Kids Baking Championship - General Discussion

[snarkylady]

2 hours ago, Omeletsmom said:

Are poke cakes with pastry cream and caramel and such really a thing?  I've only ever seen them made with jello. The suggested "fillings" seemed way too thick to seep in properly.

It did not appear that the kids were familiar with poke cakes and frankly I think they are beneath competition level.

I've only seen them on television as vehicles to sell jello and pudding mixes.  If you are talented enough to make pastry cream and caramel sauce I don't see using it in a poke cake but there isn't any reason why you couldn't.

I think they should have had coconut cake instead of the carrot.  So much easier to make with pantry ingredients and a coconut cream filling of some sort would have been delicious. 

[ExplainItAgain]

It seems like this group of kids are very good bakers. Almost everything they've tasted they've loved. However, their decorating skills are subpar compared to former seasons.

I too felt bad that Brooke had to spend so much time peeling and grating carrots. Definitely not comparable work to chocolate or vanilla.

Yeah, where are the pies (next week I guess), cookies, macarons, eclairs, bars, cream puffs of former seasons?

I definitely think Taylor seems like the frontrunner.

[NJKBCFan]

Could Brooke have used a food processor?

[theatremouse]

14 hours ago, Bazinga said:

To me, it was VERY unfair to Brooke that her assigned ingredient (carrots) had to be prepped by the baker and wasn't just ready to use like everyone elses, thus consuming time that she could have spent on other activities.  Either everyone has to spend time prepping their ingredient or no one has to prep the ingredient.  Perhaps have peeled and diced carrots available.  I don't think Brooke's problem was lack of poked holes, as Val and Duff were saying, but that her topping was not liquid enough to seep into the holes she had made-we saw her poking holes.  

It didn't seem any of the criticisms would've been affected by her having pre-peeled or shredded carrots though. The cake was not underbaked. She didn't run out of time with her decorations. They seemed to think more holes would've helped because if her filling were on the thicker side more holes would I guess make more room for it? They were saying more holes but their real point was the stuff was supposed to be inside the cake and it was not. Although if it were too thick...she could've piped it into the holes she had to make sure it went down there.

11 hours ago, snarkylady said:

Was there a size criteria for the hedgehog and I just missed it somehow? 

I don't think it was explicitly stated on air but I got the impression they were supposed to be approximately the same size as the little stuffed ones they gave the kids with the flavor assignments. Or if not that big, at least using that as a guideline for the proportions. The few who had size problems also really had proportion problems to the extent that it didn't really look hedgehog-ey at all.

[Bazinga]

8 hours ago, theatremouse said:

It didn't seem any of the criticisms would've been affected by her having pre-peeled or shredded carrots though.

But the time used up peeling carrots, throws everything else she does off.  What we were shown is that the other bakers were putting their cakes in the oven while Brooke was still wasting time prepping her ingredient by peeling carrots; something the other bakers did not have to do for their main ingredient.  Being rushed for time could have effected the thickness of her pastry cream and the size of her hedgehog.  Including carrots as a necessary ingredient is the equivalent of randomly choosing one baker and saying you have to start 20 minutes later then all of the other bakers.  My point is that things should be basically even to be fair to all of the bakers.  Having to spend time prepping an item that the others did not have to prep, seems inherently unfair and was foreseeable.  Yes, Brooke was my favorite.   

Edited September 4, 2019 by Bazinga

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

The judges kept saying she should have poked more holes in the cake but that would not have addressed her real issue - the pastry cream was too thick.  While Brooke was putting it on her cake, Valerie even commented that she thought it was too thick and might not work well.  Since she saw the real  problem and made a comment to Duff at the time it was happening, why not explain that to Brooke during the judging so she could at least learn what to do differently?  I thought it did a disservice to Brooke to make her think things could have turned out differently if she had just poked more holes in her cake.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Mrs. Stanwyck

[jlc]

2 hours ago, Bazinga said:

But the time used up peeling carrots, throws everything else she does off.  What we were shown is that the other bakers were putting their cakes in the oven while Brooke was still wasting time prepping her ingredient by peeling carrots; something the other bakers did not have to do for their main ingredient.  Being rushed for time could have effected the thickness of her pastry cream and the size of her hedgehog.  Including carrots as a necessary ingredient is the equivalent of randomly choosing one baker and saying you have to start 20 minutes later then all of the other bakers.  My point is that things should be basically even to be fair to all of the bakers.  Having to spend time prepping an item that the others did not have to prep, seems inherently unfair and was foreseeable.  Yes, Brooke was my favorite.   

