Kids Baking Championship - General Discussion

[orangekit]

2 hours ago, Aquarius said:

The superhero was the Prism.  He made a whole bunch of pyramids from that special sugar, and put the nicest one on the cake.

A prism is a superhero?   Isn't a superhero a living being of some kind? The cake was pretty, the story was deep, but really Justice was the only one who followed directions and had a real superhero.   

I think they totally have made this show really bad now. It was cute and it seemed to be pretty fair in the past, now it's just sickening watching Valerie gush over a disrespectful brat and say "love her". ugh!   Also, they obviously were told to pick certain kids based on something besides their baking skills.     

[valdawn]

I'm sure Aiden knew what his superhero was going to be when he was nosey and asking the others what they were doing but claimed not to know what he was going to do. I'm sure the prism thing is the coolest thing he knows how to do, so he saved it for the end. Prism as a superhero? Makes no sense to me, maybe if he put it on a little body and the prism was the head I guess, otherwise no. Justice had better skills throughout, not just the end either!

[Mrs. DuRona]

I can kind of see why Aiden won over Justice (but we were SHOCKED).  Justice basically made a yellow cake with rose extract and buttercream frosting.  While that is a sophisticated flavor, and he got the amount just right, it wasn't *that* complex.  Aiden using a more complex flavor profile, and getting it right, gave him a bit of an edge.

Kaniyah never really bothered me too much, but she really had no business being in the finale.  Mr. D and I were joking that she was going to make a huge pineapple upside down cake and call it a day, since that is the best thing she made all season.  We also were concerned that there was no rhyme or reason to how she was putting the blueberries in the cake.  We were expecting one of the judges to have no blueberries.  And as soon as she started carving her cake, I was like "that looks dry.  She's toast".  While her cake was a hot mess, bless her for not going the fondant route.  I have seen amazing cakes done entirely in buttercream, you don't need fondant for decorating.  Unfortunately, she lacks the skills for that to work.  Good for her for using a new skill (the molecular gastronomy stuff).

I do think Justice seems to be a great baker, and a cool kid, but I also don't see him being a baker when he grows up.  Dude's totally going to be a storm chaser. :)

On 3/5/2017 at 6:07 PM, Janice said:

 

I was a bit shocked when Kaniyah was asked what she would do with the money. She wanted to have a lot of tennis shoes. She has a Go Fund Me Page to collect donations for culinary school. Seems like $25,000.00 would be a nice amount to put towards that. I guess maybe you can have your cake and eat(or wear tennis shoes) it too!

 

I call producer interference with that one.  Last season, every kid was like "I'D BUY A PHONE!" except for Rebecca and her $25K chickens.  I think I only heard one kid say they'd use it for culinary school

It is a shame the kids were all "meh" this season.  Even the better bakers would have been toast in previous seasons.  And, I love a good basic buttercream, but for the love of Pete, put some chocolate or zest or peppermint, ANY kind of flavor!  Basic vanilla buttercream is a wonderful base for other flavors.  Aiden totally could have used his buttercream and elevated it with another flavor profile.  If they do another season, not only do they need to find better bakers, but they need to have at least one challenge where their frosting cannot be basic buttercream.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Mrs. DuRona

[superguard9]

Make some room for one more in that handbasket

Maybe he did think of it himself, but I feel like Aiden's superhero story was not entirely his own. It was very sad and weird and may be based on a personal experience but the explanation and design seemed too grown up, too adult. Not what I would expect from a kid who creeps on everyone then is "surprised" when he sees another competitor doing something similar.

I will grudgingly admit Aiden deserved the win based on this week, but Justice was better all season. I can see him kicking butt as a faker on Bakers vs Fakers one day

[stitcher73]

did anyone else see Kaniyah was on food network last night?  The Kids Grilling championship?  Ug.

[Fostersmom]

On 04/04/2017 at 9:12 AM, stitcher73 said:

did anyone else see Kaniyah was on food network last night?  The Kids Grilling championship?  Ug.

I'm watching it now and I notice her I'm so cute, look at me, baby voice is coming and going.

[LennieBriscoe]

"Cookielicious," 1/01/18.

[LexieLily]

Garrett (I think that was him?) is so lucky that Michael couldn't complete one of the requirements of his cookie cake even with three helpers at the last minute and that his finished product wasn't even that good. His (Garrett's) cake was a mess and what was he thinking putting two banana's worth of slices on the top for no apparent reason?

