Ashton Snyder and Emilio (Lio) Botello were discovered through their Instagram account. “Emilio and I were watching Big Little Lies when this happened,” says Snyder. “There was a DM to Sugar Daddy’s. It was a message from a producer who was interested in casting us for a Netflix show. We could not believe it.”
They’re competing on season two of Sugar Rush, a show where bakers go head-to-head in preparing the best sweets.
Snyder has been baking for years. He started making confections for friends in high school and then went on to study nutrition at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated in 2018 and has since worked in the kitchens at The Adolphus and Tart Bakery. A year and a half ago, he got with Emilio (Lio) Botello and the duo launched Sugar Daddy’s Cakery.
“I had this concept in mind since high school,” says Snyder. “I thought it was punny and it caters to the LGBTQ community.” The bakery specializes in cakes, cookies, cupcakes, macarons, and cake pops. And, according to Snyder, they’re known for their geode cakes.
Botello is the bakery manager and he oversees all of the social media while Snyder is responsible for the production of sweets. They work from home (they live together) unless there’s a large order—they use a commercial kitchen for those.
“We recently catered desserts for the Fourth of July party of Alyssa Edwards (Justin Johnson), a famous local drag queen, that was on two seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race. She has her own show on Netflix now, Dancing Queen,” says Botello.
Their episode airs on July 26.
“We’re really excited about it,” says Snyder.
