Behind the tent with Kyla Kennaley

As CBC’s Great Canadian Baking Show opens contestant auditions for season 9, Algonquin College graduate Kyla Kennaley will be returning to judge the next batch of baked goods.

The Great Canadian Baking Show is a reality competition series where amateur bakers across Canada showcase their skills through a variety of challenges in an attempt to impress the judges and win the title of Canada’s best baker.

Season eight recently ended on Nov. 24, with Elora Khanom crowned as the winner.

“Every season is unique due to the organic nature of the show. Each baker brings their unique experience and style which shapes the way the season unfolded,” said Kennaley in an interview with the Algonquin Times. “In season 8, we had an extremely talented mix of bakers who rose to every challenge with grace and brought delicious flavour combinations to the tent, along with brilliant skills.”

Kennaley is a pastry chef who graduated from the culinary management program at Algonquin College in 1994 with knowledge in classic skills of European cuisine. She also completed a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ottawa.

“This foundation has allowed me to explore global cuisines and find common factors in flavour profiles and techniques,” said Kennaley. “Without a strong foundation, I would not be able to judge effectively.”

Kennaley said she is constantly inspired to try new recipes that are featured on the show in hopes to provide a similar experience for her friends and family.

The two-year program equips students with the fundamentals of cooking, advanced culinary techniques and management skills. Although baking and pastry is a separate program, culinary management students get a small taste of both worlds.

“It’s important that cooks know how to bake bread and know how to make some simple desserts,” said Daniel Halden, the culinary management program coordinator and a chef in Ottawa. “So we add a little component of baking in both the one and two-year programs.”

Norah Kinny, a second-year culinary management student, said she was inspired to start her culinary journey and develop her baking skills because culinary shows, including the Great Canadian Baking Show, made her see that it’s possible.

“I don’t do much baking, but I feel like I can after watching the show,” said Kinny.

Kinny occasionally catches episodes of the baking show alongside other culinary competitions, but she wouldn’t join a televised culinary show due to the amount of stress that competitors may face.

“She (Kennaley) understands it from a different perspective where she’s not criticizing, but she’s helping to further yourself in either the competition or the future,” said Kinny, referring to Kennaley’s judging on the show. “It’s nice to see there is somebody who’s taking that approach, especially with what people believe the culinary field is like.”

For students with similar ambitions as Kennaley, she advised them to “travel, eat everything and show up.” She said every opportunity she experienced was due to coming prepared and showing up early.

“When I was starting out a chef said to me ‘peel carrots with your eyes up,’ meaning that if you don’t look around at what others are doing and learn from them, you will find yourself stuck in one job for your whole career,” said Kennaley.

Halden said for cooking to be a fulfilling career, there must be passion in order to be able to make a living out of it and to excel.

“We get satisfaction out of satisfying people by cooking food that they love,” said Halden. “That I really enjoyed about what I did, the satisfaction I gave to people by sharing or nurturing them with food and good dining experiences.”

When away from the kitchen, Kennaley enjoys to travel and explore parks, gardens and neighbourhoods.

“I find it both peaceful and energizing at the same time,” said Kennaley. “I am guilty of working too many hours and often have multiple projects on the go. It is my goal to become better at balancing time off.”

The next step for her is following her dream, which is to open a small cookery school inside an old chateau in Europe.