Collegiate Times

For Pamela Ahn, life threw her cakes — literally. As a full-time engineer, without much baking experience, Ahn never expected be a competitor on TLC’s new reality series, “Cake Boss: Next Great Baker.” But, she’s going along for the ride.

Ahn’s father influenced her career choice at a young age. As she grew up, Ahn looked up to her father and thought he was the greatest engineer in the world. He motivated her to always follow her dreams no matter what they were. And with her goal to become the next great baker, Ahn is doing just that.

The baking battle premiered on TLC Monday, Dec. 6. The reality series is a spin-off of Buddy Valastro’s show, “Cake Boss.” According to the TLC website, 10 pastry chefs will have their decorating skills pushed to the limit each week as they compete to win a prize of $50,000 and a chance to work side-by-side with Valastro at Carlos’ Bakery.

From 1999 to 2003, Ahn attended Virginia Tech as an engineering major. At the time, she didn’t know professional baking was in her future. 

“Everybody has a hobby or a dream on the side that you do because you want to — because it’s a passion, or it’s a love,” Ahn said. 

She has her family to thank for the hobby that has grown for her in the past few years. Ahn began baking “out of love” for those she was close to.

The hobby flourished after her sister married in 2006 and had three children. With several baby showers and birthday celebrations, Ahn began baking out of necessity.

“I wanted to do something special instead of going to a grocery store,” she said.

Her creative cake flavors, such as Asian-inspired passion fruit and green tea, can vouch for her anti-store-bought attitude.

Besides flavor, her designs have been geared toward children. Friends and family members would bring Ahn ideas their kids loved. In turn, she would try and replicate them in the form of a cake.

“To see their facial expressions and uncontrolled, very innocent joy and laughter is rewarding in itself,” Ahn said.

After watching TV shows such as “Cake Boss,” Ahn began to be brave with her designs. Her favorite cake was constructed in August 2009 for her husband’s birthday. It was a replica of his favorite food, Popeyes fried chicken. The cake was in the shape of the Popeyes box, and she surrounded it with sugar pieces in the form of fried chicken.

“My friends actually thought that I put real pieces of chicken on top,” she said, laughing, assuming the comments were compliments.

Ahn’s husband has also played a key role in supporting her decision to pursue careers in both engineering and baking.

“Eventually, my husband was the one who really motivated me,” Ahn said. “He believed in me.”

When Ahn decided to apply to the competition, it was originally named “Cake Boss: College.” However, the application did not require college experience.

“I thought, ‘What the heck,’ and applied,” she said. “I never thought I would get a call back.”

Ahn was nervous to meet the real Cake Boss, Valastro, when the competition began.

“I think a lot of times when you fall in love with personalities of people on TV, you might get disappointed when you meet them in person,” she said.

But, Valastro was everything she expected him to be and more. She looked up to a man who liked to make people happy, which was something she could relate to. Ahn admires that his career is not just about the cakes for him.

Ahn was nervous to face reality TV, something she never thought she would experience. She felt shellshocked in a world she had never fathomed and was overwhelmed by the amount of love and inspiration Valastro’s family had to offer in such a short time frame.

“I just feel like this is all such a dream,” Ahn said.

The competition was a humbling and emotional challenge for Ahn. As the underdog in a competition filled with professionals who had been taking classes and baking for years, she was used to baking in the calm and friendly environment of her own kitchen.

Continue Reading: 12 Next » 

A version of this article appeared in the Dec 8 issue of the Collegiate Times.