Ottawa’s Lu Aussem finds fame, fortune on Silos Baking Competition

For Lu Aussem, baking has always been just a fun thing to do.

Turns out, for her, it’s also a ticket to fame and fortune.

Aussem, a graduate of Marquette High School and lifetime Ottawa resident, recently turned that hobby into notoriety by winning the Magnolia Network’s Silos Baking Competition and its $100,000 first prize.

I’d do it again in a minute and I encourage anyone who thinks they can do a little something to try it. You just might win.”

—  Lu Aussem, Ottawa resident and winner of Silos Baking Competition

Her two episodes of the competition, hosted by the network’s star Joanna Gaines at the Magnolia Silos Baking Company in Waco, Texas, was filmed last October but didn’t air on the network or stream on MAX and Discovery+ until June 25 of this year.

Pitted in the finale against four other amateur bakers from around the country, Aussem’s recipe for devil cakes got her through the first round and on to the final, where the same recipe garnered her the top spot in the new show.

“It was a complete surprise. I was just throwing my hat in the ring, just trying it out and winning was the icing on the cake,” said Aussem, adding a smile to acknowledge the pun. “I’m still floored by it. There were a lot of really good bakers there … It was surreal.

“It was an amazing experience, everything was so positive. I’d do it again in a minute and I encourage anyone who thinks they can do a little something to try it. You just might win.”

Encouraged by her taste-testing coworkers and doctors – she works with as an emergency room nurse at OSF St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa – Aussem had applied for several different cooking shows. She got as far as the interview stage with show scouts and baked for some culinary experts in Chicago on a couple of occasions.

After one of those interviews in July 2022, a scout sent her applications for two shows – a Christmas cookie bake and the baking competition, both with Silos. She chose the latter and sent them three recipes: the devil cakes, a lemon blueberry scone and a decadent chocolate chocolate chip cookie.

“You had to send them a video and three of your own recipes for them to check out,” she said. “While they were baking them, they made a Zoom call to check on one of the steps, but they were really calling me to tell me I was on the show. That was kinda cool.”

Aussem met with the producers, filled out paperwork and filmed segments at her home in Ottawa in October before heading to Waco with 25 other contestants for the six-episode series.

In part because of the nostalgia of the studio and what it meant to Gaines and her husband, Chip, she chose to open with the devil cakes because it had special meaning for her. It was her own version of a treat from Spence’s Bakery in Ottawa that she enjoyed as a youth.

“On Sundays, our family would leave church and stop to pick up a newspaper and some doughnuts,” Aussem said. “Spence’s had a cold counter with cream puffs and eclairs and these little round chocolate cakes with crème filling, and my sister and I loved them. We’d mow grass for money in the summers for the money to go get them, then ride our bikes there.

“Later, I tried to reproduce it and played with the recipe quite a bit … but I worked it out so that you could take it places and it wouldn’t melt. It’s probably not exactly right, but it’s close to what I remember, so when they asked for recipes, this was one of the first that came to mind.”

The contestants all stayed in the same hotel in Waco and didn’t meet until the day of the first competition, but Aussem admitted they all became fast friends and supporters of one other in the short ride to the studio, dubbing themselves “five bakers in a van.”

Having arrived on a Wednesday, Thursday was spent on a walkthrough and Friday was the opening round, running from before dawn to 2 p.m.

“There’s so much you don’t see, different takes of different things, laughing, joking, then they’re cutting us and starting over. It’s kind of overwhelming,” Aussem said. “There was a cameraman constantly on my right, with the producer looking over his shoulder asking questions while we baked, telling them what we’re doing for cuts for the show. Even when they weren’t there, you were still talking about what you’re doing.

“Once the two-hour timer started for the time to bake, that’s the only time things stopped.”

That gave the competitors time to chat with the audience, and Aussem found herself with not just her husband, Tim, for a cheering section, but also a large group of strangers.

“They were chanting my name,” she said with a smile, “so I said to the cameraman, ‘Listen to those hooligans.’ He said, ‘They’re not hooligans, they’re Lu-ligans’ so that’s what the show called them … After first episode, they asked me if I knew those people, am I related to them. I told them, no, only the guy in the green shirt, my husband. I had no idea who they were, but now I have friends from coast to coast.”

After advancing to the final five, Saturday was spent doing interviews that could be pieced into the broadcast. On Monday, contestants returned for the final. Originally told the competitors would have to use a second recipe, they were told that morning they could repeat their first.

While the others changed their choice, she skipped the scones and repeated the devil cakes. It paid off.

“There was a vegan baker in my episode, I tasted her stuff and thought, ‘She’s got it,’” Aussem said. “In the finale, everybody’s stuff was beautiful and tasted great. When they called Tom and I up there, the final two, his was terrific. When they called my name, it just blew my mind. It was amazing. I still can’t believe it.”

Aussem said the money is terrific and she’s not sure what she’ll will do with it, but admits she may realize her urge to do a pop-up stand at places, such as Ottawa’s Farmers Market.

“I’d never sold anything before. I just baked things for occasions and as gifts for people because baking was always fun for me. It’s my stress reliever,” Aussem said. “I just don’t ever want this to become work, and to sell things is a whole different ballgame, but now that’s an option for me. I think there’s interest. We’ll see.”