If it’s not clear through reading my blog I am truly in love with cooking. I love the creativity, the peace and calmness it can bring, the gratitude it showcases, the people it can bring together. Cooking is a part of my soul.

One of my favourites bits about being in the kitchen is the experimentation. The kitchen playground is limitless; there are always new ingredients to discover, new ways of pairing ingredients together, new ways of cooking these ingredients with sometimes innovative equipment, and sometimes primitive. So when I heard of a show called “Wall of Chefs” was casting in Toronto I immediately decided to go for it.

The show is for non professional cooks who battle through 3 rounds of challenges to win the prize of $10,000. My love of cooking alongside my pastime of watching competition cooking gave me the confidence; I knew no matter what they could throw at me I could make a half decent if not truly magnificent dish. Unfortunately by the time I got to sending in my audition, the show had already been cast. I did however receive a note from the producer; would I be interested in the sister show “Wall of Bakers”? Irritated at my hesitation, fear, laziness, excuses that led me to miss the savoury show I knew I could take on, I said yes to the sweet show.

The problem was that my experience in the kitchen begins and ends with savoury. I had little to no baking experience. The times I had baked a cake could be counted on 1 hand. Cookies… maybe I made half a dozen times. The most experience I had with baking actually was with savoury applications; galettes, gourgeres (thank you Martha), savoury pies and sky high Yorkshire puddings. At the time however, I thought, “well I mean why not?”. So into the mix I went as an applicant for the sweet sister show “Wall of Bakers”.

Selection process

I had to submit a few recipes I had made in the past that could potentially be recreated in the first round. Baking is a marriage of art and science, one without the other is not enough. You must follow a recipe with baking. You must understand the nuances in over mixing, under mixing, room temperature versus chilled, the moisture in the air, the temperate variance of the ovens. These are the basics. Basics I knew only from watching others bake through my TV. After a day of researching I decided on the recipes I would submit. The first was a recipe I had made a few years back. Chipotle brownies with whisky caramel sauce. Second recipe involved something with ice cream because ice cream was something I actually did make on a regular basis and figured I could recreate on the show. The last dish I submitted was maybe a cake? I truly don’t remember because I just didn’t think much of it as it wasn’t something I had ever made.

My philosophy and approach in the kitchen has always been to touch and feel my way through a dish. I don’t follow recipes and get overwhelmed even with long lists of ingredients. Having to sit down and write up 3 desserts in recipe form was a challenge in and of itself, nevermind that I hadn’t made them all recently or even at all. Still, I lazily submitted the recipes not thinking much of it.

A hop skip and a few weeks later I was in. And then it hit me; I am in a nationally televised Baking Competition and I am not a baker.

The Prep

So what lay ahead? 3 rounds, 30 minutes per round and 12 professional and notorious judges waiting to tell me my rough puff wasn’t fluffy enough when I didn’t even know what an rough puff was. It was late June and the filming would take place in Toronto in July. I had 4 weeks to prep.

The Strategy

Thanks to the structure of the show I knew what I would be baking in round 1. It was those Chipotle Brownies. Task 1 was to nail those brownies. I have to say, although as you will soon read, these brownies were not received well by the judges, they really are special and are really genuinely delicious.

I couldn’t however ONLY practice the brownies because the other unknown recipes were needing attention as well. What good would it be if I made it past the first round but had no abilities in subsequent rounds. So task 2, I hunkered down and settled on my strategy for the game.

I couldn’t possibly learn everything. I needed to identify and learn only the basics for other dessert components that I could make my own with my own flavours and, when combined, would appear cohesive and be at best delicious and at worst edible.

I immediately called my sister for a deep consult as she is actually a seasoned baker who can create unbelievable desserts that stay with you for years. Hello pecan pie of 2022; haven’t forgotten you dark chocolate cake of 2018; and thank you for the good times carrot cake of dad’s birthday. She carefully teased out some ideas and recipes that I could practice over the next few weeks that could be potentially tackled in under 30 minutes.

I remember trying to find these simpler and easier ways to achieve desserts; fewer steps, less core ingredients.

I decided come hell or high water that if I made it to round 2 I would make an ice cream sandwich. I did this for 2 reasons. The first is that strategically I could learn 1 or 2 basic cookie recipes that could take on many varied ingredients, and chuck a delicious ice cream in there of any flavouring. And the second is that I knew there would be liquid nitrogen on set and after a lifetime of watching cooking shows I needed to use that nitro. With this strategy in place I set out and learned 2 cookie recipes.

Now should the Gods wish and I make it to round 3 that would have to be the ultimate Hail Mary. The strategy here was to learn various dessert applications. I learned how to make marshmallow from scratch (Anna Olsen called it French meringue so it felt super fancy), I learned lava cakes (easy to bake in under 10 mins), I learned tarts, custards and caramel. That was it!

