Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Catfi9ht]

Add me to the list of folks loving the Summer Backing Championship judging line up. I think Damaris is adorable and funny. Her husband is vegetarian, and she comes up with really creative vegetarian dishes. I always love watching her cook on GGG. I can't wait to see her and Carla together. I think it will be SUPER fun!

[Rammchick]

28 minutes ago, Catfi9ht said:

Add me to the list of folks loving the Summer Backing Championship judging line up. 

So long as it doesn't involve Nancy, I'm happy 🙂

[HyeChaps]

If there’s dressing in costume, she will be all in. 

[mlp]

I also like the new panel of judges.  Damaris will be fine as long as she doesn't go into her zany act which irritates me no end.  I prefer her (or practically anyone else) to Nancy.  And yay, Jesse again.

[RealityCheck]

I started the Summer Baking Championship forum here and  posted the press release details.

[Pi237]

It seems whenever two contestants closely resemble each other, one rather quickly gets the boot, or I might be imagining it because I always had to remind my self that Jessica was the one with the dark eyebrows. 

Josh's death glare when they were mocking his glaze was intense.

And I agree, winners arch looked like Christmas.

[CheshireCat]

10 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Damaris can be funny-goofy and I really like her a lot.  She definitely knows her stuff in the food / cooking world

Just because you know about cooking, doesn't mean you know about baking. I doubt you will ever find a cook judging any of the official (for the lack of a better term) baking competitions.

.

As for the last episode, I missed the first 20 minutes, so I only saw Christian's when they summarized but based on that, his win came as a complete surprise to me.

I'm glad that they had a plastic structure to attach the pastry to (not going to attempt to spell the word they use 😉). I wonder if they did that because so often, the structure is what makes these challenges a fail for so many of them. That way, the bakers didn't need to stress about that and could concentrate on their bakes and the decorations. After all, no sane baker would construct an arch or any other figure out of that pastry in 3 hours.

I agree with the poster who said that underwater world kind of misses the spring theme. I also can't say that I saw a lot of spring in the colors or even underwater world. I did like the idea, though.

[Catfi9ht]

9 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

Just because you know about cooking, doesn't mean you know about baking. I doubt you will ever find a cook judging any of the official (for the lack of a better term) baking competitions.

I agree with you, but for these judging panels, Duff seems to be the only baker lately (except for Halloween where Stephanie and Zach are both bakers). Adding Damaris is on par with the rest of the judging panel. Kardea, Nancy, and Carla are all chefs.

[Texasmom1970]

On 4/1/2023 at 5:04 PM, MerBearHou said:

They are popular here in Houston too.  Every bake shop has them.  

Waves from up here in The Woodlands. They are popular as well.

[crazycatlady58]

2 hours ago, Texasmom1970 said:

Waves from up here in The Woodlands. They are popular as well.

Kroger has them in the Humble store also.

[theatremouse]

Folks, please stick to Spring Breaking Championship in here. Other Baking Championship shows have their own topics.

What foods are readily available where is also off-topic, unless it came up on the show.

[Ohmo]

On 4/4/2023 at 1:32 PM, laredhead said:

Has anyone who has actually participated in this show ever commented on this forum?  I would love to know the real behind the scenes stuff, like how far in advance do they know what they will be expected to prepare, what the audition is like, do they interact with each other while the judging is taking place, etc?   

A country music station in Mississippi is having Molly (the contestant) do recaps for some of the episodes

https://listenupyall.com/mid-days-with-olivia/

[CrazyInAlabama]

The retro theme is interesting.   However, Nancy's red wig looks like it's about to burst into flames. 

The first competition with the soda flavors was different, and I like that they made something besides layer cakes.   However, the shaggy icing cakes don't look appeitizing at all. 

I was sad to see Jai leave.     I really think the dry cake Josh did was worse.    

Edited April 11, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[susannot]

The 60s theme was fun.  As someone who is old enough to have lived the 60s, I'm impressed by how well the bakers represented it.  Kardea's Afro was epic.

23 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

The retro theme is interesting.   However, Nancy's red wig looks like it's about to burst into flames. 

The first competition with the soda flavors was different, and I like that they made something besides layer cakes.   However, the shaggy icing cakes don't look appeitizing at all.   

I wanted to know what Luke's LGBT records were.

[Guest]

Loved April's *ahem* response to Duff's questioning of her poodles and I loved that he laughed about it. She seems to have been the season's sleeper. Not super featured at the beginning, but more and more she is in the mix and often doing things the judges really like. With my luck, she is destined for a loss in the finale, which is usually the best my favorites can do.

The definition of "spring" continues to be amorphous:

Christian's pool cake looked cool and all, but is a Spring Pool Party really a thing? Maybe it's just that where I am, we're still in the "freeze warnings overnight" phase of spring, and getting in a pool doesn't sound quite right.

Also, Josh's yellow and orange cake maybe looked Sixties-ish, but the color and swooping decoration gave me fire/blazing sun vibes - and yet Nancy pronounced it very spring-like.

I are confused.

[MerBearHou]

I am OK with the decision to eliminate Jai tonight, but wow, the judges were all over the map on what they commented negatively or allowed for ombré.  Some they were critical of and others they just swept past.  I’d have to rewatch but the only true ombré interior I can recall was Molly’s.  

It was a fun theme.  

Edited April 11, 2023 by MerBearHou

[Guest]

1 minute ago, MerBearHou said:

I am OK with the decision on who they eliminated tonight, but wow, the judges were all over the map on what they commented negatively or allowed for ombré.  Some they were critical of and others they just swept past.  I’d have to rewatch but the only true ombré interior I can recall was Molly’s.  

It was a fun theme.  

True statement about the judging of the ombre requirement. I love April obviously, but her praised ombre looked pretty subtle to me, possibly just as much as some others that they called out for not being great. On the other hand, they dinged Christian's ombre as iffy, but he ended up winning.

I thought Molly was going to win - they praised her ombre, decoration, and flavors. I don't remember any negative comments for her. But I guess they wanted to reward Christian's unusual design, ombre be dambred.

[CheshireCat]

I loved the cupcake idea but I hate when the bakers lie to the judges and try to sell something that went wrong as such an Oh-So-Clever idea and are serious about it. I think it's okay to try to hide a mistake, every baker does that. I just don't like the manner in which they often try to do it. 

The cars were a bit hard to recognize. I wondered why there was an eye on Molly's cupcakes. Why was the tire white and black in the middle and not the other way around?

Shouldn't a professional baker know that soda serves as a leavening agent and that the flavors aren't strong enough to come through in the finished product if you don't add anything else?

I'm not sure which cupcake captured the theme the best. I guess, Clement's did look best. It was cleanly done, just not necessarily 50s.

Something else that I absolutely dislike is the judges' randomness when it comes to judging the theme of a bake; they criticize it when they need to and they ignore it when they want a baker to win or do well.
Christian did not meet the challenge, in my opinion. Piping the shag takes a lot of time and by cutting away half of the cake, I'd say he cheated. Additionally, he piped leaves, the buttercream looked a little too soft, too and where was that 60s? Not even the colors were 60s.

The best shags from a piping point of view were Luke's, Molly's and April's. The buttercream had a great consistency and the piping was clean. I think Clement's was well done, too.
I don't know if it was Molly or Luke where Kardea said she wants to make carpet angels but that baker should have won, in my opinion. They did a fantastic job with the shag and the cake tasted good, too.

I agree that Molly was the only one with a true ombré effect. Why were they all struggling with it?

I didn't really get 60s from the orange cake. It reminded me of orange, mandarin and lemon. But the chocolate decorations did look amazing.

I, too, am okay with sending Jai home. As good as she can be, she had a really bad bake. It was unfortunate but justified.

 

[MerBearHou]

13 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

ombre be dambred.

Ha!

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

The cars were a bit hard to recognize. I wondered why there was an eye on Molly's cupcakes. Why was the tire white and black in the middle and not the other way around?