It seems to me that in all the cooking competition shows the person that gets the "weird" ingredient is always the person that goes home. As soon as Brooke got carrot, she was going home. 

[luvapickle]

Brooke should have used a food processor. I kept yelling at the screen why are you not using a food processor? She wasn't listening. I have a small one specifically for carrots, because I do carrot cake all the time. It seems weird she didn't think of it. And it's not like she wasn't allowed, because they've used them before. Poke hole cakes are so old, I had to look it up in my pastry arts mag to see what other bakeries across the nation are doing. Holy cow puck, yes, they are back. Sorry, customer comes in for that-No. But nicely. I put up with the stupid piñata cakes, but not this. There's literally no point to it, except when cutting the cake there might be a different color running through it. And instead of bugs, hedgehogs do eat berries. That would have been more appealing.

[Bazinga]

2 hours ago, luvapickle said:

Brooke should have used a food processor.

Would not Brooke still have had to peel the carrots first?  I thought the peeling was the more labor intensive part then the chopping.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Bazinga

[theatremouse]

For me at least, peeling a carrot takes maybe 15 seconds. Shredding it completely is longer than that.

[Iseut]

She seemed to be peeling them verrrry slowly. So in addition to getting a labor-intensive ingredient that already put her behind, she didn't seem that familiar with the process of the peeling and shredding, which slowed her down even more. Poor kiddo. 

Trevin naming and constantly referring to his hedgehog as Kevin was cracking me up. 

[luvapickle]

23 hours ago, Bazinga said:

Would not Brooke still have had to peel the carrots first?  I thought the peeling was the more labor intensive part then the chopping.

Yes, but she was peeling them slowwwlllyyy, like she was in a trance or something. Not to mention how she was peeling them. I'm surprised they don't have the already peeled carrots, that you just wash. Then stick in the processor.

[NJKBCFan]

On 9/4/2019 at 12:52 PM, Bazinga said:

Would not Brooke still have had to peel the carrots first?  I thought the peeling was the more labor intensive part then the chopping.

They showed her with the shredder a lot more than with the peeler.

[camom]

Carrot cake and salsa are two things I wouldn't even consider making without a food processor.  I wish Duff or Valerie would have nudged her that way.

[bkathi]

Every time they showed the stuffed hedgehogs I thought of my dog and how she completely gutted hers.  And ate treats/food out of its 'pelt' until I tossed it. Yes, those were identical to my dog's toy so someone went to PetSmart!

[GeorgiaRai]

I actually liked Brady and also Brooke, so I've been disappointed in the last two evictions.  (LOL - I've been watching too much Big Brother!)  This wasn't the first week I was surprised at the bottom two when there were others ::coughtarekcough:: who I thought did worse.

[kcrabtree06]

At the risk of sounding like a horrible person, I am going to say it: I am glad Tarek was in the bottom two tonight. There’s a difference between positivity and being arrogant, and I thought he care off extremely arrogant tonight. Especially the part when he asked if anyone else was almost done with their ice cream when he knew darn well they probably weren’t! I feel like I am supposed to root for him because he’s from STL like me, but ugh. I just couldn’t with him tonight.

[Reddust]

I'm glad Sophie won after she helped Trevin make his ice cream. 

[MerBearHou]

13 minutes ago, kcrabtree06 said:

At the risk of sounding like a horrible person, I am going to say it: I am glad Tarek was in the bottom two tonight. There’s a difference between positivity and being arrogant, and I thought he care off extremely arrogant tonight. Especially the part when he asked if anyone else was almost done with their ice cream when he knew darn well they probably weren’t! I feel like I am supposed to root for him because he’s from STL like me, but ugh. I just couldn’t with him tonight.

Couldn’t agree more.  He needed to SHUT UP and stop bugging the other bakers, especially with his “positivity”.  Zero awareness of how he was intruding on the others who are trying their hardest under big pressures.  He’s been in the bottom several times and yet wrangles his way out of trouble.  Poor Taylor.  She was so pleased about cooking her cherished family apple pie but her crust sure went horribly.  Her decorations were not inspired like the other 3 either.  I liked her so much.  Ugh, Tarek.

Sophie has a great heart.  Helping Trevin in such a cool, calm, kind way.  He’s a character — I like him.  But Sophie for the win please!

