This was my first Pillsbury Bake-Off and I had no idea what to expect. But what followed was a fantastic adventure, never to be forgotten. After receiving the call that my recipe, White Chocolate Banana Creme Brulee Tarts, had been selected as a finalist, the next few months were spent doing newspaper interviews, a tv interview on Good Day Philly, and lots of practicing. Then it was on to the Bake-Off. . .


The Bake-Off officially began for me when I landed in the Orlando Airport on Sunday, April 11th. I was greeted at the airport by a super pleasant fellow named Derek who found me in baggage claim and then escorted me to my ride. There I stood innocently, wondering who they would be sending to pick me up, when up drove a brand new shiny black Escalade which was driven by a man who looked like a Secret Service Agent. He stood about 7 feet tall and was dressed in a black suit and dark sunglasses, and as he opened the car door for me I half expected him to address me as Madam President. He even adjusted his sunglasses and scanned the horizon before sliding into the driver’s seat with the stealthy silence of a tiger. Awesome. As my Secret Service Agent drove me to the hotel, I sat there wondering if I was allowed to talk to him but since I had nothing of importance to say, I figured I would simply meditate on the fact that I was on my way to compete for a million dollars. When that thought started to make me nervous, I switched to thinking about kittens and that made me much happier. Very soon we arrived at the Hilton Bonnet Creek Hotel which is where the Bake-Off would take place and where all the finalists, their guests and the press and staff of the Bake-Off were staying. Once my Secret Service Agent handed me my suitcase, he wished me a “good stay” in some kind of Eastern European accent. My mom was arriving later in the day, and I silently hoped that my mom would also get the chance to be picked up at the airport by my secret service agent or at least someone as equally impressive.

I checked into my room (very nice) which was generously provided by the Bake-Off, and then went to check in for the contest at the hospitality desk. They gave each of us finalists a fabulous bag of goodies and a welcome packet which contained my official name badge. I was told to wear this name badge at all times, as it would allow me into rooms and events that only finalists were allowed into. And trust me, the security guys took security very seriously. One poor finalist forgot her badge and she nearly got kicked out of orientation. Fortunately she found it in time so all was saved.

I next headed to “Oven Orientation.” The fabulous folks at GE provided the Bake-Off with brand new induction ovens for us all to use, so they had an orientation where we could learn how to use them. The reason for this orientation is because an induction oven is unlike anything most of us have ever used before. The oven is magnetized inside, and so you must use a magnetized pot or pan as well. Once the magnetized pot is placed on the stove, the connection of the 2 magnets allows the heat connection to be made and the stove starts to work. Once you remove the pot, the magnetic connection is broken and the stove turns off. Remember this information, as it will be important later in our tale. Now, I have a ridiculously terrible oven at home and it doesn’t really bake or cook properly. In fact, it pretty much just broils at this point and it takes about 90 minutes to do what a normal oven will do in 20 minutes. So to me, any oven that actually heats up all the way through and bakes things in the time that it should is a thing of beauty.

As the nice GE lady explained how to use the oven and stove, I stood there plotting and thinking of ways to steal one and take it home with me. She asked me what kind of oven I have at home and when said “Electric Coil”, she let out a cry of shock and covered her face with her hands. I knew my oven was bad, but man, I guess it must be pretty bad.

As I was leaving Oven Orientation, I noticed that the other finalists all had blue ribbons on their name badges that said “Finalist.” My name badge didn’t have this blue ribbon. Because it didn’t have this special ribbon, my badge looked more like a press badge. I didn’t think too much about it but then I remembered the warning I was given about the importance of the name badges, so I went back up to the fabulous ladies at the hospitality desk and showed them my naked name badge. A surprised shock rang out from the hospitality ladies, and the next thing I knew we were all scurrying around trying to see if we could find the missing blue ribbon. We looked through my welcome packet, bag of goodies, even the floor. No blue ribbon. Gone like a freight train.

But, never fear. The hospitality ladies are here! With quick thinking and conviction, they quickly tracked down some blue material, gold ink and found the same type set that was used on the other finalists’ ribbons, and fashioned me a new one. All in like an hour! How? I dunno. They rock.

So, armed with my new blue ribbon be-decked named badge, me and the other finalists assembled for the main orientation. The security guards shown flash lights on our badges as we entered orientation, and they were checking to make sure that we all wore finalist badges and not press badges. I was so proud of my newly- fashioned finalist blue ribbon on my badge that I stood on my tip toes and arched my back like a bird showing off their plumage in order to give them full access to my name badge in all its blue- ribboned glory. Security apparently did not care that much and passed over my badge with nothing more than a quick flashlight shine.