[catrice2]

Wow. I just watched a marathon from the previous series.  Am I wrong, or are most of these contestants a lot older?  I knew Michael was toast when he kept wandering around looking lost and crying.   That was the moment I reminded myself that these are kids and how hard it must be to be in front of the camera and have all the pressure.   So far, these series appears like it will be much better than the last one I watched.   

[catrice2]

On 2/7/2017 at 0:27 PM, Thadeeeyus said:

I liked Reese, but he was clearly not one of the best bakers.  Reese, Justice and Maya come across to me as being the least affected and the most likable of the group. 

I so totally agree with this.  How cute was he?  I just watched a marathon of this today (and missed the ending) but I kept waiting for him to execute better.  Watching the new episode tonight most of the new competitors are 12 or 13.  I thin Reese was 10......I think he was just a little to young for the competition, but I kept rooting for him because of all the other "big" personalities.  Hopefully this season will be a tad bit calmer. 

[TomGirl]

I was pleasantly surprised by the first episode of this season.  What a delightful group of kids, smart but not pretentious, confident but not conceited, cute but not obnoxious.  The only one teetering on the edge of overdoing the schtik is Beverly, but hey, she’s only ten.  I’m going to enjoy this group!

[Jillybean]

I was totally team Canadian kid until he grabbed his pan with no oven mitts on. What?!  

I understand the concept of mise en place, but Michael took over an hour to mix a batch of cookie dough! When you're in a timed competition you just don't have that luxury.

Yes, most of the kids are 12 and 13 this season, which is on the older end compared to previous seasons. 

Edited January 3, 2018 by Jillybean

[LennieBriscoe]

If ever there was an example of someone's not seeing the forest for the mise en place trees....

As for the "cookie-cakes" in general, no. Just no. ?

[Fostersmom]

Poor mise en place kid, it was just painful watching that child measure anything. It's all well and good to have it measured and laid out, but he worked himself into a melt down. Normally I'd say he was robbed and the mountain of banana kid should have gone, but I honestly feel getting cut was for his own good. Imagine one of the crazier last minute curve wrench challenges. That kid would be a wreck. 

These kids were way less annoying and camera kiss ups than last season. The one little blond girl might prove to be a bit too much, but they seem like a good bunch. I still don't like to see them using dish towels instead of oven mitts though. 

[TomGirl]

1 hour ago, Fostersmom said:

(Re: Michael)  I honestly feel getting cut was for his own good.

I felt the same way, and suspect the judges did as well.

[crazycatlady58]

The thing I like about the kids is they HELP each other. When Michael ran out of time at the end he received a lot of help. Yes he should have not needed any but it was nice to see the kids step up and help their competition.

[mlp]

I like both Duff and Valerie and I especially like them together.  They both work really well with kids without being soppy or patronizing.  The holiday baking shows would be so much better if they'd get rid of Nancy Fuller and have Valerie instead.  

I thought almost all the kids who said they were 13 looked a lot younger than that but my kids are much older so maybe I've forgotten.

All three of the boys who were in the bottom deserved to be there and they sent the right one home.  Michael wasn't coping with the stress well and he had zero personality.  

I hate twists.  From comments on various shows, I gather that most viewers don't like twists and it's obvious that contestants don't like them.  Producers, just stop already.

[Eliza422]

So was this supposed to be cookies in the shape of a cake, or a cake inspired by cookie flavors? Some of the kids’ cakes looked like cookies, some like cakes.  None of which really looked that appetizing.

 

I also was glad they cut the mise en place kid - he didn’t seem to have the first idea what he was doing.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Eliza422

[jcbrown]

I really liked the mise-en-place kid but I agree he did not seem capable of surviving the pressure and this may have been a mercy cut. Gareth, you got very lucky. The way he crammed his cake back together was totally gross. It seems there is a real divergence in skill level among this crop of kids.

[theatremouse]

My understanding of a cookie cake is it's giant cookies, stacked and decorated like a cake. So yeah, some of them seemed to skirt the challenge by making straight up cake in the same flavor profile as the selected cookie. That annoyed me.

[EyewatchTV211]

47 minutes ago, Eliza422 said:

So was this supposed to be cookies in the shape of a cake, or a cake inspired by cookie flavors? Some of the kids’ cakes looked like cookies, some like cakes.  None of which really looked that appetizing.

