CONWAY — In December of last year, McKenzly Sandefer of Conway sent an application video to the Food Network in hopes of getting an opportunity to compete on “Kids Baking Championship.” In the weeks leading up to it, she would dream about getting her acceptance letter but never thought it would come true.
“I didn’t think I would actually make it [onto the show],” McKenzly said. “It was like a dream come true.”
McKenzly, who recently turned 12, is one of 12 competitors on the latest season of “Kids Baking Championship” on the Food Network. The 10-episode season premiered Dec. 28 with back-to-back episodes.
“It was awesome knowing that I had made it out of the thousands of kids who applied,” McKenzly said. “It was pretty cool.”
She sent in her application last year, and by February, she had received an email saying the producers needed more photos of her desserts. She said there were lots of Zoom meetings and Skype calls and an eventual boot camp, where three other potential contestants were cut. The grand prize for the competition is $25,000 and a spot in Food Network Magazine.
“‘Kids Baking Championship’ has become a family favorite, showcasing mini bakers with major skills, and now the bakers’ families are included on the new season,” Food Network President Courtney White said in a press release from the network. “The bakers’ parents’ reactions from backstage add a new element of excitement to this action-packed competition.”
Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Conway, McKenzly’s home church, hosted a watch party for the two-episode premiere, where guests were treated to McKenzly’s homemade cupcakes. She said about 75 people attended, and everyone wore a mask and sat in the auditorium for proper social distancing.
McKenzly said she has watched “Kids Baking Championship” episodes at least twice “because they are super fun to watch.”
“When I was 10, I attended a camp at Pulaski Tech in Little Rock, and that’s when I started getting serious about baking,” McKenzly said, “but I would always be helping my mom or grandma bake cookies.
“I enjoy being creative and coming up with my own designs, and with baking, there is not a limit to how creative you can be.”
She said one of her favorite desserts to make is her chocolate cupcakes because they are like “heaven in a pan, and everyone loves them.”
“She also makes some really good lemon bars,” said her mom, Jeri Lynn Sandefer. “I’m a huge chocolate fan, so anytime she makes a chocolate cake or cupcake, I’m all about eating that.”
Jeri Lynn accompanied McKenzly to California for the taping of the show, which took place in August.
“With COVID-19, we weren’t allowed to bring the whole family,” Jeri Lynn said. “She could only bring one traveling parent, and my role was as her hairdresser. We got to have a room to ourselves, so that was really nice for both of us.”
McKenzly, who attends Carl Stuart Middle School in Conway, said she enjoys math and science because a lot of those elements translate to baking.
Jeri Lynn said McKenzly has always been into watching baking shows and baking videos, but it wasn’t until her summer between third and fourth grades did her interest in baking really spiked.
She said one of McKenzly’s writing teachers told Jeri Lynn that McKenzly would always write about her future bake shop or how she made up recipes.
“It took us a minute to realize that this was something she was really interested in,” Jeri Lynn said.
McKenzly said she hopes to one day open her own shop and call it “Little Miss Sweet Tooth,” but she isn’t completely sold on the name just yet.
“Whenever she applied for the show, I just figured she would get a blanket email that said, ‘Maybe next time,’ or ‘Thank you for applying,’ because we know that hundreds of kids from all over the United States apply for this show,” Jeri Lynn said. “Whenever we got the response in February, we were in shock. It was so amazing.”
Jeri Lynn said several people have told her they have applied multiple times and haven’t gotten on the show, so to be selected on the first try was pretty incredible.
“I have enjoyed watching her go through that journey and the pressure that comes with it,” Jeri Lynn said. “She did really well with that. We are just so proud of her.”
Episodes of the show can be watched at 8 p.m Mondays, with the two-episode finale scheduled for Feb. 15.
“I really enjoyed making a lot of friends and building good relationships with some of the competitors,” McKenzly said. “I got to meet people with the same passion that I have.
“We would go and hang out at the pool and at the beach and all have a lot of ice cream together.”
McKenzly said she also likes to play the piano and spend time outdoors with her family.
“I also enjoy going to the beach,” she said. “Where we stayed, we could walk to the beach, but we couldn’t swim in it because there was a high current, but we would still go and sit in the sand.”
For more information or to see some behind-the-scenes moments from the show, visit FoodNetwork.com/KidsBakingChampionship.
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.