Which Cake-Makers Make The Cut? It’s All Up To Mary Berg and Andrew Han in CROSS COUNTRY CAKE OFF

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede How exactly does somebody travel with cake? The question came up as co-hosts and co-judges Mary Berg and Andrew Han were discussing their new culinary competition series CROSS COUNTRY CAKE OFF, which debuts Thursday, Dec. 15 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. The four-part, holiday-themed event series continues on Friday, Dec. 16, and Monday, Dec. 19, with the finale on Tuesday, Dec. 20. Right at the beginning of the first episode, which focuses on the Western region (to be followed in later episodes by the Mid-Canada region and the Eastern region, with two cake-makers from each region advancing to the final), it’s obvious that some of the competitors have journeyed with their completed cakes by all means of transportation. “Yeah, we had people travel with them in overhead compartments on planes, because the flight attendants wouldn’t let them hold them on their laps,” Berg said. “I don’t know how they managed. But I do hope the cakes had to go through that scanner, just to make sure that nothing was baked into them, to be honest. We had planes, we had boats, we had cars bringing these beautiful cakes to us.” But how long in advance were the competitors making these cakes? Isn’t cake a perishable item? “For the most part, cake is, yes, a perishable item,” Han said with a laugh. “But once they’re all iced and boxed up, they hold pretty well. Buttercream does a good job of sealing things in, and keeping things as, quote-unquote, fresh as possible. But yeah, the whole idea of travelling with cake, it’s just wild.” And there are some tricks of the trade, too. “When you’re building a cake that’s bigger than a two-layer birthday cake you’d make for your mom or something, they all have a certain amount of structural engineering involved,” Berg revealed. “There are dowels or straws in there. It’s kind of like that first tier of cake, or the base of the cake, is its own cake-built pedestal. But I guess that’s all part of the challenge for that first presentation by the regional qualifiers.” The regional rounds on CROSS COUNTRY CAKE OFF see the cakes being judged on both what they look like – the cake has to tell a story about the person who made it – and, of course, how they taste. So Berg and Han must balance their evaluations when, say, a cake has a mediocre presentation but tastes great, or vice versa. “The thing is, when cake is presented in this form, when it’s not just a slab cake that you’d get at a church picnic, it is about presentation – that’s half the battle,” Berg said. “It’s like a wedding cake. Even if it’s delicious, it also has to look amazing and inviting. That’s part of the challenge of cake versus squares, or other types of baking. So I would say it’s actually pretty equal. But maybe something goes a little awry with your presentation, and yet that cake is so good, I’m not going to stop eating it. And I know I have six more cakes to eat that day, so that usually means it’s a pretty good cake.” Some of the cakes in the regional rounds are really complicated, though. “I don’t think it’s possible to go too far,” Han said. “I think you can do pretty much whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t take away from the clarity of your story. What does this cake say about where you came from? Or who you are? Does the outside of the cake match the flavour profile? And do those two things tell the story of your cake? Is there a through line? That’s really important when you consider how these cakes are constructed, and what the thought process was. Does it all flow? Does it all make sense?” That said, Berg put a really basic condition on everything. “Sometimes I have to ask where to cut,” she said. “If I have to struggle to cut a slice that amounts to one bite of cake, then that is a little bit tricky. You need to be able to cut a slice.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv