Kids Baking Championship - General Discussion

[librarianbeck]

Did anyone watch this week's challenge with a potato stamp? Are they out of ideas? Duff and Valerie dislike fondant, then they ask all the kids to make sugar cookies (the world's most boring cookie) covered in either fondant, modeling chocolate (also, yuck, it seems?), or edible paper (flavorless but weird on the tongue). Who would want to eat those?

I thought Avner and Morgan really did the best last night. I'm not crazy about Reggie, who seems to have no sense of humor. I think Naima is adorable, so 🤷🏻

Edited February 4, 2020 by librarianbeck

[TomGirl]

30 minutes ago, librarianbeck said:

I think Naima is adorable, so 🤷🏻

Me too.  And I think Anthony is adorable.  And Graysen.  And I love Reggie.  And Liam.  I could go on...

Edited February 4, 2020 by TomGirl

[Guest]

I thought the potato print challenge was at least something a little different. Made them try out a new skill, with varying degrees of success. Looks like Reggie and Graysen were the only ones with non-reversible letters who anticipated the whole "backwards" thing. I'm guessing those two will be in the finals. Not sure who else will be there with them. Anthony seems to have had one of those days where once something goes wrong, you just pile wrong on wrong and can't pull out of it. Too bad 😞 

Still loving all of the kids, but Graysen in particular is just sunshine in human form.

[MerBearHou]

Reggie’s smart, dry humor is my fave!  Loved Duff kidding around with him about paying $1 for the extra potato.  I agree with you, tracyscott76, Graysen is so sunny and she is talented and steady — another favorite.  Happy for Morgan winning last night — she’s a gem.  I will not miss Anthony one bit.  Awful to say about a kid, but just Nope.  The potato stamp carving made me a little nervous but those kids handled the knives just fine.  

Edited February 4, 2020 by MerBearHou

[BigBingerBro]

I'm getting very tired of these contrived challenges.  I get that it's a kid's baking show, but they could at least have some variation in the actual baked good.   

I definitely agreed with them letting Anthony go.  Like others have said, nothing went right for him and I think he felt he couldn't turn it around.  Naima lucked out as her palm trees were pretty bad.

It was cute when they called Lorraine for the British pronunciation of potato.  Has Valerie ever done a show with her?

At this point, I'm betting on Reggie, Graysen and Morgan for the final three.

[ExplainItAgain]

I thought Graysen should have won, her flowers were quite pretty. Morgan had a good idea but I didn't think her execution was as good as Graysen's. 

I like Reggie's dry sense of humor too. He narrates fairly well. It was telegraphed pretty early that Anthony was going home so it wasn't a big surprise.

This group seems very talented baking wise (they loved all the cupcakes last week and all the cookies this week) but seems a little less talented in the decorating arena. Although, both of the last two challenges were a bit curveball-y and probably things they hadn't done before.

[RoxiP]

I think Morgan is very sweet.  You can tell she was really thrilled with her win.  I honestly think they try and spread out the wins as much as possible

[BusyOctober]

Most of the finished cookies looked like inexperienced 1st graders decorated them.  Not impressed.

The edible paper looked horrible on Anthony’s (Reggie’s too). Never mind the rest of his execution was bad too, but just leaving all that white space around his stamp (leaf? oval? feather?) was a bad choice.  Why not trim the paper a bit closer to the stamp?  And what did his stamp shape have to do with the beachy theme on his plate?  

Grayson is the one to beat.

Edited February 4, 2020 by BusyOctober

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, RoxiP said:

I think Morgan is very sweet.  You can tell she was really thrilled with her win.  I honestly think they try and spread out the wins as much as possible

This wouldn't surprise me, if they have a close call. Like Graysen probably could (should?) have won again, but since she won the last two in a row and Morgan and Avner's were quite good, too, they put them in the top two instead.

 

8 minutes ago, BusyOctober said:

The edible paper looked horrible on Anthony’s.  Never mind the rest of his execution was bad too, but just leaving all that white space around his stamp (leaf? oval? feather?) was a bad choice.  Why not trim the paper a bit closer to the stamp?  And what did his stamp shape have to do with the beachy theme on his plate?

It was a teardrop, but he was going for a water theme so it wouldn't seem like he was crying over his cookie. And he added the "sand" and "ocean" to go with the water theme and, I think, try to distract from the look of his cookie, which he knew full well looked bad. I do give these kids credit for knowing when their finished product isn't great.

Edited February 4, 2020 by tracyscott76

[trudysmom]

On 1/28/2020 at 2:47 PM, tracyscott76 said:

I do agree about Graysen's hair; it's really pulled back tight.

