VERO BEACH — Paul and Cassandra Conti, of Vero Beach’s Casereccio Cakes, will expand their culinary reach to a national audience Sunday night when Food Network airs “Cupcake Wars” – a cupcake bake-off pitting four baking teams against each other, facing elimination at each round.
“I’ve been trying to keep my mouth shut all this time,” Paul said, explaining that they’ve known the outcome since November.
The Conti’s are forbidden from divulging the outcome of the competition or secrets from the set, so people will have to tune in to find out how they did.
“You can’t prepare for it,” Cassandra said of the show, explaining that they prepared as best they could – watching the show on TV and taking note of the judges’ reactions. “We definitely set the DVR” to catch as many shows as possible.
In October, at 4 ½ months pregnant, Cassandra and Paul traveled to Los Angeles to film the competition. They worked five days, often 14-plus hours each day.
Producers and set managers made sure she had a stool on which to sit when needed and plenty of bottled water and snacks.
“I knew it was Cupcake Wars,” she said of competing while pregnant. “I had to do it.”
The couple broke a few boundaries for the show, they said – first husband-wife team, first pregnant competitor, and the first to make fondant on stage.
“It was quite the experience,” Cassandra said. She said adrenaline helped keep her going and the competition kept her mind off her aching back. “It’s just tiring.”
Paul likened it to a civilian being tossed into Army boot camp in the middle of a war.
“It was an amazing time,” he said.
After having lived, breathed and competed cupcakes on the show, the Conti’s are finally getting back to liking cupcakes again.
“When we were shooting, I despised them,” Cassandra said.
“I hate them,” Paul said, then quickly added that they’re OK now.
One outcome they can reveal from having been on the show is that the experience has encouraged them to experiment with various flavor combinations they wouldn’t have otherwise.
“I like to keep it simple,” Paul said of his cupcake recipes, adding that he puts an Italian spin on each one, including using Italian buttercream frosting.
His simple, traditional approach to his recipes is what he took to the set of Cupcake Wars.
“The problem is, you can’t think too much,” Paul said. Competitors need to stick to flavors and recipes they know.
“People win because someone screwed up more than they (the winners) did,” he said after having watched war after war after war on the Food Network.
“No one does anything perfect,” Cassandra agreed.
Last year, Paul Conti applied and was a finalist for TLC’s Next Great Baker but he didn’t make the final cut.
The night before Paul received word he wouldn’t be on the show, Cassandra applied for Cupcake Wars on Food Network. The next day, they got the call from TLC – and then a call from Food Network.
“We were on edge,” Cassandra said after having submitted three promotion videos per the casting company’s request. A week later – they got the call.
“We had about a hot second to get ready,” she said.
Because the Conti’s already know the outcome of the competition, the one thing they are sweating – just a little – is how the producers edited down dozens of hours of competition into a one hour program.
“We can’t wait to see what they did with it,” Cassandra said of the footage.
Paul said he’d like to be a fly on the wall of viewers’ homes – gauging their reactions in real time.
Instead, the baking couple will settle for a watch party at their store with friends, family and customers – complete with the replicated cupcake recipes they created on the show.
Cupcake Wars airs at 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, on Food Network – Channel 49 on Comcast and Channel 452 on AT&T U-Verse.
Casereccio Cakes is located at 4682 US 1, in Vero Beach, and can be reached by calling (772) 205-2197.