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Wall of Bakers: Meet the Cast

Wall of Bakers Cast and Host

You’ve seen the culinary giants do their thing on Wall of Chefs.  Now it’s time to see how another crop of chefs (Wall of Chef fans might see some familiar faces) help home bakers as they knead, proof and sift their way to the $10,000 prize on the new show, Wall of Bakers.

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So who are the pastry chefs partaking in this exciting new series?  Read on to learn more about the crème de la crème who will make their Wall of Bakers debut on March 28.

HOST

Noah Cappe Wall of Bakers

Noah Cappe

As a host, actor and voice artist, Noah Cappe has a lot of characters up his sleeve. He’s the ravenous emcee on Food Network Canada’s and Cooking Channel’s Carnival Eats and played the affable police chief on Hallmark Channel and W Network’s The Good Witch for 10 years. He starred as host of W Network’s Bachelor Canada and Bachelorette Canada and has been a guest judge on Food Network Canada’s  Beat Bobby Flay, Guy’s Grocery Games and Iron Chef Canada. He also dug up the nation’s most coveted recipes from St. John’s and Tofino with Chef Lynn Crawford on Food Network Canada’s Great Canadian Cookbook. Since February 2020, he has appeared as host with the most on Food Network Canada’s Wall of Chefs, which features an unprecedented roster of numerous Canadian culinary icons!

Born in Toronto, Noah began his entertainment career in musical theatre in his early teens. He has since enjoyed a busy roster of film roles, TV appearances and over 100 television commercials and radio spots.

Noah and his wife recently adopted a beautiful baby girl. He is an animal lover, a Curse of Oak Island believer, a big movie buff and is even funnier in real life.

CHEFS

Elizabeth Charlton, Wall of Bakers

Chef Elizabeth Charlton

Wolfville, NS

Chef Elizabeth Charlton entered the world of pastry arts a little later than most. A seasoned professional opera singer who studied abroad and performed across Canada, she chose a new life path, fulfilling her desire to create and bake fine desserts. She completed the Pastry Arts Program at George Brown College and found work in Toronto’s restaurant industry before moving to Wolfville, NS in 2006. Chef Charlton created her own line of desserts for the Wolfville Farmers Market and opened the Slow Dough Bakery & Café in downtown Wolfville in 2007, selling slow-rising breads, baguettes and Montreal-style bagels. As the physical location closed due the pandemic, Slow Dough now operates solely out of Wolfville Farmers Market, providing products to an ever-growing clientele across central Nova Scotia.

Chef Charlton continues to focus on Annapolis Valley’s local food scene, working with Chef Michael Howell and Slow Food Nova Scotia, as well as Devour! The Food Film Fest and The Canadian Chef Congress with Chef Craig Flinn. Slow Dough was voted into the “Top 16 Bakeries in Canada” by Chatelaine, was named “Best Bakery” in the Taste of Spring Awards and also received a win at The Taste of the Valley.

Lynn Crawford, Wall of Bakers

Chef Lynn Crawford

Toronto, ON

Chef Lynn Crawford has over 30 years of culinary experience. She has travelled throughout North America, working alongside world-renowned chefs at top destination restaurants and hotels. Chef Crawford has received international awards as the executive chef of the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto and New York City. She is one of the most high-profile chefs in the country and has been invited to cook, speak and mentor chefs and food lovers across North America.

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Today, Chef Crawford operates critically acclaimed restaurants The Hearth and Hearth Market at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, showcasing the fresh and seasonal fare she’s known for. It won Airport Casual Dining Restaurant of the Year at the 2018 Airport Food and Beverage Awards in Helsinki. Chef Crawford’s philosophy of cooking is that food should be locally grown, harvested, raised and cooked to perfection with heart. She has surrounded herself with an incredible team that helps her provide guests with the most fun, memorable and delicious experience possible.