[blueray]

I agree that Tarek seemed argent. Like he was rubbing in that she was way behind him in putting I think the pie in the oven? That being said I think it made sense to send Tayor home as she added way to much butter. I was also glad Sophie won, it's nice to see a person that helps another win.

Edited September 10, 2019 by blueray

[HyeChaps]

Tarek is going to grow up to be Mr. Bean. 

[NJKBCFan]

Sophie and Trevin's pies/ice creams were definitely a step above the other two, so very happy to see them win and move on to the finals! Bummed that my early-season pick, Taylor, was eliminated, but that became very obvious as soon as she had to remove the crust from her pie. And hate to say it, but her decorating this time was not very pretty. I'll say that I like Tarek. I don't think he's arrogant, but that he's actually just really awkward.

All-in-all, I enjoyed this episode. Not all that challenging, particularly as a semi-final, but I enjoyed watching the kids and their interactions. Of course, next week in the finale, they will do yet another cake, but hopefully the challenge will make them really stretch their skills.

[snarkylady]

How on earth did Taylor think that amount of butter was correct for one pie?  As soon as they showed her cutting up the butter I knew she was going home.  Last week I was thinking she would win the whole thing, shows how much I know.

Pointing out the obvious, much harder to prepare apples than berries.  Nectarines require more work as well.  

I hope that either Trevin or Sophie win, I'm not nearly as impressed with Tarek as he is.

[luvapickle]

11 hours ago, kcrabtree06 said:

At the risk of sounding like a horrible person, I am going to say it: I am glad Tarek was in the bottom two tonight. There’s a difference between positivity and being arrogant, and I thought he care off extremely arrogant tonight. Especially the part when he asked if anyone else was almost done with their ice cream when he knew darn well they probably weren’t! I feel like I am supposed to root for him because he’s from STL like me, but ugh. I just couldn’t with him tonight.

To be fair, this is where still being a kid, & being out there in the real world comes into play. I don't think he was trying to be that way. I feel in his own way, he was being a game player & trying to be funny. As you grow up these are the very things you learn, what not to say because it can come off the wrong way.

[theatremouse]

There was one very brief shot of Tarek in the background bouncing around and Taylor staring hard into what she was doing and saying something like...oh man I deleted my recording and can't remember it exactly but the gist was "I need to focus" and then he went away. But it was really interesting to me because on the adult shows, people are such assholes to each other but on the kid shows they're clearly told to show good sportsmanship with each other and try to make friends. It was this 2 second clip, but told me he was annoying the crap out of her and being distracting and disruptive, but she wasn't going to snap at him...or possibly even tell him to leave her alone. The look on her face so bummed me out because she was like "I fucked this up and am rushing to try to salvage it and I don't have time to entertain you". But no way she was going to say anything. Just suffering. Bummed me out, especially because they dinged him repeatedly on time management and messy presentation and this time he was done early, because he admittedly was lazy about part of it. I was also surprised they didn't comment on noticing he was covering his broken off edge crust with the decor. Usually they don't let that slide, but maybe it wasn't interesting enough for the edit.

It's hard for me to argue "messed up the crust" shouldn't lose, but I was annoyed that Tarek basically made the same mistakes as before: messy presentation, which they told him he wouldn't continue to get away with, and this time he didn't even have the "running out of time" excuse, but he's still there because someone made a bigger mistake. I mean, I know that's how it works. It's supposed to. But it was still disappointing. 

[jcbrown]

14 hours ago, kcrabtree06 said:

At the risk of sounding like a horrible person, I am going to say it: I am glad Tarek was in the bottom two tonight. There’s a difference between positivity and being arrogant, and I thought he care off extremely arrogant tonight. Especially the part when he asked if anyone else was almost done with their ice cream when he knew darn well they probably weren’t! I feel like I am supposed to root for him because he’s from STL like me, but ugh. I just couldn’t with him tonight.

Come sit next to me, as I am evidently also horrible. His humblebragging about being done was annoying. You're not positive, dude, you're socially clueless and that's making you a huge pain in the butt to your competitors.

14 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Couldn’t agree more.  He needed to SHUT UP and stop bugging the other bakers, especially with his “positivity”.  Zero awareness of how he was intruding on the others who are trying their hardest under big pressures.  He’s been in the bottom several times and yet wrangles his way out of trouble.  Poor Taylor.  She was so pleased about cooking her cherished family apple pie but her crust sure went horribly.  Her decorations were not inspired like the other 3 either.  I liked her so much.  Ugh, Tarek.

