CORPUS CHRISTI — Rebecca Farias said as soon as she was tall enough to reach the countertop, she was baking.
“I can always remember doing stuff with my mom in the kitchen but 8 years old is when I really started playing around with recipes and making my own concoctions,” Farias said.
When she wasn’t in her family’s kitchen, Farias was mixing things up in the living room.
“I watched Cake Boss all the time growing up,” Farias said, “We would watch Food Network. We would cook together. Like, it was a huge part of my community.”
Farias always had a passion for baking.
“For a long time especially in high school I would use it as a stress relief,” Farias said. “So I’d bake a whole bunch of stuff and bring it out to my sports team and stuff like that.”
And with time her skills got better.
“People kept asking me to buy my stuff,” Farias said. “They would eat it and say ‘Hey I wanna buy some.’ And so, I’m like, I have so many people asking me. So, at this point, I should make it easy for people to buy.”
The mom, wife, entrepreneur and student added another ingredient to her already busy life and started to sell her baked goods online.
Farias has a family history of Diabetes so much of her baking is gluten-free, sugar-free, and doesn't have artificial coloring.
Often inspired by other bakers on social media, Farias came across an ad for the Greatest Baker, a national competition.
“I saw it and was like, ‘Oh I wanna be part of that,” Farias said, “It just feels so cool to see it come full circle that I would even have a chance to meet him,” Farias said.
Farias was talking about Buddy Valastro. If she wins Greatest Baker, she’ll get to spend the day with him.
“How amazing would it be to bake for a whole day with Buddy from Cake Boss,” Farias said.
Other prizes include a spread in a national publication, ‘Bake From Scratch Magazine’, and money.
“Ten thousand dollars isn’t bad either, right,” Farias said.
The competition is based on votes.
“They’ll cut from top 15 to top 10, top 5, and then the top one in your group,” Farias said.
As of December 15, 2023, Farias is 7th in her group and 19th overall.
“There are people from all around the country so I’m competing with people from Hawaii, people from New Jersey, people from here in Texas,” Farias said.
Farias said anyone can vote. The first is free but after it’s $1 per vote.
According to the Greatest Baker website, the money raised is going to families dealing with pediatric cancer.
“My goal for a long time is to put a small bakery food truck in Cole Park,” Farias said.
Farias wants to sell coffee, cookies, cakes, scones, and other goodies baked with love.
“I get to see the happiness on people’s faces,” Farias said. “People are very seldom upset or sad when they are eating food. Especially good food.”
Voting ends February 1, 2024.
