Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Inga]

On 2/26/2023 at 4:14 PM, zamp33 said:

I am SO relieved it will be Jesse - Jesse is my favorite host but truly I would have been content with anyone except Molly. I gave up last year after the Cookie Salad episode,  I just could not deal with the show anymore. I never watched the finale. It was just awful - the "farm", the sprinkles - The Kids Baking Championship was more fit for adult bakers than Molly's iteration of SBC. I am happy the Food Network actually listened to the viewers and is returning to the original format.  I look forward to both the Spring and Holiday Baking Championships and I am glad I can enjoy it to usher in spring. (well its more winter here now and I suspect will continue to be winter for a bit)  It is not that I do not like change - but if its not broke, don't fix it. The Great British Bake-Off has had to transition channels, hosts, and presenters, but the essence of it remains the same. 

I could not agree with you guys more. Spring Baking Championship is actually one of my favorite shows and it was completely ruined last year. Incredibly hard to watch, extremely disappointing, it was a joke. And I’m sure Molly is a lovely person, but she and the theme absolutely destroyed my favorite show. If she was hosting again, i would not watch one second.  What’s crazy is that they renewed her cooking show for 2 more seasons and when i heard that , i got scared, lol. Thank goodness Jesse is back!!!!

On 12/22/2022 at 5:10 PM, Joan van Snark said:

I know I am very late, but my Apple TV started playing this show after the one I was watching before ended.  Never before have I seen the host actually drive away one of the final competitors!!!!

This b*tch wants a talented professional French baker to use her SPRINKLES in one of the final challenges.  Gah she is horrible!!!  I couldn't believe Romy just walked out of the door and then they just cut to the 3 remaining bakers with hardly any reaction of what happened from the judges the other competitors or even Molly.  

Why does she keep referring to the stage as her 'Farm'?  And why are all the challenges related to her or things she picked?  WAY TOO MUCH Molly Yeh.  Who asked for her?  I can't imagine there is a big demand.  I honestly would have preferred Ree as the host, and that's sayin something.

Agree with everything here, but to be fair, some producer or executive at food network approved this crap, not Molly. Someone at food network had this idea to use her and her life on the farm as the theme!!! Someone okayed this horrible season!! Whoever that was needs to be fired 

[Inga]

On 3/6/2023 at 10:04 PM, littlebennysmom said:

Wow, Keem's cake really must have been awful to surpass the one young lady's double fumble.

 

The thought of crunching on those raspberry seeds makes me wince.

I was sad to see Keem go, i adored him. He seemed so sweet and fun.

[Inga]

Unpopular opinion here, but i thought Christians cake looked crazy! It had way toooooo much going on. I didn’t even know what i was  looking at. The colors were nice but it was like a hoarders cake. Glad Jai won over him.

i also like the southern lady and the guyanese biscuit lady, Luke and Keem-r.i.p. 

Did not like Kardea going in on Victoria. Like obviously she’s having a hard time with this and she just kept going and going. 
 

another unpopular opinion here— i miss Lorraine 

 

[libgirl2]

10 minutes ago, Inga said:

Did not like Kardea going in on Victoria. Like obviously she’s having a hard time with this and she just kept going and going. 
 

another unpopular opinion here— i miss Lorraine 

 

I think she wanted a dramatic breakdown like last year sort of thing. 

I miss Lorraine too. 

[Catfi9ht]

4 hours ago, Inga said:

i miss Lorraine

Duff, Carla, and Lorraine is my dream team right now. I think that would be so much fun!

[MissT]

I really thought Lorraine was great!   She got to the point and was honest. I wish she would come back. 

[RoxiP]

I wonder if Lorraine not being involved anymore has to do with Covid - she stopped appearing after Covid became a thing.  Perhaps she is still uncomfortable with traveling.  Or it could be that Food Network just wants to promote their own people more.  I liked Lorraine's no nonsense style and thought it played well against the silliness of Nancy at times and Duff's occasional grumpiness.  She also brought a different taste perspective which I understand better now after becoming obsessed with GBBO.

[Cetacean]

I hated how Lorraine tasted things - tiny little bites and never lettng her lips touch the food.  I'm not sure she got enough molecules of food in her mouth to judge anything.

