Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Salacious Kitty]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

Hey that’s right didn’t Robert get praise for his almond soil but Rochelle’s was “an afterthought” and “not well done”?

FN is using Robert's cake as the "face" of the entire show. Interesting, because they found it somewhat lacking in taste.

[libgirl2]

7 hours ago, mojoween said:

Hey that’s right didn’t Robert get praise for his almond soil but Rochelle’s was “an afterthought” and “not well done”?

I thought why was it okay for one and not the other? All I could think was that he put more "soil" around the cake. And didn't he incorporate the flavor in it as well and she didn't? 

I fell asleep before the end but even I knew who was going to go home. That cake was a mess. I think I could have done better. He was a really nice guy though. 

[laredhead]

if they would announce the twist at the beginning of the bake instead of when 99% of the contestants already have their bakes out of the oven, then incorporating it could be a lot easier.  When one of the judges said the crushed almonds on one bake looked like an after thought, I was thinking that it was given after that person's cake was out of the oven and on the plate.  Leave the twist stuff out.  It doesn't add anything to the bake, and sometimes makes it worse with whatever flavor or texture is the twist.

[libgirl2]

26 minutes ago, laredhead said:

if they would announce the twist at the beginning of the bake instead of when 99% of the contestants already have their bakes out of the oven, then incorporating it could be a lot easier.  When one of the judges said the crushed almonds on one bake looked like an after thought, I was thinking that it was given after that person's cake was out of the oven and on the plate.  Leave the twist stuff out.  It doesn't add anything to the bake, and sometimes makes it worse with whatever flavor or texture is the twist.

Yes, they need to reveal the twist a lot earlier. Almonds weren't a bad twist, but still. 

[KittyMom4]

 

14 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Michael was absolutely the only call to send home tonight, but I’m so sorry because I really, really enjoyed him and what a delight he was to the other bakers.  Wishing him well!

My recording cut off right before they announced who was going home but I didn't need to watch to know who it was. He was very sweet and I think he has talent but he just couldn't get it right here.

Whoever mentioned Sabrina's hairstyle, I'm with you, it's odd. Of course I can't stand all the hair that is flying around on these bakers, I wish there was a rule that it must be pulled back at least. 

[tennisgurl]

Michael was a lot of fun but he was the only choice to go home. That cake looked like even something I would have been embarrassed by, and I'm not even a good baker! Some people are just not good at baking under pressure, I wish him nothing but the best.

There are so many people I haven't had time to pick a favorite yet, but everyone seems nice so far, no one is mugging too much yet in my opinion. 

Add me to the chorus that wishes they would tell the bakers about the twist earlier, that could change the whole bake, of course they struggle a lot to find ways to incorporate them into their bakes when they're basically finished!

[dleighg]

I think someone upstream mentioned that there didn't seem to be a twist last week. Apparently it was just not shown, as the bakers were not at all surprised that there was one. 

 

[Ohmo]

On 3/12/2024 at 8:55 AM, libgirl2 said:

Yes, they need to reveal the twist a lot earlier. Almonds weren't a bad twist, but still. 

I think the twist is positioned exactly where the show wants it to be for that reason. The show wants it to be a twist.  Something that disrupts all the bakers' planning and forces them to pivot.  The judges then see how well they pivot.

Similar to a client calling and needing a super rush job.  Bakeries would charge extra fees and bring in more staff.  The show isn't set up for that, so I think the twist serves that purpose.  Introducing it earlier would defeat the purpose of having it.

I think of Ace of Cakes when a cake got ruined on the way to the venue.  It was all hands that Duff could get and they produced a completely new decorated cake in about 3 hours.  I think the twists are supposed to be "What do you do when there's a curve to your careful plan?"

Edited March 14 by Ohmo

[DEL901]

19 hours ago, mojoween said:

Hey that’s right didn’t Robert get praise for his almond soil but Rochelle’s was “an afterthought” and “not well done”?

