She’s only 11, but Arielle Yang considers herself to be the best baker in her family — by a long shot.

Over the years, Arielle would watch her mom bake birthday cakes and cupcakes for her, and she wouldn’t be able to resist helping out. Eventually, her mom taught her how to pipe a rosette. That led Arielle down a rabbit hole, watching video after video of bakers piping flowers. And then she decided to give it her best effort.

“They were really floppy and kind of messy, and honestly, just not the best, but it sparked an interest in baking that I’d never had before,” she recently told the Deseret News. “So I just kept baking new and different things, and I’d like to say I got better.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Arielle, who is a sixth grade student at the Waterford School in Sandy, Utah, is one of 12 bakers competing on the newest season of Food Network’s “Kids Baking Championship,” which premiered Monday night.

While on vacation with her family in Hawaii, Arielle took a few minutes to chat about the competition. She couldn’t reveal the outcome, but she did say this much: “I think I worked well under pressure.”

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Arielle Yang shines in ‘Kids Baking Championship’ premiere

Arielle is off to a really great start on “Kids Baking Championship.” In the premiere episode — which challenged the 12 bakers to create animal texture tarts decorated with features like scales, feathers fur or fins — the 11-year-old emerged as the top baker with her chameleon-themed tart.

While judges Kardea Brown and Duff Goldman complimented all of the bakers for their efforts, nearly every kid also received some constructive criticism.

In Arielle’s case, the judges couldn’t find much to critique. They praised the colors and flavors of her chameleon — she included a lime pastry cream and Swiss meringue buttercream scales, with a peanut butter cookie for her tail.

Goldman said he doubted there was any butter left in the fridge because she appeared to have used it all for her crust — and that was a compliment.

“She did a really great job,” Brown said as Arielle walked away. “That’s art.”

At the end of the episode, the judges revealed that Arielle was the top baker, whose work stood out for its “deliciousness and execution.”

Next week’s episode will challenge the 11 remaining bakers to create animal-shaped macarons.

‘I’m on TV!’

Arielle had seen a few episodes of the competition — the show is in its 13th season — but when she found out she was going to be competing, she underwent a “Kids Baking Championship” marathon of sorts.

She studied the episodes and had two major takeaways: You have to know your stuff, and you need to be good at managing your time (baking challenges on the show involve time limits).

The time limit was a big challenge for Arielle, but she came onto the show with a few advantages.

The competition’s theme this season is “Amazing Animals,” and Arielle said she is “definitely an animal person” — dogs and panda bears are her favorite. She also really loves baking cake, and gets a thrill out of experimenting with different flavors and decorations.

But perhaps her biggest advantage was her ability to handle the stress of a televised competition. Baking has always been an activity that calms her down, so even amid the stress of it all, she felt fairly relaxed.

"Kids Baking Championship" hosts Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown taste contestant Arielle Yang's tart. | Rob Pryce

During filming, under the pressure of the judges and the cameras and the time limits, Arielle said she was proud of herself for baking new things and trying out new techniques in the kitchen.

“At first I was really nervous, but I was also really excited, too, because my brain was like, ‘I’m on TV!’” she said. “And it was also really surreal, because I saw the show on TV before. But to see it in real life was really cool.”

For Arielle, the best part of competing was meeting her fellow young bakers. The 12 contestants hail from 11 states and Toronto, Canada, and Arielle now calls many of them her friends.

It was nice, she said, to bond over a passion for baking with kids her age.

‘Memories that I’ll have forever’

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The 10 episodes of “Kids Baking Championship” will air each Monday through March 3, culminating in a season finale that features the final three contestants baking zoo-inspired cakes for a shot at the $25,000 prize.

Arielle already has a pretty clear plan for what she would do with that money. She would save most of it for college, and spend some on “whatever she wants.” The rest, she said, would go toward improving her baking skills.

But whether or not she wins, the 11-year-old has already come a long way. She’s already firmly established herself as the professional baker in her family. And just making it on “Kids Baking Championship” — she said she had her doubts she’d get accepted — was a major milestone.

“The show was such a fun experience,” she said. “I think it’ll give me memories that I’ll have forever.”

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