Netflix’s new season of ‘Sugar Rush’ features 2 Philly-area bakers
"I focus on the practical stuff, and she makes things look really, really beautiful."
Like peanut butter and chocolate, caramel and apple, Victoria Jeker and Ali Albini say, they are a duo that “just makes sense” together in the kitchen.
Working behind the counter together at Bredenbeck’s Bakery in Chestnut Hill in 2016, the two became fast friends as they bonded over sweets, quickly becoming inseparable.
And so, when Jeker, 42, a South Philly cake decorator, was asked to pick a partner to compete on Netflix’s new season of Sugar Rush after the timed baking competition’s producers took notice of her Instagram feed, her answer was immediate: Albini.
“There was no one else I would have done it with. We’re best friends and just work so well together,” said Jeker, the culinary team manager of Sweet Somethings Dessert Shoppe in Wilmington.
“We joke that I’m the head and she’s the heart,” said Albini, 28, an Ambler chocolatier. “I focus on the practical stuff, and she makes things look really, really beautiful. We’re very well-matched.”
Available on Netflix starting Friday each of the six episodes of Sugar Rush, in its second season, pits four pairs of professional bakers against the clock and each other to craft three rounds of desserts. The winning team takes home $10,000.
Jeker and Albini are featured in an episode themed around chocolate.
While the pair said they couldn’t disclose details or results of their episode before it airs, Albini, who is launching a dessert-catering business, Wild Thyme Confections, called her time on the show “just so much fun.” (SPOILER ALERT: Scroll to the bottom of this article to learn the outcome, made available after the show’s Friday release.)
To prepare before flying to Los Angeles for the fast-paced competition, Jeker said, she and Albini ran practice time trials in the kitchen of Albini’s aunt, maneuvering around the ovens and pans to prepare cakes and confections.
For Jeker, a self-taught cake decorator, being selected for Sugar Rush added an extra layer to her confidence in her skills.
“Not going to culinary school and being self-taught, I constantly wonder if I’m good enough, if I’m doing it right. Now it’s like, I am good enough, I deserve to be here,” she said.
And working with her best friend, she said, that’s just icing on the cake.
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» SPOILER ALERT: See below for episode results.
Albini and Jeker won the “All Things Chocolate” episode and $10,000, crafting a fantasy-themed dark chocolate cake with chocolate chips, white chocolate buttercream chocolate peanut butter mousse, peanuts and toffee pretzels to beat out their competitors in the final round. Click here to watch the full episode.