Baking a cake is not only about the ingredients or method used. Cake decorator Erika Spiteri Lucas Scorey tells Stephanie Fsadni that it entails much more than that – all of which will be revealed in a brand new TV show.

Red velvet cake, chocolate mud cupcakes, salted caramel brownies, colourful macaroons… Just the names may tingle many a taste bud, but how many are capable of baking all these sweet delights successfully? What skills does one need?

Besides good baking knowledge, there is one secret ingredient which can make all the difference between an average cake and a scrumptious one: passion.

“Passion comes first,” says Erika Spiteri Lucas Scorey, the owner of The Cake Story in Santa Venera.

“You need to literally fall in love with the cake you’re baking before even attempting to bake it. People tasting your cake will know if you are putting love into it or if you’re doing it just for the sake of doing so.”

Creativity is also important, especially if one wants to give each bake “a personal touch”. Erika says that the source of creativity can be a myriad things: picture-perfect skies, a design on a dress, plated food in a restaurant or a printed flyer in your mail.

One can be creative not only in the decorative aspect but also in the clever combination of ingredients.

“A good cake entails the use of fresh and genuine ingredients and adventurous combinations but we always need to taste before actually deciding to use certain ingredients,” warns Erika.

Indeed, taste is key: it’s useless having a lavishly decorated cake with a mediocre taste. Erika would rather go for a simple, freshly-baked cake even though the aesthetics are important.

“No doubt about enjoying a simple, freshly-baked cake which has been just taken out of the oven.

“The smell of freshly-baked cakes is to die for. Having said that, presentation and decoration is crucial.”

As regards her favourite bakes, Erika adores layered cakes.

“From a moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to a luscious triple-layered chocolate cake… I also love red velvet cake and then there is one which remains at the very top of my top 10: my mum’s apple sponge cake!”

In recent years, there has been a surge in interest in baking and cake decorating both abroad and locally, as can be seen on social media and TV programmes.

“TV shows have had people become literally addicted to baking and cake decorating. And social media is so present in people’s lives that it surely influences what one bakes or how they decorate,” maintains Erika.

However, chances to develop one’s skills locally are rather limited and this has led Erika and her team at The Cake Story to create opportunities, such as courses, for cake decorators and home bakers to expose their work and also grow from new challenges.

Their latest effort is a brand new TV series titled Baker’s Kitchen which will make its debut in September on Net TV.

The programme aims to be different from other similarly-themed TV shows on foreign channels like The Great British Bake-Off or Italy’s Il Più Grande Pasticcere.

“Baker’s Kitchen will be unique in its location, rhythm, editing style and it will include surprise elements which we cannot reveal right now,” says Erika.

The show will see 12 home bakers, aged 18 and over, competing against each other over 13 episodes. Each week, the contestants will compete in different challenges which will vary from one week to the other, and will include various bakes from sweet treats to monumental cakes. Their offerings will be judged by two Maltese award-winning chefs, Joseph Vella and Byron Saliba, who both have ample experience in local and foreign five-star hotels.

The prize is a professional cake-decorating course at the Laped Accademia in Padua, Italy, flights and accommodation included.

Registration for the show closes on Saturday.

“All home bakers over 18 can apply. By home bakers, we mean that if you love to bake and are objectively good at it, you can apply.”

Asked whether she thinks the judges will be harsh in their judgements, Erika says:

“I am sure that the judges will be objective and fair in their judgements. They have different characters so that will surely come through in what they will have to say about each and every creation.”

Baker’s Kitchen will be filmed at the Fino Food Lab and produced by 26th Frame.

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