Creepy Creation: Teaneck Cake Artist Melts The Candy Competition

TEANECK, NJ — Cake artist and Teaneck native Melissa Alt took chocolate to terrifying new heights Monday on Food Network’s new show, “Hershey’s Chocolate Meltdown.”

The Teaneck baker announced to her Facebook page last week that she would make her television debut on the first episode of the Food Network Show, which calls on confectioners to navigate a desserted Hershey Park and use Hershey candy to create an extravagant, show-stopping piece. The first episode, titled “Creepy-Crawly Carnival,” aired Monday at 10 p.m.

Not only did Alt appear and compete on the show, but she also won her episode’s competition.

As a winner, she was awarded a year’s supply of Hershey candy, a Hershey Park vacation and $10,000.

Alt said she went into the competition with no expectations of winning.

“It was so fun,” she said. “I went into it like, ‘no pressure I’m just here to enjoy.’ Obviously I’m competing, so I’m going to try my hardest, but I [didn’t] want to stress.”

In each episode, three pastry chefs go head-to-head in a spooky overnight showdown at Hershey Park’s Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania to create the best Halloween-themed chocolate sculpture.

Contestants must use as much Hershey’s candy as possible and incorporate a surprise candy into the sculpture. They also have to solve a series of clues and go on spooky rides in the amusement park before building their creations.

Alt and her two competitors were tasked with making “creepy-crawly carnival creations,” but Alt said she was less daunted by the challenge of creating an intricate chocolate sculpture than by the rollercoasters she would have to ride.

“The most [nerve-wracking] thing for me was when they said we had to go on a ride," Alt said. "I get scared of rides. But, they just made me go on a Himalaya ride, so you just sit and it goes in circles. It wasn't so scary.”

Her winning sculpture — named Dancing Kitty after Milton Hershey’s wife, Kitty — included many creepy features, such as an elephant head made out of modeling chocolate and four clown heads with hair made out of Twizzlers.

Leading up to her television debut, Alt was approached by a casting agency that found her work via Instagram, where she posts many of her custom cakes.

Alt runs her own baking studio in Teaneck called Melissa Alt Cakes, where she creates everything from classic tiered cakes to fully sculpted or painted cakes. Each cake has a unique design and all the ingredients are kosher and cruelty-free, she said.

Growing up in Teaneck, Alt said she always loved to bake with her family, but she was also passionate about art and painting. After high school, Alt landed an internship with the Cake Boss, in Hoboken, where she learned the fundamentals of cake decoration.

She then studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, focusing on painting and sculpture. In 2015, Alt decided to combine her two passions and launch Melissa Alt Cakes.

She made headlines in 2016 when she created hyperrealistic Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump cakes before the year's presidential election. She has also emblazoned Jim Halpert’s face from “The Office” into fondant and made a lifelike meatball sub-style cake in honor of the “Friends” reunion.

Typically, Alt said she isn’t a fan of baking competition shows because they don’t require very artistic pieces, but she was excited about this new Food Network show because they wanted something over-the-top.

“For this [show], they wanted something that was beyond,” Alt said. “They didn’t want it to look like something that was kiddie or kitschy. They wanted a real art piece, so I was very into that.”

If anyone missed Alt’s episode of “Hershey’s Chocolate Meltdown,” they can watch it on Food Network’s website here.