Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Rammchick]

On 3/26/2024 at 8:57 AM, Frost said:

Is Anna a home baker?  I thought "not classically trained" just meant she learned from working in a bakery rather than attending Cordon Bleu or something.

No, she's not a home baker.  But I think we remarked at the beginning of the season that she was going to fill the role the home baker usually has, of reminding us every 10 minutes that she's a home baker, but in this case, "not classically trained".

 

Edited March 27 by Rammchick
Because roll and role aren't the same thing

[dleighg]

I noticed that Kardea (when Anna had her meltdown) said something like "the best cooks learn at home." Maybe she's just wrong.

[Pi237]

I Hate team challenges-all that forced rah-rah camaraderie & high-fiving makes me cringe.  
 

Felt bad for Sabrina, but was impressed at how Katelyn handled it. Kept a cool head, and didn’t blow up on her. Id never be able to keep my emotions in check under that kind of pressure. (Until I remembered the prize was only $25,000. Haha I keep harping on that, I can’t help myself) 

The shaped cakes look cool, but when you see how much handling they require, it turns you off wanting to eat any, I’d keep seeing all those hands smushing and poking into the cake lol

The donuts did look burnt, and most of their colors weren’t very bright. I was waiting for Nancy to complain about the lack of bright colors, but she didn’t seem too concerned with it. 

[dleighg]

37 minutes ago, Pi237 said:

The shaped cakes look cool, but when you see how much handling they require, it turns you off wanting to eat any, I’d keep seeing all those hands smushing and poking into the cake lol

when Sabrina was trying to glue the head on, she was squishing cake pop glue all over it. All I could think of is "what is a slice of that mess going to look like???"

[mlp]

2 hours ago, Pi237 said:

The shaped cakes look cool, but when you see how much handling they require, it turns you off wanting to eat any, I’d keep seeing all those hands smushing and poking into the cake lol

I always think the same thing when I watch the kids' baking shows.  I've often wondered how the judges can put some things in their mouths.

[ladyscorpio]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:39 PM, mlp said:

I don't think I would have realized any of those desserts were supposed to be abstract bugs if I hadn't been told beforehand.  Even knowing the assignment, I thought most of them were really reaching.

I agree, they looked nothing like bugs. Almost all of them looked very messy too. I think the one that looked the least messy was Alex's. I liked the purple colors on Robert's. I thought most of the Baked Alaska's looked messy too, except for the igloo one. Zoe's vocal fry bugs me really bad. 

Edited March 27 by ladyscorpio

[MsJamieDornan]

17 hours ago, Frost said:

 Even if the cake was cold, the head seemed way too large (and therefore heavy) to be held up by that size of a cake

I agree. I dont know much about cake sculpting but when I saw her try to attach the head I was sure it was too heavy.

[DEL901]

45 minutes ago, MsJamieDornan said:

I agree. I dont know much about cake sculpting but when I saw her try to attach the head I was sure it was too heavy.

There was a reason everyone else just made a head.

 

[dleighg]

they showed some (very impressive) examples of Sabrina's sculpting work, and I think she wanted to show off her skills. But presumably the short time frame did her in.

[laredhead]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

they showed some (very impressive) examples of Sabrina's sculpting work, and I think she wanted to show off her skills. But presumably the short time frame did her in.

I always cringe a bit when one of the bakers brags about how great their skills are at a particular thing.  Last week the baker who bragged a bit about his experience with replicating bubbles had trouble with them.  Under ideal circumstances they might execute their skills perfectly, but under a time constraint, and under studio lights among other unfamiliar circumstances, perhaps not bragging about being able to do something would be a good idea.

[libgirl2]

56 minutes ago, laredhead said:

I always cringe a bit when one of the bakers brags about how great their skills are at a particular thing.  Last week the baker who bragged a bit about his experience with replicating bubbles had trouble with them.  Under ideal circumstances they might execute their skills perfectly, but under a time constraint, and under studio lights among other unfamiliar circumstances, perhaps not bragging about being able to do something would be a good idea.

Very true. Don't brag about it until you know it is successful! 

