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Last time we checked in with Casey Shiller (second from left, in some pretty exclusive company), he was still smarting from a loss on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars about a year ago. The baking impresario at Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe and a leading culinary instructor at St. Louis Community College, Shiller did his level best to impress the Food Network's fickle crew of judges, only to have them call his work “self-indulgent” and boot him off the show before the final bake-off.
The decision was final, but the drama was not yet over.
The Food Network invited Shiller and fellow Jilly's kitchen stud Dana Holland back to try again, and on May 5, Cupake Wars will air an episode featuring these men-of-the-cupcake going up against three other teams that have also lost out in prime time. In fact the theme of the show is, according to the FN site, “redemption.”
Oh, yes – it is so on.
Due to those pesky blackout rules that forbid scribes like us from spoiling TV shows and their outcomes, we can't reveal much at this time.
But here's what we know:
-Shiller and Holland took on other cupcake bakers at the prestigious South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami this past February. This is an event sponsored by the Food Network, chockablock with celebrity chefs. The Food Network's “Sandwich King,” Jeff Mauro, was the guest judge. The tony South Beach environs, explained Shiller, were part of the vibe. “We definitely needed to ‘make it sexy, make it Miami,’” said Shiller. Sexy cupcakes? Hmm...
-In the May 5 episode, the Jilly's team is the only team competing from the Midwest
-Fans of the show know that there are three rounds: The first round, in which the teams must work with a surprise ingredient, a la “Iron Chef”; the second round, in which teams must make three different cupcakes; and the final round, during which teams must churn out 1,000 cupcakes in just two hours (with the help of additional assistants).
-There are ways to practice for this sort of challenge, said Shiller. “We have recipes ready to go,” he said. “We have a savory recipe ready to go, we have three different vanillas ready to go, and several fruit-based recipes ready to go. We know they all work well for competition, so, for instance, when they reveal the secret ingredient, we have to figure out how to modify those recipes to incorporate the flavors they give us.”
-Inquiring minds wanna know, how did Shiller change his game plan after being humiliated on national TV last time? His creations in the last “Cupcake Wars” in which he appeared were evidently too fancy for the pedestrian tastes of the judges. So did he keep it simple in Miami? “Last time we made totally awesome cupcakes that totally went over their [judges'] heads,” said Shiller. “Let me just say that this time, when we heard what the challenges were, they were right in our wheelhouse.
Only time will tell what went down, and how our hometown team fared. One thing's for sure: every time Jilly's appears on the Food Network (they also won on Cupcake Wars two years ago) sales at the bakery's locations shoot through the roof (the winning cupcakes are at right).
Jilly's owner Jill Segal is taking advantage of this exciting moment to drop something new, too – she says the shops will be introducing a new product the day after the show airs, May 6, "life changing delish" that will “blow us away.”
“Cupcake Wars” featuring Casey Shiller and Dana Holland of Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe May 5 7 p.m. Food Network
