Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
The Great British Bake Off doesn’t have a monopoly on the home baking scene. Next Level Chef has a new holiday spinoff, Next Level Baker. The Fox show is hosted by Gordon Ramsay, Carla Hall and Candace Nelson. The show will pit some professional bakers against home bakers, which could be interesting. Two bakers from North Texas are on the show.
The show features pro and semi-pro bakers competing to create a next-level winter wonderland and nostalgic chocolate treats. After the first elimination round, the remaining contestants make boozy holiday party bakes. Eventually, one baker wins the title of first-ever Next Level Baker.
Maricsa Trejo is the co-owner of La Casita Bakeshop in Dallas, one of our favorite options for a croissant or churro cruffin. La Casita has several locations around North Texas, including Richardson, Rowlett, Uptown and inside the Half Price Books mothership on Northwest Highway, a cafe that transforms into La Tiki Paisa in the evenings (a tiki lounge, with a full dinner menu).
This will be Trejo’s third time in the spotlight. She previously competed on Halloween Baking Championship, where she got bumped early after an idea didn’t puff out. She’s also appeared on Chopped.
Trejo posted on her social media that she was shocked to be picked for Gordon Ramsay’s first dessert show.
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In addition to Trejo, Rowlett-based baker Nikita “Nikki” Jackson, owner of Absolutely Edible Cakes, also competes. Based on her latest social media post, she might be our favorite new baker. Jackson shared that she traveled to Ireland for the show. A trip to Ireland to bake desserts sounds kind of dreamy.
Jackson’s big menu item, the Sweet Potato Thang, is a modern twist on the traditional pie with a graham cracker crust and is available on the culinary shipping site Goldbelly.
The holiday event series will premiere on Dec 4, with new episodes launching on Thursdays at 8 p.m. The Fox show will be available to stream on Hulu.