There's a picture of her and another girl (eliminated already, don't recall her name) together at I think Avner's Barmiztvah.  Her hair was down and she looked stunning, I didn't recognize her.

They seem to be trying new things this season, the llama, the potato stamp.  I guess it's hard to come up with new ideas for a relatively short bake, since most of them seem to be about 2 hours.  I'd like to see what they'd come up with without buttercream to fall back on, like a pie challenge, but not tarts, I'm over watching people make tarts.  Unless they challenged them to make pop-tarts, which if you believe Pinterest, are a thing people make at home nowadays. 

[ExplainItAgain]

Homemade poptarts would be a great challenge - they could do all kinds of filling. I hope they do pies too.

[librarianbeck]

Homemade pop tarts are delicious. It's basically pie crust with a jammy filling. That would be fun!

[Fostersmom]

On 2/4/2020 at 9:49 AM, MerBearHou said:

The potato stamp carving made me a little nervous but those kids handled the knives just fine.  

I kept cringing every time they showed a kid carving out around the cookie cutter. I wasn't sure MY knife skills wouldn't have ended up with me bleeding, let alone one of the kids. 

I was really hoping they were going to have the kids make donuts out of potato flour, but that might be over their skill set. There used to be a fairly large donut chain across the country, Spudnuts, which used potato flour. There's still a few of them around, including one in my hometown, which I'm pretty sure was there before I was born, so 43 years. They could have had the kids use potato flour in their recipes though. 

[Guest]

Urgh, these eliminations are killing me. Thought Morgan might be going because she was clearly crying in her interviews, but after the judges' comments, Avner seemed like the more likely one.

As soon as I saw Reggie tell Naima she couldn't use his heavy cream because it was going to be all gone, I knew that wasn't going to go over well. And sure enough, Twitter laid into him with its usual nuance. Yeah, maybe he could have been a little less curt about it, but calling the kid an a**hole (for real) and saying his parents should raise him better...over the line. And he wasn't really wrong, despite Naima saying he didn't use it all. There wasn't going to be enough left for her to use. And he certainly congratulated her heartily when she won, so it wasn't that big of a deal. He's just a little more tightly wound than the other kids, but he's fine.

Liam kind of came alive for me this episode; he's the one I tended to overlook, but he was in fine form tonight. He's still the only one who's never been in the top or the bottom, though.

Still think Graysen's the best of the lot, but they've all got a lot going for them.

Edited February 11, 2020 by tracyscott76

[MerBearHou]

I was shocked that Morgan wasn’t eliminated.  Her raw cupcake and her way-too-soft ice cream.  From her very teary talking heads, my heart went out to her because I thought for sure she was a goner. 

Reggie is very dry and brief in his communication - he and Naima have been buddies and looked out for each other in past episodes.  I do not believe he was trying to sabotage her.  So SHUT UP, Twitter.  Going after a kid baker.  Un-freaking-believable.

Graysen is talented and steady.  Loved Liam tonight.  This competition has been so good for Sam. At the beginning, he would barely talk or laugh and he’s gotten so much more comfortable and seems happy.  Didn’t know he’s a twin.

Avner’s elimination really surprised me.  

Edited February 12, 2020 by MerBearHou
because Morgan is her name!

[rippleintime17]

Reggie clearly isn't a warm and cuddly dude but he seems to be genuine when he congratulates those who do well, and relieved each time he does well himself. Also, it IS a competition, so not sharing ingredients you're still using yourself shouldn't really be seen as a character flaw!

I loved Liam last night, who was singing about strawberries under his breath and made very delightful looking cupcakes! I wish he had called them banana split cupcakes, though, since that is clearly what he was going for, he just never used the term (that I heard).

I was hoping Naima's goal to appeal specifically to Duff wouldn't backfire. Glad that it went well for her, but probably not the best plan of action going forward. 

Graysen seems like the one to beat to me, but so did Davis last year, so you never know when it gets down to the wire! 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, rippleintime17 said:

I was hoping Naima's goal to appeal specifically to Duff wouldn't backfire. Glad that it went well for her, but probably not the best plan of action going forward.

I can see it now: all the kids making nothing but desserts flavored with bacon (for Duff) and lemon (for Val) XD

But seriously, Naima had a real plan there beyond just using bacon, so it did work out well. Between her bacon-flavored milk to infuse the bacon taste in the batter, and Graysen using the old-school Victorian red velvet recipe -- where are these kids getting these techniques?? Very impressive.

