Standing next to two new friends in front of cameras that would broadcast the moment to potentially millions of eyeballs, Jennifer Childs felt confident she wouldn’t win her bid as the next winner of the Great Canadian Baking Show.
The Esquimalt baker was OK with that, as evidenced by the happy tears and hugs that followed.
The three had already faced their final moments with the judges, and Childs, feeling she had had better days, found herself wondering which of the other two bakers would win.
“It was almost more relieving to have an idea of what the outcome would be,” she told Victoria News. “Both of them were so fun to bake with and they were really excited and hopeful. They make it easy to be excited for them.”
The moment came after weeks of making new friends, baking day after day for six weeks in a hot tent in Toronto as one of 10 competitors selected for season eight of the CBC show.
The show brings together amateur bakers from across the country to compete in a series of themed culinary challenges that celebrate their diverse backgrounds, families and communities.
Each episode features three rounds: the signature bake, the technical bake and the show stopper. After the judges taste and critique the work, they crown one Star Baker and ask one baker to leave.
Childs fared well throughout the competition, earning the Star Baker nod several times, but her finale wasn’t her strongest day in the tent; she felt in her heart one of the others would win.
A bookkeeper by trade, Childs had tried out for the show the seven years previous, and fared well in the competition, surviving round after round to be in the final three with eventual winner Elora Khanom and fellow runner-up Pamela Kramer.
Over the eight-week competition, there are a half dozen creations she’d call favourites.
“It really was having the dedicated time to explore really big interesting projects,” she said.
Often tasked with matching the challenge to a theme close to the bakers’ hearts, her standouts all include nods to her family.
The first was a split cake, using her late mother-in-law’s Black Forest recipe, in the form of a nurse log – which feeds new growth as it decays – in the forest. The cake symbolized her mother-in-law who continues to nourish her family even after passing. Childs used that recipe early, in case she was ousted.
Her showstopper Ode to Grandma – a sesame-scallion focaccia in the shape of a kimono – earned a Star Baker title. It honoured her seamstress grandmother who had a shop in Chemainus before being forced into internment during the Second World War.
A cartoon rendition of two scoops of ice cream goofily smooshed on the floor represented her family – who get ice cream any time they go on vacation.
For coffee and tea week the bakers faced a showstopper making Swedish fika – coffee or tea and sweets – not unlike university dates with her husband Stephen.
“We’ve been doing fika since we started dating,” she said with a laugh.
With no cash on the line – the prize is a cake plate and title – it was easy to enjoy the new friends made, help and truly wish the best for each other.
"Everyone is just trying to do their best,” Childs noted, pointing to Christine Campbell who departed the tent at the end of episode one. That was a rough day for Campbell, potentially more so than the television edit let on.
The frenzy of the final moments as the clock winds down at the segment of each competition – that’s real.
“I always tell people the biggest thing and confirmation for me on the show is that what you see is pretty much what you get,” she said.
There’s one shot that wasn’t included but is still a memory that epitomizes that rush.
Tasked during the technical challenge to make a Peruvian cake that included homemade sprinkles, Childs found her largest ones needing a little longer in the warming drawer to dry out.
While she looked calm, cool and collected, in reality, “I was pulling them from the low warming drawer and throwing them on the cake,” she said.
Back at home when the season aired on CBC this fall, Childs enjoyed a couple of watch parties – kicking off the season with 75 family and friends at Spinnakers in Vic West; watching week three with fellow runner-up Kramer while in Ontario for a Spartan obstacle race; and taking in the Nov. 24 finale with an even larger crowd at the new Saxe Point Public House in Esquimalt.
It was just another part of the celebration and a shout-out to friends and family.
“Something on this scale doesn’t happen without an amazing support crew. My husband and family held down the fort while I was ignoring my life for two weeks of prep and then I was away for six weeks,” she said. “They all had to keep a pretty big surprise. So they were pretty awesome.”
With the season finished and her eight-year run at the show complete, she plans to slip back into teaching classes and workshops. Baking season at home will continue, starting with the holiday necessities: traditional sourdough panettone for Italian brother-in-law, stollen for her German sister-in-law – “both a labour of love” – and Christmas cookies and almond toffee considered favourites in her household.
Next up, Childs will take part in the CBC Make the Season Kind event, Dec. 6, on-site with Gregor Craigie.
“We’ll be raffling off the CuisineArt mixer I used to practice with,” she said.
People offering online and phone donations can win a spot in a virtual baking class, where she plans to teach how to make coloured macarons, based on her layered llamas showcased on the show.
Season 8 of The Great Canadian Baking Show is available on CBC Gem. Casting is now open for Season 9.
“I do look forward to hopefully getting to meet people who are auditioning next year and encourage new folks. It’s been nothing but worthwhile,” Childs said. “I absolutely encourage everyone to apply, even filling out the application makes you think about why you love baking… and you never know what’s going to happen, you might end up on TV.”