Chef Crawford recently starred on Food Network Canada’s cooking competition Wall of Chefs and Junior Chef Showdown and she can also be seen on Iron Chef CanadaIron Chef AmericaTop Chef Masters (Season 5), Top Chef CanadaChopped CanadaThe Great Canadian Cookbook, and Restaurant Makeover. She also starred in Food Network Canada’s Pitchin’ In, which was nominated for multiple Gemini Awards, both as a series and for her dynamic hosting.

Christine Cushing, Wall of Bakers

Chef Christine Cushing

Toronto, ON

Chef Christine Cushing is an internationally broadcasted, award-winning television host and trailblazer in the Canadian culinary industry. She has been teaching Canada how to cook for over 20 years through her numerous series, including Food Network Canada’s Christine Cushing Live, OWN’s Fearless in the Kitchen and Confucius Was A Foodie on PBS. Her YouTube channel My Favourite Foods attracts thousands of subscribers weekly.

Born in Athens, Greece, Chef Cushing completed the Food and Beverage Management Program at George Brown College, and went on to graduate at the top of her class at the Paris-based École de Cuisine La Varenne. She has worked in renowned kitchens, such as Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel, King Ranch Health Spa and Scaramouche Restaurant.

Chef Patrice Demers, Wall of Bakers

Chef Patrice Demers

Montreal, QB

Chef Patrice Demers found a passion for restaurants and pastry making early on, deciding to enroll in culinary school École Hôtelière de Laval in Quebec, where he was trained in pastry and professional cooking. He then worked and developed dessert programs in some of Montreal’s top restaurants, such as Les Chèvres and Les 400 Coups, creating desserts where fruits and acidity played an important role. Chef Demers, along with his wife, opened up his pastry shop, Patrice Pâtissier, near Montreal’s Atwater Market in 2014, serving desserts that use local and seasonal ingredients.

With a love of sharing his passion for pastry, Chef Demers hosted his own  television  show called Les Desserts de Patrice for five seasons on Canal Vie, and published four cookbooks, the most recent being Parcours Sucré in 2019. He has been invited to Paris three times to give demonstrations at the Omnivore Food Festival and was named Best Pastry Chef in Québec in 2018 by the Lauriers Gala. In 2019, he was selected by Ladurée to collaborate on a Christmas Collection that was sold worldwide.

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Chef Stephanie Duong

Chef Stephanie Duong

Toronto, ON

Chef Stephanie Duong graduated with honours from the Pastry Arts Program at Toronto’s George Brown College. After graduation, she moved to France to master the art of French pastry, working at three-star Michelin hôtel restaurant Régis & Jacques MARCON in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid and at Jacques Genin in Paris. In 2013, Chef Duong moved to Hong Kong and worked at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, returning to Toronto in 2015 and opening the acclaimed pastry shop, Roselle Desserts. In her shop, she creates fresh and playful desserts, drawing inspiration from her travels, her favourite pastry ingredients and the seasonal fruit available at local markets. Roselle Desserts has been featured in esteemed publications such as The New York TimesThe Globe and MailToronto Star, CBC, Bon Appétit, and Canada’s 100 Best.

In her spare time, Chef Duong has worked as a chef instructor at her alma mater George Brown College and she participates as a panel judge for Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants.

Chef Farzam Fallah

Chef Farzam Fallah

Toronto, ON

Chef Farzam Fallah is not only a chef, but also a recently turned bartender, based in Toronto. Chef Fallah entered the culinary industry at a young age, completing an externship as a line cook as a teenager and quickly finding a passion for pastry making. Throughout his now 13 years as a pastry chef, Chef Fallah has worked at a variety of well-respected restaurants, including Terra, Ruby Watch Co. and Pizzeria Libretto. At 20, he became the opening Pastry Chef for Richmond Station, where he grew within the community to accomplish some of his personal milestones that include speaking at Terroir Symposium, appearing in television competitions and being publicized in the National Post and The Globe and Mail, among many other outlets.

Chef Fallah worked with Black Sheep Restaurant Group in Hong Kong, where he was the head pastry chef overseeing dessert programs at newly opened restaurants. While food and drink are his anchors, creativity has no boundaries for Chef Fallah as he explores different mediums, such as bartending, photography and visual arts. He recently started a small leather goods and services business, honing his appreciation and skillset of bespoke leather craftsmanship.

Chef Domenic Giammarella

Chef Domenic Giammarella

Toronto, ON

Chef Domenic Giammarella is the pastry chef at Restaurant Pearl Morissette, located in Jordan Station, ON. He developed an interest in pastry after leaving the beginnings of a bio-chemical engineering degree to instead pursue an education at Ottawa’s Le Cordon Bleu. He then made his way back to his hometown of Montreal and worked various restaurant jobs, eventually landing the pastry chef position at Laloux, which he defines as the launching point of his career. Chef Giammarella was offered the opportunity to run the pastry program at Buca Osteria & Bar in Toronto, returning afterwards to Montreal where he worked at Martin Picard’s Sugar Shack, learning everything about maple and foie.

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Chef Giammarella worked at Toronto’s Alo as executive pastry chef for three years, all of which the restaurant placed #1 on Canada’s Best 100 Restaurants list. At his current role at Restaurant Pearl Morissette, Chef Giammarella finds a love of the principles and values the restaurant espouses, such as using only Canadian ingredients and dealing solely with local farmers and flour millers.

Chef Andrew Han

Chef Andrew Han

Vancouver, BC

Chef Andrew Han is the owner and executive chef of the award-winning Kouign Café, located in the heart of Vancouver’s historic Chinatown. Chef Han discovered a love of cooking early on in life and received training in classical French and Italian culinary and pastry arts at the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver. He began his career as executive pastry chef at several notable Vancouver restaurants and bakeries, merging his Korean-Vietnamese-Canadian upbringing with his passion for food to then create his whimsical and other-worldly creations at Kouign Café. While Chef Han is known for his masterful execution of combining sweet and savoury ingredients and his special selection of Kouign Amann, his most well-known menu item is the White Rabbit Cookie. This cookie went viral when he participated in a one-time Chinatown pop-up, drawing daily lineups of hungry foodies craving culinary nostalgia.

With just the right amount of authenticity, innovation and imagination, Chef Han elevates the humble foods of his Chinatown upbringing and takes his guests to a magical place where he shares his childhood and heritage through unique and delectable bites.

Chef Steve Hodge

Chef Steve Hodge

Vancouver, BC

Chef Steve Hodge is the owner of Temper Chocolate & Pastry in Vancouver. Although his mother instilled in him a love of freshly baked pies and cookies from a young age through her bakery, his love for pastry and chocolate came later in life. Chef Hodge had his start in the kitchen at 21 when he attended the California School of Culinary Arts, where a chef warned him about how difficult pastry is to master, so Chef Hodge challenged himself to learn. From there, his love affair with pastry began.

After culinary school, Chef Hodge stayed in California and apprenticed at Wolfgang Puck Catering and Porto’s Bakery. From there he moved to Vancouver and worked as the executive pastry chef for the Glowbal Group. He then trained with Dominic Jerry at Sugar Art in Steveston, BC where he received an education on how to create with sugar and chocolate. Chef Hodge also worked in London, England, where he spent three years as a pastry chef at Le Caprice, followed by The Wolseley and finally the three-star Michelin restaurant, Royal Hospital Road with Gordon Ramsay.

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After working overseas, he returned home to Vancouver where he worked alongside renowned pastry chef Thomas Haas before opening his own shop, Temper Chocolate & Pastry in 2013. This was the realization of a career goal of owning his own business and utilizing his classic French training to make his own creations. The challenge of finding new flavours and creating new confections remains one of Chef Hodge’s favourite parts about being a pastry chef. That said, his favourite item to make is still a classic croissant!

Temper Chocolate & Pastry has been recognized by Food Network, Vancouver Magazine, and Chatelaine for excellence in pastry and chocolate making.