 

I also was glad they cut the mise en place kid - he didn’t seem to have the first idea what he was doing.

When I heard cookie cake, I thought of this. It is what I have always known as a cookie cake, which I often got as a child to bring to school for my birthday (I'm lactose intolerant and many of them actually didn't have milk, unlike real cake).

[Fostersmom]

5 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

When I heard cookie cake, I thought of this. It is what I have always known as a cookie cake, which I often got as a child to bring to school for my birthday (I'm lactose intolerant and many of them actually didn't have milk, unlike real cake).

I think that's more along the lines of what they were supposed to be making. When Valerie went in to talk to mise en place kid she kept saying cookies don't take that long to bake and I'm pretty sure the one kid, maybe the kid who won, was shown shaping his giant cookies on a flat sheet pan. The banana disaster looked to be 100% cake. 

[NJKBCFan]

11 hours ago, Eliza422 said:

So was this supposed to be cookies in the shape of a cake, or a cake inspired by cookie flavors? Some of the kids’ cakes looked like cookies, some like cakes.  None of which really looked that appetizing.

 

I also was glad they cut the mise en place kid - he didn’t seem to have the first idea what he was doing.

The challenge was "a layered cookie cake", so that's why they ended up looking more like a cake. I also noticed that the mise en place kid only had 2 layers but everyone else had 3 layers, so maybe that added to his getting cut.

[Destiny74]

I kept yelling "get a flat spatula!". Not that the cakes would've not cracked, they just wouldn't have been such a hot mess on a couple of them.

I agree with earlier comments.  I think the ones who actually made cookies had an easier time of the stacking and decorating.  The cake ones fell apart.

Oh, and  Snickerdoodle is not just a cinnamon sugar cookie.  The texture is totally different.  And a peanut butter cookie is not a chocolate chip cookie with peanut butter.  Again, totally different texture.

[theatremouse]

That one kid made a peanut butter chip cookie, not a peanut butter cookie.

[tobeannounced]

Enjoyed this a lot and agree that the skill level seems much better this season. I like to see beautiful creations, not smooshed-together cookie/cakes with banana hunks on top, which was pretty much the skill level of most of the contestants last season. It will be fun to see what they all can do when they weed out the weak links.

I was so relieved when the twist wasn't really that big of a deal. I hate them in the adult competitions, and in the kid competitions, it is not fun to see kids get so stressed they start melting down. That is not entertainment.

[gingerella]

I'm confused, some of these kids look really familiar, like Beverly, the little Canuk, Luke and Abby...have some of these kids been on Chopped Kids perhaps? I know I've seen some of these kids somewhere...

ETA: If they are doing multiple cooking shows, it sort of ruins it for me and makes them more like professional actor kids, not real bakers. None of the seasons has compared to Season One IMO.

Edited January 9, 2018 by gingerella

[jcbrown]

I think Gareth was cut as much for his disaster last week as for his boring creation this week. His level does not seem to be up to the others'. Right decision again.

[Lyinfait]

I don't like the combination food theme they have going so far this season. Either make a pizza or bake a dessert. Those were all pies and brownies and cookies with stuff on top anyway. Let them bake a beautiful pie. Or normal sized cookies. Decorate a cake according to a prompt. I want to see good food. I feel like next week will be "donut loaves" or something and all the kids will bake cookies shaped like loaves and pile stuff on top to make it look like a donut.  With lemon. 

[NJKBCFan]

30 minutes ago, Lyinfait said:

I don't like the combination food theme they have going so far this season. Either make a pizza or bake a dessert. Those were all pies and brownies and cookies with stuff on top anyway. Let them bake a beautiful pie. Or normal sized cookies. Decorate a cake according to a prompt. I want to see good food. I feel like next week will be "donut loaves" or something and all the kids will bake cookies shaped like loaves and pile stuff on top to make it look like a donut.  With lemon. 

There will be lemon:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/kids-baking-championship/episodes/lemon-bffs

[mlp]

Quote

some of these kids look really familiar, like Beverly, 

I don't know.  None of them really look familiar to me but several of them do seem like a type and they remind me of other, previous contestants.  Beverly for example.  She reminds of of a girl whose name I think was Jane who was always "on" and sort of goofy.  I disliked Beverly almost immediately for that reason.  The Canadian boy reminds me of someone too but I can't recall the kid's name.  He's my favorite so far.  

