Dallas has two new ambassadors for young baking talent making delicious cakes and pastries.
Identical twins and 8th graders Norah and Olivia Tatum are participating in Baking Championship: Next Gen, a Food Network television show that premiered on Monday, Jan. 5.
“Being on TV is like a dream come true,” Olivia told The Dallas Morning News. “We always watch baking shows and think it would be fun to be there.”
The show brings together promising young bakers from across the country to compete, with a healthy dose of pressure. There are 12 teams of young siblings, aged 8 to 14, competing for a $25,000 prize. Judges include Duff Goldman, owner of Charm City Cakes and famous from the show Ace of Cakes, and Kardea Brown, who appeared on the show Delicious Miss Brown.
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The 13-year-old sisters’ teachers at Dallas’ Sudie L. Williams TAG Academy and their friends are tuning into the program to show their support as Norah and Olivia put D-FW on the youth foodie map.
“We never expected something like this to happen to them, to be on TV,” said Darek Tatum, the twins’ father and a web developer. “It has been very exciting, and I’m very proud of them.”
Baking Championship: Next Gen, brings together 12 teams of young siblings, aged 8 to 14, competing for a $25,000 prize.
Rob Pryce / Courtesy of Food Network
In the show’s first episode, the Tatum sisters made spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and toasted pecans. Contestants were expected to demonstrate technique, creativity and poise.
The twins learned to bake from their mother, Stacie Tatum, a photographer.
“Before I had children, one of my big dreams was to bake cookies with them,” Stacie said. “So we started when they were about 3 years old, maybe younger. We’ve been making cookies and things like that forever, and it just evolved from there.”
Norah said her enjoyment of baking serves as a creative outlet that “calms me down and makes me happy.”
Both girls, who live in the Lochwood neighborhood of Dallas, love macarons. Their dream is to have a Tudor-style house in the woods with a secret library.
“I’m proud to be from Dallas,” Norah said, “and to represent Dallas on a TV show.”
Olivia said: “There’s a little bit of pressure.”
Win or lose, the Tatum twins remind us that big dreams, like the best recipes, often start at home.
You can watch Baking Championship: Next Gen on Food Network every Monday at 7 p.m. Central