Baking Competitions and Me

Last night's writing was pre-empted by a Spring Baking Championship marathon, ending with last night's season opener.  I totally didn't even think about writing until about 7:15p and by then, it was creeping up to the new show, which I didn't want to miss.  For some reason, these baking competition shows are my crack.  The Kid's Baking Championship, The Holiday Baking Championship, the spring one, The Great British Baking Show...  So much crack.

Anyway, so far, it seems like a good crew for the 2020 season.  No real stand-outs yet - to the good or the bad.  I like Sarah - she seems cheerful and nice and funny.  We'll see if she has the baking chops to stay.  I thought the tall, skinny, young guy would be a stand-out, because his pre-heat was so good, but his final bake was disappointing to me. 

In case you haven't been paying attention, I bake.  A lot.  Oh, I could never be in a baking competition.  My stuff is more about flavor than looks.  Decorate?  Meh.  That and none of these competitors have recipes laying around their workstations, so I assume they're all cooking from memory.  Blerg.  I can't remember recipes. Even after all the batches of cake cookies I've made, I still have to go to the cookbook for the measurements.

I have decorated a cake a couple times - mostly for the Kid's early birthdays.  They weren't bad, but they weren't competition worthy either.  Her first birthday cake, I made a rainbow.  Making 6 different colors of icing had to be fun.  Here it is with her enjoying herself before she tore into it.

Still, I like to watch people who can bake and decorate.  It's nice to see people accomplishing stuff.  And there's no politics or what have you.  There's also no real backstabbing or trash talking on the ones I watch.  That stuff gets old.  Bake neat stuff, be courteous to each other... that's all I want in a baking show.  If that other stuff creeps in, I quickly lose interest.  And if I even get a hint that a baker is a snot, I root against them. 

I don't need anyone to root against on these shows.  I'd be perfectly happy if all of them are nice and when it gets down the final three, I can be satisfied with whoever wins.  Like this last season of Kid's Baking Championship.  Those last three kids were all awesome.  I was happy for the winner, but I would've been happy if either of the other two had won.  They were just good kids - which, if you ask me, is a rarity on television these days.

I did enter an online recipe competition once and I won.  But I never got the prize and any attempts to try and find out why were met with silence.  Live and learn. 

So, yeah, you'll never see me on any of these shows. I'll just be watching them and baking over here in my own way.  And eating the results of my efforts.  I know Hubs thinks all my recipes are winners.  ;o)

How about you?  Do you watch these shows?  Do you bake?  Or do you just enjoy eating the results?