Kids Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Eliza422]

56 minutes ago, OneWouldHope said:

What was the foolishness with all these kids over the Black Forest Cake? "I hope I don't get the Black Forest Cake! Oh my god! That would be the worst!" And then - surprise! It turns out to be cherries, chocolate and... whipped cream (? Can't remember but totally easy ingredient). Super easy things to work with. My complaint is: Like others have said, why debase the earlier classic desserts? Let's just enjoy everything, can't we, without putting down anything? And the fact that the kids flipped out over the Black Forest Cake, which I guess seemed really weird to them, but they react in horror to something they're not familiar with instead of being curious and eager to learn more about it. This makes me sad, as I think that's a terrible trait and, sadly, lots of adults exhibit it.

It was also ludicrous to act like people don't regularly eat those today...they included apple pie, for goodness' sake - and cherry cheesecake??? 

 

It was a stupid angle...just say they are classic desserts that never go out of style - not crazy things that old folks ate back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!!

[mlp]

Quote

One's abilities aren't predicated on his or her parent's occupation. Just because his mom can bake badass-ily doesn't mean he has any predisposition to be any good at it (and from what we've seen, he isn't).

That's certainly true but............... You'd think she would have taught him (Reese) some techniques or given him some tips when she knew he was going to be on the show.  Maybe she tried.

[Josette]

A new  episode airs tonight as well as tomorrow. edit: It was just a repeat of last week's episode mistakenly tagged as new.

 

Quote

It was also ludicrous to act like people don't regularly eat those today...they included apple pie, for goodness' sake - and cherry cheesecake??? 

Yeah.  Wasn't banana cream pie and/or coconut cream pie among them?  They might not be trendy, but, as you say, classic desserts don't got out of style.  

Edited February 6, 2017 by Josette
correction

[tobeannounced]

I thought it was odd too that the show was implying these desserts are hopelessly out of date and unappetizing. I see them all the time at the bakery in my grocery store. As someone upthread said, they're classics.

[justjen]

 9 minutes into tonight's episode and I've mentally punched almost all the kids in the face. Especially Cole.

[Frost]

Waffle vs pancakes?  Good heavens.  What a ridiculous theme for the show.

[steven T]

I've given up on this.  Justice was the only one that made something that looked good, even though his flavors were off.  This whole season was nothing but a Disney channel sitcom audition.  It actually does seem like a comedy and would fit right in.  Kids in the kitchen causing mayhem and acting cute and making corny jokes while not knowing how to bake while the laugh track goes crazy.  Val and Duff as the over earnest boring parents shaking their heads while giving emotional support and life lessons.

[BooksRule]

Quote

I still remember learning at a young age that baking powder and baking soda are not the same thing.

My first lesson was that evaporated milk and condensed milk aren't the same.  I forget what recipe I screwed up (probably a lemon icebox pie, I learned that recipe at a young age), but I definitely screwed up something.

I didn't realize there was a new season of this show being aired.  I caught about five minutes of the 'pancake vs. waffle' battle tonight, left the room to get some water during a commercial break and forgot to go back.  I guess I didn't miss much.  That's a shame--I really liked previous seasons, even when the kids seemed a little 'cutesy' and always seemed to have head colds. 

[Tyrone Biggums]

39 minutes ago, steven T said:

I've given up on this.  Justice was the only one that made something that looked good, even though his flavors were off.  This whole season was nothing but a Disney channel sitcom audition.  It actually does seem like a comedy and would fit right in.  Kids in the kitchen causing mayhem and acting cute and making corny jokes while not knowing how to bake while the laugh track goes crazy.  Val and Duff as the over earnest boring parents shaking their heads while giving emotional support and life lessons.

Yep, same here.

I know I shouldn't call kids assholes, but these kids chose to go on TV and act like total stage kids, with the overwrought facial expressions, stupid jokes and everything else, so screw it.  All of these kids are assholes.

I'm hate-watching a show starring kids.  I have to repeat this to believe it.  I'm hate-watching a show starring kids.

One of these asshole kids is going to end up on Chopped Junior or whenever Beat Bobby Flay mixes in kids to keep him from winning his 85th match in a row.  Ugh.

