Holiday Baking Championship - General Discussion

[CheshireCat]

25 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

I was surprised that Bill was bottom two. Nancy seemed to adore his cake. That kind of cake is very light in flavor. 

I think it was the fact that he didn't put his own spin on it. That, and someone had to be in the bottom two. It could probably have been anyone other than Dru and Aishia and he just drew the short straw.

I figured that Harshal would one the one going home after he had a not-so-good bake in the first round and Duff then said that it was just a cake with sauce on it for the main challenge. They seemed so delighted with Harshal up until now and then turned on him all of a sudden.

[libgirl2]

10 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

I think it was the fact that he didn't put his own spin on it. That, and someone had to be in the bottom two. It could probably have been anyone other than Dru and Aishia and he just drew the short straw.

I figured that Harshal would one the one going home after he had a not-so-good bake in the first round and Duff then said that it was just a cake with sauce on it for the main challenge. They seemed so delighted with Harshal up until now and then turned on him all of a sudden.

That is probably the case but Aishia (who i have as a top pick to win)  didn't  really either. 

[KayVeeTeeVee]

On 11/30/2022 at 3:47 PM, libgirl2 said:

I know one of our pet peeves is the mispronounciation of mascarpone. Im home sick and binged the Great American Recipe and was pleasantly surprised to hear one of the cooks say it right! 

Yes!  And carmel for caramel.  Those mistakes should disqualify contestants.  :)

[CheshireCat]

4 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

That is probably the case but Aishia (who i have as a top pick to win)  didn't  really either. 

She said something about the filling, I believe. I didn't catch what she said, though, just that she said something.

Maybe that's why she didn't win even though the judges absolutely loved it?

[libgirl2]

22 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

She said something about the filling, I believe. I didn't catch what she said, though, just that she said something.

Maybe that's why she didn't win even though the judges absolutely loved it?

I believe she added the mulled wine to the guava filling. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, CheshireCat said:

2 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

That is probably the case but Aishia (who i have as a top pick to win)  didn't  really either. 

She said something about the filling, I believe. I didn't catch what she said, though, just that she said something.

Maybe that's why she didn't win even though the judges absolutely loved it?

Aishia also put more of a personal spin on the decoration, with the decorated palm tree, San Juan tower, beach and waves. Bill just made a Santa, which was cute and Christmasy and all, but not really putting his own spin on it.

[Dirtybubble]

2 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I'll miss Kristen, but I get why she left. I was glad she stuck up for herself a bit when they were talking about "this doesn't look like 2 hours of work."

Ok I'll be the A-hole here and say I'm glad Kristen was eliminated.  I don't have to listen to that stupid giggle anymore.  And yes it did NOT look like 2 hours of work.  Every baker in this competition can turn out interesting and sometimes complex looking desserts no matter what they are baking, pumpkin pie or not so enh if she can't do it then maybe this just isn't for you.  #sorrynotsorry

Pretty much love everybody else!

[Guest]

Just now, Dirtybubble said:

2 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I'll miss Kristen, but I get why she left. I was glad she stuck up for herself a bit when they were talking about "this doesn't look like 2 hours of work."

Ok I'll be the A-hole here and say I'm glad Kristen was eliminated.  I don't have to listen to that stupid giggle anymore.  And yes it did NOT look like 2 hours of work.  Every baker in this competition can turn out interesting and sometimes complex looking desserts no matter what they are baking, pumpkin pie or not so enh if she can't do it then maybe this just isn't for you.  #sorrynotsorry

Pretty much love everybody else!

That's actually my quote, so I'm not sure how it got attributed to libgirl2.

My point was that the judges were acting like she spent 2 hours on the mousse that she served them, when actually her first attempt (the pies) didn't work out and she needed to come up with something else, so she only had an hour to work on that.

It was still below par and worthy of elimination, I'm not disputing that - I'm just glad she set the record straight. And whether or not her personality is to someone's taste, she's done good work in the competition before, so it's not like she's some hack who didn't deserve to be there.

