Local Chef Takes TV Challenge, Makes an Edible 'Sugar' Dress

Cue the "Mission: Impossible" music: "Bum, bum, bum-bum, bum, bum..."

"Good morning, Chef Chlebana. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a 'tres chic' couture dress -- complete with accessories -- in just seven hours. Your only ingredient: sugar. You'll have just one hour to transport it across town and set it up on a mannequin in a department store window. Your reward, should you succeed, $10,000."

Did Chef Andy Chlebana, a Plainfield resident and baking/pastry instructor at Joliet Junior College, complete his mission? He did, indeed. But if you want to find out if he took home the $10,000 prize, you'll have to watch the "Food Network Challenge" show at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Chlebana, 35, was one of four "sugar artists" chosen to compete on the program, which every week presents culinary experts with seemingly impossible tasks in which the winner collects a cash reward.

The show taped in Denver the week prior to Thanksgiving, and he was given just a few weeks' notice as to what challenge he'd be asked to undertake. He was allowed to work with his assistant, Heather Schreiner, and to bring his own baking equipment and whatever supplies he would need, he said.

Although Chlebana is prohibited from saying whether he won, there are no limitations on talking about what all it took to create what he calls a "kaleidoscope" dress made up of multiple bright colors.

"I can tell you that it's short and backless," he said, laughing. "(I had to) get in touch with my feminine side. It's a very sexy dress."

He was allowed to build it on top of a corset-style foundation, but otherwise the size 0 gown is made out of nothing but sugar, including some that was melted into a clear lollipop-style glaze and some made in a process similar to glass-blowing, he said. It's completely edible, as are the bracelet, clutch purse and other accessories he designed to complete the ensemble for "Agnes," the name his JJC students gave his model, er, mannequin.

"We did a test to see how it would look on a small section of the dress and if we could do it in such a small amount of time," Chlebana said.

Chlebana was up against one television newcomer like himself and two pastry chefs who have appeared on the Food Network show previously, including the woman who was his instructor and mentor when he was learning how to work with sugar, he said.

"When I saw her name on the list ... I thought, this is going to be tough," he said. "But it was really fun to go up against her."

Chlebana, who's married and has four children ranging in age from 3 to 8, said he's competed in sugar and baking events before and he's attempted to land spots on cooking shows previously, but without success. It was an old roommate who nominated him for this one, and the show's producers asked to supply photos of his work as well as an audition tape, which he made with the assistance of his students.

In it, he's tied to a chair and "forced" to talk about himself and his skills (see the video that accompanies this story).

In the contest, competitors had just seven hours to put together their creation. The bigger challenge, however, was how to transport it across town and then assemble it in a downtown Denver store window -- all in one hour, Chlebana said.

They ended up building the dress in pieces, the largest of which went into a box made for the occasion by assistant Schreiner's father. There were a few problems -- "Sugar doesn't bend," he said -- but nothing that couldn't be repaired.

Chlebana said he's glad the show is finally going to air because it's been tough keeping the secret on whether or not he won.

"We've been waiting and waiting," he said, with a laugh.