Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[bkathi]

14 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

I HAAAAATE rhubarb.  I hate the way it looks- celery (also gross), but it’s red.  I hate the smell. Mostly it’s the taste.  It’s just awful!  I have tried it in pies and preserves and mixed with berries.  There is no amount of sugar or other added flavorings to remove the rhubarb-iness from my tastebuds. And why is it called a fruit?  It’s a vegetable!

Unfortunately this won’t be the last time I have to look at rhubarb on this show.  It seems to be the only staple in the “Spring” pantry.

 

Ha - I love rhubarb but just in pie and with no other fruits involved.  I think they stole that from GBBO - so many of the those contestants use rhubarb because it is a staple in England.  Not hard to find like in the US.

[Brookside]

On 3/10/2020 at 6:10 PM, trudysmom said:

Maybe I'm just burned out on the concept, but I was annoyed for most of the episode.  It seemed like they were all yelling, almost all the time. And the laughter seemed fake, or  forced, like they were told to make Clinton look good because I'm sorry I didn't find him all that funny.  I watched it, changed the channel and could not tell you who won, who went home or even what the challenges were. And no I'm not THAT old, lol.  

The contrast between when they're actually baking and when they're a group is stark.  I swear a crew member must be holding up cue cards saying "Laugh hysterically". 

Another one here who's never heard of fault cakes. The first one must surely have come because of some famous baker's fault (ha!) when cutting a cake in half.

Nancy Barnyard, her drinking, and her pinkie should have been the first to go home.

Not sure I'll be able to watch this again until close to the end.  (I do like Lorraine, Clint, and Duff.)

[Ilovecomputers]

On 3/10/2020 at 9:10 PM, trudysmom said:

Maybe I'm just burned out on the concept, but I was annoyed for most of the episode.  It seemed like they were all yelling, almost all the time. And the laughter seemed fake, or  forced, like they were told to make Clinton look good because I'm sorry I didn't find him all that funny.

Exactly right!  It was almost as if they had a laugh track, because the most innocuous remark brought the booming laughter of what sounded like 50 people.  Stick of the stupid twists, too!  "How am I going to make Kaopectate work in my lemon/coffee tart?"  Nancy:  "I'm not getting the Kaopectate.  Your lemon overwhelms."  I like Clinton but not on this show.  

Anyone else notice how--in the opening credits--they're showing fields and wildlife as if the contestants were out in some glorious meadow somewhere (ala The Great British Baking Championship)?

The bear's butt was cute.  I've seen that idea in Easter cakes.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Ilovecomputers
image

[trudysmom]

1 hour ago, Ilovecomputers said:

1 hour ago, Ilovecomputers said:

Anyone else notice how--in the opening credits--they're showing fields and wildlife as if the contestants were out in some glorious meadow somewhere (ala The Great British Baking Championship)?

 

Yes!  I thought the same thing!  Birds chirping, pastoral scenes, all to evoke some peaceful scene...from a studio in New York most likely filmed in the middle of winter!   I'm sorry, they got nothing on TGBBC.  Love me some Paul and Mary, or Paul and Pru.

[Richness]

Every time I see Arin, I think of Stephen Stucker's Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs, the slightly unhinged  Air Traffic Controller in Airplane!

[MerBearHou]

1 hour ago, Richness said:

Every time I see Arin, I think of Stephen Stucker's Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs, the slightly unhinged  Air Traffic Controller in Airplane!

That is perfect!!!!  hahahaha

[BusyOctober]

Arin?? And his up-speak?? Are really?? Super duper annoying??  I yelled , “Stop it!! Just STOP IT!” at the TV. And I don’t think he deserved the win based on the look of it.

A lot of bakers used berries as their “spring” fruit.  I know fruits and veggies are in season at different times in various regions, but berries are summer fruits in my New England Yankee mind.  At least there wasn’t any damned rhubarb in site this week.

[Guest]

I was amused by the back and forth between Aisha and Clinton over the turmeric:

"Oh, I've never had turmeric! [takes big dip into the jar]"

"Well, that's a lot."

