His just desserts As a contestant on season 4 of The Great Canadian Baking Show, Winnipeg's Tanner Davies is having his cake and eating it too By: Eva Wasney Posted: 3:00 AM CST Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021

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Sugar-filled, frosting-covered reality TV has become a sweet reality for Winnipeg baker Tanner Davies.

The 28-year-old violinist-turned-marketing consultant started baking four years ago with no prior experience and an obsession with The Great British Bake Off — a food competition for amateur bakers in the United Kingdom. This Sunday, Davies will make his own television debut as a contestant on the fourth season of the program’s CBC spinoff, The Great Canadian Baking Show.

“It’s kind of like a full-circle moment for me,” he says over the phone.

The first thing he ever made was a batch of chocolate cupcakes. The classic dessert went over well with co-workers and opened the door to more daring creations. These days, Davies bakes five days a week (at minimum) using his own recipes and, while he has a soft spot for fruit and vegetable tarts, he never makes the same thing twice.

“I’m really motivated by the educational and skill-development aspect of trying new things,” he says. “It really is a combination of the scientific aspects of what little changes to the chemical ingredients are actually doing to the final product. And then of course, the esthetics; I love being creative and artistic.”

His discipline and creativity in the kitchen are a holdover from his time as a classical musician. Born and raised in southern Ontario, Davies studied music at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., and played viola and violin professionally before putting down the bow to pursue a career in arts management.

“The classical music world is all about discipline, you know, hours of practice a day,” he says. “All of that directly applies to my baking.”

Davies and his fiancé Michael, a pediatric ophthalmologist, worked abroad in Australia and the U.K. before settling in Winnipeg two years ago, when Michael was offered a dream job at the Children’s Hospital.

“We’ve been very, very happy here,” Davies says. “I definitely have a love for the art and the food scene… Winnipeg, I think, punches above its weight in terms of both.”

Life, up until now, has been dictated by medical school and hospital residencies. For Davies, making it on The Great Canadian Baking Show was more than just a vindication of his skills.

“That was definitely the biggest thing I’ve ever done for myself,” he says. “I always made the best of it, but sometimes it did feel like I was following my… fiancé around the world while he was doing his thing.”

Davies was one of 10 contestants selected out of 2,000 applicants. Casting was done over Zoom, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, and Davies was asked to complete a live baking challenge during his audition. Being able to cook in his own kitchen was comforting, even if it was a bit strange to present his food to a group of producers over the internet.

Filming took place last fall over five weeks in Toronto. To prepare, Davies ramped up his daily baking schedule and spent more time at the gym than usual.

“I was working out a lot,” he says with a laugh. “It’s this weird paradox where you’re being asked to go on TV, but you have to practise and prepare, so you have all this baking in your house that you want to eat.”

Getting accustomed to being on-camera and working in an unfamiliar kitchen space were the biggest challenges of the competition. Not to mention keeping the news under wraps.

“It was, of course, a secret the entire way through,” Davies says. “When I vanished for five weeks, people were kind of wondering where I was, but we were able to use quarantine as a great excuse.”

While pandemic restrictions have quashed any plans for a viewing party, technology will make it possible to tune in with out-of-province family — although Davies isn’t exactly looking forward to watching himself onscreen.

“We’re all pretty terrified,” he says, referring to his fellow contestants. “I’m sure what I have in my mind… is going to be very different to what I see on TV and I think it’s gonna be more positive.”

Season 4 of The Great Canadian Baking Show debuts Sunday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. on CBC Television and CBC Gem.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney