Thursday, December 29, 2011

Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker: Finally! No More Minerva!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Chad's first comment this show really caught me by surprise. He mentioned that the poor bakers are gone now, but Minerva is still there! And we all know how bad she is. Luckily, Megan and Heather G. are quickly shown talking about how Minerva shouldn't be there anymore. I don't think that anyone here should be surprised that I completely agree. Of the nine competitors left, I wouldn't completely hate any of them winning. Sure, I have my favorites, but it IS getting more difficult to rank them these days. I am really glad, though, that Buddy said at the end that Minerva should have left before Jasmine, Tony, AND Wesley. So true! 

Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker "Let the Sparks Fly" (S02E05): 
Baker's Challenge: Using fondant, you get 30 minutes to do a great cake. The winner will get a new Somerset sheeter and a one-year supply of Satin Ice fondant. [wouldn't the amount vary per baker? how do you determine what a year's supply would be?] Buddy demonstrates first, kneading it but not over-mixing (which makes it crack). Then he covers a cake, does a bow, and makes some polka dots. He's done in 10:19, so it only makes sense that the contestants get longer to give it a go. Heather G is worried about how she'll do, and Ryan arrogantly points out that he could do it with his eyes closed. He goes ahead and marbles his fondant. [I don't mind someone going above and beyond, but his comment that his marbling was MUCH better than Chad's felt too narcissistic.] Melo steamed his so that it was shiny, and felt that it was a great idea. Buddy doesn't agree, though he does say that he would put all nine cakes in his showcases. Nadine's draping and quilt roses impresses Buddy, and she wins, as it was the most detailed. In addition to winning the aforementioned prizes, but also gets to make a choice: she can choose all the teams this time OR she can get immunity instead, and Buddy would choose the teams. She picks immunity. [who made the bulky balls around the bottom of the cake? it was one of the girls... hideous!]

Elimination Challenge: Make an Engineered Cake that does something unusual and unexpected. They get 10 hours in a single day to do so, and get fifteen minutes to plan before they can go shopping at a local hardware store (and apparently spend whatever they want). Joey and Frankie are the guest judges, and afterward, they take a chainsaw and a sledgehammer to the losing cakes out at the loading dock. [I dunno. I just expect this sort of thing from this show, so I wasn't nearly as surprised as some of the competitors were.

Cake 1: Melo [42, retired cop, from Worcester, Mass.] isn't worried about doing this cake, though many others are worried about the size and intensity of the project. The team decides on a theme park cake, including a Ferries Wheel, a water slide, teacups, a dragon, and a volcano. Melo works on the dragon in particular. [and the detail on is was GREAT! loved the scale work on the fondant in particular.] Chad [43, coaches HS basketball, works at a bakery, competes in drag queen pageants, from Dallas.] is in charge of the teacups, but since they didn't get balloons they're trying to dip blown-up condoms into warmed chocolate to form balloons. He struggles, since the chocolate pops the condoms. The end result is NOT teacups. In fact, they look like ashtrays in the end. [Buddy's words, not mine! Though I agree that they weren't great. They're on the lower right side of the photo.] They use a fog machine to make the "smoke" come out of the eyes of the dragon. Nadine [27 from NYC] was the other member of the team, but we don't see a heck of a lot from her, though it's implied that she did the lovely detail work on the carousel. She does, however, point out that she would have chosen these two guys as her teammates anyway, so she's extra-happy that she chose the immunity. [she's growing on me. Chad is not. I'm pretty in-the-middle about Melo.] They present it to Buddy with a spinning carousel, confetti volcano, smoke out the eyes, and rotating Ferris Wheel. They win.
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/next-great-baker/
season-2-cakes1.htm
Cake 2: Heather G. [31, from Knoxville, bakes cakes from her home. Has a young daughter and is currently pregnant again.] suggests a nursery cake, complete with lullabies playing, a rocking crib, and projected moons and stars. Ryan [30, former electrician, from Rhode Island] suggests a turntable cake, with a DJ whose blinged medallion would spin. The soundboard would light up and the turntables would rotate as well. Ryan's idea wins out. He asks Heather to make the DJ, but she claims that she doesn't know what they look like, so Megan [38, paramedic, from Pittsburgh] volunteers. Megan doesn't believe that Heather could be so naive about what a DJ is and what he does, etc. [me neither. She didn't have one at her wedding, but she's never been to another wedding? or a prom? or an 8th grade dance? c'mon now! But Megan does a good job, so it works out in the end.] Ryan eventually tells Heather that he knows she knows what a CD player, record player, and headphones are. [for real. This girl needs to get it together! She went from hiding her pregnancy to playing that card 24/7...] When they present the cake, the does bob his head to the music, there are some random fireworks on the speakers, and the records spin. It's very clean, but the whole thing could have been bigger, and more lights would have been nice. Overall, however, Buddy wasn't disappointed, so that's good. Ryan tells Buddy that things went pretty smoothly, but says that he did have some issues with Heather not being 100% into it. She just claims that she wanted to make sure she was bringing his vision to life. [and I just sit here shaking my head...]   

