San Antonio chef revives Italian deli as food truck

Nobody gets more excited for spooky season than a bunch of Texans who have been dealing with summer temps since about April. Starting this month streets may be lined with decorations, stores will be stocking up on candy, and television programming will undergo its yearly transformation, including the Food Network, which is featuring a San Antonian in this season's Halloween Baking Championship .

Staring next Monday, September 16, this baking competition show will task contestants with baking up spooky-themed dishes for a chance to win $25,000.

This is no Great British Baking Show, and you can expect the horrors of Halloween to seep into every detail, from episode titles like "Laboratory Story" and "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," to bakes decorated with tongues, eyeballs, noses, and toes. (All edible, of course.)

In fact, the entire show takes place in a haunted research lab where "the safety rating is Negative 35." Things rapidly deteriorate from episode to episode, so host John Henson enlists contestants to bake things like broken glass and bubbling desserts, inspired by the toxic mess. In each episode, their horrific treats are tasted and rated by costume-clad judges Carla Hall, Zac Young, and Stephanie Boswell.

This show is in its 10th season, and this year, professional chefs have been selected to compete from across North America. Two of this year's contestants, Manny Martinez and JL Hinojosa, are from San Antonio and Austin, respectively.

Manny Martinez is a "Cake Master" based out of San Antonio, where he specializes in realistic and gruesome cakes and chocolate sculptures. He started out in the field of special effects makeup, and these days, he makes spooky and scary treats for his pop-up bakery, The Grim Bakers.

His love for all things Halloween started when he was a kid, growing up at his grandmother's house. "She loved Halloween; it was always such a huge deal growing up," says Martinez. "It was this big celebration that we always had. It became tradition. As I grew up I never lost that love for Halloween because it was a part of my DNA at that point."

At first, this inspired Martinez to go to school for special effects makeup. When that proved to be a very expensive endeavor, he turned his attention toward his second passion: baking. This, too, was inspired by his time living with his grandmother.

"I spent a lot of time with my grandmother growing up... and she loved to bake. [She taught me how] because she wanted me to be self-sufficient and self-reliant, so we spent a lot of time together baking."

Early on, Martinez's love for special effects makeup, Halloween, and baking combined to form the breadcrumbs of his business today, The Grim Bakers, which specializes in creepy bakes. Picture realistic chocolate bust sculptures of Chucky, Pennywise, and Sam, topping a mini-cake dripping with delicious "blood." It was images like this on the Grim Baker's Instagram that got him noticed and involved in this season of Halloween Baking Championship.

"I was ecstatic," he says. "We were in awe that this would even be a possibility."

This was Martinez's first time being in front of the camera, rather than behind it as a special effects artist or baker. He describes the experience as "terrifying, at first," but after a couple of days he warmed up to the task, and discovered a hidden superpower on the show.

"I have ADHD, late-diagnosed in life," he says, "and it was kind of comforting — the chaotic environment. Because I leave things until the last minute all the time and then [I'm] just in it and everything is chaotic. And I thrive in that environment!"

Now that the show is about to air, Martinez is excited to relive the experience again, and share it with his close circle of friends and family. He's also excited to let people see the face behind The Grim Bakers on a national level, because right now they're working on nationwide shipping.

"Hopefully that will launch before Valentine's of next year," he teases.

JL Hinojosa is the pastry chef de partie at Austin's The Driskill Hotel — apparently one of the oldest and most haunted hotels in Texas. (Though Hinojosa says he's never had any "ghostly encounters" himself at the Driskill.)

He started baking when he was just a kid and he and his sisters got their first Easy Bake Oven. "I love chocolate, so I would bake the brownies and chocolate chip cookies," Hinojosa says. "I would also bake Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies for my family and would usually end up eating almost all the cookies, including some cookie dough that I would set aside for myself."

Hinojosa grew up to graduate from culinary school, constantly pushing himself to be better and better. In his latest challenge to himself, he agreed to participate in this season of Halloween Baking Championship.

"I felt like this was a perfect opportunity to challenge myself and put my pastry skills to the ultimate test. I also just wanted to make my family proud and wanted to represent Hispanic pastry chefs on a national stage," he says.

He has previous experience baking Halloween-themed desserts, so going on the show, Hinojosa had some tricks up his sleeve. Still, filming was "definitely nerve wrecking and a little scary" for Hinojosa.

"My anxiety was through the roof, making it more difficult to focus and plan what I was going to be working on," he says, "but the satisfaction and relief after finishing a baking challenge was the absolute best feeling."

Now that the show is about to air, Hinojosa is just "excited to be on freaking TV!" He adds, "it still doesn't seem real to me that this is happening, but I am so humbled and grateful for having gone through this experience."