 

[ruffy666]

1 hour ago, laredhead said:

I always cringe a bit when one of the bakers brags about how great their skills are at a particular thing.  Last week the baker who bragged a bit about his experience with replicating bubbles had trouble with them.  Under ideal circumstances they might execute their skills perfectly, but under a time constraint, and under studio lights among other unfamiliar circumstances, perhaps not bragging about being able to do something would be a good idea.

i gotta assume this is more producer fuckery because a comment like that is 99.99% foreshadowing for the end of the episode

[DEL901]

7 hours ago, ruffy666 said:

i gotta assume this is more producer fuckery because a comment like that is 99.99% foreshadowing for the end of the episode

7 hours ago, ruffy666 said:

agree.  A combination of the producers asking leading questions…and we don’t really know how many people told the cameras they were good at something, but we only get shown the one who fails at their specialty.  

[2soon2tell]

I think there may have been another edited twist. Rochelle and Alex’s cake featured two little treats (truffles? Small cakes?) held up by the elephant’s nose. Sabrina and Kate had a little bucket filled with peanut shaped treats. Robert and Nickey had macarons. I couldn’t really tell on Anne and Steve’s, but I think it had some flower shaped cookie trim.

 

 

[libgirl2]

45 minutes ago, 2soon2tell said:

I think there may have been another edited twist. Rochelle and Alex’s cake featured two little treats (truffles? Small cakes?) held up by the elephant’s nose. Sabrina and Kate had a little bucket filled with peanut shaped treats. Robert and Nickey had macarons. I couldn’t really tell on Anne and Steve’s, but I think it had some flower shaped cookie trim.

 

 

I wondered about the little cakes but the peanuts I thought were just part of the theme. Interesting. Are they cutting some of the twists out? Is it broadcast time? Are they not big enough trainwrecks? 

[libgirl2]

Macarons last week? I don't remember those. 

[libgirl2]

They are all just a pile of macarons. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

So preheat challenge, macarons that are made into a corsage.  

Rochelle's corsage looks like a burger, sinking in a bowl of icing.   Some looked spectacular, but like piles of macarons, and none looked like a corsage to me.  There doesn't seem to be anything in the middle, either the baker succeeded or failed totally.   I don't think Anna's look like a corsage either, but Anna won. 

Then, the one I'm looking forward to, the prom dress tsunami cakes. I love Nickey's cake with the blackout chocolate, Robert's is gorgeous, but the glaze didn't flow as well as it should.   Steven's is gorgeous.  Katelyn's apparently tasted great, but it was too one note with all of the red for me.  Anna's didn't flow well either, it's way too thick, and not enough flavor.     Alex's looks fantastic and really looks like a confetti cake.  Rochelle's is so plain on the skirt, and the tsunami effect makes up for it.  Rochelle wins the round. 

Steven and Anna are on the bottom.  Anna goes home. 

Edited April 2 by CrazyInAlabama

[mojoween]

Ok so this time Anna didn’t cry, but everyone else did.  Stop crying!

Nickey’s cake was gorgeous.  If only the taste worked she would have won for sure.

When Alex got confetti cake somewhere Molly looked up, but she doesn’t know why.

[Grizzly]

It was plain weird to see Nancy as a brunette. 

[Frost]

I think the judges/producers are considering the past.  There's no way a "one note" cake loses over Steven's gummy cake.  Duff stuck his finger in it to show the horrible texture!   Not that I'm complaining, I would have been bummed out if Steven left.

We're stuck with Rochelle another week.  Sigh.  I was so hopeful when she screwed up the macarons so badly, but then her prom dress was spectacular.

[libgirl2]

7 hours ago, Frost said:

I think the judges/producers are considering the past.  There's no way a "one note" cake loses over Steven's gummy cake.  Duff stuck his finger in it to show the horrible texture!   Not that I'm complaining, I would have been bummed out if Steven left.

We're stuck with Rochelle another week.  Sigh.  I was so hopeful when she screwed up the macarons so badly, but then her prom dress was spectacular.

Rolex strikes again! His cake was gorgeous and I loved the two tone on hers. Lovely. 

[cowgirlwen]

Once again, the "twist" dramatically changed the outcome!  Nickey had to completely rethink her planned cake (dark chocolate with espresso), to incorporate the fruit punch into it instead.  She pulled it off the best she could, but I can't help but think she might have won the heat if she didn't have to pair flavors that don't go together at the last minute.  Who wants to eat ANYTHING with fruit punch syrup or powder in it anyways?  🤢

Anna, Anna, Anna...  When will people learn that coating chocolate is to be used for decorating purposes only?  Didn't she pay attention earlier in the season when Robert was scolded for using coating chocolate as a frosting?  He got thru by the skin of his teeth, but poor Anna wasn't so lucky.  I agree with someone above, that prior bakes were probably taken into consideration this week.  Usually unbaked desserts would lose out over flavor issues.  But Steven has won enough previous challenges, that he could not be let go so easily.  Sad to see the underdog get sent home though.  

