Office Baking Contest

[Katie_Cooks]

Hi All -

This is my first post so I hope I'm putting it in the right place!

I've always loved to cook and bake, and I've always gotten quite a few compliments everywhere I go. I've never participated in a contest before though! I have a new job and this company does a baking competition. My issue is I cannot decide what to make! I've made so many different things that I can't decide what is competition worthy!

Have any of you ever participated in a baking contest before? There are no rules for this one except to make it yourself with no shortcuts (boxed mixes, etc.) I'm expecting there to be entries from all categories...pies, cakes, cookies, etc.

Any tips or advice is appreciated!!

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[Kayelle]

Hi Katie, and welcome to Discuss Cooking. I know you'll have lots of responses from those here who are so good at baking but I don't bake, only cook. While you are waiting for them you could help with some more information..
Do you have access to a refrigerator at work?
What have you baked in the past with good results?
How many people are you expecting to participate?
Is the contest limited to desserts, or would something like bread be a better choice?

 

[Katie_Cooks]

Thank you for the quick reply!

Yes - access to fridge at work.

I have pretty much every baking tool there is and I am not opposed to getting more if needed.

It's a small company so I'm expecting maybe 15 entries max. This is a yearly thing but I wasn't here last year so I don't know what people have brought in the past! It's very competitive so I haven't been able to find out anything yet either! The rules are no disclosing what contestants are bringing before the competition so I won't know what others are bringing either.

What have I made with good results? Pretty much everything. The only thing I am NOT good at baking is bread...pretty much anything with yeast! But I don't think that narrows it down much for this competition!

The only thing I've ever made that I personally did not like at all were cake balls. (Some people call them cake pops.) Horrid. Way too sweet and the texture grossed me out. I was going to dump them in the trash but we had a few friends over, and they tried them and said they were amazing! They were all eaten that day by the crowd!

I personally enjoy simple classics and I bake often for my family. In the last two weeks I have made: frosted brownies, Apple pie, chocolate chip cookies and yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. My son has requested an angel food cake with strawberry topping so that is up next.

I don't know whether to go simple and classic or a bit fancier? I don't know whether to go chocolate or no chocolate? It's hard to know what people would like!


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[Kayelle]

Hmmm, it sound like you are really experienced with baking Katie. I love most desserts myself, especially anything lemon. I think chocolate is highly overrated and there will likely be several chocolate choices. To me, there's nothing more wonderful than the perfectly executed lemon meringue pie to show off real talent. My dear Mom won a brand new stove with hers back in the '50's.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Hi All -

This is my first post so I hope I'm putting it in the right place!

I've always loved to cook and bake, and I've always gotten quite a few compliments everywhere I go. I've never participated in a contest before though! I have a new job and this company does a baking competition. My issue is I cannot decide what to make! I've made so many different things that I can't decide what is competition worthy!

Have any of you ever participated in a baking contest before? There are no rules for this one except to make it yourself with no shortcuts (boxed mixes, etc.) I'm expecting there to be entries from all categories...pies, cakes, cookies, etc.

Any tips or advice is appreciated!! Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

My offering is this - Make a multi-layered cheescake, using a ten inch sringform pan.

Each layer will bee for a nine-inch pie recipe, Put together the ingredients for a Lindy Cheesecake, adding blue food coloring. Line the springform pan with parchment paper and pour the filling into the pan. Bake until the custard is firmly set. Let cool and run a knife around the sides. Remove the sides and slide a plastic cutting sheet under the custard. Remove the custard.

Make a second filling using the same technique, only this time, make it a New york style cheesecake. Again remove the custard on a plastic cutting sheet.

Finally, make a third layer using a Hollywood Cheesecake recipe, with red food coloring added. Remove from the pan.

You will notice that the cheesecake custard shrank away from the pna sides as it cooked. This is a good thing.

Make a graham cracker crust made from graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar. Press onto the bottom and sides of the springform pan. Gently place each layer fo cheesecake into the pan, taking care to not break the custard. Top the whole thing with sliced, fresh straawberries, and a little home-made strawberry glaze. Chill, then remove the sides to present.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[CharlieD]

I say ask your family what their favorite is out of what you make and go with that.

 

[Dawgluver]

I agree, Charlie. I'm not a baker, but building off Chief's idea, cheesecake bites might be nice. A combo of grasshopper (creme de menthe and chocolate graham crust), cherry topped, chocolate chip, and plain.

If you bake an extraordinary apple pie, go for that. Pretty cupcakes, or good old chocolate chip cookies.

Kay, just saw your post. My great aunt was the queen of lemon meringue pie! Key lime pie would be nice too.

 

[Kayelle]

Chief, the first thing I thought about was how expen$ive a huge cheesecake like that would be to make, although it sounds wonderful. If you choose to go that way katie, I'd go with Dawgs idea of cheesecake bites.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I'd go with a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, just because nobody else will probably think of it

 

[Addie]

We have a baker that makes beautiful cakes.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...pple-upside-down-cake-in-the-world-86106.html

Scroll down to #11. I have made it and I used some of the pineapple juice in the cake. That was more than a year ago and I am still getting comments for it. In fact I now have to make it every year for my granddaughter. She calls it her birthday cake.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I would say relax, keep it simple and do what you do best!

I would go with a simple recipe for lemon bars or an old fashioned date cake with cream cheese frosting.

Good luck!


Double Lemon Bars | Land O'Lakes

Date Cake
1 1/2 -2 cups of whole dates cut into pieces, one standard size package, don’t drive yourself nuts.
1 cup solid vegetable shortening (I use Crisco)
2 cups boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t vanilla
2 cups AP flour
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts


Mix dates, shortening and boiling water. When the shortening has melted add sugar, eggs, soda, salt vanilla, flour and nuts. Bake in a 9 x 13 pan at 350 degrees for approximately one hour. I start checking after about 50 minutes. Cool to room temperature and frost using your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe. If you can find cream cheese with pineapple in your area use that instead of plain cream cheese.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Of all the fancy and complicated baked things I've made, it was one of the simplest things that got asked for the most. I had sourdough starter in the fridge. I made a batch of sourdough, and a batch of bread dough using store-bought yeast, 3 cup of flour for each batch. I combined the two batches of dough after the first rise, then rolled the dough into a thin sheet. I cut it into rectangles for making pigs in the blanket. I rolled the dough around good quality hot dogs and baked them off. Everyone adored the. It was a few years back now, and occasionally, someone will ask when I'm going to make them again.

Another hit was what we here in the U.P. call pizza pasties. simply make a good pizza dough, roll it into a six inch circles, top with sauce and toppings, leaving an inch of plain dough on the edges, then fold in half, pinch the edges, and roll them toward the center. Make steam vents, let rise, brush with milk, and bake them until golden brown. I have never served these to anyone who wasn't greatly impressed.

If you've never had a chocolate-mayonnaise cake, you have been deprived. It is one of the best chocolate cakes ever. Frost with a home-made chocolate butter cream that has been mixed half and half with Nutella. Can you say yum, and in how many languages. This is especially delicious when the cake had four to five layers, with frosting between each.

Hope that at least sparks some ideas.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Katie_Cooks]

Oh man. You all are sending some great ideas!

I just now made a lemon curd because the mention of lemon merengue made me crave lemon!

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[95Austin12]

Lemon!!! I think you have chosen the right thing. As it's one of my fav. I have made it many times. Last time when I have made for my friends. One of my friends told me that these were the best she has ever tasted.

 

[Katie_Cooks]

Ok guys. My competition is tomorrow and I've made SO MANY things in the last couple of weeks. Here is what I ended up making as my final two choices to enter. I can only actually enter one for the competition and it's tough for me to decide. Help? I also need to name them both as part of the competition. Name ideas welcome!!

First are cupcakes. Limoncello cupcakes with pineapple filling topped with coconut cream cheese icing. Dusted with toasted coconut and a candied pineapple on top.

Second are individual "tiramisu" icebox cakes. These are made with chocolate chip cookies instead of Lady fingers. The mascarpone layers are espresso flavored but I also added a bit of Kahlua to give it a kick. The cookies end up turning soft when left overnight and turn into a soft cake-like layer that absorbs some of the espresso flavor. The tops are little chocolate hearts I piped with some extra chocolate I had on hand after making chocolate covered strawberries!

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[Dawgluver]

Katie, they both look wonderful! What do you like best? I lean toward the tiramisu, it's very unique. Sadly you can't overnight me samples before tomorrow.

 

[Andy M.]

I vote for the tiramisu as well. Cupcakes have been overdone. The Tiramisu has a visual WOW factor the cupcakes lack.

Besides, I don't care for cupcakes.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Put me down for the tiramisu, also. Those chocolate hearts are a nice touch, and the Kahlua will make the judges happy. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Katie_Cooks]

Hi all - I thought I'd give an update!

It was some tough competition for sure! A lot of my coworkers are from outside the U.S. (mostly Asian or Indian descent) so there were lots of international spins on classics. I also learned something...I had forgotten that an Americans palate is very different for "sweets" than most.

My tiramisu won.

Second place was cake balls. (I am personally not a fan at all and always get a kick out of how much people like those!)

Third place was a homemade ice cream!

Thanks for your input!

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[Dawgluver]

Yayyyy!!! You rock, girl!!!