Series synopsis
Kids Baking Championship is an American reality television series that premiered on Food Network on February 2, 2015. It ended on March 3, 2025. It stars Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman.
Hosts and judges Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli will lead eight talented kid bakers through challenges designed to find the most-impressive and creative young baker. In each challenge the contestants, ranging in age from 10 to 13, will be tested on their baking skills and originality as they whip up delectable desserts, including creative cakes, mouthwatering cookies and pastries.
Premise
Hosts and judges Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli will lead eight talented kid bakers through challenges designed to find the most-impressive and creative young baker. In each challenge the contestants, ranging in age from 10 to 13, will be tested on their baking skills and originality as they whip up delectable desserts, including creative cakes, mouthwatering cookies and pastries.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Valerie Bertinelli as Self - Host
- Duff Goldman as Self - Host
Episodes
This series spans 14 seasons with 135 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 16 | September 26, 2019 | December 2, 2024 |
| Season 1 | 4 | February 2, 2015 | February 23, 2015 |
| Season 2 | 8 | January 4, 2016 | February 22, 2016 |
| Season 3 | 10 | January 2, 2017 | March 6, 2017 |
| Season 4 | 10 | January 1, 2018 | March 5, 2018 |
| Season 5 | 7 | August 6, 2018 | September 17, 2018 |
| Season 6 | 10 | January 7, 2019 | March 11, 2019 |
| Season 7 | 7 | August 5, 2019 | September 16, 2019 |
| Season 8 | 10 | January 6, 2020 | March 2, 2020 |
| Season 9 | 10 | December 28, 2020 | February 22, 2021 |
| Season 10 | 10 | December 27, 2021 | February 28, 2022 |
| Season 11 | 10 | December 26, 2022 | February 27, 2023 |
| Season 12 | 13 | September 25, 2023 | February 26, 2024 |
| Season 13 | 10 | January 6, 2025 | March 3, 2025 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Tricks and Treats Four fan-favorite kid bakers return for a Halloween-themed competition and battle it out for a baker's dream prize package that includes a blast chiller. The kids enter the kitchen to find Duff Goldman stuck in a spider web! After that initial surprise, he and Valerie Bertinelli challenge the bakers to embrace seemingly scary arachnids in the form of spider web desserts. |
September 26, 2019 |
| 2 | Halloween Baking | October 5, 2018 |
| 3 | Extra Icing: Baking with Bacon | January 4, 2019 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Bake Sale Kicking off the Kids Baking Championship, the kid bakers work to serve up two delicious signature items for a bake sale. |
February 2, 2015 |
| 2 |
Dessert Imposters In this challenge, the kid bakers are asked to create dessert imposters — a sweet treat masquerading as a savory item. How convincingly will the bakers be able to make delicious sweets that look like tacos and bagels? |
February 9, 2015 |
| 3 |
Stuffed Puffs The kid bakers are hard at work creating the dough and delicious fillings for their stuffed puffs, when Duff and Valerie announce a savory twist. |
February 16, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pie A La Mode | January 4, 2016 |
| 2 | Eclairs Gone Wild | January 11, 2016 |
| 3 | Hot Chocolate | January 18, 2016 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Life Is a Carnival The carnival is in town for the Kids Baking Championship kick off! It's a thrill ride when Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman ask the 12 best kid bakers in the country to create carnival-themed cupcakes and incorporate carnival treats like kettle corn, frozen bananas and cotton candy. |
January 2, 2017 |
| 2 | I Lava Volcano | January 9, 2017 |
| 3 | Comfort Food Dessert Imposters | January 16, 2017 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Cookielicious Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli throw a curve ball at the 12 kid bakers by asking them to make layered, tiered, stacked and beautifully decorated cookie cakes. |
January 1, 2018 |
| 2 |
Pizza For Dessert Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman have a special challenge boxed up and ready to deliver to the 11 kid bakers; the kids have to get creative to turn pizza into a sweet treat by creating dessert pizzas. |
January 8, 2018 |
| 3 |
Lemon BFFs Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli celebrate her favorite flavor, lemon, by challenging the 10 kid bakers to create lemon bar BFF desserts that highlight lemon and some of its best flavor friends. |
January 15, 2018 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Selfieclairs A new group of kid bakers introduce themselves via delicious "selfieclairs"; using a selfie as inspiration, the bakers create eclairs in assigned flavors and then decorate them to serve as a pate a choux pastry introduction. |
August 6, 2018 |
| 2 |
Defying Gravity Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli challenge the kid bakers to make magic by creating a cake with a gravity-defying illusion on it. |
August 13, 2018 |
| 3 |
Ice Screamers In a moment of serendipity, Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli create an ice cream sandwich with a doughnut … which gives them a great idea! The kid bakers will have to turn unexpected baked items like waffles, blondies and cupcakes into outrageous ice cream sandwiches. |
August 20, 2018 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Bakin' With Bacon Duff Goldman's favorite ingredient is revealed in the season's kick-off challenge -- bacon cupcakes. |
January 7, 2019 |
| 2 |
Spots and Stripes Forever The young bakers are challenged to create mini cheesecakes with colorful animal prints, from tiger and zebra stripes, to leopard and giraffe spots. |
January 14, 2019 |
| 3 |
Brownies vs. Blondies The 10 young bakers are split into teams for the brownies vs. blondies challenge. |
January 21, 2019 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Splatter Up! The nine young bakers are challenged to make colorful splatter-art cakes. |
August 5, 2019 |
| 2 |
Desserts to the Rescue Bakers make cupcakes based on movie characters that live on an edible island. |
August 12, 2019 |
| 3 |
I Doughnut Know What to Think! The seven young bakers use Bundt cake pans to make giant doughnut cakes. |
August 19, 2019 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Beyond the Fringe To kick off the season, Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman are going back to the 1970s as they challenge the 12 young competitors to make shag cakes. Each baker must make a cake in their chosen flavor and then decorate it to create a shag texture. Groovy, man! |
