Buddy vs. Duff - General Discussion

[Kohola3]

8 hours ago, mlp said:

I think we were to assume that the cakes were going to be cut up to feed the crowd in attendance. 

I'm guessing that there are a few "ceremonial" pieces cut from one designated section but the rest is left alone.  It would be really difficult to cut even slices from most of those structures and who wants a chunk just scooped out of a 2 foot mass, no frosting or anything.  Or worse, fondant.

[Maverick]

 Unless it's a stacked wedding-type cake or some variation, I think pieces like these are for display only and sheet cakes are used to serve the crowd.   I know on several of these incredible cake shows they've made a point of providing a sheet cake.   Several of the pieces on this show have wood in construction, which isn't food safe and therefore couldn't be served.   Buddy's dinosaur in this episode and the wood coffin Duff tried to pass off as a cafe in last season's magic challenge come to mind.  

[Christina]

When the challenge is "special effects," the actual portion of cake doesn't really matter for judging. I'm easily impressed by the masterful cake decoration in general, and once again, I thought they both did a great job with the challenge. I'm not hating this show.

Score:

Spoiler

Buddy - 26

Duff - 29 

I can't argue with them, either. 

[mlp]

I thought Duff really deserved his win.  That horse looked great.  Buddy didn't explain at judging why there were two dragon heads and no one questioned it.  I really didn't like the overall look of his cake although the dragon heads were good.  I didn't understand what that girl was doing for 10 or 12 hours making the knight.  It didn't look that complicated and the arms were out of proportion.  

What is it with Duff and that weird scarf he's had on every episode?  I wonder if his wife gave it to him for good luck or something.  It looks odd.  

[goldenpuppy]

Wow, Buddy isn’t the only asshole at Carlo’s bakery! Ralph is also a douchebag!  The way he talked to the women decorating the cakes with him was awful .  I don’t blame her for telling him to “f” off , but Buddy and his friends  are so tacky and classless! 

I am Italian and Buddy and Ralph make me cringe ! They are the bad stereotype of the sexist, arrogant , a holes !  

Buddy sure is trying to rehab his true arrogant jerk personality.   I don’t believe he is really a good loser, or that he likes Duff .  I think he made such an ass is himself last season with his shitty poor loser behavior thar FN had to pretend he and Duff are buddies this year . They even made an appearance on Rachael Ray’s  show pretending they are friends . A lot of parents made comments last year starting they didn’t want their children seeing a poor sport like Buddy , so FN didn’t want him to be himself.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by goldenpuppy

[Christina]

"Waitress the Musical" Cake - 

They are to make detailed cakes for the wrap party of the Broadway play "Waitress,"  and detailed they were. Again, I'm easily impressed, but from hand painting the order tickets to making realistic looking fixtures of a pie shop, I'm shocked by what they pulled off. Nothing about this challenge made me think it was about the cake, just the decoration and sugar work.

Even though I know it's not necessary, the results are under the spoiler since I know many are watching so much later than the first airing.

Spoiler

This challenge (Max possible = 30) / Total competition

Duff -  29/107

Buddy -  27.5/106.5

 

 

[mlp]

I really enjoyed this episode because they spent the most time showing what the bakers were doing and how they were doing it.  I always like to see how things I don't know how to do are done.  Both teams have very talented people on them.  

I thought Duff deserved to win.  Everything on his display looked good and the likeness of the actress was spot on.  Buddy's revolving pie stand was a good idea but the pies looked clunky and way too large and deep for the shelves.  You'd think they'd measure better before doing all that work.

[Maverick]

 Buddy's cake was good but I don't think it was splitting hairs close.    I didn't get the judges raving about the coffee illusion.  It worked well on the cake, but it's hardly revolutionary or unique.  I can go to any local garden center and find a flower pot with a floating faucet.  The handwritten checks were freakishly amazing.   The pies on Buddy's were too thick.   And couldn't they have done a better job of of hiding the seam on the pie plates?

 On the one hand I thought the judges were being ridiculous commenting on the real pie tin, but then remembered that wasn't real pie.   My only complaint with Duff's was that all the diner food was shiny.   It looked like everything had been preserved with shellac.

[Christina]

3 hours ago, Maverick said:

 On the one hand I thought the judges were being ridiculous commenting on the real pie tin, but then remembered that wasn't real pie. 

I wondered about that because he did make a real pie, too, but it didn't make sense that they would comment about the pie tin being real if the pie was real since they obviously couldn't bake a pie in a fondant pan, which suggests that one wasn't the real pie. So, I wondered if they thought the tin should have been covered up and they didn't do it because they ran out of time since he had to rebake the pie after the first one fell on the floor.

The judging always has stupid comments to me, though, so I just brushed it off as needing something to complain over. If it wasn't real pie, their point is valid. I don't care enough to rewatch and make sure especially since the score was a whopping one and half point difference. It probably didn't even factor much into the judging.

[Kohola3]

Half point difference is just ridiculous.  Buddy's was, as usual, just big stuff - big pies, big waterfall of flour, just big and clunky.  Duff's was so full of finesse and just gorgeous.  He should have run away with that one for sure.

The whole fake pie tin thing was just made up drama.  All they had to do was think it through - you can't bake a real pie in a fondant pan, you imbeciles.

[Maverick]

The real pie was in the case.  The pie in her hand was fake, which is I was a little less annoyed at their comment.   I'm not sure why the real pie wasn't the focal, nor why they didn't give a piece to Jordan (if no one eats it, it's loses some of its impact).   If the judges really wanted to nitpick, the case the pie was in was plexiglass rather than poured sugar. 

[Emkat]

As if there was any comparison at all between those 2 cakes. Duff's was one million times better! Just admit it judges. Come on.

[CoderLady]

1 hour ago, Emkat said:

As if there was any comparison at all between those 2 cakes. Duff's was one million times better! Just admit it judges. Come on.

Agree. Duff can be too enamored with flashy effects which sometimes fail at inopportune moments but otherwise he and his team always do amazing, gorgeous, highly detailed work. Buddy's designs are only moderately creative, which he always tries to make up for by making everything OTT huge. There's no comparison.

I think the only reason the scores are so close is to keep the artificial tension going. There's no way there's only a half point difference between the two teams. 

[goldenpuppy]

I agree about the artificial scoring ! Buddy’s cake looked pretty bad . It looked clunky , out  of proportion and sloppy .  

The pies looked awful ! Pies are not that thick! And do they not think about proportions and weight before assembling things ?

The tiny Jordan sculpture was ok, but so tiny in comparison to everything else . 

Buddy really has a thing about “Size”, and does not pay attention to detail most of the time .

I am sure they have to stroke Buddy’s fragile  macho ego or he will thrown another toddler tantrum ! 

 

I know  Buddy and his equally for obnoxious macho friend  will win this season !   They just want to build tension by pretending his big cartoonish cakes are somehow on the level of Charm City cakes , which they are not ! 

[Pepper the Cat]

I was very under whelmed by Buddy’s cake. I thought it was clunky. The pies were way too big. 
I really like Duff’s cake. 

[ruffy666]

I read an article before this season began that Natalie Sideserf was gonna be on Team Duff and I knew we'd be in for a treat... if you don't follow her on Instagram, man, she is INSANELY talented.  I think that's one of the first times I've seen a life-size realistic human made out of quasi-edible material that legitimately looked like A person, let alone THE person. :)

I happen to be a big fan of Waitress (the movie, with my dear sweet Keri Russell; I've never seen the musical...) and listening to Buddy describe aspects of the plot to an audience made up of the cast of the show was pretty absurd!  I have to assume that was prompted by producers but it made me cringe for some reason.

 

[Kohola3]

37 minutes ago, ruffy666 said:

Waitress

Great book!

Buddy is just big and loud and obnoxious.  And his cakes are the same.

[HeShallBMySquishy]

On 4/6/2020 at 12:44 PM, goldenpuppy said:

The pies looked awful ! Pies are not that thick! And do they not think about proportions and weight before assembling things ?

The tiny Jordan sculpture was ok, but so tiny in comparison to everything else . 

Buddy really has a thing about “Size”, and does not pay attention to detail most of the time .

I agree! I was all, what the hell? Isn't Ralph a professional who has been doing stuff like this for years and he not once thought about the weight and proportion? I call bullshit on that. Either artificial drama or incredibly stupid and, however much of an asshole Ralph is, I don't think he'd do something that inept and foolish. So artificial drama it is.

Totally agree about Buddy and his lack of attention to detail. I haven't seen Buddy on TV in ages, and somehow missed this show last year, but I remember watching Cake Boss and my BF and I really enjoyed the show, his cakes and him. But there definitely seems to be more of  mean streak than there used to be, and I do not remember his cakes looking so sloppy. And I remember finding Ralph more funny than douche, like he seems now.

Duff definitely knocked it out of the park! But I think the life-size Jordin looked far too shiny in the face, but it could have been lighting.

[Marisagf]

Duff's cake was so fabulous!  That countertop and those stools!  Just stunning.

i actually like Buddy's concept and cake.  But, again, I gave to ask, what does Buddy do?   Ralph seems to be the leader.

[tvisme]

On 4/6/2020 at 5:44 AM, Kohola3 said:

Half point difference is just ridiculous.  Buddy's was, as usual, just big stuff - big pies, big waterfall of flour, just big and clunky.  Duff's was so full of finesse and just gorgeous.  He should have run away with that one for sure.

The whole fake pie tin thing was just made up drama.  All they had to do was think it through - you can't bake a real pie in a fondant pan, you imbeciles.

Maybe Buddy made up a few points in the "theme" category?  Duff had the giant Jordin Sparks (which was amazing) but there were more "Waitress" themed things on Buddy's cake.  Overall, they were both cool cakes though.

[CoderLady]

On 4/7/2020 at 12:49 PM, ruffy666 said:

I happen to be a big fan of Waitress (the movie, with my dear sweet Keri Russell; I've never seen the musical...) and listening to Buddy describe aspects of the plot to an audience made up of the cast of the show was pretty absurd!  I have to assume that was prompted by producers but it made me cringe for some reason.

 

Yeah, I think this was mandated by the producers. If you watch any of the other competition shows, someone -- usually judges or whoever is hosting -- will give detailed explanations about technique or ingredients or food history to each other even though they're talking to people who know this stuff backwards and forwards. They do it for the audience. I appreciated the backstory since I've never heard of either the musical or the movie. 

Edited April 10, 2020 by CoderLady

[MerBearHou]

1 hour ago, CoderLady said:

They do it for the audience. I appreciated the backstory since I've never heard of either the musical or the movie. 

Oh my, “Waitress” is a must to see.  I cannot tell you how much I loved the movie and the musical on stage.  The story of the author is just incredible (google it).

Buddy’s cake was fine but Duff’s was amazing IMO.  So glad he won.  The talent of these cake sculptors blows me away.  

[mlp]

Buddy deserved that win.  I thought his tableau looked great.  The only thing I didn't like was the abundance of barnacles on the whale.  I know they have them in profusion in real life but they were distracting on the cake.  I didn't like Duff's at all.  I understood what he was trying to do but, in the end, it just didn't look good.  It also looked unfinished.  He was already into overtime so it probably was.

I want Duff to win but I want the win to be well-earned.

[Pepper the Cat]

Buddy’s cake was beautiful. Duff’s was good too.

While I don’t like Buddy, his cake was better and he earned the win.

Still cheering for Duff though!

[Kohola3]

I'm surprised that the people at the aquarium didn't call out the inconsistencies like the dinosaur experts did.

Humpback whales are 45 feet long.  They do not swim through stands of coral like Buddy showed. the coral would have to be as big as a building to do that. That was just goofy. 

And Duff's narwhal was incorrect as well.  The tooth of the narwhal tusk isn't on the nose, it's actually a tooth in the upper jaw that grows through the upper lip, generally on the left side.

Picky, I know!

As usual, Buddy went big and gaudy.  But Duff was not as impressive this time.  However, I am still firmly Team Duff.

[Yeah No]

I didn't love either cake to be honest.  Yes to Buddy's being big and gaudy and yes to Duff's cake looking unfinished and underwhelming.  I think Buddy's cakes generally look overly cartoonish and are too bright.  The colors don't look as realistic as Duff's cakes do, plus they suffer from a lack of fine detail.  But Duff sometimes gets lost in the details at the expense of the total effect, so both of their cakes suffer for it in the end.  I usually root for someone but in this case I'm not.  Buddy is obnoxious and Duff annoys me in his own way.  At this point based on what I've seen so far, I don't think I'm going to feel that either one deserves the win over the other.

[Brookside]

I really must stop watching this just because there's nothing better on tv at 3am.

I've never felt this kind of "baking" had anything to do with food and this episode really solidified it.  Make an enormous structure made predominantly of components such as rice krispies, inedible wood and wire, overworked/inedible fondant or sickly frosting or butter cream in tacky colors with a bit of cake, maybe, somewhere.  What's the point if you can't eat it?  Plus if there is any part that might be close to edible, it must be as dry as hell.

And Buddy's looked revolting.  There was no finesse at all.  Tacky as all get go.

PS: Why is Duff's painter person wearing three wigs one of top of the other?

