Local bakers in TV competition
Not Just Cakes team featured on upcoming Food Network show
SYDNEY — A Florence woman is glad she answered the Instagram message she first thought was fishy.
Tara Parsons-Donovan, owner of Not Just Cakes Sweet Studio in Sydney River, received the message last November. It was from a producer for "The Big Bake" who wanted to speak to her about appearing on the show.
"Right away we were, like, this is a scam. There's no way this producer in Toronto is getting in touch with a small little bakery in Cape Breton," she said with a laugh.
With her staff at the bakery, which she opened in 2018, Parsons-Donovan used Google to background check the producer and find out if he was for real — and he was.
After an application and a video interview two weeks later, Parsons-Donovan had to wait until the end of January to hear that she and her team were chosen to compete on this fall's "The Big Bake: Halloween" premiering Sept. 27 on Food Network Canada.
"It was the wildest, craziest dream we could ever imagine," said Parsons-Donovan.
"Being from Cape Breton, everybody watches the Food Network, everybody watches these cake shows. Everybody grew up watching Duff and Bunny and all those amazing things they can do. To actually be on a set they've been on, filming for the Food Network, is a dream come true really."
THE TEAM
For her team members Parsons-Donovan chose baker/pastry chef Amber Best and cake decorator Krystina Hartigan and the three were called Team Sugar and Spice.
"I took them because they are the best," Parsons-Donovan said. "We're not only co-workers but we're like best friends. We're there for each other all the time."
Both Best and Hartigan began working at Not Just Cakes about a year after it opened.
"Tara's cakes were so beautiful. I wanted to do them," said Hartigan, who was a cake decorator at a Sobeys location before joining Not Just Cakes.
"I think we all trained each other," Parsons-Donovan added.
Best has studied at Holland College in P.E.I. and has degrees in the culinary and pastry arts, as well as hospitality. Hartigan got hands-on training through her job and Parsons-Donovan was taught by her aunt, who had a catering business which included decorating wedding cakes.
Shooting the show in Toronto last February, which took one day, was not only a learning experience but one that provided experience with a new type of stress.
"The stress is real," Parsons-Donovan said. "When they say five hours goes by fast, it goes by really fast."
"The Big Bake: Halloween" episode featuring Team Sugar and Spice from Cape Breton will air on Oct. 4 on the Food Network.
More information can be found on the Not Just Cakes website — www.notjustcakessweetstudio.com/.