Chef Christinn Hua

Chef Christinn Hua

Toronto, ON

Chef Christinn Hua founded Millie Desserts in 2013, the first dessert shop in Toronto specializing in highlighting Japanese flavours created with classic French technique. She graduated from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Commerce and knew that opening a dessert shop was in her future. An avid traveller, her recipes are inspired by her love of adventure, passion for flavour and of course, her major sweet tooth. Today, Millie is a successful group of companies where Chef Hua’s keen interest in the intersection of food and technology contribute to her unique perspective and vision.

Chef Hua has appeared as a guest on CTV’s MasterChef  Canada (Season 4), and Millie Desserts has been featured in national publications such as The Globe and MailChatelaine,  and Weddingbells, amongst others and is consistently ranked as one of the best dessert restaurants in the city.

Chef Jenna Hutchinson

Chef Jenna Hutchinson

Winnipeg, MB

Chef Jenna Hutchinson is the founder and co-owner of Jenna Rae Cakes, a boutique bakery with three locations in Winnipeg, MB. Chef Hutchinson gained attention for her stunning tiered wedding cakes and realistic sugar flowers that she created for friends and family, and her talent became in high demand. She, along with her twin sister Ashley Kosowan, opened Jenna Rae Cakes in 2014, finding immediate success with endless lineups and early sell outs daily.

As the bakery soared to unexpected heights, Chef Hutchinson capitalized on sharing her skills with bakers of every skill level through YouTube tutorials and classes. Jenna Rae Cakes has been recognized in numerous publications, such as being listed in Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine as one of the top 20 cake-makers to follow on Instagram. Chef Hutchinson is the co-author of the best-selling cookbook, Jenna Rae Cakes and Sweet Treats and along with her sister Ashley, has two more cookbooks in the making.

Chef Lenore Johnson on Wall of Bakers

Chef Lenore Johnson

Kitchener, ON

Chef Lenore Johnson, owner of LenJo Bakes in Kitchener, ON, first realized her passion for baking while pursuing a degree in mathematics. She attended the Pastry Arts Program at George Brown College, followed by École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie in Yssingeaux, France and then working at a restaurant in neighbouring Monistrol-sur-Loire. After working at various high-profile, Michelin-starred restaurants in England, she moved to Waiheke Island, New Zealand, working at Goldie Estate Winery as pastry chef. This provided the opportunity to operate LenJo Bakes as a pop-up bespoke cake studio, serving the island for nearly two years. A move back to Ontario to teach in Conestoga College’s Baking and Pastry Arts Program meant a search for a permanent home for LenJo Bakes.

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Today, LenJo Bakes is a bespoke cake studio specializing in crafting and designing buttercream cakes for all occasions with an affinity toward subtle elegance and a steadfast commitment to using premium ingredients. Opened in February 2020, LenJo Bakes won The Waterloo Region Record’s Readers’ Choice Award for Best Cakes/Cupcakes in 2020 (Gold) and 2021 (Platinum). LenJo Bakes also expanded to include an outpost location, The Shed, in nearby St. Jacobs, ON.

Chef Shobna Kannuasamy, Wall of Bakers

Chef Shobna Kannusamy

Vancouver, BC

Chef Shobna Kannusamy is the founder of Soirette Pastry Boutique in Vancouver, which delighted its loyal customers for a decade before deciding to close its brick-and-mortar shop in 2021. Originally hailing from Malaysia, Chef Kannusamy moved to New Zealand as a teenager and discovered a love of baking as she completed her engineering degree. She then pivoted her career to the culinary arts, attending Ottawa’s Le Cordon Bleu where she received classical training in French pastry. Opening her shop in 2011, Chef Kannusamy brought a fresh perspective to traditional desserts by incorporating the flavours of her childhood. Her custom mooncakes were always in great demand at Vancouver’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival and gained multiple recognitions in The Vancouver Sun and on CBC Radio.

