Buddy vs. Duff Season 2 premiere: A Big Apple win by a narrow margin

In the highly anticipated Buddy vs. Duff Season 2 premiere, Buddy and Duff took on the theme of a Big Apple cakes. Who scored the first win?

Could a new king of cake be crowned in Buddy vs. Duff Season 2? While Duff Goldman earned the title in the first season, Buddy Valastro is looking to make his mark on the East Coast. In this new Buddy vs Duff season, many of the rules have changed.

In Buddy vs Duff season 1, each episode was broken into two challenges, a bake-off style challenge and a cake challenge. In Season 2, the challenge is limited just to the cake challenge.

In some ways, focusing on just the cake makes the show a little more limited. Sure, the cakes are bigger, more extreme and even more impressive. Still, those bake-off style challenges showed that Duff and Buddy know a lot of about pastry.

Looking back, those bake-off pieces could inspire the home baker to try something new or see out one of those desserts. Granted, Carlo’s Bakery has a lot of different pastries where Duff primarily does cakes. Still, the person that in Nebraska likes to see some items beyond the over the top cakes.

In the Buddy vs Duff Season 2 premiere, more new elements were added. This season features teams of five working on the cake. Where last season had just Ralph and Geof, this season has a wide array of bakers, cake artists and pastry artists on the team. The added team members allow these cakes to be even more elaborate.

Also, the teams have just 24 hours to create these masterpieces. While the teams can watch each other from the monitors, that aspect is a little strange. It will be curious to see if there is any pivoting or changes based on what each team sees in the other’s workroom.

Lastly, the judges changed for Season 2. This year Waylynn Lucas, Florian Bellanger, and Kimberly Bailey will determine the winner. While these three are impressive cake and pastry masters, it was nice to see Keegan Gerhard back on Food Network last season.

For the first challenge of Buddy vs. Duff Season 2, the theme was Big Apple. While each challenge is judged on creativity, difficulty, relationship to the challenge and interpretation, Buddy and Duff seem to have continued a trend from season 1.

Thinking about New York, there are all types of ideas that can come to mind. From the skyscrapers to the museums to the parks, the images are many. The biggest part of this challenge is the interpretation.

At first blush, it seems that Buddy should have had an advantage. As the resident East Coaster, he might understand New York City the best. After looking at Buddy’s display, he definitely captured the eclectic nature of New York City.

One of the most iconic images of New York City is the Statue of Liberty. Given that she is the focus on Buddy’s display, that cake sculpture had to be right. In many ways, he nailed her face and that design.

While changing the torch’s flame to an apple was a good idea, the apple looked more like a cherry. Everyone commented about the “cherry.” That little mistake seemed to make the appearance a little comical.

Overall, Buddy’s display captured the vibrancy of New York City. There was a lot going on, which is both good and bad. The screens were a little overwhelming, the color scheme was slightly off, and the sugar flowers didn’t quite fit.

Still, those aspects are part of what makes New York City unique and great. That city is a gigantic melting pot and is often better for the mixing of all things that might not go together.

Where Buddy went big, Duff went intricate. In a very bold move, he was inspired by St. Patrick’s Cathedral. To say that this cake creation was impressive is an understatement.

The biggest aspect of Duff’s cake was that he made an inanimate object animated. By inviting people to look inside the doors, explore the knave and see the light of the stained glass, his big risk paid off. Where the structure of most cakes is hidden by fondant and icing, the inside of this structure was almost as breathtaking as the outer appearance.

In true Duff fashion, he made a bold move. Just like last season, it isn’t about the tallest cake or the most massive display. He tries to create edible art.

While there are seven more challenges to go in Buddy vs. Duff Season 2, one person had to score the first win. With just half a point difference, Duff earned the first challenge win (24.5 to 25).

Although Duff came into Buddy’s house and beat him, it is only the first challenge. The back and forth nature of Buddy vs. Duff Season 2 will continue. In the end, it will come down to the finale.

What did you think of the Buddy vs Duff Season 2 premiere? Do you think that a new winner will be crowned this year?