From the humble beginnings of working as a cake decorator at Target to being featured on the Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship, Jai Xiong can do it all when it comes to pastry. Her baking inspiration has always been her mother, who constantly shared her joy of cooking with others. “It brought me so much joy just watching her creativity shine in the kitchen and the happiness it brings her to share her food with others,” Xiong says.
Xiong has been in the baking industry for nearly a decade, after completing her associate degree at Le Cordon Bleu in baking and pastry. She worked with small businesses and large corporations before she launched her business, Amour Patisserie, in 2021 in St. Paul.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself when she got an email from a Food Network producer about being part of the Spring Baking Championship. After a month of questioning if the timing was right when her business was still so new, she accepted the offer. The show aired on March 6; she said it was “the most mind-challenging yet healing experience” she ever had, and that “none of my past competitions could have ever prepared me for what I walked into at the Spring Baking Championship.”
Amour Patisserie is also known for bento cakes and luxury petit gâteaux desserts, but the real showstoppers are Xiong’s wedding cakes, which definitely live up to her shop’s motto: “Where artistry meets flavor, and every bite is a masterpiece.”
