Did anyone happen to catch the Extreme Holiday Cakes on the food network today? I thought it was ok..but i was a bit disappointed with Bronwen Weber's cake..you could see the inside structure of her piece. It didn't too much look like a Christmas tree. And the other lady..i forgot her name..she made a snowman that was suppose to be inside a snow globe. I was really rooting for her because the scetch of her cake looked amazing! To bad she had trouble executing!

Oh I tivo'd it, can't wait to see it!!!!

I saw it and thought the same thing about Bronwen's cake...too much of the internal structure showing, and her green fondant didn't come down to the edges on all the pieces, so cake was visible on some.

I also thought the snowglobe idea looked great in the sketch, but when I saw how cloudy the sugar "walls" looked, I thought the finished globe would be hard to see into...I wonder if there's a way to get it crystal clear.

I thought Buddy looked pissed when he didn't win, as he always does.

I wasn't able to catch it tonight - will have to keep an eye out for it later. Better check the time listings on FN. I'm curious now to see how the snowglobe turned out.

I saw it last night, I felt really bad for the lady who couldn't get the snow globe sugar to work. I also agree that Buddy looked a tad bit miffed. I did like the idea of the shingles on his cake though. I'll have to remember that one. I thought that Bronwen could have done a little better if she had more time. It looked like she over thought it all, but we have to remember: It was extreme cake challenge.

I felt so bad for the girl with the snow globe. I didn't understand why she put the sugar together off of the board? Not to mention that gravity was against her - maybe the physics would have worked but it looked like it was going to breadk. Would have been cool.
Buddy drives me nuts because he is so confident and thinks his stuff is so good. Which, it is good, but there's something missing in his cakes. He doesn't push the envelope, take chances. There is heart missing or something. The santa was so scary looking, I thought - almost possessed or something. "Ho, ho, hooooooooooo...watch my head spin slowly and scare all the little kids away with my plastic looking face and hallow empty eyes..."
Cracks me up!
They all did a good job for the most part, though. Better than the city skylines, I think!!

I finally got to watch it. I agree with everyone, it wasn't as extreme as I would have liked. I think the challenges would be better if they gave them more time. I thought Bronwen's cake had the most potential but it looked too unfinished. Lauri's snow globe was an interesting concept but I wasn't a fan and the two chimneys were just boring... it would have been cool if they made the chimneys look more whimiscal, instead of boxy brick all over the place. better yet, buddy's cake could have been a whole house, on a much smaller scale with santa in the chimney. .. That being said, I give them credit for attempting it! certainly not something I will ever be capable of

I felt bad for the globe gal - except for the fact she said she hadn't practiced before the show.....if you're trying something that hard, and you're trying to win $10k - wouldn't you practice? And I think her snowman suffered from too much time trying to fix the globe.

I liked the cake that won - I thought it was cute but again - why do they go on a show and not have back-up equipment - especially if they're not electronics type people like they both kept saying. He really put a lot of thought into the whole design and it was unique.

I liked Bronwen's cake tree - with skill being such a large part of the percentage of points I was really surprised that she didn't beat the other guy for 2nd place....even though her cake could have been more "finished" if she'd had more time - it was a lot more imaginative and used a lot more skill than the Santa House guy.

That brings me to the Santa House guy......get over yourself! All he did was stack 400 pounds of sheet cake, make square sides, cut out rectangles for bricks and shingles, fill a santa form for the face and a little painting - then he hooked up a snow machine beside the table and a smoke machine in the chimney (which made santa look like he was on fire)....come on - how basic and un-imaginative can you get?

I wish I had half the talent that these people have and I love to watch these shows....I'd love it if they had them more often!

I was just watching it from my tivo. Then got kicked off the tv by my daughter! I was hoping Laurie's cake would work but Im at the point where its cracking. After her business with the other girl fell apart I was hoping this would work for her because she really is talented.
I love Browen. She is such a down to earth person. I always root for her when I see these challenges.
I was told he was going to win an up and coming challenge so I thought it might be this. So now after reading this, I know it wasnt this one! When he was painting his Santa it looked so realistic. But it was looking more and more like the substitute Santa on The Santa Claus II with Tim Allen. And he made a copy of himself to run the toy shop while he went to help out his son. (it was on this weekend also so I think thats why it reminded me of it). But he had that plastic looking Santa face and the substitute took over toyland with the army. So when I saw Buddy's cake it cracked me up! He should of had that whole theme going with the Army of toy soldiers!!!

