Local pastry chef shows off sweet skills on ‘Holiday Baking Championship’

Food Network’s extensive line-up of cooking and baking shows takes on a whole new meaning with the “Holiday Baking Championship,” which has amassed a huge fan base over the course of its eight seasons. Hosted by Jesse Palmer and featuring a lineup of well-known figures in the baking world as judges, including the ‘Ace of Cakes’ Duff Goldman, the competition show picks some of the top contestants from around the country — including Cherry Hill.

This season, audiences can catch Neomie Eliezer, who’s lived in the area since the 1990s. After moving at a young age from outside of Chicago, Elizer received an AS degree in Pastry Arts from The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in 2011 and her BA in Deaf Studies from California State University, Northridge in 2007. Her first pastry job however was at Parc, and for four years she worked as a Bakeware Manager at Fante’s Kitchenware Shop on top of a job at Dulce in Collingswood, a French-style Patisserie. All of it led to her current company, Feast Your Eyes Catering as a pastry cook, working under Katie Dyer. Eliezer worked her way up to head pastry chef, and she kept climbing to the Food Network as well. 

Eliezer sat down with Metro to discuss more about her experience on “Holiday Baking Championship.”

Where did your love of baking come from? 

My grandmother was a cook and my dad’s family lives in France; every other year we’d always go visit them. As soon as we would land, we would always go to the bakery and get fresh croissants and baguettes and then [ingredients] to make delicious mousses at home—tons of food. So, I was inspired by my grandmother and the pastries of France.

How was your experience at The Walnut Hill Restaurant School in West Philly?

It was great, but because I already had my BA I was only going to go there part-time. So I was working full-time and then going to school part-time… So it was a little rough with evening classes and early Saturday morning classes — but it was a lot of fun. I met a lot of great people there and some great chefs there that I’m still in contact with and I learned a lot from them.

How did you get your start on ‘Holiday Baking Championship?’

Somebody actually contacted me on Instagram, I responded and then kind of got the ball rolling. I was honestly a little hesitant at first… I’m not big on competition, I don’t really like [it.] So, I was really stepping out of my comfort zone with this one.

What was the experience like for you then? Do you now maybe have a more fun view on competition?

Yeah, I definitely think that I have a different perspective. I think when I was on there, leading up to it and before flying out, I thought ok, I’m not going to stress out about it and I’m going to be cool and calm. Then, as soon as I got there my mind was all over the place. A lot of the challenge was with myself internally but as the competition went on, I was getting a little less out of my head. So now, I don’t know that I would necessarily jump into a competition, but I know if I were to get into a competition I would just be cool, get out of my head, take my time, focus and just have fun with it.

What was the day-to-day like while filming?

We would arrive early in the morning to the studio and we would jump right into the baking challenge, however long it was, for 2-3 hours. Then we’d all go into our waiting room area and some of us would be ushered to do our interviews, or some of us would be going down for the judging — It was a full day’s work. But during the time in the room, we all really became a family and formed a close bond and we still chat everyday, we have a big group chat going on. So, it was tiring but it was a lot of fun getting to know everyone.

What about working with the host and judges?

It was definitely surreal seeing Jesse Palmer for the first time, like he’s real. The first two judgments, it was surreal, it was terrifying, it was exciting… It was everything.

What sets ‘Holiday Baking Championship’ apart?

Seeing social media and how many people are in love with the Holiday Baking Championship — it’s just blowing my mind. Seeing all of the tweets and Instagram posts and all of these people that are tuned in and seeing all of the bakers on the show… Really, it’s like a whole new world has opened up for me seeing how what we do influences people. People might get inspired for some of their own desserts for the holidays; it brings things home.

What would you tell people to expect for the remainder of the season?

It gets really exciting. The challenges are fun and the twists are fun, you’re going to see a lot of beautiful bakes and a lot of great techniques — everyone was just on another level. It was really inspiring for me to be with all of those bakers.

Catch Neomie on “Holiday Baking Championship” Mondays on Food Network.