The Reveal - Challenge Airdate and Topic

A little over a month ago, we participated in a life changing experience -- Food Network's Challenge. You know, the show where you and an assistant have to create a cake masterpiece in 8 hours, completely edible, in one of the most high-stress, high-adrenaline competitions on national TV, with 4 of the best cake designers in the country, and numerous television cameras filming your every move. Challenge, indeed! Challenge starts long before you even board the plane, before the clock starts ticking and well before you roll out your fondant. Your "Challenge" starts the minute you accept the invitation!

Even before this specific Challenge topic was offered to Rick to compete in, we already knew he was going to do a competition in the near future, we just didn't know when it would be or what the topic would be. We had been in communications with the producers for quite some time and had turned away numerous Challenges because of our event bookings, which we would watch months later as they aired, and wondered when our time would come. When we finally had a date that worked, we had no idea how great the Challenge topic would be, and when it was offered to Rick, I nearly fell out of my chair with excitement. They could not have matched Rick up with a better topic -- of COURSE we'll take it! We also heard it was a very popular topic that everyone wanted. When we told Annie, his competition assistant, she was also very excited. Okay, we're a bit biased, but we both thought it was one of the best Challenge topics ever, and so lucky to be offered it for Rick's first Challenge!

Airdate: Rick and Annie's Challenge will be airing on the Food Network, Sunday, April 4th at 8pm Eastern time, which will be 2pm for all the Hawaii folks. That is Easter Sunday which should make it easier to remember.

Another reason to tune in aside from seeing 4 awesome cake designers in action is to see the brand spanking new AMAZING set, new host, and lots of surprises!

Now for the topic which so many of you have asked us about. The topic will be revealed in the form of a hint:

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"

Any guesses?

Aloha, 'til next time!

Challenge Completed!

Now that we're back and starting to catch our breath, we've had some time to reflect on our experience at the Food Network Challenge which we filmed last week. Many of you have been asking how everything went, how Rick and Annie fared, and what the Challenge topic was. We're not at liberty to discuss any details of the Challenge until it airs, nor would we want to ruin the surprise of what is sure to be a great episode! As of now, it's looking like a Spring air date. In a word, the experience was AMAZING! All the preparations and travelling and meeting of the producers, competitors, crew and judges was an unforgettable experience. Rick and his assistant Annie competed against Challenge veterans, which you will no doubt recognize as soon as the show airs, and for first timers, "newbies" as they are called, they held their own beautifully! As someone who watched it all unfold, you'd never know Rick was new at Challenge. Their Challenge was part of a new season, complete with a spanking new BEAUTIFUL set that blew us away the first time we saw it. This set means business and we can only imagine how incredible it will look on TV!

Everyone treated Rick and Annie with respect and they felt the support as soon as they walked into their kitchen. Rick had a grueling work schedule while away, between the set-up and competition, and interviews with the producers, it was pretty exhausting, but inspiring at the same time, and the adrenaline took over from the get-go. Challenge is of course a food competition and in this case a cake competition, but what truly made it an experience we will never forget was the people we met. We were already "fans" of our Producers before we even arrived as we've had regular contact with them for what seemed like ages, and to finally meet them was such a treat. Meeting Keegan Gerhard, Kerry Vincent, and other new people associated with the show was fantastic! Keegan is very insightful and kind and it was a pleasure to meet him. Rick said that suddenly having Kerry Vincent watching and judging his work after seeing her on TV all these years was a surreal experience. Kerry Vincent impressed Rick and he was happy to be "judged" by her. Probably not the reaction you were expecting. He said she is a woman that commands respect when she walks into a room and really knows her stuff, so he wasn't scared and felt honored to have met her.

We want to give a "shout out" to the following people. You all enriched our experience! The host of the show; our Line Producer and Cameraman; the husband of another competitor who sat next to me and for hours we stressed over our spouses; our server at our hotel restaurant who gave his support the morning of the competition; the photographer who complimented our work, the woman who has 36 years experience making cakes and her husband were tremendously knowledgeable, and the woman and her daughter who knows everything about every show on Food Network. Thank you and Aloha! -- Rick and Sasha

Food Network Challenge - Finally!

If you've been following our blog, you know we've had a long relationship with TV's Food Network Challenge, but not one that has culminated in an actual competition. Until now. Over the past couple of years Rick has turned down numerous challenges presented to us by the show due to commitments to our clients. Flying to Colorado for compete on a relatively short amount of notice just hasn't been in the cards for us because we get bookings well in advance and it's heartbreaking to have to cancel anyone. The last time we were approached was for an October date. October as in "Rocktober", which just finished, and there was no way we could possibly do it. Very few people know that we also had to decline an invitation to compete in the Ultimate Cake Off on TLC around this same time. We were thankful to be asked but couldn't do both at the time and had already committed to Challenge. We were all determined to make it happen and as luck would have it a new challenge appeared that we were not only able to make, but VERY interested in the challenge topic, which is all we can say about it. We're not at liberty to discuss any of the details of the Challenge, and neither is Rick's wonderful assistant, Anne (Annie) Welch, who has graciously agreed to collaborate with Rick in the competition.

A little about the Fabulous Annie Welch! Annie is a truly gifted cake designer who has been making cakes for about 20 years. She owns Cake-O-Rama, which is a name you probably recognize from the internet, and is well-respected in the cake community. Aside from being an awesome cake artist, Annie had the good fortune to do something that many people dream of. She interned with Mike McCarey who owns Mike's Amazing Cakes. Mike is considered by many to be the best cake sculptor around and who regularly appears on Food Network Challenges as both competitor and judge. Annie designed cakes at Great Cakes and Edible Monuments in Redmond, Washington off and on for 10 years. Rick worked at Great Cakes and Edible Monuments during our time we were living in Seattle, and that is where he first met and was inspired by Annie. Sadly, Great Cakes and Edible Monuments closed its doors in 2003, the year after Rick and I had moved to L.A. where he began working with Joan Spitler and Leigh Grode at Cake Divas. Annie was unable to make it down to L.A. for our wedding and we haven't had an opportunity to see her since we left Seattle. Prior to accepting our invitation to assist in the challenge, Rick and Annie were pulled together by the forces of the universe when we were both approached by AOL's "Holidash" for a feature called "Bizarre Birthday Cakes." cakelava and Cake-O-Rama had numerous cakes on the site, which also featured Charm City Cakes, Pink Cake Box and others. Annie's tremendous talent is evident in photo after photo.

Lastly, though she will be the Assistant, and Rick Reichart the official Competitor in this particular challenge, Annie is no stranger to the Food Network Challenges and has been approached a number of times over the years to compete, but the circumstances and timing wasn't right. She and Rick are now ready to bring their A-Game and we all couldn't be more excited (or nervous)!

Join us tomorrow to see the Tiki cake. We briefly interrupted our programming today and will resume with the regularly scheduled cake musings tomorrow. Aloha!