Things are heating up for a South County native who is competing on the third season of TLC’s the “Next Great Baker.”
Jen Kwapinski, 32, a former resident of Gilroy, is one of dozen show competitors vying to become the best baker of them all.
At stake is a $100,000 prize, a feature spread in Redbook Magazine and a chance to work alongside a famous pastry chef in his New Jersey bakery.
As the brainchild of the TLC network, the “Next Great Baker” is a reality TV show aimed at discovering the nation’s top baking talent.
Hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of the TLC show “Cake Boss,” the “Next Great Baker” uses an elimination-style competition to narrow the field each week. Contestants whose cakes are dubbed “the worst” are eliminated by judges, then carted away from the set in a truck labeled, “Not the Next Great Baker.”
Kwapinski and her opponents create cakes, decorate deserts and try to stay ahead of the competition so they don’t end up in the truck of shame.
“It’s kind of surreal seeing yourself on TV,” Kwapinski told the Times.
So far, she has made it halfway through; besting six other competitors to hold her spot on the show.
According to TLC, an average 1.7 million viewers tune in at 9 p.m. Mondays to see who will be crowned the best baker of them all.
“It’s really fun not telling people, knowing something they don’t know,” said Kwapinski, who already knows how things play out, since the show was pre-taped. “It makes it more exciting that they don’t know the ending.”
Kwapinski, who in 1999 attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco with hopes of becoming a caterer, is no stranger to the culinary world. At the academy, she turned up her nose at entree-centric cooking, and fell for the sweet side of the business.
During her first job in the industry more than nine years ago, Kwapinski kicked off her finger-licking career by creating cakes for Applebee’s in Gilroy – where she also worked as a waitress for six months.
Today, Kwapinski and her husband work together running a successful cake business, Jen’s Cakes, in downtown Willow Glen just south of San Jose.
Two years ago, TLC contacted Kwapinski and urged her to apply for the “Next Great Baker.” Kwapinski was skeptical at first, since she had previously attempted to apply for several cooking shows – and to no avail.
“I didn’t know if I should bother, but I figured ‘what the heck,’” she laughed.
Now that she is on the show, she is eager to see what her time in the spotlight will do for her business.
“Hopefully we will see a little return from it,” she smiled.
Kwapinski talks of her time on the show as a learning experience, with Valastro being a tough teacher.
“The biggest thing I learned on the show is time management,” she said.
Which will definitely come in handy, as Kwapinski creates more than 225 wedding cakes a year, in addition to special occasion cakes and myriad mini creations.
With the wedding business being her bread and buttercream, Kwapinski relishes every opportunity to make the perfect cake to pair with a newlywed couples’ perfect day.
“It’s really cool what we can do to make that moment special for a bride and groom,” she said.
While there are five more episodes to go before viewers will learn Kwapinski’s fate, she has made her way into the hearts and stomachs of Santa Clara County.
“I want to make a lasting impression, right down to the last crumb,” she said.