[LexieLily]

Cole and Justice were the only two that made things that halfway resembled stacked cakes, so how did Aiden win the challenge?

[Frost]

I turned it off when the big twist was to add cereal to their cakes and all of the 'bakers' were going to sprinkle them on.  How is that baking?  Let alone something that's supposed to win a 'championship' title and $25,000?  And now I'm upset that this show is making me use an excessive amount of 'quotes'.

[mlp]

I'm liking the show better as they weed out the kids who never should have been on a cooking show to begin with.  Justice is my favorite but I like Cole better each week.  He seems to have relaxed and no longer seems as impressed with himself as he did at first.  Watching him crack himself up telling that terrible joke made me LOL.  Aiden (Aidan?) seems to know what he's doing too.  None of the girls seem skilled at all.

Reese was overdue to leave.  How Duff and Valerie manage to put stuff in their mouths after watching, for example, Reese pawing through his pancake fragments over and over is beyond me.  Blecch.

[LennieBriscoe]

Cosby Kid girl needs to calm down, as does Freckle Boy. I hope either Cole (an actual baker with skillz) or Justice wins.

As for Waffle Cakes vs. Pancake Cakes, I thought the use by one team of an appliance that shapes nice squares  as opposed to the other team's freeform griddle was a HUGE advantage.

[Jillybean]

10 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

As for Waffle Cakes vs. Pancake Cakes, I thought the use by one team of an appliance that shapes nice squares  as opposed to the other team's freeform griddle was a HUGE advantage.

Yes, this!  The pancakes kids were screwed. Not only was this challenge stupid, it was also unfair. How about we see the kids bake something normal? Why do the challenges have to be so ridiculous?!  

I really liked Reese. It was time for him to go, but he was a sweet kid and one of the more authentic of the bunch.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Jillybean

[AlliePK]

Why did none of these braintrusts think to make the pancakes, then cut them all to the same size before stacking?  One of my kids thought of that and he's completely inept in the kitchen.

[Ilovecomputers]

Baking soda vs. baking powder, sweetened condensed milk vs. evaporated milk...How many of you ate a couple squares of baker's chocolate?

I agree the pancake/waffle challenge was dumb and boring. Hope Justice wins; he seems very skilled. It's a mystery to me why he's always a half hour behind everyone els. 

[Rammchick]

The other night, I watched an episode of Sugar Showdown on The Cooking Channel, and Duff was one of the judges.  The theme was Breakfast in Bed, and one of the bakers did exactly this -- she took her cake batter and put it in a waffle iron, then stacked and iced it just like the kids did in this episode.  Duff's comment to her when he tasted it was that her technique would not (and did not) produce a good cake because the waffle iron created a very dense texture.  This was not mentioned in last night's episode but you could see that simply using a "normal" cake batter and putting it in the waffle iron made for all sorts of consistency problems.  Would it have been so awful if Duff had said to them, "Now, understand that you have to add more flour..." or whatever?

[Thadeeeyus]

2 hours ago, Jillybean said:

I really liked Reese. It was time for him to go, but he was a sweet kid and one of the more authentic of the bunch.

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. 

[Aquarius]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 7:23 PM, OneWouldHope said:

What was the foolishness with all these kids over the Black Forest Cake? "I hope I don't get the Black Forest Cake! Oh my god! That would be the worst!" And then - surprise! It turns out to be cherries, chocolate and... whipped cream (? Can't remember but totally easy ingredient). Super easy things to work with. My complaint is: Like others have said, why debase the earlier classic desserts? Let's just enjoy everything, can't we, without putting down anything? And the fact that the kids flipped out over the Black Forest Cake, which I guess seemed really weird to them, but they react in horror to something they're not familiar with instead of being curious and eager to learn more about it. This makes me sad, as I think that's a terrible trait and, sadly, lots of adults exhibit it.

I agree.  It also made me sad that my wedding cake was a Black Forest cake.  And all this time I did not know it had gone the way of mutton and mead.

12 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Cosby Kid girl needs to calm down, as does Freckle Boy. I hope either Cole (an actual baker with skillz) or Justice wins.