[Catfi9ht]

25 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

I hated how Lorraine tasted things - tiny little bites and never lettng her lips touch the food.  I'm not sure she got enough molecules of food in her mouth to judge anything.

Maybe she was self conscious about having to eat on camera? There's a lot to worry about, food on face, food on clothes, lipstick on teeth, and so many others I could name because I'm extremely conscientious of eating on front of others. I can't imagine to have to do that on television where people constantly judge every move you make.  

[Guest]

Just now, Catfi9ht said:

26 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

I hated how Lorraine tasted things - tiny little bites and never lettng her lips touch the food.  I'm not sure she got enough molecules of food in her mouth to judge anything.

Maybe she was self conscious about having to eat on camera? There's a lot to worry about, food on face, food on clothes, lipstick on teeth, and so many others I could name because I'm extremely conscientious of eating on front of others. I can't imagine to have to do that on television where people constantly judge every move you make.  

Duff doesn't let his lips touch the food either, but he takes the approach of opening his mouth really wide and inserting the whole fork/spoon. But I imagine it's a similar (though obviously somewhat different) motivation to Lorraine's: he doesn't want to get food in his facial hair.

[Rammchick]

3 minutes ago, Catfi9ht said:

Maybe she was self conscious about having to eat on camera? There's a lot to worry about, food on face, food on clothes, lipstick on teeth, and so many others I could name because I'm extremely conscientious of eating on front of others. I can't imagine to have to do that on television where people constantly judge every move you make.  

It could also be that you'd blow out your palate if you ate too much of something, and wouldn't be able to judge any of the food that came after the first offerings.

And not to mention the potential for weight gain.  At the beginning of the season, when you have so many sweet things to try, the calories could be substantial.  If you can determine the qualities of something you're judging with just a little taste, why not?

[Catfi9ht]

36 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Duff doesn't let his lips touch the food either, but he takes the approach of opening his mouth really wide and inserting the whole fork/spoon.

On a similar note, I love it when Duff lifts his eyebrows reeeeallllly high when taking a big bite. I think it's super cute.

[Madding crowd]

I'm happy the show is back on, and Molly is nowhere in sight. I like Nancy as a judge and think she is a good counterpoint to Duff as she is very cheerful and he can be kind of sarcastic at times. In terms of her only talking about taste: I do think taste is the most important element but I'm sure all of the judges talk about different things and we are not shown their full discussions. It seems obvious to me that they edit the comments so we don't hear the same thing three times. So it may seem that Nancy cares about taste more than texture or size, but the editors are only showing her talking about taste. 

[Maverick]

I believe Lorraine was in London when COVID started.and wasn't able to travel to the US to film in 2021.   I'm assuming they decided to stick with her replacements for some reason. 

[HyeChaps]

They are showing an early season of this on Cooking Channel now with Lorraine as a judge and Nacho as a contestant.  Didn't he win?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, HyeChaps said:

They are showing an early season of this on Cooking Channel now with Lorraine as a judge and Nacho as a contestant.  Didn't he win?

He did. One of the finalists was Cristina Vazquez, one of my all-time X Baking Championship favorites. I believe here (or whichever incarnation was in place during that season) she was often referred to as Blue Hair because she...well, had blue streaks in her hair.

[Starry-Eyed]

On 3/6/2023 at 9:27 PM, MerBearHou said:

Did anyone else have a momentary gasp when the first baker was called??  Those mischievous producers — they just HAD to do it to us — “Molly, come on out”.  

My stomach dropped when that happened. I was SO relieved when it was a contestant XD

[littlebennysmom]

Just rewatched the premiere to see if I missed something with Christian based on the negative comments about him.  Still don't get it, he seems fine to me.

Watch, he's going to go full ahole tonight. 😄

[Frost]

I just got caught up.  Jai is not too far from me!  I hope she has a bakery.

I like Christian.  He's a little arrogant but not too obnoxious, more like confidence.  Clemente has been kind of a disappointment.   There's still too many bakers to figure out everyone, but there only seem to be a couple of duds.  Very talented group.

[storyskip]

It's early yet, but I feel like the judges are punishing contestants who are thinking outside the box, being creative, doing bakes that are not traditional true blue American way of doing things.