January 6, 2020 |
| 2 |
1, 2, 3 Delicious! Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the 11 young bakers to create assigned Neapolitan desserts featuring chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. |
January 13, 2020 |
| 3 |
Sammy Whammy It's the most anticipated episode of the season — dessert impostors! Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the remaining 10 bakers to create desserts that look like sandwiches. Order up! |
January 20, 2020 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Flying Colors Hosts and judges Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman embrace the brushstroke decorating trend by asking the 12 young bakers to create colorful and delicious brushstroke mini cheesecakes. |
December 28, 2020 |
| 2 |
Garden of Eatin' Garden-themed decorating is gaining in popularity, so Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman challenge the 11 young bakers to create garden cakes decorated with actual fruits, herbs and other natural ingredients -- no glitter, sprinkles or fondant allowed. |
December 28, 2020 |
| 3 |
Party in the Sky What's that beautiful arc of color in the sky? It's a rainbow! For this challenge, Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman task the 10 young bakers with working in teams to create vibrant and dazzling cupcake rainbows. |
January 4, 2021 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Float Like a Butterfly To kick off this special season featuring the youngest cast ever, hosts and judges Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman ask the 12 kid bakers to pay homage to the brilliant transformation of the butterfly by making colorful carved butterfly cakes. After judging, one baker leaves the competition. |
December 27, 2021 |
| 2 |
Everything but the Kitchen Sink The Kids Baking Championship snack mine is the inspiration for this week's challenge as hosts and judges Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman ask the 11 young bakers to use three snack items -- potato chips, pretzels and chocolate candies -- in one delicious kitchen sink dessert. In the end, one baker goes home. |
January 3, 2022 |
| 3 |
Dessert Rivals In the grand tradition of dessert rivalries, hosts and judges Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman divide the 10 kid bakers into two teams for a good old-fashioned chocolate vs. peanut butter throwdown. To up the stakes, the winner of the challenge will earn immunity from elimination for their entire team! After the dust settles, one baker from the losing team is eliminated. |
January 10, 2022 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Biz Kids: Great First Impressions First impressions are everything in the business world, so Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman kick off the competition by giving the kid bakers free rein to show off their bestselling dessert using the psychology of color. Smart owners choose brand colors that highlight the most important aspects of their business, and one young baker is left feeling blue at elimination time. |
December 26, 2022 |
| 2 |
Biz Kids: Smashing Success A successful business often captures the public's attention with a unique product or a new spin on familiar things. Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli challenge the biz bakers to tantalize their customers by combining two sweet treats into one dessert mash-up, such as Cheesecake and Eclairs, Pecan Pie and Donuts, Brownies and Tiramisu, and more. In the end, one baker is eliminated. |
January 2, 2023 |
| 3 |
Biz Kids: Logo-A-Gogo All businesses need a logo, so Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman task the biz bakers with putting their own design on a logo cake. The kids will go head-to-head in a team challenge that finally decides which cake flavor is better, chocolate or vanilla. The winning cake earns immunity for their whole team, and one baker from the losing team is sent home. |
January 9, 2023 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Bloodcurdling Bakes Duff Goldman and Sam Seneviratne invite four fan-favorite kid bakers to their haunted Halloween kitchen and challenge them to create cemetery fault line cakes inspired by candy bars. What isn't scary is the $10,000 prize package that goes to the winner! |
September 25, 2023 |
| 2 |
Sweets-Giving Kid bakers make Turkey Day buttercream boards for a $10,000 prize package! |
November 12, 2023 |
| 3 |
Reindeer Games Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown bring the merriment when four unforgettable kid bakers return for the holidays to make reindeer cakes with 3D antlers. The winning baker takes home all the gifts in the $10,000 prize package of seasonal baking tools. |
November 27, 2023 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Amazing Animals: Scales, Feathers, Fur and Fins There's a gorgeous parrot and loveable cockatoo in the kitchen, because this season is all about animals! For the kickoff challenge, hosts and judges Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown ask the 12 bakers to create an animal texture tart decorated with creature-inspired features like scales, feathers, fur or fins. Then, for a twist, the kitchen whiz kids must add an edible version of their animal's tail to their dessert. |
January 6, 2025 |
| 2 |
Amazing Animals: Macaronimals Hosts and judges Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown have noticed that a particular dessert can be easily shaped into animals like a turtle, a panda or a frog ... but the dessert itself can be tricky. So, for the macaron animals challenge, Duff shows the kid bakers how to create a silky smooth macaron batter before baking time starts. Then, since the animal macarons need a place to rest, the bakers must give their animals an edible habitat to hang out in. |
January 13, 2025 |
| 3 |
Amazing Animals: Doggone Good Dog Man is half police officer and half dog, and the animated movie "Dog Man" is all about him. So, for this challenge, hosts and judges Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown pair up the 10 bakers to create two-tiered Dog Man cakes! One team member creates a dog head for the top tier, and their teammate makes the human bottom tier of the cake. For a twist, the bakers must incorporate an ingredient that all dogs (and humans) love -- bacon! |
January 20, 2025 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Food Network |
|---|---|
| First aired | February 2, 2015 |
| Last aired | March 3, 2025 |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Monday at 20:00:00 |