Alumna Tests Her Baking Prowess in The Great American Baking Show
A fan of The Great British Bake Off and Food Network from an early age, Saint Louis University alumna Becca Cary (A&S ’20) already holds the honorific of 'that baker friend,' among her inner circle. Now, she has a chance at a new title, as one of eight contestants on the fourth season of The Great American Baking Show.
Starting May 11, fans can watch the Roku Channel to see Cary compete on the popular show, an adaptation of The Great British Bake Off. Both versions are filmed in England under the iconic white tent that has served as the primary backdrop for the baking competition since 2014.
“I got chills stepping into the same English tent that I’ve watched for the past 10 years,” she said. “This is happening, I thought. It was surreal.”
When Cary received the phone call seven weeks before filming began that she had been chosen as one of eight contestants on the show, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she said. It was the second time she had applied to compete. The first was in 2024, and when she wasn’t selected, she told herself she would try again, which she did in 2025. She made the cut but was sworn to secrecy for several months until the trailer was released on April 23 of this year.
“I got the ‘yes’ I was working for,” Cary said. And during the experience, she also got a taste of television production.
Being in front of the camera wasn’t intimidating for Cary. She was involved in theater as a child and, at 12, launched her own YouTube channel that is now called “Becca Fortune: Hosting, Lifestyle, Travel, Food.” Earning her degree in communication from SLU and working at an ad agency sharpened her listening skills and her ability to take feedback and incorporate it into her work, which was helpful during the judging of her creations, she said. The challenge lay in creating several new recipes and baking them all perfectly within the time constraints.
Cary credits SLU’s “Higher Purpose. Greater Good.” mindset and her study-abroad semester at SLU-Madrid for opening her eyes to attempting new experiences like this one and helping her balance the show’s competition with having fun, she said.
“Going to Madrid gave me confidence and the ability to see the good in all people and strive toward the best version of myself, Cary said. “During the show’s stressful filming, I looked at the bigger picture and how proud I was to be selected. I realized there was nothing to lose.”
Making lifelong friends who cheered one another on throughout the competition was another benefit of being on the show, she said, especially when those accomplished bakers agreed to create the dessert table for Cary’s wedding in October.
With the filming behind her and her wedding approaching, Cary is ready to see where her next chapter takes her.
“It’s not the end of my baking journey,” she said. “I am open to more opportunities.”
Connecting Students and Alumni
In addition to YouTube, Cary is active on several other social media platforms. Her recent LinkedIn post announcing that she would be appearing on The Great American Baking Show caught the eye of Keli Jackson, an assistant professor and internship coordinator in SLU’s Department of Communication who follows many recent communication graduates.
“I immediately reached out to see if she’d be open to sharing her experience for a post on the communication department’s socials,” Jackson said. “Hearing from recent grads like Becca is so valuable for our current students: it helps them see how many interesting and unexpected paths are possible after SLU, especially because our communication graduates work in such diverse fields. Though I’m biased, we have terrific alumni who graciously and generously give their time to our students.”
Claire Davis (A&S ’26), a graduate of the communication program, conducted the interview with Cary and created the department's social media posts.
“It was such a fun experience to talk to someone who was in the same position as me six years ago and is now killing it in every sense!” Davis said. “It was especially neat that Becca is a SLU communication graduate, because it’s exciting common ground to share, and I usually don’t get that experience. Learning about what she has done post-graduation and getting some advice was extremely valuable and just what I needed to hear.”
How to Watch
All episodes of season four of The Great American Baking Show, featuring contestant Becca Cary (A&S ’20), will air on the Roku Channel May 11. Baking fans can follow Cary on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube at: @becca_fortune.