For the young competitors on Food Network’s “Kids Baking Championship,” the show has been somewhat of a roller coaster.
There have been baking mishaps and time crunches. Being named the top baker at the end of an episode doesn’t keep you secure for long — in the following episode, that same baker may find themselves in the bottom two, and on the brink of elimination.
That was the situation for Arielle Yang, a sixth grade student at the Waterford School in Sandy, Utah. The 11-year-old baker — who has been named a top baker a few times throughout Season 13 — found herself in the bottom two during the most recent episode, which aired earlier this week.
But in the end, the show’s judges, Kardea Brown and Duff Goldman chose to keep her in the competition.
Now, Arielle is in the semifinals — one of four bakers still in the running for the $25,000 prize.
‘Kids Baking Championship’ Episode 8 recap
During the latest episode, the five remaining bakers were tasked with creating edible terrariums in the form of a trifle — decorated with an edible insect and flower on top.
Although it was her first time making a trifle, Arielle quickly got to work baking her dessert that included layers of chocolate cake, lemon mascarpone whipped cream and passion fruit diplomat cream. She made a bumblebee with yellow fondant, and took advantage of her strong piping skills to create pink roses. For her final touch, she sprinkled chocolate cookie crumbs on the top to resemble dirt.
The judges, Brown and Goldman, had mixed reactions about the final product.
Brown praised the trifle’s overall appearance — “Your roses are spot-on. I know adults that cannot pipe roses or flowers like that,” she said. “This is beautiful.”
But Goldman had significant criticism when it came to the dessert itself.
He noted that the proportions were off, with only a tiny layer of cake at the very bottom of the “terrarium.” He said he had to really dig through all of the cream to get to the cake, and wanted more of the cake in the trifle.
He also wasn’t sold on the flavors. While he praised the flavors of the cake and the mousse independently, he didn’t think they worked together.
Out of the five bakers in the episode, the judges placed Arielle in the bottom two. But they ultimately chose to eliminate 11-year-old Aria Karayil of California from the competition and kept Arielle in the top four.
What inspired Arielle to bake?
During the latest episode of “Kids Baking Championship,” Arielle’s piping abilities proved to be one of her strongest advantages. It’s also the skill that initially inspired her love for baking.
Over the years, the 11-year-old 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 previously told the Deseret News. “So I just kept baking new and different things, and I’d like to say I got better.”
Arielle had a couple of other advantages that helped her make it this far on the show.
The young baker said the competition’s theme this season, “Amazing Animals,” was a great fit for her because she is “definitely an animal person” — dogs and panda bears are her favorite.
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, she said, so even amid the stress of it all, she felt fairly relaxed.
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 previously told the Deseret News. “And it was also really surreal, because I saw the show on TV before. But to see it in real life was really cool.”
When is the ‘Kids Baking Championship’ semifinals and finale?
Following her near-elimination, Arielle is now competing alongside three other bakers in the semifinal, which airs March 3 at 9 p.m. MST on Food Network.
The season finale will air immediately after, and challenge the final three contestants to bake zoo-inspired cakes for a shot at the $25,000 prize.
Arielle said she already has a pretty clear plan for what she would do if she won the 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 — just making it on “Kids Baking Championship” was a major milestone.
“The show was such a fun experience,” she told the Deseret News. “I think it’ll give me memories that I’ll have forever.”