Food Network Lets Them Eat Cake
by Samantha Mitchell
The Food Network is an American cable network that
airs series and specials about one of our most beloved subjects - food.
The Network is viewed in 80 million households and by half a million people
per day. It's seen in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Korea,
Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Monaco, Andorra, France, and the
French-speaking territories in the Caribbean and Polynesia. Canadians now
have their own version, Food Network Canada.
Every Sunday night, the Food Network Challenge
(which has reached franchise status and offers cash prizes big enough to
remodel your kitchen) hosts the largest and most memorable food competitions
around the world.
Here's a sampling of the competitions for the world's
best cakes:
Wedding Cake Challenge - Teams vie for the bragging
rights (and $10 grand) for creating the world's most spectacular wedding
cake.
Spatulas and pastry tubes are augmented by high
tech weapons such as Homaro Cantu's Class IV laser that sears edibles at
2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and ink-jet printer that prints photographs on
soy-based edible paper.
Disney Dream Desserts - Student pastry chefs create
four desserts and a three-foot tall chocolate and sugar centerpiece as
they compete at the Happiest Place on Earth for a $14,000 scholarship and
an internship in the Disney kitchens.
Mystery Birthday Cake - Five top-notch cake designers
are challenged by a client from hell whose identity and criteria for the
birthday cake will not be revealed until minutes before the six-hour competition
begins. (Colette Peters took home the $10,000 first prize in 2005.)
Birthday Cake Competition - An edible, rotating
Ferris wheel is one of the memorable cakes created in this competition
where six of the nation's top cake designers unleash their imaginations
and test their skills as they compete to create the world's most outrageous
birthday cake (and a $10,000 first place prize).
Cookies, Fire and Ice (pastry and ice sculpture),
Wedding Cake Classic and Ultimate Wedding Cakes are just a few more of
the dozens of pastry and cake competitions hosted by the Food Network Challenge.
Other challenges bring together top-notch barbecue
chefs, pizza makers, and more in a quest for the world's best culinary
creations.
Celebrity chef hosts include famous restaurateurs
Emeril and Wolfgang Puck.
Many of the Food Network's personalities have become
quite famous, such as home cooking diva Rachael Ray (the star of the Network
and host of 30-Minute Meals, sort of an antithesis to Martha Stewart).
And, then there's Duff Goldman.
Shaping cakes with drill saws and blow torches,
Goldman is known as the "Bad Boy" of the Food Network.
He hosts the network's latest creation (as of January
16, 2007), Ace of Cakes. And as one of the most sought after cake decorators
in the nation, he blows away cake decorator stereotypes.
A former graffiti artist, Duff holds degrees in
philosophy and physics, plays bass in an indie band, and studied pastries
at the Culinary Institute of America before going on to the prestigious
position of executive pastry chef at the Vail Cascade Hotel and Resort
in Colorado. He now owns and operates Charm City Cakes in Baltimore.
His cake creations are as diverse as his talents
and include a Harry Potter quidditch arena, a piece of rare black Wedgwood
china made for Hillary Clinton in 2002, and many family dog tribute cakes.
Clients have paid $175 for a simple square to $20,000
for a massive, mechanized cake with edible moving parts.
Many of the Food Network personalities have interesting
and surprising career stories.
Sugar Rush host, Warren Brown, left a career in
law to open Cakelove, his specialty cake and pastry business in Washington
D.C. (You may have seen him on Oprah or in Time magazine.)
Sugar Rush follows Brown as he visits restaurants,
pastry shops and bakeries around the country, and then returns to his kitchen
to cook a recipe he's learned.
Warren's own most popular cake is a three-layer
buttercream with fresh strawberries, and his cupcakes are the all-around
best sellers at Cakelove.
Every Sunday night, the Food Network Challenge
(which has reached franchise status and offers cash prizes big enough to
remodel your kitchen) hosts the largest and most memorable food competitions
around the world. And they post the recipes on their Website!
Here's a sampling of the competitions for the world's
best cakes:
Wedding Cake Challenge - Teams vie for the bragging
rights (and $10 grand) for creating the world's most spectacular wedding
cake. Spatulas and pastry tubes are augmented by high tech weapons such
as Homaro Cantu's Class IV laser that sears edibles at 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit
and ink-jet printer that prints photographs on soy-based edible paper.
Disney Dream Desserts - Student pastry chefs create
four desserts and a three-foot tall chocolate and sugar centerpiece as
they compete at the Happiest Place on Earth for a $14,000 scholarship and
an internship in the Disney kitchens.
Mystery Birthday Cake - Five top-notch cake designers
are challenged by a client from hell whose identity and criteria for the
birthday cake will not be revealed until minutes before the six-hour competition
begins. (Colette Peters took home the $10,000 first prize in 2005.)
Birthday Cake Competition - An edible, rotating
Ferris wheel is one of the memorable cakes created in this competition
where six of the nation's top cake designers unleash their imaginations
and test their skills as they compete to create the world's most outrageous
birthday cake (and a $10,000 first place prize).
Cookies, Fire and Ice (pastry and ice sculpture),
Wedding Cake Classic and Ultimate Wedding Cakes are just a few more of
the dozens of pastry and cake competitions hosted by the Food Network Challenge.
Other challenges bring together top-notch barbecue chefs, pizza makers,
and more in a quest for the world's best culinary creations.
Food Network, founded in 1993 and more popular
than ever, boasts record-setting ratings in primetime and a top food Website.
Celebrity chef hosts include famous restaurateurs Emeril and Wolfgang Puck.
Many of the Food Network's personalities have become quite famous, such
as home cooking diva Rachael Ray (the star of the Network and host of 30-Minute
Meals, sort of an antithesis to Martha Stewart). And, then there's Duff
Goldman.
Shaping cakes with drill saws and blow torches,
Goldman is known as the "Bad Boy" of the Food Network. He hosts the network's
latest creation (as of January 16, 2007), Ace of Cakes. And as one of the
most sought after cake decorators in the nation, he blows away cake decorator
stereotypes.
A former graffiti artist, Duff holds degrees in
philosophy and physics, plays bass in an indie band, and studied pastries
at the Culinary Institute of America before going on to the prestigious
position of executive pastry chef at the Vail Cascade Hotel and Resort
in Colorado. He now owns and operates Charm City Cakes in Baltimore,
His cake creations are as diverse as his talents
and include a Harry Potter quidditch arena, a piece of rare black Wedgwood
china made for Hillary Clinton in 2002, and many family dog tribute cakes.
Clients have paid $175 for a simple square to $20,000 for a massive, mechanized
cake with edible moving parts.
Many of the Food Network personalities have interesting
and surprising career stories. Sugar Rush host, Warren Brown, left a career
in law to open Cakelove, his specialty cake and pastry business in Washington
D.C. (You may have seen him on Oprah or in Time magazine.)
Sugar Rush follows Brown as he visits restaurants,
pastry shops and bakeries around the country, and then returns to his kitchen
to cook a recipe he's learned.
Warren's own most popular cake is a three-layer
buttercream with fresh strawberries, and his cupcakes are the all-around
best sellers at Cakelove.
To check the viewing times for these and many more
shows, visit the Food Network online at www.foodnetwork.com.
About the Author
Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author Cake Decorating Made
Easy! Vol. 1 & 2 The World's First Cake Decorating Video Books For
fantastic cake decorating tips, tricks and secrets of the pros, visit the
Cake Answers website at http://www.cakeanswers.com
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