2019 Logan County Fair

2019 Logan County Fair LINCOLN DAILY NEWS July 28-August 4, 2019 Page 225 F riday morning, Pat McAllister was called upon to judge the Culinary Department Cake Competition. McAllister was to choose the best cake in each of a number of flavor and type categories. The bakers of the top cakes were then given the opportunity to enter the Cake Classic on Sunday at the Logan County Fair. The Cake Classic is a fundraiser for the Logan County 4-H Foundation. Each year about eight cakes are entered into the Cake Classic. Bakers will mix and bake their cakes on the Lincoln Stage at the Fairgrounds starting at noon Sunday. The event is a blind judging, so the judge of the competition will not be permitted into the barn until all the cakes are baked and prepared for display. She or he will then come in and taste each cake and place the winners. Last year the cake classic broke a new sales record raising $4,800. On Friday, McAllister had some tough decisions to make. Though there were fewer cakes in this year’s competition, all of them were quite tasty according to the judge. A couple didn’t look as good as the baker probably wanted them to. McAllister, to a certain degree, shrugged that off saying that she had made ugly cakes too. She usually slides them up and leaves them in the kitchen until serving time, and after all, it still tastes good and in the end that is what counts. McAllister explained her judging style saying that she does three bites for each entry; one for the frosting, one for the cake, and one with the two combined. She reminded bakers that they are being judged not just on the cake but also on its covering. She also highly recommended doing base or crumb coats before applying the frosting finish on cakes. The first category to be judged was German Sweet Chocolate with only one entry. Karen Sandel was the winner in that category. Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting had a few more entries, with the winner of the category being Jaimie Wibben. Carlene Carter was the single entry in the White Butter with White Frosting category. She took first place with her cake, and later Bakers and their cakes vie for a spot at the Sunday Cake Classic during the Friday preliminary FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019 CONTINUE