Former Edgewater Bakery to Appear on Cupcake Wars

A sweet treat for local residents, former Edgewater Bakery LilyRose Cupcakes & Confections will appear on Food Network's Cupcake Wars Saturday night.

"I had always watched the show and when I was a home baker, I didn't [apply] because I thought you had to have a shop," said LilyRose founder and owner Carmen Adams.

Adams launched the LilyRose bakery in Edgewater in November of 2012. Applying to be on Cupcake Wars was one of the first things she did after opening up shop. Now, local residents will have the chance to see Adams baking on the popular reality show alongside some of the country's top bakers, competing to win a $10,000 prize. 

The show filmed in the last week in June. Adams and her friend, baking assistant Sonya Barge, work together, racing against the clock to create cupcakes to please the palates of the judges.

The time constraints were the most challenging part of the competition, Adams said. On a normal day, baking is mellow and therapeutic for Adams, she said. The stress and pressure of the timed challenges on Cupcake Wars were very different. 

"The clock is real," she said.

Even though the challenges were stressful, Adams still had a great time competing on the show, she said. 

"The most fun was meeting the other bakers. For the last five months now, they are really the only other people we can talk to about the show," Adams said, adding that the bakers stayed in touch, sharing business plans recipes and other ideas over the months.

A former lawyer, Adams left her lucrative corporate career to follower her bliss and bake for a living. She originally opened LilyRose in Houston before relocating to Edgewater and opening a shop with two other women. 

That partnership was dissolved a few months ago, and Adams relocated to Atlanta where she has plans to open a new shop soon. She hopes to expand back to Texas and up to Maryland again in the next few years. 

The LilyRose episode of Cupcake Wars is at 8 p.m. Saturday on Food Network.