I just watched.  Rochelle just threw a small smattering of almond “soil” around the cake.  Robert made it darker and thicker and made it look like flowers were growing out of the soil.   

[kirklandia]

Hey Jesse, "au revoir" literally means - until we meet again.  Perhaps you were thinking of "adieu"?

Duff sounded so congested, don't know how he could taste anything!

[KayVeeTeeVee]

6 hours ago, kirklandia said:

Hey Jesse, "au revoir" literally means - until we meet again.  Perhaps you were thinking of "adieu"?

Duff sounded so congested, don't know how he could taste anything!

Jesse speaks fluent French, so not sure what he was thinking.  Maybe just to tease Nancy?

[RoxiP]

I'm so glad you mentioned Kardea's hair - I was the same - what was that?  Was it hair?  Was it a tattoo?  It was distracting and IMO unattractive (and a shame because the rest of her hair was super cute).  

[meep.meep]

Michael's cake was so ugly.  Couldn't he have colored the buttercream?  The right cake won - I'm a sucker for a good mirror glaze.

The Food Network vs. Comcast episode mislabelling continues.  On Monday, this was labelled as new Season 5 Episode 1, not Season 10, Episode 2.  Do they think they are the Great British Bake Off?

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

The Food Network vs. Comcast episode mislabelling continues.  On Monday, this was labelled as new Season 5 Episode 1, not Season 10, Episode 2.  Do they think they are the Great British Bake Off?

Yep, but fortunately, it was labeled "New" so my DVR picked it up.

[Shermie]

On 3/4/2024 at 10:14 PM, Grizzly said:

Is it me, or are a lot of the contestants Canadian?

On 3/5/2024 at 12:03 AM, mlp said:

There seems to be a lot of talent this season. 

Coincidence? I think not.

Re: the first episode. One of the Canadian women (Kate) said two things that are incorrect. She said that we don’t call it spring break, we call it the May long weekend. Actually, we do have spring break, which is called March break in some provinces, spring break in others. The May long weekend is a different thing and is often called May 2-4 (referring to the case of beer that is consumed 😁). She also said that it’s still very cold in May, which is not true everywhere. I mean, we lane our gardens and crops are growing in the fields, so it’s not like it’s still winter. No point reinforcing stereotypes (it snows in Canada year round! Not).

Agree that there are a lot of talented bakers this season.

Second episode: I can’t believe they have to explain what the equinox is. I mean, these are grown-ass adults; who doesn’t know that?

 

[DEL901]

26 minutes ago, Shermie said:

Coincidence? I think not.

Re: the first episode. One of the Canadian women (Kate) said two things that are incorrect. She said that we don’t call it spring break, we call it the May long weekend. Actually, we do have spring break, which is called March break in some provinces, spring break in others. The May long weekend is a different thing and is often called May 2-4 (referring to the case of beer that is consumed 😁). She also said that it’s still very cold in May, which is not true everywhere. I mean, we lane our gardens and crops are growing in the fields, so it’s not like it’s still winter. No point reinforcing stereotypes (it snows in Canada year round! Not).

Agree that there are a lot of talented bakers this season.

Second episode: I can’t believe they have to explain what the equinox is. I mean, these are grown-ass adults; who doesn’t know that?

 

Also, May long weekend is the closest Monday to the 24th because May 24th was Queen Victoria’s birthday and the holiday is Victoria  Day.  

[AZChristian]

12 hours ago, RoxiP said:

I'm so glad you mentioned Kardea's hair - I was the same - what was that?  Was it hair?  Was it a tattoo?  It was distracting and IMO unattractive (and a shame because the rest of her hair was super cute).  

I think if you Google "baby hair black women" you'll see similar styles. 

[Shermie]

21 hours ago, RoxiP said:

I'm so glad you mentioned Kardea's hair - I was the same - what was that?  Was it hair?  Was it a tattoo?  It was distracting and IMO unattractive

I liked it and thought it was really interesting.

