This February, Food Network announced their Kids Baking Champion of 2021 as Idaho-born star baker, Keaton Ashton.
The 12-year-old patisserie prodigy flew to the finals with his mind-blowing and eccentric creations that won over not only the judge’s hearts but the nations.
So who is Keaton Ashton and how did he become the winner of The Kids baking Championship?
What happened in the Kids Baking Championship 2021 final?
During the 10-week show, Keaton raced to the finals along with fellow contestants Bella Luu and Jonah Anderson. However, Keaton just managed to win over the judges with his incredible baking skills and his witty and adorable charm.
The show was filmed during the summer of 2020 in southern California where contestants competed to make it to the finale. During the final three weeks, Ashton was up against the stiff competition, with both Bella and Jonah hoping to win over the judges.
However, Keaton just managed to bag the win with his final showstopping challenge where all three finalists had to make not only one, but three Biome-inspired cakes.
Whilst the judges, Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli chose Keaton as their winner for the level of creativity and consistency within his baking, he won over the hearts of the nation with his funny, kind and artistic personality.
Who is Keaton Ashton?
When you look at the work of Keaton Ashton, you would assume he had been baking all of his life. However, this 12-year-old baking phenomenon only started his culinary journey on his 11th birthday.
Born into a family of potato farmers and living in Sugar City, Idaho, anybody would think cooking and baking would have been a regular part of Keatons’ growing up. However, it wasn’t until he received a gift to attend a cake baking class for his 11th birthday that his passion was ignited.
Since that day Keaton describes his day-to-day life as; “I wake up, go to school, get home by four, then normally, I’ll bake a cake right then.”
What does the Food Network Winner receive?
Having won the 2021 championship, Keaton received a whopping $25,000. When asked what he wanted to spend the prize money on, Keaton responded that all he really wanted was a new fish tank and to save the rest to help fund college. Know wonder he won over the hearts of the nation.
As the winner, Keaton also received a set of Food Network brand baking products, a profile in Food Network magazine and one of his original cakes featured at Bakery Charm City Cakes.
With an additional few thousand followers on Instagram too, Keaton’s future in baking is looking bright…and delicious.