Bakers creativity put to the test on Donut Showdown | News, Sports, Jobs

Madame Donut of Donut Dynamite in Wailuku is seen on the set of “Donut Showdown.” She competes against two other doughnut makers for $10,000 in the episode, which will be televised at 5 and 9 p.m. Tuesday on Cooking Channel (Oceanic Time Warner Cable Channels 322 and 1322). Cooking Channel photo

Calling doughnuts her “preferred canvas” as an artist, a Maui baker’s upcoming appearance on Cooking Channel’s “Donut Showdown” offers her the chance to win $10,000 as well as the opportunity to show the world she can “turn the humble donut into Cinderella.”

Madame Donut — which Desiree Parada prefers to be called and has registered as a legal name — is the owner of Donut Dynamite in Wailuku. After three years of selling their doughnuts at the Maui Swap Meet, Fourth Fridays in Kihei and a few retail locations around the island, she and husband Frank Parada opened their brick-and-mortar bakery in August in the former Manapua Bakery at 1246 Lower Main St.

On “Donut Showdown,” she faces two other doughnut makers in time-limited challenges featuring a theme and secret ingredient. The winner receives $10,000. According to Cooking Channel’s website, beer is the mystery ingredient in the backyard barbecue-themed episode featuring Madame Donut, which airs at 5 p.m. Tuesday on Oceanic Time Warner Cable Channels 322 and 1322. The episode will air again at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

While unable to discuss the specifics of the episode, Madame Donut said via email last week that competing on the show “was a complete switch in my approach of donut making.” While she enjoys themes, time constraints scare her “because I don’t have much time to correct mistakes.”

At her Wailuku bakery, Madame Donut specializes in brioche doughnuts, which are “enriched with more eggs and butter.” But, in the “Donut Showdown” kitchen, “the time constraint automatically meant I cannot make my donuts because brioche takes a long time to make, so I had to resort to batters and doughs that I had not worked with before.”

Donut Dynamite’s Madame Donut is featured on Cooking Channel’s “Donut Showdown” on Tuesday. Cooking Channel photo

“I am not used to using hoppers as I don’t usually make cake donuts, so I felt so out of place and even clumsy,” she said. “I just resorted to creativity.”

“I knew I didn’t want to make anything basic. I always wanted to push the envelope. I thought that if I couldn’t make my own donuts, I should at least have fun. So I did.”

Back on Maui since taping the show in Toronto, Madame Donut is busy with Donut Dynamite, which is now a full-time venture.

“It has taken over my whole life!” she said.

Donut Dynamite opens at 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday but regularly sells out of doughnuts — with a variety of flavors including bacon maple, Molokai sweet potato poi, Gimme S’more and Cheesy Hammy — by 10 a.m. (The bakery is closed Sundays, but preorders are available for pickup.)

“It is simply physically impossible for me and my husband . . . to produce more than what we currently make,” said Madame Donut, who grew up in the Philippines and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in California’s Napa Valley. “We hope that, when we expand our menu and train the new staff, we can stay open until 2 p.m. The idea is that we (will) make donuts throughout service hours so there are fresh donuts no matter what time you come in.”

Despite the growing pains, “I’d like to continue doing what I love,” she said of her passion for the pastries, and she hopes Tuesday’s TV appearance will “help us to keep moving forward by bringing in more patrons that we haven’t reached. And since it’s on national television, I imagine we would reach people beyond Maui!”

* Leah Sherman can be reached at lsherman@mauinews.com.

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