Kids Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Chit Chat]

13 minutes ago, Kakistos said:

Definitely agree. I think they generally make decisions on taste, assuming the bakers didn’t do something obviously wrong.

If they had the finale last week, then I think Davis would've won.  Kudos on that cookie puzzle.  It was amazing!  IIRC, it tasted as good as it looked.  

I know that these competitions can be frustrating.  Sometimes one person will be on top for several episodes and is the expected winner, but like Paige said, you don't always have to be the one who was on top throughout the competition in order to win.  You've got to hit the nail on the head when it really counts!  That gives hope to those who don't shine every single week, but they weren't on the bottom either.  

I liked all 3 finalists.  Meadow has such a good personality.  I think all 3 will be successful in the future.  We might see Meadow hosting her own cooking show in the future!

[mlp]

Meadow said at the very beginning that she wished they all could win and just split the money.  That's exactly how I felt at that point.  I liked all of them and I didn't want any of them to lose.  I enjoyed listening to those three talk.  They were all articulate with good vocabularies.  You could tell that they're being raised by intelligent parents who don't talk down to them.  

I'd been hoping that Davis would win because he was a stand out for much of the competition and is clearly talented but I didn't care for his cake despite all the techniques he used.  I liked his concept but not the colors and unfinished disco ball and it was leaning.  Paige's only flaw seemed to be not doing more with her middle layer.  Meadow did great for her age.  I didn't envy Duff and Valerie having to choose just one.

[NJKBCFan]

Congrats to Paige on a well deserved win! Going into the episode, I definitely thought it would have been one of the other two (and I was rooting for Meadow), but about halfway through it felt like everything was going Paige’s way. Even the omg moment where she had forgotten to add the pretzels to her buttercream quickly turned around into a non-issue. Decorating-wise, I liked what she was going for. All she had to do was make more and bigger chess pieces for that middle layer (like Davis’ dancers) and it would have been great. Taste-wise, Paige’s cake was probably amazing!

I did have the feeling Davis was going to fall short. He’s very talented, but as I’ve said before, he only had one time the whole season where everything went well (the tart challenge), and I just had the feeling that he wasn’t going to have everything go well here. As soon as I saw how he was making his top tier, I knew it wasn’t going to be his day. And not working the cherries right was the knockout blow. That said, he attempted a lot of cool stuff, and I enjoy his decorating skills!

Meadow, very hard to believe she was one of the youngest bakers on the show. Great poise, talent and resourcefulness. I would guess that if she was on the show 2 years in the future, she would easily be the winner. Add 2 years of experience to what she made tonight and I think it would be amazing.

The challenge for this finale was decent. I liked how they tied it to a kid’s school activity, and it did open the opportunity for some good creativity.

overall, a good season! The kids were likable, maybe not as super-skilled as the promos tried to paint, but good enough to enjoy seeing what they produced. Looking forward to the next season!

[Chit Chat]

6 hours ago, NJKBCFan said:

As soon as I saw how he was making his top tier, I knew it wasn’t going to be his day.

Sometimes it's better not to be overly ambitious with these things.  Do what you do best, but on a smaller scale!  I applaud his effort though.  

[justjen]

19 hours ago, snarkylady said:

but my concern is that he will attempt something so difficult, challenging, out-of-the-box that he'll fail in the attempt and one of the girls will win instead. 

You should use your ability to predict the future for good. 🙂

[Rammchick]

Would love to see either a redemption season with the runner-ups or an all-star season for this show, going into the future.

[NJKBCFan]

1 hour ago, Rammchick said:

Would love to see either a redemption season with the runner-ups or an all-star season for this show, going into the future.

This would be fun just to see what these kids look like after they hit puberty 😂

[justjen]

2 hours ago, NJKBCFan said:

This would be fun just to see what these kids look like after they hit puberty 😂

Honestly, it occurred to me last night that the winners of the first 2 seasons are either in college or at least seriously looking at colleges! But I also want to know where they want to attend and what they *now* want to major in. All that stuff!

[blueray]

Congrats Paige on the win.

I have to admit I was surprised. Her cake may have tasted better but the other two were way ahead of her in the decorating and skill. Meadow made her own fandow (sp) and Davis used different colors. I guess it came down to them not tasting the cherry's in Davis cake and Meadow's being dry.  Had it been more than just what they did today and they factored in all the other contests. Davis would have won by a mile.

[jcbrown]

There was a TH near the beginning with Paige that definitely suggested to me that she was the winner. She seemed really happy and I thought it had probably been filmed after she won. I agree that it was cool to see Davis give the camera guy some cake. He had a genuine smile when he did that, noticeably different from his ON smile on the show. I was surprised Meadow wasn't dinged for making her fondant grey. Wasn't she the one who was criticized for making the giant grey cookie puzzle? Who wants to eat a grey dessert?

[NJKBCFan]

In the context of former contestants, am curious how people here think the previous winners and finalists stack up with each other? My favorites over all of the seasons are Linsey (winner) and Yashimabet (finalist).

[SHD]

Young Sheldon was robbed. They should have made the entire season one show where they had to make a cake if nothing else from the season was going to be considered.

[springbarb]

1 hour ago, jcbrown said:

 I agree that it was cool to see Davis give the camera guy some cake. He had a genuine smile when he did that, noticeably different from his ON smile on the show. I was surprised Meadow wasn't dinged for making her fondant grey. Wasn't she the one who was criticized for making the giant grey cookie puzzle? Who wants to eat a grey dessert?

Agree with both of these points. I don't know if it was the edit or what, but Davis just never seemed genuine. It seemed that he was always aware of how he looked, and it was a bit off-putting. (I wonder if that may be because of his age--13 is a rough age.) He definitely has his basic baking skills down--he consistently got things baked faster than everyone else--but I don't know that he always had the baking touch (I feel like Meadow may have had more consistent bakes in terms of flavor and actual bake, but I'd have to rewatch). His decorating skills are obviously far and away ahead of everyone else, but I like that the best tasting cake won.

42 minutes ago, SHD said:

Young Sheldon was robbed. They should have made the entire season one show where they had to make a cake if nothing else from the season was going to be considered.

Except that this is the format of TONS of competitions--not just Food Network competitions, but Great British Baking Show, but sports. You win to get to the finale. And then hope that you have a good day.

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, blueray said:

Her cake may have tasted better but the other two were way ahead of her in the decorating and skill.

I respectfully disagree on the decorating skill.  Duff mentioned how impressed he was with the top level in particular.  I can't remember what technique they called it, but apparently it isn't the easiest thing to do, especially using 2 colors like that. 

They're all talented though and I'm sure they'll all do well in the future.  One thing is for sure with any of these cooking competitions, and that is that it doesn't usually bode well to try and outdo your opponents with the 'bigger' version of anything, or on Top Chef where one does too many elements in one dish.   Unless you've done a 4 or 5 tier cake at home (successfully,) I would suggest keeping it a reasonable height and decorate the hell out of it for this competition!  

[TomGirl]

2 hours ago, NJKBCFan said:

In the context of former contestants, am curious how people here think the previous winners and finalists stack up with each other? My favorites over all of the seasons are Linsey (winner) and Yashimabet (finalist).

I thought Hollis was adorable.

[docmatt]

4 hours ago, jcbrown said:

Who wants to eat a grey dessert

Try it, it's delicious

[Destiny74]

2 hours ago, docmatt said:

Try it, it's delicious

Don't believe me?  Ask the dishes!

[theatremouse]

Other than Meadow making her own fondant (which, from what I hear, the marshmallow method s very simple), the degree of difficulty on her cake was many levels lower than the other two. It was very simple. Not bad, but that simple plus dry cake? She had no chance.And the only thing "drama" about it was the comedie/tragedie masks on top. I guess the stars kinda but...it was super light on theme.

Davis' cake to me was kind of missing the challenge? I mean he did a lot of difficult techniques with different degrees of success, and apparently the cake itself was good. Even if it weren't leaning though...it was decorated like a school dance, which in my experience at least, is not at all the same thing as Dance Club, which was the assignment.

I don't know if they'd ever really ding someone on that since it was indeed dance-themed, but it bugs me when they bother making a theme a part of the challenge and then accept variations on the the theme that are either similar but not really what they said or where yes, it is recognizable as meeting that part of the challenge, but only just barely. Taste, degree of difficulty, design should be weighted much more than the assignment, but it seems like the latter barely counts at all unless the contestant skips it entirely. Not just this season, that bugs me on this show.

[jlc]

On 3/12/2019 at 4:34 PM, blueray said:

Congrats Paige on the win.

I have to admit I was surprised. Her cake may have tasted better but the other two were way ahead of her in the decorating and skill. Meadow made her own fandow (sp) and Davis used different colors. I guess it came down to them not tasting the cherry's in Davis cake and Meadow's being dry.  Had it been more than just what they did today and they factored in all the other contests. Davis would have won by a mile.

