What’s next for this Michigan mom after making it to a Food Network finale?

OWOSSO — Jill Davis didn’t walk away from Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship finale with $25,000. But she did walk away with lifelong memories and an expanded network of connections across the nation.

The show’s finale aired Halloween Monday and Davis, owner of Owosso in-home bakery Drizzle Cakes and Bakes and mother of two, held a watch party at The Sideline Sports Bar Owosso the following day.

In the packed bar Tuesday night, Davis said most people in the city didn’t know she existed before the show. Now, everybody knows who she is.

“She’s definitely made a name for herself in Owosso,” resident and local photographer Erica Matteson said at the party.

Davis competed with 11 bakers “to survive their thrilling stay at Hotel Henson” and win $25,000 in the pre-recorded show which premiered in September, according to the Food Network’s website.

The episodes were broken into more flavor-focused “thriller” sections and grander-scale “killer” parts. Some memorable moments were a “severed arm challenge” and a sloth cake Davis made in the show.

Davis attended culinary school and Central Michigan University. Her first professional baking job was at Chapelure in East Lansing around 2009. She’s stayed involved in the Lansing community, participating in events like Block-Aid and Rosé All Day.

She started baking when she was a teen growing up in Yale. Her mom, Lorinda Driscoll, who retired as the Times Herald general manager in 2015 after 37 years in the industry, was her first teacher.

Driscoll was at the party Tuesday along with well over 50 people, including Owosso residents Amy Sexton, Leeann Bradley and Matteson, who were sitting at the bar.

Sexton said Davis is an amazing human and baker. She’s known Davis since this summer when she ordered mini cheesecakes, macarons and fancy cookies for her daughter’s baby shower.

“I had no idea that she’s a star,” Sexton said.

Bradley said she was “so disappointed” with Davis losing in the finale, but she enjoyed watching the show and the bakers’ faces while they worked, “the intensity and how involved they were.”

Matteson said she watched the whole season and she’s never been so nervous watching a show.

“We definitely wanted Jill to take the win for sure,” she said.

Matteson said she was proud Davis made it to the finale. She always loved when Davis' name came up on the TV, and “Owosso” with it.

“That put us on the map a little bit,” Matteson said.

Davis said she felt “surprisingly good” after the finale.

She did some stuff she was proud of and there were ups and downs. She couldn’t have asked for a better experience and she still talks to the other contestants every day, she said.

Davis would be open to competing on another food show and said she wants to be on Netflix's “Is It Cake?” where contestants try to fool judges into thinking their baked goods are inanimate objects like suitcases and bowling pins.

One of the main questions Davis has gotten after the show is if she has a storefront. She doesn’t, but she’s looking for a space to grow into.

Owosso would be a nice place to open one because of her kids and its distance from other cities such as Lansing and Flint. She’s hoping to get through the holiday rush of orders and then buckle down on looking for a space, she said.

“We don’t know where we’re going to end up, but we know there’s a spot for us somewhere,” she said.

People can contact Davis for orders at 989-998-9188 and jill@drizzlecakesandbakes.com.

Contact Bryce Airgood at 517-267-0448 or bairgood@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: What’s next for Michigan mom Jill Davis after Food Network finale