OMG Buddy definitely needs to get over himself!! He just doesn't "get" it. I don't get why he had to make is so darn big!!....bigger isn't always better! I think that's one of the problems on the show...everyone's always trying to make these gigantic cakes, you know?? Why not make them smaller but meeting the height req.

Bronwen's cake could have been better for sure. I liked her idea but not how the structure showed through. Plus in her drawing she made the tree look more whimsical and her boughs were carved more to a point instead of how she actually carved it which looked more rounded.

And the globe!...I can't believe she didn't practice that!!!!!!! And why didn't she have the whole globe on a board that she could just pick up and move. Or at least assemble more of the sugar pieces on before moving it to help with stability. The snowman looked terrible too...like lumpy buttercream!! She loves her sugar work, LOL.

I like the cake that won a lot. It actually looked like a finished piece and the fireplace effect was a good use of effects.

ooooooooo I'm sorry I missed it (although I know they'll rerun it 90 times lol). Chef Lauri (the snow globe lady) is a chef-instructor at the FCI and while she wasn't one of my instructors, she did stand in for a couple of our sugar classes and showed us the snowglobe sketches the weekend before she was heading out for the challenge (this was probably 8 months ago or so). Sorry to hear she didn't do very well (she's an amazing sugar artist, for sure), but I definitely want to check it out!

I've been waiting and watching for it. I talked to Chef James Rosselle at OSSAS and he said to watch for it so I thought he might win and I thought he did deserve the win for it. I really liked Bronwen's but like others have said and she said, it wasn't finished. I was rooting for Laurie's snow globe but she definitely needed to build it in on it's final board, not have to move it without some bottom support.

Buddy, Buddy, Buddy. He says he doesn't get it but covering a pre-built Santa with fondant and making a mold of it's face is not going to get you any points. Make the body, hand mold the face and don't use a separate snow machine, attach it to your piece! He thinks big is extreme and it's not. He did a great job painting his molded face but this is not a cake someone ordered, this is a competition and even I know that you gotta put yourself out there and take risks. He doesn't take any risks and that hurts him in the end.

But I love the challenges! I could never do one and I'm definitely not talented enough but I would love to see one in person.

Anyone notice Lauri's intor?? ( snowglobe gal ) She was on Amazing Wedding cakes with that b*tc#y lady and they owned the Cake Artillia (sp?) She now has her own shop without Mrs.Peabody!! Go Laurie !!!

And Buddy totally makes the show ... love his full of himself attitude and his "on fire" looking Santa, LOL

saw the next airing on Food Network's site:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food-network-challenge/challenge-extreme-holiday-cakes/index.html

Dec 03, 2008

7:00 PM ET/PT

Yah, they dissolved the business a couple of months ago. I just dont think the two of them worked well together. They also had too many obstacles to overcome like their third floor bakery with no elevator? and then their taxi cab deliveries! But she strives to do her best on everything she does so I think she will do better alone. I dont think she really thought out the snow globe well enough or was just so nervous she wasnt thinking. Its too bad because if she could of pulled it off it would of been really cool!
I have to say though, even though I know they try to make the drama with the editing and Ive heard otherwise, Kerry Vincent gets on my nerves. She just seems so full of herself on there and some of the comments she makes really makes her look like a big biatch.
I really would love to see the three of them in a challenge together and see how well they fair! I think it would be really interesting!

Is it just me who is getting a bit fed up with the Food Network Challenges? Don't get me wrong, the Food Network is one of the reasons I got into cakes, but I feel they are taking it a bit too far. I am all for pushing the envelope of the pastry arts but now I feel the Challenges are all about the being extreme and not about making good quality cakes. I think they are taking the Duff effect a bit too far. Thinking back to some of the earlier challenges with Colette Peters and Mike McCarey the cakes were staggeringly impressive without any special effects. Besides I don't particularly want my customers to get any ideas that they too can have exploding spinning cakes.

I think their trying to get ratings or something but they really need to go back to the drawing board. A lot of the reasons why people watched the FN was because of the chefs and shows on there made it possible for people without a culinary degree to enjoy the shows and get ideas. Now its all about drama and gettig outrageous. They dont even air the OSSAS show anymore. They didnt show last years at all which was a big disappointment. That was the reason I went into this business. Just the awe of how they did it.
I tell yah though, I try to watch during the day and I dont recognize half the people they have now! And the ones that use to be favorites have twenty shows each that is just overkill!

