WC Wisconsin News

The La Crosse bakery owner who earlier this month won her third Food Network holiday competition received praise from her district's long-time Congressional representative.

Democrat and La Crosse native U.S. Rep. Ron Kind took to Twitter to congratulate the owner of Meringue Bakery in La Crosse on her win on the most recent season of the Food Network's "Holiday Wars."

"Congratulations to #WI03's own Jen Barney on becoming a three-time Food Network champion!" Kind said in his Twitter post.

Kind, who has represented Wisconsin House District 3 since 1997, announced in August that he will not seek re-election next year.

Barney and her team during the Holiday Wars took home $25,000, according to a Dec. 20 News 8000 news story. Barney previously won a season of the Holiday Baking Championship and of the Holiday Baking Championship Homecoming Special.

"Have you heard?" Barney said in a video posted to her bakery's Facebook page Dec. 20. "We won Holiday Wars on Food Network. Gosh, I'm so excited you guys. This was a really tough win."

Barney was part of "Team Dough Angels" with Asia Coffee, an interior designer from the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis, and Ramon Camacho, pastry chef and cake artist at Bubu's Cakes & More in Winter Haven, Florida.

Barney's team winning entry was chosen by Holiday Wars' "Dream Team" host Maneet Chauhan and judges Shinmin Lee and Aarti Sequeria.

Barney studied at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and started her baking career as a wedding cake decorator, according to her bio at Meringue Bakery's website. Barney still produces her specialty wedding cakes but also makes fresh pastries, as well as Meringue Bakery’s Café's selection of sandwiches, soups, salads and beverages.

In her video, Barney said she and her Team Dough Angels teammates "definitely felt like the underdogs" during this year's Holiday Wars.

"I feel like on this final episode, the stars just aligned," Barney said. "We understood the challenge and, at this point, we really had a grasp on what the judges were looking for and I felt like we just checked, checked, checked, checked, checked all the boxes. And I think a lot of luck came into it, too."