By Candice Zhang

Although Jasmine Linton recently started her first year of the Baking and Pastry Arts Management program at George Brown College (GBC), she has already had her fair share of success in the pastry goods industry. 

While competing on season three of The Great Canadian Baking Show, Linton advanced to the quarterfinals as the youngest contestant; a milestone she says she will never forget.

“[Filming the show] was very exciting and not necessarily what I expected,” Linton said. “It was very different watching the show than actually competing.”

GBC student Jasmine Linton was a Great Canadian Baking Show quarterfinalist. (Geoff George, Courtesy CBC)

Ever since high school, Linton has enjoyed watching baking competitions. Her favourites were Hell’s Kitchen and Masterchef as both were intensive and challenging for the contestants. After discovering her passion for baking, Linton knew immediately that she wanted to pursue culinary arts. That being said, she first decided to enroll in a Criminology program at Carleton University. 

“I needed a degree first with steady income,” said Linton. “But as much as I loved criminology, I never thought much about the coursework in university since I love baking so much more.” 

Her passion for baking, however, was soon noticed by her close friends and peers. When auditions for The Great Canadian Baking Show were announced, her friends convinced her to apply. Linton took the advice and persisted throughout a gruelling application process. 

“The application process asked us about who we were as a person, just to see how we would interact with each other,” Linton said. “We talked about our favourite things to bake and our strengths. I even practiced at home and tried out a whole new bunch of recipes.” 

Linton says her appearance on the Great Canadian Baking Show has helped her prepare for her GBC courses. (Geoff George, Courtesy CBC)

The baking preparation efforts in her apartment room did eventually pay off in the show. But regardless of the results, Linton mostly reminisces about the people she met and the friendships she created with other contestants. 

“We all stayed in the same hotel together and we knew we would be coming back for the finales, [which was] around six weeks away,” she said. “We spent every single minute together when we weren’t sleeping; we would go shopping for materials and freak out about the cost of vanilla beans.” 

After her appearance on the show, Linton decided to take one step further towards her career in baking by enrolling in a related program at GBC. She wanted to learn about the best practices within the industry while exploring other recipes. Although the online delivery format is new, Linton says that the show has prepared her for the classes.

“We essentially do our skills class by watching demo videos with our chef and baking it. We send in pictures and get feedback, which is similar to how I prepped for the show. I just kind of miss working with huge industrial ovens, though.” 

Despite the pandemic’s effects on the pastry goods industry, Linton is optimistic about the future and strives to put her passion into use. Looking back at her progress in baking since high school, Linton continues to enjoy the process of making cakes from scratch. 

“I like both the artistic and scientific side of baking, and I am glad that I chose this path.”