Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Salacious Kitty]

Did the girl who won last year (Jaleesa?) have a "story?" I just remember that Kardea slobbered over every creation. 

[libgirl2]

11 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Did the girl who won last year (Jaleesa?) have a "story?" I just remember that Kardea slobbered over every creation. 

She had a panic attack and after that she could do no wrong 

[Salacious Kitty]

4 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

She had a panic attack and after that she could do no wrong 

Oh that's right. I'd blocked that (as well as the rest of the season sans Romy) out of my mind. 

[Texasmom1970]

On 4/18/2023 at 7:01 AM, libgirl2 said:Josh and Clement's pies were stunning. While neither was all "spring", they did have flowers and they tasted good. 

And yes, the definition of spring is very fluid on this show. 

I liked April but I disagree with the judges about her main bake. Those leaves screamed fall not spring!

[CrazyInAlabama]

I wish they would stop with the strange flavor combinations. 

[MerBearHou]

4 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I wish they would stop with the strange flavor combinations. 

So do I.

Wow, you could predict how that elimination was going to go.  This show is so predictable.  

[kathyk24]

7 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I wish they would stop with the strange flavor combinations. 

I agree I love cheesecake but I wouldn't  eat any of them.

[littlebennysmom]

1 hour ago, kathyk24 said:

I agree I love cheesecake but I wouldn't  eat any of them.

The only flavor combo that sounded good was lime and hibiscus.

[CheshireCat]

I liked the first challenge much better than the second and felt the first would have been worthy of being the second.

What a coincidence: Josh says he would really like to win a first challenge et voilà, he wins it. And with an eclair he died red, no less.

I thought Josh's dessert was the weakest of them all. I don't think adding food coloring to dough and cream cheese to a filling makes something a mash-up of two desserts. Biting into that eclair, you wouldn't really have any of the characteristic tastes of a red-velvet cakes. The eclair also looked like the dough didn't rise properly. It wouldn't surprise me if it didn't given the amount of food coloring he would have had to add to achieve that color. I'd say it's next to impossible that dough consistency wasn't affected.

The blondie-tiramisu sounded like a well-done mash-up of two desserts, I just didn't like the heart shape. It looked kind of boring/generic.

I thought Christian and Clement had the best desserts. They were minimalist with regards to decorations but so were the others and they well executed and they delivered in taste and combining of two desserts. I expected either to win the challenge.

I really disliked the second challenge; adding spices does not make the cheesecake international. Aside from Christian who made a cake with cheesecake-filling and not a cheesecake, they all made American cheesecake that they added international spices to. But the cheesecakes were American cheesecake. (As was Christian's filling, I believe).
When they announced the challenge, I expected that the bakers would have to make cheesecakes popular in/original to foreign countries. I know of three different ones - American, German, Japanese. Four, if you count that there are two kinds of cheesecakes which are popular in Germany, five, if you include the savory cheesecake I know of that is apparently popular in Israel. So, if they had done a little bit of research, I'm sure they could have come up with a few more truly international cheesecakes. 

With that said, during the episode, I expected Josh or Molly to be eliminated, during the judging, I thought Clement would be the baker who would be going home tonight. The criticism sounded very negative, although, I'm not really sure what Nancy was trying to say by if he had just used the guava it would have continued to be really smooth? Uh? I feel like we were missing huge chunks of conversation because Nancy's comment suggests that Clement said something to her about what else he used. Did anyone catch if he actually used ricotta in the cheesecake?

I'm glad Clement got to stay. While I think he's presented better looking cakes, his cheesecake and decorations did look incredibly neat. (Oh, and what a coincidence that Nancy would have liked to have a flag on a pole since that didn't work out).

Christian's and Luke's cheesecakes did look really good as well. I was pleasantly surprised that Kardea asked how he used the olive oil; it's difficult to include it in a way that you can taste it (I mean, it's olive oil in a cake, you don't really want to taste it) and her question seemed to acknowledge that. I liked that.

I liked Luke's concept but I did prefer the look of Christian's cake. It was clean and whimsical and just pretty. On the other hand, I guess, that Luke's cake wasn't as precise fit with the celebration he was inspired by. And I'm absolutely okay with his win. He deserved it.

[libgirl2]

8 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

So do I.

Wow, you could predict how that elimination was going to go.  This show is so predictable.  

It was very predictable last night. 

[DEL901]

Interesting how someone can see so different in the competition vs the talking heads.  Josh looked so serious, like he was holding back a temper at times.  But in his talking head, he was laughing and light hearted and seemed like a different person.  I wish we’d seem more of that Josh.  