As for Waffle Cakes vs. Pancake Cakes, I thought the use by one team of an appliance that shapes nice squares  as opposed to the other team's freeform griddle was a HUGE advantage.

Plus, Team Waffle had four members to three on Team Pancake.  Why the hell did they do a two team challenge on a week with an odd number of contestants?

Edited February 7, 2017 by Aquarius

[backgroundnoise]

Yeah, these kids are trying way to hard to be a personality.  It's not cute, it's just eye-rolling.

So the challenge basically was to make a regular cake in a weird shape and throw cereal on it.  Okay. 

I thought Valerie and Duff gushed way too much over the "beautiful" cakes.  No, they weren't beautiful, most were just a mess, and looked exactly like what they were:  lumps of cake glued together with frosting.

[jcbrown]

Agreed that the challenge was ridiculously skewed. Of course the waffles are going to look better. I'm rooting for Justice to win. 

It was definitely Reese's time to leave but I was still holding out hope that the eminently punchable Jason would be sent home.  He can take Audra with him. Her voice and persona just grate on me.

[camom]

Quote

How many of you ate a couple squares of baker's chocolate?

Mom tried to warn me....     

[tobeannounced]

Well, that was nasty.

I'm confused about the immunity. So all four Team Waffle members have immunity, which leaves two Team Pancake members to duke it out next week?

I swear every time Jason does a talking head  I think he's wearing a bullet proof vest.

[TomGirl]

4 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

I'm confused about the immunity. So all four Team Waffle members have immunity, which leaves two Team Pancake members to duke it out next week?

The immunity was just for this one episode.  They're all potentially back on the chopping block next week.

[Ms Lark]

On 2/6/2017 at 10:17 PM, Tyrone Biggums said:

I know I shouldn't call kids assholes, but these kids chose to go on TV and act like total stage kids, with the overwrought facial expressions, stupid jokes and everything else, so screw it.

I'm not so sure it's the kids' choice, but rather that of stage parents? I figure at least half and probably more of them are pressured into it by stereotypical stage moms (or dads). I only hope none of them are treated abusively (mentally or physically) when they fail. I find it rather sad.

[kj4ever]

How do you have a show called a baking championship and then proceed to not bake anything?

This isn't a thing now, is it?  I'm thinking the skill set for these kids is so low they realized half way through the competition that they had to dumb down what they were making.

Justice or Cole for the win.

[BW Manilowe]

On 2/7/2017 at 1:04 PM, Rammchick said:

The other night, I watched an episode of Sugar Showdown on The Cooking Channel, and Duff was one of the judges.  The theme was Breakfast in Bed, and one of the bakers did exactly this -- she took her cake batter and put it in a waffle iron, then stacked and iced it just like the kids did in this episode.  Duff's comment to her when he tasted it was that her technique would not (and did not) produce a good cake because the waffle iron created a very dense texture.  This was not mentioned in last night's episode but you could see that simply using a "normal" cake batter and putting it in the waffle iron made for all sorts of consistency problems. Would it have been so awful if Duff had said to them, "Now, understand that you have to add more flour..." or whatever?

Regarding the bolded: I saw a repeat from a previous season over a recent weekend & Valerie was put into a position where she had to comfort 1 of the kids who was losing it because their "bake" wasn't going as expected, & she might've been expected to give them some advice on how to fix it. Only Valerie didn't offer the expected advice; she comforted the kid & then said she couldn't help with the problems in the thing the kid was baking... but 1 of the other kid bakers could.

I think Duff telling the kids to add more flour, or whatever, to compensate for the waffle iron, would probably have been another of those things that Duff couldn't tell them, but maybe 1 of the other kids could. Or else they either have to know it, or not, going into the competition.

[stitcher73]

On 2/7/2017 at 0:46 AM, LennieBriscoe said:

Cosby Kid girl needs to calm down, as does Freckle Boy. I hope either Cole (an actual baker with skillz) or Justice wins.

THIS.   Very irritating.   All the mugging, and baby talk.  Stop.  

[Fostersmom]

On February 6, 2017 at 10:17 PM, Tyrone Biggums said:

Yep, same here.

