Pastry chef from SLO to compete in Food Network baking show. How to watch

A Michelin star pastry chef in San Luis Obispo County is about to star in Food Network’s newest baking competition series.

Florencia Breda, owner of chocolaterie and patisserie Breda in downtown SLO, got an Instagram message back in March but marked it off as spam.

When Food Network reached out via email, she knew the invitation was real. The cable channel invited Breda to audition for its new show, “The Ultimate Baking Competition,” where elite pastry chefs compete for a grand prize of $50,000.

After a few bakes of chocolate and sugar pieces as an audition, Breda was told she made it to the show three months later.

“It’s always something that you look at like, ‘Oh, it’s never going to happen to me. It’s impossible that they are going to contact me,’” Breda told The Tribune. “There are so many amazing pastry chefs out there and here in America. There’s so many. I was like, ‘Oh, surreal, right?’”

Breda has been baking for 20 years and served her signature delicacies at Mistura since 2019 before moving her operation to her own brick-and-mortar location on Higuera Street in April 2025.

“It’s been kind of a roller-coaster,” she said. “A lot of stuff happened, and still being the first shop ever that I opened, I’m still figuring things out along the way. And San Luis Obispo is probably the perfect palace to open something because there’s a lot of support.”

Now, Breda is competing in her first baking competition for a national network, and is one of two pastry chefs from California. “The Ultimate Baking Championship” starts off with 16 chefs then pares the field down week after week until one competitor remains and wins the $50,000, according to Food Network.

Food Network host Jesse Palmer will host the show, and world-class pastry chef Duff Goldman will serve as the permanent judge, accompanied by guest judges like Bryan Ford, Amaury Guichon, Shinmin Li, Jacques Torres and others each week.

“The pressure was definitely on, because you want to do good for yourself, but also when they say San Luis Obispo, you really don’t want to put a bad name on your shop or the town you’re in,” Breda said. It was a lot of pressure besides the one that you already put on yourself.”

How to watch The Ultimate Baking Championship

“The Ultimate Baking Championship” premieres on March 9 on Food Network and can be streamed on HBO Max or discovery+ the next day.