[CoyoteBlue]

2 hours ago, rippleintime17 said:

Reggie clearly isn't a warm and cuddly dude but he seems to be genuine when he congratulates those who do well, and relieved each time he does well himself. Also, it IS a competition, so not sharing ingredients you're still using yourself shouldn't really be seen as a character flaw!

It's not like they had a limited amount of heavy cream available for an ice cream challenge. I'm sure she could have run to the fridge and gotten her own quart.

[BigBingerBro]

1 hour ago, CoyoteBlue said:

I'm sure she could have run to the fridge and gotten her own quart.

Right.  I have a feeling they are encouraged to share supplies as it gives the edit people more to work with.

I was also pretty shocked when Avner was the one to go home.  I have to say that all the creations this episode impressed me quite a bit.

I didn't care for Valerie sort of sneaking up behind Reggie when he was working at the stove.  I also can't fault Reggie for telling Naima that she couldn't take any of his cream as he was in the middle of measuring it and he probably felt bothered.  I hate being distracted when I'm measuring.

I agree Graysen is talented but to me she seems pretty predictable and middle of the road with her ideas.  She'll probably me in the final, but I don't see her winning.

 

[RoxiP]

16 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I was shocked that Madison wasn’t eliminated.  Her raw cupcake and her way-too-soft ice cream.  From her very teary talking heads, my heart went out to her because I thought for sure she was a goner. 

Reggie is very dry and brief in his communication - he and Naima have been buddies and looked out for each other in past episodes.  I do not believe he was trying to sabotage her.  So SHUT UP, Twitter.  Going after a kid baker.  Un-freaking-believable.

Graysen is talented and steady.  Loved Liam tonight.  This competition has been so good for Sam. At the beginning, he would barely talk or laugh and he’s gotten so much more comfortable and seems happy.  Didn’t know he’s a twin.

Avner’s elimination really surprised me.  

Did you mean Morgan?

[MerBearHou]

42 minutes ago, RoxiP said:

Did you mean Morgan?

Oh gosh, yes -- who is Madison?!!?  

 

[trudysmom]

8 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Between her bacon-flavored milk to infuse the bacon taste in the batter, and Graysen using the old-school Victorian red velvet recipe -- where are these kids getting these techniques

I remember I think it was the first challenge that Graysen said her grandmother taught her to fan a strawberry, so maybe she bakes with her quite a bit.  Also, that bacon infused milk, and bacon in the cupcake, I gagged.  You couldnt' pay me to taste that and I love bacon as much as the next person.

 

3 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

I didn't care for Valerie sort of sneaking up behind Reggie when he was working at the stove

Right?  I said to trudysdad "way to go Val, sneak up on a kid with a pot of hot milk in his hand!"  Also, I think it was one of the eliminated boys a couple of weeks ago talking about he didn't have time to talk to her right then!  Good grief, leave them alone, let them bake!

[springbarb]

20 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Liam kind of came alive for me this episode; he's the one I tended to overlook, but he was in fine form tonight. He's still the only one who's never been in the top or the bottom, though.

Yeah, I never remember Liam, but he was a delight. I'm also consistently pleased by seeing the kids help each other when they can.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, trudysmom said:

Right?  I said to trudysdad "way to go Val, sneak up on a kid with a pot of hot milk in his hand!"  Also, I think it was one of the eliminated boys a couple of weeks ago talking about he didn't have time to talk to her right then!  Good grief, leave them alone, let them bake!

I believe that was Jersey boy Anthony.

[RoxiP]

17 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Oh gosh, yes -- who is Madison?!!?  

 

I think she was on another season...LOL!

[Guest]

55 minutes ago, RoxiP said:

I think she was on another season...LOL!

Here's a recent Madison, but there's probably been more than one.

[CoyoteBlue]

16 hours ago, trudysmom said:

Also, that bacon infused milk, and bacon in the cupcake, I gagged.  You couldnt' pay me to taste that and I love bacon as much as the next person.

Eh, there's a truck that makes a chocolate bacon stout cupcake that I would kill (or at least maim) for.

[librarianbeck]

Liam is SO cute! I don't care for banana splits, but his cakes and ice cream looked good. 

The thought of a pancake and bacon cake has got me drooling over here. I'm glad Naima won this week. 

[RoxiP]

Liam and Naima are my least favorite, because to me they are the worst offenders of playing to the cameras...which is so cynical and jaded of me that I'm almost ashamed of it.

[trudysmom]

RoxiP that's why I like Reggie, he talks to the camera when he has to but I get the feeling he tells them to go away when he's in the mood!  I don't care for the over the top cutie stuff.  

Liam has grown on me recently, I like him but he can be a bit theatric.

