to ding Courtney for doing a variation of a cake she did earlier in the week seems, well a bit WEAK! That was such a small part of her cake and the overall design. It fit in with what she was doing. I wish they would limit the recaps and interviews. I can still hear Bronwen talking about the driver "Drive like there is a new born baby back there or 50 THOUSDAND DOLLLLLARS!" How many times did we need to see that? We got the point, he could find potholes on a new road but seriously????

For me it ended perfectly.........I wanted either Mary or Courtney, well actually *perfectly* would have been them *both* winning.

I was pretty surprised with the *safe* design that BW did. The stand.....even if it had worked properly......was ugly. I mean $50k is a lot of money, not sure what she was going for with that cake

I agree with others..........they didn't show any of the cakes long enough

I think Bronwen was just too exhausted to think clearly, they all were. That did not look like a Bronwen cake to me. 6 Stacked slightly carved cakes? Maybe when she cut back on all the details the design got lost in transition to cake. IDK. I kinda like the point system idea. Have it all ride on just the one cake seems a bit much.

Bronwen is amazing butit was not oneof her better cakes! I was sad to see James go because his cakes are amazing.

This was the perfect ending for me. I was hoping Bronwen wouldn't win; I'm just not crazy about her smug attitude but more importantly her last cake was not up to par. She is usually so creative and clean and this one just didn't have her usual TLC.
I love Mary's attitude AND her cake. Courtney put up a huge cake fight and for me it was close, but it ended just as I had hoped!

Okay, gotta ask this. Was anyone else bothered by the fact that Mary's sister had been putting the cake together and then put her bare hand on top of the icing?

Now, having said that. I understand that they were barely able to speak much less think d/t lack of sleep. They all did a great job and should be commended for their efforts!

Beth in KY

FN should have given them time to sleep before starting the time. The whole point-I thought-was to see the very best cake they could produce! BW was ok but not her best work. She is sooo much better than that cake. I think the reason Mary won over Courtney is because Mary's appealed to the young people, and because of the awesome car. Can you imagine if the did give these three a week to do their best cake???

Go Mary! Go Mary! YEAAAAAH!!!

Sorry, they all did a great job, my hats off to them.

My hat off to all of the contestants from begining to end they are all extremely talented Cake Artists. I honestly felt Courtney should have won with all the details that reflected the children on the individual cakes. But Boy o' Boy Mary's cake was equally fantastic that dang on car awesome...

Well done Mary Maher------jeez 50.000 bucks one day or another life...lol

I think they all did awesome. I did like Courtney's cake the most because it was a little bit older and complex. I thought that Mary's was a little more immature, but had nice sculpting. Bronwen's had awesome stuff on it, but didn't have the wow factor.
I think they all had great cakes though and all deserved 50,000. I think the drama and cattiness on the show is a little bit of a farce. I always joke around and say stuff that is totally inappropriate. If you were going to take all that out of context, then I definitely you look like I am a mean person.
And some of the comments about Bronwen being smug. At the end Bronwen looked over at Courtney's cake and gave it huge praise. I thought that was very sportsmanship attitude.

I was blown away by Courtney's cake ~ she REALLY did a FABULOUS job on that amazing cake. WOW!!

I thought Courtney's was the cleanest but Mary overall really is the best of all of the competitors they brought together. I was totally rooting for her and am so happy she won. She completely deserved it.

I could not believe Bronwen's cake. What a huge, huge letdown that was. Her "life story" cake was super-awesome...but this grand finale cake was weak. I feel really badly for her. So much was expected of her and I can just imagine how she's beating herself up over this (or maybe not, but I sure would be if I were in her shoes).

What a great 4 weeks of challenges!

And for those of you who are complaining about the extreme stress of the challenge - this wasn't some mamby-pamby "no scores recorded, just for fun only" T-ball game for 4 year olds. These are professionals who undertook a triathlon. It was exactly as it should be.

I agree with Bronwen's cake. I was disappointed in her throughout the series, though. She just doesn't have the wow factor the other two have.

Courtney is amazing! And she is so, so young. She has a great career ahead of her.

and I love the Cake Girls. I think they deserved to win, even if it was close.

I love Courtney's style and she was my pick, but Mary's fabulous too.

Yes they were all great cakes, but BW's cake was a disappointment. When she was talking about it when she was doing the sketch I though that she was going to do it where each tier rotated on it's own. Not where you have to push them. Now that would have been cool. Not on that stand but make it where each tier rotated with the rotating electric bases and in different directions. You know 1st tier counter clockwise, 2nd tier clockwise etc.

