"I never thought I would get to this point" — Spring Baking Championship star Lisa Clark gets emotional about joining season 11

Spring Baking Championship season 11 premiered on March 10, 2025, on Food Network. The season features 13 pastry chefs from across the country competing for a $25,000 prize, a feature in Food Network Magazine, and the title of Spring Baking Champion.

In an exclusive interview with MassLive on March 9, 2025, contestant Lisa Clark reflected on her journey to the show and how the experience marked a significant moment in her life.

Recalling the moment she learned she had been selected, she shared:

“I never thought I would get to this point. Even though I’ve done it all, it still seems like I didn’t do it, you know what I mean? It’s crazy. But now that we’ll be able to watch it, I think it’ll sink more in that I actually did it," she shared.

Lisa Clark was driving when she got the call and had to pull over because of the excitement. She currently works as the executive pastry chef at Peppers Artful Events in Northborough, Massachusetts.

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From childhood baking to Food Network debut through Spring Baking Championship

Spring Baking Championship star Lisa Clark began baking in her childhood in Redmond, Washington. She started by helping her mother and later experimented with a Barbie Easy Bake Oven before graduating to a regular kitchen setup. Though she pursued fashion school in California after high school, she eventually returned to her passion and enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, Oregon.

After years of working in restaurants, she moved to Massachusetts with her husband and later became a mother. Clark has served as the executive pastry chef at Peppers Artful Events for over a decade. Her work has been recognized with awards such as Best Celebration Cake at the 2019 ICA Catie Awards and Best Dessert in Fork it Over and Taste of Nashoba competitions.

Clark officially announced her participation in Spring Baking Championship in an Instagram post on February 25, 2025.

“Dreaming that one day I’d be on the big screen baking my heart away,” she wrote.

Despite her experience, she admitted she was nervous during filming.

“The anxiety of letting my loved ones and myself down was ever present,” she said.

To stay calm, Clark focused on being organized and taking each challenge one step at a time.

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Facing new challenges and looking ahead

While Clark is used to working in a fully equipped kitchen at Peppers, the competition environment came with limitations.

“Each bake, they changed what was in the kitchen too,” she said.

The Spring Baking Championship star further added:

“So certain fondant, cookie cutters or certain materials that they would offer weren’t necessarily there the next bake.”

This required her to adapt quickly and make use of whatever was available. As she progressed through the challenges, Clark found ways to use her skills creatively, especially in cake decorating. She said the show allowed her to grow as a baker and test her ability to perform under pressure. Clark shared that she had to constantly be "doing new things and constantly be creative in the things."

Now that the episodes are airing, Clark shared that it’s starting to feel real.

“Now that we’ll be able to watch it, I think it’ll sink more in that I actually did it,” she said.

Clark hopes that the exposure from the show will support Peppers Artful Events and help her open her own storefront in the future. She concluded by saying she was proud of how far she had come and how much she "grew during this journey."

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Watch new episodes of Spring Baking Championship airing every Monday on Food Network.