Cake 3: Marissa [24, has a culinary school background, from Pompton Lakes, NJ.] initially freaks out about the idea of Engineered Cakes. She talks about doing a carnival or amusement park with rides, like a carousel, tea cups, and a balloon ride that spins. At the store, she doesn't really know what she's looking for, but at least she's picking things up. Minerva [43, from Miami] takes her time (as always!) picking up just one item. [I don't know that Marissa is going to last that much longer... she needs to know more.] Marissa is worried when she finds out that the other team is also doing the same theme, but that's not really their biggest issue. Minerva wants to do the people, but she's pretty slow and Marissa starts re-making people. Minerva confronts Marissa about being critical, but no real progress is made. They struggle to get the carousel working at the last minute, so they stuff in some fondant to keep the motor from pushing in on the cake. The cake looks bad in some places, and some plywood can still be seen. Marissa knows it's bad, but doesn't have a lot of other options that late in the game. Heather M. [32, exotic dancer, from Vegas] was the third member of this team, but wasn't showcased very much. When they present the cake to Buddy, the carousel won't really spin, then spins really fast. Luckily, the other objects work fine. They're told that the cake needed more detail and a better overall look. When talking to the judges, Minerva says that she received a lot of criticism from Marissa, and Marissa says that she felt Minerva needed a push.
Credit: TLC/Walling McGarity
Buddy then asks each member of the team who he should send home, since their cake lost. Heather M and Marissa say Minerva, and Minerva says Marissa. [anyone surprised??] Minerva cheers when she is told to go to the box truck, because she can go home and see her family. [this shocks EVERYONE. I couldn't believe the b@lls of that b!tch in that moment!] Buddy announces that Tony, Wesley, and Jasmine were all sent home too soon, since he made a mistake... they're all above Minerva. Minerva's final words? "Deep inside, I'm crushed. But at the same time, there's a sense of freedom." [whatever. I'm glad she's gone.]
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3 comments:

Gina said...

I am also glad she is gone. I have read a lot about Buddy being insensitive to her condition and I do not agree at all. Minerva certainly didn't care about arguing or pushing a pregnant woman out of her way. Ridiculous!

Elaine F. said...

I dunno... I think everyone's being too critical of Heather G and her not seeing a DJ. I've never seen one so I didn't really know what they looked like either. We didn't have one at school dances or weddings. We just had speakers set up with stereos. Not a DJ with turntables. Especially down in the south in certain areas, they're hard finds unless you go clubbing and, some people just don't do that. I just don't think people should put her down that much for that. (On the plus side... MINERVA'S GONE! WHOOOO-HOOOOO!)

Anonymous said...

I feel like if menirva had gone home after that challenge when she had a migrane or a "dizzy spell"....Wesley maybe would not have been shipped off in the Army.......R.I.P Wesley Thank you for serving out country!