[mojoween]

“Because You Met Your Mother-in-Law At the Porta Potty” is going to be the title of my first novel.

When I saw the final five it felt inevitable that Luke and Josh would be in the bottom before they baked a thing (who would have predicted Clement’s cheesecake meltdown?).  Molly would have had to have been an absolute disaster in the main heat for the final four to be all dudes.

Have I been eating cheesecake wrong all this time?  Never have I had one with all that goopy fruit on top.  A couple strawberries, sure, but not fruit soup.

Fun note - I would not eat cheesecake for the longest time (like into my early 30’s) because I thought it was cake made of literal cheese.  Like cheddar, or Gouda.  

[Rammchick]

In what universe is boring flavors and flabby crust a bigger cheesecake sin than poorly-textured filling? Oh right.  This one.

[HyeChaps]

The flag was not on a pole. 
Give me a break. 

[ShelleySue]

8 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

The blondie-tiramisu sounded like a well-done mash-up of two desserts, I just didn't like the heart shape. It looked kind of boring/generic.

I was waiting for Nancy to say, "This is the Spring Baking Championship, not Valentine's Day Baking Championship."

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Fun note - I would not eat cheesecake for the longest time (like into my early 30’s) because I thought it was cake made of literal cheese.  Like cheddar, or Gouda.

I have a friend who didn't eat any coffee cakes until she was in her 30's because she thought they were all coffee flavored and she didn't like coffee.

12 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Wow, you could predict how that elimination was going to go.  This show is so predictable.  

There was no way Clement was going to leave this week.

[Frost]

9 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

what a coincidence that Nancy would have liked to have a flag on a pole since that didn't work out

My eyes just about rolled out of my head at that one.  Wow, do you think someone told Nancy that Clement tried and failed to have his flag on a pole??? /s

I thought Clement had a very unlucky night to have a bad bake, so I'm glad they saved him, even though, from the critiques, it sounded like he should have been booted.

I liked Christian just fine at the beginning of the show, but now he really is coming across as smug to me.  I hope he doesn't win (since I'm vindictive like that 😆).

[libgirl2]

36 minutes ago, Frost said:

I liked Christian just fine at the beginning of the show, but now he really is coming across as smug to me.  I hope he doesn't win (since I'm vindictive like that 😆).

I'm not a fan either. I tried. 

[Grizzly]

I thought Josh would be safe because he won the preheat. It seems to have worked that way in previous episodes. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy Clement is still there.

[meep.meep]

I'm not trying to jinx the bakers next week, but they haven't had a mid-challenge twist in a while.  You know the one where half way through they suddenly have to incorporate jalapenos.

[rlc]

It’s interesting- it seems that most of you view Christian as smug. To me he comes off as needy and insecure.

I and not an American-style cheesecake fan, but thought that Molly’s flavors and Luke’s flavors sounded incredible. I wish they would have played around with the cheeses and not all have used cream cheese. Ricotta or goat cheese would have been interesting.
 

Really glad Clement wasn’t eliminated. 

[CheshireCat]

8 hours ago, Frost said:

I liked Christian just fine at the beginning of the show, but now he really is coming across as smug to me.  I hope he doesn't win (since I'm vindictive like that 😆).

I don't think that the judging of Christian's bakes was always justified. Bakers have been eliminated of not sticking to the theme and he's interpreted the theme quite vaguely several times (his cake yesterday was one of those examples, other bakers have gotten "but it's not really what we asked for" before) but that aside, he can bake quite well. While I don't like how he comes across, if he delivers bake-wise like he delivered up until now, I would be able to make peace with a win of his. Likewise Molly, although, I think that she's the weakest of the remaining bakers.

 

16 minutes ago, rlc said:

I wish they would have played around with the cheeses and not all have used cream cheese. Ricotta or goat cheese would have been interesting.

My mom loves cheesecake and I made three different American cheesecakes for her for her birthday: one was more or less a regular one with cream cheese and chocolate, one with ricotta and greek yoghurt and one with cream cheese and sour cream. (They all were delicious but that last one was to die for!)

[libgirl2]

43 minutes ago, rlc said:

It’s interesting- it seems that most of you view Christian as smug. To me he comes off as needy and insecure.

I and not an American-style cheesecake fan, but thought that Molly’s flavors and Luke’s flavors sounded incredible. I wish they would have played around with the cheeses and not all have used cream cheese. Ricotta or goat cheese would have been interesting.
 

Really glad Clement wasn’t eliminated. 

I will say Luke's sounded interesting.  

