November 21, 2024
Provided Image/PUNCH Media
Lily Fischer, of Fishtown's Cake Life Bake Shop, won an episode of Hulu's new baking competition 'Cookie, Cupcake, Cake.' Above, Fischer is all smiles with host Buddy Valastro.
Philadelphia baker Lily Fischer has won her third TV baking competition, and this victory was particularly meaningful for the co-founder of Fishtown's Cake Life Bake Shop because she had the opportunity to pay homage to her late mother.
Fischer emerged victorious on Hulu's new baking competition "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake" after tackling the show's titular sweet treats in three rounds of challenges, beating out three other competitors. All 12 episodes of the series — hosted by "Cake Boss" star Buddy Valastro and cookbook author Samantha Seneviratne — dropped Monday, and Fischer competes in Episode 7, which has an "island vibes" theme.
More spoilers are ahead for "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake" Season 1, Episode 7!
On "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake," Fischer, the self-described "cake queen," showed off her bubbly personality while her fierce dessert-making skills took down the other contestants one by one. Those competitors included Luke Heizer of Luke's Custom Cakes in Ohio, Margarita Canales of Kakes N Stuff in New York City, and Corinda Baum of Corinda's Cakery in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Fischer showed off her "bright, colorful, whimsical" baking style by making luau-themed cookies in Round 1 and "lime in the coconut" cocktail-inspired cupcakes in Round 2 — which Valastro described as creating a "melody in your mouth."
Fischer clinched her "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake" win in the final round with a cake that was inspired by her perfect day by the sea. She made a "sinfully delicious" chocolate cake decorated with a surfboard, coral and other beach elements. It was filled with vanilla bean mascarpone whipped cream and raspberry compote. The chocolate-raspberry flavors paid homage to Fischer's late mother, as the pair used to pick raspberries together to eat with chocolate cake.
Although Fischer hoped her mother would be around to be part of her Cake Life bakery, to greet customers and taste-test her sweet treats, her mom died of Alzheimer's disease about five weeks after she opened Cake Life in 2016. After tasting the cake and hearing her story, Valastro told an emotional Fischer that she made her mom proud.
"The thing I am proudest of about this show in particular was that I was able to talk about my mom," Fischer said. "It's so cool that she's now a part of this experience, even though she passed away eight years ago. So for me personally, it was so special to be like, 'Mom is here; Buddy is talking about my mother right now.' It was a really cool moment too because she's always been my number one fan. ... So to me, that was the most special thing."
Before she was a three-time baking show champ — including victories on Food Network's "Cupcake Wars" and "Winner Cake All" — and was tapped to bake multiple times for Beyoncé, Fischer was a preschool teacher at Friends Center at 15th and Cherry streets. During that time, she started making decorative cupcakes based on a book her mother had gotten her called "Hello Cupcake." She baked them for staff at the school, who were wowed and kept asking for more.
"It started feeling like all my free time I was spending baking and making stuff for people," she said.
Fischer initially was looking at graduate programs to become a music therapist — and she showed off her own musical talents on "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake" by "sing-talking," as she calls it. Instead, she decided to lean into her cupcake interest and pursue a one-year program focused on baking and pastries at the culinary school at the now-closed Art Institute of Philadelphia. She now jokes that it was her "quarter life crisis," but that she "crushed it" at culinary school.
While she was at Art Institute, Fischer was running a "crappy" website to sell her cupcakes on the side, which she baked in her South Philly apartment. She came home from school one day to find out she got a call from the producers of "Cupcake Wars," who saw her apparently not-so-shabby website and wanted her to audition. She made a "Rocky" themed video, encouraging the producers to pick her. She got the slot, flew out to Los Angeles and won the competition.
The $10,000 she earned from that "Cupcake Wars" victory in 2011 allowed her to open her first commercial kitchen in the Globe Dye Works building. Fischer got married and had kids, moved her business out of Globe Dye Works and, in 2016, opened Cake Life with her college best friend and business partner Nima Etemadi. She and Etemadi, who also quit his job to pursue a baking education, competed as a team on two "Cupcake Wars Champions" episodes. They earned second place during both appearances, and Fischer convinced him to move from New York to Philly to open Cake Life together.
Then, about five years ago, when she was pregnant with her second child, Fischer competed on "Winner Cake All," and notched her second on-screen win. She thought that would be the end of her reality TV baking career.
"I was like, never again," Fischer said.
But then, last year, producers behind "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake" reached out and told her she'd be perfect for the new show. With an 8 year old and 5 year old, Fischer wasn't looking to travel far. But she was swayed by the competition filming nearby in Jersey City and signed on. Another part of the Hulu show that intrigued her, and an aspect that made her victory all the sweeter, was the fact that she'd be competing solo — whereas the previous shows had her competing with a partner.
"This was the first show that was just me," Fischer said. "I would consider myself a very collaborative person in general. So I was certainly nervous about it just being me. But then the flip side of that was that, when I won, it was really empowering."
Fischer said she got to share her victory with loved ones during a watch party Monday at Bottle Bar East, viewing Episode 7 on a projector screen with her family, friends and Cake Life employees.
Fischer said that while she earned some cash from her appearance on "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake," she more importantly walked away with "bragging rights" and "great exposure for the bakery." Plus, she found a newfound respect for and connection with Valastro, the New Jersey native who ran a tight ship at his family-owned Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken during nine seasons of TLC's "Cake Boss." Despite his tough TV persona, Fischer said he was welcoming during the filming of "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake."
"He was really kind, really gracious," she said of Valastro. "I was very surprised because almost every critique he had for me or the other contestants, I was thinking in my head, and then he would say it, and I was like, 'Oh my god, Buddy and I are on the same page.' ... It was really cool to feel like celebrity aside, this person who's so high up in our field is critiquing my work, and then I'm agreeing with him, like his critiques are the same as mine. This is cool."
Fischer also said the "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake" team has already asked her to return for another episode, but she had other ideas.
"I'd maybe come back as a guest judge," Fischer said that she told producers. "I was like, 'You should do a show in our queer bakery in Fishtown.' So we'll see. I'm planting seeds left and right — we'll see what happens."
Fischer said versions of the treats she made on TV, including the lime-coconut cupcake and chocolate cake, are available at Cake Life at different times throughout the year, or people can always put in special orders if they're looking for something in particular.
Season 1 of "Cookie, Cupcake, Cake" can be streamed on Hulu. Check out a trailer below:
Follow Franki & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @wordsbyfranki
| @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice
Have a news tip? Let us know.
