A familiar face took on Food Network’s “Winner Cake All” this week. Megan Routree, pastry chef and owner of the Grapevine bakery Legacy Cakes, won the new competition series’ 11th episode.
In “Winner Cakes All,” four bakers battle to create the best themed displays based on current industry trends and designs. And Megan proved she had what it takes to walk away with the grand prize of $10,000.
Megan grew up in Colleyville with a desire to be creative, so she quickly found herself experimenting in her parents’ kitchen.
“Growing up, I just always knew I wanted to do something creative,” Megan says. “My mom used to let me completely destroy her kitchen when I wanted to cook, so I owe it all to her.”
Megan went on to study entrepreneurship at Baylor University before honing in her pastry skills at Le Cordon Bleu because she felt drawn to building her own bakery.
“My dad owns his own business, and I always admired that about him and wanted to go that route,” Megan says.
Quickly after graduating, Megan competed on her first culinary competition: TLC’s “Next Great Baker.”
“We both thought it was like the lottery,” Megan says. “It ended up happening and it was all a whirlwind.”
She was awarded first runner up during the show’s first season in 2010, and then went on to open her own bakery: Legacy Cakes. The district matched Megan’s aesthetic and their storefronts fell in line with what she was looking for.
“We always knew we wanted to be back in this area. We always loved it here,” Megan says. “And growing up in this area, we always loved coming to downtown Grapevine. It was always a super cute area.”
By using her past cooking competition experience and her pastry skillset, Megan and her baking assistant, Rachelle Dempsey, were able to best their competition. During the episode, the pair created a unique cake topper in the first round and a glamorous baby shower cake in the second.
For the first part of the competition, Megan and Rachelle created edible baby blocks and a raddle that could be opened up to reveal the baby’s gender. But their creativity really came out during the second challenge when the pair constructed a six-tier cake customized to meet the clients’ requests. Their final product featured palm trees, the Los Angeles skyline, a beach ball and a teddy bear in a golden pool float. And, to meet the future mom’s craving for craft cocktails, they baked a blackberry mojito inspired cake with a rum and mint-soaked lime cake layered with blackberry buttercream frosting.
The judging panel, made up of the host Giada De Laurentiis, Elizabeth Chambers and Dan Langan, were wowed by Megan and Rachelle’s design and their ability to match the clients’ desires. So, at the end of the day, they walked away with $10,000.
Megan has experience working with clients thanks to Legacy Cakes’ array of orders.
“My big passion is with special occasion cakes,” Megan says.
But because the show was shot outside in a tent, “Winner Cakes All” brought about new challenges Megan and Rachelle had to overcome. The heat and the humidity affected the designs, so the bakers adapted.
“You don’t really see any of that stuff on camera, but it’s definitely there,” Megan says.
Even with two different shows under her belt, Megan says she would be interested in getting back out there and competing in another televised challenge.
“My kids are old enough where they get excited to see Mom on TV,” Megan says. “So I definitely would be down to do something like it again.”
The episode originally premiered on May 20 on Food Network, but if you missed it, you can still watch it on Hulu.