Baking finale is a real Cliff-hanger

MOULTONBOROUGH — In the final episode of the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship, local baker Jennifer Clifford came up just short of winning the grand prize. She succeeded, however, in representing her hometown with distinction and proved that a self-taught baker from a small town in New Hampshire can hang with professionals who have far more impressive resumes.

Clifford, a mother of two who has never worked outside of Moultonborough – where she and her husband raise their family – said that she was worried that she’d be one of the first bakers to be kicked off the elimination-style reality cooking show. After all, her competition included people who owned or managed bakeries in major metro areas, people who baked in prestigious hotels and even a culinary instructor.

Instead of proving the weakest of the bunch, Clifford, who works as head baker at Cup and Crumb, rose like cream to the top. She won more elimination challenges than any other contestant, and if she didn’t win, she was usually the runner-up. So, when the final episode aired on Monday night, Clifford, one of just three remaining contestants, expressed confidence that she could take home the prize money.

“I have two more challenges standing between me and that $25,000. I’ll be darned if I let it slip through my fingers,” she said in the prerecorded episode.

For the preliminary challenge, which awards the winner with an advantage for the final, bakers were tasked with preparing a brunch platter showcasing three classic holiday flavors: gingerbread, egg nog and cinnamon. Clifford used her time in the kitchen to make cinnamon blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls with eggnog frosting, and gingerbread-cranberry scones with an orange butter.

Judges Lorraine Pascale, Nancy Fuller and Duff Goldman gushed over Clifford’s cinnamon rolls, but ultimately chose contestant Sarah Wallace, who manages a bakery in Boston, as the winner of the advantage in the final elimination.

For the last challenge of the series, host Jesse Palmer presented Wallace with three plaid blankets and said that each baker would have to bake a cake that was plaid, both inside and out – and they had to match the colors of the blankets as distributed by Wallace. She gave Clifford a white and black plaid blanket.

Clifford had never made a plaid cake before, but set to work. She prepared a cake batter with almond and orange flavoring, then prepared baking pans with white, gray and black batter. To achieve the plaid look, she cut the baked cakes into rings, then built the cakes using alternating rings. But, to her horror, the rings fell apart as she attempted to arrange them.

“I’m starting to panic,” she said in the episode. “They’re falling apart, they’re breaking, but I’ve got to press on.” Clifford, who in previous episodes had proven her ability to improvise under pressure, made a chocolate ganache she could use as a kind of cement to hold the cake together.

It worked, because when she sliced into the cake in front of the judges, the slice perfectly matched the plaid pattern on her blanket.

“I could play checkers on that cake,” exclaimed Fuller. Pascale added, “When you cut it open, I was like, wow!”

Goldman praised her elegant cake decoration, which included chocolate silhouettes of reindeer and a sleigh, adorned with gold filigree. The black-and-white color scheme was accentuated by a handful of fondant holly berries and a few sprigs of rosemary.

There was some criticism, though. Goldman said her cake was a little dry and that her top layer was a bit uneven. Fuller said there wasn’t enough almond flavor.

In the end, the judges awarded the win to Melissa Yanc, who owns a bakery in Healdsburg, California, and is a mother with another child on the way. Yanc impressed the judges with an unusual combination of matcha green tea and pistachio to flavor her cake. She had said previously that she would use the winnings to get married to her partner.

“I’m going straight to the altar, we’re getting married tomorrow!” Yanc said.

The view from Moultonborough

Although the climax of the Holiday Baking Championship coincided with one of the busiest times of year for a baker, Clifford joined a crowd of supporters at the Moultonborough Community Auditorium on Monday night for a viewing party of the episode.

“It was intense and overwhelming,” Clifford said of the watch party. “I didn’t think it would be that hard to watch.”

The season was filmed in Los Angeles in July over a three-week period. The show’s editors let the viewers know that Clifford was often thinking of her family on the opposite side of the country, and in Monday night’s episode, Clifford said she could feel the encouragement of the Cup and Crumb community cheering her on.

“I’ve got a huge support system back at the bakery, I’ve just got to keep that going with me the whole way,” she said in the show.

On Tuesday morning, taking a break between holiday orders, Clifford said she has been taken aback by the local response that her televised performance has produced.

“I had no idea the magnitude it would be, the number of people that I don’t even know that would be supporting me. I wasn’t expecting that kind of support, it was humbling… I’m honored, I guess,” Clifford said.

That was why she wanted to attend the viewing party, so she could stand with her supporters, who to that point she had mostly known only through social media postings.

“To have these people right in front of you, it was a lot. I wanted to be able to thank the people who supported me all the way.”

Clifford never sought fame. A Food Network representative reached out to her, after taking notice of her work on Instagram, to invite her to take part in the show. Clifford is happiest hidden away in her kitchen, not in the public eye, but felt she couldn’t turn the offer down.

Now that the cameras will be turned to their next subject, Clifford said she’s eager to return to regular life, with more relaxation and family time.

“I’m already looking forward to the camping season,” she said.

Trista Goddard is Clifford’s right-hand in the kitchen. The baking assistant has been working with Clifford for four years, and said that her boss is equal parts dedicated and hilarious, and has a hard time saying no to a customer’s request.

Goddard said she and her co-workers were proud of seeing Clifford’s performance on national television.

“I think she for sure killed it. Obviously, she should have won. She for sure did her best. I loved watching the episodes, seeing she was using recipes that we make every day here,” Goddard said.

On Tuesday morning, Moultonborough resident Pam Patenaude was one of many patrons enjoying a Christmas Eve treat baked by the newest local celebrity.

“I think the whole community is proud of her,” Patenaude said. It wasn’t just Clifford’s success, but how she composed herself, Patenaude added. “I thought she was very gracious, willing to compliment her competitors and to learn from them, and accept her criticisms and to get better. I’m happy for her.”