This main orientation was in the ballroom where the Bake-Off itself would take place the following day and this was the first chance we had to see the rows of mini-kitchens, each stocked with our groceries and supplies. Each mini kitchen had a sign with a finalist’s name and recipe name on it. My mini kitchen was 71, which I couldn’t see from where I sat for orientation but I was sure it must be fabulous. There were also refrigerators against a wall that were designated for each finalist and contained our refrigerated ingredients. There were other refrigerators for cooling and chilling recipes.

The staff welcomed each of us, explained the rules, and told us things like there would be a doctor on hand and that if any of us cut ourselves, we were required to sit down and the doctor would come and check it out. They also told us that there would be an awards ceremony Monday night after the Bake-Off, where they would announce the winners of the 4 categories. Those 4 category winners would then be immediately whisked away on a private jet to appear on Oprah the next day, and Oprah would announce the million dollar grand prize winner from among those 4 category winners. We were told that we all needed to have our bags packed before the awards ceremony, so that in case we were one of the 4 finalists, we could instantly head to the jet and they would send someone to collect our bags from our hotel room. Everyone started getting nervous at that point. They also told us that the Oprah camera crew and Ali Wentworth would be coming to film and interview us during the Bake-Off.

They then introduced the GE staff, the kitchen staff, and the runners. The GE staff members were GE appliance experts and they would be stationed all around us during the Bake-Off so that if we had a question or problem with our oven, we could ask them. The kitchen staff members and runners General Mills staff were folks who would also be stationed around us during the Bake-Off and they could help with equipment problems or help if there was a mistake with ingredients they had provided us, take away our dirty dishes, empty our trash, fetch any ingredients from the refrigerators, and clear the way when we were carrying our recipe to the judges. So I sat there thinking, “Let me get this straight. Someone else has set up the kitchen, bought the groceries, stocked the refrigerators, will wash the dirty dishes, take out my garbage, and all I have to do is show up and cook?” ShaZam!!! That’s my idea of a perfect world!

They then explained another rule that I had been wondering especially about. We were given enough ingredients and equipment to make our recipe 3 times. One time had to go to the judges, one time had to go for pictures, and the third time was optional so that you have another preparation to choose from or to give out as samples. The thing is, you can only send one preparation to the judges. You cannot pick and choose the best samples from each of your 3 preparations and put them together into one preparation. So in my case with my tarts, I could not select the best tarts from one preparation and combine them with the best tarts from another preparation. The problem there is that there are almost always a couple of duds in every preparation. So in this case you have to pick the preparation with the least amount of duds.

We were also told that Food Network would not be filming the Bake-Off this year, but Sandra Lee who does “Semi-Homemade” cooking show on the Food Network would be our MC.

After orientation, my head was swimming trying to remember all the rules and I went back to my room to find my mom who had arrived, but unfortunately had not been driven by my secret service agent. Too bad. Then it was off to dinner. The Bake-Off fed us really well and dinner was so much fun, as the General Mills staff and Bake-Off were there and it was great to talk to them. Then off to bed.

Next day was Bake-Off day! After breakfast and additional remarks, it was time to line-up for the Grand March into the Bake-Off.


Up until this point we had been wearing our name badges by string around our necks. We were told that now we needed to pin our name badges to our aprons. So as I went to do this, my name badge’s pin snapped in about 4 places and broke in my hands. Now, I know I am fairly strong, but I’m not THAT strong so I have no idea why the thing disintegrated in my hands. There I was, about to march into the Pillsbury Bake-Off, and my name badge is broken. I turn to an official-looking lady and show her my poor name badge’s demise. She probably choked back some comment about how I didn’t need to take out my nerves on my defenseless name badge. But if she thought that, she didn’t say anything. Instead she just calmly said, “I’ll send someone to get another one.” And within another minute, Voila! Someone arrived with another pin and plastic holder that I could put my name badge into to pin it on myself. Ah, but here came another problem. Remember that blue ribbon? Well, now it wouldn’t stick to my new name badge. And we all know how that is not acceptable. So another minute later, those same fabulous hospitality ladies showed up with some tape and there I was with a repaired name badge and ready to go bake my heart out.

Good thing too, as we were just about to march in. Next thing I know, the doors open, music blares and we finalists all go marching in, clapping and dancing and cheering along while the press and our guests flashed their cameras like paparazzi.