The girl who won had a "pizza" with a crust that was about an inch thick.  It was so obvious that I was amazed neither Duff nor Valerie mentioned it.  I couldn't believe they gave her the win.

One of the little blonde girls (Abby?) looked cute in the pictures with her grandmother when she had her hair down and bangs.  On the show, with the shape of her face, her wide-set eyes and her hair pulled straight back, she looks like an alien.

[Lyinfait]

10 minutes ago, NJKBCFan said:

There will be lemon:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/kids-baking-championship/episodes/lemon-bffs

Of course there will be! I like lemon desserts too but the lack of creativity (lemon for Valerie) is disappointing. 

8 minutes ago, mlp said:

I don't know.  None of them really look familiar to me but several of them do seem like a type and they remind me of other, previous contestants.  Beverly for example.  She reminds of of a girl whose name I think was Jane who was always "on" and sort of goofy.  I disliked Beverly almost immediately for that reason. 

If Beverly is who I think she is, she does remind me of a past contestant who was always on. Whoever told them that was entertaining and cute was terribly misguided. 

[NJKBCFan]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

The girl who won had a "pizza" with a crust that was about an inch thick.  It was so obvious that I was amazed neither Duff nor Valerie mentioned it.  I couldn't believe they gave her the win.

She is from Wisconsin. Those midwesterners are into deep dish pizza.

[theatremouse]

20 hours ago, gingerella said:

If they are doing multiple cooking shows, it sort of ruins it for me and makes them more like professional actor kids, not real bakers.

It's pretty safe to assume any kid on any of these <name of cooking show> Kids! series are essentially child actors, or attempting to be. Even if you haven't seen them on multiple competition shows, that's pretty much who gets cast in these things. Kids (or kids whose parents want them to) have some sort of onscreen career.

I was annoyed at how many of these dessert "pizzas" were not even trying to be dessert pizzas. It should either be a dessert on top of something that's similar to an actual pizza crust (that may or may not have been sweetened) or it should be a giant cookie decorated to look like a pizza. Round desserts with toppings are not automatically "dessert pizza". And Duff's whole "oh this one's a pan pizza" was bullshit covering for the fact that they called this a dessert pizza challenge and then didn't actually task them with making that.

Also all the people who did lemon anything should've taken the basil. I was baffled at some of the choices the kids made with the "savory" ingredients, given both what they'd already said they were doing to make and that it wasn't one-ingredient-per-kid first-come-first-served. Since they could use the same as other kids, this twist was a non-twist. Which is good! I think the twists are pointless. But this one was especially easy.

[mlp]

Quote

Those midwesterners are into deep dish pizza.

I live in the Midwest and I've never seen a bottom crust anywhere near that thick.  Usually the "deep dish" part refers to the depth of the filling.

[NJKBCFan]

7 hours ago, mlp said:

I live in the Midwest and I've never seen a bottom crust anywhere near that thick.  Usually the "deep dish" part refers to the depth of the filling.

This looks like a pretty thick crust:

http://blogs.luc.edu/uao/2016/10/18/chicago-eats-chicagos-deep-dish-pizza/

[kj4ever]

I must say I am relieved that we have no child that talks like they are 3 years old when they are 10 (looking at Peggy and Kiniah (sp) )  That is such a pet peeve of mine and I could not STAND Peggy for that reason and it made me feel mean.  lol

I think I watch this how for Val and Duff now.  I love them together.  They are hilarious.  Can you ship cooking show judges?

[Grommet]

I enjoy this show but I also wish the challenges would be more about actual baking rather than silly impostors or twists. Let's see them make their best cookies, cake, pie, whatever. The gimmicks aren't any more entertaining than watching a talented kid make something scrummy.

Valerie and Duff are a lot of fun together. Good choices for judges for kids.

[Thadeeeyus]

I like the Canadian boy and the "pink" girl. 

[Destiny74]

22 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I think Gareth was cut as much for his disaster last week as for his boring creation this week. His level does not seem to be up to the others'. Right decision again.

I am not attached to Garett at all but I thought his pizza was loads better than Soliel’s.  His tasted fine, if not a bit boring.  Hers was a hot mess and the only thing Duff said was tasty was the chocolate, not to mention the burnt marshmallow.  The judges couldn’t taste her challenge ingredient but they could taste the ricotta in Gareths.  I just thought she should have been the one out.