[Catfi9ht]

11 hours ago, rlc said:

It’s interesting- it seems that most of you view Christian as smug. To me he comes off as needy and insecure.

I and not an American-style cheesecake fan, but thought that Molly’s flavors and Luke’s flavors sounded incredible. I wish they would have played around with the cheeses and not all have used cream cheese. Ricotta or goat cheese would have been interesting.
 

Really glad Clement wasn’t eliminated. 

Seconded. I always watch the bakers' faces when they receive critiques. Christian's reactions to their negative comments seems more like he's embarrassed he messed up more than anything. I thought it was cute Molly kept embarrassing him about the blind dates. The way he blushed and got flustered was adorable, but I'm always trying to make others' flustered like that too so YMMV.

I'm not sold on Molly as a top four baker during this competition, but I'm glad it's not all dudes.

The top four seem hit or miss on different things so it will be interesting to see how next week pans out. (I purposefully don't watch the previews because they give too much away. I can't remember which one it was, but one of the previews last year showed who the bottom two were which is a pretty egregious mistake IMO.)

 

[ruffy666]

On 4/25/2023 at 5:29 AM, Rammchick said:

In what universe is boring flavors and flabby crust a bigger cheesecake sin than poorly-textured filling? Oh right.  This one.

I've never tried baking feulletine into a cheesecake crust so I can't really say with any authority but I did try making a churro crust out of processed churros and it was NOT GOOD lol.  The texture was this weird crunchy-chewy monstrosity that came across as incredibly stale and really truly ruined the cheesecake.

That's not to say a jacked up filling is any better, of course, since the hallmark of a good (American-style) cheesecake is the texture of the filling so... I guess I don't have a point.  haha

[carrps]

3 hours ago, Catfi9ht said:

I thought it was cute Molly kept embarrassing him about the blind dates. The way he blushed and got flustered was adorable, but I'm always trying to make others' flustered like that too so YMMV.

Yeah, MMVs. I thought it was awful and borderline abusive. I hate when people tease people like this, and she went on and on, and dragged someone else (Jesse?) in, too. It wasn't cute.  But Christian was cool and was nicer than I would have been. 

[mlp]

4 hours ago, carrps said:

But Christian was cool and was nicer than I would have been. 

Yep.  I don't find Christian smug at all.  I think he's on the nerdy side and maybe a little insecure.  I quite like him and won't be unhappy if he wins the whole thing.

[ShelleySue]

18 hours ago, mlp said:

Yep.  I don't find Christian smug at all.  I think he's on the nerdy side and maybe a little insecure.  I quite like him and won't be unhappy if he wins the whole thing.

I lose track of time and all of these Baking Championship shows blend together for me. Was it last season that two culinary arts teachers (one from Ireland) went against each other? It seems like that profession may give the participants an edge because they seem to be more broadly skilled than bakery chefs who specialize in one or two things. They also seem to be more creative when it comes to trouble shooting.

 

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, ShelleySue said:

I lose track of time and all of these Baking Championship shows blend together for me. Was it last season that two culinary arts teachers (one from Ireland) went against each other? It seems like that profession may give the participants an edge because they seem to be more broadly skilled than bakery chefs who specialize in one or two things. They also seem to be more creative when it comes to trouble shooting.

 

You are possibly thinking of Season 8 of Holiday Baking Championship (aired in 2021), where Adam and Jody (Boston by way of Ireland), both culinary/pastry instructors, were in the finale. Adam won.

Looking over the listing of contestants on the wiki pages for both Spring and Holiday, most of the contestants who are listed as some variation of culinary/pastry instructor/teacher did very well, usually at least making 4th place if not the finale, and several of them have won. So there does seem to be something to it. Interestingly, that pattern doesn't hold up as well with Halloween.

(Also interestingly, the other instructor this season, Jai, also kind of breaks this pattern, having finished in 7th place.)

Edited April 27, 2023 by tracyscott76
Added the year and info about Jai

[Catfi9ht]

On 4/26/2023 at 10:58 AM, carrps said:

Yeah, MMVs. I thought it was awful and borderline abusive. I hate when people tease people like this, and she went on and on, and dragged someone else (Jesse?) in, too. It wasn't cute.  But Christian was cool and was nicer than I would have been. 

I've thought alot about your post since reading it. First and foremost, I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts. Respecting others' boundaries is the most important rule in a relationship. Unfortunately, we'll never know whether or not that was the case. I certainly hope Christian's boundaries were respected, and it was just a silly conversation. I shouldn't have made an assumption the way I did. I will try to be a little more pensive in my thoughts about these types of exchanges in the future.

