By By Lisa Tindell
I had always had a dream of judging any kind of cooking contest. Imagine getting to eat and taste beautiful foods prepared by people who love to cook. It was certainly a fantasy I had often entertained.
My dream job landed in my lap two weeks ago as I was honored to be asked to judge the ‘Best Cake in Town’ contest at Jefferson Davis Community College.
Maurice Moore, co-sponsor of the Relay for Life Team fundraiser at the college, offered me an opportunity I simply couldn’t resist.
As I recall, the same fundraising contest was held at the college two years ago and involved 24 cakes. When I realized there would be two dozen chances for me to eat cake, I really got excited.
Much to my surprise, this year’s competition involved 33 cakes. My mouth watered and as the judges sat in a secluded room waiting for the chute to open, I mean the bell to ring.
The thought of 33 cakes just waiting for me to taste and enjoy was almost more than I could stand.
I will let you in on a little lesson that I learned from last week’s judging duties: When judging any kind of contest that requires the consumption of food, take very small bites. Even with very small bites, 33 bites of cake is a lot of cake. Combine that with the fact that there were flavors from pina colada, butternut, chocolate and pound cake, there is a lot of variety churning around in a judge’s tummy.
Every cake that I tasted was good. However, the job of a judge is to pick the best based on the criteria set up by the contest rules. We judged on presentation, originality, taste and best overall.
Blind judging didn’t allow us to know the name of the person who prepared the cake prior to the competition. It wouldn’t have mattered if they had printed the name of the contestant right on the judging sheets, I was too overwhelmed with the scents of chocolate, coconut and vanilla to have cared who made what.
I will say, there was a handful of cakes that stood out as the most beautifully decorated cakes I’ve seen in some time. There were two particular cakes that simply took my breath away because of the presentation. The time required by those cooks to make those cakes appear as if they were ready for magazine photographers was astonishing.
My hats are off to all of those who competed, and contributed, to the event.
Kudos to event sponsors Sharon Peacock and Maurice Moore — you did an excellent job!
Contest results: Best cake in town, Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cake, by baker Chelsey Hess; Best texture, Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cake, by baker Chelsey Hess; Best taste, Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cake, by baker Chelsey Hess; Most original, Strawberry lotus cake, by baker Nikki Hatten; Best presentation, Strawberry lotus cake, by baker Nikki Hatten; People’s choice award; Three-layer pina colada cake by baker Sharon Peacock.
Lisa Tindell is news editor for the Brewton Standard. She can be reached at (251) 867-4876 or via email at lisa.tindell@brewtonstandard.com