Episode Report Card Mr. Sobell: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Go Fish
By Mr. Sobell | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 08.25.2010
With 10 minutes left, Sharone is still fretting about his inexperience with cupcakes and the judges are still yammering on about how good Whitney's cupcakes looks. Lee thinks he's top three material -- "at least," he adds. Jake likes his chances now that he's seen what other people are doing. That may or may not include hat-wearing Mike's cupcakes, which don't look all that good, or David's efforts, which look like dog-sick. Also, Tracy's cupcakes are nowhere near ready, and there's, like, two minutes left in this competition. "They're not done," she huffs, as the precious minutes tick away. I guess she's wishing that there actually was manatee under that mystery box at this point. "My cupcake is horrible," she moans, as the camera zooms in on her collapsing pile of baked goods. She is not exaggerating.
After an entire commercial break gives Tracy the chance to consider the weight of the baking atrocity she's committed, she begins blubbering. Gordon wants to know what's the matter. "My cupcake is horrible," she blubbers. Gordon curses. So far as I know, he's managed to find out a way to use "fuck" as an affirmative. Gordon asks who isn't happy with their cupcake, and Tracy's hand shoots up. "It didn't have time to cook, and the cupcake was too warm," she says. "It just looks horrible." I'm not going to argue with her at this point -- it looks like a Pillsbury muffin that someone spilled cream cheese on. "Presentation -- zero," Gordon says. Well, that will make her feel better.
Time for the judges to pick their three favorites. Gordon likes Jake's cupcake. "Clumsy like a bull in the china shop," Gordon says, "and yet you come up with a handsome cupcake." Is this going to be a regular feature of the show, where Gordon marvels that a knuckle-dragging lummox like Jake is able to even spell "food," let alone cook it? Because that could prove tedious. Anyhow, Jake's cupcake -- which does look yummy -- is billed as a chocolate lover's delight with raspberry coulis. It's not quite as moist as Gordon might have liked, but given the time constraints, Jake "produced the goods." Joe thinks it could go in a restaurant as an ode to a flourless chocolate cake. Jake gets all misty-eyed, thinking back to how he was almost booted during the audition episodes. Yes, how young and innocent we were then.
Next up is Sharone, whose cupcake can best be described as chock full o' nuts. It's flavored with Nutella and there's hazelnuts and pistachios adorning the frosting. Gordon takes a bite and likes the moistness -- "absolutely brilliant." Joe likes the cream-cheese frosting. Graham adds that it's the most visually appealing of the cupcakes they've seen. Having seen some of the others, I think that might be damning with faint praise. The final cupcake in the final three is Whitney's coconut cupcake with lemon glaze. It may well be the most ordinary looking of the three, but Gordon likes the toasted coconut taste. Joe admires Whitney's choice of ingredients that plate well -- "a very smart cupcake," he says.