In my opinion, Meadow did not decorate. She used two bland colors, her "shooting star" decorations took about 30 seconds to make, and the two masks were drawn faces, and they weren't drawn that well. She was done early the decorating was so simple! She may have been a fun contestant, mature, and fun to watch, but her decorating, what little she actually did, was not even on the same level as the other two bakers!

[carrps]

I thought all three final cakes were really lacking in the decoration department. For a winner, Paige's cake was not a good looking cake. The middle layer, and her chess pieces were just plain bad. Also, I thought there was way too much frosting in proportion to the cake. I appreciated that she used buttercream, but it didn't convey the chessboard effect that well for me. Meadow's was seriously underwhelming and so plain. Davis has done so much better work all season. This cake was too busy. Although, he definitely got the 80s colors even if he didn't know who the people of that era were. Hippies? Ha!

[JessDVD]

My kids love this show and I paid a little more attention this season. We were all Paige for the win so that turned out nicely for us. I want to eat that cake, please.

Davis's thinking the 80s is hippie caused me to age about ten years. (Sob sob)

[NJKBCFan]

2 hours ago, jlc said:

In my opinion, Meadow did not decorate. She used two bland colors, her "shooting star" decorations took about 30 seconds to make, and the two masks were drawn faces, and they weren't drawn that well. She was done early the decorating was so simple! She may have been a fun contestant, mature, and fun to watch, but her decorating, what little she actually did, was not even on the same level as the other two bakers!

I believe Meadow was only 10 years old, whereas Davis was 13 and Paige was 11. As I said above, with another year or two of experience, Meadow would have done much better.

[trudysmom]

Meadow showed alot of poise for a 10 year old.  I see her doing some amazing things in baking if she sticks with it.  Davis, I'm not so sure he will.  He is an artist first, baker second, and while very good at both, his artistry outside of baking may be more satistying, paintings don't get eaten, after all.  Paige I see as being like Hollis.  Very good in her season, but once it's won and done, baking is not so much a priority.  "Been there, done that".  Hollis is a beautiful young woman, but I think the baking championship was just something for her accomplish.  Rebecca is still baking, and getting better at it, as her instagram page shows.  

Just my opinions, ymmv.  Moving on to Spring Baking, and Duff's show with Buddy.  That first episode was insane.

[CharlizeCat]

I am delighted that Paige won. I was rooting for her the entire season.

I didn't like the Duff vs. Buddy show. Buddy is way too intense and a sore loser as well. It's going to be a L-O-N-G six weeks. TEAM DUFF!

[TomGirl]

16 hours ago, trudysmom said:

Hollis is a beautiful young woman

She certainly is!  This little cutie has really blossomed!

[springbarb]

On 3/13/2019 at 6:57 PM, carrps said:

I thought all three final cakes were really lacking in the decoration department. For a winner, Paige's cake was not a good looking cake. The middle layer, and her chess pieces were just plain bad. Also, I thought there was way too much frosting in proportion to the cake. I appreciated that she used buttercream, but it didn't convey the chessboard effect that well for me. Meadow's was seriously underwhelming and so plain. Davis has done so much better work all season. This cake was too busy. Although, he definitely got the 80s colors even if he didn't know who the people of that era were. Hippies? Ha!

I had written Paige off as having too much frosting, but when you looked at the slice from the side, there was very very little frosting on top, which offset that center section having a lot of frosting.

But I agree. I wasn't wowed by any of the finale cakes.

[LegalParrot81]

I was underwhelmed with all the cakes, honestly.  I think I was most disappointed in Davis' cake.  He'd done such good, advanced work in earlier competitions, I thought his decorating this time was rather simple.  He did the marble fondant, but Lynsey did the same thing last year, so not that unique for the age group.  

Overall, I would have been happy with any of the three winning.  Congratulations to Paige.

Edited March 17, 2019 by LegalParrot81

[BigBingerBro]

I wasn't able to watch the finale until today, but I knew that Paige had won from a friend.  I had been rooting for Meadow and had hoped it wasn't Davis just because he seemed out of place with the other kids.   

I also was expecting better decorated cakes considering they had like 5 (or was it 6) hours.  That was quite generous.  The editors seemed to struggle to find some drama on this round.  Meadow being the last one to put cakes in the oven, yet she still had 4 hours left - big deal.  Paige forgetting to but the pretzels in the buttercream but remembering as she was doing that layer - again easy fix, no big deal.  

I thought Davis's cake was the ugliest he's done this whole season.  I also feel that he did more of a "School Dance" theme than a "Dance Club" theme.  I'm surprised that neither Val nor Duff made mention of it.

