Two bakers from the Shore are competing on “Cookie Cupcake Cake,” a new baking show hosted by Buddy Valastro, owner of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken.
The first season of the 12-episode show, which is co-hosted by baker Samantha Seneviratne, is streaming on Hulu.
Cristian Rojas, a Neptune-based baker who owns custom cake company The Cake Whisperer and works in the bakery department at Wegmans in Ocean Township, appears on episode four, “To the Market,” and episode 12, “Here Comes the Wedding.”
Megan Aucone of Sayreville, lead pastry chef for Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace and the lead cake decorator at their Tinton Falls location, appears on episode eight, “Animal Kingdom,” and episode 11, “Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.”
Cristian Rojas of Neptune with Buddy Valastro on the set of Hulu’s baking competition show “Cookie Cupcake Cake,” streaming now.
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According to Hulu, the show invites bakers to “master mind-blowingly inventive, visually stunning, decadently delicious desserts in three top sweets categories”: cookies, cupcakes and cakes.
In each of the standalone episodes, four competitors face off in three rounds, “and the one left standing will be our triple C champion,” Valastro said in the premiere.
The show, which also features pastry chef Aishia Martinez of Hudson County, was filmed in February and March in Jersey City.
A return to television
Megan Aucone wowed the judges of Hulu’s baking competition show “Cookie Cupcake Cake” with her turkey dinner-themed cake.
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Neither Rojas nor Aucone are strangers to competing on television.
In 2022, Rojas competed on Food Network’s cake-baking competition show “Holiday Wars.” In September, Aucone appeared on an episode of Food Network’s “Halloween Baking Championship.”
Both bakers specialize in making realistic-looking cakes. On “Cookie Cupcake Cake,” Rojas wowed Valastro and Seneviratne with a cookie charcuterie board, kale-infused cupcakes covered in fondant vegetables, and a cake resembling a meatball sub.
Aucone impressed the judges with cookies decorated like breakfast foods, a cupcake that resembled a fried chicken sandwich, and a cake made to look like a turkey with all the trimmings.
From watching ‘Cake Boss’ to meeting him
For Rojas a self-taught baker who who grew up watching his mother in the kitchen, meeting Valastro was a highlight of taking part in the show.
“I’m from Costa Rica, and when I first came here, I used to watch Buddy (on TLC’s “Cake Boss”),” he said. “He was definitely a big influence in my cake journey.
A Christmas-themed cake from Cristian Rojas of Neptune, owner of custom cake business The Cake Whisperer.
“Just being there with him was a huge thing for me, and … getting judged by him, and the fact that everything was very positive about what I did — that was a very, very big thing for me,” Rojas said.
Being chosen for the show, he said, was a dream come true.
“From not speaking English and not knowing anything (to) getting to the top … You have to work for it, work hard for it,” he said. “It can happen to anybody.”
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‘Loving the challenge’
The show’s production team discovered Aucone through her Instagram page, where she shares images of her cakes.
“They said I was a great fit for what they were trying to put in play,” she said.
Megan Aucone, lead cake decorator at Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace in Tinton Falls, has competed in baking competition shows on Hulu and Food Network.
Contestants on “Cookie Cupcake Cake” did not know what they would be baking until the night before filming and were not allowed to bring their own baking tools, Rojas said. This would make any baker nervous.
But Aucone, who attended the culinary arts program at Middlesex County College, loves thinking on her feet.
“I loved the experience. You work with a bunch of different people, and you don’t know what you’re walking into. You’re going into a whole new pastry kitchen,” she said. “That’s the challenge I love — figuring it out while you’re in it. I love being challenged.”
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to her weekly newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore bakers compete on Hulu Cookie, Cupcake, Cake
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