Chef Kannusamy’s latest project is hospitality consulting where she works with restaurants and small businesses to develop their pastry programs. She also mentors and coaches women in the hospitality industry, particularly immigrants like herself. With a cookbook of sweet treats in development, she is excited about reaching a new audience and sharing her highly coveted recipes.

Chef Ashley Kosowan

Chef Ashley Kosowan

Winnipeg, MB

Chef Ashley Kosowan is the CEO, co-owner and graphic designer at Jenna Rae Cakes, a business she operates with her twin sister, Chef Jenna Hutchinson. After leaving her job at a wedding magazine to pursue a career in freelance graphic design, Chef Kosowan joined Chef Hutchinson full-time at Jenna Rae Cakes in 2014, setting up the initial branding, creating new products for both home and professional bakers and continually expanding what is possible with strategic brand partnerships. Jenna Rae Cakes has been featured in multiple outlets, including in Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine as one of the top 20 cake-makers to follow on Instagram.

Chef Kosowan is the co-author of the best-selling cookbook Jenna Rae Cakes and Sweet Treats and has two more cookbooks on the way that she co-wrote with her sister.

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Chef Ricard Larrivee on Wall of Bakers

Chef Ricardo Larrivée

Saint Lambert, QB

Chef Ricardo Larrivée is a renowned Canadian chef, author, television personality and entrepreneur whose mission is to inspire, educate and bring people together through food. After training in Montreal at the Institut de Tourisme et D’Hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ), Chef Larrivée studied radio and television broadcasting in Ottawa. In 2002, he launched Ricardo Magazine, which is now part of a robust media corporation called Ricardo Media that includes bestselling cookbooks, restaurants, shops, kitchen products, food products, successful television series and much more. In 2014, he was named a member of the Order of Canada, as well as the Ordre national du Québec, for his efforts in making cooking accessible to all, and for his commitment to various social causes.

Amongst many other accolades, Chef Larrivée received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, two Gémeaux awards for Best Television Host for his show Ricardo, and a Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the Television Chef Book World category for his cookbook, Vegetables First. He appeared as a guest chef on Food Network Canada’s Iron Chef Canada and his show Ricardo and Friends ran on the network for three seasons. He is a weekly contributor to Quebec’s La Presse+, as well as the Toronto Star.

Chef Tracey Muzzollini, Wall of Bakers

Chef Tracey Muzzolini

Saskatoon, SK

Chef Tracey Muzzolini was born into the baking business with her family-owned Christies Mayfair Bakery that opened in 1932. Along with her brother, Chef Muzzolini took over the business in 1999 and expanded to open a restaurant serving Saskatoon’s first woodfired Napolitana-style pizza. After learning from world-class bakers at the Bread Bakers Guild of America, Chef Muzzolini competed in the category of “Baguette and Specialty Bread” with Team Canada in 2007, for the Coupe Du Monde de la Boulangerie. She brought this knowledge and experience to her family bakery and was proud to be one of the first in Saskatoon to offer artisan sourdough breads.

Chef Muzzolini is a member and educator with the Bread Bakers Guild and is constantly looking for ways to continue her own education and expand her knowledge of baking. She is passionate about traditional baking methods and truly believes in passing on this knowledge in order to keep the baking profession alive.

Chef Jo Notkin, Wall of Bakers

Chef Jo Notkin

Montreal, QB

Chef Jo Notkin is the founder of Maison Zoe Ford based in Montreal, QB, a company she named after her late grandmother, from whom Chef Notkin inherited her fresh aesthetic, keen eye for detail, creative spirit and penchant for the art of hospitality. Established in 2009 with the intention of providing beautiful, simple, and delicious party food for all occasions, Zoe Ford Catering pivoted during the pandemic to create a line of bakery-quality baking mixes, thus ensuring that Chef Notkin’s long-time and new customers could continue the Zoe Ford tradition of excellent flavour at home. Chef Notkin’s baking mixes are now available in nearly 200 stores across Canada, with more to be added over the year.