Meadow has good ideas and she's smart with baking, but her execution is poor - as others have said, experience will take her far.  She's probably the sweetest and most down to earth kids I've seen on a show like this.

Paige's combination or flavors and good bake really won it for her.  I didn't think the cake as a whole looked that bad, but if it had not tasted so good, Davis would have won.

I'm ready for Spring Baking Championship!

[opus]

New KBC season begins Aug 12

https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2019/07/08/137745/kids-baking-championship-returns-this-summer-with-a-double-dose-of-delicious-desserts

[NJKBCFan]

On 7/8/2019 at 10:47 PM, opus said:

New KBC season begins Aug 12

https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2019/07/08/137745/kids-baking-championship-returns-this-summer-with-a-double-dose-of-delicious-desserts

Lots of kids from the south!

[BigBingerBro]

On 7/8/2019 at 10:47 PM, opus said:

New KBC season begins Aug 12

https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2019/07/08/137745/kids-baking-championship-returns-this-summer-with-a-double-dose-of-delicious-desserts

This quote from the article is pretty telling:

The baker who crumbles under the pressure will be eliminated.

Hmmm, not the baker who makes the worst dessert?

[opus]

On 7/8/2019 at 10:47 PM, opus said:

New KBC season begins Aug 12

https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2019/07/08/137745/kids-baking-championship-returns-this-summer-with-a-double-dose-of-delicious-desserts

Sorry about the lateness of posting this here, but they’ve moved the premiere up to tonight (Aug. 5)

[mlp]

If the first episode is any indication, this may be the best season yet.  All the kids seemed talented, accomplished and articulate and there wasn't any OTT jumping and shrieking.  I think all but the losing cake looked better than everything made all last season.  Duff and Valerie were in good form and the right kid went home.  I'm happy.

[blueray]

The kids did do a good job.  I think they definelty sent the right kid home.  I felt bad for her when she had to restart her cake and it still wasn't done right.  And the other girl didn't show her flavor. That being said if this was chopped the other girl would have left as she didn't follow the challenge.

[LizBug]

It's going to take me a while to learn all the kids' names; so, if you can help me out here, please do.

I thought the second place boy (the one with the huge grin who's "excellent at everything") would have won.  The first place went to the boy who covered most of his splatter with other decorations.  Oh well ... I wasn't there and I didn't taste them.

[luvapickle]

23 minutes ago, DallasGypsy said:

It's going to take me a while to learn all the kids' names; so, if you can help me out here, please do.

I thought the second place boy (the one with the huge grin who's "excellent at everything") would have won.  The first place went to the boy who covered most of his splatter with other decorations.  Oh well ... I wasn't there and I didn't taste them.

Brady! I'll remember his name because he was so sweet to Sophia with her baking "disaster".  I think either would have won. I think because the other one had more on it is why he won-because if you stand up & look at it, he had more splatter you could see on top.

[jlc]

On 3/12/2019 at 11:10 AM, NJKBCFan said:

This would be fun just to see what these kids look like after they hit puberty 😂

I was watching Guys Grocery Games last week and Peggy Fischer was a contestant. Apparently she has been on GGG's several times, even winning once. She did talk about her baking business  too. She looked great, no longer a shy little giirl, but still adorsble.

[bkathi]

19 hours ago, opus said:

Sorry about the lateness of posting this here, but they’ve moved the premiere up to tonight (Aug. 5)

Was Worst Baker supposed to be in this time slot?  They are burning it off on Saturday afternoons.  Maybe that's why the schedule changed.

[Iseut]

I'm happy with this first episode and looking forward to this season! Even the girl who went home seemed pretty talented; she recognized the mistake that she made and just had an all-around tough day. 

No clear favorites yet, but I do like the boy who sculpted a cat (Tarek, I think?), and the girl who has cystic fibrosis (amazing she is so active and athletic; that's such a tough disease). They both seem like real kids, without a lot of extra "adorability" piled on (like the girl with the pigtails, who seems a little old for those; darned if she still isn't truly adorable, though). 

[Destiny74]

These kids actually did a great job!  Only one cake was "improperly" baked (I think her recipe was off).  The rest were judged as moist and flavorful.  That is impressive on this show because usually there are a few catastrophes.

Someone help me out.  I bake a lot, but not cakes.  Buttercream is butter, powdered sugar and a bit of milk or cream, right?  I know how to make a less sweet Italian, Swiss, or French buttercream but how would you go about making a less sweet American buttercream?  You can add cream cheese but then you have a cream cheese frosting.  So, how do you reduce the sugar but still make a frosting that is not thin or runny?

