A Food Network Pro
Making it on Food Network is what some people dream of. According to Variety, in 2023, Food Network was the 20th most-watched network in the U.S. Not only has Milwaukee baker Kimberly Adams, of Signature Sweets, appeared on Food Network and won, but now she’s returning once again.
Adams will be competing on Food Network’s new baking show, Super Mega Cake,s against Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes. Six teams of three bakers from across the U.S. will compete over four days in the six-episode series premiering on June 16, 2025.
On Super Mega Cakes, bakers will be tasked with making large 3D cakes based on themes, including classic cartoons and superheroes. A big part of creating big cakes is the structure. Adams said there isn’t much formal training when it comes to building cake structures, so it’s mostly trial and error. She often finds herself in the aisles of Home Depot, piecing together PVC pipes and hinges, and sometimes building the structures right there in the store.
“Without a structure [the cakes] would literally fall apart,” said Adams.
Adams has worked with Goldman before as a judge for Food Network’s Buddy vs. Duff. She’s competed on Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking in London, Cupcake Wars, and Macy’s Thanksgiving Cake Spectacular, amongst other TV baking competitions. She has to audition for each show, but she believes it’s her personality that wins the network over every time.
“I basically talk my way through baking a cake,” she said.
She said each show is different because you’re teamed up with new people. There are rare occasions when bakers are allowed to pick their teammates, like on Super Mega Cakes. Adams was approached by bakers Lincoln Alexander and Natasha “Lucky” Anderson to join their team on Super Mega Cakes. The three make up an all-Black team, which isn’t common on Food Network.
Super Mega Cakes’ final episode airs on July 21, 2025.
Accounting Manager to Television Baker
Adams’s baking career started in 2010 while she was an accounting manager at AT&T for 16 years. She was originally taught how to bake by her mother, who is from Tennessee, where her family made everything from scratch. Adams eventually became a self-taught professional baker by watching Food Network and reading books, and magazines.
It was during a fundraiser that Adams put her baking skills to the test to create a cake that resembled a tuna fish that she saw in a magazine. A coworker then secretly submitted her work to a baking competition show. One day, Adams got a call saying she’d been selected and she had no idea what they were talking about and thought it was a scam. Eventually convinced it was real, she was flown to New York to film her first baking competition, where she took home first place.
Adams has been a full-time baker for years, and she’ll soon graduate from school with a pastry arts degree.
“I did that to elevate what I already know in terms of the science of baking,” she said.
Adam is one of those Milwaukee talents who’s been going under the radar in the city but has a national presence.
“It’s never too late to continue doing what you want to do or change paths,” said Adams.
Teaching Food Safety and More
Outside of winning Food Network competitions and running Signature Sweets, Adams teaches classes focused on certifications and food safety. The classes are offered for free to people who receive SSA or W2 payments.
The six-week course features the classes The Art of the Line Cook and Baking and Decorative Art.
Through a partnership with Fiserv, anyone who takes Adams’s classes has an opportunity to interview for a role at Fiserv.
Adams is also developing a curriculum for Milwaukee Area Technical College, adding a second cake decorating class to their lineup. The new class will add more structure to the existing program.
