With Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship in the rear-view (no spoilers, in case you haven’t watched theme park pastry pro Alan Arras compete yet!), the slate has been cleared for all the winter-season competition shows.
And Orlando has not one, but three locals in the mix!
From the Wizarding World to the Winter Wars to the Holiday Baking Championships, let’s meet the Orlandoans you’ll be rooting for while you batch up your own cakes and cookies for the season.
Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking
Season Two of this all-things-Potter baking competition is first up, debuting on Nov. 2, where you’ll want to keep your eyes on chocolatier Katie Bonzer (instagram.com/katiebonzerchocolatier) as she keeps hers on the prize.
Military-raised, Bonzer was born in Spain and raised around the world but claims Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as her home base. It was there that she and her husband (also a pastry chef) owned and operated three restaurants in the cities of Gwinn and Marquette before relocating to Orlando, where at first Bonzer worked at Walt Disney World.
“After two years, I was ready to reopen a business. Practical Chocolate serves the great Orlando area for wholesale chocolate bonbons, decor and showpieces for luxury hotels, resorts and restaurants.”
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Translation: Bonzer, a Le Cordon Bleu Pasadena grad, is bringing serious skills to the show, though competitive TV baking was never on her radar.
“I’m asked to do TV about twice a month, but it’s never been part of my career goals,” Bonzer told the Orlando Sentinel. “But when ‘Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking’ Season One came out, I was awestruck because I am an absolute, life-long Harry Potter megafan. My schedule had conflicts for Season One, and I was so grateful for the team to remember me and give me another opportunity.”
Bonzer says the group of 16 contestants clicked instantly and had inside jokes by the end of the first day.
“No one took themselves too seriously, which made for an explosively funny and creative environment. We are very culturally and globally diverse and I believe that amalgamation is what created so much interest in each other and camaraderie as we all took this huge leap of faith together to film so far away from home, in London.”
Tune in to watch Bonzer alongside Potter series cast members James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), with judges Carla Hall and Jozef Youssef, plus additional Harry Potter stars.
The cast of Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship, Season 12, which debuts Nov. 3. (Courtesy Food Network)
Holiday Baking Championships
If you don’t want to wait a whole week to root for the home team, you’re in luck, because Holiday Baking Championships debuts the very next night, on Nov. 3. This time, it’s a Walt Disney World veteran who’ll be baking for the 407.
“When one of the most iconic hotels invites you to work there, you just need to pack your bags and go,” says Brazilian native Jean Carlos, pastry chef at the Walt Disney World Swan hotel. “Before Orlando, I used to live in Atlanta, where I worked for both The Ritz-Carlton and Intercontinental Hotels.”
It’s not Carlos’s first televised rodeo. He cut his TV teeth in 2021 on a show in his home country.
“That one was more focused on cakes,” he explains. “My interest in being on a TV show is because I like to challenge myself and be able to tell my story through the desserts.”
That story goes back to when Carlos was 10 years old.
“We moved next door to a bakery and from my window I was able to watch people work there,” he says. “That gives me a sprinkle!”
Learning new skills and how to perform under pressure is great, he says, but the hardest part of competition shows is waiting to be judged.
“[The experience] was a mix of emotions, but we had a lot of fun…. I was so impressed with the set; they built the most cute little Christmas village in the middle of the kitchen. And this year, we have a new format: we separated into two groups, Team Nice and Team Naughty.”
Find out if Carlos was “nice” enough for judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller and Kardea Brown when you tune in and watch.
Pastry chef François Paille, chef/partner of Winter Park’s Croissant Gourmet, will compete on the all-new Food Network show “Sweet Empire: Winter Wars,” debuting Nov. 9. (Courtesy Food Network)
Sweet Empire: Winter Wars
François Paille hails from Strasbourg, France, but he’s a veteran of the Orlando food scene, beginning with and circling back to Winter Park’s beloved Croissant Gourmet, where he is a chef/partner. In between, Paille logged time with Norman’s (the Ritz-Carlton original) and helped open My French Cafe in Winter Garden.
Paille specialized in chocolate during his time learning in Lyon, but there’s surely luck in the layers of lamination skills he’ll bring to his peers on this brand-new show, where bakers battle to build their teams, shape their vision and rise to snag the bragging rights — not to mention $50,000.
“For me, pastry has almost been about making people smile,” says Paille, who has been baking since he was a child in his grandmother’s kitchen. “When the opportunity came to join ‘Sweet Empire,’ it felt like the right moment to … take on a new kind of challenge. I wanted to represent Croissant Gourmet, meet amazing chefs who share the same love for the craft and hopefully inspire people through creativity and passion.”
Even with formidable chops, Paille found the experience intimidating.
“I had the chance to use all my skills as a chocolatier and a fine dining pastry chef, but the challenge was to work in a scene that is far from the ideal conditions. I’m used to stress in the kitchen, but this was different, being constantly filmed.”
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Though he can’t say too much about what will unfold on the show — “in the first episode, I tried to eat more than I can chew and overloaded myself with a lot of work” — Paille says the experience was a pleasure and honor.
In this new show, bakers will battle to build their teams, shape their vision and rise to sweet supremacy… or crumble trying. Hosted by Wells Adams with Yolanda Gampp and Jacques Torres, only the most daring creations will stand tall. At stake: $50,000.
It’s time to root for Orlando, foodie fans. Hopefully, all three chefs bring some prize money home for the holidays.
Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com, For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.