And it can stop now.

Also Jai's win tonight, especially compared to her win last week, felt patronizing. There were cakes who looked a lot better and sounded a lot more balanced than what she put up. Last week was absolutely solid win, no argument. This week, felt too contrived feel goody. 

[littlebennysmom]

How was Marja safe after putting whole wheat flour in an entremet?

[mlp]

1 hour ago, storyskip said:

Also Jai's win tonight, especially compared to her win last week, felt patronizing. There were cakes who looked a lot better and sounded a lot more balanced than what she put up. Last week was absolutely solid win, no argument. This week, felt too contrived feel goody. 

I had the same thoughts.  I like her but I thought Christian was easily the winner tonight.  I don't think he's arrogant.  I think he's confident but an introvert who just doesn't come across as jolly.

April looks just like someone else I've seen on TV.  Uncannily like.  But I can't figure out who that is and it's driving me nuts.  

I think this is the first season where I've liked all the bakers and didn't have a favorite already.

[CheshireCat]

Looks like the bakers did not have enough time for the pre-heat. Like, not at all. I really don't know where the judges saw "bakery window" in that first cake or most of the others.

1 hour ago, storyskip said:

It's early yet, but I feel like the judges are punishing contestants who are thinking outside the box, being creative, doing bakes that are not traditional true blue American way of doing things.

I got the same feeling. They don't like abstract designs or cakes that don't taste like they're used to. Maybe they should open up their minds a little bit because America is not exactly well-known for it's culinary creations and/or finesse.

 

1 hour ago, storyskip said:

Also Jai's win tonight, especially compared to her win last week, felt patronizing. There were cakes who looked a lot better and sounded a lot more balanced than what she put up. Last week was absolutely solid win, no argument. This week, felt too contrived feel goody. 

Yes, Jessica's cake looked a whole lot better than Jai's. That was a bakery-window cake! Christian's may have been difficult technically but I didn't find it all that appealing. It looked kind of messy (although, I don't think it was his fault, I think it's just the way the cake is).

1 hour ago, littlebennysmom said:

How was Marja safe after putting whole wheat flour in an entremet?

Whole wheat flour doesn't have to be a bad thing. Did the judges know that it's whole wheat flour? Because in combination with chocolate, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Did I understand correctly, Duff said it had less gluten in it? It doesn't. You just have to knead the dough longer in order to free the gluten. But the amount is the same (if both flours are perfectly normal flours, of course, and not bleached, enriched or otherwise treated).
I thought for sure she would be in the bottom because of her black cake though. That was not spring and the flowers didn't make it more spring-like either.

[littlebennysmom]

1 minute ago, CheshireCat said:

Whole wheat flour doesn't have to be a bad thing. Did the judges know that it's whole wheat flour? Because in combination with chocolate, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Did I understand correctly, Duff said it had less gluten in it? It doesn't. You just have to knead the dough longer in order to free the gluten. But the amount is the same (if both flours are perfectly normal flours, of course, and not bleached, enriched or otherwise treated).
I thought for sure she would be in the bottom because of her black cake though. That was not spring and the flowers didn't make it more spring-like either.

I assumed Duff knew what he was talking about 🤷.  And, yes, the black cake was....a choice.

[mlp]

29 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

I thought for sure she would be in the bottom because of her black cake though. That was not spring and the flowers didn't make it more spring-like either.

I thought it was a case of her being third worst.  They usually have just two brought forward as being on the bottom.  Black certainly wasn't a good choice for Spring but her cake did look nice.

[Irlandesa]

On 3/9/2023 at 11:02 AM, Inga said:

Agree with everything here, but to be fair, some producer or executive at food network approved this crap, not Molly. Someone at food network had this idea to use her and her life on the farm as the theme!!! Someone okayed this horrible season!! Whoever that was needs to be fired 

Yep.  And notice this season has a theme too--"love"--and I think it has something to do with Jesse's hosting position at The Bachelor.  I'd like to know who decided Spring wasn't enough as a theme that something new for the season had to be added.

And then every episode there's yet another theme like today's birds and the bees.

