The great success of the King’s College Junior MasterChef competition for primary school learners in the Kouga region has led home economics and hospitality teacher, Catherine Calitz, to host a new baking competition with an interesting twist for high school learners in Jeffreys Bay.
After hosting the King’s College Junior MasterChef competition for the last five year, Calitz decided to start a new competition called Hit or Miss which is based on Nailed It, an American TV show which sees home bakers with a poor performance history in the kitchen battle it out for cash.
Despite formulating the idea for the competition from the American TV show, she said that the Hit or Miss competition was slightly different and was open to high school learners while the Junior MasterChef competition was only for primary school learners.
“I decided to do the Hit or Miss competition because the grade 7 learners who previously participated in the Junior Chef competition were left disappointed since they could not enter the competition again the following year when they went off to high school,” said Calitz.
On June 4, the first Hit or Miss event took place at King’s College for grades 8 and 9 learners at two high schools in Jeffreys Bay.
She said she is hopeful that next year the competition will expand to high schools in Humansdorp as well.
To make the baking competition more challenging and interesting, during the first round the contestants were required to taste three cupcakes while blindfolded and then duplicate the icing and decorations of at least two of the cupcakes.
The second round was similar, but the contestants were required to duplicate at least one cake.
This year’s contestants were grade 8 learners Tiffany Horn (13), and Vinika Barkhuizen (14) from Global Leadership Academy, and grade 9 learner Sumiera Hammond (13) from King’s College in Jeffreys Bay.
The expert judges included Charné and Janene Voster from Oakridge Academy and Fiona Meyers from Gister Restaurant who were all focused on the execution, appearance and taste of each item presented to them by the bakers.
“All three contests were amazing with Sumiera winning the first round and Tiffany winning the second round and taking the title of Hit or Miss Champion 2022,” said Calitz.
She said the experience was nerve-wracking but exciting at the same time for both her and the contestants.
Overall, she said it was a lot of fun and a great experience.
“I felt the same nervousness that the kids felt but to see the outcome, how they pushed themselves and what they produced, was worth every stress and nerves I felt,” said Calitz.