[mojoween]

Harshal was the right decision but it again made me sad.  His first bake was so pretty.

Dang I wasn’t paying attention when they showed Aisha’s final cake and now I want to see it.

The way they gasped when Dru cut his pie!  I thought it had angels flying out of it, have they never seen the inside of a pie before?

[libgirl2]

25 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Aishia also put more of a personal spin on the decoration, with the decorated palm tree, San Juan tower, beach and waves. Bill just made a Santa, which was cute and Christmasy and all, but not really putting his own spin on it.

that is true and it did look lovely. I was thinking more of the taste than decoration. 

[pally]

The vessal a dessert is served in actually does make a difference.  If the dessert has multiple elements, such as a crust, filling, and topping , it is designed to have all elements in one fork/spoonful.  If the bowl is too deep you can't reach the bottom of it easily to capture the crust.   It becomes very messy and you don't get the full essence of the dessert.   The judges are essentially reminding the bakers to think about all parts of serving and eating a desset.  It doesn't stop with the presentation.

[libgirl2]

7 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Harshal was the right decision but it again made me sad.  His first bake was so pretty.

The way they gasped when Dru cut his pie!  I thought it had angels flying out of it, have they never seen the inside of a pie before?

I think the fact that the pie was set and it did look delicious. 

Poor Harshal, I wonder if he would have been safe if those domes came out? 

[Guest]

Just now, libgirl2 said:

Poor Harshal, I wonder if he would have been safe if those domes came out? 

Unfortunately I don't think so. He was the only one that didn't really make the assigned dessert, and his gelee disc thing that incorporated the twist was too thick. The dome would have looked nice, though!

[libgirl2]

2 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Unfortunately I don't think so. He was the only one that didn't really make the assigned dessert, and his gelee disc thing that incorporated the twist was too thick. The dome would have looked nice, though!

Yes, the rest of it was not that great. 

[Thumper]

I thought that Canadian Sugar Pie (or whatever it was called) looked awful.  Not visually appealing at all.  Is the filling kind of like Pecan Pie filing?  I don’t care for pecan pie either.

New to this show, so I don’t know the contestants’ names.

[libgirl2]

23 minutes ago, Thumper said:

I thought that Canadian Sugar Pie (or whatever it was called) looked awful.  Not visually appealing at all.  Is the filling kind of like Pecan Pie filing?  I don’t care for pecan pie either.

New to this show, so I don’t know the contestants’ names.

It looked good (decor was okay) but I couldn't have more than a couple of bites. I just can't do rich desserts. 

[Rammchick]

28 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

It looked good (decor was okay) but I couldn't have more than a couple of bites. I just can't do rich desserts. 

To me, it looked like it would've been very sweet, which I don't like (although he said he added coffee to temper the sweetness).  I also don't like pecan pie (love pecans, though) or shoofly pie, which I think this must be similar to.

Nancy with that "it's not holiday" is enough to make you want to barf.  So how "holiday" was Dru's pie?  Because the leaves were red and green??  How "holiday" was Bill's cinnamon bun wreath (which looked like a babka, actually)?  It was a wreath and had a bow, but the whole thing was brown.  So Jessica's "cheese" was just as holiday - or not  - as any of those.  She could have told them a story, that her family hides cheese under the tree for Santa's mice, or any other story, and that would've made it "holiday".

[libgirl2]

3 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

To me, it looked like it would've been very sweet, which I don't like (although he said he added coffee to temper the sweetness).  I also don't like pecan pie (love pecans, though) or shoofly pie, which I think this must be similar to.

Nancy with that "it's not holiday" is enough to make you want to barf.  So how "holiday" was Dru's pie?  Because the leaves were red and green??  How "holiday" was Bill's cinnamon bun wreath (which looked like a babka, actually)?  It was a wreath and had a bow, but the whole thing was brown.  So Jessica's "cheese" was just as holiday - or not  - as any of those.  She could have told them a story, that her family hides cheese under the tree for Santa's mice, or any other story, and that would've made it "holiday".