I initially saw an eye, too, but the white tire is a thing. Whitewall tires go way back, but were quite popular in the 1950s:

[kathyk24]

I think the judges are tougher on the women than the men. This is the third week in a row that a woman went home. I think Clement will win he seems to be the favorite.

[rlc]

I would have been fine with either of the bottom bakers going home tonight, but I think the one that was sent home has been over praised in previous weeks.

 

[Frost]

Quote

 I wondered why there was an eye on Molly's cupcakes. 

I was wondering why there was a cyclops alien on Molly's cupcakes.  😆  Even though I clearly heard her discussing her pink cadillac theme, I was completely flabbergasted by the actual decoration.   It looked like Mike from Monsters Inc.

[Maya]

Something about Josh makes me think he’s scary when he’s mad. Maybe they’re too afraid to send him home!

[libgirl2]

I didn't get the different critiques on the ombre.  All I can think is maybe it looked different in person. Christian's cake, while really cool, didn't scream shag to me. Clement's hearts on his cupcakes were not psychedelic in any way. I was okay with Jai going home, she just did not do well and it was her time. 

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Clement's hearts on his cupcakes were not psychedelic in any way.

The cupcakes were supposed to be 50s-themed, so psychedelic wouldn't have been appropriate - but they didn't really look 50s-ish, either. The judges (Nancy, I think) commented on that, but I guess his use of the cherry soda (and the cupcake overall) was so good that it overruled the sub-par 50s deco.

[dleighg]

I was surprised that Jai replaced buttermilk with coconut milk and expected it to work ok. Buttermilk has a particular use in baking from its acidity.

I laughed when the judges said they couldn't taste the cream soda. When I first heard that was one of the choices, my first thought was that cream soda doesn't really have a flavor other than "sweet." (I guess it's a vanilla flavor)

I also thought the car looked like an eye.

[mojoween]

If I went to a house and their pool water looked like that, my bathing suit is staying in the car.

Jai was the right decision.  Josh’s ombré was subtle, but he did have it.  Jai had none.  Combine that with no coconut and a pecan aftertaste, and Josh’s dry cake was safe. Also Josh’s preheat was cute and Jai’s didn’t work out. 

Christian turning his melted cupcake mistake into melted ice cream irrationally irritated me.

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, tracyscott76 said:

The cupcakes were supposed to be 50s-themed, so psychedelic wouldn't have been appropriate - but they didn't really look 50s-ish, either. The judges (Nancy, I think) commented on that, but I guess his use of the cherry soda (and the cupcake overall) was so good that it overruled the sub-par 50s deco.

They didn't look 50s or 60s but modern but yes, the taste must have been really good. 

[KayVeeTeeVee]

51 minutes ago, mojoween said:

If I went to a house and their pool water looked like that, my bathing suit is staying in the car.

Jai was the right decision.  Josh’s ombré was subtle, but he did have it.  Jai had none.  Combine that with no coconut and a pecan aftertaste, and Josh’s dry cake was safe. Also Josh’s preheat was cute and Jai’s didn’t work out. 

Christian turning his melted cupcake mistake into melted ice cream irrationally irritated me.

I have made ice cream cone cupcakes for decades - the first recipe I remember (in the 1950s) was in the Betty Crocker cookbook for boys and girls.  I still use it!  Christian filled them too high and the batter looked thin.  Mine come out fine, with a top that rises.  Divine!  Just made some for my son's 50th birthday!  He laughed.

[Pi237]

48 minutes ago, mojoween said:

If I went to a house and their pool water looked like that, my bathing suit is staying in the car.

Same! I was waiting for the judges to comment on that color. I thought he'd cover by saying a day at the lake or something, but he kept saying 'pool.'  Green pool? Slime! They seem to love anything he does because it's different. Josh seems too be trying to emulate those moves with his recent bakes, but isn't getting the same butt kissing. And I agree, when he's not being praised, his face looks like pure rage.  I thought Josh's ombre was the same as other bakers who didn't get criticized, so I thought they're just nitpicking him to have a reason to vote him off. Then, when Nancy couldn't eat it because it was so dry, I thought that's it, especially when vs Jai whom they adore. So was very surprised he stayed.

[libgirl2]

10 minutes ago, KayVeeTeeVee said:

I have made ice cream cone cupcakes for decades - the first recipe I remember (in the 1950s) was in the Betty Crocker cookbook for boys and girls.  I still use it!  Christian filled them too high and the batter looked thin.  Mine come out fine, with a top that rises.  Divine!  Just made some for my son's 50th birthday!  He laughed.

I thought they looked sloppy. I was sure they were going to ding him on that. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by libgirl2

[KayVeeTeeVee]

4 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

I thought they looked sloppy. 

They did, because he overfilled them!

[Frost]

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

I thought they looked sloppy. I was sure they were going to ding him on that. 

Christian's Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol "decorations" were bad.  The result just looked like a child ran amok with finger paint and play doh.  Plus, Andy Warhol was more of a '60's figure, not the '50's.  An all over fail for me.

His pool cake looked cool, but did any of the judges actually eat the jello? 

[libgirl2]

22 minutes ago, Frost said:

Christian's Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol "decorations" were bad.  The result just looked like a child ran amok with finger paint and play doh.  Plus, Andy Warhol was more of a '60's figure, not the '50's.  An all over fail for me.

His pool cake looked cool, but did any of the judges actually eat the jello? 

I want to say that they didn't taste it. 

[dleighg]

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

If I went to a house and their pool water looked like that, my bathing suit is staying in the car.

oh man yes. Yucky algae water!

 

1 hour ago, Frost said:

Christian's Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol "decorations" were bad. 

Four squares is supposed to remind us of Warhol? Um no. And while I was surprised to look up that Pollock was a 50s thing (he actually died in the 50s), I think he was pretty avant garde for the time and so it doesn't scream "50s." And Warhol really WAS a 60s thing.

[KittyQ]

I wonder if the bakers have access to all the special equipment when they are trying out their recipes beforehand. If any are home bakers, it seems that they have to use the same basic kitchen equipment that most people have; no blast chillers, etc. That might account for some of the timing challenges. 

[Johannah]

In the "give them time to do it right" and the "it's a contest" debate, I side with the "extra time" folk.  I can only imagine the taste of what they are making, so I watch mostly for the pretty decorations, so give them time to do that.  I don't need the drama of "will they finish on time." They always do, so, I'm just assuming it's all smoke and mirrors.  Forget all that crap and give me gorgeous cakes and decorations.

[MerBearHou]

1 hour ago, Shermie said:

I think Molly was robbed and should have won this episode. 

Totally agree.  I thought that, in addition to the retro aspect of the challenge, the ombré requirement was a cool one and was meant to stretch the bakers to slowly change the cake batter, layer by layer, from darker to lighter, but staying in the same basic color.  It made me think that some didn't quite know the definition of ombré, but Molly clearly did.

Edited April 11, 2023 by MerBearHou

[mojoween]

Or•ange is two syllables tho.

Much like many of you have said, the inconsistency with the judges with the ombré is still bugging me.  I loooooove April, but I thought she was going to get dinged on it.  But Kardea loved it!  Then Josh (I think it was Josh) used almost the same colors, and his was panned.

[RoxiP]

Christian is from florida so maybe they can swim in the spring there...LOL!

I thought Kardea looked like Oprah with her hair, and Nancy looked like a cross between the waitress in Grease and the character in Grease who does her hair (Frenchie?) and gets kicked out of beauty school had a baby.

[CheshireCat]

7 hours ago, Pi237 said:

Same! I was waiting for the judges to comment on that color. I thought he'd cover by saying a day at the lake or something, but he kept saying 'pool.'  Green pool? Slime! They seem to love anything he does because it's different.

Is he all that different though? I think they're just making him out to be different. Or, at least, what he's doing is not original. (Eg, jello cakes and cupcakes in ice cream cones have been around for quite a while). And he often goes off-theme with his different: the pool cake was not a true shag-cake, the arch last week was not really spring because there's no spring under water.
The judges also only seem to tolerate different when it comes to decorations, not when it comes to taste (see Jessica and Manya).

