Callie Speer Competes on Food TV

A Frozen creation from the Mistletoes of Mayhem (photo source: www.foodnetwork.com)

Pastry pop-ups, online ice cream, and more sweet afternoon food news.

Geraldine's pastry chef Callie Speer and her cohorts, the Mistletoes of Mayhem, are back for another week on the Food Network's holiday-themed competition show, Cake Wars. Speer tells us that Food Network chose the contestants for each team and she only met her teammates, sugar artist Steve Weiss and sculptor John Neill, when they showed up for filming in Los Angeles last spring, but they quickly became good working partners and she had great appreciation for their respective skills. According to Speer, it took most of the month of May to film the heavily scripted, six week series and all contestants had to sign non-disclosure agreements, so she can't divulge the results. However, we can see her team in action again on the Food Network tonight, Monday, Nov. 30, 8pm.

The Great Holiday Show debuts on ABC this evening, with six amateur bakers competing in weekly themed challenges to be judged by celebrity American pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini and the visiting “Royal Queen of English Baking,” otherwise known as Mary Berry. The ABC show is an adaptation of the Great British Bake-Off, a wildly popular BBC program which stars baker Paul Hollywood and Berry as judges. Americans who got hooked on the British series when it ran on PBS earlier this fall will no doubt be eager to see what baking challenges are devised for the contestants, how Barry evaluates the American bakers, and which items she describes as “scrummy.” Tune in to ABC tonight to find out. Monday, Nov. 30th, 9pm.

photo by Annie Ray/ courtesy of Lick Ice Cream

In other sweet news, Lick Honest Ice Cream has launched an online shop. For a flat rate of $20, Lick will ship your favorite holiday flavors anywhere in Texas or for $40, anywhere in the U.S. The shop also features hand-carved spoons and ice cream bowls.

Odd Duck pastry chef Susana Querejazu will be hosting a pop-up bake sale at Métier Cooks Supply on Saturday, Dec. 5 starting at 10am. Get there early for seasonal treats like pumpkin bundt cake, apple and rum raisin cross danishes, coconut macarons, and grapefruit and hibiscus tarts. Proceeds will benefit Jabo's Garden at Zilker Elementary. The planners tell us that the last bake sale sold out in less than an hour, so plan ahead.