a lot, but the guy who made the weird cheesecake in the first round was just trying to hard.

I felt bad for the lady who went home especially since she was just last to get up to the herb display. (I know it's the game, but I still felt bad for her). I liked the look of the parsley cake, and would love to taste it.

I don't mind the new host yet, but I will always miss Bobby Deen. 

[mlp]

All the bakers seem talented so far and I took an instant dislike to only one.  I can't recall her name but she's a home baker who described herself as "Awesome!"  

I can't imagine making a cake that tastes good with most of those herbs.  Why would you want to?  I don't like twists in general but, at least, this one didn't involve something that made them change their game plans at the last moment.  It was doable.

I'd never seen Ali Khan before and didn't know what to expect.  He was subdued and not at all obnoxious so, based on just one episode, I like him better than Jesse.  I still miss Bobby Deen.

[Lady J]

7 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I noticed that many of them did a tie-dye effect on  top of their cheesecake, but it didn't come out that way once baked - at least not when it was cut into.

I didn't like the second challenge using the herbs.  I felt bad for the lady that was sent home.  What the hell does one do with coriander?  Granted, the guy who won had parsley and managed to make something good. Shouldn't a disqualifier be when you don't follow the directions such as "naked cake?"  Why do they get a pass when they iced their cakes?

Yeah, the cilantro lady got screwed.

[Irlandesa]

One benefit to Ali as the host, at least there isn't any of that ridiculous "he's so handsome" slobbering the way the do when Jesse, Cameron Mathieson or even Bobby hosts a show.

[ruffy666]

random thoughts:

I think Ali Khan was less obnoxious than I feared, although whoever coached him on his TOTALLY NATURAL HAND GESTURES needs a little coaching themselves.  The host takes a little bit of a back seat on this show anyway so, all in all, not too bad.

I've seen plenty of naked cakes that have a very very thin crumb coat that is then basically scraped away, so I think the judges were too hard on some of them for "not meeting the challenge."  

I am not sure it's even possible to make a cilantro/salsa cake work, but even so, that chick's cake looked like it had a really unappealing texture.  Maybe a cilantro cake with a cream cheese salsa "frosting" and a tortilla chip crumble!

[oldCJ]

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

One benefit to Ali as the host, at least there isn't any of that ridiculous "he's so handsome" slobbering the way the do when Jesse, Cameron Mathieson or even Bobby hosts a show.

It’s funny to me that no matter who the host it, they all seem to have the same haircut. 

[Chit Chat]

10 hours ago, Jillybean said:

The only time I've ever seen or heard of a naked cake is on one of these baking shows. Are they actually a thing? I can't imagine any circumstances under which I would order a naked cake instead of a fully frosted one.

That's the only time I've heard of them too.  I've never seen one in any of my local bakeries.  I'm all about the icing!  The more the better. 

The one thing that bugs me about this show is listening to the 3 judges drone on and on with either "I don't taste the (fill in the blank) flavor," or it's " Wow!  That's a lot of (fill in the blank) flavor."   I don't always trust that their opinion would match mine in a taste test, but since I'm not a pastry chef, I'll have to take their word for it when they say something is too weak or too strong.  Even so, I don't always agree with their overall assessment of some of the cakes and goodies being presented.  

Edited March 13, 2018 by ChitChat

[Cherry Cola]

After just finishing the kids baking challenge...I miss Valerie. 

Whatever happened to Bobby Dean? He was good. 

The only cake that sounded good was the green one that had pineapple in it.  The idea of naked cake is cool, but I want maximum frosting please! 

[CherZ]

Too many people so I forget their names etc. I hope hipster mustache guy doesn't get on my nerves too much, as hipster mustached guys tend to do.

[Destiny74]

Thyme was easy.  Rosemary should've been easier.  I think a few of them messed up on their textures.

"Awesome" baking lady is the one who doubled her recipe but forgot to double her eggs.  I've done something similar but I had a 2 year old running  around at the time.  Also, I caught the mistake and corrected.  How was the batter not too thick before she baked it?

[tobeannounced]

20 minutes ago, CherZ said:

Too many people so I forget their names etc. I hope hipster mustache guy doesn't get on my nerves too much, as hipster mustached guys tend to do.

I just suffered through a season of looking at an ugly mustache hipster guy on Top Chef. I was not pleased to see another ugly mustache hipster guy on this show.

[theatremouse]

5 hours ago, ruffy666 said:

I've seen plenty of naked cakes that have a very very thin crumb coat that is then basically scraped away, so I think the judges were too hard on some of them for "not meeting the challenge."  

