The Great Canadian Baking Show's Kyla Kennaley follows in her mother's (and grandmother's) footsteps
GCBS and Kyla Kennaley return to CBC and CBC Gem October 1
For Kyla Kennaley, one of the beloved judges of The Great Canadian Baking Show, baking is in the genes. One might say it's always been part of the recipe as the third generation of bakers in her family, following her grandmother (famous for her doughnuts) and her "phenomenal cook" of a mother.
"I don't remember ever not baking," Kennaley says between mouthfuls of lemon meringue pie at Toronto's Alouette on a recent summer afternoon. "It's just something I've always done."
'Food was the main thing' at family resort
"Always" is quite literal. At the age of six, Kennaley infamously (at least in her hometown of Omemee, Ontario) entered a Robin Hood Pie Baking Contest, where she won her first ever baking award — a cookbook. It made an impact, too, that Kennaley's family ran a cottage resort up in northern Ontario, surrounded by farms and on the lake, where she and her siblings regularly chipped in. There, her parents made fresh and local produce an essential part of the menu. As she puts it, "Food was the main thing."
By the time she entered university, however, she intended to become — wait for it — prime minister. But after quickly realizing she "absolutely abhorred" politics and following a brief stint as a flight attendant, Kennaley shifted gears and headed to Ottawa's Algonquin College for culinary training. This was also after making one additional realization: "I wasn't as good of a cook as my mom." Kennaley's mother worked in various kitchens, including at the family resort.
A well-loved Toronto café is born
It was in 2004 that Kennaley opened her very own and very cozy pastry shop and café called Madeleines Cherry Pie & Ice Cream in Toronto, which she lovingly ran for 16 years and which used local and sustainable ingredients only. It was also one of the few Toronto shops to offer the beloved Kawartha Dairy ice cream, making it a slice of cottage life in the city. The café name offered a hint of family, as Kennaley grew up with a large garden and cherry tree flanking her childhood home. But the family affair didn't end there.
"I had this beautiful dream that people would be happy every day if they just came in, surrounded by baked goods and all that loveliness," she shares, as endearing and vibrant as she is on The Great Canadian Baking Show, a smile almost permanently etched on her face. "And then I called my brother and said, 'Hey, what are you doing for the next 16 years?' My mom came on board right away because I didn't have any recipes, I just knew how to bake. Which was crazy, because I would hire people and be like, 'Okay, we need 20 pies.' And they'd be like, 'Okay, what's the recipe?' And I'd say, 'The recipe is make pie!'
With mom to the rescue, recipes were put on paper, and a business was born. And for the record, Kennaley's father was always a part of the crew, too, though he stayed out of the kitchen. "Master Taster" remains his title. Having grown up with a family business, Kennaley says, "Our joke was we went off and worked for other people and then came back together."
During that busy period, Kennaley also opened a wholesale production kitchen that catered to retailers, grocers, and restaurants. And true fans will remember her from her stint sharing recipes on CBC's Steven and Chris. The theme of family remained integral in Kennaley's professional life, as she says she found community among her staff and in Toronto's "incredibly giving" food industry.
Kennaley: A perfect fit for The Great Canadian Baking Show
She found that community again when she joined The Great Canadian Baking Show. With her mouth-watering resumé, she made for an easy fit on the reality competition series since joining the team in 2019. Kennaley, of course, is set to return for its seventh season on October 1.
"The prize is the honour of being there," she says. "Like, if they gave [the participants] money at the end, I think they would say, 'Give it to somebody who needs it!' Those are the kinds of people who come on the show, and it goes back to that idea that people who bake naturally give; that's just who they are."
WATCH: The Great Canadian Baking Show judge Kyla Kennaley demonstrates how to make mini-cakes.
It helps, too, that the tents on set where the bakers work away under the pressure of the clock share the colours of Kennaley's mother's kitchen and that so much of what she saw and worked with at Madeleine's is also a part of the set, from the cutlery to the ingredients.
Remembering that first season, she says, wistfully, "I was home again. It was just like a big hug. … [We] always say there's 100 people with a common goal — rain, shine, cold, or heat — to help [each participant] have the best day of their life. A film crew is a lot like a kitchen brigade in that you only get one chance, you can't dial it in today or any day. Film crews understand what the bakers are going through because they have to get that shot in that moment. You can't say, 'Oh, you know what? I'll come back tomorrow.' You have to get it done."
If you're a fan of the show, you'll know that while she considers everyone on set to be family, Kennaley's on-set bestie is, without a doubt, chef and judge Bruno Feldeisen. With no ego and "all of the jokes," the two are every bit the giggly duo they appear to be.
But it doesn't stop with the baking show. Always the multi-tasker, Kennaley relocated to London with her husband in 2019 (pulling double duty there and in Toronto on Baking Show's set) when she began working as a talent development manager at the iconic Savoy Hotel. Kennaley even trained the Royal family's staff at Buckingham Palace. Today, she is the learning and development manager at London's luxury Corinthia Hotel and teaches her pastry skills to the next generation of bakers and chefs at Toronto's George Brown College Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts.
Like many of those young bakers, Kennaley's family is how she started and how she was first inspired.
The best part? "You can always count on them. They will always be there. No matter what." Okay, and what about the toughest part? With that signature chuckle, Kennaley says, "That they'll always be there."
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