Three local women recently took home $10,000 as first place winners in the Food Network's baking competition The Big Bake.
Team 'Whip It Real Good' represented the region in a bake-off challenge against two other teams during a filmed segment which aired on May 11 (Season 2, Episode 6) called Treehouse of Treats.
The show featured three judges: Food Network star Eddie Jackson, cookbook author Harry Eastwood, and luxury cake designer Ron Ben-Israel. who judged Cakes were judged on design, execution, creativity, and taste.
Team lead and Innisfil resident Beatriz Muller first learned about the competition last year during COVID when a friend of hers in the United States asked if she would assist her in a bake-off. However, after the women signed up for the TV show, Muller’s friend was unable to enter the country due to heightened COVID-restrictions.
Muller quickly became the team lead for the competition and enlisted the help of her friend and fellow baker, Teresa Araujo, as well as Muller’s daughter, Gisella Dorner.
Muller and Araujo met over a decade ago at the Sugar Art Society in Innisfil where they became friends. Muller runs a home bakery, Cakes by Beatriz, and has won over 10 competitions nationally for her creations. Araujo has won at least eight baking competitions with her business, The Sugar Bowl.
Muller’s daughter, Dorner, also runs her own bakery out of Horseshoe Valley, and all three are part of Muller's baking club called 'Gingerneers'. Combined, they have more than 50 years of experience in the baking industry.
“We have very, very good chemistry together,” shares Muller. “We read each others’ thoughts; we don’t even have to say anything! We just look and know what needs to be done.”
The three ladies collaborated over Zoom prior to the taping of the show so they could plan their design: a treehouse cake that would stand at least four feet tall. They called it The Whimsical Inn.
“When they gave us the theme 'treehouse' we did some drawings here and there but came back to one we liked,” says Muller, adding that she reused an old Halloween cake idea of a crooked tree.
On the day of the competition, the team only had five hours to create their design: a hanging treehouse run by mice in a magical forest with woodland friends. The cake flavour: hazelnut chiffon with rum syrup, and Italian meringue and hazelnut buttercream with chocolate pearls.
“When you only have five hours to finish that cake, that’s all you’re thinking about – finishing that cake!” states Muller. “We made Gisella run like crazy, finding all the ingredients and bringing them to us.”
During the taping, Dorner accidentally burned a pot and thermometer, but despite the small mishap, the team persevered to complete the delicate cake.
“The baking part was easy because we’re all very good bakers," explains Muller. “The trunk of the tree was all cake… and the very top of the tree was pipes that were welded and covered in fondant and textured leaves.”
While everyone rushed to complete their treehouse cakes, the judges surprised the teams with a last-minute 'bonus bake’, requesting an additional six birds made from modelling chocolate in ‘pavlova’ nests. The teams were also given an ‘electrical’ component to add movement somewhere on their cakes.
“We decided to add singing birds out of modelling chocolate and sat them on the pavlovas,” says Muller. “We made a tiramisu-style pavlova [with] ladyfingers soaked in rum and coffee – it was very delicious.”
Each team prepared different parts of the treehouse cake according to their strengths: Araujo applied her incredible texturing techniques to bring the tree to ‘life’, and Muller focused her piping talents on the hanging house, while Dorner did all the baking and airbrushing.
“You see a lot of these [baking] shows that have good ideas, but their strengths are lacking and there are mistakes,” explains Muller. “So, you need to design pieces according to your strengths.”
When it came time for the judges to taste the cake, it was the team’s overall execution and flavours that secured their win.
“The execution on this magical cake of yours is absolutely sublime, you’ve thought of absolutely everything,” said Chef Eastwood, one of three judges on the show. “It feels like I’m eating a cloud!”
“Phenomenal cake!” added Chef Jackson. “That is a sweet, sweet, ‘tweet.'”
However, judge Ben-Israel commented that the leaves the team made looked like tropical banana leaves.
"The leaves you created… are huge!" laughed Ben-Isreal.
Once the judges deliberated and final interviews were completed for the show, team Whip it Real Good was declared the winner, giving them $10K to split among the three women.
“It was a great experience, fun, and obviously it is sometimes stressful because of the time constraints to finish it, but if you focus, it is fun,” shares Muller. “I enjoy doing it. We all do – all three of us!”
Muller and Araujo add that when baking is a passion, it becomes natural and so rewarding.
“I was super happy! We just won $10,000,” exclaims Araujo. “We put a lot of work into this, so many hours and planning on Zoom. It’s a chance to show a design you think is pretty and goes with the theme.”
The full TV segment can be viewed online here.