[carrps]

2 hours ago, Catfi9ht said:

I've thought alot about your post since reading it. First and foremost, I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts. Respecting others' boundaries is the most important rule in a relationship. Unfortunately, we'll never know whether or not that was the case. I certainly hope Christian's boundaries were respected, and it was just a silly conversation. I shouldn't have made an assumption the way I did. I will try to be a little more pensive in my thoughts about these types of exchanges in the future.

Thanks for this. I hesitated posting because I didn't want to sound like a bitchy scold. But I know a lot of people who react negatively to this kind of attention who wouldn't complain, so I thought I'd speak for them.

Props for taking this in the spirit it was given!

 

[carrps]

9 minutes ago, carrps said:

Thanks for this. I hesitated posting because I didn't want to sound like a bitchy scold. But I know a lot of people who react negatively to this kind of attention who wouldn't complain, so I thought I'd speak for them.

Props for taking this in the spirit it was given!

 

P.S. I'm sure glad your screen name was not a prediction!

 

[2soon2tell]

Red velvet cake is not just a cake that has been dyed red. It is a light chocolate (not a devil’s food or fudge) cake, sometimes with coffee flavor. Dyeing an eclair red and filling it with vanilla crème doesn’t make it red velvet. At least fill the damn thing with chocolate filling.

[ILuvShibaInus]

Regarding the four semi-finalists, it was so predictable that Josh was eliminated. Even more predictable will be Molly making the final three. Couldn't have the final four be all males and can't imagine the final three being any different. Watch Molly win! LOL...

[RoxiP]

I'm thinking it will be Clement but I like all four finalists (although I honestly do not think Luke is as high of a caliber as the rest - I think he is really, really good but not sure he's on the same level as Clement and Christian).  I really think it will come down to what the final bakes are - if they are geared toward patisserie then I think the fix is in for Clement to win.

[Frost]

They had to work pretty hard to keep Molly.  Her dessert was not elegant at all.  It might have tasted great, but it wouldn't elevate a table.

I was not impressed with Clement's wonderful advantage for winning the pre-heat.  Unless there was a choice like lime and coffee or something equally as egregious, it didn't seem like a trade between 4 similar cocktails was that big of a deal.

[kathyk24]

I thought the twist had nothing to do with baking. I also wouldn't have served an ice cream sandwich for the final heat this isn't Chopped. I like Molly and hope she stays. Did Nancy pick this challenge? 

[DEL901]

I don’t know who won yet, but I am really liking how Christian took the time to help Molly. 

[starlightlost]

Y'all. They are doing a Summer Baking Championship now.. (hosted by Jesse Palmer, thank you God)

 

https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/shows/summer-baking-championship-

[Grizzly]

I'm happy there's a Summer Baking Championship but I could use a break first. A palate cleanser. Don't they usually do a BBQ competition at this time?

[kathyk24]

3 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

I'm happy there's a Summer Baking Championship but I could use a break first. A palate cleanser. Don't they usually do a BBQ competition at this time?

Chopped does a barbeque show during the summer. Best Bakers in America ran during the summer.

[Salacious Kitty]

For anyone interested, Summer BC has its own thread.

[CheshireCat]

I'm not a fan of alcohol in baking but that aside, I liked both challenges.

I was really impressed by Clement's shortcake. It looked exactly like the illustration. And the final product was insanely clean. The strawberries that were visible looked like there wasn't a smudge of pastry cream on them!

I thought Kardea's criticism of Luke's cake truffles was ridiculous. Duff's criticism was fair, tulips are rich with color and most of them are solid color, too. But it is common in baking that the decoration takes more time than the actual baking. Every single fondant or buttercream decorated cake takes more time to decorate than bake. (Supermarket cakes may be an exception 😉) Every decorated cookie does. A set of cupcakes does. That's why these things are so expensive (even without the surcharge for the word wedding).
I've liked her criticism so far but for some reason, this one made me mad. Maybe because it made her look incredibly ignorant and like she was desperately looking for something negative to say.

I'm not sure why Nancy went so gaga over Molly's tulip. Other bakers would have been told that this is the semi-final and they have to do more than cut out a shape with a cookie cutter and trace the outline with buttercream.
I also don't think that this was an example of how a naked cake should look. Naked cakes are usually filled precisely to the edge of the cake. Her cakes looked like she put some filling in the middle then set on the top. (I don't blame her, given the time constraint, I probably would have done it that way, too).

