ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – An Escanaba woman is in the top 1% of contestants in an international baking competition with prizes that include $10,000.
Baking has been a passion of Kadey Mai’s for as long as she can remember.
“The first thing that I baked was cardamom bread probably with my great grandma,” she recalled. “I remember as a kid baking muffins and riding my bike to go deliver them to my neighbors and stuff.”
That passion has stayed with her through adulthood.
“Baking, for me, is a lot of stress relief,” said Mai. “If I feel anxious about something, I’m doing something with my hands, and it’s also really creative. Also, I can really show my family how much I love them with baking. I’ll make my son’s favorite muffins for breakfast, and he’s so happy. It’s little things like that.”
Mai first started taking her hobby more seriously 11 years ago.
“I made cupcakes for a baby shower and I was like, ‘Hmm, that was really fun!'” she said. “Last Christmas, I did a special cookie and cinnamon roll sale. That’s when I was like, ‘I could just bake all the time, and people like it!'”
Now a full-time mom and full-time student, Mai also has her own business, Crumbs & Co. She bakes a variety of delicious treats—including birthday cakes, wedding cakes, and muffins—but her specialty is sugar cookies with intricate details.
“A lot of the royal icing sugar cookies you see will be like one-dimensional,” she said of most sugar cookies. “People will do a wet-on-wet design, so then it lays flat when it dries. But I like to do three-dimensional, like my designs are standing up above the rest of the cookie. I really like to do floral designs, greenery.”
Today, Mai is competing against bakers around the globe for the title of “The Greatest Baker.” The winner also receives a feature in Bake From Scratch Magazine, a chance to meet “Cake Boss” Buddy Valastro, and $10,000.
If she wins, Mai would use the money to purchase a more reliable vehicle to help care for one of her children.
“My daughter has autism and suspected cerebral palsy,” she said. “We travel downstate to Mott’s like every month for appointments for her, so we need a vehicle with all-wheel drive.”
The “Greatest Baker” winner is determined through online voting. Mai is currently a quarter-finalist.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it through the first round, so every single time it’s like, ‘Congratulations, you made it to the next round,’ I was in shock,” she said.
Mai has been blown away by the support she has received so far. While she hopes for a win, she says she is just grateful for the experience, as well as the opportunity to share her love of baking with the world.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “The cookies that I make in the kitchen, people are like, ‘Wow, those are really pretty!’ Like, people that I don’t know think that they’re pretty, and that’s really special to me.”
Voting closes on Thursday, January 18, at 10:00 p.m. EST. Supporters can vote once every 24 hours. One vote is free each time, but there are options to pay to cast more votes in a day.
Click here to view Mai’s “Greatest Baker” profile and voting page. For more information about the competition, click here.
Click here to follow Crums & Co. on Facebook.