I practiced these almost every evening. Each evening smashing through making a dessert in 30 mins. And, to my surprise, they were good!

The day of

The day of the competition I got up at 5 am to do my own hair and make up. You can barely tell from watching the show that I did either but let me tell you the effort was there.

The other contestants and myself all met one another in the car ride over to the studio. I was competing against JJ, Hudson and Bana. Nothing but love for these 3 people who I had the pleasure of experiencing this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Once onsite we immediately had to have our rapid covid tests. Once we were cleared we went into a small room with a few couches and refreshments. We were told to unpack the outfit choices we selected and hang them on the hangers provided. At this point it’s all fun and games. We all got to know each other and talked wildly about what we felt prepared for or otherwise. Pure excitement.

The practice sessions

After settling in we got to take a tour of the set and have a couple of practice rounds with the food producer of the show. This was by far the best part of the day. The producer gave us a tour of the kitchen; we learned where our stations would be, where the pantry was, what items were included in the pantry (which was basically anything you could want), how the equipment worked, the whole shabangeeboo. From there we got to have 2 practice rounds to get a sense of the kitchen, how fast the time goes and equipment temperatures and functionality. Well let me tell you this was THE dream for me. I can’t count the number of cooking shows I have watched in my life and to be able to play around and do what they do without worrying about making it passed the next round was blissful.

Practice round 1 was to make a crepe dish in 15 minutes using only a select part of the pantry. Loved it, nailed it, had the best time. I screamed and giggling and pranced. This is why you take leaps of faith sometimes; so that you can have fun just playing around as an adult in a kitchen playground.

Practice round 2 was to make a cookie dish. This was apt because I knew I was going to make cookies if I made it to round 2, so I made sure to pay more attention to making these in the practice round. An absolute blast. I would enter a cooking show a hundred times to be able to redo this particular part of the experience. Incredible.

After our practice we had a bit of a break then got into our cooking outfits a.k.a aprons. A few selfies later it was time for round 1. All I can say that at this point I didn’t have real nerves but mostly felt excitement. So.Much.Energy.

Go time

They lined us up backstage and we were told to come into the tunnel once our names were announced. I remember hearing JJ’s intro and thinking that I didn’t remember submitting anything for an intro. What were they going to say about me? “Sports Fanatic”. That was my main descriptor although doesn’t completely match who I am. I’m not a “fanatic” and more of a regular “fan” but it suited the scenario of me not being so much of a “baker” and more someone who has enjoyed baked goods. Nevertheless, this sports fanatic literally jumped out into the tunnel and hop-skiped all the way in. Sometimes my energy levels can get embarrassing because I almost can’t contain it, and this was no exception. I didn’t have any other option than to be a nut ball – so I let it run free!

the judges

So now we’re all in the studio ready for round 1 but before we can get at it, they unveil the judges. 12 professional bakers who were going to try our food and determine our fate in the competition. The unveiling takes place and as it turns out I do know 2 of the 12; Lynn Crawford and Anna Olsen. I had watched these 2 women on the Food Network countless times. To see them in person and to know that they were going to try my baking was really wild and definitely intimidating. Side note, I did actually meet Lynn Crawford prior to this. In my day to day life I am an event planning/experiential marketing lead and I had planned the inaugural gala for George Brown College in celebration of the opening of their Waterfront campus. For this Gala we called upon 10 renown chefs from coast to coast to serve up their specialties to our guests. One of which was Lynn Crawford. Just before the doors opened for the Gala I did my final checks, and at that time met Chef Crawford to be sure she had everything she needed. She was incredibly professional and kind. She was the same in the baking competition as well as rad, playful and full of energy herself.

Round 1

Anywayyyyyy, once they revealed the rest of the judges it really and truly was game-time. After a few false starts for the camera Noah, the host, yelled “Go” and we were off. I remember right off the bat I was nervous. The chipotle spice wasn’t the same I used at home and the baking dish wasn’t the same size, or at least I didn’t look for one which was a similar size. Both factors were chips at my confidence, but I stayed the course and managed to put up all my elements. I knew, after plating, that my sour cream element was a little less than desirable and my caramel wasn’t gooey it was just goo soup. Would my flavours prevail?

It turns out they did, but narrowly. I was second on the chopping block and really truly can’t tell you why they let me go through to round 2. Not 1 judge was favourable about my dish. 1 of the judges, Jo, was literally having a coughing fit because of the spice level. I mean these are the kind of folks that make a living in the sweet, and I was serving up the spicy. But as much as the sour cream was nasty and the brownie may have been spicy it was the failed caramel that did it.

