Scary-Good Wyoming Cake Decorator Is On Food Network’s “Halloween Wars”

A special birthday cake order last year led to an incredible opportunity for Lovell cake designer Shannon Mayes.

Mayes created a cake for a member of Food Network superstar chef Guy Fieri’s crew for the show “Guy’s All-American Road Trip,” and the TV host was so impressed he had producers send her information to Food Network.

Not long after, she earned a spot on “Halloween Wars,” which premieres at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Halloween Wars pits teams of pumpkin carvers, cake bakers and sugar artists to compete against each other and create monster-themed displays for the chance to win $25,000.

The first episode of the new season features four teams in the first of two qualifying rounds of the competition charged with creating a monster from a specific historical period, according to the Food Network. The top three teams will advance.

“Overall, the whole experience was very cool,” Mayes said. “I'm not gonna lie, I almost feel like I have some PTSD from a lot of the things, but I do love the fact that I can say that I did it.”

The opportunity to showcase her talent and Wyoming to a national audience isn’t lost on Mayes.

“It's not something everybody gets to do,” she said. “It's an accomplishment for sure, and it's amazing to have been good enough to be chosen to be on the show.”

Cake As Art

Mayes started designing cakes as a hobby 13 years ago while she was a stay-at-home mom. Interested in art for much of her life, she saw cake decorating as an outlet for her artistic side.

“I thought I'd give it a try, and then I was pretty much obsessed,” she said. “Ever since I tried it, I realized all the different forms of art you can incorporate into cake decorating, like sculpting and painting.”

She made cakes for families and friends, eventually starting SweetArt Cake Co. in 2014 out of her home. Along with her custom cakes, Mayes also offers cupcakes, cookies, French macarons, doughnuts and cake pops.

She was excited when she was contacted last summer to make a cake for one of Fieri’s crew members, who was turning 40 while “Guy’s All-American Road Trip” was filming in Cody.

The two-tier pink and black cake she created for Amber Goerish featured gravity-defying sugar flames between the tiers. It also had a replica of the birthday girl in a referee outfit on top.

“Her nickname is Amber 9-1-1, because she's always putting out their emergencies on the show,” Mayes said. “She’s also often the referee for when they do competitions on the show.”

Mayes was told they were going to submit her name to Food Network, and just a few weeks later she was contacted about applying to be on a show. She had the option to try for “Halloween Wars” or “Holiday Wars” and chose the former because it’s her favorite holiday.

“We go all-out at our house,” she said. “We have these giant props that we've made that are life-size from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ and make a big deal about it.”

Spooky Challenge

Filmed last year from late August to mid-September, there are eight teams on the 14th season of Halloween Wars. In each challenge the teams must capture the essence of iconic and classic Halloween monsters with mouthwatering treats made to impress returning judges Shinmin Li and Aarti Sequeira.

“We all have to come together and decide what's going to be made out of pumpkin, what's going to be made out of cake and what's going to be made out of sugar,” Mayes said. “We’re trying to make a cohesive-looking piece with all our different mediums.”

Mayes has done some cake competitions in the past, including the San Diego Cake Show in 2017, where she finished second. However, “Halloween Wars” is on a whole different level.

“It was very stressful,” Mayes said. “I mean, I knew it would be a whole other thing that I’ve never experienced, but it was even more so than I could have imagined.”

Here, You’re On This Team

The biggest challenge was being thrown on a team with people she’d never met before.

Mayes was part of the Delectable Demons along with former “Halloween Wars” champion Briea Nathan and runner-up and “Outrageous Pumpkins” champion Eric Jones. Nathan was the sugar artist and Jones the pumpkin carver. Mayes said she got along well with Jones, but Nathan was harder to work with.

“She was our team leader and definitely made it difficult for us throughout the whole competition,” Mayes said.

Working in a high-stress environment with cameras nearby also was no easy task. While in her everyday life, Mayes can be quite talkative, but it was the opposite on the show.

“When I was in that situation, I was so in the zone just trying to get it done,” she said. “So, it definitely made it hard to try and be fun and personable on TV. They're always in your face with the cameras, and you're supposed to be fun and smiley and joking around, which was definitely a huge challenge. So I probably don't have a ton of air time.”

The cast filmed two to three episodes per week, with days off in between.

During the competition, teams have seven hours to complete their piece. There’s also a tasting element to each challenge.

For example, during season 13, the teams had to create a tasting element using ingredients such as soy sauce, wasabi and miso. In another challenge they had to incorporate garlic.

“At the end of that seven hours, when they say, ‘Time's up, hands off your piece,’ just knowing that you did it was a huge sense of accomplishment,” Mayes said. “It might not have been pretty, but you did it.”

Filming days were long, up to 16 hours, as after each challenge the teams had to wait to be judged, something that takes much longer than it appears on TV.

“The first episodes were rough because there's more teams and more pieces for them to judge, so we were sitting around for hours waiting for them to deliberate and judge, and then they called us back in after they'd finished to film the results,” she said.

‘The Most Fun’

Overall though, she enjoyed meeting the people, getting to be on set and seeing how things work behind the scenes.

“I made lifelong friends with a lot of the cast,” Mayes said. “That was definitely the most fun experience, getting to meet like-minded people. They're all artists in their own fields. It just was really cool to come together with a group of people that very much share my passion for art.”

Meeting host Jonathan Bennett was a highlight as well. She said he added a fun, lighthearted element to the show and was great to work with.

“I have a selfie with Jonathan Bennett,” she said. “It was after the very first challenge and I was just exhausted and so emotional and stressed out. When you watch the show, you'll see we had a rough go that first episode.

“So, I almost look like I'm not happy to be in the picture with him because it was so stressful. But he was amazing.”

While filming wrapped a year ago, Mayes wasn’t allowed to tell anyone but close family about being on the show until recently when information for the upcoming season was put on the Food Network website.

“It was hard because last year we had to decorate for Halloween in early September and my neighbors were like, ‘Wow, she's really getting into it this year,’” she said. “That was rough, but I couldn't say, ‘It's because I'm on TV. Don't worry, I'm not crazy.’”

“Halloween Wars” premiers at 7 p.m. Sunday. Before the show kicks off, viewers will see how the competitors, including Mayes, were selected in “Road to Halloween Wars” at 6 p.m.

“It will be weird to see myself, but I can't really go anywhere locally in my little town without someone mentioning that they can’t wait to watch me,” she said.

In the future, Mayes said she would be interested in competing on other shows, but hopes it will be without the team element. She also is opening a storefront on Main Street in Lovell this month, with the grand opening Saturday.

“I'm super excited,” she said. “We built a kitchen in it, so I'll do all my baking and decorating down there. I'll still do my custom orders and we will be open for people to come in and get cupcakes, cookies, French macarons, baked donuts, that kind of thing. We'll also sell drinks as well, like tea and coffee.”