Like most culinary competitions out there, the bakers on Nailed It! don’t just have to recreate complex confectionary masterpieces — they have to do it within a strict time frame. That of course means time management is crucial, and unfortunately, it’s one of the biggest issues Jacques Torres sees when judging the show. He says most of the time the bakers “don’t save enough time for the creation,” and the ensuing catastrophe goes something like this: “They start slow. And then they realize that they have 15 minutes left and they’re just throwing things together — color, cakes, buttercream, fondant, whatever they find in the pantry. They put everything together, and then you nailed it. And it’s like ‘Oh my God you did anything except nailing it.'”
Because of the timing issues, Torres says he ends up seeing “a lot of hot cake,” as the bakers don’t have time to let it cool before they start decorating. What Torres wants to see the bakers do instead is “put those cakes in the oven as fast as you can,” advising, “they need to cool down. Otherwise, when you put buttercream on top of a hot cake, it becomes a hot mess.” And then what happens? “What do you expect,” offers Torres. “Things collapse… the buttercream sinks into the cake. The cake becomes very heavy. And then they’re going to give us that to eat.”