Sophie has a great heart.  Helping Trevin in such a cool, calm, kind way.  He’s a character — I like him.  But Sophie for the win please!

I felt badly for Taylor. I've liked her through the whole season. I love that Trevin names all his characters and I thought his painted decorations were really well done. Rooting for Sophie to win this thing!

[Kakistos]

I want Sophie’s ice cream. Sounds delicious. 

[theatremouse]

And another thing (/getoffmylawnvoice)...

So this whole "art pie" whatever they called it? It seemed very clear from the beginning the whole point was no top crust and no lattice. They were supposed to make the decorative pieces, bake them separately and place on top. Right? Everyone did that. It was clearly part of the off-camera explanation.

BUT

Then some of the critique was "not enough crust" and I'm like....the challenge dictates there be not enough crust. I don't just mean Taylor who broke off her separated crust. For me there is an ideal pie-to-crust ratio and NONE of these pies were able to have it given the nature of the challenge. When they first announced it, I was expecting a normal top crust  with decorative bits on top of it or embellishing it or extra complicated lattice, or...something. I was not expecting what we got, but clearly the judges were? 

Basically what I'm saying is absolutely none of those pies had enough crust.

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, theatremouse said:

And another thing (/getoffmylawnvoice)...

So this whole "art pie" whatever they called it? It seemed very clear from the beginning the whole point was no top crust and no lattice. They were supposed to make the decorative pieces, bake them separately and place on top. Right? Everyone did that. It was clearly part of the off-camera explanation.

BUT

Then some of the critique was "not enough crust" and I'm like....the challenge dictates there be not enough crust. I don't just mean Taylor who broke off her separated crust. For me there is an ideal pie-to-crust ratio and NONE of these pies were able to have it given the nature of the challenge. When they first announced it, I was expecting a normal top crust  with decorative bits on top of it or embellishing it or extra complicated lattice, or...something. I was not expecting what we got, but clearly the judges were? 

Basically what I'm saying is absolutely none of those pies had enough crust.

They also said that the crust was too blonde, which is "judge speak" for underbaked.  That's definitely what it looked like, so even if the crust along the top was missing, I don't think the bottom crust was too successful either.

[luvapickle]

23 hours ago, theatremouse said:

There was one very brief shot of Tarek in the background bouncing around and Taylor staring hard into what she was doing and saying something like...oh man I deleted my recording and can't remember it exactly but the gist was "I need to focus" and then he went away. But it was really interesting to me because on the adult shows, people are such assholes to each other but on the kid shows they're clearly told to show good sportsmanship with each other and try to make friends. It was this 2 second clip, but told me he was annoying the crap out of her and being distracting and disruptive, but she wasn't going to snap at him...or possibly even tell him to leave her alone. The look on her face so bummed me out because she was like "I fucked this up and am rushing to try to salvage it and I don't have time to entertain you". But no way she was going to say anything. Just suffering. Bummed me out, especially because they dinged him repeatedly on time management and messy presentation and this time he was done early, because he admittedly was lazy about part of it. I was also surprised they didn't comment on noticing he was covering his broken off edge crust with the decor. Usually they don't let that slide, but maybe it wasn't interesting enough for the edit.

It's hard for me to argue "messed up the crust" shouldn't lose, but I was annoyed that Tarek basically made the same mistakes as before: messy presentation, which they told him he wouldn't continue to get away with, and this time he didn't even have the "running out of time" excuse, but he's still there because someone made a bigger mistake. I mean, I know that's how it works. It's supposed to. But it was still disappointing. 

Once the crust is done, you really cannot do much(pretty sure it was just an editing thing, as I've noticed this before with others). I thought his decoration was much nicer than Taylor's. And the judges liked the taste of his pie, just a little bit more.  So I thought the right person went home.

[alalaxmom]

On 9/10/2019 at 6:07 AM, HyeChaps said:

Tarek is going to grow up to be Mr. Bean. 

Or Sheldon Cooper

[NJKBCFan]

Predicting Trevin for the win.

[camom]

I thought poor Tarek was going to have a stroke waiting to hear the winner.  It was obviously between Trevin and Sophie.  I was kind of pulling for Sophie, but based on tonight's cakes I can't argue with a Trevin win.  