On 3/12/2024 at 5:07 PM, Ohmo said:

I think the twist is positioned exactly where the show wants it to be for that reason. The show wants it to be a twist.  Something that disrupts all the bakers' planning and forces them to pivot.  The judges then see how well they pivot.

Similar to a client calling and needing a super rush job.  Bakeries would charge extra fees and bring in more staff.  The show isn't set up for that, so I think the twist serves that purpose. 

Meh, those seem like two different things. A client calling for a rush job or a bakery dropping a cake are things you choose to control (you take the rush job or your don’t; you have some basic backup cakes ready to decorate). Adding a random ingredient to a cake halfway through the baking process is just weird and I don’t like it.

Bakers on this show always impress me with their knowledge. Half these terms I’ve never heard of until baking shows and many ingredients they are forced to use I would never want in a cake. They must get the cake concepts in advance so they can research or download their recipes.  Nobody ever references a recipe, but surely they don’t have 100s of recipes memorized.

[cowgirlwen]

22 hours ago, RoxiP said:

I'm so glad you mentioned Kardea's hair - I was the same - what was that?  Was it hair?  Was it a tattoo?  It was distracting and IMO unattractive (and a shame because the rest of her hair was super cute).  

I've seen this style quite often lately on other shows.  It seems to be the trend for beautiful black women.

 

21 hours ago, meep.meep said:

The Food Network vs. Comcast episode mislabelling continues.  On Monday, this was labelled as new Season 5 Episode 1, not Season 10, Episode 2.  Do they think they are the Great British Bake Off?

It wasn't just Comcast.  I stream thru FUBO, and it wasn't showing up under Season 10 either.  I searched down thru other seasons because I've had this happen before, and luckily found it listed under Season 5 as well.

 

As for the twist...  I didn't think it was fair that the judges commented on one of the bakers' (sorry, can't recall names yet) cakes that elderflower and almond don't really go together.  Excuse me, BOTH of those flavors were assigned and required.  She did not choose either of them, and she, herself even commented that they did not pair well together, but she did the best she could.  This is why I don't like the twists.  There seems to always be one or two bakers who it affects more adversely than the others, making it extremely unfair.  

 

Regardless, this definitely seems to be an advanced batch of bakers, all who have mad baking skills.  I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of the season!

[KayVeeTeeVee]

3 hours ago, cowgirlwen said:

I've seen this style quite often lately on other shows.  It seems to be the trend for beautiful black women.

 

It wasn't just Comcast.  I stream thru FUBO, and it wasn't showing up under Season 10 either.  I searched down thru other seasons because I've had this happen before, and luckily found it listed under Season 5 as well.

 

As for the twist...  I didn't think it was fair that the judges commented on one of the bakers' (sorry, can't recall names yet) cakes that elderflower and almond don't really go together.  Excuse me, BOTH of those flavors were assigned and required.  She did not choose either of them, and she, herself even commented that they did not pair well together, but she did the best she could.  This is why I don't like the twists.  There seems to always be one or two bakers who it affects more adversely than the others, making it extremely unfair.  

 

Regardless, this definitely seems to be an advanced batch of bakers, all who have mad baking skills.  I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of the season!

Call me crazy, but I wish there was at least one episode (I'd prefer all) where every baker gets the same ingredients.  You could still have a theme.  Or not.  And nix the unfair twists. 

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, KayVeeTeeVee said:

Call me crazy, but I wish there was at least one episode (I'd prefer all) where every baker gets the same ingredients.  You could still have a theme.  Or not.  And nix the unfair twists. 

It would then be a true competition!  Great idea.

[libgirl2]

12 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

It would then be a true competition!  Great idea.

I like that idea too. 

[dleighg]

On 3/12/2024 at 6:20 AM, libgirl2 said:

That cake was a mess. I think I could have done better. He was a really nice guy though

I have to admit I cringed at his dorkiness. Now as an engineer, married to an engineer, I've know more than my share of dorks, and probably am one myself. But wow.....

[libgirl2]

24 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I have to admit I cringed at his dorkiness. Now as an engineer, married to an engineer, I've know more than my share of dorks, and probably am one myself. But wow.....

Even when they showed the illustration, I thought "that will not turn out well". 

[Maya]

5 hours ago, cowgirlwen said:

As for the twist...  I didn't think it was fair that the judges commented on one of the bakers' (sorry, can't recall names yet) cakes that elderflower and almond don't really go together.  Excuse me, BOTH of those flavors were assigned and required.  She did not choose either of them, and she, herself even commented that they did not pair well together, but she did the best she could.  This is why I don't like the twists.  There seems to always be one or two bakers who it affects more adversely than the others, making it extremely unfair.  

R.I.P. coffee and green apple woman! 🤣

[RoxiP]

I've seen a lot of beautiful black women do their baby hair this way but have never seen an entire side of their head dedicated to this style - learn something new all the time.  Honestly I did find it distracting but this was not a commentary on the fashion, just the fact that I didn't care for it, just as sometimes Nancy's hair is distracting.  The point of the show is the bakers and not the judges in the first place.

OTOH - nothing to comment on about Duff's hair...LOL!

[libgirl2]

I didn't see a discussion for this but has anyone seen Wildcard Kitchen? I tried and turned it off. 

[MsJamieDornan]

7 hours ago, KayVeeTeeVee said:

I stream thru FUBO, and it wasn't showing up under Season 10 either.  I searched down thru other seasons because I've had this happen before, and luckily found it listed under Season 5 as well.

Thank you,,,! I found it !

[jcbrown]

5 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I didn't see a discussion for this but has anyone seen Wildcard Kitchen? I tried and turned it off. 

I started it last night but did not finish it yet. It did not grab me at all, despite the fact that I like Eric, Antonia, and Jet. The premise leaves me pretty cold.

[mlp]

9 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I didn't see a discussion for this but has anyone seen Wildcard Kitchen? I tried and turned it off. 

I loved it and I'm looking forward to next week.

[dleighg]

I just looked up Wildcard Kitchen and the description leaves me cold. (Fake) trash talking? Not for me.

Quote

These epic chefs arrive with $5,000 of their own money for a night of card playing, three rounds of fast-paced cooking and some major trash talking.

 

[Gramto6]

I watched it, not my cup of tea. Kind of a strange concept IMO. I guess FN is running out of ideas for new shows?

It isn't something I will watch regularly, only if there is nothing else on, or when everything has gone to reruns at the end of the new seasons, I'll watch a few.

[libgirl2]

10 hours ago, mlp said:

I loved it and I'm looking forward to next week.

I guess it just didn't "work" for me. 

[Ancaster]

On 3/12/2024 at 8:41 PM, kirklandia said:

Hey Jesse, "au revoir" literally means - until we meet again.  Perhaps you were thinking of "adieu"?

Duff sounded so congested, don't know how he could taste anything!

 

On 3/13/2024 at 2:56 AM, KayVeeTeeVee said:

Jesse speaks fluent French, so not sure what he was thinking.  Maybe just to tease Nancy?

I lived in France for a couple of years and speak fluent French.  No one says adieu, unless they're being over-dramatic/ironic.  While you are technically correct about the literal meaning of au revoir, it is always used to say goodbye, even if you can be pretty sure you'll never see someone again.

[Mellowyellow]

Erica was so bad! I was worried she’d be one of those people they’d drag along until one of the competent contestants have a bad week and they eliminate them leaving her to win *cough cough the lady that won the sprinkles season *
 

I like everyone so far! No one seems to be overly attention seeking *cough cough the lady with the accent that was 10 times stronger whenever she spoke to the judges *

The judging perplexes me sometimes. There were two ugly fondant/ modeling chocolate flowers. One was declared bad while the other was pretty. They looked like they were the same quality!!! Are the judges blind???

[Pi237]

The prize is Still only $25,000!? Come on, Food Network. You’re running a dozen commercials every 2 minutes, open your purses, you cheapskates!! 

