International pastry chef has local roots

Mohawk High School graduate Aaron Clouse enjoyed another round of baking competitively on TV earlier this year — this time on The Big Bake Canada — and his episode of the competition airs Monday and Tuesday. In fall 2020, the Columbus pastry chef with local roots competed on Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship, where he placed third and scored two great new friends. During the Halloween competition, he met Renee Loranger, who placed second, and Michelle Lee. Throughout the last year, the three have stayed in touch. "We still FaceTime and stuff," he said. "Anytime somebody's doing something fun at work or needs a recipe, we contact each other." He said he enjoys the friendship and drawing on each others' experience. He has been working in food circles for about 10 years, while they have been involved for 20-30 years. "We have a similar style of food," he said. Although they live in different parts of the country, he said their backgrounds are similar. "We can bounce ideas off each other," he said. Last fall's competition was won by Notre Dame's Executive Pastry Chef Sinai Vespie. "That was a surprise to all of us," he said. "We all just expected Renee to win." However, he said Renee returned to the Halloween competition this year and placed first. In December 2020 — not long after the Halloween contest — Clouse said he received a call from the casting team of Food Network's program called The Big Bake Canada. He was invited to assemble a team to compete in Toronto. When he shared the news with his friends, he discovered they each had received an invitation. "It turns out all three of us got a call from the same show," he said. "We decided to team up. We loved the whole idea." But Clouse said a simple trip to Canada wasn't so simple during the pandemic. He had to quarantine for three weeks, and then fly to Toronto where he quarantined for two more weeks. "We flew to Toronto in January and stayed three and a half weeks," he said. "We had to quarantine in the hotel room. I was stuck in my hotel room for 16 whole days. I had a balcony, but it was Canada in winter. "The first three days were great," he said. He relaxed and caught up on sleep. Food was delivered to his door. "Days 4-10 were miserable," he said. He missed personal interaction with people even though he could visit via his phone and social media. By the end of the long two weeks, he said he felt like he was going to be stuck in that room permanently. Despite the quarantine rules, he said the trip to Canada was a big adventure for Renee and Michelle. Growing up in northwest Ohio, he said traveling to Toronto was not a big deal to him — except for the pandemic restrictions — but neither of the women had been to Canada from their homes in California and Mississippi. "Renee, Michelle and I are all really adventurous people," he said. Because of the pandemic and competition, he said they only had a four-hour window to actually do any sightseeing. But he said they could see the skyline. "It was about the experience," he said. The quarantine finally ended and the competition began. In advance of the trip, they knew they would have five hours to make a 5-foot cake with moving parts. They divided the roles each team member would specialize in. Michelle was the baker. Renee was in charge of characters, animals, figurines and such. And Aaron was in charge of movement, sound and lighting. Being a pastry chef, Clouse said he had limited experience with building. "I grew up on a farm so I knew how to use power tools," he said. "They're all in our garage." But the week before he left for Canada, he visited his parents, Bryan and Sheri Clouse of Sycamore, for a crash course from his father on how to build a cake structure. He said his family supported him as he learned to put together a structure that would support a 5-foot cake that he would make on set during the competition. "I'm building a structure and they're timing me," he said. "It was funny that the girls were practicing their recipes and skills and I'm sitting in the garage screwing boards together." When the competition began, the team was pleased with the theme they were assigned. "We were so happy we got a Christmas theme, 'The Secret World of Toys,'" Clouse said. "Renee, Michelle and I thought it would be fun to have a lot of different characters throw a Christmas party after the family was asleep." On set, he got the cake structure built and "we stuffed the whole structure full of cake and Rice Krispie treats," he said. "At one point, I thought the cake was going to fall over. "It's nerve-wracking," he said. "I see the cakes fall on some of those big TV shows." He said he can't go into more detail or reveal the results until after the competition airs. People can watch at 11 p.m. Monday (Nov. 29) and at 3 a.m. Tuesday (Nov. 30) on Food Network. Although the show was recorded in January, it was edited into segments that have been airing all year. Overall, Clouse said it was a great experience and the cast and people who worked on the set were great to work with. "Everybody was so unbelievably nice," he said. "They cheer you on the whole time." In his everyday Columbus work life, Clouse said he changed jobs since last fall. He is now the executive pastry chef for A&R Creative Group, which operates seven restaurants in Columbus, from fine dining to campus bars and health-oriented eateries. "I'm the lead on all things pastry in the company," he said. "I travel to each of the different restaurants every day and make decisions that are good for the company. "They aren't far from each other," he said. "It's been fun. We have a lot of plans for the company to continue growing." He said the company recently opened a pizza restaurant within another of its restaurants, and plans to open more in 2022. Right now, he said he supervises four people and plans include adding two or three more next year. "I like having a large team," he said. The current job is the latest in several pastry chef experiences Clouse has cultivated since graduating from high school in 2011 and attending The French Pastry School in Chicago. His experiences and friendships have expanded his horizons and taken him all over the United States. In October, he and Michelle surprised Renee by flying down to the grand opening of her new bakery and custom cake shop she opened in Waveland, Mississippi, on the Gulf of Mexico about an hour northeast of New Orleans. She used her $25,000 in prize money from the Halloween Baking Championship to open Sugar Pop inside the Ground Zero Hurricane Museum. He also flew to Chicago earlier this month for the opening of Zac Young's Sprinkletown Bakery. Zac was a judge of the competition when he was on the Halloween championship. "Hopefully, in about a year I'm planning to travel to Madagascar in South Africa," he said. His goal is to host a TV program where he travels around the world creating documentaries about pastries in various cultures and geographical locations. For example, he would talk about vanilla beans made in Madagascar and use them in desserts. In addition, he would like to be a judge on baking shows. "Growing up in Sycamore and Tiffin, we didn't have much of a food community," he said. But he's hoping to use his food education experience to become involved in the Tiffin Community Kitchen project and help open up the food world to other local students who might be interested. Fundraising efforts are underway to build a $2.7 million addition to Old Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Tiffin where food-related education, activities and events could take place. (Visit www.sccommonground.org to donate.) Clouse said he hopes to teach some classes at the kitchen after it's built because he enjoys the education aspect of his craft. Although he specializes in pastry, Clouse said he has worked in a variety of restaurants cooking savory food as well. Despite his social media following, three Food Network TV appearances, friendships with successful chefs, being featured in Pastry Arts magazine and traveling through Europe creating desserts with chefs in London, Athens, Rome, Italy and Paris, Clouse said he remains down to earth. "I'm blessed to have enough of a following that people pay attention to what I post," he said. "I don't ever want to get to that point that I'm not humble about it." He also appreciates the supportive people in his hometown. "It's nice to see everybody back home really cares and is excited about it," he said.