On 3/9/2023 at 11:37 AM, Inga said:

another unpopular opinion here— i miss Lorraine

Is that unpopular?  I miss her too.  And I like Kardea but I really wish Lorraine were back with Duff and Nancy for one of the iterations. 

2 hours ago, storyskip said:

Also Jai's win tonight, especially compared to her win last week, felt patronizing. There were cakes who looked a lot better and sounded a lot more balanced than what she put up. Last week was absolutely solid win, no argument. This week, felt too contrived feel goody. 

I didn't think it was patronizing at all. In fact, as soon as I saw what Jai was doing, I thought she'd win. Jai expressed a confidence about both passion fruit and chiles that I didn't get from the other bakers. Even though pure passion fruit and chiles and coconut seemed simple, it looked beautiful and was the one thing I wanted to try even though I'm not a spice person. 

[kathyk24]

4 hours ago, storyskip said:

It's early yet, but I feel like the judges are punishing contestants who are thinking outside the box, being creative, doing bakes that are not traditional true blue American way of doing things.

And it can stop now.

Also Jai's win tonight, especially compared to her win last week, felt patronizing. There were cakes who looked a lot better and sounded a lot more balanced than what she put up. Last week was absolutely solid win, no argument. This week, felt too contrived feel goody. 

I think it's patronizing to think that Jai isn't talented enough to win on her own merit. The judges liked three cakes and chose hers as the best they didn't even mention her disability why would you think she won because of it? Jesse the bakers would have enough time to complete the task if you would stop interrupting them while they are working.

[libgirl2]

I agree with Nancy.... Victoria made a yule log. 

[Cetacean]

No chilis of any kind in my baked goods, please.  Just no.

[libgirl2]

45 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

No chilis of any kind in my baked goods, please.  Just no.

I think it would be fine if it is done right. 

[Spicysweet]

14 hours ago, littlebennysmom said:

Just rewatched the premiere to see if I missed something with Christian based on the negative comments about him.  Still don't get it, he seems fine to me.

Watch, he's going to go full ahole tonight. 😄

I don't get why he's so unpopular either. He seems funny and kind and is a great baker!

 

[libgirl2]

6 minutes ago, Spicysweet said:

I don't get why he's so unpopular either. He seems funny and kind and is a great baker!

 

I thought he was much better this week. Maybe it was just nerves that made him seem a bit off putting last week. 

[Cetacean]

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

I think it would be fine if it is done right. 

Maybe for others but never for me. I abhor spicy things.

[Texasmom1970]

3 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I agree with Nancy.... Victoria made a yule log. 

I wonder how it would have been received if the yule log was white like a birch tree with spring color flowers?

[Guest]

I didn't agree with the judges' comments that April's decorations were too busy or disjointed. To me, it looked like a garden with a variety of things in it, and I thought it was fine and spring-appropriate. Also didn't appreciate the snotty "it looks like a pizza" after she left, accompanied by chuckles. The broken tart corners were a more legitimate critique, but I'm glad she didn't end up in the bottom because of her decoration.

The judges overall this episode were laughing a bit too hard at their own jokes.

Edited March 14, 2023 by tracyscott76
Missing preposition

[libgirl2]

13 minutes ago, Texasmom1970 said:

I wonder how it would have been received if the yule log was white like a birch tree with spring color flowers?

I wondered about that too, but I do think a log type cake really screams winter no matter the color. I also think the cake had too much filling and not enough actual cake. Maybe if it would have been really good they would have let it slide. 

6 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

I didn't agree with the judges' comments that April's decorations were too busy or disjointed. To me, it looked like a garden with a variety of things in it, and I thought it was fine and spring-appropriate. Also didn't appreciate the snotty "it looks like a pizza" after she left, accompanied by chuckles. The broken tart corners were a more legitimate critique, but I'm glad she didn't end up in the bottom because of her decoration.

The judges overall this episode were laughing a bit too hard at their own jokes.

Yea, that was kind of snarky. 

[zamp33]

I was surprised that Duff did not know about aquafaba (chic pea juice meringue).  Granted I only know from the GBBO Vegan challenges, but I would have thought  that would be something Duff was aware of. 

I am enjoying this season. I am just hoping for less cakes and more baking of other deserts. But overall I like the contestants and the judges seem happier this season. 