[Gramto6]

As far as I can see all Buddy did was bake a bunch of cakes and have a huge cake of himself made who's hands  moved, Narcissist much? So volume /quantity is the goal? Duff had some great moving parts and it looked like a Mini Golf course where Buddy's was his bakery on steroids again narcissistic much??

I am afraid that this season is going to Buddy just to balance out last season. Then there will be a reason for season 3 to determine the final winner. I call it is all fixed...I hate Buddy and I don't know why Duff put himself in this position again unless the  network made him.

[chessiegal]

Duff has a new show coming out featuring Charm City Cakes. Makes me wonder if FN did to him what they did to Alton Brown - be a judge on Worst Cooks and we'll give you Good Eats Reloaded.

[Kohola3]

9 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

Duff had some great moving parts and it looked like a Mini Golf course where Buddy's was his bakery on steroids again narcissistic much??

Absolutely.  Duff's was what a putt putt golf course looks like. Buddy's was a monument to himself.  Get real here.

I think this thing is all weighted in favor of Buddy so he'll win this year.  SO fake.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Kohola3

[staphdude]

It is so frustrating that what these people put out are bad sculptures that are purportedly “cakes”. Too often these things look like inedible masses of oily creams and virtually inedible coatings. Anything that has masses of foam and wood should be shifted to a true sculpting competition and the final product should look much more polished. 
 

The judges (who seem biased for Buddy) should be required to random cut into the cakes and hit some delicious  cake.

[Mellybelly]

I never post on these forums but I just had to this time.  They seriously gave Buddy the win over Duff this time?  No way Buddy won.  He just baked a bunch of random cakes and threw them out there.  Duff met the challenge PERFECTLY and everything was functional.  I personally think the Judges comments to Duff were unfair because they said his mechanics did not work how they wanted them to, but they worked!  Buddy did nothing even remotely hard.  Frustrated.  😞

[ruffy666]

Booooo!  I can't get on board with the "more is more" aspect of Buddy's cake(s) as it had almost nothing to do with the challenge.  Duff's way too ambitious with the mechanics that never seem to work quite right, but overall his was PERFECT for mini golf.  I could maybe allow for Buddy to eke out a win but the wide margin of points awarded was just silly.

So therefore I'll agree that this season is totally fixed.  Next week Buddy will have some sort of problem with his cake that lets Duff come from behind to within a point of Buddy.  Then the final challenge, Buddy will pull out the win so that he doesn't feel so butt-hurt after last year and they can position another season as the ULTIMATE BATTLE.  meh

[Kohola3]

I have such a dislike of Buddy and his group that I only watch the last 10 minutes. Duff needs to walk away from this mess. This is beneath him.

[Yeah No]

I think this episode can be summed up like this:

Duff:  Too much mechanics, not enough cake.

Buddy:  Too much cake, not enough mechanics.

Yawn.

[Mellybelly]

I agree, but in true putt putt fashion, his was the most like an actual putt putt course, they are for the most part, simple too.  Buddy's was TOO much...and all of those different cakes just thrown out there seemed like a cop out to me.  I don't know... this win just didn't sit right with me.  I need to get a life because I'm too bothered by it, lol.

[Kohola3]

6 minutes ago, Mellybelly said:

I agree, but in true putt putt fashion, his was the most like an actual putt putt course, they are for the most part, simple too.  Buddy's was TOO much...and all of those different cakes just thrown out there seemed like a cop out to me.  I don't know... this win just didn't sit right with me.  I need to get a life because I'm too bothered by it, lol.

Table for two.  I used to love putt putt and Duff's sculptures worked just like a real putt putt. There certainly aren't any self-aggrandizing sculptures of Buddy (or any other real human) at any of them!  He is such a poseur.

[mlp]

I'd like to know where the 26 (?) cakes Buddy made were.  There were about half a dozen on the "storefront" and another 6 that I could see along the edges of the path.  I couldn't see the rest of them anywhere.

Duff's sculptures looked good but he spent so much time on the mechanics that his presentation suffered.

[Kohola3]

A three point difference between those two carousels?  Buddy's had all kinds of ugly pipes and hardware and was, as usual, just big.  Duff's carousel animals were just exquisite.  Sheesh.

[Gramto6]

30 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

A three point difference between those two carousels?  Buddy's had all kinds of ugly pipes and hardware and was, as usual, just big.  Duff's carousel animals were just exquisite.  Sheesh.