Edited August 7, 2019 by Destiny74

[SHD]

The girl who went home reminded me so much of Anna-Kat from American Housewife.

[dewelar]

From this episode, I agree that this seems like the best bunch of young bakers they've had to date. The only one who rubbed me the wrong way was Tarek, who seemed a little too full of himself and a little too "on" (the whole "so you're just decent, you're not doing well, etc" bit would have annoyed the crap out of me if he said it to me). Hopefully they treat Tori (I think?) and her cystic fibrosis like they did Paige and her arthritis last year (i.e., not make an issue of it), because I really give them kudos for doing so.

Oh, and Mrs. Dewelar and I both love Brady. He was awesome with Sophia, and had the brightest smile in his intro pictures. Hope he stays around a while.

[Eliza422]

19 hours ago, Destiny74 said:

These kids actually did a great job!  Only one cake was "improperly" baked (I think her recipe was off).  The rest were judged as moist and flavorful.  That is impressive on this show because usually there are a few catastrophes.

Someone help me out.  I bake a lot, but not cakes.  Buttercream is butter, powdered sugar and a bit of milk or cream, right?  I know how to make a less sweet Italian, Swiss, or French buttercream but how would you go about making a less sweet American buttercream?  You can add cream cheese but then you have a cream cheese frosting.  So, how do you reduce the sugar but still make a frosting that is not thin or runny?

That's a really good question. I really dislike American buttercream because it is always too sweet to me. 

In general "too sweet" is a common problem in all baking shows, I don't know why. Kids I can forgive for that, but most adult bakers do it too. 

[Thadeeeyus]

Dharma's a cutie!  😉

[Ilovecomputers]

It was interesting to see a prize given out for the baker who won the challenge.  This makes me think they should give out prizes more often, like a stand mixer or a nice set of mixing bowls or a gift card from Sur la Table.  Then everyone would have a chance at a prize instead of just one $25,000 winner.  I don't know why the judges act as if it's some special talent to match confetti candy on top of the cake with confetti in the cake.  Um, you know, candles usually come in primary colors, too.  Wouldn't it be amazing to put matching colored candles on the confetti cake?  Have to say, some of these children are quite talented.  I would have loved to try the chocolate cake with the raspberry filling.  This show is just too predictable.  One of the kids always has a meltdown, "Mom" Valerie rushes in to comfort the kid and "Dad" Duff nods in a paternal way from afar.  All the kids seem to have scripted THs and Brady the most rehearsed of all.

[NJKBCFan]

Wasn't able to see the premier episode until today. Great group of bakers! Like last season, they started off with a pretty simple challenge, and all but one got through without much drama. As others have said, even the girl who went home seemed to have a pretty good sense about what was going on. My early bet on the Final 3 are Trevin, Taylor, and Tori. None were in the top 3, but all seem like they are talented and will get their sea-legs under them as the season goes on.

One thing I noticed; with the exception of Sophie and Brady, all of the bakers seem a bit more mature (physically) than in seasons past. Anyone else think this? In prior seasons, most of the kids seemed solidly pre-pubescent, but not so much this season. IMHO, of course.

[Thadeeeyus]

Quote

One thing I noticed; with the exception of Sophie and Brady, all of the bakers seem a bit more mature (physically) than in seasons past. Anyone else think this? In prior seasons, most of the kids seemed solidly pre-pubescent, but not so much this season. IMHO, of course.

I just checked the ages again and Sophie is 10, so that makes sense.  The next two youngest are Dharma and Brooke, both 11.  The others are 12 and 13.  I haven't paid close attention, have the winners usually been on the older side?  

[NJKBCFan]

24 minutes ago, Thadeeeyus said:

I just checked the ages again and Sophie is 10, so that makes sense.  The next two youngest are Dharma and Brooke, both 11.  The others are 12 and 13.  I haven't paid close attention, have the winners usually been on the older side?  

in the first 5 seasons, the winners have all been the oldest (mostly 13, Season 3 winner was 12, but that was the oldest that year). Season 6 winner (Paige) was 11.

But I wasn't necessarily referring to their actual age, just their physical maturity. 

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

Quote

That's a really good question. I really dislike American buttercream because it is always too sweet to me. 

So if American buttercream is a very sweet frosting, then didn't the kids execute it correctly?  I feel like the better response from Valerie would have been, "I'm not a fan of buttercream because I find it too sweet but the texture of the frosting was good" or something along those lines.

[theatremouse]

I just remember one of the kids saying the secret to his buttercream was shortening and I was like....no, now it's not buttercream. It's just frosting. The different types of buttercream are defined by their ingredients.