An award-winning Jacksonville baker who retired after 24 years as a U.S. Army pastry chef is competing for a $25,000 grand prize and national title on Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship.
Pastry chef Andre Ward is a culinary instructor, caterer and food blogger known as The Pastry Ward”en.
He’s among a dozen bakers from across the country on Season 11 of the televised culinary competition that began airing Nov. 4. Original episodes run at 8 p.m. each Monday on Food Network.
The elimination-style contest challenges the bakers to create desserts for holiday gatherings ranging from a simple get-together of family, friends, and neighbors to a gingerbread house party, a holiday pajama party, and an office Christmas party featuring an ice luge, according to a Food Network news release announcing the competition.
Ward won $1,000 in bonus cash and the judges’ accolades for his Old Fashioned Cherry and Farmers Cheese Croquettes on the Nov. 4 premiere episode.
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On the Nov. 11 episode, Ward and the other bakers created “over-the-top” Thanksgiving cupcakes and pies with 3-D decor elements. His sweet potato-based cupcake topped with a tiny Meringue turkey helped him advance to the next round of the competition.
“My great-grandmother used to make the sweet potato casserole for the family and it was the most amazing thing ever. I would get fat off of that,” Ward told the Times-Union about the inspiration for his cupcakes.
His recipes have evolved from his family memories, recipes and Southern comfort food as well as the skills he learned from civilian and military culinary mentors.
A Savannah native, Ward graduated from The French Pastry School of Chicago. In addition, he’s an American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef and Certified Working Pastry Chef.
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Before retiring to Jacksonville, Ward built an Army culinary career distinguished by serving four U.S. Secretaries of Defense and providing food-service managerial support for President Barack Obama.
For his last tour, he served as lead instructor at The Advanced Culinary Skills Training Course for the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence Quartermaster Corps at Fort Lee, Va. During the tour, he trained chefs to work at the Pentagon and the White House.
The Holiday Baking Championship isn’t his first culinary competition.
Ward previously was the winner of Food Network’s “Girl Scout Cookie Championship,” runner-up on Food Network’s “Bakers vs Fakers,” and the winner of Netflix’s “Sugar Rush Season 3 Extra Sweet.”
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But Ward conceded that he’s been a little nervous in the Holiday Baking Championship.
“I’ve competed pretty much my whole career. But this time, I’d taken a long break from baking before the show so I was a little bit rusty and definitely kind of nervous,” he said.
However, he’s drawing on past experiences as he moves forward in the contest.
Win or lose, Ward said ultimately he wants to have his own brick-and-mortar bakery.
Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at tstepzinski@jacksonville.com.
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