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Torre Liebchen and Michelle Micek, the co-founders of Wish Upon a Pastry in Midland Park, are on the latest season of FOX's "Crime Scene Kitchen" hosted by Joel McHale.
The second season premiered on Monday, June 5.
On "Crime Scene Kitchen," chefs arrive at the scene of a crime- a kitchen that was just used to make a dessert that has disappeared. The chef teams of two must scour the kitchen for clues and ingredients to figure out what was baked.
Then they have to attempt to duplicate the recipe for the judges, chef Curtis Stone and cake artist Yolanda Gampp. Each week, a team is set home. The winning team wins $100,000.
Liebchen and Micek had just opened Wish Upon a Pastry last year when they decided to answer a casting notice. They were only given a couple weeks notice before they found out they were on the show and flown to Atlanta, and they had to keep almost everything a secret.
"It was a little bit wild," Micek said. "We didn't know where were we going or how long we were going to be away. It was super stressful."
Adding to the stress was being forced to close their bakery and not fulfill orders during a busy season. The taping schedule meant they were unable to make custom cakes, cookies and cupcakes for Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduations.
"That time of year is generally our busiest time," Micek, who estimates she made 400 custom sugar cookies alone this week, said. "We realized this is the first year at Wish Upon a Pastry we got to celebrate Easter."
The pair came prepared, having watched the first season of "Crime Scene Kitchen" and also researching their fellow contestants, who had been on other food reality shows, to see what they were most likely to make. They also said McHale was great to work with.
"Joel is wonderful," Liebchen said. "He took care of the talent and really looked out for us. If there was a long day of filming, he would go out of his way to make sure we had food."
Trying to figure out what the recipe was involved a lot of second guessing, since producers want contestants to keep talking out their hypotheses.
"It got us nervous," Liebchen said. "If you think you figure it out, you still have 90 minutes where you have to talk about it. Initially, you're 70 percent sure, but after going through 800 different hypotheticals, you're now only 30 percent sure."
Liebchen and Micek hope the show brings their business some exposure and while they can't say how they did, they plan on putting the $100,000 to good use if they win.
"We would put it toward buying a house so we can start a family," Micek said. "We have two dogs and we'd like to give them a backyard."
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