I know I shouldn't call kids assholes, but these kids chose to go on TV and act like total stage kids, with the overwrought facial expressions, stupid jokes and everything else, so screw it.  All of these kids are assholes.

I'm hate-watching a show starring kids.  I have to repeat this to believe it.  I'm hate-watching a show starring kids.

One of these asshole kids is going to end up on Chopped Junior or whenever Beat Bobby Flay mixes in kids to keep him from winning his 85th match in a row.  Ugh.

These kids and their fakey cutsey affected voices were off the friggen charts in the last episode. Like every single one of the damn kids couldn't give an interview in a normal voice. Even Reese and Justice, the two kids that I actually like were working my last nerve. 

[tobeannounced]

I usually DVR this and watch it. I'm not sure what actual day the episodes air, but I didn't have a new one this week. Did I miss something?

[BW Manilowe]

4 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

I usually DVR this and watch it. I'm not sure what actual day the episodes air, but I didn't have a new one this week. Did I miss something?

The new eps are on Monday nights at 8 Eastern (I'm pretty sure; if it's not 8, it's 9). I'm pretty sure there was a new ep last week, so I know not why you missed it; I'm also pretty sure there's a new ep tonight.

[tobeannounced]

Oh, okay, thanks. Maybe I didn't miss one. I was thinking the new episodes aired over the weekend for some reason.

[LexieLily]

It's clear after tonight's episode that Cole and Justice are the only two bakers that can create anything worth a damn.

[LennieBriscoe]

Right baker went home; wrong baker won. This was Cole's all the way. 

[LexieLily]

And how adorable was Justice calmly just waiting it out in the back of the melee to pick his three apps after Kaniyah ripped that one out of Cole's hands?

[Tyrone Biggums]

• For crissakes, what in the blue HELL do "stories" have to do with, you know, actually BAKING something?
• The cutesy voices/(over)acting/dancing seems to ramp up even more with every episode.  The already bad ones are even worse, and the lone decent ones are becoming totally intolerable.
• ENOUGH WITH THE EFFING CITRUS IN EVERYTHING.

This show needs to be put in a rocket and fired at the sun.

[gingerella]

Well, tonight solidified my eternal future...Hello, Hell? Table for one please?

Honestly, when Jason was yukking it up over his atrocious cookies and no stories, I honestly wished for him to turn around and walk face first right into a huge frying pan. see how fucking hilarious that is Jason. And I can't even with Audra...it's a motherfucking BAKING contest and she can't even bake a sugar cookie? Isn't a sugar cookie like the boiling water recipe of bakers?  Muggin' Kaniyah can fuck right off any day now, though I did enjoy her face falling as they took the wind out of her obnoxious sails with her shitty cookies and fondant. Aiden, grow a sack FFS. He's so obsequious, it's maddening to watch him, especially when he was declared safe and he clutched his boy moobs and GASPED...honestly? he acts like a 68 year old Southern belle wannabe.

Buh bye Jason, maybe next time you should learn how to fuckin bake dude, and leave the stupid jokes at home. Putz.

Overall, this week made my hate watching ratchet up to levels that are not even remotely entertaining. It feels like the mugging for the camera is practiced with bad coaches who couldn't even get into a community theater production of Beauty and the Beast, then times that by 100 and you have these actor kids who are playing regular kids and it is a friggin disaster. In what world do TV execs watch this shit and think it's good TV? I'd like to get the people who greenlit this season's cast in one room, and then force them to eat every single piece of shit these kids have "cooked", including the 1.489798 tonnes of fondant that have been used to cover the shit show that's turned out each week. Let them choke on that while they think about how to never do this again with a show.

Edited February 14, 2017 by gingerella

[tobeannounced]

I agree with the double elimination idea, cdp73. How would Kaniyah have felt if someone had grabbed that app out of her hand like that? I'm impressed with Cole that he took it in stride. I really was hoping someone would call her out on it. It wasn't like they both grabbed it at the same time and struggled. She straight up yanked it away from him.

And how are people with 2-inch thick fodant on their cookies safe? Yuck!

