After nearly six months of keeping the news to himself, 12-year-old Keaton Ashton from Sugar City, Idaho, baked his way to the top and earned the winning title on the Kids Baking Championship television show. Food Network’s baking competition, season nine, aired its 2-hour finale on Feb. 15., awarding him a $25,000 grand prize and a feature in Food Network Magazine.

Twelve-year-old Keaton Ashton wins Food Network’s ninth season of Kids Baking Championship. (PHOTO/Courtesy of Food Network)

A dozen young bakers competed for a month while the filming took place in southern California, with an added twist, a global pandemic. Challenges varied each week to baking pies, cookies, cakes and more, as one contestant after another was eliminated.

Bella Luu, from San Jose, California, and Jonah Anderson, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were stiff competition in the final three with Keaton, each hoping to wow the judges, Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli, with one of three biome inspired cakes for their last challenge.

Finalists Keaton Ashton, Bella Luu and Jonah Anderson are masked up while competing on Kids Baking Championship in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. (PHOTO/Kim Luu)

While Duff and Valerie chose Keaton for his consistently impressive bakes, Keaton won the hearts of the nation with his artistic, funny, kind, smart, talented, creative and endearing personality.

For those who might be interested, here’s a brief Q & A interview to share a bit more about this charming young baker.

What does a day in the life of Keaton Ashton look like?

I wake up, go to school, get home by 4, then normally, I’ll bake a cake right then.

Who’s the best baker in your family?

I’d probably say me.

Do your three sisters or parents cook and bake also?

My mom cooks, but none of my sisters bake or anything, so I think it’s pretty unique and cool.

What are your thoughts about using cake mixes or canned frostings?

I make everything from scratch. Cake mixes can make a really good cake, but when you make it from scratch, you get a better taste. Box frosting is not my favorite and it’s kind of plasticky.

What desserts do you hope to conquer some day?

One day I would like to make a chocolate soufflé and I want to try crème brûlée really badly.

On KBC, there are no visible recipes. How does the process work before you actually start baking something?

We got the basic recipes for some things like vanilla cake. We would get the challenge and have to hurry and figure out what to make. We would get to take about five minutes to figure out what we were going to do.

Does your family have food requests for you to make?

I make these really good homemade Oreos. My family will ask and I’ll make them really fast. They get luxury treatment.

What is your absolute favorite recipe to bake for yourself or the family?

I really like to make macarons. They taste super good and I really like them.

Bella is a macaron pro. How are you in the macaron department?

I’m pretty good at it, but sometimes, it really depends on the air quality that day. Because if the air quality is not right, then they won’t work. It’s kind of crazy how hard they really are to make, but I’d say I’m getting pretty good at them lately because I get orders for those and put them on top of my cakes. I definitely think I’m getting better and they’re really good.

What’s been one of your biggest flops or disasters in the kitchen?

One time I was making a cake and this was actually for the show. I had to do an interview and they asked us to do a “taste dessert” and a “looks dessert.” I made one of my cakes and really good lemon bars also. A couple of minutes before the interview, it was at 2 p.m., I remember, and my dog had actually jumped up on the counter. He very rarely does that, and he jumped up on the counter and licked the bars. It was minutes before the call, so I had to hurry and get the lemon out of the trash and it was crazy. I got on the Zoom call, then we had to eat it.

What do you plan to spend all that money on?

That’s funny. I have had so many people ask me that. On the show I said I wanted to buy a fish tank, like an aquarium, and I actually did buy one of those, which was really fun. It’s in my room and it’s super relaxing. Then I saved some for college, because stuff like that is important. I haven’t spent a lot.

What kind of reactions did your friends have when they found out you would be on the show?

It was really fun. I went to school and we weren’t allowed to tell very many people, so I got to tell two of my friends. I told them, “You guys, I’m going to be on tv,” and they were super excited, especially after it came out that I’d won. On Tuesday, it was insane at school with everyone.

Did you think you had a good chance of winning?

After the bakes went on and everyone was really good, people started showing more what they could do and I was like, “Oh, they’re good!” But then at the last few challenges, I was like, “Oh, yeah. I think I have a chance.” I definitely was realizing that I could win.

How does it feel to have won?

It feels amazing. It’s just super cool because I used to watch the show all the time when I was 6 or 7, super young. And now I can say that I actually won the tv show.

What fears did you have during the competition?

I definitely think I was really stressed, especially in the semifinals because I was in the bottom. Oh, I was so scared. I was like, I can’t go home. I have to make it to at least the finale. That was the most stressful and scary time on the show.

What part of the competition was difficult?

Getting two hours to do stuff. That was a lot of time, but at the same time, not a lot of time — to do so many things. And then the twist would get added and we would have to make something else.

Is there anything you wish you had planned or executed differently?

For the semifinals, my sheetpan pie that I made, the dough was raw on the bottom, so I really wish I could have gone back and fixed that because I think I would not have been so nervous and very, very stressed.

Did you get to sample your creations?

We would make it and then because of Corona, we wouldn’t be able to taste the final dessert. But we could taste a little of it while we were baking — we’d cut off the top and try a little bit. We wanted to be super safe with Covid.

What’s it like being part of a potato farm family?

I think it’s super fun. This year I got to work more and during summer, I got to pull weeds and work spud harvest. It’s super fun because we live further out of town. My family says, “Ok, we need to go into town now,” and my friends will be like, “Oh, we need to run to the store.” Because we live out of town, my friends will joke about that sometimes. I think it’s really fun.

What is your favorite way to eat a potato?

Oh, there are so many good ways to eat a potato. I like fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, cheesy potatoes, hash browns.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I think it would be really fun to pursue this and go to culinary school or pastry school because I’ve really liked doing what I’ve been doing right now, but if that didn’t work out, I think something in the medical field would be fun. I don’t know, I’m still only 12.

What are your food dislikes and likes?

I don’t like broccoli, cauliflower, onions, tomatoes or blue cheese. My favorites are spaghetti, lasagna, noodles, toast, avocadoes, scrambled eggs, ice cream, cake and macarons.

Is there anything else that you’d like to share about yourself or your big victory?

I have my own business where people order cakes from me through Instagram at keatons_cakes and I’m booked out pretty far.

Kid baker, Keaton Ashton, prepares a recipe on Kids Baking Championship (PHOTO/Courtesy of Food Network).