Once we had all marched to our mini-kitchens, a speaker blared with what I called the Voice of god, and he welcomed us to the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off and said the Bake-Off had begun. I think we were all waiting for the Voice of god to say something else because all 100 of us stood there in silence, not knowing what to do. Finally, someone realized that we didn’t know if we could start or not so the Voice of god announced it was time to start cooking.

First, I took stock of all my supplies and equipment. Check. Then my runner, Kevin, came to introduce himself. Kevin works for General Mills and he’s adorable. Come to think of it, all of the men from General Mills that were at the Bake-Off were adorable. It must be something in their water. Adorable Kevin told me that he was there to help in any way that he could and all I had to do was turn around and ask. Rock on!

I still had about 10 minutes before the press was allowed to come talk to us, so I figured I should get started right away before I got distracted. My recipe calls to first bake tart shells out of Pillsbury Pie Crust. Once that was done, it’s then time to make a White Chocolate crème filling on the stove top. This is a mixture of white chocolate, eggs and heavy cream.

I grabbed one of my provided pots, added the cream and white chocolate and turned the stove on. The stove light flashed at me for about 3 seconds and then turned off. Odd. I figure I must have done it wrong. So I try again. It flashes at me again and then turns off again. Hmmm. Perhaps I’ll try another burner. So I put my pot of white chocolate on another burner and try to turn it on. It flashes at me and then turns off. I try all the rest of the burners with the same result. Not knowing what I am doing wrong, I realize I need to ask for help. A GE staff person is summoned to my stove and I explain my problem. In an instant, she knew what was wrong. It turns out that the Bake-Off had nicely provided me with non-stick pots. Working with any form of chocolate in non-stick pots make all the difference when heating chocolate, since it can easily burn in other pots. Well, these non-stick pots were not MAGNETIC. Remember how the pots must be magnetic for the stove to work? Within minutes, my mini-kitchen was surrounded by a group of kitchen staff, officials, and lawyers who couldn’t believe I had been given the wrong pots. But not to worry, because they had an extra supply of magnetic pots in the back that they would give me. But then, a new problem. All of those magnetic pots in the back were not non-stick.

I will never forget the face of the poor girl who brought me my new pots. She looked like she was going to cry and winced as she said, “These pots are magnetic but we don’t have any that are non-stick.” With a million dollars on the line, I think she was afraid I was going to have a melt- down and throw the pots at her. But I wasn’t fazed so I took the pots and told her I would make it work. She breathed an audible sigh of relief. Honestly, if I can make food cook in my pathetic excuse of an oven at home, heating up a little white chocolate in a non-non-stick pan should be easy as pie. Haha! Pie! Get it?

Anyway, I take my new magnetic pots and being thrilled that my oven will work now, I start cooking my white chocolate filling. I leave the group of staff, officials and lawyers still talking amongst themselves behind me but I catch snippets of their conversation… “I don’t believe it, who gave her the wrong pots?... I thought all the pots were tested? All of the pots WERE tested…well then how did this happen?.....”

Poor Bake-Off staff. They were working tirelessly to make the Bake-Off flawless and it really was. This was such a small blip in the radar.

So I figured that in order to keep the white chocolate from burning in a pot that is not non-stick, I would need to heat it at a much lower temperature than normal. This would mean that it would take me longer to melt the chocolate and prepare the recipe than I had planned. So that would mean that I would probably only get the chance to make 2 preparations, and wouldn’t have time to make the 3rd preparation. So I needed to make sure those 2 preparations were good since that would be all I would have time to do.

After finishing the white chocolate crème, I poured it into the tart shells and started on my next step. Instead of sprinkling granulated sugar onto my tarts and torching them with a Brule torch like in traditional crème Brule, I instead crushed up hard caramel candies and sprinkled those on. Once the candies are heated in the oven, they form a hard Brulee shell, but with an added caramel flavor which I think combine well with the white chocolate and banana flavors. So this involves me smashing the caramel candies to smithereens with a heavy metal mallet. This is great for relieving stress but was probably very annoying to the other finalists who were trying to concentrate. I felt so bad about the noise I was making that I kept apologizing to everyone I saw. Adorable Kevin and the other kitchen staff told me not to worry about the others and to go for it, so I did. I smashed those candies up as if they were the only thing standing between me and a million dollars.

The press and reporters were allowed to wander around and interview us during this time and it was fun to talk to them and answer their questions.

