This was posted on Friday, January 13, 2017 by Rodney Ho on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Atlanta stay-at-home mom Amanda Faber won the second season of ABC's "The Great American Baking Show" last night.
Despite the fact this is ABC and reality competition shows typically reward money, this was was just like the insanely popular British version: a trophy and bragging rights.
"Ours was as close to the British show as possible," Faber said in an interview Friday.
Faber is a stay-at-home mom of two young children and wife of a pilot. She has been obsessed with baking for years and was familiar with the British show. A friend forwarded the casting call to her so she decided to try out. In the end, her enthusiasm and knowledge for baking helped her make the final 10. After a month of preparing 16 original recipes in advance and providing them to the show, she flew out in the fall to London.
Over the weeks, she showed a knack for using ingredients well under pressure as her rivals fell by the way side. Each episode featured a signature dish, a technical dish and a showstopper dish. (Signature and showstopper were pre-prepped and fortunately, they were kind of enough to convert everything to metric.)
The show itself, she said, "was surprisingly emotional. It was very tough. I really put everything in it. Then I re-lived it again watching it on TV."
The finale was very close. (Read this recap for details.) She said she got along great with runner-up Stephanie. They had hoped they would make it tough on the judges - and they did.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
She could not tell anyone the results except for her husband. Even her mom was kept in the dark.
She had planned a big shindig at her house and baked 50 of her showstopper cookies.: peppermint hot chocolate joconde cakes, caramel religieuses, and apple cider sandwich cookies. But then her daughter got sick with the flu so the party was cancelled. She still has some leftovers.
Amanda currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia and is a stay at home mom of two. Before becoming a mother, Amanda traveled around the country as a flight attendant and worked as a retail manager. When it comes to baking, Amanda loves to experiment with flavor and will often put natural ingredients in her bakes whether that's using berries to color her icing or finding a new way to moisten her cakes. Her kids, however, are just as happy when she helps them make chocolate chip cookies. When she's not baking, Amanda enjoys running with her husband, taking trips to the zoo with her children, and exploring art museums.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
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