With only 20 minutes and 2 decorations, creating a showstopping cake under pressure is no easy feat, but every year collegios, faculty, and senior contestants produce delicious works of art. This year, with Kotska in first, represented by Ellie Zweibel ’27 and Parker Rice ’27, and the Seniors in second, represented by Louie Alvarez and Audrey Popp, the competition was at an all-time high. Rice and Zweibel pulled off an incredible cake featuring an isomalt sculpture.
It was a common theme that the Tuesday competition called for a late-night baking session the night before. Rice, who participated in the competition because he loves baking and “enjoys the science and precision” but also “needed redemption after losing freshman and sophomore year,” stayed up till 11:30 creating the pieces for his strawberry explosion cake. He described, “I was determined to create a beautiful piece of art…and I couldn’t be happier to see my finest work of the last three years come together.”
His partner Ellie Zweibel also felt this pressure. In the days leading up to the competition, she says, “One thing I would have done differently is making the cake a couple days in advance, because making it the night of was super stressful.”
Another contestant, Reese Curley ’27, had a late Monday night preparing. When asked about her outcome, she was pleased “considering I stayed up till 2am” the night before. Although she describes lacking planning in advance for decorations and a theme, the team pulled through, creating a pretty blue ombre design.
Not only did students participate in this competition, but so did faculty. Ms. Matthews and Ms. Miller, alongside Ms. Hardy, created a wonderful chai cake with a mosaic detail made from melted sugar. Matthews described the event: “It was super fun and I loved watching the teams work together, and even though we didn’t place on the podium, I heard our cake was delicious.”
Whether placing on the podium or not, every contestant walked away with memories of fun and teamwork, as well as a slice of cake to share with the school. Cake-Off shines light upon precise creativity and determination every year, with a sweet product at the finish line.