I agree that's true of naked cakes in general, but they made it pretty clear part of the point was to be able to see the gradation in the colors before cutting the cake. So even though some naked cakes do have a barely there scraped layer of icing (which if done neatly can look ok), it obscures 1/3 of the challenge (1. naked 2.ombre 3. herbs)

I think the coriander lady screwed herself because she got stuck on only associating coriander with salsa and running with that idea. If she'd just mixed it with lemon or orange and had the herb be an accent flavor, it could've worked just fine. Most of the herbs I think, actually, if you just add pick-your-favorite-citrus it'd turn out fine.

[jcbrown]

11 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

I have an irrational dislike for Jessica already. I'm not sure why but I hope she does not go far. 

Is she the one with the blue hair? If so, I agree completely.

8 hours ago, mlp said:

All the bakers seem talented so far and I took an instant dislike to only one.  I can't recall her name but she's a home baker who described herself as "Awesome!"  

I can't recall her name either but she had a stupid top-of-the-head bun, screwed up her egg ratio when she doubled her recipe, and at one point said something like, "oh, I just don't know how to fix this!" Buh-bye

1 hour ago, theatremouse said:

I think the coriander lady screwed herself because she got stuck on only associating coriander with salsa and running with that idea. If she'd just mixed it with lemon or orange and had the herb be an accent flavor, it could've worked just fine. Most of the herbs I think, actually, if you just add pick-your-favorite-citrus it'd turn out fine.

Good idea to mix it with citrus! I am one of those people who is genetically predisposed to find that cilantro ruins anything it touches (though I actually do understand the flavor profile and why it makes sense) so I was too busy metaphorically wiping off my tongue at the thought of a cilantro cake.

[Maverick]

 I didn't find this terribly interesting fell asleep after the first half.   Which is just as well because I hate savory desserts.  From what I did watch, it seemed like the host's parts were edited down some.  I wonder if there was negative feedback when he was announced and they re-edited it to tone him down.  Unfortunately, I think we might be stuck with him for the Holiday show.  I think they film Spring and Holiday close together (I remember hearing it mentioned during Jason's season that it was filmed in the spring) and that's why they have the same judge's and why we had Jesse for both last year.

 WTF was up with Duff when he was tasting?  He kept looking off at random angles and making bug eyes every time he took a bite like some 40's cartoon character.  The editors kept making a point to show it.  Does he think it's funny?  Does he not realize he's doing it and production is trying to punk him?

Edited March 14, 2018 by Maverick

[tobeannounced]

8 hours ago, Maverick said:

WTF was up with Duff when he was tasting?  He kept looking off at random angles and making bug eyes every time he took a bite like some 40's cartoon character.  The editors kept making a point to show it.  Does he think it's funny?  Does he not realize he's doing it and production is trying to punk him?

Just Duff being Duff. He does that on all these shows. I think it's kind of cute.

[Ilovecomputers]

I was sure they'd keep the coriander chef on because she took a risk on making a savory cake.  It annoys me no end that the judges all hated her cake, but what was she to do with coriander?  If she'd tried to hide it, they would have complained they couldn't taste it.  The challenge was for a naked cake, but no one seemed to be dinged for not having one.  I've never had a cheesecake with a Cheerios crust and I don't want one.

The blue smurf woman who won the preheat got to choose her fruit or color or whatever, and then explained that she got blue as if it was a surprise.  Um, you picked it, remember?  I don't like Jessica, either ("I'm awesome!) but they'll keep her on for her annoyance factor, I think.  Those chocolate spheres were cool.  Wish I had a blast chiller.  Seemed like there were about 50 contestants.

The Great British Baking Championship show used to be so much better.  They gave contestants an hour and a half to make [whatever] and they didn't come in at the last minute and tell contestants they had to make a three-dimensional Christmas decoration out of cooked string beans.

[Maya]

I too am surprised they let the salsa cake lady go, especially considering how much they loved her cheesecake in the first round. That must have been one disgusting cake. 

The contestants seem unusually young this time. 

[ruffy666]

also, corn starch does not belong in cheesecake.  i understand that it appears in some recipes but i strongly, strongly disagree.  :)

[mlp]

Quote

Just Duff being Duff. He does that on all these shows. I think it's kind of cute.

My take is that he opens his mouth really wide to keep frosting and such off his whiskers and realizes he may look a little silly so he mugs a bit while doing it.  I love Duff.

[joanne3482]

17 hours ago, jcbrown said:

On 3/13/2018 at 1:24 PM, mlp said:

All the bakers seem talented so far and I took an instant dislike to only one.  I can't recall her name but she's a home baker who described herself as "Awesome!"  

I can't recall her name either but she had a stupid top-of-the-head bun, screwed up her egg ratio when she doubled her recipe, and at one point said something like, "oh, I just don't know how to fix this!" Buh-bye

That one's Jessica who I didn't like instantly either. 