[Rammchick]

22 minutes ago, Pi237 said:

The prize is Still only $25,000!? Come on, Food Network. You’re running a dozen commercials every 2 minutes, open your purses, you cheapskates!! 

They need to get a sponsor like Tournament of Champions has.  Then the purse would go up dramatically.

[Pi237]

And the Champagne flute-I was waiting for, “whomever has the most flutes at the end wins….” But nothing. So, you just get the Velcro flute?🤣 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm a week behind, because of another program conflict, so I'm watching the episode 2 rerun.  

Some of the cakes were so well decorated that it was a shame to chop pieces out of them.    Some of the cake decorations were magnificent, and then there's Michael.   The kids on the other series are better at decorating than he is.  And apparently zero flavor is a lot of the cake.     They picked the right one to go home. 

[Frost]

I would have been very happy with a double elimination.  Zoey hasn't been doing well for a while and Rochelle has had some bad bakes.

Steven looks like the front runner at this point.

[MerBearHou]

Zoe could have gone instead of Sandro in the first half of tonight’s 2-hour show so I am not sorry to see her go.  Rochelle should be next…

I said this last season that certain voices are like nails on chalkboard for me.  Upspeak is one of the voices so that is another reason I don’t mind saying bye to Zoe.

Edited March 19 by MerBearHou
fixing Sandro's name

[JudgeyMcJudgyPants]

So I make some pretty good pumpkin bread and some damn tasty chocolate mousse.  My Christmas cookies are good but certainly won’t win any decorating competitions (my gingerbread men looked like the red ninja turtle).  What I’m saying is-you’ll never see me on this show.  I watch it to see cool stuff and so far, I’m not! The decor is seriously lacking this season.  The igloo was the best and that’s not saying much.

[storyskip]

Is this the first time someone has won the pre-heat and gotten no advantage? I watch all the baking championships (Halloween, Holiday, Spring, etc) and I honestly can’t remember a contestant winning the pre-heat and no advantage. 
 

All I can think is maybe since they’ve scaled back the stupid “twists” that they ditched the “you won’t have to do the twist” advantage and that’s why Alec didn’t get an advantage.

[BookWitch]

I've never had or made a Baked Alaska. I thought there was more of a balance between the cake and the ice cream, not tiny cake then HUGE ice cream.  It was obvious none of them had made one before. 

I felt bad for Sandro, I think he would still be there if not for Zoe. He was pissed.

[kathyk2]

I would have sent Robert home he didn't make a hand pie. His bug didn't look like a caterpillar.

[CheshireCat]

1 hour ago, JudgeyMcJudgyPants said:

So I make some pretty good pumpkin bread and some damn tasty chocolate mousse.  My Christmas cookies are good but certainly won’t win any decorating competitions (my gingerbread men looked like the red ninja turtle).  What I’m saying is-you’ll never see me on this show.  I watch it to see cool stuff and so far, I’m not! The decor is seriously lacking this season.  The igloo was the best and that’s not saying much.

To be fair, it's really hard to decorate a cake with meringue and it's probably even harder when you don't have much time and are decorating in such a warm environment.

With that said, I was underwhelmed by the decorations in both episodes this evening. The cocktail/bubble cakes looked great, some of the envelopes looked really good as well and a couple of the bugs desserts were good.

Overall, I felt like the desserts the bakers did in the first two episodes were more impressive.

The cakes from the first episodes all looked really good though. As in, once they were cut, they all looked well-structured and very appetizing.

 

53 minutes ago, BookWitch said:

I've never had or made a Baked Alaska. I thought there was more of a balance between the cake and the ice cream, not tiny cake then HUGE ice cream. 

I've never made one either. I have a recipe in a cook book, however, the recipe seems to be for individual desserts and not a cake. But I googled because I was curious and the first pictures that popped up showed one layer of cake, a dome of ice cream and a layer of meringue about as thin/thick as icing would be at the sides and slightly thicker at the top. 

Did they announce a twist in either episode today? I noticed the flags each baker had added to the baked Alaska and since they didn't necessarily fit with the theme of the cake, I wondered if that might have been the twist for that bake?

