My favorite baking show is back on Netflix. Collection 10 has just been released with episodes coming out every Friday. In this season’s first episode, “Cake Week,” I had the chance to watch twelve bakers compete for the pride of winning.
The show started off with an allusion to Star Wars, adding in baking puns to get everyone pumped. The show quickly transitioned into a mini preview of the episode introducing 12 competitors: Abdul, Sandro, James, Janusz, Dawn, Kevin, Maisam, Maxy, Will, Carole, Syabira and Rebs. They all brought various levels of expertise to the competition.
This week’s episode had three rounds wherein some of the bakers had trouble putting their pastries together while others had an easy time producing delightful results.
The first challenge was to make cake sandwiches, which proved itself to be a bit difficult. Some bakers were having difficulties getting the cakes cooked to perfection or making them into perfect circles or squares. Maisam had flaws throughout the entire show, but especially in the first round. Her cake was crumbling as it was cut, and her frosting crumbled in quite literally two seconds. I would say she redeemed herself over time, but she did struggle quite a bit.
On the other hand, Syabira did a terrific job for most of the competition. The judges loved her red velvet cake as it was the very result they envisioned.
Some of the cakes for the second challenge did not look very appealing, but Syabira was my all-time favorite and the judges definitely agreed with me. I actually wanted a slice for myself, as it looked absolutely scrumptious.
The last challenge took the bakers three hours to do, as they were assigned to make a 3D replica of their home. A number of cakes looked a bit questionable, but each competitor definitely put their heart and soul into it. My favorite one was Janusz’s house. He made sure to make his cake very detailed and it looked absolutely gorgeous. He was ultimately crowned the “Star Baker,” as he consistently presented high quality cake work over the course of the episode.
Will unfortunately did not make the cut and was eliminated. His cakes from the start were, in my opinion, interesting. He had very great ideas but they weren’t executed in a great fashion, which the judges clearly took note of. We had a couple of “grandmas” in the competition, of whom I expected to bake really well, but surprisingly, the millennial contestants ended up yielding superior results.
Overall, this was a great start to collection 10, and I am ecstatic to see where the bakers will be taking us next Friday. Perhaps some of the contestants will sharpen their skills and truly reveal their best baking.
