Norwalk resident to compete on Food Network

NORWALK - One local baker will take her talents to television next week, where she will compete for a $25,000 prize and a spot in Food Network Magazine.

Norwalk resident Stephanie DeVoll, 32, has been in the food industry for around 10 years, having graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena in 2010 and interning at the Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach.

She eventually went on to do small baking jobs before eventually settling as a dessert business consultant.

That’s when it hit her.

“I was helping other people start their businesses; if they had a question, I would help them and direct them to their dream,” said DeVoll. “I ended up opening up a pie shop in Long Beach… and then I realized I was helping somebody else live their dream.”

“That’s when I met my business partner.”

Newly inspired – and alongside her business partner Mandy Arburua – she created Downey based dessert catering business Whisk’d Away in 2017.

“We do anything big, all the way to small,” said DeVoll. “If you have a little birthday party you wanted a birthday cake for, or a dessert display… we always tell people, ‘Come get whisked away’ with us.”

Using Instagram as their “sole way of advertising,” DeVolle and Whisk’d away have been involved with several schools, events, and organizations in the surrounding communities.

Eventually, it caught the attention of the Food Network, who offered DeVoll a chance to compete on the Spring Baking Championship.

“They found us on Instagram and reached out and asked us if it was something we’d be interested in doing,” said DeVoll. “I absolutely said yes, because nobody turns down the Food Network.”

DeVoll describes her time on the show as “an absolutely amazing process.”

“I would do it again in a heartbeat; it was so much fun,” said DeVoll.

That’s not to say that the only heat DeVoll would feel would be from her oven.

“It was definitely stressful,” said DeVoll. “You’re at the highest of your highs and the lowest of your lows, or there’s times where you think you’re at the highest of your highs and you realize it’s not what they want.”

“They” being judges Kardea Brown, Nancy Fuller and Duff Goldman.

DeVoll says that meeting and baking for the judges was “surreal.”

“Those are your peers; you want to be them. When I grow up, I want to be Duff,” said DeVoll. “When you grow up you want to be these people. You turn on TV, and shows like that – Duff Goldman’s cake show, Kardea [on] Delicious Miss Brown – I watch those.”

“Especially when they give you your criticism… when they love something you’re floating on air. When they don’t love something, you’re like ‘Oh my god, I just gave them something bad.’”

DeVoll says she seemed to resonate well with Fuller the most.

“I love Nancy Fuller, she is so amazing. She was my favorite,” said DeVoll. “She is such a character; she is so funny. She has these quick, little witty comebacks. Her and Duff are always kind of bickering back and forth.”

On the flip side, Duff was the more of the “stickler.”

“When the table is quiet, and everybody is waiting for Duff to say something, you are definitely holding your breath,” said DeVoll. “Duff is the one that is going to say yay or nay.”

“Especially when it comes to cake… when you’re making a cake for the cake guy, it’s really intimidating. If he likes it, that’s amazing. If he doesn’t like it, oh lord.”

DeVoll competes against 10 other bakers from across the country.

“They are all so incredibly talented,” said DeVoll. “The intimidation factor was definitely there.”

“I consider myself to be a home-baker type, where we cater more to the community and not to the fancy five-star hotels. So, when I get in the same room as these people who have worked in these giant locations…it’s really intimidating.”

While she can’t give away any spoilers, DeVoll is happy with the ultimate results.

“I am absolutely satisfied with how it turned out,” said DeVoll. “I couldn’t be happier. I’m so glad that I did it; that I said yes.”

“I would have never in a million years done a show like this. Had they not reached out, I probably never would have tried to do a show like this. Never sell yourself short, because you can, you will, and that’s the end-all, is that you can do anything you put your mind to. I think that was one of the big things I took away from this, that I can do anything.”  

Spring Baking Championship premieres with a two hour episode on Monday, Feb 22. at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network, and will also be available on Discovery+.