"[grimaces].........you're going to add sugar, right?" 

And then them making knowing faces at each other at judging when Lorraine detected it. It was cute.

[springbarb]

I was SO annoyed with Nancy during judging. You can't ask the bakers to make a night sky themed dessert and then get annoyed where there aren't colors and it doesn't look spring-y!

[Brookside]

2 hours ago, springbarb said:

I was SO annoyed with Nancy during judging. You can't ask the bakers to make a night sky themed dessert and then get annoyed where there aren't colors and it doesn't look spring-y!

You beat me to it!  And one of the few she said did look "spring-y" had Christmas trees on it.

I thought there were several beautiful cakes, but they had nothing to do with spring.

Nancy and Lorraine loved the look of the moon one from the first round winner - I thought it was hideous.  (Not that I watch the show, but it looked like something Dr Pimple Popper would like to get her hands on.)

[Ilovecomputers]

Seemed like everyone was using mirror glaze.  Is that even edible?  Strawberries don't even come into season in my neck of the woods until June and blueberries, August.   When I saw the challenge, it occurred to me that they've officially run out of ideas.

[Eliza422]

I think they rely so much on fruit despite the various seasons fruits ripen in to get people away from a lot of chocolate and spice flavors in their desserts.

Personally, I don't give two shits about what time of year it is, I love chocolate cake.

 

 

[ruffy666]

Maybe my positive reaction after last week's show was a little premature, haha.  A few of the contestants really get on my nerves and it's a little surprising that most of them are professional bakers/pastry chefs. 

The forced, hysterical laughter at all the dad jokes is... weird?  I'm sure all emotions are heightened in this pressure cooker environment but having a contestant and Clinton look into each other's eyes and hyena-laugh for 10 seconds is just bizarre

 

[Spunkygal]

12 hours ago, springbarb said:

I was SO annoyed with Nancy during judging. You can't ask the bakers to make a night sky themed dessert and then get annoyed where there aren't colors and it doesn't look spring-y!

Same here. Someone should have put a bunny turd in the foreground to add a special spring touch.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Spunkygal

[Rammchick]

3 hours ago, Ilovecomputers said:

Seemed like everyone was using mirror glaze.  Is that even edible?  Strawberries don't even come into season in my neck of the woods until June and blueberries, August.   When I saw the challenge, it occurred to me that they've officially run out of ideas.

I think that's exactly it.  They did this on the Kid's Baking Championship as well, when the bakes had weird themes the kids had trouble pulling off.  I get that they want these shows to be fresh, but there have to be better ideas out there than this.

[ShelleySue]

I'm afraid that each week the stampede at the beginning is going to get more and more violent.  On the Kids' version they had broken glass.  I'm hoping that the Spring version doesn't result in a broken bone.  I was thinking that their has to be a better way for the theme to be chosen (e.g. reaching into a bag), but I guess that that wouldn't be as dramatic.

[Spunkygal]

20 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

I think that's exactly it.  They did this on the Kid's Baking Championship as well, when the bakes had weird themes the kids had trouble pulling off.  I get that they want these shows to be fresh, but there have to be better ideas out there than this.

And I hated the twist of taking 10 minutes away...in a baking competition. This show is a joke, but I keep watching. 

[Rammchick]

50 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

And I hated the twist of taking 10 minutes away...in a baking competition. This show is a joke, but I keep watching. 

Ha, I fell asleep at some point and never heard mention of that until the judging.  Stupid twist.

[Mittengirl]

On 3/13/2020 at 6:23 PM, trudysmom said:

Birds chirping, pastoral scenes, all to evoke some peaceful scene...from a studio in New York most likely filmed in the middle of winter! 

A few years (seasons) ago a guy from Kalamazoo (MI) won and in an interview with a local paper he mentioned the show was filmed in New Orleans, I believe.  I think he was on the Spring version.  I remember at the time thinking that N.O. was a strange location.  

[theatremouse]

This was so bizarre. I liked the night sky theme, because hey it's something new and interesting and most of the cakes looked cool.