[kj4ever]

Oh and kudos to the little blonde girl that said she picked apples because she knew it went with a lot of things so the twist might fit it.  Smart thinking.

[bkathi]

Michael (I think the first one offed) is local to me and was on the news this morning - he has a business and for every cupcake he sells, he delivers one to the homeless (or something like that).  Nice to see kids giving back.

[backgroundnoise]

6 hours ago, kj4ever said:

Oh and kudos to the little blonde girl that said she picked apples because she knew it went with a lot of things so the twist might fit it.  Smart thinking.

There was also a smart little boy who decided not the use lemon, even though he knows Valerie likes it, because it wouldn't go with the twist.

Why, oh, why are they so insistent on that stupid twist?  It never adds anything and always diminishes the desserts.

[TomGirl]

Glad both Brin and Beverly were safe tonight.  I think Brin is adorable and Beverly has settled down some and is less over the top.  Also, for the youngest competitor (age 10) she seems fairly mature.  Too bad she didn’t think to call her dessert a deconstructed lemon bar - very trendy!

[Tyrone Biggums]

Hashtag quit worrying about being stupid, cute over-the-top stage kid and actually focus on baking, chick.

It's good for her that she's up against somebody who can't do basic math, which is, you know, PRETTY EFFING IMPORTANT for baking.

Also, they said the kid with the glasses was the best, after his twist is just a piece of sliced lemon to which he DID NOTHING? 

Screw you, show.  This is awful.

[Jillybean]

Yep, Beverly is this season's Jane. I think she's on borrowed time. IIRC she is the youngest contestant. 

[theatremouse]

This "twist" in this one was botched from the start. Half the kids didn't really do it. They said edible decoration. Was the point not that the decoration go on the damn lemon bars that were the challenge? If it's just another edible item on the tray...it's not a decoration...it's a separate dessert item. All the people who made a giant whole lemon thing, and that mac-and-cheese-looking rice krispy treat dude, all seemed to miss the point. And then the show even admitted they hadn't explained it well when they aired the thing of the one girl who actually did a decoration scrambling to do a giant fondant lemon because she thought she'd misunderstood. I don't know why they couldn't have just done a freeze the clock, nobody move, hey y'all these are the actual instructions moment with producers when it was instantly clear there were huge differences in understanding. In the end the only criteria seemed to be: does it look like a lemon, can you eat it, and is it on the plate? I'm guessing they basically didn't take the twist into account for anyone once they realized how poorly designed that twist was. Or rather, they only took it into account in the sense of "yes or no, was there anything lemon shaped", but not in any capacity how well done. 

[ShelleySue]

On January 10, 2018 at 6:57 AM, NJKBCFan said:

I live in the Midwest and I've never seen a bottom crust anywhere near that thick.  Usually the "deep dish" part refers to the depth of the filling.

I am from Chicago and now live in the Boston area.  That was NOT similar to a Chicago deep-dish pizza.  Those are round.  The one that was on KBC was very similar to something I see here.  I forgot what they are called, but they ARE rectangular.  They are made in cookie sheets and the crust is more like bread.  Unlike Chicago pizzas they have a minimal amount of sauce and cheese.  They are usually sold in Italian bakeries, already cooked and wrapped in plastic wrap.  They heat them for you or you take it home and heat it up.  The pizza on KBC looked exactly like one of those pizzas.  Can you tell that I'm not a fan of them?

About last night . . . They are still at the point where to not be eliminated all that you have to do is make sure that there is one person worse than you.  You don't even have to be good, just not the worst.  I was cracking up watching the kids make their lemon bars in the shapes.  Other than the round ones, all the they had to do was cut them in those shapes -- no cookie cutters needed.

[Destiny74]

On 1/15/2018 at 11:51 PM, Tyrone Biggums said:

 

Also, they said the kid with the glasses was the best, after his twist is just a piece of sliced lemon to which he DID NOTHING? 

 

This.  Totally.

i think they should have told that kid that he almost won but because he didn’t take the twist seriuosly, he came in second.

linsey made good bars and had a nice presentation with yellow chocolate lemons.  She should’ve won.

[hookedontv]

I know they are kids and probably just taking direction from the adults, but I'm over Beverly. I'm all for the quirky, different, and unique kids and adults, but this particular one is grating. Please settle down Bev and concentrate on your baking.