Cakes, Cookies, and Competitions

In the unscripted TV world, competition shows and how-to shows about baking have been two vibrant sectors for some time now. Both genres intersect in a growing list of competitive baking shows, from The Great British Bake-Off (The Great British Baking Show in the U.S.) to Nailed It!. And companies involved in licensing have been increasingly active participants in this sector:

• The latest is The Lumistella Company’s partnership with Food Network for The Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown, to air in December of this year. The family-friendly five-episode series will center on six teams of sweets makers taking on holiday baking challenges presented by the Scout Elves. The set will have a whimsical holiday theme.

• The Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge from Amazon Studios and Dr. Seuss Enterprises ran on Amazon Prime during the 2022 holiday season. Nine teams of classically trained pastry chefs completed challenges to bring to life sweets inspired by the world of Dr. Seuss. The show was hosted by Tamera Mowry-Housley, with pastry chefs Clarice Lam and Joshua John Russell as judges.

• Disney’s Magic Bake-Off ran for 13 episodes in 2021 on the Disney Channel. The contestants were children, who performed challenges like recreating a cityscape cake inspired by the network’s Big City Greens, with that show’s creators doing the judging. Disney personalities Dara Renée (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) and Issac Ryan Brown (Raven’s Home and The Owl House) hosted.

• Candy Land, based on the Hasbro brand, ran on Food Network in November 2020 and was hosted by Kristin Chenoweth. It featured five teams of professional cake and sugar artists, with challenges inspired by the board game. An accompanying digital series called Inspired by Candy Land featured baker Dan Langan creating cakes and candies tied to the property and documented the making of the TV series’ set, inspired by the Candy Land game.

All of these productions help fans of the brands engage with the property in a new way, and may bring in some new fans from lovers of baking and competition shows who tune in to the series.