That would have been cool.

I piggyback everyone's disappointment in Weber...she's such a better artist than what this competition showed. But for $50,000, she should have totally stepped her game up.
All of the cakes were absolutely gorgeous throughout the entire comp...except for the black stack of squares by Michelle in the first round...that was such a gloomy cake.

I missed all the previous episodes due to moving But I saw the last one! I am so upset that FN showed t he breakdowns of those beloved artists! Just goes to show you how hard TV pushes! No drama so they show all the gut wrenching emotional breakdowns...GGGRRR Shame on FN! These artists deserved better treatment, after all they are not cake-bots! I think they all were troupers and did great work! I was in AWE.

OK.just logged in for the first time in forever. Had to see what you all thought about the finale.

I actually was hoping some of you would be talking about Courtneys cake, specifically the TV part. She had the phrase Thats what she said (or something close to that) on the TV screen. Wasnt that from the wedding cake challenge? Why did she use that saying again?

Someone set me straight.please tell me Im not losing my mind!!



O and one last thing, BW was disappointing, but her cake was by far the most ingenuous idea.especially the way world is constantly looking for ways to engage children (heaven forbid they spend a few waking moments doing nothing). It would have been a complete 360% cake, which seems to always be a big issue with the judges, and it would have been entertainment for the guests as they would need to keep walking around the cake to piece each child. So sad it didnt come together for her!


ETA---I thought Courtney should have won.

Well, I'm headed for Chicago in 14 days to visit my little brother AND while I'm there....uhhhh.....I'm seeing Cake Girls AND Bleeding Heart Bakery in my future! According to Google maps they are like a couple of blocks from one another! I can't WAIT!

I have had the pleasure and honor of corresponding with Bronwen in the past. I hate the fact that FN thinks they need to keep up with other reality shows and provide drama over class for ratings. Hey, I'm there for cake. Bronwen is a gracious, funny, humble lady whose remarks make great sound bites, but are often parsed for just that -- sound bites. Drama. Mary cries. Drama. Courtney plays hard ball, grumbles, and sweats. Drama. Every one of those gals, in their own right, (and IMHO) are worth the $50,000 dollar bonus. It was just Mary's day.

edited/typo

LOL, if they had time to sketch and plan everything, that wouldn't be a challenge - that would be a normal day at their bakery. How boring that would be!

I think they should have a series (mini series, really) where the contestants/competitors get points from show to show AND where they are given more specifics about what type of decorating they can do-maybe a cake with NO fondant, or NO flowers, or NO buttercream, etc...Perhaps it would be better to phrase it as ONLY fondant decorations, or gumpaste, or whatever. As you go through week by week, you'd be able to see each person's abilities within that particular decorating method. By having it be a cumulative score, at the end you'd see who was the best overall at many different types of decorating. It would be interesting. Maybe, sort of like the Miss America pagent, you could have sub-winners winning for best piping skills, best gumpaste flowers, etc....

The drama in this one was too much for me. At various points it made all of them seem unattractive or petty, and I am sure that they are all really not that way at all if they aren't being pushed past their breaking points. It was a disappointment. I want to see drama created from the creative process and the cakes themselves, not from overtired people being edited down to a soundbite.

I believe Bronwens assistant was her husband.
I felt so bad for all of them. They were really pushed to their limits. You could literally see it in their eyes how completely exhausted they were. I also wanted to slap Keegan for making the comment about Courtney getting her emotions in check! I have yet to see HIM do a challenge and Im sure he would of been under pressure just as much! And being a man, he probably would of whined about it even more!! I still say that they need to do a challenge with him, the bald guy and Kerry and let some of the other competitors be the judge! I would love to see how these "experts" act under some of the pressure that their put under.
I think all three of the girls are amazing artists and any one of them deserved to win. I do think that Bronwen wasnt up to her usual standards. Ive never seen her be so flustered over a cake challenge and have so many things go wrong. I know she is human and all, but I think she could of done better than she did.
But still, loved the show. Could do without the edited to make it look like bashing drama.

[/quote]Yes, Francois (her assistant) is her husband. It's sweet that she brings him with her to help.[/quote]

WHEW! I'm glad to know that. I just thought they might be trying to save money on a motel room! LOL Seriously, when they went to the room to get some sleep I was thinking....okay, seriously FN this doesn't look good with Bronwen and her male "assistant" staying in the same room! LOL

Beth in KY