By Nikashni Naidoo
A Silverglen mother and daughter are ecstatic after their love for baking landed them on national television as they recently appeared on SABC 3 Expresso Morning Show Golden Baker Search.
As the country celebrates Women’s Month, the duo said they hope that their TV appearance will inspire more women to get up and do what they love.
Thaneshni and her mother, Rita Moodley said that it was an exciting experience to be on national television.
Thaneshni said: “The competition started on Facebook where the channel asked users to post their baked goods. My mum always enters these competitions so we did not think much of it. She posted a cake that I baked for a family member’s birthday and to our surprise, they contacted her and asked for more pictures of our baking as well as pictures of us together. The channel seemed happy about it because they then contacted my mum explaining to her that they are going to give her a live interview over TV. Based on these, the Expresso Morning Show selected five of us for a baking competition which was held in Cape Town.”
She added that the competition consisted of three rounds and the final round was three hours long. In the final round, they had to bake a Christmas-themed cake.
“We were flown to Cape Town on a Tuesday and the competition began the following day. They prepared the baking set which took the entire morning and we began baking at 1pm. We only knew what we were going to bake when the competition started and had one hour to bake a Christmas-themed cake. After an hour, we were asked to leave the set and have lunch while the judges made their decision,” she said.
The mother-daughter team were placed third and made it through to the second round where they had to bake a Christmas wreath cake.
“We got knocked-out in the second round and did not make it to the finals but we explored Cape Town and made the best out of this trip,” she said.
Reminiscing about the trip, Thaneshni said that she could only describe the experience as exhausting yet exhilarating.
She said: “There were many delays and we had to shoot and reshoot many times which was exhausting. While we baked, we were also being interviewed and they would tell us to look at the camera which was pretty tricky too. However, it was absolutely exhilarating, not once did we even think or imagine that our baking would take us to TV. Our baking is just a hobby, not a profession but to be recognised for something that we do and to compete against professionals was unimaginable.”
Thaneshni said while they were disappointed that they did not win, they were extremely grateful to be a part of of the competition.
The duo has encouraged more mothers and daughters to find each other through baking and to use this craft to their advantage.
Moodley said: “Baking can be extremely therapeutic and we hope to inspire more women to get their hands floured more often. Master this craft and empower yourself to become independent by selling your goods. Women that go through hardships in their life can lose themselves in the sweetness of this art and use it to turn their situations around financially. This Women’s Day, we hope to inspire you to become empowered women.”