 

[libgirl2]

10 minutes ago, zamp33 said:

I was surprised that Duff did not know about aquafaba (chic pea juice meringue).  Granted I only know from the GBBO Vegan challenges, but I would have thought  that would be something Duff was aware of. 

I am enjoying this season. I am just hoping for less cakes and more baking of other deserts. But overall I like the contestants and the judges seem happier this season. 

 

Thanks for the reminder because that surprised me too. I saw that for the first time on maybe Chopped or another show ages ago. How could he not know? 

[GaT]

1 hour ago, zamp33 said:

I was surprised that Duff did not know about aquafaba (chic pea juice meringue).  Granted I only know from the GBBO Vegan challenges, but I would have thought  that would be something Duff was aware of.

 

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

Thanks for the reminder because that surprised me too. I saw that for the first time on maybe Chopped or another show ages ago. How could he not know? 

I think he does know, but they had him ask so that the viewers could be told.

[libgirl2]

1 minute ago, GaT said:

 

I think he does know, but they had him ask so that the viewers could be told.

Now that I can see them doing. 

[RealityCheck]

This episode [S09E02] is the first I can recall where the elimination challenge did not include a twist, which was refreshing.

[mojoween]

April is not generally the type of contestant who I am drawn to, but there is just something about her that I am really digging.  I was so sad she couldn’t fix her broken corners, and Jai’s break was where it wasn’t noticed.

I was really hoping Molly would stop with the “girrrl” and yet there it was, in next week’s preview.

I am fully on board with never ever ever putting any kind of chile in my baked good.

[AZChristian]

I'm kind of new to the Spring Baking Championship (and the similar iterations).  Having watched Beat Bobby Flay for several years, I'd gotten into the habit of skipping any episode with Sunny Anderson.  So I'm skipping this year's Spring Baking Easter Championship.

And being in the middle of watching last year's season, I'm adding Molly Yeh to the list of people who will encourage me to read more and watch TV less.  

[mlp]

2 hours ago, AZChristian said:

I'd gotten into the habit of skipping any episode with Sunny Anderson.  So I'm skipping this year's Spring Baking Easter Championship.

I gave up watching The Kitchen long ago because I can't stand Sunny's yelling and so on.  I also avoid watching anything she's on usually but she's actually fine on the Easter show.  I haven't minded her at all.

[libgirl2]

Just now, mlp said:

I gave up watching The Kitchen long ago because I can't stand Sunny's yelling and so on.  I also avoid watching anything she's on usually but she's actually fine on the Easter show.  I haven't minded her at all.

I don't mind her on the Easter one. 

[MerBearHou]

Same here -- Sunny is much better on the Easter one.  She's still a little loud but less frequently.  Stephanie Boswell is the one who makes me tune in.  And these bakers can bake.  I've been pleasantly surprised on the Easter Spring Baking show.  

[40Love]

8 hours ago, AZChristian said:

years, I'd gotten into the habit of skipping any episode with Sunny Anderson

I won't watch any BBF episodes with her either. She's so ridiculously over-the-top and desperate need for attention. 🙄 But she is really toned down on the Easter show. So I can tolerate her. 

The bakers on her show and the Spring Baking Championship are all so talented.

[jcbrown]

6 hours ago, mlp said:

I gave up watching The Kitchen long ago because I can't stand Sunny's yelling and so on.  I also avoid watching anything she's on usually but she's actually fine on the Easter show.  I haven't minded her at all.

Oh, good to know. I have also been avoiding them. I really did turn on the Kitchen the other morning when there was nothing else on and Sunny started bellowing and I admonished her and turned the volume down. Not a persona I appreciate, to say the least.

[Gramto6]

Jeff Morrow(?) is not much better with his clowning around and loud comments... I rarely watch The Kitchen any more.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Gramto6

[RoxiP]

Sunny is not on the Spring Baking Championship show so you're safe - she's on the Spring Baking Easter show...LOL!  They air one right after the other though so be careful!

I used to really like Jeff Morrow but lately there's something about his face that bothers me...is he getting fillers or something?  He's beginning to look plastic, including his hair.  It never moves...I mean...it NEVER moves.  Is it a wig?  Is it shellacked?