Sweet Stuff

Food Network show Dallas Cakes spotlights local bakers baking big cakes

That's a mighty big cake you've got there.

Photo by Chris Sauter

A new Food Network show called Dallas Cakes is spotlighting bakers in Dallas. According to a release, the series debuts on April 30 at 9:30 pm, and will follow six Dallas-area bakers who bake big cakes.

In each of the 10 half-hour episodes, three bakers conceive, create, and deliver edible works of art using cake, frosting, incredible imagination, and skill.

From an impressive Game of Thrones wedding cake featuring an intricate cake topper of a dragon wrapped around the iron throne, to a Back to the Future DeLorean car cake with working headlights, and to a gigantic oil derrick cake that spews chocolate.

Food Network senior VP Courtney White says that the show will join a sweet-themed Monday night schedule.

"Viewers devour our baking-themed Monday night line-up, and Dallas Cakes is the cherry on top of our dessert-filled programming," White says in a release. "Audiences will be captivated by the expert baking techniques and decorating skills used in every detail of these unique, jaw-dropping cakes — each one living up to Dallas' larger-than-life reputation."

Episode 1, called "Dragons and Belt Buckles, Oh My!" includes a segment on a groom's cake with a Game of Thrones theme, with a sculpted ice dragon and an intricately carved Iron Throne.

Another segment covers a Chinese New Year block party featuring "a cake so over the top, it literally smokes."

The third cake commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Fort Worth Stockyards Championship Rodeo, with 24 layers of cowboy coffee cake turned into the world's largest belt buckle. The episode has some suspense on whether it will hold up to being delivered right to the arena floor.

Participating bakers include:

Bronwen Weber of Frosted Art Bakery
Roshi Muns of Society Bakery
Jamie Holder of Crème de La Crème
Elizabeth Rowe of The London Baker
Dylan Humphrey of Kool Kakes by Dylan
Heidi Allison of Sugar Bee Sweets

desserts tv

Bagel News

Buzzy Northeast chain PopUp Bagels ready to debut in Dallas

PopUp Bagels

PopUp Bagels coming to Dallas.

A buzzy bagel concept founded in the Northeast is coming to Dallas: Called PopUp Bagels, it famously started as a backyard project during the pandemic, and will open a location at Inwood Village, in the former I Heart Yogurt shop (which only just closed), next to the Inwood Theatre at 5450 W Lovers Ln. #143.

Signage has already gone up on the location and according to a spokesperson, the shop will open in early spring.

PopUp Bagels was founded in Westport, Connecticut by entrepreneur and home baker Adam Goldberg, with his cousin Jeff Lewis, as a side project during the pandemic, when everyone was baking at home. The bagels earned such a warm reception that Goldberg started hosting bagel popups in various locations near his home.

The concept's success has been helped by a national surge of interest in bagels, as well as viral moments on TikTok and other social media. Goldberg sold the concept to equity growth firm Stripes in 2023, who drew celebrity investors such as Paul Rudd and Michael Phelps, with plans to open hundreds of locations across the U.S. Talk is cheap but for now, there are 23 locations in New York, Maine, Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and North Carolina.

One of their selling points for a seamless expansion is that they've kept things simple including a compact menu of bagels, spreads, and a pound of smoked salmon. There's a minimum purchase of three bagels, along with a mandatory tub of cream cheese or butter, for $12, and they only offer five flavors: plain, salt, poppy, sesame, and everything.

Bagels are sold whole only, no sandwiches and also not sliced — leading to their nickname "rip and dip," in which customers rip the bagels and dip them into spreads. Their texture is softer and lighter than the classic New York dense bagel, making them easier to "rip."

They're also known for their collaborations on over-the-top schmear flavors — beyond their regular original cream cheese, scallion cream cheese, and vegan cream cheese — which they rotate in with frequency. Recent specialty schmears include Honey Chipotle Cream Cheese, Salted Maple Banana Bread Schmear, Cheez-It Schmear, and a Lemon Pepper Schmear just announced with WingStop that summons the wing chain's Lemon Pepper sauce.

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