Blue hair was Christina. 

[Lura]

Thumbs down on Ali Khan, and thumbs up on bringing back Jesse.  He was great ... and so easy on the eyes!  I think the producers are looking for the cheapest MC they can find.  This Khan character reminds me of a failed show opener in Vegas.  I loved me some Jesse and would like to see more of him.  He was polished and professional, IMHO.

[LittleIggy]

8 hours ago, Lura said:

Thumbs down on Ali Khan, and thumbs up on bringing back Jesse.  He was great ... and so easy on the eyes!  I think the producers are looking for the cheapest MC they can find.  This Khan character reminds me of a failed show opener in Vegas.  I loved me some Jesse and would like to see more of him.  He was polished and professional, IMHO.

They can bring back Jon from “Wipeout.”

[Destiny74]

I still think I like Bobby Dean the best.

[Rammchick]

Ali Khan, for those who are wondering, is the host of Cheap Eats on The Cooking Channel.  And add me in to the cilantro haters.  Apparently, the appreciation of cilantro (or the opposite) is genetic.  To me, it tastes like soap, which makes me sad, since it's prominent in all my favorite cuisines.

[Simon47]

After looking at these comments, I don't miss Bobby, but I do have to be added to the list of people who miss Jesse and are not used to this Khan character. He is not obnoxious, but he still is a bit annoying to some, so I'm trying to help others by requesting to bring back Jesse.

 

Jessica doesn't bother me, but I can see why people don't like her. She says she's an "awesome" baker when she's actually not.

 

I liked Michelle with the salsa cake, so I was sad to see her go. I think Cristina should have gone due to her cake being a mess.

[Adiba]

On 3/13/2018 at 9:13 PM, theatremouse said:

I agree that's true of naked cakes in general, but they made it pretty clear part of the point was to be able to see the gradation in the colors before cutting the cake. So even though some naked cakes do have a barely there scraped layer of icing (which if done neatly can look ok), it obscures 1/3 of the challenge (1. naked 2.ombre 3. herbs)

I think the coriander lady screwed herself because she got stuck on only associating coriander with salsa and running with that idea. If she'd just mixed it with lemon or orange and had the herb be an accent flavor, it could've worked just fine. Most of the herbs I think, actually, if you just add pick-your-favorite-citrus it'd turn out fine.

I can only stand a little bit of coriander (cilantro) in salsa because I’m used to it being there— but you could leave it out entirely and I wouldn’t mind. That said, you’d have to be a pretty fantastic baker for me to like a cake with it in it, even if it were paired with citrus— and I love lemon pound cake or orange chiffon cake. I guess it’s just a matter of how much you like or hate coriander.

if the challenge/twist were to be really fair, they should have given all of the bakers the same herb, imo.

[theatremouse]

That's going to be true of most supertasters, but my point was less about various humans' general tolerance for coriander (or the issue that coriander is going to be a problem for supertasters while the other herbs wouldn't usually) and more about the mistaken the idea the contestant had that it was only possible to use it in a savory context. If someone hates coriander, sure they're going to dislike a coriander cake. But that's not the same thing as it being impossible to incorporate coriander into a sweet cake that tastes like a dessert item. I think that's really why she faltered. Or, it's a large part of it.

[Psychobunny]

I may be in the minority but I like Christina. She at least knew her cake was bad and tried to fix it. I generally hate the naked cake trend but they can look pretty when they are unfrosted and have decorative piping between the layers. I think it looks good on ombré cakes. What I hate is the crumb coat only style. It looks unfinished, like you either forgot to frost it or like it had fondant and it was removed to serve it. I went to a wedding that had a cake like that and I thought it was really ugly. (It didn’t help that it was decorated with real inedible flowers and it was funfetti flavored because first I don’t want to have to pick inedible things off my cake and second, you are not six years old.)

[Chit Chat]

I liked the quick challenge.  I love seeing beautifully decorated cakes/cupcakes using buttercream rather than ones with lots of fondant!   YMMV.  

The second challenge with the gazing balls, well, that was kind of a bust in terms of presentation.  As I've stated earlier, I'd much rather these baking shows give the bakers the proper amount of time to make something like that rather than watching them rush and put out a sub-par product.  Since we can't taste the items they're making, we can only judge by looks, and some of those gazing balls left a lot to be desired.  That sucked for the 2 bakers that had the blast freezer accident.  I'd love to see this show have more of these types of things available to the bakers.  I usually FF through the stress and drama, and go straight to the presentation part of the show.

[justjen]

I got weirdly jealous when duff said ruby is one of his favorite bakers. It was weird.

