Vermont pastry chef competes on Prime Video's 'Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge'

As a kid growing up near Woodstock, Maya Hayes loved reading Dr. Seuss books, and she loved baking cookies.

That’s not a combination one would expect to come together in adulthood, but it has for Hayes. The North Pomfret native competes on the “Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge,” which streams all eight of its episodes on Prime Video starting Dec. 13.

Nine teams of two bakers compete on the show for a $50,000 grand prize. Together, as Hayes put it, the teams create “Dr. Seuss-inspired sculpture” through cake art. Hayes, a professional pastry chef, worked on the “Brown Team” with cake artist Angel Figueroa.

Vermont has a good recent history with competitors on baking shows. Adam Monette of St. Albans won the $25,000 top prize in the Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship” last December.

The Lorax and How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Hayes said there were a few guidelines for each episode centering on a specific Dr. Seuss book – “The Lorax” or “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” for instance - but otherwise, competitors were able to use a lot of their own imagination. Figueroa specialized in the cake art while Hayes oversaw the tasting elements of the final product.

Hayes grew up in North Pomfret with environmentally-minded parents, so “The Lorax” – a book in which the title character defends the planet from ecological degradation – was among the Dr. Seuss books she devoured in her youth.

“I love all of the (Dr. Seuss) books, of course,” Hayes said, “but that was always one that was right up there when I was a kid.”

Her parents were into organic health food. Hayes’ tendencies moved in a different direction.

“I’ve always loved food. It’s always been a big part of my life growing up,” she said. But her big love was for baking; she would say, “Let’s make cookies,” yet that didn’t always resonate with the adults in the house.

“My parents didn’t really know how,” Hayes said. Her mother would want to cut the amount of sugar for a batch of cookies in half, and Hayes would have to convince her that wouldn’t work.

“It’s really wholesome, especially with pastry (baking),” Hayes said. “You’re really bringing joy to people. Nobody is ever angry when you give them a cookie. It’s just a really lovely thing.”

A second shot

Hayes, 33, attended the now-defunct New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier and became a professional pastry chef. She worked for a time at the Woodstock Inn and Resort and at a boutique hotel in Rhode Island before returning to her home state. She is now the executive pastry chef at The Hermitage Inn in West Dover, near the Mount Snow ski resort.

Hayes said she had applied to be on another unscripted program a while back that she was not selected for, but the same casting crew reached out to her by email about competing on the “Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge.” She said she enjoyed meeting her fellow contestants, Figueroa in particular, and is glad she took part in the show.

“For me it was kind of like, ‘I don’t know, why not? Why don’t I try something different?’” Hayes said. “I really believe you can’t get too stagnant in life.”

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont pastry chef vies on Prime Video's 'Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge'