Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge premieres Tuesday, Dec. 13 on Prime Video (and the free ad-supported service, Amazon Freevee! The baking competition series will put nine teams of self-taught cake artists and classically trained pastry chefs to the test as they vie for the $50,000 grand prize.
Hosted by Tamera Mowry-Housley, each one of the show’s eight episodes will see the contestants creating confectionery masterpieces based on challenges inspired by Dr. Seuss’ beloved characters and stories. The Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, you name a well known figure in these tales and you’ll likely see them reproduced in this series.
The bakers are to be judged by pastry chef Clarice Lam and cake designer/pastry chef Joshua John Russell. Taste, creativity, accuracy, and storytelling are the scales by which an ultimate winner is to be chosen. Who’s in the competition? Here’s what we know!
Red Team – Angelo and Lily
Brown Team – Angel and Maya
Blue Team – Kyle and Huiwen
(from left to right)
The Red Team (Angelo and Lily) – Angelo owns Angelo Bakes in Albany, NY. The pastry chef’s first inspiration to cook came from his grandmother’s Mississippi cuisine. Angelo is a fan of all things strange and delicious when it comes to flavor combinations. He’s bringing his storytelling to the competition and his out of the box thinking.
Lily owns Lil’ Dame Cake Studio and is a senior art director. She’s been developing her passion for cake art over the better part of a decade. Her goal in the competition is to push herself creatively and bring her penchant for mixing different mediums to the challenge.
The Brown Team (Angel and Maya) – Angel is Chilean by birth and has cooked across the globe, however, she discovered her passion for cake artistry in the States. She owns a business that specializes in 3D sculpted cakes and is known for staying cool under pressure.
Maya grew up in a household with environmentally conscious parents, as such The Lorax is a personal favorite Dr. Seuss tale of hers. A self-professed free spirit, Maya makes sure to bake her creations with love so that you can feel the bright emotion she’s packed into every bite.
The Blue Team (Kyle Huiwen) – Kyle has the most Dr. Seuss experience than anyone else in the competition as he’s performed in “Seussical: The Musical” and has worked at Orlando’s Seuss Landing. Currently, Kyle is an executive pastry chef whose eclectic style allows him to create desserts that can be whimsical, elegant, or modern.
Huiwen is a self-taught cake artist who brings her engineering mind to her creations. She’s also the owner of Cocobelly Cakes, making specialty cake and content creation. It’s Huiwen’s belief that you have to always bring the WOW in anything you make, but she also thinks creativity and practicality can go hand-in-hand.
Pink Team – Daniel and Joyce
Yellow Team – Lorenzo and Tareka
Teal Team – Rebecca and Ashley
(from left to right)
The Pink Team (Daniel and Joyce) – Daniel is big on family. His grandmother, who was a cake decorator, taught him all she knew about the craft. In fact, his earliest memory is of him baking by her side. Daniel started his own cake business after college and currently works as a head pastry chef. He intends on living up to his grandmother’s legacy as well as making his friends and family proud.
Joyce is another competitor who’s self taught. She strongly believes you can reinvent yourself at any age and she’s living proof. The former real estate agent is now a cake artist whose clients can pick her creations out of a line-up due to how fun, cheerful, and colorful they are whilst still maintaining a modernity through her clean lines. Joyce typically works alone, but she’ll be exercising her partnership skills in the competition and leaning into having another set of eyes and an additional creative brain to help create magic.
The Yellow Team (Lorenzo and Tareka) – Lorenzo’s a pastry chef whose dessert making changed once he came out at 21. Before fully embracing himself, his work had been simple and basic but now it’s as bright and vibrant as his personality. Lorenzo is a fan of unique textures and draws inspiration from his love for thrift shopping. If there’s one thing he needs to work on, however, it’s his time management. He’ll need to overcome that obstacle if he wants to bring his best to this competition.
Tareka’s business, Loft22 Cakes, is a success, but stepping into her dream came with the risk of quitting her job when she was 30 years old. Now, nearly a decade later, she specializes in gravity-defying cakes. It’s a fitting career for a cake artist inspired by Oh, The Places You’ll Go! and who was raised by a father who always taught her to dream big and be fearless. Tareka will be honoring his legacy as she competes.
The Teal Team (Rebecca and Ashley) – Rebecca leads three teams at Black Sheep Restaurant Group as an executive pastry chef. Trained at the French Culinary Institute, with an internship under her belt with a James Beard Award-winning chef, she’s determined to prove that working moms can do it all and that she has what it takes to compete in a high level competition.
Ashley loves a statement cake. It’s her specialty. The self-taught pastry chef is skilled with power tools and is known for her 3D sculpted cakes. She’s also super competitive, so she’s ready to bring her A game and her engineering know-how to this competition.
Purple Team – Nikki and Alejandra
Orange Team – Chris and Alene
Green Team – Cristina and Kerrie
(from left to right)
The Purple Team (Nikki and Alejandra) – Nikki was born in Thailand and raised by an American father, hence her love of fusing Thai and American culinary skillsets to produce unique desserts with unexpected ingredients. She’s classically trained in French pastry and considers herself to be an artist in the kitchen who stands out due to her one-of-a-kind flavor profiles.
Alejandra has baking in her blood. She grew up around her parents’ bakery and was taught from an early age to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit. Alejandra owns her own cookie business, Cookie Xperiment. Her style is a blend of photorealism and abstract expressionism which she intends to showcase to its full extent while making creations for the competition.
The Orange Team (Chris and Alene) – Chris has been in love with baking since his childhood spent helping his Polish grandmother in the kitchen. He’s a skilled pastry chef who has instructed other culinary professionals. Chris has also been an executive pastry chef at a major hotel and has had the freedom to design and create desserts that would blow your mind. He’s excited to show off his skillset in creating large-than-life cakes.
Alene does it all. She’s a full-time federal contractor and has been running a successful sculpted cake business for 10 years. Alene is known for her gravity-defying cakes and credits her grandmother with her expertise in baking as it’s her recipes that she uses in her business. With her eye toward the top prize, Alene expects nothing but the best from herself in this competition.
The Green Team (Cristina and Kerrie) – Cristina is a trained pastry chef and cake artist, but she’s down to mix homestyle baking with classic French pastries any day. She loves blending styles and that includes bringing her Cuban roots and Jersey girl upbringing into her culinary choices. Cristina’s expertise is vast, but she’s self-aware enough to know that her one weakness is not knowing when she should stop.
Kerrie was born with one hand, but her adoptive family has never let her believe that she can’t do something. She found her place in her family of 11 by cooking meals for everyone. Kerrie is a skilled lead cake decorator whose goal is to gain a mastery of all aspects when it comes to cake design. She wants to be an exceptional cake sculptor full stop not one considered exceptional because she’s doing what she does with one hand.
Watch the trailer for the competition below:
Winning “Best Bite” recipes will be available on Amazon’s store for the series and ingredients on Amazon Fresh. Also, those who tune in will have the opportunity to bake their own version of the creations seen on Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge following episodes.
Next. How is Amazon Freevee different from Prime Video?. dark
Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more Prime Video news and coverage!
