Bham baker shares experiences from Hallmark baking competition show

Have you ever dreamed of starring on a reality TV show? For Birmingham local Sally Wicker McKay, that dream became a reality in 2025 when she was approached by a casting agent.

That’s when she was introduced to the upcoming from the Hallmark Channel show, “Baked With Love: Holiday.”

On the show, which began airing in October and concluded in mid December, 10 pairs of home bakers competed for a $50,000 cash prize and a chance to have their creations featured in one of Hallmark’s iconic Countdown to Christmas movies.

McKay competed with her mother, Amy Wicker, and although they didn’t take home the grand prize, they made it all the way to the last episode with their delicious baked goods — not to mention their radiant personalities that shined through the screen.

I got the chance to speak with McKay about her experience on the set of Baked With Love: Holiday in England, what she learned and the memories she made with her mother.

Here are some highlights from our conversation, edited for clarity and readability.

Could you tell me what the process of getting on the show was like?

“So in May, I had a casting agent reach out to me through Instagram and tell me that she thought I would be a good candidate to try out for the show.

“I needed to have a family member over the age of 18 to try out with me, and so I asked my mom she would try out with me. We just went for it and tried out and made it.

“There were several layers of the casting process…We had to apply just like everyone else, and then we had several Zoom calls with producers of the show.

“We actually had to make a cake that looked like Santa Claus and video that to try out. And then we found out about maybe two weeks after that we had made this show.”

What was filming like?

“The filming process was anywhere from 12-to-15-hour days, and it was an amazing experience.

“It was filmed in the Cotswolds in England, so mom and I traveled there together.

“Two days after we arrived in England, there was a day where they just filmed all the different cast members’ interviews, then we had another day of filming social media clips with the rest of the cast.

“After that day, we started filming an episode every single day until the final episode. There were no breaks.

“If you watched the episodes, you know there is a surprise baking challenge in the first half of the episode, then there is a second challenge, which they call a ‘family bake.’ And the time limits were real — a lot of people asked me that question.

“We enjoyed it, but I’m glad it was short-lived. That’d be hard to do day-after-day.”

Did you get to do anything exciting in England other than shooting the show?

“We had one day off when we went to tour around the Cotswolds, but we were mainly there for filming. Because I have a husband and two kids, after the filming was over, we were ready to come back. I had never been away from my family that long. Maybe we’ll go back one day!”

Do you think you and your mom grew closer from this experience?

“I think we did grow closer. We have a shared experience now that is so unique. Mom and I do spend a lot of time together since she’s here in Birmingham.

“My mom is a grandmother of 11, so while we do spend time together, it’s not always one-on-one. And that was one-on-one time we had not experience in a long time, probably since I was a teenager.”

Did y’all make friends or meet anyone interesting on set?

“We’re actually friends with everybody that was on the cast — and the crew, too. I still keep in touch with everybody that we filmed with.

“After we wrapped, we were told to wait to connect with the fellow castmates until the news aired that the show was coming out, about two weeks before the show aired. But since that time, we have all kept in touch.

We’re in a large group chat, and everybody was just so nice. I know we were all competing against each other, but I would say it was friendly competition. 
Everybody was very encouraging to each other.

“It’s so neat to, I don’t know, just be able to connect with everybody now and learn we were there and we spent a lot of time together, but everybody was busy baking, so it’s been fun to learn more about everybody’s families.”

Did you learn any new techniques or anything new about baking while you were there?

“There were several surprise challenges that I had never baked before, choux pastry being one of the them, and also macarons.

“I think one of the funniest things that I learned was that you really can do things really good quickly if you want to. 
I like to enjoy baking, so I usually don’t put a timer on myself.

“But yeah, there were definitely some pastries that we made that I had never made before. I’m definitely a traditional Southern style baker. So I learned a lot.”

Are there any moments or memories you’ll take with you from this experience?

“There’s too many to count. What was really interesting for me to see was the way the show was edited. Because we were under such time constraints while we were baking, we really didn’t get to see what all the other bakers had made throughout the show, so it was really neat to see what my fellow cast-mates had made and their stories behind it.

Also, just the experience with my mom. I never in a million years thought that we would be on a national television show together. If somebody would have told me that as a child, I would have said, ‘That’s crazy! That’ll never happen.’ So just getting to do that with her was the experience of a lifetime.”

You can stream every episode of Baked With Love: Holiday on Hallmark+ today.

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