Spring is in the air and that means it’s time for some bright and beautiful treats created by some of North America’s top pastry chefs. In Season 9 of Spring Baking Championship, host Jesse Palmer along with judges Duff Goldman, Lorraine Pascale and Nancy Fuller will decide which contestant is going home with a cash prize of $25,000 for their impressive springtime creations. Let’s meet this year’s chefs.
The series premiere of Spring Baking Championship airs on Monday, March 6 at 8PM ET/PT on Food Network Canada. Stream all your favourite Food Network Canada shows through STACKTV on with Amazon Prime Video Channels, fuboTV, Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream.
Molly Robertson
Molly owns and operates a baking business out of her home in Natchez, Mississippi. Her specialty is celebratory desserts, like birthday cakes, wedding cakes, entremets and other festive desserts.
Keem Jackson
Keem is a pastry chef based in Florence, South Carolina but hails from Baltimore, and specializes in creating tiered custom cakes. He grew up watching baking shows so competing on Spring Baking Championship is a dream come true.
April Franqueza
April is a gifted pastry chef based in Sapphire, North Carolina. She first fell in love with baking at a young age while helping her mom make irresistible coconut cream pies.
Jessica Quiet
Jessica, a pastry chef from Stowe, Vermont, describes her baking style as “classical French pastry with a twist!” She loves brainstorming new flavour combinations and exciting ways to present desserts that are anything but ordinary.
Christian Velez
Christian became a culinary arts teacher following a successful career as a pastry chef at multiple restaurants and hotels. Based in Hollywood, Florida, he loves showing his creativity through colour, texture and flavour in everything he bakes.
Jai Xiong
Jai has worked in the culinary industry for a decade and opened her own baking business in Savage, Minnesota in 2021. Admitting that she always “bakes with love,” her specialty is wedding cakes.
Luke Deardurff
Luke is from the Bronx, New York and works as an executive pastry chef at a restaurant in New York City. He is known for plating desserts so that each one looks like a work of art.
Manja Blackwood
Manja first fell in love with baking when she learned how to make her grandmother’s signature sponge cakes while growing up in Germany. She relocated to the United States at the age of 21 and now works as an executive sous chef at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Josh Cain
Based in Orlando, Florida, Josh’s favourite part of baking is constructing enormous chocolatey creations. Past projects include an 11-foot-tall chocolate rocket and a 32-foot-long chocolate train that was made with 16,000 pounds of chocolate.
Victoria Casinelli
Victoria is from Shelton, Connecticut and has been baking since she was old enough to use a cookie dough roller. Since graduating from culinary school, she has worked on further developing her skills as a pastry chef.
Clement Le Deore
Clement grew up in France and started baking when he was 15. He dreamed of moving to the United States to start his own baking business, and two years ago, that dream came true. He now lives and works in San Diego, California.
Michelle Henry
Baking started as a stress-relieving hobby while Michelle was pursuing a degree in pre-med biology. Her passion eventually became her full-time job when she started making wedding cakes for friends, and she now runs a bakery out of her home in McAllen, Texas.