I liked the colors of Christian's cake. Yes, for a competition like that the cake needed to be straight but that aside, I thought it looked delicious.
I don't understand why he insisted on making the chandelier and didn't concentrate on making tulips. That made no sense. I also don't understand why he acted as if everything went smoothly when the judges criticized his work. Why didn't he say that he ran out of time because he redid the cake? Why didn't he say that he just wanted to get some flowers on there? These are the kind of things that make me not like him. It gave me the impression that he didn't think the criticism was justified and/or expected that he wouldn't get criticized for that when he knew full well that this was coming.

It was a nice recovery for him in the final challenge, although, again, I didn't like like that he apparently couldn't bear the thought of someone else having such a good looking dessert so he just had to make something else.
But his dessert did look pretty.

I definitely would have kept the flavors Clement was handed as well. They seemed a very good combination with regards to taste. Elderberry is a rather delicate flavor and might be easily overshadowed by something else whereas rosewater, pomegranate and rosé are all robust flavors that I think can be balanced well and compliment each other.
The dessert itself looked spectacular. I know that Duff doesn't like seeds but having seeds stuck between your teeth is not valid criticism for a pastry competition. The plate definitely looked like something you'd get served in a very fancy and expensive restaurant or hotel. Or on a luxury cruise.

Contrary to that, Luke's dessert looked rather underwhelming for someone who said that plated desserts is what he does. The judges also didn't say anything about the prosecco and the grapefruit juice. They said they tasted the rosé but not a word about the rest. So, did they not taste it?
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. When they previewed what every baker was doing, I thought that Luke's concept wasn't smart and that at least one of the three ingredients would be drowned by another or the other two. Molly had the much better concept by making a rosé cake and then adding the other two ingredients into the mousse.

While Molly's certainly didn't look like it could compete with the others (although, it did look like a tasty and fun summer dessert), I'd say she should have had the upper hand based on taste. Her rosé may have been subtle but her flavors were all there. Luke's didn't seem to be. Additionally, the visual just wasn't there with his plate.

I'm not surprised that Christian won and I can live with that. Both his and Clement's dessert looked excellent, so without tasting either, it's hard to know which one was the better one or if one even was better.

[Gramto6]

This is the first time I've watched this show start to finish. Do they do the bake off for the last 2 every time? It just seems odd to me.

[mlp]

1 hour ago, Gramto6 said:

Do they do the bake off for the last 2 every time?

They have done so the past few years.  

I like Molly but I thought she should have gone home because neither of her creations this week were great but they needed to keep her for the bake off.  

I was surprised by what Luke came up with, especially after all he said about doing plated desserts.  I didn't think it was attractive at all.

Jesse's jacket was hideous.

[Texasmom1970]

3 hours ago, Frost said:

They had to work pretty hard to keep Molly.  Her dessert was not elegant at all.  It might have tasted great, but it wouldn't elevate a table.

Work pretty hard; you said that more nicely than I would have. I believe she is a talented baker but this bake off stuff is bs. They are just trying to push her into the finals anyway they can. 

[la patineuse]

The granita twist was stupid. How do you make a granita in one hour??? And it's not baking.

Edited May 2, 2023 by la patineuse

[DEL901]

4 hours ago, la patineuse said:

The granita twist was stupid. How do you make a granita in one hour??? And it's not baking.

Molly was lucky Christian took the time to explain it to her and help her avoid pitfalls.  I really liked him for that.  And the judges were lucky as if she’d messed that up, they would have had a hard time justifying a bake off.  

[libgirl2]

6 hours ago, Texasmom1970 said:

Work pretty hard; you said that more nicely than I would have. I believe she is a talented baker but this bake off stuff is bs. They are just trying to push her into the finals anyway they can. 

I felt the same, if she were a guy or there was another woman left, I think she would have gone home. They really want her in the mix. Honestly, it made me roll my eyes. 

[dleighg]

up until the last moment I felt like "thank goodness they aren't going to keep Molly JUST BECAUSE SHE'S THE LAST WOMAN." Her dessert was so clearly inferior in presentation. But then they kept her. Sigh. (Note: I like her, I just don't think she's at the same level.) I do agree that the "ice cream sandwiches" deserved to also be in the bottom. 

[libgirl2]

31 minutes ago, dleighg said:

up until the last moment I felt like "thank goodness they aren't going to keep Molly JUST BECAUSE SHE'S THE LAST WOMAN." Her dessert was so clearly inferior in presentation. But then they kept her. Sigh. (Note: I like her, I just don't think she's at the same level.) I do agree that the "ice cream sandwiches" deserved to also be in the bottom. 

But at least with the ice cream sandwich, he his flavors were pretty much there.