Maybe she could have added a mouse wearing a Santa hat "nibbling" on the cheese? 

[proserpina65]

4 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I figured that Harshal would one the one going home after he had a not-so-good bake in the first round and Duff then said that it was just a cake with sauce on it for the main challenge.

Of course sticky toffee pudding is basically a date-filled cake with toffee sauce on it, so . . . I guess maybe the sauce on Harshal's didn't soak down into the cake enough?  It's a shame his sugar dome didn't work out.  Still, I didn't want Bill to go home so it had to be Harshal.

[libgirl2]

5 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Of course sticky toffee pudding is basically a date-filled cake with toffee sauce on it, so . . . I guess maybe the sauce on Harshal's didn't soak down into the cake enough?  It's a shame his sugar dome didn't work out.  Still, I didn't want Bill to go home so it had to be Harshal.

At this point, I don't want anyone to go home! 

[Guest]

At this point, I only want certain bakers to go home if it means certain others stay. No big crushes this time, but I have my favorites 😄

[RoxiP]

I was trying to figure out what was so "holiday looking" about Dru's - the fact that he piped little Christmas decorations on the plate?

I think the problem with Kristen's mousse was that it was in what looked to me like a mason jar, which made it impossible to get a bite from top to bottom (crust to cream).  I understand that is trendy but I think it could be difficult to eat.

Their big problem was Jessica's wasn't the look but instead they couldn't taste the eggnog portion of the cheesecake.

There seems to be an inborn prejudice against anyone who has worked on a cruise ship.  I always saw it on American Idol and when Harshal said he worked on a cruise ship I figured he wouldn't make it to the end.  

[tennisgurl]

I'm glad that I wasn't alone in being confused by the judging this week, especially Kristen's mousse. Granted, I didn't eat it, but it just looked like mousse to me, its supposed to be goopy. Not surprised that Kristen left this week, she's been struggling more than the others for the last few bakes, but I was surprised to see Hershel go. He's done well so far, even if he didn't nail it this bake. At least Jessica is still around, I like her a lot even if she's on the inconsistent side. She either does really well or really poorly. 

Dru's bake looked fine, but I didn't think it was anything to write home about, it certainly wasn't as good as Aisha's. 

[CheshireCat]

6 hours ago, Thumper said:

I thought that Canadian Sugar Pie (or whatever it was called) looked awful.  Not visually appealing at all.  Is the filling kind of like Pecan Pie filing?

Jesse said it has to have maple syrup in it (although, it sounded like there's a debate about that somewhere) and Dru said he put maple syrup, brown sugar and a bit of honey into it. So, I would imagine that it's a Pecan Pie filling without the pecans.

5 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Of course sticky toffee pudding is basically a date-filled cake with toffee sauce on it, so . . . I guess maybe the sauce on Harshal's didn't soak down into the cake enough? 

That's what I gathered from Duff's comments. He said that a toffee pudding needs to be soggy, so I assumed Harshal's wasn't.

[mlp]

8 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

At this point, I only want certain bakers to go home if it means certain others stay.

I'm sort of there myself.  I like Dru a lot but I loooooove Bill.  I don't want to see either of them leave.

Dru has a cute face.  That mustache and quirky hairdo aren't doing him any favors.  I keep wondering what "Dru" could be short for.  All I can think of is Andrew.  

Every time Nancy complains about something not being holiday enough, I want to ask her why she never brought that up during the spring baking show when pretty much nothing was.  :)

[libgirl2]

10 hours ago, mlp said:

Every time Nancy complains about something not being holiday enough, I want to ask her why she never brought that up during the spring baking show when pretty much nothing was.  :)

Probably because TPTB told them to love every idea Molly had and not even mention Spring. 

[Rammchick]

13 hours ago, mlp said:

Every time Nancy complains about something not being holiday enough, I want to ask her why she never brought that up during the spring baking show when pretty much nothing was.  :)

I figured for sure that she was going to pop up and complain about Bill's Japanese strawberry cake, since strawberries aren't in season (at least in the US) during the holiday season.  But I guess they had "bigger fish to fry" on that one, so to speak, given that Bill didn't put his personal spin on it.  

