How This Competitive Baker Really Impressed Duff Goldman
The Food Network show "Duff Till Dawn" is a standard competition show with one important twist — the mentor and the judge are both Duff Goldman. He helps out the bakers making their cakes, offering tips, guidance, and advice, and he is eventually the judge they face. This means he sees their process and their technique and takes that into account in his judging, which is a fun new way to explore the template of a competitive baking show.
As an expert cake baker, Goldman has seen a lot of things and usually knows exactly where someone went wrong. In an interview with the Food Network, the baker talks about some of the things he's seen, whether or not it's important to have a strategy when you're going into a competition, and other aspects of his show. One competitor has stuck in his brain for some time, and the host discusses what made this guy stand out.
Despite being advised to give up, the competitor stuck to his original plan, and blew Duff Goldman away
If you've watched any of Goldman's baking, you'll know he loves using fondant on cakes. He once had a competitor who told him, "Just to show you, like you're a pioneer in fondant, I'm going to show you what I do with buttercream," (via Food Network). The television personality advised against it, telling the guy to do his best work rather than trying to make a statement. Despite this warning, the competitor still chose to work with buttercream in ways Goldman had never seen.
"This guy pulls out spatulas I've never seen. He had buttercream tools I've never even heard of, and he starts making this cake, this crazy sculpture, and I was absolutely floored, like, I was schooled," Goldman told the Food Network. The famous baker was really impressed and felt that the guy reminded him of himself, not listening to people telling him what they thought he should do, and instead carving his own path and creating something amazing.