But, yeah, Nancy needs to STFU with the "look springey". It didn't need to look springey. It needed to look like the thing they told them it needed to look like. No average human could look at a photo of the night sky and tell you if it were taken in April or August.

[LittleIggy]

I think the lady who used mayo in her cake and decorated with butter cream frosting should have won. Her cake was beautiful.

[Rammchick]

15 hours ago, theatremouse said:

But, yeah, Nancy needs to STFU with the "look springey". It didn't need to look springey. It needed to look like the thing they told them it needed to look like. No average human could look at a photo of the night sky and tell you if it were taken in April or August.

And a spring night sky -- or any true night sky -- was definitely not depicted on any of those cakes when the stars were put on randomly, as splatter.  Yes, that's asking a bit much of these bakers.

[mlp]

After the first episode, I had hopes that Nancy had been told to tone down the stupid comments she makes.  Guess not.  Exactly how did she think a baker should take a theme like "night sky" and make it "springy" and colorful.  Ridiculous.

It's too bad that the woman who won the first heat lost the second and got eliminated but her moon cake looked pretty bad.  The moon wasn't centered on the cake either but none of the judges mentioned that.

 

[trudysmom]

Okay, more ranting.  WHY make them run up and grab something off a table like a bunch of kids?  Just put a number on their station, odds get sunset, evens get sunrise.  Done.  Plant the supersecretspecial ingredient on the stations at random, in sealed envelopes or whatever, no way to know who got what until they're opened.  Stop having grown ass people trample each other for stupid picture or prop.

Social distancing!!!😀

[littlebennysmom]

6 hours ago, trudysmom said:

Okay, more ranting.  WHY make them run up and grab something off a table like a bunch of kids?  Just put a number on their station, odds get sunset, evens get sunrise.  Done.  Plant the supersecretspecial ingredient on the stations at random, in sealed envelopes or whatever, no way to know who got what until they're opened.  Stop having grown ass people trample each other for stupid picture or prop.

Social distancing!!!😀

This has been a pet peeve of mine with this show.  It's not necessary, it's childish, and it rewards people for being pushy/grabby.  I like your ideas for assigning flavors/ingredients.

And do the producers think they're "adding drama" by having them do this?  If drama's what they want, have each contestant drop their name in a hat and have the host pick them out one at a time, and do it all on camera (to avoid cheating/fixing accusations).  They could always cut from nervous face to nervous face -- "ooh, I hope my name is picked next because I loooove maple but hate matcha!"

[Guest]

7 hours ago, littlebennysmom said:

This has been a pet peeve of mine with this show.  It's not necessary, it's childish, and it rewards people for being pushy/grabby.  I like your ideas for assigning flavors/ingredients.

And do the producers think they're "adding drama" by having them do this?  If drama's what they want, have each contestant drop their name in a hat and have the host pick them out one at a time, and do it all on camera (to avoid cheating/fixing accusations).  They could always cut from nervous face to nervous face -- "ooh, I hope my name is picked next because I loooove maple but hate matcha!"

That would take up a lot of show time, though, especially in the early episodes when there's 10 or more of them. Running up and grabbing things takes like 5 seconds, leaving more time to show baking. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by tracyscott76

[littlebennysmom]

39 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

That would take up a lot of show time, though, especially in the early episodes when there's 10 or more of them. Running up and grabbing things takes like 5 seconds, leaving more time to show baking. 

I was thinking they could just use this in the same time used for insipid callouts like, "How y'all doin?", or in place of Nancy's critiques. 😂

[Spunkygal]

9 hours ago, littlebennysmom said:

This has been a pet peeve of mine with this show.  It's not necessary, it's childish, and it rewards people for being pushy/grabby.  I like your ideas for assigning flavors/ingredients.

And do the producers think they're "adding drama" by having them do this?  If drama's what they want, have each contestant drop their name in a hat and have the host pick them out one at a time, and do it all on camera (to avoid cheating/fixing accusations).  They could always cut from nervous face to nervous face -- "ooh, I hope my name is picked next because I loooove maple but hate matcha!"

