PERKASIE, PA — An 11-year-old Bucks County boy is hoping to become the next "Kids Baking Champion."
Perkasie's own self-made baker Carter Siporin is competing in the 13th season of the "Kids Baking Championship: Animal Lovers Unite," which airs Monday nights on the Food Network and can be streamed on MAX.
For 10 weeks, Siporin and 11 other youngsters from across the nation are facing off in a series of critter- and creature-inspired baking challenges for a chance to win $25,000, a feature in Food Network Magazine, and, of course, the coveted title of Kids Baking Champion.
During the show, which is hosted and judged by pastry chef Duff Goldman (Duff: Ace of Taste) and chef and caterer Kardea Brown (Delicious Miss Brown), young bakers take on tasty challenges designed to find the most impressive and creative baker. This season features an "amazing animals" theme.
“I’ve been a fan of this show forever. I’ve seen every single episode at least five times,” Carter told the Bucks County Courier Times.
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Siporin has shown an interest in baking ever since he could walk. He later turned that interest into his own baking business, "Carter's Confections," taking orders and making cakes for local customers. This past fall, he whipped up his first wedding cake, showcasing the two-tiered lemon and vanilla cake with buttercream frosting on Instagram.
During an interview with the Food Network, Siporin proudly shared, "I am homeschooled. I love being homeschooled because there's a lot of time for baking."
During the first of 10 episodes, which aired on January 6, the bakers were challenged to 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 had to solve in a tasty and creative way. Carter chose an Iguana using slices of green kiwi fruit to represent its scales.
Episode 2 - "Amazing Animals: Macaronimals" - airs on Monday at 8 p.m. on the Food Network.
During the show, 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 young 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.
New episodes air every Monday at 8 p.m. with the final two episodes airing back-to-back on March 3 at 8 and 9 p.m. A detailed lineup of episodes and air times can be found by clicking here.
Past episodes can be streamed on MAX.