Will Hamilton’s Ronique Briggs take the cake on CTV’s ‘Cross Country Cake Off’?

Whoever made the phrase piece of cake" an idiom must be an idiot.

That might be a bit strong but the person obviously never met Ronique Briggs.

Because there's nothing piece of cake" - as in an expression meaning easy" - about the cakes that Ronique makes. They are more like rocket science, or rather architecture.

Ronique, who lives in Hamilton, is one of only eight cake-makers who will be featured in the mid-Canada regional episode of CTV's Cross Country Cake Off" airing on Friday, June 9, at 9 p.m.

The cake-off competition will run over several episodes, covering five regions of the country and 40 candidate cake-makers, and culminate in the revelation of the winner, who will make off with the cake off prize of $50,000.

Ronique's creation is an elaborate and amazing - not to mention delicious - masterwork featuring a handbag, a conch shell and a coconut with a drink in it, all meant to reference Ronique's origins in Nassau, capital of The Bahamas.

We were supposed to tell a bit about ourselves" in the cakes the contestant made, says Ronique, who came to Canada in 2015.

I wanted to show something of my roots in the islands but also movement," namely, her immigration to Canada, and hence the bag, she explains.

She never would have been on the show if not for her boss's wife suggesting she apply. The boss's wife knew about Ronique's cake prowess because she the baking she does for her friends and co-workers, is somewhat of a sensation, a legend even.

And the startling twist of it all is that she never so much as baked a potato until she felt self-challenged to do something special for her daughter Raina's third birthday in February 2019.

I basically learned from the internet," Ronique says. The result was an instant hit and ever since she has been making cakes, more and more elaborate as she becomes more and more skilful, for friends and family.

For the show, she actually went out and bought a conch shell as a model and then sculpted it out of cake ingredients as well as a representation of a travel bag/hand bag.

The hardest part was making the outside layer of chocolate look the bark of the coconut," Ronique tells me, quickly correcting herself. No actually, the hardest part was sculpting the back piece (the spirally tail) of the conch shell."

She carved it with a knife.

She says that probably the biggest contributor to her flair for making cakes is her background in architectural technology. There is something very architectural as well as sculptural about her desserts.

Soon after arriving in Canada, she enrolled in the architectural technology program at Mohawk College - she graduated in 2018.

She works for G. Griffiths & Associates Ltd., a design firm in Burlington.

Cross Country Cake Off" features celebrity chefs Mary Berg and Andrew Han, who judge the cakes.

The show, which will air as six Friday night episodes, has rounds in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto (the mid-Canada episode featuring Ronique), Montreal and Halifax

At the end of each episode one baker advances to the finale.

For more, see ctv.ca

Jeff Mahoney is a Hamilton-based reporter and columnist covering culture and lifestyle stories, commentary and humour for The Spectator.jmahoney@thespec.com