After three years of trying, a pair of Los Altos siblings have won KQED’s Science is a Piece of Cake bake-off.
Naiel Chaudry, a junior at Mountain View High School, and his sister Punhal Chaudry, a freshman at Mountain View, tied for first place at the competition, held last month in San Francisco.
“So, we’ve done the advanced round every single year, and the first year we did it, we won the People’s Choice category … but it wasn’t actually on the stage for the judges to vote,” Naiel said. “The second one, we got our cake on the stage for the judges to vote, and they tried it, but we didn’t win, and then, third time’s the charm, so we ended up winning.”
Punhal added that she was surprised when the winners were announced.
“I thought it wasn’t going to be (us),” Punhal said. “I didn’t want to keep my hopes high because then I would look sad, but I was super happy.”
The Chaudrys, co-owners of Lá Jawab Treats, didn’t initially agree on what kind of cake to make for the contest, which isn’t an ordinary bake-off. The annual event highlights different fields of science through cake creations. This year’s competition focused on marine biology.
Naiel and Punhal participated in the advanced round, requiring contestants to create a kelp forest-themed cake. Judges assessed them on their cake’s appearance, taste, the scientific accuracy of their marine life and their incorporation of the kelp forest.
To prepare, Naiel and Punhal said they researched San Francisco Bay marine life before brainstorming their cake design over a long weekend in Half Moon Bay.
“I was just writing on the note card that you get in the hotel room,” Naiel said, “so I was just thinking about different ideas. I just tried to think of the most crazy ideas ever.”
After some sibling banter, the siblings said they settled on making a levitating-style cake with the Golden Gate Bridge resting on the top layer as a researcher drifted underneath. One of the judges complimented the Chaudrys on recognizing humans as part of the ecosystem.
They hoped their ambitious design – also featuring a vibrant sunflower sea star on the top tier and a gray whale resting on the bottom tier – would separate themselves from the competition.
“For the last few years, we’ve gotten close to placing and then closer,” Naiel said. “So, this one was, we felt like, the time to go above and beyond, do the craziest cake we’ve ever made to try to win because, of course, our goal was winning first place.”
But not everything went according to plan. On the day of competition, Naiel said the whale meant to connect the tiers cracked down the middle. Thinking on their feet, he and Punhal rearranged the cake, placing the whale on its side with a rod disguised as kelp connecting the tiers and the rest of the day continued without issue.
The advanced category included 10 entries and Punhal said the competition was fierce.
“One person said that she spent 50 hours on her cake, so that’s really hard competition,” she said.
With the bake-off behind them, the Chaudrys are now more focused on their business. Lá Jawab Treats specializes in Asian American fusion treats, which they sell online and at farmers markets. Since Naiel’s success on the Food Network’s 11th season of “Kids Baking Championship” in 2023, Lá Jawab has served more than 800 clients, according to its website.
For more information on Lá Jawab Treats, visit lajawabtreats.com. To watch a video of the KQED’s Science is a Piece of Cake bake-off, visit tinyurl.com/KQEDbake.
