SIMSBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut pastry maker will be featured as a competitor on Food Network's new season of "Spring Baking Championship", airing at the end of February.
Kim Wood of Simsbury has over 10 years of culinary experience, specializing in baking French pastries and cakes.
"I have always dreamed to have a bakery, a business," Wood said.
She has aspired to make those dreams come true since she was a kid.
Wood worked in kitchens of the corporate world, growing her passion for baking and continuing to master her craft. She then moved to Connecticut to continue working for corporate and eventually settled down to raise her son.
Don't get her wrong; she loves being a mom and spending time with her son, but she missed baking.
"A part of me was missing, you know, and I didn’t want to lose that," Wood said.
Without a business plan, she started Le Báhn Patisserie in January 2020, which combines her Vietnamese heritage and her background in French pastry making. It was a delivery-only bakery, which kept her afloat during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when delivery services triumphed.
"The community has been very supportive, and I boomed," she said.
Le Bánh Patisserie in Simsbury
As for being cast for a TV show, one would say it was a "whirlwind."
“Funny story, they actually DM’d me on Instagram," Wood said.
The message was vague, complementing the gallery of photos and asking Wood if she was interested in being on a TV show, not immediately saying who they were representing.
She answered back and after a phone call, the producer offered her to be on a Food Network show.
"They pitched me for the Holiday Baking Championship show. I went through the interview, the demos, the baking, all that. I went through as one of the finalists but they, unfortunately, didn’t pick me for the holidays. And then they pitched me again for the spring and I got in," Wood said.
The episode was filmed in Summer 2021 in Tennessee. In the season premiere episode, Wood was among 11 other bakers who were challenged to create fruit tarts and then a "floral bonanza cake," both of which are in her wheelhouse.
"Everything you see on TV is totally true and it’s very stressful. And I would have thought that 10 years in the kitchen would prepare me...you have to think on your feet, but it’s like 10 times harder because the time is clicking, ticking down and thing’s got to be done so it could be judged," Wood said.
While it was a competition, the contestants she met and baked alongside made it even more enjoyable.
"It’s a wonderful experience. Great competitors, super nice people, and it was so fun but very stressful," she said. "My other castmates – oh my gosh they – I learned so much from them. They are so helpful and we kinda trade our knowledge with each other so we kind of all help each other out in that sense."
Now that the time has come to see the final product on national television, Wood said she will be having her family, friends and neighbors come over for a viewing party, where she admits she may be "cringing in the corner."
But if given the chance again to compete in a baking show, Kim would say yes in a heartbeat: "Heck yeah! How can you say no to them?"
Down the road, there are more achievements to accomplish on the bucket list. One of them includes having a storefront for Le Báhn to expand and offer in-person service. That storefront is in progress right now, but once it opens, people can find it on 542 Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury.
In the meantime, orders can be placed at LeBahn.com and can be delivered to several towns in the Greater Hartford area.
The new season of Spring Baking Championship premieres on Monday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. on Food Network and can be streamed on Discovery+.
Leah Myers is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at lmyers@fox61.com
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