Arts & Entertainment
Sean Allen, Cake Buzz to Appear on 'Supermarket Superstar'
Sean Allen's liqueur-infused dessert business, called Cake Buzz, will be featured on Lifetime's Supermarket Superstar.
This article was reported and written by contributor Erika Maldonado.
The night before auditioning for Lifetime’s competition series Supermarket Superstar, Sean Allen lay awake, unable to sleep. He was unemployed after being laid off from his job as a longshoreman at the Port of Long Beach. He lost his house and his car, and he was in debt.
His dream of launching his liqueur-infused cake business nationally was fading.
“I thought to myself, 'If nothing happens with this, then I’m done,'” said Allen, a Redondo Beach resident since 1995.
Allen stayed at the hotel where auditions were taking place to make sure he was one of the first to meet the producers, who are the same folks behind Project Runway. With bloodshot eyes and a Red Bull in his system, he gave it his all.
It worked.
His line of liquor-infused desserts, Cake Buzz, created enough buzz to earn him one of three spots on the Lifetime series.
Since the audition last August, he’s found work again as a longshoreman. He also trains as a body builder. And when he isn’t working at the port or weightlifting at the gym, he’s baking and dreaming up new recipes for his menu of more than 500 cakes for Cake Buzz.
Clara Belle and Cake Buzz
Allen first dreamed up Cake Buzz during a period of depression following the death of his mother, Clara Belle, in 2005. He grew up watching in the kitchen; she taught him to cook a four-course meal by the time he was in eighth grade.
“My mother was a high-quality kind of woman,” Allen said. “She always made good cakes, and I’ve always liked to drink socially, so I thought up this idea.”
He started off by combining a pound cake and rum cake recipe and adding frosting to it. Eight years later, his peach cobbler—which he describes as a peach-flavored hot tottie—is a customer favorite.
As a contestant on Supermarket Superstar, Allen has the chance to win $10,000, develop his product with a leading food and beverage innovation company, and launch his brand nationally in a major grocery store chain.
During the long hours of taping for Supermarket Superstar, he was constantly thinking about his mom. He wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for her, he said.
“Of course I want to get out of debt," Allen said. “But my top priority is to see my mom’s initials memorialized in every grocery store across the country.”
Right now, Allen operates his business solely through online orders and delivery. However, he hopes to be able to open a store in the future.
Watch Sean Allen on Supermarket Superstar at 10 p.m. July 22 on Lifetime.
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