Chef Notkin went through several career transformations on the journey to opening her own business, such as creating a line of jewelry for Aldo Shoes, designing and manufacturing sustainable textiles for high-end hotels and stores, becoming an oyster shucking champion, as well as becoming a pastry chef. She was a competitor on Food Network Canada’s Top Chef Canada, Season 8.

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Chef Tara O'Brady, Wall of Bakers

Chef Tara O’Brady

Niagara, ON

Chef Tara O’Brady is the author of the bestselling cookbook Seven Spoons and the founder of the award-winning website of the same name. Seven Spoons garnered mention in The New York Times Flare House & Home Ricardo Magazine and elsewhere. She is a contributor to The Globe and Mail and Epicurious, and her work has been featured in numerous publications, websites, and radio programs, including The Guardian, KinfolkOlive Magazine, The Washington Post, Oprah.com, jamieoliver.com, Bon Appétit,  Saveur and The Splendid Table.

Chef O’Brady is the Culinary Host for The Globe and Mail’s travel program, a regular on-air expert for CTV’s Your Morning and The Marilyn Denis Show, and the cultural consultant for the new CBC series Run the Burbs. She has also been featured as a guest judge on Food Network Canada’s Iron Chef Canada.

Chef Raveena Oberoi, Wall of Bakers

Chef Raveena Oberoi

Surrey, BC

Chef Raveena Oberoi is the owner of Just Cakes Bakeshop and The Jar Bar in the Metro Vancouver region. Chef Oberoi’s hobby of home baking and custom cake artistry blossomed into one that led her to train under esteemed pastry chefs at the established  Bellouet Conseil in Paris, France in 2016. The following year, she opened the first Just Cakes location, specializing in custom cakes and gourmet pastries with a fusion of European, North American, and Indian flavours and techniques. Chef Oberoi coined the “Just Jar”– exciting and diverse “cakes in a jar” that are now featured in various restaurants and grocery stores. In an effort to pivot the bakery amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Chef Oberoi started North America’s first Cake-in-a-Jar vending machine, aptly named “The Jar Bar,” now seen in malls in British Columbia. Most recently, Chef Oberoi opened her second Just Cakes location in January 2021.

Chef Oberoi’s work ethic has brought her to a position as one of Metro Vancouver’s rising chefs and entrepreneurs. She was named as one of Surrey, BC’s “Top 25 Under 25” in 2016, won the “Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award” in 2017 and has received awards for her pastry and cake creations.

Chef Anna Olson, Wall of Bakers

Chef Anna Olson

Welland, ON

Chef Anna Olson is celebrated as Canada’s baking sweetheart and has become a household name. She has served as the host of Food Network Canada’s  Bake with Anna OlsonGreat Chocolate Showdown, Junior Chef ShowdownFresh with Anna Olson and Sugar. She has earned a dedicated following in over 190 countries and can now be watched on the Oh Yum YouTube Channel. Chef Olson is a recipe-writing  maven,  her work appearing in many magazines and best-selling cookbooks. Her latest cookbook is called Baking Day with Anna Olson.

Chef Olson was born in Atlanta, GA, but grew up in Toronto, noting her grandmother as an early influencer of her love of the kitchen. She has degrees from Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, and Johnson and Wales University in Vail, CO. After working in the United States, Chef Olson returned to Canada to settle in Niagara’s wine country with her husband Michael Olson who is also a chef.

An avid promoter of the local food movement, she practices shopping for great local ingredients and works under the motto “what grows together, goes together.” Chef Olson is an ongoing student of food and cooking, now working full-time on recipe development, writing and hosting food media online and on television. Many local charitable organizations benefit from her ongoing contributions to the community. She enjoys travel, music and eating great meals with her husband.