 

40 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

I would have sent Robert home he didn't make a hand pie. His bug didn't look like a caterpillar.

I have no idea what this kind of pastry would be called in French but is it possible he didn't know what a hand pie was and thought it just had to be a hand-held pastry?
I don't think the first bakes count towards the elimination, so I think he was lucky. Likewise, Steven who didn't have much luck with his bug dessert.

Generally, I kind of wish they would have continued with the two hour episodes, at least, for the first one of tonight when they still had ten bakers. Even I felt rushed by how rushed the judging was, especially for the first challenge. 😄

[kathyk2]

57 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

To be fair, it's really hard to decorate a cake with meringue and it's probably even harder when you don't have much time and are decorating in such a warm environment.

With that said, I was underwhelmed by the decorations in both episodes this evening. The cocktail/bubble cakes looked great, some of the envelopes looked really good as well and a couple of the bugs desserts were good.

Overall, I felt like the desserts the bakers did in the first two episodes were more impressive.

The cakes from the first episodes all looked really good though. As in, once they were cut, they all looked well-structured and very appetizing.

 

I've never made one either. I have a recipe in a cook book, however, the recipe seems to be for individual desserts and not a cake. But I googled because I was curious and the first pictures that popped up showed one layer of cake, a dome of ice cream and a layer of meringue about as thin/thick as icing would be at the sides and slightly thicker at the top. 

Did they announce a twist in either episode today? I noticed the flags each baker had added to the baked Alaska and since they didn't necessarily fit with the theme of the cake, I wondered if that might have been the twist for that bake?

 

I have no idea what this kind of pastry would be called in French but is it possible he didn't know what a hand pie was and thought it just had to be a hand-held pastry?
I don't think the first bakes count towards the elimination, so I think he was lucky. Likewise, Steven who didn't have much luck with his bug dessert.

Generally, I kind of wish they would have continued with the two hour episodes, at least, for the first one of tonight when they still had ten bakers. Even I felt rushed by how rushed the judging was, especially for the first challenge. 😄

Robert could have asked one of the other contestants to describe a hand pie. American bakers have to bake pastries from other countries all the time.

[Rammchick]

I think it's annoying when the brief is, make a dessert inspired by xyz, and then the judges say, I don't see that xyz.  No, you weren't meant to.  This is one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't things because you know someone would have gotten dinged if they'd been too literal with the bugs.

Also, Baked Alaska is supposed to be flaming -- brought to the table, doused in alcohol and lit on fire.  Not pre-torched. 

[libgirl2]

2 hours ago, Rammchick said:

 

Also, Baked Alaska is supposed to be flaming -- brought to the table, doused in alcohol and lit on fire.  Not pre-torched. 

I thought they didn't seem right. What they made were more ice cream cakes than anything else. 

[CheshireCat]

2 hours ago, Rammchick said:

I think it's annoying when the brief is, make a dessert inspired by xyz, and then the judges say, I don't see that xyz.  No, you weren't meant to.  This is one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't things because you know someone would have gotten dinged if they'd been too literal with the bugs.

I agree. I'm also not sure it's a fair challenge because making a dessert that is inspired by something is basically making modern art. Not everyone sees the same in modern art, so why should it be different for a dessert? Some see the inspiration, others don't. How do you judge that, though?

Quote

Also, Baked Alaska is supposed to be flaming -- brought to the table, doused in alcohol and lit on fire.  Not pre-torched. 

As far as I know, it's a variation. Putting it in the oven, torching it and dousing it in alcohol are all acceptable ways to do it.

 

4 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

Robert could have asked one of the other contestants to describe a hand pie. American bakers have to bake pastries from other countries all the time.

I believe a hand pie is also a foreign pastry. In this case, the terminology seems to be different, though, whereas I think that for many other pastries, Americans use the same word for the pastry as in the country of origin. (eg, Pate a choux).
But you're right, he could have asked to make sure he got it right.