[Guest]

I mean there are kids who act that way even when no one's looking: saying things in a sing-song voice, making noises, dancing, and so on. So I don't typically hold it against the kids on this show who do the same. They've got a lot of energy and are probably nervous, so they've gotta let it out!

[NJKBCFan]

I will admit I'm just not feeling it this season. Maybe I'm overdosed on it? lol

Am curious to hear what you think of the following:

- What season had the best overall talent?

- What season had the most enjoyable kids to watch?

- Who are the top 3 bakers across all seasons on the show?

- What were the top 3 most memorable things baked across all seasons?

Yes, I have a lot of time on my hands. lol

[BigBingerBro]

For me, Season 6 really was the most enjoyable to watch. (Paige as the winner, Davis and Meadow runners up) I honestly can't immediately recall any specific details, but the mix of kids seemed the most genuine and likable and most of them seemed quite talented.

[RoxiP]

I liked the season that had a young kid (season 3?) whose name was I think Justice.  I don't know why I remember him but I was rooting for him (I think he came in second).

[gingerormaryann]

I commented after the first episode that this was a very unimpressive season because of the kids. My opinion hasn't changed. This is the weakest season so far. Duff and Val are good, the challenges are good but the kids aren't interesting. I've warmed to Liam and Naima but after all these episode, there are some kids I still can't even identify. Reggie was clearly not made for this type of competition because he's a void every time he appears on camera. 

The show itself is still a great concept for the network but if they can't find kid contestants that are enjoyable to watch, it might be time to give it a rest for a season or two. I do know that some former contestants were actually kid actors but at least it was entertaining.

[MerBearHou]

I'm going to respectfully disagree.  I really like these kids, especially Reggie!  His dry, quiet, smart humor is right up my alley and I love that his personality is different from the types we so often see.  Kids Baking Championship is a treat for me to watch every season because of Duff and Valerie and seeing these kids bake 1000x better than I can now (and certainly not then).  

[Guest]

If I think of memorable desserts over all seasons, I mostly remember Paige's winning chess club-themed cake in Season 6 that had chocolate, cherry, pretzels, and I think mascarpone. The decorating was ok, but apparently it was REALLY tasty. I've never seen Val and Duff (or any judges, really) react like that. It wasn't just the typical "this is so good!" comments. They seemed really overwhelmed by how good it was!

[trudysmom]

I think the season with Paige as the winner and Davis painted his Mona Lisa cake was my favorite.  He has painted other large cookie landscapes since and they are stunning.

Top three, hmmm Rebecca, Hollis and Trevin.  I like Rebecca and Hollis because they were in the very early seasons and hadn't had the benefit of seeing other kids do the challenges on tv, like food imposters, so they had to figure it out for themselves.  I really liked Davis , too. 

Top 3 things baked (because I really enjoy all the seasons, even if some of the kids are annoying):  The monkey bread was different, one of the girls made solar system cookies one season, they looked amazing, and any time one of the kids seems to falter, then pulls it out in the end.  I guess I love the underdog.

Having said all that, I am finding the format a bit tired.  They either need new challenges, a new judge with Duff or something.  Everybody knows Val loves lemon, so someone uses it in every bake.  And the stupid twists, they need to stop with those already.

[gingerormaryann]

9 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I'm going to respectfully disagree.  I really like these kids, especially Reggie!  His dry, quiet, smart humor is right up my alley and I love that his personality is different from the types we so often see.  Kids Baking Championship is a treat for me to watch every season because of Duff and Valerie and seeing these kids bake 1000x better than I can now (and certainly not then).  

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by gingerormaryann
edit

[NJKBCFan]

On 2/13/2020 at 8:33 AM, NJKBCFan said:

- What season had the best overall talent?

- What season had the most enjoyable kids to watch?

- Who are the top 3 bakers across all seasons on the show?

- What were the top 3 most memorable things baked across all seasons?

Answering my own questions:

- Season 6 (Paige, Karthik, Davis, etc) might have had the best baking talent overall. But I also thought Season 4 had the best top 5 (Linsey, Bryn, Abby, Alex, Julia). Season 4 also had some of the worst.

- For me, hands down I loved Linsey and Bryn the most. Funny, smart, mature and just flat out adorable.

- Davis (season 6), Cole (season 3), Yashimabet (season 2) are the most talented as bakers.

- Yashimabet's finals cake, Linsey's galaxy cookies and finals cake.

[Guest]

Man, Naima really ran hot or cold; seemed like she was always either winning or in the bottom. Seemed like it would catch up with her eventually, and tonight it did.

