Spring Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Salacious Kitty]

The Monday @8 slot is going to be taken by BBQ Brawl on June 1. Not sure where they're putting Duff's show. 

Edited May 21 by Salacious Kitty
Forgot the date

[kathyk2]

BBQ Brawl is on Sunday Cutthroat is on Monday. I'll miss Summer Baking Championship it's the only one without Nancy.

[Salacious Kitty]

Ack! Thought June 1 was a Monday. I stand corrected. 

Edited May 21 by Salacious Kitty

[mlp]

I've liked Priya since the beginning and she's been my favorite since Corey left so I'm glad she won.  Her cake wasn't spring-y but it was elegant and apparently delicious even if it had a little too much ganache.  Raveena's cake was lovely but the cake itself had flaws.  Lisa's cake was a distant third IMO.  It looked amateurish.  I was happy with the judges' decision.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I liked Summer Baking Championship, but since it was always the new baking show, it didn't seem a priority for the network.   

I am still disappointed with the outcome of Spring BC, because as far as I'm concerned, the big statement cakes Duff makes are very little cake, and lots of rice cereal glued together with icing, so having an issue with how dry a cake is to support the weight of the design isn't a big problem to me.   It's a decorating contest supposedly, so go on design.     

[Splashy]

12 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I'll miss Summer Baking Championship it's the only one without Nancy.

The Halloween BC doesn't have Nancy. I really liked the Summer version, as well. I think we did get 2 of them, though, so it wasn't just a one-off. I hate the long gap over the summer. 

[Rammchick]

I noticed in the previews that the new Duff show will have baketestants in it who were on Is It Cake? and last fall's Harry Potter baking competition.  It's the same people over and over because that's what they all specialize in.  I've seen enough of Elizabeth Rowe for a lifetime.

 

Edited May 21 by Rammchick

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, Rammchick said:

I noticed in the previews that the new Duff show will have baketestants in it who were on Is It Cake? and last fall's Harry Potter baking competition.  It's the same people over and over because that's what they all specialize in.  I've seen enough of Elizabeth Rowe for a lifetime.

 

I know what you mean, always the same people. 

[carrps]

18 hours ago, Pi237 said:

His show was automatically recorded after this one on my DVR. I didn’t watch it though. 

Yeah, on ours, too. I was really surprised to see two hours on the dvr. We didn't watch either. Gigantic cakes? Nah. I was never crazy about the actual cakes on Duff's original show. I watched for the people who I liked. 

Priya's cake looked dull and dead from the front to me. Those very easy shapes didn't require too much skill, and all she had to do was add a bunch of messy chocolate "hair" to the back. 

I don't understand why Duff said that Lisa's flavors were two expected (or something...I can't remember the exact words he used), and Priya's wasn't? Chocolate/orange is more cliche than rose/raspberry.

I heard about the fires before I saw the show, and I thought they would be more impressive. Maybe they got worse after they left? Having to sit and watch the TV and hope the fires didn't get to my neighborhood here in L.A. earlier this year, I know what it's like. My sister and her family had been evacuated three times over the years, and they were closer than Priya appeared to be.

[RoxiP]

I got the impression that Duff's comments were more about using vanilla cake, not the flavors used with it.  

I wonder if Priya's cake was a lot more detailed in person - the chocolate all kind of blended together in the television - perhaps in person it was more unique.  

[CrazyInAlabama]

5 hours ago, Rammchick said:

I noticed in the previews that the new Duff show will have baketestants in it who were on Is It Cake? and last fall's Harry Potter baking competition.  It's the same people over and over because that's what they all specialize in.  I've seen enough of Elizabeth Rowe for a lifetime.

 

I suspect they're taping these one after another, to save on money.    I don't even watch the non-Baking Championships. 

[cowgirlwen]

On 5/19/2025 at 9:02 PM, mojoween said:

Priya’s cake was ugly as fuck!  Lisa’s wasn’t hair but that mossy bucket was?  Raveena’s cake was even better and I would have actually given her the win.

Agree 100%!!!  The challenge was to make a cake of Marie Antionette's HAIR!!!  Not a topiary.  I get that she was thinking outside the box, and trying to stretch her "spring garden" theme, but that wasn't even close to meeting the challenge.  

On 5/20/2025 at 8:46 AM, dleighg said:

So they conveniently had pictures of Ravena at Versailles. Wonder what all they ask them to dig up before coming.

Seemed odd to me that Ravena conveniently had pictures of her in France, and Lisa had a picture of her with a peacock, which tied directly to their final cakes.  

[RoxiP]

33 minutes ago, cowgirlwen said:

Seemed odd to me that Ravena conveniently had pictures of her in France, and Lisa had a picture of her with a peacock, which tied directly to their final cakes.  

These shows were filmed a long time ago - perhaps they sent the contestants home and said "Hey, if you happen to have such and such picture..."

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, RoxiP said:

"Hey, if you happen to have such and such picture..."

good point.

