They received word that their application
had been accepted and they would need to fly
to Los Angeles for the show’s taping.
“We taped the entire competition in one
setting, over the span of eight hours,” Slater
explained. “The clock IS real, and everything
is every bit as frantic as it looks!”
On the show, which featured a Minecraft
theme, each of the four teams was asked to
create a cake resembling the Minecraft game.
This, Slater said, was an incredible challenge,
given the pixelated nature of the game.
“To ask anyone to make a Minecraft cake,
let alone go up against some of the best
cake artists in the nation, is an incredibly
daunting task. We did know the theme in
advance, although viewers don’t know that.
For our take on the theme, we really wanted
to embody the essence of the Minecraft game,
but go above and beyond the game itself.
We chose to enter the mind of the gamer, so
to speak, by depicting an imaginary pickaxe
smashing through a computer screen, blurring
the lines of reality as pixels tumble from the
computer to create our imaginary Minecraft
world.”
The pair had only three weeks to prepare
from the time they were told that they made
it on the show until the time they flew out for
the taping. Slater described those three weeks
as a whirlwind of crazy trips from the college
to Pittsburgh on the weekends, with hurried
visits to local grocery stores along the way.
“We couldn’t really bake on campus (as
if we had time to do that, anyway, as fulltime students), so we really only had those
three weekends in my kitchen,” she said.
“Our ‘strategy’ was basically to just bake as
many different kinds of interesting flavor
combinations as possible and come up with
a few solid recipes that we could rely on,
to modify as needed for the show. I guess
it worked! We tested out our creations on
just about anyone willing to eat cake, and
more cake. Fortunately, most people don’t
complain when homemade dessert suddenly
appears, especially college kids!”
“Keeping a
five‑month
secret of that
magnitude is
no easy feat!”
According to Slater, the show features two
rounds. The first is to make a small tasting
cake that is more based on flavor, though
aesthetics are still important. Each team is
given 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete
this round. The second round is more of
an all-around challenge to take creativity
to a new height and create the best-tasting,
most aesthetically impressive cake that fully
embraced the Minecraft theme.
“The cakes were huge,” Slater noted. “We’re
talking more than 4 feet tall and close to 200
pounds in some cases.”
In addition to the prize money, Slater and
Bartlow got to take their winning cake to
a Minecraft-themed party, with plenty of
kids in attendance. “They LOVED the cake,
which was an almond lingonberry cake, and
it was incredibly validating to have the age
group that actually plays Minecraft be so
enthusiastic about our flavors and design,”
Slater said.
Since their appearance on the show, there
have been a number of opportunities in the
works for the pair to speak at events. They
also have created and maintain a blog that can
be found at KindredCupboards.wix.com/
emandtris, as well as a Facebook page called
Kindred Cupboards.
“It has been an exhilarating ride —
incredibly draining emotionally and
physically, but one of the most unbelievable
experiences of my life so far,” Slater said.
“I navigated one of the most challenging
semesters of my life and came out on the
other side with many lessons learned.
Throughout the process of ‘Cake Wars,’ I
also was committed to an intense rehearsal
schedule as the lead in a musical, as well as
choreographing a dance show, for which
Emily also was choreographing, in addition
to her commitment as a cast member in
a production. Those commitments, and
additional senior-year stresses, made for
an incredibly stressful time, despite the
excitement. But it has been incredibly exciting
to ride the wave of ‘Cake Wars.’” ■
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Tristan and Emily with the “Cake Wars” judges.
Bethel Park | Summer 2016 | icmags.com 17