There are a few thoughts that ran through Jason Hisley’s mind when he was approached by producers about appearing on Holiday Wars—Food Network’s festive baking competition that pits teams of cake artists against one another in four weeks of winter-themed showdowns.

At this point, he’s competed on many of the network’s televised bake-offs, including Cake Wars, Sweet Genius, and Cutthroat Kitchen, so he’s been added to executives’ national roster of pastry chefs to tap into when new opportunities arise.

For starters, he thought about whether everything would run smoothly at his nearly two-year-old Timonium bakery, Cake By Jason, while he was on the West Coast filming. On top of that, he remembered the pressure and commitment required to put your best foot forward in these types of contests.

“They are certainly stressful,” he says. “You’re not just cooking. There’s people running around you, there’s cameramen, producers are yelling at you. It was one of those things where I was like, ‘Do I really want to do this so early in launching Cake by Jason?’ But, of course, I had to.”

Looking back now, he’s grateful that he did. In the Holiday Wars finale that aired last night, Hisley’s team, the “Bah Hum-Bakers,” took home the $25,000 grand prize after host Jonathan Bennett challenged them to showcase a friendly rivalry between Santa’s elves and reindeer. Their display, which depicted the animated characters sledding down a gigantic ice hill sculpted out of sheet cake, ultimately won over judges Shinmin Li and Jason Smith.

“There’s really no description for it,” says Hisley when asked his reaction to hearing his team’s name in the finale. “On one hand, I’ve been kicked off of shows and it was kind of a relief because it was so physically and mentally exhausting. And then there are the times when you win, and the joy is just insane.”

The final challenge was one of many that tasked Hisley’s team with thinking hyper-creatively throughout the competition. (Others included dreaming up scenarios in which Santa’s holds auditions for a new crop of elves and takes up a side hustle during the off season.)

“Food Network has really come a long way,” Hisley says. “It’s no longer just, ‘Show us your best interpretation of Santa delivering presents.’ It’s, ‘Santa’s off now, what does he do for a side job?’ That’s crazy, because people don’t think about those things all the time. It really allowed us, as artists, to get more creative and not just stick to one lane.”

A selection of Hisley’s holiday treats at Cake by Jason

Photography by Breanna Kuhlmann Lifestyle Photography

Of course, working as a team of four to collaboratively execute these massive dessert dioramas in one cohesive style didn’t come without its challenges. Though most reality television shows have been known to play up the drama for ratings, Hisley asserts that food competitions are just as nerve racking as they seem on TV. Specifically, he notes the struggles of baking in a foreign kitchen.

“There’s little things that people don’t think about,” he says. “For example, this was filmed in California where the humidity and temperature are different and there are studio lights on you. I’m used to baking in a 55-degree room that we control the temperature of at all times. So it’s kind of like throwing people into these entirely different worlds.”

When working as a team, the key to success, says Hisley, is forgetting about the competition. He’s proud of how his group, which was criticized in the first round for “playing it safe”, continued to improve throughout the show.

“For us, it almost wasn’t like we were competing with other teams, we were competing against ourselves,” he says. “In the third round we had a little pep talk and I was like, ‘I don’t care what everyone else is doing. Let’s not look at other kitchens—let’s just focus on ourselves and whatever we produce, we’ll be happy with.’ I think that final moment when they called our name for the win was just overwhelming pride that it worked.”

When it comes to his chunk of the prize money, Hisley plans to invest it into the future of the bakery. He and his business partner, Kelly Sokolis, are looking forward to bringing in some new equipment, while also focusing on continuing Cake by Jason’s internship programs. (His very first intern, Nicole Moran, is now the bakery’s lead cake designer.) Hisley, whose daily routine starts at 2 a.m., is also hoping to treat himself to a well-deserved beach vacation.

With Food Network putting many Baltimore chefs—including Dave Thomas of Ida B’s Table, Johntay Bedingfield of La Food Marketa, Steve Chu of Ekiben, and Jay Rohlfing of Cunningham’s—in the national spotlight this year, Hisley says it feels great to be able to represent his hometown.

