Nicole Aufderfaur aka @TenThousandBakes

Welcome to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish," where we dive into the world of food with our guests from all corners of the culinary landscape. This time, we're delighted to have Nicole Aufderhar with us, known for her Instagram page @TenThousandBakes, where she showcases her incredible baking creations. Our conversation traces her baking journey from family traditions to competing on the Great American Baking Show, where she reached the final three and participated in the finale. Nicole shares her love for Minnesota State Fair Baking and her insights into balancing a creative passion with an artistic career. Join us as we explore her baking adventures, inspirations, and the sweet success she's found along the way.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:16]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space. And today, my guest is Nicole Ofterhauer, and she is at 10000 Bakes on Instagram. And we became friends, kind of funny, through the Jason show's hottest day on record at the state fair.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:00:36]:

Yes. Where we were all dying and couldn't think straight.

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:40]:

Yeah. We were just, like, sweating ourselves off, and you had made these super beautiful blueberry macarons. And you were there to talk about your experience that you'd had as a state fair baker, but also on the Great American Baking Show, which if people don't know because I still think people don't know that that show exists.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:01]:

They don't know. Even, like, my friends and family sometimes don't know that it exists. It's yeah. Everyone knows the British version, but surprise, there's an American one.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:10]:

Yes. So The Great British Bake Off, spun off a great American baking show, and Nicole was a guest on it and did very well. Weren't you, like, in the final 3?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:20]:

Yeah. Yeah. I made it all the way to the finals.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:22]:

Okay. So that's exciting. And I just wanna point out, I don't know when people are gonna listen to this because I'm probably gonna release it maybe this Friday or the next Friday. I haven't decided yet. But

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:34]:

Mhmm.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:35]:

If you haven't gotten a chance, please go right now to Nicole's Instagram page and look at 10,000 Bakes. Because, honestly, she has some of the most amazing spooky treats on there. Girl, I mean, those the skull truffles with the raspberry filling, are you kidding me?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:01:51]:

Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I I've always been kind of a Halloween nut. Like, always been my thing. The spookier, the better. And so for me, Halloween baking is kinda all about embracing kind of the quirky and weird. So I just go all in with it.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:02:07]:

It's always fun every year.

Stephanie Hansen [00:02:09]:

I mean, your stuff is real cool looking. Very beautiful. There was also a black was it what kind of a, cake was it?

Nicole Aufderhar [00:02:18]:

Yeah. So I made it was a peri breast, actually. So, like, a patichou base pastry.

Stephanie Hansen [00:02:26]:

Yeah. It looked like chew pastries stuffed or filled with, like, a cream of some sort.

Nicole Aufderhar [00:02:31]:

Yep. Yeah. So I used, black cocoa creme pat, and then there was also you couldn't see the picture, but there was, like, a raspberry gel as well. So kind of that dark chocolate raspberry thing kinda fitting with Halloween