Bartender by Day, Cake Decorator by Night
Miguel Garcia’s unexpected journey leads him into living his dream
One…two…three....he counts privately in his head as he tips the bottle of Patron Silver Tequila into a silver mixer. He quickly snatches the margarita glass dangling upside down from the wooden rack behind him, dips it into water, then into the yellow-orange margarita salt resting besides it, glazing the rim to suit the drinkers taste buds. Ice cubes fill the glass as he finishes and pours the yellow mixture into it for this simple and authentic drink. Adding his final touches, he grabs a lime wedge and slides it on the rim of the glass. He hands it to the eager guest, and quickly moves on to his next drink, comfortably making his way through the Olive Garden bar.
Miguel Garcia, 25, may seem like an ordinary average Joe, working a pretty common job as a server/bartender at the Bolingbrook Olive Garden. But, this 6’0, pencil skinny, young man finds himself in a Peter Parker: Spiderman situation. Although he is no Spiderman, to my knowledge at least, he goes through character change mode as he transitions himself from a bartender by day to a professional cake decorator by night. Not only that, but he also happens to be the assistant to Chicago Pastry Chef, Orlando Serrano, 41, on the Food Network’s, Last Cake Standing, which pits eight stars of the cake world against each other as they strive for the title of "Best Cake Artist in America" and an astounding $100,000 grand prize.
Growing up in Leon, Guanajuato in Mexico, Garcia’s dream as a kid was to be a T.V. star. But the last way he imagined he would reach that dream was by competing in a variety of wacky and complex cake decorating challenges. Garcia landed this opportunity by what he considers fate. He met Serrano at a bar and after becoming great friends, Serrano asked him to help him on the show; he accepted the offer, having no practice of cooking or making cakes beforehand. “I am no master chef; I microwave everything or throw some hot sauce into Ramen Noodles,” says Garcia. With the help from Serrano, and the very handy building skills he obtained working at a kitchen cabinet shop for three years, he took on the challenge. After about a four-year journey of competing on the Food Network Challenge, the team together has won five times. One of Garcia’s favorite wins was during the Extreme Urban Legend challenge. The team had to bring life to a classic urban legend, and what they resulted in has two words: Ursula Lebowski. Ursula is a four foot animatronic talking cake, the first of its kind. Her bright pink beehive hairdo was crawling with eight-legged freaks that made you occasionally itch at the sight of its animatronic movements. Sitting at her orange-brown vanity desk in her green and pink robe, Ursula panics on the phone to a friend about the active spiders in her hair, frightened by the fact that she will miss her bingo game. And yes, this is all just a cake. The team have become unstoppable when it comes down to making ambitious and creative moves, and they now have the chance to prove to the cake world that they have what it to takes to demolish the competition on Last Cake Standing. “Working with Miguel is one of the best experiences in my career and life thus far. Miguel is incredibly talented, creative and has vision, focus and ability beyond belief,” says Serrano.
With only two episodes in, Last Cake Standing, has shown the competitors that this will not be an easy, cake only based, task. This six-episode elimination competition slaps the competitors with unusual twists and psychologically tests to see how far the chefs and would go for the money. “It is by far the toughest competition we've ever been involved in. I am so grateful I have Miguel as my assistant,” says Serrano. Airing on Sundays at 8pm, the show starts with a brief explanation of the task. They are then given a time limit to complete the challenge, before host, Justin Willman yells, “Your time starts now!” The challengers then scramble to create, build, and do all they can to impress the judges and overall win the big bucks. “I believe Miguel and Orlando have a huge chance of winning Last Cake Standing. Miguel has got the drive in him and the want to win it all,” says Garcia’s co-worker, Sarah Ross.
Surpassing all the stress, and headaches he endured from the shows, overall these experiences gave Garcia so many great new friends, and unbelievable memories to go along with it. He has learned so much on this journey, and has a better outlook on who he is and what he is capable of doing. “I used to be kind of a shy, insecure kind of guy, but the shows have helped me realized that I am greater than I ever thought myself to be. I can accomplish anything I want to as long as I put the hard work and effort into everything I do,” says Garcia.
