Judges Mark Dollase, Chef Jeffrey Taber, and Yael Ksander hard at work
After extended deliberations, the judges made their picks.
The award for Best Taste and Texture went to Caroline Clay, Cheryl Munson, and Danielle Bachant-Bell for their delectable maple buttercream-frosted “Investigations around the Smokehouse,” depicting the smallest structure at the Garton Farmstead in Bloomington, headquarters of Bloomington Restorations, Inc.. Making this cake extra special was the source of the maple syrup used in the frosting; although the judges didn’t know it, the syrup came from the farmstead’s own maple trees, which are tapped each spring by Mike Bell.
The winning smokehouse cake
The farmstead team also took the contest’s top award, for Most Accurate Representation. Congratulations to Danielle, Cheryl and Caroline!
The award for All Around Awesomeness in presentation went to Cathy Spiaggia and Duncan Campbell for their “Barn Good Cake,” a sophisticated rosemary olive-oil chocolate chunk creation depicting a log bank barn on Breeden Road in southwestern Monroe County.
Duncan and Cathy baked an elegant, barely sweet confection that contained eight cups of olive oil
We’re deeply grateful to all of the bakers, as well as the judges and this year’s private sponsors: Revolution Bike & Bean, Topo’s 403, Monroe Furniture Restoration, Mark Longacre Construction,Golden Hands Construction, Bloomingfoods, Bloom Magazine, and NR Hiller Design, along with our public sponsors, the Monroe County Historic Preservation Board of Review and the City of Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission.
Here are the rest of this year’s entries:
Carol Seaman, “The Rise at Orangeville”
Carrol Krause, Monroe County’s first courthouse
Magda Hiller and Wyatt Hiller Wilson, “Cake of the Singing Winds”
The Monroe County History Museum’s cemetery committee “cemetery cake”
And special congratulations to Lily Bruce, a freshman at Bloomington High School South, for her depiction of the historic West Baden “colored church,” a Gothic Revival structure wrought in delicious vanilla cake with homemade marshmallow fondant! Unfortunately the tower began to separate from the main structure shortly after the cake was delivered. Some visitors declared that this made Lily’s their favorite cake, since it showed the church in danger of collapse–quite fitting, considering that the actual church is currently on Indiana Landmarks’ Top Ten Most Endangered list.
Lily Bruce’s West Baden “colored church” cake
Nancy Hiller’s “Sweet Remembrance” depicts a traditional carved limestone stump grave marker, this one in the Stout cemetery off of Bloomington’s Arlington Road
