Food Network 'Spring Baking Championship: Easter' features W. Hempstead bakery owner

A West Hempstead bakery owner competes in the new Food Network series "Spring Baking Championship: Easter," premiering Monday at 10 p.m.

Sydney Perry has operated the custom-cake specialist Sydney's Sweets with her business-partner husband, Jermaine Perry, since 2006 — first from their home while each worked demanding day jobs, and since August 2013 in a brick-and-mortar bakery on Hempstead Avenue. She competes on the six-episode series against seven other bakers including Brandon Ting, a pastry chef at New York's Michelin three-star restaurant Le Bernardin; and Brittany Lombardi, owner of Little Cake Baker, in the Bronx.

"It was a competition. Everybody was there to win. But at the same time," says Sydney Perry, 38, who lives in South Floral Park with her husband and their 9-year-old son Cameron, "everyone was sharing tips with each other and being really helpful and supportive. It was great. And we still have our group chat to this day."

Perry, who with her younger sister Selena baked with their mother each weekend while growing up in Jamaica, Queens, began baking as a serious hobby while earning a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She continued baking after work and on weekends even after starting at the professional-services giant PwC, formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers, and through subsequent stints at Newsweek and at ABC News.

"I would bake things and send a cake home to my parents" — now-retired registered nurse Leslie and appliance repairman Stan — and say, 'Oh, take it to work'. Or I would give it to the neighbors, because I didn't want to eat all of it. And eventually people started reaching out to me: 'Oh, I'm having a get-together. Do you think you could make me one of those cakes that your mom brought in? Oh, and tell me how much it costs.' And I wasn't even thinking about selling it. But I was, like, 'Maybe this could be something.' And it started from there, just word-of-mouth."

She initially utilized her kitchen in the multifamily house she and her husband own, later converting a second bedroom into a second kitchen. When baking for large events, they would rent the kitchen of an acquaintance's restaurant on a closed night. A website and social media followed, with the bakery's Instagram account now at 16,700 followers.

Husband Jermaine Perry, also 38, was working first as an environmental engineer and later as a marketing manager. But about a decade ago, says Sydney Perry, "It kind of clicked to him, like, 'Why don't we make this into our real business?' We found a place, signed the lease, and started renovating it. I had my son that May [2013] and we opened the [brick-and-mortar] bakery in August. And I still worked full-time [at ABC News] for 2½ years after we opened."

The couple had been approached previously about Sydney Perry appearing on a cooking competition, "but they were filming far away and we couldn't close for that amount of time," she says. Seeing that this new show would shoot in Long island City, Queens, she auditioned, was cast, and competed over the summer.

"We started with just making cakes that taste good. And what's ironic is all of these baking shows on TV is what got us into custom cakes, because people would see things on TV and say, 'Oh, I love how your cake tastes, but can you make it look like this thing?' So this is kind of full circle," she says happily, "finally being on one of these shows."

SAYVILLE CHEF Premiering at 8 p.m. the same night, Food Network's "Spring Baking Championship" season 8 features Sayville-born-and-raised Tom Smallwood, 33, now the Manhattan-based head of culinary development and training at Magnolia Bakery. The 2007 Sayville High graduate, whose parents live in Islip and whose uncle owns Jessen's Delicatessen in West Babylon, tells Newsday, "I still go to Long Island frequently to spend time with friends and family, and love going to Fire Island. We have the best beaches at our fingertips, so I am a frequent guest there."