[Gramto6]

I kind of was hoping Sophie would win. Trevin OK with that.

[mlp]

I thought Sophie was a darling girl but I also thought Trevin deserved to win based on the cakes presented.  I would never have thought "alien" if I'd seen Sophie's with no explanation.  Those cupcake "antennae" made no sense and the face didn't help.  Tarek's concept was good but his execution wasn't.

I really enjoy Duff and Valerie together.  The atmosphere during these competitions is so much better when the judges actually like each other.

[NJKBCFan]

Congrats to Trevin for the win, and Sophie and Tarek for doing great! While I agree that it was obvious after the cakes were presented that it was between Trevin and Sophie, I thought that it was because theirs were so good, not that Tarek's was lacking. Having said that, I do agree with the judges that Tarek going with the chocolate cake 4-5 times during the season was a bit of a knock against him, too. 

Enjoyable season overall, but more because these kids were all pretty likable with decent skills. Definitely wish they had a greater variety of challenges over the weeks - other than the pie and the imposter week, everything was a cake.

Btw - looks like some of the favorites from past seasons will be competing next week on Kids Halloween Baking Championship!

Edited September 19, 2019 by NJKBCFan

[theatremouse]

I kinda loved how Duff was all "don't bullshit me; you airbrushed and got it on your hands and then left fingerprints; moon dust my ass." The thing didn't even need to be white! Kid got told every single challenge his decorating was messy but just didn't seem to connect that to anything in his process that would make it not messy. Also cake pops are terrible and I can't believe Tarek made a giant one and thought that was a good idea. It's possibly the easiest technique he could've gone with - so along the same lines as "chocolate cake again". 

[Eliza422]

51 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I kinda loved how Duff was all "don't bullshit me; you airbrushed and got it on your hands and then left fingerprints; moon dust my ass." The thing didn't even need to be white! Kid got told every single challenge his decorating was messy but just didn't seem to connect that to anything in his process that would make it not messy. Also cake pops are terrible and I can't believe Tarek made a giant one and thought that was a good idea. It's possibly the easiest technique he could've gone with - so along the same lines as "chocolate cake again". 

Everything about his cake was an absolute mess. 

[snarkylady]

I would have been equally happy for Sophie or Trevin winning but agree at least from what we saw that Trevin did have the edge last night.  I thought that Valerie wanted Sophie to win but couldn't justify it enough to have her beat Trevin.

Meanwhile on the other side of the spatula there stood Tarek.  I would have known that the cake and cookie were his just based on the messy presentation.  I'm guessing that his baked goods taste good but he doesn't have the patience or discipline to create something tidy and well crafted. 

Of the flavor combinations presented I felt the chocolate, marshmallow, mint combo was the least appealing but Duff and Valerie appeared to like it.  He also lost points with me for repeating chocolate cake so many times.

My other observation is that Sophie....a truly lovely and kind young lady...was planning to give some of her winnings to a teacher (teacher's family?).  And Tarek?  Going to buy something for himself.   Not saying that the winning shouldn't indulge in something special but Tarek's response came off as so self-centered.  

On 9/11/2019 at 11:31 AM, alalaxmom said:

Or Sheldon Cooper

Indeed. 

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

I could tell it was going to be either Sophie or Trevin - and either was a good choice in my opinion.  I think if Sophie's lime curd had been set and not dissolved into the cake, she might have won.  They seemed impressed by the different things she baked and by her cookie.  I enjoyed both of them each week. 

I think Tarek is a good kid who baked some really great tasting treats but needs to spend more time on his decorating.  I feel for him - in my family, my mom cooked wonderful food but presentation was never a priority and I cook the same way.  I'm just not good at making things look pretty.

[dewelar]

1 hour ago, snarkylady said:

He also lost points with me for repeating chocolate cake so many times.

As mentioned above, this was a problem with the challenges this season -- he made chocolate cake four times because there were five cake challenges. This might not have been such a glaring issue if we'd had a couple of cookie challenges thrown in for variety. They kept saying this was the best bunch they've had, but really, how would they know?

Glad Trevin won, as he was my favorite, but also would have been fine with Sophie (who was Mrs. Dewelar's favorite). I appreciated the thought Trevin put into his planet -- it really did look like the pictures of Jupiter we got back from our spacecraft.

