Bake and Destroy

2011 WTVC Food Blog Awards

WTVC Awards
Welcome to the very first Wannabe TV Chef (WTVC) Food Blog Awards.  These awards are my way of recognizing some of the best foodie sites on the Online.

Some of the people awarded I have had the pleasure to meet in person and others probably don’t know me from Adam.  Now sit back and meet the winners of the 2011 WTVC Food Blog Awards:

Best Site by a Professional Chef: Big Jones Blog by Chef Paul Fehribach

Best Site by a Home Chef: Average Betty by Sara O’Donnell

Best Lifestyle Site: Jolene’s Trailer Park by Jolene Sugarbaker

Best Health & Fitness Site: The Bikini Chef by Susan Irby

Best Instructional Site: Food Wishes by Chef John Mitzewich

Best Outdoor Cooking Site: Deep South Cooking Outfitters by Gene Fox

Best Food Writing Site: Ruhlman.com by Michael Ruhlman

Best Celebrity Chef Site: Alton Brown (just a lowly cook) by Alton Brown

Best Niche Site: Happy Little Bento by Sheri Chen

Best Dessert Site: Bake and Destroy by Natalie Slater

Best Site With a Cause: Bloggers Without Borders – A Fund for Jennie

Best Branded Site: Bitchin’ Kitchen by Nadia G

7 Questions with Natalie Slater

7 Questions is a series of interviews with the culinary movers and shakers you want or ought to know better.

The world of food is filled with many colorful characters, most of whom sport personalities that are bigger than life.  There are ostentatious French chefs, food critics who wear disguises and even the odd food writer turned TV host.  All owe a certain amount of their fame to their inherent quirkiness.  Then there are the bloggers.

There are the Julie Powell’s who blog simply to bring the chaos of the modern world into focus and in so doing attain fame and fortune with a book followed by a movie.  Her name is now a verb.  EX: I’m going to start a blog about Popsicles and then I’m going to Julie Powell that sucker.  There are the Kamran Siddiqui’s who’s keen eye for food photography, gentle spirit and taste for exotic flavors have earned him a great deal of international notoriety; not bad for a high school student.  Who knows what the futures holds for this brilliant young man?

Natalie Slater on WannabeTVchef.comThen there is Natalie Slater of Chicago, a marketer by day and blogger by night.  Slater is unique, boisterous and infused with rock & roll intensity.  She owns no bakery, doesn’t work at a restaurant, has no fancy grand deplome from a stuffy French culinary academy.  What she does have, in addition to her sexcentric haircut and sleeves of ink, is an unapologetic sweet tooth.

Slater’s blog, Bake and Destroy, is an extension of her personality.  It is a hot pink and black leopard print of heavy metal cupcakery.  Just as Slater kicks in the door of the starched white world of baking with stiletto heels and fishnet stockings, B&D takes the light and delicate idea of dessert and straps it into the passenger seat of a ’67 Pontiac GTO, forces it to shotgun a Natty Light while outrunning the fuzz as Immortal blasts at an unhealthy volume.  Slater makes cake cool.

B&D is filled with recipes for Goth-themed pies and cupcakes brimming with sexual innuendo.  There is a call to arms to fight diseases, “Do you love cake, but hate cancer?”  And there are plenty of pictures of Slater modeling sexy and sassy aprons for her pals at Cupcake Provocateur.  It’s a horror picture with sprinkles and a chocolate pudding center.

Now that you have learned a little bit about the petit four pocket hottie now it’s time for her to answer 7 Questions:

1. How old were you when your self-proclaimed cake obsession started?

Natalie Slater on WannabeTVchef.comMy grandma bought me an EZ Bake Oven for my birthday one year – I’m guessing I was about four. My birthday is two weeks before Christmas and here was this little kid making everyone stop what they were doing to taste a cake she baked with a light-bulb. My gram suggested I bake one for baby Jesus’ birthday, and when it was done we left it out for him – it disappeared. I really believed he floated down and gobbled up the cake I made him. I guess I impressed myself at that point – Jesus likes my baking! From that point on my mom couldn’t bake so much as a blueberry muffin without me insisting on breaking the eggs or measuring the flour.

2. When did you start your blog, Bake and Destroy?

I started Bake and Destroy over four years ago when my son was newborn and I was working as a nanny. I was home all the time and baked to keep my sanity. The blog was a way for me to keep in touch with my friends – none of which had kids yet. I never imagined anyone besides those few people would read it.

3. You were a judge in the pilot episode of Cupcake Wars.  Can we expect to see you in future episodes?

I really doubt it. Originally they wanted me to compete and I told them they were nuts. 1000 cupcakes? No way dude! Then one night I had my son in the tub and one of the producers called me. She was like, “Natalie, this is boring, we need you.” I flew out the next morning. Unfortunately they felt the need to cover up all my tattoos for the show – no one knows why! One of the contestants had tons of tattoos! Anyway I just felt sweaty and uncomfortable, it was a bummer. I’d do it again if they asked on the condition that I can wear short sleeves. I’m from Chicago – it’s hot in LA!

