Just Desserts: UMW Alum Cooks Up Success on Reality Baking Show

When life after college took dining hall meals and her mother’s home cooking off the table, Jenn Reyes said, a pound of necessity and a pinch of desire led to a love of baking. “I could learn how to roast a chicken, but I’d rather know how to make a cake,” said Reyes, a New York City dentist who graduated from Mary Washington in 1999. “I’ve always had a sweet tooth.”

Not the most expected trait in her line of work, but mixed with her interests and skills – including majors in psychology and Italian – it was a recipe for something delicious. Now Reyes is showcasing her culinary creations as a contestant on The Great American Baking Show, streaming on Roku. And like her Georgia On My Mind sweet buns – stuffed with peach jam and roasted pecans, and topped with bourbon caramel sauce – deemed “delicious” by the judges, her path proves that anything’s possible when it starts with a solid foundation.

Growing up in the Peach State, Reyes dabbled in the kitchen, baking beignets from a Disney World cookbook with her twin sister. She was in high school when their father’s job took him to Washington, D.C., and Reyes’ college search turned to Virginia and to Mary Washington. “You can actually know everyone in your class, and the professors can get to know you,” she said of UMW, where she performed in the orchestra, worked for the James Farmer Multicultural Center and studied abroad.

Jenn Reyes ’99 was cast as a contestant on ‘The Great American Baking Show,’ now streaming on Roku. She’s seen here in her senior portrait at Mary Washington, where her favorite class was orchestra and her efforts on violin won her a scholarship. Reyes’ now plays violin with the New York Repertory Orchestra.

Jenn Reyes (left) on graduation day with her Mary Washington BFF, Liz, with whom she’s still close. On campus, Reyes enjoyed spending time at the Simpson Library; the computer lab in Chandler Hall, where the Cedric Rucker University Center now stands; and the fountain in front of Monroe Hall.

Jenn Reyes ’99 (right) with Becca Greene in Reyes’ room in Willard Hall, where she lived as a sophomore and junior.

Jenn Reyes ’99 (center) poses with fellow Willard Hall residents. Reyes studied psychology and Italian at Mary Washington, where her favorite faculty members included a trio of psychology professors – the late Topher Bill, as well as Christine McBride and David Kolar.

Jenn Reyes ’99 (second from left) poses during her Mary Washington days during a summer study abroad program that combined the disciplines of Italian and art. Reyes’ love of baking won her a spot as a contestant on ‘The Great American Baking Show,’ now streaming on Roku.

She was a senior when her younger sister fell ill, and the experience got her thinking about a career in healthcare. She shadowed workers in various professions, deciding on dentistry and earning a spot in dental school at Columbia University. Around the same time, Reyes started baking – cookies and cakes, pastries and pies, brownies and breads. “It’s something people are really impressed by,” she said, “but it isn’t really difficult to do.”

Building a dental practice in the Big Apple proved stressful, though, and a friend suggested The Great British Baking Show might help her unwind. Reyes was hooked, and when the international contest came to the states, she applied to be part of it, sending in photos and video first, then baking a cranberry-apple caramel pie and catching an Uber to a downtown audition.

Her efforts won her a casting call via Zoom and a trial run in L.A., where a recipe she’s unable to reveal per show rules sealed her spot on the six-episode program, filmed at Pinewood Studios in London. There, Reyes practiced her baking in a top-floor apartment with a skylight and no AC. “It did get pretty toasty,” she said.

On set, she stayed cool, monitoring competitors’ progress against her own and schmoozing with show producers, hosts Casey Wilson and Zach Cherry, and judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. (Watch the short clip!) She sailed through Cake Week and Cookie Week, churning out decadent dishes like “Boomerang Bars,” with macadamia shortbread and vegemite caramel, and “Dark and Stormy Ginger Cake,” soaked with rum and ginger-beer syrup, and topped with candied limes.

Jenn Reyes ’99 (far left) walks onto the set with fellow contestants during the first episode of season two of ‘The Great American Baking Show.’ During ‘Cake Week,’ Reyes baked a confection recalling the classic cartoon ‘The Smurfs.’ ‘I hope I can smurfin’ finish this in smurfin’ time,’ she says on the show.

Jenn Reyes ’99 talks with host Casey Wilson on the London set of ‘The Great American Baking Show.’ The pink ribbons in Reyes’ braids speak to the theme of the korovai she made in tribute to her mother’s anniversary of beating breast cancer. The creation earned her ‘star baker’ status on the episode, and the first person she called to tell was her mom.

The sweetest feat for Reyes, though, came during Bread Week, when she designed her korovai – a traditional treat at Ukrainian weddings – as a tribute to her mother’s anniversary of beating breast cancer. It was a new challenge for Reyes, but the three-tiered spice bread – studded with lemon zest and brandy-soaked cherries, and adorned with pink edible ribbons – won her “star baker” status.

“I had no clue what to do, so I thought of what I do know how to do,” she said of the cake she created based on a solid foundation of baking skills and perseverance. “It’s easy to get frustrated when trying new things. My advice would be to not give up. No matter your goal, just keep working at it.”