If You Miss The Great British Baking Show, You Should Watch This

Why settle for Brits fooling around with flour if you can also have Canadians sheepishly adding beer to cupcakes and using maple liberally? Yes, The Great Canadian Baking Show is here, and it's pretty much an exact replica of The Great British Baking Show — and dare I say it ... just as good, if not better (via the Takeout). The Canadian spin on the hugely popular, and hugely soothing, GBBS has been airing since 2017 and has almost the same intro, the same format, and some incredibly charming characters. And though GBBS newcomer Matt Lucas is delightful, the cherry on top of The Great Canadian Baking Show's hosting squad is Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy, who sticks around for two seasons (via Delish). 

Other hosts include actress Julia Chan alongside Levy as comic relief, plus the expert judges Rochelle Adonis, a Canadian pastry chef and TV personality, and the charmingly French-accented Bruno Feldeisen, another expert pastry chef with no qualms about criticizing the volume of your chocolate mousse. It's a welcome departure from Paul Hollywood and his macho, "mock-benevolent" handshakes (via Vulture).

Viewers of the latest The Great British Baking Show season may feel slightly let down at this point after the latest pandemic-safe season that did its best but many claim fell short of expectations (via Insider). Fans were disappointed in a season that booted fan-favorite Hermine in favor of Laura, Salon wrote, emphasizing painful lived realities by people of color who have way less room to slip up than their white peers. Viewers outraged over Hermine's departure were in line with a "culture-wide irritation boiling over of late, a general sense of being fed up with mediocrity being rewarded" (via Salon). Oh yeah, and there was also a highly questionable "Japanese Week" that hit up every cringey cultural stereotype, plus some serious social media trolling. 

But CBC's The Great Canadian Baking Show iteration, available on Daily Motion for now, will delight GBBS-weary watchers, as well as those who've simply torn through it with nothing left to satisfy their need for fondant, meringue, and oddly-themed cakes (James' record-player concept, anyone?). They'll see that same kindness, light-hearted teasing, and down-to-earth charm we've all come to know and love. But in Canada, eh? (Sorry).