Kalea takes another chance at baking

reporter takes another crack at decorating competition

By Kalea Hall

khall@vindy.com

CANFIELD

I am back.

I baked up a crow-worthy cake to enter into the Canfield Fair novelty cake competition.

To be honest, I was determined to come up with a less-embarrassing cake than last year’s inaugural effort.

Let’s just all forget about last year’s cake. Or should I say glob?

I just wasn’t as confident in my decorating skills.

“There’s no way I can compete with these artists,” I thought.

But I decided to take a chance to test my confidence again this year.

I spent Monday baking a novelty cake. My idea: a sunflower cake. My plan: buy box cake mixes (two), chocolate chips for the center of the sunflower, marshmallows and yellow sprinkles for the petals – and dye white frosting yellow and green.

I had that “if at first you don’t succeed, try again” attitude. I had my tools. And I had my guts.

I was ready for my chance to redeem my decorating skills.

Patience is key. I get excited to see the final product, but I kept my excitement at bay to make sure I didn’t cut the cakes too early when they weren’t cool enough. I cut the cakes too early last year, and they crumbled like a Youngstown street.

Precision also is key when it comes to baking. You have to measure precisely, cut precisely and shape precisely or else your dream cake could end up like, well, a glob.

Practice is essential. I wouldn’t recommend just jumping into novelty cake baking, although I have done that.

You will make mistakes, but I learned entering a cake competition is a lot like writing for a newspaper. You need all of the elements together to get to the final product.

The final part of my cake started with me cutting marshmallows diagonally in half to form petals and then dipping them in yellow sprinkles while the cakes baked. Once cool, I cut the center of one of the round cakes and put it on top of the other round cake to make the center of the flower. Easy. I used the rest of the cut round cake to make

a stem, and the other round cake I made to build petals. Once again, easy. Frosting is always fun. It’s where you get to see your product come alive.

Once frosted, I plopped chocolate chips in the center of the flower and my marshmallow petals around the round part of the cake.

Here’s more advice: Take a second chance, or third or fourth if you really want to go after something. It will take the ingredients of patience, precision and practice. Don’t put down the pen, the spatula or book and, most importantly, don’t forget to have fun while taking your chance.

If no one took a chance, there wouldn’t be any cakes to fill the Arts and Crafts Building, or massive pumpkins in the Pumpkin Barn or paintings and pictures to line the walls at the Fine Arts Building.

P.S.: I took second in the competition this year, avenging last year’s honorable-mention prize. Check out my cake and the other chance-takers’ cakes in the Arts and Crafts Building at the corner of Austintown and Beaver drives on the fairgrounds.