[justjen]

When Justice was announced as this weeks winner, Cole very definitely said "dang it," and I think maybe that was deliberately left in for some Reason. I'm not sure how TV shows are made, but I know we live in The Future and there has to be a way to have edited that out. Right?? I like that Justice is just a total real kid!

I did think Kaniyah's reaction was genuine and I'm not sure why...she could have gone, too!

[steven T]

I missed this episode but from reading these comments that they couldn't even bake cookies.  I'm just curious if they can even put bread in a toaster without it coming out as burnt toast.  Amazed if they can put milk in their cereal without it overflowing and flooding the counter.  Another poster said their kid was inept in the kitchen, he would've fit right in on this show.  You need to put his audition tape in for next season.

[Eliza422]

Wow, taken down by sugar cookies - this is one pitiful set of kid bakers.

[Rammchick]

All through this competition, Duff and Valerie have been very gentle in their put downs of the failing "products" -- I won't even call them baked goods or anything positive because most of it has been crap, and certainly nowhere near as good as other seasons of this show.  But I noticed that last night, the kid gloves were off, and both were much more adult in the way they handled the contestants.  I think they were very disappointed in the output, as I would have been.  As for the thing with the stories, that could have been very cute, and some did try, but for Jason to just blow it off and say, "Hey, I don't have anything," was a total cop out and deserved the PYKAG, or whatever you'd call it on this show.  Glad to see the back of him.

I hope Justice's parents are proud of him, 'cause I sure was.  They've raised a very nice boy.  Maybe there's hope for this world yet!  Someone up thread commented on his name -- in fact, just the other day, I saw another kid on a show who's name was Justis.  Must be a "thing".

Edited February 14, 2017 by Rammchick

[estellasmum]

It seems like on this season every challenge that goes by gets easier and easier. Sugar cookies with a citrus twist and tell us a story? What is the next challenge going to be? Grab a can of frosting and decorate store bought cookies? My kids love this show, but this season drives me absolutely batty. I have a hard time, watching because I work at a school, and Kaniyah and Jason make my teeth hurt. I work with several Kaniyahs and Jasons, and the thing that they all have in common is parents who don't see how disruptive or bratty (granted there are children out there that are much, much more of a behavior problem than they are) their children are, and are offended that the school would see them in that light at all, because their children are just special and profoundly cute. I told  my kids they are going to have to DVR this and watch it when I'm not around.

Edited February 14, 2017 by estellasmum

[camom]

So glad Jason is gone.  I want Audra to leave, her voice drives me up the wall.  I can see where the decorating might have been a challenge, but most of them had trouble just baking sugar cookies.  And not realizing that if you add liquid the consistency will be different?  I do give Duff and Valerie credit for actually putting this stuff in their mouths after watching the kids manhandle the food.  Did I see one of them (either Jason or Aiden I think) stirring the coloring into his glaze with his bare finger?  Yuk.

Edited February 14, 2017 by camom

[justjen]

I've been thinking about the latest episode a little bit more and there was a little part where Justice and Jason were having an argument over whether something needed to go into the blast chiller before something else could happen (I wasn't really paying attention at that point, but Justice was pro-blast chiller and Jason was not). Justice, realized that he would not be changing Jason's mind and gave up, but should Jason have realized that the person giving him advice hasn't been in the bottom 2 three times and maybe knows a little bit more than him? There was another little part where Duff, seemingly out of nowhere, said something about how citrus adds liquid so you would need to add more flour and baking is science but then SUDDENLY Aiden was like "I have found an answer to my too much liquid problem." Why didn't Duff say the same thing a few weeks ago when they made the rainbow cakes?

[backgroundnoise]

Maybe I'm remembering last season in a rosy fog, but weren't the challenges MUCH harder last season?  It really seems like they cast personalities rather than baking talent this season.  It really can't get much simpler than a basic decorated sugar cookie, and most were still a mess.   Valerie and Duff pretty quickly seemed resigned that every app was going to be a game.  Not that I really blame the kids for not coming up with more than that given the time constraints, not to mention the irrelevance of story to a baked item.

What's up with the rose water?  That sounds disgusting.