Now I ask you, who goes on national television in a competition baking show creating a “whiskey FISH sauce” caramel. Me. It was me. My sister said don’t do it. My friend Tash said it was unnecessary. But damn, I had an idea for fish sauce and I ran with it. So sometimes less is more. And sometimes we make mistakes. And sometimes fish sauce works and sometimes it doesn’t. The only teeny tiny thing that gave me even the least bit of encouragement when I rewatch round 1 is that Lynn Crawford said she had never thought of Fish Sauce in a sweet application so she was “wrapping her head around it”. Which I took as very positive. Who can ignite a chefs creativity – I can, for better or worse. Either way ’twas a fail and almost got my tush knocked out of the competition!

Round 2

Now round 2 is where I really hit my stride. This is the round where 1 judge highlights 2 ingredients from their own pantry (i.e. 2 of their favourite ingredients) for us to create a baking miracle with. Thanks to my strategic planning I already knew I was going to make an ice cream sandwich. Whatever 2 ingredients popped up, 1 of them was going in the cookie and the other in the ice cream.

Chef Joanne Yolles revealed her 2 ingredients; dates and ginger. I GOT THIS. The whole time she was explaining the origins of her choices I was thinking “Date ice cream with ginger cookies OR Ginger ice cream with date cookies”. The choice was simple and easy to embellish upon; “Date and orange ice cream sandwich with walnut ginger cookies”. Dance baby!

As I mentioned I know how to make ice cream. So once Noah yelled “GO” I immediately created those cookies so I could focus on my ice cream. Not surprisingly, the cookies of course were the hardest part of this round. You know when you sometimes come across a word that no matter what, you can’t spell? Well that is what it is like for me to create cookies. No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to make small cookies. When I would practice at home, my husband would always tell me to cool it on the size of the cookies, but I couldn’t and in this case round 2 became host to enormous hockey puck sized cookies.

Once those enormous cookies were in the oven, I started on my ice cream base. Softened the dates with a wee bit of water, adding in some fresh orange juice and blitzed them up together in a mini blender. From there I added the mixture to my egg, cream and milk base. Once everything was all together, one of my life dreams came true. The nitro! I headed over to the nitro station, grabbed those big ass gloves and goggles looked into the camera and made a mad scientist face which they clearly cut from the final episode.

Making ice cream with nitro turns out to be easy. You chuck your ice cream base into the stand mixer and slowly pour in the liquid nitrogen. The show producer told me to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl half way through to be sure all the ice cream is useable but I ignored her sound advice because of time and as a result my ratio of ice cream to hockey puck cookies was totally off. Nevertheless I categorize this round as a total win!

Not only did I get to use the liquid nitrogen, but the judges were so encouraging while I was doing it that my special odometer was through the roof. I also ended up winning that round. Date ice cream for the win! PHEW!

Round 3

So here we are. Final round. This was where I knew I didn’t have a pre-planned recipe as in round 1 or a strategy to fall back on as in round 2. I was on my own. In that respect though, the pressure was off because no matter what I had made it to the final round.

In this round, a judge was to present us with a theme we needed to bake within. Twin judges Jenna and Ashley from Jenna Rae Cakes assigned us the task to cook from a childhood memory. I instantly knew I could work in my memories of being by a campfire with a smores tart, something I had practiced! What can I say about this round except for that I absolutely nailed the marshmallow although it was contentious for a while during the making of it. Unfortunately I had so many other elements that didn’t come together as planned that I did not win the round or the show. My graham cracker base was way too thick and overbaked, so much so that the judge couldn’t bite through it and although I personally love the flavour of my liquid smoke custard cream, it wasn’t a favourite amongst the judges. But even though I knew it wasn’t going my way, I can say that one of my favourite memories in this competition was in the final few seconds. I had all my elements ready except my chocolate. And it was too late to incorporate the chocolate properly. At the screams of the judges I hurried as fast as I could to plate the chocolate up, but in the running around I put the chocolate in the microwave trying to liquify it to drizzle on top. Well, the chocolate only half melted and no drizzle was to be had. Instead I literally picked up half melted, half unmelted chocolate chips in my hands and just plopped in onto the dish. The chocolate then congealed and all together looked like a piece of poo on the top of my tarts. I’m not saying it looked bad, I’m literally saying it looked like a piece of poo. But what made the memory so great is that while I was plating this chocolate, the judges were so animated in the stands clearly not liking what I was doing and I literally yelled “Don’t be mad at me!” while laughing. I was able to laugh through what could have been a wildly embarrassing time. I still laugh now when I think about it. If that is not a fearless moment, I don’t know what is.

So that’s it. My story of being on “Wall of Bakers” in a nutshell. Being on this show was such a blast that it was one of the reasons I decided to feature cooking on my blog and showcase that even without a roadmap we can find incredible moments we cherish.

I cherish this moment and can’t wait to get another crack at it.

Thank you for reading what is now the longest post I’ve ever written!

where to watch the episode

https://www.foodnetwork.ca/where-to-watch/