Cooking show victory sweet for Mauis Madame Donut | News, Sports, Jobs

Madame Donut of Donut Dynamite in Wailuku topped two other bakers on Tuesday’s episode of the Cooking Channel’s “Donut Showdown” and walked away with a $10,000 prize that she plans to invest in her business.

Madame Donut — which Desiree Parada prefers to be called and has registered as a legal name — her husband, Frank Parada, and about a dozen others gathered at Steel Horse Saloon on Lower Main Street to watch the 5 p.m. episode. The crowd broke out in cheers when Madame Donut was named the winner.

“My mom doesn’t even know,” she said.

The program pitted Madame Donut against bakers from Zombie Coffee & Donuts of Georgia and Scratch Baking Co. of Omaha, Neb., in time-limited challenges focusing on a backyard barbecue theme with secret ingredients.

In the first round, she had about 20 minutes to make doughnuts using the secret ingredient of beer. While one of the show’s judges called Madame Donut’s creation, a cheese doughnut with candied beer bits, “very greasy,” it was the team from Scratch Baking Co. that was eliminated.

The second round focused on the secret ingredient of chipotle. Given 90 minutes for this round, Madame Donut created a chipotle s’mores doughnut and a cornbread-chipotle doughnut topped with pineapple. The judges told Madame Donut that the pineapple-topped pastry “beautifully reflected you and your home state” and complimented her “mad skills” before naming her the episode’s winner.

After Tuesday’s broadcast, Madame Donut said that she thought she’d be going home after the first round.

“You’re always your worst critic,” she said.

She theorized that her success on the show “was based on flavor,” adding that the doughnuts she produced were so ugly she wouldn’t even serve them to her to friends.

With the win she’s been keeping for secret for months out in the open now, Madame Donut is thinking of the future and said that the prize money will be invested in her bakery, which opened in August at 1246 Lower Main St. in Wailuku.

“That’s the whole reason for doing” the show, she said.

* Leah Sherman can be reached at lsherman@mauinews.com.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rq3UoqWer6NjsLC5jqecsKtfobykrctmpZ6vo2R%2FcX2VaGhqZ5OkvKy1zaBkrKCfrHq3tcKtpquxXajEprHTZp2oql2irra10makmpyRorJusM6nrK1n