[Rammchick]

5 hours ago, justjen said:

 There was another little part where Duff, seemingly out of nowhere, said something about how citrus adds liquid so you would need to add more flour and baking is science but then SUDDENLY Aiden was like "I have found an answer to my too much liquid problem." Why didn't Duff say the same thing a few weeks ago when they made the rainbow cakes?

I said something similar after last week, with the waffle iron cakes. 

[BW Manilowe]

9 hours ago, Rammchick said:

All through this competition, Duff and Valerie have been very gentle in their put downs of the failing "products" -- I won't even call them baked goods or anything positive because most of it has been crap, and certainly nowhere near as good as other seasons of this show.  But I noticed that last night, the kid gloves were off, and both were much more adult in the way they handled the contestants.  I think they were very disappointed in the output, as I would have been.  As for the thing with the stories, that could have been very cute, and some did try, but for Jason to just blow it off and say, "Hey, I don't have anything," was a total cop out and deserved the PYKAG, or whatever you'd call it on this show.  Glad to see the back of him.

I hope Justice's parents are proud of him, 'cause I sure was.  They've raised a very nice boy.  Maybe there's hope for this world yet!  Someone up thread commented on his name -- in fact, just the other day, I saw another kid on a show who's name was Justis.  Must be a "thing".

A long time ago, well a couple of decades ago anyway, there was a character in General Hospital named Justus Ward. And 1 of the lead actors in Supernatural has a preschool (I think) age kid (I'm pretty sure a daughter) named Justice. I think it's the same actor whose wife had boy/girl twins the end of last year or the beginning of this year. I think it was Jared Padalecki.

7 hours ago, justjen said:

I've been thinking about the latest episode a little bit more and there was a little part where Justice and Jason were having an argument over whether something needed to go into the blast chiller before something else could happen (I wasn't really paying attention at that point, but Justice was pro-blast chiller and Jason was not). Justice, realized that he would not be changing Jason's mind and gave up, but should Jason have realized that the person giving him advice hasn't been in the bottom 2 three times and maybe knows a little bit more than him? There was another little part where Duff, seemingly out of nowhere, said something about how citrus adds liquid so you would need to add more flour and baking is science but then SUDDENLY Aiden was like "I have found an answer to my too much liquid problem." Why didn't Duff say the same thing a few weeks ago when they made the rainbow cakes?

Responding to the bolded. Based on something similar I saw in an episode from an earlier season, which they're running concurrently with the new season, Duff & Valerie apparently aren't allowed to give the kind of help you describe; but in the example I saw, Valerie did tell the kid baker they could give each other advice on how to fix a recipe (if they knew how).

4 hours ago, backgroundnoise said:

Maybe I'm remembering last season in a rosy fog, but weren't the challenges MUCH harder last season?  It really seems like they cast personalities rather than baking talent this season.  It really can't get much simpler than a basic decorated sugar cookie, and most were still a mess.   Valerie and Duff pretty quickly seemed resigned that every app was going to be a game.  Not that I really blame the kids for not coming up with more than that given the time constraints, not to mention the irrelevance of story to a baked item.

What's up with the rose water?  That sounds disgusting.

Regarding the bolded, all I know is it's apparently used in Middle Eastern baking, & I'm pretty sure in perfume/cologne. I'm not sure I'd like it either; not in food anyway. After 9/11, when everybody was still super hyper attuned to weird stuff in luggage, somebody arriving at our airport had some in their luggage (I think they'd brought it to either cook/bake with or to make perfume/cologne); of course it broke & caused a hazmat incident because of the unfamiliar smell. I think the story even made the national news.

[EyewatchTV211]

I was trying to give this group of kids a chance, especially after I was surprisingly impressed with the dessert imposters. But I have to agree with everyone here that in every other episode, these kids on the whole have been unimpressive. They do not show any particular baking/decorating talents and should be doing much better on these simple challenges. This season has been highly disappointing.

[LizBug]

Jason "checked out" long before Duff told him that he was eliminated.  He did the bare minimum to get stuff on the plate and didn't bother to make up a story and wasn't embarrassed by any of it.  He just wanted to raise his arms and scream ..... chocolate ... before the doors hit him in the behind.