Rochelle seems to be either very top or very bottom in every bake.  She's been lucky her "very top" have come during the main heats to keep her alive in the competition.

[libgirl2]

I was thinking about some of these twists, it is a good idea to chose flavors that aren't too strong or pronounced do something crazy can work with it. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Or tell them the twist before they start baking, so they can plan a good compliment to the twist.    

[libgirl2]

13 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Or tell them the twist before they start baking, so they can plan a good compliment to the twist.    

But then it wouldn't be a surprise twist. 

[rlc]

I'm tired of watching the judges feign dismay about the 'surprise twist' not working. What did you expect when you give them fruit punch as an ingredient after they have baked their cakes. I'm glad Steven wasn't sent home. I kind of wish Alex had won last night for so fully embracing the use of sprinkles in this (blessedly) Molly-free season.

[laredhead]

I liked seeing the prom pictures of Duff and Nancy when they were younger.  By the end of the show, I was liking Nancy with the brown hair.  That blue eye shadow was totally from her high school days style.  As for the cakes - meh.  I've never heard of tsunami cakes.  Actually, when my mom would make chocolate fudge frosting for her cakes, every once in a while it wouldn't set, and would be runny.  Instead of apologizing for the frosting not setting, she could have dubbed it a tsunami cake.  We loved it anyway, and I remember eating it with a spoon sometimes.

[RoxiP]

Anna's tsunami was her downfall, but I did get a bit confused by them complaining that all they could taste in her cake was orange when THAT WAS THE FLAVOR SHE WAS ASSIGNED!  

[libgirl2]

1 minute ago, RoxiP said:

Anna's tsunami was her downfall, but I did get a bit confused by them complaining that all they could taste in her cake was orange when THAT WAS THE FLAVOR SHE WAS ASSIGNED!  

What was the green in her cake though? 

[mojoween]

Steven said he made a pound cake.  Isn’t it supposed to look like that?

[libgirl2]

19 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Steven said he made a pound cake.  Isn’t it supposed to look like that?

Yes, but I think it was too "wet". 

[dleighg]

One of the bakers was scooping out her macarons before filling them. Is that typically done?

[libgirl2]

11 minutes ago, dleighg said:

One of the bakers was scooping out her macarons before filling them. Is that typically done?

I don't think so. I thought they were under baked, but the judges liked them. 

[meep.meep]

12 hours ago, Frost said:

We're stuck with Rochelle another week.  Sigh.  I was so hopeful when she screwed up the macarons so badly, but then her prom dress was spectacular.

She's always circling the drain but coming up with a miraculous save.  The color change on the tsunami was fantastic.

[libgirl2]

26 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

She's always circling the drain but coming up with a miraculous save.  The color change on the tsunami was fantastic.

Yea, she does manage to save herself just at the right times. 

[RoxiP]

2 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

What was the green in her cake though? 

For some reason she said it was from the blood oranges...I'm sure it wasn't mold (like they mentioned) unless she was provided with bad ingredients.

[libgirl2]

8 minutes ago, RoxiP said:

For some reason she said it was from the blood oranges...I'm sure it wasn't mold (like they mentioned) unless she was provided with bad ingredients.

I would hope it wasn't mold like they mentioned... wouldn't say much good for the ingredients they give these people. I wonder if it was just a weird color combination? 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I wonder if the blood oranges weren't fully ripe?  Or if it was the little core where it was attached to the tree?   Either way, it shouldn't have been there.  

[Shermie]

14 hours ago, Frost said:

We're stuck with Rochelle another week.  Sigh. 

What’s wrong with Rochelle? Clearly she has enough success to still be there.

I wonder why they don’t provide enough basic tools for all the bakers. Last week someone had to rethink their design because someone else had the large star cutter, and this week someone was asking where the freeze spray was. Why not have one for each baker? They can give them each a top shelf mixmaster and several ovens, but they scrimp on cookie cutters?