4. I’m a savory guy so I am a little perplexed by the sheer volume of cake decorating shows on television.  To what do you attribute their phenomenal success?

Natalie Slater on Wannabe TV ChefI think, like tattoo shows, it’s a peek into a world that has existed forever but not many people were involved in. In the same vein, you get to watch people do things that you yourself may never be able to do. I do think they can move on now, though. I’m looking forward to Just Desserts- the pastry competition on Bravo. I’m ready for flavor to matter again.

5. Other than Cupcake Wars what cake shows do you enjoy?

I love Cake Boss. I think Sunshine is an unsung hero on that show, she’s so talented. And I’m Italian, so I can relate to all the yelling and hand waving.
It’s not a cake show, but one of my favorite pastry chefs Ben Roche has a show on Planet Green called Future Food. The stuff they do at Moto blows my mind.

6. So which would you rather have a cake decorated like a tattoo or a tattoo of a cake?

A cake tattoo! I’ve noticed that tattoo artists can render a great looking cake tattoo but cake artists aren’t so hot at tattoo cakes.

7. Your look, your personality and even your blog scream personality; what inspires you?

Well thank you. I have been told I burst from the womb shouting “Hey everyone! Look at me!” I draw from so many places – my beautiful city, my fearless son, all the classy TV shows I grew up on like pro wrestling, Married with Children and Headbangers Ball. My friends and family are a huge inspiration, I’m always looking to make them laugh or to embarrass them. So it’s easy- endless inspiration.

“Cupcake Wars” Premieres

Are you serious?  A series about competitive cupcake making?

In case you are lost, what I am talking about the Food Network is premiering a new series about, get this now, competitive cupcake making called Cupcake Wars.  As if elevendy-gazillion cake decorating contests (and none of them good) are not enough now they are going to have miniature cake decorating contests.  I don’t know if there is a market for televised cupcake bakers.  Then again I never dreamed that a glorified karaoke night would ever shatter television records like American Idol has.

Apparently cupcake bakers (cupcakesters?) are very territorial as the original concept for Cupcake Wars was a documentary about their often heated turf wars.  Now the idea of cupcakesters rumbling like the kids in an S.E. Hinton novel has a certain appeal – provided they do battle with rolling pins.  But after some discussion, Super Delicious (the production company responsible for Cupcake Wars as well as Manswers and The Assistant) morphed it into a weekly no-holds-barred, loser-leave-town cupcake battle royal.

What makes Cupcake Wars even more unfathomable to me is that the host’s name is, hold your hat, Justin Kredible.  He fancies himself a magician. For his first trick, I hope he makes this show not suck.

The pilot episode features blogger Natalie Slater (Bake and Destroy) as well as cupcaksters Candace Nelson of Sprinkles Cupcakes and Jane Lockhart of Sweet Lady Jane as judges.  Slater is a tattooed pocket hottie who doesn’t own a bakery but describes herself as being, “obsessed with cake.”  Nelson’s Spinkles Cupcakes is a critically acclaimed bakery in Beverly Hills.  Lockhart opened LA-based Sweet Lady Jane 20 years ago because she felt most commercial desserts were “too sweet.”

The contestantsfor the first episode were Whodidily Cupcakes, Sweet E’s, Hotcakes Bakes and Two Parts Sugar.  Cupcake Wars airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on the Food Network.

So I watched and HERE is my review.

Check out my exclusive interview with judge Natalie Slater HERE.

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Stuart in 80 Words or Less

Stuart is a celebrity chef, food activist and award-winning food writer. He penned the cookbooks Third Coast Cuisine: Recipes of the Gulf of Mexico, No Sides Needed: 34 Recipes To Simplify Life and Amigeauxs - Mexican/Creole Fusion Cuisine. He hosts two Internet cooking shows "Everyday Gourmet" and "Little Grill Big Flavor." His recipes have been featured in Current, Lagniappe, Southern Tailgater, The Kitchen Hotline and on the Cooking Channel.

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Stuart’s Honors & Awards

2015 1st Place Luck of the Irish Cook-off
2015 4th Place Downtown Cajun Cook-off
2015 2nd Place Fins' Wings & Chili Cook-off
2014 2015 4th Place LA Gumbo Cook-off
2012 Taste Award nominee for best chef (web)
2012 Finalist in the Safeway Next Chef Contest
2011 Taste Award Nominee for Little Grill Big Flavor
2011, 12 Member: Council of Media Tastemakers
2011 Judge: 29th Chef's of the Coast Cook-off
2011 Judge: Dauphin Island Wing Cook-off
2011 Cooking Channel Perfect 3 Recipe Finalist
2011 Judge: Dauphin Island Gumbo Cook-off
2011 Culinary Hall of Fame Member
2010 Tasty Awards Judge
2010 Judge: Bayou La Batre Gumbo Cook-off
2010 Gourmand World Cookbook Award Nominee
2010 Chef2Chef Top 10 Best Food Blogs
2010 Denay's Top 10 Best Food Blogs
2009 2nd Place Bay Area Food Bank Chef Challenge
2008 Tava: Discovery Contest Runner-up

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