And poor Liam had his own troubles. I did like how he rolled with it in his sing-songy way. Nothing seems to faze him too much.

Still rooting for Graysen the most, but Reggie seems to have slipped into the "one to beat" slot.

[ShelleySue]

On 2/13/2020 at 9:09 PM, trudysmom said:

And the stupid twists, they need to stop with those already.

Sometimes, like last night, they are just a waste of precious time.  Other times, like when an ingredient has to be added to something that's 3/4 of the way completed, they can sabotage a dessert.  There is absolutely no rhyme or reason for them.  I assume that the purpose is to show that the kids can think on their feet and do well under pressure, but isn't that what their are all doing anyway with the original challenge?

[Fostersmom]

Anyone else think they went back and retaped the warning about the glass top after the kids shattered it? And even if they didn't, why the hell would they have an unstable glass case and then send 6 kids charging at it? 

I know Naima has annoyed others, but until she lost, I didn't have an issue with her. But her sore loser act was ugly. She had a tough week, I get it, but be a gracious loser. 

I'm not disliking any of the kids this season, thats a first. I don't think he's going to win, but I like Sam. 

[BigBingerBro]

24 minutes ago, Fostersmom said:

Anyone else think they went back and retaped the warning about the glass top after the kids shattered it? And even if they didn't, why the hell would they have an unstable glass case and then send 6 kids charging at it? 

Yes, the whole thing seemed like a set-up but I think you're right, they redid the warning from Duff to make it seem more interesting.

I wasn't surprised Naima tanked as she seems a bit flighty.  She was definitely there for the cameras and she clinched it by her final statement of how she hoped it wouldn't be the last we'd see of her.  She'll probably appear on another kid's show soon.

It was interesting how Reggie was quite confident when talking about Gianduja during his talking heads, but when they showed him chatting with Sam in the kitchen he couldn't remember what it was called and Sam had to remind him.  Reggie is definitely going to be a final contender.

I didn't think the twist was all that complicated.  It's pretty easy (even for kids) to slap together some pizza bites especially when you have a big selection of things to work with and ready-made dough.  Naima has a good idea to deep fry her bites, but I knew that she was done for when i saw her pouring BBQ sauce straight from the bottle over the top of them.

[springbarb]

1 hour ago, Fostersmom said:

I know Naima has annoyed others, but until she lost, I didn't have an issue with her. But her sore loser act was ugly. She had a tough week, I get it, but be a gracious loser. 

 

I didn't think she came off as a sore loser at all. YMMV.

I think the fact that so many kids had underbaked pizza bites says that the twist was added too late in the time.

And here's hoping that the destruction of the "bakeshop" will lead to more of them picking flavors randomly (the "You'll each take a [whatever] that has a flavor on the bottom" method).

[BigBingerBro]

8 minutes ago, springbarb said:

And here's hoping that the destruction of the "bakeshop" will lead to more of them picking flavors randomly

Yes!  Or maybe even play a little game and whoever wins can choose the their flavor first, etc. 

[mlp]

50 minutes ago, springbarb said:

But her [Naima] sore loser act was ugly. She had a tough week, I get it, but be a gracious loser. 

I thought so too.  The look on her face was a real contrast to her usual "Look how cute I am!" act for the cameras.  I thought her final comment that viewers will get to see her again summed up her attitude nicely.  Now that she's gone, I like all the kids who remain but my favorites are still Sam and Grayson.  

One of the boys cracked me up when he told the camera operator he wasn't going to toss his pizza dough.  I can't remember which kid it was but he'd done an impressive job of stretching his dough.

I always wonder how Duff and Valerie can stand to put some things in their mouths after watching all the handling that goes on.  Yeccch.

[suebee12]

29 minutes ago, mlp said:

One of the boys cracked me up when he told the camera operator he wasn't going to toss his pizza dough.  I can't remember which kid it was but he'd done an impressive job of stretching his dough.

Reggie! I was waiting to see him toss it!

[BigBingerBro]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

always wonder how Duff and Valerie can stand to put some things in their mouths after watching all the handling that goes on.  Yeccch.

They looks especially hesitant when trying Naima's creations.  Usually they do a pretty good job masking their disgust, but they didn't do too well when it came to hers!!

[trudysmom]

But didn't Naima seem off the entire episode?  Far more subdued, as if she didn't feel well maybe or wasn't feeling that particular recipe.  If she hadn't tossed out her original dough, and taken the time to smooth it out on the pan properly, she might have pulled it out.  But her cakes looked so sloppy, as if she really didn't care this week.  

From here on out it's gonna be hard to see someone eliminated, I like all these kids.