Brittani Diehl is on unlikely-looking warrior, but when called to battle in the 12th season of Food Network’s “halloween wars,” she was quick to engage. Though falling in the first round of battle, the Hollister native and owner of Layde Cakes was not discouraged, and she has returned home to continue baking and decorating the elaborate cakes she has become famous for creating.
“Even just getting on the show is something because so many people apply for it,” she said. “And it’s really difficult when they just say, ‘Here is your team—figure it out.’ Just figuring out how everyone works and getting into a groove takes a little time. But I really enjoyed the experience because I like competing.”
Diehl, 30, describes herself as a cake sculptor and said her interest in baking began early.
“I did a lot of baking with my mom, and we used to watch Food Network and cake shows a lot,” she said. “I was obsessed with shows like ‘Ace of Cakes‘ and ‘cake boss.’ Later, I took one of the Wilton School cake decorating classes, and I thought, ‘This is kinda fun!’”
With a background in fine arts acquired in high school, she realized that she could apply what she had learned to her new skill.
“I understood cake decorating was just another kind of art medium,” she said. “But it is an interesting one to me because of how temporary it is. Once I make a cake, it is gone. All that is left are the pictures and what people remember about it. You don’t necessarily have to create art that will hang on someone’s wall. You can make art that people enjoy and also creates memories.”
Like many home bakers, she began by making cakes for friends and neighbors. In 2012, after her daughter was born, she made two decisions. One was to one-up the design of her daughter’s birthday cakes.
“The last one I made was based on the Magic Misfits books,” Diehl said. “It was pretty elaborate, with a light-up crystal ball in the middle and a tophat with dry ice smoke coming out of it.”
Her second decision was to turn her cake decorating hobby into a business.
“I did a lot of social media and got a lot of word of mouth,” she said. “I started a Facebook page and had some videos blow up on YouTube after making some sculpted cakes based on popular video games. I had one of the game creators share one of them, so I immediately went up to 3,000 subscribers.”
Her first big national exposure came from an appearance on three episodes of the Food Network’s “Candyland” program in 2020.
“Every so often, I will get casting agents reach out to me, which is how I got on,” she said. “I got paired with Riva Alexander-Hawk, who I was already a fan of through social media. It was definitely intimate, but it was also a lot of fun. I am a planner, so reacting to whatever they threw at us was interesting, to say the least.”
What attracts Diehl in her approach to cake-making are the technical aspects that really don’t involve baking at all.
“The fun is making an organic shape, like an animal, and adding sculptural elements,” she said. “A lot of the stuff I work on involves internal structure, like a skeleton, where you have to map out where the supports will be. Cheshire Cat cake, for example, is balancing on his elbows, and the whole back of him is floating. You have to know where the weight distribution is on that. I definitely think that is my strong suit for casting for TV shows—not many people know how to deal with cake structures.”
With “Halloween Wars,” Diehl was scouted for the show based on the horror-themed cakes she posts on Instagram. She worked with Marianne Daquino, a sugar artist, and Jennifer Hoskins, a pumpkin carver, as Team Mixin Vixens.
“We were supposed to make a creature, which I think is my strong suit,” she said. “We all immediately agreed we would do something like a werewolf. It was certainly stressful, knowing we had to plan it and get everything done within the time limit.”
And one of the hardest things to handle is the time pressure, which Diehl said is very real.
“You don’t realize how fast the clock is ticking down until you are in that situation,” she said. “Six hours or eight hours might seem a long time, but when you are in the middle of it, you turn around and think, ‘Two hours are gone already!’ But I think that, under pressure, I come up with better, more creative ideas than if I over thought it.”
Though her team did not survive the first round, Diehl is satisfied with the experience.
“I think we did a good job,” she said. “We had to pivot a few times, and I feel our plans suffered for having to change some things at the last minute. But I feel the results were very close, and it came down to small details. But being on the show gave me a big boost on social media. And, of course, everyone was telling me the judges got it wrong!”
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.