[Salacious Kitty]

4 hours ago, cowgirlwen said:

Agree 100%!!!  The challenge was to make a cake of Marie Antionette's HAIR!!!  Not a topiary.  I get that she was thinking outside the box, and trying to stretch her "spring garden" theme, but that wasn't even close to meeting the challenge.  

Seemed odd to me that Ravena conveniently had pictures of her in France, and Lisa had a picture of her with a peacock, which tied directly to their final cakes.  

Production gets those pictures at a later date and splices them in. Raveena likely mentioned her trip and production asked for pictures. Same with Lisa and the peacock. Ant least they saved Priya's story to the end, although I think it would have been introduced earlier if she had gone home sooner. It was k and of odd that they held it to the last episode.

[Rammchick]

1 hour ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Same with Lisa and the peacock. 

Granted, that does seem oddly specific.

[libgirl2]

3 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

Granted, that does seem oddly specific.

Yes, it does. 

[Salacious Kitty]

15 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

Granted, that does seem oddly specific.

Sure, but if she has a picture, why not show it?

[Rammchick]

18 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Sure, but if she has a picture, why not show it?

It's not what I meant.  It's an odd coincidence that she just happened to have a picture of herself with a peacock.

[libgirl2]

6 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

It's not what I meant.  It's an odd coincidence that she just happened to have a picture of herself with a peacock.

True, it isn't as if you see them every day. 

[carrps]

Depends on where you live. A friend of mine lives near the L.A. Arboretum, and she sees them every dang day! They're very noisy, and they cause a lot of damage to roofs in the neighborhood.

 

[MerBearHou]

8 minutes ago, carrps said:

Depends on where you live. A friend of mine lives near the L.A. Arboretum, and she sees them every dang day! They're very noisy, and they cause a lot of damage to roofs in the neighborhood.

 

We have a peacock who roams our street and the neighbors named him Kevin.  He's gorgeous.  But nope, I don't have an up close photo with the two of us -- that isn't happening with Kevin!  

[Rammchick]

On 5/23/2025 at 9:41 AM, MerBearHou said:

We have a peacock who roams our street and the neighbors named him Kevin.  He's gorgeous.  But nope, I don't have an up close photo with the two of us -- that isn't happening with Kevin!  

We have a Kevin on our island (in fact, at one time, we had several Kevins).  But yeah, actually having a picture with one is a different story, not to mention getting that as a challenge.

Edited May 26 by Rammchick

[mlp]

Having a picture with a peacock doesn't seem odd to me at all.  I've been to many zoos and a lot of them have peacocks roaming around.  People take pictures of them and with them all the time.  I think I could find a shot of myself with one if I dug into old photos far enough.

[tv echo]

If you ask me, this was the most needlessly theatrical season of Spring Baking Championship yet
By Gouri Maheshwari   May 24, 2025
https://www.soapcentral.com/shows/if-ask-me-needlessly-theatrical-season-spring-baking-championship-yet 

[jcbrown]

I was out of the country when this aired so I tried to watch the finale last night. Three times. Kept going to sleep. Got up this morning and still did not remember who won until I checked here. That pretty much sums up this season for me.

On 5/24/2025 at 7:44 AM, tv echo said:

If you ask me, this was the most needlessly theatrical season of Spring Baking Championship yet
By Gouri Maheshwari   May 24, 2025
https://www.soapcentral.com/shows/if-ask-me-needlessly-theatrical-season-spring-baking-championship-yet 

And I think this is a big reason the season did not land for me. It seemed tailored for social media rather than being about baking. So many dumb challenges. Who wants to eat something that glows in the dark? Why is a Marie Antoinette hairstyle cake even a thing?

Edited May 25 by jcbrown

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, jcbrown said:

And I think this is a big reason the season did not land for me. It seemed tailored for social media rather than being about baking. So many dumb challenges. Who wants to eat something that glows in the dark? Why is a Marie Antoinette hairstyle cake even a thing?

Don't forget Minecraft cakes! 

[mscool]

On 5/20/2025 at 11:32 AM, Ancaster said:

Most modern microwaves can take metal these days. 

I don't think even modern microwaves can take a full metal bowl like she was using.  Microwaves with convection features can take some metal, but I've never seen one that can take a steel or aluminum bowl like that. 

Personally, I'd have gotten the blow torch to heat up the sides of the bowl until it would slide out, then move it to a microwaveable bowl to soften it. Would have been faster than a double boiler method.  I'm not sure it mattered either way - seemed to have hardened back to candy bar texture anyway. 

 

[Deskisamess]

On 5/20/2025 at 11:32 AM, Ancaster said:

Most modern microwaves can take metal these days.  Or she could have anticipated the problem and used glass/Pyrex.  I'm sure it wasn't the first time she'd had the problem when under a time crunch.

 

Maybe gold trim on a dish, but not a full metal bowl. That would arc for sure and be dangerous.

[KayVeeTeeVee]

What I would give for one of the Championship series to be each baker gets the same ingredient(s) as well as the same tools, and everyone gets two hours to complete the bake.  Oh, and judging is blind.  Those are my wishes!

[carrps]

And NO twists!