Jeff And Kathleen Taylor Of Oxford's Sweet T's Bakery Set To Compete On Food Network's Cake Wars Tonight

Food Network’s Cake Wars features the best bakers from around the country competing for $10,000. Tonight’s episode will have a local flavor for Oxonians as husband and wife duo, Jeff and Kathleen Taylor will be competing. 
The Taylors opened Sweet T’s Bakery in Oxford three years ago, specializing in both wedding and specialty cakes. The duo took an usual approach to becoming professional bakers. Kathleen has been baking for 20 years without having formal training or a culinary background. Jeff never saw himself baking until baking shows became popular. 
“I built cabinets back then; so I wasn’t too interested in baking back then,” Jeff said. “Then all the cooking shows started to come out, and they were using power tools to make cakes. So I thought to my myself, ‘shoot, that looks pretty cool, so that’s something I’d like to get into.’ I started helping [Kathleen], and we started doing some of the sculptor type cakes, and we just got better and better.” 
As a full-time firefighter in Oxford, Jeff found the application for the show while scrolling through his phone at the fire-station. After being selected for the show, the pair began to prepare as best they could for the competition. Jeff and Kathleen had made many cakes over the years, but always have a set design before they start baking. Cake Wars changes that by revealing the theme to the bakers, and they must immediately come up with their design and execute it. 
“It’s hard to practice something when you’re not sure what you’re doing. We wanted to have basic gameplay when we found out what the theme was. The basic plan would be in place for what order we needed to do certain things,” Taylor said. “We tried to be as prepared as we could, but you can never prepare enough. That’s for sure. We found out right then and there, what you see on TV is how it is.”
When the theme was revealed to the bakers, the Taylors were excited to find out that it was the celebration of Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday. Dahl authored classics such as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, BFG and more.
“It was a great theme; we loved it, his books are amazing. His imagination is crazy, and that allowed us to really go crazy with our imagination as far as making the cake,” Taylor said.
The bakers must operate under a strict time limit to complete their cakes. While the Taylors’ work under a time crunch in their daily life, the clock moves a little faster under the bright lights of Cake Wars. 
“We watch the show all the time, and we’re sitting there critiquing cakes all the time, that’s just what you do. When you watch you understand the time restraint, but when the cameras are on you, and you’re trying to do your cake, that time goes way faster than how you expect it to,” Taylor said. “The adrenaline is going; so that keeps you moving. It’s a good kind of crazy experience.”
If you tune in to check Jeff and Kathleen out tonight, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out which ones they are. 
“We’re excited about it and hope everyone enjoys it. It’s a great experience for not only us but Oxford as a whole. We wore red and blue to represent our Rebels… made sure we had them out there with us. We had a great time,” Taylor said. 
The latest edition of Cake Wars will air on the Food Network tonight at 8 p.m. CT and will be re-aired at 11 p.m. Tune in and cheer on Jeff and Kathleen Taylor! 
See some of Sweet T’s cakes below:

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Steven Gagliano is a writer for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at steven.gagliano@hottytoddy.com. 
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