“Baltimore has really become such a diverse hub for food and how people view food,” he says. “It’s such a unique city that’s evolving and changing, to bring this win back is insane.”

Though Jason Hisley has been baking confections since he was 5 years old, this spring marked the first time he has truly found his sweet spot.

After adventures in TV and owning few shops around town, Hisley has opened Cake by Jason Hisley in Timonium—offering both tall-tiered cakes and grab-and-go pastries—to get back to his small-batch roots.

“We want to position ourselves as the place you can come and get high-end, insanely boutique cakes, like with rockets coming out of the top or pouring into a teacup,” Hisley explains. “Or you could come and just get a dollar coffee and hang out in the lobby. The most challenging thing is being able to balance those two worlds.”

Combining a modern vision with traditional family-friendly values proved to be easy, too. Hisley himself comes from a family of foodies, he said, and if kids want to come in and smash donuts on the floor, he wants them to do just that.

“As a kid, I just remember always working with [my grandmother] and my aunt, being 5 or 6 up on a table mixing these big bowls of bread dough,” Hisley said. “I just thought it was the most fascinating, coolest thing ever. A combination of a science experiment and food.”

His grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia, and was a baker herself. She would bake for her community and sold bread to locals. Those ideals stuck with Hisley throughout his life.

He recalls first being trained in making heavier, European pastries like those of his grandmother’s. But adapting to people’s palettes has been a task he’s taken on head first.

His passion for baking landed him a job at the high-end Flavor Cupcakery in Cockeysville after high school. While working there, he caught the attention of the Food Network and ended up competing on—and winning—an episode of Cupcake Wars in 2011.

With a newfound confidence, Hisley opened his own boutique store La Cakerie in Towson when he was just 22. Then, the Food Network and the Cooking Channel began to build a narrative around the young baker and business owner—who has since appeared on 10 shows.

Six years after opening La Cakerie, the shop had gained considerable national attention and expanded to a bigger space in Towson, along with two new locations and a food truck venture. But the fame, he says, cost him small city charm.

“What I lost was standing behind a register and saying ‘Hello,’ and giving a customer a cup of coffee every day,” Hisley said. “Or working with a cake designer directly, one-on-one, making a crazy elaborate cake, and then delivering it and getting to see a customer smile ear-to-ear. I missed that.”

And so he set out on a new journey with La Cakerie’s then-wedding and events coordinator Kelly Sokolis. Hisley sold his ownership in La Cakerie, and Sokolis joined him as a co-owner and wedding and event director for Cake, which officially debuted in April.

From there the duo began to form their team, or as they refer to themselves on their site, “the gaggle of misfits, artists, experts, perfectionists, and friends.”

Hisley speaks highly of his staff, like cake designer Elena Fox, who could paint a museum-style painting on a pastry. His production manager Jeff Courtney is “a jokester,” and will have everyone laughing while he’s simultaneously stirring 200 pounds of frosting and mixing chocolate cake batter.

They have a like-mindset, to put out a quality product, which has been well-received by the community, Hisley said. Numbers and sales have doubled what he originally anticipated and customers appreciate the experience of visiting the neighborhood bakery, which hosts frequent workshops and fundraisers.

With help from interior designer Stephanie Bradshaw, Hisley created a homey store, mixing high end elements without being stuffy, as he puts it. A bright neon sign reads, “Celebrate the Sweet Life,” and reclaimed woods tables stretch across a brushed concrete floor.

“When you walk in it’s like nothing else,” he said. “It has this industrial chic vibe.”

From Flavor Cupcakery, to La Cakerie and now Cake, Hisley has watched himself, his co-workers, and his businesses grow. And that reward has been sweeter than anything.

“I love what I do,” said Hisley. “When people talk about work, I feel so spoiled because 95 percent of my day I have a huge smile. I love going into work, I love the people I work with, I don’t know how to put into words how happy I am.”