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Chef Guy Rawlings

Chef Guy Rawlings

Toronto, ON

Chef Guy Rawlings’ career spans over 20 years working in kitchens throughout Toronto, Montreal, New York City, Beijing and England. Chef Rawlings uses creative techniques alongside traditional methods to make food that is focused on Canada’s seasons. He is known for his passion for local ingredients and his ability to share stories through food. At his restaurant Montgomery’s, which closed in 2021, Chef Rawlings made everything from scratch, including the sourdough bread, desserts, charcuterie, ferments and vinegars. He also managed the natural-wine and specialty beer list at Montgomery’s.

With a passion for sustainability, Chef Rawlings has focused himself and educated others on food security, ethical food chains, seasonal production for a future climate and what it means to eat and cook 100% Canadian.

Chef Amy Rosen, Wall of Bakers

Chef Amy Rosen

Toronto, ON

Chef Amy Rosen is a James Beard-nominated, award-winning freelance journalist and cookbook author. She was the editor-in-chief of Modern Farmer, food editor at Chatelaine and food editor at House & Home. She also launched EnRoute‘s Best New Restaurants in Canada feature as its first restaurant critic and regularly contributes to The Globe and Mail. Armed with a BA in English from McGill University, a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College and a certificate in Basic Cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu, she published her first cookbook, Generation Eats. She then went on to release four more cookbooks, her latest called Kosher Style, which is filled with Jewish-based recipes.

In 2016, Chef Rosen launched Rosen’s Cinnamon Buns in downtown Toronto. At the end of 2018, she sold her storefront in order to give the people what they wanted – bake-your-own Rosen’s Cinnamon Buns, which launched the following year. She has won numerous awards for her work in food journalism, including the Magazine Grands Prix Award for Best Food & Beverage story in 2017  for her feature “Have Yourself a Merry Little Calisson” in  enRoute Magazine.

Chef David Rousseau, Wall of Bakers

Chef David Rousseau

Calgary, AB

Originally from Brittany, France, Chef David Rousseau always had an intrinsic love of food and travel, spending time in Lima, Peru for seven years designing and leading food-forward tours. In 2013, he was offered a job in Victoria, BC, where he was trained by a French chef in a variety of techniques and delicacies, including macarons. This prompted him to move to Calgary in 2014 to open up his own store, Ollia Macarons & Tea, which offers 25 different flavours of macarons at any given time, including seasonal specialty macarons, cakes and mini cakes.

His family’s principles of using local and organic ingredients have heavily influenced Chef Rousseau’s food philosophy, and sourcing locally and ethically is central to the business at Ollia. Chef Rousseau teaches baking classes, which have become very popular, garnering more than 6,000 guests thus far.

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Chef Joanne Yolles, Wall of Bakers

Chef Joanne Yolles

Toronto, ON

Chef Joanne Yolles’ career as a pastry chef began almost 40 years ago. She attended Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco, returning to her hometown of Toronto and landing her first job as pastry chef at Fenton’s Food Shop, located next to the much-lauded Fenton’s Restaurant. From there, she moved on to Scaramouche and became well-known for her delicious desserts. Chef Yolles was considered a trailblazer at the time since most restaurants didn’t have a full-time pastry chef role; to this day, her coconut cream pie is the restaurant’s best-selling menu item. After an 11-year run at Scaramouche, she took time off to start a family and eventually returned to the culinary scene as head pastry chef at Pangaea where her desserts were also recognized by patrons and critics alike.

Chef Yolles currently teaches in the Baking and Pastry Arts Program at George Brown College. She has developed recipes for LCBO’s Food and Drink Magazine and her work has been recognized in many publications, including The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. She was included in Post City Magazine’s list of “Seven Culinary Greats That Changed It All” and cites a major career highlight as baking for Julia Child. Chef Yolles has made several television appearances and is a Fellow of the Ontario Hostelry Institute.

 

Wall of Bakers airs Mondays at 10PM ET/PT beginning March 28. Stream all your favourite Food Network Canada shows through STACKTV with Amazon Prime Video Channels, or with the new Global TV app, live and on-demand when you sign-in with your cable subscription.