Bay St. Louis chef bakes her way into the finals of Food Network Halloween championship
She started by winning the first round of The Food Network’s “Halloween Baking Championship” and her latest creation, a flowing unicorn cake dress, put Renee Loranger of Bay St. Louis into the championship round.
The final four championship and two-hour finale airs at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26 on Food Network.
Loranger and 10 bakers from across the country are competing for the prize of $25,000.
The series, one of several Halloween-themed shows on the Food Network, premiered Sept. 14. A new episode debuts each Monday at 8 p.m., leading up to Halloween. A contestant is eliminated at the end of each episode while the others move on to a new challenge.
“I have never done anything for TV before, but it has always been a dream to be on one of the Food Network shows,” said Loranger, an executive pastry chef and cake designer. “I especially like the Halloween Baking Championship show. So I was super excited to be chosen for that show in particular.”
She was at a dinner party at her friends’ house when she got the call that she was selected as a contestant.
“They were all cheering while I was on the phone, and were just as excited as I was. I have very supportive friends and we all can’t wait to watch the show,” she said.
After her chocolate haunted house wowed the judges, she and the other contestants moved on to bake desserts for a vampire buffet, a demon doll cake and other frightful Halloween creations.
Carla Hall is the host of the show and joins Stephanie Boswell and Zac Young to judge the competitions.
Loranger has entered cooking championships before and has become accustomed to challenges, first with Hurricane Katrina and most recently with the coronavirus.
She moved from California to the Gulf Coast in 2000, captivated by the area’s small-town feeling with a beach vibe.
“The Mississippi Gulf Coast is really beautiful, and I am super proud to represent the area,” she said.
Using her skills as a baker and cake designer, she was hired in 2000 to create the bakery program at Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis.
“I started the program from scratch and designed all the desserts for the property,” she said. “After Hurricane Katrina, the bakery was gone, so I went back as a restaurant manager,” she said.
By that time, the property had become Hollywood Casino, where she became executive pastry chef in 2012. She worked there until she was let go when the coronavirus closed all the Coast casinos this spring.
She continued baking and posts pictures of her elaborate cakes and Halloween creations on Instagram as she looks for the next opportunity.
“I am completely self-taught and on-the-job trained,” she said. “I am continuously teaching myself new things and new techniques.”
She started competing and in 2014 won The Big Gateaux Show, part of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience.
“I realized how much I learned from competing and just wanted to keep doing it,” she said. In 2016 she won the grand prize at The Gateaux Show. She’s also competed in the cake decorating category at Pastry Live in Atlanta and the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. In And 2018 she competed in the chef category at the World Food Championship.
“I am an overall Foodie and love to cook as well, but baking is my passion,” she said.
Information on when to watch Loranger on Halloween Baking Championship episodes is posted on the Food Network website.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
