This 11-year-old Utahn had 5 hours to bake a cake for a shot at $25,000. Here’s what happened

Arielle Yang couldn’t reveal much about “Kids Baking Championship” when she chatted with the Deseret News ahead of the season premiere back in January.

During that interview, the 11-year-old from Sandy, Utah, opened up about her love for baking and all of the friends she made while competing on the Food Network show.

But when it came to the outcome, Arielle only said this much: “I think I worked well under pressure.”

That’s putting it mildly.

In a season that started with a dozen young bakers from across North America, the sixth grade student at the Waterford School in Sandy made it all the way to the finale.

For the final challenge of the season, the three remaining bakers were given five hours to create a zoo-themed cake for a shot at the $25,000 prize.

“This is only the biggest bake of your life,” judges Duff Goldman and Kardea Brown told the kids.

Arielle, who was 10 at the time of filming, was the youngest baker competing in the finale. That didn’t put her at any sort of disadvantage, though.

Here’s a look at how she fared in the finale — and if she took home the prize.

A Utah-inspired cake

While the time limits for baking challenges could be a struggle, potential issues were offset by Arielle’s ability to navigate the stress of a televised competition.

The 11-year-old previously told the Deseret News that baking has always been an activity that calms her down, so even amid the stress of it all, she felt fairly relaxed.

That was evident throughout the season as she managed to keep her cool amid baking mishaps, or in moments when she found herself in the bottom two.

Perhaps it was the added pressure of being in the finale, but Arielle had one of her more dramatic moments of the season when her chocolate cake with peanut butter filling (complete with chocolate covered pretzels and toasted peanuts) was uneven at one point — even judge Kardea Brown noted that the top layer was bulging out.

“How am I supposed to fix it?” Arielle cried out as time on the clock was winding down.

She was able to resolve the issue, and quickly got to work executing her vision for a three-tier cake that had to resemble a forest predator enclosure (the other two contestants were assigned a monkey enclosure and an African safari enclosure).

Arielle was particularly excited about her assignment.

“I think I know it well. I live in Utah and my backyard is like a mountain,” she said during the episode, noting that her backyard has a lot of trees and animals.

The 11-year-old baker decorated her bottom tier with bears and birds; her second tier with a mountain and trees; and created a campfire scene on her top tier — which included a shy but friendly bear peeking out from behind a tree.

And then it was time for the judges to evaluate — and taste — her work.

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At one point during the finale, the judges asked Arielle what she would do with $25,000. She responded that she would save a lot of it for college, though she didn’t yet know what she wanted to major in.

“I want to win so badly, because I like being rich,” she said with a wide smile.

Throughout the season, the judges praised Arielle for her decorating skills and interesting flavors. That praise continued with her final creation for the competition.

There were some criticisms — including the frosting not covering up all of the cake and the peanut butter flavor not being strong enough for the judges’ liking — but Arielle’s cake contributed to the judges having to make a “nearly impossible” decision to declare a winner.

“It has been such a joy getting to taste all your delicious things,” Goldman told Arielle, noting that this season has seen some of the best cakes in the history of “Kids Baking Championship.”

But in the end, the judges declared Micah Parsons, an 11-year-old baker from Texas, the winner of the $25,000 prize for his African safari enclosure-inspired cake that featured constellations, bright animals and sunsets.

‘Memories that I’ll have forever’

During the finale, Arielle told producers she was going to miss baking in the show’s kitchen, and joked about sneaking some of the supplies home.

Throughout 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.

But for the Utah baker, the best part of competing on the Food Network show was meeting her fellow young bakers.

The 12 contestants hailed from 11 U.S. states and Toronto, Canada. Arielle now calls many of them her friends.

It was nice to bond over a passion for baking with kids her age, she previously told the Deseret News.

Just making it on “Kids Baking Championship” — she said she had her doubts she’d even get accepted — was a major milestone, let alone making it all the way to the finale.

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