Pillsbury staff had also told me earlier in the week that my recipe had been chosen to be filmed and they were going to make a little video of it to put on the Pillsbury website. So their camera man would come and film me at various stages of food preparation during the Bake-Off.

A rather embarrassing behavior of mine was also caught on camera. Whenever I get nervous, I often start to dance. It must be to relieve the nervous energy I have. I always have different songs playing in my head so I never have a shortage of music to dance to, but the problem is that to everyone else, I am just dancing around for no good reason. The problem is that I don’t even realize that I’m doing it. So for most of the 4 hour Bake-Off, there I was, dancing at my mini-kitchen while I cooked. I didn’t realize it until people kept pointing it out to me. Horrified, I would often realize that I was dancing, only to turn around and find that I was being filmed on camera the entire time. I am sure there are more than one TV station and internet site that have footage of every mortifying dance move I made.

And that wasn’t the end to my embarrassing moments. I had finally finished my first preparation, and having learned what I needed to know about the cooking time and temp for my oven, I was ready to start my second preparation. My first preparation wasn’t bad, so I figured I would save it to be used for pictures if needed. I knew I would probably only have time to make one more preparation so this next preparation would be going to the judges so it had to be good and I had to really concentrate.

I was carefully cutting out my dough circles for my tart shells when I heard someone say my name. I was so startled that I jumped about 8 miles into the air and let out a startled yelp. I turn around only to come face to face with Ali Wentworth and the Oprah Show camera crew, who had caught the entire mortifying moment on camera. The camera crew and producers were grinning widely so I knew that must have looked pretty dramatic. Ali started asking me a bunch of questions and I was so keyed up at that point and full of adrenaline that I started running my mouth. I don’t even remember what I said but it was the kind of situation where I would answer her question and then instantly think, “Why did I say THAT!!!??””

When Ali and the Oprah crew were done interviewing me, they moved on to another finalist and I stood there covered in white chocolate crème and hoping they weren’t going to air any of that on national TV.

Right after that, adorable Kevin came to check on me and I told him how I had jumped to high heaven and yelped at Ali and the Oprah crew. He laughed and told me not to worry about it. Easy for him to say. He’s adorable. I looked silly.

I kept going with my second preparation, complete with lots of dancing and more television interviews. Sandra Lee was walking around talking to some of the finalists but she didn’t come talk to me. I think she was scared that I would jump and yelp at her too.

The time was ticking away and we were getting closer and closer to the deadline. If we hadn’t turned in our food to the judges in time, we would be disqualified so I was trying to get this second preparation done in time. I wasn’t totally happy with this preparation. It was fine but there were a few things wrong with it that I could have fixed in the third preparation if I had had time but there wasn't so this one had to go to the judges. I plated my tarts and was ready to turn them in to the judges. Kevin adorably moved everyone out of my way and made sure that no camera crews knocked me down so that I could carry my tarts to the table where I turned them in. Once I arrived at the table, a lawyer from Pillsbury/General Mills had me sign some official documents and then a person came and took my plate of tarts back to the judges’ room. As the lady took my tarts and started to walk back to the judges with them, I noticed a couple of other things that were wrong and I wanted to fix. I wanted to shout at her to bring them back so I could fix them but it was too late. My tarts and the judges’ decision were out of my hands.

I walked back to my mini-kitchen feeling rather disappointed. This was not how I had wanted to feel. I had wanted to deliver a near perfect preparation to the judges and so that no matter how it all turned out, at least I knew I had given them my best. But that was not the case. Oh well, next time maybe?

Now I needed to take some tarts to the picture area for professional photos to be taken. I decided to take my first preparation tarts for pictures. After adorable Kevin had safely deposited me in the picture room, I sat down to wait for my turn for pictures. Several other finalists were in there waiting as well and many of them felt as I did. They weren’t happy with what they had given to the judges either and we all had different excuses and reasons for it. I also told everyone my story of being startled by Ali and the Oprah crew and how I leaped in the air like a gazelle and yelped like a hyena. I pleaded with everyone to tell me that the Oprah people wouldn’t use that footage on Oprah. But everyone laughed and told me they were sure that they would use that footage. I also asked if anyone had noticed me dancing and actually everybody had. I wanted to fall into a hole and never come out.

