Don’t Miss Lily’s Cakes in ‘Cake Wars’ on the Food Network Monday
Something tells me you have at least heard of Lily's Cakes located in Harker Heights and that they're opening up shop in Temple this spring as well. This place offers delicious cupcakes and has a specialty in wedding cakes. So special in fact, that Cake Wars on the Food Network invited Lily's Cakes to compete. They've already filmed the event but the episode featuring Lily's Cakes will air on Monday, January 23 at 8 p.m. CST.
Huge props to founder and cake extraordinaire Lily Halabi who is always a blast to talk to. She didn't even enter to be considered for the show. Instead, it was her husband Sam and friend/co-worker Kristi Cook who secretly put Lily's Cakes in front of Cake Wars producers.
When a woman named Natalie called from Cake Wars, I thought to myself, 'Kristi! I'm going to kill you!' But it came from a place of love and support so I was thankful.
So Lily and her assistant Samantha Atkins set out to Los Angeles where they competed in Cake Wars. If you haven't seen the show, I equate it to Iron Chef except with cake and hopefully less yelling.
We can't go into specifics about the episode until it airs on Monday, but you can expect a 75-minute round and then the second round, which is 4 hours long.
When I asked Lily what the toughest part about being filmed while conceptualizing and creating a cake in 75 minutes, she said, "You, just don't want to yell in front of the camera! And it gets stressful."
I'm sure Lily did great, but we'll find out for sure on Monday night at 8 p.m. on the Food Network.
At the end of the day, she found her calling and people respond to it.
We love what we do. Each cake is a different personality. A different being. All cakes are never the same.
Just like people. I love that.
As a bonus, I asked Lily when she discovered her love for baking. It apparently began when she was a little girl.
"The idea I could mix flour, sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder and then bam! You have a cake. It was truly amazing to me," she said.
The only problem was... her mother HATED the smell of eggs in her kitchen. So much so, that she would put her nose to the cake to make sure there was no scent of egg. So Lily went to her neighbor's house to learn about baking. There she was handed a recipe book and she hand-copied it cover to cover.
Later on in life she took 16 weeks of classes at Hobby Lobby in Killeen where her instructor gave her the idea of turning her passion into a business.
Be sure to catch Lily's Cakes on Cake Wars, Monday night at 8 p.m. on the Food Network.
And when you get that inevitable sweet tooth, mosey on over to Lily's Cakes in Harker Heights (or the one opening in Temple this year) to congratulate her.
Now for goodness sake. Let's eat some cake!
Expect to see some very creative masterpieces. Here's an episode that revolved around Willy Wonka.