[dewelar]

On 12/6/2022 at 7:01 AM, CheshireCat said:

I think it was the fact that he didn't put his own spin on it. That, and someone had to be in the bottom two.

Also that he won the advantage in the preheat, so it was his choice to make that particular dessert -- a double shot of playing it too safe.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Rammchick said:

I figured for sure that she was going to pop up and complain about Bill's Japanese strawberry cake, since strawberries aren't in season (at least in the US) during the holiday season.  But I guess they had "bigger fish to fry" on that one, so to speak, given that Bill didn't put his personal spin on it.  

If Nancy had complained about the use of strawberries, Bill would have been justified in throwing the cake at her, considering that the strawberry cake was an option provided by the show, and that strawberries were one of the assigned ingredients in the first hour's rom-com main heat (that Aishia worked with).

[Maya]

He should have mixed in some mulled wine soaked cranberries with the strawberries. 

[Jillybean]

On 12/5/2022 at 10:00 PM, MerBearHou said:

Jesse forgot to mention Aaron was safe!  I’ve never seen that before.

That was so bizarre. Either he forgot, or the editing was weird. 

[libgirl2]

2 hours ago, Jillybean said:

That was so bizarre. Either he forgot, or the editing was weird. 

Probably editing. 

[jcbrown]

On 12/6/2022 at 6:59 AM, Thumper said:

I thought that Canadian Sugar Pie (or whatever it was called) looked awful.  Not visually appealing at all.  Is the filling kind of like Pecan Pie filing?  I don’t care for pecan pie either.

New to this show, so I don’t know the contestants’ names.

I thought it looked delicious but I grew up in Indiana and like sugar cream pie so I totally get that others' mileage varies.

[libgirl2]

Last night I was watching GGG which had a special dessert episode. The one woman looked (and sounded) very familiar. It was Sarah from HBC season 6. She always had all the "cute little" decorations and at times was annoying. 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Last night I was watching GGG which had a special dessert episode. The one woman looked (and sounded) very familiar. It was Sarah from HBC season 6. She always had all the "cute little" decorations and at times was annoying. 

Aw, I liked Sarah! I'll have to try catching that episode.

[MagicEyes]

I didn’t like Kristen at the beginning, but at the end I liked and respected her a lot more, and I was sorry to see her go. I think she’s very talented, and people probably give her a hard time for being young and cute and giggly. I am none of the above, but I can sympathize with how hard that would be to deal with in a profession that’s very difficult. I hope she can keep that good nature and do her work on her own terms instead of trying to fit in with what other people want her to be. 

Also, in her defense, sometimes pumpkin pie is unpredictable, and it can take longer than you expect to firm up.

[proserpina65]

On 12/6/2022 at 4:36 PM, CheshireCat said:

He said that a toffee pudding needs to be soggy,

It shouldn't be soggy.  Moist and you definitely want the toffee sauce to soak down, but not soggy.

[ruffy666]

On 12/5/2022 at 7:05 PM, tracyscott76 said:

Seriously, what the heck was that? "You need to think about your vessel." It was essentially in a giant bowl. You had a spoon, Nancy. You just stick it in there and scoop some out!

In Nancy's defense (something I never thought I'd say!) I can imagine having a rather thick lump of pie crust at the bottom of a cup means you either dig aggressively and slop some mousse out of the top and sides of your vessel, or you eat the mousse first and you're left with a soggy piece of pie crust at the end.

[ruffy666]

43 minutes ago, MagicEyes said:

Also, in her defense, sometimes pumpkin pie is unpredictable, and it can take longer than you expect to firm up.

I made a cheesecake the other day, something I've made a ZILLION times before, and for some reason it was fully baked like 20 minutes before I would normally take it out.  Sometimes baking is unpredictable, for sure!