I agree, all the pipes and hardware on Buddy's and the worst they pointed out on Duff's was the wire from the fairy lights. No kidding, Sheesh! There should have been a lot more points on Duff's side.

I've said it before and will say it again, I think this season is rigged so that Buddy will win and result in a 3rd season to determine the ultimate champion. Ugh, just ugh!

[HighHopes]

If these cakes were edible and you were actually serving them how would you serve Buddy's? Buddy again is going with this bigger = better. His cake looked like on of those rides in malls for little kids, but all of the visible hardware was terrible. I didn't understand the criticism for the wire of the fairy lights for Duff. 

I wish they ate the cakes and that part of the points came from how good the cake was and how much of the "cake" was actually cake. If I paid for a cake to be delivered to my event and it came and it ended up only being 10% sheet cake and buttercream I would demand a refund. 

[Gramto6]

4 minutes ago, HighHopes said:

If these cakes were edible and you were actually serving them how would you serve Buddy's? Buddy again is going with this bigger = better. His cake looked like on of those rides in malls for little kids, but all of the visible hardware was terrible. I didn't understand the criticism for the wire of the fairy lights for Duff. 

I wish they ate the cakes and that part of the points came from how good the cake was and how much of the "cake" was actually cake. If I paid for a cake to be delivered to my event and it came and it ended up only being 10% sheet cake and buttercream I would demand a refund. 

This contest has devolved into a construction project for Buddy and while Duff is still trying to keep it about the cake, neither really had cake that could be sliced and served to people. Duff's details and movement was far better than 3 points difference from Buddy's.

[HighHopes]

I feel like Duff is adding more and more construction to his cakes because that's what Buddy is doing and he has to keep up. Though I did notice his "we could do a three tier cake, they seem to like those" dig which I thought was funny. That is what Buddy did all last season (and last week actually) and it got old. The details on the chocolate carousel characters on Duff's cake were amazing and far better than the construction project Buddy did. Neither had enough cake, but Duff should have been ahead by way more than 3 points.

[Matryoshka]

I thought it was a little odd that the theme seemed to be generic amusement park with no actual references to Knott’s included at all. Duff’s bison at least had the little 100, but nothing else. I was waiting for jams & jellies, chicken dinners, miners, stagecoaches.

[mlp]

I agree with everyone above that Buddy's was mostly construction project.  The judges criticized Duff a couple weeks ago for using a foil pie tin but they didn't ding Buddy for 3 huge plastic seats.  ???!  The cake part of Buddy's sort of turned my stomach when I saw that it was all broken pieces mushed together that they then basically threw buttercream at and spread around with their hands.  Yuck.  At least Duff's cake portion was neat.  Duff deserved to win but the point spread should have been greater.

[suebee12]

As much as I like Duff(and dislike Buddy), I cannot help but remember the decorating show that was on last year...can't remember the name but it was set in Texas and it was a husband and wife team. She made some of the most beautiful cakes I had ever seen and her cakes were cakes!!!! They did make a tasting cake also so they had enough cake to serve. Can anyone remember the name of the show? I was truly hoping they would be back this year!

[springbarb]

This show is almost a throwback to the competitions they had on the Food Network way back when, that were really just about decoration--the "cakes" were mostly Rice Krispie treats with fondant, etc., layered over them. Even now there are those team shows where they create a scene, but also have a "tasting element."

[Matryoshka]

10 hours ago, suebee12 said:

As much as I like Duff(and dislike Buddy), I cannot help but remember the decorating show that was on last year...can't remember the name but it was set in Texas and it was a husband and wife team. She made some of the most beautiful cakes I had ever seen and her cakes were cakes!!!! They did make a tasting cake also so they had enough cake to serve. Can anyone remember the name of the show? I was truly hoping they would be back this year!

I think you’re thinking of Natalie Sideserf, who is on Duff’s team this season. Her show was Texas Cake House.

[ruffy666]

15 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

This contest has devolved into a construction project for Buddy and while Duff is still trying to keep it about the cake, neither really had cake that could be sliced and served to people. Duff's details and movement was far better than 3 points difference from Buddy's.

ok I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a revised prediction that Duff will win the last challenge, but the point spread won't be enough to overcome Buddy's lead.  So he can say he won more of the actual challenges, but Buddy still is the overall points winner.  ~~CONSPIRACY~~

[HighHopes]

Duff had some pretty interesting tweets last night. He does not sound like he is a fan of the judging this season (or the format of the show at all). I wonder what the network gave him in exchange for doing two seasons of this show. 
 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by HighHopes