[Catfi9ht]

Josh's cake was dry and they liked Jai's cake. Josh should have gone home. Not sure why they picked Jai instead. Very disappointing.

Lots of great decorations this week. Glad they kind of steered away from the love theme.

[Shermie]

4 hours ago, mojoween said:

Or•ange is two syllables tho.

It can be either, but everyone I know pronounces it as “ornj”.

Was it April’s ombré that was 3 layers and kind of mushed together? I thought it looked awful but the judges said nothing. Makes you wonder if it’s scripted to give each participant at least one win, and give them all a moment of praise and a moment of shame. Also makes you wonder if they kind of have the winner chosen already.

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, Shermie said:

Was it April’s ombré that was 3 layers and kind of mushed together? I thought it looked awful but the judges said nothing. Makes you wonder if it’s scripted to give each participant at least one win, and give them all a moment of praise and a moment of shame. Also makes you wonder if they kind of have the winner chosen already.

April's ombré had at least 5 layers. I wouldn't say it was mushed together; the layers were distinct, just with a very subtle, muted change in color from layer to layer. It was a bit odd that she was praised for it, but she didn't win that challenge - so that certainly isn't proof that the show is scripted to give each participant at least one win. And while I don't believe they have the winner chosen already, if anyone is showing signs of that, it's Christian, in my opinion.

[mlp]

1 hour ago, mscool said:

As for this week's themes, what the judges were looking for as "50's" and "60's" 'esque are obviously uniquely American. 

I thought it was funny (or poorly researched) when Jesse called something the bee's knees.  That came from the flapper era, way earlier than the 50s.

[CheshireCat]

3 hours ago, mscool said:

As for this week's themes, what the judges were looking for as "50's" and "60's" 'esque are obviously uniquely American.  How would a competitor from another country have any idea what to do? Was tie-dye flower child really known in Europe?

Yes.

[Shermie]

10 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

10 hours ago, Shermie said:

Was it April’s ombré that was 3 layers and kind of mushed together? I thought it looked awful but the judges said nothing. Makes you wonder if it’s scripted to give each participant at least one win, and give them all a moment of praise and a moment of shame. Also makes you wonder if they kind of have the winner chosen already.

April's ombré had at least 5 layers. I wouldn't say it was mushed together; the layers were distinct, just with a very subtle, muted change in color from layer to layer. It was a bit odd that she was praised for it, but she didn't win that challenge - so that certainly isn't proof that the show is scripted to give each participant at least one win. And while I don't believe they have the winner chosen already, if anyone is showing signs of that, it's Christian, in my opinion.

Then it was someone else’s, one of the first to be judged. Whoever made it, the 3 layers were kind of smushed up and the judges said nothing. I’m perplexed by the judging, or maybe it’s the editing.

8 hours ago, mscool said:

As for this week's themes, what the judges were looking for as "50's" and "60's" 'esque are obviously uniquely American.  How would a competitor from another country have any idea what to do? Was tie-dye flower child really known in Europe? Just wondering if Clemente was at a disadvantage on that. 

That’s a good point, and it occurred to me too. Although I guess that’s on him if he decides to compete in an American baking show.

And regardless of how well versed one is in American culture, no one can be expected to know what a cookie salad is. 🤮 Sorry, I still haven’t recovered from that atrocity last year on whatever baking show it was.

[Pallida]

I felt like Christian and Josh had very similar ombré, so I agree with everybody who calls inconsistent shenanigans from the judges. Jai is obviously very talented, but the coconut failure did support her going home. The judges are more lenient when a twist flavor isn’t noticeable, but this wasn’t a twist. Good on her for pushing through all the frustrations though! I’d be so angry about the piping tips. I appreciated her explaining the issue (more pressure due to her choice of cream cheese frosting). 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, RoxiP said:

Well considering that most of these contestants weren't even alive (or were just babies) during the 50s and 60s, I suspect even the American ones had to dig deep for inspiration. 

April may not have lived through the 50s (or the 60s), but she did share a childhood photo of her and her sister wearing poodle skirts for a reason I can't recall - so she had that reference in her back pocket, at least.