The Halloween Baking Championship is nearly here, and 12 bakers are ready to compete for $25000 and an all-expenses-paid vacation to America’s ten haunted homes at Hotel Henson. The eighth season of the famous Food Network competition series will start on Monday, September 12 at 9 p.m. ET. Lauren Rogers, one of the candidates, wants to win the tournament for her grandma after experiencing bigotry last year.
In February 2021, Lauren Roger’s bakery Gotti Sweets was spit upon. Her business was damaged the same month, and someone spray-painted the N-word on a vehicle parked in front of her shop. In response, the Halloween Baking Championship contender said,
“The hate crimes and hostile conduct are frightening.”
Rogers, like many people in her community, was terrified of the police and did not report the racist graffiti to them. She said,
“You’ve been advised not to contact the cops or they’ll come and shoot you.”
Lauren shared a photo of the spray paint on her Instagram, which drew the notice of Olympia Police Officer Vasile Kovzun. He returned the next day and promised to launch an inquiry into the occurrence. Officer Vasile and his colleagues enhanced foot patrols in the area as well. Officers were surprised to find that someone in their community did not trust them and chose to assist Lauren. Rogers praised their efforts, saying,
“I truly appreciate that; I wasn’t anticipating any kind of response from the city; I didn’t believe people were paying that close attention.”
Currently, the police have no leads in the case.
Lauren Rogers is a Halloween Baking Championship participant.
Lauren is originally from Washington and is well-known for her bespoke cakes. She wants to win the competition to make her grandma proud, with whom she used to bake over the holidays. Every Saturday, she creates one cake each hour, according to her Food Network introduction. During her short stay at Baskin-Robbins, she found her passion for cake design. Lauren then chose to follow her interest professionally by enrolling at Le Cordon Bleu Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon.
In 2018, she started her own shop, Gotti Sweets, in Olympia, Washington. Lauren is well-known for her ‘by-appointment-custom-order-bakery’ and custom-made cakes. She has 15 years of cake, cupcake, pie, and cookie-making expertise. She also sells cake by the slice, French macarons, peanut butter, and frosted molasses cookies to her clients. Lauren’s bakery is famous for its Pie Tots, which are small pastries wrapped in flaky pastry and filled with fruit.
Season 8 of the Halloween Baking Championship
Twelve contenders will compete in the Halloween Baking Championship by creating eerie, scary, but tasty sweets for the judges. John Henson will host the program, which will be judged by Stephanie Boswell, Carla Hall, and Zac Young. Henson will be in charge of the spooky hotel where the chefs will be staying for the next eight weeks. Following each task, one or more bakers will be removed depending on the quality of their desserts. Each episode will see the bakers taking on two tasks depending on the week’s topic. Every Monday at 9 p.m. ET, Food Network broadcasts the Halloween Baking Championship.
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