5 cooking shows to squelch your appetite for Baked with Love: Holiday

So, you’ve heard the news about the new holiday baking competition, Baked with Love: Holiday to be hosted by one of America’s sweethearts, Tamera Mowry-Housley.

With the release date likely being in late fall, you might have a taste for some other cooking shows while you wait. Here’s a list of my favorite cooking competition shows-- many of which are long-running shows with a combination of regular seasons and holiday-themed episodes. 

1. Is it Cake?

This dessert competition will make you scratch your head at just how closely bakers can make their treats resemble real-life objects. The objective is for competitors to make their cakes look so realistic that judges cannot decipher the cake from the actual item. 

Over the past three seasons, bakers created all sorts of gear, from handbags to kettlebells and sneakers. The most impressive object I’ve seen on the show is when one baker created a luggage with clothes pouring out of it-- so delicately done! Bakers must get extremely creative to present the illusion that their cake is a real object. I can’t help but think that some of the contestants would make amazing engineers because of how much planning must go into the 3D confections.

Is it Cake is hosted by Mikey Day (Saturday Night Live), which includes three seasons and-- you guessed it -- a holiday edition released in 2024. All episodes are available for streaming on Netflix.

2. Chopped Sweets

Chopped has been a popular Food Network cooking competition show since 2009, with the release of its 62nd season this spring. The challenge of this show is for the chefs to cook up a three-course meal with mystery ingredients. The chef’s skills and specialties are put to the test when they can only use certain ingredients and sometimes have limits on the utensils they may use. 

The show keeps viewers on their toes with many twists and surprises as chefs try to avoid the chopping block.  Combining Michelin-star quality food with a scarcity of options is no easy feat!

Chopped released a baking spinoff called Chopped Sweets in 2019, which had a total of three seasons. Fans of the original show will satisfy their dessert cravings with this sugary mashup. Chopped Sweets is hosted by Chef Scott Conant (House of Knives), and episodes are available for streaming on Hulu and Prime Video.

3. The Great British Baking Show: Juniors

Inspired by another long-running baking competition, The Great British Baking Show, also known as the Great British Bake-off , this kid version brings young culinary stars to the famous white tent to show off their oven skills with a combination of breads, pastries, and desserts. This show is so cute to watch with your little ones because the young chefs are just adorable, and though some are novice bakers, they are still extremely talented for their age.

In The Great British Baking Show: Juniors, the competitors are given a themed challenge for each week, including complex skills like baking the perfect loaf of bread, making a cake that looks like pizza, or creating a Jamaican patty that looks like a game controller.  Don’t be surprised if your child wants to help out in the kitchen after watching this heated kids' baking competition. 

Join hosts Harry Hill, Liam Charles, and Ravneet Gill in a series of mouth-watering episodes. Seasons six and seven are available for streaming on Netflix. You can also get seven seasons of your oven-baked holiday fix from The Great British Baking Show: Holidays on Netflix. 

4. Nailed It

Comedian Nicole Byer hosts this fun and innovative baking contest, where bakers race to re-create mind-blowing characters and objects in the form of sweet delicacies. A couple of themes from the show include state-fair finds, Greek god statues, aliens and paranormal creatures, 90s vibes, and jungle animals.

Season seven also pulls themes from popular shows like Umbrella Academy and, Cobra Kai! Put your imagination to the test with this fast-paced masterpiece show, which is available for streaming on Netflix.

Craving more Nailed It episodes? You can travel the world with a collection of spinoffs on Netflix: Nailed It: Mexico, France, Spain, and Germany.

In addition to the international competitions, fans can also watch amateur bakers face off with how well they can imitate professional strategies in The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge. 

This should be no surprise since it’s the reason we’re all here (we love baking and holiday magic), but the final competition in the Nailed It franchise is Nailed It: Holiday. Get your wintery fix this summer while we wait for those season’s greetings billboards to return. 

5. Barbecue Showdown

Of course, I had to throw in something savory for the summer. My favorite food competition to bring the heat for your next cookout is Barbecue Showdown. In this series, skilled pitmasters compete to be named the next barbecue champion. They showcase their skills in melt-off-the-bone ribs, briskets, pork chops, and more.

The contestants must also make delectable side dishes and desserts to complete the soulful culinary experience. You might even see some wild game appear! Netflix has three seasons streaming, and fans are hoping for a new season this year!

Not to mention, you’ll get a kick out of host Michelle Buteau (The Circle, Survival of the Thickest) along with co-hosts Lyric Lewis (A.P. Bio) and Rutledge Wood (Top Gear, Floor is Lava).

Now that you have my top five picks for cooking competitions, you might be wondering if you should include your kids on your sweet and savory binge-a-thon while you wait for Hallmark’s family-friendly Baked with Love: Holiday. The verdict is in-you won’t need to be ‘home alone’ for these sweet episodes, because the series is all rated TVPG.

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