After pictures, I walked back to my mini-kitchen to chat with adorable Kevin and the other kitchen staff and see if I had time to make any samples for people. There wasn't time but I thought I'd try to whip up a few tarts for samples so I hastily threw them in the oven and then started taking pictures and chatting with other finalists. Since the competition was basically over at this point, I didn't watch these tarts carefully and they burned. So now samples for people. Sorry everyone. I had left one or two tarts off of my plate of tarts for pictures, but these were now cold and weren't really a proper finished product, but the camera man who had been filming me stole one anyway. He said he had been filming them this whole time and couldn't stand not being able to try one. He said it was delicious even though it was cold. Such a nice man.

Finally the Voice Of god came over the loud speaker to announce that the Bake-Off was officially done. I gathered up my disposable camera, Bake-Off pot holders, said good bye to my kitchen staff and adorable Kevin and left my mini-kitchen. Right after the Bake-Off was lunch and then we had another orientation to explain how the awards ceremony that night would be. Many of the finalists I talked to were in tears because they didn’t think they had done a good job and some were mad that they had been distracted by so many press and reporters. I personally enjoyed talking to the reporters but that’s just because I like to talk as much as I like to cook. What I noticed at this time was how completely exhausted I was. I didn’t realize that I had so much adrenaline flowing through my body for the past 4 hours and now that it was gone, my whole body felt as heavy as lead. And my legs were tired from dancing for 4 hours. So after this orientation, I dragged myself up to my room and threw my exhausted lump of a body into bed for a nap before my next obligation. But I was so keyed up and my mind was racing and going over everything that had just happened, plus the thought of possibly going to the Oprah show on a private jet, and then there’s that million dollars thing, I could barely lay there. I tried to pass the time by watching a show on investments, thinking that might bore me into resting. It didn’t work.

Next up, Mom and I got ready for the awards ceremony and dinner. First they gave us a cocktail party and then they told our guests to head into the room where the awards would be announced. We finalists had to line up again, this time by category. Once we were lined up, we walked back through the kitchen area that was behind the stage and waited there so that Sandra Lee could announce us as we walked across the stage. I think this was the time that I was the most nervous. Waiting back there in the kitchen area, knowing that in just a few minutes some of us would be going to Oprah and then winning big money, everyone was nervous. Some people were silent and shaking, some people chatted nervously, some people paced. Me? I danced.

Finally, we were told that we were about to enter the awards ceremony. The music started up again and Sandra Lee announced our categories as we walked across the stage.

Sandra Lee told us again that we were all winners just for making it this far. They played clips of footage that was shot during the Bake-Off and they played a 5 second clip of me putting the banana slices on my tarts. Then one by one, Sandra Lee announced the category winners. In an instant, it was all over. I didn’t win anything but I was so relieved to not be nervous anymore. I hate being nervous. I hate being nervous more than I hate being cold or hungry. So once the announcements were made, my stomach finally unclenched itself. The categories winners were whisked away to fly to Oprah. The rest of us were told that now it was time to party. Pillsbury had a great party for us with great food and super live band. Me, and the remaining 95 finalists who didn’t win anything all started to leave the staging area, and the reaction of the finalists was a mixed bag. Some finalists were angry, some were sad and started to cry, some looked shocked, and some just looked like they wanted to eat some of the dinner. The band was great, food was great but I wanted to get back the room and call everyone who was waiting for news so I didn’t stay long.

As I was waiting to get my things from the hospitality table, adorable Kevin came to tell me that he and some of his colleagues had actually eaten my tarts a few weeks previous. He said that Pillsbury had picked 5 or 6 recipes from the Bake-Off finalists that they considered unique and innovative to share with him and his colleagues during a business meeting and they were impressed. He said he wasn’t allowed to tell me that earlier during the competition. I thought that was adorable.

So that was the end of the Bake-Off for me, but that wasn’t the end of the fun. Mom and I had made plans to go to Disney World the following day and truthfully, I had wanted to go to Disney a little more than I had wanted to go to Oprah. I know, I know. Everyone tells me that’s crazy. But what can I say? I am who I am. It was nice to have some time in Disney because it took me about 3 full days for my body to recover and get my mind back in order to where I could sleep through the night.

It was the most fun, amazing, nerve-wracking, thrilled experience of my life so far and I hope I'll get picked to do it again someday. For now it's been fun seeing my recipe in the booklet that's for sale in grocery stores.

Oh yea, so remember how I was so worried that the Oprah team would air that footage of me jumping and yelping on the Oprah show? Well, they did. They began the whole Oprah episode with the clip of with me leaping into the air in all my startled glory. All of America has seen it now. At least I wasn’t dancing.