Ha ha, this is too funny. I only caught the end of the episode (and won't be able to watch it tomorrow night, unfortunately), but hope that I can see the whole thing sometime soon.

I also thought that Buddy's Santa looked like he was on fire. His piece was very clean looking (I only saw mainly the last cake get moved to the table and the judging), I hope to see what was put into all of the cakes, that is what I mainly like to see and what I watch the challenges for.

My wish is that they would spend more time showing the steps that the decorators use to create these instead of showing what goes wrong, but I know it's a short show and they use the drama to keep you watching.

I'm surprised Duff wasn't competing, it's right up his alley. Probably too busy to do the challenge.

I think they should have a show that takes you into someone's kitchen (like Collette or one of the other great decorators) and have them show you making one cake--as opposed to all of the different cakes that Duff does, it still doesn't show some of the steps that I wish you could see more of the process, but I guess other than hard-core decorators, they don't think that it would keep the public's interest.

Oh well.

I missed it so am planning on watching it on Dec. 3. So really didn't read any posts yet so I can be surprised by who wins. But I did peek a little at one post that stated the challenges are getting out of hand. I too feel this way. I watched the one that NO ONE actually finished their complete design (cities) and then a bridge one that again everyone had major issues in completion. My thought is, make sure the time constraints are at least realistic then produce the show. To me I would be much more embarrased to say I was the producer of this challenge that everyone totally tanked with, than to have been a competitor that fell short due to time issues that were completely irrational.

I agree that the challenges are getting a little bit ridiculous. The last several that I've watched, only a few (if any) finished their cake. The "extremeness" is taking away from the quality of their work. There's little attention to detail b/c there's not enough time.
I was rooting for Lauri's snow globe cake. I was wondering why she didn't build the sugar globe around the snowman, instead of trying to move it.
I knew that Buddy wasn't going to win. Kerry was obviously unhappy with him using a mold and a mannequin. When he turned on his "special" effects, it did look like santa was on fire (a little disturbing).

I finally got to watch the rest of it last night and Santa looked like he was plugging up the fireplace while it was lit. It was kinda funny! And the Hohoho reminded me again of the movie Santa Claus II with the Santa clone taking over the elves. That and the kid with the red rider beebee gun that "will shoot his eye out" and said the "f dash,dash, dash word".

I agree that the challenges are less about artistry than size lately. I have been watching FN less. The hosts they have either are almost never on, or have 3 or 4 shows, none of which are the quality I loved FN for.

I watched it the other night and I was disappointed in general with the whole thing. And I am becoming weary of the one judge, Kerry I think is her name. Nothing ever makes her happy. I agree, maybe they're reaching too far with their "challenges".

Shelle-
What's funny about Kerry is that I think she's edited to look that way. She is the coordinator of OSSAS, and she is actual very...sweet! I've also emailed her a coupld of times, and she responds within minutes! How cool is that?

I was also dissapointed. Bronwen's cake was very lack luster I think she should have made it smaller and more complete.

I didn't think any of them were spectacular! If it's an extreme show, you would think all of them would have tested the mechanics of it before hand. And same goes for the snow globe. If everything hinged on whether that worked or not, she should have practiced that part. I did think she had the prettiest design, though.

I wasn't happy with the winner either....i didn't think there was anything special about his cake.
I actually thought that the only one that came out according to plan, was buddies. His may have been more basic then the others, and he used a mold for Santa but he actually did everything he set out to do in the timeframe they were given. Bronwens could have been cute, but it was no where near complete.

I have to agree with the sentiment that these challenges are getting not only out of hand, but not as interesting to me as a decorator. I used to be glued to the TV and couldn't wait for another challenge! Now it's all about style and drama and less about actual cake decorating. Sigh. I just want to see artists create awesome cakes! Realistic awesome cakes!

I loved Laurie's snow globe idea, wish it could have worked out for her. I've seen Buddy on another challenge, he does get an attitude when the judges critique his work. I did love the idea on how he made the shingles for his rooftop, they looked real. Bronwens was cute, it would have been better if the frame of the tree wasn't showing. James deserved the win, I loved everything about his cake.