By Mary Colurso
Ellvie Smith knows exactly how to whip up delicious cakes, cupcakes, cookies and other sweet treats. At age 11, this Alabama girl can handle a stove, master a mixer and use decorating tools like a pro.
Ellvie, from Attalla, will show off her skills on reality TV in 2025, competing on “Kids Baking Championship.” She’ll make her debut on the Food Network series on Jan. 6, competing against 11 other young bakers.
“DREAM COME TRUE,” the girl said in posts on Facebook and Instagram. “I am going to be on Food Networks season 13 of Kids Baking Championship! It’s been a longtime dream of mine to be a part of Food Network. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would happen at just 10 years old!! I am so proud and excited to announce you can watch me and all of my new friends this season airing on January 6 at 7 p.m.!”
All 10 episodes of Season 13 were filmed in advance, before Ellvie turned 11, according to a publicist for the show. The winner of “Kids Baking Championship” will receive $25,000, along with bragging rights, and a feature in Food Network Magazine.
Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown will evaluate the contestants throughout the season, as they create yummy baked goods with animal themes. The challenges have been “inspired by creatures big and small, including a few fluffy, furry and feathery friends who drop in to the kitchen for live appearances over the course of the season,” the show’s website says. “From sea creatures to jungle dwellers to farm animals and more, the 12 kid bakers must craft creative and delicious animal-themed treats for a chance at winning the grand prize.”
The season opener, titled “Amazing Animals: Scales, Feathers, Fur and Fins,” has a jungle theme and includes “a gorgeous parrot named Chicken and a loveable cockatoo named Teva,” a press release says. “In the first challenge, the bakers must make an animal texture tart with creature-inspired features like scales, feathers, fur or fins, and an edible tail is a late-breaking twist the bakers must solve in a tasty and creative way.”
The two episodes that follow will ask the contestants to create macaron animals (meringue biscuits sandwiched with buttercream) in an edible habitat (Jan. 13), and double-tiered “Dog Man” cakes that include bacon as an ingredient (Jan. 20).
One contestant will be eliminated on each episode until three bakers remain, competing in a finale that’s set to air on March 3. All episodes are scheduled for Mondays at 7 p.m CT, and stream the following day on Max.
The March 3 finale features back-to-back episodes, as the remaining bakers start with “cookie animal houses complete with haystack cookies and an edible water trough” and finish the season with zoo-inspired cakes.
Along with Ellvie, the young bakers for Season 13 are:
- Pierce Sario of Atlanta, Georgia
- Brooklyn Barrett of Orlando, Florida
- Micah Parsons of Stephenville, Texas
- Ella Hayek of Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Aria Karayil of Danville, California
- Piper Lowe of Kansas City, Kansas
- Carter Siporin of Perkasie, Pennsylvania
- Carly Van Pelt of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
- Jack Whalen of West Richland, Washington
- Arielle Yang of Sandy, Utah
- Noah Azeez of Toronto, Canada
Ellvie is following in the footsteps of Brooke Waters, a Selma resident who competed on “Kids Baking Championship” in 2019, and Brooklyn Kyzar of Silverhill, who appeared on Season Six. You can see some of Ellvie’s kitchen creations — including cupcakes, cream puffs, muffins and a cherry tarte with toasted Swiss meringue — on her Facebook and Instagram pages, called Ellvie Bakes.
