A Greater Victoria bookkeeper is proving to be a “star baker” in a televised competition.
Amateur baker Jen Childs of Esquimalt earned the kudos three times in six episodes of CBC’s Great Canadian Baking challenge.
Each episode features three rounds – the signature bake, the technical bake and the show stopper. After the judges taste and critique the bakes, they crown one star baker and ask one baker to leave. The final three bakers compete for the title.
Childs earned the title in the first episode of the competition, finishing first in the technical bake and impressing judges Bruno Feldeisen and Kyla Kennaley with her Half & Half Black Forest.
In episode 5, her showstopper of cute scoops of fallen ice cream made of cake boosted her to star status. She followed that up the next week, with a second consecutive win for the star baker title, finishing first in the technical competition and creating a Land and Sea edible shadowbox featuring a scene from nature, with components made from cookies and cake.
After applying each year for the last seven, Childs landed a space this year – filming this spring in Toronto. The competitors, who Childs says have become friends, hail from across the country to battle in culinary challenges that celebrate their diverse backgrounds, families and communities.
With a baker eliminated each week, Childs has reached the final four.
The only other B.C. baker – 30-year-old Marcus Tam, a tax manager from Vancouver – was eliminated amid hugs and camaraderie in episode five.
Season 8 of The Great Canadian Baking Show finishes Nov. 24 and streams weekly Sunday mornings on CBC Gem followed by broadcast on CBC TV at 8 p.m.