That said, when she put those pies in the oven, I said to my hubs, "damn those pies are DEEP!" and I knew they weren't going to make it in time.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, ruffy666 said:

In Nancy's defense (something I never thought I'd say!) I can imagine having a rather thick lump of pie crust at the bottom of a cup means you either dig aggressively and slop some mousse out of the top and sides of your vessel, or you eat the mousse first and you're left with a soggy piece of pie crust at the end.

That's fair enough, and in retrospect I can see that was where the criticism was coming from. But at the time, it just sounded so fussy and precious and irritating lol. "Oh my goodness Winston, this dessert is just so hard to eat!" *dabs handkerchief at face*

[Grizzly]

7 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Aw, I liked Sarah! I'll have to try catching that episode.

Sarah is making the rounds, she was on The Big Bake last week.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Sarah is making the rounds, she was on The Big Bake last week.

Damn, I'm missing out. Sarah, during her HBC season, was actually the reason I finally joined and started commenting after almost 20 years of lurking around here and the predecessor forums, so I have a soft spot for her. A dubious distinction for her I'm sure, but here we are 😆

In fact, I just went back and looked, and my first post in this thread referenced her excitement over her "little decorations" that libgirl2 mentioned above 😆😆

Edited December 8, 2022 by tracyscott76

[libgirl2]

19 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Sarah is making the rounds, she was on The Big Bake last week.

I didn't notice but maybe because it is more of a team effort. 

[Grizzly]

8 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I didn't notice but maybe because it is more of a team effort. 

She was on the team that did the train.

[Guest]

On 12/8/2022 at 3:33 PM, libgirl2 said:

On 12/8/2022 at 3:13 PM, Grizzly said:

Sarah is making the rounds, she was on The Big Bake last week.

I didn't notice but maybe because it is more of a team effort. 

I checked out this episode of the Big Bake, and that's a different HBC Sarah. The one that libgirl2 was talking about who was on GGG and would get excited over her cute little decorations was New Englander Sarah Wallace, one of the runners-up to Melissa in Season 6. The one who was recently on the Big Bake was Floridian Sarah Lucia Tafur, one of the runners-up to Douglas in Season 5. Both runners-up, both named Sarah, but very different in appearance and personality.

[libgirl2]

9 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I checked out this episode of the Big Bake, and that's a different HBC Sarah. The one that libgirl2 was talking about who was on GGG and would get excited over her cute little decorations was New Englander Sarah Wallace, one of the runners-up to Melissa in Season 6. The one who was recently on the Big Bake was Floridian Sarah Lucia Tafur, one of the runners-up to Douglas in Season 5. Both runners-up, both named Sarah, but very different in appearance and personality.

Yes, it was Sarah Wallace on GGG. She had a very interesting way of saying WAAAAAffles. It was then that it hit me that she was from HBC. 

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Yes, it was Sarah Wallace on GGG. She had a very interesting way of saying WAAAAAffles. It was then that it hit me that she was from HBC. 

I don't want to get into too many details since it's a different show and therefore off topic but yes, she was very Sarah in all that she did and said 😆 

If one was not really a fan from her time on HBC, they would most likely feel the same about her on GGG. But if one loves her as I do, she was a riot!

Edited December 10, 2022 by tracyscott76

[theatremouse]

Let's return to Holiday Baking Championship, please.

[SemiCharmedLife]

I like Jessica and she has done very well so far, although I think her forte is decorating.  Her job is to prepare food for photo shoots, right?  So, her aesthetics are spot on, but sometimes she doesn't nail the flavors or technique.  I loved the look of her Kwanzaa candles, but when they showed the close up of the mirror glaze, it looked like it would be inedible.  

So many of these contestants are amazing bakers and great people.  I think I will be happy with any outcome!

[Grizzly]

Croquembouche snowman is causing havoc with our bakers. Bill had a great idea on how to make the round shape. He gave up on his head too soon but I loved his pivot to it being Dru. Most of the faces were horrors. Funny when they had Jessica turn her snowman's face away from them. From the comments Zakiya got after the ugly sweater round had me thinking she was going home.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Grizzly
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