During the years when my daughter was too old for Sesame Street, but not old enough for prime-time programming, we watched a lot of Food Network. Alton Brown, Rachael Ray, Giada, Duff’s “Ace of Cakes,” and who can forget all things “Unwrapped,” just to name a few. Our favorite shows, however, were the competitions. No matter what the theme was, or whether the contestants were crafting in cake, chocolate, sugar, or some other edible artform, we could always count on surprises, suspense, occasional meltdowns, and even a kitchen mishap or two.
Imagine my delight when the winner of the Food Network’s recent “Haunted Gingerbread Showdown” was none other than Apex’s own 22-year-old Meghan Morris! A frequent competitor in the gingerbread house contests at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, Meghan consistently places in the top ten, so the Haunted Gingerbread Showdown was an exciting way to take her skills to the next level.
If you missed it, Meghan went up against two pastry chefs with her “Sideshow Gone Sideways” in the preliminary round. The theme was “The Mummy’s Ancient Curse” and with her mom, Esther Morris, assisting her, Meghan impressed the judges to advance to the finale. The pre-Halloween finale, which aired on October 27, was a tribute to the thirty-fifth anniversary of the movie “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and had to incorporate a pyrotechnic element. With the assistance of her mother once again, and adding her sister, Erin Morris, to her team, Meghan sculpted a frighteningly freakish likeness of Freddy Krueger to be the centerpiece of her “Sleep Kills” piece. In the end, Freddy’s flaming sleeve, along with Meghan’s intricate artistic details, clever expression of the theme, and incredible talent for using gingerbread as a medium, earned her the win, along with $25,000 and Food Network publicity.
We caught up with Meghan after her triumph and asked her to tell us about her experience.
Suburban Living: Tell us how you came to be a contestant on the Food Network’s Haunted Gingerbread Showdown.
Meghan: They reached out looking for people who were interested, on a Facebook group I’m in for gingerbread competitors. I saw their post and asked for more information, and they in turn asked to see photos of gingerbread I’d done in the past, and soon after that I was Skype interviewing for it! I didn’t hear anything for about a month until one day I got a call out of the blue from a Colorado number saying that they wanted me to be on the show, and I said yes.
The show was set up such that there were three preliminary rounds and one finale for a total of four episodes. In each preliminary round three new bakers tackled a new theme and the baker that came out on top moved on to the finale. Since I won my episode, I went on to the finale!
Suburban Living: What went into your preparation for each episode and what were the tapings like?
Meghan: We had three weeks to prep in our own homes for the preliminary rounds and I ended up carefully packing everything I made into a checked bag that I took on the plane [to Denver, Colorado]. My stuff fared a lot better than the stuff that people shipped, so I think it was the right way to go. We couldn’t bring anything for the finale; we had to make everything in the studio over the course of that week.
For the first episode, we filmed probably 12 hours’ worth of footage, but for the finale it was easily 100+ hours of film over the course of the week. It was all filmed back in June.
Suburban Living: Tell us about your most memorable moments.
Meghan: Obviously winning the finale was the best part! The worst was probably when the phone wouldn’t stay on Freddy’s back. In the show it looks like I solved it pretty quick, but it actually took me a couple hours and I had to walk away to cool off for a moment before I was in the right mindset to tackle it again.
The most stressful moment would probably be when my mom accidently bumped Freddy’s isomalt claws and broke two of them in the last two minutes of the competition. I had to move super quick to get them back on there and looking like it never happened. I didn’t even have time to let my mind process what it might mean if I couldn’t get them back together, I just snapped into action.
[Most surprising was] the stress, the long hours. I barely slept towards the end of the week, and the night before the last day I didn’t sleep at all. We would work ten-hour days in the studio and then go back to the hotel and work late into the night on take-home stuff. It really wore down on my sanity and willpower in a way that I never could have imagined.
[In hindsight,] I feel like we ended up doing pretty well, but I wish I could have had more time to clean up some of the rougher edges on our finale piece and on my preliminary round piece.
Suburban Living: Do you like the movie “A Nightmare on Elm Street?” How many times did you watch it in preparation for making your finale piece?
Meghan: I LOVE “A Nightmare on Elm Street!” It was a bit before my time obviously, [laughs], but I watched it for the first time in high school and loved its perfect blend of camp and creepiness. I watched it two or three times while designing my piece for the finale.
Suburban Living: Do you have anything special planned for your winnings, other than paying your student loans, as you mentioned on TV?
Meghan: I’m probably just going to sit on it for a while so I can decide what the best thing to do with it is! It’s not burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak. I’m in no rush to go out and spend it.
Suburban Living: Tell us about your artistic training and using gingerbread for “construction.”
Meghan: I’ve always enjoyed art, but I don’t have any formal training, I just have picked up skills along the way by trial and error.
For me, my “construction” recipe [for gingerbread] differs only in the proportion of dry ingredients to wet ones (more dry for construction and more wet for softer gingerbread). I also sub out light corn syrup for molasses in the construction recipe because it is less hygroscopic.
There are different foods for different moods! During the latter part of the year, I really enjoy doing my gingerbread but immediately following that I like to do other things like cakes and cookies as a sort of creative palate cleanser, so I don’t ever get too burned out on doing gingerbread.
Suburban Living: Do you like cooking overall as much as you enjoy baking or building artistic pieces out of food?
Meghan: I like cooking, but it usually feels like something I need to do versus something I actually want to do. With baking, I usually make special time to do it and I find it really calming. I don’t have to think, I can just work.
Suburban Living: You were a biochemistry and Spanish major at Bridgewater College and are currently an analyst at a bioanalytical research lab. Do you have an ideal job in mind, and do you see baking as a possible career path down the road?
Meghan: Ideally, I’d like to work in microbiology/virology research, but plans may change. I’m planning on going back to grad school in the next few years. I’ll never rule anything out because who knows how I might feel a few years from now. Maybe I will be sick of working in science or maybe not. It’s nice to have options though!
Suburban Living: What’s next for you in terms of competitions and, of course, holiday baking?
Meghan: I will be competing in the National Gingerbread House Competition at the Omni Grove Park Inn this November and in the Triangle Family Services Gingerbread Benefit in December. [For the holidays]…lots of cookies of all types and like five different pies! We are planning on making a gingerbread house together as a family and maybe some gingerbread cookies to ice. Me and my mom do the majority of the baking usually!
Suburban Living: How can Apex readers learn more about you and keep up with your competitions?
Meghan: They can follow all my gingerbread updates on my Instagram @fresh_young_challenger.
