Jean Parker and Rachel Smith invite children to adventure in Baking Wonderland

In Baking Wonderland, the latest creation from sister duo Jean Parker and Rachel Smith, children will find temptations that are impossible to resist. 

Equal parts recipe book, immersive adventure, and child empowerment vehicle, Baking Wonderland is an embodiment of the sisters’ belief in the vital,  transformative power of baking. Baking, the sisters explain, is “an awesome outlet for creativity — coming up with different flavor combinations, decorating, engineering something incredible out of many little parts”.  And baking “also helps develop core skills like patience, sharing, and what we think is one of the most important things for kids today—being okay making mistakes. Food is a really safe place to try new things, make flops, and try again!”

While both sisters share talent and a passion for baking (and have the individual and shared flops to show for it), they each perfected a different recipe for living . Parker’s depends on the charm of the countryside. “When I was little, I wanted to be a marine biologist and/or a princess,” she recalls. Clearly,  she is not “saving whales in a tiara”.  But she does enjoy a fairytale existence as a writer, actor, baker and mother, who lives surrounded by nature with her partner John, their two sons, their dog Fred Rainbow . . .  and a brood of eight chicken

Smith, on the other hand, had dreams to be a ballerina and a fighter jet pilot: “It had to be both!” And those high-flying dreams have grounded themselves in a life where she develops and teaches baking and cooking programs to kids. But even as she raises her daughter in the GTA with her partner Craig and their dog Beans, she has never surrendered her ambition to “get my wings!” And the sisters are no strangers to the sweet side of business, having co-founded the successful Maple Key Tart Co. and starred for one season in Food Network’s The Baker Sisters. 

Their shared history and love for baking sparked the magical idea for Baking Wonderland:

“Growing up, we baked a lot with our mom, but the true catalyst for putting this book together was that we started recording short, silly baking videos for families stuck at home during the pandemic”. These videos, which can be found on YouTube under “Lettuce Bake,” showcased their humorous side. “We had a lot of fun, often wearing funny costumes like a giant banana and doing ridiculous things. Our kids thought we were hilarious.”  As they discovered what a delight it was to share recipes with young viewers, they just kept going. Before they knew it, they were doing virtual bakes for children at SickKids Hospital and other child-focused centers. 

To create Baking Wonderland, they kneaded together the joy, humour and practical instruction of these experiences with heaping spoonfuls of empowerment and adventure. In fact, during the creation process, the cookbook blossomed from an initial focus on cupcakes into a full-fledged, quintuple-threat baking odyssey. “We always knew that we wanted to create a mix and match cookbook,” they explain, “but by adding cookies, donuts, and cakes into the mix, the kids now have over 300 combinations to try, ultimately giving them the autonomy to create the dessert of their dreams!!” 

And Parker and Smith wanted more than just a collection of recipes: they aimed to create an immersive experience: “Baking Wonderland is set in a theme park, with five recipe sections: Cookieland, Cupcakeland, Donutland, Cakeland, and Wonderpark”. The book’s interactive design invites children to colour in certain illustrations and to read jokes and facts from cute wandering characters who appear throughout: “Essentially, through the design, we are encouraging our young bakers to go on an adventure and get lost in its pages.”

Certain recipes hold a special place in their hearts, like the 7th Street Chocolate Chip Cookie. The first recipe in the book, it is also the first recipe the sisters ever made with their mother. “She set up a station on the kitchen floor (so we wouldn’t fall off the counter) and we would happily stir in the chocolate chips and roll the cookie dough into little balls,” they share. “It’s named after the street we grew up on, and making it – even now – smells like home.”

And because of the sisters’ desire to make their child readers self-sufficient, the creation of Baking Wonderland proved to be as challenging as it was invigorating: “Writing recipe methods for kids is super hard. When you write for kids, you can not take a single word for granted!” During the writing process, Parker and Smith would dissect the language of their recipes and debate for hours with their editor minute questions. What would children perceive as a “big spoon”?’ When they described how to prepare a pan, would children understand what the word “line” means? 

They feel the time and effort were worth it: “As it is our dream for Baking Wonderland to be the go-to book for budding bakers, we needed to get it right (and we think we did).” With its November 14th release from Appetite (Penguin Random House), adventurous kids everywhere can see for themselves by donning their aprons, preheating their ovens, assembling their ingredients – and unleashing their creativity. 

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2023