I do wonder how much of Tarek's awkwardness comes from his family's lifestyle -- he seems to have lived in a lot of different places, so presumably they move around often which could have led to a lack of socialization for him. Although he annoyed me, I could empathize -- or I could just be projecting :) .

[ExplainItAgain]

Aww, I was pulling for Sophie. She really straddled the line between precious and too precious very well. She seems quite kind and seems to have mastered quite a few baking techniques.

Neither of the boys really did anything for me.

I'm with you all about the challenges - I noted in another post that there were no macarons, eclairs, regular doughnuts, etc. that they've done in past seasons. Too many cakes.

[springbarb]

8 hours ago, snarkylady said:

My other observation is that Sophie....a truly lovely and kind young lady...was planning to give some of her winnings to a teacher (teacher's family?).  And Tarek?  Going to buy something for himself.   Not saying that the winning shouldn't indulge in something special but Tarek's response came off as so self-centered. 

I'm at the point in these competitions that I get annoyed with contestants always going on about what charity, etc., they're going to give money to. I'd hope that people would want to help others if they win, but I'm not taking off any points for someone wanting to keep the money for themselves.

I was rooting for Sophie over Trevin; her alien seemed a bit more creative than his planet, but he definitely executed the bake better than she did. He was consistently good, so I can't be upset, and I certainly don't dislike the kid. I think I'm just slightly weirded out by a 13-year-old having his own baking business.

[luvapickle]

16 hours ago, springbarb said:

I'm at the point in these competitions that I get annoyed with contestants always going on about what charity, etc., they're going to give money to. I'd hope that people would want to help others if they win, but I'm not taking off any points for someone wanting to keep the money for themselves.

I was rooting for Sophie over Trevin; her alien seemed a bit more creative than his planet, but he definitely executed the bake better than she did. He was consistently good, so I can't be upset, and I certainly don't dislike the kid. I think I'm just slightly weirded out by a 13-year-old having his own baking business.

Abby Martin from last year was 13 & had her own biz. She's from here(WI) & I laughed. Mainly because up until a little over a year ago, that was illegal. One because you have to have certification & you have to be 18. And you couldn't do it out of your home. 18 is still the age requirement, so I don't know how they do it. But they enacted the Cottage Food Law here, so that part I can understand. Don't know how much they actually since they do go to school.

[HyeChaps]

To me, cake pops are not appetizing at all, with the kids plunging bare hands into the cake crumbs and buttercream. 

[jcbrown]

42 minutes ago, HyeChaps said:

To me, cake pops are not appetizing at all, with the kids plunging bare hands into the cake crumbs and buttercream. 

This. Exactly this. They are not appetizing in concept and even less so with kid-hands involved.

[ExplainItAgain]

Yeah, I really admire Duff and Val taking the plunge with their huge bites. Raw cake and cookie dough, grainy icing, weird flavor combos, plus you know those kids don't have the best food safety habits!

[Jesse]

On 9/17/2019 at 7:52 PM, ExplainItAgain said:

Aww, I was pulling for Sophie. She really straddled the line between precious and too precious very well. She seems quite kind and seems to have mastered quite a few baking techniques.

Neither of the boys really did anything for me.

I'm with you all about the challenges - I noted in another post that there were no macarons, eclairs, regular doughnuts, etc. that they've done in past seasons. Too many cakes.

I figure that's why Sophie did her "alien" the way she did -- she had probably practiced so many techniques they never used on the show!

[TVbitch]

Happy for Trevin. He had me chuckling throughout the competition and seemed like a lovable goofball with some skills. 

I'm wondering if the Duff/Valerie bits where they stand in the front and do jokes and comment on the bakers ("Uh oh, Taylor put too much butter in her crust!" etc.)  are taped after the bake. It just seemed staged to look like they are standing there observing the whole bake, but clearly they are not. 

[Kakistos]

Based on his past messiness, I don’t think  poor Tarek had a good chance of winning unless both of the others screwed up. And then once he went with another chocolate cake and no other more challenging techniques except basic fondant, he was definitely done. 

I wonder why Sophie only used one cupcake each for the antenna. It looked like she was planning on stacking a few in her drawing. It was a cute cake, but better antenna and maybe some shaping of the cake might have won it for her.  No idea how difficult that would be with the time given. 

Glad Tevin won. I enjoyed his deadpan humor and the way he laughed at his little flubs during his interview portions. And how calm he stayed when things went wrong. That little alien he made was adorable.