Andrew is an idiot. Just do what they tell you. I don't think Jessica should be there though. Didn't she fail at something last week, too? I mean, they both did but I dislike her more. We had an Emergency Weather Alert, so I missed her presentation.

[mlp]

I didn't like Jessica going in and then the flippant attitude followed by the drama, the crying.......................Gah.  I just wanted her gone.  Maybe next week.

Many of the floral creations looked a lot better when the bakers were working on them.  I suspect that they sat around under the hot lights too long and the edges of the petals started to soften up and lose definition.  The judges must realize that.

Nancy Fuller manages to make the judging unpleasant and uncomfortable every week.  I feel for Duff and Lorraine, the actual experts, having to put up with her.  I wish FN would get rid of her and substitute Valerie who is upbeat and who knows how to disagree nicely without acting like the other person is stupid.

[dewelar]

Is it me, or is the challenge difficulty level ramped up a bit this season? The presentations seem a bit more train-wreck-esque than usual, at least. I have never heard of a garden gazing ball, but it strikes me as pretty pretentious.

I was glad to see that neither of the bakers whose cakes Jessica wiped out was eliminated. I will not miss Andrew, especially after...whatever that thing was that he presented that wasn't a tie-dye cheesecake last week.

I'm still getting a handle on who's who, but I like Heather and Nacho the most so far. Deepal seems pretty chill, too. Still would rather have the kids back, though :D .

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

 

Nancy Fuller manages to make the judging unpleasant and uncomfortable every week.  I feel for Duff and Lorraine, the actual experts, having to put up with her.  I wish FN would get rid of her and substitute Valerie who is upbeat and who knows how to disagree nicely without acting like the other person is stupid.

Valerie Bertinelli? Oh, gawd, please no! 

[stormy]

Andrew didn't seem to either have an understanding of the premise of the show or he truly wasn't interested in being there.

I really wish they would stop with the last minute challenges.  They degrade the whole challenge.  A garden troll?  

[Chit Chat]

6 hours ago, dewelar said:

The presentations seem a bit more train-wreck-esque than usual, at least. I have never heard of a garden gazing ball, but it strikes me as pretty pretentious.

I think they're too rushed given the difficulty of the challenges.  As far as the gazing ball, it's a thing here in the South.  It's just something pretty to add to one's flower garden, then the beautiful colors reflect off of it.  I don't have one, but I see them for sale at the local stores.  

[backgroundnoise]

9 hours ago, dewelar said:

Is it me, or is the challenge difficulty level ramped up a bit this season?

I thought the exact opposite.  A spherical cake(s) covered in pre-made mirror glaze?  Now if they had had to actually make the mirror glaze, which is tricky itself, that would have been a challenge.

I thought the results looked like the Kids did them.   The cupcakes were much better--at least they could show some making-flowers-out-of-frosting skill.

American shows don't expect much from bakers.  YMMV.

[joanne3482]

17 minutes ago, backgroundnoise said:

I thought the exact opposite.  A spherical cake(s) covered in pre-made mirror glaze?  Now if they had had to actually make the mirror glaze, which is tricky itself, that would have been a challenge.

I thought they did make their mirror glaze... Deepal was explaining what she did to make hers.  I remember she said chocolate powder, gelatin, and a couple other things she was heating on the stove and then mixing until very smooth. Maybe some did while others didn't?  

They did mirror cakes on one of the championship shows recently, maybe Holiday, but it was a regular shaped cake.  Like everyone else, I'd prefer to see a bit more time to allow for truly stunning pieces instead of stuff that looks like I made it at home.

I too am glad that the two who were affected by the freezer situation didn't get eliminated. I would have been really unhappy if they went while Jessica (who caused the incident) stayed. (This is especially true because I still don't like Jessica but I do like Deepal.)  

[MABarnes53]

On 3/16/2018 at 10:58 PM, Rammchick said:

Ali Khan, for those who are wondering, is the host of Cheap Eats on The Cooking Channel.  And add me in to the cilantro haters.  Apparently, the appreciation of cilantro (or the opposite) is genetic.  To me, it tastes like soap, which makes me sad, since it's prominent in all my favorite cuisines.

My daughter describes cilanto as "it tastes like stinky feet smell".

[Jillybean]

Again with the ridiculous "twist!" This keeps me from enjoying the show as much as I could. Let them focus on the challenge, which is already challenging enough given the crazy time limits.

They made their glazes.

[CherZ]

Jessica is a mess. I felt really bad for the other two bakers whose work she smooshed. Glad they turned out okay.

I didn't mind Andrew, he was cute and took all the jabs at his 'tinyness' in stride.

[nowornever]

Was Ruby getting swoon-y over what's-his-name with the big mustache? I think a few bakers have had the hots for the host, but I don't think I've seen them have the hots for each other.  That could be a new twist.