Courtesy of Bake
New to the Food Network, the TV series “Buddy Vs. Duff” takes cake decorating to a whole new level. Buddy Valastro and Duff Goldman are among the nation’s most popular cake artists. Each episode, the two battle head-to-head in hopes of winning the title king of cakes.
Valastro, more popularly known as the “Cake Boss,” was the star of the hit television series of the same name. The well-received show took its audience behind the scenes into the life of Valastro and his crazy Carlo’s Bakery family while also featuring some of his magnificent cake designs.
His fellow competitor, Goldman, also gained notoriety on the TV screen in his show “Ace of Cakes.” Goldman demonstrated his knowledge of the art of cake design time and time again on the show. Like Valastro, Goldman never strayed away from sharing all the chaos going on behind the scenes during the cake-making process.
Each episode of “Buddy Vs. Duff” features two challenges between the bakers. In the first round, titled “The Bake-off,” Valastro and Goldman compete in a baking challenge. Each week, the theme or baked good is chosen by the other competitor. The bakers have three hours to whip up their creation before the time runs out.
Chefs Sherry Yard and Keegan Gerhard taste test, critique and score the competitors. Yard is an American chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. She is not new to the Food Network, as she has been a judge before on “Cake Wars.” Gerhard is a renowned pastry chef, as well as a former host and judge of the Food Network series “Food Network Challenge.”
Accompanying these two judges is a featured guest who, while their vote does not count, can provide opinions that may sway the judges to lean a certain way.
The awaited second round is suitably named “The Cake-off.” Similar to the first round, each week the theme for “The Cake-off” is chosen by the other competitor. In this round, the bakers have eight hours to design a cake fitting to the week’s theme. The cake is once again judged by Yard and Gerhard along with another special guest. So far in the season, the special guest for the second round has been the host of a party that the bakers are creating the cake for.
The five categories the judges base their scores on are taste, creativity, difficulty, execution and presentation. Each category has a maximum score of five points, making 25 a perfect score for each round.
Valastro and Goldman have so far been neck-and- neck in points. However, it is possible that a baker can earn more points while losing more challenges.
Ultimately, the winner of “Buddy Vs. Duff” will be determined by the baker with the most points, but having this additional factor allows for many more possible bragging rights later down the line.
Overall, “Buddy Vs. Duff” is a must-watch show. The concept of the show is quite interesting, considering both Valastro and Goldman are not known as competitors in shows but rather as the judges of them. Because of this dynamic, they both take a very personal approach to the critiques and scores given. The show itself is rather suspenseful and shocking at times.
Be sure to tune into “Buddy Vs. Duff” to see whose win will be the icing on the cake and whose loss will force them to eat cake.
