Bake It 'Til You Make It - Season 1

At the National Capital Area Cake Show, a Winter Wonderland theme pushes competitors to make their best representations of the holiday season in cake or cookie form. The only thing more colorful than the Santa Claus cookies and polar bear cakes are the people who bake them. Quirky bakers from all over America deal with last minute damages, finicky judges and fierce competition in order to reach the podium.

The world of competitive baking is a rapidly growing subculture full of passionate individuals creating masterful bakes from their home kitchens. Three talented bakers enter local competitions for a chance to have their work recognized by the best in the business. RaChelle is a perfectionist and a decade-long competitor who will enter bakes in any and every competition she can. Sumera is a nanny who has found her true calling in baking and is ready to see where her skills might take her. Lili is a unique baking hobbyist who is going to try her hand at competition for the first time.

The only thing wilder than baking competitions are the people who enter them. Maythe is a sugar artist and rising star in the baking world. As a professional baker already, contests are a chance to raise her profile locally and hobnob with elite business. Anamaria paid her way through college with her famous cheesecakes and is ready to see where else her passion for baking can take her. Monty is a former football player turned baker with a cupcake game that he believes is unparalleled. For all three of these competitive bakers, a victory could be the key to unlocking the next step in their culinary career.

Competitive baking has a few gigantic events, and Cookie Con is one of them. It's the Superbowl of cookie competitions, where bakers are challenged to create masterpieces on a small scale. Home bakers Maythe, RaChelle, Sumera and Kareem discover just how hard it is to win big with small, sweet details.

Dessert Wars is the largest desserts festival in America, and the nation's top cake decorators descend on Tampa, Florida, to determine who is the best of the best. Lili, RaChelle, Sumera and Kareem experience all the sugar highs and lows. Kareem is still new to the world of cake and cookie decorating, and after a humbling loss at Cookie Con, he's ready to try again with a medium he is more comfortable with -- cakes. Lili was a surprise winner at her first local competition, but the national stage is a big move up that she's not sure she is ready for. RaChelle is coming off a big win at Cookie Con and is hoping to keep her streak going with her most detailed cake yet. There is no event too big for Sumera and her personality, but has she learned enough from previous cake fails to score a win at Dessert Wars?

Atlanta's Ultimate Sugar Show is one of the biggest events on the competitive baking calendar. Events for cake decorating, cookie decorating, sugar art and a tasting competition for Southern-themed desserts ensure that anyone who is anyone in the competitive sweets business will be in attendance. RaChelle enters a cake depicting a fireman saving a baby and a cookie of a family visiting their quarantined grandmother. RaChelle's Cookie Con victory means she's in a more experienced category at this event, which also means anxiety is high. She will face off against wildcard decorator Lili, whose chosen frontline worker is a librarian, honoring her fiancé. Anamaria brings her cheesecakes with a Northern California spin on the Southern classic red velvet cake, and Delaware's Monty uses his cupcake recipe to build a national brand for his business. All eyes will be on Maythe, who is competing in multiple categories as a professional and hoping to leave a big enough impression for nobody to ever mispronounce her name at a competition again.

The bakers all try to win "Best in Show" at the Ultimate Sugar Show in Atlanta. Maythe's doctor sculpture is a hit with judges, but she faces stiff competition. Lili and RaChelle compete against one another with their Frontline Hero sculpted cakes, while Anamaria and Monty try to beat the locals at their own game in The Great Southern Bake-Off.