Jen Barney of Meringue Bakery in Stoddard won food network's 'holiday Baking Championship' in an episode that aired in December.

When Jen Barney got a call asking her to audition for a meals community display, she wasn’t certain what to suppose. Barney grew up as one of eight infants on the family’s farm. She baked every opportunity she acquired, but she on no account noticed baking as a profession.

in its place, she grew to be a correctional officer, working in Milwaukee and her native land of Stanley. Three years in, she knew it wasn’t for her.

A commercial for a culinary school helped her shift gears to getting to know pastry at Le cordon bleu in Minnesota.

working out of an industrial kitchen built in her basement in Stoddard, Barney created her own area of interest with Meringue Bakery. She makes marriage ceremony desserts plus strong point baked goods for organizations within the La Crosse enviornment.

When food community known as, she had a 1-month-ancient daughter, and she or he wasn’t sure about upending her existence for a competition. just a few long talks along with her husband, and she headed to New Orleans to compete in “holiday Baking Championship,” and then spent six months looking ahead to the display to air.

eventually, in December, Barney was capable of spill the beans and tell the area she gained the competitors and a $50,000 prize together with her cake that includes an interpretation of the break tune lyrics “six geese a-laying.”

searching ahead, Barney anticipates expanding her marriage ceremony cake business with a aim of 200 desserts this year. Her wedding cakes begin at $500, whereas 6-inch cakes are $35; each are offered best in the neighborhood. extra baked goods can be found for shipping, and he or she envisions expanding with a storefront bakery in downtown La Crosse in 2019.

Barney and her husband, Brian, are lively foster parents and reside in Stoddard with their daughter, Millie, who turns 1 in February.

Her roots

I grew up in Stanley, Wis. each of my grandparents were farmers. My parents constructed their home on my mom’s fogeys’ land. I had this amazing childhood of working via corn fields and milking calves.

My grandma was a stupendous cook dinner, and she had a do-it-yourself meal with home made bread and the total shebang the entire time. We ate very smartly. She had this one cookbook, “Celebrating Jell-O a hundred Years.” I’d never viewed a cookbook with beautiful images of desserts. I be aware paging through it and dreaming about the layered cakes I’d make.

Her direction

After my first 12 months in school I wasn’t quite feeling the paintings college, idea I’d lift some day off. I went into corrections. There became a jail being inbuilt my homeland, and my mom in reality crammed out my application for me and despatched it in. It paid $13 an hour and i turned into 19.

i used to be on the Milwaukee cozy detention facility for twelve months, then transferred to my native land for 2 years. Being a correctional officer is a good job for a lot of people, nonetheless it wasn’t me.

I saw a business on television. there have been pastry cooks with white hats and their chef coats. inside six months i used to be in culinary school. I knew that became what i was purported to do.

finding food network

They called me. I wager they've scouts that look for people who've advantage ability. I on no account would have notion to observe. The grownup who known as me turned into named Myrtle. I seemed her up after she known as me as a result of i believed it changed into a scam. The audition procedure become like an element-time job.

know your strengths

I met the other candidates and went back to the lodge room, then online to peer . It turned into an immense shock to look the professionalism within the competitors. Of the nine, there changed into just one that changed into now not knowledgeable baker.

These people are decent. I’m from Stoddard, Wisconsin. How a ways can that get me? but you simply must be enhanced than one adult each episode.

Baking basic

Most americans overmix batters. They don’t know when to cease.

observe to the intelligent

For anyone brooding about going into a company like this, one of the most first issues we did turned into be taught to seize notable photographs of our work. individuals devour with their eyes, and it's likely some of the issues that bought me on the display. It isn't adequate to be a pretty good baker, you’ve bought to be a great businessperson.

Lesson realized

I made a marriage cake and it began to lean. they had a band working towards whereas i was setting up the cake, and the vibrations affected the cake. I realized, and i have it in my contract now, to evade putting your cake next to the band.

meanwhile, at home

In real lifestyles in the event you’re a baker, the husband receives the scraps. I call them cake tacos. should you degree a cake there’s at all times that higher circle. which you can crunch them up into a taco and fill them with frosting. That’s as fancy as it receives for my husband. For my birthday, we've Dairy Queen ice cream cake, no joke.

trends in style

The client I attract is somebody who cares about incorporating native parts. This summer time we had a consumer who wanted a lavender blackberry cake. We ground lavender within the sugar, then baked the blackberries into the cake. these flavors, it is not typical. What I don’t see occurring any further — individuals don’t want white cake with white frosting.

favourite tools

It makes me consider decent to have attractive teaspoons. I purchased a set in New Orleans. after I received, the other contestants and i split up the set. I have the quarter and the half.

In her kitchen

I’m a very emotional baker. I actually have a rule in the kitchen that no one can be in a bad mood. I’m very sensitive, and that i consider it performs out in the food.