My preference is that there be no design or flavor tricks and no mad dash. Just let them create what they want as if they were in their own bakery. Works pretty well on GBBO.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, littlebennysmom said:

I was thinking they could just use this in the same time used for insipid callouts like, "How y'all doin?", or in place of Nancy's critiques. 😂

Fair enough! I will say, aside from her "it doesn't scream Spring/Holiday" refrain, I've found Nancy to be okay lately in terms of her critiques. It certainly seems like they've toned down the friction between her and Lorraine, anyway, which I always found awkward.

Mostly what I pay attention to during the judge's comments is how they telegraph the fate of whichever bakers I've decided are my favorites (this time it's Tati, Aisha and Val, in no particular order).

[Rammchick]

I'm enjoying the fact that Clinton is now saying, "You're done!" when time is up the same way Nicole does on Nailed It 😉

[springbarb]

1 hour ago, Rammchick said:

I'm enjoying the fact that Clinton is now saying, "You're done!" when time is up the same way Nicole does on Nailed It 😉

Yes! As soon as he said that, my BF and I were like, "Someone's been watching Nailed It!"

They've occasionally had people take a themed prop from a group without being able to see what's written on the back. That seems like the easiest way to handle being assigned flavors/decorations/whatever.

[ruffy666]

On 3/19/2020 at 5:26 AM, Spunkygal said:

My preference is that there be no design or flavor tricks and no mad dash. Just let them create what they want as if they were in their own bakery. Works pretty well on GBBO.

Huh, does anyone  know if Best Baker in America is coming back?  I think that's the closest you'll get on Food Network.  

 

[TVbitch]

Just caught up on first two episodes. Oof, some of the bakes were a hot mess. There is some potential though.

Have to say I do not care for this host. Is he new? He adds nothing, isn't funny, and his interactions with the contestants are mostly awkward or cringe-worthy. He makes Jesse Palmer look like Tom Bergeron. : D 

[trudysmom]

Well that was stupid.  Dogs and cats.  Really?  They need to just stop the show because these themes are ridiculous.  Clinton is more annoying every week.

[BusyOctober]

When you have challenges making cat and dog motif baked goods,  shoe-horned into a “spring” themed show, it is time to pull the plug. Cats as eclairs? Dogs who do sports activities? WTF?  Everything looked so amateurish.  Hearing the bakers describe some of the flavor combos was gag inducing.  These people deserve better than this to show their skills.

And the stupid puns and jokes need to stop. That crap didn’t play well on the kids version, it surely doesn’t belong here.  It only encourages camera hogs and attention whores <<cough Arin cough>> to attempt their witticisms.  Stop it.

[springbarb]

I did like that for the main round, they weren't told what type of dessert to make--it allowed them to be more creative, and there was a lot of variety. I was surprised that it was Franck going; I was sure it'd be Aris.

[Guest]

I see Frisbee's copyright is still going strong. "Flying disc", indeed.

The themes do seem a little silly when the co-winners of the preheat were chosen solely on taste, since one's cat decoration was called a pig, and the other had no cat at all (not that I blame Aisha - she ran out of time and had to give them something).

I did enjoy the wide range of theme interpretation in the main heat. Not only the different kinds of desserts, as already mentioned, but also the vast difference in interpretation, from the very literal (dog face pie and literal kayak) to the very abstract (random arrangement of ingredients and sauce smears) and everything in between.

Edited to add that I'm enjoying Tati's more subtle sense of humor as opposed to the probably producer-encouraged puns. In the first episode, her statement that she had made a grapefruit dessert after Duff declared that he didn't want to hear about another rhubarb dessert, and this episode, her saying that she went with strawberries & cream as a Wimbledon dessert rather than fish & chips.

Edited March 24, 2020 by tracyscott76
Wasn't long-winded enough :P

[dleighg]

Arin:"Blackberries are at their peak in the springtime."

Huh? Around me, blackberries are a mid to late summer thing!

[Rammchick]

20 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Arin:"Blackberries are at their peak in the springtime."

Huh? Around me, blackberries are a mid to late summer thing!

Yep, here too.  And cherries are summer as well.

Australian shepherds are an American breed.  You could go on and on.  But I don't blame the bakers one bit when these stupid challenges are such a stretch.  It's no wonder the results aren't much better than that produced by the Kids Baking Championship.

And Nancy and her preoccupation with the bakes being springy must be producer driven.  I hope.

[dewelar]

When Sohrob did his cherry "splatter", the first thing I thought of was "someone stabbed that poor dog and it bled out on the plate".

[CrazyDog]

I don't care if this show reaches sometimes...it's exactly the kind of light-hearted entertainment I need right now. And as someone who volunteered at an animal shelter for years, I DO totally associate spring with kittens 🙂 

Clinton's having fun goofing around.

Loved seeing Sohrob get a win...I like him a lot. And what the hell, I like Arin too. The pig nose was a huge miss though, lol.

Christina...I can't relate to someone who doesn't like dogs OR cats. Her cake last week was pretty beautiful though.

That being said, I don't recall many of the desserts. Are pictures posted anywhere?

They do need to mix up the judges though. Duff gives actual baking critiques, Nancy only cares if the colors are springy, and Lorraine tends to be somewhere in the middle.

[Ilovecomputers]

On 3/23/2020 at 10:27 PM, BusyOctober said:

When you have challenges making cat and dog motif baked goods,  shoe-horned into a “spring” themed show, it is time to pull the plug. Cats as eclairs? Dogs who do sports activities? WTF?  Everything looked so amateurish.

Don't know the baker's name, but she actually tied as a winner for the pre-heat.  Her cat eclair had absolutely NO decorations.  It looked like a carrot.  How does a carrot win over some real attempts at cat decorations?  Then the same baker was not eliminated for her "abstract" poodle.  Boo!  Hiss!  The awkward guy had a beautiful dessert, but I don't remember what dog/sport combo he had. 

They should give Franck and Florian their own show with subtitles.

[dleighg]

2 minutes ago, Ilovecomputers said:

The awkward guy had a beautiful dessert, but I don't remember what dog/sport combo he had. 

But his eclair was the pig one (and don't try to convince me that a slab of fondant on top of an eclair actually tastes good). I actually liked the glossy "carrot" cat eclair. Much more appealing than fondant.

[ruffy666]

I mean, I'm not a stickler for challenge themes but I was definitely taken aback by how much of a stretch this one was... "Make an eclair based on names for orange cats."  Just... let that sink in for a second.  I'm rooting for Sohrob even though his arm tattoo looks like a badly-healed wound.

This is an insane and inappropriate stereotype but I was legitimately surprised by how bad most of Franck's stuff turned out... I guess I expect every French person on a baking show to be an absolute pro!

 

[Rammchick]

57 minutes ago, ruffy666 said:

This is an insane and inappropriate stereotype but I was legitimately surprised by how bad most of Franck's stuff turned out... I guess I expect every French person on a baking show to be an absolute pro!

 

It was obvious that Franck's head was not in the game.  He admitted to as much when he exited, that he didn't realize how much he was going to miss his family.

[Maya]

Anyone else sense some chemistry between Clinton and Sohrob? Lol 

[Eliza422]

1 hour ago, ruffy666 said:

This is an insane and inappropriate stereotype but I was legitimately surprised by how bad most of Franck's stuff turned out... I guess I expect every French person on a baking show to be an absolute pro!

 

I think everyone feels that way! I was also surprised that he went out so early. I guess as stereotypes go it's not too bad, but I always assume a French person will have a leg up on any baking competition.

[theatremouse]

Straight up, when that dude said "mine looks like a pig", I thought he said "mine looks like a dick". 

[trudysmom]

On 3/25/2020 at 10:51 AM, Maya said:

Anyone else sense some chemistry between Clinton and Sohrob? Lol 

I was thinking Clinton and Arin, lol.  

[MerBearHou]

2 minutes ago, trudysmom said:

I was thinking Clinton and Arin, lol.  

I thought the same about those two!  At a minimum, seems like they have a fun rapport and think the other is pretty cute.