[libgirl2]

2 minutes ago, Shermie said:

What’s wrong with Rochelle? Clearly she has enough success to still be there.

I wonder why they don’t provide enough basic tools for all the bakers. Last week someone had to rethink their design because someone else had the large star cutter, and this week someone was asking where the freeze spray was. Why not have one for each baker? They can give them each a top shelf mixmaster and several ovens, but they scrimp on cookie cutters?

I like her, I think she is just very inconsistent and maybe people just don't like that. 

Edited April 2 by libgirl2

[Shermie]

They’re all inconsistent. Not their fault; they have ridiculous time constraints combined with odd ingredients and stupid twists. There’s not a baker out there who could create a perfectly looking and fabulously delicious product every time.

[carrps]

17 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Macarons last week? I don't remember those. 

It was the twist they didn't show. Everybody had some little cakes or cookies with their elephants.

Seems most people are annoyed by Rochelle, but Anna annoyed me more. I can't put my finger on why. She just bugged me. Both my sister and I did yell out to warn her about the coating chocolate, though. Guess she didn't hear us.

Tsumani cakes are another fad that I can't imagine ever becoming an ongoing trend. What a lot of work for two seconds of wow. I did love how Cait wrenched her acetate off so quickly that she ended up "blood" running down the mannequin's neck. Very Goth.

 

[libgirl2]

1 minute ago, carrps said:

It was the twist they didn't show. Everybody had some little cakes or cookies with their elephants.

Seems most people are annoyed by Rochelle, but Anna annoyed me more. I can't put my finger on why. She just bugged me. Both my sister and I did yell out to warn her about the coating chocolate, though. Guess she didn't hear us.

Tsumani cakes are another fad that I can't imagine ever becoming an ongoing trend. What a lot of work for two seconds of wow. I did love how Cait wrenched her acetate off so quickly that she ended up "blood" running down the mannequin's neck. Very Goth.

 

I thought that when they mentioned them. Wasn't it Steven who said they liked his? 

No one bothers me on here this season. I am surprised because there is usually at least one person I can't stand. But, it was fair that Anna went. Boy, she wins the first round and then this. That seems to happen a lot. 

I loved the "bloody" mannequin. 

[docmatt]

4 hours ago, carrps said:

 

Tsumani cakes are another fad that I can't imagine ever becoming an ongoing trend. What a lot of work for two seconds of wow. I did love how Cait wrenched her acetate off so quickly that she ended up "blood" running down the mannequin's neck. Very Goth.

 

Looked like Carrie's prom

[mojoween]

It felt like of all of the bakers, Anna’s talking heads played her greatest hits more than the rest.  Every week it was “not classically trained” “hey did you know I’m Greek?” over and over and it was grating.

[mlp]

43 minutes ago, mojoween said:

It felt like of all of the bakers, Anna’s talking heads played her greatest hits more than the rest.  Every week it was “not classically trained” “hey did you know I’m Greek?” over and over and it was grating.

My opinion also.  She was the only one I really was glad to see leave.  I thought she was a bit too familiar with Jesse and the judges too.

[tennisgurl]

Cait should have leaned into her bloody cake and gone full Carrie. if this was the Halloween Baking Championship she probably would have won! I have mostly liked Anna, even if her "I'm not classically trained" crying did get old, but it seems like her leaving was inevitable. I also think its possible that the judges took previous weeks into account in a way that they often don't, normally anyone who undercooks goes home but I bet they didn't want to let Steven go after so many great weeks. 

Rochelle seems to make either crappy bakes or amazing ones, not a lot of middle ground. Her cascading Tsunami cake was gorgeous and I loved her bakes from the last week. Tsunami cakes are definitely a dessert perfect for reels and TikTok videos. 

Seeing Nancy with brown hair is weirding me out. 

[littlebennysmom]

The brown hair on Nancy was 20 times better than the blond hairdo held up with glasses.  Embrace it, Nancy.

[Mellowyellow]

I really like Nickey so I spent half the episode raging because I was so sure they were going to screw her over when they announced that twist! Especially since her original cake sounded delicious and then to be slapped with an ingredient that actively worked against her flavours! But she saved herself!!!!!!

Anna was the right elimination but I was fond of her too. I like everyone this season so I’m going to be fine with whoever wins. They’re all very good! I hate confetti but that confetti cake looked delicious.